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Review: School Spirits (Hex Hall Spin-off #1)

December 21, 2012 by Jaime Leave a Comment

School Spirits (Hex Hall Spin-off, #1)School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I saw this book listed in netgalley I immediately prayed to all the book gods that I would be approved for it. A few days later… I looked like this.

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See, I loved Hex Hall, I enjoyed the story and the characters and when I heard that Rachel Hawkins was going to do a spin-off series I jumped for joy, but was admittedly a tiny bit worried what it would be about.

In School Spirits, we’re better introduced to the Brannicks. If you’ve read the Hex Hall series, you might remember them as the family of red-headed women who fight and hunt magical creatures.

As you can imagine, Izzy’s life doesn’t lend itself to a traditional type of upbringing. After the mysterious disappearance of Izzy’s sister, her mom decides that they need to take a break from everything and hone Izzy’s skills by looking into a haunting at a high school. It will be Izzy’s first time attending school and spending great amounts of time with people her own age, other than her sister. Only this isn’t your typical haunting and Izzy gets to meet some wonderful characters.

I really enjoyed all the characters that Hawkins has created here again. Torin is back and still trapped in his mirror of course. But Izzy has definitely become a favorite. Pushed into this world where she has absolutely no clue and is watching an over dramatic high school television series in order to get an idea about what high school might entail had me chuckling. She of course seems to meet up with the class misfits right off the bat, and I truly like both Romy and Dex.

“What’s your name?” Romy asked. A tiny dimple flashed in one cheek. “I mean, in my head, you’ll always be The Girl Who Took My Desk, but that’s kind of an awkward thing to call you all the time.”

I instantly loved Romy – She was the perfect match to Izzy introducing her to friendship and girl talk and painting toes and gossip. Romy is the head of one of the school clubs… PMS or Paranormal Management Society, so what starts out as a means to get to the bottom of the ghost issues, turns into more. It also turns out that the simple haunting happening at the high school and to students really isn’t as simple as initially thought.

And Dex…

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I adore him. He’s charismatic, witty, and sweet and oh so adorable.

Maybe it was his grin, which was a nice change from the glares/looks of horror I’d gotten in the gym, but I found myself giving a little smile in return. “Izzy. And there, uh, was a dodgeball incident.”

“Perhaps the most intriguing phrase I’ve heard uttered in some time,” Dex said, rocking back on his heels. “I’m obviously going to need you to elaborate.”

or

Sorry. We probably haven’t reached the inappropriate touching stage of our friendship yet.”

or

“The clothes, I mean,” he said, gesturing to his coat. “I know that I’m fashionable and well-groomed, and yes, I have been known to rock the occasional manbracelet.”

He lifted his wrist, jangling the bracelet I’d noticed earlier. I could see now that it was plain silver, just a series of links.

“But,” Dex continued, dragging another one of my fries through ketchup, “I also like ladies. And not as shopping buddies, but in the carnal sense.”

But, Dex is special and Izzy still hasn’t quite figured out what his deal is… she thinks he’s prodigium but isn’t sure and that’s odd for her because she can always tell.

The good news for those of you new to Rachel Hawkins is that you don’t really need to read the Hex Hall series in order to jump into this one. While you will have a better understanding of what the Brannick’s do and who they are, you get a pretty good understanding right off the bat in School Spirits. And there is only brief mentions of Sophie and Archer in this book. The other good news is that you definitely have time to read the Hex Hall series before this one comes out in May 2013, so really you could read the three books in that series and be ready for this one come release day.

If you’re looking for a YA Paranormal series with a bit of romance and a lot of fun this is definitely a perfect series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Hyperion for the early copy in return for an honest review.

Please note that this is of course an early copy so the quotes are subject to change.

View all my reviews

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Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: GoodReads, Paranormal, Reviewed By Jaime, Young Adult

About Jaime

Avid reader and book blogger, lover of music, writing, my kid & my cats. Master of sarcasm and snark and doing what makes me happy.

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