Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3) by Rachel Hawkins

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST TWO BOOKS!

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?

From Goodreads 

I fell in love with Sophie Mercer the minute Hex Hall fell into my lap. It was so awesome that I even took it on 7th grade book talks with me. And then came Demonglass. This one kicked up the story a notch & left be pining for the "sure to be amazing" conclusion. Now it has arrived. 

Picking up with the agonizing ending of Demonglass, we follow Sophie as the is plunked into a whole new reality. It's almost impossible to believe that just barely a year ago this incredibly talented & smart-witted young woman believed herself to be an ordinary witch. Come to find out that she is actually a demon & that her school is under attack from those who would create more demons as a "defense" against the murderous and dangerous Brannick clan & L'occhio de Dio. The truth is harder to comprehend when Sophie discovers that her magic has been locked down and learns that she is a Brannick herself. 

Not all is as it has been presented in the magical world, which leaves a lot of questions to be answered. Despite personal losses, she trudges on with the unwavering support system she has come to call a family. Her last fight will not just be for herself, but for all those who have suffered unnecessarily. 

I have to say that while I completely understand why the book ended the way it did, I still found myself kind of disappointed. I know, I know... I seem to want it to end my way or not at all, but I get it. Rachel did what she thought best & most fitting for her characters and their respective stories. She stayed true to their personalities and beliefs, ultimately making sacrifices that prevent me from ever wanting to bean author.

This book was also quite quickly paced with so much going on, at times it is hard to get a handle on it all. Once you think things are beginning to get sorted out, something else comes hurtling at your head. Despite all the plot twists & turns, I was supremely impressed by how Rachel tied up all the loose ends possible while still leaving the ending open-ended enough to possibly one day revisit this world.

As it stands, Spell Bound is a fabulous book end in a fun series. I will truly miss Sophie & her world, but that's the beauty of books. You can always revisit the ones you love.

Feedback (Variant #2) by Robison Wells review

Spoilers ahead for those who haven't yet read Variant!

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy’s deadly rules and brutal gangs.

Or so he thought.

But now Benson is trapped in a different kind of prison: a town filled with hauntingly familiar faces. People from Maxfield he saw die. Friends he was afraid he had killed.

They are all pawns in the school’s twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force. As he searches for answers, Benson discovers that Maxfield Academy’s plans are more sinister than anything he imagined—and they may be impossible to stop.

In Feedback, Robison Wells delivers all the answers you’ve been craving—with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the very last page.

From Goodreads 

Talk about a wild ride! Feedback picks up right where Variant left off. You're still in the action & your adrenaline is pumping as hard as it can as you watch Benson & Becky try to escape the multitude of robots chasing them down. When they think they are finally safe at an encampment housing the real students, they find that they are just in another form of imprisonment; unable to move forward & unable to undo all that has taken place.

The reality of the situation is beyond grave for our protagonists. There are so many trials & tribulations that at times even I felt like giving up hope. Yet these teens stayed the course & followed their instincts to do what they thought was right & best for everyone involved. Intricate plans & devious plots must be laid with precision in order to deal the greatest blows to Maxfield in the hopes of saving as many people as possible.

Without a doubt, the twists & turns in this book will cause your head to spin and you will at times need to stop for a moment to truly take in what all has transpired. I truly believe that it what makes this series so great. Not only is it a whole new take on the idea of a "nightmarish boarding school," but it seems to have re-invented the conspiracy element that many books fail to address. I really enjoyed this aspect as it forced me to really consider everything that happened in the story.

With all that being said, I felt like there was a lot of talking & very little action going on in this book. Don't get me wrong, there needs to be a lot of talking considering the magnitude of what goes down, but it tended to catch me off guard when action suddenly sprang seemingly out of nowhere. That may have been intentional though.

I have to strongly recommend that you read this book if you've read Variant. If you haven't read that, then my review will wait patiently here until you come back yearning to hear what happened in Feedback. :)

ARC graciously provided by Around the World ARC Tours

Variant by Robison Wells review

Benson Fisher couldn't be more excited to have gotten the scholarship to Maxfield Academy. After bouncing from foster home to foster home he's finally getting the chance to really settle in somewhere & maybe have a normal teenage experience. Unfortunately that all goes down the drain as soon as he steps in the front doors. There are no teachers, there are no staff, there is razor wire & a tall fence surrounding the property and no one ever leaves. There are microchips in all the doors tied to each student's id & no one ever comes back from detention. Given all these circumstances, Benson finds himself very confused as to why all these teenagers are willing to stay. And then he starts to put things together.

No one here has family or friends. Nobody cares about these teens. And there is something supremely suspicious going on in regards to how things are run. There are 3 "gangs" at the school who bid on contracts for everything from grounds-keeping to security. So really, is it the other teens keeping everyone at the school... or is there someone higher up calling the shots? As Benson delves deeper into the troubling mystery surrounding this school, he's putting everyone in danger. The question is, who are they really in danger from & what is the worst that can happen?

