The Epidemic (The Program #.6) by Suzanne Young → Start Date: February 18th, 2017

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Katriann and I

Please join us if you can!

[Vicki]

OMG! YES!!!

[Katriann]

Thanks for making the thread. :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

No problem!!
and WELCOME VICKI!!! Right?! We have got to read this one :)

[Vicki]

Yes!!! Can't leave anything undone in this series! Lol

[Vicki]

I can't wait for this one!!

[Katriann]

Vicki and Trisha, have you started this one? I haven't, but I hope to start today. I have a term paper to finish, but I hope to get some reading done in the evening. :D

[Vicki]

I haven't & not sure when I will. I'll let you know.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I haven't but if you want to start today, I will too!

I finally have some time!! I'm just cleaning house today, waiting for family to arrive, and wrapping the last of the presents :D

[Sarah | Kerosene.Lit]

I love this series. The next one comes out in April, and maybe we can all buddy read that one then :D

[Vicki]

Awesome!!

[Katriann]

Trisha, I'm not sure whether I will be able to start today but if I won't have time this evening, I should definitely be able to start tomorrow. So if you have time, go ahead and start. :)

Oh yeah, the next book is The Adjustment, right? I didn't actually remember when it comes out. Yay, April is not that far away anymore. :D

[Vicki]

I'm going to have to buy this book if I want to read it with you girls. I already have 5 Link+ checked out and 5 requested from Link+ so they won't even allow me to request it. What to do?

[Vicki]

Guess what? I went in to return my books I owed and for some reason they allowed me to check out ALL of my books for Link+ so I now have SEVEN and that's never happened! LOL

So I now have this one!

[Katriann]

Awesome Vicki! It's great that you're able to read with us.

I have now read part 1 and here are some of my thoughts:

It's great to be (view spoiler)[ reading this series again. I loved the previous books, so I'm very excited to read this one. It was probably awful for Quinn to find out her whole life has been a lie. I understand her need to find out, who she really is and I hope she will find someone who knows about her past. (hide spoiler)]

I understand that Quinn (view spoiler)[ is afraid of the grief department finding her, but I don't like the way she lies to Virginia. Virginia is having a hard time with all her friends killing themselves. She doesn't need Quinn lying to her and complicating things. (hide spoiler)]

I had no idea (view spoiler)[ that August was a closer. I thought he was just a nice guy who wanted to help Quinn. (hide spoiler)]

[Katriann]

Part 2:

It's quite scary (view spoiler)[ how Dr. Pritchard keeps erasing Virginia's memories. I mean, who does that to his own child? Well, I guess he thinks he's protecting her but it still feels wrong. Doesn't he think erasing Virginia's memories can harm her too? (hide spoiler)]

I would like to know (view spoiler)[ how Virginia got her memories back. Did they just return or did she use (view spoiler)[ the pill they had in The Treatment. (hide spoiler)] I assume you guys have read the Program and the Treatment, but I hid the end of the previous sentence anyway. I don't want to spoil those books for anyone. :D (hide spoiler)]

Okay, (view spoiler)[ it will be interesting to see how Marie's plan will work out. I think it's strange that she didn't invite Aaron to the meeting. I would understand if she wanted to protect the closers who no longer work for the grief department, but then she should have left Tabitha out of it too. (hide spoiler)]

[Katriann]

Alright, I finished.

So, Marie (view spoiler)[ betrayed the kids after all. I guess she was able to make up for her actions a little in the end, when she helped Aaron, Quinn and Deacon escape. I never truly trusted Marie's motives, so I wasn't too surprised when I found out she had made a deal with Dr. Pritchard. (hide spoiler)]

I did find it pretty annoying (view spoiler)[ that when Tabitha and Deacon went missing no one was looking for Tabitha. Everyone was just panicking over Deacon's disappearance not giving a damn about Tabitha. Yeah, and I kind of liked Reed so why did he have to die? I found Deacon much more boring than Reed, so I think he could have died instead. :D (hide spoiler)]

Overall (view spoiler)[ I liked this book a lot. It was interesting to learn, what happened to Virginia and see how The Program started its spread around the country. Oh, and I'm happy we got to know Quinn's real name in the end. Not that it really matters what her name is. I just would have hated not knowing after all the effort she put into finding out her identity. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I'm so sorry I missed reading this with you Katriann!!

I'm going to re-set the date and will start commenting as soon as I make it to this one
I'm so sorry I got so behind last month :(

[Vicki]

I'm in the same boat as Trisha and I am FAR behind!!! My apologies to you as well. Seems like I can't get any BR done lately (on time).

[Katriann]

Don't worry about it. I'll just read your comments later if you still feel like writing them when you read this book. :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

can we re-schedule this one Vicki??

