Hi hello friends and welcome to the Spellbound Lies blog tour, hosted by the always wonderful Rockstar Book Tours! Today, I’ll be sharing my review for the book along with an exciting guest post from the author, Catherine Downen, as well as an awesome giveaway where you could win Catherine’s full ebook catalog as well as some beautiful physical art prints! So, be sure to stick around to the end of this post for all of the giveaway information because you definitely don’t want to miss out. Let’s get started!
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Title: Spellbound Lies
Author: Catherine Downen
Pages: 650
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: 11 October 2022
From Goodreads: "The prince has been in a constant battle with the beast lurking beneath his skin. Not a creature to be slayed, but a man crafted from the darkest evils. The two shift between the body they share, threatening to unleash a destruction that would change their realm forever.
When Jessamyn Elisdream sneaks into the palace in search of a lost family heirloom, she uncovers more than she bargained for. To keep Prince Nikolaus’s curse a secret, she is imprisoned in the palace until the witch’s spell can be broken.
Trapped inside the palace with the prince’s two changing forms, Jessamyn is caught in a war of good versus evil. The prince versus his beast. And a heart that betrays her."
Thank you so much to Catherine Downen and Rockstar Book Tours for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’m pretty sure I first became aware of this book through TikTok which surprisingly, has not let me down with the recommendations I’ve decided to pick up because of videos on the app. Naturally, I was intrigued by the stunning cover and the fact that it was not only a Beauty and the Beast inspired book but also a Jekyll and Hyde inspired? Color me confused but also sign me up because I absolutely love Beauty and the Beast! So when I saw the opportunity to join the blog tour and actually read the book early, I jumped and crossed my fingers. At over 600 pages, Spellbound Lies is a stunning reimagining of two classic stories that merge together to create a fantastic tale that will leave you breathless and completely spellbound. Okay, I know that was cheesy but I couldn’t resist the opportunity!
We all read books for different reasons, right? Some to escape reality, others to maybe learn more about a certain topic. Fantasy books are always a safe pick when it comes to wanting to leave the real world behind for a bit and travel to a fantastic land where you can be the hero, if only for a few moments. When I was younger, I never really understood how important the ability to escape into a story was. Now, after dealing with a plethora of medical issues and a roller coaster of life in general, books are more important to me than ever. Spellbound Lies came into my life at the perfect time and I didn’t even realize how special it would become to me when I first picked it up. It has allowed me to be someone else for a while as I followed Jessamyn and the Prince’s story and for that, I’m so very grateful to the author. Life has been rough for us lately, but this book gave me a beautiful escape.
A 600+ page book may sound daunting, but Spellbound Lies made every single page count. I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely beautiful this book is! Catherine Downen has a way of weaving words together and genuinely capturing your attention. You’re brought into the story and begin to care about these characters and their world so fast, almost without realizing that it’s happened. The story influences of Beauty and the Beast and Jekyll and Hyde are definitely present, and it’s fun when you notice bits and pieces of each while you’re reading, but it’s also a unique book all on its own! I love how the author took those story influences and turned them into this magical book about love, family, friendship, and finding yourself. Honestly? I could easily read another 600 pages if it meant I got to stay in this world with these characters for a longer period of time!
I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sure about Jessamyn at first. I couldn’t help but picture and continue to compare her to Belle (who is one of my favorite Disney Princesses of all time) who is this strong and independent character from the very beginning of the story. It’s clear with Jessamyn that she doesn’t know who she is or where she’s going in her life, outside of what she assumes she’ll be doing because of her family business. She’s not comfortable in her own skin and while she does absolutely have her moments of sass, she just feels…lost at the beginning. But oh my gosh the more I continued to read, the more I saw her grow as a character and I loved it so much. She went from lost about her identity to being this amazingly strong and wonderful character and it’s probably one of my favorite character growth arcs that I’ve ever read. I had my doubts but I was happily surprised and proven so very wrong! And I think that’s the sign of a wonderful writer that you can show so much growth and change in a character throughout your book and have your readers fall absolutely in love with a character they were previously unsure of. I can also say that Prince Nikolaus/ Nik was fantastic and also had a great character arc, but I was already on his team from the start because, well, you’ll understand when you read the book!
The writing in Spellbound Lies is probably some of the most descriptive and beautiful writing I’ve read in a long time. I enjoyed how well thought out the world was because it allowed me to really dive in and feel like I was roaming the castle halls with Jessamyn or causing mischief with Nik. I love big fantasy worlds with a lot of history, especially when I find it so easy to get lost within the world. And the descriptions of the treats that Jessamyn bakes are unreal, oh my gosh. I would love a recipe for some of those delicious sweets! I’m just so excited to have found a fantasy book with writing that’s easy to get lost in for hours.
