Review: Hex by Ramona Wray

Title: Hex: A Witch and Angel Tale
Author: Ramona Wray
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 254
Rating: 3/5 Stars

I give this book 4 Stars for story and 2.5 Stars for technical merit. Once the plot well and truly thickened I liked Lucien/Lily/Ryder's story very much. In fact, I stayed up until 3am to finish reading the book. Wray created some colorful characters and a very interesting setting for her story.

Technically speaking, there's room for improvement. Wray is a good author, but I felt that the beginning of the book moved a little too quickly. Lily's inability to touch people certainly went a long way in explaining why she fell for and trusted Ryder so quickly, but I still wanted it to take longer. I'm a sucker for watching two people fall for each other, so perhaps this a bit of personal preference.

Wray overuses simile and metaphor. They are useful parts of speech but when I actually notice their frequency...that's a problem. Lily also has an extensive wealth of information that comes in very handy at various times in the novel, but I don't believe for a second the random teenager would know. It was a bit jarring when she was able to name the man who originally said "absolute power corrupts absolutely" or when she went off on a rant that the mid-20th century song that spawned the idea that you hurt the ones you love the most. If there had been some justification made as to why she knew these things, I would have gone with it, but there wasn't.

I think Wray has it in her to write some really amazing fiction, so I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA novels. I'll keep an eye on Wray and give her other work a try.