Reviews

Hexed: Don't Get Mad, Get Powers by Julia Tuffs

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aprileast's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love this book! It really does reflect the teenage experience in secondary/high school. I found this really inspiring.

I had already decided to write a glowing review of this funny, heartfelt, honest book. Then I read the author's note and found out that Julia collected the Storyteller magazine as a child. Julia, let's be friends.

Feminism is a huge issue nowadays. I don't know if there's genuinely more trouble around, or if social media is just making it easier to see what's happening. (I hope for the second but fear it's the first.) Either way, books like this are important, to show young girls they don't have to put up with this, to show young boys they shouldn't either. It's only mildly touched on here, but Freddie is also forced to go along with things until quite near the end.

I loved the humour in this. It's hard to find properly funny books for teens, and I think this qualifies. I'm still remembering random lines and giggling. Poor Jessie has a lot to deal with. Speaking of...I do think her mother could have warned them before they reached the island! It's not as though she couldn't demonstrate. Instead she let them blunder around, at risk of hurting people and wearing out poor Nonna trying to clean up behind them.

Apart from that tiny gripe, which honestly only occurred to me after a lot of thinking, I really enjoyed this fantastic book and I can't wait for the next one. I hope this series runs and runs.

styxx's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

poppyjessica's review

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3.0

'Hexed' is Julia Tuffs' debut novel, aimed at young adults and balancing a fun story of a witch discovering their incredible powers alongside a scathing examination of sexism and bullying in schools. Jessie and her family move to the Isle of Wight, coinciding with Jessie and her sister discovering they are, in fact, from a long line of witches. Jessie experiences some awful bullying at the hands of boys at her new school... making this the perfect time to use her powers to get some sweet revenge.

This book tackled a range of more serious topics than I was expecting. It is important for teenagers to see that the types of behaviours depicted in the novel, particularly from the male characters, may be recognisable but are far from acceptable. This feminist treatise did not quite gel with the part of the story where Jessie was discovering her powers, but it did give her treatment at school and her reactions an interesting edge.

Overall, this is a promising start to Tuffs portrayal of Jessie's story and I look forward to seeing where she takes the narrative next. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

caitlinjoyful's review

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4.0

4.5 stars

Ok, I never thought Witches, High school, Bullies, Boys and Periods would go well together but in this book. Author Julia Tuffs brings them all together in an incredible way.

Jessie is such a fun and silly MC and I love that. All she wants is to live a normal life, but then she finds out she's a witch. I mean come on, it's so crazy.

I loved the comedy that went on throughout this book. And how the girls in Jessie's school fought back against the bullies, I adored how strong they were.

I will admit I was a bit confused at times but overall I got what was going on. I loved how Jessie's relationship with her mum, Nonna and her sister. And how she made a friendship with Summer. It felt very real to me.

bookswithemily's review

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4.0

I remember buying this book in Waterstones while on the Isle of Wight because of their amazing promotion of this book! This book is set on the Isle of Wight so it was great to see it advertised in Waterstones, a staff member even recommended this book to me as well.

I loved the setting, the Isle of Wight is such a lovely place and I enjoyed recognising place names as well. I also bought this book because I wanted an autumnal/Halloween book and it was very fitting to this season (I definitely want to pick up the next book in this series). The plot of this book was very entertaining and I thought there was a lot of deep meaning to what was happening in the book. Books that makes the reader think are books that will stick in their mind for a while.

The main character, Jessie, was such a great person. She was so determined to educating her peers and even teachers about feminism. I felt she developed a lot and became more confident as the book went on, especially as she was the ‘new girl’ in school at the beginning of the book. I am looking forward to where the author takes this character in the next book. The people Jessie became friends with were so supportive of her and I could tell they wanted to do the best for Jessie and to make her comfortable in this new situation.

I definitely recommend this book, especially if you enjoyed The Ex Hex and that witch-y vibe. The book is written so well and it is such an easy and quick read. I particularly enjoyed the shorter chapters because it felt like I was getting through the book even quicker!