TBR Challenge: Enchanted, Inc.

This month's TBR challenge is to read a book by an author you haven't read before. I decided to pick up a book I bought at last year's RWA signing.

Title
Enchanted, Inc.

Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at, and Katie is afraid she's a little too normal to make a spash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn't help either.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that sells tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie's ordinariness is an asset. Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor's contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed.

She quickly learns that office politics are even more complicated when your new boss is a real ogre, and you have a crush on the sexy, shy, ultrapowerful head of the R&D department, who is so busy fighting an evil competitor threatening to sell black magic on the street that he seems barely to notice Katie. Now it's up to Katie to pull
off the impossible: save the world and--hopefully--live happily ever after.

Author
Shanna Swendson

Year Published
2005

Why did you get this book?
I read a blog entry about it by Nicole, who recommended it. I thought the premise sounded interesting, so I put it on my list to try. When I met Swendson at RWA, I bought the book.

Do you like the cover?
For the most part, yes. It conveys a mood that's similar to the one in the book. But the woman's hair is a little weird, even for a cartoon cover.

Did you enjoy the book?
Yes, and I rate it 4 out of 5. It's told in first-person from Katie's point of view, and I like Katie. She's kind of an everywoman, so it was easy to relate to her. I like the New York Swendson creates, too. I got a kick out of the strange things Katie sees and dismisses as too strange.

Owen is the "sexy, shy, ultrapowerful" R&D man mentioned in the blurb. I like the dichotomy in the shy and ultrapowerful--and he's definitely both--although the man does blush an awful lot. You don't see that very often in a man. It would have been interesting to get into his head, but the POV prevents that.

Would you read something by this author again?
Yes. I will probably buy the next book in the series at next year's RWA.

Are you keeping it or passing it on?
Keeping it.

Anything else?
Just that I add my recommendation to Nicole's. It's a light, fun read.