"So it turns out that when it comes to reading, dark and bizarre are much more my speed than a fluffy romance. I swear I tried- this started out so fun! But between a haphazard plot and overuse of the term “rakish� The Ex Hex is like a pumpkin spice latte, a good idea on paper, but saccharine and unmemorable in reality.

The story follows a semi-practicing witch Vivienne, who teaches history at a small Georgian college and is unable to forget her ex Rhys, a Welsh witch she spent a whirlwind summer with almost a decade ago during his time studying abroad. Rhys likewise pines for Vivienne while running a successful travel business back home in Wales. Their brief 3 month romance came to an end when Rhys belatedly revealed his betrothal to another witch back home (a notion that is brought up repeatedly throughout the book but never actually explained- whatever became of the mystery betrothed?) and Viv understandably broke up with and (accidentally) cursed him.

When Rhys returns to Georgia on magical business, Vivienne’s curse wreaks havoc on both him and the town. Soon the pair find themselves rekindling an old flame, and occasionally conducting research into how to lift the curse.

What I was hoping for was a steamy, Practical Magicish romp, and what I got was more of a Netflix original movie that was neither sexy or fun enough to keep me hooked. All of the novel’s plot is squished into the final quarter of the book, as neither Viv nor Rhys take much action to reverse this apparently dangerous curse until the last minute� The curse itself also didn’t seem like too big of a deal until the end of the book and suddenly the situation becomes a matter of life and death. The chemistry between the two leads was certainly apparent, but I never really accepted the central idea that they yearned for one another after spending three months together as horny 19 year olds.

Lastly, I’d be remiss not to mention that there are some serious fashion crimes committed in this book. When has anyone ever looked irresistible in purple and black striped tights? Don’t even get me started on the black and orange polka dot dress paired with an orange patent belt� Vivienne’s aesthetic channels a mashup between Ms. Frizzle, Spirit Halloween and Hot Topic, and none of it screams sultry historian smoke show."

"Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars.

This will be mostly a rant review so if you love this book, you better skip this review. I think I am blaming myself for not skipping it, but I was expecting something great with all the rave reviews it was getting. I think the "TikTok sensation" should have put a stop to any positive thoughts that I had about this book.

I don't know where to start with this one but why did it have to be that long where actually not much was happening. I think romance books should be around 300 pages long and this was like 450 pages, and I still can't understand why. The first few pages were well written, and I thought I liked the humor but then the more I read, the more it felt amateurish, and I read someone describe it was a Wattpad book and I have to agree with that. I understand the author decided to go with self-publishing and I love many novels that were published this way, but I think the lack of professionalism showed in this one.

The writing itself was mediocre, a lot of cheesy stuff. The only parts that I liked were those related to the bromance and all the banter going on between the secondary characters. I think I started liking the writing less when the romance was so sudden. It was just cliche after cliche after cliche when it comes to the romance, and it felt forced and rushed and not really natural.

Anastasia and Nathan are not very special. In fact, they're the very definition of stereotypical romance characters. The petite fierce girl, the alpha muscular male and then there are a bunch of more interesting characters like Henry and JJ and the rest of the boys. There were a lot of names thrown out in the beginning and it made this confusing. And what made it worse is one of my pet peeves which is jumping between the first name, family name and a nickname for the characters adding more to the aforementioned confusion. I think the focus on the secondary characters was nice and I think they were written with a series in mind. I don't know why book two is featuring Russ though where there are a lot of better options.

Plot wise, I don't think there was a lot of plot. The competition was consistently jumping from important to not depending on how horny the characters were, I mean it was the main event but then we don't really see many events relating to it unless it is convenient to the story. And what about Anastasia fighting her demons and the "food disorder" thing. I am sorry but it wasn't done well. As someone who see patients with eating disorders this was a catastrophe, and it was hilarious seeing Nathan suddenly turning into an expert when all he did was google some symptoms. The rest of the plot lines were so predictable.

