Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 30, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, young-adult, werewolves, fantasy-and-sci-fi, stayed-up-way-too-late, fairies, vampires, cotton-candy

from NPR poll of best Young Adult fiction ...

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

Reading this was like eating a giant bowl of chocolate ice cream: it was really good, but not great, I was inexplicably incapable of setting it down, and in the end it wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be.

I really liked the characters, the writing was a little juvenile but still entertaining, and I think I'd like to read the rest of the series ... but not right now. I was annoyed with the incredibly trite theme of "speci ...more

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Sep 12, 2010 Vesra (When She Reads) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series, paranormal-romance, 2010, y2010, vampires, young-adult, witches, author-h, h, supernatural

Coverwise, regardless how good this cover is, personally, it could only get me to buy it off the shelves, but to attract me to actually read it... that was another matter. Regardlss being just about 2-3 weeks of dormant in my scary Mount TBR, I really don't get that "read me" attraction much. Forgive me Rachel Hawkins for this confession. I do you so much wrong for that! *kisses toes* The only reason why I actually pick this up would be, it is everywhere. *blink* about every one of ten of my fel Coverwise, regardless how good this cover is, personally, it could only get me to buy it off the shelves, but to attract me to actually read it... that was another matter. Regardlss being just about 2-3 weeks of dormant in my scary Mount TBR, I really don't get that "read me" attraction much. Forgive me Rachel Hawkins for this confession. I do you so much wrong for that! *kisses toes* The only reason why I actually pick this up would be, it is everywhere. *blink* about every one of ten of my fellow bookbloggers for the past weeks has been featuring it in Teaser Tuesdays or doing reviews on it, so I ended up getting peer pressure. *purse lips*

Sophia 'Sophie' Mercer is witch, well...part witch, and she goof up on a love spell she did because she was feeling sorry for the girl at school. Yeah, love spells.. that always put young witches in trouble. Remember Sabrina, the teenage witch? Well, yeah this book is like that, come of age, come of power. More upbeat kinda Harry Potter, female version. Sophie ended up getting send off to Hecate ("juvie for monsters" a direct quote from Sophie herself!), which has witches, shapeshifters, werefolks, fae, ghosts and a couple of vampires. Sounds familiar much? No worries. No Sorting Hat in this one. Just 3 dark beautiful supermodels witches, namely Elodie, Chaston and Anna, who approached Sophie and wants her in their coven since she happened to be a dark witch. These three girls are typical snobby, snotty extremely female version Draco. Yes, I am comparing! >.< So anyhoo, Sophie has fitting in complex (which we can related at some point of our life) since everybody else grew up with their Prodigium families, whilst she grew up in a normal human life, regardless playing with magic here and there. Hence, she's the joke of the year, for knowing absolutely nothing and being a n00b! The plot here is, student died one by one, and it looks more like the culprit is Jenna, Sophie's vampire roomate. The worse is, Jenna doesn't have an alibi whenever somebody died! That was the page turner. Of course, there is also.. Archer Cross.. resident bad boy *waggle* yes I had a crush on him too... Don't laugh! You would be too! *tongue in cheek* Oh, he is unavailable too, since he's dating Elodie, yes.. my eyes rolled too. Just typical. And of course Sophia is being stalked by a ghost too. Yeah.. that was creepy but that was up really umm. yeah. can't give that out. You have to read that yourself. I actually follow her pain when she learnt about her father and family tree from somebody else other than her own mother. Plus that explains when she's being outcast. Yup. I feel sorry for her, but I love knowing she's keeping strong through all of what she has to go through. Gotta love her sarcasm the best!

Bottomline... I can't wait for Demonglass to come out! Please be quick! Oh if you really do want to read this book, make sure, you are all comfy and ready to read the whole book. Why? Cause you would like to finish it in one sitting, since it is a really good page turner and fast pace to read. Rachel didn't leave you waiting for the actions and fill it with twists you love to read. I'm left with all that wonderful fuzzy feelings after reading a good book. Ah... yes... *sinks* ...more

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Mar 21, 2010 Erin (NY) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2010

I really didn't think I would like this book, so I was really reluctant to start in the beginning. It has proved me wrong though. The book was excellent! It doesn't hide the fact that certain things may have come from Twilight or Harry Potter (or various other books), but the spin that the book puts on all of the paranormal creatures/situations is quite unique. Also, the main character is quite likable, she alone makes the book worthwhile to read. This book is definitely much better than a lot o ...more

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Mar 25, 2011 mstan rated it it was ok

Shelves: american, for-young-adults-or-children, new-sanctuary

So disappointing. For a well-reviewed book, I found this rather shallow and poorly written, though the premise is fun. Hawkins confesses on her own blog that before she got the idea to write this, she had hardly ever read any YA fiction, and I think it shows. The relationship between Elodie and Sophie flip-flops and is weakly portrayed, as is that between Archer (nice name) and Sophie. Jenna the vampire has a bit of potential but was still pretty colourless (ha) at the end...

I found a couple of ...more

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