Maggie Quinn: Girl versus Evil- Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Maggie Quinn is rather like Buffy Summers. She's a girl with some psychic powers, and she survived a graduation that was truly hellish with the help of her girlfriend Lisa, who's a witch, and her boyfriend, Justin. She's a wisecracking, sarcastic girl who has eye set on a career in journalism, having worked on the school paper.

But now that she's in college, life isn't quite as easy for her as before, so she decides to write a new article on Hell Week, when the sororities and fraternities pick their new members from among the pledges who wish to join. Maggie has no real wish to join a sorority, but she thinks that an article that points out and pokes fun at the people who live that kind of life, would be perfect for the town newspaper. The editor of the paper doesn't employ college freshmen, so no matter how good her stuff is, she has no chance of getting a job.

Luckily, the editor of the college paper is more than willing to take the story- if she covers the whole of Rush Week. She gets a new name, the Phantom Rusher, and sets out to cover the whole thing. But with her snarky attitude, and more clean-cut than Goth look, who would take her into their sorority?

Early on, she finds it easy to point out the stupidity of Rush, also known as Hell Week for the effect it has on both the houses and the Rush-ees. Many girls grades go down because of all the activities they must attend, and the parties and meet and greets and questionings they undergo. But she's surprised that one of the Houses, the Sigma Alpha Xi's, seem to have something more on the ball than most. And could it be that many of the girls in the house, or even some of them, have psychic powers? Could it be that Maggie might actually have found a sorority where she could actually belong?

But something about the SAXi's, as they are known, pings on Maggie's inner "uh-oh" radar. Like how the people who hang around them for too long tend to get hurt, or die in strangely bad luck accidents. It really comes to a head when she hears a bunch of the other sisters admonishing Devon, one of the girls who Maggie had most bonded with during Hell Week, telling her she had to leave her boyfriend, that it wasn't safe.

Devon tries to pass it off as sorority arrogance, but a few weeks later, Devon is dead, killed in an accident by pure bad luck. This definitely sets off Maggie's radar, and she sets out to find out the truth behind the good luck enjoyed by the members of the sorority while their opponents and enemies always have bad luck. And when she finds the ceremonial trappings covered with weird glyphs and runes, she knows she's on to something more serious than one sorority's sense of superiority over the others. This is truly demonic. But how can Maggie fight back all by herself?

Luckily, thanks to her friends, and her abilities, she won't have to. But while Maggie has fought evil before, it's never been on this scale, and the evil is older than she knows. Is there any chance that she and her friends can walk into the Evil's lair and back out again unscathed?

I liked this book a lot. Maggie is rather obviously patterned on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but she's not up against Vampires, but rather demons. She has the obligatory friend who is a witch and a Wiccan (and who is away at a different college studying ceremonial magic and the occult) and has a boyfriend who is at a different college studying the folklore of various cultures and their magical traditions.

Well, she may not precisely be Buffy, but the book does have a lot of snappy dialogue and funny conversations, which to me is definitely reminiscent of Buffy. Pretty much all that are missing are analogues of Giles, Cordelia and Xander. But that doesn't prevent the book from being great or fascinating. The seeds of future disquiet are sowed so subtly, it isn't until further in the book that you realize the small things you didn't recognize were actually big neon signs flashing the words "Danger! Beware!"

I liked the way the book built slowly, then came to a climax which was as amazing as it was stunning. And while I didn't take this book for a romance, it did very recently win the RWA award for Best YA Romance. I'd peg this book as a mystery with strong romantic elements myself. But I do (and will) recommend it to anyone who loved Buffy or who likes that sort of "girl against bad things with a group of friends to back her up" kind of vibe. Recommended.