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familiar_diversions's review against another edition
2.0
Alex has lived her entire life at the RC, a hippie commune in California, helping her mother grow medicinal herbs. Sure, the RC grows a little marijuana, but Alex's mother's medicines are what really make the RC famous.
Then everything changes after Alex's mother dies in a car crash. The rich grandmother she didn't even know she had sends a lawyer to pick her up and take her back to Georgia, ripping her away from her new boyfriend and the only life she's ever known. Suddenly she's supposed to be part of something called the "Magnolia League," a sort of club for Southern debutantes. Except that Alex has dreadlocks, is chubby, and has no intention of trading in her t-shirts for designer dresses. However, she might not have much of a choice. Once you become a Magnolia Girl, you're one for life.
This is one of my very old ARCs that I picked up at a past conference and never got around to reading. Better late than never, I guess.
Unfortunately, it didn't appeal to me at all. Yes, Alex's grandmother was snobby, and Madison wasn't much better (I kind of liked Hayes, though - she made an effort to be friendly and seemed genuinely nice). But Alex wasn't all that great either. Almost every opportunity she got, she lectured the people around her about their gas guzzling cars, the unhealthiness of the food they ate, etc. If Hayes and Madison hadn't basically been required to spend time with her, I doubt they'd have stuck around. I don't know that I'd have blamed them. Even though I didn't disagree with Alex, her lecturing and moralizing was off-putting.
Deep down, Alex thought she was better than her fellow Magnolia Girls - not really one of them, more down to earth and "natural." Thaddeus, Alex's eventual love interest, had the usual "not like other girls" moment where he admired Alex for being so different. However, she was shallow too - it just presented differently. She started wearing her hair in dreadlocks when Reggie, the guy she liked back in California, commented on how hot a white girl with dreadlocks he'd seen was. Then when Alex started to think that Thaddeus didn't like her dreadlocks, well, off with the dreads. And hey, I forgot to mention the pot, which she also started smoking because of Reggie - pretty the only thing she didn't do that she knew Reggie wanted was have sex, supposedly because she knew her mom wouldn't have approved (never mind that her mom wouldn't have approved of the pot).
There was some interesting magical politics going on - the rich white Magnolia Leaguers and - but in this book, Alex only got to nibble at the edges of it. The next book probably delves into that more deeply, but I disliked most of the characters too much to want to continue on. And considering the way this book ended, several of the characters would probably give me even more reasons to dislike them before eventually making up and (I assume) finally figuring out how to break up the Magnolia League and the hold it has on them. No thank you, I'm done.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Then everything changes after Alex's mother dies in a car crash. The rich grandmother she didn't even know she had sends a lawyer to pick her up and take her back to Georgia, ripping her away from her new boyfriend and the only life she's ever known. Suddenly she's supposed to be part of something called the "Magnolia League," a sort of club for Southern debutantes. Except that Alex has dreadlocks, is chubby, and has no intention of trading in her t-shirts for designer dresses. However, she might not have much of a choice. Once you become a Magnolia Girl, you're one for life.
This is one of my very old ARCs that I picked up at a past conference and never got around to reading. Better late than never, I guess.
Unfortunately, it didn't appeal to me at all. Yes, Alex's grandmother was snobby, and Madison wasn't much better (I kind of liked Hayes, though - she made an effort to be friendly and seemed genuinely nice). But Alex wasn't all that great either. Almost every opportunity she got, she lectured the people around her about their gas guzzling cars, the unhealthiness of the food they ate, etc. If Hayes and Madison hadn't basically been required to spend time with her, I doubt they'd have stuck around. I don't know that I'd have blamed them. Even though I didn't disagree with Alex, her lecturing and moralizing was off-putting.
Deep down, Alex thought she was better than her fellow Magnolia Girls - not really one of them, more down to earth and "natural." Thaddeus, Alex's eventual love interest, had the usual "not like other girls" moment where he admired Alex for being so different. However, she was shallow too - it just presented differently. She started wearing her hair in dreadlocks when Reggie, the guy she liked back in California, commented on how hot a white girl with dreadlocks he'd seen was. Then when Alex started to think that Thaddeus didn't like her dreadlocks, well, off with the dreads. And hey, I forgot to mention the pot, which she also started smoking because of Reggie - pretty the only thing she didn't do that she knew Reggie wanted was have sex, supposedly because she knew her mom wouldn't have approved (never mind that her mom wouldn't have approved of the pot).
