49. Spell Bound

Book #49: Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3)
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Published: March 13, 2012
327 Pages
5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

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?

Sophie Mercer is just the best. She's more real than most of the heroines you follow in supernatural novels. She's still scared. She's as scared as can be but she still does it in order to help those she loves. You don't normally get to see the scared part of the girl because putting on a brave face is what we do. The brave part is what we love to read when we're reading YA because we like a strong girl. But me, I like them weak too. I mean it's real that way. We are not always on deck. We all have our moments of weakness, it's part of life. Sophie is the epitome of a teenage girl. She's just trying to fit in and in her case, it's not the easiest thing to accomplish.

After taking the Itineris to find the Brannicks, a group of women descended from witches who are sworn enemies of all Prodigium now, Sophie finds that her life is even more messed up that she thought it was. The Brannicks have been waiting for her because they think she could be the one to stop the war rising between Prodigium and those that want them dead. If that's not weird enough, a spell takes all the former Hex Hall students back to the school, where the demon raising Casnoff sisters plan on fuelling the war their own way. I don't want to give away much of the plot because this novel takes so many twists and turns that you need to read it for the real effect.

The cliffhanger at the end of Demon Glass would have left me crying for more if I didn't already have this one on the shelf to start right after. Sophie is lost and alone at the end of that book and we see how her actions and the thought of losing the ones she loves affects her. For the first few chapters, I was praying along with her that they would all be okay. And when Cal and her dad show up at the Brannick's doorstep, i couldn't help but burst into a smile. Even more so when at Hex Hall, we finally get to see Archer again (!!!!!) And of course Jenna, who completes Sophie in the perfect best friend way. Sophie and Archer are adorable in this instalment and I was so happy that the love triangle nonsense was cleared up quickly (I told you there was no way) (And wow that was a hardcore spoiler)

I won't spoil anything else, since it seems at bad at that, so I'll leave you with this. If you enjoyed Hex Hall then you will love the ending to this series. It's enough of a story that it could stand on its own and Sophie's triumph is proof that scared girls can be brave when they need to be. We don't know what we're capable of until it's our only choice and Sophie certainly makes the right choices at all the right times. Hawkins has created a series that will stick me for a long time and characters that I can only wish were real (in particular Mr. Archer Cross) (I blame you for this Mag!)

“Okay, fine. But just so you know, following me into hell means you’re all definitely the sidekicks.” “Darn, I was hoping to be the rakishly charming love interest,” Archer said, taking my hand.”