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Hex in the city Charmed and Deadly by Candace Havens Published by Penguin USA This book is one for the beach bag, right after the towel, sunglasses, water bottle and sunscreen. After I got over the lack of monsters, this chicklit otherworld was as exciting and scary as any of Dean Koontz's nightmares. This book has a breezy, carefree pace, in the style of a Bridget Jones Diary, only unlike Bridget, this protagonist has her act together from the get-go. The hero here is Bronwyn, a grown up Buffy, and everything Buffy would be if she was a little older, had to hold down an honest job with powerful yet unmagical coworkers, and had bigger issues with her boyfriends than with any denizens of the Pit. Her family, friends, and lovers are all beautiful and powerful in there own spheres – doctors who may or may not have magic, little old ladies of the local coven who hold community picnics, wise old wizards with relationship issues, philanthropic sheiks with family issues, and all their various well dressed friends and relatives. There is an assortment of villains, from one mean old chick with her army of misogynistic warlocks and demons, to a mad scientist's army of un-magical bad guys with slave-labor mines. All of them threaten people Bronwyn cares about, and thereby call out Nemesis in all her glory. As we jet around the world with Bronwyn, protecting the Prime Minister and rescuing people who need magical assistance, we meet Bronwyn's friends, both more and less powerful than she. We learn there is a large variation in magical aptitude in this world - Bronwyn has been a hotshot since she “came into her powers” as a teenager, and now uses them for good as a bodyguard to the British PM. She gets driven everywhere with the PM, and flies herself home to a house in Texas , where a cute doctor who gave up his magical powers, and a lot of lovely clothes await. Bronwyn is a Bond for the paranormal teenybopper set. She's a blonde bombshell, more powerful than ten badguys, sexy enough to get men sweaty with a look, cool enough to kick butt like Buffy and not break a sweat. She's a Connery Bond, not a Daniel Craig. She does not split hairs –heaven forbid a hair of hers has such an end! And she eats chicken fried steak and doesn't get fat – the magic of my dreams. This book has no deep thoughts – it's a big fluffy tub of popcorn with fat-free butter. It's made for munching on the shore, not dissecting. There is a big No Diving sign on this end of the pool, but the water is fine. What's wonderful about Bronwyn, like Buffy and other Chicklit heroines, is that she doesn't get pushed around. She's the superhero fantasy – her friends are cool, she keeps them safe, and everyone loves her from her boss to her cool, sexy, rock-star friend's adorable little ward. She has no dark secrets, and nothing to beat herself up about. She's a safe escape from the scary inner journeys people might be forced to take in a deeper ocean if they didn't have a book of safe magic, defeat-able demons and bad guys. The monsters are safe, and everything that's not clean, fast, and pretty, is easily disposable.by
CJ Curmudgeon |
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