Hexed
Author: Julia Tuffs
Published by: Orion
Pages: 1075
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Jessie Jones has just discovered she's a witch. Too bad there isn't a hex to make slimy Callum Henderson and his friends disappear ... yet. A feisty, funny YA series about discovering your place and your power.
New girl, new school, new life on stupid island - thanks Mum. All Jessie Jones wants is to keep her head down, avoid school douchebag Callum Henderson, and coast - middle-of-the-road-like. But when strange powers start to manifest during crippling period pains, flying under the radar seems highly unlikely.
Can Jessie embrace her new-found witchiness, control her erratic powers and work out a way to bring down Callum and his cult of toxic masculinity?
New girl, new school, new life on stupid island - thanks Mum. All Jessie Jones wants is to keep her head down, avoid school douchebag Callum Henderson, and coast - middle-of-the-road-like. But when strange powers start to manifest during crippling period pains, flying under the radar seems highly unlikely.
Can Jessie embrace her new-found witchiness, control her erratic powers and work out a way to bring down Callum and his cult of toxic masculinity?
My thoughts:
Jessie Jones has just discovered she’s a witch. Having been forced to move back to her mother’s hometown, start a new school and a whole new life—she never once imagined that she could possibly be a witch.
All she wants to do is stay invisible and unnoticed by the rest of the school. But when her powers manifest with crippling period pains during a maths lesson seated next to the schools most popular bully, she realises staying invisible is going to be highly unlikely.
Jessie and her family come from a long line of witches, and their powers can come in useful.
There’s a bit of silliness with talk of witchcraft being used to rectify awful cooking or to conjure up the perfect bath. But in Hexed we have a superficially funny tale - of a girl who learns she’s a witch coming into her powers - that is used to deliver an important message about women in society.
From early on we can see things on the island are not quite right. Women are treated badly…and these misogynistic views are held under scrutiny with the focus on behaviour in Jessie’s school. From the casual scoring system of rating girls’ attractiveness to the leery comments and tales of poor behaviour. There’s a clear culture of sexism and this book shows one girl’s attempts to take on and challenge those views.
This was a pretty fun read, with a young, playful and light-hearted feel to it. If you are looking for a book that oozes girl power, friendship, and fighting against misogyny this is for you! Perfect for fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. There's a sequel coming next year which I'm sure will be enjoyable too!
Overall reaction:
Jessie Jones has just discovered she’s a witch. Having been forced to move back to her mother’s hometown, start a new school and a whole new life—she never once imagined that she could possibly be a witch.
All she wants to do is stay invisible and unnoticed by the rest of the school. But when her powers manifest with crippling period pains during a maths lesson seated next to the schools most popular bully, she realises staying invisible is going to be highly unlikely.
Jessie and her family come from a long line of witches, and their powers can come in useful.
There’s a bit of silliness with talk of witchcraft being used to rectify awful cooking or to conjure up the perfect bath. But in Hexed we have a superficially funny tale - of a girl who learns she’s a witch coming into her powers - that is used to deliver an important message about women in society.
From early on we can see things on the island are not quite right. Women are treated badly…and these misogynistic views are held under scrutiny with the focus on behaviour in Jessie’s school. From the casual scoring system of rating girls’ attractiveness to the leery comments and tales of poor behaviour. There’s a clear culture of sexism and this book shows one girl’s attempts to take on and challenge those views.
This was a pretty fun read, with a young, playful and light-hearted feel to it. If you are looking for a book that oozes girl power, friendship, and fighting against misogyny this is for you! Perfect for fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. There's a sequel coming next year which I'm sure will be enjoyable too!
Overall reaction: