After reading “Phantasma”, the first book in the Wicked Games series by Kaylie Smith, “Enchantra” has been on my bookshelf for a while and I finally read it. First thing, I really loved the storyline of “Phantasma” and I did in fact come to like the main characters: Ophelia and Salem. Which I suppose is why I had such high hopes for “Enchantra”, while I enjoyed the storyline (which was pretty similar to “Phantasma”) I didn’t come to like the main characters as much as I did previously.

Before I continue, as always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!

Now, where the first book followed Ophelia Grimm, the eldest daughter of Tessie Grimm who inherits the family’s necromancy magic after the sudden death of her mother which then leads Ophelia and her younger sister to participate in a devil’s competition called Phantasma, where Ophelia releases her very own Prince of Devils who becomes tied to her own soul. This second book follows her younger sister, Genevieve, who has a rather irritating personality compared to Ophelia. She’s headstrong, stubborn and I found her to be a rather difficult character to connect with. Putting her character analysis aside, Genevieve finds herself in another Devil’s game with a family of wraiths, one of whom seems to utterly dislike her (queuing sexual tension!). Said wraith is named Rowlington, or Rowlin, who finds himself married to Genevieve in order to make her a Silver, so she can participate in the games without being killed by a devil for accidentally entering the arena without being related to the family in any way.

Genevieve is forced to help Rowlin survive the game, which will also allow her to survive all the while trying to find a way for Rowlin to free his family of the Devil’s claws and cure his mother of a disease that’s slowly killing her despite her being a demon. She dodges killing blows from his siblings while trying to avoid any kind of emotional connection with her now husband, which is practically impossible for her (queuing sexual tension and spicy scenes!)

Now, I said that I wasn’t a fan of Genevieve’s character, but because of this I took a little more notice of the minor characters, aka Rowlin’s siblings. Sevington (Sevin) is the jester of the family, and despite his attempts to kill Genevieve I still really like him. He’s the comic relief of the story, and I really wished that he was in it more. Remington (Remi) is Rowlin’s identical twin brother, while Rowlin is covered in tattoos and has piercings in some interesting places, Remi does not. Other than that, there’s not really much that is revealed about Remi during the story which intrigues me. Wellington (Wells) was also another likeable sibling, but unfortunately he was knocked out of the game pretty early so you don’t find out much about him either, other than that he is rather playful and likes to place bets on parts of the game. Ellington (Elli) is the twin sister of Wells and we have a little more of an idea of what her character is like, she is loving towards her siblings, especially her twin, however when it comes to winning the game she will use their weaknesses against them, especially her being the only sister in their group. She can be caring, ambitious, totally ferocious and competitive but completely devoted to her family. I loved her character and I hope to see more of her in the next book. The last sibling is Gravington (Grave), who is the dark and brooding brother who is completely focused on targeting Genevieve throughout the game, even during the resting hours. His character comes across as the type that you are suppose to hate but you also know that there is a little bit more to him, which is revealed towards the end of the book.

For me, I think the best parts of the book was the setting description of the gothic style mansion that they were all trapped in and not to mention the enchanted rooms. I have to say, Kaylie Smith has a gift when it comes to painting the settings of her stories. The other part was the ending of the books, I loved the twist when it came to finishing the game, it was unexpected and I really hated myself for not picking up on it sooner. I also liked the epilogue, Kaylie Smith dropped a few easter eggs in there leading into the next book which piques my interest. I’m thinking it will be mainly about Sevin, but I am also keen to see the interactions between Grave and little miss Luci.

All in all, it was a good read, not as good as “Phantasma” but still good. If you do decide to read it, I strongly suggest having lower expectations than you originally had from “Phantasma” but then again, you may enjoy it a lot more than me.

Happy Reading!