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Come and read and discuss Landline with Renee and I.

We have broken down the book into quarters for discussion:

Feb 7,8,9: Ch 1-7

Feb 10,11,12: Ch 8-17

Feb 13,14,15: Ch 18-24

Feb 16,17,18: Ch 25-end

Feb 19,20,21: "final" comments

Hi! I'm new to the group and I'm going to try to get in on this since I have already read all three of the group's other selections for the month. What are the chances of that?!

Thanks for setting this up, Leslie. :D

Excellent Maggie! Welcome

Renee you are very welcome.

I have read E&P and I just loved it. I am not a big fan of Fangirl. actually I like the story but felt all the fan fic nonsense was torture. I am in need of reading another by her to decide how I feel about this author. So I'm in.

it sounds so interesting! i want to join too!

Excellent Roseanne and Veena! I have been meaning to read this for a long time and am glad that I waited for now since we can all read it together.

Well I am going to officially start to read this book. I will read my chapters and jot down a few notes in preparation for Sunday's ch 1-7 discussion.

Started today. Just finished chapter 4. Haven't really connected to any of the characters yet. Although I'm in love with the daughter who meows.

Gah! Just finished chapter 7. WTF?

Renee wrote: "Gah! Just finished chapter 7. WTF?"

OK, now you have me curious Renee. I only finished ch 3 last night but I will absolutely finish ch 9 by tonight for our chat tomorrow.

It hasn't hooked me yet but I'm only through chapter one.

I just finished ch 7 and other than agreeing with Renee about her WTF moment, I too am not yet hooked.

It turned out to be a good place to stop and chat. Right on the first cliffhanger. :)
But now, of course, I want to read on to figure out what the heck is going on.

I suspect the "landline" at her mom's house somehow connects to the past.
Any other theories?

Renee wrote: "It turned out to be a good place to stop and chat. Right on the first cliffhanger. :)
But now, of course, I want to read on to figure out what the heck is going on.

I suspect the "landline" at h..."

Oh I never thought of that. Perhaps it does. Good call.

Yep. There was all that nostalgia about how she'd call from that phone in her room when they were dating. And Neal's dad would still be alive on his end, because she's calling the past. I think Neal's past self takes her reference to "the girls" a snarky comment about Dawn's breasts. Which is why he gets cranky. And Dawn probably has a thing for cockatiels. The one in the past must have been Falco.

But the cell phone calls are in real time which is why she can talk to her GIRLS, whom the past-Neal doesn't know about yet.

I'm just trying to figure out why. It sounds like they've had similar fights in the past about where their relationship is going. Will she fall back in love with past-Neal? Will she realize he's unhappy and break up with his past self, thereby changing the present. Could you do that if you already had kids????

Maybe that's why it's been hard to connect to the characters so far. Perhaps we'll fall in love with past-Neal as she does. Like Gone Girl. (Sort of. Only with out the twisty darkness.)

I think all that Landline recent/past stuff if creepy. None of that crossed my mind at all but chapter 7 was confusing for sure. So I think you may have nailed it.

I started to take some short notes but then said "naw, just read" and stopped. That was silly. Here is what I took down:

Ch 1:
That really blows that Georgie’s great career opportunity had to come up right at Christmas time. It is a tough predicament to be in. Could the timing be any worse?

Ch 2:
OK Scotty. Quit throwing grapes. People in the world are starving.

Ch 3:
Oh oh. This marriage seems to be in trouble.

Rest of chapters for this quarter: She is too chummy with her co-worker and it is unhealthy. She is married for Pete's sake.

Trying to figure out the Seth thing. Is it possible that he thought of her as the one-you-come-home-to, and figured she'd be around when he was done with his wild oats. (Because he was a dumb-#£! college guy.) Or is he a genuine friend? Who's emotionally immature.

Renee wrote: "Trying to figure out the Seth thing. Is it possible that he thought of her as the one-you-come-home-to, and figured she'd be around when he was done with his wild oats. (Because he was a dumb-#£! c..."

Here is how I see him:

~He knows he is good looking.
~He knows she likes him.
~He knows he can have any girl he wants.
~He knows he can have her (sorry I can't even remember her name - still drinking my morning coffee) whenever her marriage falls apart.
~He needs her for working purposes but also does enjoy her company.
~He feels good about himself around her.

� � � I don't want to sound like Debbie downer here but I am a little disappointed in this book.

� � � I am done ch 11 and considering throwing in the towel. At 34% I should be more invested in these characters and this story in general. � � �

Yeah. It's not one of her better ones. I like the phone thing but I'm not invested in the characters or the story the way I usually am with a Rainbow Rowell.

That said, I will finish it. I have the audio so I'm going to forge ahead. It's okay, if you bail. Life is too short for bland books. :)

Thanks for understanding. I think I will bail.

