Karen ⊰✿’s Comments (group member since Sep 23, 2012)

Karen ⊰✿’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

😆
I really enjoyed Maverick too. Much more than I thought I would. Tom Cruise was so good in his heyday and I just thought of him on screen as the character from back then rather than the very strange human he has become 😂

Finished which was one of those books where the ending knocks he breath from you and now you have to wait for the next one to be released :o
Also, pairs with "Boyfriend Goals" - details on s/sheet

Now starting which is a book 5 for a chain if we need it

I went on a harbour cruise yesterday for my mums 70th and they served us high tea while we sailed around.
It was really lovely and a big rainbow came out (because it won’t stop raining) at the end.




Today my eldest has a birthday party at Timezone and I’m taking my youngest to putt putt golf while that happens. Hopefully we will also see some sun 😊

Sammy wrote: "One more volunteer needed. If nobody wants it, I can cover it, but there's definitely a genre left that will appeal to some of you ;)"

Just wanted to say that it isn’t that I’m intentionally not participating, but it all tends to be planned during my night time and so by my morning it is all sorted 😆
I’ll keep on with my chunkster - I’m quite enjoying the opportunity to read larger books 🤩👍

Exactly!

Yuck. Summer fires are not good.
I have to say I found the images of Brits cooling off and struggling with 30c temps earlier this week a tiny bit funny…. But they aren’t set up for heat the same way we aren’t set up for cold. It’s a crazy world.

Well, not that climate change exists apparently (ha!), but while we continue to cope with floods and the wettest winter in who knows how long... I am sitting here watching the heat wave in Europe on TV.

I feel like we are living in a Neal Shusterman novel. If only there was a pandemic that would suit the storyline perfectly. Oh.. wait...

Elinor wrote: "Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of con..."

@Elinor

19. I think many people would feel that pity or sense of duty to stay in contact w ith him. I guess that is part of why Kit was inviting him anyway

20. Yes moving on from the restaurant is so important. I really liked that storyline as it showed how we can force obligations through generations

21. Yes Brandon is!!!

Judith wrote: "I also found it telling about him that he was bummed none of his children wanted to enter the music business.."



Good point. Usually with 4/5 kids one of them would be interested in music. Goes to how distant and hands-off he was with them all.

I feel like in some ways I’d enjoy a story from his POV and in other ways I’d just want to strangle him 😆

Judith wrote: " I wouldn't mind Grandpa Mick setting up 529 college funds for his grandkids...."

haha
I feel like he is so self centred he wouldn't even consider it.
But that is an interesting thing to think about... Maybe he will try harder if he has grandkids

Sarah wrote: "I'd have thrown him right off the cliff...."

LOL
now that would have made an interesting ending ;)

Colleen wrote: "Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of con..."

@Colleen

19. yes he certainly owes them! I wonder if he would even think about that and how he could support them financially to help them even if they aren't "talking"

21. me too ;)

Tammie wrote: "Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of con..."

@Tammie

17. haha I agree. The cops were pretty late!

21. Well seeing Carrie Soto is her next book, maybe Brandon will be the next one!? I also wouldn't mind a book from Mick's POV for those missing years too....

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of con..."

@Lisa

17. yes it did have that crazy hollywood vibe!

18. I guess it is hard for her to do a complete 180. It was within her character, and they would have never told her to stay

21. The re-read for me was really interesting with people referring to the drama and DOOL. On reflection, I think the reason I didn't feel that is because at it's core I found this a book about families and perhaps there was more here for me to relate to than I initially realised :o

Vicky wrote: "Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of con..."

@Vicky

18 - oh yeah, that was horrible. It was SO great to see her finally look after herself

19 - Yes, there is so much here.! I agree that he doesn't deserve their forgiveness. Let's face it, apart from Nina in the early years, he really didn't have a part in any of their lives and is really just genetic material rather than a father

20 - I agree. So nice that the fire/party seems to have put them all onto their own paths rather than being a "Riva kid".

21 - You should definitely go to Daisy Jones next :D

I finished the BOM, Malibu Rising. Details on the s/sheet along with links for the DQ writing and responding.
:)

Day 5
20 Jul 2:00 AM - 7:00 AM

17. I love how the author describes how the party goes feral starting with that awful Vaughn Donovan. Have you ever been to a party where things spiralled out of control?

