en-US Mon, 30 Dec 2019 20:19:28 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Raleigh 4 4.35 2018
author: Delia Owens
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
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]]> 42931497 An unlikely pair teams up to investigate a brutal murder in a haunting thriller that walks the line between reality and impossibility.

When small-town police officers discover the grave of a young boy, they're quick to pin the crime on a convicted felon who lives nearby. But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she's just getting started.

Meanwhile, college professor Eric Evans hallucinates a young boy in overalls: a symptom of his schizophrenia - or so he thinks. But when more bodies turn up, Eric has more visions, and they mirror details of the murder case. As the investigation continues, the police stick with their original conclusion, but Susan's instincts tell her something is off. The higher-ups keep stonewalling her, and the FBI's closing in.

Desperate for answers, Susan goes rogue and turns to Eric for help. Together they take an unorthodox approach to the case as the evidence keeps getting stranger. With Eric's hallucinations intensifying and the body count rising, can the pair separate truth from illusion long enough to catch a monster?]]> 302 Vivian Barz 1542041643 Raleigh 5 4.06 2019
author: Vivian Barz
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
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]]> 17333223
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]> 771 Donna Tartt 0316055433 Raleigh 5 3.94 2013
author: Donna Tartt
name: Raleigh
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
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]]> 21449526
The detectives were embarrassed but they still wanted answered, "How did a 15-year-old runaway successfully pose as a world traveled countess?"

The newspapers turned it back on them, practically sneering, "How did she do it while under investigation by the FBI, DEA, and Interpol?"

The Mafia had been demanding the same thing for six months, "What is your real name?"

And the psychologists asked the question they always ask, "Why?"

It’s the why of it that will keep a girl in trouble.

Assuming Names is the true story of a young con artist. It’s the tale of a runaway that assumed the title of Countess and then went on to fool the FBI, DEA, and Interpol—as well as a number of other celebrities and institutions—with an elaborate tale of world intrigue.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Hello everyone. This is Tanya. You may find yourself reading my book and saying, “No, this did not happen.� You may be inclined to say it is too far-fetched and, quite frankly, impossible. I have provided evidence at my website that what I write is the truth. I mention it at the front of the book but it may be easy to overlook, so I am reiterating here.

At my website are copies of the newspaper and magazine articles mentioned in the book. The articles are from the Austin American Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, and Woman’s World Magazine. They are all nationally recognized media for news. Previous reviewers were concerned I may have gone to Photoshop to create them, and while my book does paint me as the sort that would do such a thing, the reality is that those media institutions would sue me into submission before the cache could be cleared.

In the end, you may not believe me, but you can surely believe what the papers wrote.]]> 280 Tanya Thompson 1311789782 Raleigh 5 3.66 2014
author: Tanya Thompson
name: Raleigh
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
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]]> 36043601
Red Russia is the story of an American businessman and his interpreter in Russia, of business, lies, and deception, of fortunes bought and told.
]]> 189 Tanya Thompson Raleigh 5 4.06 2017
author: Tanya Thompson
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
shelves:
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]]> 34879754
When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared.

A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters—letters that make her fear for her life.

Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night—and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own.

Someone knows where Anna is—and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.]]> 9 Teresa Driscoll 1543617662 Raleigh 4 3.84 2017
author: Teresa Driscoll
name: Raleigh
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
shelves:
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]]> 38096424
Germany, 1942. Franciscan friar Anton Starzmann is stripped of his place in the world when his school is seized by the Nazis. He relocates to a small German hamlet to wed Elisabeth Herter, a widow who seeks a marriage—in name only—to a man who can help raise her three children. Anton seeks something too—atonement for failing to protect his young students from the wrath of the Nazis. But neither he nor Elisabeth expects their lives to be shaken once again by the inescapable rumble of war.

As Anton struggles to adapt to the roles of husband and father, he learns of the Red Orchestra, an underground network of resisters plotting to assassinate Hitler. Despite Elisabeth’s reservations, Anton joins this army of shadows. But when the SS discovers his schemes, Anton will embark on a final act of defiance that may cost him his life—even if it means saying goodbye to the family he has come to love more than he ever believed possible.]]> 340 Olivia Hawker 1503957144 Raleigh 2 4.17 2018
author: Olivia Hawker
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/30
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]]> 35997022 The true story of a girl from the wilderness settlements of a burgeoning new America who became one of the most privileged figures of the Gilded Age.

Born to a pioneering family in Upstate New York in the late 1800s, Allene Tew was beautiful, impetuous, and frustrated by the confines of her small hometown. At eighteen, she met Tod Hostetter at a local dance, having no idea that the mercurial charmer she would impulsively wed was heir to one of the wealthiest families in America. But when he died twelve years later, Allene packed her bags for New York City. Never once did she look back.

From the vantage point of the American upper class, Allene embodied the tumultuous Gilded Age. Over the course of four more marriages, she weathered personal tragedies during World War I and the catastrophic financial reversals of the crash of 1929. From the castles and châteaus of Europe, she witnessed the Russian Revolution and became a princess. And from the hopes of a young girl from Jamestown, New York, Allene Tew would become the epitome of both a pursuer and survivor of the American Dream.]]> 226 Annejet van der Zijl 1542099749 Raleigh 4 3.86 2015
author: Annejet van der Zijl
name: Raleigh
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/24
date added: 2019/12/24
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]]> 43619901
Before sunrise, one was going to be freed in a field, the other from custody.

One would see worlds he could never dream, the other would have all his worst fears confirmed.

Night of the Rat tells the dark and comedic lengths one couple will go to rid their neighborhood of unwanted guests.
]]> 83 Tanya Thompson Raleigh 4 4.25 2019
author: Tanya Thompson
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/24
date added: 2019/12/24
shelves:
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]]> 26792006
When Nancy Cooper moved from Canada to Cary, North Carolina with her new husband Brad, their future was bright: living in one of the most picturesque towns in the US, the couple mingled with neighbors, attended parties, and raised two daughters.

Then, on July 14th, 2008, the façade came crashing down when Nancy’s strangled body was found in a storm pond.

Nancy’s husband claimed that she had gone for a jog and never come back. But as the police investigation deepened, and as Brad was brought to trial for murdering his wife, a complex web of affairs and lies was uncovered involving multiple residents of Cary’s idyllic neighborhoods. At the heart of it stood the Coopers� soured marriage, Nancy’s threat to leave with the children, and her own cold-blooded murder. It would take a mountain of damning evidence before justice was served.]]> 454 Amanda Lamb Raleigh 3 4.08 2011
author: Amanda Lamb
name: Raleigh
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2019/12/24
date added: 2019/12/24
shelves:
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