One thing that became immeadiatly clear when reading Hex Life is that this one doesn’t hold it’s punches! I’ve been eager to read this anthology since it was released last year and it sounded like the perfect addition to this review. I was not disappointed. You’ve heard about girl power, well get ready for witch power. The witches are here and they’re ready for you to know about it. White witches, dark whites, modern and old, this anthology has a bit of everything and anything else you can think of and some you haven’t even dreamed.

One of the things that I loved about Hex Life was it’s diverse characters and stories. Written by an all-female group of authors, the characters include LGBTQ , people of colour and different living situations from a variety of historical periods. Magic is shown as a powerful force for good and evil, to lift women up as well as a tool for oppression. My favourite story, Widows’ Walk, is one of many that is eerily relevant to everyday life.

There’s horror in these pages, but magic, and love too. It’s an anthology that has a lot to give. While it’s not one of the best I’ve read it is one I do recommend as it’s something I feel everyone needs to enjoy at least once. ( )

This anthology was definitely more "miss" than "hit" for me... ( )

This is an interesting collection of stories that fall roughly into the Urban Fantasy ballpark ,some are set in previous eras. Some of them were somewhat forgettable but there wer others that lingered well.
An interesting collection that I enjoyed. ( )

I waited for three months for this book to come in from the library, all so I could read two short stories. It..was kind of worth it. I enjoyed both short stories I read.

Black Magic Momma by Kelley Armstrong is set in the Women of the Otherworld series, a few years prior to the start of the start of the series. Follows Eve Levine on one of her black magic acquisition jobs. I always like Eve, and we got to see a bit of young Savannah, too.

Home by Rachel Caine is set in the Morganville Vampires series, after the end of the series, and after the Pitch Black Blues short story, which provides some context for this story. I'll say that this added a lot of lore to the world that didn't exist prior to this short story, and I'm not exactly happy about that. (Was wondering why Morganville Vampires had a short story in here anyway, since there weren't witches in the story before. :/) However, seeing Claire and Shane and everyone again, especially now that they're older, was really nice.

I just don't know how much readers of the anthology would get out of either of these stories. Home, especially, would make absolutely no sense if you haven't read the series, and even if you had read the series if you weren't up to date on the short stories you'd be lost. At least Black Magic Momma had a lot more context for those who aren't fans of the series.

I was really looking forward to reading this collection of witchy stories, especially since one of them is by Ania Ahlborn. My favourites are "Widows' Walk" by Angela Slatter, "The Memories of Trees" by Mary SanGiovanni, "The Deer Wife" by Jennifer McMahon, "The Debt" by Ania Ahlborn and "How To Become a Witch-Queen" by Theodora Goss. ( )