Daisy’s Comments (group member since Jan 12, 2014)

Daisy’s comments from the My Sibling The Mythical Being! group.

Just found another one in Howl-oween (MBTW#3):

Justin raised one eyebrow and took in Daniel's outfit - a grey zip hoodie hanging open over a vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt and faded jeans.

I don't really know anything about the Rolling Stones except that they're a classic rock band, but it's really cool isn't it that Sienna Mercer occasionally slips in these references to help you contextualise the characters. Like this may not mean much to me but if you're a huge Rolling Stones fan you might remember this and like Daniel better for it, just like I remember Camilla's reference to an obscure sci-fi Shakespeare remake movie because I love Shakespeare and science fiction - and I definitely have more affection for Camilla because that was included!

Yeah, I don't remember her being in the 18th book particularly so you're right she probably wasn't.

I've been thinking for a while now actually about making a timeline of the events in the MSTV series, and I guess MBTW too since they overlap now. It would be quite a big commitment though - do you fancy doing it as a group in a discussion or something?

In the middle of another reread, had lots of thoughts in the opening chapters so I thought I'd just comment them now...

Firstly, Daniel wearing mismatched shoes because he was so nervous he sprouted claws and ripped one up was so funny. Cool to see the less glamorous side effects of being a werewolf! (not that there really is any glamorous ones, lol) I am slightly confused by the amount of times Daniel's eyes have started watering when he's turning into a werewolf though - it's a particularly annoying one for him because it makes him look like he's crying. I don't remember that from the previous books - does anyone else?

The thing I find most interesting about this book is how Justin and Riley being an official couple creates so many new dimensions. I'm really glad Sienna Mercer decided to not wait around any longer to make them start dating properly (*cough*Daniel and Debi*cough*) because otherwise I think the whole getting nervous around your crush thing would be starting to get old. I love how just because they're boyfriend and girlfriend now doesn't mean everything's wrapped up and perfect - in fact it's bringing even more complications!

I'm interested if any of you guys find Justin and Riley cheesy as a couple. Because there keeps being all these sappy lines and I keep thinking, why am I not cringing at this?! For example:

They could work out the bugs [of hand-holding... yes seriously] later, he figured. He didn't mind the idea of practising at all. And maybe that was part of the whole relationship deal - figuring things out... together.
Suddenly, it felt as if they'd been holding hands every day of their lives.

Whereas with Daniel and Debi:

"Are you sure? [said Debi] I know most people think it's one of the coolest nights of the year. I wouldn't want you to give up something you enjoy just to take me to the movies."
Daniel gave his best 'casual' shrug, hoping he could convince her he wanted to go without letting on that he'd happily give up breathing if it meant he could take her to a movie.

That does make me cringe a bit! Classic Daniel though! Just thought it was weird that I have such different reactions when objectively they both seem equally as cheesy. What's up with that?!

Added those!

OK, so I thought I'd try looking up some words that can be used to describe friendships. I quite like everlasting since it kind of plays on the vampire thing. Other words I like are loyal, special or true, plus your empowering is really cool, Sophie.

Actually, how about we try and come up with some adjectives to describe MSTV in general? That might make this easier. Off the top of my head... feel-good, funny, spooky, heart-warming, fun, cute, sweet, light, mysterious, laugh-out-loud.... can you think of any?

Ulk, yes, we are so not saying 'for girls'. I think accepting certain things are more popular with certain genders is fine, but marketing it to a particular one is just gonna put people off.

Oh, it doesn't have to be just a sentence, or in the format of the one that was on the books or anything. I mean, we could do that - I was just thinking of doing it any way we want. To be honest just the random ideas we've got in the thread so far are much better than that Amazon blurb in my opinion!

