This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzie Lee → Start Date: November 3rd, 2015

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Maddison, Lekeisha and I

Join us if you can!

[Maddie]

Sweet thanks. And would you mind posting it on the thread for her to see?

It's weird for me because today's November 3rd, so I'll be starting it on the 4th my time, but that's fine :p

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I wondered if we were on different time zones/days!

It's almost 11 PM East Coast/ US November 2nd

[Maddie]

Ah I see xD it's fine :) how's your readathon going?

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

good good!! I'm just getting all my books started

how is yours??

[Maddie]

That's good :) Do you want to do some sprints? I'm actually pretty keen to start this. Means I'll have finished Gone, and read my first book :p

Mine's goood. Read 399 pages so far, 50 of a book I started before, and 344 of Gone. 200 pages until I'm done that.

[Lekeisha]

Thanks for joining you guys! I hope that we enjoy it!

[Maddie]

Yeah me too :) Gonna hopefully start it today.

[Lekeisha]

I forgot to ask how are we gonna read this. I just decided to stop on page 100, since I'm not sure how far along you guys are.

[Maddie]

I haven't started yet, and I'm not sure if Trisha has. But there's not gonna be a schedule. I'll probably start this in the next two hours. Doubt I'll be discussing much either. Just possibly posting vague short thoughts.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Yes, every 100 pages sounds good
it means we'll only come back a few times to chat

maybe every 50 pages or 5 chapters if we want to chat more

I'm so sorry I didn't start yesterday. I traveled with my husband yesterday and left this one at home
I'll start tonight as soon as I get home :)

[Maddie]

I'm not even going to be starting this today :/ I'll be starting it tomorrow, and hopefully getting a decent chunk read. Got a friend coming over today all day.

[Maddie]

Starting today. A few days behind I know. Haven't been reading as much as I'd like.

[Lekeisha]

I haven't picked it back up yet because I want to wait on you guys to discuss the first 100 pages. Don't worry, I'm in no rush.

[Maddie]

Ah well I don't tend to discuss too much. Not without prompting, so if you want to post what you think, then I'll be able to reply to it. I'll be finishing Frostbite and then picking up this one.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I'm definitely starting tonight! I'm just working on one other

100 pages?! I'll get there and then post :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I've read 6 chapters / 118 pages in the hard cover copy

Alasdair(view spoiler)[ I feel bad he's kept his secret for 2 years of his brother still being....with them. how scary that he's changed so much after bringing him back. (hide spoiler)]

Geisler(view spoiler)[ OMG how is he going to bring his brother there? (hide spoiler)]

Mary(view spoiler)[ ahhh....so Mary....being the author but also being the friend...interesting twist. I love it (hide spoiler)]

Oliver(view spoiler)[ for sure, he's read both the story (which must have made him very angry) and the letter from Mary
NOW he knows about Mary.
I don't think he's going to be very excited to see Alasdair. I wonder how this will end (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

I'm starting this now. I've got the hardcover copy too. I'll respond to your spoilers when I get to page 118 :p

[Maddie]

The start was interesting. What was it back in the 1800's about clockwork people? I mean, The Infernal Devices was set sometime back around then and that's all about clockwork people. It's strange. I'd never heard of them before. After reading a little more, it's kind of like having surgery and having metal pins inserted, or having amputee legs or something, but it almost doesn't sound the same.

How old's this main character? I think I like it though because it's historical, and you can never go wrong with historical books.

[Maddie]

Finding it pretty interesting so far :) Page 49.

[Maddie]

Ah he's 17.

[Lekeisha]

I'm hoping at some point we get Oliver's POV. It'll be more creepy then. I'm wondering what the whole point is. And where's Mary?

[Maddie]

I'm on page 67 now. I'll be at page 100 by the end of the book. And I wonder where that Frankenstein book went. I like this book. It's interesting :) I'm glad I got it from the library.

[Maddie]

Page 81. Wonder what's going on with Clemence and I haven't really figured out Geisler's role in it yet.

[Maddie]

Page 109. Probably read a few more pages tonight before bed.

[Maddie]

Pretty proud of my progress so far. I'm on page 131. (view spoiler)[Learning how he first met Mary. And I reckon it is she who wrote the book, unless Clemence has been following him around all this time and knows everything about him, which I highly doubt. (hide spoiler)] Gonna read your spoilers now, Trisha. :)

[Maddie]

@Trisha: Interesting you think that about Oliver. (view spoiler)[I reckon he hasn't read the letter, and that he doesn't know Mary wrote it. Considering he doesn't even know about Mary. Unless he's got a new idea about Mary and he did read the letter and thinks Mary's with Alasdair, rather than used to be with him? Hmmmm interesting stuff. (hide spoiler)]
Mary (view spoiler)[Of course the gorgeous perfect girl is with the older brother who suddenly dies, and then the younger brother just can't let go. Ugh typical :/ And chances are, Mary's gonna come back into his life, and because he resurrected Oliver 2 years ago, she's gonna see the resemblance between Oliver and Alasdair and start being attracted to Alasdair, but he's gonna fall for Clemence. Let's see how much I hypothesised :p (hide spoiler)]
Geisler (view spoiler)[I feel like Geisler's evil, or wants to exploit him or something. I get the feeling he's not all the good guy that Alasdair's had in his mind all this time. Still don't properly understand how they know each other and why they parted.. That's probably me just not concentrating enough though :p (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Page 171, Chapter 9. (view spoiler)[Interesting how we're learning about his past the further through the book we go, and it's all about Mary. She's really got a hold on him. And she's not even sincere. I mean, not saying she was engaged! And if she doesn't like the way they're going about things before they're married and she already wants to get away, how's she going to find things when they are married? Seems silly to me. (hide spoiler)] I like how it's set back 200 years ago. Such a different time that I wish I was a part of :)

Is it weird how I read Mary's voice as English, Clemence's as French and Geisler's as German? XD In my head I give them accents.

