Hollie’s Comments (group member since Dec 17, 2018)

Hollie’s comments from the Safety in numbers, never go into a book alone. #Group Reads group.

So pleased you enjoyed the book Clarice! And Shawnda I feel the same, I am having to really push myself to finish this one and really motivate myself to pick it up, almost like a chore to tick off my list! Which is not what reading should be about at all! I have to say that I have really struggled to connect with this book and am forced to admit that maybe I was attracted to it by the pretty front cover. It’s so true what they say about never judging a book by it’s cover!

Yes Dana, it’s so hard when loved ones get old, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help xxx

So sorry to hear that you have family worries Dana! I really hope they pass! Please feel like you can come on here and post if you need to talk, we are all friends here. When I have things on my mind, I either feel like I can get lost in my books and escape from the real world, or I just can’t focus because of the things on my mind, sometimes it’s about finding a good enough book I guess to distract you. It goes without saying but please don’t feel like you have to join in with our reads every single month if you get too busy with whatever you have going on. I’m sure you have noticed but people come, go and come back again all the time in this group : ) x

Thankyou so much for taking the time to write such a great review Kendra! You have pointed out some very good points that I hadn’t noticed until you had mentioned them, such as yes this story is a fairy tale but it also has a big dollop of real life “ways of the world” mixed in, for example the certain places where it is expected for a woman to keep her face covered and why this is expected of her and how people are treated in society depending on their beliefs, wealth and gender. Although I have not reached the end of this book yet, and it is not exactly one of the best books I have ever read and definitely not what I was expecting when I chose it for this months read, I have a feeling that if nothing else, by the time I do finish, I will definitely be taking with me an extended knowledge of the Indian culture than what I had before. So pleased you enjoyed this one Kendra!

I hate reading funks! We will just have to find an absolutely amazingly, spectacularly, gobsmackingly brilliant book for October to pull you out of your reading funk. (I was thinking of a horror genre seeing as it’s the month of Halloween). What Page are you on? I know what you mean about this months book being a bit of what I call a “blah blah” book, I’m reading the words but they aren’t always registering, Please don’t feel obligated to finish the book if you aren’t enjoying it! I am over half way through now so I am going to finish. I am also finding it a bit hard to keep track of the characters as they all have unusual names!

Also Clarice, please feel free to invite your friend and family bookworms into this group who also might enjoy coming along on our adventures.

Great! I love how in this group we have people from all over! Yet thanks to goodreads despite the distance between us, we are still able to enjoy adventures together to the same places in our heads. If you read messages from the previous members who have joined in the introduction thread, you will see where everyone is from. : )

Hi Clarice! Welcome to “Safety in numbers”! Where abouts in America are you from? We are from all over in this group, I live in a town called Essex in England. And you own a retirement home? That must be a busy job especially with 3 children! How do you find time to read?? Lol. I completely agree that it’s so much nicer to be able to discuss a book during or after reading it rather than going on the adventure alone. What genres do you like to read, we have a nice mix here with different genres each month. I don’t know if you have noticed in the book schedule but for the September read we have just started a book of the young adult genre, Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson if you would like to join in? If not just hop on for the ride when a chosen read of the month takes your fancy! : )

Another month, another adventure! It has been such a long time since aI read a book of the young adult genre! Am excited! Let’s go! X

I'm finished!!! One word.... Wow!! I liked this book for so many different reasons I hardly know where to start!! This is one of the first books in a long time where I can actually say that none of the characters got on my nerves as I enjoyed meeting and learning about all of them! (view spoiler)[I found the Percy and Lucy twist very surprising and interesting and was so overwhelmed with sympathy for them! It really got me thinking about the fact that obviously there have been gay people about since the beginning of time, (I had never thought about that before this book), even in times such as the 1930's where it was just not acceptable. It makes me so sad when I think about how many people from that era must have lived their whole lives in misery, just to be excepted by society. This book has made me realise how relieved I am with how far the world has come along since then, that it is more willing to except people for who they are and that the world is a lot more open minded.
I loved how at the end of the book a happy ghostly couple were spotted by Edie, I thought this was a very nice touch. For me that couple can only be Juniper and Tom finally together at last.
I loved how the story came together at the end, however I do have one small thing that would have made the story finish even more nicely for me, unless I have missed something...am I supposed to know who the baby was that Juniper helped to deliver and saved? It was mentioned that in "fifty years time" that baby would be a grown man sitting with his widowed mum one evening telling his children about the night he was born...at first I thought it might have been Lucy's baby that Juniper had helped to deliver which would have fitted into the story nicely but obviously Lucy had a daughter which later turned out to be Mrs Bird who worked at the farmhouse. If the saved baby's character was another part of the puzzle rather than an extra, this would have been the cherry on the top for me. But saying this it has not made me dislike this book in any shape or form! Still 5 stars from me!! (hide spoiler)]

