Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins

Series: Hex Hall, #3
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Hardcover: 327 pages
Genre: YA - Paranormal
Read it in: 1 day
Source: Library
Challenge: none 
Rating: ★★★★★

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 extraordinary 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?

Spell Bound was freaking AMAZING. Even though I'm EXTREMELY upset that this is the last book in the series, it did have a great ending. Hawkins did an amazing job tying up all the lose ends. Though, then again, I am STILL extremely sad. I loved this trilogy so much. But I do hear that there most likely will be a spin-off. Not sure if that is 100% true, but I'm very intrigued!

I don't want to go into too much detail on what happened in this book--though my mind is going miles a minute right now with everything because it totally blew my mind--because I don't want to give anything away or spoil anything.

There is a point in this book, which I'm not going to say, that I really wanted to throw the book across the room and I even tweeted Rachel to tell her I was upset about it. Though I tweeted her again after I read the next chapter and understood what happened, ha! I was SO upset. (If anyone is curious, it's the last line in chapter 10.)

I do like the new characters that come up in here, though I'm not going to say who. They weren't my absolute favorite, but they were surprising and grew on me by the end of the book.

The writing was amazing as ever and had be so absorbed in the book I didn't really notice much around me. I just flew through the pages and devoured this book. This was another book that I really needed to read to get me back into reading and out of this rut.

Overall, AMAZING. Perfect ending. If you haven't read this series yet, please do us all a favor and do it.Including yourself. It's unique and the perfect trilogy to take your mind to another place. HIGHLY recommend!
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Author Info: Website/Blog | Twitter |  Facebook | Tumblr
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads | Shelfari
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Read my other reviews for this trilogy:

* Hex Hall

* Demonglass

Waiting on Wednesday, #26

Waiting on Wednsday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine. WOW spotlights upcoming releases that you are dying to read and can't wait to get your hands on!

Note: All my links go to Goodreads, the author's website, and the publisher's website.

Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins

(Hex Hall, #3)

Publisher: Hyperion

Release Date: March 13, 2012

Pre-Order: Amazon

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 extraordinary 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?

I got sucked into this series last year and ever since finishing Demonglass, I've been dying to read the third and final book. I'm really sad that this is the last book in the series, but all great stories have to end somewhere and I'd rather it end now than drag on and on and on and not be good anymore. I'm really curious as to what is going to happen in this one. Demonglass really left off with me going, "OH MY GOD, NO WAY!"

Here are links to my reviews of the first two books if you're interested: Hex Hall & Demonglass. 

Demonglass, by Rachel Hawkins

Demonglass, by Rachel Hawkins
(Hex Hall, #2)
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: March 1, 2011
Hardcover: 359 pages
Age Group: Young Adult
Buy:Amazon
Source: Library
Challenge: Support Your Local Library, Book Blogger Recommendation, 350 Page
Rating: 

Sophie Mercer thought 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 decides she 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?
After finishing Hex Hall back in August, I couldn't wait to finally get a hold of this one. I put it on hold at the library and was finally able to read it, and it blew me away! I wasn't sure in the beginning whether or not it would be as good as the first book, but I was wrong! I personally liked the sequel better than the first book. 

You can tell Sophie has grown a lot since the first book, she's through a lot since arriving at Hecate (a.k.a Hex Hall). There was a lot more action, which I totally loved. Also,  a bit of a "which side should I be on in this sort-of love triangle?" which I loved as well, believe it or not. I mean, it annoyed me a little bit at times, but other times I loved it. Though at some points I couldn't figure out which guy I was rooting for more. And after finishing, I still am not completely sure if I'm Team Archer or Team Cal. 



The characters are great. I really love Sophie as the main character/protagonist. She's snarky, fun and just an overall great and real character. I also really love Jenna, I'm glad Sophie has her. She's a great character and really adds to the story. Well, actually, all the characters have something pretty interesting about them. 


Overall, the writing drags you in and holds you just as the first one did. Hawkins really knows how to write. I can't see what she comes up with for the third book in the series. Also, I'm really glad you get to learn more about demons in the sequel. The only thing I really that bugged me at times was I could predict a few things would happen, though it didn't take away from the story. =)




The cover is really cool. I love how it shows kind of a mirror image. Love both book covers in this series. 

The third book in the series is called Spell Bound It will be released on March 13, 2012. Here is my review of the first book Hex Hall. 

Teaser Tuesday #11

Teaser Tuesday is a Meme hosted by Mizb @ Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in, as long as they do the following:

• Grab your current read. 
• Open your book to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. 
• Warning:  Not everyone has read your current read, be courtesy to those who haven't and not reveal any spoilers. 
• Share the Title & Author so anyone can add your current read to their list if they wish to do so. 

*Note: all my links go to Goodreads, the authors website, and the publishers website.

Demonglass, by Rachel Hawkins
(Hex Hall, #2)
Publisher: Hyperion 
Release Date: March 1, 2011

Sophie Mercer thought 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 decides she 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?

Teaser: For a moment we smiled at each other. Then Dad cleared his throat and looked away. pg. 154

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
(Hex Hall, #1)
Publisher: Hyperion Children's
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Hardcover: 336
Age Group: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon  
Source: library
Challenge: A to Z, Support Your Local Library, Book Blogger Recommendation
Overall:   

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters. By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

To be honest, the first time trying to read this a couple of months ago didn't work out. I couldn't get into it. This time I could and boy did I like this book! It was a great start to a series and I really wish I would have swiped Demonglass, Hex Hall's sequel, when I had the chance because now I'm regretting that big time, wanting to know more about Sophie and what happens to her school. 

And also, hello, what happened about Archer! I mean, how can someone NOT be curious about THAT? I'm not going to say more about it than that because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. 

The writing was intriguing, I finished this book pretty fast after getting into it, and the characters were fun to read about. Even if Elodie and her gang made me incredibly mad basically every time they came into the picture, though Elodie did have her moments.

I love witches. I was a major fangirl of Charmed growing up and I still watch my seasons on DVD once in a while, I've always been fascinated with them and most other things paranormal. I guess that is one of the reasons why I wanted to get through this book so bad. Though I really don't understand why I couldn't get into it the first time, I guess because I wanted to read something else? I dunno.

But overall, I know I didn't say much about this book, other than I liked it. But I just couldn't figure out what to say about it. I really, really liked it and all the magic and awesomeness. You should definitely read it if you are a fan of witches in a school where there are also Fae, vampires and shape shifters. It made an awesome, though sometimes terrifying, pairing.

I really like the cover, I didn't understand it much at first, but if you read this book you'll understand about the reflection in the water. =)

The second book in the series is called Demonglass. It was released on March 22, 2011.