Spellbound: Book One

by Kathryn James

One botched spell.
One unenchanted man.
One witch in way over her heart.

Witchy rom-com meets small-town trouble. Laughs, longing, and a dark wildcard who won’t play nice.
A Fall Paranormal Novella

Eliza Lakeland knows this better than anyone. She grew up in the crumbling Lakeland house, where every draft carried her grandmother’s warnings and every door remembered secrets. But grief and guilt left her clumsy with her inheritance—until one desperate night she whispered a love spell into the dark.

Now the men of Ciderbrooke can’t stop watching her. Neighbors linger too long, old friends arrive with hungry smiles, strangers whisper her name as if it belongs to them. And the worst part? The one man she meant the spell for—Simon Sterling, the brooding bookseller with quiet eyes—remains untouched.

As the town bends under the spell’s weight, something older stirs in the shadows: a figure beneath a streetlamp, a knock at the door that isn’t a knock at all, and whispers of the Council—the ancient body that decides which witches are allowed to endure. To undo what she’s done, Eliza must confront not only her family’s dangerous legacy but also the stranger who once stood on her grandmother’s porch…and never truly left.

With her sharp-tongued best friend at her side and the wrong man pressing closer by the night, Eliza walks a knife’s edge between desire and ruin. Because in Ciderbrooke, love spells are never harmless—and some doors, once opened, will not close again.

Spellbound is a witchy romcom with a gothic twist—perfect for fans of small-town magic, tangled hearts, and secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Genres: Cozy, Romance, Witches, Paranormal

193 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2025

About the author

The Spellbound trilogy is complete—all three books are out now, and yes, Ginny and Eliza saw it through to the end (Ginny would like it noted that she carried the whole operation).

I write stories about complicated people doing their best—something Ginny would argue absolutely counts as character growth.

If you've met Ginny and Eliza, you already know they have opinions. If you haven't yet, they're waiting for you—along with found family, fun and dark magic, and moments of change that tend to arrive when no one feels ready for them.

I'm an indie author, which means every reader who shows up matters. Truly. So thank you—for taking a chance, for turning pages, for leaving reviews, and for choosing stories told outside the big, shiny publishing machine.

When I'm not writing, I'm usually at home in Minnesota with a cup of coffee, watching the snow fall, wandering cozy bookstores, gardening, painting, or consulting as a nurse.

For something more cozy and upbeat, I am excited to announce the new series Holiday Hexes. Follow me on Instagram for updates!! @kathryngjamesauthor or my website www.kathryn-james.com

Thanks for being here and thanks for reading indie! ~Kathryn James

Reviews

[Kender]

She said, she said, she said

Is this AI? Where are the adjectives? Where are the emotions? Where is the personality? There are too many incomplete sentences; it feels choppy. The author could make use of a thesaurus instead of continually starting dialog with, "she said." I won't suffer book two to learn how the story ends.

[Rose Crill]

The writing was awful. The book is full of short, choppy sentences, including many incomplete sentences. It would be fine if it was sometimes used for effect, but it was the whole book. The characters all talked the same way, too. There was no lyricism in the writing or dialogue.
The story was hard to follow and nothing was explained properly. I was constantly wondering who knew about the magic, who was supposed to know, and what the relationships between the characters are.
There is a plot buried in there somewhere, but it’s not very interesting.

[Paige Lacker]

This would have easily gotten four stars if the plot would have been written a little more clearly from 40%-85%. The first portion and ending were fine, the middle just was bleh.

[April]

⭐⭐.5

I picked this up because the cover was cute and I wanted a cozy, fallish, witchy book to welcome the -ber months. And while this was fun, it left something to be desired. The main issue for me is that it felt really choppy and unfinished. There were several grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. There were even places where the word used made no sense. Then entire phrases seemed to be repeated. Was this AI? Gawd, I hate we even have to ask that. Where was the editing?

I tried to do immersive reading but the audible book didn’t match the digital book… Why would you do that? Whole paragraphs were missing. Strange. So, I was about 30% done and realized that I had missed a lot of the book so I went back and started over just with my eyeballs. That’s totally uncool.

The plot was simple. I expect that in a cozy, however, so that wasn’t surprising. The love interest was… odd? Not a good word for it… just… why? I mean, we learn but WHY him? And why before him was she drawn to him? Was it because of who she is… who he is.. Is it other-worldly or did she just think he had a nice butt? Give me some details. The same holds true with our antagonist… who is he? Why’s he been there? If spidey senses were already tingling, why allow him to remain? What’s the history… give me some backstory. I kinda got the whole Halloweentown Kalazar’s vibe thing going with him but… ya know, hotter. LOL What’s with the misfires? Why? Is she flawed? I need more. The town is forgiving… is there a reason she didn’t think they were? So many unanswered questions to help establish the foundation of the plot.

