Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins Review

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.

It took me about seventy pages to get into Hex Hall. Yeah. Seventy. It's not that the beginning wasn't interesting, or that it didn't lay a good foundation for the story. It just felt like there wasn't enough going on to keep me engaged. I was expecting more of a Sabrina-the-Teenage-Witch kind of plot, and it sort of was, but to the extreme. Also extremely slow. Thankfully, though, after that first chunks, the plot started to take off.

Hawkins makes Sophie an extremely relatable teenager, I think. She's like an actual person; she's flawed, and maybe even hides a darker side. I really love flawed characters, it makes them so much more interesting. That was one thing I loved...every character, no matter how screwed up, was completely three-dimensional. And Hawkins has an incredible sense of humor; there were dozens of laugh out loud moments. It's been a long time since I've laughed that hard reading. :)

Towards the end, Hex Hall was one of those I-don't-want-to-put-it-down reads. If you're looking for something light and a little bit cutesy, I'd pick it up! I'll probably be sticking around for the sequel; Hawkins leaves you at this incredible cliff hanger, haha!

Rating: 7.5/10

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