Lily Parker has been uprooted from her hometown of Sagamore, New York to attend a very snooty boarding school in Chicago because her parents will be away for a two-year academic sabbatical at a university in Munich. Lily is very upset about being left behind and having to move to the windy city and away from all that she knows. This is an amazing opportunity for her parents but is less than thrilled about spending the last remaining two years of high school at a former convent turned school. But she has no choice and joins the St. Sophia's student body where she hopes to fit in.

Things don't start off all that well as Marceline Foley, the cold headmistress of St. Sophia, explains the stiff rules and regulations and what is expected of Lily. Because the student body is full of spoiled rich girls, Lily has to be careful because some of her suitemates, three in particular, are known as the Brat Pack and can make Lily's life miserable if she doesn't conform to their way of thinking. But she has a friend in Scout Green who has been at St. Sophia's since she has been twelve. She is more than willing to show Lily the ropes and help her get situated.

Lily tries her best to become acclimated to her new school and being away from her parents. Things begin to look up when Scout introduces her to Michael Garcia and Jason Shepherd, students at the all male Montclare boarding school. Scout and Michael seem very interested in each other and Lily finds Jason to be very attractive, where she would like to get to know him better. But something secret is going on between these three that Lily wants to be a part of. And when Scout disappears late at night with the excuse that she's "exercising", Lily follows her and finds out that Scout, Michael, Jason and a group of other high schoolers and college age teens are protecting Chicago from a society of young people called Reapers who have great magical powers and refuse to give them up when the turn twenty-five so they can return to a normal life and keep their soul intact. It is up to the Adepts, the teens who use their magical powers for good, to stop the Reapers who use their powers for other nefarious reasons.

One night Lily is caught in the crossfire and hit with a spell from one of the Reapers. She has now been thrown into this new underground world by no choice of her own. And even more secrets begin to pile up because her parents have been lying to her and may be part of something more sinister than what is occurring in Chicago.

FIRESPELL is an easy going young adult read that I very much recommend. Chloe Neill has written an incredible cast of characters and her heroine, Lily, has a wonderful engaging voice. The setting of Chicago is described in such a way where you feel as if you are walking right beside Lily as she gets the lay of the land. Scout, Michael, Jason and the members of the Brat Pack also make a great addition to the overall plot.

There is a great discussion of what is really good and evil within the story. Not only do we have a literal battle between the good and bad, but also some ambiguity in regards to the mean girl cliques at St. Sophia, especially in regards to the prank the Brat Pack trio do to Lily that goes very wrong. I really enjoyed how Ms. Neill was able to show both these side.

FIRESPELL has great action for fans of fantasy and magic as well as a few subtle possible romances in the making between Lily and Jason and Scout and Michael. The teen dialogue is very catchy and you can't help but root for the Adepts as they try to keep the peace and bring down the Reapers.

This is a great first book in Chloe Neill's new Dark Elite series. Fans of Urban Fantasy, Paranormal and Young Adult will definitely want to pick this one up and lose themselves in the magical underground that is Chicago.

Book Summary

New Girl. New School. Old Evil. From the author of the Chicagoland Vampires novels. A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework.

Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night.

When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens. They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet...

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