knotme

I'm taken by the well rounded community the author has painted.

Nice transition to background. I enjoyed learning more about everyone. I'm no closer to guessing what the future holds.

I like the way plot threads are interweaving.

I now see the one-way glass comprising Keith's cage to be flawed in both directions: Because he can only dimly see others, they can't truly see him. Samuel is the chief exception. "Incest" is a sledge hammer I can't wield. After scouring my tool box, I'll settle for "brotherly love" to describe Keith & Samuel. I briefly thought this story gave me special insight into Keith, but no. I can't see Keith; I can't even see his cage. I know his journal, but anyone that can read it with open mind has equal access. If their mother can, she might gain hope.

I think the author set us up for some exotic use of lemons by having characters remark and laugh about them. In fact, lemons were used pretty much as most of us would have guessed. Speaking for myself, I wasn't sure until they were loaded into the plane of no return along with cadavers, but I would have gotten it sooner if the author hadn't sent false cues. I cannot believe he did that.

I'm adding here to my prematurely posted review of chapter 4. One obvious explanation of the story's timing: His family knows of Keith's homosexuality, but autism pushes sexuality off the table. Somehow, between Keith's care to hide it as best he can, and denial by his family, incest is only now surfacing. Could be. I'm skeptical but open.

Aaarrghh! He got me again. Felecia is in on the real plan! I should just give up trying to look ahead. I think she'll turn against Scar.

I didn't read any earlier draft. My understanding of autism goes little beyond "Rainman", but I'm reading a coherent, compelling story about something that could be autism. Given my ignorance, that'll have to do. The image that hit me hardest was living in a box made of one-way mirrors. Terrifying! (On reflection, I see that the mirrors leak a little. Would that be a comfort?) You write actual verbal dialog between two people conventionally, with italics for the rest: imagined speech, thoughts, some verbalized by mistake , and so on; but occasionally I read actual speech in italics. Intentional? Does this indicate verbalization of one of thousands of memorized rules? Or perhaps reader's error or writer's accident? Occasionally a verb will not agree with its subject (always in dialog, as I recall). Intentional? Maybe a little thing the family does for fun? My uneducated guess is that Kevin would be a grammar whiz. Sometimes Keith thinks in awkwardly short paragraphs, as if his focus is stuck on narrow and specific; other times, longer paragraphs. Huh. That could mean all sorts of things. Unless autism includes late blooming, I would have expected this story to take place two or three years ago. Possibly Samuel, mostly away at college, could be in denial until now, along with some hypothetical, horrendously uninvolved parents, but not these parents: They must have figured Keith's homosexuality years ago. Maybe they have avoided the subject with Samuel. That's my read, anyway.

I cringe every time Tahryn calls Kurt "pup". Maybe in wolf talk, that's as harmless as "babe" can be, but context is important, and Tahryn doesn't see a lot of it, and he should know that. It's almost as if Tahryn has no experience facing the consequences of his dyslexia, maybe because he could bulldoze his way through objections so easily, until now.

Great take on the prompt! I agree with other reviewers.

I'm lucky to have found this for the first time, also all caught up and ready for more! Jenny needs to be taught a lesson, or Jo must learn to say "No".

Next time I visit a Krogers, I'll look for that green line behind the jewelry counter!

I think you succeeded, and this prompt strikes me as a little confining. Off the top of my head, I can think of only a few other ways to use it and get a happy ending.

Faced paced engaging story! I'm glad you've resumed it. Adam and Ivy may be clinging to an obsolete notion of hives. In most hives, if I'm not mistaken, workers respond to the loss of the queen by making another one.

Ah, so The Scar actually needs the former general. I'd hadn't been sure. Our villain greatly underestimated his task in Paraguay. Let's hope vanity once again gets the better of him.

Having recently read this story on another site, I'm going to put the cart ahead of the horse here and write a non-spoiling story review. In a slightly farfetched but mostly believable setup, Drew and friends present a totally unexpected pool of quicksand in an urban landscape. Two quick steps and Rick's hip deep. He spends the rest of the story pulling free without hurting anyone else; and, of course, without any parental help. (Rents might have stuffed it up anyway.) What I appreciate most about this story, and several other storys by Graeme, is an entertaining and fulfilling plot stemming from ordinary people. There are no arch villains, no morons, no natural disasters, just mostly nice people, stuffing up now and then. Well, except for Drew. If you're foreign to the term "stuff up" as I am, just watch Drew for a day or two. Lordy. His many friends look past that and see a heart as big as all outdoors. I'm not sure I'd be able to do that. In fact, this is overall an admirable set of main characters. My takeaway is that you try your best, often falling short, stuffing up big time here and there, but if you keep trying to do right by others, then, if life's even a bit fair, you'll come out OK. Graeme seems to believe in a modicum of fairness.

I don't care how farfetched some of this is; it's great story telling!

Feeling sorry for Maureen. Seems like she's a pawn in all this. I hope she finds a good straight guy.

I wonder, must Basil paint, or does he fill his time painting mainly to avoid trying other things that might again hurt him? He may never paint again, but he has Will. You mentioned Will's upcoming reaction to seeing his portrait. After all that's transpired, I cannot image what that portrait could do now, but I don't think Will's seen it yet.

Kertyn and especially Zaran impress me. A chapter ago I sat in my favorite chair, coffee at my side, about as alert as I get these days, yet struggling to accept what I was reading. Zaran and Kertyn, though emotionally and hormonally distracted, reacted better than I, communicating, beginning to understand each other. Now we how important was their progress. Tynfor had Trojan-horsed in a time bomb, and these guys diffused it. The sonar pings from Zaran gave away more than I would have wished, but the returns from Tynfor more than compensate. Threat assessed, as you say. If Zaran is half as competent on the battle field, Tynfor is in for a world of hurt. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Nice. For me, this story might have worked even better in four chapters. It dragged a bit near the end, but that didn't keep me from liking it a lot. Thanks.

Interesting. My interest in the story grows as my sympathy for the protagonist dwindles almost to nothing.

Wow, was I barking up the wrong tree! Yeah, good ending. We just met Dan, but we know that Max and all his friends think highly of him, so that bodes well. Knowing we are uncoordinated and unobservant beyond belief, cats nevertheless do not react kindly to being tripped over. Queenie must have struggled to contain her outrage so Max and Dan could have their moment.

Timeous indeed. I've just taken on my first two beta reading jobs and had been wrong about the scope of work.

Nice read! Just long enough. Rick's gift helps Ethan turn the page. Would that bother Rick? Hmm. One nitpick: " … everything that was on his dresser was now either on the floor or batted around the room". That description doesn't match the work of cats I know. I see instead "… everything that was had been on his dresser was now on the floor and batted around the room."