This felt like something I would like, but it didn't grab me. I ended up not finishing this title. I really think that others will enjoy it though.

Was not able to read the entirety of the book and cannot give an accurate or overall rating/review . As a librarian for a big library system, we most likely have a copy of this item. I will look forward to reading it in future since I am sure I will.

I came across this one while trying to clear up my backlog of review books and started to read it. I would like to also say that I live in a bit of a bubble. I choose books based on the pitch/premise and I generally stay out of any hype or drama surrounding a book. Having said that, I just couldn't with this one. Holy crap was this just so poorly done. It reads like some strange porn fanfiction and is not as empowering or nuanced I would expect.

Of course, after I read it, I found out about the author ripping off the lives of her college friend group and then calling it fiction. It's not fiction if you simply change the names and race of the characters. So unbelievably disappointing all around, and I can't believe this actually made it to publication.

Messy, unpolished, confusing, allegedly exploitative of real people's traumas and life experiences. A contradictory and disrespectful portrayal of survivorship. Will not recommend to any readers, professionally or personally, or have it in a classroom.

After perusing some Goodreads reviews, I have decided not to read this book. The way the author has taken the real lives of people she knew and transplanted them into this fictional world is disgusting, and also, unoriginal. While the sentiment of exploring consent in a collegiate setting is something that should be discussed more, it should not be done by an author using someone else’s thinly veiled experiences.

I really did not enjoy this book -- not its prose, not its plot, not its weird sense of exploiting trauma or its hollow characters -- and the controversy surrounding the author's use of real-life people for "inspiration" only made it worse.

I initially found the concept in the synopsis to be quite interesting, and I was excited to read this for my blog during October. After all, who doesn't want a witchy feminist story of revenge? However, after discovering the author's completely inappropriate and *NONCONSENSUAL* repacking of the traumas and experiences of real life former friends, I was appalled. I'm normally one to make my own decisions about a book and rarely join in on bandwagon outrage, but after reading the survivor's stories, I simply cannot read this book. I would normally not rate a book like this, but I'm giving it one star due to the publisher's lack of action/pulling the book in this case. It published last week.

When I saw this title and description I was super intrigued! I started reading the book and then went to add it to my “currently reading” tab. It was there that I discovered some reviews. I read through the ones about the people who said they are the author’s ex-friends from college. It really disgusted me to learn that the author used their past, traumas, and things that happened to them in this book without their consent. Considering the book is about consent and lack there of, it really didn’t sit well with me.

Other than that, I did manage to read the entire book and I was underwhelmed. The writing was really bad, some pages I barely understood due to the jumping thoughts, run on sentences, and rambling narrative. The way the book ended also made no sense. Everything was leading up to a point and then bam. None of the stuff actually happened and instead it was just Lee’s psychosis? Seemed really weird.

There were also some SUPER problematic things that happened in the book that left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like the author used diversity as a gimmick. The way she constantly speaks about sexuality (and completely ignores the existence of bisexuality) was just so wrong. I would get into more of the problematic things in the book but I feel like they are kind of spoiler-y.

The publisher’s blurb for Consensual Hex sounds intriguing.

“A coven of queer witches at an elite women’s college employ their powers to exact revenge on the frat boy warlocks who are using magic to cover up sexual assault on campus.”

It sounds like campy fantasy fun like The Craft movie. However, this book is much darker. It seems against all non-hetero lifestyles. It’s also sexist and racist. Plus its writing style is freeform rambling.

After reading it, and intensely disliking it (I feel like I need to take a really hot shower to wash it away), I decided to read some reviews on Goodreads. I wanted to see if it’s just me and not the book. Holy crap! The book’s details are based on real women. Women who didn’t consent to their stories, including those regarding real sexual assault, being told.

I was already going to give Consensual Hex 2 stars for being poorly written and insensitive. But because it is directly based on non-consenting women’s real life experiences, I’m dropping it to 1 star. Please don’t read this book and allow the author to profit from this debacle.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review. I’ve read some great books from this publisher. This is just not one of them.

Wow. First off, I didn't enjoy the book even before I found out that the author lifted real people she knew at college and their sexuality, traumas, disabilities and minute details of their lives for her characters in this badly written, brutal, bizarre story. Yikes. You can read their one-star reviews that detail this invasion into their lives here on Goodreads to find out more about that aspect.

But even before I knew all of that, I would have only given the book 2 stars. I had to make myself finish it for the purpose of a fair review. It's written so oddly, badly and confusingly. The main character is not in the least likeable. It is filled with endless obscure references that made no sense to include (which I now realize is because these are details about the real people profiled).

I loved the idea of a coven of witches who go after college rapists, but we don't even get that fun kind of book. We get them victimized by frat boy warlock rapists and even by their own teacher who teaches them how to use their magic and then handicaps them from using it.

There is not a single male character in this book who is not a sociopath and rapist, with the exception of the father who is barely mentioned. Men are depicted as monsters, period. There are also no adults who are in the least bit caring or decent. The main character's parents are uncaring, self absorbed, one-dimensional placeholders. Any other adults are peripheral and clueless. Then as I went along, I realized that none of the main characters are pleasant either. Nobody in her world is good. The main character's friends all betray her and are alternately stupid, abusive, shallow, selfish, manipulative, histrionic and uncaring. The main character does terrible things (I don't mind inserting a spoiler here because I don't believe the book should be in print) like helping to murder, dismember and bury her rapist and brutally beating one of her former friends in the head with a vibrator (apparently the author confessed to college friends that she fantasized about assaulting the person this character was based on).

