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Hex Breaker
In a world where magic is an everyday profession, people are getting pretty tired of being pushed around by magicians, and the Bureau of Magical Affairs is trying to force magicians to wear scarlet letters, Alexandra Quinn and Sho Mondragon have found their niche. But their Magicians for Hire business becomes a little less ordinary when Devin Rayne, Sho’s childhood friend, suspects someone is trying to kill him and hires them to help him find out who. Quinn, though, has a few bones to pick with Devin, such as their extremely complicated history and the fact that his father murdered the man she loved ten years ago. When she finally agrees to help him, she is thrust into a world of dark magic, subtle seduction, terrible memories, painful revelations, and murder.
174 pages, ebook
First published December 16, 2011
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Stella Drexler
14 books11 followersStella Drexler is the author of Hex Breaker available from SynergeBooks, Angel of the Abyss from Diogenes Club Press, and the upcoming Nightmare Island Series from Writers-Exchange, as well as several other novels, comics, short stories, essays and shopping lists. She lives in Portland, Oregon with Mr. Drexler, a dashing and mysterious man of action who enjoys frequent visits from the local fire department. When she isn’t working on a new book or spending time tamping out the occasional fire, Stella can often be found exploring, adventuring, eating, drinking, dancing, singing, shopping, laughing, sighing, smiling, and living in the moment.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 17, 2020
Hex Breaker is a readable story that suffers from not knowing what kind of book it wants to be. The cover promises fantasy with magic; the back cover description promises urban fantasy mystery. It tries, but fails. I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A mystery from the shared past of the main characters threatens the life of Devin Rayne. But instead of investigating the past, the PI duo Alexandra Quinn and Rio Mondragon (though mostly Quinn, because Rio is useless) run after random clues that don’t really lead anywhere except by accident. A great production is made of acquiring one clue that turns out to be useless. There are flashback chapters that I foolishly presumed would reveal what happened ten years ago and foreshadow the baddie. My money was on Rio. But the baddie turned out to be a rando we’d barely met with random motivations, which is just about the worst mistake a mystery author can do. One star for that.
So it’s not a good mystery. It could be a romance. Quinn certainly has her fair share of men to choose from. Two of them she declares to be the loves of her life, though she takes her time to admit it (and I still don’t know why there was such antagonism between her and Devin in the first place if she’s always loved him). One man is there for sex and random conflict. But there is no proper happily ever after—or even happily for now. I give the pair that forms six months the tops.
In the end I think this was a New Adult relationship drama, though the characters were over thirty (I presume; they claimed to be under, but they’ve graduated a decade ago). There are several relationships and a lot of drama.
Quinn and Rio are best friends since college turned co-workers. But I didn’t really feel their friendship. Rio did really shitty things to Quinn to either ‘protect’ her or just because he’s an asshole. Quinn and Jack are supposed to be dating, but all sorts of drama come from that. Quinn and Devin are the source of the main drama, past and present, with the added complication of Quinn and Hale. Then there is a random assortment of old college friends introduced for no reason that I could fathom, as they play no role in the story. They’re just word-fillers that come with their own dramas and could (should, actually) all be cut. And to crown it all, Quinn and Aine, her best friend, who casually violates Quinn’s bodily and mental integrity with potions and magic several times, basically just because she wants to, with no compunction or repercussions. She made me root for the bureaucrats who wanted to make every magic user wear a scarlet letter.
As a relationship drama, the book works. I might have given it four stars even, if it weren’t for everything else. On top of the lousy mystery, there were too many empty scenes that served no purpose whatsoever (though the gala dinner works if you think this as a relationship drama); incoherent world-building (I still don’t know where the book took place) and weak character introductions (I thought I was reading a second or third book in a series when I started for all I was able to connect with the characters); and some writing issues, like head-hopping, especially in those chapters that were in Rio’s point of view. With some restructuring and better focus, it could be an enjoyable book. As it is, I’m only giving it three stars.
