Review: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

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.

• Title: The Ex Hex
• Author:  Erin Sterling
• Publisher: Avon
• Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
• Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal 
• Targeted Age Range: Adult
• Content Warnings: Underage drinking, mentioned death of a parent, strained relationship with a parent, Harry Potter reference, fire, mentions of sex (somewhat explicit), sex (somewhat explicit), blood
• Rating: ★★★★✩

It’s Halloween season y’all! And while I’m definitely a mood reader, I also love seasonal reads! Every October I try to read more fall/Halloween themed stories, and this month I’m really vibing with witchy reads. I’ve always loved stories about magic, which usually translates into stories about witches. As a child, I loved watching shows like Bewitched and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, and some of my all-time favorite films are Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown. 

One summer, 19-year-old Vivienne “Vivi” Jones and Rhys Penhollow meet and begin a whirlwind romance. Everything is going great, until Vivi finds out about the big secret Rhys has been hiding from her. Newly single and heartbroken, Vivi drowns her sorrows in sad music, bubble baths, vodka and jokingly hexing her ex with her cousin Gwyn. Nine years later, Rhys returns to Graves Glen to make an appearance at the fall festival and strengthen the ley lines. As things continue to go wrong, Vivi realizes that her joking hexes may have had a bigger impact than she thought. Now, Vivi and Rhys must put aside their differences and work together to right the town before something disastrous happens.

The Ex Hex is the perfect read this October if you’re looking for something Halloween-themed, but don’t want to read something that’s gory or filled with horror. It’s definitely a cozy Halloween read! I loved the mystery that developed throughout the story and how it led to finding out more about the family history of our two main characters, Vivi and Rhys. 

This story is filled with badass female witches and I love them all! They all had distinctive characters and personalities, they uplifted and supported one another, and they had a great dynamic. Early on in the book, we find out that when Vivi was young, her parents died, so her Aunt Elaine took Vivi in to live with her and her daughter Gwyn. I loved the relationship that the three of them had, it was very clear that they all really loved and respected one another.

Elaine is great as the matriarch of the family. She’s warm and loving and she guides both Gwyn and Vivi but lets them make their own mistakes. Vivi is a sweet and likable character and is very easy to root for, which makes her a great protagonist. You root for her right from the beginning and I personally loved seeing how throughout the book she learned to really embrace her powers, and love being a witch. While I loved Vivi, I think that Gwyn was my favorite character and I wish that we got to see more of her. I would absolutely want to be friends with her. She was snarky and sarcastic and just hilarious. I also loved how much she cared about Vivi and how much of an advocate she was for Vivi standing up for herself and recognizing just how special she is. 

Rhys ended up having much more depth than I had originally pegged him for, which I definitely think was the intention. I was surprised by the strained relationship that he ended up having with his family, especially his father, considering he’s painted as the “golden boy” type. I liked how self-aware he was, he realized his mistakes as a teenager and was actually pretty understanding of why Vivi felt a certain way towards him. Rhys definitely grew on me as the story went on, and I really liked him by the end. I think that he had some great character growth and it was great to see how it affected his relationship with Vivi and his family.

Vivi and Rhys had really great chemistry. I loved their snarky and witty banter (especially since my sense of humor is very similar). It was great to see both Rhys and Vivi come to terms with the fact that the other is not the same person they knew nine years ago, and realize that the perceptions they’ve held of one another do not actually match up with who they are now. I really enjoyed watching them grow back together and work with each other to solve the mysterious happenings around Graves Glen. They also had some very steamy moments that made me the human equivalent of the eyes emoji and made me glad that no one was reading over my shoulder!

While there was a lot that I loved about this book, I do wish that it had been a bit more diverse. I did appreciate that Gwyn was not straight (whether she’s bi or lesbian is not stated explicitly) and was seeing a woman, but there was a lack of diversity that I found a bit disappointing, especially in 2021. But, that being said, I did appreciate that Sterling did not just throw in characters of color or more LGBTQ+ characters for diversity points without developing them. 

I loved the small-town feel of this book! The town of Graves Glen gave me lots of Stars Hollow vibes, especially with all of their fun holidays and celebrations. I loved how much the townsfolk of Graves Glen, both witches, and non-witches, love Halloween and how that really was put into everything in the town. The names of stores in the town being Halloween-themed was super cute! The bookshop being named The Written Wyrd, the coffee shop being named Coffee Cauldron, and of course, Aunt Elaine’s witchy shop, Something Wicked. All of those little details really made the town come alive for me and it’s definitely a place I would love to visit, especially in October!

The Ex Hex is perfect for fans of Bewitched and the original Sabrina, The Teenage Witch series. If you’re looking for a fun witchy read this Halloween, you should definitely pick this one up! 

Links for The Ex Hex: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound