Enchantment

Rating:
Summary: Very Original Tale
Review: "Enchantment" is the third novel in Ms Nance's Djinn (genie) series, but it is written in such a way that it can stand on its own. I have not read the first two books in the series (yet), but I had no trouble following the characters or references made to the other stories.

"Enchantment" is lively and humorous romp, it is also original enough to keep you guessing till the end. Jack, the hero of the story, was apparently toyed with in a previous book and he has vowed never to let it happen again. He invents a pendent that he hopes will nullify the djinn's power, but before he can test it out a sexy dark-haired stranger approaches him in a New Orleans bar. With their first kiss sparks fly, literally, and he finds himself and the woman transported to the wild and dangerously unpredictable world of the djinn.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining "djinn" romance by a star of that genre
Review: Courtesy of Love Romances

Leila is a djinn, though not the most talented one. In her home of Kaf, land of the djinn and other extraordinary magical beings, ma'at (magic) is highly prized with those unable to perform it well being considered outcasts and often scorned by the others. She has spent her life trying to cultivate what little ma'at she had, hoping to master it and become equal to her peers.

Jack Montgomery is a scientist with a penchant for extreme sports, who hates anything that cannot be explained away by logic and facts. He hates magic of any kind, especially since his beloved sister went off and married a djinn from another land. He has spent months trying to find a way to master magic, putting it under his control, where he could stave off magic of any kind and he could always be in control. Finally he has created a talisman that will protect him from magic's power.

When he happens across Leila one night in a bar, he is intrigued, especially when it appears she has set her sights on his person, in the hopes of getting the one thing she wanted almost as much as ma'at, a baby. Jack is fascinated with the exotic beauty, captivated by her allure and charm, and... her magic? Too late he realizes she has placed him under her spell, activating his charm to protect himself. Once the flashing lights and heat caused by the reaction of his talisman subside, he finds himself trapped... trapped in a land of people that survive because of the one thing he hates above all... magic.

Not only have they been zapped to Kaf, but Leila's ma'at has been zapped as well, having been negated by the force of Jack's talisman. She is infuriated with him for stealing the one thing she needs above all, and he is infuriated with her for trying to seduce him with the magic he abhors. Trapped in the hostile Tower Lands of Kaf, they must venture to the home of his sister Isis and her husband, ruler of the djinn, convinced he is the only one who can undo the wrongs and send Jack home.

Danger lurks around every corner and in every crevice in this seemingly barren world, and when an evil djinn decides he wants Jack's power for his own, even more hurdles have to be overcome along the way. But through it all, through the dangerous trek across inhospitable land, Jack and Leila can't resist the allure of each other. Now Jack finds himself in an even greater danger then succumbing to the ma'at he hates.... He finds himself in the thrall of an even greater Enchantment, that of his love for the mystical beauty.

This being the reviewer's first Kathleen Nance novel, it won't be the last. It was a pleasurable welcome to the world of Kaf and ma'at. The characters are charming and a joy to meet. Jack is a strong man of virtue and intelligence, who was permanently scarred, literally and figuratively, by a single traumatic event of his childhood. Leila has always been an outcast, using her wits and what few skills she possessed when her ma'at failed her. She has always lived with the stigma of being less then perfect, unable to master even the simplest of magical feats. Of course, there is the irresistible pet "rock" of Jack, Mistrock, who attaches itself to Jack, never straying far from his side.

For the most part, action is present throughout the story, though it does wane a bit at times, focusing on Leila and Jack's journey across the Tower Lands. One thing that never quite was fully understood by this reviewer however, was Jack's almost obsessive aversion to all things magical. He did survive a very traumatic experience as a young child, but as it was totally unrelated to magic, this reviewer could never quite understand why he will avoid it at all costs, but not seem to have the same aversion to other things which can cause the same feeling of being out-of-control. Other then that not quite adding up in this story, this book is an enjoyable read, keeping one's interest piqued, even through the slower segments of the story.

This tale is worthy of reading, bringing about an escape from reality for the reader, which is often highly sought after in today's hustle-and-bustle society. Go out and by this book, as well as the rest of the books in the series, for the reader will want to keep going until having read them all.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, April 2003. All rights reserved.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting romantic fantasy
Review: Ever since Darius toyed with him using magic, scientist Dr. Jack Montgomery has worked to find away to disrupt the flow. Now just over two years has lapsed since Jack first tasted magic and hated his lack of control due to it. He feels her has found the means to void spells.

