“Never mix vodka and witchcraft.”

The Ex Hex

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.

Never mix vodka and witchcraft. That was Vivi’s Aunt’s number one rule. But when Vivi gets her heart broken, she does precisely that. She thought it was a pretend curse—a way to blow off steam—but when Rhys returns to Graves Glen nine years after their breakup, things go haywire. But it doesn’t affect just him; it affects the whole town. And now, they must work together to break the curse before the town’s magic is forever destroyed.

If you love the vibes of Halloweentown and Sabrina the Teenage Witch but want something steamier, look no further than The Ex Hex. Graves Glen was like if Halloweentown and Stars Hallow had a baby, which was a perfect setting. Vivi was a great heroine. She was confident and strong, and her desire to balance the modern world with her witchcraft provided a nice opposite to Rhys’ old-world magical roots. I loved his smooth, roguish charm and his Welsh idioms. The sexual tension between them for most of the book was off the charts. Overall, I think their relationship worked well, but I would have liked more development in addition to their raw chemistry.

I loved that the plot was driven by the magical elements rather than Vivi and Rhys’ relationship. However, it felt like the curses on Rhys and the town were too low stakes. While the haywire spells, ghosts, and the talking cat were fun, it felt like there wasn’t much of a consequence for breaking the curse until the very end of the book.

The Ex Hex was cute, fun, and the right level of spooky. Reading it was the perfect way to kick off the Halloween season.