Would it be bad of me to say that I had such a great time this Memorial Day weekend, I forgot I had a blog? No? Darn.
Sorcerers & Secretaries: Volume 2 by Amy Kim Ganter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Volume one focused on the growing romance between Nicole Hayes, a business major who secretly writes fantasy stories in a very pretty notebook, and Josh Kim, a playboy who really isn’t.
In this volume, the focus (kind of) shifts away from the romance as a central theme. Josh discovers Nicole’s book and is swept away by the power of her storytelling. In fact, he’s able to add his own insight…and it’s good! It becomes very clear in this volume that he loves a well-written story as much as Nicole does, even though he’s not a writer himself. This was hinted at in the first volume while he was working in the bookstore, but in this volume you realize just how deep this love of story goes.
There’s a lot of cute scenes between Josh and Nicole in the volume. I love how Ms. Ganter focuses on their relationship instead of just the passion.
However, I was a little disappointed that Josh’s motives became muddy. I gave this volume three stars because the infatuation that had been so clear in the first volume suddenly wasn’t, and he was talking about how he wasn’t sure if he thought of her as more than a friend? It made very little sense in context with the rest of the story, especially since Josh fought so hard in the first volume to get her to go out with him.
Nicole’s fantasy story makes up for any confusion in the romance.
As their relationship goes through the inevitable rough patches, Nicole continues writing. With Josh’s encouragement, she enters a contest in a fantasy magazine. Her struggles as she tries to complete the story before the deadline really rang true, including her desperate attempt to just finish the darn thing already and move on with the rest of her life. When she does finish it, the ending came as a surprise to me. The twist was strong enough I wasn’t sure what to make of it until the characters explained it. Once they did, it made a lot of sense and satisfied me.
The side story with Nicole’s friend and Josh’s roommate was okay. It was funny, but, compared to Nicole and Josh, felt more shallow.
All the stories in the volume finish well. The ending, true to the rest of the story, has passion and heart without going over the top. Overall, the series is sweet and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Amy Keeley 