Synopsis:
Charm Me Not is book two in the Tangled Web series of standalones by Danielle Keil.
At Fairview-Teller High, dark mixes with light. Evil with good. And villains with heroes. But there’s a reason the students call it Fairy Tale High. They’ll get their happily ever after, even if they have to fight for it.
When Una starts sort-of secretly dating one of her father’s soccer players… life gets complicated.
Una Nielsen is the contract maker. Sign and date, and she’ll do whatever you want—for a price.
The one thing she hates dealing with? Love.
When the charming soccer captain comes to her with a contract, she can’t turn him down. Even if it deals with love.
And her.
She agrees to go out with him a few times to see if he can change her mind and believe in love.
Only because she found a loophole in the deal.
They have to keep their plan a secret so her dad—and the rest of the school—doesn’t find out.
But secrets at Fairy Tale High are hard to keep…
Review:
I’ve started relying on Danielle Keil for a decent read. I wouldn’t say her books are the best I’ve ever read but you can guarantee they will be quick, easy and entertaining. I don’t think I like the Tangled Web series as much as her Love Notes series, but both books so far have been pretty good.
Charm Me Not wasn’t as good at the first though. This is probably because it took me a while to get through it, which was more down to the time of year (Christmas) than the book being slow. I always find when it takes me more than a week to finish a book my rating is negatively impacted.
I definitely did enjoy Charm Me Not though. The ‘retelling’ elements are very subtle but there are so many references, especially to Disney movies. Our main character is called Una, who is based on Ursula. She takes on ‘contracts’ from her schoolmates to help them with problems, most often including love, much to Una’s despair. Then there is Charlie, who I’m assuming is Prince Charming from Cinderella as he was dating a girl called Cindy before this book begins. There’s also Flow and Jett, who help Una complete contracts and Aria (Ariel), Una’s ex-stepsister. So while this isn’t an outright retelling, there are so many influences from fairy tales.
Charm Me Not is also full of tropes. The most prominent ones are reverse grumpy x sunshine and a secret relationship. It took me a while to get on board with Charlie and Una but Charlie was so nice that it was hard not to like him. Una was often standoffish and selfish, but she is very likeable. Their dates were so cute and I especially loved the trip to the aquarium.
Overall, as with all of Danielle Keil’s books I’ve read so far, I’d recommend Charm Me Not. It’s very much a YA read, so if that’s not your thing, this isn’t for you. But if you’re after a clean, sweet romance, this is the book for you. I will be continuing this series at some point as I think the next one is fake dating, my favourite trope, so keep an eye out for that review at some point in the future!
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