Firespell (The Dark Elite #1) by Chloe Neill Review

From Goodreads: As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…

When Lily’s guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.

The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little weird—she keeps disappearing late at night and won’t tell Lily where she’s been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster.

Scout’s a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who’ve sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who’ve been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of a firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet…

Rating: 4.5/5

Plot: 5/5

Characters: 4.5/5

Ending: 4.5/5

Favorite line: “'I am not above hitting a girl.'”

I love Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Series, so I was psyched to read her new YA series. And it was pretty awesome! Lily was 100% a younger version of Merit. Actually, all the characters remind me of younger versions of those from Neill's Chicagoland Series. If they were dealing with vamps instead of magic, I mean. I liked most of the characters, although I guess you never get to know all characters too well in the first book of a series. I also loved the premise of the book. It was original from anything I've read and interesting. I did think that the first half was a little slow but kept me interested because I was entertained by Lily and Scout's relationship.  Everything, after the halfway point, I thought was perfect until the ending because I thought it was rushed. But I'm a very nit-picky person, so you guys might not think so.