Brianna's bookshelf: 2023-reads en-US Sat, 29 Mar 2025 13:15:21 -0700 60 Brianna's bookshelf: 2023-reads 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg A Long Petal of the Sea 46042377 From the author of The House of the Spirits, this epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home.

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

Together with two thousand other refugees, they embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.� As unlikely partners, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, and over the course of their lives, they will face trial after trial. But they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they will be exiles no more. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers. ]]>
325 Isabel Allende Brianna 3 4.03 2019 A Long Petal of the Sea
author: Isabel Allende
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction, translated
review:

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Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 150260809
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]>
895 Rebecca Yarros Brianna 0 what the f*ck 4.56 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/26
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi, meh
review:
what the f*ck
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The Thin Man 10303018 The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.]]> 208 Dashiell Hammett Brianna 2 3.99 1934 The Thin Man
author: Dashiell Hammett
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1934
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/25
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers, meh, american-lit
review:
The movie is a masterpiece; the book is mediocre, with some bright spots.
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<![CDATA[The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom, #4)]]> 211081097
Newly crowned as king, Keris has watched, powerless, as his forbidden relationship with Zarrah is revealed. But when Zarrah is imprisoned by the empress, Keris knows there is only one way to save her: to ally with the kingdom he nearly destroyed.

Imprisoned on the dreaded Devil’s Island, Zarrah faces two choices: prove her loyalty to the empress who condemned her or die a traitor. Yet as she struggles to survive among violent prisoners, Zarrah uncovers a third path: a rebellion to overthrow tyranny entwined with a destiny she must fight to claim.

While the empress plots a war with devastating consequences, Keris and Zarrah must find their way back to each other. Yet their greatest adversary is the fiery passion between them. Unless they overcome the bitterness of betrayal, their love will not be the bringer of peace but rather the fuel that turns the Endless War into an inferno.]]>
576 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975278 Brianna 3 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.17 2023 The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom, #4)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Inadequate Heir (The Bridge Kingdom, #3)]]> 211081102 Return to the world of The Bridge Kingdom in this sensuous fantasy full of romance and intrigue that is perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Silver Flames.

A soldier raised as heir to an empire, Zarrah is motivated by two truths. The first is that the Veliant family murdered her mother. And the second is that her pursuit of vengeance will put every last one of them in their graves.

The Endless War between Maridrina and Valcotta has raged for generations, leaving thousands of Zarrah’s people dead and countless more orphaned. So when she’s given command of the contested city of Nerastis, Zarrah is prepared to do whatever it takes to destroy the Maridrinian forces who oppose her. And to kill the Veliant prince who leads them.

Yet a chance encounter with an anonymous, and handsome, Maridrinian causes Zarrah to question whether the violence she’s perpetrated is justice or a crime. And as she continues to meet the nameless man each night, she finds common ground - and fiery passion - in his arms.

But when identities are revealed, Zarrah must decide whether to embrace a chance at peace…or march to the drums of war.]]>
673 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975243 Brianna 4 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.06 2022 The Inadequate Heir (The Bridge Kingdom, #3)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/04
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom, #2)]]> 211081092
A queen now in exile as a traitor, Lara has watched Ithicana be conquered by her own father, helpless to do anything to stop the destruction. But when she learns her husband, Aren, has been captured in battle, Lara knows there is only one reason her father is keeping him alive: as bait for his traitorous daughter.

And it is bait she fully intends to take.

Risking her life to the Tempest Seas, Lara returns to Ithicana with a plan not only to free its king, but for liberating the Bridge Kingdom from her father's clutches using his own weapons: the sisters whose lives she spared. But not only is the palace inescapable, there are more players in the game than Lara ever realized, enemies and allies switching sides in the fight for crowns, kingdoms, and bridges. But her greatest adversary of all might be the very man she's trying to free—the husband she betrayed.

With everything she loves in jeopardy, Lara must decide who—and what—she is fighting for: her kingdom, her husband, or herself.]]>
416 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975219 Brianna 4 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.17 2020 The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom, #2)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)]]> 211081101
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara's homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.

Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save� and which kingdom she’ll destroy.

Passionate and violent, The Bridge Kingdom is a seductive fantasy perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]>
430 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975189 Brianna 5 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.01 2018 The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/23
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Notorious Lord Knightly: A Novel (The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction #2)]]> 62829154 Who is the villainous Lord K? New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath's next novel in The Masters of Seduction series where revenge is best served hot...

