Rachel Hawkins

While at first I was a little confused, I soon got caught up with everything. Sophia, or Sophie is our main character and she is a witch. She has grown up with her completely human mother, her father is absent from her life and has been since before she was born. From what I could gather, she has never met or spoken to her father, he communicates with her mother or her by email only. The book starts off with Sophie casting a love spell, we soon see it go horribly wrong( guy drives his car into the school) and then the next thing we know, Sophie is being shipped off to a school for "Prodigium", or the supernatural. There she feels like a total outcast among the outcasts and soon befriends a vampire; the only one that attends the school (though there is a Vampire teacher). She meets the resident Dark Witches and when they ask her to join their coven she turns them down thinking that there is no way she could be capable of doing dark magic. She develops a crush on the boyfriend of one of the dark witches, and while the crush is innocent at first, things develope as you normally see in most YA books. Sophie is thrust into the school drama as soon as everyone realizes that her room mate and friend is the vampire that everyone thinks killed a girl last semester, but when another of the dark witch coven ends up being attacked in the same way that the other girl was killed, everyone but Sophie assumes that it is Jenna)the vampire) doing it. Sophie sets out to prove everyone wrong and along the way she meets her great-grandmother who is a "ghost". Ghosty grandma starts to teach Sophie how to control her magic and do spells, all the while there is still things going on at the school. Sophie's crush on Archer is escalating and it almost comes to a head during a "ball" held at the school, that is until another of the dark coven is attacked. Jenna and the vampire teacher are then removed from the school. And things become strained between Sophie and Archer. Elodie, the last of the dark coven and Archer's girlfriend, gets busted in the fact that they joined Sophie to their coven without her knowledge and then the two frenimies must look out for each other. Elodie catches Sophie sneeking out one night to meet Alice and when Sophie brings Elodie along, she realizes that Elodie is stronger than her; Alice places a protection spell on both of the girls so that they can recognize their enemies in the school. Things kind of spiral out of control after that, and without giving too much away, know that there is a "hunter" at the school and Alice wasn't exactly what she said she was. I couldn't wait to pick up the next book in the series, just to find out what happens next!… (more)

I flew through this book. When we come in we are about 6 months after the events in Hex Hall. Sophie is still at the school, and while she has somewhat come to terms with everything that happened, she is determined to go through the Removal. The Removal will remove her powers and could possibly kill her, but it is something she feels that she must do in order to protect those around her. After 6 months of waiting her father finally shows up on the day that she is thrown into the lake "swamp" and must pretend to drown and then use her powers to save herself. Only, no one told Sophie that a demon could not escape the pond...
At first her father seems kinda uptight, but I guess as head of the Council, he should be.. We soon get a glimpse of just where Sophie got her sarcasm from. Her mother, father and the headmistress of the school are all trying to talk Sophie out of going through with the Removal, and with good reason; who really wants to see their child die?
Sophie's father makes her a deal, spend the summer with him in London and then if she still wants to go through with the removal he will allow it. Sophie insists that her best friend Jenna; the vampire, be allowed to go too. Her father agrees and then adds that Cal; the groundskeeper, will be joining them. Sophie then learns that while she has been at Hex Hall with Cal, she has been his betrothed. And then to find out that he knew all along, upsets her. Sophie is still hung up on Archer, even though she pretends not to be.
As everyone sets off to London, Sophie has a feeling in the pit of her stomach that they will never return to Hex Hall. Once arriving in London and finally getting to where they will be staying, Sophie realizes that there are two more demons, and they are staying with the Council; well what is left of them.
The book didn't go as fast, nor where there as many twists and turns as in the first, but with Archer making an appearance a few chapters in, the story line picked up. They Eye "hunters" are actively hunting Sophie, as she is heir apparent to the Head of the Council and really no one wants a demon to be in charge. But Archer saves her, so you can tell that maybe he still feels something for her. The story pretty much revolves around finding out who made the two demons, Nick and Daisy, that are at Council Headquarters and Sophie getting back in with Archer.
There are a few fights, nothing big and then at the end there is a major infiltration of the Council, and we learn just who has been making the demons. When the story closes, Sophie is powerless thanks to the Council, her father and Archer are trapped in the cells below the Abbey and she is told to go to the Brannick's ( also hunters).
I was disappointed in the ending and believe that the story could have went a little farther, so that we weren't left with so many questions. I can't wait till the third book is released so I can find out exactly what happens next.… (more)