The Ex Hex is a witchy paranormal rom-com set in the small town of Graves Glen, Georgia. When witch Vivienne Jones drunkenly cursed her ex-boyfriend nine years ago, she assumed nothing would come of it. Then Rhys Penhallow strolls back into town and the chaos begins: a possessed ghost, a talking cat, and calamity at every turn, all while the two of them try very hard not to fall for each other again.
My Review
Graves Glen, Georgia in the fall might be the coziest fictional town I’ve visited in a while. Pumpkins, ley lines, a talking cat named Sir Purrcival, and enough autumnal atmosphere to make you want to wrap yourself in a flannel blanket and never leave. For that alone, The Ex Hex had me charmed pretty quickly.
The premise is delightful: heartbroken witch drunkenly curses her ex with a scented candle, ex returns to town nine years later, chaos ensues. Murderous wind-up toys, a furious ghost, and a romance that slowly defrost over shared calamity. The humour is light and well-placed, and the secondary characters genuinely stole the show for me. Aunt Elaine, Gwyn, and Sir Purrcival were the ones I kept reading for, and I’d happily pick up the next book in the series just to spend more time with them.
My hesitation sits squarely with the central romance. The supposed obstacles keeping Vivi and Rhys apart never quite convinced me, partly because they are literally witches with the power to fix most of their problems. When the conflict feels like it could be resolved with a simple spell and a conversation, it’s hard to feel the weight of the will-they-won’t-they tension. I wanted real stakes, and instead got a lot of circling. It affected how much I connected with the two leads, even as I warmed up to them eventually.