Hello guys! Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Reads!
Today's book is a debut mix of contemporary setting with paranormal witchcraft related issues, and I was super lucky to win a preorder for it on Nova's blog Out of Time during one of her giveaways (thank you, Nova & Michelle!). It's also been by first buddy read with the awesome Becca of Pivot Book Reviews, but I'm sure it won't be the last! Do check out Becca's review of Hexed on her blog too!
Hexed by Michelle Krys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first moment I heard about Hexed, I was quite intrigued, even if I'm not usually big on stories about witches, so when I a preorder for it in a giveaway, I was rightly chuffed!
Hexed is a good mix of contemporary setting with paranormal aspects of witchcraft, even if we don't get that many answers about the witchcraft world, it is quite different from the usual view of witchcraft. There are no potions or wants, but more using your inner power and using spells only to channel that better.
Indigo, or Indie, our main character is one of those characters that can be a lil polarizing. You might like her with a few reservations and enjoy her growth (even if you feel like shaking her on occasion), or you end up disliking her. I felt that Indie was a character with flaws but ultimately likeable, and I was glad to see her grow into herself and out of her "popular" persona. Sometimes her treatment of Paige, her neighbour and childhood friend or her interactions with Bianca and Devon made me want to shake her, but she always felt like a very real character to me.
Paige was a very sweet girl, one of those genuine good people that don't care much about appearances or what the "in crowd" think and go their own way and I was glad that she was there for Indie, even when she wouldn't deserve it.
Devon and Bianca... they seem to be typically cut "popular" kids, and it might be playing into stereotypes, but I think that with some hints to a barely scratched depth in their characters, they can be realistic enough and fulfill their role. They are who they are, and make no apologies for it, so you don't feel that bad disliking them. And despite how easy it would have been for Indie to be sucked back in into their "popularity" and expectations, I'm glad that she took a stance and kept herself strong.
Bishop... well, Bishop is an interesting character, he's full of snark and mystery but half the time can be an arse, and the other half he seems to be rather stingy when it comes to providing information. He ended up growing on me, but he was someone I felt like smacking in the back of the head on occasion in the first half of the book!
There are two factions in the magical world of Hexed, The Family that are supposed to be the good guys (but sound like the mafia with a name like that) and then The Priory (which sounds like monks, but nope nothing contemplative about them). The Priory are clearly the bad guys, if nothing else cause they seem to kill without remorse and enjoy torture, but The Family seem to be too high and mighty to really qualify as good guys. They fail to intervene properly to protect their own and they seem to have a big disregard for regular, non-magical, humans. I have a feeling there's more to these two groups that what we've learnt so far, and I hope we'll get more answers in the sequel.
The book has a rather good pace, intermixing regular life with witchcraft related elements, with twists, emotional wrecking moments and even a dragon! That might have added half a star to the book right there, dragons are always awesome! If there's a way to add a dragon to a book, always do it! I liked that although Indie was a bit whiney on occasion, she always ended up facing things, fighting to the best of her abilities and not backing down easily at all! Some of the twists I didn't see coming at all, and that ending and epilogue?? Horrible cliffhanger alert! Charmed cannot come out soon enough!
All in all, a great debut well deserving of 3.5 (4 if you count the dragon!).
View all my reviews
Today's book is a debut mix of contemporary setting with paranormal witchcraft related issues, and I was super lucky to win a preorder for it on Nova's blog Out of Time during one of her giveaways (thank you, Nova & Michelle!). It's also been by first buddy read with the awesome Becca of Pivot Book Reviews, but I'm sure it won't be the last! Do check out Becca's review of Hexed on her blog too!
Hexed by Michelle KrysMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first moment I heard about Hexed, I was quite intrigued, even if I'm not usually big on stories about witches, so when I a preorder for it in a giveaway, I was rightly chuffed!
Hexed is a good mix of contemporary setting with paranormal aspects of witchcraft, even if we don't get that many answers about the witchcraft world, it is quite different from the usual view of witchcraft. There are no potions or wants, but more using your inner power and using spells only to channel that better.
Indigo, or Indie, our main character is one of those characters that can be a lil polarizing. You might like her with a few reservations and enjoy her growth (even if you feel like shaking her on occasion), or you end up disliking her. I felt that Indie was a character with flaws but ultimately likeable, and I was glad to see her grow into herself and out of her "popular" persona. Sometimes her treatment of Paige, her neighbour and childhood friend or her interactions with Bianca and Devon made me want to shake her, but she always felt like a very real character to me.
Paige was a very sweet girl, one of those genuine good people that don't care much about appearances or what the "in crowd" think and go their own way and I was glad that she was there for Indie, even when she wouldn't deserve it.
Devon and Bianca... they seem to be typically cut "popular" kids, and it might be playing into stereotypes, but I think that with some hints to a barely scratched depth in their characters, they can be realistic enough and fulfill their role. They are who they are, and make no apologies for it, so you don't feel that bad disliking them. And despite how easy it would have been for Indie to be sucked back in into their "popularity" and expectations, I'm glad that she took a stance and kept herself strong.
Bishop... well, Bishop is an interesting character, he's full of snark and mystery but half the time can be an arse, and the other half he seems to be rather stingy when it comes to providing information. He ended up growing on me, but he was someone I felt like smacking in the back of the head on occasion in the first half of the book!
There are two factions in the magical world of Hexed, The Family that are supposed to be the good guys (but sound like the mafia with a name like that) and then The Priory (which sounds like monks, but nope nothing contemplative about them). The Priory are clearly the bad guys, if nothing else cause they seem to kill without remorse and enjoy torture, but The Family seem to be too high and mighty to really qualify as good guys. They fail to intervene properly to protect their own and they seem to have a big disregard for regular, non-magical, humans. I have a feeling there's more to these two groups that what we've learnt so far, and I hope we'll get more answers in the sequel.
The book has a rather good pace, intermixing regular life with witchcraft related elements, with twists, emotional wrecking moments and even a dragon! That might have added half a star to the book right there, dragons are always awesome! If there's a way to add a dragon to a book, always do it! I liked that although Indie was a bit whiney on occasion, she always ended up facing things, fighting to the best of her abilities and not backing down easily at all! Some of the twists I didn't see coming at all, and that ending and epilogue?? Horrible cliffhanger alert! Charmed cannot come out soon enough!
All in all, a great debut well deserving of 3.5 (4 if you count the dragon!).
View all my reviews
