Chava’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2013)

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

11 pages

current total: 209,747

27 pages

current total: 202,910

DQ for Jan 23
7%-15%

1. We are introduced to Jude in art school. Do you think she is actually talking with her dead grandmother? Do you think that her dead mother is sabotaging her art projects?
I do think she's talking to her dead grandmother, but I don't think she's responsible for the breaking of the items. Jade also doesn't think so, she thinks it's her mother being angry with her. I'm waiting to see what happens.

2. What are your thoughts on Fish and her charm bracelet? Why do you think Jude leaves these items in people’s bags?
It was only mentioned briefly, but it was definitely something interesting. I'm sure we're going to hear more about this. I have a feeling Jade just wants to be accepted and liked. She is so insecure.

3. Noah didn’t get into art school. Why do you think he was rejected?
I was very surprised that he didn't get accepted when so much attention was given to him being so good at what he does. Maybe he didn't get through the acceptance interview?

4. Why do you think the Englishman in the church is obsessed with taking Jude’s photos? Is this just a pick up line?
I was a bit surprised by this and a bit creeped out by it too. Maybe she is a very stunning girl who is very photogenic, we don't really get to learn about that in this chapter. In the previous chapter Noah tells us that she is beautiful and gets a lot of attention from the boys, so it definitely could be that. A weird place to pick someone up though, in a church...

5. Jude finds Guillermo Garcia: The Rock Star of the Sculpture World. What do you think of their brief interaction?
It's weird and I can't actually fully remember it, so not memorable :)

6. Noah has jumped from Devil’s Drop in a suicide attempt in the past. Jude describes how their twin-telepathy is gone. What do you think caused their relationship to sour?
I think Noah is jealous of Jade getting into the school he wanted to get into and she never really was interested in. I think he's closed himself off from their relationship. Now he's just shutting everything off, as he doesn't draw anymore either. A very sad progression in the book, I hope it improves

DQs for first chapter - 7%

1. Any thoughts on the quotes at the beginning of the novel? Do you have a favorite one? Do any maybe relate to any things in the first chapter that may be viewed as a theme in this novel?

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." - Rumi

"I believe in nothing but the holiness of the heart's affection and the truth of the imagination." John Keats

"Where there is great love, there is always miracles." - Willa Cather

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." - E. E. Cummings

I actually skipped over these.... Oops

2. Any thoughts on Noah's "arousal" while he was being wrestled by Zephyr and Fry? Why do you think Zephyr hasn't told anyone about it...not yet anyway?

Boys often get excited by fighting, nothing sexual usually, just excitement.
I think Z isn't so sure about it, would be a bit of a shock for him.

3. What do you think of the writing style?

It takes some getting used to. I'm not sure about it yet

4. Any thoughts on the family dynamics? We have twins, a mom and dad, and a deceased grandmother. Noah believes his dad favors his sister and his mother favors him. Noah seems to favor his mom.

Noah seems to feel less worthy than his sister. Mum has some interesting ways of engaging her kids (grandma visits her??). Dad seems homophobic and responds overly anxious to his son's artistic and softer side.

592 pages

current total: 182,310

I just checked, but it is basically a chapter a day. Only on the 28th did she put the last 2 chapters together. The same will go for the paperback

When is the schedule being posted?

352 pages

current total: 137,975

265 pages

current total: 139,246

I loved snow when I still lived in Europe, it was mesmerizing. However, I hate the sludge when it thaws, yuck! No chance of snow here (Melbourne, Australia) ever. I'd love to be able to teleport myself to the Northern Hemisphere right now, I hear you guys have snow.

CHAPTERS 19-22

28. What did you think about Aervyn’s spell at the Circle? Did you expect something of that magnitude to occur?
I expected something to go horribly wrong and that Lauren would have to rescue the situation. This wasn't extremely exciting as we didn't really get to experience it with her.

29. Lauren is now using her powers in her real estate job. Is scanning her client’s thoughts and using what she finds to mind nudge them, ethical use of her powers?
Rather unethical, but I think she's not using them for bad at this point. I wouldn't want to be her client though.

30. Now that Jamie has moved to Chicago to be with Nat, what do you think of their relationship? Is it a good match?
Yeah, seems a really lovely match.

