Book Review: Demon Glass + Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

Hello all, today I am going to share two book reviews in this post! These reviews are going to be on the 2nd and 3rd book in the Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins. As soon as I finished reading Hex Hall, (read my review for hex hall here) I had to go get the rest of the series. I was so excited to read these and this quickly became a new favorite series of mine! These reviews will contain spoilers so if you have not read Hex Hall I wouldn't suggest reading these reviews. (I suggest going and reading Hex Hall asap, actually) lol.

My Review for Demonglass (hex hall series #2):

Summary from Goodreads

 Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (a.k.a. witches, shape-shifters, and faeries). But then she discovered the family secret, and the fact that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie's a demon, one of only two in the world-the other being her father. What's worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will either destroy her powers for good-or kill her. 

But once Sophie arrives, she makes a shocking discovery. Her new housemates? They're demons too. Meaning, someone is raising demons in secret, with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Archer to do it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

So this book basically picks up where the last book left off. Sophie is finishing the school year and still wants to have her powers removed since finding out that she is a demon instead of a witch. She meets her Dad for the first time and goes to spend some time with him, which was his condition before letting her go through the removal. She finds out that her and her dad aren't the only two demons in the world after all, and that means someone is raising demons.

There were a lot of different things that I loved about this book. I absolutely love reading from Sophie's pov. She's such a great and entertaining character. She has really great character development as well. I also really love her Dad. He's a great character as well, and he has a great personality. He cares for Sophie a lot and it's really obvious. Even though Sophie just met him, they form a really great bond with each other. I was really happy to see Elodie back in this book. Since she died in last book, shes a ghost now and basically "haunts" Sophie. She doesn't play a huge part in this book but I was glad she was still in the book.

This book had a lot more history in it than the first book did, which is really interesting. We also learn more about how Alice became a Demon and stuff like that. Also, there is an ancient Spell Book in this book and I am such a sucker for stuff like that in books about witches and witchcraft. I loved how both The Secret Circle and Beautiful Creatures had their spell books so I was happy to see one in this series too.

We are introduced to a lot of new character in this book, including new demons. I wasn't sure how I felt about these character at first. I didn't trust them and some of the other people that came into play as well. But this series is great because it has a lot of twists and turns in it, so there is always something that happens that I never excepted. Which I really love because I hate being able to tell what is going to happen in a book. The ending had alot of exciting action and a ton of crazy stuff happens. And of course, the ending leaves you hanging! Which is why I had to immediately pick up the third book. This review is a little short because I can't say much more without ruining the book!

My Review for Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3):

Summary 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?



First off, just like the description says "Hailed as impossible to put down", this book was just that. I could not put it down. I was so hooked into this story it was insane.  This book picked right back up from the 2nd book, which left you completely hanging. So at the end of the 2nd book all hell broke loose, and Sophie managed to escape from the hell after she had her powers locked away from her and  after being told to go find her mother who was with the Brannicks. Now if you've read the first two books you will remember that the Brannicks are Prodigium hunters, so why exactly is Sophie's Mom with them is the question?

This whole entire book was full of excited action and there was never a dull moment in it. Ever. This is actually what I love in series, especially the last books in series. There is so much stuff that happens in this final book, and even more twists and turns that I didn't expect. Like I said before in my review for Demonglass, Sophie had really great character development. It even progresses more so in this book. We are also introduced to more new character, all of which I really loved. Somehow this author wrote all of these character really likable, even the characters who are villains I still end up liking. I also mentioned before that Elodie came back in book two, but in this book she plays a really big role. I was really happy about that because she is one of my favorite character in this series. The ending of this book was really great as well, but I was really sad that this series was over. I hope the author someday decides to continue the series, but I do not think that will happen.
This review is also pretty short, because I can't say much without giving away the storyline. This is why it is so hard for me to review books that are 2nd, 3rd, etc, in a series because I never know what to say without giving away spoilers. I always end up just wanting to talk about what happens in the book!

