Firespell by Chloe Neill

(Sorry I haven't posted a review in ages! Last week was so busy- Wednesday, I went to a Cobra Starship concert and it was AMAZING; Thursday was Parents' Evening, and on Friday we broke up for half term so I went to see Valentine's Day- it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either. I've read bad reviews but personally, I enjoyed it).

New Girl.
New School.
Old Evil.

From the author of the Chicagoland Vampires novels.

A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework.

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...

-Amazon.com

Review

I found this an extremely enjoyable read. It was a bit short (256 pages), fast-paced and action-packed (especially the second half of the book) so no time seemed to pass at all as a I read it. The characters were believable, and I liked the setting of St. Sophia's too, as I've been to Chicago so it was nice reminiscing about Madison Avenue.

At first, Lily annoyed me a bit especially when she began following Scout because I'm not a huge fan of overly-inquisitive characters (I know it gets us readers the answers to certain questions but I know that if I met someone like that in real life I'd be so frustrated). But as the book progressed, I began to like Lily. I was especially fond of her new best friend Scout, who was spunky and loyal and who stood out the most compared to the other characters. A character who particularly intrigued me was Sebastian and I hope to read more about him in the second book (I would explain why but I don't want to give away too many spoilers).

The romance was quite minimal, but at least it was present, and I have a feeling it will be explored much further in the next book, especially with the way things were left off between Jason and Lily.

I like the concept of 'Reapers' and 'Adepts', especially the idea that their powers would start to destroy them if they hung onto them above a certain age. This made it more interesting as I wondered whether certain characters would be able to relinquish their powers in the future or go over to the 'dark side.'

So many questions were raised- what were Lily's parents really doing in Germany, what was up with the headmistress of the school, why did Sebastian do what he did...? There weren't too many questions though, that a reader would get annoyed- just enough to pique one's curiosity and make someone want to read the next book when it's out.

If you're a fan of slightly-supernatural high-school reads with realistic characters, I would definitely recommend it. However, if you're looking for something with a lot of romance, which touches a lot on the supernatural part, then maybe this book isn't for you.

Rating: 4/5