Hooked on Books discussion
The Narrative Nexus
>
The Connection Thread (Check-In)
Claire & Kirsten Check InLegacy (Claire): Het mysterieuze Kamogawa Café/Escape (Kirsten): Psycho
Characters in Claire's book are searching for their legacies, using their memories of foods and tastes to trigger those connections. Blackwell is trying to escape his past. Ironically, his success as a profiler is based in his ability to read past memories when he touches a person or object. Memory links the two books both in what the people are trying to find and escape, and because of the specific senses (smell, taste, touch) that trigger those memories.
👥Post your names (partner pair)- Amanda and Jackie (and can we be called: The Storysmiths)🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — tell us how your two books connected, clashed, or complemented each other. : Mirror Prompt (opposite sides of the same emotional coin): Jackie's Book The Killing Plains is a portrayal of how grief is carried, both personally and communally, and how people struggle to keep living when everything familiar has been fractured. Amanda's Book was a romance where the MC struggled to live,and thought he didn't deserve love, but found a man who loved him exactly as he was.
Claire and Kirsten https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Bridge
: Characters in both books face their problems or their solutions because they are part of a team. In Georgie's case, it's a literal team, the Hartford Barons. The pressures of hockey make it too easy for Georgie to destroy his mental and physical health, and his toxic relationship with team member Robbie is particularly destructive. In Het weeskind (The Orphan Train), Noa and Astrid's "team" is a traveling circus. The circus gives Noa a place to hide and rebuild her life after she's ostracized after giving birth to (and be forced to give up) a Nazi's child. Sometimes community is a way to heal, but sometimes it drags you down.
Mod
Lisa, you have updated, but I don’t see a new task in our thread. Did something go wrong or am I looking in the wrong place?
Mod
The Storysmiths (Team 9: Amanda & Jackie)https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt #2: Saint / Sinner
Type: Split Prompt
In Amanda's book, My Friends, the MC Ted is definitely morally upright and will sacrifice anything for his friends that have become his family. Whereas, in Jackie's book, Dracula, the MC Dracula is evil personified, embodying evil and corruption. Manipulative and deceptive, he feeds off the blood of others and corrupts the innocent.
COMPLETION POST - Team #5. The Story Seekershttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Past & Future
Type: Mirror Prompt
Christene's book My Friends tackles about the mc's past with his friends and the fun memories they shared together, whereas Michalina's book The Ask and the Answer is set in the future but but the characters often linger on the past, thinking of how the lives of the previous generations were like and how they differed from the lives they are currently living.
Completion Post Prompt #1: Light & Shadow
Type: Mirror Prompt
Kat & Alaina
Alaina wrote this and we are in different time zones so thought I’d post so we can get new task. Our team is believe in our shelf’s
Plot Bridge:
In The Phantom Tollbooth, the main character embarks on a whimsical adventure through imaginary lands that brings him from apathy to wonder. In his fun and lighthearted quest, he illuminates the powers of knowledge, play, and imagination for personal growth. In Her Silent Cry, the main character is also on a quest, however it is shrouded in darkness. Her journey is shadowed by grief and violence as she delves into a high-stakes investigation to save a child and uncover buried secrets.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
COMPLETION POST - Team #5. The Story Seekershttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Real World and Other World
Type: Split Prompt
Michalina reads Wrecked which is set in the real world while I read Wings of Starlight which is set in the other world/ fantasy world.
Can we go by the name of drama queens? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Claire chose the fictional Kiss of the Fur Queen for Kirsten and she matched it with the non-fiction Strafkind for Claire. Both explored how religious schools abused their students, subjecting them to physical and mental cruelty, enforcing labor, and destroying their sense of self. Kirsten's book looked very closely at 2 boys and followed them for a period of 40 years, and Claire's book looked at girls in 2 different countries, providing both a macro and micro account of the lifelong damage these schools did in the name of religious education
👥Team the Storysmiths🔗https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — Jackie had fantasy and Amanda chose for her Witch King which is a fantasy novel that blends dark magic, political intrigue, and a rich secondary world with complex characters and immersive storytelling. Amanda had fact and Jackie chose for her Our Moon which deftly reframes the history of scientific discovery through a lunar lens, from Mesopotamia to the present day.
Mod
Team: Rebel ReadersThread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
🧩 Prompt #: Journey / Stay
Type: Wildcard Prompt
Lisa read: (stay) The Missing Page
Trisha read: (journey) Darkwater Lane
Story Stitch
No matter how far you run or hide, home will always be where those you love are.
