Alyana ’s Comments (group member since Feb 14, 2021)

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

It seems like you all loved your books. I didn't like mine that much, haha

About to finish my last book in a couple of hours that will fit R,M,E,A,P. I will put my Round 3 books in a bit.

Just wondering, should we edit the bonus points box on the top blue corner?

I will finish my last book for this round by tomorrow.

I got 4 books tagged as horror and a couple of X books.

Wow X! That's challenging! Does it really have to start with X? Can it be has X in it? :D

I do have 4 planned books tagged as horror for this month.

Lauri wrote: "I'm alive! I've been reading, but I've been sick at home... I inadvertently left my folder with all my notes at work. I promise to update on Friday when I get back to the office."

Good you are well now Lauri.

We are the Bermuda stop

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Welcome Meghna! :)

NBRC > ABC Reading Challenge
Duration: November 1, 2021- October 31, 2022
Progress: 26/26 (Level D)

✔A - an award winner - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - (multiple awards) - read on 12/05/21
✔B - a book with a brown cover - Open House - read on 12/10/21
✔C - a classic novel - Number the Stars - (Classics MPG) - read on 11/19/21
✔D - a debut novel - Lily and the Octopus - (debut author) - read on 11/25/21
✔E - an enormous book (600+ pages) - 11/22/63 - (1121 pages) - read on 11/04/21
✔F - a book you got for free - The Cuckoo's Cry - read on 12/07/21
✔G - a guilty pleasure - The Heart Principle - read on 12/01/21
✔H - a book with a happy ending - Winter Garden - read on 11/24/21
✔I - a book with ice cream on the cover - Homicide and Halo-Halo - read on 02/13/22
✔J - any book published in July - Not a Happy Family - (07/27/21) - read on 11/29/21
✔K - author's name starts with K (first or last) - Such a Fun Age - (Kiley Reid) - read on 11/06/21
✔L - a book you borrowed from the library - The Woman in the Window - (Hoopla) - read on 11/14/21
✔M - a memoir - I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World - (Malala Yousafsai) - read on 11/23/21
✔N - a new release (2021) - As Good As Dead - (published 08/05/21) - read on 11/12/21
✔O - a book that is # 1 in a series - The Rosie Project - (Don Tillman #1) - read on 01/01/22
✔P - a book that has a pink object on the cover - The Switch - read on 04/12
✔Q - a book with queen in the title - [[book:The Queen of Hearts|35142025]- read on 05/16
✔R - a book recommended to you - Chasing Fire - read on 05/20
✔S - a character who plays sports - Britt-Marie Was Here - (MC plays soccer) - read on 11/30/21
✔T - written by two authors - Forward Slash - (Louise Voss and Mark Edwards) - read on 11/08/21
✔U - an ugly cover (open to interpretation) - A Cold Dark Place - 02/25
✔V - a book set somewhere you always wanted to visit - The Christmas Sisters - (Scotland) - read on 11/27/21
✔W - with a witch or wizard as a character - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - (Harry Potter) - read on 11/19/21
✔X - an author who has an "x" in their name - XOXO - (Axie Oh) - read on 11/20/21
✔Y - young adult bestseller - Thirteen Reasons Why - read on 04/02
✔Z - a book with zero in the page count (101, 250, 300, etc) - Safe Haven - (340 pages) - read on 11/03/21

📚 COMPLETED 📚

Did you guys join Secret Santa last year? Sign ups are open now :)

Bernadette🎃 wrote: "Picture looks wonderful - can we go now??

I am going to Jacksonville, Florida for a few days - this Saturday to Tuesday. I got my husband tickets to see the Buffalo Bills 🏈play down there for his ..."

I wanna go now!! I'm envious of you now Bernadette!

Carrie wrote: "Well I went back and had a look and we used #2 for the first round of this itinerary...oops.

Spreadsheet is mostly set up. I didn't put the drop down in for the team member names. I wasn't sure ho..."

Yes I can put our picture but it's not that outstanding though.

Can I put one from our trip? ☺️

Kate wrote: "Linking would be awesome"

Thanks Kate!