A scandalous book by an anonymous author takes London by storm, and everyone is convinced its villainous "Lord K" is the greatly admired Earl of Knightly. Heartbroken that he left her at the altar, Miss Regina Leyland impulsively sought revenge by revealing the true Knightly to the world but never expected the uproar to bring enemies to her door. To keep her identity hidden, she must trust the one man with the power to destroy her.

Furious to be the object of notoriety and gossip, Knightly confronts the lady he suspects of penning the tome only to discover she is no longer the na�ve innocent he was forced to betray, but a woman of strength and conviction, who will bow before no man.

Knightly and Regina pretend a reconciliation to salvage their reputations and throw the ton off their scent. But false friendship soon turns to powerful passion. When truths emerge, threatening all they hold dear, they must face the consequences of their past if their story is ever to deserve its happily ever after.]]>
378 Lorraine Heath 0063114682 Brianna 4 4.20 2023 The Notorious Lord Knightly: A Novel (The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction #2)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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A Little Life 25852828 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship� (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST � MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST � WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE �

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.]]>
816 Hanya Yanagihara 0804172706 Brianna 1 2023-reads 4.36 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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All the Dangerous Things 60829269 Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things.

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.

Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust... including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.]]>
320 Stacy Willingham 1250803861 Brianna 4 4.13 2023 All the Dangerous Things
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/19
date added: 2024/08/13
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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My Cousin Rachel 29759152
I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn ...Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet ...might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?]]>
352 Daphne du Maurier Brianna 4 4.11 1951 My Cousin Rachel
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/02
date added: 2024/08/13
shelves: 2023-reads, british-lit, classics, covers-i-love, crime-mystery-thrillers, gothic-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[The Counterfeit Scoundrel (The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction, #1)]]> 61303977 New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath begins a compelling new spin-off series, The Masters of Seduction, centering around three heroes--Knight, Bishop, and Rook--who play to win at any cost.


Born into an aristocratic family, yearning for a life beyond Society's strictures, Marguerite "Daisy" Townsend is an enterprising sleuth. Hired to obtain proof of a wife's infidelity, she secures a position in the household of the woman's lover, never expecting to be lured into the seductive blackguard's arms herself.

Devilishly handsome, David Blackwood, known widely as Bishop, quickly realizes the enticing maid is interested in far more than dusting. She aims to uncover his sins. Although tempted by the dangerous beauty, he can't risk her learning the his affairs are chaste. As a boy who witnessed his mother's abusive relationship, Bishop now helps desperate wives escape unhappy marriages.

Yet when he is accused of murdering the husband of a "paramour," he is forced to seek Daisy's assistance in proving his innocence. As their perilous search draws them into a web of deceits, they can no longer deny their simmering desire. Once secrets are revealed, will Daisy's counterfeit scoundrel give up the scandalous games he plays and surrender his heart into her keeping?]]>
377 Lorraine Heath 006311464X Brianna 0 4.05 2023 The Counterfeit Scoundrel (The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction, #1)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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Even If I Fall 38822871
When Brooke encounters Calvin’s younger brother, Heath, on the side of the road and offers him a ride, everything changes. She needs someone to talk to…and so does Heath. No one else understands what it’s like. Her brother, alive but gone; his brother, dead but everywhere. Soon, they’re meeting in secret, despite knowing that both families would be horrified if they found out. In the place of his anger and her guilt, something frighteningly tender begins to develop, drawing them ever closer together.

But when a new secret comes out about the murder, Brooke has to choose whose pain she’s willing to live with—her family’s or Heath’s. Because she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t heal one without hurting the other.]]>
346 Abigail Johnson 1335541551 Brianna 4 2023-reads, young-adult 4.10 2019 Even If I Fall
author: Abigail Johnson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/29
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: 2023-reads, young-adult
review:

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Where the Lost Wander 51815479 In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.



The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.

When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t turn back, they ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t go on, and they ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.]]>
349 Amy Harmon 1542017971 Brianna 0 4.42 2020 Where the Lost Wander
author: Amy Harmon
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/27
date added: 2023/12/27
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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None of This Is True 62334530
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]>
390 Lisa Jewell 1982179007 Brianna 4 4.08 2023 None of This Is True
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/26
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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<![CDATA[Burying Water (Burying Water, #1)]]> 18687114
Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.