Team Word Warriorshttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Anastasia
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Janine
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Lisa, let me know if ive missed something
Completion PostPrompt #2: Legacy and Escape
Believe in Our Shelves (Alaina and Kat)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Plot Bridge:
The characters in both of our books are shaped by the past, but one seeks distance from the past when the other finds identity within it. In The Dry the main character returns home burdened by memories he tried to escape from and struggles to escape from a legacy of suspicion and guilt. In My Husband's Lie, the daughter embraces stepping into her mother's legacy as a children's book illustrator.
Mod
Drama queens https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Mirror Prompt: Past & Future Bridge
Both books considered societies that were totally controlled: In Wij (We in English), people were subjected to a totalitarian state, unable to think or move or act on their own. In The Known World, the enslaved people (and honestly, all people of color) were controlled by the whites in power. They had no freedom of movement, weren't allowed to read or write, and couldn't build their own families without permission.
Another bridge was how both books were depressing in many ways. As Claire said about Wij, these were impressive but not easy. Further, despite their distance in time and space, they resonate with our lives now.
Team: The Storysmiths (Team 9: Amanda & Jackie)Prompt #4: Burn It Down / Build It Up
Type: Split Prompt
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Mod
COMPLETION POST - Team #5. The Story Seekershttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Legacy/Escape
Type: Split Prompt
Christene's book Faithbreaker connects to the Escape prompt as the characters in the book are traveling far from home, across the sea. Michalina's book The Hate U Give connects to the Legacy prompt as it shows the main character dealing with generational expectations related to the community she grew up in.
Both books show characters of great courage and even though in both books they face difficult challenges, they learn how to overcome them and become a better and more fulfilled version of themselves.
Story Stitch for Anastasia and JanineStory Stitch for 🧩 Prompt #2: Burn It Down / Build It Up
Both books deal with reactions to trauma. In Burn it down, Ben seeks revenge for his trauma ends up being as deceitful and cruel as Jonah was in his quest for revenge. In Build it up, Alexander Gregory reacts by studying to become a forensic psychiatrist in a bid to understand and overcome his trauma of the deaths of his siblings.
Check in for Anastasia and JanineStory Stitch for 🧩 Prompt #3: Order & Chaos
The two books look at different ways homicide detectives use to solve their crimes. In Dead Reckoning, Roan has to go the slow route and work out the answers methodically and using methods that will stand up in court while in Dying Breath, Lieutenant Daniels is not afraid to break the rules and use all means to take down the killers
Link to thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Mod
Light - Lisa: A Mended Man a story of healing
Dark - Trisha: It Was Her House First dark cover
Story Stitch:
Ronnie's brother Ben died and she blames herself, like Aidan blames himself for Nadia dying, even though he was only a baby.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
COMPLETION POST - Team #5. The Story Seekershttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Saint / Sinner
Type: Split Prompt
Story stitch:
Michalina read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop in which there's a saint like character who believes in the mc, while Christene read Spark of the Everflame in which there's a villainous characters who's always misunderstood but still help the mc.
Team: The Storysmiths (Team 9: Amanda & Jackie)Prompt #5: Puzzle / Chaos
Type: Mirror Prompt
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
👥Traveling Through the Pages (Team 3: Jayme & Michelle)🔗Link to your main thread https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Plot Bridge - 🧩 Prompt #2: Saint / Sinner
Type: Split Prompt
Jayme's Book - Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey (Saint)
Michelle's Book - Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (Sinner)
In both books we have characters who are in a profession where they have authority over those that are under them. Mags upholds laws in the kingdom. Herta decides which prisoner's at the camp to operate on and which ones to eliminate. Although both have authority to uphold laws and proclamations, both have a higher authority figure they have to obey. For Mags it was a King. For Gerta it was Adolf Hitler.
Mod
christene_littlelibrary wrote: "COMPLETION POST - Team #5. The Story Seekershttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Saint / Sinner
Type: Split Prompt
St..."
Lisa, we haven't received a new task yet 😞
Team: the drama queens https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Bridge
This round, our books were prizewinners, both written by women, that explored what it means to be part of a society--what qualifies a person to be in community, and what keeps them outside. For Claire's book Markering/The Mark people were either empathic or not, and the government was determining whether or not they should be visibly marked with their status. Her much longer book followed 4 characters.
