The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths… and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “Orchard Hayride: - scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendant of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual Fall Fair turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little ex hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous windup toys, a pissed-off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off-the-charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the breakup curse before it’s too late.
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Reading this book was like slipping into comfy pj’s and turning on a Disney Channel Halloween movie original for the first time. All the Halloweentown, Twitches, and Hocus Pocus vibes right here in these pages. It was comforting and welcoming, light-hearted and familiar…. and also, aimed toward adults. It was such a great and fast-paced read. The plot moved just like a Halloween movie with one common obstacle, life or death situations, banding together to fight the Big Problem, and lots of light-hearted banter throughout. I read this book in one day (in a day where I also worked all day and had evening plans so it was a VERY easy read). It’s perfect for Halloween if you’re looking for a light, non-angsty romance to give a you a break from all the horror you’ve probably been reading all month.
Vivi and Rhys were a really cute pairing, both witches so it was refreshing not to have some weird “forbidden love because one’s magic and one isn’t” trope. He was really understanding of her trials with magic as he had a lot of his own and I liked that they were able to be in on this big secret with each other while trying to save the town (the non-magic humans in the town don’t know witches exist). Rhys was your typical, perfect, tall-dark-and-handsome leading man, he even had the Welsh accent to go along with the look, *dreamy sigh*. I do wish we got to delve a bit deeper into the characters so I could feel more of a connection with them. I feel like I would have been much more invested in their romance if I related to them better, however, it was still damn adorable.
The way the magic system was set up was so simple and easy to follow, like a lot of other typical cheesy Halloween plots, witches are a long established community, still living in secret even thought they run the town. Spells, brooms, talking cats, it was all a go and I loved that it was so straight-forward and in touch with modern day ideals of Halloween. It made the plot simple but exciting as we weren’t focused too much on all this world building. I also really loved how the obstacles just kept building because there really is so many ways a hex can spiral out of control isn’t there?
It was a really warm and comforting read and so light-hearted. Perfect for Halloween. I demand everyone who reads this review reads this book so we can talk about how absolutely adorable it is. I, of course, gave this 5 stars because it really lifted my spirits this week and got me into the Halloween mood that’s been kind of missing for me all month.