OK, so I like your summary as a starting point. The empowering friendships bit is great, but awesome characters just feels a bit... general? Like 'awesome' is more a matter of opinion, and it doesn't really tell you anything about what the characters are like. Also I think we could stick in a couple more adjectives around the 'mystery' and 'paranormal setting' so we really get across all the different dimensions this series has! That might seem a little overwhelming - sorry if I sound too critical. :)

I agree, Justin and Daniel's dad has cool moments but overall he still seems pretty immature and not very considerate of his kids to me. There was a moment on page 83 where he starts thinking the twins' difficulties with the Beasts and all is his fault, what with him expecting Justin to be the werewolf and letting all the other werewolves think that too. To be fair it kinda was his fault, but it's good that he admitted his mistake and hey, we got a great story out of it anyway! I guess he has other things going on in his life so he doesn't realise that he kinda favours the werewolf kid. But we never really see that, do we? Right now it sort of feels like all he ever thinks about is werewolf stuff. Do you remember his job ever being mentioned?

Yeah, I don't get why Mackenzie is so popular. I guess people are scared of her? She's hilarious though.

Oh my gosh yes I can't believe Daniel, Justin and Riley forgot to vote! It does make sense with all the crazy stuff they had going on but come on, guys, really? :D

Speaking of Riley, I really liked the moment in the beginning where the principal said In Sheep's Clothing were auditioning to play at the Homecoming Dance, and Daniel, Otto and Nathan were all like "WHAT?!" while Riley sat there embarrassed. Entering them into the competition is such a Riley thing to do! I also loved it at the end when she, on top of organising literally everything else, made all the FOOD for the dance. That girl has dedication!

Also in the Cry Wolf (MBTW#1) thread we were talking about how Sienna Mercer awesomely set up opportunities for conflicts in the later books in that one, and I think she did a great job of that again with this whole Kyle starting to get suspicious of Justin thing. It's just so good!

"I guess I can cope with sitting out the next half... if you really think it's a good idea."

Haha, on the floor surrounded by paper - I love that so much! Your catchphrases are also great - I think I like the organising one more. Hmm, yeah I'll put 'something neat' for the wearing thing for now. If there's a specific item mentioned later on we can always change it.

I've had a new idea for this game - how about we choose characters who would be in certain groups from the series with us? Here are the ones I can think of:

-Band (from MBTW)
-Putting on a play (from Lucky Break {MSTV#7})
-Football team (from MBTW)
-School newspaper team (from Fangtastic {MSTV#2})
-Cheerleading squad (from MSTV & MBTW)
-All Hallows Ball planning committee (from Switched {MSTV#1})
-Werewolf gatherings (from MBTW)
-Baking club (from Stake Out {MSTV#12})

So the idea is for each of the groups you randomly pick characters, and they would be in the group with you. Obviously you can do as many of the ones I've come up with as you want, and if you have any other ideas definitely add them! I'm sure there's plenty of other ones we could use. I'd advise doing three characters for each group. That's quite a lot of characters overall - so it should a great opportunity to really get creative with who you choose! ...Hopefully all of that makes sense. Hope you guys have fun with this, be sure to tell us all your results if you do it! :)

Love your points, Sophie! I think you're right about the comparison to Mackenzie, in addition to Debi being an exotic contrast to Daniel's style (while still being cool), probably being the first things that drew him to her. It's natural at that age (or probably any age, haha) to see someone you think is really good-looking and just assume they're the perfect person. Then for her to turn out to be the kind, cheery person she is, it must have impressed him. I agree I don't think they have a deep connection, or are made for eachother or anything, but they get on great and they're only young - their relationship makes more sense to me now!

That's interesting you mention Justin and Riley; I also like them more out of the two couples. It's weird when I think about why they might be attracted to eachother, it's like they don't need a reason, they're just perfect for eachother! Which is weird because the reasons behind their relationship have had almost less attention than Danbi's (lol using these couple names is never natural). We've never got anything that I can remember from Riley on why she likes Justin (though clearly she does) and Justin's crush on her was pre-page 1. I guess because we've seen them develop as a couple more, overcoming obstacles together and all that, their relationship makes more sense to me? What do you think?

