The Fault in Our Stars {By John Green}

 

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book."

—The Fault in Our Stars

I found this rad website where they pull "LOOKS FROM BOOKS" and I just had to share Hazels "outfit" inspired by the picnic with Augustus and dinner in Amsterdam!

See all of the outfits inspired by The Fault in Our Stars at College Fashion!

 

 

More EXCITING news,

I created an ETSY treasury just for this book!

I had so much fun putting it together, I just might make it a tradition with each book we read.

Check it out HERE

 

CHECK OUT THIS SCRUMPTIOUS SPREAD!!



 

 

 Want the recipe for yourself?

Your in luck, click on the foods listed below to add to your recipe collection!

 

Risotto:

(original recipe from All Recipes)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/gourmet-mushroom-risotto/

Side note: I used half portabella mushrooms and half shitake mushrooms and I also added  green peas at the end for a bit of color.The user comments say to cut the mushroom amount in half I did that. Omit the dry wine, I didn't want it to have a fermented after taste.
Celestial salad:

(original recipe from Your Home Based Mom) 

http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/celestial-salad/

Strawberry salad:

(original recipe from Your Home Based Mom) 

 http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/spinach-strawberry-salad-with-poppy-seed-dressing-and-sugared-nuts

Gnocchi:

(Original recipe from Olive Garden)

http://www.olivegarden.com/Recipes/Main-Dishes/Chicken-Gnocchi-Veronese/

Side note: I brought this gnocchi. I didn't do the chicken portion, just the gnocchi and Veronese sauce.

Asparagus:

(original recipe from Martha Stewart)

http://www.marthastewart.com/892683/roasted-asparagus-lemony-breadcrumbs

Cremeux:

(Original recipe from Chef Daddy )

http://www.chefeddy.com/2009/08/chocolate-pudding/  

A big Hello to our two visitors sitting on the far left, Rachel and Laura!
Thanks for supporting Brittanie, we loved having you!

Lisa was the big quiz winner and won a gift certificate to "Oranjee!"
THAT would have been awesome right? The certificate was actually for ORANGE LEAF but I thought it was a genius alternative to the real restaurant. ;)



See the QUIZ and BOOK PRESENTATION  HERE!

 

 

*INTERVIEW W/ JOHN GREEN TAKEN FROM THE ATLANTIC

By: Rebecca J. Rosen on Feb. 25, 2013

 

"This is a book that breaks your heart -- not be wearing it down, but by making it bigger and bigger until it bursts."

 

Q: I read The Fault in Our Stars right when it came out and it has really stuck with me. It's just an incredibly challenging topic to write about, and I thought it was done very intelligently and empathetically. But I'm curious why you wanted to even try to write a book about young people who have cancer, and how that idea got lodged in your head.

 

A: Well many years ago I worked as a student chaplain at a children's hospital, and I think it got lodged in my head then. The kids I met were funny and bright and angry and dark and just as human as anybody else. And I really wanted to try to capture that, I guess, and I felt that the stories that I was reading sort of oversimplified and sometimes even dehumanized them. And I think generally we have a habit of imagining the very sick or the dying as being kind of fundamentally other. I guess I wanted to argue for their humanity, their complete humanity.
So that was the initial inspiration.
That took 12 years. I was very intimidated by it.

Q: I am wondering whether, since the book came out, you've gotten any reactions from young people who are sick with a terminal illness. Have they read the book? What have you heard from them?

A: Yeah. They've been very generous. That was something that really scared me -- was thinking about what sick kids in particular would think about the book, and whether they would feel like it was just another, for lack of a better term, bullshit cancer book. And they've been really generous. You know, I tried really hard to listen to as many voices as I could as closely as possible during the many years that I was working on this book, and to pay attention and not to bring my own expectations too much into the story.
A lot of them have felt like there were things that I got right that were important to them, and that means a lot to me. That's in some ways the most rewarding part of having written the book is being able to meet a lot of young people who are struggling with this and knowing that their life expectancy is different from what we in our contemporary culture associate a rich or full or good life.
The truth is, or at least the argument of the book is, I think, that a short life can also be a good life.
I was crying when I wrote it too.

