Review: Completely Smitten by Kristine Grayson

2015 Reading Challenge: A Book with Magic

Kristine Grayson is one of many pen names of Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I’m a regular follower of her blog, as she has extensive experience in writing and publishing, and writes some excellent blog posts on the subject. I’ve also read and reviewed her marketing book, Discoverability, which was also excellent.

However, writing about writing isn’t how Rusch/Greyson has made her name (names?). She’s written widely across fiction genres, including romance, paranormal romance, science fiction and fantasy, including for popular lines such as Star Trek. I have been interested in sampling some of her fiction, so was pleased when I found this in my local library, and even more pleased when I found it could count towards my 2015 Reading Challenge, as A Book With Magic.

Completely Smitten is the story of Darius, cursed by the Fates for mocking true love, forced to live in an ugly body until he unites one hundred pairs of soul mates. It’s been three thousand years, and he has just united his ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth couples when he meets—and falls for—Ariel Summers. Unfortunately, he can see she has a soul mate, and his job isn’t to fall for Ariel, but to find and match her with the lucky man. But the path of true love never did run smooth, and Darius has to use more than a little of his magic with Ariel.

And there’s plenty of magic, along with plenty of humour, witty dialogue (truly, some of the dialogue is a study in excellence), excellent characters, and a plot that twists and turns throughout history while remaining firmly anchored in the present.

Best of all, while it was a paranormal romance in the sense that Darius is three thousand years old and has an interesting background (among other things, he inspired many of Shakespeare’s plays), it was a sweet romance with little bad language, no violence, and no sex.

It's not Christian romance, but it is a clean, fun read. Recommended for those looking for an enjoyable general market romance with no inappropriate content.