REVIEW: The Magnolia League

Title: The Magnolia League
Author: Katie Crouch
Series: The Magnolia League
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Poppy
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 229
Source: NetGalley
Summary:
When her free-spirited mother dies in a tragic accident, sixteen-year-old Alexandria Lee is forced to leave her West Coast home and move in with a wealthy grandmother she's never known in Savannah, Georgia. By birth, Alex is a rightful if unwilling member of the Magnolia League-Savannah's long-standing debutante society. But white gloves and silk gowns are a far cry from the vintage t-shirts and torn jeans shorts she's used to.

Alex is the first in decades to question the Magnolia League's intentions, yet even she becomes entangled in their seductive world. The members enjoy youth, beauty and power...but at what cost? As Alex discovers a pact between the Magnolias and the Buzzards, a legendary hoodoo family, she discovers secrets-some deadly-hidden beneath the glossy Southern veneer. (credit: Amazon.com)

Review:
This book has been on my to-be-reviewed pile for a bit, and I finally had time to sit down and write the review.  That isn't to say that book wasn't engaging.  In fact, it was the exact opposite.  I could hardly stop reading!  I just had to know what was going to happen next!

The Magnolia League is told mostly through Alex's is point of view, though there are a few chapters with third person narration.  Through the third person point of view, you gain some background on the mysterious Magnolia League.  But it is through Alex that we really start to learn what the Magnolia League is all about.

Alex, at first, does not want anything to do with the Magnolia League.  But her grandmother is adamant about it, and Hayes and Madison become her new friends.  They are MGs, or Magnolia Girls, and are there to help Alex become a proper MG.  Slowly, Alex changes a little through their influence, but still all wants to do is go back to California, to the commune she lived on and to the boyfriend she believes is waiting for her.  She finally decides to runaway, back to California, where she finds that her boyfriend wasn't really her boyfriend and that the commune has changed drastically.

So, she returns to Savannah, to her grandmother and Hayes and Madison, who have become her friends.  And not soon after, she is introduced to the side of the Magnolia League that they've kept hidden from her: the hoodoo side.  This is what helps the Magnolia League be the Magnolia League.  All the members are able to maintain wealth and beauty through spells they get from the Buzzards, a family of hoodoo practitioners that the first Magnolia League members made a deal with. This element of hoodoo is what made the story, in my opinion.  It gave it mystery and excitement, and was the root of many secrets.  Many of which were only touched upon in this book.

The Buzzards are quite a mystery to me to.  Doc Buzzard is the patriarch, and the one who made the original deal with the Magnolia League.  But Sam Buzzard, Doc's son, is the one who handles the Magnolia League's requests for spells, these days.  (All requests must be approved by the president of the Magnolia League, Dorothy Lee, Alex's grandmother.)  Sina, described as "the practitioner with the most natural talent," is the one the Magnolia League goes to when they need a spell that won't be approved.  Though they only appear a few times throughout the story, they are a big part of it and I have unanswered questions about them.  Questions such as: what was Sam Buzzard's relationship with Alex's mom?  And also, what is Sina Buzzard really up to with the deal she has made with Alex?

The characters were very well developed, with rich backrounds and their own personalities, especially Alex.  She wasn't the perfect heroine.  She was real, with flaws and unique traits, and she made mistakes.  The setting was great too!  I have always wanted to visit Savannah, and the descriptions of the city helped bring it to life for me.  Overall, this book was well written, and I can't wait until the next book comes out! I have so many questions that need to be answered!

Rating:
Plot - ★★★★★
Characters - ★★★★★
Ending - ★★★★
Overall - ★★★★1/2

REVIEW: Bite Me!

Title: Bite Me!
Author: Melissa Francis
Series: has a sequel: Love Sucks
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 296
Source: Library
Summary:
AJ Ashe isn't your typical seventeen-year-old vampire--as if there is such a thing! She's stuck in the middle of a huge fight between her two BFFs. Her ex-boyfriend--whom she's still totally in love with, by the way--is now her stepbrother. A former classmate--who, um, she may or may not have turned into a vampire--is stalking her. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands. What ever happened to the good old days, when all a vampire girl had to worry about was the occasional zit and hiding her taste for blood?

Review:
I picked this book up on a whim, off of my library's waiting-to-be-shelved area, and I'm glad I did. This book was a very fun, easy, and entertaining read. Though the plot is not terribly unique, it's not exactly like all the other vampire stories I've read before. The vampires here are not characterized like usual: they can walk in the sun, see their reflection in the mirror, and they drink blood out of V8 juice bottles. The explanation? Vampires have adapted to better live in the human world.