Q: You said that TFIOS was once a very different book. What was it like? Was it always about two kids with cancer?

 A: It was about like a dozen kids with cancer who created a club called the Dead Person’s Society in a cave (ridiculous) near the children’s hospital (doubly ridiculous) and they’d sneak out of the hospital together and visit the cave and convene the DPS (triply ridiculous).
It was basically a very flimsy, high-concept way of allowing me to think through my own thoughts and angers about death and suffering and so on. It was not good.

Q: You have in both Gus and Hazel characters who come off as kind of "wise beyond their years," I guess would be the cliche. Do you think that is a response to the experiences that they've had, or do you think we just tend to underestimate young people in general?

A: I will say that the people who say that Gus and Hazel come off as wise beyond their years are invariably adults. I've literally never heard that from a teenager -- not just about these kids but about any kids in my books. Yeah, my interest as a writer is not in reflecting actual human speech, which, of course, does not occur in sentences and is totally undiagrammable. That's not my interest. My interest is in trying to reflect the reality of experience -- how we feel when we talk to each other, how we feel when we're engaging with questions that interest us.

 So, yeah, certainly, teenagers don't sound that way when they talk to us. Like, they don't sound that way *to us*. But they do sound that way to themselves. And that's what interests me. I'm trying to capture that, because I'm not really interested in capturing how they actually sound, because that's not their experience.
The reality of experience is ultimately a lot more interesting to me than what I think is sort of wrongly called "objective reality." Because I don't actually think objective reality is a thing -- certainly not a very interesting thing for fiction, I don't think.

Q: I saw that there is a movie version in the works. I'd like to know your thoughts on it, whether you've been involved in any of the early stages ...

A: Yeah, I'm involved. They've shared every draft of the script with me -- the script is amazing, so I don't have a ton to say about it. I mean, I have a ton to say about it, but ... They've certainly listened to everything that I've said really closely. I feel like I've gotten to know the screenwriters quite well. And I'm really, really, really a huge fan of the director ... I think he's brilliant. I think he understands the book in a really profound way. I think he's really committed to the stories, and that's a special and rare thing out there in Hollywood.

Q: And I was wondering, beyond family expansion, whether you have any up-and-coming projects you're working on right now that you think Fault in Our Stars fans would like to hear about.

A: I'm sure you'd like to hear about me writing another book, but I'm not writing one. I'm working a lot on YouTube stuff. We have an educational program called Crash Course that my brother and I have both really thrown ourselves into in the last year, and that we're really passionate about. That's taking up a lot of my time. I'm just starting to write -- I've been saying that for six months but it's true now -- so hopefully I'll finish something in the next few years.

 

The next few questions were taken from John Greens Q&A about TFIOS

 

Q. Deep down, do you have a sense of when Hazel dies? (Since the book ends abruptly)

 Do you picture her inevitably dying young or living to be older?

 A: No.

It’s not my book. It’s your book. I don’t make decisions about things that happen outside the text of the book; I can’t read something that isn’t there any more than you can.
Anyway, there is no definitive way to end it or any other book. No story is ever over, because every human life ripples into every other one, and there is no way to end a story definitively and the search for a definitive end is (imho) the wrong search.

 

Q. How do I convince someone to read TFIOS of they are convinced that it will be too sad?

A: Yeah, this is going to be a big problem for the life of the book, particularly because what people say about the book is, “I cried so much.” Well, a lot of potential readers hear that and think, “Huh, well I don’t like crying, so I think I’ll pass on this one.” Of course, it’s all about the KIND of crying one is doing, and whether one is grateful to have had the experience of reading the book. (I mean, I guess TFiOS is sad, but I hope that it is also funny and joyful etc.)
I would tell them that if they don’t enjoy reading the book they can punch you hard once in the stomach.

Q. How do I explain to someone that this is more than just a book about cancer?

 A: It seems like this will be the biggest obstacle the book faces in terms of reaching new readers. A lot of people (myself included) don’t like to read sad books that will make them cry. They figure, not wrongly, that there is plenty of sadness and crying in real life.
This is why I advocate the “If you don’t like this book, you can punch me in the stomach” tactic for sharing The Fault in Our Stars with your friends.