There was some interesting magical politics going on - the rich white Magnolia Leaguers and
Spoiler
their dependency upon the Buzzards, a black family filled with long-time hoodoo practitioners(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
rachelaustin's review against another edition
2.0
The characters were very cliche and I didn't like where the story went toward the end. It seems like the author thinks that in order for a book to be "young adult" it has to have dumbed down language and cliche stereotypes. I own the second book, but I really don't feel like reading it with the way this book ended. Maybe I will change my mind later. If not these books will be going to a charity shop
foreveryoungadult's review against another edition
Graded By: Erin
Cover Story: We Were So Close!
BFF Charm: Aw, HELL No.
Swoonworthy Scale: 0.5
Talky Talk: Freaky Friday
Bonus Factors: Food Descriptions, Evil Grandmothers
Anti-Bonus Factors: People Who Don't Understand How Racism Works, The Vampire Diaries/Skeleton Key School of African-American Characters, Goddamn Dirty Hippies
Relationship Status: That Awkward and Boring First Date That You Later Googled and Found Out They Were a Member of the Ku Klux Klan or Something
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: We Were So Close!
BFF Charm: Aw, HELL No.
Swoonworthy Scale: 0.5
Talky Talk: Freaky Friday
Bonus Factors: Food Descriptions, Evil Grandmothers
Anti-Bonus Factors: People Who Don't Understand How Racism Works, The Vampire Diaries/Skeleton Key School of African-American Characters, Goddamn Dirty Hippies
Relationship Status: That Awkward and Boring First Date That You Later Googled and Found Out They Were a Member of the Ku Klux Klan or Something
Read the full book report here.
bev3203's review against another edition
3.0
This book was nothing like I expected. After her mother dies, Alex "Alexandria" Lee has to trade in her life at the RC, an organic farming commune, for the old-time southern elite in Savannah. Alex's grandmother, the head of the mysterious Magnolia League, wants her granddaughter to follow in her footsteps, but Alex isn't a typical magnolia--she's a little heavy, wears jeans and tees, and has ratty dreadlocks. The further Alex gets into her new life, she uncovers troubling information about her mother and the league. I am not a big fan of the supernatural, but I'm glad I listened to this book because many of my students enjoy this kind of book. The first in a series. I may check into the second book to find out what will happen next.
meeranair_54's review against another edition
3.0
The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch is a sort of fantasy read if you consider the part where all Magnolia women are glowing, beautiful, look way too young for their age. The girl on the front cover is pretty and the way she sits on the chair shows that she was born to lead. Looking at the cover, the book was an instant favourite. It wasn’t a bad read but it wasn’t out of the world also, rather it was a fun experience. I made a new fictional friend – Alex. Throughout the book, I would find myself talking to Alex, as if she were a real person, assisting and guiding her when I thought what she was doing wasn’t right. But something about the story didn’t fit right for me. It was like a puzzle with all the pieces in place except two to three stubborn ones which refused to fit anywhere. The ending was so sad. I understood Alex’s decision very well but I so badly wish that the circumstances would have been a little more better for her.
Alex is a woman of determination. She loves her mother unconditionally. Its great that she would choose her family over anything else. I feel she is a little low on the self confidence part. So what if you are not skinny and don’t have straight, glossy, tangle-less hair. Atleast you are yourself. Alex shouldn’t have been insecure about herself and also she needs to learn how to trust loved ones (I was practically yelling at her). Her grandmom is a spendthrift. She doesn’t mind handing out 1000 dollar bills as long as you come back home with some designer tidbits. She is very particular about mannerisms and likes to be praised. There are many other characters but I cant tell much about them without including some main parts of the story (that would be boring)
Over all it’s a fine read. Maybe you should try it out, see it you like it. And if you do read/have read, don’t forget to tell me what you think.
