Spellbound Series

Annabel Chase’s ten-part paranormal cozy mystery series, Spellbound, follows the story of Emma Hart. Emma, a lawyer on her way to meet a client, finds herself trapped in a cursed town filled with paranormals. After a run-in with a literal angel—and even a run-in with the town’s invisible cursed border in an attempt to escape her new reality—Emma comes to terms with the fact that she is stuck in Spellbound just like everyone else, and she’s actually a witch.

The town is charming, with its magic-powered jalopies, clothing stores where everything magically fits, and markets where you can wish desired items into shopping baskets. My favorite place in Spellbound is the coffee shop, Brew-Ha-Ha, where Emma gets her latte fix with shots of various things like luck and courage to give her a boost for her trying days. Everything is so unapologetically punny and humorous, from the names of businesses to Emma’s sometimes out of place sense of humor when she references things from the human world that no one gets but her.     

From book one to book ten, there are so many memorable characters and lines of hilarious dialogue that it’s impossible to pick favorites. Emma’s witty banter, the characters’ vibrant personalities, and all the paranormals’ blunt, suggestive, and sometimes even on the nose jokes fill the cozy world with humor. In short, there’s a type of paranormal for everyone. 

Each book centers around a new dilemma for Emma in the form of some legal matter as Spellbound’s defense lawyer or a murder mystery that requires solving. She also faces personal struggles as she learns how to coexist with a vampire ghost named Gareth (not to mention his hellbeast of a cat, Magpie) and how to navigate her relationship with her cantankerous owl familiar, Sedgewick. As the books go on, Emma begins to learn magic at the witch coven’s school, the Arabella St. Simon Academy—or, as Emma poetically puts it, the ASS Academy. This proves to be a running joke through the entire series, along with Emma’s aversion to heights and flying on a broom. 

I love how there are all manner of paranormal beings in Spellbound, but the line is drawn at dragons. Emma says it best in book one when she has a moment of inner dialogue where she asks herself if pigs fly in the paranormal town. Every time she thinks she’s seen it all, a new character crosses her path and a new challenge arises, but Emma never backs down, and she tries her best as she comes into her own in her new paranormal world. 

Emma steps in where she’s needed, and even when she’s deterred, Emma always finds a way to persevere. Though some plot lines are anticipated, I still enjoy the outcomes in the low-stakes, cozy and heartwarming atmosphere that is the world of Spellbound. The characters are all fun and relatable, and though there are bad seeds and tragic events at every turn, everything always turns out okay. 

At the end of the day, I enjoyed following Emma Hart’s journey to Spellbound, watching her learn and grow and thrive in a place she never dreamed she might call home. You wouldn’t think the town of Spellbound was cursed at all, judging by how much love and community flows through each resident in the town. The books definitely made me laugh all the time, and as Emma’s plot thickened, my heart went out to her as she navigated the biggest obstacle of all at the end of the series—which I’ll have to leave to you to find out. But I’m here to tell you it’s worth reading to find out!

The conclusion leaves many questions answered and many feelings satisfied, but remains hopeful for the future for things left unresolved in the continuing series that follows. Not necessarily an unbearable cliffhanger—though knowing there’s a sequel series definitely helped with that post-binge reading depression!—the series ends on a great note, and leaves me eager to learn what Emma Hart gets up to in the next nine books. If you’re looking for a lighthearted type of read that hits all the cozy, paranormal, and hilarious notes, Spellbound is for you. It’s a breezy and charming read, filled with dynamic and lovable characters that you are sure to love.        

Reference
Chase, Annabel. Spellbound: Paranormal Cozy Mysteries Box Set (Books 1-10). Red Palm Press, 2023.