Firespell by Chloe Neill

Title: Firespell

Author: Chloe Neill

Published: January 2010

Source: Bought from bn.com

Synopsis from goodreads:

As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…

When Lily’s guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.

The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little weird—she keeps disappearing late at night and won’t tell Lily where she’s been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster.

Scout’s a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who’ve sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who’ve been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of a firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet…

Firespell has a lot of my favorite things in it: boarding school, kick ass heroines, magical powers, and hot guys. And it did them justice. The book is full of action, suspense, some mystery, and a touch of romance. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, and I'm glad that I picked it up.

I really liked Lily as a character. She was strong willed, but not brash, and new how to handle herself. But she also had real emotions that we all could relate to. I think that Scout was my favorite character. She's the rebel with the nose ring, but she's not mean and she's really funny. In the beginning she's rather mysterious, sneaking out at night and not telling Lily where she's going, but I never got the feeling that she was doing anything bad.

The part of this book that makes it not just another boarding school book is very original and compelling. It's well thought out and makes sense once you wrap your head around it. There's never a dull moment, and with a few more twists added in it's one heck of a read. It goes by super fast, and now I can't wait for the others in the series to come out!

Characters: 9/10

Plot: 8/10

Writing: 8/10

Originality: 9/10

Ending: 10/10

Overall: 44/50 B+ 

Hooked: pretty fast.

Recommend to: Fans of boarding school, magic, and mystery.