U. Upbeat (in Puppy Love {MBTW#2}, Daniel suggested his band should try something upbeat, and his bandmates didn't even know what it meant :D )

OK, I'm gonna keep this game moving with a new one:

The character I'm thinking of once wrote...

I can not undo the evil I have done. [...] My soul may not be saved, but I shall do everything in my power to save theirs.

Lol, pretty sure it's a.

Recently we've been talking in the Fangs for the Memories (MSTV#18) spoiler thread about possible future storylines for Brendan, and we wondered about whether he should get (or we should learn about) some new hobbies of his.

I recently read a Middle Grade book which had a teenage guy character who was really into make-up in it, which I thought was really cool. So how about something like that for Brendan? He could maybe start getting into it more and Ivy and Olivia think it's sort of weird, then it ends up somehow being the exact thing they need to save the day (classic Sienna Mercer) and they realise it's cool? Or do you think this would seem like too much of a change in character in him?

He's also mentioned before he likes science, and wants to be a scientist when he grows up. Maybe a storyline with that? Like, off the top of my head, if he got a lab partner who the twins were suspicious of for some reason, and he has to investigate them in his class. Or the suspicious thing could be in the class, and Brendan's the one to tell the twins about it? I don't know. There's so many possibilities!

Thanks! Yeah, Olivia was ill in Date With Destiny (MSTV#10) because she fell into some vamp nettles if I'm remembering right - that was a cool insight to the vampire world as I remember it was only toxic to humans, not vampires. Then I suppose there was that thing in Flying Solo (MSTV#11) where Brendan made himself ill by eating too much iron or something and Ivy had to make him a medicine. I remember that was something specific to vampires so I suppose it has been somewhat explored before. I still think there's more we could learn though.

She was in Fashion Frightmare and Spooktacular (MSTV#16 +17), and I'm not entirely sure she wasn't in the start of the eighteenth too. So I guess it's not quite three books, but it still felt like a while to me. Maybe it's because I read those books when they came out so there was quite a gap between them for me.

A couple of days ago I finished another re-read of this book and here are some thoughts I had...

In the discussion for the previous book, we were talking about how Sienna Mercer often cleverly uses repetition to link the two POVs when they switch (Sophie gave a good example in comment no. 13). I noticed in this book, as well as doing that, multiple times the twins had similar thoughts often in completely different parts in the book. For instance they both thought to themselves after embarrassing moments with their crushes that they didn't know why it always seemed so vital that the girl they liked never found out that they liked her. This was quite fun to spot and I didn't think it was too obvious or overdone - just another way Sienna Mercer has totally nailed writing twins in a way that they're so different but so similar at the same time.

Another thing I thought was really interestingly carried over from the first book was the effects Daniel's werewolf senses have on both the twins. Sometimes they're useful for Daniel and a pain for Justin, like how Daniel can really easily eavesdrop on people, but other times they work to Justin's advantage, for example how he gets to talk to Daniel from across a room - I think Daniel described it as Justin being "the voice in his head". It's so awesome that Sienna Mercer takes the paranormal twists in her book way further than 'he turns into a wolf sometimes' or 'she can't eat garlic'. You can really tell she's thought about it.

Who else thought the werewolf gatherings in this book were really cool? I feel like Sienna Mercer's vampires and werewolves can often seem quite similar with the whole rare steaks and Beasts stuff, but this is something they seem to be complete opposites with. The gatherings are a big deal to the werewolves - it seems pretty important that everyone attends - so they can all enjoy their powers together and socialise with people like them. The vampires in MSTV come across a lot more solitary to me; there's no monthly vampire get-together in Franklin Grove anyway! Also I can't not mention the bit where the werewolves were dancing to Daniel's song - I find that so hilarious to picture!

OK, this comment is already pretty long so I'll leave it here and come back with more of my thoughts another time. :)

I'd rather go through the cornfield maze - that actually sounds kind of fun!

WYR audition to be lead singer of a rock band or attempt to make the winning touchdown in an American Football game? (both things people had to do at the end of Cry Wolf {MBTW#1})

Um... Ed?

Yes, correct!