I bought Carry On a short time ago but I will wait for a bit to read that one.

Let me know how that is.
I'll tap back in here as I get near the end to update, in case anyone else is stopping by.

Renee wrote: "Let me know how that is.
I'll tap back in here as I get near the end to update, in case anyone else is stopping by."

That sounds good. I mean if it becomes absolutely amazing let me know and I will grab it again. But I am not holding my breath.

I won't start Carry On for a while. I am hoping to see it as a group or buddy read that I can jump aboard.

Do you ever feel guilty about bailing out on a book? I sometimes feel like the author went through a lot of hard work to write the book. You are right though, life is too short for bland and boring books.

Cindy wrote: "Do you ever feel guilty about bailing out on a book? I sometimes feel like the author went through a lot of hard work to write the book. You are right though, life is too short for bland and boring..."

Never! But I do feel I may have quit too early at times. (no in this case though)

The author has made money on my purchase regardless whether I completed it in one sitting or have never even cracked it open. Some books I know the timing was just not right and may try again. This one just did not grab me like her books should. Some books the writing style does not work for me as well.

I have given this book a go and removed it from my TBR. On to the next one.

So far I feel like its not fantastic, but its light and easy enough that I'll keep going.
Not sure I really like the premise, that this phone is somehow a landline to the past. It is a little (okay, a lot) weird. But I do like the idea, Renee, of maybe falling in love with Neal as Georgie did. Or just seeing how their relationship developed.
Agree that Georgie's relationship with Seth is probably unhealthy. We'll see what develops there.

Carry On is the book based on the parts of Fangirl that was torture for me. I'm not really liking this one either. I am beginning to think E&P is the exception. I am still continuing for now but it sounds like I'm not as far in as everyone else.

I'm just through Chapter 11 and starting to think on this landline to the past. Usually when I try to think too much on time travel elements I get very confused very quickly. I find I do much better when I just accept them as they are presented and not think too much about logistics and repercussions and whatnot. Anyone else?
In any case, what I am wondering here (if anyone can follow me) is - past Georgie and Neal had this fight where they broke up and didn't speak while he was away but then Neal showed up on her doorstep and proposed, which seems unusual. You would think after a big fight if you hadn't talked things out you wouldn't be rushing to propose. But I'm wondering if future Georgie called past Neal ( if these conversations happened for him in the past) and however they resolve things in this "landline" series of conversations is what convinced him to propose.

Does that make any sense to anyone else????

It does. Keep reading. ;-)

It makes sense to me. I am through 11 chapters now. I'm not loving this but it's ok.

I give you guys credit for continuing. It was not not keeping me entertained.

Im listening to the audio during my commute. I will finish but I don't think I will be reading any of her other books. I am very disappointed with this one. I loved E&P so much I was still thinking about it weeks after I finished.

Roseanne I loved E&P too and I loved Attachments maybe even more. I still think about it.

Finished! So now I've read a few reviews. They seem to be love it hate. I'm surprised by how many people really didn't like Neal.

I thought about picking Landline up next week to join the buddy read, but seeing how disappointed everyone seems to be I think I'll rather pick up something from my TBR instead. I loved E&P and enjoyed Attachments, but I didn't like Fangirl at all (I won't read Carry On as I have the same opinion as Roseanne about those snippets in Fangirl). Landline (from what I read in this topic) doesn't seem like the kind of book I'd enjoy much to be honest... To bad. I would have loved to be part of a buddy read (even when joining in late).

I haven't read Attachments. Maybe I should read that one. Im definitely skipping Carry On.

I'm finished chapter 18. Interesting Renee to hear that a lot of people don't like Neal. I'm sort of indifferent to him right now, but I'm not liking Georgie. I feel like their relationship seems to revolve solely around her. I'm going to continue even though I don't feel like much is happening.

I didn't have the same negative reaction to him as others. You understand more about him as you read further into the book. I think the most telling bit was when Georgie says Neal doesn't laugh when he thinks something is funny; he laughs when he's happy.

I'm finished and was pretty underwhelmed. I don't think I really liked any of the characters. I'm not even sure if I was rooting for them to stay together or break up.
I have to admit thought that this is not the kind of book I like to read either. What with marriage, children, work...it all just feels to much like my own real life. I find I like books that take me somewhere different, whether that be in place or time or circumstance. So it could just be that this isn't my cup of tea.

I'm on chapter 22 now. I am disappointed. It's very blah. I just don't know how else to describe how I'm feeling about it. I'm not sure I care if they stay together or break up.

I just finished. I didn't end up hating it. It was ok.

I haven't read Attachments yet. Its on my tbr list but I don't plan on reading it soon. Maybe in a few months. When I get to it I will say something. I am still on the fence about how I feel about this author.

I will let you know