The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents by Nicki Pau Preto
A middle grade magic school fantasy perfect for fans of The School for Good and Evil and Witchlings, in which a girl with unparalleled power must work with her misfit classmates to save her new school.
Lavinia “Vin” Lucas is out of control and out of options. Stranded by parents who would rather use their average magical abilities to study dung beetles than raise her, Vin’s been on her own for years. But she’s never been able to corral her own powerful, unpredictable magic. After years of detention, suspension, and expulsion from magic schools far and wide, she’s now being sent to the Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents. If she gets expelled, it’s the end of the line.
Now, Vin is determined to behave. Except no one at Last Hope seems to want her to. Her new teachers—particularly the school’s kind headmistress—push her to explore her magic, and her mischievous classmates delight in every accident. And all the while, a mysterious fire sprite, a suspicious instructor, and her overwhelming abilities might just sabotage Vin. But for the first time, she is not alone.
So when a former student begins attacking the school, Vin must question just how much she knows about the headmistress and her new home. Is this place worth saving? And are her budding abilities—and every trick, trap, and deception in her friends’ delinquent arsenal—enough to protect Last Hope?
This book was so much fun.
It’s so easy to love Vin and want her to succeed. Her life hasn’t been great and she’s always alone. She’s been kicked out of every magic school and Last Hope is her last chance. She meets a few kids right away and they want to be her friend. She’s nervous and won’t even unpack. But the kids keep showing up for her and she slowly starts to trust them. The woman who runs the school sees a lot of potential in Vin. But Vin is afraid to use her magic because she can’t seem to control it. But things start happening when she’s around and she believes it’s the magic she’s just learning about. People get hurt and things get destroyed.
I loved the magic in this. But I mostly loved the characters. I love the story of friendship and found family. I’m really looking forward to the second book after that ending.
I gave this book 5 stars.
Have you read this? Is it on your TBR?
