Firespell (Dark Elite Series) by Chloe Neill

Brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz

Synopsis: “A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework.

Lily’s parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra rich. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophia’s creepy campus.

The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little strange. She keeps disappearing late at night, asking Lily to trust her even though she won‘t divulge any information. But when the ultra-rich, ultra snooty, rich brat pack play a prank on Lily, leaving her 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. Lily ends up finding herself in the line of a fire spell thrown by an enemy Reaper and Scout finally tells her the truth about her secret life. Now Lily joins the quirky, uniquely gifted teens on their quest to protect the city even though she has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet . . .”

Review: For author Chloe Neill’s debut into the world of Young Adult fiction, I must say she has knocked it out of the ballpark! Firespell is one of the BEST Young Adult novels out there (in my humble opinion)! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

The characters are developed well. The pacing of the story is perfect, beginning at medium speed then throwing you forward, into one hell of an adventure! The descriptions are just enough to help you capture the story without feeling overloaded or as if the author is trying too hard to impress you.

The humor in Firespell was just AWESOME! Sarcasm on pretty much every page which made me feel right at home with these characters and their story.

Scout and Lily are wonderful female leads young girls can look up to. Scout is spunky, sharp minded, quick with her tongue, and straight forward. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself or others. She also has a quiet vulnerability which makes Scout both strong and beautiful. Lily is laid back, open minded and open hearted, bold when she needs to be, and a true friend. Both Scout and Lily are sarcastic and the friendship they share reminded me of my best friend Bridget and myself. It’s honest and genuine. They don’t ever try to impress each other, they just let each other be themselves without restrictions, great lesson for young people to learn (even some a little older *wink*).

Michael and Jason are great male leads, even though you don’t get to see them as much as I wish. They are both dripping with HOTNESS wrapped in SEXY! Jason was my favorite though. He is sweet, honest, and mischievous. If Jason was real I’m pretty sure there would be a lot of girls running after him (this one included hehe). All of the secondary characters are also well developed. You get to see each personality and don’t feel like any of the characters were thrown into the story to fill a space in the plot.

The plot itself is loads of fun! Wonderful to read a new take on the world of magic. There wasn’t once I was bored in this story and had to fight myself to put it down so I could actually take of other things I needed to do. But as soon as I was done, I was jumping back in for more! I love that there was no sex or drugs or vulgarity. Chloe Neill proves a GREAT book geared for young adults can be written without insulting their intelligence and without the need of following a so called “trend” (most young adult novels now a days of have WAY too much sex, drugs, useless violence, etc in them to be considered not just suitable for young adults but good in general).

If you haven’t read Firespell GO BUY IT!! This is one purchase you will most DEFINITELY be happy you made! And the sequel, Hexbound, comes out on January 4th, 2011. Can’t wait!!