Middle Grade Madness! discussion

I'M SO EXCITED TO READ THIIIIS!!
I haven't read the series for a while (WOAH! I read the first 3 books back in 2018!) so I'm glad this book is basically a prequel and not a sequel seeing as it doesn't continue anything from the storyline of the previous books involving (view spoiler)[ that guy who manages to hypnotise Connor and controls so many different things throughout the first 3 books (hide spoiler)]

I'm so ready for some edge of my seat action!

I went ahead and read the first half (Book 7) so I could turn it in at the library, so I'm ready for the second half (Book 8). No hurry though since I own it, but I really do want to see what happens next. Book 7 ended in kind of a cliffhanger.

@Lynn if you want we can move the date up to Monday 15th. Pretty sure Wundersmith won’t take me more than a week and I can just read Exile after Target instead of before like I was originally planning to do. In fact that would actually be better because Wundersmith and Exile are both fantasy and similar so it’ll be too much one after another. What do you think of that plan?

Sounds good to me. I'm anxious to find out what happens. It's about the assignment that put Charlie in the wheelchair. You know that going in, so the Chris Bradford was smart enough to put all these events in the story that might have led to her ending up in a wheelchair.

@Lynn yeah I remember book 3 ends with Connor asking to hear the story about how Charlie is put in the wheelchair and she’s finally ready to tell it so that leads onto this prequel book.

I’m really intrigued how it could be that she’d fail so much to not be able to protect herself. After all the things you see Connor do that’s basically impossible and the amount of times you’re sure he’s going to get permanently injured or worse die and then he doesn’t it’s just hard to imagine that Charlie, someone of the same calibre and skills could get so badly hurt. I can’t wait to get stuck into this one soon! Sorry you have to wait for me! If you want you can go ahead and read it and we can just discuss it when I start!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn yeah I remember book 3 ends with Connor asking to hear the story about how Charlie is put in the wheelchair and she’s finally ready to tell it so that leads onto this prequel book.

I’m reall..."

I can wait. There are plenty of other books I can read in the meantime.

So I’ve gone ahead and started this a few days early because I’m more excited for it than finishing the other book I’m halfway through. And woah that opening! The way (view spoiler)[ her friend Kerry got kidnapped. AND THEY NEVER FOUND HER!! So terrible. I hope it comes up later in the book that they do find her or something. (hide spoiler)]

I’ve been really really ill today so this book has helped keep me grounded whilst I’m fighting through it. Nothing like a good book to distract you from being sick😂👏🏻

I'm sorry to hear that you are sick - hope it's not COVID. I just lost my mother-in-law to it.

Everything I've read makes me like Charlie more and more. She is definitely an interesting character.

Also, books 5 and 6 just came in the mail. I'm excited to read those too.

@Lynn I’m much better now, thanks! Nah, it wasn’t COVID, I have an iron deficiency issue or something and this happens every month pretty much. Well, I’m not sure of the exact issue, I wanted to get a blood test done to find out but because all of the hospitals are busy with COVID I can’t. So sorry to hear about your mother in law😞 I hope you and your family are doing ok.

I too am loving Charley more and more with every chapter! I like how she starts off very uncertain and is intimidated by the other boys because that’s realistic. Normally I hate gratuitous girl power vibes because it feels so fake and forced but I totally loved it here because Charley really starts to come into her own and realise that women have their own positives that men don’t have and she’s not inferior to them despite how much they may intimidate her. I’m a 1/4 through the book now and I can’t wait for the actual mission to start.

It’s funny how they’re all training specifically for this mission with Ash Wild in mind because when Connor was training he trained just in general and for all kinds of missions. I guess this is different because it’s the very first recruits and the first mission.

Also you have book 5 and 6 ready now too😱 it’s going to be so fun for you to continue the original storyline after finishing this prequel!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn I’m much better now, thanks! Nah, it wasn’t COVID, I have an iron deficiency issue or something and this happens every month pretty much. Well, I’m not sure of the exact issue, I wanted to ge..."

We're doing okay, thanks. I'm glad you are feeling better.
I hadn't thought of how different Charlie's training is, but that's true. She did train for this specific mission. What do you think of Ash? He has lots of qualities of "rock star," but he also exhibits some different qualities.
Let me know when you get about halfway through the book, and I will start reading part 2.

@Lynn I’ve reached halfway!! What do I think of Ash hmmm... even though I’m halfway through the book it feels like I haven’t really seen a lot of him.
I get that he’s a great performer and like a born rock star but his actual personality underneath that all I’m not really sure about. He seems like a chill guy because he played that kissing prank on Charley showing that he can joke around even though honestly I thought that seemed like harassment in my view.
He also seems like a cringy wooer if that makes sense like how he tried to use his smoulder on Charley when they first met and how he had those 2 girls at the party and he kissed them both on the cheek. He’s super flirty and he knows he looks good so he uses that.
He loves the attention he gets but he’s also quite nice towards his fans. Like he doesn’t find it creepy that that fan basically changed almost everything about himself to become Ash’s doppelgänger which is honestly really creepy. And it was really nice of him to let his fan Jennie tour with them. I don’t know if celebrity musicians actually do that in real life but it’s pretty cool!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn I’ve reached halfway!! What do I think of Ash hmmm... even though I’m halfway through the book it feels like I haven’t really seen a lot of him.
I get that he’s a great performer and like a ..."