Here are the links to my answers to the DQs:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Day 3: Chapters 11-15

9. Let’s talk about Cate. What could Grey have possibly said to her to make a mother hate her child? (If she is her child.) What do you think of Cate and Iris’ relationship?

If Grey's probably got the worst curse (if that exists), she could have said something that was really unacceptable for a mother but I have no idea what could that be. Cate's relationship with Iris looks like she still is not losing her hope that everything will go back to normal. She's seeing that Iris is still Iris and I'm not sure I'm making some sense here.

10. What do you think causes the sisters to have the power of suggestion, or the power of the kiss, or whatever you call it?

Honestly, I have no idea!

11. How do you feel about Grey's actions in the hospital and during the escape?

I feel weird. I think we all know now that they were cursed or something so it's not probably Grey and something or someone's making her do those things.

12. The girl says “It is in me…In her…In you.” What is in them? And, may I say, yuck. This story seems very myth-laden. Has anyone recognized the myth yet, or do you think this is an original one? Are you enjoying the story so far? (Is anyone else having a flashback to the creepy video in season one of True Detective, or is it just me?)
And, just out of curiosity, has anyone done a Google search on the flowers yet?

- No definitely not enjoying it but the curiosity is still present. I want to know what really happened at the end so I'm going to finish this. I have watched True Detective before but it was awhile ago and forgot about it. And I never bother to do some google search on the flower.

Day 2: Chapters 6-10

5. Grey leaves her sisters a note that reveals the creepy guy is really a very bad person...that she's in peril. She provides a key and sends them to a super creepy apartment...'The missing sister, the dead body, the burned apartment, the gunshot wound, the armful of stolen artifacts. Even harder: the man in the skull, the flowers growing rampant in all the soft parts of a corpse.' What is your conclusion so far?

I think that Grey is in some sort of alternative universe where all the unusual things are.

6. Vivi and Iris find a diary from their father...his notes supporting the Vogue article with all kinds of rumors about the girls. What do you think about their father? Was he crazy? Are his girls dead?

I don't think he was crazy, I think it's a normal reaction from a father when your daughters suddenly disappear and came back different. I don't think they were dead, "cursed" probably.

7. What is with the flowers and vegetation found in the girls and around the girls? This organic, smelly stuff keeps showing up? What do you think is behind it?

I'm not so sure about this. All the weirdness are in this book.

8. Tyler shows up at the end of this section of our reading. There's an article referenced with mention of a disappearance. Someone else came back. What do you think is next? What will Tyler's role be...hero, bad guy, or is his appearance a cameo/distraction?

I think Tyler's a distraction. I think there is something big going to happen.

Day 1 - prologue - Chapter 5

1. What sort of stuff do you like in your horror books? Do you like the slow pacing here?

I used to love horror books but I think I lost my interest when I became an adult. The slow pacing is okay I guess, makes me absorb the story.

2. What do you think of the sister's and their relationship with each other?

I do have 3 half sisters but we weren't that close so I envy their relationship.

3. We are getting hints about the strangeness around the Hollow girls, and at what happened to them. What are your suspicions? Would you be like Cate with her daughters, and not push at the memories overtly or dig actively?

Yes, I think I would be like Cate on not pushing the girls to remember what really happened to them. My suspicions are still not clear but I find it weird.

4. The descriptions (of Grey's clothing in particular!) is very atmospheric. Are you enjoying the descriptive language used?

Not at all enjoying. It does add the mystery tone but I find it really weird.

Carrie wrote: "Alyana wrote: "I'm good with any of the three.

Bermuda - our first cruise destination. Great place and very nice people."

We took a cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda a few years ago. It is such a ..."

We took the one from NY to Bermuda last 2019 before the pandemic. We were supposed to do an excursion but the weather didn't let us have one so we ended up staying by the Naval Dockyard. I would love to come back again soon. Looking forward for another cruise to Bahamas this March.

I'm good with any of the three.

Bermuda - our first cruise destination. Great place and very nice people.

Hi. For the DQs, do we post the link here or enter it straight to the tracking ss?

Judy wrote: "In the interest of fairness there's usually an official word count we can claim for BOMs instead of the actual word count of the edition we're reading (which tends to be on the higher side of the most common editions)."

Thank you very much Judy 😊