Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2012)

Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

No 2 is done.

New monster is The Luggage from Discworld (Literary Monsters)

I got this one from the library - I can do DQ's if you need someone extra.

DQ'S DAY 1 Chapters 1-9

1. I was sure I had read a previous book by Alice Feeney but no when I checked it was Lucy Foley I was thinking of. My bad.. So my first by this author although the re-visiting of the Gothic house party theme a la Daphne du Maurier or Agatha Christie seems to be back in vogue. Have you read this author before and what's your thoughts on the modern gothic novel? Does the prologue note set the mood for a modern gothic tale?

2. Chapters 1-2 introduces our heroine Daisy Darker and setting, "Seaglass". First impressions of Daisy and how important do you think the house with be to the story?

3. "The future is a promise we can still choose to keep. The past is a promise we've already broken." What do you think of Nana's will, fair, unfair or too early to tell?

4. Enter the mysterious Connor. As the only non family member what do you think his role with be?

5. As per the fortune teller's warning, Nana is dead on her 80th Birthday. What clues do you think the two poems give as to whodunnit? What could Daisy Darker's Little Secret be?

Fernard Mondego is a goner.

New monster is O'Brian from 1984.

Judith wrote: "Monster wheel really turned into something more brilliant than I ever thought it would.

We really should turn more of the minis into individual challenges afterwards."

Long may the Monster Wheel reign! Our team is still really enjoying it into the second year. Any new monsters on the horizon?

Judith wrote: "What was so bad about my musical wheels 😭"

Awww.. it was fab, Judith. 😍

All the wheels are fun.. even the Wheel 'O Brown!😂

All good. I'll post mine later on today. 😊

Love is in the Air - how about famous romantic couples of history. 😍 and famous divorces. 😁

The one that really seems to linger on is the Restaurant Challenge. Everytime I see the word vinegar, I have flashbacks, LOL. But in a good way, it was a fun challenge.

We're not too proud, LOL.. any challenge is a good challenge! 😁

The Clinic by Cate Quinn

From the critically acclaimed author of Black Widows comes a thriller set in a remote rehab clinic on the Pacific Northwest coast, in which the death of a woman inside prompts her sister to enter the clinic as a patient in order to find the truth. Perfect for fans of Stacy Willingham and Tarryn Fisher!

Meg works for a casino in LA, catching cheaters and popping a few too many pain pills to cope, following a far different path than her sister Haley, a famous actress. But suddenly reports surface of Haley dying at the remote rehab facility where she had been forced to go to get her addictions under control.

There are whispers of suicide, but Meg can't believe it. She decides that the best way to find out what happened to her sister is to check in herself – to investigate what really happened from the inside.

Battling her own addictions and figuring out the truth will be much more difficult than she imagined, far away from friends, family – and anyone who could help her.

Ooh, thanks everyone for voting for this one. I think it will be a good one. 😊

Happy to start the DQ's off.

You're on a roll Vicky. Those monsters don't stand a chance.

Great Vicky. Yay for a new monster.

Natasha wrote: "I promise I'm still alive. Much of what I've been reading hasn't fit for any tasks, but I'm going to read a book that has a red cover."

Hi Natasha, great to hear from you. Slow and steady is the name of this challenge. Nice we're still going into Year 2. 😊

Hi Mods,

Just checking in that you've recorded Angie and my participation for BOM tokens. 😊

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly

THIS REUNION WILL TEAR A FAMILY APART...

Summer, 2021. Nell has come home at her family's insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried – gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore's pelvis remained hidden.

The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. Stalked by fans who could not tell fantasy from reality, his daughter, Nell, became a recluse.

But now the Churchers must be reunited. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. Nell is appalled, and terrified. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

From the bestselling author of He Said/She Said and Watch Her Fall, this is a taut, mesmerising novel about a daughter haunted by her father's legacy...

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver.

By the bestselling author of Dark Matter and Thin Air, an outstanding new piece of story-telling, a tale of mystery and imagination laced with terror. It is a masterwork in the modern gothic tradition that ranges from Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Neil Gaiman and Sarah Perry.

"Something has been let loose..."

In Edwardian Suffolk , a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens: a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maud is a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father.

When he finds a painted medieval devil in a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened.

Maud's battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft, the age-old legends of her beloved fen – and the even more nightmarish demons of her father's past.

Spanning five centuries, Wakenhyrst is a darkly gothic thriller about murderous obsession and one girl's longing to fly free.

The Carronites defeated.

Back to a Dr Who - The Ice Warriors

Prof Moriarty is defeated.

Our first new monster for 2024 is Fernand Mondego (Fictional Human Monsters.)