Suzanne’s Comments (group member since Aug 13, 2015)

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

I'll be camping, and hopefully reading :) I've been thinking I should focus on longer books - but if those seem covered, I can certainly switch to wheel. Supposedly our campground is connected - but if you don't hear from me, that is why :)

I haven't had time to do an official update. But we are within 200 points right now - well done! Let's read like the wind this last week!

We got Chocolate Cupcakes - a super easy one.

I finished my Gus book. I'll get that wheel checked in.

Thanks - I got those entered,

(I have one that starts with Gus too, but I'll wait to see if it's needed.)

I found a book that ends with Gus, so I'll read that when I finish my Bourbon book.

For "Save Christmas" we all need to read books that start and end with "S". I think Kirsten is reading Soft Hands, and I'll read Saving Christmas, etc.

For Ladder to the Sky, I think the plan is for all four people to read "Gus" .

Kirsten - I think (but Lisa can correct me if I'm wrong) that for Gus on the Ladder, everyone will read the same book?

I'll get my S-S book read today.

Janeylou wrote: "Shannon wrote: "We got another Save Christmas (making the square with the titles) do we want to reroll?"

So ..would a book starting with S and finishing with S work
Perhaps lisa kirsten and mysel..."

I could read that one too if we want to fill the wheel that way.

Cris that would work great for tragedy!

I think as far as Rainbows, lets finish the two that are all claimed (a few books still need to be completed) and then be done with those.

Thanks for moving things around and the letter list Lisa.

New Spin:

Ladder Book 1: last letters start book 2
Ladder Book 2: last letters start book 3
Ladder Book 3: last letters start book 4
Ladder Book 4

I made it home! I'll record that and get a new wheel spin.

Thanks for doing that Keli and thanks everyone for all the reading! We are driving home now.

I hope your head feels better soon Shannon :)

I got my BOM questions answered and checked in all of our books. We are back in 2nd :) I'm continually amazed at all of the books we have read.

I will be at my Dad's until Friday night, and I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done but we'll see. I can for sure read on the drive down and back, unless I fall asleep :)

DQ Day 3 Chapters 14-20

10. So we are half way through the book. Thoughts and feelings? Loving it? Hating it? Ambivalent? I adore the dragon parts. I like the school challenge parts. I think Xaden is interesting. I dislike the love triangle and Dain. And I HATE how dumb Violet is about boys - it takes away from my enjoyment but then - dragons!.

11. Jeremiah gets killed pretty quickly as his signet shows. Do you agree that power can't be allowed? It seemed like his power could be quite useful if it was handled / trained. So I was surprised they killed him right away.

11. What's the deal with Andarna? Why do you think 2 dragons have bonded with Violet? I'm not sure why 2 bonded. BUT when we first saw the golden dragon at the guantlet, I knew Violet would bond with it. And that bothered me because I knew she was going to bond with the black. So I felt pretty vindicated when she got both!

12. If you coul choose a Signet what would it be? https://www.julesbuono.com/fourth-win... I'd go for healing. I'd love having that one.

13. Were you surprised about Amber's betrayal? How about when Xanden completely believed Violet but Dain didn't? Yes Amber really surprised me and Dain not believing what happened was the final straw for me - I hate him now. And I like Xaden - he helps Violet be strong.

DQ Day 2: Chap 7- 13

6. This section starts with two scenes with each of the male love/lust interests. The comparison of them continues very clearly. Do you like Xaden or Dain better or neither?
I like Xaden a lot more than Dain. Dain doesn't really love Violet or care about her goals. He's constantly pushing her to be less. Xaden is pushing her to be more, and we only know that he's bad and hates her because Violet tells us every ... single...time. But I would like to know a lot more about him.

7. Violet uses alternative methods to survive the fighting challenges. Do you think that counts as cheating or using the resources available? Do you think she is aware that she only has this information because she comes from a privileged background and her sister count sneak in it? Do you think one of the professors should have noticed after 5 rounds? I agree - how in the world did the professors not notice!? Violet must know she's cheating, but I guess at least she has to think and work for it.

8. The obstacle course is straight out of American Ninja warrior (and other similar TV shows) including ending with the giant ramp. Did you enjoy this section and how Violet figured out working with her height limitations? Have they told us how tall she is? (Though in real life, the shortest person to make it up the wall has only been 5’1” – I just Googled it). Yes! Totally Ninja warrior! I thought Violet's solution was super clever, especially since she couldn't practice ahead of time.

9. Finally, we meet the dragons. Was it all you were hoping for? Did anyone guess the black one when it was first introduced in this section? (Also, I am not taking the fall seriously at the end of my section since we still have 2/3 of the book to go).
I 100% percent knew Violet would get the black dragon as soon as they mentioned it.

Bonus: If you could have a dragon from any book or movie, which one would you want? Hmm...I actually loved this black dragon a lot - I'd choose him!

DQs Day 1, Chapters 1 - 6

1. As someone who grew up with the Pern books, I love diving back into a world with dragons and dragon riders. And this one has extra bonus Gryphons, apparently!
Do you have any first impressions of the main characters (Violet, Dain, Rhiannon, Xader) and the world building? Do you want to know more?
My first impressions: Violet is annoying to me just because she seems so mostly focused on the looks of Xader and Dain. Dain seems off to me - so protective, and they seem to be friends but ??? I love Rhiannon and she seems like she'll be a good friend. (I liked the guy who fell off the parapet too.) And Xader, well he's clearly gonna be the bad boy who gets the girl. Very trope.

2. What do you think of Violet’s mother and sister? Any idea about why her mother chose to order her to the Rider Quadrant instead of the Scribe Quadrant? I like Violet's sister a lot - she risked herself to come back and to help Violet. I really dislike her mother - she totally disregards Violet's wishes, dismisses her accomplishments, and seems to be setting her up to die. I have no idea what her motives could be.

3. The brutality of the selection process and the casual acceptance of murder is something else. What do you think the purpose of it is? (If there is one beyond societal norms.)
Would you have given your boot to a stranger? I'd love to think I'd give my boot to a stranger, and I do love that Violet did that. The selection process seems so overly deadly - I suppose that it makes sense if you have to be tough to ride a dragon. But it seems like such a waste of lives.

4. So this is a world at war, but at the battle briefings at least, they don’t seem to know why the outer provinces are currently attacking the borders. Any ideas about why this is happening? I figure that maybe the dragons were weakening or something and couldn't hold the wards.

5. Do you think that Violet will survive and get chosen by a dragon? If so, any predictions on what kind? I'm 100% sure that Violet will survive and get a dragon. I'd guess I'll be the biggest, baddest dragon.

Aw :) Same with you guys :)

Oh and they came over and fixed it - pretty great service (they had said tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. which wasn't bad). So I still can update tonight - yay!