MelanieJoy’s Comments (group member since Apr 26, 2016)

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

yeah we can give a preference and see? you can pick one from each volunteer and see what they want to work with? up to you. if I read for Ice my top read would be Ice Like Fire since I read book one years ago and don't mind continuing the series. but a lot of the books I looked at looked okay to read.

i think the ones that i'd like to send district two are FIRE and COLD because with FIRE they have more of a chance to hit 4 letters instead of 3.

I can also hold off and read for another round.

I can read

Ice Like Fire
The Ice Princess
Ice Cold
An Ice Cold Grave
Ice Cold Heart


a couple more options someone else can look into:

Ice Station
Ice Cold Spy
Ice Cold Boss
Ice Cold Malice
Ice Cold Kiss
Ice Shear

Thanks Laura, I couldn't think of a better one and I went to bed haha. I'll keep checking today to see what they throw back so I can offer a book.

I'd like to participate in the battle! I have no planned reads for the 22nd so I should be able to get to a book no problem! I'll try to keep an eye on this thread tomorrow to see what they choose. DLE looks difficult.

Jesse Metcalfe!!!

Laura we can scrap my BOMs. Also the Clover Girls - I DNFed.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "

How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

I nominate this due to the title (eaten) and fruit with some fairy tales (such as apples wi..."

this one looks SO good, I won't nominate any myself!! Nice pick Erin!

Laura wrote: "MelanieJoy wrote: "I might scrap those two BOMs; I'd love the points for our team but I'm just not excited about reading them and it's really hard to get into either one. I'm probably going to try ..."

I read Things You Save in a Fire and it was just the thing!! It had been on my TBR list since 2020 and I'm glad I found the time to get to it!

Now I'm working through The Clover Girls and definitely wish I was in a book club discussing this.

Woohoo go Kamaria!!

Sammy wrote: "#116

I was hoping for a lot more from this, but in the end it was just ok."

I personally really liked it but I can see how someone would end up wanting more from it.

I really want to read this and I think it would be a great discussion book

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis transports us back to 1950s Manhattan and the glamorous Radio City Music Hall. . . .

New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.

Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the "Big Apple Bomber." They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.

As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.

I might scrap those two BOMs; I'd love the points for our team but I'm just not excited about reading them and it's really hard to get into either one. I'm probably going to try a romance like something by Katherine Center or maybe Emily Henry, I haven't tried those authors yet but they look like they write good books.

I want something in the vibe of Remarkably Bright Creatures or The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley. Does anyone have any good recs?

edit - I'm going for Things You Save in a Fire but let me know if you have other ideas for fun really good reads! A lot of the BOMs for NBRC this year have been gothic and that's not my main genre so I'm looking to liven it up a bit.

Melanie Joy's BOM Tracking
note - team the Capitol for Book games)

Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 4 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 5 (wrote DQs) - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs Day 5
Chapters 27 - Epilogue

21. Wow what a ride! What were your initial thoughts and feelings after finishing the book?

22. An integral part to the book is the way the story of Starling House is told through many different viewpoints, with truth and lies and rumors and heresay and opinions often woven together. Did you find that you learned more about Starling House through each story? Did this type of story building and layering work for you? Why or why not?

23. In the ending battles, the MCs were fighting beasts of nightmares and of their own making, inside dreams. Do think it's hard for good dreams to win out against nightmares? Explain your thoughts.

24. A major theme in the book is wants and needs, and how they seemingly twist into each other if you want hard enough. In this theme exploration, what was the message you got from the author, and did it resonate with you?

25. Would you recommend this book? Explain.

DQs Day 4: Chapters 20-26

16. I love Bev’s line ‘ How in hell is anybody supposed to help if you won’t ask?’ Are there any characters who don't need to hear this? Did it resonate with you? That quote definitely stuck out to me. It helped give more dynamics into Opal's character and her relationships with people around her.

17. Opal and Jasper finally reveal their secrets and talk. Were you surprised that they are both Graverly’s? How do you feel about the outcome regarding schools? I accidentally read this question before getting to this section of the book, but one line that struck me was Jasper saying if Opal had wanted to find out where she was from, all she had to do was look.

18. Elizabeth Baine seems to have an amazing connections and pull. Who do you think she works for? How do you think she figured out what the right leverage was? I have no idea where she was from and why she was so tenacious. Having read the end, obviously she's a static character but there doesn't seem a justification for it, she's just an evil conjured up for the story.

19. So much happened in these chapters, yet I really don’t feel like I learned much. How do you feel about the pacing/storyline? I thought the author did a great job of building the intensity of the story; while the learning may have been slow, the story is sort of told in layers on layers, or like a puzzle, getting some of the view but not knowing how it will all look and come together in the end.

20. We learn that being a warden is a choice, although the house asks very vulnerable people. Do you think that the other wardens understood the price? How does Opal fit – she chose, but she isn’t a warden at this point. Answering this after having read the end so I have more insight, but I do think the wardens understood the cost.

Bonus cat question: Which name do you prefer – Baast or Hellcat?

I like Baast better but the cat is Hellcat in my head.

