Hex Hall

My daughter brought this book home from the library and once I got my hands on it I couldn't put it down. Had it read in 3 days and I was only reading it on breaks. It's geared toward younger readers but still is a good story with a lot of humor mingled in. Worth every penny.

This book was great I connected with the characters and the great plot twists made me never want to put the book down. (and never did until I finished it) I litterally finshed in one day and had to buy the next book imediatly because I couldn`t wait to find out what happens next.

This book had me captured from the first chapter! (Which is not easy for books to do) I usually read the first chapter or two of a book and then check it in to the library. If I buy the book though. That's a real let down. This book is about what it calls Prodigium. Prodigium includes witches, warlocks, werewolves, vampires, and faeries. Read this book!!!

I ended up really enjoying this book. It took several chapters to get lost in it, so be patient as far as that goes. Kind of a slow first few chapters to me. It did turn out to be a series that I plan on reading to it's entirety.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and there was humor on every page. Sophie the main character is hilarious, cynical, and witty on almost every page. I have been waiting for this book for a few months and this book met and exceeded my expectations. I would highly recommend this book to paranormal and science fiction fans.

Thankfully the main character; Sophie is funny and full of snarky one liners and she's not some mopey witch waiting for her one great true love. The characters are interesting and Sophie has some surprises in store when she enrolled in Hex Hall which turns out to be Juvie for Monsters. Haha..
If you really enjoyed Harry Potter series then most likely you will enjoy this.

It was a very nice book with intriguing characters and you seem to never want to stop reading it(i finished it in a couple of nights), perhaps it was because of that that I found the book a little short but it is well worth it, I really liked it^^ and she is writing the second and the third book and will be released somewhen in 2011 (before the end of the world o/)

Hex hall is a story about fantasy love betrayal mystery and is one of the most interesting books I have read I could not put it down . I got it yesterday and finished it today . A book for mature readers. I give this a 5 in a half.

This is a great new series. She unites this book with a little bit of every paranormal group; I found that refreshing. I await the sequel to discover what is to become of Sophie and Archer and the other characters.

The book is excellent reading, full of suspense. And also the store.com gives excellent service
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I actually liked the storyline here. My only complaint was the intermittent use of offensive language. I honestly think that writers insult their reader's intelligence with the use of common vulgarities. Ms. Hawkins, you seem creative and smart enough to come up with something other than immature teenage cursing to get your point across. Give your characters (and your readers) a little more credit. I am really looking forward to the next book, and to Sophie growing up a little. All in all, a good first effort with great potential both for the story and for the author.

This is a Christian story.... it's just a personal thing but I'm sick and tired of people putting a Christian spin on things. If you're going to connect these creatures with a faith or mythology make a pagan one. The work did not start 2000 years ago.

From the moment I started this book, I was engaged with what was happening in Sophie's life and the mystery of all that followed on Hex Hall. From her absentee father to her powers to Archer and his mysterious change of heart in regards to Elodie.

I love the teen school fantasy trope and I found that this story had all the elements I look forward to on such stories. The biggest being (since most this types of books are first person POV) that even though you are it the head of just one character there is so much going on around that particular character that you don't have time to get annoyed because you want to know what's going on with other characters.

I will definitively be reading the other books on the series as I what to know what is going to happened with Archer and I want to know more about Cal (I'm rooting for Cal on this one) since he was such a mysterious character and I like the way Sophie described him. And last I'd like to see how the school is going to deal with the fallout of that ending with Elodie.

I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't read any good YA books in a while and I had started to wonder if I ever would. I know they say you can't judge a book by its cover, but I loved the covers of all of the Hex Hall series and when I got a free copy of the second and third book, I decided I had to read them all and so I promptly checkout out the first book, Hex Hall, from my local public library. I was not disappointed!
****I want to preface this review by saying that I loved YA books during my middle school days and through high school, but now that I'm 24 years old I've been reading them less and less, because there are so many books that are just about some girl obsessing about a guy with little to no character development. Don't get me wrong, I love romance, but not to the exclusion of all else. I also prefer my heroines with a spine (women and girls that don't let their whole world revolve around a guy).****
So anyway, this book has everything I enjoy in a story: romance, magic, humor, adventure/conflict, and a sarcasm wielding heroine. ;)

I just started on the second book and so far so good! :)

Hex Hall is actually an excellent book, though the blurb doesn’t do it justice–I nearly skipped over reading it because I wasn’t intrigued. Don’t let yourself be fooled. It’s a worthwhile story!

