Hell Week

Some people think that Texas has only one season, that it's summer all year long. In fact, the Lone Star State does have four seasons: Hot, Humid, Horrible, and Hellacious. But when I decided to road-trip with D&D Lisa to South Padre Island, I didn't think that last one would be so literal.\ I shouldn't have been surprised. I'm Maggie Quinn: Psychic Girl Detective. Lisa is an amateur sorcerer. We aren't exactly normal college freshmen. Yet there we were, doing the normal college thing, setting off on a Rite of Passage: Spring Break at the Beach.\ An odd choice, since I hate any water deeper than a bathtub, I already have a boyfriend, and if you couldn't tell from her nickname, D&D Lisa isn't the beer and boobfest type. Neither am I. But we'd wanted to take a road trip, and the destination had started as a joke. Then I pitched an article to the editor of the Bedivere University newspaper-who seemed amused by the whole World's Least Likely Spring Breakers angle-and to my surprise, Lisa went along with it.\ In the end, our reasons don't matter, except to explain how we came to be cruising down State Highway 77 in the smallest hour of the morning, even though we knew-better than most-what kinds of things go bump in the night.\ I flexed my hands on the Jeep's steering wheel and sank lower into the seat. It was a long drive, which hadn't seemed so daunting until I realized how much of it was through landscape so desolately featureless, it made me think Dante must have visited here before he wrote The Inferno.\ “If I owned Hell and Texas, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell.”\ Lisa paused in fiddling with the radio. “What's that about?”\ I shrugged. “Something I read once. Like . . . Did you know Velasquez County has more cows than people in it?”\ There was just enough light from the dashboard to see her roll her eyes. “Remind me to never go up against you on Jeopardy!”\ Under a nearly full moon, the coastal plain was as flat as a silver-gray sea, cut by a black ribbon of highway and a smaller thread of railroad tracks running alongside. Now and then we'd reach a crossroads, where there might be a grain silo, a water tower, or a tiny fruit stand, deserted for the night and only adding to the barren atmosphere.\ It seemed like there should be more traffic-other spring breakers, semis on their NAFTA routes, minivans loaded up like the Griswolds' station wagon in Vacation-but since we'd passed Corpus Christi, the signs of civilization had dwindled to zero. We'd passed the last minimart an hour ago, and with nothing on the horizon but more road-and eventually Mexico-I was beginning to regret the twelve ounces of Coke I'd downed to keep alert in the unrelieved boredom.\ “You didn't have to come with me,” I pointed out.\ Lisa had given up on the radio and plugged my iPod into the adaptor. “Is it so weird to want to do something normal?”\ I glanced at her silhouette, arching my brows wryly. “For you? Yes.”\ “I'm taking a break from my sorcerous studies. It will be just like the old days, except that instead of sitting around in the caf mocking the jock-headed and lame, we'll be sitting on the sand mocking the drunk, sunburnt, and slutty.” She bent her long, denim-clad leg to an impossible angle and propped her foot on the dash. “Besides, I'm ahead on all my coursework, so what else am I going to do? Sit around and play World of Warcraft all week?”\ Our friendship had endured four years of high school, freshman semesters spent at colleges half a country apart-not to mention the forces of darkness. In the past year, one of us had summoned a demon, one of us had vanquished it, and our friendship had nearly fallen apart. Then we'd had to team up to defeat a sorority who had the devil on speed dial. Lisa had saved my life, which went a long way toward reestablishing trust between us.\ That's a grossly abbreviated summary of events, of course. The important thing is, Lisa isn't a bad person, though she sometimes thinks she is. Really she's just . . . complicated. Which I guess you would have to be to summon a demon, even sort of unintentionally, in the first place.\ So I could see her wanting a break from that for a week. As for myself, a feature article for Bedivere U's Daily Report was just an excuse. My real reason was tiny, pink, colicky, and possessed of a wail like an air-defense siren.\ I'd been an only child for eighteen years, and while I didn't mind sharing the bright center of my parents' universe, I'd been completely unprepared for the disruption that my infant sister brought to the house. Lately I spent long hours away on campus, or at my boyfriend's apartment. But with school out for the week, and Justin going out of town, too, I was at loose ends. I would have jumped at a chance for a trip to the moon.\ Lisa clicked through my playlists, looking dissatisfied with the selection. “You're going to have fun this week, right?”\ I glanced at her doubtfully. “Surrounded by the drunk and disorderly? We are going to study the natives, not to become them.”\ “Which does not preclude having a good time. You're not going to be all goody-two-shoes?”\ “What does that mean?” Since I had already taken the unprecedented step of lying to my parents about our departure time in order to avoid the “Two girls driving alone at night” speech, I really didn't appreciate being called a killjoy.\ “Don't get pissy. I just don't want you to mope around because Sir Galahad isn't there.”\ “Sir Galahad” is my boyfriend, Justin. He and Lisa had started off on a bad foot, though they've since reached a kind of détente. Lisa, in her D&D terminology, says that Justin is a Lawful Good Paladin. She doesn't always mean it as a compliment, but it's absolutely true, so it's hard to take offense.\ “Just because I have a boyfriend doesn't mean I require a guy to be happy. And if I ever do, just shoot me.” Needling me was Lisa's way of breaking up the monotony of the drive, but that didn't stop me from getting defensive. “Besides, it's good to have some time apart.”\ “You're sure?” She prodded me like a bug under a microscope. “It doesn't irk you he's spending the week with this buddy of his?”\ The only thing more provoking than Lisa in a good mood was Lisa in the throes of boredom. “Why should it irk me?”\ “It's your first school break as a couple.” She was fishing, and I was determined not to take that bait.\ “Henry's been his best friend since forever. They're going to hang out and do guy stuff. It's not any different than you and I going off to do girl stuff.” I shot her a look.\ “Not that I can remember why that seemed like a good idea.”\ “Because we're best friends.” Lisa unplugged my iPod and replaced it with hers. The screen cast her face in a cool glow, at odds with her devilish smile. “And when I take over the world, I'll appoint you to a place of distinction in my Council of Evil.”\ “Can't wait.”