Robison Wells has got a pretty good formula going in this book. Who could resist the rough & tough, down on his luck kid that refuses to take "no" for an answer? Benson has a bristly personality at best, but he is determined to convince everyone that things aren't as great as they seem & that everyone is being duped. Even more startling is just how well everyone seems to be taking their imprisonment. Granted they've all been there longer than Benson, but they've become complacent & complicit in their own restriction.

The dynamics between the 3 rival gangs really sets the tone for all character interaction. In a way, their divisions remind me of the gangs in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Society is very much like the Socs wherein they claim to uphold the law & be of better moral character and yet they dole out punishments that never seem to suit the crime. They take orders without question & believe in their mission.

Havoc resembles the Greasers because these characters do the dirty work that makes the school continue to function, but they enjoy causing mayhem. They toe the line in regards to rules, breaking minor ones that won't cause too much trouble, but never crossing over into major infractions.

What The Outsiders didn't officially have is a third group of misfits, in the case of Variant we have the Variants (Vs for short). This other group is just that, it is the remainder of people who don't really fit in well enough in either of the other groups to have joined them. Benson winds up in this group because he doesn't buy into either of the other groups' missions. The Vs are consistent & kind of free-thinking, while the others are pretty rigid in their tenets.

The dialogue left something to be desired, but what can you expect from miscreants in an unsupervised boarding school? I think the language was intentional, so I can't fault it. The best part though is the twist. And let me tell you, this one will make you do a double-take. Truly masterful, Variant is not one you'll want to miss!

ARC graciously provided by Around the World Tours

The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Elizabeth "Bet" Smith has always been a lowly maid's daughter. She has known her station her whole life, but it has never prevented her from wishing for more. Living a comfortable life between family & servant in Grangefield Hall with Will Gardener & his Uncle, Bet has truly wanted for nothing; other than the education that Will doesn't desire.

After hearing of Will's dreams of military service, Bet hatches a fantastic plan. What if Will goes off to the military & Bet takes his place at the new school? As preposterous as it sounds, Bet manages to fool Will's Uncle and so Will goes along with the plan.

After splitting up at an inn, Bet continues on her way to Betterman Academy. School it turns out is nothing like Bet could have imagined. She has a roommate (the impropriety!!), the boys are raucous & cruel, and there are dances. Even harder to deal with than these things are the growing feelings Bet has for her roommate. What's a girl-disguised-as-a-boy to do?

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While I could figure out the base storyline at the beginning of the book, I still enjoyed watching this particular version unfold. Bet was such a colorful and articulate character that I truly enjoyed watching her struggle to understand the behavior of those around her and the decisions she had to make regarding her own reactions. Will, while mostly absent from the main storyline, was quite entertaining as well. He was that rogue boy every girl dreams of during this time period. There was a little mystery to him, but really he just wanted to be himself.

The interactions of the characters were what made this book such a success! I could not imagine this book being pulled off nearly as well if the characters had been flat and unengaged. They all had their roles to play from the dashing rogue, to the bully, to the stern, silent type. Everyone dealt with each other in such a particular fashion that, even if the subject wasn't identified, you knew who was speaking or doing the action. That is a rare quality in a book that I truly enjoy & admire the author's ability to pull it off.

A wonderfully charming read, The Education of Bet is one that I feel deserves at least one read. Take a peek. I promise it'll be worth it.

My many thanks to Around the World Tours for loaning me this book.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Sophie is painfully aware of the fact that she doesn't fit it. Not only is she the daughter of a college professor obsessed with all things paranormal, Sophie has never met her father in person, she's lived in more states than she has celebrated birthdays; oh, and she's a witch.

After coming in to her powers, as all Prodigium (magical persons) do, Sophie couldn't manage to stay out of trouble. Obviously their presence cannot be openly established with the human world, so it must be kept secret and she was never very good about that. While all she really wanted to do was help people and fit in, she only managed to make a huge mess and force her and her mother to move on the next place.

When her last "helpful" spell goes horribly wrong for all involved, the Council sentences Sophie to be confined to the private, secluded Prodigium school of Hectate Hall. Residents of this historic school range in age from 12 to 18, at which point they "graduate" and are allowed to rejoin society. Sophie is fascinated by the shifters, fairies, and other witches/warlocks that also attend Hectate, affectionately referred to as Hex Hall. To her surprise, Sophie finds herself rooming with pink-loving Jenna, the only vampire student on the campus. The girls begin a rocky, but solidifying relationship while bonding over the evil that is the coven. Comprised of the 3 most beautiful witches in the school, and dubbed "The Witches of Clinique," they naturally covet Sophie's talent. When she refuses, she manages to seal her fate as the most undesirable witch at Hex Hall.

