My Review of Hexed

It’s Bring it On meets The Craft in this spellbinding witchy series debut.

If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lotmore than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

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So Hexed by Michelle Krys is yet another book that I acquired at RT Booklovers Convention 2014. Those of you who have been there before know that it can be crazy. Especially the Social Events where you’re packed into a ballroom with several hundred other people plus your favourite authors and their posse. People can be a bit…grumpy. Especially at the big Book Fair on the Saturday when you’re stuffed in with even more people and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

I had just finished getting a book signed from an author that I was really excited to meet and left a little disappointed. This author didn’t necessarily have the best attitude and it put me off so I was wandering around the room, looking for new and interesting books that I’d never heard of before (which is a lot, I’m such a noob) and I stopped at Michelle’s table.

She had this huge pile of ARCs displayed and a nice smile. As I approached, she kindly asked me if I wanted a copy and I said “yes, please” and she gave me a copy of this big black and green book; I walked away with a smile on my face.

It was this nothing moment but it lifted my spirits. I’m very glad I got a chance to read this book – especially since this is my last review before I go back to school.

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Cliff notes version: Indie finds out she’s a witch and must seek out an ancient book with the power to kill witches that has fallen into the hands of sorcerers who want to rid the world of witches.

Hexed is this incredible combination of clichéd and uniquely original storylines. I honestly spent half the time rolling my eyes and the other half shaking with excitement.

Even the main characters are a mix between “oh my god, stop” and “oh my god, you’re so cool”. Indigo is a cheerleader – the most popular girl in school – who cries…just a lot. She has this fluctuating personality between kind of badass and a, for lack of a better word, California Girl: obsessed with her looks and her popularity – and boys. I actually really enjoyed getting frustrated at her.

It’s like she was a real person, dealing with something out of her comfort zone, desperate to maintain some semblance of normalcy while at the same time, growing as a person.

Crazy.

Bishop is just a crazy stalker. A hot, crazy stalker but crazy. And a stalker. His condition gets better but boy is he mysteriously creepy. But I liked him. He had a good reason for being a jerk (unlike Devon, Bianca, and Jez – that’s all I’m saying).

You’ll see a lot of those things in my Random Notes While Reading:

·         Why does it feel like every female protagonist in YA rom coms has curly hair that they hate?

·         The characters are well established

·         Information is well communicated

·         Indie is believable if not cheesy

·         Even if I hadn’t read the back cover, that is a fun way to start a book

·         There’s no way you’d be allowed to just leave

·         Wow. Although...last minute

·         Okay that’s crool. I was going to say creepy and then I said cool

·         Ha, ha, ha. WHAT?

·         Ah yes cheerleading: the pinnacle of the women’s rights movement

·         Ugh, Bianca, really?

·         Creeper Alert

·         But creepy in a cool, haunting way. I guess

·         I literally just “barked with laughter” when our protagonist did. We’re really getting to know these characters well

·         Why didn’t she just text her in the first place?

·         You can’t hear me but I’m making a lot of indistinguishable sounds

·         At least I hope you can’t hear me

·         That’s 3 “ugh”s in two pages (from me)

·         I like you, Paige

·         Surprise, surprise. Except not because you’re a bitch

·         Read: So cliché

·         I’ve never called it the “oh shit” handle but you’re totally right

·         There’s only a certain level of creepy that hot guys can get away with

·         Does everybody cry at the drop of a hat?

·         Oh my god, you’re a cool character just stop crying

·         Do you have any idea what time it is, Mr. Wolf?

·         Eh! Creeper!

·         I think it’s physically impossible for heroes to have living parents

·         Just because people are dying doesn’t mean you have to be grumpy

·         Ugh, my eyeballs hurt from rolling my eyes at Bishop

·         It’s a little cliché but Frederick makes a good moustache-twirling villain

·         Oh, daggers to the heart (ha!)

·         Bish? Really?

·         Well damn

·         I wasn’t expecting this book to have that sort of violence

·         I like when books surprise me in a good way

·         Devon, you deserve to get bitch slapped so hard

·         Jesus Christ, Bishop, don’t say that while I’m eating

·         I’m glad he admits this was an unhealthy decision

·         What?

·         Of course he lives in Swanksville

·         Lovey Lumpkins. I can’t

·         Goodness. I mean it’s cool but goodness

·         It matters very much that you like the car

·         You both ruined it with your stupid feelings

·         God, you’re so dramatic

·         Penny and Paige get along really well, it’s a little frightening

·         Of course the final battle would go down at homecoming

·         Shocking

·         OH MY GOD THAT’S SO COOL

·         I’m gonna puke

·         “I guess he’s a butt guy”

Overall, I thought this book was very well written with an interesting plot; the characters held their own and book two is on my list.