Kirsten's very short book was an interior monologue of one woman who was marked physically already. A Black woman, she was treated differently and subjected to daily micro aggressions. She was reminded always that she was essentially still a colonial subject.
Both books explored what it means to grapple with social expectations based on spurious biological claims, to engage with the medical establishment, and to fight for agency
Traveling Through the Pages (Team 3: Jayme & Michelle)🔗Link to your main thread .
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The bridge
Both MCs have lost something but also regained. In my story, the MC lost his parents at a young age but has found love and family. In the second story the MC has suffered lost but found a home when he returned after a long absence.
Team Thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...Story Stitch:
Edwin (who is not a serial killer), killed someone in self defense and Plum just likes to kill people.
COMPLETION POST - TEAM #5 STORY SEEKERS
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Prompt: Puzzle/Chaos
Type: Mirror prompt
In both books there is a difficult situation that has to be navigated through with great care and detail - in Christene's Fable for the End of the World, the main character has to figure out the situation that she has been put in and how it work, whereas in Michalina's King of Pride main characters have to figure out the blooming relationship between them and how they both stand on it.
Mod
Completion post Me and Alania believe in our shelf’s is ready for next task
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Plot bridge
The characters in both books are controlled by emotions. In Lolita the MC is controlled by her man in a relationship which she is controlled to stay in and in doctors child the daughter is controlled by emotions trying to find herself by going to Paris and she ends up on a journey getting answers to questions she didn't know she was looking for
Team Thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...Book Bridge: Both books have groups of people who help those in need, The Marigold Cottage Murder Collective with finding houses and discounted rent. The Paranormal Enforcer Council with people who were kidnapped and rescued.
Mod
🔗https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — She read a book about Alexander Hamilton. I read a book about a forensic photographer who sees dead (murdered) people. Our connection is that her main character is dead via murder and my character sees and helps ghosts of those who are murdered.
The Word Warriors https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Story stitch
Prompt #5: Puzzle / Chaos
In The Stranger beside me , Ted Bundy took over his own defence.while in court
The detective in In the Flesh was set up and thought to be the murder , he also ran his own defence in court after firing his lawyer
👥Post your names (partner pair)- The Storysmiths - Amanda and Jackioe🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — tell us how your two books connected, clashed, or complemented each other. : While both books are very different in that one is about the journey while the other is about staying in the same place, the books connect in how they are also about the deepening bonds between the characters.
Mod
👥Post your names (partner pair)- The Storysmiths - Amanda and Jackioe🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — tell us how your two books connected, clashed, or complemented each other. : Both books involve murders and solving them
👥Post your names (partner pair)- The Storysmiths - Amanda and Jackie🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — Both books have a beautiful female enemy involved
👥Post your names - (Team 3: Jayme & Michelle)🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey) - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge - Prompt #4: Power / Disguise
The connection
Both stories have characters who wear disguises when doing their job. Mags is a spy who wears disguises to protect the king. Brad Trasker, portrays himself as someone different in each job he is given to spy or get closer to a subject to find out more information.
The other 3 MC's disguise themselves as tourists when they travel to an island to find a man who has used AI to get into the minds of people and have them do things that they normally wouldn't do.
All of these characters are trying to protect someone.
Names: Lisa and TrishaTeam Thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Bridge: MCs lose important people in their life. In Trisha's book its the mom (and mom figure) and for Julien its his twin sister.
👥Post your names (partner pair)- The Storysmiths - Amanda and Jackie🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — Both books are very much about family and the legacy they've left
Hooked on Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Lair of the Jaguar God (other topics)Graves on the Fens (other topics)
The Shadow of the Gods (other topics)
In His Shadow (other topics)
Fable for the End of the World (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)Martha Hall Kelly (other topics)
🔄 The Connection Thread
Where the narrative knots tighten and the bookish sparks fly.
Welcome, Nexus Navigators!
Here’s where the real magic happens—your shared reading discoveries, surprise parallels, and genre gymnastics come to life.
📝 When you and your partner complete a prompt:
👥Post your names (partner pair)
🔗Link to your main thread (so we can follow your journey)
📚Drop your Plot Bridge — tell us how your two books connected, clashed, or complemented each other. Be as creative or chaotic as you like—unexpected connections earn extra kudos!
Once posted, your next prompt will be unlocked. 🌟
Remember: This isn’t about speed or pressure. It’s about exploring how two different minds interpret storytelling, side by side.
Happy linking!