Happy Spooky Season

Happy Spooky season! This is my second favorite time of year. I wish I could love autumn and spookiness with my whole heart but I am a Christmas baby. I believe in magic and to me no time seems more magical than the twinkly lights and happy moments of winter holidays. 

That is not to say I don't love Halloween. Fall is probably my favorite season weather wise. I love the look of snow, but lets be honest, that shit is cold. It's heavy, it's damp. I grew up in Colorado and in Colorado, fall is beyond beautiful. The leaves change colors and the world becomes a bright and brilliant painting. It's the perfect weather for sweaters and fires in the fireplace and a cup of cocoa, without freezing your buns off. 

If we're being perfectly honest, both Christmas and Halloween are magical. While I never personally enjoyed scooping the guts out of a pumpkin, I always loved dressing up. Going to corn mazes, eating too much candy and witchy Halloween movies (not the horror ones, I am way too big of a wimp for that). 

I wish I could tell you that I was on point with my reading material. Having cultivated a grouping of books for October where I only read witchy books, spooky or suspense. Anything on theme. The reality is that 1) I'm not that organized of a person, I strive to be, but as of yet, we're not there and 2) I didn't have all that much time to read this month with the whole job change, followed by the last week where my son and I got the flu. To everyone else who managed to stay health during the pandemic and hasn't been sick since 2019. Get your flu shot, it was hell. 

I did decide last week to go on theme as my book of the month finally came and I had chosen "The Ex Hex" by Erin Sterling. It was the only on brand book that was in the choices, not to mention I've been on a huge romcom kick after depression kicked my ass and I realized I was hiding in fantasy and haven't been able to read it for a couple months (don't worry I'm diving back in and getting back to my normal self as a person and a reader). 

I am so glad I chose this book, I'm not feeling a lot of Halloween spirit this year (thank you influenza, you're a b****); but this book started to get me in the mood. "The Ex Hex" follows Vivi Jones, a young college professor who happens to be a witch herself. Vivi moved to Graves Glen, a mystical town fueled by magic following the death of her parents in high school. As a freshman in college she falls in love with one of the sons of the founding family, only to have her heart shattered by him. In a drunken catastrophe she and her cousin put a "hex" on him that he'll become bad in bed, and his hair will stop being awesome. They think nothing of it as they used a random scented candle and Vivi has never been particularly powerful. Yet now years later, the moment Rhys sets foot within the town border he has bad luck after bad luck, often almost resulting in his death. Will Vivi find a way to remove the hex that was very much put on Rhys before things go to far? 

Obviously this is a romcom...don't believe me, read that title again and fight me, I dare you. So we all know they end up together, that is spoiling nothing. We all knew it, it's very obvious and very soon in the book and that is exactly the way we like our romcoms thank you very much. 

What I was not expecting and super loved was how much mystery there was in this novel. The suspense, are they actually going to find a solution or is this going to turn out not to be so much of a romcom? I had my suspicions but honestly the twist at the end still threw me because I didn't fully get it right I only got part of it and it was so satisfying. 

I don't really know what else to say without giving it all away. But if you're looking for a light fun witchy read....I highly suggest this one because it was all fun.