Rosemary Clement-Moore

The third book in the Maggie Quinn series has Maggie and her best friend Lisa driving to Spring Break on South Padre Island. Neither are really the Spring Break type. Maggie wants to do an article for her school newspaper and Lisa just wants to do something normal.

However, their plans fall apart when Maggie's jeep hits a dead cow in the road and the two of them find themselves stranded in Dulcina, Texas, with something supernatural going on. The locals are sure that El Chupacabra has made a return as evidenced by missing and dead animals ranging from a small dog through goats and calves and cows. Both Maggie and Lisa are intrigued, and both are hoping that this won't be their next encounter with evil.

With Justin spending some time with his best friend Henry, Maggie feels a bit lost without his support and his research skills. A trip to a small local roadside museum with a faked-up skeleton of a supposed chupacabra doesn't shed much light on the mystery though a small relic from a long-lost Indian tribe may hold a clue.

Evidence of some sort of supernatural something becomes hard to dismiss as Maggie is having visions about something evil despite Lisa new friend Zeke's assurance that it is just some natural creature made more dangerous by the drought. Zeke's grandmother who appears in Maggie's visions is busy denying any sort of supernatural evil despite having bested it some fifty years earlier. When Justing and Henry join the girls, the whole Scooby gang is together again and just in time to battle a demon.

This story has it all. There is great worldbuilding, intriguing supernatural characters, snarky conversations between best friends, and all sorts of action as they bettle the demon. Fans of YA paranormal fiction will enjoy this one.… (more)

Maggie Quinn took on a demon at her senior prom and is hoping that her college experience will be less fraught with danger. She would like to study to become a photojournalist, but the college newspaper doesn't take freshmen. She decides to convince them to change their minds by going undercover to write about fraternity Rush Week despite having no actual desire to enter a sorority.

As she attends parties, she comes to believe that something odd is going on at Sigma Alpha Xi. When she is invited to join, she slowly discovers what is happening. Those girls are just too lucky. And the advisors seem to have a hidden agenda.

Maggie is also experiencing some memory problems. All of a sudden, she can't remember her dreams and seems to keep losing track of her desire to investigate the sorority. With her friend Lisa away at college and her potential boyfriend Justin seemingly distancing himself, she feels like she is all alone in trying to find out what is happening at the sorority.

But when she needs them, Lisa and Justin both step up to figure out what is happening at the sorority and finding a way to stop it.

This was an entertaining young adult title. I liked Maggie's relationship with her family. Her grandmother is a constant support for her as she tries to accept her psychic gifts. I liked Maggie's determination to succeed in college and with her potential future career. The paranormal parts of the plot were well done.

Fans of YA and the paranormal will enjoy this story.… (more)

Maggie Quinn is just holding on and laying low and waiting until graduation. She wants to let all the high school drama pass her by. But when she asked to prom by one of the nerds and then witnesses his being hazed, actually tortured, by the high school elite, she finds herself getting involved in more than she wants to.

Maggie has some sort of psychic gift that she has been denying most of her life. She doesn't want to believe any of that irrational stuff. But when the group of Jocks and cheerleaders - all named Jessica - start having some strange accidents and exhibiting strange behaviors, she finds herself involved. In fact, she was almost one of the victims when a fellow student takes her place in line for the diving board in PE class and suffers an accident. Maggie has a terror of water if she can't see the bottom and when she sees a strange shadow in the water, she just can't force herself onto the diving board.

But bad dreams and high school drama aren't enough to keep her from dredging up her hidden Nancy Drew and investigating the strange occurrences.

This was a fun story of an intrepid - and sarcastic - high school student. I liked her circle of friends and helpers including a new love interest. I liked her supportive parents and grandmother. I liked the pop culture references which might be a bit dated for a new generation of teen readers since it was written in 2007.

This book has been sitting on my TBR mountain since 2008. But now I bought the other two books in the series and hope to read them without waiting for fifteen years.… (more)