That’s what “Safety with numbers” is all about Kendra! I would hate not to have anyone to discuss this book with! X

Well Shawnda, going by your last post I would say that this is your favourite book so far since you joined us here at “Safety in numbers”? X

A theory of my own: (view spoiler)[ I am now 69% and I have a suspicious feeling that there is a lot more to discover about the character of Adam Gilbert (the writer who was originally chosen to write about the history of Milderhurst etc). Could he possibly be the long lost Thomas Cavill!? (hide spoiler)]

Kendra wrote: "I agree, Dana! And I've definitely had thoughts similar to yours. I have some other theories too...

...and they still line up with some of the others, one being that Theo and Thomas were actually..."

As I said to Dana, very interesting theories Kendra! I love the fact that even at the point of half way through this book, it seems that none of us are entirely sure how this book is going to end, in my opinion this is a quality that only a really good book can have. For me there is nothing worse than working out what will happen in the next 300 pages of a book in the first 10 pages.

(view spoiler)[ I know exactly what you mean about Percy Kendra! As the book goes on I am disliking her more and more. I could have cried with frustration when she answered Saffy's phone call and told her new employer that she would not be accepting the exciting job in London! I believe this act was out of pure selfishness and bitterness, if Percy really loved and cared for her twin sister then she would want her to be happy and seeing as Saffy applied for the job, it was clearly what she desperately wanted. Don't tell me that if Harry the clock man had chosen Percy over Lucy and offered to whisk her away to have a life with him that she wouldn't have gone because I think we wouldn't have seen her for dust! There is a phrase that keeps popping into my head the more I get to know Percy's character, "If I can't be happy, then nobody else will be!" (hide spoiler)]

Dana wrote: "Ok here are my theories ...

[spoilers removed]

I have so many questions about everything that is happening and I can't wait to read more and find out the truth!"

Wow these theories are so interesting! I am now 60% in now, and feel exactly how you felt at this point Dana as in I have so many questions bouncing round my head!(view spoiler)[ I have been thinking about your theory of Edie's dad possibly being Thomas Cavell. This is definitely food for thought! But... If Merry really did steal Juniper's fiancé, would he really live in fear to the point that he would change his whole identity and let his whole family including his much loved brother who still lives in hope of finding him 50 years later, believe something terrible has happened to him?
Your theory of Raymond having an episode resulting in Juniper's mother's death had not even entered my head! Very possible!... Now you mention it, throughout the book the fact that Raymond insisted on having the moat filled in after his wife's death does keep coming up repeatedly. Maybe that has something to do with it! MUST FIND OUT!! (hide spoiler)] Thankyou Dana for picking such a great book for the group, I think we can all say that we are thoroughly enjoying or have enjoyed this adventure you have taken us on! : )

So the genre for this month is "Young Adult". I am excited about this one because I don't know about anyone else but I don't tend to read this genre very often but when I do, nine times out of ten I really enjoy it! I have had this book sitting on my book shelf after requesting it two Christmases ago! I of course understand that fairy tales are not every adult readers cup of tea, but as always, anyone is welcome to join in if they wish to.

SEPTEMBER: (YOUNG ADULT)

Wow! I am 39% and am really enjoying this one so far, but from what you all say I am in for a treat as the story unfolds! I get the impression you wish you could erase this book from your memory and experience it all over again! This feeling only comes with really great books! X

Do you want to share those theories Dana? Be sure to put them in spoiler tags though and can all look back on them once we have finished the book and see how close you were x

Those books sound interesting! I know your daughter is very advanced in the books she likes to read but I don’t know if you saw the post about next months book being of the young adult genre if she is interested in joining in with us x