"Seriously Hexed"

Tina Connolly is the author of the Ironskin trilogy from Tor Books, and the Seriously Wicked series from Tor Teen. Her novels have been finalists for the Nebula and Norton awards.

Connolly applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Seriously Hexed, and reported the following:

From page 69:

The doorbell was large and prominent. So large and prominent that we simultaneously looked at each other and said, “Booby trap.”

It was the first moment we’d done anything in tandem. But I ruined it by saying, “Jinx! You owe me a Coke.” Poppy ignored this.

“Okay, no doorbell,” she said. She fiddled with her phone.

“Different spell?” I said.

“Megaphone app,” she said. Into the phone she said, “Valda, come out. I’m Lily’s daughter and this is Sarmine’s daughter.” The amplified sound boomed around the yard.

“She knows me,” I muttered.

“We just want to ask you a few questions,” continued Poppy. “Then you can go back to—”

“To dropping anvils on kittens or whatever it is you do,” I put in.

On this page of Seriously Hexed, reluctant teenage witch Cam and her sort of ally, super teen witch Poppy, are busy investigating a mystery that happens at the end of chapter one. (No, I won’t tell you what that mystery is!) The two girls are entirely different—Cam hates magic and Poppy is a type A, A+ student of it, for starters—but they have to learn to work together over the course of the book.

I like that this excerpt shows some of their awkwardness together—Poppy is focused and prepared, while Cam is making jokes and being a dork—but also one of the first times, as Cam notices, that they are on the same page about something. I really enjoyed writing the complicated path of two strangers eventually learning how to trust each other and become friends.

Visit Tina Connolly's website and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Seriously Wicked.

The Page 69 Test: Seriously Wicked.

The Page 69 Test: Seriously Shifted.

Writers Read: Tina Connolly.

--Marshal Zeringue