Alex is a woman of determination. She loves her mother unconditionally. Its great that she would choose her family over anything else. I feel she is a little low on the self confidence part. So what if you are not skinny and don’t have straight, glossy, tangle-less hair. Atleast you are yourself. Alex shouldn’t have been insecure about herself and also she needs to learn how to trust loved ones (I was practically yelling at her). Her grandmom is a spendthrift. She doesn’t mind handing out 1000 dollar bills as long as you come back home with some designer tidbits. She is very particular about mannerisms and likes to be praised. There are many other characters but I cant tell much about them without including some main parts of the story (that would be boring)
Over all it’s a fine read. Maybe you should try it out, see it you like it. And if you do read/have read, don’t forget to tell me what you think.
shubba_the_emoreader's review against another edition
3.0
Original post: http://lovefantasyscifinovels.blogspot.com/2011/05/magnolia-league-magnolia-league-1-by.html
The Magonlia League was one of those books that had so much potiental to be different and exciting. It starts out very interesting with a fantastic and different main character. However, as I was reading it I began to not like it. And just left me disappointed.
The story starts out with Alex moving to her Grandmothers to life after a tragic accident that killed her mother. Alex hates Georgia and her Granmother (Miss Lee) lifestyle. Alex missed her old hippie lifestyle but she is forced to befriend Hayes and pretty soon Alex discovers that things in Savannah Georgia aren't all as they appear in The Magnolia League.
Alex starts out at such a fun read. She was totally different from most teenagers in novels. She doesn't care how she looks, she isn't skinny or perfect and she is a great sense of humor. However, as the story continues and she discovers The Magnolia's secret she starts acting like any other girl in a YA novel. Her appearance changes dramatically from Hippie girl to Debutante. Her personality changes as well but the end of the book I found her selfish and just pathetic. I didn't like Miss Lee or any of The Magnolia League. I don't think any of them of any redeeming qualities. However, I did like the Buzzards, the local Hoodoo Family. I would loved to have had more of an insight into there lifes. They interesting and mysterious hopefully in the next book we will get to read more about them.
I really struggled to decide on my rating for this book. It was going to be a 2 rating because well by the end I didn't really like it because of how Alex as a character changed too much. And how the author would jump from First person narative to third person. I found this very confusing and just didn't make the story flow easily. The story itself starts out good but its very predictable you knew actually want was going to happen before it happen. There was no suspence and honestly the ending was just terrible. All the build up to the main point in the story and it just falls flat. Sorry. However, I didn't to go with the 3 rating because as I have mention I did enjoy the start of story. It was fun and different. I will no doubt read the second book just to see if we get to learn more about the Buzzards.
If you like your paranormal stories that are a quick light read then please go grab your copy. It filled with magic and Hoodoo and with some interesting characters.
The Magonlia League was one of those books that had so much potiental to be different and exciting. It starts out very interesting with a fantastic and different main character. However, as I was reading it I began to not like it. And just left me disappointed.
The story starts out with Alex moving to her Grandmothers to life after a tragic accident that killed her mother. Alex hates Georgia and her Granmother (Miss Lee) lifestyle. Alex missed her old hippie lifestyle but she is forced to befriend Hayes and pretty soon Alex discovers that things in Savannah Georgia aren't all as they appear in The Magnolia League.
Alex starts out at such a fun read. She was totally different from most teenagers in novels. She doesn't care how she looks, she isn't skinny or perfect and she is a great sense of humor. However, as the story continues and she discovers The Magnolia's secret she starts acting like any other girl in a YA novel. Her appearance changes dramatically from Hippie girl to Debutante. Her personality changes as well but the end of the book I found her selfish and just pathetic. I didn't like Miss Lee or any of The Magnolia League. I don't think any of them of any redeeming qualities. However, I did like the Buzzards, the local Hoodoo Family. I would loved to have had more of an insight into there lifes. They interesting and mysterious hopefully in the next book we will get to read more about them.
I really struggled to decide on my rating for this book. It was going to be a 2 rating because well by the end I didn't really like it because of how Alex as a character changed too much. And how the author would jump from First person narative to third person. I found this very confusing and just didn't make the story flow easily. The story itself starts out good but its very predictable you knew actually want was going to happen before it happen. There was no suspence and honestly the ending was just terrible. All the build up to the main point in the story and it just falls flat. Sorry. However, I didn't to go with the 3 rating because as I have mention I did enjoy the start of story. It was fun and different. I will no doubt read the second book just to see if we get to learn more about the Buzzards.
