The White Glove War

Gr 9 Up—This follow-up to The Magnolia League (Little, Brown, 2011) picks up with Alex, 16, playing the part of the impeccable granddaughter and member of the Magnolia League, a powerful society of women who maintain their beauty through magic. She has even dumped her beloved Thaddeus. After discovering that her grandmother is keeping her dead mother's spirit trapped between life and the afterlife, Alex vows to do anything to get her mother back. She forms an alliance with Sina, a hoodoo priestess who works for the Magnolia League even though she detests the group. Alex will give Sina dirt to help her destroy the group and Sina will draw upon her highest magical resources to bring Alex's mother back over into life. Meanwhile Thaddeus's sister and dutiful Magnolia member's perfect façade is falling apart, and Alex seems to be at the root of it. On top of everything, she is plagued by a spirit called "Gray Man," who destroys everything in his path. Alex's few clumsy romantic encounters with Thaddeus are awkwardly portrayed, partly due to his character's lack of real depth. The chapters alternate between various first-person narrators and a few oddly inserted third-person chapters, making for an uneven and hard-to-follow story. A vividly terrifying scene in which Sina coerces the evil spirit of the Gray Man to leave Alex alone is the high point of this otherwise scattered and confusing sequel. This one is for established fans.—Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