Book Review: Charming by Elliot James

John Charming isn’t your average Prince… 

He comes from a line of Charmings — an illustrious family of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers dating back to before the fall of Rome. Trained by a modern day version of the Knights Templar, monster hunters who have updated their methods from chainmail and crossbows to kevlar and shotguns, he was one of the best. That is– until he became the abomination the Knights were sworn to hunt. That was a lifetime ago. 

Now, he tends bar under an assumed name in rural Virginia and leads a peaceful, quiet life. One that shouldn’t change just because a vampire and a blonde walked into his bar… Right?

Release Date: September 24, 2013

Charming is a new twist on our favorite fairy tales.  It switches the POV from the princess to the prince.  And there are no damsels in distress, that’s right this heroine can take care of herself.  Elliot James creates a rich past for his very complex band of quirky super-natural characters.  I thought the history of the characters and their world was very thought out and thoroughly explained.  However it was too much detail for the target audience of this book.  I often skipped over some of the paragraphs that went into unnecessary detail or that gave me a history lesson.  I wasn’t into history in school and still am not into it.  I did find some of the tidbits interesting but they didn’t really add to the story. 

               

Just a warning, the cover is misleading.  This is not a romance novel, where Charming comes to save the day and makes steamy passionate love to the damsel in distress, like the cover would lead one to believe.  I think with a cover change it could be marketed to young men.  It has everything a teenage boy could want, vampires (that do not sparkle), a badass main character, history about fighting and weapons, a hot female lead, and lots of intricate fights.   That is not to say that females wouldn’t like the book, I think they will but I would suggest it to males. 

Other than the excessive history lessons and the misrepresentation the cover leads to, I did like the book.  It had a good pace, and was interesting for the most part.  The mystery aspect of the book was good.  I didn’t fully guess who was the mean guy and was genuinely surprised in the end.  As I mentioned before the characters were written very well and were likeable.  Pick it up for a captivating, educational read.

3.5 Bards