...okay, I love the idea that Margo is so attached to the idea of Liz because : a) she thinks Jessica's weak and b) she thinks she and Liz both have something in common, considering they've both killed at least one person. Ignoring the whole accident part of the equation would be completely inline with Margo's thought process.
Honestly, I could sit here for hours and spin off a thousand what-if AUs from this arc alone. Like what if Margo did succeed and did keep coping with shit by killing people? That spins off in two directions right away: Margo getting away with it for awhile while "Liz" investigates the crimes and people realizing very early on that uh, dude, Liz ain't right anymore.
Or what if Margo did get what she wanted (Liz's identity) but in her haste to get home before midnight*, Alice went and got herself and Ned killed in a car accident? How would Margo cope with that? HOW, AU? How?
Seriously I could be here forever. I will say that time moves in bonkers ways in this book, just like in the whole mini leading up to it. I always get tripped up over Liz specifically choosing one outfit right away and then later, after Alice has run into Margo, Liz is magically wearing something else.
I either never put it together or forget every few years, but Jess gets to the party really, really late. Even being generous, there's no way she arrives before 10:15/30 at the earliest, and that just seems...late for a NYE party, even if everyone does know you're in mourning (again? Still?). Because as soon as Jess shows up, everything else kicks off. I have always loved how her arrival is handled though, as the ghosty plays with where Margo is or isn't and really this is something that happens a few times this book and it's fun nearly every time.
The constant rain is basically how we spend nearly every Christmas, so it adds to the atmosphere... particularly this year when there were many a flashflood warning going off on my phone. Festive!
It's interesting that Lila's the only one who never seems to catch on that something's funky with 'Jess' aside from talking with Amy as they set up for the party. I'd like to think that Lila brings out the less murdery side of Margo but it kinda says something about you (Jess) when your BFF hangs out with an actual psychopath for hours and never once catches on to the fact that she's not you. It also says something about Lila, really, but I refuse to listen to such things. Lila brings out the rage in everyone BUT Margo. It's how the universe balances things.
The costume ball from the last book is mentioned in this one and EVERY SINGLE YEAR my brain reads it and has not really thought to go back and find it happening. It's just content to be like "yeah, sure, that probably happened, huh". WTH, self. WTH.
We'll never know how Josh tracked Margo...Boo and bullfrogs. How did James know her name was Margo? Did I blink too fast in the last book and that was revealed?
I love the little bit of the dream that Jess has that includes the small room detail, as I'm not sure I recall that from Liz's versions, though Liz does seem resigned to her fate so I guess that's happened in hers as well.
Always a little torn on Margo not realizing how badly she's pulling off the Liz thing because every year I kind of root for her to pull it off, if only to explain the sheer WTF of Liz's actions in the later books... and the hope that maybe the reality that has Margo winning has more fun than this timeline. Her complete and utter inability to read how poorly Christmas at the Wakefields is going is forever sad and funny at the same time. She wants this life so desperately but she's completely and utterly incapable of seeing what's actually going on or understanding WHY the perfection she thinks she's seeing is just not going to happen.
Time wonkiness! It's always driven me insane that the other Wakefields are 15 minutes away or so from midnight and also from Lila's and yet it's not til freakin' morning that they're all reunited. WTF? And this reminds me, we could add Steven getting himself and Billie killed too. For a family that just dealt with what happens when someone's not driving safely, no one learned a goddamn thing about operating a vehicle properly. o_o
...how does Liz get her lavaliere back? Especially when you factor in the Return storyline. Does one of the twins go "excuse me, that's Liz's necklace, can you take it off the dead nutjob?"
Really, the timeline gets even worse when you factor in Return... so I won't. I will forever be pissed we were robbed of Jess looking cute as she finds Todd's body, though since that doesn't happen in the book I'm not sure...why it happens on the cover art. Speaking of cover art, Liz looks too happy to be staring into the face of ~pUrE eViL~ and also I spent years thinking that was a picture of Alice on the wall, not Margo peeking in the window.
