Hex Hall

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
published by Hyperion

$16.99 (hardback)

323 pages

FTC: I bought this book and will not be compensated for reviewing it.

What it's about:

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer 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 hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, 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 tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

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.

my thoughts:

I saw this book at the bookstore and fell in love with the cover. It's a gorgeous cover and when I read that it's about witches, vampires, and shapeshifters, I knew I had to read it.

Hex Hall was a page turner and I had a very hard time putting it down. To be honest, the book wasn't very original. It had lots of the same theme as other books I've read, but the writing was captivating. Hawkins uses witty dialoge and upbeat tones to keep the story interesting.

The one problem with the writing is that there wasn't a lot of discriptions. Just enough to help paint a picture of what the characters and surroundings look like. One thing I would have liked to seen was more discriptions of what each of the prodigium could and couldn't do. There are so many different views of what vampires can and can't do. Can they be in the sun? Will garlic and a wooden stake kill them? What about holy water? Some of these are answered throughout the story, but I'd like to have more discriptions. Same with witchs. What can and can't they do? All the supernatural creatures needed a little more defining and maybe a few of Hawkins own ideas about the super natural need to be thrown in. Create her own type of monsters.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It had funny moments and was...perky. It wasn't meant to load you down with emotions, it was meant to be fun and that's exactly what it was. There were twists and turns in the plot to keep the reader on their toes and turning the pages as fast as they could to figure out what is going on. The second I got done reading it, I went online to find out when the next book comes out (early 2011!!). I will definitely keep reading this series.

my rating: 9/10