The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis - Starting May 7th 2021

[matty]

Welcome to Amontillado, Ohio, where your last name is worth more than money, and secrets can be kept… for a price.

Tress Montor knows that her family used to mean something—until she didn’t have a family anymore. When her parents disappeared seven years ago while driving her best friend home, Tress lost everything. She might still be a Montor, but the entire town shuns her now that she lives with her drunken, one-eyed grandfather at what locals refer to as the “White Trash Zoo,” – a wild animal attraction featuring a zebra, a chimpanzee, and a panther, among other things.

Felicity Turnado has it all – looks, money, and a secret that she’s kept hidden. She knows that one misstep could send her tumbling from the top of the social ladder, and she’s worked hard to make everyone forget that she was with the Montors the night they disappeared. Felicity has buried what she knows so deeply that she can’t even remember what it is… only that she can’t look at Tress without having a panic attack.

But she’ll have to.

Tress has a plan. A Halloween costume party at an abandoned house provides the ideal situation for Tress to pry the truth from Felicity – brick by brick – as she slowly seals her former best friend into a coal chute. With a drunken party above them, and a loose panther on the prowl, Tress will have her answers – or settle for revenge.

In the first book of this duology, award-winning author Mindy McGinnis draws inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe and masterfully delivers a dark, propulsive mystery in alternating points of view that unravels a friendship... forevermore.

[Leon]

So how many chapters a day are we playing, its 92 chapters in my ebook.
So I am thinking 10 chapters or smth if the chapters are like short

[matty]

Yeah I’m fine with that

[Leon]

Madeline wrote: "Yeah I’m fine with that"

Oh okay cool. I think the chapters are short, I think I would be able to read 10 today so that is cool and I will just be putting the chapters in by wherever I stopped :)

[Leon]

Chapter 1-3
(view spoiler)[I am liking this so far kinda, I don't get Cat's chapter, the poem I mean (hide spoiler)]

[Karen]

My copy has been delayed...think I’ll get it Monday, so will try to catch up as soon as I can.

[Leon]

Karen wrote: "My copy has been delayed...think I’ll get it Monday, so will try to catch up as soon as I can."

Okay I haven't gotten far either so it's okay

[matty]

I’ve been in a reading slump so I apologize, I’ve been behind on all the books I’m reading. Starting this afternoon. Should we just aim for up to ten today and then start ten a day?

[Leon]

@ Madeline
Yea sure, I am still at chapter 4 or smth, I am also trying to catch up on some of the books I have been reading but I will be able to get to 10 today and we can discuss it too :)

[Leon]

Chapter 4 -15
(view spoiler)[I don't know how to feel about the way things are going rn. But what I really don't get/like are the poems. The author really didn't consider people who absolutely detest poems (hide spoiler)]

[Leon]

DNF-ED
(view spoiler)[I couldn't finish this,
First of all, 92 chapters. For what reasons?🤨
Second of all, Cat's chapters were just so fucking confusing. I really absolutely detest poems, cannot stand them so for it to be part of the book and also smth that boosts the suspense and since I am not gonna be analyzing the poem cause it's not skl and this is supposed to relax me I am DNF-ing this (hide spoiler)]

[matty]

Ahh sorry you didn’t enjoy it! I’m about 10 chapters through and don’t really have an opinion on it so far.

[Leon]

Madeline wrote: "Ahh sorry you didn’t enjoy it! I’m about 10 chapters through and don’t really have an opinion on it so far."

that was how I felt 10 chapters through to
I hope you do enjoy it tho and if/when you finish it, i would be happy to hear how you felt. Also if possible i would love spoilers too cause the one thing i was hopeful will pop up was what happened to Tress's parents. Yea i would love spoilers lol

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

I'm a little late, but I'll start now. :)

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 7 - I feel like I haven't that much time to get into the story, so far everything is a little strange. What I absolutely hate are the poems and to be honest, I just skip them now, if there's important context in them, well I guess I'll never know, but I really don't like poems.

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 26 (view spoiler)[I don't know what I'm thinking of all this, I kinda forgot what the book is about and was SHOCKED when Tress hit Felicity with a stone. After that it's just back to mostly boring story that I don't care about and I hope something will happen soon. (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 45 (view spoiler)[It may be because I don't read the "Cat"-chapters but it took me a LONG time to realize that Cat's not a person but an actual cat (or panther in that case)... :D

Tress is blaming Felicity for everything bad that happened in her life but I feel like Felicity is just an innocent bystander.

I don't get why there is the story-line with the panther. It's not bringing anything to the real story. Wasn't the mystery behind Tress parents not enough to fill a book? (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

The End (view spoiler)[What was that?! We didn't get any real answers to anything and the Tress walled in Felicity without even checking if she was really dead and left her??? And of course the stupid panther's there as well.

I feel like everything could have fitted perfectly into this one book but the author just wants to prolong the story to make a second book... (hide spoiler)]

[Leon]

Ta wrote: "The End What was that?! We didn't get any real answers to anything and the Tress walled in Felicity without even checking if she was really dead and left her??? And of course the stupid panther's t..."

