Books of Summer 5/7

Yes, I will finish this list, but there were other things I wanted to post first. (Did you enjoy a full week of reviews? There weren't very many comments, so I doubt I'll be repeating the experiment.)



HIGHWAY TO HELL by Rosemary Clement-Moore

So this one is a little less affordable and a little less wieldly than my previous choices, as it's only available in hardcover. I do know a lot of libraries carry the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series, and a library copy is a good way to tide yourself over until the paperback becomes available. (Or maybe you're a little weird and like hardcovers better.) This one is also about Spring Break rather than summer, but we'll give it a close enough.

For those who haven't read the first two books in the series, don't worry. The only overarching plot so far is the main characters getting better at using their abilities and furthering their relationships. The books standalone quite well. Protagonist Maggie Quinn is snarky and capable, as is her best friend Lisa. (And Lisa is quite ready to call any guy out if he tries to be their white knight.) They're stranded in small town Dulcina, Texas when all they wanted to do is hang out on South Padre Island. Once more, Maggie has stumbled upon something that goes bump in the night.

What really struck me about this entry in the series is Rosemary Clement-Moore's addition of two new characters: a Catholic bruja and a seminary student. She does an excellent job of representing and respecting the theology without making it right or wrong. She applies the same weight to Lisa's New Age and science based ideas of how good should fight evil. It would be silly for a series about good and evil, set mostly in the real world, to ignore real theology. But it's also not the place of a YA novel to tell people what to believe. So I like that Clement-Moore handles the subject carefully and always puts telling the story first.

Funny, fresh, and fierce, HIGHWAY TO HELL will distract you from the boring parts of your own road trip. (And make you happy that the exciting parts don't include demons.)