A mystery from the shared past of the main characters threatens the life of Devin Rayne. But instead of investigating the past, the PI duo Alexandra Quinn and Rio Mondragon (though mostly Quinn, because Rio is useless) run after random clues that don’t really lead anywhere except by accident. A great production is made of acquiring one clue that turns out to be useless. There are flashback chapters that I foolishly presumed would reveal what happened ten years ago and foreshadow the baddie. My money was on Rio. But the baddie turned out to be a rando we’d barely met with random motivations, which is just about the worst mistake a mystery author can do. One star for that.
So it’s not a good mystery. It could be a romance. Quinn certainly has her fair share of men to choose from. Two of them she declares to be the loves of her life, though she takes her time to admit it (and I still don’t know why there was such antagonism between her and Devin in the first place if she’s always loved him). One man is there for sex and random conflict. But there is no proper happily ever after—or even happily for now. I give the pair that forms six months the tops.
In the end I think this was a New Adult relationship drama, though the characters were over thirty (I presume; they claimed to be under, but they’ve graduated a decade ago). There are several relationships and a lot of drama.
Quinn and Rio are best friends since college turned co-workers. But I didn’t really feel their friendship. Rio did really shitty things to Quinn to either ‘protect’ her or just because he’s an asshole. Quinn and Jack are supposed to be dating, but all sorts of drama come from that. Quinn and Devin are the source of the main drama, past and present, with the added complication of Quinn and Hale. Then there is a random assortment of old college friends introduced for no reason that I could fathom, as they play no role in the story. They’re just word-fillers that come with their own dramas and could (should, actually) all be cut. And to crown it all, Quinn and Aine, her best friend, who casually violates Quinn’s bodily and mental integrity with potions and magic several times, basically just because she wants to, with no compunction or repercussions. She made me root for the bureaucrats who wanted to make every magic user wear a scarlet letter.
As a relationship drama, the book works. I might have given it four stars even, if it weren’t for everything else. On top of the lousy mystery, there were too many empty scenes that served no purpose whatsoever (though the gala dinner works if you think this as a relationship drama); incoherent world-building (I still don’t know where the book took place) and weak character introductions (I thought I was reading a second or third book in a series when I started for all I was able to connect with the characters); and some writing issues, like head-hopping, especially in those chapters that were in Rio’s point of view. With some restructuring and better focus, it could be an enjoyable book. As it is, I’m only giving it three stars.
November 15, 2020
At the end of this book, for some reason, there are "questions for discussion". One of them is "Which character did you like the most?"
It brought me to the realization that not only did I strongly dislike the main couple, there wasn't anyone in the book I didn't dislike. I suppose I disliked the heroine's friend (the one with the magic shop) the least, but that may be because she was more of a vending machine for solutions than an actual character. And, like every other person in the book, she was obsessed with sex.
The book itself has three very explicit sex scenes, two of them with a character that is not the one the heroine ends up with.
I was going to put spoiler tags around that last bit, but really, it's obvious pretty early on, because of the strongly structured nature of romance, who the couple is and that they will end up together, despite the fact that he's an arrogant rich guy and she's angry at everyone, but especially him, because he was involved in the death of the love of her life ten years before. I didn't like either one of them, as I mentioned, and I didn't like their interaction (which was angry and hostile and involved quite a bit of grabbing one another's arms and shouting), and I didn't believe for one moment that getting together would be good for either one of them, or would last very long. Consequently, I didn't care if they got together or not, and in fact wished they wouldn't. I had more sympathy for the heroine's original boyfriend; sure, he was a bit of a tool (but no more so than anyone else in the cast, and less than most), and sure, he was jealous, but he absolutely had good reason to be. My feeling was that he had a lucky escape when she dumped him.
The heroine's hostility gives her a conversational style where she spends a lot of her time blocking her conversational partners by arguing against everything they say, which drags out the dialog scenes and kills their momentum (besides making her extraordinarily annoying).
