Romance Lovers for the Challenge-Impaired discussion

    

Changes, by Jim Butcher

Synopsis put under spoiler!!
(view spoiler)[
Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden's lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it.

Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry's not fighting to save the world...

He's fighting to save his child.
(hide spoiler)]
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

In February we are continuing on with The Dresden Files. Please join us, or just stop in and say, "Hi!" or tell us which cover you prefer. But...

Expect Spoilers!

Participants
ShoSho
Lisa Kay
Gisela
Lauren
Joann

Chapter Breakdown

Date 		Chapters 	PPDQs*
February 17th 	Chapters 01-14	Lisa Kay
February 18th 	Chapters 15-27	ShoSho
February 19th 	Chapters 28-38	ShoSho
February 20th 	Chapters 39-49	Lisa Kay

*PPDQs = Person Posting Discussion Questions & Comments

Reserved.

In

Me too!

BTW, I hate the blurb for this book it's so spoilery!

I'm not reading it :D

Stopped reading blurbs, have you? :D

Gisela wrote: "Stopped reading blurbs, have you? :D"

Yep! I don't think I've read any blurbs after that huge spoiler! Sometimes when I'm in the middle of a book I read the blurb and sometimes after finishing it !

Yes, I read the blurb and was very unhappy I did! Don't read it. I actually should put it under a spoiler.

Thanks for the heads up on the blurb - avoiding it like the plague!

Yes, I'm not reading blurbs anymore, either. However, this one had it in the last word... kind of hard to avoid when one is "cutting and pasting."

From this one on the blurbs are all spoilery, avoid them!

I am so in. This was my favorite Dresden novel; I would have rated it 10 stars if only I could have. I would love to go further into why, but too many spoilers that you ladies wouldn't want to know yet. I'll keep it all locked in until after the read. I can't wait until February now!!

That's great Joann . I still have #10 and #11 before this one and I can't wait either.

Neat, Joann! I'd love to hear your comments.

Any idea when we're doing this one, ladies? I'm trying to plan my February calendar. (Ha!)

I'm good with any day after 4th

Oh, that's right. You have that wedding trip.

How about the 6th again?

Don't we have Kate on 4th? I'm happy with any day

Was that definite?

Lisa Kay wrote: "Was that definite?"

I don't know! Who else is reading that?

ShoSho wrote: "I don't know! Who else is reading that?"

Patty and Ren... and me, if I can ever catch up.

Any thoughts on when to start this one?

Lauren wrote: "Any thoughts on when to start this one?"

I don't know, Lauren. But we need to make some decisions before the Newsletter goes out. I put the question of start dates for all the Series Read books to the other Mods, but they are all ill or out of town. This is tentatively what I have:

How are these dates:

Cynster Sisters Duo #2: The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh,
February 3, 2013.

The Dresden Files #12: Changes, by Jim Butcher
February 10, 2014.

De Piaget #2: If I Had You, by Lynn Kurland
Start Date: February 17, 2014.

Kate Daniels #4: Magic Bleeds, by Ilona Andrews
Start Date: February 24, 2013.

Thanks, LK.

I'm having a small oral surgery on February 12th and might be out of commission for a couple of days. I would really like to be able to contribute DQs, so would it be possible to switch Changes and If I Had You?

It is alright with me, Lauren. ShoSho is out of town. I guess I'll have to make an executive decision and say sure. LOL! Of course, she was getting all excited and wanting to do two in the month of February. I don't think I can swing that.

Probably won't be able to swing it either because I'm going to listen to The Angel of Darkness, which is a HUGE book at over 24 hours listening time!

However, if we changes toward the end of February we could do Ghost Story in the beginning of March. That might make ShoSho happy :0)

LOL!

Whoa... over TAoD.

Yeah, its 752 pages in paperback - a real tome but I loved the first book and hoping the 2nd continues in the same vein.

I don't have a problem with dates but I should mention that a lot is revealed in this book. It's very important series wise. Some arcs conclude and others move forward. I don't think you'll want to wait long for the next one. I read them both back to back. :)

I'm happy with doing it towards the end of the month! I'll be back this Sunday!

Well, we'll put the next books in the series back in line, then it won't be so far between.

Finally it's time for Harry again!
when are you going to start?
I can start today and have the first set of Qs ready by tomorrow.

4 days??? it's 49 chapters ,15 hours and 28 minutes ,438 pages.
Happy with a bit less than 4 hours per day , 110 pages per day?

Chapters 1-14
Chapters 15-27
Chapters 28-38
Chapters 39-49

or 5 days?

Chapters 1-11
Chapters 12-21
Chapters 22-32
Chapters 33-40
Chapters 41-49

4 days!

I prefer 4 days too

We won't be able to help ourselves and wait. We're gonna want to rush and finish it.

Gisela wrote: "We won't be able to help ourselves and wait. We're gonna want to rush and finish it."

I thought so too

Um..have to admit that I only have 3 hours left on the audiobook. Really just couldn't wait, even though I read it before. :)

Well, four days will be difficult for me, especially since ShoSho (being in Australia) usually starts a day ahead of me. However, I'll do it.

Is it alright if I do the first set of DQs, then? That way, if I get behind, it won't be that big of a deal. I'm about half-way through the first section's reading assignment. I have to pick friends up at the airport, but I can probably post DQs within the next 12 hours.

Lisa Kay wrote: "Well, four days will be difficult for me, especially since ShoSho (being in Australia) usually starts a day ahead of me. However, I'll do it.

Is it alright if I do the first set of DQs, then? ..."

Great LK :) I'll do the second

I haven't started yet ,I've been a good girl this time! I decided I'd start on your 17th not mine ;)

ShoSho wrote: "I haven't started yet ,I've been a good girl this time! I decided I'd start on your 17th not mine ;)"

Oh, you are being good... LOL!

