Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Publisher's Summary: 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-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.



My Take: After I had already put my copy of Hex Hall off to the side as my next read, I thought maybe I should first take a quick glance to get a little taste of what I would eventually be diving into. Well, I read the Prologue and I KNEW this book would be fabulous and I KNEW I would love the main character. And oh boy was I right! The Prologue is freakin' hilarious! And guess what? You can read it here - Hex Hall Prologue. What did you think? Isn't it freakin’ awesome sauce? And don’t you just love Sophie? She rocks!

Because Sophie cast that fabulous Love Spell, she is sentenced to go to school at Hecate Hall (or as Jenna, Sophie’s roommate, would say "Hex Hall") to avoid more exposure. When Sophie is first introduced to Jenna, her first impression of Jenna is pink! EVERYTHING in her side of the room was hot pink, including the streak in her hair. Can you get anymore sweetly innocent and girly than that? Well, Jenna’s a vamp and the rest of the school thinks she is a monster. So when girls at school keep getting attacked, drained of most or all of their blood and finding holes in their necks, who do you think is the only suspect? Only no one has proof and, besides, a vamp’s bite is normally much more rapacious.

The majority of the story is about Sophie trying to adjust to a lifestyle she has never been a part of, learning about and going to school with Warlocks, Witches, Faeries, Shapeshifters, Werewolves and a Vampire. And most of all, just trying to fit in! Only, when she finds out who her father is, this doesn’t help…it only makes things worse.

Of course there is "the guy" that I, along with probably every other reader, wants Sophie to be with. Only Archer is the boyfriend of the leader of the "Mean Girls." Yep, there are truly Mean Girls in Hex Hall and when Sophie refuses to join their group, she has to suffer their wrath. Knowing that Archer is with this chick was really bugging me. “You have to get to know her.” Yeah right! There is nothing nice about that mean chick.

With all the magical fun, romance and mystery of trying to figure out who is attacking these girls…by far the best parts were the twists at the end! I was like, “What? I didn’t see that coming!” and then I was like, “WHAT? I didn’t see that coming either!” Yeah! There are more than a couple twists.

In all, I have to once again say that this book was a fabulous read!

Purchased with my own money.