This week we are discussing The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, Ch. 25-End.
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:
Michaela: Hello friends and welcome to our final discussion of The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling. I gotta say I’m struggling with my overall opinion of this one, friends. It started really strong and interesting but it did kind of fizzle out at the end there for me. But we started off this last section of the book strong with another spicy scene in the very vampiric bedroom. I find it hilarious that Simon Penhallow decorates his houses like that, the *drama*.
Jacilyn: I agree, the end felt very rushed and anti-climatic. You mentioned to me at one point, that Amanda AKA Tamsyn was kind of a pointless character? She manipulated Vivi into catching the ghost and passing it along to her…. And then gave the ghost over? Boom, that’s it? I don’t understand why that was added to the story, to be honest.
I loved that the room was so garish that Vivi was momentarily distracted from sexy time to laugh about it. I thoroughly hope that Rhys either 1) gets his own place once he moves to town (or moves in with Vivi), or 2) redecorates that place cuz goodness gracious, it’s basically a gothic movie set!
Michaela: The characters themselves said “that was easy” in regard to Tamsyn just giving up the candle. Like ya! Ya it was way too easy, what even was the point? But also speaking of the point of things…Daddy Penhallow shows up at the Fall Fair, is there for all of like an hour…then he’s never seen or heard from again. Like what? He was there to drop the tiniest knowledge on curses, to react to Aelwyd Jones’ name, and be a dickhead. That was it. So much potential for a confrontation between him and Rhys or just something. All we get is Vivi standing up to Simon, which I did very much love. We also never hear from either of Rhys’ brothers again. No real closure for those relationships either.
Listen friends, I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book and then it just ended. I am a little disappointed in the ending if I’m being honest. There was so much potential to end it strongly. Even if the author ended it the exact same way but just added some depth to the ending. Some more story was definitely needed and I feel slightly salty about it. Also salty that by the end Vivi decided that her and Rhys “we’re completely wrong for eachother” with literally no evidence or conversations about it, and even when she did talk about the only thing she mentioned was that they lived in different countries. That does not mean you’re wrong for each other, it just means you have to find a solution to that distance and communicate. That really bugged me. It felt like that was just thrown in there to give them that reuniting scene, which was adorable don’t get me wrong, but also not entirely necessary without that build up.
Gryffud Penhallow stealing magic from Aelwyd Jones to fuel the ley lines did not surprise me at all, because of course he did. And Simon is just totally okay with it clearly, but at the same time didn’t tell his son. Gotta love that superiority complex with the subconscious guilt. I would have loved a more detailed flashback of that through Piper’s memories of trying to summon Aelwyd. I think that could have been a really cool magical experience.
Jacilyn: It was clear that Simon knew about Aelwyd, from his reaction to her name. So really, the only point of his visit was to give them the tiniest bit of confirmation of what Piper the ghost said about Penhallow stealing what wasn’t his. I also thought it was way too easy for Vivi and Rhys to fix the ley lines. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I enjoy when the solution to something is simple and not traumatic, but I want there to be a little bit of concern as I read. I want to actually feel the tension. The stakes were technically high, the town and Rhys could be destroyed if the curse wasn’t fixed… but it was always very clear that there wasn’t actually any danger to Rhys’ life. The story never actually made me feel like I needed to be concerned about any of that - and it’s not even like I felt that way because I was just super confident in the characters’ ability to figure it out. I just didn’t feel that concern because it wasn’t properly conveyed, in my humble opinion.
I was honestly really annoyed when Rhys and Vivi just…. Said goodbye? And that was it? No conversation? It would have been so easy to just be like okay yeah, we’ll visit each other often. They literally have freaking magic, and Rhys is loaded. There’s no reason they couldn’t have had that conversation before he up and left. I did enjoy the reuniting scene, but it also seemed…. Too convenient. Maybe by that point I was just feeling critical of the ending and that was what soured it for me, but the fact that he was just kind of waiting in his office waiting for her to notice the name on the door and come investigate????
Michaela: I agree, the stakes were just not really there. I wanted a little more tension and drama with it. Oh my gods, they literally have magic! I didn’t even think of the fact they can LITERALLY PORTAL to each other. Like…...cheese and rice, man. What a ridiculous reason to focus on. I’ve done the long distance relationship before and having actual MAGIC to be able to visit each other would have been a fucking godsend. The book ends with Vivi realizing that “we can do both”.....like ya, duh.
He was also fully planning on telling her he loved her and then just didn’t. The ending was beyond convenient, I didn’t mind it necessarily but overall it wasn’t the most satisfying. I did enjoy that Vivi was finally accepting her magical side and was teaching some magic classes along with her non-magical ones. That was very nice to see that character development. I’m so mad at this ending. The good bits were there throughout the whole ending but they just lacked depth and stakes. The rest of the book set up such a good story.
Jacilyn: I’m also glad that Vivi took on some magical classes as well. It definitely helped sell that she was finally feeling more confident in herself as a witch, actually claiming the identity more than she had previously. Which, actually, her reluctance to embrace magic was another thing I wish the story delved into a bit more. I know they mention the fact that she didn’t grow up around magic and that her mom tried to distance herself from it, but that was it. More could have been done with that.
Well, friends, that’s where we’re going to leave it. Let us know what you thought of the ending - we’d love to hear your opinions! Until next time.
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