Her first choice would have been a man with magical abilities, but being a lightweight genie, Leila settles on intelligence and chooses Jack from a picture she saw of him in her homeland. Leila spins an attraction spell that makes her an alluring 10+, but that does not work as much as the passion Jack feels from looking at her. Jack and Leila kiss, but when the sparks settle and the lips reluctantly separate, a whirlpool spins them into the land of the Djinn. Jack must use other means besides his logical earth physics-based mind if they are to survive until he finds his powerful brother-in-law. As he falls in love with his companion, Jack wonders if his feelings are real or part of a spell cast by Leila.

Fans of fantasy romance will feel the ENCHANTMENT of a wonderful novel if they try Kathleen Nance's latest tale. The action-packed story line works on two levels that of the adventures in the mystical land of Djinn and that of a love story between a mortal and a genie. After perusing this novel the audience will conclude that this time the Wizard of Oz provides substance as Ms. Nance deserves accolades for her well written imaginative book.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: "Whisk-you-away" romance
Review: For every action, there is an equal and opposing reaction. Such scientific theorems are Jack Montgomery's weapons against illogic and theoretical impossibilities. Two years ago, his sister, Isis, and her djinni husband, Darius, revealed the existence of magic to him, however. As a biomedical engineer, Jack has obsessed over its existence ever since, distrusting its chaotic power, but has finally discovered a way to negate it. The chain around his neck is composed of titanium and copper wires. Theoretically, the computer chip it powers should stall magic at its source by disrupting its energy flow.

Deciding that a celebratory drink is in order, Jack leaves his lab and heads to a tavern around the corner, where a sultry beauty (whose innate sensuality is as thick in the air as French perfume) immediately catches his eye, and the interest of points further south. Looking away from her lushly curved body and kissable lips is harder than it should be. The pull of attraction is just too strong for Jack to accept without pondering its cause (beyond the obvious, that is) and its effects. Swirling sparkles of color warn him too late, however, that the woman is djinn -- a genie -- and has woven a seduction spell around him. As a dizzying vortex tries to summon him to Kaf, land of the djinni, Jack switches his talisman on, but is taken aback by the results.

Leila's ma'at -- her magic -- is gone, stolen by Isis's handsome brother, and by Solomon, he will return it! she vows furiously. Jack is quick to deny any foul intent, claiming to be neither wizard nor fiend. Although in Kaf, Leila and this powerful human are stranded in the Tower Lands, a remote and inhospitable place where dry wind and ash are a sore trial, indeed, to one as pampered as she. Hidden reserves of strength and determination are soon put to the test, for Leila and Jack have a fair distance to travel on foot before parting ways.

Will the enchantment of Kaf lure a ma-at wary scientist into acceptance of so foreign a land and so foreign a love, or denial of its very existence?

Reading a novel by Kathleen Nance is akin to discovering a djinni in a bottle: Readers will feel the excitement, trepidation and wide-eyed wonderment of such a discovery to the very tips of their toes. Enchantment is a wildly imaginative and fantastical tale about the alchemical properties of love and science. Jack is very much a man of scientific principles, probabilities and theorems. Hence, he's the proverbial fish out of water in a land as changeable and unpredictable as Kaf. A childhood trauma has made him leery of such unpredictability, of chaos and disorder and a lack of control (whereas Leila has thrived on the very upheaval Jack is so averse to). Seduction has long since become a form of habit to her. Leila's ma'at has never been particularly strong -- to her everlasting sorrow and regret -- so she has cultivated what skills she can, where she can.

Elementally Leila and Jack are fire and water, two competing forces that threaten to cancel each other out. Their relationship isn't as complex as it could be, however, and thank goodness for that! Potential misunderstandings are thought through and discussed before serious damage can be done to their relationship. In fact, a power hungry djinni is more of a threat to Leila and Jack than their diametrically opposed lifestyles. Internal conflicts are still a problem, of course, but Ms. Nance has the foresight to utilize such conflicts to further character development. Her descriptions of Kaf are nearly as engrossing, blending fantasy with futuristic elements and bringing the land of the djinn alive through uniquely diverse, exotic locales and secondary characters (including a pet rock; how very droll, hmm?).

Although its intensity may wax and wane, Enchantment is still a "whisk-you-away" romance that's whimsical, soothing and darkly passionate. Ms. Nance's prose is almost redolent of sandalwood, the muskiness of earth and the heated promise of an Arabian night. (Oh, to possess the awesome, magical possibilities of ma'at and to bend it to one's will so effortlessly!)...

