The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to the At First Spite Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on April 12th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 04/
April 12th: Prologue + Chapter 1-3
April 13th: Chapter 4-7
April 14th: Chapter 8-11

Week of 04/
April 15th: Chapter 12-15
April 16th: Chapter 16-19
April 17th: Chapter 20-22 + Epilogue


PARTICIPANTS
~ Juliane
~ Leslie

Hi how are you doing?

I'm up to chapter 2 and so far I'm enjoying the narrative voice of Athena as well as the glimpse we got into Matthews POV.

The dynamic between Johnny and Matthew is interesting, since due to their history Matthew seems more like a father than a brother although I despise his hypocrisy towards Athena considering that Johnny seems not all that grown up himself. Also the whole point of "she hasn't held a job for longer than 3 years" seems like a weird and rather old-fashioned point of criticism in this economic day and age, no matter the reasons Athena might have had which I am curious to find out about.

Whats up with the whole "Professor Google"-thing like is that a thing now or is it just a quirk of Athena?

I kinda like the Professor Google thing - I think it’s a bit of a commentary on how we now look up everything under the sun with Google and/or Wikipedia.
As for the job thing, I can understand Matthew’s concern to a certain extent as someone whose spouse has had 12+ jobs in 22 years (with quite a few years of unemployment between some of them).
This story in the middle-ish section hits right home for me. I will explain when we get to that point in the schedule.

I really like that Matthew notes everything down to look up later, he really has no sense for current online-culture at all it seems. I myself just figured I had missed some new meme with the Professor Google thing lol. I admire Athena for keeping her curiosity to look up so many different things and actually remembering so many little facts of various topics.

Having finished chapter 8 I think its interesting how obvious it has become that Athena and Johnny would not have worked out at all, their communication clearly didn't work beyond the inital falling in love considering how many things they did not tell each other before their inital wedding date.

I don't have any siblings but it seems to me that the kind of relationship Matt and Johnny have is not uncommon especially with their age difference and all the responsibility Matthew had to assume at far too early an age. Johnny really needs to grow up and take on some liability for himself preferably without Matthew hovering around him and trying to keep all the problems away from Johnny.

My heart hurts for the way Athena tends to put herself down in viewing her life, her choices regarding her jobs and her move to Harlots Bay.

Also I have no intention of reading books with monster romance but in the context of this story they are hilarious, especially the idea that the whole street comes together at their open windows to listen made me laugh out loud.

Yes! I love Karl and his monster erotica. It reminded me about 8 or 9 years ago my next “door” cubicle mate used to listen to 50 Shades of Gray. Repeatedly. She put her headphones on (like Bez said Karl used to do) and then she was oblivious to the world. I’m not a fan of the monster erotica from what little I’ve tried (what? I’m curious), but this stuff Dade describes is hysterical.
I keep hoping that we will find out someone in Harlots Bay is the author behind them….

Funny you mention that cause the way Karl and the monster erotica was introduced I also felt that the author might be someone we have already met.
Also I think I will count this book as my foray into Monster romance after all the book club was detailed and candid enough for that😂

I love the emotional support chicken and the Halloween display in the used book store sounds fantastic. The way the community comes together, even though Athena hasn't been there all that long, is lovely, also I'm at the point where Ivana tries to talk some sense into Matthew and I feel it is about time he starts taking some care for of himself and not only sacrifice his own well being for other people, mostly for Johnny.

Of course now his choices are much more understandable, his story about Adrian was heartbreaking, I can't even begin to imagine how heavy of an impact something like this must have considering how young Matthew himself was.

The pace of the development of the relationship between Athena and Matthew works really well for me especially taking into account her depression and the way he cares for her.

May I ask which part of the middle it was that hit home for you? (if you want to talk about it)
Don't worry about spoilers, I'm on chapter 20 (and still going today) and will finish by tomorrow at the latest.

Love the emotional support chicken too. Almost made me want to get one myself, haha.
I agree that that is an amazing close community. I look forward to further Harlot’s Bay books.
As for the part that hit home, it was the depression as was described here. It was almost exactly how I struggled with my depression. It took my husband (who has congenital depression) saying something to realize something was wrong with the way I was feeling and that I needed help. The only thing that was a bit different was my actual help (I was first diagnosed incorrectly with bipolar disorder by an inexperienced psychiatrist).

Really enjoyed this story and will also read further books set in Harlots Bay, I would love to see more parts of the city. I just read the next book will be about Karl, that should be so much fun.

It's good to know that the book points towards a realistic description of how someone can struggle with depression and thank you for sharing. To be at first misdiagnosed must bring another level of pain and dismay during a difficult time so I hope you are doing okay and I'm glad that the correct diagnosis was found.

I saw that too about the next book. And it sounds like there might be a reveal of the monster erotica narrator (perhaps also the author?). I’m very excited about that. I’m going to guess from Karl’s demeanor it will be a grumpy vs. sunshine trope.
I’m glad people are putting things like coping with depression in books such as these and with compassion. There is still a certain degree of stigma attached to depression and related mental illnesses, though getting less so. The more people see it in books, the less it will be stigmatized and the more understanding will occur. It sounded like from the dedication and the acknowledgments that Dade has firsthand experience (seemed fairly recent) with depression. Like her I was glad to have a supportive spouse to help me.