Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Synopsis:
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father-an elusive European warlock-only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters. By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect. As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My Review:
I heard a lot of rave reviews thanks to my friends at ‘Shelfari.com’ and ‘Goodreads.com’ and I am so glad I trusted their judgment. This book was a fun read and there were a lot of “laugh out loud” moments for me. The author has a knack for writing a story like a movie where you can see the facial expressions of the characters and from that find the humor in the moment. I liked Sophie as a character because she had similar reactions to things I would think in certain situations along with being quirky and sarcastic. She, like any teenage girl, gets flustered around the guy she likes and tries to deny her feelings for him which makes her very relatable. I loved all the pop-culture references like Harry Potter and Star Wars which was a nod to my generation but I don’t feel it will date the book too much.

However I do have some issues with the book. I guess there are only so many original plots out there but I felt the author had enough creativity to do something different with her characters and their situation but left them hanging. While the writing was not amazing the book over all was entertaining and I am looking forward to the next book.