Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley starting April 1, 2023.

Might get a head start on one of the many April 1st reads....

Started today! Again with a prologue done in media res. I like the formulaic nature of these. Through chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ woohoo NYC. Amused at Sabrina's disgust at their being Everafters in her home city...
The "fairy godfathers" cracked me up xD

Also I'm wondering if these Everafters actually liked Veronica Grimm... (hide spoiler)]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Might get a head start on one of the many April 1st reads...."

I'm leaving them for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday... I have an extra day off this week... plenty of time for a bunch of BRs...

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Started today! Again with a prologue done in media res. I like the formulaic nature of these. Through chapter 2....."

I saw someone, somewhere, say that in medias res is alot more common / only done in children's fiction, to rope them in fast so they don't abandon the book / reading in general... and I gotta say, it seems like a spot on observation... I can't think of nearly as many other books that do it... I can think of a few movies...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Might get a head start on one of the many April 1st reads...."

I'm leaving them for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday... I have an extra day off this week... plenty of time for a bu..."

That's nice! I had some time from Wednesday through the weekend, but it was pretty busy with some family stuff. Still got through a few reads, but I still need to comment on some...

And finished! lol

I liked this one a bit more than the previous one I think. There was a bit more mystery to it and somewhat of a whodunnit (view spoiler)[ Honestly should have expected the princess fairy whats-her-face.. But it was nice to get a bit more of who's behind the Red Hands. Who'd have guessed the Wizard of Oz? lol

We got a really Outrageous scene with the dreaded case worker sending the kids to live with a murderer? LIke WTF? That was wild to me. lol

I feel like there was a lot of things going on in this and meeting a lot of new Everafters. I also liked Sabrina's arc in this and I hope she'll mature a bit more.

Also all the things with her and Puck. Very cute. (hide spoiler)]

I get a fair amount of Paid Time Off through my work, having been there over a decade, and in a higher PTO bracket... I tend to use it on 3-4 day weekends, instead of taking longer vacations... it's nice, and I get little breaks on a regular basis...

I prefer to use my PTO like that too. I worked 7 10-hour shifts in a row and took my last 10 hour shift off for a 5/6 day weekend.
Work's about to get a lof more busy on Monday because training for a new lab instrument starts and then I've got to work on validation and training other people.. And we just lost 2 out of 3 supervisors... I'm not looking forward to the next few months >< I hope I'll have the energy to keep with BRs!

Tonari no Emily wrote: "I prefer to use my PTO like that too. I worked 7 10-hour shifts in a row and took my last 10 hour shift off for a 5/6 day weekend.
Work's about to get a lof more busy on Monday because training fo..."

Are you in the medical field?... or research?

I see alot of news, lately, about understaffed hospitals, and areas in places like Idaho not doing childbirths anymore, over staffing/safety concerns...

On the topic of keeping up with BRs, I've been surprised at my ability to maintain BR/reading momentum, even as I lose hours/day I can listen... either through listening faster, or cutting out other things like TV that I've lost interest in... I used to get to listen to books at work for 3-6hrs/day, but lost that nearly a year ago now, and the time had been dwindling for a year before that...

Medical field! I work in a medical lab. We were very understaffed in 2021 to 2022.. Lost 9 people in as many months. Lots of overtime last year. Nursing units were shortstaffed as well. It's gotten a bit better, but there's just a shortage of medical staff. Lots of people retired, some burnt out because of Covid, and there isn't really an increase of people going into the field to replace the people that left...

Timelord Iain wrote: "On the topic of keeping up with BRs, I've been surprised at my ability to maintain BR/reading momentum, even as I lose hours/day I can listen... either through listening faster, or cutting out othe..."

Yeah seems like you've been zoom zooming your way through all the things xD

I've cut back on some time-wasters (ahem social media) to get in some more reading time. That's helped for me certainly. And I really haven't been watching shows too much except for when I just don't feel like doing anything haha

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "On the topic of keeping up with BRs, I've been surprised at my ability to maintain BR/reading momentum, even as I lose hours/day I can listen... either through listening faste..."

Yea... I'm watching The Closer today... bit of a "skip day" on audiobooks at home... been slowly watching episodes before bed, lately...

I do most of my reddit scrolling at work...

Limit my youtubing to when my ipod is charging, and mostly play music video mixes of songs I like (and/or that youtube knows I play alot and built a custom mix out of)... and otherwise haven't been too interested in anything on TV/Movies in awhile... very rarely, I see a big action movie in theatres... and otherwise I mostly watch things on Dropout.tv before bed... streaming service from College Humor folks, with game shows and D&D Live plays...

Re: Zoom Zoom: re-reads go fast, most books that aren't annoying me go fast because I pause less... ebooks and books I pause alot, slow me down... and just spending too much time playing games that require wiki/research... been heavily into that mouse hunting game recently, with the cute critters (and some not so cute critters)

Those mice are just too cute...

Starting now! Through Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[I thought Hamstead's reaction to NYC was pretty moving... it helped nail down that feeling of exile for Ever Afters...

Also surprised that there are Ever Afters outside of the town, but like Granny Relda said--it does make sense. No way they'd've gotten everyone.

Really looking forward to Sabrina's Ever After prejudice being broken at some point... I was hoping it'd have more of a dent in it after the last few entries...

A hint on Papa Grimm's old love... "G." Who starts with "G"? Gretel? Guinevere? Galadriel? Glenda the good witch? wait, she's still there, right?


LOL "Veronica Grimm had children?" How dare she! Hm... I'd like to see that twist, @Emily--if that outrage was "she had kids and I didn't get invited to the baby shower??"

And the Fairy Godfathers were hilarious. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3--(view spoiler)[nice call!
I'm surprised they're willing to trust Oz so easily... could he be behind the Red Hand?