I hope that you find Return more fun this go round or at least entertainingly awful?
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a) she thinks Jessica's weak and
b) she thinks she and Liz both have something in common, considering they've both killed at least one person. Ignoring the whole accident part of the equation would be completely inline with Margo's thought process.
Honestly, I could sit here for hours and spin off a thousand what-if AUs from this arc alone. Like what if Margo did succeed and did keep coping with shit by killing people? That spins off in two directions right away: Margo getting away with it for awhile while "Liz" investigates the crimes and people realizing very early on that uh, dude, Liz ain't right anymore.
Or what if Margo did get what she wanted (Liz's identity) but in her haste to get home before midnight*, Alice went and got herself and Ned killed in a car accident? How would Margo cope with that? HOW, AU? How?
Seriously I could be here forever. I will say that time moves in bonkers ways in this book, just like in the whole mini leading up to it. I always get tripped up over Liz specifically choosing one outfit right away and then later, after Alice has run into Margo, Liz is magically wearing something else.
I either never put it together or forget every few years, but Jess gets to the party really, really late. Even being generous, there's no way she arrives before 10:15/30 at the earliest, and that just seems...late for a NYE party, even if everyone does know you're in mourning (again? Still?). Because as soon as Jess shows up, everything else kicks off. I have always loved how her arrival is handled though, as the ghosty plays with where Margo is or isn't and really this is something that happens a few times this book and it's fun nearly every time.
The constant rain is basically how we spend nearly every Christmas, so it adds to the atmosphere... particularly this year when there were many a flashflood warning going off on my phone. Festive!
It's interesting that Lila's the only one who never seems to catch on that something's funky with 'Jess' aside from talking with Amy as they set up for the party. I'd like to think that Lila brings out the less murdery side of Margo but it kinda says something about you (Jess) when your BFF hangs out with an actual psychopath for hours and never once catches on to the fact that she's not you. It also says something about Lila, really, but I refuse to listen to such things. Lila brings out the rage in everyone BUT Margo. It's how the universe balances things.
The costume ball from the last book is mentioned in this one and EVERY SINGLE YEAR my brain reads it and has not really thought to go back and find it happening. It's just content to be like "yeah, sure, that probably happened, huh". WTH, self. WTH.
We'll never know how Josh tracked Margo...Boo and bullfrogs. How did James know her name was Margo? Did I blink too fast in the last book and that was revealed?
I love the little bit of the dream that Jess has that includes the small room detail, as I'm not sure I recall that from Liz's versions, though Liz does seem resigned to her fate so I guess that's happened in hers as well.
Always a little torn on Margo not realizing how badly she's pulling off the Liz thing because every year I kind of root for her to pull it off, if only to explain the sheer WTF of Liz's actions in the later books... and the hope that maybe the reality that has Margo winning has more fun than this timeline. Her complete and utter inability to read how poorly Christmas at the Wakefields is going is forever sad and funny at the same time. She wants this life so desperately but she's completely and utterly incapable of seeing what's actually going on or understanding WHY the perfection she thinks she's seeing is just not going to happen.
Time wonkiness! It's always driven me insane that the other Wakefields are 15 minutes away or so from midnight and also from Lila's and yet it's not til freakin' morning that they're all reunited. WTF? And this reminds me, we could add Steven getting himself and Billie killed too. For a family that just dealt with what happens when someone's not driving safely, no one learned a goddamn thing about operating a vehicle properly. o_o
...how does Liz get her lavaliere back? Especially when you factor in the Return storyline. Does one of the twins go "excuse me, that's Liz's necklace, can you take it off the dead nutjob?"
Really, the timeline gets even worse when you factor in Return... so I won't. I will forever be pissed we were robbed of Jess looking cute as she finds Todd's body, though since that doesn't happen in the book I'm not sure...why it happens on the cover art. Speaking of cover art, Liz looks too happy to be staring into the face of ~pUrE eViL~ and also I spent years thinking that was a picture of Alice on the wall, not Margo peeking in the window.
I hope that you find Return more fun this go round or at least entertainingly awful?