Rating:
Summary: AuthorZone.Com Book Review
Review: For every action, there is an equal and opposing reaction. Such scientific theorems are Jack Montgomery's weapons against illogic and theoretical impossibilities. Two years ago, his sister, Isis, and her djinni husband, Darius, revealed the existence of magic to him, however. As a biomedical engineer, Jack has obsessed over its existence ever since, distrusting its chaotic power, but has finally discovered a way to negate it. The chain around his neck is composed of titanium and copper wires. Theoretically, the computer chip it powers should stall magic at its source by disrupting its energy flow.

Deciding that a celebratory drink is in order, Jack leaves his lab and heads to a tavern around the corner, where a sultry beauty (whose innate sensuality is as thick in the air as French perfume) immediately catches his eye, and the interest of points further south. Looking away from her lushly curved body and kissable lips is harder than it should be. The pull of attraction is just too strong for Jack to accept without pondering its cause (beyond the obvious, that is) and its effects. Swirling sparkles of color warn him too late, however, that the woman is djinn -- a genie -- and has woven a seduction spell around him. As a dizzying vortex tries to summon him to Kaf, land of the djinni, Jack switches his talisman on, but is taken aback by the results.

Leila's ma'at -- her magic -- is gone, stolen by Isis's handsome brother, and by Solomon, he will return it! she vows furiously. Jack is quick to deny any foul intent, claiming to be neither wizard nor fiend. Although in Kaf, Leila and this powerful human are stranded in the Tower Lands, a remote and inhospitable place where dry wind and ash are a sore trial, indeed, to one as pampered as she. Hidden reserves of strength and determination are soon put to the test, for Leila and Jack have a fair distance to travel on foot before parting ways.

Will the enchantment of Kaf lure a ma-at wary scientist into acceptance of so foreign a land and so foreign a love, or denial of its very existence?

Reading a novel by Kathleen Nance is akin to discovering a djinni in a bottle: Readers will feel the excitement, trepidation and wide-eyed wonderment of such a discovery to the very tips of their toes. Enchantment is a wildly imaginative and fantastical tale about the alchemical properties of love and science. Jack is very much a man of scientific principles, probabilities and theorems. Hence, he's the proverbial fish out of water in a land as changeable and unpredictable as Kaf. A childhood trauma has made him leery of such unpredictability, of chaos and disorder and a lack of control (whereas Leila has thrived on the very upheaval Jack is so averse to). Seduction has long since become a form of habit to her. Leila's ma'at has never been particularly strong -- to her everlasting sorrow and regret -- so she has cultivated what skills she can, where she can.

Elementally, Leila and Jack are fire and water, two competing forces that threaten to cancel each other out. Their relationship isn't as complex as it could be, however, and thank goodness for that! Potential misunderstandings are thought through and discussed before serious damage can be done to their relationship. In fact, a power hungry djinni is more of a threat to Leila and Jack than their diametrically opposed lifestyles. Internal conflicts are still a problem, of course, but Ms. Nance has the foresight to utilize such conflicts to further character development. Her descriptions of Kaf are nearly as engrossing, blending fantasy with futuristic elements and bringing the land of the djinn alive through uniquely diverse, exotic locales and secondary characters (including a pet rock; how very droll, hmm?).

Although its intensity may wax and wane, Enchantment is still a "whisk-you-away" romance that's whimsical, soothing and darkly passionate. Ms. Nance's prose is almost redolent of sandalwood, the muskiness of earth and the heated promise of an Arabian night. (Oh, to possess the awesome, magical possibilities of ma'at and to bend it to one's will so effortlessly!)...

Reviewed by C.L. Jeffries

Rating:
Summary: If only I had read the rest of the book
Review: I got about 75 -100 pages into the book and lost interest. I have yet to read the rest. It just seemed that all of the steam had run out of the book. I loved the start... but I just could not get in to the story.

Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: I wouldn't call this book excellent, but it was a pretty good read. Leila, the Djinn who we first saw in Darius' book, is back in this one. She wants a child, but the Djinn aren't particularly fertile. However, she's noticed that both the male Djinn who'd taken human women as wives had had children by them pretty quickly. Leila's plan is to seduce a mortal male and then dump him after she's gotten what she wants. She's chosen Jack (the brother of Isis, also from Darius' book), because he's a genius and not bad at all in the looks department. Unfortunately for her, Jack's violently against magic and has created a device to disrupt magic used on him. It has effects he hadn't planned on, and the two of them end up in an area of Kaf (the home of the Djinn) where Leila hadn't planned on taking them. What's worse is that, although Leila didn't have much magic before, she doesn't seem to have any now....