The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.]]>
354 K.A. Tucker 1476774188 Brianna 0 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.12 2014 Burying Water (Burying Water, #1)
author: K.A. Tucker
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Overkill 60763822 Ěý
Four years later, Rebecca's attacker, Eban—the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta—gets an early release from prison. The ludicrous miscarriage of justice reeks of favoritism, and Kate Lennon, a brilliant state prosecutor, is determined to put him back behind bars. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if her condition were to change—if she were to die—Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder.
Ěý
It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. He rejects Kate’s legal standpoint but ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t resist their ill-timed attraction to each other. Eban, having realized the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca—and the end of his freedom.Ěý]]>
416 Sandra Brown 1538752018 Brianna 4 3.78 2022 Overkill
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/23
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves: crime-mystery-thrillers, 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)]]> 61053518
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.]]>
416 Rick Riordan Brianna 4 4.39 2005 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/21
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: 2023-reads, fairytales-mythology
review:

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Emily's Quest 40799874 As Emily grows as a writer and learns to deal with the loneliness of having her closest friends gone, life at New Moon changes. Mr. Carpenter, Emily's most truthful critic and favorite teacher dies (warning Emily, even as he dies to "Beware --- of --- italics."). She becomes closer to Dean Priest, even as she fears he wants love when she only has friendship to give. Worst of all, Emily and Teddy become distant as he focuses on building his career and she hides her feelings behind pride.]]> 258 L.M. Montgomery Brianna 3 2023-reads 3.00 1927 Emily's Quest
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/20
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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Emily Climbs (Emily, #2) 41124109 288 L.M. Montgomery Brianna 4 2023-reads, favorites 4.55 1925 Emily Climbs (Emily, #2)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves: 2023-reads, favorites
review:

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<![CDATA[Emily of New Moon (Emily of New Moon, #1)]]> 13625748 Librarian's Note: This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN: 055323370X

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely -- until her beloved father died. Now Emily's an orphan, and her mother's snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She's sure she won't be happy. Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends: with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who's sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon.]]>
339 L.M. Montgomery Brianna 3 2023-reads 4.32 1923 Emily of New Moon (Emily of New Moon, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1923
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/17
date added: 2023/12/17
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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The Nightingale 25587463 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250080400.

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939


In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.]]>
590 Kristin Hannah Brianna 0 4.69 2015 The Nightingale
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.69
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/14
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]>
390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Brianna 3 2023-reads 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]>
541 Suzanne Collins Brianna 4 2023-reads 3.99 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/30
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)]]> 8423493
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before... and surprising readers at every turn.]]>
439 Suzanne Collins Brianna 4 2023-reads 4.43 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]>
374 Suzanne Collins Brianna 4 young-adult, 2023-reads 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/05
date added: 2023/12/05
shelves: young-adult, 2023-reads
review:

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Indigo Ridge (The Edens, #1) 55926057
According to her pops, all she has to do is earn favor with the Edens. But winning over the town’s founding family might have been easier if not for her one-night stand with their oldest son. In her defense, it was her first night in town and she didn’t realize that the rugged and charming man who wooed her into bed was Quincy royalty.

Sleeping with Griffin Eden was a huge mistake, one she’s trying to forget. He’s insufferable, arrogant and keeps reminding everyone that she’s an outsider. Winslow does her best to avoid Griffin, but when a woman is found dead on Eden property, the two of them have no choice but to cross paths.

As clues to the murderer lead to one of Quincy’s own, Griffin realizes Winslow is more than he gave her credit for. Beautiful and intelligent, she proves hard to resist. For him. And the killer.]]>
340 Devney Perry Brianna 0 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.15 2021 Indigo Ridge (The Edens, #1)
author: Devney Perry
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/14
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Lord of Temptation (The Lost Lords of Pembrook, #2)]]> 12741888 Three young heirs, imprisoned by an unscrupulous uncle, escaped—to the sea, to the streets, to faraway battle—awaiting the day when they would return to reclaim their birthright.

Once upon a time, he was Lord Tristan Easton—now he is Crimson Jack, a notorious privateer beholden to none, whose only mistress is the sea. But all that will change when exquisite Lady Anne Hayworth hires his protection on a trip into danger and seduction.