The book combines romance with humor and the seriousness of life problems. It’s a great read for the young adult. Sophie is a little bit naïve but she grows in her character well through the book and she has something that some female protagonists don’t: A brain. Shocking, I know. She’s sassy and a quick learner, who stands by her friends and doesn’t make unneeded drama about her life or angst over a teenage boy. She seems like a regular, normal teenage girl, except the fact that she’s a witch.

Even the usual hot love interest was a new spin on the usual. Archer was just a usual teenager who struggles with his life and the choices he’s made, but he doesn’t use that as an excuse to be sad and broken and “too bad for you” and Sophie never feels the need to “fix him”. I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and the plot, and though it never really picked up a lot, it never slowed down. It was steady enough to keep me turning pages, and though I usually like some more action in my books, I thought the author did a good job with the low key setting.

The ending was a bit of a slap to the face for Sophie, and I usually make fun of female protagonists longing for their crush, she actually has a legit reason to be confused on how she feels. I didn’t really like the stereotypical mean girls and the hot bad boy and the new girl and her awesome sidekick cliche that happened, BUT I would like to give the author kudos on making it better than usual. The bad boy isn’t a broken wreck, the mean girls aren’t stupid, the sidekick has a great friendship with Sophie that needs to be admired by the reader, and Sophie isn’t a dingbat. It’s a well written book that deserves all the credit it can get.

originally posted at long and short reviews

What I liked:
-Sophie. She was a refreshing change from the normal YA female lead. She wasn’t full of angst, she wasn’t a loner, and she didn’t have an attitude problem. She had a healthy relationship with her mom, she was accepting of her powers, and she had a funny sense of humor. Not often do I actually laugh while reading a book, but I did with this one.
-Archer. Normally I hate the stereotypical jock love interest, but for some reason, I really liked Archer. There was just something different about him. Maybe it was the fact that I could see his relationship with Sophie progress into something more.
-Setting. There have been a ton of Paranormal Romance books that take place at schools for supernaturals or darkened mansions out of society’s view, but this one had a good history and it was well developed.

What I disliked:
-Sophie was a little stupid. Even though she’s told that ghosts on the school grounds don’t interact with people, she doesn’t really question that her “ghost” does. However, even though she was slow to realize what was going on, I was just as slow. I honestly didn’t see the little twist at the end coming.
-Elodie. She was the standard bitchy mean girl that wasn’t really bad except to be bad. And her relationship with Archer was very typical. It was portrayed as weak and flawed so you wouldn’t feel bad when he fell in love with Sophie and stopped paying attention to Elodie. Despite the fact that she was a bitch, I was sad at what happened to her in the end. She kind of redeemed herself.

Overall, this was a pretty standard Paranormal Romance book, but I thought it was executed much better than the majority of others like it. Sophie wasn’t the greatest heroine ever, but she was much better than others. I’d definitely read this again, or recommend it to others. 5.0

Sophie Mercer is a witch, she knows she is supposed to keep it secret but sometimes her teenage brain backfires and she ends up in trouble. Now her father, who is some powerful warlock has sent her to Hecate Hall, aka Hex Hall, for education and reform for being a naughty witch. Sophie knew she wasn't alone but seeing some of the other witches, fairies, shifters, vamps is a bit of a surprise.

Life at Hex Hall is anything but fun for Sophie who ends up getting in trouble right away. When a series of attacks to fellow students happen, Sophie finds herself in the mix of it. With frenemies surrounding her and the one friend she has retreating into herself, Sophie begins to figure out what secrets Hex Hall is hiding.

I was back and forth on 3-4 stars but overall I thought the book was entertaining. I think it could have moved a bit quicker but there was a lot of detail and focus on the relationships of the students in the book. Would check out the next book.

This was an incredibly fast read for me! Smooth writing kept me flipping pages, and one more chapter turned into 5 more easily. I love Sophie. She's a protagonist every girl can root for. An outsider in the human world and in the supernatural world. She's a dark witch who bonds with her outsider roommate Jenna (Vampire) and Asher the hot mysterious warlock. Sophie has some cringe worthy moments that anyone can relate to. I laughed, I gasped, I squealed, and I smiled.

