For about the first half of this, I was ready to give it three stars. It was a quick read, pretty okay - seemed like the typical high-school-popularity sort of novel, but with a bit more tongue-in-cheek... kind of like Mean Girls.Also, I think this book would really make for an awesome film!But then it took this slightly more weird twist... and I had to bump it up to four stars. (view spoiler)[I'm not sure how to shelve it because it was just weird. Basically, the four Bitches (one senior, one junior, one sophomore and one freshman - the latter being main character Jane) have this crazy hold over the entire school, as popular girls in American novels/movies just seem to DO. But in this case, the girls were stealing small things from other girls and giving them to one of the teachers once a week - in essence, siphoning off the popularity from the one they had stolen from, and absorbing it themselves. DUDE WTF. It was trippy!! And the teacher, "Lurl the Pearl", was a real whack job - turned out she was a former student who'd been ultra popular during her last three years of school, but an absolute nobody in her first... which is kind of what the elder three Bitches did: they took a freshman who wanted to be popular, and who had potential, and made her one of them.Man, it was trippy. But omg, the ending. Reminded me a bit of Blubber, actually. See, the Bitches were meant to steal from a different girl each week, to kind of even it out. But one of them, Bitsy (WTF KIND OF A NAME IS BITSY? And while I am at it, why was Mary Bryan always Mary Bryan and never just Mary?), was always stealing from the one girl, Camilla, against whom she was holding an EPIC grudge. So Camilla was having ALL of her popularity sucked dry and was therefore the most unpopular, hated girl in the school.Jane tried to be nice to her, and when the other girls in her class all went around to Camilla's place one night (and sweet fancy moses, they were full on discussing raping her, wtf), she totally stood up for Camilla and ruined everyone's plans... and later on, when Camilla was all dude wtf, Jane went and told her - and then showed her - everything.And then Camilla went and STOLE JANE'S KEY TO THE TEACHER'S OFFICE. AND STOLE SOMETHNG OF JANE'S. AND MADE HER OWN OFFERING. So the next day at school, suddenly Camilla is beloved and everyone hates Jane and everything bad happens to Jane and OMGWTF!!And that's how the book ends... with Camilla one of the Bitches and super popular and Jane knowing exactly why... but who can she tell? No one will speak to her and listen to crazy theories. Luckily, she still has her friend Phil, who was one of the only people never to be under the Bitches' spell. He never cared that they were popular and now, he doesn't care that Jane is unpopular. She's still his friend Jane. I totally ship them. ♥Speaking of shipping - I love how the Bitches, as well as being into boys, also had that vague air of being very into each other. They were just a little bit too close at times, which kind of added to their danger. Loved it. (hide spoiler)]
Jane, a high school freshman, does not start out very high on the social pyramid. In fact she seems content where she is. But when she gets chosen by the Bitches, she wants to be a part of their group so much that she agrees to go along with anything they want. These Bitches, Queen Bees of the high school who can't seem to stop being worshipped by everyone wherever they go, consist of Keisha, Bitsy, and Mary Bryan, all of whom are vaguely creepy in their vigor to maintain popularity. Bitsy, a junior, is the Bitchiest of the Bitches. I wanted to like her when she was first introduced, because who can't help but like her cute British expressions? But she didn't make it easy. She is charming, but it's clear that all her compliments are loaded. Mary Bryan is the nicer and more understanding of the three. She clearly remembers what it was like to be a freshman and the price she had to pay for popularity. I wanted to learn more about Keisha and have her contribute more to the story because I thought she was interesting and it would have been cool to hear about her own experience as a freshman with the Bitches. And then the witchcraft. I was sort of hoping that the purpose of the stolen items and the sacrifice of cats was more than popularity. I thought they were trying to raise a demon or something and the popularity was a side effect. But it was still delightfully creepy to read these sections, though nothing like a horror movie, despite the book's summary. Something I found completely unbelievable was the sex-on-a-picnic-table story. WHAT? First of all, what kind of friends were Keisha and Bitsy if they were forcing Mary Bryan to tell such a degrading story, and secondly, WHAT? again? I would have found it less outrageous if it had been, like, a blowjob or something, not SEX ON A PICNIC TABLE OUT IN THE OPEN.
What do You think about Rhymes With Witches (2006)?
This book was quite boring for me, It's about a girl who's name is Jane. She wants to become really popular like any other high schooler. She finds out how to become one of the (bitches) sorry for my language. She has to steal from any person and turn it in to become a part of one of them. Until she is one of them she has to steal a lot of stuff. One this is totally messed up what kind of high school is this? Jane you're truly dumb for even sacrificing your own respect just to get popular. That's just going to get you hate not love. Haters will hate and they won't be your motivators trust me on that one. I don't get why Jane and even them would have an idea of stealing people's stuff just to get popular. This is the most retarded idea I've ever heard. The book interested me somehow because of the way they acted and compared it with the people I used to look around with that called themselves popular. I still don't get this whole popularity non sense that everyone wants to be. Even if i was popular I wouldn't know why everyone would want to be. Good book even though it has so much non sense to it.
—Maria Contreras
I am kind of on the fence between "it was okay" and "I liked it." The writing itself was good, but I really felt let down by the ending. More on that later.What Parents Need to Know: There are a lot of parties with drinking. No one gets trashed, but the alcohol is present. There is a mention of one girl having had sex. There is a student who gets groped by a football player in the hall. There are violent intentions. There is definitely bullying. If your teenager wants to read this, I highly suggest you read it first and make sure the two of you talk about it after s/he has finished.What I liked: Overall, I liked the main character, and at first I liked the other characters as well. The characters had glimpses of other sides of them--glimpses that showed that these girls were "broken," which explained some of their behavior, though it doesn't make it acceptable. I like what Jane does in the end.What I disliked: The ending leaves you hanging, in a certain way. It's hard to describe without putting in spoilers, but I didn't feel like there was a satisfactory resolution. By the end, I felt like the characters and what they did was a characture--it didn't quite feel "real" (and I'm not talking about the supernatural stuff). I don't know quite how to explain this feeling more specifically.
—Corinne Yee
Ok, I can't really describe my feelings toward this book very well. I gave it two stars, because really, it was ONLY ok. Nothing else. I was mad at the end due to poor plotting. The end was incomplete and the protaganist was shallow and, let's face it, LAME. She was way to indecisive and I understand the temptations of over-ruling popularity, but she was unbelievable. As with the plotting, many things seemed to be random, and it did not leave me on the edge of my seat. Nor did it leave me waiting for the rest of the book. I guess I could call it kind of a melnacholy book with a few high pitches randomly placed, because there were some interesting spots, but Lauren Myracle left many things incomplete and unanswered, making me feel like the book was hollow and pointless. I can't say it was TERRIBLE, just no where, at all, would it be considered great in my opinion. Even the size of the book, small and black, just added fuel to my small flame of dislike. Maybe not necessarily dislike, because I can't ever remember not liking a book, but it would have at least been close to it. All in all, I give this book 2.5 stars, because the story was slightly promising, but the character(s) frustrated me many times, and some parts were pointless. And I didn't want to round up because I didn't feel like it deserved to be worthy of my "i liked it." BUT, BUT, BUT if you want a book to pass your time quickly, and your bored and can't find much else to read, then ta-da, I'll leave you to make you're decision of whether or not you're getting this book any time soon.
—Iris