If you like your paranormal stories that are a quick light read then please go grab your copy. It filled with magic and Hoodoo and with some interesting characters.
yangyvonne's review against another edition
2.0
Alexandra Lee has spent her life on a communal farm with her mother. There, they grow herbs and live a happy and simple CA life. When her mother is killed in a car accident, Alexandra is forced to leave and go live with her (maternal) grandmother in Savannah, GA. There, she learns that she is part of the Magnolia League, a group started by her grandmother and 3 other women in the 1950's. The group has ties to hoo-doo and the members use spells to perform various things. Alex just wants to go back to CA, but when she runs away, she finds that the farm is now a pot operation, the boy she loved lied to her, and she returns to Savannah. Now immersed in the League, she begins to learn more about her powers and the group's connection to the local hoo doo family. At the end, she discovers that her mother's ghost is trapped in a room in the mansion and she is determined to help her, even if it means becoming leader of the League.
This is your typical young adult fiction. Heavy on drama and love triangles and light on facts or history. There is zero mention of who Alex's father was, why her mother got the stone (we only know vaguely how), how they hide their eternal youth from the public, and why the hoo doo family hasn't stopped the arrangement in all these decades. The hoo doo element is interesting, for sure, and different from the usual "magic" you see in YA lit. But Alex is your typical bland and uninteresting "heroine". She is naive, clueless, dispassionate and easily swayed into being friends with almost anyone. She floats from boy to boy and takes advice from her fellow Leaguers without really considering the source. She "rebels" in the most ridiculous ways and somehow expects she can fool her grandmother? WTF? I'm not sure Book 2 can save this mess.
This is your typical young adult fiction. Heavy on drama and love triangles and light on facts or history. There is zero mention of who Alex's father was, why her mother got the stone (we only know vaguely how), how they hide their eternal youth from the public, and why the hoo doo family hasn't stopped the arrangement in all these decades. The hoo doo element is interesting, for sure, and different from the usual "magic" you see in YA lit. But Alex is your typical bland and uninteresting "heroine". She is naive, clueless, dispassionate and easily swayed into being friends with almost anyone. She floats from boy to boy and takes advice from her fellow Leaguers without really considering the source. She "rebels" in the most ridiculous ways and somehow expects she can fool her grandmother? WTF? I'm not sure Book 2 can save this mess.
melissa_clark78's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. In my opinion, most of the book deserved a 2 star rating due to the fact that the characters don't seem to have any redeeming qualities. However, at the very end I got a spark of hope that Alex might turn out to be alright, and I'm kind of curious to see what happens in the next book, so that's why I'm giving it the extra half star. But up until the very end I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or story.
I also found the numerous pop culture references to be annoying. My rating of a book is usually inversely proportional to the number of pop culture references. It just drives me nuts and cheapens the story.
I also found the numerous pop culture references to be annoying. My rating of a book is usually inversely proportional to the number of pop culture references. It just drives me nuts and cheapens the story.
easolinas's review against another edition
2.0
Sometimes you find a book that has a brilliant premise, luscious setting, and characters who overflow with potential. And then... the author screws it all up. Katie Crouch's "The Magnolia League" has so much going for it -- Southern belles, black magic, temptation and the beauty of the Deep South -- but it's squandered on a truly repulsive, obnoxious heroine.
After her mother dies in a car crash, Alexandria Lee has to leave her neo-hippie commune home, and live with her dignified grandmother in Savannah Georgia. But she doesn't fit in with the other people there. It's partly because of her dreads and casual clothes, but also because she's a self-righteous preachy brat.
But her grandmother is determined to make Alex over into not only a Southern belle, but into a member of the Magnolia League. These ladies -- and their perfect daughters -- are blessed with beauty, youth and wealth.
And after learning that the free-spirited neo-hippies aren't the unworldly saints that she thought, Alex discovers that the Magnolia League is involved in hoodoo, folk magic bestowed on them by the Gullah family known as the Buzzards. But as Alex gives in and becomes enmeshed in the hoodoo, she finds that there is a price she isn't willing to pay...