This author wrote a spin off book to this series called School Spirits, which features a new main character. I finished this book yesterday and will also post a review on this book soon.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt

Hello Everyone! Today I am going to do the Bookshelf Scavenger Tag that I saw going around on the youtube book community. I thought it sounded really fun so I thought that I would make a blog post out of it. 

Things to find in your bookshelf scavenger hunt:

• Find an author's name or title with the letter Z in it

I don't think I have any books with a Z in the title, but this was one of two books that had an author with a Z in their name. 

• Find a classic

• Find a book with a key on it

I love the key on the cover of this book. 

• Find something on your bookshelf that's not a book

Say Hello to my little friend Link.

• Find the oldest book on your shelf

I'm not exactly sure if this is the oldest, but my guess is pretty good.

• Find a book with a girl on the cover

I picked this one because I love love love this book cover.

• Find a book that has an animal in it

I picked this one because of the title and because this books has a circus setting so there is lots of animals.

• Find a book with a male protagonist

Just because it's my favorite book. 

• Find a book with only words on it

This was the closest I could find.

• Find a book with illustrations in it

I love the illustrations in this series.

• Find a book with gold lettering

• Find a diary (true or fictional)

• Find a book written by someone with a common name (like Smith)

So I just picked the one with the last name Smith. Lol.

• Find a book that has a closeup of something on it

I was going to use this one for the cover with a girl on it, but since this has a close up of Meghan's face I thought it fit better here. I love the covers for the Iron Fey series. 

• Find a book on your shelf that takes place in the earliest time period

• Find a hardcover book without a jacket

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This was my first Harry Potter book that I owned and I lost the jacket for it :(. Also I guess this book could have counter for question one for the Z in Azkaban. 

• Find a teal/turquoise colored book

This book is part of the Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale. I really love this series and I don't think it's recognized enough.

• Find a book with stars on it

• Find a non-YA book

I picked this one because it's one of my favorite Nicholas Sparks books and I haven't read anything by him in a long time and I miss his books.

This was a fun post to do and I hope you all enjoyed! Happy Reading! 

June 2013 Wrap Up

Hello all! Today I am going to do my June Wrap up post for the books that I read last month. I can't believe it's already July! This summer is really going quickly for me. I was able to read 3 books last month in June. I also started reading the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, I did not finish because it is a really long book so that took up a little bit of my reading time.

Prodigy by Marie Lu was the first book that I read last month. I enjoyed this book alot and thought it was a great sequel to Legend. I am really excited for the next book in the series to come out! You can read my review for Prodigy here.











Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins was the second book I read. This is the first book in the Hex Hall series and one that I had on my to read list on goodreads for a while but I forgot about it. I was in the mood for a good fantasy book so I decided to pick this one up and I really loved it. Not only is it fantasy, but one of the main focuses in this series is on witches and witchcraft which I loved also. This book was great and if you have not read this series yet, it's one that I recommend! You can also read my review for this book here.




Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins is the last book that I read in June. This is the second book in the Hex Hall series. After finishing Hex Hall, I had to go out and purchase the rest of the books in the series. I enjoyed Demonglass just as much as Hex Hall and this series quickly became one of my new favorites. Both of the books were really great reads and I read them both really fast. I can't wait to start the last book called Spell Bound, and also the authors spin off series School Spirits as well!





This is all for my June Wrap up post. I have not had much time to read lately and I am trying to catch up on my huge TBR pile that just keeps growing! I hope you all enjoyed and Happy Reading!

Exploring Random Book Stores: Ann Arbor Michigan

Hello All! Today my blog post is going to be a little bit different from my normal ones. Today my husband and I went to Ann Arbor, Michigan with a group of friends and we went to a cute random little book store called Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tearoom. This was a book store that had a ton of cool and interesting books, cute little trinkets, and it also had a tea room on the second floor. I really loved this place, so I thought that I would do a blog post on it. Actually, anytime that I go into a cute random book store from now on I am going to make a point to take some pictures and blog about it as well. We took a few pictures in this one that I will share with you all, but I wish I would have taken more of the tea room and all of the different stuff. I will definitely remember to do that next time! 

