Dev’s Comments (group member since Sep 09, 2017)

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

DQs Day Three

9. Sadie's memory of Claire's last night with her, caressing her forehead while she pretended to sleep, showed how starved for attention from Claire that she really was. Was this Claire's way of showing Sadie the affection that she couldn't ordinarily show when she was high? And what do you think Claire meant when she said "I made you"?
i don't really remember this part but i'm assuming it's just a literal 'i made you' as she is her mother so she literally ...made her lol. although i guess it could also be like 'i made you how you are' because she was the main 'parent' for most of her life and not very good at it so sadie's problems could theoretically be blamed on her.

10. When Sadie picks up Cat, she not only tells Cat her real name but also concocts the story about picking up Mattie to go on a road trip rather than keeping with the story she's told everyone else on this journey. Why do you think Sadie changed her story?
maybe she related to her because they were both girls around the same age or maybe she just wanted to share part of the truth with someone and figured cat was a 'safe' options

11. We hear on the podcast that Silas Baker had been arrested for sexually abusing children he was coaching. I really hope we learn more about how that happened! But at this point, what do you think happened because last we knew, Sadie didn't turn him in (she made a comment how he was still out there and alive) and it seemed to be a hidden secret that no one knew? Do you think it might've been Javi who turned Silas in?
i already finished the book last night so no comment

12. Sadie finds Keith's trophies in his room - the scraps of cloth for Casey, Anna, Joelle, Jessica & Sadie. Frankly I was surprised there wasn't also one for Mattie since Sadie is so sure that Keith is the one who killed her. Seeing this evidence but not quite believing this about the stand-up guy Ellis believes Keith to be, he gives Sadie information on where to go next. Do you think Ellis will tip Keith off that Sadie is tracking him down? That could explain why Sadie is now missing.
honestly even though i finished it i still don't think i could answer this question. i did skim a bit near the end but also i'm fairly unclear about what actually happened in a lot of places ...

13. Sadie has said several times how she's dangerous and how she has a knife. I know I'm minimizing what she's done up to this point (pulling the knife on Caddy, Silas & Ellis) but bear with me, this is fiction after all. So far she hasn't been able to do much but threaten people, doesn't seem capable of following thru (which is not a bad thing!). Do you think, when the time comes & she finds Keith, that she'll be able to go thru with it (getting her revenge/killing him)?
again, i already finished so no comment. i do think it's interesting how she has the knife though and when she uses it, often because she is unable to express herself in words. although other times it's in self defense too ...

i feel like the ballroom dancing thing is less prevalent in the next book but when verity comes back as the protag in book 5 then it's like all about the dancing bc she enters a dance competition where people are getting murdered.

and yeah dominic is definitely one who has to grow on you. although honestly tybalt had to grow on me in the toby series as well, but at least he didn't start out genocidal so dominic does have a bit further to pull himself up lol

i just finished it! i agree that this first installment was definitely a bit on the light side, but honestly i enjoy a lighter book so it didn't really bother me. i think the next book gets more 'serious' because i remember other covenant agents showing up. so if anyone wants to give that a shot then we could do a BR. i just love how the women in her family keep converting every covenant agent they find lol. like it's ridiculous but it's just so good.

@geri did you read the rolling in the deep prequel novella? idk if i'd really want to reread it now since i just reread it last year before into the drowning deep came out but its very good

i got through chapter seventeen today. and i mean obviously dominic is not a Good Person at this point but he's just so unintentionally hilarious. like when he called her a witch and then said the fake lightbulbs were a 'monstrous deceit' because seriously who talks like that???

DQs Day Two

5.) This section opens with “I want to live my life on the Internet. Everything is perfect there.” This makes me think of the addictive nature of social media, especially for teenagers. And disturbing because we all know it’s a lie, nothing is that perfect. What did you think of this quote?
i mean it does make sense because you can always stage photos or whatever else you put on the internet to make yourself look better. and in the same vein when you see people's super great lives through their social media you are like only seeing the high lights and not the whole picture.

