Ashley’s Comments (group member since Apr 27, 2022)

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

Steven wrote: "Can you loosely interpret it as "pick an axe" ??? LOL!!!!

J/K of course. Hi, Team Dez!"

Perfect. Seems completely reasonable to me...

DQs Day 1 - Chan v Cortez & The First Time Around (26%)

1. The most popular releases by Taylor Jenkins Reid have been BOMs in this group before (Daisy Jones & The Six in 2019, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 2021, and Malibu Rising last year). Have you read any of these books (or others) by TJR too or is Carrie Soto is Back your first book by the author? What are your expectations going in?

I have read all 3 books. I, of course, have high expectations, although I must admit, I wasn't a fan of "Carrie Soto" in her small appearances in TJRs Malibu Rising.

2. After the first chapter is set in 1994 and Carrie Soto decides to get back into the sport to get her record title back the next few chapters follow her early years up until she felt like she had to retire because of her knee injury (and because she felt humiliated lbr) somewhat 30 years later. Her dad always wanted her to be the greatest whereas her mother just wanted her to be kind and happy. It doesn't seem like Carrie is either at this point in her life, also not the greatest anymore. How do you feel about her as a character so far? What do you think (sort of) being forced into retirement by her own body has done to her, mentally and physically; do you think she's changed at all in the last 5 years?

I feel both sad and annoyed for Carrie. I think her mother's death and her father's desires for her future do a lot to shape the (somewhat problematic) person she becomes. Her (unhealthy) obsession with winning will obviously be a focal point for this story.

3. What we've learned about Carrie's childhood and teenage years has quickly started to remind me of 'King Richard' the movie about the Williams sisters' life and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Carrie's dad Javier and the Williams' (movie) dad (as I'm sure is often the case when athletes' parents are involved in their kids' sports careers/futures).
Javier seemed to have good intentions and only ever wanted what (he at least thought) was best for his daughter, but they grew apart after going separate ways in 1979. As we know, they've found their way back together (does this sound weird seeing they're father and daughter??), but things definitely changed between them. How do you feel about Javier and about his and Carrie's relationship growing up vs now?

I think Javier realized that he made some mistakes in the way he raised Carrie and wants to rectify that, while also finding a way to be a part of her life. He tried his best, but she ended up with a lot of emotional baggage. There's going to be a lot to unpack here for them both.

4. It seems like Carrie doesn't believe in love (or actually of being worthy of being loved imo). She's been having flings/ONS left and right apparently, and appearing in tabloids with random guys regularly. The one time she let herself finally believe this could be IT for the long run was with Brandon Randall (who some of us already knew from Malibu Rising) who was cheating on his then wife with her. No surprise he left her for (yet) another woman, but were you surprised Carrie took him back after he wanted to go back to his ex-wife and she rejected him? Do you think losing her mother at such a young age and only ever having her dad as a single parent in her life has influenced how she views love, relationships and generally a deeper bond with other people?

I was NOT surprised in the slightest, as her self-worth is zil... and it definitely is influenced by her past trauma.

Sammy wrote: "I'm a little annoyed, because I'm currently reading a book with an axe on the cover... but it's a war axe, not a pick axe, lol."

That's just extremely rude of the cover creator!

I can do The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Finished In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss that works for Wheel Sloth - Heron in text :)

I've got this in my current book (should finish today)

W1d Read a book with the animal "heron" in the text

Just a quicky check-in. The weekend found me in a reading slump. I was busy at work (still am until the 4th of July holiday is over here), and everytime I thought of reading I just didn't want to. Ugh, July is such a hard month for me. Mid-year slump. Last night I did pick my biggie books back up and it felt good, so hopefully the slump is easing!

Oh, and a heads-up from me! I am going on VACATION (yayayayay!) the week of the 10th. I will (maybe) be reading (a little), but will probably be mostly quiet then. I'll have to try and catch up before and after to make sure I get my "required" reading in.

Ok, I finished my last book for the month... it was ... a let down. lol

I have one more book I'll have finished tomorrow and that'll be it for the month for me :)

What's the time to finish again?
Would finishing later be better?

Hey! I was glancing at the Team Sheet (not planning sheet) and noticed that my book isn't on the BOM tab. Just wanted to make sure we got the points!! :)

Finished another 400pager... which I think was the last we needed. :)

Sammy wrote: "I really loved the monster wheel, so looking forward to this one! :D"

Meee tooo!

How exciting! I will look at this once I'm home from work and see if I can plan some reading around our possible spins!

Between the wonky GR issues and the busy weekend, I feel like I'm WAY out of the loop. Still reading, just slower...

Finished a 400+pager :)

Done with my standalone if it's still needed!

I was waaaayyy busier at work than I thought I would be, and only finished half the book for the chipmunk task, I will finish tomorrow though!

Sammy, I'm reading Certain Dark Things. It's a stand-alone and shouldn't take me long (it's only 272pgs). Don't care either way, I'm reading it anyway. If you have something to use NOW, don't worry about mine.

Completed! 400+pager