There were parts of this book that I absolutely loved. Finally there's a human who the Djinn have to be wary of! Also, when she wasn't pouting and behaving like an overly pampered princess, I really liked Leila too, which surprised me since I really disliked her in the last book. Then there was Zayne, a Djinn who definitely sparked my interest. I'm guessing we'll be seeing more of him in the next book in this series. It was nice to see Darius and his pupil again. However, this story just didn't feel as exciting as the other two books. Xerxes wasn't that great a villain, and I got bored a few times with Leila and Jack's interaction with one another. Then there was the fact that, although I understood that it was awful for Leila to have no magic and that she hated being thought of as weak all her life because she had so little magic, I got tired of hearing about it after a while.

Rating:
Summary: Takes a while to get into the story
Review: Jack Montgomery (brother of Isis from 'More Than Magic') was truly freaked out when Darius used various spells on him, being unable to stop himself from performing whatever the spell asked of him. Since that time, brilliant scientist Jack has dedicated himself to making a device that will leave him immune to the effects of Ma-at, the magic of Kaf, home world of the djinn. The very night of his success he runs into Leila, who unknown to him has come to the Terran Earth expressly to meet Jack, and seduce him into giving her a baby (the Djinn rarely are able to produce offspring, but a human/djinn mix seems to work). Beautiful Leila has not much ma-at, and wants someone to love, someone she need not play the role of confident seductress with. She transports Jack back to Kaf, but his instinctive use of his new talisman takes away her ma-at and leaves them stranded in the rather hostile Tower Lands. Jack must deal with being in a world of magic, when magic frankly terrifies him, and Leila must come to terms with being denied even the small portion of ma-at that she had - the rigours of camping, dust that cannot be removed with a thought, sleeping on stone and other hardships. Jack is logical, scientific - Leila a creature of magic. Would these two opposites attract?

And just when they were beginning to come to terms with each other, they come to a village full of djinni. And Leila's ma-at returns. Add to this Jack's suspicion that someone evil is amongst Leila's djinni friends, and their trust will soon be put to the test.

I liked the book best once Jack and Leila had others to interact with. Their trek through the Tower Lands was necessary for them to get to know each other and come to have some measure of trust and growing feeling for each other before it was put to the test, but I was beginning to wonder if the action of the book would ever start. It was sweet to see Leila responding to Jack's caring about of all things the health of her feet. But there are a lot of pages spent on these few days. However, once they get to the village, things begin to get going. Their new feelings are explored and constantly tested. New friends and old - Darius, Jarad, Isis and even Simon are joined by minstrel Zayne, and Jack's new pet rock Mistrock is certainly a bit of a character in his own right.

In my view the pace and events of the second half of the book make up for the necessary getting-to-know-you isolation and relative slowness of the first half. I'd suggest that a reader first read `Wishes Come True' and `More Than Magic' because much of the benefit of the second half of this book is also rejoining old friends from these earlier works. It's a good read if you've read at least More Than Magic, but I'm not sure I'd feel it was strong enough to make it without the support of the earlier work.

Rating:
Summary: Kathleen conjures another delightful tale!!
Review: Kathleen gets better and better with each book she writers, though The Seeker is my favourite at this point. She writer two very original and distinct series: the Immortals and the Djinns. She moves from one series to the other ( a couple of each before switching back) keeping the tale fresh and SO ENJOYABLE!!

Enchanted, obviously by the cover, is the newest in the djinn series. This one follows Jack Montgomery (the brother of Isis we met in More than Magic). Jack is terrified of the loss of control magick represents, despite his sister making a different choice, and has gone to great lengths to create a small device to negate the power of magick - though he would be loath to admit it - a talisman against magick. And it has adverse reactions when he meets up with the sexy lady in a New Orleans night club. Leila is a djinn, though a rather week one, sort of an outcast in djinn world since she has trouble mastering all the way of magick. She wants a baby, and since she learns that the mating of a human and djinn can produce one, she goes after Jack. But when he touches his talisman, instead of being protected from her magick, he is thrown into her world were magick is the norm and the only means to survive. Only his talisman robbed Leila of her magickal powers, and they are now left alone in the desert to survive on just his wits.

It is a gentle tale of these two out of elements having to learn to depend and trust the other in order to live through the ordeal of being isolated for all both know.

To fully enjoy, I suggestion your read When Wishes Come True and More than Magick!! A delightful trio!!

Way to go Kathleen...keep giving up magick!!

WISE WRITERS AND READERS Book of the Month for September 2002