Review: Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins

Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins (March 2011, Simon & Schuster Children's, ISBN: 1847387233)

Notes: Review contains spoilers for the previous book, Hex Hall.

Review: Hex Hall was one of my favourite books in 2010. Could the sequel, Raising Demons, be as good? Yes, thankfully it could and was.

We catch up with heroine Sophie Mercer a few months after the traumatic events in Hex Hall, almost at the end of the school year. Sophie's had a lot to take onboard, such as being a demon and the heir-apparent to the leadership of the Council of Prodigium and that her boyfriend, Archer Cross, is a demon hunter working for her sworn enemy, The Eye. That's plenty to be going on with and then she's informed that she's actually betrothed to Cal, the groundskeeper with the (literally) healing hands. Her father, the current head of the Council thinks it best that Sophie, her best friend Jenna and Cal spend the summer vacation at the Council HQ in England where he can try to dissuade her from voluntarily having her powers removed. However, though the HQ is a palatial stately home, a pair of demons, Daisy and Nick, make her life uncomfortable. Plus not only is she getting to know her dad, she has to learn to control her powers, and there's the issue of her former boyfriend who seems to pop up at the least expected moments and then there's the fact that she has her own personal ghost. Not a restful summer holiday, that's for sure.

Raising Demons was such fun, I loved it. Sophie is one of my favourite heroines: she's funny, kind, loyal and tries to do the right thing and with her magic can kick-ass! I snorted out loud at this reference to a popular series!: "Did you want to watch me sleep or something? Because if that's the case, this engagement is so broken." Her English dad's dialogue is also (intentionally) a hoot with his very formal speech with Sophie takes the mick out of. It was great to be able to see the mysterious dad and get to know and understand him better. As well as the witty remarks from Sophie there's the sparky romance with Archer who can spar with her on an equal basis. Hopefully their story will end better than Romeo and Juliet's. The big showdown at the end is a nail-biting affair and left on a huge, huge cliff-hanger. Rachel Hawkins writes on her blog that Sophie's story should be wrapped up in three books but I secretly hope that there'll be more...

Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (April 2010, Simon & Schuster Children's, ISBN: 1847387225)

First Line: Felicia Miller was crying in the bathroom. Again.

Review: Hex Hall is the first in a series from debut author Rachel Hawkins.

Sophie Mercer has known that she's a witch for many years but her inability to keep a low profile has meant that her and her mum have lived in a lot(!) of places. Her latest spell - a love spell to help a bullied class-mate - goes magnificently wrong and so Sophie is sent to reform school - Hecate (Hex) Hall which is on an island off the Georgia coast - along with other misbehaving witches, fairies and shape-shifters ie Prodigium.

Her room-mate Jenna is the only vampire in the school and is suspected of murder by the rest of the school as Jenna's previous roomie, Holly, was found drained of blood with two neat holes in her neck. Jenna was cleared of the attack but mud sticks. Sophie has a run in with the three strongest witches - Elodie, Anna and Chaston aka The Trinity - who need her to join their coven and when she refuses they make life difficult for her. Then there's Archer Cross whom (nearly) everyone has a crush on but - would you know it - is going out with queen bee, Elodie. Throw in a formidable but actually quite friendly head-mistress, Mrs Casnoff, a spiteful defence teacher, Vandy and a persistent ghost and Sophie will have her work cut out to fit in and keep out of trouble, two things she usually finds herself unable to do.

Hex Hall sets the series up nicely. Sophie is a great character - funny and self-deprecating and with an unusual background which will play a big role in the future books. Archer looks to be a good match for her but he has secrets - which I look forward to discovering. I enjoyed Hex Hall very much, I raced through it and was was completely thrown by one of the big revelations at the end. There's magic, romance, witty dialogue and the introduction of a worthy enemy for the Prodigium - what more could one ask for? Well the sequel, immediately, but alas it's not out until 2011.

Publishing Deals - Hawkins & Miles

A couple more upcoming paranormal titles, in today's Publishers Lunch Weekly email:

Author of HEX HALL Rachel Hawkins's REBEL BELLE, about a high school Miss Popularity whose world changes when a funny thing happens on the way to the (Homecoming) coronation: she's recruited into the Paladins, a supernatural sect of bodyguards sworn to protect those who will play an important role in the future, and charged with saving her archnemesis even if it means sacrificing her place as queen bee, to Disney-Hyperion, in a three-book deal.


Debut author Elizabeth Miles's paranormal suspense trilogy, FURY, about three beautiful and vengeful teen sisters who exact karmic justice in a small town in Maine -- and the one girl who might have the power to stop them, to Simon Pulse, at auction, in a three-book deal.