My Recent Comments

He is being so chivalrous and gosh darn cute...I really think their personalities are complementary to each other. Where he is more straitlaced, she is more carefree, where he is more methodical, she is more spontaneous....liking it a lot! 

 And now I am headed to NY to visit my fam for a few weeks and most likely will not be able to get online during that time, so hopefully I will be able to find the read when I get back!

Thanks, April...I am glad we see eye to eye!

I am going to have to say that we'll have to disagree on Thomas. I really don't see him the way FF and Papaya do, at all! I don't see him as having power over Jenna, as he isn't her boss or her boss's son for that matter, he isn't sexually harassing her, and he isn't pushing, grabbing, speaking dirty, etc. He is a person she was once intimate with and was once friends with, according to both of their histories together. She isn't a cowgirl/boy that considers their hat to be an extension of their bodies, and the one she is wearing is in fact a totally foreign "costume". He sees the fact that she is wearing it as such and takes it from her head and says "you're trying to hide under there." If he were truly an Alpha male trying to have power over her, I do believe he would be gratified that the rabble rouser who doesn't fit into society is gussied up like Jackie O and trying to change in a way that should please him. Instead, he sees the real Jenna underneath the costume and thinks she is better off without it.

And I would have to disagree on the subject of Jenna not being conflicted on her feelings for Thomas. She can't tear her eyes from his, said eyes make her knees wobbly, she wants to smooth her hand over his chest, she wants to spare them "heartache" by not continuing their assocation...she defintely does have feelings for him but she is afraid of being hurt when she tries to fit in for him and doesn't. She is not letting him state his case, that being that he likes her fine the way she is and I doubt he would want to change her. That's a long way off from Alpha. So, okay, he doesn't manage to get her off to themselves, he doesn't convince her to give them a shot...ummm if he doesn't get her alone, how do they talk about their issues? And if they don't talk about their issues, Jenna will continue to have her walls up. And if Jenna continues to have her walls up...where is the story? Or their romance? Or their relationship!!

I have to say that at some point we have to put aside "politcal correctness" or who has a higher station in life, and let the prince pursue the farm girl, or the architect pursue her construction worker, or the president pursue his intern (lol)...because people, if we end up so politically correct that someone with more power can't pursue someone with less... we are going to end up back in the dark ages with no one marrying outside of their class and if that is not bad enough, where are all our fabulous cinderella stories going to go! Who is going to end up pursuing anyone, whether it is upward or downward! Lowers (Jenna) will keep thinking they aren't good enough, and uppers (Thomas) will be bashed over the head for sexual harassment! So I say, let there be pursuit, as long as it is in the name of love, whether it be up, down, side to side, whatever. Because I want to read about love, and if no one pursues anyone, what have I got to read about? Will we only date what comes along easily, and fits perfectly into the slot we allot them, no effort required? Will we be back to marriages that are arranged for business purposes, or family purposes, just like back in the day, no effort required, who cares if you don't like them? No thanks. Gimme love, gimme the chase, gimme the effort, gimme the good stuff.

If people just left people who have high walls up alone, I think it would be a really sad thing. Some of those walls are only there to see who cares enough to scale them, and some of them are there from having been hurt intensely in the past. If someone cares enough to scale them, and can show the person how much they want to take care of them so that they don't need walls anymore, it is definitely worth storming the castle.  How sad would it be if we all just walked away from someone who was hurting, in this case a friend whose parent had recently died and who was clearly in a tight situation, because they said to. Sometimes it is the kid who is biting and punching and starting fights who needs a hug the most. And we are all just big kids most of the time...

So that is the end of my piece...I am pretty sure I have said everything that I can possibly think of (though of course we have several chapters coming that I am sure we could dissect from opposing viewpoints in the days to come ). Team Thomas and Team Jenna! I am rooting for them both, the girl with the walls and the guy with the cajones to scale them!

Katie

I was wondering....

All this talk about Thomas and the fact that he is pursuing (very nicely, not forcefully seducing an innocent like many of those sheiks and Greek millionaires lol) Jenna who clearly has an attraction to him...does anyone notice the parallel to the other online read in which Paul continues to pursue Rita even though she said she doesn't want to see him and plans to move away and never see him again? It seems that both of these men just want a chance to show the women how good it could be if they were together. And, IMHO, both of them should get that chance, from the ladies they like, and all of us!! I noticed that our Thomas seems to be getting a bum rap in here...but Paul is the man over there! And I am not saying Paul is the one of the two men who actually has "taken advantage" of their lady thus far; however many might question Rita's emotional vulnerability on the night they got "together". Thomas however, merely offered to walk with Jenna and is possibly going to help her in hopes she decides to un"banish" him...pretty tame taking-advantage-of in comparison.

I don't know, I guess I just am seeing things a little bit differently. I was wondering if anyone else had compared the two men? Or their reaction to both? Are we judging them based on their actions in the read, or on their backgrouds (wealthy heir vs. poor soldier, etc.) or anything like that? It's just a niggling question I had from reading both reads and the discussions afterwards. What do you guys think?

