9) Charmfall by Chloe Neill

The Blurb :

High school can be a battlefield, but for Lily Parker, surviving at St. Sophia’s School for Girls is a matter of life and death...

Protecting Chicago from the dark side can be an exhausting job, especially when you’re a junior. So when the girls of St. Sophia’s start gearing up for Sneak, their fall formal, Lily decides to join in on some good, old-fashioned party prep—even if it means not giving demons, vampires and the twisted magic users known as Reapers her undivided attention.

But when a Reaper infiltrates the school, Lily doesn’t forget what she’s sworn to protect. She reaches deep into herself to draw out her magic—and finds that it’s gone. And it turns out she’s not alone. A magical blackout has slammed through paranormal Chicago, and no one knows what—or who—caused it. But Lily knows getting back her magic is worth the risk of going behind enemy lines.

My Thoughts :

I have been enjoying the Dark Elite series and was really looking forward to this third part. Chloe Neill is a brilliant writer and I love her Chicago Vampires series and have to say I admire her for stepping into the Young Adult world. With a super new and unusual concept this series really got off to a great start. Would this third offering really be a charm?

Charmfall needed some getting used to. It feels like forever since the previous book in the series came out and while it has been a year since I read Hexbound it has only been a matter of weeks for Lily. I felt a little lost at first and needed to get used to the atmosphere again but the author didn't really offer as much help as I needed and the book lost some of its appeal.

The story is still unusual and different but the plot this time around was not as exciting or amazing as the previous books. I felt bored at times and slowly began to not care what happened to the lost magic. I knew it was going to come back by the end of the book and nothing surprised or wowed me.

All in all not the best in the series so far. A nice try but there was a whole lot of something lacking from this third book. At some points it felt like the author didn't really have her heart in it and maybe, like the characters in the book, someone had stolen her magic? Definitely not what I expected and a slight disappointment. Despite that the author stays on my must read list and I hope that the fourth book in this series is better and comes out a lot sooner.