Vicki’s Comments (group member since May 01, 2018)

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

Nanci wrote: "Question for Vicki...how did you make your link go directly to your message? I'd love to be able to do that! I only know to copy the page link. TIA!"

Hey, Nancy, I am so sorry I didn't see this message. It took me forever to learn to do that! Did you figure it out? I'm glad someone else responded. Planning for our short vacay, our fridge and freezer of our side-by-side, watching two of my grandkids two days ALL DAY (ugh...tiring!), a granddaughter in a car wreck that totaled her car...I came on here and did my thing and off again. Thankfully we finally were able to find the fridge we wanted yesterday but they had to order it (at first she said June 6) and it'll be here next week on Tuesday. They have to do their thing to get it in inventory and they'll call us within 3 days and then we can set up and appointment. Living in 3 different ice chests is only fun if you're camping. LOL

So my reading has been super slow for me but I already knew that would be the case this week and the 16th thru 25th or 26th. I'm glad I've been able to stay on top of the DQ's and I'm also reading which is 369 pages but I'm only 28% done. At least I'm reading. LOL

Stacie wrote: "Another way to say lesbian :)"

I've never heard that one before. Thanks :)

DQ Day 3 Chapters 11-13: Message 178

DQ Day 3: Ch. 11-13

11. Do you think the author has been able to give Bess and Alexandra individual voices? Do you like books with multiple points of view?

I think the author did a really good job creating individual voices for Bess and Alexandra. I do like books with multiple POV's because otherwise things are more one-sided, and just as in real life there are two sides to every story. I think I get a better picture of what is going on.

12. What do you think ‘Eliza’ and Agnes were talking about in the kitchen? Do you think either Agnes or Maria know that Charlotte came from the Foundling home?

I have no idea what the women were talking about. It could've been Eliza's brother who came to visit her or they might've been talking about Alexandra or her relationship with Charlotte. I suspect Agnes and Maria both have an idea about Charlotte. I wonder if Eliza has confided in Agnes.

13. I think that Alexandra will get much worse re her fears of the outside after the mask prank. Do you think her thoughts about ‘Eliza’ will suffer because of it?

I definitely do think Alexandra will think differently of Eliza.

14. Do you believe that Dr Mead was telling the truth about not knowing about what happened to Alexandra’s parents? Why has he lied about who ‘Eliza’ is?

I don't know if he was telling the truth but I have a feeling he was. I can't pinpoint why he lied other than maybe he simply thought that a mother should be with her child, so he because he knew how Alexandra would feel.

Stacie wrote: "I enjoyed it. People kept saying it was a sapphic romance but I think that aspect of it was mediocre. I liked Ead's story line and ofc talking dragons and a made up animal."

What is a sapphic romance?

Dawn wrote: "Audrey Jane wrote: "haha, indeed, Sophie, we might be in for a big surprise !

Chapter 13 is so good, I won't be able to stop reading just yet. But I agree with Stacey about the Doctor jr.. I'm ups..."

I also finished with ch. 13 and was hoping for the DQ's because I was hoping to answer them or print them out and take them with me to answer just in case. (we'll be on a short vacay this week) (view spoiler)[What is the "that" you are referring to because a lot happened in this section. If you put it in a spoiler others can't see so you won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't read ch. 13 yet. (hide spoiler)]

Stacie wrote: "
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Date: 5/4
Rating: 3.5 stars
Pages: 848

Works for:

Task #10: ..."

Hey, Stacie, I JUST bought this book for my grandson who is almost 15. He requested it so I was wondering how you liked it.

Completion Post


Book:Redemption
Page Count: 416
Date/Rating: 5/03/21 ★★★★★
Works for: #21
Task 21: MPG Romance
Task 52: MC has to obey someone else's commands
Task 88: Set in a large city
Task 126: MC is an artist/engineer
Task 146: Spell out truth (letter R)
Task 165: MPG Young Adult
Task 203: Features a murder
Task 229: MPG Mystery
Task 230: MPG Crime

BINGO :
C2 the mob organization does money laundering
E3 Flowers on cover (red roses)

Jessica wrote: "On an extra note, I don't trust this Dr. Mead fellow. Why is he playing both sides of this field. He's got some motive going on here! I can feel it"

I agree as well. I especially began to distrust him when he went to Alexandria and asked her to hire Eliza.

DQ Day 2 Chapters 6-10 Message 106

DQ Day 2: Ch. 6-10

6. Were you surprised to find out Daniel had a wife? I personally was super surprised as I originally believed him when he said he was single. What do you think of the way Daniel died?

No, I wasn't surprised at all. Although, I never gave it a thought when Bess and Daniel met. I felt like he was reluctant to give her his name and I considered he might've given her a fake name. He didn't seeme like an upright man to me.

7. How do you think Alexandra Callard knew about Bess and her daughter?

Since she's rather cold both affectionately and sexually, I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel had told her since she knew about his needs sexually and "didn't mind." I also think that because the whalebone was a bit unusual that someone might've recognized it and let Alexandra know and she either followed her or (more likely) had someone following her.

8. What do you think of the way Alexandra and Charlotte live? Do you think Alexandra keeps Charlotte home to stop her from being recognized or because she is truly scared of the real world?

I seriously doubt that Alexandra is so scared (prior to Charlotte) that she never went out. I think she doesn't want others to see Charlotte in case they recognize Daniel in her or she meets someone who becomes suspicious.

9. "Eliza" has been fired on her first day. What do you think of Alexandra's reasoning for firing her? Do you think part of Alexandra knows that she is Charlotte's real mom?

With the ease in which both Charlotte and Eliza felt for each other, I am sure she knew. I thought Dr. Mead knew when he was asking Alexandra to hire her.

