Review: Enchantment by Pati Nagle

Enchantment by: Pati Nagle
Source: Librarything Early Review
(Evennight Books 2011)


Blurb:

Holly Parker's life changes forever when she visits Enchantment Spring with her older sister Madison. They hike through the woods, and when they reach the spring, Holly's disappointed. A concrete coffin full of water? She expected a pool surrounded by flowers, birds, dancing dragonflies.
But fine. They eat the lunch they packed, and lounge around in the sunshine a while. As they get ready to leave, Holly dabbles her fingers in the water.
And sees a face beneath the surface.  

The joy of first love fills her, but Holly's happiness turns to horror when she learns that the government plans to demolish Enchantment Spring. Her passion for Ohlan 'the beautiful water spirit who inhabits the spring' is so strong that she'll gladly risk her life, standing between the spring and the backhoes, to save him.

Review:
The whole time I read this book I kept feeling hopeful. Hopeful that the story would pick up. Hopeful that I would find meaning somewhere in the story. Hopeful that the characters would develop beyond that of the man from the spring that smiles a lot and the girl who seems to have everything figured out in her life except where to go to college and that pesky plan to destroy the spring where her soon-to-be lover lives.
My hopes were dashed. The story doesn't pick up until 3/4 of the way through and neither myself nor the characters feel any richer for having experienced it.
To give the book credit though I thought the idea behind the story was great. The author could have done so much more with what she had to work with. I also think the book was written well and was easy to read.

At A Glance:
1= Could not finish the book

2= A struggle to read to the finish

3=Meh. Average with all the elements I like in a book but nothing notable

4= I ended it with a smile on my face

5=Excellent. I want to read everything this author has ever written and when I
finish all the books on my wishlist I will reread it.

Challenges: