Book Talk: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Pages: 336
Publisher: Disney*Hyperion


I’m not a laugher. I mean, I laugh (a lot…especially while watching Friends) but not really in books, not aloud anyway. In this one, however, I found myself laughing OUT LOUD on practically every page. The main character, Sophie, was so believable, sarcastic and funny–and completely without the regular teenage angst that so many teenagers are portrayed with. If any character deserved to have angst it would be this one.

Sophie, a 16-year old witch with a normal mother and an absentee warlock father, is sent to a boarding school for Prodigium, those also known as fairies, witches, shape shifters and the occasional vampire. People are sent here after they mess up and expose themselves in the mortal world and after a love spell gone awry and 19 different schools, she ends up at Hecate Hall, lovingly called Hex Hall.

I stepped out of the car and into the hot thick of heat of August in Georgia.
“Awesome,” I murmured, sliding my sunglasses on top of my head. Thanks to the humidity, my hair felt like it had tripled in size. I could feel it trying to devour my sunglasses like some sort of carnivorous jungle plant. “I always wondered what it would be like to live in somebody’s mouth.”
In front of me loomed Hecate Hall, which, according to the brochure clutched in my sweaty hand, was “the premier reformatory institution for Prodigium adolescents.” 
Prodigium. Just a fancy Latin word for monsters. And that’s what everyone at Hecate was.
That’s what I was.

In just a few short weeks, Sophie has enemies, a vampire best friend, a teacher who hates her, a crush on an unavailable stud (don’t we all) and a string of student attacks that target her only friend as the suspect. Everything she thinks knows about herself, her family, her friends and her craft completely change. Sophie has to protect everyone, which means finding out who was really hurting students and clearing her best friend–no matter the cost.

It was very Harry Potter-esque, for more reasons that you already suspect, yet it was different. I really loved the characters and the ease of reading. I was finished relatively quickly and enjoyed it all. It’s the beginning of the series so the end is a cliff hanger. I am really excited to see where this story goes in the future. It has the potential to be a hit series. Still skeptical? I assure you that if you liked Harry Potter, then you’ll love this. If not, I don’t know….I’ll give you a cookie or something.

Book Talk: Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken 
Publisher: Egmont
Pages: 354
 
This was a fabulous book. I started and finished it last night. I started at about midnight, despite myself because I know that I cannot read before bed or I won’t sleep. Anyway, the reading won out and I started. Four and half hours later I was finished. I couldn’t put it down. The characters were so real and compelling, the story was original and the writing clean and precise. Did I mention the love story? Because yea, that was awesome too.

Brightly Woven is the story of Sydelle, a girl who lives in a town despaired by a ten-year drought. When a handsome stranger, a wizard named North comes into her town, the soldiers follow him and an upcoming war pushes them out for their safety. They are on a journey to the visit the Queen and stop the war. Along the way, they meet dangerous wizards, old friends and discover things about each other and about themselves.

I'm not very good (yet) about talking about loving stories, but this one I adore. I love the dynamic between Syd and North--North is so amazing. Everything was tied up nicely but there are still some things I just need to know. I'm so glad I picked up this book. It was marvelously written and so much fun!

“You said before that you had no choice,” North said. “But here’s one right in front of you. You can go back down to your people and suffer quietly with them, but if you do, you really will be trapped her, with no relief. It’ll be at least a month and a half before I get to the capital, and longer before the Wizard Guard can come to help you.”
“Trapped with them or trapped with you–” I began.
“Not forever,” he said. Something hard and unbearable had wedged itself in my throat. “If you help me get to the capital, I swear on everything good in this world that after we deliver the information, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. It will be your choice.”
It was happening too quickly, with no time for good-byes, for lingering last looks. Was it possible that only yesterday it had rained for the first time in years, that people had been singing and dancing instead of crying and screaming? Now the rain was gone again, leaving behind only a fine gray haze, and the only thing left for me was to go with the wizard.
It was a cruel twist of fate, I thought, finally to have the chance to see the world beyond Cliffton but only in the worse, the most terrifying of times.
“Why did you pick me?”
North picked up my bag and loom, helping me to  my feet.
“Why me?” I repeated over the deafening wind. “You could have had anyone!”
“Yes,” he said, taking one last look at the village below. “But I only need you.” (page 28-29)