The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch

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.






I was very excited to read this book. I heard from a friend in my English class that is an absolute read for people who have read Castor Chronicles series, and I was recommended this book on Goodreads, and I saw it's has a dark, Southern mysterious essence to it, so I had to check it out. I'm a southern girl, and am always on the lookout for books dealing with the South. Crouch brings originality  to the traditional YA genre, but it mostly touches the some of the old tales in the South, like a Georgia society. It keeps you thinking a lot and wondering, like how the league is mysterious, what's hidden behind the locked doors, voodoo magic, it has a southern essence that makes you warm towards the book. I did like this book, it really did remind me of my favorite series the Castor Chronicles and it kept me not wanting to put the book down. The main character Alex represents everything society does to a young girl. I am currently considering buying the second book in the series.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters. By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect. As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

I read all three books in the series, and to be honest, they really are not that bad. In Hex Hall, the very first sentence that grabs you and makes you want to read the rest of the book, but you find yourself picking things that are from one very popular book series. Hex Hall to me was trying to imitate the Harry Potter books, only this time Harry is a girl named Sophie and when Sophie lost control of her powers in front of the public her father sends her to Hex Hall which is like a juvenile detention for supernatural creatures.

The books idea was intriguing which is why I chose to read it. Book two just had that typical love triangle that gets really annoying in books, and Sophie finds out she's a demon. Book three had to have been the one book in the series that got on my nerves. The plot just ended suddenly, and was too abrupt for example like how the whole war took five pages to write? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows used about 75% of the last book writing about the wizardry world war, wars can be written in books. Also the way Hawkins handled the love triangle within the characters was just torturous to those characters, I mean killing off the fiance? That's horrible, and the plot was too cliche. Hawkins also has releasing this year a spin-off series she is writing for this book series as well. I personally felt like the author was trying to copy the Harry Potter books along with the Vampire Academy, and the popular Disney movies played in the early 2000 the Halloweentown movies. I feel like I'm reading the movie because so many of the themes are so familiar.For example in Harry Potter, boarding school where they learn magic, courses to learn spells, powerful headmaster, relationship between headmaster and student, and student is chosen one? Then from the Vampire Academy, magic castle, vampires, courses learning how to fight, protagonist doesn't know their father, then learns the father is evil himself? 

It's feels like a lot of paranormal books are copying from the ones that are already popular, but try to make the story unique. Hawkins is not a bad writer, but there was too much hopping back and fourth between storylines, and I wish there were some more elements that she created herself than what was from other sources with the same source material.

My Monday Shows

I was so happy today! My shows returned! It's one of the reasons I don't like the holidays my shows go on break.

My favorite Monday show is Bunheads! I like Bunheads because well I am a bunhead. I love how the show uses ballet dancers and not stunt doubles.

In episode two of Bunheads, this was such a beautiful ballet tribute!

In the first half of season one, one of my favorite dance scenes was during episode six when Sasha and two other dancers are dancing.

Another dance scene I really like was at the end of season one episode ten when they were rehearsing for The Nutcracker, it was the Evil Rat Dance.

I think one of the highlights in the mid-season finale was when the dance teacher maced the entire ballet during their performance of The Nutcracker.

I also really like the show Switched at Birth, Season one was nothing but drama drama drama, and now the drama continues with season two!

The Witch's of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

The three Beauchamp women--Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid--live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret--they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache. For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them. With a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites, this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil.

I am a fan of Melissa's other series, but there were some things with this book. It felt a tad random that all three women, who have not used their magic since the Salem witch trials, decide it's finally okay to cast a spell here and there. Is it coincidence that when they using their magic again evil starts to take it's toll. There are parts in the plot that are too stereotype to what myths about withces say. There was a climactic ending, and you feel a connection to the sisters. 

I am an avid fan of Cruz's other book series, Blue Bloods series of vampires in Mahatthan it's almost like Gossip Girl meets Vampires, but I am not too crazy about this first book in the series. Since I read her other series I could have sworn this is just another spin off book from her Blue Blood novels. I think this book series would have read better if Cruz had started writing the series with the concept of a brand new project instead of throwing in the characters from her other book series Blue Blood.Reading this made The writing felt familiar like to her other series