I love the found family trope. I love the guiding mentor and love the witchcraft, but it still didn’t save the story from itself.

[Heart DeCoupeville]

REVIEW EDITED 28 JULY 2026

Entire book has been rewritten. Should probably be a separate edition, but I guess this is to disguise something.

MAJOR CHANGE: First person narration has been changed from past tense to present tense.

Substantive changes begin on first page. Consider this a dick move, getting reviewers to provide free editing services. Would now rate this zero stars for reasons.


Acquired Kindle edition when offered free on Amazon. Book shows a publication date of 14 September 2025. Offered free on Amazon a few days later. Read on 20 September 2025. Overall determination was that the author should have had a lot more -- and more competent -- feedback before publishing and handing out free copies.

CW: Cliffhanger ending.

Rating changed to one star after finishing Spellbound: Book Two and discovering there is an as yet unpublished (as of 26 December 2025) Book Three.

This preliminary review will be edited, amended, and/or revised . . . later. I'll let you know when it's finalized.

This could have been a five-star read. Instead, it came very close to being one-star dreck.

Lovely cover, but unimaginative title. +1, -1. A draw.

Block paragraphs don't belong in fiction. A strong indication the author doesn't read very much. -1

Cliffhanger ending as an enticement to read the sequel from a new author? -0.5 Wait two months for a sequel that may never be written? -0.5

This book is only 200 pages. Write the whole damn book however it ends, then make sure you have an ending before you ask readers to plunk out fat money for the rest of the story. Right now, there's nothing particularly compelling about this first installment. Kathryn James is not GRRM, and Spellbound is not GoT.

Looking at the two main issues: Content and Form.

Content: The structure of the story is amateurish. Plot too much like The Sorcerers Apprentice, and definitely not a romantic comedy. Yes, it starts off a little silly, but the silliness isn't sustained before it evolves into the source of potential catastrophe, for which there is some tiny bit of foreshadowing. The romance is bland, without conflict, tension, or even a reason for attraction. All emotion is superficial. Has the author ever read a romance? Where's the angst?

World-building is weak; characters are flat, barely two-dimensional and far from three. Antagonist lacks motivation. Protagonist's problems are self-inflicted, making her unsympathetic.

Form: The writing is worse than the structure. I highlighted over 300 passages in this 199-page novel, and most of those highlights were "like" similes. Edited to add after a later re-read: There are now over 500 highlighted passages, the vast majority for those "like" similes. For the love of all the goddesses, learn how to describe things without similes! I reached the point where I no longer was reading the story; I was just waiting for the next "like." Sometimes three -- or more -- in one paragraph?

Why is most of the book narrated in first person, past tense, but then a couple of chapters slip into present tense, and one chapter near the end is third person? Edited after a later re-read: It's actually the final chapter that switches to third person. None of those shifts appear to be dictated by any details in the plot.

How old is Eliza? Twenty? Thirty? She acts like she's twelve; no wonder Simon doesn't notice her! Does she have a job? As narrator, she says she doesn't have time to brew coffee before work, but that work is never mentioned again. She's worried about being a "Lakeland failure," but she seems to be doing magic all the time, failing at it all the time, and keeps right on trying without learning how to fix her mistakes. What's the matter with her? And if there are other witches in this Ciderbrooke town, why haven't they done an intervention on her?

And what about Ginny? Who is she? How old is she? What's her relationship to Eliza?

How does magic work in this town/world? Are there other witches besides Eliza? Is she the only one?

What is Agnes Fuller? Edited after a later re-read: Agnes Fuller is another witch, a kind of renegade, but there's no explanation as to why she hasn't helped Eliza more.

Why doesn't Eliza remember Daniel? What exactly is Daniel?

Everyone seems to know more about what's going on than Eliza does, but she's the one charged with saving the world -- or at least Ciderbrooke -- from the catastrophic destruction she's responsible for unleashing. Why does anyone or anything want to destroy Ciderbrooke? What's in it for them, whoever or whatever "they" are? Is it Eliza's grandmother's grimoire? Is it the house? After 200 pages -- okay, 199 -- I the reader should have some inkling about the overarching objective of the plot. I don't.

The story has potential, which is probably why I didn't one-star the book or just DNF it. (If I had known there was a cliffhanger ending, I'd never even have started it.) But it needs a whole lot of editing. The author needs to learn how to structure the novel, how to develop the plot and the characters. And, most of all, how to write decent prose fiction. There are so many places where the careful reader is abruptly pulled out of the story. For example: The first scene in Ginny's kitchen: Was it in Ginny's kitchen, or was it in Eliza's? I read the whole scene three times and this was never made clear. Was this just an example of bad, lazy writing, or a failure to get competent editing?