I'm falling behind again :(

[Vicki]

Oh my goodness, Trisha, I JUST now saw your post! I'm so sorry. Yes, I had to return my book but I re-requested it so hoping I'll have it some time this week. How about I let you know when it comes and then we can re-schedule of we can shoot for a couple weeks out or whatever.

[Vicki]

Trisha, we keep missing each other. LOL Let's reschedule this one!!! Please!

[Vicki]

I don't have this one yet. It's waiting for me at the library, but I have to finish a two Link+ books before I can check out the two waiting for me.

We (I) need to schedule this for a bit later if you can wait.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I plan to start tomorrow but I'll go slow....... :)

[Vicki]

Okay because I don't have my copy yet.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I'm done with Part 1 as well.....

I agree, it's great to be back with this series(view spoiler)[ except I'm totally different with Virginia
I remember wondering if she was manipulative - the Patient Zero somehow of the suicides. Does she emit a low grade radar sound or something? There must be something she is or does that gets everyone around her killing themselves
I remember wondering if it was an experiment she and her dad were running/starting in order to get his Program going
I don't trust her (hide spoiler)]

Deacon(view spoiler)[ I can't figure out what's going on with him...
was he playing both sides, like her "dad"?
Maybe he said he hadn't found her and then was running away with her
I wish she'd given him the faith and trust but I can understand why she ran too (hide spoiler)]

I agree(view spoiler)[ I had no idea August was going to be a bad guy until she starting feeling drugged - then I was worried who he really was
made sense how he found her (hide spoiler)]

I thought(view spoiler)[ her checking into the hotel was a bad move. Of course Deacon and any of the closers could find her that way - just see which hotel/cheap motel had a single girl check in and wait around for her.... (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

I get my book tomorrow so I'll start in the morning/afternoon.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Yay!! I'll get through another "part" then tonight :)

[Katriann]

Oooh, I'm glad you finally get to read this book.

Yeah Trisha, (view spoiler)[ I remember I also wondered why everyone around Virginia kept killing themselves. I think my theory at this point was that she was affecting other kids somehow, but wasn't aware of it herself. (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, definitely (view spoiler)[ not the smartest move to check into a hotel. I don't remember the city they are in, but especially in small towns it would be easy to find a teenage girl traveling alone. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Sorry, finished Part II a few days ago and forgot to update!

Epidemic(view spoiler)[ I find the whole Epidemic totally frightening. Why are all these kids killing themselves?! UGH! It just breaks my heart. (hide spoiler)]

and I agree(view spoiler)[ who does that? Who would keep erasing their child's memories? It does seem to be the one common link to everyone killing themselves

but doesn't Quinn seem like she met everyone too? I hope it isn't secretly her (hide spoiler)]

Yes, I've read the other series too! Oh man, that one was good! :)
did you see there's a book 3 coming out?


M's Plan(view spoiler)[ I can't like, I'm still really sketch about Maria. I agree, what was her thing with Aaron? So odd.
and I hate that.....she already broke their trust once and then hid. I still don't trust her. I hope her plan is actually a good one and isn't just feeding them slowly back into the system (hide spoiler)]

I would like to know (view spoiler)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

and I'm done! WOW, I loved this one

Reed(view spoiler)[ My heart is broken. I really wanted them to all finally get a normal life (hide spoiler)]

Virginia(view spoiler)[ interesting that it was her lack of hope because of her erased memories that seemed to be the spread and cause of it all. It was Prichard's actual meddling that seemed to create the bigger problem
Like Quinn/Nicole pointed out - when they remove the memories, they remove their own ability to cope and heal with what's happened. the more they do that, the more they have a whole society not able to cope with loss or tough/hard emotions. Our memories build pieces and make us who we are - our experiences. if erased, who are we? (hide spoiler)]

Deacon(view spoiler)[ I'm so so glad that, in the end, they got to be together. I don't know how Quinn could have handled it all if she didn't have Deacon (hide spoiler)]

And(view spoiler)[ Yes, Marie's involvement just felt obvious. Of course she had turned Deacon over. I agree, she just mildly redeems herself in that last moment where Marie and the father help push Quinn/Nicole to find her own way
I love that they said they found the perfect boy - do you think that is Realm? (remember him talking about the pill and giving it to Sloane?)
Or do you think Realm was a closer they turned into a handler?? Crazy....I barely remember the first one.....but surely they all lead to the next, right? (hide spoiler)]

[Katriann]

Yeah, I noticed that is coming out and I actually pre-ordered it last week. :D

I definitely agree (view spoiler)[ that the epidemic is frightening. There's something really unsettling about this whole series, but that's a good thing. The books always make me think and speculate a lot. (hide spoiler)]

I don't (view spoiler)[ remember the first book well either, but it would be interesting to know more about Realm. Maybe he is the perfect boy they found. You never know, but somehow the fact that they say they found the perfect boy makes me feel like it's someone we have already met in the other books. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

I'm going to start this one during my spring break, which began yesterday!