6.) when the chapter ended with the lock box Silas was hiding at the run down house breaking open, what did you think was inside? Did your thoughts change once you read Sadie’s reaction to its contents?
from her reaction i'm guessing it's like ...dirty pictures of kids or something similar, but before i didn't really know what to expect. i mean it would have been weird if he was actually stashing money out there but i guess what about this book isn't weird.

7.) Were you surprised she called Javi? After meeting with Sadie, why do you think he wasn’t answering Noah’s calls/texts?
i think she probably just wants to feel close to someone and also the more obvious motive of like ...she has to eat but has no money and probably thought she could get some food if she called him, even if she was only thinking that subconsciously. not sure about him not answering noah's texts. i'm assuming he's going to play a bigger role somehow though because it would seem weird to just bring him up and then sideline him immediately.

8.) What do you think May Beth wants to talk about off the record? It sounds like she thought Keith was a saint and not the monster let through the front door, so I don’t think it’s that he was an abuser to the girls. So, some other secret? Or maybe she thought the girls were sexually abused and didn’t know by whom?
honestly no idea. i guess she could have thought another one of the men abused the girls like you said. or maybe she knows who sadie's actual dad is and just didn't want to say on the record because he's a really bad guy?

I'm in! Ultimately I would love to reach the Millennium level, but I read literally all the books on my tbr published in 2018 during 2018 - 250 books in all! so unless I find 18 more of them this year then it's not gonna happen. So in the meantime I will aim for level 5 or 6.

edit 1/24/20: FINISHED!
Level VIII (Millennium challenge) (190 books)

2019


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


2012


2011


2010


[from this point on I have used some graphic novels as I don't have a lot of books on my TBR from 2001-2009]

2009


2008


2007


2006


2005


2004


2003


2002


2001

DQ Day One

1. As discussed in the thread (see msgs 38 - 41), some of us went into this book unsure and have been sucked in! What were your thoughts before starting?
my thoughts before starting were kind of like 'eh, idk but why not' and after this first section that's really still where i'm at. i mean it's definitely not a bad book by any means and i am interested to see what happens, but it's not necessarily blowing me away. i know it's probably unfair to compare this to gillian flynn's books but i think it's kind of inevitable comparison and it seems a bit simplistic compared to other things i've read like this.

2. I'm listening to the audio, which seems perfect for this mix of podcast and Sadie's internal thoughts. Do you like the structure (different timelines / types of narration)?
maybe i should have listened to the audio lol. on the one hand i like the different structure because it's a nice way to break up the book and i like it when authors put in little quotes or interviews or excerpts between the chapters, but on the other hand the script style dialogue is a bit confusing when you're reading with word runner so that's always an issue for me

3. The podcast narrator, West, is very ambivalent about whether this is a compelling story: "girls just go missing sometimes" he says, though his boss keeps pushing him to follow the story. Do you think that West is right - that girls going missing is routine, and not interesting to listeners?
i don't know if i would say it's not interesting to listeners, but it definitely is way more routine than it should be and i feel like girls go missing more than boys, or at least that girls going missing is publicized more than boys. especially in media it's such a thing to have a 'pretty dead girl' to be a plot point instead of an actual person so i'm hoping that we're going to get some kind of commentary on that moving forward.

4. Sadie's voice is SO vivid (and the audio narration of the stutter is wrenching), it makes her a compelling character to follow. We see different people interact with her stutter differently - it's an effective way to shine a light on the treatment of otherness. What other messages do you think the author is seeding in this book?
again, this probably would have been a good book to get on audio lol. i definitely think it's an interesting way of setting sadie apart from other people and it definitely adds another layer of challenge to her situation since she is out on her own now and it's harder for her to communicate than most people. not sure if there's another message besides like 'everyone is different and don't treat them like shit for it' but we'll see lol

yeah i don't like verity as much as october, although i think it's because it's harder for me to relate to her personally. like toby is just an absolute mess and i'm like #same lol but verity is like idk really sporty i guess and also always talking about her clothes / shoes ...which like there's nothing wrong w/ that and i get that seanan probably just wanted to write two totally different types of women, but i still definitely like toby's whole vibe better in general.