DQs Day 3
Chapters 14-19

11. Starling House reminded me up to a point with some vibes of Beauty and the Beast, although lesser now as the story progresses. Is the book reminding you of any other stories you have read before? It did remind me a little of beauty and the beast, but just like as an inspiration, not as a retelling. The house reminded me of the house in Keeper of Enchanted Rooms which I read last year.

12. Ch 14-19 have answered a lot of questions about Opal, the house, Arthur, the history of the place and what's going on. Has anything revealed in this section been surprising to you? Does the explanation so far of everything that has happened ring true? At this point in the book most of it seemed believable except for how far Elizabeth Baine could go in her blackmails as she's not police. Maybe she's just corrupt and has them in her back pocket.

13. Jasper and Opal are clearly close, although he is sometimes moody and surly. He seems resentful at times of Opal going out so far on a limb to take care of him and get him out of Eden. What do you think of the character now that he has more fleshed-out scenes and more has been revealed about him and their relationship? At this point I just don't understand him, why he's so surly and distant. In the beginning on the book he's portrayed more as happy, positive and uncorrupted because Opal keeps the bad stuff away.

14. Arthur and Opal have heated a few things up. Do you think they fit each other well with these developments? I think a lot of people reading this really didn't see them together and couldn't see them kissing or falling for each other. I've read farther as I'm answering these questions so I definitely got used to the idea.

15. There is humor in the book that is overshadowed by genuinely creepy horror like tales, What do you think about Underland "beasts" revealed so far? I could feel the horror aspects, I'm not really sure I saw the humor per se but I did see sarcasm, wit, and beautiful lyrical descriptions of settings and new developments in the book. The writing was really compelling and spell-weaving, pulling me in.

DQs Day 2 - Chapters 8 - 13

6) The narration is using dual POVs: 1st person for Opal, 3rd person for Arthur. Does it work for you? Do you think this suits the story?
It definitely works for me. I feel the change in tone. I wish we could see more into Arthur's past.

7) Opal goes to the Library to find out more about Starling House and finds her mother's phone number among the Gravely family's documents. What implications can it have? Do you think it could be a hint about Opal's parentage? It definitely seems like Opal's mom could be connected with the Gravelys somehow but maybe it was more sinister, like she had something they didn't like and they had her killed? No idea..

8) After Bev's story about the relationship between Eleanor Starling and the Gravely brothers, we get a totally different perspective from what Nathaniel Boone went through. What do you think about the Gravely family and their "hold" over the town of Eden? What do you think Nathaniel may have discovered in the dark? I definitely think the Gravelys are "villains" and not "victims". I wish I know what Boone discovered, I'm drawing my wildest imaginations and I can't come up with anything concrete.

9) Finally we learn some more about about Arthur's role (warden) and his connection to the House. What do you think about their "relationship"? What is your opinion about Starling House as a sentient being? Could it be good or evil? I recently read Keeper of Enchanted Rooms and it addresses the house as a being of magic, and trying to find the source of the magic, so it's more alive. So that's what I keep referring back to in my head

10) On "characters not communicating"
In Chapter 12 we find out that Opal has not told Jasper about the fact that she arranged for him to go to a different school and she actually managed to put together the fee for the 1st year already. Opal doesn't tell his brother about her working in Starling House and she doesn't tell Arthur about her spying on the House for Elizabeth Baine and getting more and more demands.
What do you think of all this? It definitely makes for a more real story, but it's like come on!!! This person is on your side!!

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to 7

1.) Have you read other books by Alix E Harrow? Was this on your tbr list before it was a BOM selection? Any expectations going in? To be honest I went in completely blind. Had not read the synopsis, didn't know the genre, nothing. I had tried The Ten Thousand Doors of January but didn't keep going; I do plan to someday but something about the intro was too hard for me to buy into.

2.) Did you read the footnotes as you went along? Find them helpful? Annoying? I noticed this qu before I finished the section so I went back and read them and I definitely found them interesting. It gave the book more of a mysterious element

3.) The discussion of E.Starling's book being too scary for children reminded me of some interviews with M.Sendalk when the Where the Wild Things movie came out several years ago about books, etc that scare children (when children are the target audience). His response was basically children should be scared sometimes and there's nothing wrong with that. And has further said, it's better to have a book full of fears than one pretending there's nothing to be afraid of. What are your thoughts on this topic? I can see why it would be atopic of discussion, I'm not sure where I fall. I think maybe having like a stormy night and seeing someone get scared is healthy, as fear is normal and common. Growing up in a Christian home, we had a lot of topical lessons in our literature like "Where's God when I'm scared?"

4.) What are your thoughts so far on Eden and Starling House? Has the author done a good job so far of creating an atmosphere and setting for a good gothic story? I do think the setting is interesting and it's drawing me in. It feels similar to Keeper of Enchanted Rooms but as if the story graduated into more a mysterious story that sucks you in. And Opal still feels foreign to me, like I'm still learning her.

5.) Any favorites so far in our motley cast of characters? Opal, Arthur, Jasper, Bev, and Starling House. No favorites yet (I do develop one later but I've read ahead)

sorry for the silence for a few days - my parents were in town and i didn't touch my computer. I have some reading to catch up on to do DQs for Starling House! Wish me luck!