Jenn's Review: Firespell

Summary:  Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens.

They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet...

Review: There seems to be an abundance of books about magical kids at boarding schools right now with no one story being the same, each finding a way to distinguish itself.   This story is no exception.  This is not a boarding school for the magically inclined... it's a school for girls from wealthy families.  Here it's the popular girls versus the nerdy misfits... a few of whom just happen to have magical powers.  As a nerd who wishes she were a witch, I certainly can appreciate that.

While I found the concept rather intriguing, it seemed largely underdeveloped which resulted in my liking the characters but not loving them, though I grew more attached to them as the novel progressed. I found myself craving more descriptive detail and depth.  Chloe Neill has several pop-culture references which can dangerously date a book, but I enjoyed them.  Actually, I thought some of the pop-culture references in the book were already a little dated -dated being my era or prior, but any book that references ALIAS can't be all bad, right?

I felt like just as things started to get rolling, the book came to and end.  However it's one of those stories that sticks with you and I have been thinking about it ever since I finished it.  It is a fun, quick read and I will be interested to see how things progress.  The third novel, Charmfall, is coming out in January and I have a shiny ARC of it sitting on my desk, so you can be sure I will be reading book two, Hexbound, soon.

Final Take:  3.75/5