Off the Bookshelf: NO QUEST FOR THE WICKED, by Shanna Swendson

The 6th book in the Enchanted Inc. series.

Loved it. Major fun. More frustration on poor Katie Chandler's part, but at least she got to spend the entire day with the love of her life, Owen Palmer.

Poor Owen -- his heroics at the end of the previous book burned out his magical powers. That kinda-sorta saved him from being considered magical Public Enemy Number 1 by most of the magical world. But of course you know some people will never be reassured. Especially when the "quest" of the title is to get custody of the most powerful magical item Merlin created. So powerful he realized no one should have it, but he wasn't able to destroy it. Supposedly the item has been lost ... until now. Being magically immune now, Owen and Katie are the perfect choice to hunt for the item and put it somewhere it can't influence the power-hungry of the world. Destroying it would be nice, but there's no Mount Doom available to destroy this particular "one ring to rule them all" problem.

Maybe.

Another lovely romp by Swendson. I raced through it in two days, and wished it would have lasted long. If you haven't picked up this series yet, DO start with book one and devour your way through to the end. Well worth the effort ... which is really no effort at all.

Off the Bookshelf: MUCH ADO ABOUT MAGIC, by Shanna Swendson

Fantasy and laughter and characters whose stories never end -- some of my favorite things.

Shanna Swendson's Enchanted, Inc., series holds a special place in my heart. The day I got my Nook -- one of the first batch sent out by B&N -- the first book in the series was the first book I bought. I had picked up a bookmark for the series at a writers conference and I loved the whole concept: magic in clear view in New York, but only a few people who aren't magical can see everything ....

Our heroine/narrator, Katie Chandler, is an immune -- magic does not affect her. Despite all the illusion spells cast by the magical community to hide their presence -- and their ears, wings, and other magical attributes -- she sees it all. That makes her very valuable to the magical version of Microsoft, developing and overseeing all magic through the world. So she gets hired .... and I fell in love with the series and character and situation from the first chapter.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MAGIC is the 5th book in the series. It's been a while since I checked for a new book because, hey, when you keep looking for something and it isn't there, you kind of get discouraged. MAN, was the wait worth it!! Yes, I bought books 6 and 7 at the same time because Swendson delivers, consistently. I devoured MUCH ADO in about a day and a half (hey, I had to deal with all that snow hitting Northeast Ohio ...) Lots of fun! Essentially, Katie and her boyfriend, Owen, probably the most powerful wizard in the world after Merlin -- and yeah, he's in the story too -- are up against a new corporation competing with theirs, selling spells people can use to hurt others, and then selling spells to protect against the first ones, and manipulating situations to make Katie's bosses look like slackers. Then things get really nasty when the smear campaign gets personal: Framing Owen to make him magical Public Enemy Number 1.

Lots of fun, lots of cheering for the good guys, laughter, and booing at the bad buys. You really need to start with the first book, but I guarantee you'll zip right through all of them and then you'll be like me, restraining yourself from writing to the author and begging her to WRITE FASTER! We want MORE!