10. Do you think Bess will find a way to still see her daughter? How?

She is her mother, so absoluely! I think she'd have eventually let her go, but with her snooping around the way she did, if Alexandra had been clueless about her being Charlotte's mother, the snooping would've been enough to let her go. It would be hard to trust her after that.

DQ link for chapters 1-5 Message 78

DQ Day 1 - Chapters 1-5

1. How are you liking the writing style ? Are you enjoying the story so far?

So far I really am enjoying it. The writing style appears to be true to London in the 1700's. Although I'd like to read more to confirm that in my opinion based on what I know of that country and time period.

I am enjoying this so far. My heart was breaking for Bess when she was waiting to see if her baby would be taken by lottery. What an awful thing to go through.

2. After reading that opening scene, what do you think of the practice of the Hospital taking babies based on a lottery (the coloured balls in the bag) ?

I guess I already spoke about this, but I thought it was terrible and insensitive. If it was a "tradition" then perhaps it was a fair way to go about it. Maybe I missed why they were doing that, but it was disturbing as well as heartbreaking. Being a mother of five, I can't even imagine.

3. At some point Bess says that "knowing she [Clara] could be anywhere instead of nowhere at all was torture even more exquisite." Implying that not knowing where her child is is worse than knowing she's dead. What's your opinion ? Or would you rather not know ?

As horrific as it would be to find out that my child is dead, I would definitely rather know. I think it would be more torturous to not have any idea and to keep having a false hope.

4. What do you make of the child's father, Daniel Callard ? Everyone keeps asking Bess if he's really dead. Do you suspect there's more to Daniel than we've been told so far ?

I absolutely think there is far more to Daniel. We've barely scratched the surface, I'm sure.

5. Time for your theories ! Who do you think claimed Clara on the 28th of November 1747, the day after Bess gave up her baby ?

I'm terrible making predictions like this, especially only this far into the book. It was supposedly a woman whose "X" Bess recognized as hers when she said, "That's me." So that made me wonder if she had gotten the girl herself and experienced a tragedy so severe that she blocked out what happened; however, I don't think that is what happened. I think it's more feasible that Daniel's wife or other female relative got her to have something of his since he is dead...IF he's really dead. I have a feeling he's not. I think another good possiblity is Ned and Nancy working together. And one final thought because this did happen, especially since only 4 or so out of 400 families a year claim their child, the hospital is selling off babies.

Eldarwen wrote: "Vicki wrote: "If we're going to add all the tasks a book can work for, that could end up being a LOT of typing for one book. "

Let me clarify on this. For everyone :-)

It is preferable to list, m..."

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't mean to complain because I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of person but your explanation helped me. :)

Eldarwen wrote: "Vicki wrote: "Is there any reason (unless there's a task) to read smaller page count books? I know larger books count more in general.

I'm excited to start! I will be gone May 4-7 on a mini-vacay,..."

Okay, that's all good info! I didn't realize it because from what I remembered, I thought we needed or at least wanted bigger page counts. I seem to read a lot of books in the 200's and 300's so that'll be helpful not to worry about any particular page count range. :)

NetGalley May 2021
Beginning of Month
Shelf count/books on shelf:
Ratio:

OK, I have a ton of making up to do! Thanks to the MOD for helping me figure out how to use NetGalley so that now I can actually make up for a lot of non-feedbacks!

START
Feedback Ratio: 11%
315 Approved | 35 Feedback Sent

Melanie wrote: "When you're logged into Netgalley if you click on your name at the top right and go to your profile (or just use this link https://www.netgalley.com/member/profile), that has a few stats including ..."

Oh my goodness, thank you so much!! Now I know just exactly how awful I've done! I'm bound and determined to fix it!! Slowly but surely.

I appreciate all the info!

When it says to post how many NetGalley books are on our shelf, does that mean our Goodreads or in the NetGalley site shelf?

How do we figure out the ratio? When I first joined NetGalley, I didn't know how to do anything but request the books. Long story short, I have tons of books back in 2013 that I had on my shelf but never read because I couldn't figure out how to download my books and didn't know how to post my reviews and other issues, so I have like 245 books on my shelf. The only way that I can actually see all of them is to go to Give Feedback. My RECENT shelf shows 7. I guess I'm being long-winded/wordy. Can you tell me the best way to begin this challenge since I'm all screwed up? LOL

On my GR shelf, I have 50 TBR NetGalley and 36 read.

Thanks for your help. I think this challenge would help me get on top of my NetGalley books!

I guess the MOD's set up the SS the way they did for a reason, but I think it's going to be more complicated/confusing without being able to add my own books. Especially for some things but hopefully it'll work out. If we're going to add all the tasks a book can work for, that could end up being a LOT of typing for one book.

I don't mean to be complaining but just my opinion. Maybe I'm misunderstanding. I recall adding my DQ's / Answers on our team SS other times with links to my comments. So I'm wondering if this is new due to issues or something.

Do we have any reall plan of attack? We read any book we want and then look for a task it hopefully fits, unless we already know what it'll fit. Are we going to try to get the BINGO card done quickly or just as we go along fill it up just if a book fits? Just wondering what our plans are.

Is there any reason (unless there's a task) to read smaller page count books? I know larger books count more in general.

I'm excited to start! I will be gone May 4-7 on a mini-vacay, so if I don't do much on this thread, I'll add what I need to on the 7th. I'll double check the rules but I don't think we have to check in any particular day, but if we do I'll figure out something.

Cat wrote: "DEATH is far from being an evil character, but one of Pratchett's best creations!"

OK, that's good to know then. Obvioulsy I'm completely ignorant about this series.