Review: Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins

4 yummy soft & spicy snickerdoodles.

Cover Love:  Yes.  I love that the covers for this series all match and that Sophie comes full circle in the Hex Hall uniform.

Why I Wanted to Read This:

This is a series that just keeps getting better and better.  I was really looking forward to this third book (the first ones were Hex Hall & Demonglass).  Last week I posted about my love for this series!  Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

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 Kept Reading Because:  I wanted a happy ending for Sophie!

Romance?:  Yes.  I adore Archer.

What I Liked (& Didn't):

I love the pace of these books--it truly is one of the things that attracts me to this series.  The author moves the story along but doesn't sacrifice good descriptions of the setting and the characters.  I felt I knew the characters very well, even the new ones got a personality.  The settings were also well laid out--I could feel the heat from Graymalkin Island!

I also liked how the setups for the conflicts were put into place but the big fights didn't last page after page.  Sophie and her crew put a plan into place and executed the plan.  They rolled with the deviations and  kept moving forward.  She really reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I just adore Archer and was so glad that he was a big part of this book!  I started out not liking a few of the new characters but they grew on me as well!  And although this story wrapped up well, I feel that there are many stories about Sophie or her world that still could be told.

Sophie is not a martyr.  She never whined about her lot or whined that she was putting others in danger.  She has a backbone and when she saw what needed to be done, she did it.   She never sat around feeling sorry for herself.  This was refreshing because I recently had to quit reading a book because the main character was so whiny and sat around feeling sorry for herself.  Ugh!  Sophie was strong.  We need more main characters like her in YA lit! 

To Sum Up:  A great conclusion to a fantastic series.  Readers in my library are already clamoring for to read this one!

Book bought for my school library.