DOWNLOAD BOOKMARKS SET 1

DOWNLOAD BOOKMARKS SET 2

 

BOOKMARK EXAMPLE

 

DOWNLOAD AIRLINE TICKETS HERE

 

 

*DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A LITTLE LOVE IN THE COMMENT SECTION*

 

READ OUR FULL REVIEW OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS!

Our Review: The Fault in Our Stars

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

-from Fault in our Stars-

TITLE OF THE BOOK: The Fault in Our Stars
AUTHOR: John Green
NUMBER OF PAGES: 336
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2012
READING LEVEL: Young Adult (Ages 14 +)
GENRE: Realistic Fiction



SUMMARY:  At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives.

Delicious Reads Star Rating: 4.25 out of 5

OUR GROUP REVIEW: Brittanie presented us with a fabulous PowerPoint presentation (see it here) including a 10 question quiz, review of the main characters (Hazel and Augustus), photos of Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House, and great discussion questions. After eating our fabulous meal, we got down to business.

Overall, the group loved the book, some even giving it a 5 star rating. We were glad to hear that it will be soon made into a movie (2014).We thought it was interesting that the author John Green worked as a chaplain at a children's hospital. John's experiences with patients and their families during intense crises solidified his desire to write for teens about the challenge of confronting loss.  

Here are the questions we discussed and our group's answers:

1. Augustus inquires about Hazel's background and tells her, "Don't tell me you're one of those people who becomes their disease." In what ways do Augustus, Hazel and Isaac fight to keep cancer from defining who they are? How do they work to prevent it from consuming all aspects of them?


They used sarcasm as a means to cope.
They were veterans of disease - didn't want it to be who they were.
Sense of humor: They joked about things being a "side effect" of …
Brittany talked about her mother-in-law's battle with cancer


2. Why does Hazel feel so desperate to find out what happens beyond the ending of An Imperial Affliction? What does this indicate about her need for understanding about what comes "after"?
Hazel needed to know what would happen to her family (worried about her mom "I'm not going to be a mom anymore")
She projects the book on her own life.


3. John Green derives his book's title from a famous line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."  What does the line mean, and why would Green have used it for his title? Even more important, why would he have altered it to read, "The fault in our stars" rather than ourselves? How does Green's meaning differ from Shakespeare's?

We didn't choose to have cancer (some do). No one is immune, we can't blame, we just have to accept it .

4. What do you think about Peter Van Houten, the fictional author of An Imperial Affliction? John Green, has said that Van Houten is a "horrible, horrible person but I have an affection for him." Why might Green have said that? What do you think of Van Houten?


He was like a cartoon character, not real person.
He was kind of a weirdo.
You felt pity once you found out about his daughter.
He was the opposite of hazel/Augustus.
Touched on the topic of parents splitting up when children die.


5. What do you think of Hazel's idea of being a "grenade"? Do you think it's better of her to not involve herself more so to incur less casualties?


It's crazy to think that they are all just kids and have to face this. We liked this metaphor, but felt bad for Hazel.
Even though they are so young, Gus stuck by Caroline (his past girlfriend) through her bad attitude and behavioral changes the tumor caused her.
Some people can't face grenades - We all loved the egging of Isaac's girlfriends car.
(Side question: What about Augustus/Hazel making love in Amsterdam?
Everyone loved it – especially Hazel's note with the circles.)

6. What did you make of the book's humor? Is it appropriate...or inappropriate? Green has said he "didn't want to use humor to lighten the mood" or "to pull out the easy joke" when things got hard. But, he said, he likes to write about "clever kids, [and they] tend to be funny even when things are rough." Is his use of humor successful? How did it affect the way you read the book?

I was our favorite part of book – refreshing. Humor can be a good way to handle it. We all got a kick out of the “literal heart of Jesus” therapy group - joking about Ball-less Patrick.


7. Why does Augustus write Hazel a eulogy before he dies? Why doesn't he present her with the ending of An Imperial Affliction instead?


We write the end of our own story. He wanted her live her life in the now (not be worried about mom or dad).
We enjoyed the quote: “The marks humans leave are too often scars.”

8. Does Peter Van Houten actually care about Hazel and Augustus? Why do you think he feels the need to go to Gus's funeral at the end?


