Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins YP FIC HAWKINS

Sophie Mercer is a real witch. No, a for serious real life witch. However, since no one ever told her about witches her spells tend to go really bad. And when a disastrous love spell makes a very memorable prom, she's shipped off to Hecate Hall(Hex Hall for short) to learn to control her powers. There she's taking classes with other witches, fairies, werewolves, shape shifters, and her roommate is a vampire. Between trying to learn how to use her powers, dodging the scary mean girls, and trying not to crush on her enemy's hot boyfriend her life is less than magical. To make things even more complicated she finds that one day she could be one of the most powerful magic users in the world. When people are attacked and Sophie's only friend is the suspect Sophie decides to investigate, but when she uncovers the mystery she finds may make her realize that there are worse things to be than a witch.

This is a funny, exciting book with a great lead character, a fun mystery, and a good romance hook. I was a little skeptical about reading another magical Child of Destiny book, but the well rounded characters and humor throughout the book won me over. The book has a real Harry Potter feel with the whole new magic user in a magic school and destined to be the most powerful thing going on, but manages to be original in its own way. If you like paranormal romances and paranormal with a good sense of humor, then you should grab Hex Hall.

What I Wore to Save the World by Maryrose Wood YP FIC WOOD

Morgan’s senior year is getting…complicated. She’s been pining over Colin the Irish heartthrob she met last year and the good news is she’s going to get to see him again. The bad news is he’s in the middle of a Faery plot to rip the veil between our world and the Faery world, and if Morgan uses her half-goddess powers to save the world she may lose Colin for good. What’s a high school Faery Princess girl to do? And what should she wear?

This is the sequel to Wood’s How I found the Perfect Dress. This one does a really good job at catching readers up, so reading the first book isn’t mandatory. What I Wore to Save the World is light-hearted, funny, and moves at a brisk pace. It has a nice touch of absurd whimsy throughout. I especially liked the cheerleader unicorns. If you like books about faeries and want a romance book then this is a can’t miss.

Wicked Lovely/ Desert Tales: Sanctuary by Melissa Marr

Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely was a hugely successful book, which was followed by additional success of the follow-up novel Ink Exchange. The third novel, Fragile Eternity, was released during the summer with equal enthusiasm from Marr’s fans.

Piggybacking the success of the series Marr has released the first of three manga books called Desert Tales. The author states the series is not necessary to read in order to follow stories from the novels, but rather acts as a companion series. The stories involve some characters from the Wicked Lovely books.

The first story, Sanctuary, follows Rika, a former Winter Girl, who finds solace in the Mojave Desert. According to the Wicked Wiki, Rika was Keenan’s fourth Winter Girl and was eventually replaced by Donia. Rika is removed from the Faerie Court, which she prefers. She seeks isolation from the active faerie lifestyle, which is why she chose to live in the desert.

She enjoys her invisibility until she meets Jace, a human. The desert faeries regularly taunt Jace and his friends. Rika is forced to revel herself when she saves him from a dangerous fall prompted by the faeries. There is an obvious spark between Rika and Jace, but similarly to other story lines in Marr’s Wicked Lovely book, trouble is inevitable for a faerie and a mortal from two very different worlds.

Overall, this story is not nearly as captivating as Marr’s original books. Her language, which tends offers lush descriptions of scenes, emotions, and experiences, is completely lost. The art works, produced by Xian Nu Studio, also does not serve the story line well. They are black and white manga-style illustrations, which do not capture the true beauty of the desert, Rika, and the other faeries. Perhaps if the illustrations would have been in color it would have changed the spirit of the story. Overall, the first book of this series is weak compared to Marr’s Wicked Lovely books, but you be the judge…

Wicked Lovely sidebar:
For those who enjoyed the novel Wicked Lovely it was recently announced that the rights to the book were sold to Universal Pictures. They are currently working to adapt the book into a movie.