School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 304pgs

The Story

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

The Review

I admit I'm not the first reader out there to start having withdrawals from Rachel Hawkins's books (especially since her first series had just ended recently), but I was pretty damn excited to read her spin-off Hex Hall series and I have to say it's great having the author back writing at her very best!

SCHOOL SPIRITS may not have beaten my love of the Hex Hall series as of yet nor did I find it to be the best book ever by Hawkins plot-wise, but it's a very quick read with plenty of fun things happening to keep you entertained in the long run. I mean, what's not to like about that? Plus it's super funny with the character's humor and all, especially with the main character and her new set of friends, which is one of the main reasons why I loved Hawkins's writing in the first place since she's great at writing the humor sections of her books. But like in Hex Hall the characters featured in this particular spin-off series was the best part of all! Really they were the BEST!

To name one, Izzy, our new leading heroine, was - to put it simply - such an amazing character. She is just something else and I actually liked her a little bit more than Sophie from the Hex Hall series and that's really saying something there considering I loved Sophie a lot as well. Izzy is . . . I don't know . . . she just makes me laugh out loud like . . . all the time . . . and for someone who is so young at her age, I thought she handled every single tough situation that's thrown at her like an adult. She's just so mature for her age and just so Izzy. I loved her to bits. But of course, to name another two favourite characters of mine, I just HAVE to mention Torin and one of Izzy's new friends at school, Dex, who were such a delight to have in this particular book.

Torin is this super confident, inventive, attractive, frustrating and a very interesting guy (and a warlock mind you) and even though he is forever stuck in a mirror (since he has been trapped in one for centuries and has watched over Izzy's family for many of her generation) I just hope he gets more of the spotlight in the future books because he is the comic relief in this book and I love him for it. But what I love even more? Well that's Dex. Even though Dex is a very quirky guy with a lot of mystery to him, but I love the fact he's not a bad boy kind of a character for once but rather a sweet and overall nice guy (hooray for the nice guys!) and also a potential love interest for Izzy. He and Izzy are perfect together and while their romance isn't really focused on in this first book, but I can't wait (or I rather hope) for their relationship - and friendship - to grow in the future books (if there are going to be any more). Go Dex is all I say! He's . . . gosh . . . SO SWEET.

But the only real kicker at the moment? Well, I've heard from the author herself and she says there are no currently plans for any more books in the series. Talk about frustrating! However, while she works on other projects for the meantime, she did say there was a possibility of more books in the distant future so I'm going to cross my fingers for now and hope she is right because I need more from this spin-off story. It's just fair especially since I and so many other readers enjoyed this book so much. So please publishers force the author to write more from this series by all means necessarily hehe.

Overall, SCHOOL SPIRITS is a such a fun book and I hope the author decides to write more from this series because I can't wait to find out how our characters develop even further.

The Rating

4/5 stars

Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

Release Date: Out Now!

Publisher: Hyperion Books

Pages: 327pgs

The Story

Hailed as "impossible to put down", the Hex Hall series has both critics and teens cheering. With a winning combination of romance, action, magic and humor, this third volume will leave readers enchanted.

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordianry magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies - the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that's what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn't as confident.

Sophie's bound for one hell of a ride - can she get her powers back before it's too late?

The Review

Here is yet another favourite book series of mine that has now come to an official end, though, like so many of us out there, I wished it wasn't that way. From the very beginning of when this series started, I've deeply fell in love with Rachel Hawkins's Hex Hall world and considering the cliffhanger we were left on in her sequel, Demonglass, I was dying to get my hands on a copy of this third and final installment. But once a beautiful hardcover copy arrived on my doorstep - looking like an absolute gem compared to the other two book covers - and after I closed the final chapter of this book, I can guarantee to all of you readers that you'll be left with plenty waves of emotion and will be quite sad to say farewell to our favourite characters here, with Sophie and Archer included.

The third installment SPELL BOUND picks up right after Demonglass had left off, with Sophie - whom has recently been stripped of her magical powers by the Council - traveling to find her mother, whom for whatever reason, is staying with the Brannicks, a group famously known for being women prodigium hunters. But once she arrives at the Brannicks compound and has a little run in with some werewolves and is assisted by the most unlikely of resources, Sophie will soon learn the shocking truths behind her family name and with it comes dangerous quests that will put her strengths - her powers and her no powers - to the test and possibly put an end to a massive war once and for all.

Sophie Mercer is most definitely one of my favourite heroines in YA literature. She's sassy. She's strong. She's funny. She's sarcastic. She's quirky. She's - well, basically she has a bit of every quality we love in our female heroines and if not more than that. From Hex Hall to Demonglass and now on to SPELL BOUND, Sophie's character has gone through so many physical and emotional changes in the shortest amount of time and I love to witness those types of development for my main characters especially because the author is not only being believable but she's also being completely honest with her readers, and for Sophie reminding me so much of myself, it also makes her character easy to identify with as well. For the most part, her wit reminds me so much of me which in Sophie's case, she'll always be known for possessing.