"The Magnolia League" is one of those books that just has a brilliant premise -- we have white-gloved, aristocratic Southern belles using local folk magic for their own ends. And Katie Crouch obviously has first-hand knowledge of Savannah, and she weaves in a lot of details that add realism to the story, such as the Gullah population, hoodoo spells and "haint blue" paint.
Unfortunately, Alex is a horrible, vile person. She spends the first half of the book being a preachy killjoy who nags at the other characters for driving cars, shopping for clothes, etc. Then she gives in to peer pressure and starts using hoodoo because.... she wants to be skinny. Yeah, the protagonist is actually the shallowest, most hypocritical person in the cast.
In short, Alex is judgemental, whiny, weak and wishy-washy. And she does something despicable, something UNFORGIVABLE to her boyfriend in the final chapters, and is shocked when "I'm sorry" doesn't earn instant forgiveness.
I will give Crouch credit -- I think she was trying to give her main character flaws (such as her chubbiness) rather than making her a perfect Sue. But she goes too far. Her writing is decent, but she peppers her story with way, way too many pop culture references -- Zac Efron, Justin Timberlake, and ""I don't mean to get all Kanye..." It's just distracting.
Some of the side-characters are fun, like snarky Mean Girl Madison, the creepy Sina, or the dorky Dex. And while Thaddeus is a thoroughly generic Brooding Love Interest, he is given a truly horrific reason to be. Unfortunately, none of the characters are fleshed out to their full potential -- Miss Lee, Sina, Sam and Hayes are left painfully underdeveloped.
"The Magnolia League" has a brilliant concept and a great setting, but the vile main character and underdeveloped supporting cast left me cold.
After her mother dies in a car crash, Alexandria Lee has to leave her neo-hippie commune home, and live with her dignified grandmother in Savannah Georgia. But she doesn't fit in with the other people there. It's partly because of her dreads and casual clothes, but also because she's a self-righteous preachy brat.
But her grandmother is determined to make Alex over into not only a Southern belle, but into a member of the Magnolia League. These ladies -- and their perfect daughters -- are blessed with beauty, youth and wealth.
And after learning that the free-spirited neo-hippies aren't the unworldly saints that she thought, Alex discovers that the Magnolia League is involved in hoodoo, folk magic bestowed on them by the Gullah family known as the Buzzards. But as Alex gives in and becomes enmeshed in the hoodoo, she finds that there is a price she isn't willing to pay...
"The Magnolia League" is one of those books that just has a brilliant premise -- we have white-gloved, aristocratic Southern belles using local folk magic for their own ends. And Katie Crouch obviously has first-hand knowledge of Savannah, and she weaves in a lot of details that add realism to the story, such as the Gullah population, hoodoo spells and "haint blue" paint.
Unfortunately, Alex is a horrible, vile person. She spends the first half of the book being a preachy killjoy who nags at the other characters for driving cars, shopping for clothes, etc. Then she gives in to peer pressure and starts using hoodoo because.... she wants to be skinny. Yeah, the protagonist is actually the shallowest, most hypocritical person in the cast.
In short, Alex is judgemental, whiny, weak and wishy-washy. And she does something despicable, something UNFORGIVABLE to her boyfriend in the final chapters, and is shocked when "I'm sorry" doesn't earn instant forgiveness.
I will give Crouch credit -- I think she was trying to give her main character flaws (such as her chubbiness) rather than making her a perfect Sue. But she goes too far. Her writing is decent, but she peppers her story with way, way too many pop culture references -- Zac Efron, Justin Timberlake, and ""I don't mean to get all Kanye..." It's just distracting.
Some of the side-characters are fun, like snarky Mean Girl Madison, the creepy Sina, or the dorky Dex. And while Thaddeus is a thoroughly generic Brooding Love Interest, he is given a truly horrific reason to be. Unfortunately, none of the characters are fleshed out to their full potential -- Miss Lee, Sina, Sam and Hayes are left painfully underdeveloped.
"The Magnolia League" has a brilliant concept and a great setting, but the vile main character and underdeveloped supporting cast left me cold.