Judith’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2015)

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

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NBRC Books of the Month

October Themed BOM

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Discussion thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...--

Vote for November BOMs
Link to polls: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...

Nominations for December BOMs
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Round 5 Word

JAZZ CLARINET

Color: Purple

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Team Member Shelves

• Judith: wheel2023
• Lexi: wheel2023
• Michael: wheel 8 2023
• Maritza: wheels 8
• Susan: wheel2023
• Patti: wheel8
• Melanie: wheel8
• Pacey1927: wheels8
• Alisha: wheels8
• Diane: wheel8

Well, signups are still trickling in so . . . soon but not quite yet.

On that note, we'll be cutting sign-ups off tomorrow (Monday 25th). After that anyone who signs up will go on the reserve this.

Another post in this thread will go up to make it clear when the cutoff is official.

Judith's BOM tracking

Day 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQ'S DAY 3

10. As we move towards the end of the novel what do you think will happen? What are the untold secrets of Hartwood Hall?
Some were what I expected though the Lucy/Charlotte situation was a bit of a surprise. I'm glad both children are alive.

11. Even though Paul has a reasonable excuse why he has keys to the Hall Margaret sometimes has the feeling he knows more than he is letting on. Is Paul too good to be true or is he hiding something.. and if he is will that impact their relationship?
He knew some things I guess but certainly not everything. I like he loved the idea of Margaret more than who she was as a person. Their ending seemed more realistic than flowers and kisses off into the sunset.

12. We finally find the truth of what happened the night Richard died. Margaret explains what her life was like, a life and emotions that many women of that era may have felt, shackled to the expectation of what women should be like, namely a possession of her husband with no life of her own. Even knowing all this does this excuse Margaret's behaviour on the night Richard died?
Crap happens and considering how he treated her, it's not surprising something like that happened.

13. Finally all the secrets are revealed and definitely not your standard Happily Ever After. It was really apparent to me that this was a novel penned recently, I'm sure a novel written even ten years ago wouldn't have ended the same way. Did the ending work for you, why/why not? What will you be rating The Secrets of Hartwood Hall?

It was a fine, fun read at a solid 3 stars. And yes, for sure contemporary despite the historic, gothic setting.

set 2: Vols Two & Three

6. Margaret and Paul, eh?! How do you feel about this pairing?
It seems like a fun bit of lust and there's nothing wrong with that. Though Paul seems a bit weird about his feelings towards Hartwood Hall. Like he's putting it on a pedestal and ignoring all the inconvenient bits. And as Lisa mentioned it is certainly a different power dynamic for Margaret after her marriage.

7. Margaret's loss of hearing is intended to make everything even more atmospheric, with the added uncertainty of whether she is hearing accurately. Do you think this is done well? Is it necessary, with all the hidden relationships too?
As a full hearing person it doesn't come across as false but not sure how best of a judge I can be on that. I'm not sure it is necessary but it does help with why she's had trouble finding positions and may feel more stuck at Hartwood than she otherwise might be.

8. We are suddenly plunged into a medical drama, with a minor measles outbreak! And a new sinister addition to the household: Miss Davis! Thoughts about her and her link to this whole melodrama?
It seemed like more plying on. Maybe she was sent in as a mole? Or just a red herring. I'm not exacting hurting myself to figure it all out and just going with it.

9. Susan's dead, RIP... and Margaret has rescued her stuff from her little blackmail box, with a few snippets of other compromising material too. Did you glean anything from those snippets? Did you want her to take the whole box?
I think the husband is alive and maybe has the daughter. Mrs Eversham is liking taking trips to find her daughter. Yes, I wanted her to take the whole box, remove her stuff, and place it where everyone else can get their blackmail material back.

Cat wrote: "oh! oh! have you read any of T Kingfisher's Saint of Steel books? I think they have rats, and are just wonderful
[bookcove..."

This series is great! and the audios are well done :)

I don’t think it’s really the daughter either but was having trouble figuring out who it could be.

DQs Day 1
16&17 Sep: Vol One

1.) Some of the set up of this book reminds me of Rebecca and Jane Eyre with a dash of The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Did you get those vibes and is that a good thing or a bad thing for you?
I did find it a bit funny that Wildfell Hall was actually mentioned in the text, so far this book is more interesting to me than that was. The Brontë's are all talented authors, but that book was just boring for huge chunks of it. As for the others, making me think of those may not always play in the author's favor. But it's clear she's a fan of the classic gothic novels.

2.) What do you think is going on with the staff at Hartwood? Everyone seems to either be hiding out there or at least sitting on a pack of their own secrets. Do you think Susan will get her comeuppance?
I'm not sure what everyone's deal is but I think most of them, like Margaret to a certain extent, are using Hartwood Hall as a place to hide. I hope Susan gets it. She at least needs a good punch to the face. But she also strikes me as a vindictive person so what ever happens to her will have to be done thoughtfully as to not create too much blow back.

3.) Mrs Eversham. What do you think her business is that she keeps leaving for stretches of time? Do you think it's just her writing? Do you think her husband and daughter are actually dead?
I think she has something else going on but no idea what. Maybe it doesn't really matter? I'm on the fence about both of them being dead, it's just such a common 'twist' in gothic novels for people to 'come back from the dead'. Either way wouldn't surprise me.

4.) Margaret. Do you like her? What do you think she's hiding? Do you think she actually killed Richard, if so for what reason?
I feel for her. I think she got married to get out of a bad situation only to find herself in a worse one. Richard seems like a classic abuser and slowly stripped away many things that made Margaret Margaret. Maybe she did poison him, back then, Richard dying would of really been her only true way out. I mean back then, he could of shipped her off to an asylum and left her there to rot. Options for women back then were appalling.

5.) Are you enjoying the book so far? Guesses for what's really in the East Wing? It's an easy, fun read. It's not going to set the world on fire or anything but there's nothing wrong with that. I'm guessing someone is hiding in there. Maybe the daughter?

DQs Day 1
16&17 Sep: Vol One

1.) Some of the set up of this book reminds me of Rebecca and Jane Eyre with a dash of The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Did you get those vibes and is that a good thing or a bad thing for you?

2.) What do you think is going on with the staff at Hartwood? Everyone seems to either be hiding out there or at least sitting on a pack of their own secrets. Do you think Susan will get her comeuppance?

3.) Mrs Eversham. What do you think her business is that she keeps leaving for stretches of time? Do you think it's just her writing? Do you think her husband and daughter are actually dead?

4.) Margaret. Do you like her? What do you think she's hiding? Do you think she actually killed Richard, if so for what reason?

5.) Are you enjoying the book so far? Guesses for what's really in the East Wing?

Gah! We lowered the min to 100 to be consistent with our other challenges the go round. I thought I caught all the spots 🤦🏼‍♀️

You can request to be put with people and we’ll do our best to keep people together that request it. We try to have balanced teams for fairness

I know for TT, we were able to honor everyone’s request

Sammy wrote: "Judith wrote: "What? *blinks innocently*

I love music . . . .(I really do actually)"

So do I. The inevitable music-related mini tasks you're bound to throw at us..? not so much. 😂"

I want to put up some sort of protest. But that's fair :)

In case any of you are interested, sign ups for Wheel-a-thon 8 just went live this morning. Team challenge starts Oct 7.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

What? *blinks innocently*

I love music . . . .(I really do actually)

Sammy wrote: "Evil. evil, evil, evil 😜"

Sammy, my friend, I've been looking forward to this for a fair bit. LOL

I'm in for DQs