I found this book by way of Grady Hendrix who collaborated with Krouch for this book and its sequel. I was immediately intrigued, its right up my alley.....Southern setting, magic and debutantes. It didn't disappoint. Sure, its a bit trite, but thats true of most books in this genre. You are definitely reminded frequently that this is a YA read. Alex is pretty juvenile, a cookie cutter California hippie chick poster child. That said, its still an enjoyable and fast read. On to the sequel! ( )

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 their dependency upon the Buzzards, a black family filled with long-time hoodoo practitioners - 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.) ( )

The cover of this says "Magic changes everything". Apparently, magic isn't enough to turn this into a good book. It's a lesson in what not to do in YA. I expected better from the author, and am extremely disappointed. ( )

In The Magnolia League, Alex suffers a terrible blow when her mother drives her VW bus off a cliff and she must leave the commune where she has grown up for Savannah, Georgia. Her grandmother, a society maven in Georgia with tons of money, works to groom Alex as a member of her group, The Magnolia League. The League has secrets, however, and Alex must decide whether those secrets are something she'd like to be a part of.

Crouch offers a solid effort that is an easy and enjoyable read. However, the characters and plot points could use more development. Many situations and characters are so stereotypical and one-dimensional that it is hard to sympathize or identify with the story. Alex, herself, seems to go about the book in a fog - doing things that are either in sync with her hippie paper-doll cutout or what everyone expects of her. The one true thing about Alex was her inability to give up her makeover, no matter the implication. Although, at one point in the story she is willing to chuck that without much thought as well. The ending definitely makes way for a sequel or series.
( )

While I am not an avid reader of YA, I was drawn in by the idea of debutante secret society in Savannah (one of my favorite cities) with a side of magic. It was a bit young for my taste, which I expected, going into it. The premise is good and entertaining enough that I am interested in reading the sequel. I hover between 3 and 4 stars but, leaving out my feelings (which I know aren't the popular opinion) for YA, I give this title four stars. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to my teenage daughters. ( )