I really loved this book. It's just so incredibly precious. I really loved our two main characters, and their personal journeys throughout this book. Their friendship, and later romance, was absolutely adorable. I also just loved the banter between them. They were just so cute together. I also really liked the cast of side characters. They were all big personalities and really brought the story to life. I also really loved the magic system, as well as the storyline. I thought it was quite a lot of fun. The second half also got quite high stakes, and I literally gasped at some points because of the twists and turns. It isn't something absolutely wild, but still quite a journey to go on. So yeah, overall this book made me incredibly happy. I definitely highly recommend it, and I really am excited to read more by F.T. Lukens.

Rook has a plan. Even though he has no magic in a world full of it, he wants to be able to at least map out the ley lines in hopes of staying in the magic community after his grandmother's death. Antonia Hex sizes the teenager up and says it's against the rules but I don't like the rules so let's do it. She takes him on as an illegal apprentice.

Sun, a young enby works for their magical master, another non-binary, Fable, who is a sometimes work partner with Antonia. This brings them into contact with Rook who is everything Sun isn't, outgoing, extroverted people person. Sun prefers their own company but also they're very strong with magic. They're also easily overwhelmed by Rook's enthusiasm.

As the two young people get to know each other slowly, their bosses get caught up in Antonia's trouble with rocking the boat as far as the magical community is concerned. They have to work together not only to save their mentors but also their own lives.

I really liked Sun, Rook and Antonia (Fable doesn't have enough independent page-time to make an impact). I do feel like the actual threat took a little long to arrive so we have way more build up than we have actual threat but overall it was an enjoyable read.

This story follows two young sorcerers
trying to prove themselves to their respective mentors who run rival curse-breaking shops. The outgoing Rook and the introverted Sun start off on the wrong foot, but often have to work side by side. Queerness and gender identity are stated matter-of-fact, and mental health elements such as grief and panic attacks are handled with care. The main plot line is a fun, high-stakes adventure with a will-they-won't-they potential friendship or romance between the lead characters.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

When Edison Rooker is called to meet Antonia Hex, a powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies, he doesn't know what to expect. He doesn't have experiences with hexes or curses, even though he's planning to regain access to the magical world, access he lost when his grandmother died. But then Antonia gives him a new job and name, Rook and all he has to do is to keep his Spell Binder, a device, illegal, who detect magic, hidden from the Magical Consortium and to contend with the other apprentice to Antonia's rival collegue's, Sun. Dealing with Sun, though, isn't that bad, anyway. When the Consortium discovers Rook's Spell Binder, though, they come for Antonia. Running to Antonia's rival is Rook's only solution, except Fable was also attacked and he and Sun have to work together to save their mentors and their magic, or losing it forever.

F.T. Lukens never disappoints. This book is magnificent, brilliant and I loved every single thing in it. It's a young adult romantic adventure, with two rival apprentice sorcerers fighting to save their own mentors and protect their own magic against an all powerful Magical Consortium. It's funny, original and brilliant and I was hooked from the very start. The relationship between Rook and Sun is pure gold and I loved following its development and how they rely on, trust and love each other, in this book filled with adventures and twists.
The story is captivating, the writing style, the worldbuilding, the magical world, the call center, I loved absolutely eveything. How couldn't I not? It's so fresh and original and I was captured since the beginning. Absolutely AMAZING.
.

This is definitely my favorite of F.T. Lukens' books. I love the spooky atmosphere and the compelling characters, and the cozy magic vibes were everything I wanted. Will definitely be purchasing for my library and recommending to students.

I have been eyeing Lukens's books for a while because their covers are STUNNING, and thanks to the absolute fun I had reading Spellbound, I will definitely pick up their others.

Our two main characters, Rook (sunshine) and Sun (grump), are so endearing and I just want to have a big ol' group hug with both of them. They both learn a lot throughout the course of the story and I loved how they both fought with, and for, each other. Throughout the book, Rook is almost solely guided on just wanting to belong somewhere, and that definitely tugged on my heartstrings.

The magical world that Lukens has created here is so interesting and the magical mishaps people found themselves in were often hilarious. Plus! The banter! With everyone! I adored Antonia (Rook's boss) and honestly, I would love to see another book with these characters.

F.T. Lukens weaves another heartwarming spell through the magic of found family in Spell Bound. Along with a stunning cover, fast-paced plot, quality representation, and best of all: found family, Rook and Sun are pure magic!

