Hex Education

Authors: Zareen Jaffrey & Emily Gould

Pages: 182

Published: RazorBill, 2007

Genre: Fantasy/Magic

Cover Score: B

Overall Grade: B+

Sophie Stone is anything but thrilled when her happily-goth, overly enthusiastic, horror movie-making parents uproot her from sunny LA and plop her down in Mystic, Massachusetts--her father's hometown with a long history in witch trials and where anything spooky or Halloween-y is welcome--year round. But even Sophie can't deny that she's mysteriously drawn to Mystic. Luckily, she meets new friends that she instantly clicks with. But little does Sophie know that her fashion-forward new friends are her coven....which means that they're also witches, descended from the magical founders of the town! But can they save Mythic from an unknown evil?

My thoughts: Hex Education was a fun, fast, light read perfect for Halloween! First of all, the setting was very well-described, and it totally sucked me into its gloomy atmosphere from page one. As well as this, all of the witchy details were very clever and fun, as well as humorous when spells go awry!

One of my major issues with the story, though, was Sophie, who at first was annoying--all she did was whine and didn't even bother to try to like Mythic. It became really, really old, and I got really sick of her complaining. Thank God she started to be more positive towards the middle and end or else I may have screamed. I loved the secondary characters, who were all unique and fun, but I did not get Sophie and Linc's relationship all that well.

Some of the details about the history of the town witches seemed really vague, and this made the whole "coven" thing a bit difficult to comprehend.

The ending was sort of rocky for me, too--it was very abrupt and way too corny-happy, like the authors couldn't think of anything else to write about. There was no smooth conclusion and therefore it just stopped, which was a big disappointment to me. However, I loved the awesome surprise ending where the mystery of the evil witch was solved!

If you're not a big horror fan and want something spooky and light for Halloween that's not too serious but fun, give Hex Education a try. It was fast, funny, and cute--and plenty witchy, too! :D

Must-Read! Check it out Dont' Bother