• Paperback: 448 pages
• List Price: $7.99
• Publisher: DAW (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075640682X
• ISBN-13: 978-0756406820
• Barbara Ashford’s Website

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Maggie Graham is having a very bad day. First, she loses her job. Then the bathroom ceiling in her Brooklyn apartment collapses. That’s when Maggie decides she needs to get out of town. A weekend in Vermont seems like the perfect getaway.

When she stumbles on the Crossroads Theatre, reviving her acting career is the last thing on her mind, but a week later, she’s back in summer stock at a theatre unlike any she’s ever known.

Director Rowan Mackenzie is even odder than the collection of misfits that comprise the cast. What kind of director casts people in the roles they need? And never leaves the grounds of the theatre? And possesses the power to transform a train wreck of a show into a magical experience for cast and audience alike?

There’s a secret at the Crossroads, and Maggie is determined to uncover it before summer’s end – if she can prevent her mother from discovering her whereabouts, deal with the staff’s efforts to thwart her, and avoid falling prey to Rowan Mackenzie’s charm. She never imagines that she will uncover secrets about her past that will change her life – and Rowan’s – forever.

You know when you’re having one of “those” days, well Maggie has it worse. Not only does she lose her job, but while in the bath the ceiling collapses. Maggie takes this as a sign to get out of Dodge & goes on a road trip. She ends up at the Crossroads Theatre, something seems to pull her there.

It couldn’t have come at a better time, Maggie decides to take it as a sign & revives her acting career. Then she meets Director Rowan Mackenzie, he’s oddly appealing to her but he’s hiding something, as are the rest of the staff. Maggie is determined to find out the secret that has brought together such a band of misfits.

“There was never any magic. Just make believe.”

“You’re wrong, Maggie. There is magic in the world. Maybe that’s why you’re here. To rediscover it.”

-Page 163

I LOVED this book. No really, I LOVED this book. Two days after reading it I was still thinking about it! It’s got one of those endings that make your eyebrows raise & then you start to slowly rock back & forth in anticipation for the second book in the series. I shared my love with two other bloggers & both have let me know they love it as much as I do. I feel like a parent & I didn’t even write this book!

Based on the first sentence in the blurb, I knew I had to read Spellcast & after reading it, Spellcast is my favorite new series of 2011. Nothing can compare to it, it’s just so different & a breath of fresh air. I needed it. Spellcast is part fairy tale, part musical theatre. It reminds any of us who have been bit by the acting bug just why we loved it in the first place. You can feel Mrs. Ashford’s love for all things theatre within the pages & you can almost see the stage infront of you.

The world building is just that fantastic, never mind the characters. They are people you know, people you pass on the street everyday. They are everyday people, with issues & drama. It makes Spellcast all the more real. I fell in love with each & every one of them, I was happy to hear this is the start of a new series & I can travel with them again. Because there are some things that are left up in the air at the end of the book that had me salivating for book two out spring 2012. And the secrets, oh there are secrets that keep you turning the page, dying to know what they are!

“Blame me for losing control. For failing to shield you from my emotions. For letting you feel things you should never have felt. But don’t blame me for wanting you.”

-Page 222

If you are looking for something different then the norm, a fairy tale to sink your teeth into pick up Spellcast. If you’ve ever done theatre, you’ll fall in love with it all over again. Barbara Ashford is the author to watch out for! My copy of Spellcast will never be allowed to leave my house, it was too good to share!