Charmed

The Enchanted Kingdom Chronicles, Book 2

By: Camille Peters

Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio

Maeve is perfectly content with her simple life in the woods…until an unexpected encounter with a wizard thrusts her into an unwanted magical apprenticeship. Although she's reluctant to leave her struggling family behind, Maeve will do anything to help her ailing brother, including honing the magic she didn't know she possessed until she has the skill required to perform a magical cure.

One day both her magical education and carefully laid plans go awry when a mistaken ingredient creates not a spell for healing, but a curse that transforms her into a frog. Left with no other course, Maeve is forced to rely on the wizard and secret prince, Alden, whose distraction with anything not pertaining to magic leaves him as the last man she can rely on.

Unaware of his new frog companion's true identity as his apprentice, Prince Alden and Maeve work together to compete in a magical contest whose prize will give both of them their greatest desire. Amid all manner of charms, spells, and enchantments—as well as the dangers brought by the other competitors and a mysterious curse slowly robbing each contestant of their powers—Alden and Maeve will need to find the strength to overcome the obstacles hindering their journey in order to open their eyes to the possibility that the greatest spell of all might not be the magical ambitions they're striving for, but the true love that has been in disguise all along.

Inspired by "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Frog Princess"

©2023 Camille Peters (P)2024 Shiromi Arserio

Charming second book!

This was a charming second installment in the Enchanted Kingdom Chronicles!

I adore fairy tale retellings and love Camille Peters imaginative worlds she’s crafts. Despite my knowledge of fairy tales, I don’t often read retellings of “The Frog Princess”. Even when I do, they’re typically odd or the reader can tell the author stretched to make relevant tie-ins to the original text. Camille Peters version is not in this category! Charmed was absolutely adorable and fun!

The heroine, Maeve, is caring, intelligent, and can hold her own in a battle of wits. So often strong female characters are written as stubborn and I find it hard to root for them just because they don’t want to “bow down” to whims of others. Maeve had her opinions but was also willing to learn. She knew her limits. And knew she needed to confess to the handsome wizard she accidentally cursed herself into a frog. There are complications, there’s a wizard competition, and there’s the pressing of time with magic dwindling and young Corbin’s life fading. I loved getting to know Prince Alden better in this book after meeting him in “Forgotten”. His chapters provide readers a new perspective on some edgy characters and I love it!

The audiobook was masterfully narrated. I loved the frog voice, which really made the misunderstanding between Maeve, Mae, and Alden stronger in the middle act.