MN Lisa’s Comments (group member since Jul 20, 2023)

MN Lisa’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

Jayme(theghostreader) wrote: "For face on the cover, is it just the face or can it be a full person?"

A full person works—as long as you can clearly see the face. The curse isn’t picky; it just wants eyes staring back at you. The rest of the body is optional… though sometimes it’s missing anyway.

Shan ~A~ wrote: "This is usually a yes, but just to be sure, are plurals excepted for words in text?"

Yes. Dolls don’t care if there’s one shadow or many shadows—either way, something’s watching you. Singular, plural, close-enough… it all counts.

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Are shoelaces okay for string on cover?"

Yep—shoelaces count. If it ties, knots, tangles, or dangles, it falls under the string curse.

The Crying Boy Painting refers to a series of mass-produced prints created by Italian artist Giovanni Bragolin (also known as Bruno Amadio) in the 1950s. These portraits typically feature a young boy with large, sorrowful eyes and tears streaming down his face. Though the painting was originally meant to evoke sympathy and emotion, it gained a far more sinister reputation in the 1980s.

A legend began circulating in the UK after numerous house fires left homes destroyed, but with the Crying Boy painting untouched and unscathed among the rubble. This eerie pattern led to widespread fear that the artwork was cursed, said to bring misfortune, fire, or tragedy to anyone who owned it.

The image of the Crying Boy(visually simple yet emotionally intense) became a modern folklore icon. Some claimed the boy's spirit was trapped in the painting, while others believed it was connected to an orphan who died in a blaze. Whether viewed as haunted or coincidental, the painting's legacy remains one of unsettling intrigue.

To this day, The Crying Boy Painting is remembered not just as a melancholy piece of art but as a symbol of how emotion, myth, and mystery can turn an innocent image into an object of dread.

Complete the following tasks
🎨2. Mass-Produced Emotion
Read a chain of 3 books that has had multiple editions or cover redesigns — something that’s been republished, rebranded, or mass-produced. (Even better if the tone feels emotionally intense or melodramatic.)

🕵️‍♀️5. Smoke and Secrets
Read a chain of 3 books that fits into MPG: Mystery, Paranormal, or Gothic — or ideally, a beautiful mess of all three. Think atmosphere, secrets, and at least one scene where someone stares at something for too long.

🐍6. The Myth Behind the Mourning
Read a chain of 3 books that involves mythology or a myth retelling, especially if the theme includes grief, punishment, or eternal watching. Think Hades/Persephone, Medusa, Cassandra, or other figures who were misunderstood, punished, or trapped.

OK. I'm in for The Kingdoms

Would the first in the Nowhere trilogy work for Read a book imagining a future shaped by ecological or environmental shifts. OR Read a book that deals with environmental challenges or changes.

Updated to Here

5 – Eyes in the Trees
Don’t look up.
Read a book where someone is being hunted, followed, or watched.

9 – Jungle Knows Your Fears
It always chooses what you hate most.
Read a book that includes your least favorite trope or genre. Suffer, sweetly.

11 – Roll for Escape
You’re running out of time.
Read a book where someone is escaping, portal-traveling, or trying to get home.

7 – The Rules Have Changed
The board shifts. The stakes rise.
Read a book where a rule, law, or code is broken—and it changes everything.

9 – Jungle Knows Your Fears
It always chooses what you hate most.
Read a book that includes your least favorite trope or genre. Suffer, sweetly.

5 – Eyes in the Trees
Don’t look up.
Read a book where someone is being hunted, followed, or watched.

From the Signup Thread: FYI... bonus tasks are NOT done in chains (you're welcome).

1. Annabelle

Annabelle is inspired by a true story about a doll believed to be haunted by the spirit of a young girl. In 1970, a student and her roommate reported that their Raggedy Ann doll, the real Annabelle doll the movie is based on (pictured on the right), was acting strangely. A medium told them the doll was inhabited by the spirit of Annabelle Higgins. Despite their attempts to care for the doll, they couldn’t control its behavior and eventually sought help from Ed and Lorraine Warren, famous demonologists. The Warrens concluded that an unnatural entity was manipulating the doll. They took the doll and secured it in their museum, protected by sigils and wards. While the Warrens documented several instances of unusual activity, including the doll seemingly moving on its own, there is no proof it has ever caused physical harm or death.

The movie Annabelle draws heavily from this story, but is a fictionalized version. Still, the doll in the film (pictured above on the left) is undeniably creepy.