As I neared the end of the book, the only character I occasionally enjoyed was the ghost of the horrible rapist frat boy, who haunted the MC incessantly, sometimes with somewhat humorous comments. He occasionally reminded me of Christian Slater's character in Heathers, an evil psychopath but good with a one-liner. I don't know if we were really supposed to like this guy though. I certainly didn't, and would have appreciated humor from anyone else.

While the book uses all the terminology of social justice, LGBTQ+ issues, the me too movement, etc., it felt almost like it was making fun of everybody involved in these issues, like painting a Valley Girl, mocking vibe on it all.

Lastly, the writing is just bad. The sentences run on like no sentences I've ever seen in a published book. It's told in a bizarre way in present tense. It's written in confusing text, where I had to read paragraphs several times to be sure what happened. The ending makes no sense and is kind of lame. And there's just no fun, no redemptive arc, none of the things that make you enjoy reading a book.

Cross "The Bell Jar" with Heathers and Charmed fan fiction with revenge porn and bad 2010 Tumblr posts, and you get the gist of it. I cannot recommend the book for any reason.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

Cannot recommend this for purchase due to the controversy surrounding title. Those in charge of collection development should be aware of the issues before buying. Personally I could not in good conscious stock something that is essentially literary revenge porn, particularly when the victims have been so outspoken.

I requested this having not known about the controversy surrounding this book.

I only found out after, trying to gain some insight as to the wrap up of the story as I had just finished and was so very confused as to what I just had read.

Let me first start with the book itself.

This book is a bit all over the place, I did want to enjoy it. Thematically it was of interest, magic, feminism, coming of age after experiencing trauma. Its fine writing wise in terms of being engrossing, but I was so very lost as to where this story went towards the end....

Its approach to social justice (LGBTQIA Issues, TERFS, Feminism, Sexual Assault, and abuse) was kind of camp, and sort of working, but then every so often it felt off. I clearly found something about it intriguing as it started very strong, and I finished it in a couple of hours. But I don't know that I enjoyed it per se? Also I genuinely am unclear what happened at the end of this novel...totally fine with having Liesel be an unreliable narrator but a reader should have some idea as to what happened in the book or what's suggested happened!?

Consensual Hex book is very close to being a solid look at self discovery, and mental health but I find myself feeling as though I don't know exactly what I just read.

Then come to find out that the author is being accused of using her former friends' trauma for her writing, down to thinly veiled retellings/characterizations of them I was further put off. Should that be true it would make much of my issues with this book infinitely worse.

An interesting premise, which is what caught my attention to begin with. Unfortunately, the execution didn't live up to its promise: the characters, while varied and "quirky", were nevertheless a bit one-dimensional and at times tiresome. (Perhaps this is the result of an attempt to portray first years and sophomores attempting to find themselves, but it just made them a bit annoying.) As a result, it was difficult to connect with them as much as a reader might like.

The writing was fine, I guess, but not especially engaging. Unfortunately, I just lost interest the further in I got. I'll still check out the author's next novel, whatever it might be, but I came away from this unfortunately disappointed.

I was only able to get about 75% of the way through this book. It was oddly similar to THE FURIES and I wasn't really able to connect with the characters in this one. I didn't feel like there was much at stake because of that. Some of the #MeToo references felt too forced and I didn't really see the humor in this. I didn't love it as much as I've loved others in this genre.

This book's description sounded as if it had been written specifically to make me read it. "The Craft for the #MeToo era, this debut unfolds a riveting psychological drama shot through with sharp humor and dark magic for readers of Ninth House and The Power." Yes, to all of that!

But reading the book, I had a tough time connecting to the characters. I felt like I was either missing the humor or maybe the writing just wasn't all that amusing. I so wanted to love this book but instead, it left me feeling impatient and frustrated.

I really wanted to like this book...I was disappointed. The story starts off well enough and quickly becomes boring.
It reads like a typical tv movie.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this copy.

I wanted very much to like this book, but feel like it needs some serious editing. I loved the premise, and the book started out with a distinct “Down a Dark Hall” feel and I was initially immersed. Slowly though, it starts to break down.

As the characters develop it is hard to tell if the campy approach to social justice issues is actually camp. Is it vaguely comedic interpretation of teens discovering the world, or is it a mockery of the movement? The characters themselves are somewhat one dimensional, until they need to be a bad guy for the protagonist's derision. The plot is sometimes genuinely confusing, as opposed to disorienting for the sake of the narrative. The ending in particular feels truncated and like many details are somehow hand waved away. Regardless of how you interpret Lee’s perception of the events, even assuming she is a classic teen unreliable narrator, it doesn't feel wrapped up properly.

I can't get into too many more examples of where this book misses the mark without spoilers, but it falls short of the campy, yet socially aware, story it could be. This gets so close to exploring the fall out of sexual assault, coming of age as a queer teen, finding a life outside your highschool experience, and living with metal health issues all wrapped up in a clever supernatural metaphor. I still enjoyed it as an easy read with some strong parts, but I wouldn't recommend this one without serious edits. It reads as an un-beta’d, vaguely autobiographical, fanfic (which is 100% my jam) but as a novel, feels somehow incomplete.