No One Wants School Spirits

The Prodigium live by a set of rules, but not everyone wants to follow those rules. When a Prodigium threatens people, the Brannicks are there to help. In a spin-off from the Hex Hall series, Isolde Brannick is put to the test with her first solo case. But School Spirits might prove to be more than she can handle.

Izzy lives the life of a Brannick. Once the fearless hunters of Prodigium, the Brannicks are now essentially the Prodigium police. They take care of any supernatural creatures who get carried away or go rogue and could hurt the mortals around them. During a routine bust a few months ago, Izzy's sister Finn disappeared. Now the only two Brannick's left are Izzy and her mother. When they get word of a haunting in a school, Izzy is given her first solo job. And hauntings can get ugly quick, but not as ugly as high school.

After watching enough teen TV shows to have a vague idea of what happens in an actual high school, Izzy sets off to do recon and blend in. Immediately she finds a handful of kids in a Ghost Hunting club. Mostly mocked, ignored if they are lucky, Dex, Romy, and Anderson make up the rag tag group investigating the haunting of the school that has already left one teacher in a near coma. While hauntings are relatively simple to solve, humans toying around with the supernatural is never a good thing. While Izzy should be maintaining a decent distant, it is hard not to start to really care for the kids in the group. But in a case, the minute you get attached, you put yourself in danger, and everyone around you. 

I really loved the Hex Hall series, so I was stoked to see a new series from the same world. And having it focus more on the Brannicks, in charge of controlling the unruly Prodigium, is even better yet. We saw the Brannicks toward the end of the first series, and while I wanted more of the Prodigium there, now I am very happy to have their side of the story. You could, however, easily read this story without having read the first series, but knowledge of Hex Hall will just help you to understand the world the Brannicks work in. There was a lot left open for the continuation of the series, like Izzy missing sister and the warlock trapped in a mirror who predicts Izzy will be the one to finally free him (something she repeatedly tells him won't happen).  

The story is very clean, perfect for a middle reader or a low-skilled young adult reader. It has a great amount of action, the dialogue is witty, and Izzy is a trip. It would catch any kid's attention. I look forward to more of the Brannicks to come, and in particular, to have a chance to watch Izzy come into her own!

It Put a Spell on Me

Hex Hall has grown up a lot over the past few years. We have seen a fun, sometimes goofy middle reader transform into a pretty serious story (not without funny, snarky moments of course!). We have watched Sophie Mercer grow up from a confused Prodigium to a demon ready to use her powers to prevent evil. And now we find ourselves at the final installment of Rachel Hawkins' trilogy, Spell Bound.


Sophie knows she is a demon, and her powers were supposed to be stripped (like her demon father's were), but she can feel them inside her. Somehow they weren't stripped, just buried deep inside where she can't tap into them. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), her dead, now ghost, former rival Elodie is tied to her and can possess Sophie and use her own magic in desperate times. Sophie isn't thrilled by being possessed, but since Elodie has saved her life, she really can't complain. When Sophie wakes up after narrowly escaping the attack that may have killed her father and both boys she cares about, the last place she thought she would wake up is at the Brannick's house- the family who take Prodigium hunting to a whole new level. 


What Sophie learns about the Brannick's is something she can barely believe- not only are they no longer the crazy group of hunters they used to be (only 3 members left and two are barely teenagers), but Sophie's mother is one of them, making Sophie a bizarre demon/demon-hunter mixture. At the Brannick's, Sophie learns that the people who attacked and all but destroyed the Council are actually council members trying to rally the rest of the Prodigium into striking back with full force and they aren't afraid to create demon children in order to get what they want. They have control of Hex Hall and summon its former students to the school in order to complete their demonic experiments and raise an army no one could fight. Sophie is summoned to the island as well, but there is no way she intends to go down without a fight. She isn't going to let anyone hurt her friends, regardless of where their intentions came from. For Sophie, enemy and ally is no longer who she thought and the war just got scarier.


This was a bittersweet ending to a series I really enjoyed. I understand why Hawkins ended the story like she did, and honestly I wouldn't change a thing about the ending, but that doesn't mean I didn't find myself thinking, "Awww. C'mon! Did you HAVE to?!" Sophie is a great character because she is spunky and sassy and fun to travel along with, but in this story, the supporting characters I loved so much were lost in the efforts to wrap up the story. I think too much time was spent with the Brannick's and then Hawkins realized the story had to have an ending and shoved a huge amount of meat into the final half of the book. Regardless, though, I really thought this ending was very good and it made me appreciate the series as a whole. The series started as a pretty goofy middle reader, but by the end of this third book, it was nosing into the young adult realm, which is helpful for young readers. 


