Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins Review

Hex Hall

Rachel Hawkins

March 2nd, 2010

336 pages

Source: Bought

Summary (From Me):

When Sophie Mercer casts a spell that goes wrong, her father sentences her to Hecate "Hex" Hall. She gets off to a rough start after *almost* being attacked by a student, and being verbally taunted by the devilishly handsome Archer Cross. His girlfriend Elodie (along with her two best friends) are also out to make Sophie's life a bit more difficult. And on top of that, Sophie's stuck with the most hated student, Jenna, (who's also a vampire) as her roommate.

Then the attacks continue, and it seems to be a work of a vampire, which Sophie dutifully disbelieves for Jenna's sake. As Sophie digs deeper to find out who is behind these murderous acts, she learns more about herself, her history, her magic, and she starts to get too close to the dangers for her own good...

Fast, fun, wicked, and an overall fantastic debut!

Sophie was a fantastic narrator, with a strong and humorous voice. She was easy to relate with, by the end of the first chapter I was already sympathetic to her. It's difficult not to enjoy her character! She's grown up all over the country, but now she's stuck in Hex Hall, trying to get a grip on her powers. 

Each of the characters were well defined, and their own personalities shined. There seemed to be some cliches, but they were fun! While the mean girls seemed to just be...well, mean girls, I still enjoyed their presence. Hex Hall is filled with twists and turns you won't see coming, which makes for a fun and exciting debut novel. I'm looking forward to Hawkins follow up!

Highlights: It's been awhile since I've read a fun, fresh witch story, so this was a nice one to read. The plot moves along quickly, and the twists at the end were surprising. The magic was interesting too, although I wanted more!

Lowlights: I wanted the supporting characters to have a bit more depth. Some of them felt a bit too cliche (mean girls, romantic interest). 

Rating: