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Hello! Stopping by for a quick ‘hello’ before I take a much-needed nap. This time change is wonderful! I feel as if I’ve had a full day, but I am way sleepy and want to kick back with a book and maybe, just maybe, take a cat nap. Think it will happen? It might. The Girl has been totally absorbed with her new Kindle Fire and the novelty has yet to wear off so I am going to take advantage of that.

What am I reading?

I am reading a lot, but haven’t had the energy to write any reviews. I’ve got to write them soon though because the details are already slipping from my mind. Let’s see, what am I reading? I am reading The Shining Girls. Meh. I am not liking it all that much and it’s gotten so much buzz. I just started The Abominable but haven’t read enough to give it a fair shake yet. I’ve also started How To Be a Good Wife. That one is very interesting. Not sure what to make of it yet.

What am I cooking?

Yesterday I made homemade spaghetti sauce so we will probably have that tonight. I am not in the mood to cook. I had some weird reaction to food recently and my mouth is swelling in the same spot I had a problem with last March. Long story short, unless the food is very soft, I don’t really have an appetite for it. Auto-immune issues suck.

What am I watching?

Oh my goodness. I have discovered The Walking Dead. With all that I had going on, I needed a distraction and let me tell you, I could not have picked a better show. I started with the first episode last week and I am already half-way through season three! I love it!

Thank you all for the kind emails and Facebook posts. It’s been a rough couple of weeks. We have started the “fixing” that needs to take place and I feel more like myself, but there are times where I feel very low. The flip side is that through all of this, I’ve turned to walking and I have lost ten pounds just from pounding the pavement. Hard to believe that just a few miles a day could make that much of a difference but it can.

I hope you are all well and that you are enjoying the weekend. Off I go to take that nap.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t been reading along with us, save this post for another day. There will be spoilers!

Before we started reading, we asked if you had any expectations for Doctor Sleep. Did you get what you were hoping for out of the book?

Unfortunately, no. I really wanted a continuation of Danny’s story and it was that, loosely but this story took on a life of its own and sort of went an entirely different way. It didn’t feel like a sequel and it lacked action. Seemed almost too safe at times which is not what I expect to feel when reading a King book. It was a bit of a snoozer towards the end and it seriously pains me to say that.

On a positive note, I do feel as if King had a firm grasp of Dan’s character but I can’t say the same for the other characters. Rose was just a shell of what she should have been and Abra ended up bugging the shit out of me at the end. Rose was comical in a way, and I don’t think that is how King intended her to come across. The hat and her little tirades were a bit much and I never felt her power or that she was a real threat to anyone.

Abra’s youthfulness got old after a while. She was a teenager by the end of the book and she was still acting like a small child. Didn’t feel believable. It’s harsh but I really didn’t care what happened to her.

I wanted more of Dan. His story was much more interesting to me.

Having finished the book, do you think having read The Shining is important for enjoying this one?

Doctor Sleep was technically the sequel to The Shining, but I don’t think you have to read The Shining to understand what is going on. Sure, it adds to the story but King does a good job of bringing a reader up-to-speed.

In one word, one phrase, one sentence, describe Doctor Sleep.

Plodding. As with most unpleasant things in life, facing your fears and your wrongdoings can be a tedious task and it felt that way while reading. I felt as if I was along for the ride and at times, it seemed like too much. Not too much like it was way too intense, because it wasn’t, but too much like… get it over with already. I saw the ending long before I read it, so the last few chapters took forever for me to get through.

Anything else you feel like discussing about the end of the book? Or, about the book as a whole?

Oh man, I thought the ending was on the weak side. The blood-tie that was revealed was not a surprise at all. I saw it coming and hoped with all hope that it would go a different route but nope, it didn’t.

I felt that Rose’s demise was really, really played down. So much so that I missed it! I had to flip back to see how it happened. I mean, how could I have missed it the first time? I am not sure but I did and then when I did find it, I was like… meh. No wonder I missed it.

I thought it was nifty how Dan was able to use the contents of his lock boxes. I was wondering about them and it seemed fitting for him to use the boxes the way he did. Plus, it was a nice way to give him the closure that he needed.

Was anyone else sad to see Crow Daddy go so soon? I was really liking him. He seemed a lot more complex than Rose and more in line with what I’ve come to expect from King.

That’s all I have to say for now. My review is going to be interesting, to say the least. I hope to get it written soon.

Chatting with friends about books and life…