As if changing schools again and having to live in a dorm wasn't bad enough, there's something amiss on campus. Jenna's former roommate, and coven member, was murdered not long before Sophie arrived and now more coven members are falling. As Sophie digs deeper to discover the truth, she starts practicing her magic more and working on expanding her abilities. Her late night practices start to pay off, but at a severe cost to those around her. Can she find the truth before the Council steps in and decides on punishment?

Hex Hall was a riot to read!! The witty humor weaves throughout the novel in a way that one would expect a teenager to think. I can hear the sarcasm dripping off the pages along with the angst and attitude. In a way this book was like Harry Potter meets Viola in Reel Life, but on a small scale campus. It was really fun to see these unique characters go through what is without a doubt the most difficult adjustment period of their lives.

I found the mystery surrounding the evil Prodigium-hunting societies intriguing, but I felt that it was lacking since it never really went anywhere. I know that there are going to be at least two more novels and I know it was used to help bait the reader, but it was frustrating to have this idea dangled in front of me and yet me completely helpless to find out more information. Especially when one of the main characters might be involved with one of the societies.

Overall the characters were each fascinating and over-the-top as one would expect teenagers to be and I found that they were quite pleasant to read about. None of them were too much of anything and I really didn't struggle to understand them, which made the story more fun to read. While there are some unanswered questions at the end, it just leaves room for more novels. I'm hoping it's only a trilogy because any longer than that and I'm afraid it will start to get repetitive. Give a shot if you haven't already!

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

The Thornking-Ash Conservatory is unlike many other specialty high schools in the fact that is focused on fostering musically-gifted teens. Oh, did I forget to mention the slightly demonic fey who tend to gather nearby and want to prey on the students. I think they left that out of the brochure.

Ballad continues the story a few months after the ending of Lament. If you have not read Lament, I would suggest that you start there as this review will contain spoilers for that book. And then once you've read it, you can read my review here. Then come on back and read the tempting review I'm spilling now for Ballad.

So, after battling an evil faerie queen, James Morgan and Deidre "Dee" Monaghan are starting to move on with their lives when they chose to go to Thornking-Ash. Other than the fact that they don't talk much and aren't nearly as close to one another as they once were, things seem to be taking on a rather normal rhythm.

Then in walks Nuala. A waif of a girl, she begins her obvious enticement of James, only to find that he resists her completely. Nuala is not one to deal with rejection easily, so she pursues him more vigorously. Her plan backfires when he gets her to tell him what it is she is really after. A life-stealing, half-faerie, muse is following him around and he is at a loss of how to get rid of her. As his relationship with her morphs and grows into a closer bond, James starts to realize just how far Dee has drifted from him. Not to mention, there is something nefarious about this school. There are too many faerie for having so much iron around and they are stronger than they should be. Something is brewing and it's going to take everyone to fight the forthcoming battle.

Astounding! That is how I would sum up all that happens in Ballad. Dee and James continue to be interesting individuals as we learn more about them. Lament was mostly the story of Dee as a cloverhand. Ballad is mostly about James's incredible talent at his chosen instrument, the bagpipes. I felt like James really grew as a character and that we as readers obtained a more in-depth understanding of the complexity of emotions that he feels for Dee, while she was far removed from the main storyline.

Nuala added the same kind of intrigue and mysteriousness that Luke added to the last novel. She wasn't upfront with what she was, she was fighting her fate, and she couldn't help but be drawn to a human. While at times I found her mischievous nature amusing, sometimes it could get old and I just wanted her to get on with whatever she needed. James could be whiny at times, but I felt like his character really stood up and started to act like he was worth something.

Overall I really enjoyed this companion novel (because I don't really think it's a sequel and half the major players last time aren't really involved) with its new settings, new characters, and general shenanigans. The ending was quite a surprise to me, but I'm glad it ended up where it did. I wouldn't be surprised if she continued this world, but I think if she decided not to, that this was a fitting stopping point.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks has transformed into a girl over the summer. Not only did she change so much physically that more boys are noticing her, but her attitude towards her male-dominated, prep-school world has become wrathful. After growing up listening to her father and his buddies regale her with tales of outrageous things they did with their prep-school secret society, The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, Frankie decides that she will join this "renegade" society. To her dismay, she discovers not only are girls not allowed, but the Bassets have fallen from their glory days.
Due to her summer transformation Frankie manages to attract the attention of gorgeous senior Matthew, who happens to be a member of the secret society. Through Matthew, Frankie determines who the leader is and decides to make a little mischief to reclaim the glory that was once so prevalent on campus. Little does she know what sleeping dog she will awaken...

Frankie Landau-Banks is a terrifically accessible character for many younger girls. Always thought of last and disregarded as the "baby of the family" she asserts herself in the ways that most people only dream about. Luckily for the story, instead of everything working out to her benefit, she has to watch as her world mutates into something unrecognizable when she loses control of the monster she has created. A thoroughly enjoyable read!