Publication: 20th June 2024 – Simon & Schuster UK
She only wants three things. He isn’t one of them…
Dumped by her cheating ex, fired from her dream job, about to lose her flat: Clementine Monroe is not having a good day. So when her sisters get her drunk and suggest reviving a childhood ritual called the breakup spell, she doesn’t see the harm in it.
But now Clemmie has accidentally ruined a funeral, had her first one-night stand, and she’s stuck with a new job she definitely doesn’t want – spending six weeks alone with the gorgeous and very-off-limits rock star, Theo Eliott.
He’s the most famous man on the planet. Her life’s a disaster. When it comes to love, Clemmie is learning you should be careful what you wish for…
I have read some of Laura Wood’s young adult novels, especially I enjoyed her historical romance series, The Agency for Scandal, so I was excited to read her adult debut and I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. Under Your Spell is, without any doubt, at the top of my favourite books of the year and one of the best romcom I’ve read in a while. I adored the characters, the story, the setting, and the writing is exceptional.
The protagonist of the story is Clementine “Clemmie” Monroe. As the daughter of famous rockstar Ripp Harris, she’s always been under the spotlight, especially because she and her sisters Serena and Lil were born almost at the same time from three different women and were raised together in a big house (without their rockstar father). Whenever things were bad, they did a breakup spell, but they haven’t done it since they were teenagers, when Clemmie had her heart broken. Following another break up, the loss of her job and soon of her house, Clemmie and her sisters perform another breakup spell and make three wishes.
After a one-night stand with a stranger she met at a funeral, Clemmie is offered a very well-paid job by her sister Serena. Famous rockstar Theo Elliot is two years behind delivering his new album so his record company has organized for him to stay in a family cottage in Northumberland for six weeks, away from everyone and everything, and they need someone to babysit him and make sure that he works. With no other prospects in sight, Clemmie accepts the “babysitting” job, after all, how hard can it be? If only Theo wasn’t so handsome and charming and she wasn’t so attracted to him…
I couldn’t put down this book. Clemmie and Theo’s slow burn romance, their witty banter, the painful revelations about their past, the hilarious interruptions from their families kept me glued to the pages. I loved these two characters and how relatable and authentic they feel. She is introvert, bookish, with a love for vampire drama tv series, Chaucer and Enid Blyton, while he is honest, with a big heart and currently rediscovering his love for carbs and sugar.
Under Your Spell is a brilliant, funny, and addictive story of romance and family, but the author also addresses themes of mental health, grief, and parental neglect and it’s a story I will be thinking about for a long time (and probably rereading many times)!
A huge thank you to Simon & Schuster UK and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this wonderful novel.
Laura Wood is a bestselling and acclaimed author of mostly children’s and young adult novels. Under Your Spell is her first adult novel. With a PhD in 19th-century literature, Laura lives in Warwickshire, England, with her husband, and their dog, Bea.
Book After Book 
Reading this just now and loving it! Great review.
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