by Maureen Kilmer
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Hex Education by Maureen Kilmer is a paranormal fantasy and the author’s sophomore effort.
Sarah is a typical suburban mom, except she’s secretly a witch. She tends to only use her magic for small things, like cleaning the house or restocking the basement fridge with turkey for her kids’ sandwiches. But she’s haunted by something that happened twenty years ago when her coven made a mistake and their dorm went up in flames. At a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the fire, they reunite and their magic no longer wants to stay small.
Overall, this was a fun read, if a bit predictable. The book is set in the suburbs of Chicago, and some of the locations we see are places I’ve been to and enjoyed. The prose drew me in, and I would find myself reading large chunks at a time without realizing it.
My favorite character in the book was Katy Purry, Sarah’s familiar, who begins to talk when her magic begins to spike. She is hilarious and makes me wish my cats could talk to me.
My least favorite character was the villain, who was blatantly The Worst throughout the vast majority of the book.
The pacing was a bit off; the first 50% was interesting but slow, and then it really picks up in the back half of the novel. That being said, the character development seemed to drop off at some point, and I wished the three coven-mates would have spent more time together. The ending felt a little lackluster, too.
I’ll definitely try more things from this author in the future! I also need to check out her debut novel, Suburban Hell, because I’ve heard very good things.
CW: fire, burn scars, blood, assault
I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
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