Maritza’s Comments (group member since Jun 08, 2014)

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

Thanks guys. This was a great team to be on. This last month was not productive for me.

A other great read Lexi. Loved this team along with the challenge.

Great job Lexi.

Start of Month
Books on shelf - 55 (156 Approved / 97 Feedback Sent)
Feedback Ratio - 62%

Approved 2022

Approved 2021

Approved 2020

Approved 2019

Approved 2018

Approved 2017

Approved 2016

           
End of the Month - None Read this month
Reviews - 0
Books read in 2022 - 9
Books read in 2021 - 12
Books Added - 0
Feedback Ratio - 62%

Hi guys. I'm on vacation but was able to finish a book.

Malibu Rising Please update ss for me
BOM
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 3

41% 5:00 PM
59% 10:00 PM

9. The Riva house on the beach and Nina's husband's place on a cliff are described several times in the book as the most important settings. Do you find the houses and Malibu as appealing places?
What would your own dreamplace be like? And where would it be?
🤔I like a suburban place more like a cul de sac where neighbors gather for bbqs.

10. As we are moving forward in the story, the siblings characters may be getting fleshed out a bit more. What do you think of Nina? Does it seem like she's following in her mother's footsteps in her choices?
🤔Nina is like her mother in that she does not assert herself.

11. Connecting to the previous question about Nina: while TJR is handing out information concerning her husband and their marriage rather sparingly, how do you see Nina's choice and their relationship? Any impressions on what Brandon is like?
🤔Not sure.

12. What do you think about the relationship between Jay and Hud? How do you think Jay will react when he learns about Hud's betrayal especially as he seems to have found a real love interest?
🤔I really like their codependent relationship but at sone point there will be a riff. Jay will be hurt but his brothers love is very important to him.

DAY 2 - 1959 "It was last December 1959"
41% 1981 "...in her arms, on her back."

5. 1959 - "It was last December, 1959" -
It sounds like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song...Wow! What an explosive chapter. Your reaction? Mick was characterised as a sleezy womaniser, it was always going to happen or I didn't see that coming! And June's reaction? Sensitive woman with a huge heart or a doormat for putting up with what she suspected?
🤔It's like he couldn't be happy and she was going to make excuses until she got tired.

6. "He gave no thought to the idea that he might break his children like someone had broken him". "You're drunk and you're killing yourself with this stuff." Discuss Mick and June's parenting styles and how they have affected the siblings as children and adults.
🤔June was the stay at home mom and Mick the bread winner. She was the one who was home with the children and he would come visit to be the liberal parent.

7. The title of the book is Malibu Rising and the author gives the reader a sense of the beach culture both in the past and the present time lines. What does it bring to the story and would it be as effective in another setting?
🤔I'm not sure if it contributed a lot but it gave us a sense of the place.

8. Already with the first set of questions there are varying opinions by the group about both Taylor Jenkins Reid as an author and how it compares to her other work. I loved Daisy Jones and the Six but I am finding this one as bit like Days of our Lives... but the author is skillful enough to make it into a page turner. Where do you sit, engaging tale well written or too much drama and as we are half way through do you see this ending in triumph or tragedy for the Riva siblings?
🤔I think at some point some of them will be like their parents and others will break free and become more independent.

DQs Day 1: Prologue - 11:00AM

1. Both Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo have been BOMs in this group before. Have you read these books (or others) by Taylor Jenkins Reid too or is Malibu Rising your first book by the author? What are your expectations going in?
🤔I have not read any other books by this author. My expectations were that this was a mystery that we have us thinking and wondering who done it.

2. We have been introduced to quite a lot of MCs and their different POVs in the first 20% of the book. Do you prefer one character/POV over the others or is it still too early to tell?
🤔It's still too early but I always lije having different POVs.

3. The writing has quite a contemporary feel to it, especially the 1983 timeline, which makes it easy to forget the book is actually set in the past. What's your opinion on the writing and the back and forth between the two timelines so far, and how does it compare to other TJR books you've read (if any)?
🤔I like when books have differing timelines. It helps feel in the gaps to the present.