Desperation brought Anne to the bronzed, blue-eyed buccaneer. But after the Captain demands a kiss as his payment, desire will keep her at his side. She has never known temptation like this—but to protect her heart, she knows she must leave him behind. Yet Tristan cannot easily forget the beauty—and when they meet again in a London ballroom, he vows he won't lose her a second time, as fiery passion reignited takes them into uncharted waters that could lead the second lost lord home.]]>
384 Lorraine Heath 0062100025 Brianna 0 3.93 2012 Lord of Temptation (The Lost Lords of Pembrook, #2)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/03
date added: 2023/11/03
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Hopeless (Chestnut Springs, #5)]]> 193390906 I'm the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

He's thirty-five and all man, I'm twenty-two and all . . . virgin. He's also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.

We start out as a bet. He doesn't believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.

It's a win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family's prying, and I get a chance to shed my family's reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.

He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can't keep my hands off of him in public.

But it's what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines . . .

It's what transpires behind closed doors that doesn't feel like pretending at all . . .

This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

He once told me he'd never fall in love.

And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.]]>
552 Elsie Silver 0349437750 Brianna 0 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.02 2023 Hopeless (Chestnut Springs, #5)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/28
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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The Woman in Me 63133205 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]>
288 Britney Spears 1668009048 Brianna 0 2023-reads, nonfiction 3.83 2023 The Woman in Me
author: Britney Spears
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/24
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves: 2023-reads, nonfiction
review:

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Chill Factor 6382168 Librarian’s note: This is a previously-published edition of
Kindle ASIN: B000FCKBPM.


Romantic suspense abounds in this gripping new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown, in which a successful magazine editor is trapped in her remote cabin with a man believed to be a serial killer.

Cleary, North Carolina, is a sleepy mountain town—the kind of place where criminal activity is usually limited to parking violations. Not so, lately. Four women have disappeared from Cleary over the past two years. And there’s always a blue ribbon left near the spot where each of the women was last seen. There are no bodies, no other clues, and no suspicion as to who their abductor might be. And now, another woman has disappeared without a trace.

It is to this backdrop that Lilly Martin returns to close the sale of her mountain cabin, marking the end of her turbulent eight-year marriage to Dutch Burton, Cleary’s chief of police. Dutch’s reluctance to let her go isn’t Lilly’s only obstacle. As she’s trying to outrun a snowstorm, her car skids on the icy road and strikes a man who emerges from the woods on foot. She recognizes the injured man as Ben Tierney, whom she’d met the previous summer. They’re forced to wait out the storm in the cabin, but as the hours of their confinement mount, Lilly begins to wonder if the greatest danger to her safety isn’t the blizzard outside, but the mysterious man right beside her.

Is Ben Tierney the feared abductor? Or is he who he claims to be...her rescuer from harm and from the tragedy that haunts her?

The compelling characters, sexual tension, and stunning plot twists in Sandra Brown’s Chill Factor combine to create a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end.]]>
562 Sandra Brown Brianna 0 4.12 2005 Chill Factor
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2023/10/19
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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Identity 62061351 The #1 New York Times-bestselling author's terrifying new thriller about one man's ice-cold malice, and one woman's fight to reclaim her life.

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan's job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.

Soon, a horrific truth It was Morgan who let the monster in. „Luke� is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate murder.

What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn't flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away.]]>
439 Nora Roberts 1250284325 Brianna 3 2023-reads 4.58 2023 Identity
author: Nora Roberts
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/11
date added: 2023/10/11
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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Mean Streak 20760597 Librarian’s note: This is a previously-published edition of
Kindle ASIN: B00HQ2N52K.


Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a paediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.

While police suspect Jeff of 'instant divorce', Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won't even tell her his name. She's determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive.

As her husband's deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead - and from heartbreak.

Combining the nail-biting suspense and potent storytelling that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best loved authors, MEAN STREAK is a wildly compelling novel about love, deceit, and the choices we must make in order to survive.]]>
417 Sandra Brown Brianna 0 4.17 2014 Mean Streak
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/05
date added: 2023/10/05
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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Play Dirty 30403 #1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown is back with a gripping story of obsession and its deadly consequences.

After five long years in federal prison, Griff Burkett is a free man. But the disgraced Cowboys quarterback can never return to life as he knew it before he was caught cheating. In a place where football is practically a religion, Griff committed a cardinal sin, and no one is forgiving.

