Book review: Hex and the Single Girl by Valerie Frankel

Hex and the Single Girl follows nine days in the life of Emma Hutch, a modern-day witch. Her "powers" are heightened senses (especially smell), and what she calls "telegraphopathy"--the ability to plant in image into someone else's mind. She earns her living by using this power running her own business, The Good Witch Inc. Lovesick women come to Emma, and she basically stalks their crushes, subtly touching them to implant the image of Emma's client.

As the book starts, Emma is on the verge of losing her apartment. Eventually we learn that an Enron-like scandal resulted in her losing all her savings, and she's been struggling since. We also learn that she hasn't had sex in a long, long time--because halfway through the foreplay the men go soft and bail on her, which has resulted in Emma having some self-esteem problems. She also is terrified of ending up dying of a brain aneurysm like her mother.

At the beginning of the book, a new client named Daphne offers Emma $5k to work on a highly eligible bachelor. Unfortunately, a chance encounter leads to Emma and the bachelor being smitten with each other. There are hints that either Emma has more witchy powers than she thought, or the bachelor does too, but we never really find out if either is true. There's also a whole storyline involving Emma's lost savings and a former client's bastard boyfriend. Another storyline involves the a model friend of Emma's best friend; the model was involved in an advertising campaign with Daphne. Emma's best friend falls for Daphne's assistant, and the model's lawyer falls for Daphne's other assistant--just an example of how everyone is connected to everyone in the book, with Emma at the center.

I was equal parts amused and annoyed with this book. Some of the situations seemed honest and were hilarious; some of the puns were just way too on the nose, and were groan-worthy. Sometimes Emma seemed like a strong character, but other times she was very morose. For example, she looks at a piece of toast described as "blackened, hard, dry, overheated, tasteless, useless, and unappetizing". She then thinks, "I am that toast." Blech. Emma is also both deeply romantic and Sex and the City-style blunt sometimes. She ends up being "saved" by love, being shown she's "worthy" by a man, and living happily ever after thanks to a too-perfect male protagonist--things which are standard in a romance book, but still a bit obnoxious.

Still, the book was enjoyable enough. I'll probably read more of Valerie Frankel's books.