Alysa’s Comments (group member since Jun 27, 2015)

Alysa’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

So long as you finished it less than 1.5 hours ago?

(Hi team, I am back! Hehe, we had 38 books again :D)

Hi Team!
I am going offline now and won't be back until after check-in, but all of our finished books so far have been logged, so Jessi doesn't need me anymore, lol.
Catch you on the flipside!

Allison Ann wrote: "It actually makes more sense to use the shorter books for the ladder and just read the longer books for the points, so I'm good with #5 and maybe one higher one. :D"

I am glad you two worked that out :D

Yeah, we definitely need a combo of lengths in order to pull this off. But since we're still hoping, overall, to do more long books for the week-at-large than we are ladder rungs for the Mini, we don't want to have the ladder be just a bunch of short books either. Then it just would not be worth doing at all.
Of course, our definition of "short" has kinda changed during TT, huh?! With the exception of my #4 book, everything on the Mini is objectively pretty long anyway, lol!

I'm gonna go get some audio in while I fold laundry and everybody else is sleeping. (I'm aiming to have this non-fiction behemoth done sometime during, Week 9, maybe into 10.)

Haha, poop emoji. 😂

Well, if we have two people reading #2s, we will just have to use whichever one gets finished right after Wren finishes that #1.
Or maybe we can even coordinate that kind of thing by color covers/top shelves, since at least we know that we can use whatever is not for the Ladder, for regular Sins.

I seem to be inordinately fond of the word “awesome” today.
Awesome!

Awesome! Yay!
So I will just do #4 and #6. After that, I will concentrate on some more long non-Mini-challenge books.
I have a feeling that this sequence of ours is going to work out awesome :D

Go for it. Either one [of the two long #2s]. Whichever one you feel like reading first!
I will plan my #3 and #4 books around you, and then you are reading #5 anyway before my #6.

@Jessi, if you wanna cover #3 (I think you said you have a decently long one?) this means you have time to let me know before I start reading.
I'll start a little of my long #6 before I hear from you, and then just switch to some #3 if you're not covering it.
(There's a little breathing space here now, due to Wren and Allison both reading long stuff first :D)

Okay, so right now I'm in between my last book for the week, and starting whatever I'm gonna read for next week. I need to go do family stuff, and after that I'll just start either a #2 or a #3, depending on whether anyone else has changed anything, lol.

Again, I can cover either, but not both. In either case my book will not be long, but my #3s are on average a bit longer than my #2s.
If someone says to skip both and just do #4 and #6 that is also fine with me!

(I keep giggling like a toddler whenever I type #2s)

Well what do you most WANT to be reading? :D
You seem to be getting through long stuff pretty fast, so I don't think you'll slow us down too much if you pick something long for #2.
I have to wait for Wren to finish their long #1 anyway, before I can complete my first series book.
Also, like a moron, I accidentally left my #4 book (an interlibrary loan) in my office when I left work yesterday, so I can't start it until Monday at the earliest anyway.
I plan to read about 2/3 of my #2 or 3 book, then stop until other people are done with #1 (and potentially #2 if you're gonna cover it).
Then I will have to switch to my #6 and read that until I get to my office, then switch to my #4 before going back to my #6 again.

So, assuming there's a long #2 that you are actually happy to read, the question is really: when do you think you would be done with it?

@Allison
If any one of your #2 books are longer than 800, do you want to swap #2 and #3 with me?

@Jessi, if you're around, do you wanna do a #2 or that #3 I think you mentioned at some point? If the latter is long, when would you finish?
We could also skip a number, esp since some higher ones are shaping up nicely :)

Nevermind, Allison just put in a long one for #3.
Decision made.
You have a good #10, right?

@Allison
- If you wanna do the #5 book you just mentioned, that'd be good. I don't think anyone else has expressed having something for that #. Otherwise, sticking to various long stuff sounds like a good plan.

I just finished the YA BOM, and answered the last set of DQs (which you can totally do next week, no prob). It was enjoyable but not great, IMO.

DQs Day 6
Chapters 32 - End

24. Ellery keeps coming up with somewhat plausible theories, but is getting shut down in chapter 32 since another theory was proven false. Still, her mind is always working. Do you think she's showing intelligence with some of her theories or do you think she's reaching too far and just making a fool of herself playing detective?

Neither. That is, she's not showing any particular intelligence but she isn't making a fool of herself either. At least she's come into town with fresh eyes and a willingness to try.


25. Do you think Declan is being fair to Malcolm in the apartment getting so upset? What do you think about them making up later; was this all realistic?

They weren't being fair to each other, but like Declan says when they make up later, Declan is the adult. It's nice that he was so magnanimous about the whole thing. Not sure whether it was realistic, but it was nice.


26. Were you surprised about who the killer turned out to be? Was this a good twist and well done for a mystery, or were you not satisfied?