Foster Speakman, owner and CEO of SunSouth Airlines, and his wife, Laura, are a golden couple. Successful and wealthy, they lived a charmed life before fate cruelly intervened and denied them the one thing they wanted most -- a child. It's said that money can't buy everything. But it can buy a disgraced football player fresh out of prison and out of prospects.

The job Griff agrees to do for the Speakmans demands secrecy. But he soon finds himself once again in the spotlight of suspicion. An unsolved murder comes back to haunt him in the form of his nemesis, Stanley Rodarte, who has made Griff's destruction his life's mission. While safeguarding his new enterprise, Griff must also protect those around him, especially Laura Speakman, from Rodarte's ruthlessness. Griff stands to gain the highest payoff he could ever imagine, but cashing in on it will require him to forfeit his only chance for redemption...and love.

Griff is now playing a high-stakes game, and at the final whistle, one player will be dead.

Play Dirty is Sandra Brown's wildest ride yet, with hairpin turns of plot all along the way. The clock is ticking down on a fallen football star, who lost everything because of the way he played the game. Now his future -- his life -- hinges on one last play.

]]>
416 Sandra Brown 0743289358 Brianna 0 3.90 2007 Play Dirty
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/01
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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<![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]>
528 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Brianna 0 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/14
date added: 2023/09/14
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi, tiktok-made-me-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI]]> 30298108 Ěý
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,� roamed � virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.]]>
354 David Grann Brianna 4 2023-reads, nonfiction 4.13 2017 Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
author: David Grann
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/08
date added: 2023/09/08
shelves: 2023-reads, nonfiction
review:

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<![CDATA[The Things We Leave Unfinished]]> 53345408 Told in alternating timelines, The Things We Leave Unfinished examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t bring ourselves to see coming.

Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce—the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother’s estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He’s just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she’ll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he’s the one to finish her grandmother’s final novel…even if the publisher swears he’s the perfect fit.

Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn’t much the “golden boyâ€� of modern fiction hasn’t accomplished. But he ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t walk away from what might be the best book of the century—the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another.

But as they read Scarlett’s words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book—it’s based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn’t a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she’s as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother’s mistakes—even if it means destroying Noah’s career.]]>
473 Rebecca Yarros 1682815889 Brianna 4 4.46 2021 The Things We Leave Unfinished
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/02
date added: 2023/09/02
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[Whisky Business (The Macabe Brothers, #1)]]> 98924172
As a child, April Sinclair dreamt of escaping her quiet island life to become a world-famous actress. Now fully grown and with her once-flourishing career at an all-time low, what better way to figure out where it all went wrong than to go back to the beginning? April has her sights set on a new challenge, and that is saving her family’s distillery on the idyllic Scottish Isle of Skye.

What she doesn’t expect to find is Malcolm Macabe, short-tempered and exceedingly attractive, living in the home she has just inherited. He may be a million miles away from the shy teenager she knew growing up, but one thing is for certain: he doesn’t want her around anymore.

Master distiller Mal has three loves in his life: Whisky, his dog and silence. He has no time for the pampered princess poking her nose around his distillery, even if said princess is the one who got away. More comfortable in the shadows than the spotlight, Mal is content to wait her out. She’ll grow bored and run back to her glamorous world of nail salons and take-away coffee eventually. When sparks begin to fly, he tells himself it doesn’t matter…because April Sinclair could never want a man like him, right?]]>
352 Elliot Fletcher Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.95 Whisky Business (The Macabe Brothers, #1)
author: Elliot Fletcher
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/31
date added: 2023/08/31
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Knockout (Hell's Belles, #3) 63874598 New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the next Hell’s Belles novel about a chaotic bluestocking and the buttoned-up detective enlisted to keep her out of trouble (spoiler: She is the trouble).

With her headful of wild curls and wilder ideas and an unabashed love of experiments and explosives, society has labeled Lady Imogen Loveless peculiar…and doesn’t know she’s one of the Hell’s Belles—a group of vigilantes operating outside the notice of most of London.

Thomas Peck is not most of London. The brilliant detective fought his way off the streets and into a promising career through sheer force of will and a keen ability to see things others miss, like the fact that Imogen isn’t peculiar…she’s pandemonium. If you ask him, she requires a keeper. When her powerful family discovers her late-night activities, they couldn’t agree more…and they know just the man for the task.