Hm... come to think of it... the kids should have known there were Ever Afters outside, since their parents were kidnapped outside, and Red Hand is an Ever After society... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 Aww... (view spoiler)[is there some romance for Hamstead in the future? I like how his arc has been going... ha! yes! Smoochies!

Eek. Puck's "fiancee" is not suited to Puck at all... does she even realize how miserable she'd be? Though I can see Puck trading on all the ego polishing...

!! Puck's the heir? Mustardseed sounds like a better bet.

Sabrina rather deserved that shower-push. She needs to listen to Daphne's wishes too. (hide spoiler)]

There's just so many of them... they lean heavily towards cute... the Easter event started, last week:



Chocolate Overload, Onion Chopper, and Sinister Egg Painter were my favorites... and the fact the description for Hardboiled is a full-on noir detective story page...

Aww ww ww ww ww! (can't put three in a row or it clocks the automatic webpage thingy). I love the creativity!

Chapter 5 Was not expecting (view spoiler)[Scrooge to have taken up psychic work. LOL (hide spoiler)]

BEHOLD!!!

Mayor Charming...



I mean, a Centaur Mouse with Fabio Hair...

I feel like I could turn this into a thing in all BRs... with 1200 different mice, there's one for every occasion...

LOL that is pretty special. What's the Fabulous Centaur's name?

Chapter 6--the six (view spoiler)[dwarfs? Does that mean that Charming's chauffeur is the only one to be inside the bubble? That's pretty lonely... (hide spoiler)]

Oh hey, google says today is Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday. Cool to be reading this today.

Most mice don't really have names, except bosses...



Versus this old Halloween event boss:



Sidenote: It's annoying how large these screenshots are, compared to the ones I try to take from the competition sheet sometimes... GR constantly shrinks those screenshot... probably because they're super wide...

Hahaha that mouse game looks very entertaining! Lots of cuties in there!
I feel like you should just pick a mouse to represent every BR you participate. Like a lil BR mascot :D

Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 3..."

Each book just solidifies my Daphne love and Sabrina apathy/hate... hate is a strong word, but she's really resistant to all the circumstances in these books, basically...

Finished... at this point, even the surprises aren't too surprising (as in, I expect there to be surprising oddball things in each story)...

I kinda feel like these are outlined by a kid, and then written by Michael Buckley... kinda like that comic Sanderson is working on, based on things his kids draw as concept art...

(view spoiler)[they go to NYC, meet Oberon/Titania... Oberon dies... they free with Moth and Oz... meet Ebenezer Scrooge the psychic... Hamstead hooks up with the Cow that Jumped Over the Moon... Puck is a prince... kind of like a stream of consciousness of cool elements thrown in a blender... (hide spoiler)]

They're fun, tho... always interesting to see what happens next... hopefully Sophie gets sorted out at some point... becomes less of a Jerkazoid... because Daphne seems to have life figured out :D ... WARRIOR FACE...

Just started:) Glad to be back in this world...

Up to Ch. 6... Hahaha! This is fun, meeting all those new Ever Afters:) The Fairy Godfathers and Godmothers are (view spoiler)[ lower beings born already old! How can you not feel sorry for them?

And yes, Moth is a terrible fiance for Puck! They don't suit at all! And I completely agree, Musterseed should be the heir and Moth should be hooking up with him...

I guess Hamstead's crush comes with a ton of baggage...

Sabrina needs to give Daphne a break! And Daphne is still the best!!!

Ebeneezer being a ghost - communicating psychic is perfection!!! (hide spoiler)]

I am enjoying this one better than the last for sure!

I think the main selling point of this series, for me, is that it doesn't take itself too seriously... it just does all the wacky things it can come up with...

I think that's kinda the downfall of older fantasy, usually for me... when it's serious, it's easier to focus on the problems/obviousness of the story... when it's fun, you can just roll with it...

So true!!!! I totally agree and I also have issues with people who read and take everything they read with that seriousness that doesn't allow for fun and mistakes... Just chill and enjoy! Everything, even if it mostly sucks, could make you see something you can learn or take something away from... Life is too short to take everything so seriously!

Ch. 8.... Hahaha! Emily, you were right! Outrageous the social worker scene it is! As a member of the Social Worker community and working for DFS , I can tell you all this is why this book is Fantasy - never, ever would it be possible for anyone with that type of record to foster anyone!!! Ever! I myself have been advocating for relaxing some of the requirements for fostering, because some of the rules are ridiculous, but this is just preposterous! Haha! So much so, that I didn't even get offended, just made me laugh uproariously!:))))

re: Chapter 8 The social worker lady gives me serious Filch/Mrs. Umbrige vibes... time to bring back thumbscrews... It was quite satisfying to see (view spoiler)[Sabrina & co being a match for psycho foster person--they pretty much just took it in stride and strided over him... boots made for walkin'. (hide spoiler)]

Daphne totally still the best.

I finished and enjoyed it:) Unexpected villain and fun ending. I am looking forward to the next one:)

Yea... I laughed at the ridiculousness of the Foster Parent... that social worker is like a Bond Villain... or maybe I mean Inspector Gadget... it's comical...

I started this late last night, but I am just now getting into it- I am beginning Chapter 3.

I know this sounds terrible to say about a kid - even a fictional one, but I don't like Sabrina. She's such a Negative Nancy; her prejudices really bother me, and she's so quick to deny what is in front of her eyes (i.e., info about her mother). I find her frustrating.

I hope there may be some light behind her dark cloud (sooner than later).

Sabrina definitely is a party pooper--thankfully Daphne is quick to point that out. Fortunately, that leaves her room to grow... but every time she relapses it's a disappointment.