Summary: I set high expectations for this book, and it did not meet them. I can see why people would love it or hate it equally. I think it all depends on what you're looking for. It wasn't a deep book but as a trashy romance novel, it is a fine story. I think the writing is okay, but it was easy to read, and I liked the banter. Overall, I think it was mediocre and I won't be continuing the series. "

"As other reviewers have mentioned, do not take this memoir at face value. Meaning: don't let the pretty pink cover and Paris's gorgeous face detract from the fact that it is SO much more than that. This is not the Paris Hilton you saw in The Simple Life pretending not to know what Wal-Mart was nor the Paris Hilton cooing "that's hot" in a baby voice (I never understood how people believed that: yeah, she's the daughter to the Hilton hotel empire and she really thinks that one of the biggest retail conglomerates in the world "sells walls" - okay?! - just shows how easily and sadly people will buy into the "blonde bimbo" stereotype, I guess).

Rather, if you have watched "This is Paris: The Documentary" (which I highly recommend viewing before reading this - I believe you can watch it for free on YouTube) it continues along that vein. The documentary was raw and vulnerable, showing us the real Paris Hilton behind the "character" she has admittedly created (as well as hid behind) for herself. Yet even I was shocked to find out that the documentary really only scratched the surface of the traumatic events Paris has been exposed to. Is she privileged? Well, clearly. She admits this, too. But has she had her share of seriously f*&ked up, awful problems that will cause her a lifetime of misery? Yes, and that's certainly not to be envied.

I always thought she was a good person. Why? Because I've known people in L.A. who have met her and have said as much. I've also literally never heard her say one rude thing to the paparazzi, which, if you're old enough to remember how FAMOUS and how BIG OF A DEAL the paparazzi were in the early-late 2000s (before Instagram, Twitter, etc. came along and celebrities could put out their own "content") - is absolutely amazing, considering the paparazzi hounded her nonstop. You have to imagine that even the nicest person is going to have a bad day and snap, but I seriously have never seen her talk down to another person. I genuinely believe she is a kind and caring soul and this book further perpetuated that belief.

She talks about a teacher who kept telling her "how beautiful" she was - in MIDDLE SCHOOL. Meaning, no older than 13 or 14. He actually went to her house and asked her to come outside - she snuck outside into his car and was making out with him, when luckily! - her parents got home, and she had to run away and he had to speed off. Ever since then, naturally, the pedophile made HER feel the shame, and she suddenly went from cool girl to pariah.

She also talks about a time when I believe she was 15 or so and a guy drugged her drink and date-raped her:
"I took a sip. It was syrupy sweet, tinged with blue. After that, I don't remember much. Broken pieces. Fragments. White noise. Black silence. I became aware of a crushing weight on me. Suffocating me. Cracking my ribs. I felt a jolt of panic and tried to get up, but the impulse was lost, as if something had severed my spinal cord. When I tried to scam, there was no air in my lungs. All that came out was a small, raspy, "stop... what's happening...stop..." until this guy clamped his hand over my mouth - like aggressively, like, HARD. He clamped down on my face and whispered: It's a dream. It's a dream. You're dreaming." That creepy whisper in my ear - like a mosquito. And then...nothing."

After she wakes up alone in an unfamiliar room, she's sick, throws up, and goes to leave but the guy is guarding the door to outside the apartment. He kept asking her about weird dreams and remembering things, so she just "went with it" because what else can a young girl do in a situation like that? And that sad thing is, what has even changed since then? Women still can't tell on their rapists because now not only will they not be believed, but if they get pregnant, they'll serve more prison time going for an abortion than their rapists will for forcing sex on them. Christ, The Handmaid's Tale is seriously happening...

But let me get off that rant, because it's sickening and I just can't right now. She compares this (actually, I think it was the incident with the middle school teacher) with a horrible incident Marilyn Monroe wrote in her memoir, where she was molested by her aunt's neighbor in grade school. When little Norma went to tell her aunt, what did her aunt do? Scolded her for lying about this man, who was "an upstanding gentleman." A few days later, the aunt even took her to a religious revival meeting, where the man who had molested Marilyn prayed loudly for her horrible sins against him to "be forgiven." Then Paris says:
"It's infuriating to me to think about how readily Marilyn and I both accepted that narrative about our physical appearance being the excuse for someone else's criminal behavior. But how could we not? We were given a choice:
A: "You are a stupid child who was deceived, used, and thrown away like garbage."
B. "You are an irresistible siren whose beauty and allure have the power to change someone's mind, sway their soul, and alter their behavior."
Given the choice between victim and influencer, Marilyn and I embraced our siren selves."