If you’re looking for a nice long fantasy book to cozy up with this Fall season, this is the one you want to pick up! With beautiful writing, characters that you’ll fall in love with, and a world that you’ll want to dive into, Spellbound Lies is the ultimate cozy read you don’t want to miss!
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Guest post from the author, Catherine Downen!
Catherine has shared her top 5 favorite scenes and why they are her favorites, spoiler free of course! Included is some amazing artwork that can also be found within the pages of the book. It's absolutely stunning and now I want to have artwork in the book that I'm writing!
“Choices are in no particular order and are spoiler free! Some include music I listened to while writing or character art that’s been created of those scenes. I also included my favorite line from each of these scenes!”
1. When Jessamyn (our MC) meets the Beast, for obvious reasons. Who doesn’t love a good enemies meeting in an Enemies to Lovers book? This was one of the first scenes I wrote for Spellbound Lies (it takes place in Chapter 3), and I think it was a great sneak peek at all the fun scenes to come. It has a food fight, tension, and some of my favorite dialogue in the book between our two main characters.
“My name is Jessamyn Elisdream. Ring a bell, Prince?”
2. One of the final scenes where Jessamyn is challenged with breaking the curse. To avoid spoilers I won’t say the outcome, but this scene was one I spent the entire writing process looking forward to. I tend to write in chronological order, so the anticipation of getting to this moment was next level. I remember mapping it out when I outlined the book and being able to see it through Jessamyn’s eyes like a movie. An added bonus was being in a new setting with some new characters, that really kept the scene interesting. While drafting I had the song Glass Heart by Tommee Profitt on repeat to get into the Prince’s head during this moment. The line “Is this how it ends” seemed to fit the scene really well!
“You could lose everything.”
“I know.”
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3. Jessamyn and Prince Nikolaus baking the desserts for the second courting ceremony would be another favorite! As the two are wrapping up, a flirtatious fight with flour and sugar breaks out and it’s the first time we see either of them carefree and happy. I loved how this scene (full of flirting and love and kindness) was written as a nod back to the food fight between the Beast and Jessamyn (full of anger and hatred and frustration). It was a nice nod to the Jekyll & Hyde aspects (the Good vs the Evil), and it also just gave the cutest dialogue!
“I’m doing the Courting Ceremony as a distraction for the people of Strize. The only girl I have any interest in is standing before me now.”
4. The Fire Festival. The whole event was a dream to write, and it gets me hooked each time I go back to read it. In a way, it’s their world's form of Fourth of July, celebrating the witches being exiled. Jessamyn, a baker’s daughter who came from practically nothing, gets to experience the event in all its glamor. There’s a lot that goes down in the scenes at the Fire Festival, but two moments stick out from the rest. The first is when Jessamyn compares the fireworks she and another character (remaining unnamed for spoilers) lights to a flare of distress, each of them searching for the other to help them. This moment was inspired by and written to Flares by The Script. The second is of course our first kiss in the book! It happens during the dance at the end of the night, which in my head, had a piano instrumental to Champagne Problems by Taylor Swift playing in the background.
“I will dance with you until the sun rises.”
5. The Broken Barrel! I loved writing Jessamyn’s first outing to the local Tavern in disguise, as she was VERY much not supposed to be there. Much of this book is spent with only four characters since Jessamyn is a prisoner in the castle. The Broken Barrel scenes were one of the few that introduced some new characters to the story, and I loved crafting each of them. Especially because I knew, at the time of writing, I was growing the cast of characters that will play a big role in the sequel! Of course, River by Bishop Briggs was viral on TikTok while I wrote this scene, so naturally, that made it on my book playlist.
“I don’t fight for her. I fight with her.”
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About the Author:
Catherine Downen is a Young Adult author in both fantasy and contemporary romance. She graduated from Bradley University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Currently, Catherine is working as an engineer in St. Louis while writing her books.Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Pinterest | Spotify | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
10/3/2022 | TikTok Review/IG Post | |
10/4/2022 | Review/IG Post | |
10/5/2022 | IG Review | |
10/6/2022 | IG Review | |
10/7/2022 | Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
10/10/2022 | IG Review | |
10/11/2022 | Review/IG Post | |
10/12/2022 | Review/IG Post | |
10/13/2022 | Review/IG Post | |
10/14/2022 | Review/IG Post |
And that’s it for my review of Spellbound Lies by Catherine Downen! I had such an amazing time with this book and I’m so grateful once again to Rockstar Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to discover a new favorite fantasy story. Don’t forget to pick it up when it releases on October 11th, 2022! Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next chapter!
