Review: The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

Publisher: Carina Press

Where did you get this book from: e-ARC from author

Release Date: 27th September

This review contains some minor spoilers

Blurb taken from author’s official website:

Have you ever wondered what happens to the other people in the fairy tale?

Things look grim for Talia and her mother. By royal proclamation, the constables and those annoying “good” fairies have taken away their livelihood by confiscating their spinning wheel. Something to do with a curse on the princess, they said.

Not every young lady has a fairy godmother rushing to her rescue.

Without the promise of an income from spinning, Talia’s prospects for marriage disappear, and she and her mother face destitution. Past caring about breaking an arbitrary and cruel law, rebellious Talia determines to build a new spinning wheel, the only one in the nation, which plays right into the evil fairy’s diabolical plan. Talia discovers that finding a happy ending requires sacrifice. But is it a sacrifice she’s willing to make?

The Sevenfold Spell is the first novella in the Accidental Enchantment series.  It’s a very interesting and unusual take on Sleeping Beauty, and I was really taken in by the premise. The beginning started off strong, and Talia had a strong voice throughout the story. I’d thought that there would be a saucy and romantic tale between her and Willard, her betrothed, whom I thought would be sticking around for the story because of it being a novella. But The Sevenfold Spell took a different turn that I wasn’t expecting.

When Talia learns about Willard being forced to enter the monastery by his father because of her loss of work which means no income, she decides to seduce Willard because she thinks that she’ll never have this chance again, and she wants to get with child so she’ll have something left of him. This bothered me – not the seducing part – but Talia’s craving to have a baby. Talia had no means of income, so how on earth could she have provided for a newborn? Talia only touches upon the practicality slightly, and feels some guilt, but still regrets that she didn’t have a child of theirs when he leaves. Even when Talia and her mother can just barely feeds themselves, she still regrets not having a baby.

I did come into this story expecting a steamy romance and a strong plot of the blurb above, but the spinning wheel story is touched upon slightly, and it’s more about Talia’s life, the lovers she takes throughout the years, and her feeling of self-worth and happiness.  Talia decides that instead of being a spinster who lives alone and denies passion, she’ll be a spinster who embraces passion. And she takes numerous loves over the years. Talia wasn’t choosy about her lovers, she just picked them up in taverns, and I couldn’t help but think about sexually transmitted diseases – even in a fantasy fairytale.

One main problem I had was that I didn’t find any of the sex scenes to be particularly sexy or sensual because they weren’t really touched upon – except for Talia’s relationship with Willard at the beginning of the book, which was more of a fumbling together. Another factor was cramming in 30 odd years of Talia’s life in a 75 page book, so none of her lovers were touched upon. I felt that putting in so many years in such a short space made everything that happened in Talia’s life brief.

Despite the love scenes, though, I was really taken in by Talia’s journey, and was rooting for her to get her happy ever after. She’s a very likeable heroine, and all she wanted what was denied her, and that was Willard, whom she craved to have a marriage and life with.

The ending of The Sevenfold Spell does have a happy ever for Talia, which was heart warming, but somewhat rushed. I do think that if the story could had have been done in a shorter time frame of Talia’s life, the story could have gone deeper, and the other characters could have had some emotional depth.  The writing flowed really nicely though, and I liked Tia Nevitt’s writing voice.

Overall, The Sevenfold Spell is an engaging read despite the problems I had with it. I wanted the story of the spinning wheel to have been featured more strongly, a stronger romance, and the time frame just didn’t work for me. Still, Talia made for an engaging character whose voice was stamped strong throughout the novella, and I would definitely read Tia’s next novella in The Enchantment series to see what she comes up with next.

I give The Sevenfold Spell B-