Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall has been on my TBR shelf for a while.  I honestly don't remember when or why I first bought it, but I opened it to discover that it was a signed copy.  I love signed books, so it was a very cool surprise.

Book: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins


Summary: After getting kicked out of yet another school for exposing her magical abilities, Sophie gets sentenced to Hecate Hall--a sort of reform school for witches, fey, and shifters.  But students are dying--their blood completely drained from their bodies.  Is the killer Sophie's vampire roommate, like everyone seems to think, or something even more sinister?


Characters: Sophie is a little naive and she totally deserves being sentenced to Hecate.  She is reckless and irresponsible, but in a hopelessly charming way.  If it weren't for everything else going on at Hecate, I would say that it is the safest place for her.  She did grow as the book went on and even though she is occasionally ridiculous (who isn't?), she never annoyed me.

I also love all of the other side characters.  I loved Archer, even though he was dating the school's mean girl who had almost no redeeming qualities.  I have to believe that there is a darker, more sinister reason behind it and wow--the twist with him at the end made me love him.  It wasn't supposed to, but those sorts of guys are my kryptonite... I don't want to spoil the fun for you.

Jenna is Sophie's vampire roommate and she is obsessed with pink and hilarious.  The mean girls are your typical mean girls, just with scary super witch powers.  Sophie's parents, while not being major players in the story, are still interesting characters.  Sophie's mom is hilarious and I enjoyed watching Sophie navigate the relationship with the father she's never met face to face.

Plot/Pacing:  I did not expect this book to be so funny.  From the running commentary on what's going on around Sophie, to the witty banter, to more physical humor, I was constantly laughing.  The plot moves along quickly and weaves together a big mystery with monsters and evil and a smaller story about a girl at a new school who has a hard time making friends and has never met her father.  My biggest complaint is that the end felt rather abrupt.  However, I still want to know what happens in the next book.


Moments I Loved:  Makeouts with Archer and the big twist that I won't spoil.  Also, Sophie's time in self defense class, while torture for her, was hilarious for me.  Her teacher wanted to use her to demonstrate a move and Sophie kicks her in the chest instead of going along with the demonstration.

WTF Moments:  The mean girls tell Sophie that if she gets in trouble with the mean defense teacher to compliment her tattoos.  Did anyone NOT see that turning out badly?  Great scene, though.

Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges:  336 pages toward the 15,000 page challenge and Mt. TBR. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.

Hex Hall gets a FakeSteph rating of...