18. I fist pumped the air when Nina tells herself to stop being a doormat and goes to find her dad (or as she says, her "f&*(ing nothing"!!). That whole scene where she confronts him felt so cathartic. I loved the line "It would not be her that bent and broke anymore." How did you find it?

19. There are always many sides to a story. Why do you think Mick came to the party? If he was your dad, would you have forgiven him? Would you have wanted to see him again after the party?

20. The party changed the siblings in lots of different ways. How do you think their lives will be different now?

21. Final thoughts on the book? Would you read more by the author?

Day 4

59% 11:00 PM
80% 01:00 AM

13. From the four siblings, I was surprised to find out that Kit had been sending the party invitations to his father for the last few years. I would have expected it from Nina and Hud first. Was it a surprise for you too? What do you think the future relationship (if any) will look like between Mick and his children? I feel he is quite an unredeemable character so it could go towards many different directions.

Yes, I was surpised, but then as the youngest she would have different memories and not be as hurt as some others like Nina.
When I first read this I assumed they would reconcile on some level - especially as Judith said, he has always needed someone and is now looking for 'family' again.

14. Now that we know the story between Brandon and Nina and her reaction to his mistress' appearance, I can finally see the fire awakening in Nina. She has a chance to not commit the same mistakes as her mom. Do you think that she will finally stand up to herself and what she wants or will she fall into old habits? We haven't seen the last from Brandon, what do you think he will do to try to get Nina back?
This is a re-read so I can't answer, but this story line was interesting to me as it is Nina repeating her mum's pattern in many ways.

15. Nina has taken very well the situation with Casey. How do you think the others will react to the news?
Perhaps she always assumed this would happen on some level? Hud is an example of just one, but given the time period where contraception wasn't always freely available it is probably there are a few out there!!

16. I am worried about the fate of some characters. Now that we are getting closer to the end, do you think everyone will have a HEA or the story is leading toward some heartbreak and bittersweet ending?
One of the things I like about the author is the realism to the characters actions and so I didn't expect a HEA per se, but some kind of resolution / way forward.


============
BOM DQ Links
Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Sammy wrote: "The discussion thread for the BOM of is open for DQ volunteers.

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

I’d give it a go, but it isn’t available at my libraries and it’s not my genre to justify me buying it 😬

DAY 2 - 1959 "It was last December 1959"
41% 1981 "...in her arms, on her back."

5. 1959 - "It was last December, 1959" -
It sounds like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song...Wow! What an explosive chapter. Your reaction? Mick was characterised as a sleezy womaniser, it was always going to happen or I didn't see that coming! And June's reaction? Sensitive woman with a huge heart or a doormat for putting up with what she suspected?

Given the time, I don't like June had much of a choice but to put up with it. For her to go home with three kids to her parents... she would have been hugely judged (1959 it would have been her fault) and she may not be able to provide for her kids. I think she also does love Mick and hopes he will change

6. "He gave no thought to the idea that he might break his children like someone had broken him". "You're drunk and you're killing yourself with this stuff." Discuss Mick and June's parenting styles and how they have affected the siblings as children and adults.

This is a theme of the book I love. There is so much that shapes us as children into the adults, and parents, we become. My parents were married in 1970 as 20 year olds, which was quite normal back then, but it means in my (now middle-aged adult brain) they were just children themselves trying to bring us up. I wonder how the choices me and my husband make will impact on our kids in 40 years :o haha

7. The title of the book is Malibu Rising and the author gives the reader a sense of the beach culture both in the past and the present time lines. What does it bring to the story and would it be as effective in another setting?

I love the setting. It goes to my childhood when we would go to beach towns that are now major tourist resorts. It brings a nostalgia and a sense of 'where does it end' to how we have changed natural landscapes and small towns

8. Already with the first set of questions there are varying opinions by the group about both Taylor Jenkins Reid as an author and how it compares to her other work. I loved Daisy Jones and the Six but I am finding this one as bit like Days of our Lives... but the author is skillful enough to make it into a page turner. Where do you sit, engaging tale well written or too much drama and as we are half way through do you see this ending in triumph or tragedy for the Riva siblings?

Well, I absolutely loved it first time around and I am again! I don't see it as overly soap-opera, because this is actually what families are like. Once you start digging everyone has some crazy philandering parents/grandparent/uncle, brothers with sisters girlfriends, crazy divorces.... don't they? Or is it just my family? LOL