Lisa Kay wrote: "ShoSho wrote: "I haven't started yet ,I've been a good girl this time! I decided I'd start on your 17th not mine ;)"

Oh, you are being good... LOL!"

I was bad in another way! I didn't do my lunchtime walk today because I didn't have anything to listen to !!!!

Oh, that's not good. Got to get your 20 - 30 minutes of cardio in a day.

Lisa Kay wrote: "Oh, that's not good. Got to get your 20 - 30 minutes of cardio in a day."

I know , I told you I was a bad too!

Joann wrote: "Um..have to admit that I only have 3 hours left on the audiobook. Really just couldn't wait, even though I read it before. :)"

That's alright, Joann. We still love you.

OMG that first sentence!

I've started but I'm not sure I can so it 4 days :0(
Still recovering from my surgery - the antibiotics have me a bit wonky

Yes, that first sentence was a doozy!

Tons of questions; these books are getting more complex! (I can see why people re-read them.) Please, only pick and choose to answers the ones you want.

Lisa Kay’s Questions, Comments, & Reminders for Chapters 1 – 14

1. Whoa. What a bombshell from Susan Rodriguez. Did you have any inkling? And who in the world could have taken (view spoiler)[Harry & Susan’s daughter? (hide spoiler)] Not that this list isn’t endless. But do you think it really was Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court of vampires, or someone else?

2. Thanks goodness Harry had Mac to talk to. Considering the title of this book, what did you think about what Mac said about the boundaries Harry may have to traverse? BOOK QUOTE: “Something like this will test you like nothing else,” Mac said. “You’re going to find out who you are, Harry. You’re going to find out which principles you’ll stand by to your death—and which lines you’ll cross.” He took my empty glass away and said, “You’re heading into the badlands. It’ll be easy to get lost.”

3. Did you blame Harry for being so mad about Susan keeping something like this from him? Did you believe him when he says he and Susan are through? What of the truth in her statement: BOOK QUOTE: “But in the end, I couldn’t offer her anything but a life on the run. And you couldn’t offer her anything but a life under siege.” Was her concern that she and Maggie could be used against Harry a valid one?

4. What do you make of Martin, Susan’s companion and fellow member of the Fellowship of St. Giles? I had to laugh over Harry leaving him outside, but seriously, do you trust him? Are Harry’s feelings towards him a bit more complicated than he lets on – being used to attempt an assassination of old Ortega – or is it more that he is jealous of his relationship with Susan?

5. Oh! Harry’s office building blows up! (I laughed over Harry paying the rent that morning. LOL!) And it was wired with explosives a few YEARS ago? These plans have been in the works for quite awhile. I was with Murphy; why didn’t they blow him up way back when (Chapter 5)? Or does Arianna like to play with her food. (BTW, loved Molly’s tee-shirt.) I do like that Murphy later (Chapter 10) figures out Arianna has something major planned, and EVERYONE is on edge – Big Time.

6. Harry’s going through all this sans coffee! Yikes. (If that’s the case, it is a good thing Molly was there to keep Harry calm in Edinburgh.) Have you ever tried to quite caffeine?

7. Wizard Gregori Cristos is the one trying to broker the peace deal between the two nations. A few little reminder for me [gleaned from Dresden Wiki]:

Harry and Ebenezar McCoy suspect him of being Black Council. Harry suggests that he may have been the one on Demonreach with Peabody. And now the Black Council has a man inside—they killed LaFortier (in Turn Coat, Morgan was accused of murdering LaFortier) to get Cristos into position.

And he accuses Harry of war-mongering, restarting The War, breaking safe conduct under Accords. And Duchess Arianna? What a piece of work, right? Can anyone spell S.O.C.I.O.P.A.T.H.?

8. Anastasia Luccio intervenes before Harry blows a gasket and now she has guessed the relationship of Maggie and Harry. This can’t be good. I figure the fewer people who know this the better, right? And – eeps! – Harry calls her a coward! Now that that’s blown over, and on a scale of 1 -10, do you trust her to feed Harry information on the White Council dealings in Edinburgh, AKA Paranoia Central?

9. Alright, what is with Merlin, Arthur Langtry? I do agree with him about the Red Court’s variation of an attempted Trojan horse. Nevertheless, my distrust of him go deeper than it just being that his mores are a little warped, right? I mean, he warns Harry off rescuing Maggie, but threatens Molly? WTH?

10. BOOK QUOTE: “My laboratory,” I said, experimentally drawing out each syllable. “Why is it that saying it like that always makes me want to follow with ‘mwoo-hah-hah-hah-hahhhhhh?” FOFLMBO!

11. Ritual gear? Thank goodness for Bob. But – yikes! Then there is that requirement of a human sacrifice, an innocent human sacrifice. Comments.

12. For some reason that scene with the FBI at Harry’s door and Harry down in the basement laboratory freaked me out more than the centipede. Plus, I knew that thing was going to regenerate into two. You?

13. Gulp. Poor Bob.

14. So… what do you think of FBI Agent Barry Tilly – AKA “Slim”? Think he really believes Harry is innocent of blowing up his building?

15. Okay, of all the sections, I had to re-read that part about the paparazzi and someone attempting a drive-by assassination on Harry. I mean, WTH? I wasn’t sure if Harry was in touch with reality there or not. Thank goodness for his duster. Anywayz… who do you think was behind it?

16. What a place to end: Harry’s faerie godmother, Leanansidhe of the Winter Court, is waiting for him. And oh, by the way, Susan and Martin are in coffin-sized green silk cocoons hanging from his apartment’s wall and ceiling!! Comments.