I know the "hate to love" arc has a long pedigree in romance, going back to the ur-romance, Pride and Prejudice, even though it rarely happens in real life (I'm aware of only one example among people I'm personally acquainted with). In this case, though, the characters were so unappealing that their past trauma, and the revelations of how things had gone differently from how the heroine thought, weren't enough to make me care about their relationship or make me want to see them together.
The mystery subplot was OK. The paranormal aspect (magic exists in the contemporary world and is publicly acknowledged) I felt had the usual problem of that scenario, whether the setting is contemporary or historical: it wasn't sufficiently developed, and the world didn't feel different enough.
So this one was not for me, though it's probably for someone.
It brought me to the realization that not only did I strongly dislike the main couple, there wasn't anyone in the book I didn't dislike. I suppose I disliked the heroine's friend (the one with the magic shop) the least, but that may be because she was more of a vending machine for solutions than an actual character. And, like every other person in the book, she was obsessed with sex.
The book itself has three very explicit sex scenes, two of them with a character that is not the one the heroine ends up with.
I was going to put spoiler tags around that last bit, but really, it's obvious pretty early on, because of the strongly structured nature of romance, who the couple is and that they will end up together, despite the fact that he's an arrogant rich guy and she's angry at everyone, but especially him, because he was involved in the death of the love of her life ten years before. I didn't like either one of them, as I mentioned, and I didn't like their interaction (which was angry and hostile and involved quite a bit of grabbing one another's arms and shouting), and I didn't believe for one moment that getting together would be good for either one of them, or would last very long. Consequently, I didn't care if they got together or not, and in fact wished they wouldn't. I had more sympathy for the heroine's original boyfriend; sure, he was a bit of a tool (but no more so than anyone else in the cast, and less than most), and sure, he was jealous, but he absolutely had good reason to be. My feeling was that he had a lucky escape when she dumped him.
The heroine's hostility gives her a conversational style where she spends a lot of her time blocking her conversational partners by arguing against everything they say, which drags out the dialog scenes and kills their momentum (besides making her extraordinarily annoying).
I know the "hate to love" arc has a long pedigree in romance, going back to the ur-romance, Pride and Prejudice, even though it rarely happens in real life (I'm aware of only one example among people I'm personally acquainted with). In this case, though, the characters were so unappealing that their past trauma, and the revelations of how things had gone differently from how the heroine thought, weren't enough to make me care about their relationship or make me want to see them together.
The mystery subplot was OK. The paranormal aspect (magic exists in the contemporary world and is publicly acknowledged) I felt had the usual problem of that scenario, whether the setting is contemporary or historical: it wasn't sufficiently developed, and the world didn't feel different enough.
So this one was not for me, though it's probably for someone.
April 25, 2021
I loved Hex Breaker. It has everything: magic, mystery, turbulent feelings, grave danger, romance...I liked the world Drexler is building. I sort of figured out the whodunit in a vague, "oh I wonder if it's that guy" way, but when the mystery was unfolding it develops into an absolute pageturner.
Lexie Quinn (don't call her Alexandra) and Rio Mondragon run a Mages for Hire company, breaking hexes and solving magical problems. The government is making attempts to control magic users because there has been trouble with dark magic and with non-magical people who don't know how to protect themselves from more benign forms of magic. Lexie's boyfriend Jack works for the magical law enforcement bureau and has got the Mages for Hire out of some trouble before. Now Rio and Lexie have a new client, Devin. He is a former classmate who did some prison time for being an accomplice for his father's crimes ten years ago. Lexie and her then-boyfriend got in the middle and Lexie is still troubled with her grief and anger. Despite her grudges against Devin, his money is good and the Mages for Hire agree to try to find out who stole Devin's protective amulet and who is trying to hex or kill him. The ghosts of the past get dragged up and dealt with. There is a bit of triangle drama and I liked the adult way it gets handled with The Other Guy in the End.
