Entangled - Nikki Jefford

Entangled by Nikki Jefford
Series: Spellbound #1
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: February 19, 2012
Source/Format: Netgalley (Thanks Nikki!) || e-galley

[I received this book from the author. This in no way affects the thoughts expressed in my review.]

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene's body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she's stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn't half as bad as hanging out with Charlene's snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The "normals" of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery behind her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene's body before she disappears for good. (from Netgalley catalog)

Honestly, it was the beautiful cover that really drew me in and made me want to read this book. It saddens me greatly to have to say that I didn’t end up enjoying this book as much as I thought it would. Entangled had a lot of interesting elements and a premise with potential, but it still failed to resonate with me. 

As always, here’s an enumeration of the things I liked and didn’t like about this one.

What I Did Like

Graylee’s character was interesting, if slightly frustrating at times. Of the sisters, I really liked Gray. She seemed to be relatively intelligent, sure in herself and her status in life, and just a lot more witty and sarcastic than her sibling. While I wasn’t always a fan of her attitude, I did enjoy finding out more about her.

Charlene. I don’t think I want to go into specifics, but I just hated this girl and her attitude. She was way too much of a stereotypical popular/mean girl, and I just loathed all her actions and the logic behind them. I just did not like her from the first time I met her. The thing is - we're supposed to not like her, and I think the author did a great job in making that happen.

Raj is probably my favorite character in this book. I really liked Raj, and not just because he’s your typical bad boy who’s not good for you with his own issues. It was sweet to see how taken he was with Graylee (although it was kind of insta-love-ish), and I loved how he did his best to help her with everything. I didn’t like how his “issue” was finally revealed, but I could totally appreciate the fact he had a back story of his own.

The magic in this book is – well, it is. While there were certainly big moments that magic came in and had a part in this story (like the spell that puts Gray in Charlene’s body as she comes back from the dead), it was mostly minor spells being enacted, like unlocking/locking doors, changing clothes and the like, which I thought was fitting since the main character(s) were basically teens. I do like the parts where it describes how Raj uses his magic as a healer quite a lot!

What I Didn’t Like

The concept was so intriguing, but the execution was lacking. I honestly don’t think that the story was fully fleshed out. It felt a bit too formulaic to me – you find out you’re part of a spell gone awry, you try to figure out the culprit or how to fix it and along the way, you find a friend (who will later become an enemy) and a boy (who will later fall in love with you) and then you finally resolve the crisis. I know that most books follow similar plotlines, but I really didn’t connect with the way it was done in this book.

Pacing is definitely important to me. The primary reason that I found it difficult to really connect to the story was the abrupt jump from Graylee and Charlene being separate people, to all of a sudden having to share one body. The turn of events just seemed a bit too hurried and unexplained (at least, unexplained in a way that I would find satisfying), so I really felt discontented as I continued reading the book.

The romance… Oh, the romance. I wanted to like this romance. I even do to some extent, as I’m rooting for the couple to get together. BUT it just felt a little bit too insta-love for me, plus there were certain things that just made me feel all sorts of confused about these two.

I really, really wanted to like this one, but there were just too many things that prevented that from happening. I do think the concept is very clever, and I think that Nikki did a great job with the writing and editing. Perhaps I was just expecting too much from this novel? While it wasn’t my cup of tea, I’m sure Entangled will possibly appeal to other readers out there.