31. Given Jamie runs a website where he and his sister try to locate witches, I was surprised that he didn’t want to go to see the coven? It seemed like a perfect opportunity to locate any potential witches. What did you think of Jamie’s initial reaction to the coven?
I fully understood his reaction, I also thought they would be a bunch of fakes like he did.

32. We have had more time to get to know the characters now and everyone seems super nice. Are there any characters you don’t particularly like?
I don't think we really get an in-depth look at any of the characters, they are all rather flat and there's no building up. No dislikes at this point.

Chapters 23-End
Pages 372-415

33. Wow, Aervyn can port across the country. How terrified would you be if your 4 year old could get lost in the whole country instead of just down the road?
Horrified as a mother, but wow would this safe in travel costs!

34. What did you think about how everyone ended up together? (even the couch!)
That was rather funny. I actually laughed out loud when Jamie and Nat came in undressed and Aervyn wondered why they were "nakey":)

35. Do you think they'll still buy the building in Chicago or will Nat sell off her business there and move it?

35. What did you think about the book? What did you end up rating it?
I ended up giving it 3*, because there is a lack of character depth and I really missed that. I found it a very simple, easy to read book. It was entertaining enough, but not memorable.

36. Would you read the rest of the series?
Probably not. I was hoping there would be a bit more tension in the book or some more mystery. Instead it was a very simple, easy read without much substance. I don't expect the rest to be any better.

CHAPTERS 16-18

24. I loved the way how mind magic can help children with special needs. I think Lauren enjoyed it too. What do you think, will she switch from real estate to this profession?

Not sure, but I actually felt that autism was cheapened and minimised here. ASD as its now called is very difficult to deal with (as the author did touch on), but ichanges/improvements are not quickly seen. I was very disappointed with it.


25. Helping kids with special needs is first great use for mind magic I noticed so far. Can you think of some other humanitarian purpose where mind magic can be applied?

World peace?


26. It seems like precog vision of Jamie and Nat is going to come true. What do you think will we see them building that snowman in the epilogue of this book, in the sequel or you don't think HEA for them will happen?

I've already finished so know what's going to happen in this book.


27. Wow there are some huge preparations going for that circle. I imagined it to be much smaller gathering. What do you think, will the spell backfire? What will Aervyn do? Change color of all hair in the world to pink or something more serious?

I couldn't really follow this chapter, too much info

. 420 pages
. 96 pages

616 pages total

current total: 56,867

CHAPTERS 13-15

20. I enjoyed the triplet's anecdote about how their parents Nell and Daniel got together. Although the story is light and upbeat it does touch on the moral and ethical question of being a witch. Thoughts?
I agree with Emma, there are only very light ethical discussions

21. Ewwww. Lauren accidently intrudes on Jamie and Nat in an intimate moment. Do you think there are more advantages or disadvantages in being a mind witch?
I was quite taken back by that, but more so that Nell also knew and just kind of let it be. I don't know, my folks would never have allowed that even though we're grown up now.

22. What is your opinion of Moira and do you think the chat sessions add to the story?
I hate the chat sessions, driving me mad. In the next bit they add video and it makes it easier to read.

23. Lauren showed great power at the practise circle. What do you think will happen at the official circle and what do you see for Lauren's character into the future?
I think she'll help the little boy out in the circle and protect him more than expected. The book eludes to Lauren being a great witch so I guess that's where it will be heading. The book is rather light and fluffy, so I'm not expecting big things

Chapters 10-12
Pages 158-214

15. What are your thoughts on the developing relationship between Jamie and Nat? Do you think they would have gotten together regardless of Jamie's precog? Or has the precog been the catalyst for their relationship?

No, I think it would have happened anyways. The precog just gave them advanced notice.


16. What do you think about the ethics raised in the story over the use of mind skills? Do you think Lauren has used her skills unethically - whether intentional or not? What about the ethics around Aunt Jennie's use of her mind skills in her photography?

Lauren didn't know she had mind skills so no ethical dilemma there, I believe. I feel that Lauren wasn't actually using her skills for anything bad, she didn't influence anyone into doing something they regretted later on. The same goes for the photography in Jennie.