[Lekeisha]

On page 140: (view spoiler)[Alisdair is quite naive isn't he? He still thinks Mary couldn't have written the story. Geisler has wants what he feels is his, I bet. Alisdair succeeded where he failed. I still want to hear from Oliver at some point. Though, that's not likely. The only way to know him is through Alisdair. Not sure about Clemence yet. Geisler treats the girl like a nobody. (hide spoiler)]

[Lekeisha]

The more I learn about Oliver, the more I like his character. (view spoiler)[Alisdair should have listened to Oliver more. Then he wouldn't have made such a huge mistake. And where the hell is Mary Shelley, errr Godwin? The way Alisdair has been so stupid in thinking she didn't write Frankenstein. (hide spoiler)] Page 202. Stopping here until later. I may go ahead and finish tonight.

[Maddie]

Page 198. (view spoiler)[So Clemence is a slave to Geisler, and she's lesbian! That changes things, especially back then. I feel like learning that's snuffed out any possible feelings for Clemence. I don't know how that works. Like, how do guys stop being attracted to girls when they find out they've got a different sexual orientation.. And I knew something was up about Geisler. (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Page 235. (view spoiler)[This book's kind of going nowhere. It's pretty slow, despite all of the background details. And at last he realised it was Mary! Finally! (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Keep forgetting Clemence has white-blonde hair :p

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Maddison wrote: "Page 198. [spoilers removed]"

I feel like(view spoiler)[ it's the same thing as when you realize you kind of like someone and then you realize they have a girlfriend/boyfriend. You may still find them attractive, but you know there's nothing going on there, so then you are just friends :) (hide spoiler)]

Maddison wrote: "Page 235. [spoilers removed]"

I know(view spoiler)[ him realizing it was Mary was just painful how long it took! right? (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

@Trisha: Yeah, it took aaages!

Page 253 (view spoiler)[I'm not sure I like Mary either. Hmmmmmm I don't really trust anyone apart from Clemence and Alasdair. I feel like Oliver's a live wire. (hide spoiler)]

[Lekeisha]

Page 286: Are you guys feeling conflicted about this? I'm loving all the revelations and the character growth. I only feel like the title and description are misleading. This is nothing like I thought.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

hmmm....I was conflicted, but I think for other reasons..

What did you think it would be like? I'm curious if we had the same thought :)

[Maddie]

Page 291.

I thought Frankenstein would already be written, and this would just be like a retelling of it. I didn't think we'd have the book written during this time as well. Well, actually, I had no clue what the book was about haha. Didn't even know it was about Frankenstein. I don't really read the blurbs of books because they always have spoilers. So I just judge books on the cover, and the fact that I got these current library books from a list of horror books I found on the Internet :p Not very horrorish though.

[Maddie]

Page 291. I still feel like there's something up with Mary.

[Maddie]

Page 308 (view spoiler)[Can't believe she's selfish enough to not hand herself over! She caused the whole mess to begin with! Ugh! And Clemence, turning over to join Oliver. That was a nice twist, I think. I like her fire and her determination, and even though stuck with Geisler, she knew he was wrong. (hide spoiler)]

The paragraphs in this book are quite long, and I like it. Makes it clearer where abouts on each page I've stopped.

[Maddie]

Sooo selfish!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lekeisha]

(view spoiler)[I was thinking more Frankenstein retelling, not a fictional tale about Mary Shelley's involvement. Victor being Alisdair and Oliver the monster (hide spoiler)] - I was hoping for some creepy shit. Pardon me. LOL

[Maddie]

Page 326 (view spoiler)[Oh yay, finally figured out how Oliver actually died! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Lekeisha wrote: "[spoilers removed] - I was hoping for some creepy sh*&. Pardon me. LOL"

Yeah, i thought it would be creepier too....

[Maddie]

Yeah. I hate it when they say books are creepy but they're not.

Page 352. (view spoiler)[Yay Clemence is alive. (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

And it' weird how it's Mum and Father, like shouldn't it be Mother and Father, or Mum and Dad?

[Maddie]

Finished. Good book!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

yay, Maddison! I'm so glad you liked it!! :)

Lekeisha , keep us posted on what you think.....

[Lekeisha]

I'm finished. (view spoiler)[Overall, I enjoyed it but I wasn't blown away by it. The fact that it had more to do with Mary, Alisdair, and Dr. Geisler- than Oliver, wasn't what I expected. Then there's Clemence's character, which brought another aspect to the story because of her sexuality. Not a big deal, but different. (hide spoiler)] I'm leaning towards 3.5-4 stars. I'll post my official review over on my blog Monday.

[Maddie]

Yeah it wasn't what I thought it'd be. Like, while reading it, I found it pretty exciting, but looking back on it it was rather slow and not that much happened. And when Oliver found out it was actually (view spoiler)[Alasdair that killed him, (hide spoiler)] he didn't even find it that much of a big deal.