Hexbound by Chloe Neill

Hexbound
Chloe Neill

Grade: A

Description from Goodreads.com

Lily Parker is new to St. Sophia’s School for Girls, but she’s already learned that magic can be your best friend…or your worst enemy.

They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Turns out, even a little magic can turn you to the dark side. That’s why Lily has to learn how to control her newly discovered paranormal abilities, on top of avoiding the snobs who think they run her school, nursing a crush on a cute sophomore with a big, werewolf-y secret, and fighting the good fight with her best friend Scout as they take on Chicago’s nastiest nightlife—including the tainted magic users known as Reapers.

Then Lily’s invited to a private meeting with Sebastian. He’s hot, powerful, and offering to help her harness the magic flowing in her veins in a way no one else can. He’s also a Reaper. Lily can’t hide her suspicions. But she’ll soon find out that the line between good and evil isn’t always clear…



My thoughts on the book:
WARNING! Spoilers if you have not read Firespell. No spoilers for Hexbound, though.
I felt that Hexbound was a vast improvement over Firespell. There was so much more going on, and the story moved a lot faster than the first novel.

Lily and the other Adepts are back again to protect Chicago from the evil Reapers. In the second book in this series, there is more violence and more romance. There are a few kissing scenes, and a couple of fight scenes, but nothing is overly-detailed, and the entire novel is still PG. The book has a lot more magic in it as well, which is good because that was seriously lacking in the first book.

The main problem in this novel is that there are giant rat looking things in the Pedway in Chicago, and no one knows how they got there. Enter Lily, Scout, Jason, and Michael, who attempt to save the day. Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple. Not only do Lily and co. have to fight these rat creatures, but they end up in the middle of a vampire turf war as well. Along with vampires, there is also a helpful ghost, and we get to meet two of the Adepts from Enclave Two, Detroit and Naya. They have some pretty cool powers as well.

While Lily is dealing with Adept drama, she also has the usual brat-pack drama to deal with. Veronica is obsessed with John Creed, Jason's friend, and she's convinced that Lily and Scout are sneaking out at night to meet him. This complicates things quite a bit. Furthermore,  Lily's budding romance with Jason is even more complicated that originally thought. Add that to Sebastian basically stalking Lily's every move, and even more mysteries surrounding her parents, and you have a very intense novel. Lily is being forced to grow up and grow into her powers very quickly, and I spent at least the last half of the book just waiting on her to crack.

Scout's character becomes more fleshed out as well, and her outlook has changed a bit since her capture at the end of Firespell. She is deailing with the PTSD that she must be suffering as well as can be expected, but Lily still worries about her. This novel shows Scout's growth as a character and as a spell-binder because she tries many new spells to protect herself.

Jason and Sebastian are two very complex characters in this novel, and we get to know them better. A lot of Jason's story is told in this book, and I'm glad about that. I was a bit curious about him, and Neill does an excellent job of telling his story and having it blend in with the rest of the plot. While I love Jason (werewolves are always my favorite), I'm very frustrated with him because of a few things he said at the end of the novel. However, I'm going to give him a chance in Charmfall to see if he redeems himself. Sebastian is another story all together, though. I'm not sure what to think about him. Part of me likes him because I always love a bad boy, but part of me thinks he's in a massive state of denial. I'm going to have to wait to see what happens with him in Charmfall as well before I make up my mind about him.

Hexbound left me wishing Charmfall was out right now instead of having to wait until January 3 to buy it. I can't wait to see what happens next to Lily and the rest of the Adepts. This novel is more like the Chicagoland Vampire Series than Firespell was, and I was pleasantly surprised to see this series improve. It was a good idea, and Neill is now executing it perfectly. One more day until I can see what happens next! If you're a Chloe Neill fan, like I am, then you definitely need to check out the Dark Elite series. As an adult reader, I can tell you that even though it's PG YA, it's still worth reading. I didn't feel like the book was too young for me because the characters are fairly mature for their age. So, do yourself a favor, and check this series out today!

Want to buy Hexbound?

Amazon.com: Print
Amazon.com: Kindle E-book

Barnes and Noble: Print
Barnes and Noble: Nook E-book