He may be beyond feeling (he lost his daughter, gave up on life, used drinking to cope). He felt guilty. Even though we didn't like him, we were glad he came to funeral just to get closure. We were also happy Hazel didn't need the end of the story from him.


9. What does Hazel learn from her relationship with Augustus? Is it a deeper relationship than most teenage first loves, or does it just feel that way because they have such limited time?


She learn its ok to be a grenade (“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”)

It was deeper than just a teenage crush.
A “side effect of cancer” is growing up earlier.


Another loved quote:
“I'm in love with you," he said quietly.
"Augustus," I said.
"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

10. Talk about how you experienced this book? Is it too sad, too tragic to contemplate? Or did you find it in some way uplifting?


It helped me appreciate everyday. It was uplifting. We all will/have experienced cancer, death. The book helped take away the awkwardness of cancer. It was just a part of their life. We all want to live, love, feel normal.


Some of our favorite quotes:


“Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.”
 
“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
 
“Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.
"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.”
 
“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful. 

CONTENT:

LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: Heavy (30+ swear words, sh**, f***, etc.)
SEXUALITY: Moderate/Heavy (Not necessarily explicit, but one sex scene, lots of talk of losing virginity and joking about getting laid)

DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: Moderate (Augustus always has cigarette in mouth, though he never actually smokes it, underage drinking)

INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: Heavy (Not freaky scary, just intense issues with cancer and dying) 

VIOLENCE: Mild

 

THE DIVINERS {by Libba Bray}

MARCH 2013 BOOK CLUB 

We kept the decor simple with a few classic 1920's touches.

(Which involved LOTS of pearls and feathers)

Whenever we read a book that's set in a different era, we tend to use it as an excuse to play dress up.  ;)

We set up a photo booth in my front room where everyone could pile on the fur coats, feather boas, pearls and other props for a memorable 1920's portrait!

 Here's an example of Beth and I dancing the Charleston! 

To see all of our FABULOUS 1920's photos, check out the earlier post HERE

The evenings menu was themed after many popular 1920's food and drinks.

Refreshing virgin mint juleps
and of course,a tub full of"giggle water"

YUMMMMMM......
The mini pineapple upside-down cakes were UH-MAZING!
If you'd like to impress your friends and make your tummy happy, make your own mini cakes! You can grab the recipe from BIG MAMA'S HOME KITCHEN 
(the link will take you directly to the recipe)

IT ALL STARTED WITH A HARMLESS OUIJA BOARD...

The wilted girls spring up from their club chairs. “What’ve you got there? Is that a wee- gee board?” one of them asks.“Isn’t it darling? Mother bought it for me. It’s supposed to be haunted,” the hostess says and laughs. “Well, I don’t believe that, naturally.” The hostess places the heart- shaped planchette in the middle of the board. “Let’s conjure up some fun, shall we? 

“What is your name, o great spirit?” the hostess insists.The planchette moves quickly.N-A-U-G-H-T-Y-J-O-H-N“Why are you here, old sport?” George asks the board.The planchette moves so quickly they can barely keep up.I-H-O-L-D-T-H-E-K-E-Y-S-O-F-H-E-L-L-A-N-D-D-E-A-T-H. W-R-A-T-H-I-S-C-O-M-E-A-R-M-A-G-E-D-D-O-N-B-A-B-Y-LO-N-W-H-O-R-E.“Stop it this instant!” the hostess shouts."...Make it stop, make it stop!” one girl screeches, and even the jaded boys pale and move back.“Stop, spirit! I said stop!” the hostess shouts.

"Deep in the cellar of the dilapidated house, a furnace comes to life with a death rattle like the last bitter cough of a dying man laughing contemptuously at his fate. A faint glow emanates from that dark, foul- smelling earthen tomb. Yes, something moves again in the shadows. A harbinger of much greater evil to come. Naughty John has come home. And he has work to do." 

Wait... is that Naughty John hiding in the shadows?! CREEEEEPPPYYYY!

We all agreed that to date, this was one of the creepiest books we've read in our book club! 

