Amelia Halgren > Recent Status Updates

Nope, can’t do it.

This could use a little more editing… it’s not exactly subtle…

“Trembling hands” opening a letter from a handwriting expert to show the historian’s nervous anticipation. (How often do hands actually tremble?)

British soldiers threatening rape to establish them as the bad guys.

Our heroine “comprises” a letter… instead of “composes” a letter.

Not sure I’m going much further with this.

I liked the author’s interpretation of Jesus. 😂❤️😊

My loan is about to expire… I have some curiosity about the story but I’m not really attached to our vampire protagonist just yet.

Although comparisons with Twilight are inevitable the social structure actually reminds me more of Octavia Butler’s Fledgling.

I’m going to have to let this one go. It’s not the book, it’s me. This anxious protagonist is so well written she’s triggering my own anxiety! 😅

“Revenge is not a good thing, Allan warned him. Revenge is like politics: one thing always leads to another until bad has become worse, and worse has become worst.”

“The police chief had something of a theatrical bent; he was not inclined to understatement.”

🤣🤣🤣

Lesson 1: Make new friends and keep in touch with the old ones.

This is charming and amusing and occasionally disturbing but… dang this is a long book! My loan is about to expire!

Maybe I should push through because I found the beginning really charming (haha) but the travel I was promised is all through England or by telephone and the plot is becoming a bit saccharine and formulaic…

Restarting this as a physical book.

“…perfection isn’t what families are all about.”

I’m going back to finish this one finally!

I was shocked to learn that students back East had never heard of the Japanese internment. Is it uniquely American to want to ignore the unpleasant parts of our history? Brits I hear from seem very aware of England’s imperialist history and Germans start their students young learning about the pitfalls of fascism. What about other cultures?

“…as soon as anything political is mentioned, her guard is up… my hope is that if I’m open about the foibles of our leaders she will open up about her own.”

Talking to N Koreans puts them at personal risk so this seems irresponsible questioning. But she‘s canny in her responses:

“[Our leaders] are not individuals, they represent the masses. …Criticizing our leaders is like criticizing ourselves.”

“Funny where the mind can take you, building up a sinister scenario based on prejudice alone.” - Michael Palin gracefully owning his own preconceived notions.

“The easy problems get solved right away so only the hard ones are left. That’s why you should never believe a politician with simple answers.”

“Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn’t get fixed.”


“The trouble with being a tyrant is that your position is so insecure… as soon as you show weakness the smell of blood is in the air and the jackals gather… A popular leader can make mistakes and survive… a tyrant can’t.”

“[During your teenage] years you’ll do things you you’ll remember later with deep embarrassment. But when you’re old, you’ll wish you’d done all of them twice.”

“You have to fall in and out of love a few times before you begin to understand what you’re really looking for.”