Thomas wants nothing to do with guarding Imogen. He is a grown man with a proper job and no time for the lady’s incendiary chaos, no matter how lushly it is packaged. But some assignments are too explosive to pass up, and the gruff detective is soon caught up in Imogen’s world, full of her bold smiles and burning secrets…and a fiery passion that threatens to consume them both.]]>
404 Sarah MacLean 0063056798 Brianna 4 4.15 2023 Knockout (Hell's Belles, #3)
author: Sarah MacLean
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/25
date added: 2023/08/25
shelves: 2023-reads, favorite-hrs, historical-romance
review:

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Red, White & Royal Blue 41150487
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]>
448 Casey McQuiston 1250316774 Brianna 2 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.06 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/22
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Out on a Limb 126855557
That is until she has a one-night stand with the incredibly charming Bo, a perfect stranger. And that one night changes everything.

While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win finds herself unsure of whether she can handle this new challenge on her own or if she’ll need a helping hand.

Together, Win and Bo decide to get to know one another as friends and nothing more. But, as they both should know by now, life rarely goes according to plan.



Content sexual content, pregnancy and symptoms of pregnancy, brief discussion of abortion (pro-choice stance, not performed), ableism in reference to a limb difference, verbally abusive ex-partner (no reappearance), death of a parent (past, off page) depression and suicide (past, off page), cancer (past, not reoccurring), amputation (referenced, past)]]>
408 Hannah Bonam-Young Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.49 2023 Out on a Limb
author: Hannah Bonam-Young
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:
It was cute but...I'm confused because where was the plot?
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Out of Nowhere 64653698 Author Sandra Brown returns with a fast-paced, emotional thriller where the lives of a young mother and a high-rolling consultant collide under devastating circumstances—culminating in a desperate manhunt that will change their futures forever.

At a Texas county fair, amidst carousels and a bustling midway, children’s book author Elle Portman is enjoying a rare night out with her favorite cowboy: her two-year-old son, Charlie. But just as they’re about to head home, the unthinkable happens: a shooter opens fire into the crowd, causing widespread panic to erupt all around them.

Also caught in the melee was corporate consultant Calder Hudson. Arrogant, self-centered, and high off his latest career win, he’s frustrated and confused when he wakes up in the hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on his arm. The doctor tells him that he was lucky—that as far as gunshot wounds go, he pulled through remarkably well. Others weren’t so lucky, which instills in Calder a furious determination to get justice . . . a goal shared by Elle.

Their chance encounter at the police station leads to a surprising and inexplicable gravitation to one another, but even as the attraction grows, Elle and Calder ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t help but wonder if the unimaginable tragedy that brought them together is too painful and too complicated to sustain—especially while the shooter remains at large.]]>
448 Sandra Brown Brianna 4 4.38 2023 Out of Nowhere
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/13
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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<![CDATA[Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright, #1)]]> 195580026
Callum Griffin is the heir to the Irish Mafia. He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me.

We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house.

Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare.

I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps.

This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.

But I’ve got a lockbox around my heart. Because even if I’m forced to marry him�

I could never love a brutal prince.

“Brutal Prince� is the explosive first act in the epic “Brutal Birthright� series. It’s a stand-alone Dark Mafia Romance, complete with HEA and no cliffhangers. It contains blazing hot bedroom scenes for mature readers only!!!]]>
376 Sophie Lark Brianna 0 contemp-romance, 2023-reads 3.61 2020 Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright, #1)
author: Sophie Lark
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/11
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: contemp-romance, 2023-reads
review:

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Blind Tiger 56625109 The year 1920 comes in with a roar in this rousing and suspenseful novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown. Prohibition is the new law of the land, but murder, mayhem, lust, and greed are already institutions in the Moonshine Capitol of Texas.

Thatcher Hutton, a war-weary soldier on the way back to his cowboy life, jumps from a moving freight train to avoid trouble . . . and lands in more than he bargained for. On the day he arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher, the only stranger in town, is suspected of her abduction, and worse. Standing between him and exoneration are a corrupt mayor, a crooked sheriff, a notorious cathouse madam, a sly bootlegger, feuding moonshiners . . . and a young widow whose soft features conceal an iron will.

