u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Feb 6, 2011 10:02:14 GMT -5
I read this book for the first time yesterday. I liked this book, but I thought the painting was the super obvious choice, especially after the second clue about the signature. I was also on to the butler - I figured it was him following Dawn around.
I didn't pick up on John and Amy being siblings, though. Part of me was a little suspicious that the little brother was still around, but I wasn't sure.
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Post by zoar3 on Feb 9, 2011 21:05:23 GMT -5
I was also disappointed that the painting wasn't really "alive." I mean that the mean father didn't magically come back.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Feb 10, 2011 7:21:03 GMT -5
^ I was a little bit too. I thought maybe the butler/brother was looking through the eyes or something.
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Post by zoar3 on Feb 10, 2011 11:56:24 GMT -5
^Me too, like the painting at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I wanted the father to suddenly appear (as a live person).
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Post by booboobrewer on Mar 6, 2011 0:23:25 GMT -5
So a lot of people seem to like this one, but I still don't. I just don't find the writing very engaging. The Livingston sisters are boring..."no one loved Daddy more than me!" Okay, shut up. I don't think Jenny and her monkey were particularly cute, probably because I think "Monkey Matthew" is a really stupid name...all the food sounded awesome, though. I liked when Dawn and Mary Anne both gave each other pinky rings. The "doing dance steps and flinging soap suds at each other" in the kitchen was a BIT much, however. Mary Anne is weirdly possessive here, but it's Dawn bicoastal drama, so of course she is Does she think she and Dawn are in a relationship?
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Post by zoar3 on Mar 6, 2011 12:40:40 GMT -5
^I'm glad someone agrees about MA and Dawn. Later MA does act like she and Dawn are in a relationship, that Dawn is somehow not doing her part in. It's like when MA broke the coffee mug in Farewell, Dawn. I really do think it seemed as if once MA became Dawn possessive, MA latched onto her to dismissing everything and everyone else. Not quite but in terms of importance. I don't think MA even cared all that much about Dawn herself. How could she when most of her time and energy was fixated on either being passive aggressive to "make" Dawn stay in CT or making certain "we" knew that she (MA) chose Dawn for her friend.
Back to this, the Livingston sisters are boring. Honestly, so are the kids. Yet another case of 2 girls and 2 girls and one boy for siblings. In this case, maybe because the story is not engaging. it's hard to keep track of which sibling belongs to which family.
I do think this book was the only semi-ok Dawn mystery. (Except for the unofficial Ghost at Dawn's House).
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,258
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Post by oldhickory on Mar 6, 2011 17:38:07 GMT -5
this is really dumb, but i hate when grown women use the word "daddy."
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Post by booboobrewer on Mar 6, 2011 19:17:11 GMT -5
^haha, I am guilty of that -- I grew up in the south -- but I'm still fairly young. I picture these women as being in their 40s maybe. This is just weird...
Ugh, tone it down in front of your kids.
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Post by zoar3 on Mar 6, 2011 20:48:44 GMT -5
^That is weird and quite over the top. That would have been a great cue for the dad to make an appearance!
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Post by psychoseal on May 25, 2011 18:55:19 GMT -5
I always liked this one. I liked the way their father set up the clues, so that they would have to work together to get their inheritance. I always thought he felt guilty and was unsure how to get his family back together and this was the best solution he could come up with.
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 29, 2011 17:10:35 GMT -5
What really adds to the great "romance" between Mary Anne and Dawn is Dawn's (amazing it wasn't vice versa) gift to MA. MA's silver pinky ring was "a tiny opal set between two hearts." Page 130. This goes hand in hand with their convo at the Stoneybrook Pool on page 66. This is one of the few books where Dawn is constantly gushing to MA. Other than the above, I admit to really liking this book. It was indeed nice as someone else said to have a Stoneybrook mystery without the criminal or craziness. I also liked the idea of Richard and Dawn taking a pre-dinner bike ride--wish we had gotten to read about it though. Finally one, "point" for Dawn is when she acknowledges something I've always believed: "Kristy is the heart of the BSC." Page 140. Lastly a quick question, since when was Dawn or any BSC-er a friend of Mari Drabek's? (She came to Friends Day). Then again, this book implied Dawn was chummy with Emily and Erica, too, so maybe she like MA has a "secret life" that we don't know about.
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Post by wiggir13 on Jul 31, 2011 9:40:59 GMT -5
^Ha I agree Zoar! Now that they gave each other rings, now they are going steady. Talk about MA being melodramatic - Don't you care about me dawn - cry cry cry
I thought it was odd how they added that Dawn had all these SMS friends when we never saw that. I feel like all the bscers have a secret life that only gets mentioned in a chapter 2 or just here and there. Perhaps the books are just us seeing their life connected with the BSC while the have a whole other life too....eh nah probably not.
I did like this mystery but geez another family member in disguise as a butler. This is like in the super mystery with the caretakers - yawn. It would have been a much better scenario if Amy was in love with the butler and her dad knew it and put her out of the will if she married him or something.
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 31, 2011 12:00:14 GMT -5
^I know. Every other chapter went right back to Dawn trying to make MA feel better after a fight. I think they threw in all those "friends" for this book only since we never heard before or since of Dawn hanging out with them. Although, I'm thinking that maybe she does so in a FF and I know at least one of those girls was invited to her "Farewell" party.
Amy and John as lovers would have been so much better. They could have even been hiding the identity of the Livingston brother if they wanted. Maybe the brother was MUCH younger and/or a "secret" of sorts and they wanted to work out some money/security for him before letting the others know. Something, anything, other than "btw John=Patrick our brother."
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,258
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Post by oldhickory on Aug 1, 2011 13:44:49 GMT -5
until now i always thought it was lame that MA got so upset that dawn was too busy to hang out with her, but i'm starting to understand now that i'm in the same situation. my sister is home for the summer and she's hanging out with all of her friends, but i don't have as many close friends as she does so sometimes i get frustrated when she wants to spend time with them and not me. even though my sister and i aren't the best of friends, she's still my first choice when i want someone to hang out with, and it's weird when she's too busy for me. dawn clearly has more friends than MA and she hardly ever sees them so it makes perfect sense for her to want to hang out with them while she can, but seeing it from MA's point of view makes sense to me too.
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Post by zoar3 on Aug 1, 2011 16:12:33 GMT -5
^I think if we had seen Dawn's friends it would have made perfect sense. I do agree she was more likely to have outside friends than MA. Aw, I'm sorry you are going through that Oldhickory. I hope you and your sister are able to spend some fun time together.
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