Well we all looked forward to the final install of Lisa Lutz's Spellman series (I've been looking forward to it since last year, when I emailed her and asked when the next book was coming out :)). I went out at bought it the day it came out, since I neglected to put it on hold at Howard County Library and Pikesville didn't get it fast enough...
The rule is that whenever you anticipate a book too much, it will not live up to expectations - that's not a Murphy's Law thing, it's just that you end up expecting more than there really is. (don't know if you get the difference, but there is one). So I wasn't expecting to love The Spellmans Strike Again - and yes I know that I wasn't expecting to love the book because my expectations were too high... I have very multi-layered thought processes :)
The truth is, even though I always found these books funny, I read them for the romance - because that's what I generally read books for :) - so let me first discuss the romance.... they got together, as I knew they would, and Henry said he liked her the whole time, which is always good... but I just don't think she handled it that well - Henry may have liked her, but his behavior (and the description of his behavior) just didn't make that obvious enough - trust me, I'm an expert at picking up the author's "subtle clues" and she just didn't put 'em in. So that's my complaint there - full marks for the big scene at 2:00 in the morning though :)
As for the humor.. this book was definitely not the romp that the other 3 were... but I think that may have been intentional - after all, Isobel is growing up - she's just not going to be the same wacko anymore -and that's a good thing, even if it doesn't make for the best fiction
as for the verdict... given that all i care about is the romance, i'll give it a 4/5. for those of you who read it for the antics... I'd have to say 2.5/5, but only compared with the others in the series. Overall, it's still at least a 3... and if I had to rate it against books in general, well it'd definitely be between a 4 and a 5... but that's because I rate most books at somewhere between 1 and 2 :)
hmm... didn't end up being that short... that's what i love about books - i can just go on and on and on :)
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