Lukens is an auto-buy author for me and will be for you, too!

This was fun and well thought out! I loved Sun a LOT and would die for the proliferation of mama bears in this story 🥺 i will say it was a little heavy handed at times and the final confrontation was a bit cringe, but all in all i had a good time!

representation: queer white male MC, queer Asian nonbinary love interest, queer nonbinary mentor character

spice level: none

Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens is a book that I absolutely loved. It captivated me from the beginning and took me on a journey that reminded me of what it is like to be both in love and growing but unsure of how the world works. The author beautifully weaves together a tale of magic, romance, and self-discovery that left me feeling nostalgic and hopeful.

What I loved most about Spell Bound was its remarkable ability to be a short, quick read that not only maintained its depth and emotional impact but also had me laughing out loud. Lukens' writing style is engaging, effortlessly pulling you into the story and keeping you hooked from start to finish. The relatable and endearing characters added an extra layer of enjoyment, and their experiences resonated with me personally. As a queer reader, it filled my heart with joy to witness the diverse representation and authentic portrayals of relationships that were both heartwarming and hilarious.

This book is a delightful blend of fantasy and contemporary themes, creating a unique and compelling narrative. Spell Bound will transport you to a world where magic exists alongside the challenges of adolescence and love. F.T. Lukens has crafted a story that balances lighthearted moments with deeper introspection, making it a must-read for anyone who enjoys a heartfelt and enchanting tale. I highly recommend Spell Bound to those seeking a touching and affirming read that will give you a renewed sense of wonder and warmth.

This book was really fun and magical. I loved the characters and was actually also rooting for Antonia and Fable a little bit. The. Found family trope was so cute.

My only complaints are that it needs to be longer or a series. And that the beginning was very slow. There’s so much world building and story set up that you don’t really get to the action of the plot until over 50% of the way through. But that’s ok because it’s still incredibly good!

I'll be honest, I only requested this book because one of the cover models looks like Xiao Zhan and I'm in love with that man. This book was fun, but I didn't really love it a lot. I'm not sure if I'll read anything else written by the author either. It was just an okay one time read for me.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- i always seem to find this authors work to be lackluster, and this was another one of their books that didn’t hit the landing for me. i hate that i can’t enjoy their stories, as the plots sound amazing, but i can never get into their writing style or the development of their characters, which, more often than not, are underdeveloped, especially with the main pairing/ship. i hate to hate on this book, like i have with the other books the author has wrote, but I’m here doing it. hopefully this author succeeds with their target audience, and that people can enjoy this book at their leisure.

This was an entertaining magical story. The world-building was great, and the story was enjoyable. The characters were well-developed, and their backstories were entertaining.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
In a world with magic, two apprentice sorcerers learn their craft while moving from rivals to friends.
The overall plot was interesting and drew me in. The alternating views from Rook and Sun added to the depth of the story and their relationship. I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind reading more about the duo.

I loved this book - the cover is AMAZING; building your community and family - yes! Confidence building and acceptance for self - give me more!
This is my first book by this author - I will definitely be checking out more. Especially after reading the acknowledgments - Lukens telling us why this book meant so much.
Rook and Sun, Antonia and Fable - loved these characters, I absolutely want more.
Lukens does a great job explaining what magic means in this book - at times I skimmed.
Great book!

I really love FT Lukens. This was an adorable magic read. It took me longer than I thought to get through but I enjoyed it as I went.
I love found family. Representation without stating it. Very fluid way of writing. (Non binary)

Magic system was explained but I don’t feel like I need to know more about it then what’s there.

I’m curious about other character’s stories now.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for this digital ARC.

I absolutely loved this warm hug of a book. It was super fun, cute, easy to read and hard to put down. It’s not exactly cozy fantasy but definitely has many elements of it. I loved the romance, the world, the magic, the characters, the found family!! Just everything, but read on if you want more deets!

