Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

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 started reading this series two years ago and thought that it was a great new twist on paranormal at the time, a boarding school for supernatural? Great! It was also good for me to read about boarding schools because my novel is set at one.

In this novel, all the characters we met at the beginning (the ones still alive and, well one dead), are forced to return back to Hex Hall by the Casnoff sisters. I think this was a little off. If I got spirited away and right into the clutches of some horrible, evil, witches - I would not handle it smoothly. Sophie kind of just accepts she has to be there. I do not feel that Archer or her, really tried to escape, like I feel their characters would have.

A great thing: ARCHER AND SOPHIE GOT TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME! I love the name Archer Cross. It is one of my tippy favorites. I love this relationship because they are not these fawning, bleeding heart, sappy characters. They are snarky; they fight. They just seem normal to me. Granted I love the little heart felt moments that do happen in the book, but at no point do I feel they lose themselves in their relationship.

Mom throws a huge twist into the first two chapters of the book. Kind of shocking.

I thought the end battle scene should have been more, because it was very much over before I was ready. And when that person dies, who I will not say who, I felt very much like Prim's death, it happened so quickly and was thrown at me, that I had to re-read to process it. I felt Demonglass's action at the end was better - more developed, more complete to me.

And as always, its hard to write a review that doesn't spoil the first two books. But overall, I really liked and enjoyed the series.

What were your thoughts?