Here, you’ll find some questions to use if you are reading the novel Scented for your book club. These questions are not included in the current ebook or paperback, but will be added to the ebook in September 2018. As always, the book club questions do include plot points for the book, so if you hate spoilers, skip the questions until after you’ve finished the book.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- The book was set in a small town in Illinois. Did you find the setting helped add to the story of these two teenagers and their parents? Do you believe the story would have worked as well in a big city?
- This story relies on the paranormal element. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you think there are people out there who can communicate with ghosts?
- Both Bryan and Lauraline lost their mothers at young ages. How do you think that helped shape the people they became when we see them in this story?
- Jack and Bryan had a very stilted, complicated relationship. How do you think Bryan’s relationship with his father influenced his life? How do you think it influenced the story?
- Of the characters in the book, who did you find you connected with most and why?
- If you could hear this book from another character’s point of view, which character would you choose?
- Bryan’s father, Jack, and Lauraline’s father, Milton, were the opposite of each other, in terms of parenting style. Whereas Jack was laissez-faire and didn’t seem to care about his son, Milton was doting, bordering on overprotective. How do you think their parenting styles played a part in bringing Lauraline and Bryan together? And if you could give each one of them one piece of parenting advice, what would it be?
- Towards the end of the novel, Bryan smells the smell on someone close to him and elects not to tell that person. If you had Bryans ability, would you tell people? If you were the one who was going to die in three days, would you want to know?
- As the novel resolves, we learn the message that the ghost was trying to convey to Bryan: to push him toward embracing those who are alive while they’re living. Is that a message you can apply in your own life?
- Given how the book ended, what would you like to see happen next for each Bryan and Lauraline?
- How did this book affect you? Do you feel changed in any way; did it challenge your expectations or beliefs?