School Spirits (Hex Hall Novel, A) (udgave 2013)

Needed some light and fun and this delivered. ( )

Izzy has spent her life hunting and fighting monsters (vampires, ghosts, demons, etc.) with her mom and sister. But sister went missing on a mission, so Mom decided that an easy hunt, where Izzy can spend some time as a “normal” teen would be a good idea.

This story had things I liked about it: Torin, trapped in the mirror; Izzy, though a misfit, finds real friends; and Dex, who is sure of himself in his uniqueness. But there are small plot issues that stuck with me. If they moved to a different house for this mission, how is Izzy able to go into her sister’s room, to look at stuff? Did they move sister’s stuff? That doesn’t make sense to me. They aren’t planning on staying in this house. That said, I probably won’t work real hard to get the next one before my students.
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I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Hex Hall series (I especially loathed the ending!), but when I found out that School Spirits was about Izzy, I had to read it. She may not have had the most important part in Hex Hall, but she caught my attention.

The story is fairly predictable, but I really didn’t mind since I didn’t read the book for the plot. Not that it was in any way a bad plot; I just wasn’t overly impressed by it. But I loved hearing about Izzy! She has never been in a high school so she buys a lot of TV shows about high school to kind of watch what to do. And I adored the show! There where so many references and conversations about the show and it sounded like something I would love to watch. Frankly, that’s not an option, since the show isn’t really - trust me, I googled it. Dammit!!

School Spirits had a lot of interesting characters. The PMS club (Anderson, Dex and Romy) were so much fun and it’s obvious that they are very close. Besides, I just love Torin - I mean, he is so much fun and I would love a guy in the mirror to talk to. And I like how he isn’t all good, but has his own agenda. The only character I kind of missed was Izzy’s mother - fortunately for me, School Spirits is the first book in a new trilogy, so there’s probably going to be a lot of great moments between Izzy and her mother.

Side note: I wasn’t that impressed by the writing in the Hex Hall series, but now that I’ve read School Spirits, I think it may have something to do with the translation (I read Hex Hall in Danish), because I loved the writing in School Spirits. Very well done and with a nice flow. I recommend Rachel Hawkins (and her books, obviously) to anyone who wants to start reading in English. Not only is the story line easy to follow and the writing is great, but you also get a very funny story with loveable characters and a lot of paranormal goodness.
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an excellent sequel. ..kind of a teenage girl, Supernatural with heart. I lived it and can't wait for the next book. ( )

This book was great! I loved learning more about Izzy Brannick and the Brannick family as well as Torin. Torin & Izzy have a really fun relationship to watch although it was also really fun to see how the relationship between her and Dex developed as well. Her time at High School was also pretty entertaining. I hope to see more of Izzy Brannick in the future. ( )