Hex, a Witch and Angel Tale by Ramona Wray

Title: Hex, a Witch and Angel Tale
Author: Ramona Wray
Publisher: CreateSpace
Summary: Like most girls at Rosemound High School, seventeen-year-old Lily Crane is acutely aware of Ryder Kingscott. Hands down the cutest guy in school, Ryder is cool, mysterious, and utterly untouchable…especially for Lily. For when she touches someone, Lily instantly learns all about their lives. And while such a skill might seem nifty, in truth it is wrecking Lily’s life. So she is shocked when Ryder asks her out — and even more shocked to discover he has a rival. Lucian Bell is the gorgeous new kid who can’t take his eyes off of Lily. Being pursued by two hotties should make a girl happy, but Lily is skeptical. The boys act as if they’ve met before, hating each other with a passion that could only be rooted in a dark, dangerous past. A past full of terrible secrets. The kind of secrets that could get a girl killed.

My Thoughts: Hex is a novel that's hard to write a review of because, on one hand, there were quite a few things I had problems with and yet, on the other hand, it kept me fully captivated, despite being sick in bed with pneumonia, which is not an easy feat.

My main issue with the novel was that a lot of it felt very cliché. Even the summary is very similiar to a variety of other novels out there - the guy a girl's been crushing on finally takes an interest in her and suddenly another boy shows up too and chaos errupts. However, I decided to look past that because 1.) I felt like the witch aspect of the novel would make it a little more interesting and I wanted to know what kind of secrets were being kept. Many of the clichés I was worried about did show up, like the relationship between Ryder and Lily. There were also many times I wanted to slap Lily for being so ridiculous.

Another thing that bothered me was that there were a few sexual scenes that were just very awkward. I felt like they didn't quite fit in with the novel and they definitely took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting them and the way they fit into the Lily/Ryder relationship just made me want to slap one of them.

However, these things aside, I really found myself enjoying Hex. There were quite a few things that kept me intrigued and guessing, especially when I thought I'd figured everything out. I love when novels do that. Ryder and Lucian are both much more complex than they seem to be and I didn't figure out who was good and who was bad until the very last page, which still took me by surprise.

I think that fans of Fallen by Lauren Kate will definitely enjoy this one. It's not for someone looking for a completely original paranormal but if you want a fun but captivating read, definitely give Hex a try. Personally, I'll be looking for future novels by Ms. Wray - I think there's room for nothing but improvement in her writing and I can't wait to see it!