Review: Parties and Potions

Title: Parties and Potions

Author: Sarah Mlynowski

Page count: 340

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ean=9780385736459&

Back cover:

Perfect hair, cute clothes, healthy tans—life’s a breeze when you’re a witch! Even special witchcraft classes Rachel agrees to attend with Miri turn out to be fun. The sisters meet other teen witches just like them—who knew? Everyone’s preparing for a magical party called a Samsorta—a debutante ball for witches. And it wouldn’t be a ball without warlocks. Cute ones. Like Adam, who wants to slow dance with Rachel, and ski with her in the Rockies—on a school night! Of course, Rachel is madly in love with her boyfriend, Raf. So why can’t she bring herself to tell Adam—funny, charming Adam—that Raf exists?

Rachel knows Raf likes her. Maybe even, gulp, loves her. But Raf doesn’t know her secret. Unlike Adam, Raf doesn’t know who she really is. And she can never tell him. Or can she? 

   I read this book about a year ago. Then about nine months... and six months... and 5.5 months... and so on. It's a readover kind of book, the kind that seems to get better with age. You know the many books where the main character is all 'I don't want expensive stuff, I don't want fame, I just want normalcy'? How many teenagers do you know that would actually say that? Or even think it? Not Rachel. She is deep, but interested in the social ladder and poofing up new clothes and fresh tans. She's a real teenager, with many sides to her personality, and a way of following a train of thought until it derails and that makes her very real.
   Rachel and her little sister Miri are both witches, both rocking, and life is good... ish. See, there are a few glitches in Rachel's perfect sophmore year. Such as: Miri wants to be in a samsorta, a type of witch batmitzvah, and Rachel wants to spend her Saterdays with her FINALLY attained boyfriend Raf (it took her three previous books to get him!). Oh, and a new freshman on the block happens to be an incredible and practiced witch without a clue on how to survive highschool. Then there's Rachel's magic and how every time she starts straying from the truth to keep her lives seperate something goes wrong. How will it all work out? Sometimes being a teenage witch with everything you want can be SO EXHAUSTING :).
   I think my favorite part of the story is how similar my sister Kieryn Nicolas and I are to the story characters. I mean, we can relate to them almost exactly, which rarely happens so completely in book. That, and the fact that Miri is in Taekwondo. YES! GO MIRI! I love me my martial arts!
  I give this book oh... a 4.5. I am a witch-groupie, I admit. The magic and mayhem of it has always appealed to me. Not green skin witches with warts and straw hair, but mythical, ancient powers and unique appearances. Though some pieces of the witches are cliche here, they have many, many unique aspects such as: Heliotrope being a witchy color and having witch coming of age parties. Those are definitely interesting bits of the book. Also, the sisterly banter is really interesting and fun to read.

The picture is of the sisters being catapulted/flown up to a party on top of the Eiffel Tower. France! Fun!

Buy it, Borrow it, Use it as scrap paper?
Buy it of course. How else can you read it over and over?


-Winnie :)