I could give more examples -- and possible fixes -- but I'm not a paid editor.

Two stars, one of which was generously but reluctantly given for unrealized potential.

[Jess M]

I read this book so that you don't have to.

Clues that a book might be AI:

Clearly the first clue here, AI generated cover art.
Flat writing. Descriptions with too many metaphors and similes and very few adjectives.
Punctuation…missing so many question marks!
Strange paragraph structures and choppy sentence cadences. Repeating sentence structures.
Odd vocabulary choices - Complex words that don't quite fit the tone. Repeating words/phrases.
Confusing plot. Weird dialogue.
Just doesn't feel….. right.
No publisher/self published.
No information about the author…. anywhere.

This book had all of these indicators.

[Sandra Linebaugh]

Great Book for Witch Lovers

"Spellbound Book One (A Fall Witch Story)" is a really good book. The characters are interesting. Eliza is a witch who has a problem with direction when casting spells. Ginny is her best friend since Eliza's mother left her in her teens. Simon is the owner of a local bookshop and Eliza's secret crush. Agnes is an older witch who was Eliza's grandmother's best friend. Daniel is a witch who worked at Eliza's grandmother's house when Eliza was,a teenager. When Daniel returns to Ciderbrooke, trials and tribulations begin. It will take Eliza, Ginny, Simon and Agnes together to sort through all the problems.

[Holly]

Thank you for giving me the chance to read this book. I had high expectations and was very disappointed. I started and at 14% put the book down and said I was done. I did continue after a few days but was still, like what is happening. So many comments or sentences were not complete and I had to keep rereading to see if I could figure out who was saying what. Never happened. Then it did pick up a little and I thought okay maybe. Not gonna lie I got 96% and didn't ever care because you could not figure what they were saying or even who was saying what. It made no sense to me.

[Lea Day]

The story was slow starting but after about chapter 3 it progressed well.

The author would do well to not use the level of bad language that is used in this book.

The book cover gives the reader a sense this will be a cozy paranormal and excessive bad language is a turn off and the cursing that was used was intense and unnecessary.

[Sheila Kim]

Sharing is caring

A really great ending place in the story. Clearly there is more to come. But I feel certain that our witches will win in the end. I'll pick up the next book because I enjoyed this one that much. And no cliffhanger ending.

[Mary]

Strange Cadance

The rhythm of this book is strange and often confusing. I found myself having to go back and reread numerous times. This as never happened before. Ending was unsatisfactory

[Kayla]

I couldn’t really get into this

I don’t hate the book, but it’s not something that completely grabs my attention to keep reading because in order for me to continue enjoying a book. It has to keep me engaged throughout the whole book and not just the beginning.

[Linda]

Surprises

I enjoy book with magical characters. This book took me on a fun road of twists and turns with little fun nuggets in nooks and crannies. This is a journey I recommend to readers who enjoy a unique story. I AM READING BOOK 2

[Journey Happening]

Grabbed Book Three when it came out and so I picked up the rest. This pulled me in right away and kept my interest through to the end with some gentle humor throughout. Highly recommend through to the end. Will put this up on the other books.

[Jasmine McKaine]

I know a lot of people are saying they didn't like it. I actually found it cute. I was entertained. BUT, could have benefited from an editor to help. But overall, I liked it.

The characters were good, but the pacing did feel...off.

[Amber Cutshall]

Uh, I don't care? Maybe it's the overuse of spells. Where was the story going? We stalled and I frankly stopped caring about any of these characters.

[Kay Wathen]

Not that it’s a bad book. It’s just was not for me. I took a while for it to develop the storyline, and the characters were rather weak in my opinion.

[Rebeca]

2.75
I just needed more!!! I need an intro, I felt like I missed so much of the story. It felt rushed as well.

Ahh I hate giving indie authors anything under a 3⭐️ but this books wasn’t it.

[Linda]

Just couldn't get into the story. Boring and terrible writing style. Virtual voice narrator didn't help any. Ended with a cliffhanger and that's annoying. Just not what I expected.

[Lee Brothers]

What an amazing story, I just loved it!!! A must read and that means we must read the next books too!!!

[Veronica C Read]

Page turner

I can't tell if the literature was written by AI, But overall, a wonderful read.
Very delightful and full of seasonal delights!!

[Anna Stone]

I loved this. I need to read book 2 now

[Antonia]

Cryptic and terse, but still riveting all through to the end!

[Shy Book Worm]

Re-read when I saw 2nd edition.

Excited for the next Coven of Three’s adventure.