Spooktacular! (MSTV #17)

[Daisy, The Brains]

Hey guys! This is the discussion for the seventeenth MSTV book - Spooktacular. This was released on August 27, 2015, and it's going to be our group read for November. If/when you've read the book, feel free to tell us what you thought of it here! Although a warning to anyone who hasn't read it yet - remember that spoilers ARE allowed in this discussion. Happy reading everyone!

[Daisy, The Brains]

November is here! Let me just say I am SUPER excited to read this book this month and discuss it on here! :D I'm not really expecting it to be the best MSTV yet or anything, but I'm feeling very optimistic that it'll be better than the last couple of books in the series. This is so exciting! :D

[Sophie, The Joker]

I'm almost 100 pages in (so spoilers if you haven't got that far!) and I'm loving this book. It's been over a year since I last read a MSTV book for the first time and I was super excited going into this one.

I really hope Camilla finds out about vampires in this book. I don't even care about the realistic-ness of lots of bunnies finding out about vampires because of Ivy and her getting into trouble. It feels to me like Camilla's being left out of the group a little bit because she doesn't know about vampires. There might be a situation where the town is getting all freaked out by the idea of ghosts and Camilla is in a position to be able to help calm everyone down so the vamps make a decision to tell her so she can help them...or something. I would love that!

I really love Reiko and the aspects of vampires from different cultures that she's bringing to the books. Her Halloween costume sounded so cool so I looked up what it was based off ('Kumiko from the Japanese manga comic Droid Town') and as far as I can see (correct me if I'm wrong) Sienna Mercer just made up this particular comic which I was a little disappointed about but still, let's just revel in the description of Reiko's outfit.

[Ivy] studied Reiko, tilting her head to take in every detail of the neon-green dress that reached down almost to Reiko's knees - but half of it was completely hidden by the rest of her costume. Rusted metal covered Reiko's left arm and leg, and half her chest; the left half of her hair had been dyed silver to match. "Some kind of rusty droid, maybe? Or..." Ivy frowned as she took in the other, jet-black half of Reiko's hair, and her non-metallic right side. "...half a rusty droid?"

[Sophie, The Joker]

I finished Spooktacular this morning and WOW IT WAS SO GOOD! One of my favourite books in the entire series. I really, really enjoyed it (in case you couldn't tell!)

And ohmygosh that teaser for the next book... I'm so, so, so excited.

I'm really glad that the ghosts were real and not a prank or anything. If vampires and werewolves can exist so can ghosts. That scene with Ivy, Olivia, Patience and Hope at the end was one of the most emotional scenes in the entire series. I'm tearing up even thinking about it.

The fact that Jackson now knows there is something going on that the rest of the gang (apart from Camilla) aren't telling him is such an interesting plot direction. I'm guessing he's going to have to go through some tests in the next book similar to the ones Olivia faced in order to prove that he can know the secret. I'M SO EXCITED FOR IT!

What did you guys think?

[Daisy, The Brains]

:O :O :D :O :O WHOA WHAT JUST HAPPENED! I totally agree that teaser at the end is just sooooooo exciting!!!! I cannot wait for the next book. When the whole Jackson-is-suspicious storyline came up I kept thinking "This probably won't go anywhere" THEN IT DID. I was literally shaking with excitement when I read the last bit!

OK, now my little freak-out is out of the way I have a million things to talk about so bear with me if this comment turns out super long.

Firstly, I really like how Camilla was the threat the the vamp secret in this book. It was definitely a better storyline for her than our suggestion of a romantic one in our MSTV 17 theories thread. I can't really imagine Camilla in a relationship, especially not now when she has so much going on and stuff. Her getting all nerdy about the possibility of ghosts in town really brought out the best in her character, to me. I did think though that her storyline was kind of just phased out in the end, which was pretty disappointing. Especially since she kept saying she would go mad and stuff if she didn't find the truth. Although I guess in the end she probably just thought it was Garrick and Josh messing around like everyone else. Still, I would have liked more closure on her storyline.

Something I thought was kind of odd was this quote on page 40:

'Well . . .' Jackson sighed. 'All those scenes we're shooting in Pine Wood in a couple of weeks have been rewritten - again.'

Does this mean this book is still set before Jackson and Olivia's appearance in Tail Spin (MBTW #4)? Because unless that takes place between this book and the next we kind of know that they'll be okay after whatever happens with Jackson finding out, because they were fine in that. I don't know, it feels weird to me that Tail Spin came out like a year ago and this is still set before it.

Speaking of Bro the Werewolf, do you reckon the Howl-oween pun on page 92 was an inside joke about MBTW? I thought that was pretty funny.

Also, there was this quote on pg 69 that confuses me:

'Who knows if ghosts exist?' Ivy had shrugged, not looking nearly as freaked out as Olivia felt. 'Vampires have been debating for a long time whether there might be other "paranormal" creatures. There have always been stories, but no proof.'

So vampires don't even know werewolves exist now??? I remember a hint in Fangtastic (MSTV#2) I think it was, where Sophia and Ivy changed the subject when Olivia joked that werewolves existed, but now Ivy's saying they don't? Is Ivy lying or forgetting about werewolves, or is this a mistake on Sienna Mercer's part? Just wondering if you guys had any thought on this. :)

One of my favourite moments was this conversation on page 79:

'This is the worst part of being a . . . being one of us,' she [Ivy] whispered to Brendan and Olivia once she'd finished. 'You know, if anyone else at school knew about vamps, they'd probably think it'd be super cool to have our abilities and everything else - but that's because they don't know just much stress it comes with!' She shook her head in disbelief. 'We're only fourteen. Just think: when we're older, we're not only going to have all these same crazy worries, but we're going to be expected to like, do things about them!

