SpellBound by Rachel Hawkins, UK edition cover.

Title: Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3)
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher:  Simon Pulse (29th March 2012)
Blurb:

Sometimes Sophie Mercer wishes she could go back to before she started Hex Hall, the school for magical Prodigium. In one year she’s gone from average girl-next-door to discovering she’s a demon with extraordinary powers. And, just as she is starting to get her head around that, the Prodigium Council strip away her magic and kidnap her friends, leaving her defenceless and alone.

Now, stranded at the mercy of the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who want to destroy all Prodigium, Sophie could really use a little magical help. But the Brannicks have a few revelations of their own, and Sophie’s world is turned upside down . . . again.

Can Sophie find her friends, regain her powers and take on the bad guys and win? Or will this final battle be one step too far?

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

SpellBound is the third book in Rachel Hawkins’s fantastic Hex Hall series. We see Sophie continue her journey – did this start just two books ago – with lots of twists and turns along the way.

SpellBound is one heck of a ride. It is easily the best book in the Hex Hall series. There are a lot of twists and turns and revelations in the plot, and we get to be reunited with some old friends as well as meeting some new characters. In this book we finally get to meet the Brannicks, and they are some awesome kick-ass females. Although a bit late to the party, it was rather cool to finally meet this group of warrior women. They were in some ways the total opposite of Sophie and her friends – they were very dedicated to learning the warrior arts – but at the same time the younger ones were still just girls like Sophie. In contrast to the Brannicks, The Eye remained an anonymous group.  Sophie was definitely kick-ass in this book and it was nice to see her deep ties with her friends.

The plot of this book was a twisty-turny thing, which made it a brilliant read as there were a LOT of surprises along the way – none of which I saw coming. The book jumps between the Brannicks and Hex Hall, with a side excursion on the way. You definitely know who is friend, and who is foe in this book – that was laid out very neatly in Raising Demons, and there isn’t any change in the line-up really. The basic plot is pretty easy to guess, but it is executed brilliantly. I just wish the guys had, had a bit more of screen time and that Elodie and Jenna had got to show their kick-ass ability more. The ending of the book was very interesting. There is a definite sense of a conclusion at the end of this book, but there are also possible hints of more books in this series in the future.

This book is definitely one to read if you like the Hex Hall series, and if you’re a fan of young adult paranormal romance then the Hex Hall series is definitely one you should consider reading, especially if you’re looking for something a little different as it focuses more on ‘witches’ than it does on vampires or shapeshifters – though they too feature in the series.