Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins Amazon Link
Goodreads Link
Page Number: 323 pages
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
" 'Let's just say you may regret that second piece of cake.'
Oh my God. Regret cake? Whatever was about to happen must be truly evil."
I'm going to admit one thing to you before I even start reviewing this book. I didn't want to read this book because it seemed immature. Then I saw all the wonderful reviews for it and the quotes on goodreads made me laugh(Quite loudly...) like I belonged in an asylum.
So, I decided I would read it if I could get it. I did(THANK YOU, KARE!). I read about two chapters one night, and then was insanely busy the rest of the week. I finished the better part of the novel in two days. During the week. When I have school.
I'm very pleased with this novel. It made me laugh out loud and scream (Mentally. And through twitter....) and I severely hate one of the characters(Or a few.) because they're just mean and....mean.
There are, of course, characters I loved. Jenna, for example, completely rocked, even if she was a pink lover and I despise that color. She was, therefore, simply awesome.
Archer was nearly perfect. Why he's only nearly perfect, I can't say. It's a spoiler. Just read the book.
Humor is a huge element of this book. There are clever little jokes thrown in and tons of funny situations.
Sophie has to be one of my favorite characters of all time. She's very well thought out and full of witty comebacks. Her mind operates almost exactly like mine. I think that's why I like her so much. Great minds think alike and all.
There's a very serious mystery in this story, though. It's not all laughs.
Students at Hex Hall have been being attacked by something that drain the victims' blood. The students have this pinned on Jenna, since she's a vampire and Elody hates her. Sophie seems to be the only one who knows it wasn't Jenna.
For those of you who watch crime dramas and such, you're probably familiar with screaming "IT WAS HER!" or "HE DID IT!" like a banshee. And then you're presented with more information and you change your mind. You're going for your new theory through the entire show and then you get to the ending. And then it hits you. You were right. You knew it.
And so you're left sitting on your couch screeching, "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT WAS HER/HIM!"
...Or is that just me?
There's something refreshing about this novel. As far as I can really tell, I think it's the avoidance of insta-love. There's an almost instant CRUSH (Notice how I didn't say love.) when Sophie meets Archer, but she doesn't walk around going "I looooovvvvee him." and they definitely do not make out for three fourths of the novel.
It's realistic.
There's no looking at someone and then running into their arms for a long embrace. There's no first kiss on the fourth page. There's no "I love you" in the fifth chapter.
So, for that, I applaud the author. Insta-love is hard to avoid these days and it's flipping annoying. There's very rarely a case where it works tastefully and well-written.
Of course, there were things that I disliked, such as Sophie's sometimes inappropriate joking. I do remember a few inconsistencies in the story, as well, but they might have just been things I didn't remember reading earlier or that wasn't touched on well enough. It also ends on a HUGE cliffhanger, which kill me.
I did, however, still enjoy the novel very much. For this reason, it's receiving 4.5 stars.