This is a great series for any middle reader or low-skilled young adult. I have given it to a number of nieces/cousins and they have enjoyed the story. I think it might be too young for a mature young adult, though, so be aware of the proper age group the series was intended for. Some of the demonic action in the end gets pretty hairy, but nothing is overly violent or too scary, so it remains appropriate for the same age group as the first book was. I have to say I am sad to see this series go! It was fun to look forward to these stories every year or so! Looking forward to something new out of Hawkins!

Who Knew Demonglass Could Be So Exciting?!

It is so much fun to watch a fun, young series grow up as you read it. It happened with Harry Potter, Twilight, and so many more. Now it is happening to the Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins. The first book was a great, fun beginning, but now with the second installment, Demonglass, the series gets much, much darker.

Sophie Mercer found out she was not a witch, but actually a demon. She also watched her classmates raise a demon (her grandmother) who went all dark and scary and killed a couple of students at Hecate Hall (most commonly called Hex Hall). Even her crush turned out to be part of The Eye, a group of assassins hell bent on killing all Prodigum (magical folks). Needless to say, it was not a great year for Sophie. Now her father is back and is trying to stop her from going through the Removal- a process that strips her powers and could kill her in the process. What Sophie doesn't know is his reasons for wanting her to keep her powers are much different than she expected.

To try and get Sophie to embrace her powers, her father takes her back to Thorne Abbey which has been the Council Headquarters since their other headquarters was destroyed by the Eye. There she is introduced to Nick and Daisy- two other demon teenagers (isn't that redundant!). Since Sophie was under the impression that she and her father were the only living demons, it becomes clear someone is creating demons (which didn't go so well for Sophie's grandmother). Now, while Nick and Daisy try to introduce Sophie to the world of underage demons, such as Prodigum nightclubs, she and her father are trying to figure out who is creating demons and what army they want them fighting for.

As this is all going down, Sophie's crush, Archer Cross, (the very same one who works for the Eye and tried to kill her) comes back into the picture and even saves her. Her father forbids Sophie to see Archer, but she knows he has information the Council needs... and she can't stop thinking about the kiss they shared right before he tried to kill her. Can Sophie, Archer, and her father get to the bottom of who is making demons before it's too late? How far does the treachery run? Is anyone really thinking about how all this will really effect both the Prodigum and the innocent humans?

This was a great follow-up to a bang up debut novel. The series has gotten a smidge darker with this installment, and judging by the cliffhanger ending, it will just continue to get darker and more serious. Fortunately, though, Hawkins keeps her sense of humor when appropriate and Sophie Mercer continues to be funny, klutzy, loud, and a great character to love and laugh with. I loved this book and simply cannot wait for the next installment. Sadly we may have at least a year to wait.

The writing is fairly clean and simple. This is a great book for middle school through high school students because although the writing is simplistic and the plot is understandable, it is in no way childish. Everything about this book makes it a must have for parents and teachers alike. So go out and pick up a copy for your shelves and make sure to recommend it to everyone you know!

Hex Hall Put a Spell on Me!

"Of course the only words I actually managed to yell at at the werewolf as he ran at me were, 'BAD DOG!'" You need a book that will actually make you laugh out loud? Look no further! Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins had me laughing all night! I couldn't put it down!

Sophie Mercer is a sarcastic young witch who has gotten herself into trouble, again. Unfortunately, this time caught the attention of the Council, a group of witches and warlocks who keep magical folks from exposing their world to humans. Now she must stay at Hecate Hall, nicknamed Hex Hall, until she is 18 and considered trustworthy with her magic. Unfortunately, with a human mother and a warlock father who left before she was born, Sophie doesn't know anything about the Prodigium, or magical world.

Even though Hex Hall is supposed to be protected, a girl was killed before Sophie arrived, and another girl is attacked just after school starts. Everyone is blaming Sophie's roommate Jenna, the only vamp on campus as part of the Council's attempt to integrate them with the rest of the Prodigium, but Sophie knows she is innocent. Even Sophie's crush, Archer, is convinced Jenna's guilty. But it quickly comes out that there is more to Sophie's family than just magic. Between her possibly murderous roommate, a father who is the reason most kids were sentenced to Hex Hall, an evil group of mean witches who has it in for Sophie, and all the dark witches dropping like flies (Sophie being a dark witch herself), Sophie has found Hex Hall to be worse than her past 19 schools. Now she has to find a way to exonerate Jenna!

This is a great story with fun, spunky characters who anything but the whiny females you can sometimes find in YA lit. They are sassy and don't take crap from anyone. Even the teachers have different dimensions; Lord Byron, the real Lord Byron, is a vampire who teaches poetry at Hex hall because when he was turned, he was too conspicuous, and when the Council released him, all he wanted to do was turn all of Europe into vampires!

This is fun, fast-paced read that is enticing to anyone. The reading level and content are appropriate for middle school to high school. As this is the first in a series, it is a perfect opportunity to suck a student into an exciting story and keep them reading. Give the story a shot, but don't be surprised when you find yourself giggling out loud as you read!