It is well edited and my Kindle notes consist of funny or clever passages, none of the typos and editing problems I often make a note of when reading arcs. I wouldn't change a thing here but if the explicit scenes between Lexie and the One She Did Not End Up With were cut I wouldn't miss them.
I got a review copy from Netgalley and this is my free and voluntary opinion.
This was my first book by Stella Drexler and checking the descriptions of her backlist, I'm not sure her earlier books are up my alley, but she will definitely be an author to watch in the future.
Lexie Quinn (don't call her Alexandra) and Rio Mondragon run a Mages for Hire company, breaking hexes and solving magical problems. The government is making attempts to control magic users because there has been trouble with dark magic and with non-magical people who don't know how to protect themselves from more benign forms of magic. Lexie's boyfriend Jack works for the magical law enforcement bureau and has got the Mages for Hire out of some trouble before. Now Rio and Lexie have a new client, Devin. He is a former classmate who did some prison time for being an accomplice for his father's crimes ten years ago. Lexie and her then-boyfriend got in the middle and Lexie is still troubled with her grief and anger. Despite her grudges against Devin, his money is good and the Mages for Hire agree to try to find out who stole Devin's protective amulet and who is trying to hex or kill him. The ghosts of the past get dragged up and dealt with. There is a bit of triangle drama and I liked the adult way it gets handled with The Other Guy in the End.
It is well edited and my Kindle notes consist of funny or clever passages, none of the typos and editing problems I often make a note of when reading arcs. I wouldn't change a thing here but if the explicit scenes between Lexie and the One She Did Not End Up With were cut I wouldn't miss them.
I got a review copy from Netgalley and this is my free and voluntary opinion.
This was my first book by Stella Drexler and checking the descriptions of her backlist, I'm not sure her earlier books are up my alley, but she will definitely be an author to watch in the future.
November 26, 2020
I really enjoyed Hex Breaker. This is a little surprising because the "I hate him, I love him" dynamic can be a mite tedious. However I liked Drexler's writing style a lot and despite her emotional confusion, I liked the main character, Alexandra "Lexie" Quinn, quite a bit. The supporting cast was good as well though the males were fleshed out more than the females.
This takes place in a world where magic is openly practiced but viewed with a little suspicion. The main characters all went to Magic Academy together and experienced some serious trauma when a couple of people died and one of the classmates, Devin Rayne, went to prison as a result. We join the action 10 years later when Devin returns to town and opens a nightclub, Slither, and hires Lexie and her best friend and business partner, Rio, to protect him from a threat. The resulting shenanigans cause Lexie to sort out her life amidst a plethora of threats both magical and mundane. It's all quite fun though the emotional angst gets heavy at times.
This takes place in a world where magic is openly practiced but viewed with a little suspicion. The main characters all went to Magic Academy together and experienced some serious trauma when a couple of people died and one of the classmates, Devin Rayne, went to prison as a result. We join the action 10 years later when Devin returns to town and opens a nightclub, Slither, and hires Lexie and her best friend and business partner, Rio, to protect him from a threat. The resulting shenanigans cause Lexie to sort out her life amidst a plethora of threats both magical and mundane. It's all quite fun though the emotional angst gets heavy at times.
November 21, 2020
Alexandra Quinn and Rio Mondragon have a successful business as magicians-for-hire, mostly handling small things like un-doing love potions, and removing hexes. Then one day, Quinn's past comes back to haunt her when one of their former classmates hires them to find out who is trying to kill him. Former dark wizard Devin Rayne, who Quinn blames for the death of her boyfriend ten years ago, is still an enemy in her eyes. So, she is reluctant to help, to say the least.
This was a fun book. It was like a grown-up version of Harry Potter, where magic is used to solve crimes and help people. I will say, there are some very explicit sex scenes, so this would not be appropriate for teens. I hope that this will be the beginning of a series, because I would like to see more of these characters in the future, and see how all of the relationship dynamics play out. If you are a fan of fantasy books then I think you will enjoy this light read.