As seen in all of her novels so far, Rachel Hawkins's has written strong relationships throughout this series and has maintained those relationships on a significant level, with very little weakness within them. The reason why Sophie has been greatly loved by her readers is because of her relationships between her loves, her friends, and most importantly her family who have made her for what she is today. Archer . . . Cal . . . Jenna . . . her parents . . . even her ghostly sometimes-dead-friend Elodie that is currently haunting her . . . all of them one way or another have played some part in Sophie's continual strength and I guess that's why I love this series so much, and the supporting cast of course. With Archer, no matter how suspicious he may seem, was always loved by me because he's been Sophie's rock from day one. With Jenna, the cool little vampire sidekick, she'll always been the best friend you wished you had in high school. And as for Cal, the forever friend in your life, will always be admired greatly by me as well. As you can see by the supporting cast I've mentioned above, they all are fantastic and have grown so much just like Sophie's character has done through the trilogy series.

With a final book being highly addictive as this one - containing a fast-paced plot, some thrilling and pulse-racing action sequences and some brilliant one-liners that all characters delivered well - the only real disappointing factor for me with this fangal-swoon-worthy book was how the book concluded. After every single thing leaving me satisfied, the only thing that had disappointed me was that damn ending of Hawkins's. While many fans enjoyed the ending but part of me felt like something was missing and because a certain "something" had happened to one of my favourite characters . . . well let's just say I wanted more answers regarding that character and what happened with them. But not to worry my dear readers because feel rest assured that you'll have all of the events wrapped up nicely, even though it's really hard to say goodbye to everything you ever loved over the years with this series.

Overall, Rachel Hawkins has done it again with another seamless love story and not only that, but she has written a book full of courage, love and self-sacrifice, and it's no wonder why Hawkins has become one of my favourite YA authors and I'm sure this won't be the last you will see of her . . . because I see a bright future ahead for this talented author and I just want another novel of hers like . . . RIGHT NOW!

The Rating

4/5 stars

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Release Date: 1st March, 2011

Publisher: Hyperion Books

Pages: 359pgs

The Story

Sophie Mercer though she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie's a demon, one of only two in the world - the other being her father. What's worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They're demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Archer to do it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

The Review

For starters, let me say that Rachel Hawkins has the gifted - almost sinister - ability to make me giggle like a little five-year-old girl! No kidding! I thoroughly enjoyed Hawkins's debut novel, Hex Hall, and I think she pretty muched nailed its sequel DEMONGLASS in all sorts of ways! We have a bit of snark, a bit of danger, a bit of magic, a bit of betrayal, a bit of romance . . . and a bit of awesome Sophie/Cal/Archer scenes that fangals will LOVE!

I think what I loved most about DEMONGLASS was meeting new characters, seeing a rather darker side to the mystical Hex Hall world and having a nice change of setting away from the whole academy thing! And of course, we get to travel to London! Last time we saw Sophie, she wanted to have The Removal - to rid her demonic-like powers and be non-magical to protect herself as well as her loved ones as her family have quite a dark past - and she needed her father to help her do that. So, in this installment her father finally comes into the scene and takes her off to London, to sort of persuade her NOT to remove her powers and focus on trying to control them, while meeting other demons like her. The thing I liked about the father and daughter relationship is that both Sophie and her father share the same sarcasm, it made me laugh a few times, unexpectedly too! I thought to myself, "Why would this serious Head of Council man be so funny?" It seems impossible right? He's supposed to be this powerful guy and we get a hilarious man whose personality definitely clashes with Sophie's . . . they're so the same in many respects.

Moving on, for those fangals wanting to know what's happening in the romance department, I can definitely say the romantic chemistry in DEMONGLASS is still consistent and written brilliantly. I can't help but mentioned that I was a HARDCORE fan of Archer and I didn't care who he worked for . . . I just wanted him and Sophie to pash! But while we didn't see much of Cal's character in the first book, we do however see a lot more of him in DEMONGLASS and have some history behind him rather than knowing him as "healer-boy". And like so many girls who switch boy teams, my feelings towards Archer have leaned on Cal a hell of a lot more! I know! I know! Kill me now! Don't get me wrong here, because I still love the dangerous Archer, but Cal is such a sweet thing and I honestly think he's a better choice for Sophie! But bad boys always hit my weak spot! It's in a girls nature to love and hate them! Still . . . can I be half-team Archer and half-team Cal?

Overall, DEMONGLASS is just as good as the previous novel Hex Hall! While the ending disappointed me (it's such a bummer when it's a little bit rushed and then it ends on a cliffhanger . . . GOSH don't get me started on cliffhangers!!!) there's still plenty of cool twists and turns, with some great action scenes popping up now and then. I think what I love about Hawkins's writing is how easy it's to read, since it's so fluent in a teenagers mind and you can definitely expect to laugh out loud whilst reading the dialogue! But don't worry, your family and friends will never understand when you're laughing to yourself in your quiet reading space! Just tell them, "Book. Don't worry! I'm fine, really!"

The Rating

4 /5 stars