Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink #1) by Mindy McGinnis - GBR - Starting March 1st 2021

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink #1) by Mindy McGinnis will be our 2nd GBR for March 2021.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?

[Krystal]

10% (view spoiler)[ I hate that we don't truly know what happened in this world. The realistic world building isn't great because we only know that Cholera happened. We don't know why and why there is a severe water shortage. (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Ch 9 (view spoiler)[ How awful that she accidentally shot her mom? That would be awful. I do hope that she makes friends and doesn't stay alone any more (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Krystal wrote: "10% [spoilers removed]"

Yeah I agree. Backstory would be nice

[Booktastically]

OH MY GOATNESS, YES. Y'ALL ARE READING IT. YES

[Aly]

Ch 13 (view spoiler)[ Geez, that lady has been through some awful things. I'm glad Stubbs is helping her and Eli and Lynn is looking after Lucy.
I'm worried about those guys in the trucks coming for her pond and supplies.... (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Ch 16 (view spoiler)[ Of course, Lucy is very sick and now the people from the south come. Everything hits the fan at once. I hope they all make it through okay (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Finished (view spoiler)[ Well that was disappointing. Eli died a terrible death, Lynn killed her father, and they keep living on their farm.

No explanation for why the world ran out of water. I will not be reading the sequel (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

up to 38% (view spoiler)[ This is taking me a long time to read. I don't know why. It's getting better, a bit more interesting. Now that she has Lucy, I'm definitely curious to see how this goes. (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Krystal wrote: "up to 38% [spoilers removed]"

It's a slow plot so I understand

[R.A.]

Up to 20% / Chapter 7: (view spoiler)[I'm actually okay with the lack of backstory, because it sounds like this girl grew up in this world. It makes it a bit more realistic, because her frame of reference is only from this perspective. She never knew the world before, only the world after. I'm listening to the audiobook, which is well narrated so it is easy to lose myself in the cadence of the voice actor. I wonder where this is going next, because of the footprints and everything else. The scene with losing her mother felt rushed, and I'm hoping that the rest doesn't drag now that Lynn's entire life has changed. (hide spoiler)]

Onward!

[Shae]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[ her mother got eaten by coyotes!!!! That was so quick into the story. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Shae wrote: "Chapter 5 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yeah, that was sad! The coyote was so daring to attack her like that. (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

Krystal wrote: "10% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I agree. It's a hard world to get into because there's no world building to make it make sense (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

12%
(view spoiler)[ So far, I find the mother to be pretty unlikable and Lynn pretty unremarkable. i know I'm not that far into it, but I'm really bored so far (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

Shae wrote: "Chapter 5 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yeah that really escalated quickly (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

Krystal wrote: "Shae wrote: "Chapter 5 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

26%
(view spoiler)[ The plot is starting to pick up some now that there's other people involved (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

42%
(view spoiler)[ I'm glad Lynn helped that man instead of shooting him (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

51%
(view spoiler)[ Oh yikes. The fact that Lynn had to get a sex talk from Stebbs makes me like her mother even less than I already did (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

54%
(view spoiler)[ This is becoming a frustrating read. I don't understand what kind of world this is everyone is living in. The way Lynn lives, it should be some sort of dystopian thing, but the way Eli lived was a normal life with some strict laws and concern for clean water. I don't get it (hide spoiler)]

[Katrina G]

94%
(view spoiler)[ Poor Eli. What an awful way to go. And poor Lynn (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Katrina wrote: "Krystal wrote: "Shae wrote: "Chapter 5 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

"

Hi, there's nothing here.

[Krystal]

Katrina wrote: "Krystal wrote: "10% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Right!! Yes!

[R.A.]

65% / Chapter 15
(view spoiler)[Slogging through this now. Just got to the snowfall and it was cute to see Lynn open up a bit. This reminds me of a lot of novels where the MC grew up intensely sheltered — but set in a dystopian. To be honest, not a lot has happened plot wise. It is a slow coming of age, that’s for sure. I feel like I am reading a realistic survival video game in novel format. I cannot see myself picking up the second book at this rate. (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

chapter 12 (view spoiler)[ wow what else is Lucy keeping secret (not intentionally, but what she knows from her past). I can't believe her family was meant to take Lynne's house. (hide spoiler)]

[R.A.]

Finished.
(view spoiler)[This is a hard one for me to put my finger on. I liked the narration. I liked the story a decent amount. I liked the character growth. I disliked the pacing. There were long stretches of overly descriptive parts and then when the action happened, there was so little description that I often lost what was actually happening during the action.

Overall, decent read. Definitely great as an audiobook. I think if I hadn't listened to it, I would have liked it less, as the narrator did a great job at making it come to life.

The ending with Eli was way too rushed, in my opinion. That's part of the action that I very much so disliked. I get that action should be fast-paced, but every action sequence went by way too quickly for me to even grasp what had just happened without re-listening to the book. I likely will not pick up the second book in the series -- I also don't think this really needed another book in the series, to be completely honest. It ended on a hopeful, but sad, note, and that was good for me.
(hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

chapter 21 (view spoiler)[ wow Eli died! That was very abrupt I feel, like it happened so quickly and kind of wasn't spoken about much so it felt like it lacked the emotion I thought I would have with him dying. (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

finished (view spoiler)[ so the leader was her dad and now he is dead! crazy! I wonder what book 2 will bring (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

anyone keen for book 2?

[Shae]

R.A. wrote: "Finished.
This is a hard one for me to put my finger on. I liked the narration. I liked the story a decent amount. I liked the character growth. I disliked the pacing. There were long stretches of..."

OMG agree so much with this!!!!!

[R.A.]

Thanks, Shae! Likely won't pick up the second in the series. (view spoiler)[What does it say about it me that I would have picked up book two if Eli were still alive? Hopeless romantic? Ha! (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Shae wrote: "anyone keen for book 2?"

I'm still finishing up this but but I can do the second one sometime in April, if you want.

[Krystal]

61% (view spoiler)[ Slowly trucking along. Seriously, this book has so much potential. I feel like it's going to be one of those that everything happens in the very end. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Katrina wrote: "54%
[spoilers removed]"

RIGHT! (view spoiler)[ So a tiny bit more gets explained but the world building sucks in this book. Totally sucks. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

88% (view spoiler)[ Those poor women.. Man, this society is sucking terribly. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Katrina wrote: "94%
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[This was not only terrible but just a terrible way to end a sort of terrible book. Lucy is going to go crazy with grief! (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

R.A. wrote: "Thanks, Shae! Likely won't pick up the second in the series. [spoilers removed]"

Haha, no, I totally get it!

[Krystal]

Finished. (view spoiler)[ I did love the ending line and how she let that coyote live. She learned a lot through this book and that's basically the only redeeming thing of it. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Shae wrote: "finished [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I was surprised the leader was her dad! I'm glad they added that. (hide spoiler)]

[Krystal]

Aly wrote: "Finished Well that was disappointing. Eli died a terrible death, Lynn killed her father, and they keep living on their farm.

No explanation for why the world ran out of water. I will not be read..."

(view spoiler)[ Yeah, the whole thing with Eli made absolutely no sense. To have him for most of the book and then snuff him out in a 10 second scene was so strange. (hide spoiler)]