Hexed by Emily McIntire: Complete Book Guide & Study Companion

Spoiler Warning: This guide is filled with plot details, character analysis, and major revelations from Hexed. Read on only if you’ve finished the book or don’t mind knowing every twist.

Quick Facts

Short Summary

Venesa Andersen is the Kingston crime family’s poison-witch and reluctant assassin. Two years after she secretly saves a wounded stranger on a moonlit shoreline, that stranger—Mafia underboss Enzo Marino—reappears in Atlantic Cove, engaged to her vicious cousin Aria. Forced to play tour guide, Venesa is drawn into a forbidden attraction that threatens both her survival and her uncle’s criminal empire. As buried secrets erupt—the truth about her mother’s murder, Enzo’s brother’s death, and a stolen inheritance—Venesa must choose between the only family she’s ever known and the man who sees the darkness in her soul and welcomes it. Hexed twists the Little Mermaid tale into a brutal love story of revenge, loyalty, and reclaiming power.

Full Summary

Venesa runs The Lair, a speakeasy-turned-money-laundering front for her uncle Trent Kingston, the patriarch of a fading crime family. She is also the family’s most lethal weapon, using stonefish venom and baneful magick to dispatch targets with cold efficiency. Her life follows Uncle T’s rules until the night she encounters a dying man on a Hudson River beach and, defying orders, presses her sweater to his wound before hiding in the trees. The man lives, and her cousin Aria takes the credit.

A year later, Enzo Marino arrives in Atlantic Cove for an engagement party meant to seal an alliance between his powerful Mafia clan and the Kingstons. He is still haunted by the near-fatal ambush and trapped in a transactional engagement with Aria. The first night, he locks eyes with the silver-haired woman who calls him “Lover Boy” and feels a spark he cannot ignore.

Uncle T orders Venesa to entertain Enzo and push him into a hotel deal. Their boardwalk tour crackles with tension. Enzo notices Venesa’s avoided memories of Morgan’s Ice Shack and ties her to her mother’s rare affection. He tries to gift her a seashell necklace; she refuses, but the gesture cracks her armor. Days later, Enzo presents her father Harald—the man who killed her mother—bound and beaten in her basement as a birthday gift. Venesa injects Harald with venom and learns a devastating truth: Trent Kingston, not her father, orchestrated her mother’s murder.

That revelation severs Venesa’s loyalty to Uncle T. She and Enzo surrender to their desire, though he remains engaged. During a brutal interrogation of Frankie Bianchi, they discover that Enzo’s own father, Carlos “Pops” Marino, contracted Trent to assassinate him. Enzo’s world shatters. When Carlos later storms Venesa’s apartment, he reveals that she killed Enzo’s brother Giuseppe under Uncle T’s orders years before. Devastated, Enzo walks away.

Venesa is abducted by Aria’s accomplice and dragged back to The Lair. Aria reveals she staged the “rescue” of Enzo a year ago and has been spying for her father all along. Fisher, Venesa’s chosen brother, confesses his betrayal: Uncle T blackmailed him with a fake child. Venesa bargains for her life while Bastien—the double agent—uncovers a hidden will inside the family painting that proves the entire Kingston empire was stolen from Venesa’s mother and should belong to her.

Meanwhile, Enzo kills his own father at his brother’s grave, choosing Venesa over blood. He races to Atlantic Cove, executes Fisher, and frees Venesa. Together they trap Uncle T at The Lair, where Venesa injects her uncle with the same stonefish venom she’s perfected over years. Aria is rendered voiceless and later killed by Venesa in a final confrontation when Aria tries to murder Enzo.

The epilogue sees Enzo propose at the Sea Wheel Ferris wheel on Venesa’s birthday, gifting her the chance to exact revenge on her childhood abuser Rusty and the traitor Jessica. They stand united as the new king and queen of a rebuilt empire.

