Book Club Questions

1. How quickly did you engage with the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to get into it?
2. Which character did you feel the most empathy towards?
3. What major emotional response did the story evoke in you? When?
4. What question do you think the author was trying to find an answer to?
5. Why do you think Marlee behaved the way she did?
6. Did you like the characters and, if not, was that important?
7. Were there any characters you loved to hate?
8. Who were you gunning for and why?
9. Why did the characters do what they did? Were their actions justified?
10. Did they remind you of people you know?
11. Did the main characters change by the end of the book? If so, how?
12. Marlee said, “You worry too much—you need to learn how to live a little, at least walk to the edge where the view is better.” Do you agree with her?
13. Is living life safely healthy or unhealthy?
14. Is being a risk-taker healthy or unhealthy?
15. What main themes does the novel explore?
16. Did the author use symbols to reinforce the main ideas?
17. In this book, Elliana looks into the history of her adoption. How does adoption affect those involved?
18. What did you think the central conflict was?
19. What ironies did you discover in the novel?
20. Which were your favorite scenes or chapters?
21. Did you enjoy the Seeking Realm aspect of the writing?
22. What questions would you ask Rose?
23. Consider Marlee's and Granger's behavior. If someone is suffering, does that justify their bad behavior?
24. What do you think about Elliana dating two guys at the same time with their consent (and not kissing either)?
25. Elliana saved her first kiss for someone special. How many people do you think regret their first kiss?
26. How do people become duplicitous (like Granger and Marlee)?
27. Did the bonus chapter change anything for you?
28. In Chapter 1, Elliana complains that people think she's weak because she's nice. Is being nice a sign of weakness?
29. Elliana believed that rising up seemed to make one a target. Is there any truth to that? 
30. Elliana feels driven to find out who her parents are. How important is it to know one’s parents and have a relationship with them?
31. How do you think the use of third-person viewpoint affected the story? How would it have been different if told in first-person only?
32. Why might the author have chosen to tell the story the way he or she did—and what difference did it make in the way you read or understand it?
33. Did any passages strike you as insightful or profound? Perhaps a bit of funny or poignant dialogue that encapsulates a character?
34. What did the title come to mean to you by the end of the novel?
35. Were you satisfied with the book’s ending? What do you think the future holds for Elliana and Cai?
36. Did the novel leave any questions open-ended that you would have liked to have known the answer to?
37. Had you read reviews before reading the book? If so, did you agree with the reviewers or not?
38. If you had to halve the size of your book collection, would this book stay or go?
39. If you could ask the author one question, what would it be?
40. If there were a Book 2, who or what should be the focus?