Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow frek-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

So I loved this book.  LOVED the sarcasm that seeped from the pages and LOVED the fast-paced storyline.  The main character was not so much dopey love girl as she was a modern day Nancy Drew (but of course there were some dopey love parts...gotta keep the romantics interested).  But what makes this book different from most other PNRs is that there is a bigger picture.  The mysterious, sexy boy isn't the whole story (yay!!).

Sure the book had flaws.  Half of the characters weren't used to any advantage--they had a couple lines and weren't important anymore.  And the setting wasn't described at all.  Aside from the weather Georgia was a mystery to me.  But I just loved the main character and her narration so much that I could overlook any background flaws.

Sophie is a witch who has lived all over the country, moving from place to place because she keeps using her powers in front of humans.  Finally she gets sent to Hex Hall, a school where she has to bide her time until she can be released into the world again.

I've slept on my decision to rave about this book and decided it IS worth the praise.  The questions posed had answers and the ending was satisfying--enough to make me think this was a stand-alone book (even though it's not, it's one of a trilogy).

Sophie is similar to Rose from Vampire Academy.  They are sassy, confident girls (not quite women...) who don't take no for an answer.  This bad-assness is what made me love this book.

I'm trying to stay vague because everyone who has ever heard of this book should read it.

So keepin' it short...READ THIS BOOK! [5 stars for sure :)]