Complete the following tasks

Step 1: Purify the space & spirit by burning sage
Read a chain of 3 books that start with a letter in SAGE

Step 2: Choose the materials for your wards
Read a chain of 3 books with your ward material chosen on the cover (the team must choose from plants, stones, metal, or crystal, but you will all read for the same material)

Step 3: Put your ward items at the 4 corners of your area (around Annabelle). Draw your sigils/symbols in oil or water, encircling your space with a defensive boundary. It's all about intention.
Read a chain of 3 books that have the word SYMBOL in the text

11. Jumanji

The Jumanji board game is a mysterious and magical game that serves as the central catalyst for adventure and chaos in the Jumanji films and original picture book by Chris Van Allsburg.

At first glance, Jumanji appears to be an antique, beautifully crafted wooden board game with ornate carvings, a central green-glowing dome, and sliding animal totems as game pieces. Its tagline warns players:
“A game for those who seek to find, a way to leave their world behind.”

But Jumanji is no ordinary game. Once the first dice are rolled, it unleashes real-world consequences based on each move: stampeding animals, violent weather, quicksand, giant insects, jungle vines, and other perilous phenomena spill into reality, threatening both players and their surroundings. The game cannot be paused or stopped, only completed. The only way to end the chaos is for someone to reach the final space and yell, "Jumanji!"

The game possesses a dark sentience, pulling players into its world (or bringing its world to them), and has a reputation for lying in wait, ready to tempt the next curious soul. Equal parts thrilling and dangerous, the Jumanji board game is as much a test of courage and friendship as it is of survival.

Roll to Survive
You didn’t mean to open it.
It looked old, maybe even beautiful—carved wood, green-glowing center, and that line etched across the top:
“A game for those who seek to find, a way to leave their world behind.”

Now the room is shaking.
There are vines in your bookshelf.
And something is watching from the ceiling.

You have three rolls to make it out alive.
You cannot skip your turn.
You must finish the game.
You don’t win. You survive.

🎲 How to Play:
The dice are in your hands, but make no mistake—the game is in control.
Roll two six-sided dice (2d6) three times.
Each roll will give you a number from 2 to 12.
https://www.online-stopwatch.com/chan...#


For every number you roll, the board will unleash one challenge.
You must complete three tasks total—one per roll.
You may not skip. You may not reroll. The board does not care for hesitation.

When you're ready to begin, post in the Occult Museum (Check-In Thread) with:
Your Team Name
Your three rolls
A link to your team’s tracking spreadsheet

Once you've declared your fate, the jungle listens.
The vines creep. The drums beat.
And the game... begins.

17. The Monkey's Paw

The Monkey’s Paw is a legendary cursed object from W. W. Jacobs’ classic 1902 horror short story The Monkey’s Paw. It is a shriveled, mummified paw of a monkey that grants its owner three wishes, but each wish comes with devastating, often ironic consequences.

The paw was enchanted by a fakir to teach people not to interfere with fate. When someone makes a wish, the paw curls a finger, and the wish is granted, though never in the way the wisher expects. Wishes made with the Monkey’s Paw tend to bring tragedy rather than happiness, revealing that tampering with destiny comes at a terrible price.

Grimy and unsettling in appearance, the Monkey’s Paw is a potent symbol of greed, temptation, and unintended consequences. It serves as a chilling warning: Be careful what you wish for, because the cost may be far greater than you imagined.

Complete the following tasks
📘2. Spell the Curse: P.A.W.
Read a chain of 3 books with a title that spells out PAW

🕰️5. Third Time’s the Harm
Read a chain of 3 books that is either:
The third book in a series
Has a 3 in the publication year
Or where someone makes three key decisions

🐵6. "Not a Monkey’s Paw, the Monkey’s Paw"
Read a chain of 3 books where the word "monkey" appears anywhere in the text — ebook search, physical flip, or audiobook transcript… time to go digging.

11. Jumanji

The Jumanji board game is a mysterious and magical game that serves as the central catalyst for adventure and chaos in the Jumanji films and original picture book by Chris Van Allsburg.

At first glance, Jumanji appears to be an antique, beautifully crafted wooden board game with ornate carvings, a central green-glowing dome, and sliding animal totems as game pieces. Its tagline warns players:
“A game for those who seek to find, a way to leave their world behind.”

But Jumanji is no ordinary game. Once the first dice are rolled, it unleashes real-world consequences based on each move: stampeding animals, violent weather, quicksand, giant insects, jungle vines, and other perilous phenomena spill into reality, threatening both players and their surroundings. The game cannot be paused or stopped, only completed. The only way to end the chaos is for someone to reach the final space and yell, "Jumanji!"

The game possesses a dark sentience, pulling players into its world (or bringing its world to them), and has a reputation for lying in wait, ready to tempt the next curious soul. Equal parts thrilling and dangerous, the Jumanji board game is as much a test of courage and friendship as it is of survival.

Roll to Survive
You didn’t mean to open it.
It looked old, maybe even beautiful—carved wood, green-glowing center, and that line etched across the top:
“A game for those who seek to find, a way to leave their world behind.”

