Hex Hall Put a Spell on Me!

"Of course the only words I actually managed to yell at at the werewolf as he ran at me were, 'BAD DOG!'" You need a book that will actually make you laugh out loud? Look no further! Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins had me laughing all night! I couldn't put it down!

Sophie Mercer is a sarcastic young witch who has gotten herself into trouble, again. Unfortunately, this time caught the attention of the Council, a group of witches and warlocks who keep magical folks from exposing their world to humans. Now she must stay at Hecate Hall, nicknamed Hex Hall, until she is 18 and considered trustworthy with her magic. Unfortunately, with a human mother and a warlock father who left before she was born, Sophie doesn't know anything about the Prodigium, or magical world.

Even though Hex Hall is supposed to be protected, a girl was killed before Sophie arrived, and another girl is attacked just after school starts. Everyone is blaming Sophie's roommate Jenna, the only vamp on campus as part of the Council's attempt to integrate them with the rest of the Prodigium, but Sophie knows she is innocent. Even Sophie's crush, Archer, is convinced Jenna's guilty. But it quickly comes out that there is more to Sophie's family than just magic. Between her possibly murderous roommate, a father who is the reason most kids were sentenced to Hex Hall, an evil group of mean witches who has it in for Sophie, and all the dark witches dropping like flies (Sophie being a dark witch herself), Sophie has found Hex Hall to be worse than her past 19 schools. Now she has to find a way to exonerate Jenna!

This is a great story with fun, spunky characters who anything but the whiny females you can sometimes find in YA lit. They are sassy and don't take crap from anyone. Even the teachers have different dimensions; Lord Byron, the real Lord Byron, is a vampire who teaches poetry at Hex hall because when he was turned, he was too conspicuous, and when the Council released him, all he wanted to do was turn all of Europe into vampires!

This is fun, fast-paced read that is enticing to anyone. The reading level and content are appropriate for middle school to high school. As this is the first in a series, it is a perfect opportunity to suck a student into an exciting story and keep them reading. Give the story a shot, but don't be surprised when you find yourself giggling out loud as you read!

Falling? or Hovering with Uncertainty?

Sometimes you simply can judge a book by its cover! Fallen, by Lauren Kate, is packed with teen angst, sorrow and confusion, as if that wasn't clearly stated by the haunting cover! But is there more to the story than just a teen in trouble?

Luce has been sent to a reform school called Sword and Cross after a boy dies in her last school and she is blamed for the fire that killed him. When she gets there, she is instantly taken in by a girl named Arianne who shows her the ropes. But the one thing Luce can't seem to ignore is Daniel Grigori, despite the fact that he clearly isn't interested in her. When another boy, Cam, shows he is overly interested in Luce, she is torn between Daniel's cold shoulder but haunting appeal and Cam's overzealous attention that borders on stalking.

When Luce befriends Penn, the daughter of the former groundskeeper and only kid not forced to be at Sword and Cross, they begin to dig into Daniel's history. What they find is confusing and indicates there is more to Daniel Grigori than he lets on. When things at Sword and Cross start to go horribly awry, Luce finds out there is more to her life than just the strange shadows she keeps seeing; destiny might be at work here.

The synopsis of this book seems vague, because the majority of the novel is quite vague. Luce is at the boarding school for something we learn is not completely her fault, but there isn't much explanation offered. The story continues for a fell 9/10 of the book about Luce in the reform school, and only in the last bit are any questions answered. Even then, the story seems lacking because the explanation is rushed and not really fleshed out.

This book is very slow, not because the characters are uninteresting, or the setting is dull, but because you know there is more coming. You keep waiting for it and waiting for it, but it doesn't come until it is squeezed into the last 50 pages of the book. I am assuming the story will be more clear in the upcoming sequel, but this book would be hard for most reluctant readers- there just isn't enough to understand until the bitter end. I enjoyed the story, but I would be reluctant to give this to a student because it is so slow moving. Hopefully the sequel will be faster and clearer!