 Personally, I haven't really seen Thomas's behavior to be anything different from little things that I am sure many of us have done at one time or another in our lives (and if you haven't I don't mean to offend, but I bet we all have in some small way)...gosh I remember literally thousands of times in middle school, high school, college and beyond where I would try to be somewhere at a certain time, whether it be passing by his class room, walking by his lunchtable, sitting at a certain desk in a lecture, or going to the break room at a certain time because he comes in to get the deposit from the safe (mmm tasty security guard-lol) and all for the sake of, yes, feasting my eyes upon HIM (whoever he was at that time) but also in the hopes that his being within proximity of me would make him realize how fabulous I am and that he couldn't live without me!! (Haha...amazing that they need more time to figure that out, I know )  Was I being manipulative? I hope not...

 I just think that that is what both of our boys are doing...creating oppurtunities and giving themselves the time they need with the chicas they want in order to hopefully get their attention, for good. So, sure in my case I had a master plan, as these men do...but don't we all? So we think about the things we say, how we should act, how much to reveal, how much to talk, where we should go, all in the hopes of some certain result. Or if someone you care about is acting distant (as both of our heroines are doing), do we offer comfort, question them until they tells us why, or give them space and just leave them alone altogether? We all think about these things and decide how to proceed I suppose...I think it is normal. And, that deciding to fight for it if it feels right is kinda hot!

Anyways...food for thought and perhaps discussion....

TEAM THOMAS!! haha I like the poor guy...I guess we all get rubbed the wrong way about different things, but I hope we don't judge him too harshly!

 (and I step down from my soap box )

kt

After I read the comments about his behaviour in this chapter, I went back and reread it to see if I had missed something. And if anything, I found myself feeling that JENNA'S behaviour was actually a bit rude and a bit on the self-centered side. All the poor guy did was fall for her and try to maintain contact through letters while he was fighting overseas and she kinda treated him like pooh, and "banished him from her life" because of his background when he was perfectly willing to be with her despite their differences. So in this chapter, I actually saw a guy reunited with a girl that had hurt him, and him observing her after time apart, trying to get a feel for her, and when an opening came about for him to be alone with her, he swept it up. It seems that she doesn't do well when she doesn't get things her way because she keeps treating him coldly as if he did something to her and glares her animosity at him. But, it appears he knows what he wants and is willing to fight for a chance.

He seems nice enough to me. And I really hadn't thought much about Jenna's behaviour until I went back looking for his. She must have her reasons for treating him this way, most likely to protect herself from being hurt as I sense a bit of an inferiorty complex in regards to their stations in life and society.  In addition to that, she is also there with an ulterior motive, while his behavior can be taken at face value. Anyways, that's what I felt after going back, but it is just my opinion. Oh, the things you can find when you reread!

I am enjoying the story so far Joanne! I like it when the hero and heroine butt heads, and hope that she will be able to put their differences aside. But not before some interesting tension of course!

Katie

Woowwww...so many really terrific entries everyone! That was some great reading...

I wish I had made a list of comments as I read them, but I didn't so I will just say how impressed I am!

Katie

To add to Anita Mae's insight, we also always used to only post on the Thursday and Friday (any time once it becomes Thursday thru the end of Friday) because when there are a bunch of entries, the judge would have had to go back 50  or 100  more posts looking for entries that could be hiding anywhere, if we could post anytime. This way, there is much less clutter and things are organized nicely, so the judge can just log in on Saturday or whenever and know that she or he will only have to scroll back to Thursday and find all the entries. It may seem silly, but for that reason, it makes it easier for everyone! And like Anita Mae said, if we were tempted to read yours today, we might be influenced even without knowing it, in what we write tomorrow!

Can't wait to read all the great entries everyone!

Katie

I've been away and just came back to something like 65 new comments and the great part is that like half of them were entries! Awesome job everyone...this is so reminiscent of three or so years ago when we had a ton of entries all the time! YAY! Wish I could have entered but I was busy drinking a pina colada in the Keys...lol

And to Jodie and Nini...my Dad had a quintuple bypass too, just two years ago and I was scared out of my mind thinking that it was the worst thing ever. But he and everyone else said that heart bypasses are one of the most common major operations done and though the idea sounds daunting, the process is safe and gets even better every day. His went well, as do the vast majority, and I am rooting for your mom, and am sure her's will too!

Katie

As someone who has been reading these for years and years and has only just entered a handful in the past year or two, I can say welcome and it is a lot of fun to see where things go and to take them there yourself once in a while! To answer your question...

If you look below the last post on any page, you will see first,1, 2, 3, etc. Once we have a whole bunch of posts, it goes to a new page so that you aren't scrolling through thousands of posts. Anyways, if you would like to click on first, you can start at the beginning of when we moved to this forum location and read those challenges, and our discussions about them. Then, when you are ready to post your response to our most recent challenge, simply click on "Add New Comment" and copy and paste what you have written (I usually write it in Word so I can save it on my computer) into the comment box, and viola! Everything is done right here.

The winner of the previous challenge is the one who comes up with the current challenge idea, and it can be anything from offering a list several things, or plot devices, or themes, or whatever that need to be used in your story, which we have been doing lately, or we used to sometimes do be an opening line that everyone then builds from and we can see it spin off in many directions. There are a lot of different and creative ways we can be challenged and whatever they come up with works. Then, as they are the one who inspired it, they don't compete, but instead judge based on the rules which are all the way above in the guidelines for the discussion. Lots of challenge creators, however, choose their topic because they love it so much, and end up writing something themselves. I always love that, because the more to read the better! Usually they just post it and let everyone know it is not in competition, or they post it after the challenge posting times are closed. Either way, the more the merrier!

Anyways, hope this helps and look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Katie