This was a fun book. It was like a grown-up version of Harry Potter, where magic is used to solve crimes and help people. I will say, there are some very explicit sex scenes, so this would not be appropriate for teens. I hope that this will be the beginning of a series, because I would like to see more of these characters in the future, and see how all of the relationship dynamics play out. If you are a fan of fantasy books then I think you will enjoy this light read.
November 21, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Magic. Murder. Mystery. Do you need to know more? If you do, I’ll tell you more but that was enough to hook me on this book. Lexie (not Alexandra) and her best friend Rio run a mage-for-hire shop, taking on cases and trying to dodge the Bureau of Magical Affairs. Then, things get a bit more complicated when a man from their past, Devin Rayne, comes back to hire them for a job. The job: to find the person trying to sabotage his life. Things get complicated fast with the history and secrets between the three as they try to solve Devin’s case which seems to be constantly taking them back to the dark place they were ten years before. It was an enjoyable escape with fun characters, magic, and mystery enough to keep me reading long past the point I should have stopped.
Magic. Murder. Mystery. Do you need to know more? If you do, I’ll tell you more but that was enough to hook me on this book. Lexie (not Alexandra) and her best friend Rio run a mage-for-hire shop, taking on cases and trying to dodge the Bureau of Magical Affairs. Then, things get a bit more complicated when a man from their past, Devin Rayne, comes back to hire them for a job. The job: to find the person trying to sabotage his life. Things get complicated fast with the history and secrets between the three as they try to solve Devin’s case which seems to be constantly taking them back to the dark place they were ten years before. It was an enjoyable escape with fun characters, magic, and mystery enough to keep me reading long past the point I should have stopped.
December 17, 2020
I liked this entertaining story, engrossing and enjoyable.
I liked the characters and the plot.
I think that the world building is a bit lacking and it would help to add some more information.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I liked the characters and the plot.
I think that the world building is a bit lacking and it would help to add some more information.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
June 25, 2023
Magic and love
This book had people with magical powers. Friends who worked together to solve the mystery of who was out to hurt one of their other friends. Couples in love and finding love. Kept me reading to find out who was behind the strange things.
This book had people with magical powers. Friends who worked together to solve the mystery of who was out to hurt one of their other friends. Couples in love and finding love. Kept me reading to find out who was behind the strange things.
July 2, 2012
TITLE: Hex Breaker
AUTHOR: Stella Drexler
KINDLE: B006TRX9VA
SYNERGEBOOKS.COM
4 STARS!
Alexandra “Lexie” Quinn and Sho Mondragon went to the Academy of Magic together. Lexie is now a hex breaker. Sho deals with emotional magic, especially love magic. Today they are partners: Quinn & Mondragon, Magicians for Hire. Lexie’s closest friend over the last five years has been Aine Cavanaugh. Aine is an alchemist and sells potions in her store. If not for Aine, Lexie would never go out just for fun. The grand opening of the new nightclub, Slither, is the perfect opportunity to draw Lexie out of the office. Lexie is dressed and ready to leave for Slither when Sho calls her to come in to the office. Upon arrival, Lexie learns they have a new client, Devin “Dev” Rayne. But Lexie wants nothing to do with Dev, who happens to own Slither. She still blames Devin for his part in the death of Adam Hale, her boyfriend back in the Academy. Ten years ago Devin’s father, Aidan, and his partners were selling dark magic to normals. Devin was the best talisman maker in school. Dev was making the talismans for his father, who was selling them as weapons. Though it was Aidan who killed Adam, his cause of death was a talisman of Dev’s.
Devin has done his time in prison. A condition of his release is that he is not allowed to use magic. But Devin is very intelligent when it comes to investments, so he is in no way poor. However, bad things have been happening ever since his lucky talisman was stolen. Believing someone is trying to kill him, Dev wants to hire Lexie and Sho. Locating and retrieving the lucky talisman is pretty easy. But finding out who hexed Dev is not going to be. This would require Lexie and Dev to plunge back into their painful pasts. And the past is a very dangerous place to visit.
