Reading Reflection: Hex Hall

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1)
by Rachel Hawkins
Published March 2nd 2010
P. 336
Rating: 5/5

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.

What a fantastic and fun book.  I have to admit, after looking at the cover I thought maybe this is a little too YA for me.   But it wasn't.  It was funny, witty, interesting, and very well written.  A great quick read.

Sophie is a witch -- not a good one.  As in lots of "oops" moments.  After a malfunctioned love spell performed to help a fellow student at prom, she is sent to reform school.  There her classmates include white and dark witches, fairies, werewolves, and her roommate the only vampire.  From the moment she walks onto campus everything seems to go wrong: an almost werewolf attack, rooming with the most hated person on campus, a gorgeous but snarky warlock, the mean girls targeting her, and a typically aggressive and miserable PE teacher.  In other words, typical teenage drama with a magical twist.

Sophie gets into lots of trouble, heaps, but most is inadvertently.  First of all, her mother and father withheld alot of information about herself, witchcraft in general, and where her power originates.  It doesn't help that her father, the one who passed over the magic gene, has been absent for her entire life.  She honestly was unaware of so much, I felt bad for her naivety while the other students knew so much more.  It definitely didn't help her fit into the new school.

However, another major problem is her mouth.  I loved her witty, sarcastic, and funny remarks at every situation.  Fantastic, but looking for trouble.  I related to her inappropriate jokes, at the most inappropriate times.

Now their are a lot of other characters that should be mentioned, but Sophie is by far the best.  Elodie, Anna, and Chasten are the beautiful mean girls.  They want Sophie to join their coven, but she refuses and they react accordingly -- by being mean girls.  Jenna is the only vampire, Sophie's new roommate, possible BFF, and hated by everyone at the school.  Vandy, the sadistic PE instructor who hates Sophie from the beginning.  Mrs Casnoff is the headmistress of the school who kinda grows on me by the end, but there's still something about her.  There's also Cal, the sexy young grounds keeper with the special ability to heal.  There isn't a large mention of him in this novel, but I have a feeling something more is going on with him.

Then there's Asher -- the resident hottie.  He is dating Elodie, but even I wished he didn't.  There are definite sparks between him and Sophie, he comes to her rescue on more than one occasion.  Not only that, I absolutely love their witty banter and general ease with one another.  Their building relationship was fantastic.

Overall this was a great book.  It was a very easy read.  The author did an amazing job with the overall writing of the book, the dialogue being one of my favorite aspects.  Not many people can pull off that amount of sarcasm in one novel.  Loved it.