Key Details
- Narration: Eva Wilhelm finds Katie's Texas practicality and maintains it without playing the comedy too broadly, giving Owen the warmth to make his inattention read as absorbed rather than indifferent.
- Themes: Urban fantasy workplace comedy, magic immunity as plot device, slow-burn romance
- Mood: Light, warm, and witty, like a well-written romantic comedy with enchantments
- Verdict: Exactly what it aims to be: a witty workplace fantasy with a heroine whose competence comes from practical intelligence rather than magical ability.
I started listening to Once Upon Stilettos on a Tuesday morning when I needed something that would keep me company through several hours of apartment reorganization. Shanna Swendson's second Enchanted, Inc. novel turned out to be exactly right for that purpose: engaging enough that I kept listening through tasks I would normally have found tedious, light enough that I could set it aside without feeling I had abandoned something urgent. By the time I was done reorganizing, I was genuinely invested in whether Katie Chandler would figure out who had broken into Owen's office and whether she would finally move past the professional-crush impasse with him. The answer to the second question requires the entire book.
The premise of the series is cheerfully specific: Katie is a young woman from Texas with zero magical ability who works as an executive assistant at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. in Manhattan. Her immunity to magic makes her uniquely useful in a company where enchantments are the daily currency of business. In this second installment, someone has broken into the office of Owen, the company's resident genius wizard and Katie's ongoing romantic preoccupation, and CEO Merlin, who is indeed that Merlin, has assigned Katie to help uncover the mole. Meanwhile, her magical immunity is inexplicably waning, leaving her vulnerable to the enchantments that have always slid off her before. Eva Wilhelm narrates with the appropriate mix of warm comedy and gentle urgency.
A Closer Look at Once Upon Stilettos
What makes the Enchanted, Inc. series distinctive in the urban fantasy field is its consistent satirical attention to the corporate context. Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. operates like a real company, complete with office politics, interdepartmental tensions, management hierarchy, and the particular frustrations of trying to accomplish anything through official channels when the official channels are populated with people protecting their own interests. The magical elements are layered on top of that structure rather than replacing it, which means the comedy has two registers: the absurdism of the supernatural elements and the very recognizable absurdism of office life.
Reviewer Tess, who noted liking this book better than the first despite finding Katie occasionally slow to catch on, captures something accurate about the series' approach to dramatic irony. Katie's immunity to magic means she cannot sense what everyone else can, which makes her reliably the last to understand certain situations. That limitation is both a character trait and a plot mechanism, and Swendson uses it with enough consistency that you accept it as part of the book's internal logic rather than finding it frustrating.
What Works
The romantic tension between Katie and Owen is the series' central long-form commitment, and Once Upon Stilettos advances it with the patience characteristic of the genre Swendson is working in. Owen is preoccupied with the security breach in his office and therefore not available for the kind of direct emotional engagement Katie would find clarifying. Katie, now susceptible to enchantments she was previously immune to, becomes vulnerable to charm magic in ways that complicate her judgment about what she actually feels versus what she is being made to feel. That complication is a clever structural move: it raises the question of consent to magical influence in a way that adds genuine stakes to the romance.
Reviewer KindleAddict, who noted the specific pleasure of Katie's Texas parents visiting New York and requiring management, identifies a secondary pleasure of the book that the synopsis undersells. The domestic comedy of Katie trying to keep her extraordinary professional life invisible to her entirely ordinary family provides some of the book's best moments and grounds the magical elements in something recognizable and warm.
Things to Know Before Starting Once Upon Stilettos
Eva Wilhelm's narration is warm and comedically timed without being broadly performed. She finds Katie's particular brand of practicality, the sensible Texas-girl-in-Manhattan quality that makes her both fish-out-of-water and quietly competent, and maintains it consistently across a runtime where the temptation to play the comedy broader must be significant. Her Owen is appropriately distracted and earnest, the kind of person who is so focused on the problem in front of him that he genuinely does not notice other things until they become unavoidable. Wilhelm gives him enough warmth that his inattention reads as absorbed rather than cold.
At nearly eleven hours, the audiobook is well paced for its content. Reviewer Batfan7, who wanted to love the series more than they did, identified the pace and predictability as limitations. Those are fair observations that will matter to some listeners more than others. The book is not trying to subvert genre expectations so much as deliver them with charm and wit, and for listeners in that frame of mind, Wilhelm's narration makes the journey consistently pleasant.
Who Shanna Swendson Is Writing For
The Enchanted, Inc. series is built for readers who want urban fantasy with a light touch, genuine comedy, a romance that takes its time, and a heroine whose primary competence is practical intelligence rather than supernatural ability. Listeners who require fast romantic payoffs, high stakes action, or dark urban fantasy atmosphere will find this series too gentle for their tastes. Those who respond to the particular pleasure of a witty workplace comedy set in a world where magic is just another Tuesday will find Once Upon Stilettos a thoroughly enjoyable ten hours. Starting with book one is advisable but not strictly necessary, as Swendson recaps Katie's situation efficiently enough to orient newcomers without burdening returning readers with lengthy recap.