**** FOUR STARS! Though I have not been informed of this being the first of a new Paranormal Mystery series, I do believe it is. From the beginning of this story there are scenes revealing how wary the “normals” are of those able to use magic. So much so that the normals are trying to pass some unethical laws against all magic users. There is even a special law enforcement branch that keeps tabs on magic users. (Already, Quinn & Mondragon must send in weekly reports to it.)
Author Stella Drexler has done a terrific job of creating several intriguing characters, with well developed backgrounds, that I am eager to see more of. One visit to Lexie’s amazing world is simply not enough. The only real downside is that there are several jumps into the past; however, I honestly cannot think of any other way that the author could have revealed the information that readers needed to know. If the past, of ten years prior, had been revealed in a prologue, major spoilers would have been revealed. And believe me, there are a few twists and surprises scattered throughout this story to make the flashbacks worth it. All-on-all, Stella Drexler has a winner on her hands. I hope to revisit this magical world in the near future. Stellar! ****
HUNTRESS REVIEWS
Reviewed by Detra Fitch
AUTHOR: Stella Drexler
KINDLE: B006TRX9VA
SYNERGEBOOKS.COM
4 STARS!
Alexandra “Lexie” Quinn and Sho Mondragon went to the Academy of Magic together. Lexie is now a hex breaker. Sho deals with emotional magic, especially love magic. Today they are partners: Quinn & Mondragon, Magicians for Hire. Lexie’s closest friend over the last five years has been Aine Cavanaugh. Aine is an alchemist and sells potions in her store. If not for Aine, Lexie would never go out just for fun. The grand opening of the new nightclub, Slither, is the perfect opportunity to draw Lexie out of the office. Lexie is dressed and ready to leave for Slither when Sho calls her to come in to the office. Upon arrival, Lexie learns they have a new client, Devin “Dev” Rayne. But Lexie wants nothing to do with Dev, who happens to own Slither. She still blames Devin for his part in the death of Adam Hale, her boyfriend back in the Academy. Ten years ago Devin’s father, Aidan, and his partners were selling dark magic to normals. Devin was the best talisman maker in school. Dev was making the talismans for his father, who was selling them as weapons. Though it was Aidan who killed Adam, his cause of death was a talisman of Dev’s.
Devin has done his time in prison. A condition of his release is that he is not allowed to use magic. But Devin is very intelligent when it comes to investments, so he is in no way poor. However, bad things have been happening ever since his lucky talisman was stolen. Believing someone is trying to kill him, Dev wants to hire Lexie and Sho. Locating and retrieving the lucky talisman is pretty easy. But finding out who hexed Dev is not going to be. This would require Lexie and Dev to plunge back into their painful pasts. And the past is a very dangerous place to visit.
**** FOUR STARS! Though I have not been informed of this being the first of a new Paranormal Mystery series, I do believe it is. From the beginning of this story there are scenes revealing how wary the “normals” are of those able to use magic. So much so that the normals are trying to pass some unethical laws against all magic users. There is even a special law enforcement branch that keeps tabs on magic users. (Already, Quinn & Mondragon must send in weekly reports to it.)
Author Stella Drexler has done a terrific job of creating several intriguing characters, with well developed backgrounds, that I am eager to see more of. One visit to Lexie’s amazing world is simply not enough. The only real downside is that there are several jumps into the past; however, I honestly cannot think of any other way that the author could have revealed the information that readers needed to know. If the past, of ten years prior, had been revealed in a prologue, major spoilers would have been revealed. And believe me, there are a few twists and surprises scattered throughout this story to make the flashbacks worth it. All-on-all, Stella Drexler has a winner on her hands. I hope to revisit this magical world in the near future. Stellar! ****
HUNTRESS REVIEWS
Reviewed by Detra Fitch
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews