This week we are discussing The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, Ch. 13-24.
Trigger Warning!!! This book contains situations and subjects related to: sex, hexing, and magic.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling.
Discussion:
Jacilyn: Hello friends, and welcome to our second discussion of The Ex Hex. The plot has thickened considerably since we last discussed! Now, it appears that a past Penhallow fucked up somewhere along the way, and Piper got caught up in it somehow. How, and why, and what got stolen, though, is a mystery to me. Is it only coming to light now because of the ley lines? Or is this what really caused the curse in the first place?
Michaela: Listen, I know Piper is this tortured ghost and we’re told that it’s because she dabbled in the dark stuff…but anyone else think that the witchy department of this school is a big pile of b.s.? Especially Dr. Arbuthnot, she’s a crotchety old bat and it feels like her and this department just like to cover some shiz up. But it does not surprise me that Great great great whatever Grand Papi Penhallow was a sneaky bitch. I mean just look at how Rhys’ dad behaves. My current possible theory is that Great Grand Papi Penhallow set the ley lines to control the magic of this area instead of fueling it. So like the Penhallows feed off the ley lines of magic of this town rather than charge it. Rhys didn’t seem to be told exactly what to do or what he would encounter, just what the incantation was. Wouldn’t surprise me if Daddy Penhallow was keeping secrets from Rhys to influence him in the way he wants Rhys to act.
I did enjoy the spookiness of the ghost encounter and the haunted house. We’ve had a lot of cute fall vibes so it was nice to get a little spook in there. The scene in the haunted house with the college kid bringing his girlfriend there to get laid was honestly hilarious. I love the sense of humor in this book. I think the magic to sexual tension to spookiness to humor flow of this book is right up my street and I am really enjoying myself while reading this story.
Jacilyn: I really enjoy the non-verbial communication Rhys and Vivi do. The part in the closet of the haunted house, where Rhys silently sighed in resignation at having to hear this kid try to get laid was so funny to me. I like the way the author is building the sexual tension, giving us little bits here and there but never quite the full thing so far… although, considering where we left off in this section, I think the full thing might be coming. Er, no pun intended.
My current theory is that Piper discovered that the ancient Penhallow stole something he wasn’t supposed to have, and that her alleged foray into dark magic was really her attempting to right that wrong. Vivi keeps saying that the student looks familiar to her, so I’m wondering if Piper was a fellow student of hers and Rhys, and that perhaps it was something that Piper was doing the night of the hex that caused it to take effect the way that it did. Maybe some combination of Viv and Piper’s magic that night?
I thought the little bit of sentimentality that we got between Wells and Rhys was really cute, too. I’m already hoping that their relationship will grow a bit once this is all said and done. I, like you, feel pretty iffy about Rhys’ father and whether or not he’s particularly trustworthy. At the very least, he’s not a great father.
Michaela: Well I thought they said Piper died in 1994 I’m pretty sure, so that wouldn’t be the same night as the hexing as far as I can tell. At least I was pretty sure we were in like our present day. She is such an angry spirit though, that whatever happened has gotta be bad bad.
Wells and Rhys’ interactions are super cute but you can still feel that childhood trauma tension, which shows how good the writing is in my opinion. We get so much depth of these relationships even when we only get short scenes with the characters together or talking.
The sexual tension is very fun with these two characters. I love how the author describes the sexual feelings combining with their emotional feelings, their inner turmoil with that feels quite realistic. I also love how seamlessly Rhys fits into Vivi’s friendship with Gwyn, they bounce off each other really well.
Amidst all this sexual tension is even more magical mayhem. The coffee shop girl slash potion dealer is a fav. So funny and honestly realistic because of course people want to buy viagra potions! Unfortunately, it seems this curse is still affecting Rhys individually though, his work is beginning to encounter problems too. I’m afraid to see how far this curse spreads. I wonder if it's worse because the Penhallow’s were so connected to the ley lines that his bad luck will just get worse and worse and soon his family might be affected by it too. We had a small ray of hope with capturing the ghost in the candle, but that blew up in their faces. Amanda being a magical object treasure hunter basically was not on my bingo card, I was actually shocked.
Jacilyn: I had expected Amanda to either 1) be a cooler faculty member in the Witch department and perhaps convince Vivi to teach both non-magical and magical history or 2) be a former friend of Piper’s in search of a way to bring her back or bring her goals to fruition. I don’t know why the magical object dealer wasn’t on my radar, but it surprised me too.
Well, friends, that’s all we have for this week. I am crossing my fingers for the sexual tension to finally come to it’s conclusion, and looking forward to learning the mystery behind Piper and the shady Penhallow of yore. Until next time!
Commentaires