The Ex Hex

Brief Synopsis:

For many years, Vivi had been told not to mix magic and vodka, which is really something that she should have listened to. However, Vivi is 19 years old and brokenhearted. The devastatingly beautiful Rhys Penhallow swept into her life, gave her the best three months of her young life, and then dropped the bomb that he was betrothed to a witch that her father had chosen for him. Vivi broke up with Rhys, sent him packing and then went to her aunt’s house to wallow in her grief. That night, she and her cousin cast a spell to curse Rhys, but they thought that it was just a joke and wouldn’t be successful.

Fast forward nine years later, and Rhys is told by his intimidating father that he is going to be sent back to Vivi’s town of Graves Glen to perform ritual magic on the ley lines (he and his family are also witches, the ones that formed the town, in fact) and so he journeys back there. Vivi tries to tell herself that it’s fine and she’s over him, but when she runs into him after he gets a flat tire on his way into town, they both quickly realize that they are very much not over each other, and it also becomes pretty obvious that perhaps their joke of a curse wasn’t such a joke after all.

Rhys seeks input from his father, who says that he had a protection from such a thing and there’s no way a mediocre witch like Vivi (RUDE) has the power to get through it. With this in mind, they journey to the ley lines and Rhys does his thing. Surprise, surprise: he is cursed, and now he’s spread the curse through the ley lines and cursed pretty much all of the magic in the entire town. Now, Vivi, Rhys, her cousin Gwyn and her aunt have to try and figure out how to reverse this before something lasting happens.

The curse starts manifesting itself in different ways. Once inanimate Halloween skulls start attacking people, a spell that’s just supposed to help with a guy’s manhood paralyzes said guy temporarily, and a ghost that was bound suddenly breaks free and scares the crap out of some college students in the library. Oh, and Gwny’s beloved cat begins to talk. You see, the kicker is that not everyone Graves Glen is a witch so the ones that are have to veil that fact. It’s a lot harder to do when there’s dark magic lurking around every corner wanting to hurt people, not caring if they’re just a mortal or a witch. What also doesn’t help is the fact that it is getting harder and harder (pun intended) for Rhys and Vivi to pretend that their attraction is a thing of the past and end up in a couple of really close situations while they’re out trying to right their wrongs.

One night, Gwyn asks Vivi why she’s trying so hard to push Rhys away. She points out that they’re both consenting adults that are very clearly still attracted to each other, and there’s no actual reason that she can’t have what she wants, at least for the time that Rhys is in Graves Glen. With this advice, Vivi goes for it, and her and Rhys start having some really intense… moments with each other. So much, in fact, that they kind of forget their mission in the first place and slack off for a while.

During a town celebration, Rhys’s father shows up and reminds them all of their true mission, successfully chiding Rhys basically within an inch of his life while he’s at it. With this reminder, Rhys gets back into focus (while also focusing on Vivi) and when she wakes up the next morning, he has a full plan in motion. Remember that ghost in the library that I mentioned? She and Rhys had captured it in a special candle and she thought she was helping, but she actually gave it to someone that trades in witchcraft and just wants to sell the candle.

Well, they track this girl down and she’s actually really desperate to get rid of the candle because the witch ghost inside of it isn’t acting like she’s supposed to. Rhys and Vivi take it off of her hands, and joined by Gwyn and her mom, they all release her from the candle. She ends up telling them that Gwyn and Vivi’s ancestor was actually murdered by Rhys’s ancestor, the one that founded the town. He stole all of Gwyn’s ancestor’s magic and it killed her. He then used the magic in the ley lines for the town. When Vivi wanted to “curse” Rhys, her ancestor took it a little too seriously because of this, hence the curse actually working. What’s worse is that at midnight on Halloween, both the town and Rhys are going to die due to this curse unless they can figure out a way to reverse it.

Vivi does some pretty badass magic on Halloween night and summons her ancestor, who is actually going to reverse the curses when she realizes that Vivi and Rhys are truly in love with one another. However… she realizes that she’s not quite powerful enough to stop it, says sorry and just kind of nopes out. Vivi isn’t ready to concede, and they visit the ley lines. Vivi combines her magic with Gwyn and her aunt’s, knowing that their bloodline is where the magic came from in the first place, and together they reverse the curses.

Rhys leaves and goes back to Wales to continue his work and placate his father. I know, really? And quite a while goes by with Vivi trying to get back to her old life, however lifeless it may have been without Rhys in it. He actually does this beautiful grand romantic gesture and gets a job teaching at the same school that Vivi does, promising her that he’s not going to run away from her anymore, and they ride off together into the proverbial sunset.

My Rating:

9/10. I’m so glad to say that this book was well worth the hype. It was such a perfect mix of the usual romance that you expect from rom com reads and the fantasy/supernatural world. It was such a cute book.

Spice Rating:

I’m gonna say a 7/10 here, it surprised me. It wasn’t overly graphic but I was really pleased with it.

A Similar Vibe:

This time, I have two. It definitely reminded me a lot of practical magic at times and I also got Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibes (the 90s show, not the Netflix one).

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) and/or my Storygraph (bookishmamabish) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3