 Also, I purchased a book in this store and some cute random book pins! 

Here's some pictures of me looking at some books that my friend Hannah took!

I was really excited when I found this huge bind up of all of the Chronicles of Narnia books. My friend Stephanie, who also went with us, had just started reading these books and I wanted to try them out too. So it was perfect when I found this book here! The second picture is my little pins that I got and a little book mark thing that came in my book that kind of explains what the store is. The first pin just says Read on it, and the second one says Read Between the covers. 

The little bookmark has the name Crazy Wisdom bookstore & tearoom on the top and underneath it it lists the type of things they have in the store. 

The first section says Spirituality, Psychology, and Integrative Medicine. 

 The second section says Gift & Cards, Jewerly & Crafts, Art & Music, Incense & Candles. They had so much cute jewelry and little trinkets. I just loved everything. 

The third section says Teas of the World and Soups and Deserts. They had so many cute tea kettles and coffee cups there as well. 

The last section of the book mark says The Crazy Wisdom Journal,

Health & Healing resource guide and Meeting room. I almost bought this really cool journal thats was one of the one line a day ones. It was called a memory a day. I have always wanted to do a journal like that.

This store had alot of different and awesome books inside of it. There were fairy and mermaid books along with alot of other mythical creatures. There were books on witchcraft and they had alot of cool tarot cards too.  There were astrology books, and sun and moon guides. There were cook books, books on herbs and how to grow gardens and such. It was really cool and so fun to look at everything!!

I hope I can go to more cool and random book stores like this in the future so I can share them here on my blog! I hope you all enjoyed this post and thank you for reading! 

Book Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Today I am going to share my review for Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. This is the first book in the Hex Hall series. This has been on my to read list for a while now, and while I was browsing my 'to-read' list on goodreads I discovered it again and decided to purchase it.  I really enjoyed this book and I was so happy that I read it. I was in the mood for a really good fantasy book that was part of a series. Actually I was looking for a series that already had all of the books out already because I am kind of tired of reading one or two books and then having to wait a year or so for the next book to come out. I never remember what happens in the book (unless the book is really, really, really good) so I was really happy that I found this series. (sorry for the mini rant!!) Now I will get on to my review!


Summary from Goodreads:

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

So this book is about a girl named Sophie who is a witch. She gets sent to the boarding school called Hex Hall for witches, shape shifters, fairies, and a few other supernatural races which are called Prodigium in this series. Hex Hall is where the prodigium get sent if they get in trouble for not controlling their magic and powers. At Hex Hall Sophie feels like an outsider because her mom is human and she gets her powers from her father whom she has never met before. Basically she's the only one there who didn't grow up in a prodigium family so she knows nothing about her powers. Her roommate is the only vampire in the school, and is the suspect for the death of a student and some attacks on other students.

First off, I really liked this book because it was different that other paranormal and fantasy series that I've read before. It kind of reminded me of the ShadowFalls series by C.C Hunter a little and that's another reason why I picked it up. I haven't read a series like this before where the main character was a witch and that's why I liked it so much I think. I've mentioned many times that I love books about witches and witchcraft.

The storyline is this book was really good. I enjoy when the story keeps you guessing and theres a little bit of mystery going on. It was kind of suspenseful not knowing who was attacking the students in this book. There were actually alot of twists and turns in this book which I loved. I always hate it when I can guess what is going to happen in books, and this book definitely had me surprised more than once. I thought the writing style in the beginning was a little choppy and something about it bothered me/something was missing but I couldn't put my finger on it. After the story progressed a little but though it got better and I forgot about it.