The worldbuilding is very clear in this book and sets up the series well. I understood what was at stake and what trumped what and how the end battle might be won. Those last 50 pages were positively thrilling. This book has a simmering crush, frenemies, ghosts, magic, curses, and enough supernatural beings to populate an entire school (Hecate Hall). I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy. I'm off to Book 2 tonight!

I really enjoyed this book more than I expected to! I first picked this book up from the library when it first released, and had trouble getting into it, and ultimately didn’t finish it. But then the reviews started pouring in, and some of my favorite fellow bloggers really enjoyed it and were saying great things about it. So, I bought it when it released in paperback.

Sophie was a likable character because it was easy to sympathize with her when she starts learning all of the secrets that have been kept from her all of her life – important secrets that probably could’ve really been useful to know! When she attempts to help a girl at the prom get her dream date, the spell goes horribly wrong – landing Sophie at Hecate ‘Hex’ Hall as punishment.

There weren’t many elements of the story that I didn’t like. I really enjoy that there are many different paranormal creatures – Prodigium – at Hex Hall, but I feel like there were too many to really get to know any one group more than just on a superficial level. I am really hoping that in the next two books we get to know more about the workings of the faeries, shifters and witches. We get a main story on how they were “Created” from angels/fallen angels, but I did want more background.

The pacing of the story moved quickly, and there was always some type of action or event occurring on each page. I liked the dynamics of all of the characters, each was different and individual and held their own. I really enjoyed Jenna’s character, and how she and Sophie work together as roommates-turned-friends.

I didn’t like how secretive everyone was; however. It wasn’t just Sophie’s parents (including her Warlock father whom she’s never met) but Ms. Casnoff, the head of Hex Hall as well. Nobody wanted to tell Sophie who she truly is, her family lineage, or the dangers that face her now and in the future. I feel like keeping everything a secret was even more detrimental, than had everyone been open with her. I cannot imagine the feeling of finding out these secrets about yourself and your family from other students, especially when you’re already new and feel out of place.

The aspect of the book that I really liked, was the ghost of Sophie’s great-grandmother, Alice, who takes it upon herself to teach Sophie how to protect herself. But things aren’t always as they seem, and when things start to get a little weird, Sophie starts to piece everything together and we are left with a pretty crazy cliffhanger. I do like that Hawkins isn’t afraid to kill off characters and not give them happy endings, but I’m curious to see how the series proceeds now without a few key players.

(Review first published at Goodreads by myself)
Nice twists, even with the romance, sort of a love-triangle (you have been warned).
The romance takes a turn, and was ok for me.
The MC is just the right amount of unsure and weepy, but also gathers her wits and is strong at other times. Only she is not world-wise and gullible, a few times she fell for mean tricks, even in a normal school she would have suffered. She has a strong sense of trust once she makes a friend and later realizes that not everything is black-and-white, more like a grey area, even with people, very nicely developed and therefore one of my more likeable heroines.
One major twist I saw coming, was just too obvious, but others not. Fast read, recommended, but was somehow missing something (action? suspense? witchcraft? could have more of all), so 4 stars, for some maybe less, but I can live with that.
Just checked, I bought it Halloween!
No sex, could have done with a few kinky sex-scenes (shapeshifter-faerie?). No swearing (ah, for once not the same 5 boring US-american swear words!).
Recommended, will read the next book in the hope Sophie grows up.

The fabulous Jennie Shaw recommended Hex Hall to me, and I'm glad I finally picked it up! It's appropriate reading for Halloweentime, as well as snarky good fun. The pace is pretty quick, and as an audiobook it seemed to be done in less than a week, probably because there were no slow parts.

Sophie's voice is typical teen- making stupid decisions because she's too focused on the now, defending and caring about friends, letting her temper get the best of her. And, thankfully, most of her snark is in her head (it bothers me when a teen character is unrealistically witty. Gilmore Girls is fun, but nobody talks like that especially in their teens). She wasn't a terribly deep character, but I did enjoy being along for the ride with her. And I admit that almost everything that happened in the last quarter of the book surprised me.

I'm definitely a fan of Archer, and am curious about a lot of the side characters (and hey! There's a shifter with my name! Bonus!) and mysterious big baddies. I also like that the setting is essentially a reform school/prison, so there's no expectation of big Harry Potter-level heroics.

Overall, it was a fun ride and one that I'll be continuing, as I move to book two in the series. I recommend it for fans of contemporary supernatural, YA, teens-being-autonomous (like Pretty Little Liars, and that ilk), and fun, quick reads.