My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion

Hey guys! Welcome to the Lucky Break discussion! Let's talk about this killer story. ;)

I'm sure you know by now, but I'm going to say it anyway! This discussion DOES allow spoilers, so only read on if you've finished this book. Unless you want to possibly have the book spoilt. Not sure why anyone would but...

Anyway, have fun!

Excited to read this one this month, it's one of my favourites.

Me too! Well, it's not one of my favourites but it is AMAZING and I am really excited to read it again!

In this book, there is a lot of references to the song 'I Wear my Sunglasses at Night' which is apparently Ivy's favourite song. I was wondering if it was a real song or not so I searched it and there is a song called 'Sunglasses at Night' by Corey Hart which was released in the 1980s. I doubt this is the song that is referred to in MSTV because:

1. The title is different.
2. Ivy would have to have pretty old taste to like the song. (Not that she couldn't but it's always implied that she has more modern taste like The Killer Bees)
3. That song is kind of dumb. (Seriously, search it on YouTube and you will see!)

So I guess Sienna Mercer must have made up 'I wear my sunglasses at night' and it just happens to have a similar title. Wish we could hear the one Ivy likes. ;)

Nice research! Don't like the Corey Hart song though. :)

I'm currently re-reading this book this month and here's a weird quote that I have noticed before but was wondering today if it's a mistake or not:

Ivy looked up to see an oddly familiar-looking woman, about her dad's age, with soft brown curls and blue eyes.

The quote refers to Aunt Rebecca, who is a human and therefore couldn't possibly be the same age as Ivy and Olivia's bio-dad, who, (being a vampire) is over a hundred years old. I found it kind of weird how this is how Rebecca's age is put across. I think it's probably a mistake. Thoughts?

@Sophie, message 5. I know right! Bit too repetitive for my taste.

I wouldn't say mistake. It just means the same age he looks not is. Which is 40? 50? Im not sure.

I guess so.

The Romezog and Julietron play idea in this book is probably one of my favourite storylines in the MSTV series so far. I've been studying a lot of Shakespeare lately and really enjoyed reading about some of my favourite fictional characters acting out one of the plays - and with an awesomely creative twist!

Another year, another MSTV re-read... as the old saying goes. Here's some things I noticed this time around that I thought we could discuss about this book:

Charles says near the beginning of this book that he thought it was important for the twins to not only connect with his family, but also their mother's relatives - hence his tracking down of Rebecca. I just thought this was so sweet and such a great thing for him to do for them. Plus it gives us all this new backstory on Susannah which is really awesome.

Here's a quote from pg 3:

My father would never willingly go back to the bunniest place in town - no offence Olivia." [Ivy said.]
Olivia didn't take any. All the vampires in Franklin Grove, like Ivy and Mr Vega, called non-vampires, like her, 'bunnies'.

I've noticed a couple of quotes like this in the series, where a character says they would never dream of doing something another character loves to do. It's usually vampires talking about bunny stuff that Olivia loves, but I think she's done it a couple of times with things like blood and coffins. It just makes me think about how difference is dealt with in this series. Take this example, where Ivy is open about not wanting to be like Olivia, but obviously they still love eachother and Olivia isn't offended. I can imagine myself being really insecure in Olivia's position but she's completely comfortable with herself, and to me, that makes her a total inspiration. Differing personalities and interests are what makes this series what it is, and the notion that difference is something to be scared of or avoided is not present at all. Charlotte Brown is the "mean girl", and she blindly follows what's "in" and is always changing her opinion to whatever she thinks will make her look best in a situation. Whereas Olivia and Ivy are loyal to themselves even if it doesn't please everyone. Plus, on top of that, they're really loyal to their friends, and that's never disrupted by the fact that one's a cheerleader, one's a goth, one's a sci-fi nerd, one's a photography geek etc, etc. It's just amazing!

Onto some stuff aout Romezog and Julietron now, since that's a big part of this book. I always laugh when Olivia says "Give me my Jackson." rather than "Give me my Romeo" when she's auditioning! I love what Camilla says here, too:

"Look, I am aware that Shakespeare in outer space isn't how it's usually done, but that is the best thing about his plays. They are universal, and his stories and characters are so rich they can be brought to life anywhere.

This is honestly exactly how I feel about Shakespeare (utter Shakespeare fangirl speaking in case you didn't know). The reason Shakespeare's works have endured so long is because there's so much room for interpretation - for different actors to bring these characters to life in their own ways, and even for readers to put their own spin on it. And that's exactly what Camilla is doing here, and I love her for that. Really wish I could see this play! Also, check out how mature she is being here. CAMILLA IS QUEEN.