Yeah, so, I have a lot more things I want to discuss but this comment is already really long so I'll save those for another day. Needless to say, it was great having a MSTV book to read through for the first time again and theorize about and stuff, and especially a very good one like this!! It was really great because for most of the time I genuinely had no idea how everything was going to wrap up, which doesn't always happen with Sienna Mercer's books. ;)

[Sophie, The Joker]

Yay! I'm so glad you liked it too.

I needed more Camilla, she wasn't in this book nearly enough.

Hmmm...that is interesting. If this is set before Tail Spin, which it sounds like it is, then I really hope that the next MSTV book is set after it. It probably will be as there's usually a gap between the books and Jackson said that they were shooting the scenes in a couple of weeks. Still that is strange. I guess he trusts Olivia enough to know that she'll tell him when she's ready because they were dancing happily enough in Tail Spin. Maybe MSTV #18 will be set before it and then we'll be able to read Tail Spin with a whole new angle knowing that Jackson knows about vampires. I just don't know! In fact I think I might just have to re-read Tail Spin (again) before the next MSTV book comes out just in case there were any hints!

I do not remember any Howl-oween pun, I will have to look that up.

I never really imagine that the vampires know about werewolves but I do remember that hint. I doubt Ivy's lying about werewolves to Olivia after all they've been through. It's not particularly something you'd forget either. I guess we just have to assume that Olivia just saw what she was expecting to see when Ivy and Sophia glanced at each other and it was nothing more.

[Daisy, The Brains]

Yeah, maybe Ivy and Sophia were just joking the first time or something.

OK, so let's talk about Jackson. I think I've said it before but I like him a lot more since he and Olivia got back together. He was just really cool in this book!! When he came in at page 145 I totally guessed it was him but it was still a cute moment. But seriously, does he spend his whole life playing dress up!?

Oh yeah, tiny thing, but there was this sentence on pg 150:

All the laughter from earlier that evening felt hard to remember as Ivy tossed and turned in her coffin that night... Ivy pulled her black-and-red quilt over her face to muffle her own groan.

They have quilts in coffins? Not that there's any reason it would be, but I don't remember that ever being mentioned before. I feel like that kind of dims down the creepy vampires-sleep-in-coffin thing. :P

On the subject of creepiness, that scene where Ivy saw the ghost at night was properly spooky! I agree with what you said that it was great that the ghost aspect wasn't a trick or anything. I wonder if anything else will happen with ghosts in the coming books.

My one complaint about this book was that I thought in the first half the writing wasn't that great, which was one of my main problems with books 13 - 16 too. Luckily though, in the second half it really improved for me so yay! Apart from that though, this was a really neat addition to the series and I'm still not over the fact that Jackson's gonna find out!!!

[Sophie, The Joker]

I think he does. Acting is his job after all.

Haha. I'm a vampire....oooo spooky....with my pink polka dot quilt. lol. Seriously though I know Ivy once told Olivia (I think it was in Switched) that the pillows and cover on her bed were there to make it comfier when she did homework and such. I never realised she used in her coffin either. It makes sense though. You'd be freezing without it.

I actually can't believe I just wrote a whole paragraph discussing quilts in coffins.

I have a feeling it's just a one off thing but wouldn't it be cool if ghosts made an appearance in My Brother the Werewolf as well.

JACKSON MIGHT FIND OUT! AHH I'M SO EXCITED!!

[Daisy, The Brains]

Yeah, that's probably why he went into acting.

Haha, it didn't say the quilt was pink polka-dot! I feel like it would have been mentioned if they had quilts when Olivia had to sleep in a coffin in Revamped (MSTV #3), and I always pictured her not having one then. It would be less creepy if she did. I'll probably reread that one soon so that I can check about that. Lol, you spent a paragraph talking about quilts in coffins, and now I'm going to read a whole book to investigate it!

Hmm, I don't know if they'll appear in Bro the Werewolf any time soon. When you think about it, it took 17 books for ghosts to appear in MSTV, and like I said in the Similarities Between the Two Series thread, MBTW seems a bit more down-to-earth the MSTV to me, so I don't know if Sienna Mercer would want to bring a new supernatural creature into that series. Maybe though...

HE'D BETTER FIND OUT. I KNOW, IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!

[Sophie, The Joker]

Well, let us know what you find out about the quilt-coffin mystery when you've done your research!

I agree. The other thing is if the story lines in MBTW and MSTV start becoming too similar they'll just merge into the same series just with male main characters and werewolves instead of vamps.

IT TOTALLY IS!

[Daisy, The Brains]

Haha, will do! I just started Revamped this morning so shouldn't take long.

That's a good point. There's still room for zombies in MBTW though!

[Daisy, The Brains]

OK, so an update on the 'quilt-coffin mystery' - I just finished Revamped and it isn't very clear but I'd say it works in favour of my no-quilts arguement. It doesn't expressly say like, "There wasn't even a quilt" but when Olivia has to sleep in one she literally just walks into the room, climbs in, then Valencia Deborg (the vamp running the Blood Tests) shuts the lid.

Still, I guess it might actually be possible that Ivy does have a quilt in her coffin - maybe for the purposes of the blood test they made it as official as possible, but Ivy just personally likes to have a blanket or something. Maybe all teens do or they have them in the Winter when it gets cold or something. I don't know, what do you think?

[Sophie, The Joker]

I like what you said about them making it as official as possible for the purposes of the blood test. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a younger vamp thing. The older vamps never even considered using a quilt but the younger ones, who are also more integrated into the bunny community, don't think much of it.

I think we know what we're going to ask Sienna Mercer if we ever meet her. ;)

[Daisy, The Brains]

Thanks! Yeah, I agree the younger vamps thing does seem like the most plausible explanation. Haha, we totally should! She would probably be really weirded out though...