👍
+ These two are just so adorable. They were almost immediately attracted to one another but the actual feelings took some time to develop. But even when they weren’t friendly, the way they respected each others’ boundaries, the way they helped each other learn things, and the way they took care of each other was so so sweet. Plus there’s one section of the book where one of them goes through some changes. Those scenes might be some of the cutest things I’ve ever read.
+ I found the premise and world of the book very interesting as well. There’s some marrying of magic and technology that I thought was a really cool concept. With great (but not in your face) commentaries on capitalism and politics.
+ I loved the found family aspects of the book. I liked how the characters that had built up walls around themselves slowly let others in. And how well they balanced each other out, and saw that there’s strength in relying on one another.
+ I also love the variety of characteristics in the book, and they all go through some growth and change.
+ Representation: One of the MCs is nonbinary, and so is the magician they work with. What I loved was that even the villains of the book respected their pronouns.

👎
- One of the MCs kept calling himself a genius. A little too conceited and also a little too telling not showing since we didn’t really see that much of his “genius”.
- I loved the world of the book so much, I could have done with more of it. 😀

Overall rating: 4.5⭐️

Thank you Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

(4.5 Stars)

If there is one thing you can count on in this world, it’s that you’re gonna have a damn good time when you pick up an F.T. Lukens book.

Their stories are satirical, tongue-in-cheek, they have that sort of over-the-top humorous queer banter that I just can’t get enough of, and they’re just so much fun from start to finish.

Every time I read something from F.T. Lukens, I leave the story feeling so much lighter than when I came into it. I feel like they take so much weight off of my shoulders just by giving us these imaginative, hilarious, fully immersive queer stories with such endearing characters and found families.

So of course this is yet another laugh-out-loud story with utterly ridiculous characters who are just posturing to the extreme, trying to play it cool, trying to make it seem like they know exactly what they’re doing when they very much don’t.

Besides the humor and the feel-good romance, which are definitely F.T. Lukens’ forte, I feel like this story is a really strong statement against gatekeeping, against those who want to quantify who belongs to a community and who deserves recognition and protection within that community by drawing this imaginary line to determine who is "enough" and who isn’t.

That’s really what’s driving the entire story, because Rook has grown up his entire life with his grandmother, who was magic and who always made him feel like part of that magic. But without her to “legitimize” his connection to magic, he’s been forcefully removed from it. That creates a huge void in his life, and that’s why he decides to invent this illegal device that will connect him to magic again. The only reason why that device poses a threat to this all-powerful Magical Consortium is because that means he has access to magic that they cannot control or define.

That’s what struck me the most about the story: on the one hand, it’s a really light-hearted, fun, magical romp, but it’s *also* taking a very firm stance against authoritarianism and gatekeeping, like I said, by showing that there are so many more ways to exist than can be anticipated when we try to establish these hard limitations of what humanity can or should look like.

I also appreciate the magic system in this story, because it opens up a conversation about issues of access and scarcity of resources.

In this world, magic functions in relation to ley lines. If you’re near a stronger ley line, you can perform more powerful magic, if you’re near a weaker line then you can’t perform any magic or very simple magic. Rhat system is, again, challenging this idea that magic, in this case, is monolithic—the misconception that everyone who uses magic is automatically on equal footing and using magic in the same exact ways.

As the story goes on, you see Rook questioning whether there truly is such a thing as being an incredibly powerful, naturally gifted sorcerer in this world. Are there people who have a natural affinity for magic, or simply people who have more opportunities to access stronger and better magic?

You know I love a good parallel as well, and I love how Rook is someone who is constantly searching for magic, and Sun is someone who has a very good sense of seeing magic both in the world and in other people around them. So there’s a really beautiful emotional arc between them as Rook finds what he’s looking for in Sun and Sun is able to see the magic—metaphoric and perhaps literal—that has always existed within Rook.

These wonderfully silly self-acclaimed “frenemies” definitely get up to some hijinks in this book, and it was really fun and emotionally rewarding to follow their story through to the end. As I said, this book truly brought me so much joy every second that I spent with it. F.T. Lukens has never once let me down, and I doubt they ever will. I encourage you to pick up any one of their books if you want to experience something truly special!

First of all, the cover art is absolutely gorgeous. Secondly, the world building in this is so good! I loved the magic system and how they pulled magic; the description of the spell casting made me feel like I was legitimately watching it. Lukens has become an auto-buy author for me; their writing is so interesting, unique and immersive--I have bought copies of all their books for my high school classroom so my kids have easy access to them!

This book is everything I could have wanted from Lukens. Their writing style feels like a warm hug and I absolutely love their characters and stories. This book did not disappoint and is one that I will continue to come back to time and time again.