That fact that we read this spooky book in February (the month of LOVE) instead of October only made matters worse. If we had picked The Diviners as our October "spooky book," maybe we could have mentally prepared ourselves better for the late night readings and nightmares that always followed! 

BUT...

I'll admit, I kind of love reading a book that made me look over my shoulder at the turn of every page...

...does that mean I have a secret dark side??

our moderator Kellie. started off the evening with a spunky quiz full of 1920's slang that we had to guess the meanings of! 

The oh so fabulously dressed Bethany won the prize!

Download the free quiz & answer key HERE!

Inside the grand prize was:

-A beautifully folded book page to display

-A CD full of jazzy tunes

-A rare white gnome taken from the museum of the creepy crawlies! ;)

Q: The Diviners is nothing short of spectacular. Could you tell us a little about how the idea was born?

Libba: The boring truth is that the idea for this came to me, as is usually the case at my house, over a longer stretch of time—no thunderclap moment. I have long been a fan of all things supernatural and horror. And I am particularly a fan of TV shows like “X-Files,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dr. Who,” and “Firefly” in which there are spooky episodes atop longer, more political/existential story arcs. I really wanted to play in that sandbox. And so, about four years ago or so, I started thinking about all of the things I enjoy reading/watching and thought, well, hell’s bells, why not have fun and try my hand at that myself.  I am being incredibly selfish by making a big Cobb Salad of all of the things which interest me: history, politics, serial killers, New York City, religious/ethical quandaries, the American mythos, identity, class and race politics, the XL Creepy, literature, music, dancing, witty banter, and people wearing outrageous clothes, possibly adorned with feathers. But with ritual murder and ghosts and cornfields. You know, like you do.

So, #1 is that I’m selfish. #2 is that, apparently, there is a lot that interests me, most of it creepy. #3 is that I have always been fascinated by the 1920s—I started reading Dorothy Parker at an impressionable age and The Great Gatsby also made quite the impression on me as a teenager.

Q: How do you want to be remembered in 250 years time when bright, young, robotic-minds wander a museum of ancient 21st century books and stumble across one bearing your name?

Libba: As that author who was part of an international scandal involving Ryan Gosling, street mimes, and a drag queen musical featuring the songs of Burt Bacharach. 

{*I don't know if I could love Libba any more after reading this answer lol!!}

 Q: Can you give us any hints on what to expect from book two? I, for one, am dying to find out more about the Man in the Stovepipe Hat (who what is he?!) – can we expect answers?

Libba:   You can expect more pages. Probably odd punctuation. And “Diviners 2” somewhere on the title page.  I kid. I can tell you that there is a character, a Diviner, who makes a brief appearance in the first DIVINERS, and she takes a much more central role in the second book as does Henry. We learn a bit more about Project Buffalo and The Man in the Stovepipe Hat, or Mr. Fun Times, as I call him. Of course, this could all change and I could end up giving you an armadillo musical in the middle of the book. It could happen.

Below are a few of the questions we answered in our discussion.

To read our responses to all of the discussion questions check out our book review.

 FULL REVIEW HERE.

Kellie put together these adorable take home tins for each of us.

There were some fun and mysterious treasures hidden inside!

Thank you Libba for writing such a spunky, creepy, mysterious, fun, horrifying, jazzy book that will haunt me forever! 

Seriously, I can't get naughty Johns eerie song out of my head!!!

I've said it many times before but I'm saying it again, I LOVE our book club!

FREE DIVINERS PRINTABLE HERE

READ OUR BOOK REVIEW HERE

The Diviners, Book Review

TITLE OF THE BOOK: The Diviners

AUTHOR: Libba Bray

NUMBER OF PAGES: 592

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2012

READING LEVEL: Young Adult

GENRE: Historical Fiction

SUMMARY: Seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill is sent to live with her bachelor uncle in New York, after her secret gift of reading information from objects gets her in trouble in Ohio. She helps her uncle in running his Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult – also known around town as the Museum of the Creepy Crawlies, and enjoys the city party-scene. When a series of grisly, occult-themed murders begins occurring around the city, Evie’s uncle is consulted to help the police figure out what is going on, and Evie begs to be allowed to come along and help, too. Set in the “roaring twenties”, the story gives a glimpse into the time period, including flappers, funny slang, speakeasies, great music, and booze.