I always thought that when Jackson seems happy being Mercutio, he was just being polite, but now that I have a better understanding of Romeo and Juliet (I studied it for my GCSEs), I think I'd react in the same way. He says "He's such a complex character" and that pretty much sums it up. In comparison, Romeo is naive, pretentious, changeable and sort of bland in my opinion. Mercutio is almost certainly the more interesting character, so I think Camilla was probably right in casting Jackson as him.

I wish we'd had more description of the theatre or hall they rehearsed and performed this play in. It was only during this, my bajillionth re-read, that I realised I've always just pictured my old primary school's assembly hall. Actually, now that I think about it, I do the same for the party in Twin Spins (MSTV#9) and the Homecoming dance in Puppy Love (MBTW#2). It's a shame not to have more description of it, but I suppose it makes sense in a book this short. Mercer can't describe everything, and most of us should be able to picture what a school play might look like. She seems to focus more on describing the characters and their outfits, I've noticed, and that's probably more useful because very few readers would be able to conjure up, say, Olivia's Julietron outfit in their minds without some kind of direction (I think it says something like "a cheerleading outfit spray-painted gold", which I think is really effective).

Moving on, the whole thing about Olivia and Ivy finding their mum's journal was lovely. I especially loved how Rebecca said she wouldn't read it, because Susannah wouldn't have wanted her to, but she'd be happy to explain anything to the twins if they were confused. I mean, how freaking beautiful is that?! I think most people would assume she would want to read the diary at once, but Sienna Mercer has got this really delicate appreciation of family relationships and what it's like to lose someone. Rebecca has her faults, but she 100% won me over as a caring person and an awesome aunt in this book.

There's a description on page 170 which I went back and read a couple of times when I passed it:

Olivia was leading the group of visitors, while Rebecca pointed out the features of the trail and helped anyone who needed encouragement. Olivia loved riding Honey and the crisp, sunny day was perfect for the tour along the river and through the pine trees.

I can picture this scene so clearly from just this short description. I absolutely love that the farm setting was brought into the series in this book. Franklin Grove is awesome, but it's nice having some variety and in particular some natural beauty for Sienna Mercer to show off her epic description skills with! This is just one of some really tranquil images portrayed in this story and I enjoyed that aspect of the book so much.

And finally, I think we're all agreed that characters are this author's superpower, and here are some thoughts I had on them through this book:
-when Ivy was showing Olivia's parents to their seats at the school play, it said, "The Abbotts always cheered her up," which I think is really cute. They always cheer me up too!
-there were mentions in this book of Brendan liking running and Jackson wearing an "eco warrior" t-shirt. I love these little snippets of information we get about the characters' personalities throughout the MSTV books. It really makes them feel like complex people to me, and it's nice to see glimpses of what they might get up to that's not covered directly in the books.
-I've always thought this is the book of Charles and Brendan. Charles says a couple of things about him which shows he cares about him, and Rebecca accuses Charles of jumping to defend Brendan too quickly at one point. It all shows you how similar they actually are, which just makes me geek out, and seeing that they get along further than Brendan just being Ivy's boyfriend is so heartwarming!

I love love loved reading all your thoughts Dais! Thanks for sharing, as always. That's really special thinking about the fact that Ivy and Olivia are so true to themselves and their friends. Such a fantastic series.

I laughed out loud reading the "give me my Jackson" part. Poor Olivia, haha. She dealt with it so professionally! It was touching that Rebecca didn't read Susannah's diary till the end when they all (Charles, Rebecca, Ivy and Olivia) read it together and reminisced about her. So sweet.

I noticed the eco-warrior t-shirt Jackson was wearing too. That's a nice touch for his personality and it was cool to learn some more about Brendan. Camilla is so awesome in this book, I loved the part where Amy said "I'll be keeping an eye on you, young lady. I'm always looking to make friends with talented people." Go Camilla!

Oh also, what did you think about Camilla adapting Romeo and Juliet so that they came back to life in the end? Is that a step too far or did you like it?

Aw, thanks. Glad you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!

Hmm, that's a good question about Camilla's adaptation. It's hard to judge because we only got the smallest glimpse of her version of the play. I feel like I don't really mind if Romeo and Juliet live as long as the message of their families being united stays. I'm not sure where that stands with Romeo turning out to be a jerk in this version though. Obviously you can't really do the story of the Montagues and Capulets learning to love eachother through the love of their kids if it's actually Juliet and a kinsman of the Prince that fall in love. And apart from the inconsistencies it creates for the story, personally I don't think Juliet and Mercutio would be together in a million years. Their personalities and tastes just don't mesh at all for me.

At the end of the day my stance is that any adaptation can work if it's done well. And I'm sure Camilla and the cast would've done it brilliantly. I can definitely get behind Juliet and Mercutio of it's Olivia and Jackson.