Marie P. Croall

I find the lower average review score for this book in the My Boyfriend Is A Monster series unjust, given that its heroine shows more strength and nerve than the previous female leads, and the "monster" fae boy shows plenty of mystery, (literal) color, and mythology compared to the previous "monster" love interests.

A dry recounting of an African folktale: first this happened, then this unlikely thing happened, then this supernatural thing happened, but the hero proved true and good and they all lived happily ever after. Ho-hum.

It does have terrific art by comic veterans Ray Lago, Craig Hamilton, and Ray Snyder.

I wanted to like this more then I did. Bethany is a very focused, very intense high school student; until she meets Allien Atwood. Suddenly she is in a relationship with him which is dangerous bc he is a fairy caught in the middle of a war. This one didn't thrill me. I couldn't figure out why she was so interested in Allien all of a sudden. Also bits of the plot felt like they were kind of left hanging in the middle of nowhere. This story was also simpler and one that's been heard in some show more incarnation a lot lately.

The one thing I did love (which bumped this up to a 3 for me) was the gorgeous infusion of color when they were in fairy. It was a great way to show how much more vibrant and lush the land of the fairy's is. That made me happy if nothing else did. show less

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Under His Spell is a return to the humor and light heartedness of I Love Him to Pieces. Bethany is a hardworking student athlete and she has her head on straight. But because she's so focused she sometimes misses out on the fun of being young. She takes a chance with Allein. He's cute and nice, but also a little strange. After strange men (who aren't human) try to kidnap her because she sits next to him in chemistry class, Bethany demands some show more information.

"Look, I'm not one of those girls who's going to hang around and wait for you to tell me when everything's ok."

Allein explains that his father is a king and that his cousin Bynal is trying to kill him so he'll become crown prince. He never mentions that he's Fae and hundreds of years old. He simply allows Bethany to assume he's still just a foreign exchange student. Their rather awkward date ends with another attack from his murderous cousin. In the course of the fight Bethany kicks some butt, which is good because Allein isn't much of a fighter. Unforunatley she's injured and Allein takes her to Fae realm to heal. Not only do they have to deal with the king's disapproval of a mortal love, but the two must figure out how to defeat Bynal who's holding their school hostage.

Allein is sweet but bumbling so he's lucky that his girlfriend has got her act together. I also liked that Bethany promises to work on a relationship with Allein, but she's not going to put her mortal life on hold. She wants to go to college and isn't quite sure she's going to love Allein forever, so they take their time. Her parents were cute if a little overprotective and her friends were a hoot. This is definitely a fun read for tween girls.

Park's black and white illustrations were nice, but the lack of background in a lot of panels made things a little dull. I really liked that the Fae realm was in full color and she added some wonderful details there.

Verdict:
A funny adventure where the heroine saves the day and has realistic expectations for a future with an almost immortal Fae prince. I think tween girls would enjoy Under His Spell and should pick it up at their local library.

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