It is that time of year when everyone is of good cheer and filled with joy and happiness...IT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!
We were all excited as we "hit the road" north (south for Dianne) to historic Fernandina's Centre Street to spend the afternoon at Brett's Waterway Cafe with Dee hosting "Spare Room" by Dreda Say Mitchell. Although it was overcast and misting rain, it was a beautiful day. Dee decorated the space with festive garland on the tables and gift bags "stuffed" to the brim with lotions, bootie socks, candies, hot cocoa mix and other surprises for members and guests. We also spied a cake carrier to the side, but we will get to that later.
As all the members arrived, it was timed perfectly, because I was able to capture individual photos on the waterfront with the fishing boats, yachts, excursion boats and dingies in the back drop. There was even a 200 passenger cruise ship readying to set sail for Charleston, SC.
Dee devised 26 questions to get our neurons going (not that they needed motivating) for this psycological thriller. I always like it when the hostess asks the question about our favorite character. The answers were not very diverse, but the interesting element was that there were not many responses. When Dee asked about the "red flags" that should have alerted or warned Lisa about renting the room, there was a concensus that Lisa had a motive - she needed to know what occured in the home, why her memory was surpressed and she was having night terrors regarding the home. Kim, Celeste and Karen all pointed out that she needed to rent the room to basically "cure" herself.
Jack and Martha's relationship was discussed and we all felt that Martha was an aging beauty that wanted to recapture her youth with her "May/December" romance with Jack. The discussion led to "what was Jack getting out of the relationship?" Bonnie and Sharon mentioned his "alleged" drug growing operation and his need to keep that business hidden in the "secret" garden. When the conversation drifted to Dr. Wilson (the psychiatrist) there was much banter about his hyppocratic oath and how he breached that. Someone described Martha as the indentity of the "Maneater" in the Hall and Oates song (tee hee). She seemed to really have had a way with "The Fellas".
Lisa's adoptive parents should have told her the truth - we all agreed about that; however, we felt she still would have had the trauma and other issues stemming from the murders and her biological mother's suicide. Dee's guest, Joy, who is in the field of social services, was able to shed some insight into some of the protocols and processes of adoption. We felt that Dr. Wilson really could have been a professional benefit to Lisa had he not abandoned his medial oath (seemingly) because of his admiration for Martha. Admitting Lisa into an institution for the mentally unstable was a bit far-fetched for most of us. We admired Alex' character for intervening so swiftly, and interjecting legal ease to have her discharged. This led to more discussions surrounding the "Baker Act" and time lines.
There were many mysteries revealed in the book. There were at least six of us who said we thought that Martha would be revealed as Lisa's biological mother, and that the bodies of Lisa's siblings and mother were buried in the backyard. We also all had to chuckle when Martha was falling to her death and it was as if Jack, basically was fine with it. We all agreed that Dreda Mitchell had a gift for writing thrillers. It was obvious to us, though that she being a "Black Brit" had not one character of color. Someone mentioned that she may have been intentional in that because people of color would not have been in that situation. First of all, illness or not, we would not have remained in the rented room #FACTS (smile).
As we were wrapping up our discussion, Dee uncovered her cake cover to reveal a scrumptious Red Velvet Cake that she baked. Wow, was it delicious, too...what a sweet holiday meeting surprise!!
While enjoying our cake, Dee invited guest, Joy to give a synopsis of the book and author. Joy discussed the numerous awards author, Dreda Say Mitchell has been awarded in the UK and how the book's plot was developed and came together.
Dee concluded by presented me (JayBee) with a $50 Amazon Gift Card for writing the first on-line review; she then expressed how she wanted to select a different book genre, and hoped we liked the book. Well Dee, you accomplished that and we enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for another road trip and for taking us on a psychological armchair rollercoaster ride with so many twists and turns that we were on the edge of our seats until the end. What a way to end 2023!! Merry Christmas, Y'all!!!!