Hex Hall - Review

Hex Hall (Hex Hall, # 1)

By: Rachel Hawkins

Published: March 2nd 2010 by Hyperion Book CH

323 pages

Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy

Source: Borrowed from my local library

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Goodreads description--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 student 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.

Ugh this is another one that I just didn't love. It might be my own fault on this one though. I went into it not expecting to love it. I didn't quite understand why Sophie would cast the original love spell that got her thrown into Hex Hall. It felt pretty obvious to me that there was a need for Sophie to get sentenced to Hex Hall and this spell gone wrong just seemed to fit the bill--yet didn't. While the spell going wrong fit into the rest of the book, the reasons behind why Sophie decided to perform the spell in the first place just didn't make sense to me with the rest of her character throughout the book.

The most disappointing part to me was how cliche Hex Hall was. We've got the supermodel mean girls, the hot guy who's off limits, the gay best friend who the rest of the school hates (thankfully not because she's gay because that would be too cliche, but because she's "different" in another way--being a vampire), the MC who happens to be utterly plain and horrible at magic, but miraculously saves the day in the end all the while developing a relationship with the super hot guy. (I really wish you guys could see my face right now...Ooo I know...I'll insert a picture.) Here you go...

Even the idea of Archer being able to raise his one eyebrow and then Sophie remarks how jealous she is because she's always wanted to do that. I know I've read this exact same sentence in at least ten other books. Also....if a character proves time and time again that they don't seem to have much information about what's going on, there is no need to repeatedly ask them "you seriously don't know?" UM...I think that should be obvious at this point. Why is the MC's lack of information still a surprise to you?

I didn't quite connect with Sophie or Archer or Jenna or...well any of the characters really.

This review is coming off really harsh. I didn't hate it. I just didn't think there was anything different about it from most of the other YA paranormal books out there. Perhaps had I read this book a couple of years ago, I would have LOVED it. But not so much at this point in my reading life.

Hex Hall gets 3 stars from me. Have you read Hex Hall? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my "All Things Halloween" October review event.