4. "The story of June and Mick Riva seemed like a tragedy to their oldest child, Nina. It felt like a comedy of errors to their first son, Jay. It was an origin story for their second son, Hud. And a mystery to the baby of the family, Kit. To Mick himself it was just a chapter of his memoir."
We don't really know how June and Mick's marriage post kids 1 + 2 went (and ended) yet, but from what we've learned about each of the siblings and their (love) lives so far, how do you think their parents' story has affected them after reading the quote above?
🤔I didn't think it was a good relationship and it had lasting effects on their relationships.

--- Also, for everyone who has read Evelyn Hugo, can we please talk about the (brief) mention of Celia St. James AND THE FACT THAT (view spoiler).
And while we're at it, Mick also had a cameo in Daisy Jones & the Six!

Judith that sounds horrible but am glad you are safe.

I finished Malibu Rising and it fits 2,3 and 5 for Scylla

Morning guys, in a bit of a reading slump this past week. I am working on BOM.

Can someone please update ss for me and thanks.

BOM - DQ Day 3 The Witch's Heart
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Please update ss for me and thanks.
DQ Day 3 The Witch's Heart
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs Day Three - 18 Jun
"There came a day in laste summer..."
"Angrboda agreed." 62%

11. I love how the myths surrounding Loki are casually mixed into this book. I'm a fan of Norse mythology, though I don't know a ton about it. Do you know or enjoy Norse mythology? Do you like how the author is incorporating it into her book?
--- I am more a fan of Greek Mythology but I have seen the Marvel movies and can follow lineage and some Loki characteristics. I really am enjoying the story and hiw ir is written. Makes it more understsndable to me.

12. "Was I wrong to not tell them the world may not accept the the way they are?"

This is Angrboda's question after not only Loki's other wife, but Loki himself, refers to their children as monsters. How would you answer her question? Was she right to try and protect and hide them from the Nine Worlds? Should she have gone about it in a different manner?
--- Yes I agree with her decision as the innocence of chikdhood is soon shattered. I think she responded as a mother and her love was for her children and not the fate that awaited them once they learned the truth.

13. What an ending to Part One! Did you see what was to come? Did you already know the myths before or were you completely surprised? If you already knew the myth, did you like the author's interpretation of events? Were you as angry at the world as I was reading all that happened to Angrboda and her children, cause I was ready to fight!
--- Was not surprised as historically witches have not been treated well. But damn Loki and the Gods were savages.

14. It seems that Angrboda's dreams can now transport her into other's thoughts. Do you think this is a one-off event because of how much stress she was under? If not, how do you think she'll use this skill from now on?
--- Not sure how that will be written going forward.

15. So Angrboda has a new voice in her head. Who do you think the voice belongs to? Do you think it's connected to Angrboda's seeming inability 
--- I think those are her memories that she left to herself.

Can you update the monster tab Lexi.

Finished The Witch's Heart. I think it fits some of the latest monster tasks. Need to finish DQs.

DQ day 2
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Can someone update ss for me.

DQs Day 2 — "He stayed with her as the days ..." to "... given her daughter a new obsession" - 40%

6. After Angrboda performs seid for the first time again, she starts having dreams where she hears someone calling to and beckoning her. Angrboda doesn't believe it to be Odin at first, but her suspicion changes over time. Who do you think it could be?
--- I was sure it was Odin as she mentioned that he wants something from her.

7. Skadi reappears in this section, having left her husband behind. Do you think he'll come back into the story later? Why do you think she chose a husband as recompense in the first place?
--- I don't think she us meant to be married, so no. Maybe she wants to be close to the Gods.

8. Hel was born with "dead" legs (or dead flesh on fully functioning legs? I'm honestly a little confused by it) and when she over exerts herself she starts turning blue. Angrboda attributes this to when she tried to save her daughter — but I'm not so sure. Do you have any theories on what the cause could be? Is it as simple as Angrboda believes, or do you think it's something bigger to be revealed later on?
--- i think sbe was nit meant to live so she is a cross between the dead and undead.

9. There have been several mentions of a witch who birthed a race of wolves who chase the sun and moon so far in the story — and now Angrboda has given birth to a wolf. Do you think she is the Old one the stories reference? Or, if not, do you think we will meet that character later on?
--- Yes, I do believe she is the Mother of Witches.

10. Angrboda decides not to tell Loki about his and his family's involvement in her vision of the beginning of the end. What do you think of her decision? Do you think she made the right choice in not telling him?
--- I'm not sure but in the end it will come out.

Read 3 this month.