Now the room is shaking.
There are vines in your bookshelf.
And something is watching from the ceiling.

You have three rolls to make it out alive.
You cannot skip your turn.
You must finish the game.
You don’t win. You survive.

🎲 How to Play:
The dice are in your hands, but make no mistake—the game is in control.
Roll two six-sided dice (2d6) three times.
Each roll will give you a number from 2 to 12.
https://www.online-stopwatch.com/chan...#


For every number you roll, the board will unleash one challenge.
You must complete three tasks total—one per roll.
You may not skip. You may not reroll. The board does not care for hesitation.

When you're ready to begin, post in the Occult Museum (Check-In Thread) with:
Your Team Name
Your three rolls
A link to your team’s tracking spreadsheet

Once you've declared your fate, the jungle listens.
The vines creep. The drums beat.
And the game... begins.

Chucky, the infamous doll from the Child’s Play horror franchise, is a seemingly harmless “Good Guy” toy possessed by the soul of notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray. Using a voodoo ritual to escape death, Ray transfers his soul into the doll’s body, giving Chucky life and a terrifying agenda.

With his red hair, striped shirt, and overalls, Chucky looks like an ordinary children’s toy, at least until he starts speaking in his gruff, menacing voice, wielding knives, and launching brutal attacks. Known for his twisted humor, foul mouth, and violent streak, Chucky has become one of horror’s most iconic villains, blending childlike innocence with psychotic rage.

He first appeared in Child’s Play (1988) and has since starred in multiple sequels, a reboot, and a TV series, gaining a cult following and solidifying his place as the ultimate killer doll.

Complete the following tasks

Step 1: Destroy the doll completely
Read a chain of 3 books where something is destroyed

Step 2: Break the voodoo spell or banish the spirit
Read a chain of 3 books with VOODOO in the text
Read a chain of 3 books where something or someone is banished

5. Billy the Puppet

Billy the Puppet is the eerie ventriloquist-style figure featured in the Saw horror film franchise. Though often mistaken for the killer, Billy is actually a messenger used by John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, to communicate with his victims.

Billy has a chilling, unmistakable look: a white face with red spiral cheeks, dark eyes, black shaggy hair, and a twisted red grin. He wears a black tuxedo with a red bowtie and rides in on a small red tricycle—an image that’s become iconic in horror.

Through Billy, Jigsaw delivers recorded messages and videos to his captives, typically opening with the infamous line: “I want to play a game.” His role is to calmly explain the deadly rules of the traps or challenges the victims must endure in order to survive and "appreciate" life.

Despite never harming anyone directly, Billy’s unsettling appearance, emotionless tone, and connection to gruesome moral games have made him a terrifying symbol of psychological horror and a pop culture icon.

Billy the Puppet doesn’t kill—he teaches. Which is somehow worse. With his spiraled cheeks, blood-red grin, and eerie monotone, he delivers Jigsaw’s deadly instructions like a morality seminar from hell. Riding in on a tiny red tricycle, he calmly explains how victims can earn their survival… if they’re willing to suffer for it.

Now Billy’s out delivering messages again—and we need your help to trap him before he plays his next game.

Complete the following tasks:

Pass the Morality Test
What would you sacrifice to survive?
Read a chain of 3 books that explore ethical dilemmas, difficult choices, or tests of character

Escape the Trap
There's always a way out… but not without consequences.
Read a chain of 3 books where a character must escape—physically, emotionally, or mentally. Think locked rooms, impossible situations, or toxic dynamics.

Watch the Whole Tape
Because he’s always watching… and he wants you to hear every word.
Read a chain of 3 books with titles containing words related to observation or recording: watch, see, listen, tape, voice, message, view, eye, etc.

Identity Confirmed
He knows who you are—even if you don’t.
Read a chain of 3 books where the author’s initials appear in the word JIGSAW (any combination, any order).

Tick… Tick… Tick…
Time matters. So does the number.
Read a chain of 3 books where each book’s page count includes the number 6.
266? 160? 643? You’re already running out of time.

Smile for the Camera
It’s not just the cameras watching now.
Read a chain of 3 books with a face on the cover—bonus if the expression is neutral, eerie, or lifeless.

I see 29 Points for Just Drive, so I think someone fixed it.

OK....recommendations for
Read a book featuring a character deeply connected to the natural world.

AND

Read a book with characters advocating for or protecting the environment.

Also for Solar System...I need
MPG Time Travel (if I replace Heart of a Wolf)
Ring on the Cover

Yeah this one was hard to get into, but it was decent.

Hello, Jill should be heading over soon to take Tricia's place. Have fun on your trip!

Jill, You can head over to Team 13. Thanks!

I can give it a try or a pass. I trust you and not sure I could read that....