Merry Christmas Eve to everyone. A beautiful day in the islands. Lots of people out and about today. I was surprised at how quiet the airport was last night when I picked Steve up since there isn't a hotel room available on the island between now and New Years. I guess the tourists want to get as much out of their first day on island as they can and come in on the earlier planes. The airport was nutso when I came in mid afternoon on Wednesday with tourists galore.

I hadn't done it intentionally, but I seem to be in "witch mode" in my reading. One of the other books I read while in flight between the Mainland and St. Thomas is Lauren Myacle's new one - Rhymes with Witches. She talked about it at an Abram's luncheon at ALA Annual in Orlando and I was anxious to read it so when the ARC came in I knew what my plane reading was going to be. And, I wasn't disappointed. Sarcastic, witty, and right on target.

Every high school I have ever been associated with has had that clique of girls that everyone wants to be like - the Bitches. Did you ever wonder how they got to be the center of attention? What is so special about them? Jane wonders the same thing and while her best friend Alicia wants desperately to be a cheerleader, Jane dreams of popularity. What she doesn't know is that popularity is offered to the least popular girl in the 9th grade, but to keep it she has to steal a little popularity away from another student every week to keep it. Would Jane have jumped at the possibility of becoming a Bitch and gone through the initiation rites if she knew? Or was she so enamored by popularity that she ignored the obvious - it comes at a cost? After taking the easy way out and stealing a lip balm from already unpopular Alicia, she learned to choose wisely who she steals from - some of the girls can afford to lose a little popularity, some of them can't, like Alicia. Each item, a barrette, a lip balm, or a necklace that the Bitches steal from their classmates becomes a sacrificial offering so they can retain their artificial popularity.

Things go awry when Jane balks at stealing from her classmates and at Bitsy's vicious attacks on Camille, the girl in a neighboring house who saw Bitsy, one of the other Bitches, beg her father not to leave them. Jane tries to protect Camille, but it back fires. How far will you go to be popular? Myracle takes it right to the edge. Rhymes with Witches will be very popular with the girls who love the Gossip Girls series and the movie Mean Girls.

That's it for today.