Hex Hall

Sophie Mercer is a sixteen-year-old witch whose magic keeps going haywire. After one too many disastrous spells, she gets shipped off to Hecate Hall—better known as Hex Hall—a boarding school for supernatural troublemakers. There, she stumbles into a hidden war between magical beings called the Prodigium and a human group that wants them all dead. This trilogy of young adult paranormal romance novels by American author Rachel Hawkins became a best-seller.

The story follows Sophie, an awkward and sarcastic teen, as she navigates life at Hex Hall. She quickly bonds with her vampire roommate Jenna Talbot, another outcast. Sophie also finds herself torn between two boys: Archer, the school's bad boy, and Cal, the groundskeeper she's betrothed to. As the series unfolds, Sophie learns more about her own powers, her family's mysterious past, and the secret conflict that threatens everyone she cares about. Along the way, she also faces an enemy.

The books feature a large cast of characters whose roles shift across the trilogy. Sophie, the narrator, was sent to Hex Hall after her spells went wrong. Her parents split when her mother discovered her father was a warlock, and Sophie grew up moving constantly to stay hidden from her mother's family. At Hex Hall, she's clumsy, lazy, and sarcastic, struggling to control her powers and avoid giving in to her demon nature. Jenna, Sophie's best friend and roommate, is a lesbian vampire who was bitten by a girl she loved—that girl was later killed by the Eye, the human organization hunting the Prodigium. Lonely and guarded, Jenna wears a bloodstone to manage vampire weaknesses like sunlight and garlic. She's briefly taken in for questioning after two classmates are murdered, and there she meets and falls for another vampire named Vix. Though she finds a place in a vampire coven, she feels her true home is with Sophie.

Archer Cross is a powerful warlock and Hex Hall's resident bad boy. He starts off mocking Sophie but eventually befriends and loves her. However, it turns out Archer was adopted by the Eye as a child and raised to fight the Prodigium. His real name is Daniel Anderson; his uncle killed his parents, and his demon cousin Nick tried to kill him twice. Archer struggles between loyalty to the Eye and his feelings for Sophie, and by the end of the series, he leaves the Eye.