\ KLIATT\ - Claire Rosser\ The sequel to Prom Dates From Hell continues Maggie's story as she begins her freshman year in the local college where her father teaches and is caught up in sorority rush—that's how the title fits in. Of course, she manages to connect to a sorority that has a strange history, a sorority interested in her because of her psychic gifts. This sorority is filled with nefarious sisters—even the alumnae cannot be trusted. Maggie throws herself into the hell, so to speak, and the resulting story is witty and entertaining. Light fare, for sure. Reviewer: Claire Rosser\ \ \ \ \ VOYA\ - Stacy Hayman\ Maggie is starting her freshman year of college at Bedivere University. The downside is living at home. The upside would be turning her summer internship at the local paper into an ongoing job, in addition to seeing more of potential boyfriend Justin, a graduate student at the same school. When Maggie decides to join Sorority Rush for an investigative article, she has no idea that she has opened a Pandora's Box of trouble. The local paper passes, but the college paper wants Maggie to become the Phantom Pledge and write about her experiences. She chooses Sigma Alpha Xi. Maggie's gut feeling is that something strange is going on in the SAXi house and the SAXi sisters seem to know about her psychic abilities that readers learned about in Prom Dates from Hell (Delacorte, 2007). As the pledge process progresses, Maggie's lucky breaks increase and her intuitive insights decrease. What is really going on in the SAXi house, bringing unbelievable good fortune to its pledges, members, and alumni? This reader has found a new series to love. The first book was a great start, and this installment is top-notch fun and a satisfying follow-up for older teens. Great dialogue and smart, interesting relationships that grow and change make both books a joy to read. There is endless potential in these characters and in their lives. Be aware Maggie is in college and acts true to her age. Also the demons Maggie faces are succubi, stealing their power through sex. Underage drinking is briefly talked about, but Maggie does not partake. Reviewer: Stacy Hayman\ \ \ Children's Literature\ - Janet L. Rose\ A freshman in college, Maggie goes undercover to write articles for the school paper as a pledge seeking membership in a sorority. As she gets more involved in the Sigma Alpha Xi sorority, she becomes more like one of them. She starts to accept all the rituals and snobbish social behavior that she once saw with irony and scorn. Fortunately she has the strength to realize that she might be cursed and with her friend, Justin, she soaks the pledge pen and symbolism hung on her door in salt water to counteract the spell it has on her. Power is added by members who have sex with boyfriends and channel the energy to the sorority, draining the boy of life forces. In extreme cases and when the boy is not a Gamma Phi Ep or accepted by the group, it could mean death. Will Maggie be able to stand up to the combined strength and power of the SAXis? This is the second in a "Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil" series. Reviewer: Janet L. Rose\ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalGr 9 Up- Reluctant psychic Maggie Quinn, introduced in Prom Dates from Hell (Delacorte, 2007), begins her first year of college at Bedivere University. She desperately wants to work on the school paper, but since freshmen aren't allowed on staff, she finds the one story that only a freshman can get. Maggie decides to rush campus sororities to expose the secrets of the Greek system. As she makes the rounds of parties and rituals, she publishes her observations each week. She's surprised, though, to find herself being drawn to Sigma Alpha Xi, one of the most exclusive sororities on campus. SAXis and their alumni are always the most accomplished and powerful women. Maggie soon learns that they all have one other thing in common-they have magical power, and being in the sorority somehow guarantees success in life. That success comes at a price, though, and some of the young women are using their power in very evil ways. A story of evil forces and succubi in a sorority could come off as ludicrous and unbelievable, but Clement-Moore makes it work by tempering the ridiculous with Maggie's dry humor and biting observations of Greek life in general. Teens who like social commentary and witty comebacks with their horror will devour Hell Week .-Stephanie L. Petruso, Anne Arundel County Public Library, Odenton, MD\ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsSupernaturally perceptive teen Maggie Quinn battles evil again in this sequel (Prom Dates from Hell, 2007), which fast forwards to her first semester at Bedivere University (BU), where, to Maggie's surprise, she finds herself rushing campus sororities. Although she rolls her eyes at hokey traditions and stereotypical members, Maggie plans to use details from rush to fuel an expose that she hopes will get her on the staff of BU's campus newspaper. So when Maggie's story is published she's thrilled to be the anonymous "Phantom Pledge" and can't refuse the request to keep writing. Continuing on, Maggie pledges the powerful sorority, Sigma Alpha Xi, whose sisters seem suspiciously successful. However, as a pledge, Maggie's own luck snaps into overdrive, blocking her own perceptive powers and her ability to realize that she's tangling with evil again until it's too late. Maggie's snarky humor and quirky personality keeps this novel's first half light, but the second takes a dark, page-turning twist as Maggie is forced to figure out and destroy the ancient source of the sisters' power. (Horror. YA)\ \