I really loved all of the characters in this book too. They are all witty and have a great since of humor. Especially Sophie, she was a great and strong main character. I also really loved her roommate Jenna, and her love interest Archer. I even liked her frenemies in the book too! All of the characters really were awesome.

I don't really have much more to say about this book without giving away spoilers so I am going to end my review here. I gave this book a 4/5 stars on goodreads because overall I really enjoyed this book. I immediately ordered the other two books in the series after I finished reading this one. I just started reading the 2nd book called Demon Glass today so I can't wait to get into it! I am also reading A Clash of Kings which is the 2nd book in the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones) so I am trying to break it up by reading Demon Glass as well.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed my review!

Book Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu.

Today I am going to share my review for Prodigy by Marie Lu, which is the sequel to Legend which I reviewed back at the beginning of May. You can read my review for Legend here if you would like to read that first before my review of Prodigy. Also if you have not read Legend then this review may contain some spoilers, but as always I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

Summary from Goodreads:

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long. 

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

So I knew right away after finishing Legend that I had to read the sequel. I actually really enjoyed this one and it was quick read. I was surprised on how quick the story went by. It was full of a lot of action that made the story great. I really don't know how or particularly like to review books that are in the middle of a series because I never really know what to say about them. Especially because there is not much I can say without giving away what happened in the book. So I am going to do this review in a list form of things that I liked/disliked about the book.

Things that I liked:
-This book wasn't as hard to get into as the first book was.
-The book was really fast paced, and it had a lot of excited action to hold my attention.
-This book had a lot more explanation of things about how the United States fell apart. Last book really didn't give us any explanation.
-I think Junes and Day's characters both grew a lot in this story. There was a lot of character development from both of them. Day's character really surprised me.
-I liked how this book had a lot more different settings in it other than just in The Republic and The Slums.
-I liked a lot of the characters in this book who played a bigger role in this book than last.
-I had a love hate relationship with the ending! It really made me anxious for next book.

Things that I Disliked:
-I really hated the blue writing. I didn't mind the yellow writing in Legend, but for some reason the blue bothered me.
-In the first book I didn't mind the alternating POV's, but for some reason I liked reading for June's POV better. Towards the end I enjoyed reading more from Day's though.
-I mentioned this in my review for Legend, but I really don't care for the military-ish things and feel to the book. It kind of bores me, but after a while when I got into the story I kind of forgot about it.
-Like I said before, I had a love hate relationship with the ending. That is No way to end a book! Way to drive your readers crazy!!

This is all for my likes and dislikes about this book. I gave it a 5/5 stars on goodreads because I really enjoyed the book, especially towards the end. I can't wait for the next book to come out! It will probably be one of my most anticipated book for this fall.

I hope you all enjoyed and thank you for reading!

May 2013 Wrap Up

Today I am going to share my May wrap up post for the books that I read last month. This post is a little late, but that is because I only read 2 books last month so I kept forgetting to write this. Actually, I even considered skipping last months wrap up since this will be a short one, but then I thought why not.

The first book I read last month was Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles. I gave this one a 4/5 stars on goodreads. It was about a girl named Lainey, who had a friend named Leah who died. She really hated her a lot of the time and wished she was dead but now that she is actually dead she kind of felt kind of responsible. On the other hand, she is kind of relieved because Leah was really possessive and made her do a lot of crazy things that she didn't understand when they were kids.

The second book that I read was Chosen at Nightfall by C.C Hunter. This was the last book in the Shadowfalls series and I loved loved loved everything about it! (besides that fact that the series ended) It was such a great book and it was a perfect ending to the series. If you have not read this series yet I highly recommend it because it is wonderful!

I really hope I can read more books this month in June. I just posted a book haul a few days ago so I have a lot of great books that can't wait to read. My TBR pile is huge at the moment, I probably have 20+ books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I am currently reading Prodigy by Marie Lu, the sequel the Legend which I read in April I think. I also starting reading The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan, which I also intend to finish this month as well.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed. :)