Star Rating: 3.2 Stars

OUR GROUP REVIEW: Kellie Hall did a great job on the book presentation and moderating the discussion. She showed us the website for the series, http://thedivinersseries.com, which has many fun features including a trailer, descriptions of all the characters, information about the author, videos, and “diviners radio” – the music playlist Libba listened to while writing the book. We watched an episode of “Supernatural Travels with Libba Bray”, which was a video she made where she shows places in New York that inspired certain locations in the book. A few of the book club members had met Libba Bray, and said she was a hoot. 

The Things we Discussed:

1. Was this book scary to you? We decided this was the creepiest book club book so far, and would have been perfect for an October pick if we had known! Many people said they couldn't read this one at night before bed. The creepiness/scariness of the book was an interesting juxtaposition to Evie's bubbly personality.

2. Who was your favorite character? Most people replied Theta and Henry right away - they liked their personalities, and their friendship. Sam and Evie were also fun characters.

3. Did you like the multiple narratives? Yes, it was fun to get the multiple back stories, and learn different characters' secrets, which wouldn't have worked as well with a single-view narrative. These tangents broke up the action a little bit, and made the flow seem "haulty" to some.

4. Who do you think Evie will end up with? Most people thought Sam, but that she will be with Jericho for a while because she feels bad for him, and that he is a ticking time bomb and may malfunction at any time.

5. Do you think it was too satanic? Most said no.

6. Did you like how she incorporated Memphis and Isaiah into the story? It felt a little segregated, they had more of a separate story line, but it was tied in a little to the others at the very end. Many people said that they expected all of the Diviners to get together before the end of the book, but they didn't. This is probably something that will take place in future books in the series.

7. "The Second Great Awakening" which happened from 1800-1830, in which there was a fever of spiritualism. The LDS Church, and other churches that were formed in that time period were mentioned in the book. 

8. "Fitter Families for Future Firesides" -(Eugenics) were encountered when Evie was at the fair. Only 4% of all Americans fit into their category to be fit for leadership. In the book, were these people also looking for Diviners?

9. Many superstitions were featured in the book: Isaiah holding his breath while passing the cemetery, voodoo, tarot, ouija boards, etc.

10. What do you think James is trying to tell Evie in her dreams? Maybe something to do with "Project Buffalo", was he an automaton? John Hobbes tells Evie that there is something she doesn't know about her brother. Was he bluffing to taunt her, or did he know? She had seen John playing checkers with James in her dream/fever state. Do the diviner gifts run in families?

11. Will says love is equally as dangerous as hate. Do you believe that? We talked about people that stay around and haunt - that may push people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't do to help them. It is easier to justify doing something awful if it is to help someone you love. Those that love someone have a harder time letting go and moving on.

12. What do you think Project Buffalo is? Do you think Sam's mother is still alive? Will, Will's fiance, Sister Walker and Marlow the billionaire guy were in on a secret thing from the government. What does Will know that he is not sharing? Sam saw papers on Will's desk. We think that Sam's mother is still alive somewhere. 

13. Who is the gray man in the stovepipe hat? He appears in the dream-landscape. He seems like he is the guy in charge, and is always there. Naughty John's father killed himself years earlier, could it be him? When John is being sucked into the pendant, he tells Evie that she doesn't know what she has released. Evil is often started by people thinking they are doing the right thing, and it morphs over time. 

14. Blind Bill - How is he involved? Maybe he was part of Project Buffalo? What power did he used to have? Was he able to see the future? He was able to take energy/power from Isaiah.

15. When the old ladies talk about Evie - "What a terrible choice to have to make", what are they talking about? This doesn't seem clear right now, and will probably play into future books.

16. Dreams - people can go to the same "dreamscape". Do the diviners feel a "pull" toward one another?

CONTENT RATINGS:

LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: Mild/Moderate

SEXUALITY: Mild/Moderate – nothing explicit, issues of rape and abortion are touched on
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: Heavy (mostly alcohol and smoking)

INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: Heavy 

VIOLENCE: Heavy - This is a book about occult murders. Most of the violent acts take place "off screen", but the aftermath is described in detail.