The story is written from AJ's point of view, in a very teenage girl voice. Some may say the writing is too simple, but I think it's just right, considering it is supposed to be a teenage girl telling her life story. At least part of it...and what a story it is!

One day AJ's life was as normal as any other teenage vampire girl's could be, and the next it's turned completely upside down. She's become the stepsister of the boy she's in love with, and soon she's got a creepy vampire stalker. Not to mention, someone is set on framing her for things she didn't do and ruining her life. AJ is scared and doesn't know what to do, and you could thoroughly feel it in her words.

But we don't just feel what AJ's feeling, we also get to learn a bit about her vampire history and an ancient vampire myth. AJ starts researching a myth on the Serpentines, an evil vampire clan, and this seems to get her into more trouble. The vampire myth definitely added to the intrigue, but so did the cast of characters. Though you could only see them through AJ's eyes, you could still get a little insight into their character. Ryan, her new stepbrother, is having a hard time dealing with their break up just like she is, and is frustrated when she pushes him away. This causes him to be a jerk, but he does make up for it and in the end, he seems like a sweet boy. I totally want AJ to end up with him. Too bad they've been forbidden from being with each other!

And her two best friends, Bridget and Malia, seem like they really care about her, but they're having trouble with each other, and something doesn't seem right with Malia. She acts a bit shady sometimes, which Bridget points out but AJ ignores. The Malia thing is not settled in this book, so I'll have to wait until I read the sequel to find out what's going on with her. But my guess is she is some kind of paranormal being too...

Actually, many things were not settled in this book...but that's what the sequel is for! :P Though I do have some unanswered questions, some of them were answered in this installment. But not in the way I thought it would be. The ending was totally unexpected, and I love that! I did not even suspect the perpetrator...

Bite Me! had it all...drama, mystery, suspense, and even a little romance. I wish it had a little more backstory on some of the characters, though. It was a great read nonetheless, and I can't wait to read the sequel!

Rating:
Plot - ★★★★
Characters - ★★★★
Ending - ★★★★★
Overall - ★★★★

REVIEW: Unearthly

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Hardcover
# of pages: 435
Source: Library
Summary:

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel.  Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do.  Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.


Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town.  When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place--and out of place at the same time.  Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.


As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make--between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil.  When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Review:
Unearthly is one of the best books I've read this year. The plot line is very unique to me; I haven't read another book like it.  At first I was a little iffy, because I don't like to read religious fiction, and I was worried about how much religion would be tied in since this book does deal with the idea of angels.  Thankfully, it's not tied in too much.  God is specifically mentioned once or twice, and heaven is mentioned a couple of times, but other than that...nothing overwhelming.

Anyway, this book is told through Clara's point of view as she tries to figure out her purpose as an angel-blood while trying to live the life of a normal teenage girl at the same time.  Her voice was very realistic, as she dealt with being the new girl and trying to fit in, the joys and frustrations of figuring out how to be an angel, and the emotions of just being a teenage girl finding romance with a teenage boy.  But in this case, Clara ends up interested in two boys, and will have to choose when the time comes...

And while the story is about Clara and from her POV, we do get to know the other characters in her life and they are just as likable as Clara.  The plot and characters all added up to a book that I could barely put down.  If I didn't need to sleep, I probably wouldn't have, lol.

The ending, however, was not what I was expecting, and was a bit anticlimactic.  It left me with so many unanswered questions!  BUT, after Googling, I now know that it's probably because there's a SEQUEL!  Yay! (Thank goodness!)

One more thing, the cover is gorgeous!  I know they say not to judge a book by it's cover, but most times I do.  I'm more likely to pick up a book that has a pretty cover, and that's what happened here.  Saw the cover, loved it and decided to read it.  I'm so glad I did.

Rating:
Plot - ★★★★★
Characters - ★★★★★
Ending - ★★★★1/2
Overall - ★★★★★

111111 Challenge

I didn't complete the 101010 challenge...but, I'm still attempting this challenge, even though it's more books! LOL

So, keeping almost all the same categories..

Classics
1.

Jane Austen Related
1.

1st in Series
1.

From Pages to the Big Screen
1.

Asian Authors
1.

YA
1. Bite Me! by Melissa Francis (05/13/2011)

Mystery
1.

Historical Fiction
1.

Paranormal Fiction
1.

Romance/Chick-lit
1.

Released in 2011
1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (04/15/2011)