Main Characters

• Venesa Andersen – Anti-heroine assassin and poison-witch. Her quest for vengeance and reclamation of her stolen legacy fuels the novel.
• Enzo Marino – Mafia underboss bound by duty and family trauma, who discovers both vulnerability and fierce love with Venesa.
• Aria Kingston – Venesa’s manipulative cousin and secondary villain who weaponizes family secrets to seize power.
• Trent Kingston (Uncle T) – Patriarch of the Kingston crime family; architect of murder, lies, and the theft of Venesa’s legacy.
• Fisher Engle – Venesa’s best friend and bartender, blackmailed into betrayal; his arc hinges on loyalty and the cost of family secrets.
• Bastien – Enforcer and double agent who protects Venesa from within Uncle T’s organization and helps expose the hidden will.

Themes

• Forbidden Desire and Competing Loyalties – Venesa and Enzo’s love grows despite his engagement to Aria, forcing them to choose passion over family obligation.
• Betrayal and Deception – Nearly every relationship is distorted by hidden agendas, from Aria’s staged heroism to Fisher’s forced treachery.
• Inherited Violence and Mafia Patriarchy – The novel lays bare cycles of abuse in crime families: fathers order hits on sons, uncles murder sisters.
• Revenge and Reclamation of Power – Venesa transforms from assassin to avenger, using poison and strategy to dismantle Uncle T’s empire and seize her birthright.
• Secrets and Hidden Identities – Concealed pasts—Venesa’s childhood trauma, her murder of Giuseppe, and Enzo’s ignorance of his father’s betrayal—drive the plot.

Symbols

• The Seashell Necklace – Evolves from a refused gift into a talisman of reclaimed memories and the couple’s bond.
• Stonefish Venom (Potions) – Venesa’s signature poison, symbolizing her lethal artistry and her “Sea Witch” identity.
• The Kingston Family Painting – Hides the irrevocable trust that proves the empire was stolen from Venesa’s mother.
• The Sea Wheel (Ferris Wheel) – A site where heights expose Enzo’s vulnerability and the couple’s intimacy deepens, blending fairy-tale romance with raw risk.

Ending Overview

After Venesa kills Aria and Uncle T, Enzo proposes at the Atlantic Cove boardwalk. The epilogue shows him gifting her the bound figures of Rusty and Jessica, allowing her to enact vengeance. They are poised to rule together. For a detailed breakdown, visit the Ending Explained page.

Chapter-by-Chapter Summaries

Full summaries of every chapter are available at Chapter Summaries through Chapter 62.

Common Questions Answered

1. Is Hexed a retelling of “The Little Mermaid”?

Yes, but it is a fractured, dark reimagining. Venesa evokes the Sea Witch, Enzo is the object of forbidden love, and the story borrows the motif of silent suffering, but the novel is a contemporary mafia romance, not a fantasy.

2. Does the book have a happy ending?

The epilogue shows Venesa and Enzo engaged and in power. All major enemies are dead. While the path is brutal, the resolution is a cathartic “happily ever after” for the central couple.

3. What are the trigger warnings?

The author directs readers to her website for a full list, but the story includes graphic violence, murder, poison use, sexual assault references, domestic violence, and patricide.

4. Is there cheating in Hexed?

Enzo is engaged to Aria for much of the book. His growing emotional and physical intimacy with Venesa occurs while that engagement is intact, though the relationship is presented as a transactional sham. Venesa refuses to be the “other woman” until she learns the full scope of Aria’s deceit.

5. Why is Venesa called the “Sea Witch”?

Venesa uses stonefish venom and other poisons she calls “potions.” Her identification with baneful magick, plus the ocean-town setting and her morally gray nature, earn her the epithet.

6. How does Venesa get her revenge?

Venesa systematically dismantles Uncle T’s power. She uses Enzo’s resources, Bastien’s double-agent work, and the hidden will that proves her inheritance. She poisons Uncle T with stonefish venom, kills Aria, and later destroys Jessica and Rusty.

7. Who actually saved Enzo’s life?

Venesa was the one who applied pressure to his wound and spoke to him on the beach. Aria took the credit and staged the rescue, a deception that unravels late in the novel.

8. What is the significance of the seashell necklace?

Enzo first tries to buy it for Venesa as a new, happy memory. She refuses. Later, he leaves it for her with a note, and it becomes a symbol of their bond and her reclaimed right to be loved.

Dive Deeper

• Ending Explained
• Questions & Answers
• Quiz: Test Your Knowledge
• Essay Prompts
• Character Studies
• Themes
• Symbols