did you finish this one already? i read chapters 1-9 yesterday, gonna try to read some more today. i really loved every heart a doorway and also into the drowning deep. parasite was like ...it was good but it was HEAVY and sometimes it was dealing with some stuff that i didn't really want to deal with lol

While I do like this series, I agree that the October Daye series is a lot better - or at least has characters that I am more interested in I guess.

I do like this series though because it covers a wider range of creatures as opposed to just being fairies and she does some really interesting things with some of them. Like in book 3 there are gorgons that have some really cool background and book 4 I think is werewolves but she definitely puts more time into the science behind the transformation than most authors.

Also different books focus on different siblings - 1, 2, and 5 are verity, 3 and 4 are ...alex? the brother. he's not my favorite lol, and books 6 and 7 are antimony - the younger sister. So I guess that could be a good thing if you aren't crazy about one of them but also can kind of be a bad thing because there isn't exactly a main 'Scooby gang' like with October and her entourage.

Also I don't want to give too much away but I just really like the way that Seanan writes relationships. Like usually I hate urban fantasy books with romance in them but I always like her pairings because the guys aren't total douchebags and actually respect the women they're with. I know that seems like such a low bar but unfortunately urban fantasy is just filled with horrible asshole boyfriends so when an author DOESN'T do that it automatically gets bumped up to 'a favorite series' lol

Soooo, tldr I guess, I wasn't as immediately taken with this series as I was with October, but it definitely grew on me by the second book and now to the point where I am wanting to reread it.

just a reminder that this starts today! and i think i might actually start it on time lol

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.

good job karen! looks like we were the over-achievers for this challenge this year lol

I just wanted to post my totals for the year:

---20 books [JAN]
---17 books [FEB]
---34 books [MAR]
---24 books [APR]
---26 books [MAY]
---17 books [JUN}
---28 books [JUL]
---16 books [AUG]
---23 books [SEP]
---25 books [OCT]
---12 books [NOV]
---07 books [DEC]
TOTAL - 250 new releases

Apparently either there are less books I like published towards the end of the year or else I was just running out of steam lol. I think I actually did read all the books on my TBR that were released this year with the exception of one, but that one is a side series and I haven't started the main one yet so I decided it doesn't count ;)

Okay, I don't really read much romance - or at least nothing where romance would be considered the 'main' genre, but here's some stuff from your other categories. Once again, sorry for doing way more than three, I have trouble narrowing stuff down lol

This first batch is stuff that I think is less well known so hopefully there's a few you haven't heard of:

YA / fantasy

fantasy

YA / fantasy

YA / historical fiction

historical fiction

YA / mystery


And then here's some more popular ones as well:

fantasy

fantasy

YA / historical fiction

YA / historical fiction

YA / historical fiction

@Laura ok I will try to pick out a few recs for you later today :)

at this point i think my secret santa has just disappeared so i'm thinking i won't actually get my recs, but i looked through everyone else's and I think I will add The Fifth Season [thanks Geri] and Sadie [thanks Dee] to my TBR list. hope everyone had a good holiday :)

i actually got rid of a few books i had hard copies of this year because i tried to read them and i just wasn't into them. i hated getting rid of them [especially because one was rather expensive and i actually read half of it like 6 years ago lol] but i figured if i hadn't read it by now then i wasn't going to

@Geri, yeah she publishes all of her scifi / horror stuff under mira grant and then all her stuff that is more urban fantasy / adjacent under seanan. i think she definitely used to be more popular as mira grant because the newsflesh series was pretty big for awhile but now i think more people know her as seanan

that's fine, i'm not sure i'll actually start on the 1st either but i figured i would go ahead and set it up for that date