I still don't know about Ash. Sometimes I think he is just trying to be on his best behavior for Charlie and his fans, but that isn't really who he is deep down. I will start reading the second part now.

EEEEkkk. You're done. Now I need to catch up.

@Lynn sorryyyy!! After reaching the halfway point 2 nights ago I just spent all day yesterday reading instead of doing work because I was that into the plot and really wanted to solve the mystery of who wanted to kill Ash and how Charlie becomes wheelchair-bound.

Ok so here's some thoughts about the ending, so don't read until you reach the end because major spoilers: (view spoiler)[ I actually wasn't surprised to see that Big T was the one writing the something on the mirror but didn't Brandon disguised as Geoff repeat the words on the mirror to Charley and that's how she knew he was the killer? So who wrote the earlier message on the mirror? Brandon or Big T?

The reason I wasn't surprised that Big T turned bad is because whilst all these books are edge of your seat crazy shocking action, they seem to be quite formulaic in the sense that they always end with a surprise twist of an extra bad guy that the bodyguard didn't expect. Like that's happened in every book. So once I reached 90% and both bad guys had been captured and Charley still wasn't in a wheelchair, I knew there was one more twist that would leave her paralysed.

I think it's really sad and kinda dumb that after all that she lost her legs the way she did. She shouldn't have kept zapping Big T if she knew he was holding her and that he was close to the edge of the balcony. I thought she was going to lose her legs because of trying to save Ash and the fact that she didn't is even sadder and kinda pointless.

I really wanted it to end with a flash forward to her sitting and telling her story to Connor just so we could see them be like "and that's my story".

Also what happened to Blake? He was never seen or heard from again after breaking up with Charley and he's not in book 1-3 so... did he just disappear? Leave? When Jason tells Charley that she deserves better than Blake and he said it so nicely I kinda thought that something bad had happened to Blake had been hurt or died or something which was why he was being so nice and telling her to forget him but it's never mentioned so I guess we'll never know! (hide spoiler)]

I'm excited to read the next book! But I think I might wait a while. I have so many many books I said I'd read and I keep adding more onto my planned reading list so I'm going to leave book 5 for like May or June when exams are over so I can fully be free and enjoy it!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn sorryyyy!! After reaching the halfway point 2 nights ago I just spent all day yesterday reading instead of doing work because I was that into the plot and really wanted to solve the mystery o..."

Hey, I was just kidding.

I agree with you on the way Charlie ended up in the wheelchair. It was almost anticlimactic and seemed like a cheat. This was supposed to be a major retelling and it basically ended up as a footnote in the story she told. Also, she was telling this story to Cooper, so the ending you described would have been much better way to close the story. I also didn't like that Big T was the reason she ended up in the wheelchair. I feel cheated when an author throws something like that in without a little more foreshadowing.

I'm not reading the next two yet either. I'm behind in a year-long series group read, and I have several library books out that I need to read so that I can turn them in. The rest of the Bodyguard Series will have to wait for me also, but I'm looking forward to finding out what happens after Charlie tells her story. I'd like to see a plot in which there is an assignment that requires the bodyguard to be in a wheelchair, but I haven't yet read the synopsis on either book 5 or 6, so I don't know if that happens.

@Lynn aah it's hard to judge over text, but even if you weren't joking it'd be ok too. You did say you were waiting for me to reach halfway and then I just went ahead and finished it😂🤦🏻‍♀️ It was such a compelling read and I couldn't put it down all day! It wasn't my fave of the series, that would probably be book 2. I LOVED THAT ONE! But still this was a good read, I expected it to be and it was.

I feel exactly the same as you. It was pretty much cheating! Making her lose her legs like that. I thought the bomb was going to off and she was going to be hit by an explosion. That would've been much better. Well, obviously not better. But you get what I mean, it would've felt like saving Ash from a bomb explosion would have made the whole thing worth losing her legs over.

Also, after finishing the book I couldn't help but think about your question of what I thought of Ash. In the end... he wasn't a bad guy. He was alright. He was quite nice and he wasn't full of himself like he could've been with all the fame that he had. But he did really steal part of that guy's song. That's the thing that gets me. Like did he deserve to die over that? No. But he did do that guy Brandon wrong. And it seems in the end that he only kept visiting Charley and wanting to be around her in hospital because he felt bad, which is fine, but also because he called her his muse. It's like he wanted to be around her so that he could keep up that facade of him being a great songwriter because really he stole her words to help him write his song for Charley. It's sad really. I don't want to judge him too harsh... but it's better for Charley that she told him to go and never spoke to him again.

Omg that's exactly what I was thinking that in the next book she was going to be needed as a bodyguard despite being in a wheelchair and that was another reason why this background prequel story of hers was being told. It will be disappointing if that doesn't end up being true. I read book 5's synopsis and it seems that book sees Connor and Jason teaming up, which is going to be so much fun seeing them constantly bicker and have to work together. I can't wait to find out more about the Mr Grey or White or whatever his name was. The one who hypnotised Connor at the end of book 3.

So if you're going to read book 5 or 6 a couple of months down the line then maybe later on we can plan to buddy read it if you like! It's been fun discussing the book with you. I feel like we would've had even more discussions if I hadn't read ahead of you without letting you know, sorry about that😔 Still, I feel like I enjoyed the book even more by discussing it with you than I would've if I was just reading it alone.