I long suspected that an inter-generational hook-up was involved, but although it briefly crossed my mind early on that Peter might be part of that, I dismissed it for most of the book, on the grounds that I was really hoping the author wouldn't take such an obvious route. I mean, I guess the target audience here is too young to have seen, say, the original run of Veronica Mars, but for those of us who aren't… Come on.


27. Do you think the mother had something going on with the killer in her past, based on the last line that he whispered in Ellery's ear?

He mentioned that he'd gone out with her a few times, and I long suspected that Sarah was killed by someone who thought she was Sadie. So, that final line "twist" was not a twist to me, and I don't really understand why Ellery did not want to tell anyone about it. Would it bring pain to her family? Yes, but it would still be better for them to have closure.
My personal unwritten epilogue is that the police, stated as working on a profile of Peter, put it together that the dude has probably been killing or at least commiting violence towards women and/or animals since his adolescence, and that's when Sarah went missing. So he'd be questioned about that again now, and everything would come out. And maybe there were other girls between Sarah and Lacey too.


28. Overall, what do you think of the book? Would you read more of the author?

Eh. It was quick and kept me reading, but I wasn't super impressed. I'm giving it 3 stars. I liked the writing well enough, but the plot was a little pat and derivative, and the characters didn't always work for me. The relationships were sometimes hard to keep track of, and everybody was too transparently moved around and dismissed as needed or not needed. There was some tokenism, too, with the minorities and with Ezra being gay. Not sure if I'd read more by this author, esp considering I don't go out of my way to read non-fantasy YA. Maybe if she wrote a supernatural mystery, or an adult novel.

Kerri wrote: "I don't have any series books that I was planning on starting that isn't the first book, lol. We all know I'm a slower reader, so that won't work. Instead, I'll try and pick up a bigger book or a n..."

Sounds good, Kerri!
Too bad Fireborne isn't another 50something pages long, lol.

DQs Day 5
Chapters 26-31

20. We now know who the father of the twins is. Have you suspected him? Do you think that the way they have discovered it was too accidental/not very realistic?

I said something in a previous set of DQ&A about not thinking the book would get into that, and that the timing might not line up. The way it got resolved after all was pretty darn dumb, IMO. Brings the book down closer to petty soap opera than noir-ish murder mystery.

21. How do you think why did Sadie lie about who the father of the twins was? Was it only because he was a married man and she didn't want to ruin his family?

Maybe that, or maybe she just didn’t want the twins making her take them to Echo Ridge to meet their father if they ever found out. She has been avoiding the town at all costs, so that would fit.

22. Ellery now has Kyle and Liz as her suspects. Do you agree with her? Or do you have somebody else in mind?

It’s possible. I still think there’s at least one older adult involved.

23. Malcolm invites Ellery to a clown museum, which sounds very interesting to me. Would you like to visit such a museum? Or have you visited a similiar or other non-traditional museum?

I’ve been to a few non-traditional museums and historical societies. Some have been really great... others a little pathetic. The trouble is that you can’t know in advance which reaction you will have!

DQs Day 4
Chapters 20-25

16. It seems that one character has so far flown under the radar and yet to me is highly suspicious. The Policeman, Ryan Rodriguez has been in every scene and yet only at the end of this section is he coming under Ellery’s suspicion, I think he may be working alone or in concert with other characters – Why might I be thinking this and who might he be working with?

He is definitely acting suspicious, but I feel like the book wouldn't be this obvious about it if he were the culprit. Maybe he's helping cover for someone else though? Maybe the other cop?

17. Why did Sarah go missing? She wasn’t in the homecoming court so why her? Is the reason for this the reason Sadie feels so guilty?

Sadie may have been the real target, and Sarah's disappearance was the result of mistaken identity. Either that or Sarah had a stalker and/or hidden depths.

18. Viv changes her mind about a connection between what happened previously and what is happening now she is quoted as saying “Even if someone was unhinged enough to get away with murder and brag about it five years later, the MOs are completely different” Why do you think she changes her mind and do you think she is right about there being no connection?

She's seemed jealous of Ellery, so it doesn't seem OOC at this point that she'd steal Ellery's words and ideas.

19. Everything started after the death of the teacher on the overpass – do you think there is a connection between that and the developing storyline . Do you think Malcolm, Ellery and Ezra will tell someone what they have found out?

It's most likely that they would confront Katrin about it before going to any adult.

Also, my mother broke her knee some years back, and then re-broke by dog mishap. These animals, man.

Saw your PM-
Sounds good to me, if you are into doing that! :D
How about you just stick the #s you want to read on the planning sheet, and if anyone else has anything between my #6 and your books, they can work around/between us?

M wrote: "I know I can read a ton next week. my stay-cation isn't really about relaxing. It is me being a clumsy oaf and re-breaking my ankle. so, reading time galore."

Oh no! Re-breaking?!?

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Alysa wrote: "What other book are you about to finish? :) ..."

I just finished . Low page count (sorry!)

But would you mind adding it to the spreadsheet for me? Fo..."

Will do in a little bit! Thanks Frankie!