Review: The White Glove War (Magnolia League #2) by Katie Crouch and Grady Hendrix

I got ahold of an ARC of this book from the YA Book Exchange.  It's been out for about 2 years now, but I haven't had a chance to get a copy of it until I found it there. When I first started reading it I was a bit confused.  What I remembered from the fist book, The Magnolia League, was Alex's story.  And this book actually is told from two viewpoints.  It doesn't start with Alex though, and that is what got me confused I think.  It started with her friend Hayes.  But once I got into the book, I really was glad to get two sides of the story.  And it looks as if there should be a third book, that would follow Hayes, or at least trying to find and save her.  Again, if you haven't read the first book, go click on my link to it above and read that.  My review below might spoil it for you.

So Hayes is ready to be a part of the Magnolia League with her mother and grandmother.  Turns out though that her family and Alex's family haven't really ever gotten along. There has been a rivalry since the beginning.  Alex only wants to get her mother back.  And so she is trying to get in good with her grandmother in order to learn the things she would need to try to bring her mother back to life.  Never mind that this is against the three types of magic the Magnolia girls are not supposed to try.  Not only that, but her grandmother has trapped her mother in the blue room of her house, another type of magic not supposed to be done.  Someone has called on an evil spirit, The Gray Man, to hurt Alex, the same person who wanted her mother dead.  There are lots of secrets in the League.  And Alex has made a deal with Sina to get her mother back, in exchange for helping Sina bring down the Magnolia League.  The Gray Man takes over Alex and causes her to be hateful to her friends, not to mention almost making her drive head on into oncoming traffic, which would have killed her, but also Hayes who was in the car at the time.  Hayes's brother is still in love with Alex it seems, even after what happened in the last book.  And of course there is the third friend in the book, Madison.  Who may be able to help as an outside party between the two girls.  But her grandmother will also break one of the three spell rules.  All of these things could bring down the League if their hoodoo supplier, Doc, were to find out. 

There is lots of suspense.  So many moments of what next!  It was hard to put down, and as good a read as the first one, once I kind of figured out where I was.  I mean, you have to give me a bit of a break, I read the first one summer of 2011.  There is no 3rd one listed on Goodreads, at least not under the first author's name.  So I had to tweet her and ask if there was a third one in the works!  Because it definitely didn't end with this book. 

Waiting on Wednesday - The White Glove War (Magnolia League #2) by Katie Crouch

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting! This week the book I've chosen is The White Glove War, the sequel to The Magnolia League, by Katie Crouch. Here is the blurb from BarnesandNoble.com:

Every society has its secrets.

The members of Savannah's Magnolia League have it all: money, beauty, power, and love. Some may call them lucky, but we know better. Spells, potions, and conjures are a girl's best friends, and thanks to the Buzzards -- a legendary hoodoo family -- the Magnolias never run out of friends.

Golden girl Hayes Anderson would never dream of leaving the League or Savannah, where there's no problem that can't be fixed with a cup of Swamp Brew tea -- served in a bone china cup, of course -- and no boy who can't be won over with a Conjure Up a New Love spell.

But when danger lurks and family secrets are unearthed, Hayes discovers that her life may not be charmed after all.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, you can see my review of the book here.  I got the first as an egalley from Netgalley.  I hope the 2nd is provided as well.  This book doesn't come out until July, so it's going to be a summer read for me.

What are you eagerly waiting on this week?

And while you're here, don't forget to enter my 300 followers in January giveaway for a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble, time is almost up to get in, and I still need 6 more followers by then to even give this away!

Magnolia League by Katie Crouch

This is yet another egalley from Netgalley. And I'm glad I got it. It is already published, in May, a bit before I downloaded it, and that is part of why I wanted to read it, because I picked it up and read the jacket at the bookstore where I work.

Our main character is Alex, or Alexandria which is her full name. She has lived her whole life on a kind of hippie commune with her mother. They do grow pot like you'd expect, but her mother is more of an herbalist, growing all kinds of herbs and using them to cure and help those around them. Her mother has never really spoken of her past, or Alex's father. At the beginning of the book, Alex's mother dies in a car crash. Alex wants to just stay on the commune and continue working in her mother's herb garden. She has a boyfriend and that's all she's known for her life. But a surprise shows up in the form of a lawyer for her grandmother, who wants to take her back to her hometown, Savannah, Georgia. The lawyer pressures the commune leader with threats of the police finding out about the marijuana, and also gives money to help them continue with the business. So Alex is taken back to Georgia to an old southern mansion. Now, Alex's grandmother is very young looking, and the president of a local debutante group called the Magnolias. She wants Alex to become a part of this as all generations should. Alex is not the type, she has dreadlocked hair, wears only t-shirts and jeans, and hates the consumerism that is shown with shopping. Two of the girls, Madison and Hayes, are asked by her grandmother to get her clothed and fit into the society. At first, Alex fights it. She's chubby, and gets made fun of for it by the other kids at school. So she runs back to the commune, only to find out the leader has destroyed her mother's herb garden to grow more marijuana. She also finds out her "boyfriend" has a girlfriend that has now shown up at the commune. So, she goes back to Georgia and tries to fit in.

Turns out there is some magic going on, how else could a grandmother look that young, and Madison and Hayes eat like pigs, but are perfectly skinny. Alex learns the secrets and begins to become a Magnolia, complete with falling in love with Hayes's brother.

I loved the story, the background, the magic. I do have one major complaint though. The fact that Alex promises Hayes's brother that she won't use magic on him, and then she does. I hate that! I'm such a loyal person, that when I promise something I stick to it. And this made me not a fan of Alex's for doing this. That's my one big gripe with the story, because of course it leads to huge problems with the boy. I think that could have been left out, and with what happens at the end, it could still have happened that way without ruining this. My opinion, but I still liked it, and will be looking forward to the next book in the series.