True confessions time: When I found out I was going to have to read a book about a poet and some magical telepathic guy, I was a little bit less than enthused. I expected all kinds of silliness and hokey mysticism and I was very wrong. When You Believe has its less than believable moments, but it was a surprisingly pleasant read.

Poet Miranda Stead is fleeing from attackers in San Francisco when she runs through a door, hoping for safety. Instead she finds herself in the midst of a top secret meeting of the magical Les Croyants des Trois, a group consisting of magical people who call themselves Moyennes. As an ordinary human, Miranda is believed unable to enter their vortex, so the Moyenne are instantly suspicious of her presence.

The Croyant des Trois are good Moyenne, and they seek to protect the world from the influences of one who has corrupted his magical abilities and used them for evil. Seeing an unknown in their midst, they doubt her claim of innocence and suspect that she is allied with the enemy. Instead of cowering in fear, Miranda stands her ground, winning the admiration of several of them, including the magical healer Sariel Valasay.

Sariel is given the task of returning her home and then erasing her memory of all traces of Moyennes. However, Sariel appreciates Miranda’s laughter and her courage and, as he speaks with her, he is intrigued by her intelligence and eventually becomes attracted to her. Though he is required to erase all traces of him and his circle from her memory, he does not wish to do so, wanting instead to savor her memory and spend more time with her than his mere errand would require.

Whirlwind romances are difficult to pull off convincingly, but Inclan manages to make this one feel somehow real. Even with its silly moments, there is something about Miranda and Sariel that made me keep on reading. The mention of magical people living within a society of humans wholly unaware of their magic, of their magical training at school, and of the talented Moyenne who went over to the dark side and took many others with him will feel familiar to most J.K. Rowling fans, but this reads more like an adult fiction homage to Harry Potter and not an outright copy by any means.

While the romance is credible most of the time, it does have its moments of silliness. In the second half of the book, the struggle against evil feels ridiculous almost as often as it seems compelling. Though parts of the story are unabashedly overwritten, there is a guilty pleasure to them nevertheless. Even as I recognized weakness, I found myself turning pages at a rapid clip.

While I enjoy a touch of the fantastic in a story, it is difficult for me to get wrapped up in one so drenched in mystical otherworldliness, still Miranda and Sariel are an engaging couple, and I genuinely enjoyed their story. While the trade paperback price will not be worth it for everyone, this is definitely one to consider.