5/5 stars! I adore F.T. Lukens and devoured this almost as quickly as I read "So this is Ever After" last year. This book does have a slightly different voice/tone but it is equally amazing. I loved the magical angle to this story and Rook and Sun are both fabulously wonderful. I think I connected with Sun earlier because I'm also a big ole grump, but Rook absolutely grew on me. I'm always hesitant to embrace the hopeless optimist too quickly, but his character was perfection. I would like to formally request there be 15+ more books in this series.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

A boy who wants nothing more than to be part of the magic community and the lengths he will go to to get it, even if it means teaming up with a cute frenemy apprentice sorcerer to save both of their mentors. Edison Rooker “Rook” isn’t magical, he can’t see the magic lines, but his grandmother was magical and raised him to know of magic... but sine he can’t do any or see it himself he has been cut out of the community and now will do anything to get back in. Rook gets an apprenticeship with Antonia Hex, a powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. While apprenticing for her he is working on creating his own device to see magic and finally prove that he belongs to the community, even if it means he has to lie, manipulate, and do whatever it takes. Rook is thrown for a loop by just how chaotic Antonia is and how her own past will impact him... particularly the fact that she had a previous apprentice who is gone and now she is banned from having any apprentice at all. Then he runs into Sun, a cute but grumpy nonbinary apprentice to Antonia’s rival colleague, Fable. Sun and Fable are stick to the rules kind of people while Rook and Antonia are all about breaking the rules. Everything Rook and Antonia do is essentially illegal to the Magical Consortium (think of that as basically the government) and when the Magical Consortium gets hints of their illegal work soon both Antonia and Fable are being brought in to get their magic bound (which is like death to sorcerers) and Rook and Sun are on the run. They’ll have to find a way to work together if they want to save their mentors all the while dealing with their growing feelings for one another. This one was an okay read, I just didn’t find myself all that interested in the characters despite how much I wanted to be. I found Rook to be a bit overbearing, but that’s just me, the romance was eh, and honestly I was expecting something else from this when I went into the book. I really liked the author’s previous works and this one was okay for me. I did enjoy Antonia and Fable, their history and how their friendship was. Overall, it’s a good read for maybe someone younger than me who likes stories about magic with a tiny bit of romance.

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

F.T. Lukens does it again! This book was spectacular. If I could have given this more than 5 stars, I would have.

While this wasn’t quite what I expected, it did not disappoint. Rook and Sun were the absolute best main characters. I’m a sucker for grumpy x sunshine. They had me laughing, crying, and feeling all the feels. I do wish that we learned a little more about Sun and their background, but that’s more of a personal preference. It wasn’t needed to enjoy the story, but I loved Sun so much that I would’ve liked to know more about them. Rook easily became a lovable character. He was amazing all throughout the book. I was rooting for him the entire time.

The storyline flowed perfectly and was very well written. I adore F.T. Lukens writing style, it is enjoyable and easy to read. Overall, I would like to reread this immediately because I am now severely attached to these characters (especially Antonia because she’s so cool). I highly recommend everyone to give this book a shot.

I really enjoyed reading previous books from F.T. Lukens and was excited that F.T. Lukens continued to write. Spell Bound has a great plot in this, I always enjoy two rivals going on a journey to save someone. I enjoyed getting to go on this journey, and it was just as good as So This Is Ever After. I can't wait for more from F.T. Lukens, as I really enjoyed this.

"Sun read the text. I waited a few minutes. Then a few minutes more. And when half an hour had passed and I didn’t hear back from them, I guessed the interaction was over. I sighed heavily. I pulled the Spell Binder out of my bag and tweaked a few settings."