I am very honored to review this new YA book by Rachel Hawkins! The book has just been published in March!
Sophie Mercer has moved around quite a bit. No, her mother isn't running from a crazed killer or anything like that. The reason they keep moving is Sophie; she's a witch, and still coming into her powers. Her mother can't help her since she's just a human herself and Sophie's father isn't in the picture, accept for the occasional phone calls and emails.
On the night of her school's prom, Sophie hears one of her fellow classmates crying in the girls bathroom and decides to help. When she discovers the root of the problem (the girl has NO date) Sophie decides to help by casting just a tiny spell to summon the boy. Well the spell wasn't so tiny - in fact it was rather big. The spell she put upon him made his so love strong that he crashed his car into the gymnasium and hunted the girl down. In all the commotion the girl points to Sophie and screams that Sophie is a witch. Great. Her cover is blown and now she has to move to a new state and new school.
So Sophie now finds herself standing on the campus of Hecate Hall, a school for those children with magical abilities that find themselves unable to control their magic. Great, juvie for the bad magic kids. She was sentenced there by her father who wrote to her saying (not a direct quote) "sorry kiddo, but your 'get out of jail free' cards have all been used up". The only problem with Hex Hall is you don't get out until your 18. So if you go in at 12 you won't leave until your the big 1-8. Sophie will have to stay there for 2 years.
Sophie though has no idea what drama is lurking behind the doors. Just last year one of the Hex Hall students died mysteriously in the student bathrooms, and not to mention the major drama going on between Elodie and her gang and Jenna the only vampire on campus. Elodie and her gang keep blaming Jenna for the students death, even though she was cleared. After Sophie's first day on campus she's already developed a MAJOR crush on Asher (the campus hottie who's also the dark and mysterious and taken one), vexed Elodie and her gang off by not joining their coven, and has become best friends with Jenna, who no one likes. It looks like it's going to be an interesting two years.
As if that wasn't bad enough, attacks start happening on the students again and everyone is blaming Jenna. She just keeps being in the wrong place and the wrong time. But Sophie knows Jenna is innocent . . . right?
I loved the beginning of this book! I felt so bad for Sophie! She was just trying to help out that girl and was it really her fault that the spell went completely wrong? Well maybe. There were only a few things that bugged me about the book. The first was I hated how quickly she fell for Archer. One the first day she meets him and says (not a direct quote) "I will NOT fall for him" and I thought, finally - a book were the main character doesn't fall head over heals within the first seconds of meeting the boy. Wrong. Within that night she's telling Jenna how deeply in love she is with him. Another thing I found odd was when Sophie was meeting with a ghost to learn more magic control, the ghost said she put a spell on the whole school so they'd all stay asleep even yelling at the top of her lungs to prove her point. Well later in the story Elodie catches Sophie escaping while the spell is active - but it doesn't explain how Elodie wasn't effected by the spell this time (even though she was in the past).
This book was funny. My favorite character has to be Jenna! For being a vampire she was so full of life, but I don't think I'd be able to deal with all the pink - it'd be a tad too much for me (Jenna decorated her side of the room in every shade imaginable of pink). And I love how she had a little stuffed lion named Bram :) It was so cute (and secretly I kinda want a stuffed lion named Bram too).
Rachel Hawkins has been so kind as to stop by Blue Duck! Thank you!! Here is her guest post:
"Confession time: I suck at coming up with titles for my books. If you looked at my computer right now, you'd find projects called things like, "That Book Where The Stuff Happens With The Sister," or "Big Fantasy Novel," or "That Crazy Sci-Fi Book That Is Like Fringe But Not." Obviously, this is sad-sauce as titles are really important! The story behind HEX HALL's title is kind of complicated and fraught with angst (on my part.) I originally called the book TOO NEAR THE GLASS, which is a line from the poem that prefaces the book. This title is... well, let's just say a little too literary and serious for a book that has so many chapters about witches making out. So my agent and I decided to change it! We went with DEMONGLASS, (the title the book sold under), and at first, I LOVED THAT! I mean, come on! DEMONGLASS! That's like the most awesome word ever! I imagined a cover with a girl holding a giant black sword. And then my editor said, "Yeah... this is a funny book with witches making out." And I was all, "But people die!" To which she replied, "Right, but it's funny BEFORE they die." So DEMONGLASS was out, and something cuter and lighter was needed. This is when I turned to EXTREMELY EXTENSIVE RESEARCH *cough* Wikipedia *cough* I came across Hecate in my research. Not only was she the Greek goddess of witchcraft, but she was also the Greek goddess of the crossroads. I thought that was a fun thing to play with in a book about teenagers who are very much at the crossroads! So the school, originally called Prentiss Academy, became Hecate Hall. And because Hecate is hard to pronounce (my agent, editor, and I ALL have different ways of saying it), we decided that the kids at the school would have a nickname for it- Hex Hall.
Thank you again Rachel for stopping by! And I hope you guys pick up this book. It is a wonderful story about a girl trying to fit in, solve a mystery, and NOT fall for the hot stud warlock. :)
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. (c) 2010
* This book was sent to me via the publishers @ Disney-Hyperion
The only problem facing Kitty is how to tell her mother that she does not want a fancy wedding. No frilly dresses, no expensive photographers, no bridesmaids . . . you get the point. One night while talking to Ben Kitty gets the idea to go to Vegas. It's the quick wedding capitol of the world. But how to tell her mother? Well just inviter her along for the ride. She'll understand right?
