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

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

Bernadette wrote: "Ashley - I just need the justification for T15."

Main character takes several trips via boat (from Mexico to the Yucatan peninsula, from Europe to Mexico, Mexico to Europe, etc.)

Well she has dialog, so she is in the book, just only one scene

Just finished The Empress and added to tracker. It meets the following tasks:

Scylla: T24
Charybdis: T12, T15
Harpies: T9

I'll let you put them where you'd like and if you have justification questions, just let me know.

Mini question! I'm reading The Empress and a sorceress is mentioned: a character goes to her to procure poison, but that's all. Would that be enough to meet the "features a sorceress" task?

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - 321pgs
Unlucky Charm - 193pgs
This Time for Me - 446pgs
The Viscount Who Loved Me - 469pgs
A Court of Thorns and Roses - 448pgs
The Book of Cold Cases - 350pgs
An Offer From a Gentleman - 474pgs
Rainbow Sprinkles - 192pgs
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 193pgs
Children of Blood and Bone - 544pgs
Total: 3,630pgs

Current Total: 986,996

Been weekend and Monday busy as well! Just not much reading was done!

Alaina, hope your pup is doing better!

I plan to read Six of Crows this month. It will fit at least these 2 for Minotaur:
3.) Read a book with a map in it.
5.) Read a book with a Goodreads rating of 4.0 or higher.

...and maybe others judging by the synopsis.
2.) Read a book where the MC gets lost. (they are off on a heist, certainly getting lost could occur... from text search there is some inclination toward the MC being lost at some point, it's just hard to judge based on snippets)

I'm hoping for 3 task run!

Alternatively, it also has multiple task possibilities for the Harpies as well, so I think what I'll do is keep meticulous notes on this book and leave it up to you captains to make the wisest vanquishing choice! HAH!

In the book I'm currently reading, I think a character chases down a delivery boy. I haven't read that far into the book yet, so I don't know the extent of the chase, only that's it's mentioned at least 3 times (possibly more) in the text. Would that constitute enough of a "chase" to work for:

Read a book that contains a chase (car chase, foot chase, etc).

Oh this is great! The mods are always impressing me with these Challenges! Excellent!

I've noticed right away that on out first go, we have 2 of the 3 available "How are you alive" difficulty level Monsters! LOVE IT! HAHA!

Now I'm off to browse through all these tasks and see what books I have!

Brilliant Sandy!!!!

Thanks Emma! I do know that, and it usually works, but if it's an obscure tag... like say "empress" and it's not on the first couple of pages, then the only recourse is searching through hundreds of pages of tags.... ack!

Goodreads really needs a better way to search for tags... I don't want a Listopia list... I want a list of that tag Goodreads... if I wanted a Listopia list, I'd ask for a Listopia list, I asked for the tag!

Melissa wrote: "The June Mini should be coming out soon :)"

Oooo! Will we get a sneak peek before the 15th(ish)?

It was so much fun! I'm so glad I got to contribute a few books! Alaina is a BEAST though! She is a speeeeeedy reader!

Yay! I added 2 more books to the tracker that I've had in holding for the Maze since we FINISHED! YAY!

Added my late last night Maze book to the tracker. Was too tired to do it last night! ;)

Added 2 Maze books to the tracker :)

Posts for Participation Verification:

Chapters 1-11: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Chapters 12-19: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Chapters 20-29: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs: Chapters 20-29

10. Beth's house has seemed important from the beginning of the story and there have been a lot of descriptions of the "Frankenstein ugly" house. During one of Shea's interviews Beth told her to go upstairs and see her childhood bedroom and then she said, "Not all of the answers you want so desperately are going to come from me. Some of them are going to come from this house." What do you think Shea learned from the house when she perused Beth's room?

I don’t know that Shea learned anything from the house itself, more the state of the house as it’s been left by Beth, which I think helps her begin to understand Beth more.

11. We now have a better insight into the note that was left at the murder scene that said, in part, Am I bitter or am I sweet? In this section, we got a lot of details about how this "bitter/sweet" was played out in the house with Mariana and the two girls. Lily also told Beth that everything was her fault and she could have stopped it. What do you think the note will reveal about the murderer and how do you think Beth could've stopped it or could she have?

This is really a mystery to me at this point. It seems to me that there is some kind of psychological issue going on with Lily, and that her gaslighting of Beth is part of that??

12. Julian's treatment of Lily is rather atrocious, especially considering how young she is when she first visits them. Why do you think he hates her so much and who do you suspect Lily's father is? (I have only read through chapter 29 for my questions, so I don't even know if that is revealed. Just curious what others are thinking about the situation.)

Perhaps her father is/was a friend of Julian, or someone he knows, and that causes some unresolved animosity? Maybe it’s just a generational thing, ie “bastard children” are never wanted…

13. Lily told Beth she wanted a lot of things, including the house. Beth told Lily she hated the house to which Lily said, "That's because you don't understand it...It's an abomination that shouldn't exist...It's exactly like me." What do you think she meant by this?

I think this has a lot to do with how Lily was made to feel that she should not have been born or that she wasn’t wanted, because she was born outside of marriage, etc.

14. Lily appears to have more power in the relationship between her and Beth, but based on Beth's current day ability to manipulate others, do you think Lily really is the more powerful one in their relationship? Why or why not?

I think Lily is psychologically impared in some way, and that’s why she holds the power in that relationship. People like that are good at manipulating others. Perhaps Beth learns this behavior from Lily.

DQs: Chapters 12-19

5. Shea is trying to explain the taps being turned on and the cupboards being opened by themselves through telekinesis. If you had experienced what she did, do you think you would have tried to explain things logically or do you think you would have believed it was ghosts and left it at that?

Considering the amount of paranormal books I read, I’d like to think that I would immediately believe something supernatural was afoot, but in real life, I am a staunch non-believer in anything supernatural, so I probably would have been more inclined to think it a set up!

6. After getting a cat, Shea calls on Michael to ask for advice on how to care for it, through the conversation she thinks about wanting to meet him. Do you think they will end up together or perhaps just remain as friends? Could Michael be interested as well?

My secret with is that they end up together. It sounds like a good match! I think it’s a no-brainer that Michael is also interested (at least I hope so!).

7. Mr. Greer’s former secretary tells Shea Mrs. Greer wasn’t competent and that she was "sent away somewhere when she was eighteen". Do you think she was crazy or do you have any other theories?

My initial thought was that the father was having an affair with the secretary and she is looking for someone to villainize for his death that is more reachable and relevant to her, instead of just blaming the person who committed the crime.

8. While listening to the recording of Beth’s interview Shea hears a voice in the background whispering “I am still here” and poor Winston gets spooked. Did you find this scary? Do you think cats/animals have a feel for the supernatural? If it were you, would you come back to the house after hearing that?

I did get a bit of a chill when this happened and the fact that Winston was spooked lends credibility to the ghosty nature of Beth’s home. Personally, I’d probably keep going into the house, because I learn nothing from scary movies and I would want to “solve” this issue

9. Finally, in order to get in the mood for more scary stuff. Have you or someone you know have any scary/ghostly experiences you might like to share?

I have NONE! As I stated above, I tend to be a non-believer in “ghostly” experiences and therefore usually right things off quickly!