{Mini Review} School Spirits (School Spirits #1) by Rachel Hawkins

Four Stars

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as the New York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!

Remember that person from the third book of the Hex Hall series, Spell Bound? Yeah, me neither. But I found out that School Spirits takes place in the same world, and I loved the descriptions of that witch world, so I had to ask for it. And then I got accepted!

I didn't enjoy this book as much as Hex Hall, sadly. The actual rating is more of a 3.5 stars than an solid 4 stars. 

This was a pretty quick and fluffy read, and it doesn't really stay with you in the long run.

There still is a sense of humor in this novel, but it isn't as pronounced.

The setting is a high school, and that sort of bored me. It seems every young adult novel is set at a high school nowadays.

I really liked how Dex wasn't exactly like Archer. I felt there was a pretty big difference between the two.

I will read the next books in the series. School Spirits is an engaging read, and I hope the next books answer my questions.

Thank you Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

And now my favorite quotes:

“You are my new hero. Seriously, I might actually be in love with you now. Would it be awkward if we made out?”

I didn't highlight that much in this book so there are not that many favorite quotes.

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Touch of Frost By: Jennifer Estep

Two Stars: Not my taste

Goodreads Summary:

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy; a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest. But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why; especially since I should have been the one who died...


This wasn't very good. I wanted to like it, but it just wouldn't happen. The characters and plot were so cliché. I've already read about literally  running into the "bad boy" to many times to count. There's too many "invisible" or "unliked" girls. And there's always the "hot, popular" girl.

So, the setting is a school where Greek demigod-ish teens go. The first thing that reminded me of was Hogwarts. Then, it turned out that it had all these other types of magic kids that were not relevant to the story to any way, like Ninjas. The three most important races were the Greeks, the Romans, and the Norse people. The rest was just clutter.

Gwen was sometimes just an idiot. She sometimes forgets that she has her magic gift. After that, there were all these things that feel "off" to her, but she missed the important clues. And, ofcourse, she doesn't think she's special, but she actually is.

The writing had a huge info-dump. It was like the author didn't know how to expand information over the entire book. Gwen barely figures anything out on her own. Even the villain told her what she should've found out.

I didn't like this book very much, but paranorama boarding school junkies should love it.

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