β Scribed by Swendson, Shanna
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In her first mainstream novel, romance writer Swendson puts a Harry Potterβinspired twist on the standard tale of a smalltown girl in the big city, with lively if saccharine sweet results. Fish-out-of-water Katie Chandler suffers in her thankless job as assistant to marketing manager "Evil Mimi," worrying that maybe she just can't hack it in New York City. Will her colleagues ever consider her anything but a hick? For a girl from Texas, the Big Apple is stranger than a foreign country, but she discovers that the weird things she notices are signs of real magic afoot. Her "small-town honesty and common sense" soon land her a new job at Magic, Spells, and Illusion Inc., which traffics in benevolent sorcery. "You... are of the rare breed who can neither do magic nor be influenced by magic. You see the world as it is," an MSI executive explains. With her clear-sightednessβplus business acumen gained working for her family's feed-and-seed storeβKatie will play a pivotal role in MSI's magical battle against a malevolent competitor. From sanitized descriptions of New York City life to hunky wizards and fairies on the subway, this book is pure and innocent fantasy, suitable for preteens or readers hungry for a cotton candy read.
Copyright Β© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Adult/High Schoolβ Sex and the City meets Harry Potter in this fanciful story about Katie Chandler, 26, who has moved to New York to make her mark in business. Having long viewed herself as an everybody's little sister-type person, she is unprepared for the adventures that await her when MSI, Inc., approaches her with a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Thinking that they fall into the spam category, she ignores the overtures for several days. MSI's persistence wears her down, and, on meeting with the company's representatives, she learns that the initials stand for Magic, Spells, and Illusions, and that the magic community is alive and well in New York City. Katie discovers that her very ordinariness allows her to see this community at work in ways that most others cannot. Her acceptance of the job is the first step in a series of captivating and hilarious adventures. MSI's products may have been on the market for a millennium, but the company's knowledge of modern concepts is sorely lacking, and Swendson uses Katie's business acumen to educate not only the employees, but also her readers in an utterly engaging fashion. A former staffer who has gone over to the darker side of magic has begun marketing spells that will allow magical folks to manipulate the non-magical population, and the race is on to try to stop him. Although the plot stretches credulity in places, the novel cleverly combines fantasy and practicality. Students will appreciate the glimpse into corporate America's strange mix of seriousness and silliness.βKim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA
Copyright Β© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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