Book Review – The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

Title: The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)

Author: Erin Sterling

Publisher: Avon

Publication date: September 28th, 2021

308 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.

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, descendent 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 festival 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 wind-up 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 break-up curse before it’s too late.

Review

“You almost ran your ex-boyfriend over with a car, and then left him lying in the literal dirt on the side of the road. It is such a big deal, you absolute queen.”

Erin Sterling, The Ex Hex

I’m going to be honest – I had high hopes for this one and it fell majorly short. I even read it during the witchy time of year, which should have helped matters….

This book was just silly. It’s almost like the author was trying to do too much and couldn’t find a happy balance. I love magical realism, but the concept between the ley lines and hexing your ex can lead to ghosts and a whole town being affected is just… boring. I said it. This book wasn’t for me and I won’t apologize for that. The characters were not well written and it wasn’t easy to like them. The spice seemed just to be written in because it was necessary, not because it meshed well with the story or even had good timing. For a second chance romance I spent an alarming amount of time hoping they just… wouldn’t.

I’m also just not a fan of this town?? This concept isn’t new – a town where magic is located and is run by certain families and there’s a ceremony/competition/etc on a regular basis to continue the ruse. And magic is not located elsewhere. Of the maybe 5 books I can think of with this similar structure The Ex Hex is firmly number 5.

Will I read the next book – as Goodreads is indicating it is a continuing series? ….maybe. I’m firmly in the camp of giving authors another chance after one of their books not hitting for you.

Happy reading, folks!