Side note: I love this quote Paris mentions in the book concerning Marilyn Monroe - because we really need to stop idolizing her for her beauty and the fact that she was supposedly a "seductress" and look at the truth behind her story instead. And as Paris says:
"We adored Princess Diana. Now she was in Heaven with Marilyn, forever young, forever perfect. We didn't stop to wonder why everyone wants women to stay young if dying is the only way to do it." (underlining my own). Really, nothing changes. It's sad.

I could go on and on about this book, but if the whole ADHD/middle school teacher groping her and sexualizing her, date rape for her first sexual encounter wasn't bad enough, she's then thrown into one of the "emotional growth" schools that are really only now starting to be exposed. Dr. Phil, what about you? How much has he and other talk show hosts sent "bad kids with behavioral problems" profited off sending "troubled teens" to these schools.

The memoir largely revolves around her experience at these schools (I say schools, because she ran away 3x, she went to three different ones, I believe). The "professionals" at these places beat these kids (ranging from as young as 8 sometimes, up to 17) physically, repeatedly verbally abused them, threw them into solitary confinement, forced them to do 12 straight hours of manual labor (the book even lists instances where kids/teens died due to neglect and/or intense conditions, such as working in freezing cold weather while starving, for instance) - along with making inappropriate sexual remarks to the girls, having them say the most abusive and hateful things to one another (all in the name of "healing") - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the times she ran away from one of the camps and was dragged back by two of the buff "Ascent goons" as she calls the guys, this is how she describes her experience:
"I gripped Tess's hand, and we were both trembling. Back at the camp, they made everyone sit on logs. Strip search. Cavity examination. One of the guys who always watched me during soap and bucket time said, "Now you're gonna see what happens when you run away."
The creepy way he was smiling, I thought he was going to rape me right there in front of everyone.
Thank God, he just beat the shit out of us."

So is it any wonder Paris behaved the way she did after finally leaving these schools at 18? And yet still, people painted her as "the whore" behind the sex tape, releasing it for publicity. Hardly anyone bothered to comment what a pervert the guy was who released the tape against her knowledge. Even worse, people watched it. I guess it's easier to not think about what's wrong with you for wanting to watch a sex tape of a very reluctant barely legal teenage girl, blaming the girl instead for her "slutty" behavior, than asking yourself why the hell you're watching this crap. And to blame the guy who was about ten years older than her would be to blame yourself so yes, let's blame the teenager! I never watched the video, of course (I was like 16 when it came out) - but I did see the trailers. And from what I saw of the trailers, she seemed VERY reluctant to do it. So I 100% believe that the tape was made because she didn't know how to say no, she was still in a highly vulnerable state after leaving those horrid schools, and then released when the scumbag could capitalize the most on it (right before The Simple Life debuted).

I see a lot of people are blaming her parents, which I feel is completely unfair, given you don't know what lies these professionals were telling them at the time. I was angry at Kathy and Rick as well, but I eased up on my anger when I thought: how difficult would it be to know that your daughter, 20 years ago, was telling you the truth when she said just how bad these schools really were? Especially when you have an entire team of professional psychiatrists and physicians who you are paying top dollar telling you, "look, these teens just want to get back to their party life. They know how to manipulate you and lie to you." So knowing she wasn't lying I'm sure broke Kathy Hilton's heart.

Also please remember that Paris does mention,
"Having my mom beside me on legislative action trips gives me hope for those families (ones torn apart by the troubled-teen industry). Privately, we haven't sorted through it all. I don't know if we ever will. Publicly, her willingness to talk about it shows astonishing courage. Her presence sends a simple, powerful message: Mom's here."

I think I've gone on enough about the book. I highly recommend it for anyone, really, because it really does contain so many important contributions to why society continues to be so backward with the way we sexualize girls. Again though - don't go into this expecting fluff. It will break your heart. If it doesn't, then I'm not sure you have one."