17. What are your thoughts and impressions on the interactions between Aervyn and Lauren?

At first I thought Lauren was just a bit of a big sister, now it feels like a bit more dependant.


18. What are your thoughts on the visualtions used in the story to build the mind barriers, i.e. Jennie's camera, Aervyn's matchbox cars, Lauren's couch? Are you surprised to read about these types of visualtions, rather than the traditional walls that Jamie used initially with Lauren?

Funny


19. We are now at the half-way point in the book. What are you thoughts? Are you enjoying the story? Do you have any comments or thoughts about the characters? What star rating would you give the story at this point?

I'm enjoying it enough to keep reading. I've even started dreaming about the book and what might be happening next. Seriously, I think it's pregnancy hormones going nuts (2 months to go), but I haven't had this so strong before. I'm looking forward to finishing the book though. It's not a book I would have normally picked up, but a nice surprise.

Quick catch up from me as I only started reading 2 days ago:

Ch 1-3
1. What do you think of this way of locating witches?

Slightly heavy handed and weird. What if the witches don’t use the Internet? Also, rather weird to be fetched while doing online shopping. What if you were on a site that you didn’t really want others to know about? 

2. Anyone else go to www.amodernwitch.com?

I did, it’s the author’s website. I was a bit disappointed to be honest 


3. What would be your thoughts if you got snatched from your website and tossed into a chat room with people telling you that you're a witch? Would you roll with it or call the police about the tall dark stranger coming to scan you?

Like I said in answer 1, rather embarrassing if you’re on a site you didn’t want people to know about . Also rather overwhelming to then be tossed in a chat room with complete strangers and nutters (at least it must have been like that to Lauren).
I thought Jamie starting to eat with Lauren was a nice touch. I don’t think I minded it the way it played out. He wasn’t that scary, so no I also wouldn’t have called the police 

4. What do you think Lauren's talent is? Something to do with her uncanny real estate broker abilities?
I’ve already read further, so know what her powers/talents are. I did think they would have been mind reading ones.

5. Any favorite characters so far? How are you liking the book?
No favorites yet



Chapters 4 to 6

6. So a tall, hot and totally strange man approaches you during lunch, serves himself, and sits at your table. How will you react?
He wasn’t intrusive about it. I didn’t mind the way it played out actually.

7.Yeah, right. Put an image of you surrounded by models, that will totally conquer the girl. Am I the only one that keeps expecting something drastic to appear? Maybe is Harry Potter's trip to the zoo with the snake incident that ruined the "discovering I'm a witch" for me.
I’m not sure about this question.

8.What about the testing? Lauren was finally starting to freak out. I'm wondering what other powers besides the mind typed ones she will have.
yeah not sure

9. Wow. So Jamie found her soul-mate in Nat. And Lauren caught the backlash. And unusually well according to Jamie. What do you think about this turn of events?

Not sure.

10. Following Kelly's question, what do you think about the characters so far?
A bit one dimensional, but still enjoying it.
Chapters 7-9
Pages 108-156

11. What power would you want to have Jamie’s ability that is a little bit of everything but with some precog or Lauren’s ability with the mind and telepath? Of if not one of those what other “witchy” ability would you want?
I think I’d prefer not to be a witch, sound way too complicated.

12. Nat and Jaime, the vision in precog of the child. Do you think it will come true?
Yeah, probably.

13. Lauren apparently has very strong mind talents that she isn’t aware of using. Do you think she will be able to learn how to control them? What do you see happening to her in the future?
Yeah of course, it’s a girly book, there’s always a happy ending.

14. The POV (Point of View) tends to shift a lot in thought from character to character. Do you like the style of POV?
I found it very distracting at the beginning, but I’m okay with it now. I really don’t like the chat sessions though, they don’t read very easily.

416 pages

current total: 25,227

I'm giving it a go too :)

Do we start reading on the 5th or from the 1st? It's the 1st here (Australia) in less than 2 hrs and I'm wide awake :). Thanks and happy 2015 to all

Tea, I stopped reading for a very long time.there were too many compulsory books (50 in English, 100 in our native tongue and 30 in another language). I only started reading for fun again 10 years or so after HS. Luckily, my kids love books and are reading lots (books everywhere in our house)