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

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

Great if we have excess books. To avoid confusion probably better if the individual team member swaps their books under 300 pages out for another one they've read. No treading on anyone's toes that way. 😊

Who wants to volunteer to allocate the meals at the end of the month for this month? There are three months so if 3 people want to volunteer they can have a month each. I'll sit out and leave it to the tech savvy people, LOL.

Great going team.

We only need six more books read to finish the first month. 😁

Vicky wrote: "I'm finishing up The Four Winds over the weekend which will give us another BOM swap to use. Unfortunately, there was no way I'd get the other September BOM in time with the hold ti..."

Great Vicky. I'll be reading the two October BOM's too.

The Sin Eater

The Sin Eater

Megan Campisi
3.63
8,485 ratings1,664 reviews
Can you uncover the truth when you’re forbidden from speaking it?

A Sin Eater’s duty is a necessary evil: she hears the final private confessions of the dying, eats their sins as a funeral rite, and so guarantees their souls access to heaven. It is always women who eat sins – since it was Eve who first ate the Forbidden Fruit – and every town has at least one, not that they are publicly acknowledged. Stained by the sins they are obliged to consume, the Sin Eater is shunned and silenced, doomed to live in exile at the edge of town.

Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen, and has never considered what it might be like to be so ostracized; she’s more concerned with where her next meal is coming from. When she’s arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, however, and subsequently sentenced to become a Sin Eater, finding food is suddenly the last of her worries.

It’s a devastating sentence, but May’s new invisibility opens new doors. And when first one then two of the Queen’s courtiers suddenly grow ill, May hears their deathbed confessions – and begins to investigate a terrible rumour that is only whispered of amid palace corridors.

Set in a thinly disguised sixteenth-century England, The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is a wonderfully imaginative and gripping story of treason and treachery; of secrets and silence; of women, of power – and, ultimately, of the strange freedom that comes from being an outcast with no hope of redemption for, as May learns, being a nobody sometimes counts for everything . . .

So glad we have some spread sheet wizards in our group!

Hope you're all enjoying the challenge.

Great thinking ladies. My books till the end of the month are under 500 pages so I'll try and do more sandwiches. quiches or curry meals if the ingredients fit.

I read a BOM so we can swap two meals from adults to teenagers/children also if needs be.

Great work all.

Oh no Vicky. Hope you feel better soon.

So far I've been so lucky and escaped it despite my husband, one of my sons, his wife and children and my daughter and her partner all having it. Youngest son and I missed out who knows why. Hoping it stays that way.

Right on track, team.

Half way through the month and books read/reading are at 41/80!

All seems to be working now.

Does anyone want to read the BOM's and participate in the discussion. We can then get two swaps per person/per book when the meals are being allocated.

Books this month are - and . I did The Paris Apartment but had already read The Four Winds. But am planning to read both of next month's books. 😊

My library's got it, so I can do DQ's.

My library got it, so I can do DQ's.

Thanks Vicky. Hope you are feeling better soon.

Kaley wrote: "I have sauce in my book so I can add a seventh if no one else gets to it before me. I’ll probably finish that one tomorrow. And I’m going to be doing a lot of single-ingredient meals so I can def s..."

Thanks Kaley! I think it's fine, it can be up to 5 sentences. I'm not very imaginative, maybe add something with a Scottish theme? "Feed your Bravehearts or your wee Loch Ness Monsters with our bonnie faire". Like I said writing not my forte, LOL.

Ariel wrote: "I have a pasta dish in the sheet but need one more ingredient: does anyone have any garlic or oil of some kind available? I checked all of my other books but don't have anything I can find."


Ariel, just post your book and leave a gap and someone will add the extra ingredient when they find one later.

Is anyone working on a blurb for our cafe? We'll need one for Round 2, probably a mini challenge.

** Bonus question. ***

Looks like most of us didn't really "like" the characters in this. Which made me ponder.. is it important to like or have some sort of empathy for the characters to make a good story or for a book to be an overall enjoyable reading experience?

Awesome Vicky! I'm very envious of your spread sheet skills. 😁

Looks like everyone has got the hang of it fairly quickly. Well done team.

BOM BONUS BOOK TRACKING

DAY 1 - DQ'S - 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 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 5 - Jess - epilogue

17. The wrapping up of this was very hectic, with bonus tear-gas fueled bathroom sex! Was the ending satisfactory to you?

Mmmm, thinking back of Lucy Foley's other books, I think the hectic ending is what she does. Have all these threads starting wide apart and joining up at the end. For the big finish. I guess the bathroom sex was the cliche of affirming life after a near death situation. Have to admit I didn't it see it that Ben was alive and not Jacques but now that I think about it I don't think we saw Jacques actually on the page he was just talked about so maybe that was a hint. I didn't think this book was as good as her others.

18. Jess blackmails Sophie into helping out the sex-trafficked girls. What did you think of this plot line?

She was getting something back after all the times she was exploited. Maneuvering the situation to stand up and do the right thing for other girls when no one stood up for her.

19. Any changes in your view of the characters over the course of the book?

Not really. The male characters weren't really likeable, I guess Theo did do the right thing by the end by saving Jess. And the female characters that could have been characterized as victims at different times through the story such as Sophie, Jess, The Concierge and Irina did regain their power by the end.

20. Finally, do you think the inversion of the normal view of Paris as the city of love was effective here?

Although I love Paris as a tourist and have been there a few times there is no doubt like all big cities it has its problems. Which have been highlighted quite a bit over the last couple of years. This story could have been set in any capital city in Europe really although the French setting did give it that extra something because I'm familiar with the landmarks and have been all over in the Metro.

I don't think this book was quite as effective as some of Lucy Foley's others - 3.5 stars.

Ariel wrote: "I have a booked logged (The Wild Man) and it hits over 500 pages so I have 12 ingredients. I would say over 80% of the books ingredients make up desserts. Is it okay with the team that I logged tho..."

That sounds great Ariel.

Day 5- Nick - Mimi - This is actually Day 4 DQ's ...

13. There is a lot going on in this section with many twists. First we head to Amsterdam and the Ben/Nick encounter was this expected. What are your thoughts on how Ben treated Nick when he moved into the apartment?

Mmm.. I didn't pick this up from the book, only by what other readers had hinted. Sort of explains why they were friends then weren't for ten years. Maybe after that time had passed Nick had some perspective on what happened... and there hadn't been any ramifications from that night. So he felt "safe" to resume their friendship.

14. Ben and Sophie embark on illicit rendezvous courting danger, while Mimi is on an obsessive mission to seduce Ben. Where do you see this ending?

In tears, of course... bloody tears!!

15. Jess and Theo succeed in gaining entry to the exclusive club owned by Jacques but are thrown out when they attempt to access the locked room, with one of the dancers being fearful when she spots them down there. Ideas on what is behind the door?

Is it some sort of club where the girls are murdered during sex. Or something really horrible along those lines? Something really heinous.

16. We learn a lot about Mimi’s heritage and her connection to the Concierge. Do you think she’s aware of the connection?

No, I don't think so. Not at this point anyway. I thought the connection might have been with Sophie but Mimi wasn't too far off the mark.