Book Review: Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

Title: Spell Bound

Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Hex Hall, #3
Pages: 336
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Date of Publication: 29th March 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: Hailed as “impossible to put down,” the Hex Hall series has both critics and teens cheering. With a winning combination of romance, action, magic and humor, this third volume will leave readers enchanted.

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?

My Thoughts:
I love this series, so, so much. It's definitely one of my favourites, and I have no idea why I waited so long to get around to the sequels after reading the first book nearly two years ago. If you haven't picked up the first in the series, Hex Hall, you must. Right now ;P

I loved Sophie in this book. She was the best Sophie she's been so far, if that makes sense. She's lost all her powers, is virtually human, yet she is still determined to carry on and try to save her friends and family and all the Prodigium from the Casnoff sisters. She's under a whole lot of pressure yet she still manages to keep up with all the snark and sarcasm that I've come to love most about her, and it was great.

I also loved how we got to learn more about the Brannicks in this book. In the first two, they're only briefly mentioned, and while we know loads about The Eye and Prodigium, I knew barely anything about the Brannicks. It was interesting to find out about them and there were definitely some pretty big surprises surrounding them!

The plot was exciting and kept me reading for hours (I read the whole of Spell Bound in two sittings). I needed to keep reading because I had to make sure that a certain character was okay, or in case something bad might happen to Sophie that meant she couldn't do what she need to in order to save everyone. Also, to be able to finally finish one of the books on something that wasn't a massive cliffhanger was awesome.

But the end... Oh my gosh, the end was SO sad! I'll try not to say anything spoilerish, but I love one person so much more because of the end... Aww, it was adorable and heartbreaking and just so lovely, all at the same time. Sorry to be cryptic! ;)

Overall, I really loved Spell Bound, and I thought it was the perfect end to a perfect series. I'll definitely be reading anything else that Rachel Hawkins writes in the future, and I'm super excited to hear that she'll be writing a spin-off series to accompany this one, about some of the characters that we met in this book. Like I said before, if you've not read the series, you should stop whatever you're doing, find yourself a copy, and start reading. You'll love it.