(view spoiler)[I am so happy i dnfed this book, so in te end Tress dint even get answers lol. This book will have wasted my time (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Joy wrote: "Ta wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

I definitely second you there. Actually I maybe should have dnfed it... :D

Some spoilers for the story, if you're interested:
(view spoiler)[The panther was at the party in the abandoned building and Tress left Felicity in the basement to go... I don't know what she really tried to do, catch it probably? But she got scratched and then left the panther and went back to Felicity without doing anything. Both girls talked a little more and Felicity remembered that Tress parents were fighting, because the father was having affairs. Tress didn't like these news and smashed the light and then went into total panic mode, because it was dark in the basement... Tress went upstairs to get something to fix the light.
While alone Felicity remembered something about them driving of a bridge and that someone, who was neither Tress father nor mother, carried her away from the car. So there has to be someone who knows what happened. But before Tress returned and she could tell her anything Felicity had one of her seizures. Tress got back to her, saw her unconscious, realized she can only be dead (WITHOUT CHECKING), closed the wall and left. The last chapter is from the cats perspective, which is now in the basement and hears Felicity awake and crying behind the wall. (hide spoiler)]

[Leon]

Ta wrote: "Joy wrote: "Ta wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

I definitely second you there. Actually I maybe should have dnfed it... :D

Some spoilers for the story, if you're interested:
The panther was at the par..."

wtf,that was very pointless , so nothing really happened. Wow!The writing style felt really chaotic and dull even from the spoilers you just gave me. Are you gonna read the next book?

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

I don't know, maybe if I forget how chaotic this really was... Right now I'd say: no way. :D

[Karen]

My copy has FINALLY arrived, so I’ll get started tonight if I can finish Project Hail Mary. Brief look at your comments isn’t filling me with hope.

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Karen wrote: "My copy has FINALLY arrived, so I’ll get started tonight if I can finish Project Hail Mary. Brief look at your comments isn’t filling me with hope."

Maybe you'll like it. :) I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts.

[Karen]

Up to ch10. The intro to Tess and Felicity raises a lot of questions. Messed up plan. The poems are odd-are they from the viewpoint of the panther?

[matty]

Ok finally had the the motivation to continue this. Left off at chapter ten last time, and just reread.

(view spoiler)[Overall not too shabby? I’ve read two other Mindy McGinnis books in the past and enjoyed both. Her writing style is what pulls me in. What falls short for me is that the protagonists always seem similar to each other, a strong-willed, no-bull-shit girl who lives in a trailer. I loved the first protagonist like this in one of her books, but then it seemed like the character’s name was switched and put into a book with a different title. Sorta getting sick of the repetitiveness.

However, since the majority of her books are plot-based, it’s not a huge problem. And so far the plot is fine.

My biggest complaint about the author in general is her constant inclusions of animal-abuse in her writing. Not very happy this one takes place at a zoo... But I won’t let that take away from the story I suppose. (hide spoiler)]

[Karen]

Up to ch28. Short chapters feel like I’m flying through this. It’s readable, but feels strange-horror genre and yet strangely not.

[Karen]

Up to ch41. Felicity comes across as fairly spineless in the way she’s described before Tress takes her. Not sure she knows anything.

[Karen]

Joy {on hiatus} wrote: "Chapter 1-3
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ The Cat poem was a bit jarring. I assume it's going to be relevant though. (hide spoiler)]

[Karen]

Ta wrote: "Chapter 7 - I feel like I haven't that much time to get into the story, so far everything is a little strange. What I absolutely hate are the poems and to be honest, I just skip them now, if there'..."

They don't - on first impressions - add much but I am convinced that the voice will turn out to be relevant to what happened. I'm enjoying trying to find the Poe links.

[Karen]

Joy {on hiatus} wrote: "Ta wrote: "The End What was that?! We didn't get any real answers to anything and the Tress walled in Felicity without even checking if she was really dead and left her??? And of course the stupid ..."

Not sure why she's so sure Felicity knows something.

[Karen]

Up to ch57. I really hope this isn't just going to descend into nothing actually happens...

[Karen]

Finished. Review on home page.

[matty]

Karen wrote: "Up to ch28. Short chapters feel like I’m flying through this. It’s readable, but feels strange-horror genre and yet strangely not."

Definitely agree.

[matty]

Chapter 20 - I feel like the panther’s chapters are just weird, but other than that I’m enjoying this.

[Karen]

Madeline wrote: "Chapter 20 - I feel like the panther’s chapters are just weird, but other than that I’m enjoying this."

I really enjoyed the start, but can't help feel it all got messy. The things I expected to be focused on weren't actually that important. The panther poems were odd (view spoiler)[ I'm wondering if we have some supernatural thing going on and her family can change into animals. (hide spoiler)]

[matty]

Up to 36

Don’t love it, don’t hate it. I honestly could care less about all these flashbacks. And I don’t think Felicity knows anything. She just seems like a regular slightly snotty high schooler who’d rather not be trapped behind a wall in an abandoned house. Tress is just an idiot.

[matty]

Joy {on hiatus} wrote: "DNF-ED
I couldn't finish this, ."

Yeah I can see where you’re coming from. I hate poetry as well, but to be honest I feel like the panther chapters add an eerie feel to the story.

[matty]

Finished, review to come. But that ending - I am not okay 😰. I will definitely be reading the second when it’s released. Overall I really enjoyed this and it was a quick read. My major complaint was the (view spoiler)[animal abuse (hide spoiler)] so I took off one star, but other than that I liked it.

[Karen]

Madeline wrote: "Finished, review to come. But that ending - I am not okay 😰. I will definitely be reading the second when it’s released. Overall I really enjoyed this and it was a quick read. My major complaint wa..."

While it didn't blow me away, I definitely want to tread the second.