School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

School Spirits
(School Spirits, #1)
by Rachel Hawkins
Released |May 14th 2013 by Disney-Hyperion|
Edition |eARC|
Source |Netgalley|
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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!

I was super excited to get my hands on this book. I really enjoyed the Hex Hall trilogy and was really curious to see how the spin off would turn out. This book is not completely what I expected. I thought maybe we would see the world of Hex Hall (the school) again, but we didn't! And I actually kind of liked that about the book. You get a new set of characters, besides the main, and a completely different environment. I thought this was a pretty great start to the spin off series and I can't wait to continue on :) Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of School Spirits. All thoughts are my honest opinion.


Izzy was an interesting character to me. In the Hex Hall trilogy, I didn't think much about her as a character other than her being 'one of those' Brannick's. In the beginning of the story, I didn't connect with her much, but as the book continued on I found that I started to like her more. For the first time she get's to experience high school while she on a job to put a ghost to rest. Izzy is no average teenager so getting to see her experience things that a normal teenager feels was kind of fresh thing for me to read. Creating friendships and relationships was something so out of the ordinary for her. And I also really liked her group of friends. I don't know too much about Anderson, but Romy and Dex were great. I really liked Dex's attitude towards situations. But hopefully we get to see more of Romy and Anderson in the next book, if possible.

The romance department was okay. It was on the 'cute' side, but I enjoyed it. I thought it could have been better, but I like his and Izzy's friendship. I would say this book was slow paced, but there were time when I was reading the book that I realized nothing was happening. As in nothing, I mean nothing significant. And did enjoy the action moments and discovering all things connected with the ghost haunting the school. But overall, I thought this was a great start to the series and I'm curious to see what happens next. Especially with Dex and Izzy :)