Book: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Popular

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-crudling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.  (Description from book jacket)

As you’ve most likely guessed from the title and description of this book, it is a bit of a silly YA book.  As a general rule I try to shun books that openly use the word “crush” in the description.  But, I was reading the description very quickly, with a baby in my arms and a toddler running wild… somehow it slipped through the cracks.  As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the book, despite the indication of angsty drama.  I actually laughed out loud within the first couple chapters.  Definitely was not expecting it to be quite so humorous, but it really was a fun and funny quick read.  I finished it in a couple of hours.

As far as the plot goes, it was a little predictable, but still managed to catch me at the end with a bit of surprise.  It is the first book in a trilogy, but I have no idea where it will possibly go from here.  It seemed like a nice, self-contained story, and it really surprised me that there was more to the series.  I guess I’ll just have to read the next two books and see what happens.  I’m at least curious now, if for no other reason than to see how on earth the author plans to make the story move forward from the grinding completion it came to at the end of Hex Hall.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars