"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

Far in the future, we have finally settled the argument between the pro-life and the pro-choice, after a war that could've been the end of our country. The solution: Unwinding.

This is a process that our government came up with at the last minute. There are no more abortions. You must have the child, and either Stork it (placing it on a random stranger's doorstep, after which the child is legally theirs) or raise it until the child is thirteen, and then you have a choice until they're eighteen: keep the kid, or send it to an unwinding camp, where the boy or girl is unwound – surgically taken apart piece by piece, the body parts saved for spares. Someone breaks an arm? No big deal – just get another. Have cancer? Eh, whatever. You can replace that part of you with someone else's. Everyone's happy.

Right?

Not the teens who are being sacrificed.

Unwind follows three teens: Connor, 16, whose parents have finally decided to have him unwound because he's too much trouble. Risa, a ward of state, is being shipped off because she's too expensive. And Lev, who is a tithe: since birth, he's known this was to be his fate. His parents have given ten percent of everything they own to charity, and that includes their son.

Connor runs. Risa is on the bus when it crashes, and joins him, a total stranger, in her escape. And Lev is "abducted" by the two desperate teens who are sure they are saving him. But life on the run isn't easy. Not when there's juvie cops and starvation and spies tossed into the mix...

Definitely a great book – a bit creepy, but what can you expect from a plot like that? The characters are pretty believable. Connor has anger issues, Risa just hides all her emotion, and Lev is definitely in denial. But they develop, and the ending wraps up the story well. Eight of of ten waves!

– Cassandra

"WItch Child" by Celia Rees

Sorry for the long-time-no-update – school, homework,  yadda yadda yadda. Anywho.

It starts with drama and heartache, in the form of 16-year-old Mary's grandmother. A kind healer-woman, she has been condemned as a witch. Her neighbors, who she's helped many times, now turn against her. After torture and starvation, she is hanged – and now that the "witch" is dead, attention may turn to her granddaughter.

A rich woman takes Mary away from the site of the murder and tells her she is going to America, acting as a young orphaned Protestant. In a small trunk of essentials, Mary finds a journal and a note – the woman is her mother. 

The journey overseas is long and dangerous, though Mary meets and befriends Martha, Rachel and a ship's boy whose future she sees in the water. It seems that the peril of England is gone when the pilgrims reach the New World. But it is not so; an old woman warns her that superstitions are not banished, but multiplied by the dark forests, full of natives and unexplored dangers and wild animals.

And though Mary befriends a few of her neighbors, the rest are not so kind. So when the preacher's son takes an interest in Mary and Rachel falls in love, some are not satisfied. There are two that come to Mary for witching: Hannah and Sarah. But when Mary refuses their requests and denies her witchcraft, the girls take matters into their own hands.

An excellent read! Celia Rees is way up there on my favorite author list, up in the top ten. She weaves a tale of dark and light, full of hope and evil, good and loneliness. It ends in a huge cliff-hanger, but luckily there's a second one: Sorceress. 

Eight out of ten waves!

"Weregirls: Birth of the Pack" by Petru Popescu

Lily and her friends have finally succeeded in making an all-girls soccer club at their school, and are on a roll. The Weregirls (that's their team name) practice on the run-down field with beat-up  goals and play other teams, winning constantly. Lily, Nikki, Arielle and Grazia are ecstatic... until someone else comes into the play (pardon the pun). Andra Hewlit appears to be your-average pretty rich blonde girl, but underneath she's really much worse than that. She wants control of Lily's soccer team (insert fainting and screams of terror)!!! To Lily's friends, Andra seems innocent enough – and even better, if she gets to be the captain of the team, they'll all get new uniforms and shoes, and even be upgraded from just a club to a school team! Yay!

Nikki, Arielle and Grazia are all for it, but Lily isn't so sure. There's something weird up with Andra – she seems almost obsessed with the soccer team, and is convinced that Lily has "magical powers" of some sort. Lily refuses Andra, obviously. So Andra gathers together her own team, even stealing girls from the Weregirls to make an elite force. Her intention is obvious, and after a few pages, Andra challenges Lily and her team to a match; if Lily wins, she keeps the team. If Andra wins, she takes over. Of course, the Weregirls win. But Andra kicks Lily viciously in the leg, so Lily has to go home and care for her leg. At home, she finds a strange mirror, and when she looks in it, she sees a cute puppy dancing around, and she hears the spirit of her dead father telling her that she is a weregirl, meant to fight against the evil Breed that threatens the world. As it turns out, all of Lily's friends are wolves, too! And there's this super hot guy who is obviously interested in Lily, even though her dad warns her that they can't be together because she's a wolf. Sigh. Of course Lily disobeys dear old dad and pursues the hottie anyway. Anywho, it turns out Andra is in league with the Breed, la-de-la-la. Etc, etc.

This book is literally the worst book I've ever read. The plot is utterly predictable, the characters unoriginal, and the writing boring. The author tries to save the book with a forbidden romance and a big fight scene at the end, but ugh. And in the epilogue, she tries to get a little sympathy for Andra, but eh. All I saw was that Lily and Andra both refuse to obey authority, the Breed are waking up (boo hiss) and there is no hope for the next book.

Erm... one out of ten waves for trying. Otherwise – nah, there's nothing.

I have edited this post so you can't read it! Muahaha! Anyway, it's not anything you'd be interested in. I was wrong, anyways

Assistance, s'il-vous plait! 

You can tell when I start speaking French that I'm either a) frazzled, b) excited or {in this case} c) eeek!!!

Has anyone here ever had appendicitis? Anyone? I'm looking for some advice... what happens, how long the surgery takes to remove that damned little appendix, etc. 

Pro: This isn't for me, fortunately.

Con: This is for my little sister. Hm, lower right abdominal pain, not eating, other things I'm not going to talk about – all points to appendicitis. Right now my parents are driving her down to the hospital to get checked out and figure out if this is really appendicitis or just some overreaction... my grandma (who, coincidentally is a nurse) thinks it's gonna blow soon if we don't get it out. I'm stuck with sitting at home with some guests (but you guys are awesome to be stuck at home with, Liesl and Carla) writing this post in hopes for some real-time info. I'm too nervous to go google it and surf through a hundred billion answers.

HELP! Pretty please? *hopeful smile*

"Enter Three Witches" by Caroline B. Cooney

The book starts in a kitchen, with the cook, Swin, telling of her alleged  visit the Weird Ones on the moor last night. Mary of Shiel, a young ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth, is shocked, so when Swin escapes again to the moor, she follows.

In the meantime, told from the points of view of Fleance and Seyton, one the coddled son of Banquo, the other Macbeth's squire, a battle rages outside of the castle. Fleance is ordered to stay away from the fighting, with Seyton to watch over him. The shame is overwhelming – doesn't his father think he's good enough? But when Seyton kills and Fleance takes the credit, the young lord is satisfied.

Mary, however, is not. She's currently terrified out of her wits. After following Swin across the moor for a ways, she quickly got lost and ran into the Weird Ones. She demands to know what they've done with Swin – but when the three witches tell her to run, she gladly does. On the way, she sees the triumphant commanders of the army, Banquo and Macbeth, on the heath. What are they doing here?  she wonders, and listens in.

"All hail the Thane of Cawdor... All hail Macbeth, who shall be king hereafter!"

And so begins a bloodbath that leads to the rule of King and Queen Macbeth, the murder of wives and children, and moving forests come to battle the blood-crowned king...

In this clever retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, told from five different points of view, our young heroine goes from cowardly little heiress, to cowardly little penniless girl, to brave (in some circumstances) little heiress again. The style is quite unique and sucks you into the dark story of madness, hatred, and unexpected heroics against unexpected villains. I give this book 4-5 waves (as in, ocean waves).

Exciting new thing!

As I was strolling along throughout the various blogs in my bookmarks, I happened to spot four wonderful words:

Book Blogger Appreciation Week! 

Honestly, I have no idea what this (fabulous) idea contains, but it sounds good to me! So, head on over to whatvanessareads.wordpress.com and figure out what she's talking about!

Also, a word of advice: never make quesadillas while checking your blog. You will burn it.

 

Gnawing unhappily on blackened tortillas and cheese,

Cassandra

"Angels on Sunset Boulevard" by Melissa de la Cruz

There's a new star in the sky, and his name is Johnny Silver. Rising from the depths of a poor life in the outskirts of LA, his music is entrancing, heart-touching and crowd-enticing. The headlines scream his name. He's started a new era of music.

But his girlfriend, Taj, has had enough. She's tired of seeing him with other girls, tired of life in the spotlight. So on the night of his biggest concert, she leaves him...

But she's watching as he ascends the stage, listening as the crowd roars his name loud enough to shake the sky down.

And she sees when, as he strikes the first chord, a blinding light flashes. And when her eyes clear, he's gone.

But Nick has his own problems, including that his hot and popular girlfriend, Maxine, has broken up with him and the disappearance of his sister, Fish. He shrugs these things aside – he can deal with a breakup, and Fish has vanished before, but she always comes back. Only when he meets Taj does he start to see the rising number of missing kids with suspicion.

In the middle of this mess is TAP. It's a website, where one can chat, laugh, and post up a "wish list" of anything you desire... but on TAP, people get you the things you ask for. And what about the mysterious back room at all of the TAP parties, hosted by the missing Johnny Silver's manager, Sutton?

Questions, questions, questions – all revolving around The Angels Practice (TAP) and the strange, intoxicating drink served in the back room.

My review is a resounding eh. This book falls somewhere between Twilight and Weregirls: the Birth of the Pack, the former being a Oh my god I've found the next Harry Potter! and the latter being Good god run screaming!! 

Angels on Sunset Boulevard is a far cry from the enticing Blue Bloods, but you can read it if you want. Again: eh.