Melanie’s Comments (group member since Sep 01, 2014)

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

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Hello, team! We are moving along steadily and placing strong so far with our points. How is everyone's reading going this month? Finding any new favorites that you've read?..."

I picked up the FBI K-9 series by Sara Driscoll which I loved. I ended up reading the entire series in a little over a week and now need to wait for October for the next book to come out. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys mystery/suspense books.

Hi all, checking in! I work in finance so the last 2 weeks have been crazy busy since it was the end of the quarter and the halfway point in our fiscal year. But thankfully the quarter is over and I'll have a lot more free time again. Plus I'm off work for a week after Wednesday so I should hopefully be able to make up for the reading I'm behind on!

My list which is way too many older books.

Start of month:
Books on shelf: 93
Feedback Ratio: 82%

Books already read that need to be reviewed:


Books (already published):


Books (not yet published):


Added:


Finished/Reviewed:

End of Month:
Books on shelf: 94
Feedback Ratio: 81%

Discussion Questions Day 3
Part Two, Chapter 13 - Chapter 17

10. As we reach the halfway point I am seeing more and more similarities to the Amelia Peabody series. Is anyone else finding this. Does this affect your impression of the book?
I haven't read this series so I can't say.

11. We have been introduced to a number of Characters is there anyone that particularly stands out?
I like Inez the most so far but I'm also intrigued by Isadora as she doesn't act like a typical lady.

12. We have been introduced to Isadora and her Father. Why do you think he doesn’t let her out of his sight?
It's unusual as typically a lady would have a chaperone other than her father but then she isn't a typical lady.

13. Inez seems to be attuned to Cleopatra and sees some of her memories. If you could choose to see one memory of a historical figure whose memory would it be?
I don't know actually, this is a tough one.

Discussion Questions Day 2
Part One, Chapter 6 - Part One, Chapter 12

6. In this part Inez spends some time with Mr. Hayes. What did you think of their afternoon in Cairo? Did you enjoy their banter?
I did enjoy it, I'm curious about Mr. Hayes as he's been quite secretive thus far.

7. After sensing familiar magic from an old trinket, Inez buys it and later has a vision of Cleopatra. What do you think this vision means? Do you believe Cleopatra’s burial site can only be found with Inez’s help?
I do think she'll be the one to lead them there. I'm surprised she didn't tell her uncle about the magic when making her case for staying.

8. Every now and then, the point of view shifts briefly to Mr. Hayes. Do you enjoy these moments from his perspective, or would you prefer the story to stay entirely with Inez?
Personally I don't think the small sections from him have really added anything to the story so far so I could live without them.

9. Inez finds a letter from her mother, in which she suspects that Tío Ricardo is involved in illegal activities. Does this letter, along with the boat conversation Inez overhears, make you suspicious of Tío Ricardo? Or do you think he’s not responsible for Inez’s parents’ murder?
I do think it's suspicious but I'm not sure yet that I'd say he's responsible for what happened to her parents although I am leaning that way.

Discussion Questions Day 1
Prologue - Part 1 Ch 5

1. The first line is “A letter changed my life.” Would you say this was a good start, cheesy start, or are you indifferent?
Indifferent at this point since I knew a letter would play into things based on the book's description.

2. Why do you think Tio Roberto wanted to immediately send Inez back to Egypt without even seeing her? Do you think he’s hiding something? Or do you think it’s just typical of men at that time to dismiss young women and enforce them being chaperoned and taken care of?
I think it's a mix of both him hiding something related to her parents' disappearance as well as him being generally dismissive since she's a young woman.

3. The ring scene with Thomas Sterling was definitely outrageous; I felt Inez's outrage and all of her shock. Do you expect to see the ring later in the story? Any guesses to its significance?
I can't believe the way he just got away with stealing it. I do hope she manages to get it back since it's the last thing her father gave her. I wonder if her parents found the tomb and that's where they got it?

4. What do you think of the writing style and the pacing so far? Are you enjoying the lyrical, rich descriptions or do you prefer a more fast paced story?
The writing style isn't my favorite but it's not annoying me either. So far things seem to be moving along at a good pace so hopefully that continues.

5. In Ch. 5 we see politics at play, and we can tell this is just the beginning. How do you think this will affect your enjoyment of the book? Will it enhance the story for you or will you feel bogged down by the details?
I usually like political thrillers and such like that so I imagine I'll find the politics aspect interesting particularly since I don't know much about this time period in Egypt.

Oh, perfect! Thanks!

Thankfully I also got my copy of The Berry Pickers today so that one I won't need to worry about.

Hi, question about the BOM deadlines.

So I just got a copy of What the River Knows from the library and I know the deadline for that BOM is the 18th. Does that mean I have until end of day tomorrow to read it and answer the questions? Or is today the last day?

I'm trying to figure out if I need to power through and finish it tonight or not.

I've noticed if my profile doesn't say Last active this month then I'm more likely to have notification issues and logging out then logging back in usually fixes it. It's annoying to have to do that so often though.

Just want to double check about the book cap for this as I just noticed I'm only 4 books away from mine. I will likely finish 4 books a few days before the end of the round.

That means anything I finish after those 4 books before the new round starts can't count for the challenge, correct?

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I found a cute cow cozy mystery that won't take me long"

I swear cozy mysteries are sometimes the greatest thing for finding random items on the cover for challenges.

Will update shortly.

Judith wrote: "The only unclaimed task left in Canada for Mini 3 is the Letter D in the spell out if someone is reading a book that works there :)"

The book I finished tonight has a character with a D last name.

Thanks Judith and Cathy for answering my question on the May BOM! I think I'll still give it a shot since the library had a copy and the BOM points are nice.

Can anyone who has read the current BOM (What the River Knows) tell me if the comparison of "The Mummy meets Death on the Nile" in the description is accurate?

This one isn't my usual genre but The Mummy is one of my top 5 favorite movies and my library does have a copy so if it has those vibes I can pick it up for the points.

Judith wrote: "Did some conferring and the main reason itinerary 1 hadn’t been entered was more of a GR issue with not showing a read date.

It can be used for itinerary 2."

That's great! Thanks!

Thanks, I understand if ends up that it can't be used. That was my mistake for not realizing it was a hard country before finishing the book.

So I have a question. I finished Grave Secrets late last night right before midnight. This book is set in Guatemala which is a harder country which I didn't realize until after I finished the book.

Can this be used for the second itinerary? It was technically finished the same day as 2 of the books from itinerary 1 but I don't know if exact timing of finishing the book matters (this is assuming my book was finished after Lexi and Susan's books).

I will definitely be more mindful of the countries thing for future books, I had just completely forgotten that part of the minis as I hadn't had any in other countries yet.

I thought I had a Harlequin category romance with a moose but after digging the book out, it's a reindeer not a moose. That's going to take some work to find one for it.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "You know, I don't think I've had Pecorino before."

It's very similar to parmesan but it's a little sharper and saltier. Personally I'm in the camp that parmesan is better but my husband prefers pecorino.