Hex Hall

Hex Hall (Book 1)
by Rachel Hawkins

When Sophie Mercer turned thirteen, she discovered that she was a witch. It’s gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-Gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie’s estranged father–an elusive European warlock–only when necessary.  But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it’s her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hecate Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward prodigium, a.k.a. witches, fae, and shapeshifters. By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard. Three powerful enemies who look like supermodels; a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock; a creepy, tag-along ghost; and a new roommate, who happens to be the most-hated person and only vampire on campus. Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her friend Jenna is the number one suspect.  Meanwhile, Sophie has a more personal shock to grapple with. Not only is her father the head of the prodigium council, he’s the most powerful warlock in the world, and Sophie is his heir. As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all prodigium, especially her. (goodreads.com)

I have been waiting for this book for what feels like a year. I believe Kristi at The Story Siren had it in one of her Books to Pine For posts and since it had to do with witches (and I LOVE witches) and a boarding school (I love books about boarding schools!) I HAD to get it.

Hex Hall did not disappoint. However I will say it had much more of a Middle Grade feel than an YA feel. Actually it reminded me of an older version of the Suddenly Supernatural series that I adore so much. Sophie and her vampire roommate Jenna reminded me a lot of Kat and Jac from the other series. I loved all four of those characters!

The humour and sarcasm in Hex Hall was just right for me. I laughed out loud many times (even once while in the bathroom to put in eye drops, making my husband think I called out for him in distress or something and I had to yell back that I was just laughing at something in the book!) Although the book is really quite predictable, I found it extremely charming and fun. You start to feel for all the characters in the book and find there’s a little more depth to them than you originally think. For some it’s not a ton of depth, but there’s some there.

I gave this book 4 stars on goodreads because of how much fun I had reading it. It had a slightly different feel than a lot of the other YA paranormal type stories out there, it was lighter (even with the pending doom of being hunted down) and a lot more fun than a lot of the other books I have read recently. It’s like this book doesn’t take itself as seriously as some of the others. It’s not classic literature and it knows it rather than pretends it is.

Completely enjoyable this story was. (I’m channeling Yoda there I think.)

My one problem with the book? The cover. And I don’t care for the UK one all that much either. First of all for this cover (the North American one) – what the hell does the cat have to do with anything? There is no cat! This makes it look like some sort of Sabrina the Teenage Witch thing and it’s not. The UK cover makes it look like the movie The Craft (from the 90s and one of my all-time faves) which it is also NOT. And AGAIN with the cat idea on that cover. THERE IS NO FREAKIN’ CAT IN THE BOOK! (Is there? Did I miss it? Am I just going crazy?) If you have not yet seen the UK cover, wander on over to my friend Jenny’s blog, Wondrous Reads, and take a gander. I think they could have done so much better with the cover in both cases.

Ahem. Cover rant over. And really, cover issues aside, I think you should read this book if you’re looking for something fun and magical with a bit of mystery and a lot of awesome sarcasm.

If only the second book wasn’t coming out in a YEAR. A year, people!! What is up with me falling for series in which I have to wait a stupid year for the next book? Maybe I should stop reading and take up a new hobby. I don’t know, hooking maybe?