What was supposed to be a fresh start for Laurel Plummer turns to tragedy. Left destitute but determined to dictate her own future, Laurel plunges into the lucrative regional industry, much to the dislike of the good ol� boys, who have ruled supreme. Her success quickly makes her a target for cutthroat competitors, whose only code of law is reprisal. As violence erupts, Laurel and—now deputy—Thatcher find themselves on opposite sides of a moonshine war, where blood flows as freely as whiskey.]]>
512 Sandra Brown 1538751968 Brianna 4 4.02 2021 Blind Tiger
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/09
date added: 2023/08/09
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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White Hot 19439560 452 Sandra Brown 1444732684 Brianna 4 4.28 2004 White Hot
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/06
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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After the Night 420739 FAITH DEVLIN: A poor, outcast child in Prescott, Louisiana, she'd always adored the town's golden boy from afar. But he called her white trash that sultry Southern night when his rich, respected father disappeared, along with her pretty Mom. Now Faith wanted to hate Gray Rouillard...not to feel a powerful surge of desire. But she couldn't quench her passion, any more than she could hide the truth about the past she had waited so long to unravel.
GRAY ROUILLARD: Even when he raised hell, he did it with style. Reckless, charming, and backed by Rouillard money, Gray controlled the town of Prescott -- and Devlin was a name he never wanted to hear again. But when he gazed at Faith Devlin, all he saw was a swirl of tangled sheets and her silken flesh beneath him. To care for her was impossible, unthinkable...because Gray Rouillard planned to use all his power to ruin her.]]>
352 Linda Howard 0671019708 Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.06 1995 After the Night
author: Linda Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:
don't mind me while I eat up these 1990s southern soap operas like they're candy
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Slow Heat in Heaven 17449352
The adopted daughter of the most powerful man in town, Schyler Crandall left Heaven, Louisiana, a broken-hearted girl. Now a crisis has brought her home to a family in conflict, a logging empire on the brink of disaster, and seething secrets that make Heaven hotter than hell.

Still there are her beautiful younger sister, Tricia, with her cruel lies. . .Ken, Tricia's handsome husband, who married the wrong sister. . .Jigger, the pimp and ruffian with plans of his own. . .and Cash, proud, mysterious, and complex. It is dangerous for Schyler to even be near him, yet she must dare to confront the past -- if there is to be any peace in Heaven.]]>
467 Sandra Brown Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.28 1988 Slow Heat in Heaven
author: Sandra Brown
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/04
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels, #1)]]> 24993219 They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards—dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster�

STEALING BEAUTY
Dorian Blackwell, the Blackheart of Ben More, is a ruthless villain. Scarred and hard-hearted, Dorian is one of London’s wealthiest, most influential men who will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on those who’ve wronged him…and will fight to the death to seize what he wants. The lovely, still innocent widow Farah Leigh Mackenzie is no exception—and soon Dorian whisks the beautiful lass away to his sanctuary in the wild Highlands�

COURTING DESIRE
But Farah is no one’s puppet. She possesses a powerful secret—one that threatens her very life. When being held captive by Dorian proves to be the only way to keep Farah safe from those who would see her dead, Dorian makes Farah a scandalous proposition: marry him for protection in exchange for using her secret to help him exact revenge on his enemies. But what the Blackheart of Ben More never could have imagined is that Farah has terms of her own, igniting a tempestuous desire that consumes them both. Could it be that the woman he captured is the only one who can touch the black heart he’d long thought dead?]]>
379 Kerrigan Byrne 1466887400 Brianna 0 4.25 2015 The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels, #1)
author: Kerrigan Byrne
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/02
date added: 2023/08/03
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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Broadway Butterfly 64651182 432 Sara DiVello 1662510144 Brianna 3 3.97 2023 Broadway Butterfly
author: Sara DiVello
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/01
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers, historical-fiction
review:

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You, with a View 59737396 Two weeks on the road... stuck in a car with your high-school enemy.

Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram's past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information - and it goes viral.

Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother's secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on.

Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There's just one problem - Paul's grandson is Noelle's frustratingly handsome high-school rival Theo.

And Theo has to come, too.

It's only two weeks. Surely Noelle can survive that long? But with one car between them - and often only one bed - it doesn't take long for things to heat up...
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352 Jessica Joyce 059354840X Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.05 2023 You, with a View
author: Jessica Joyce
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/26
date added: 2023/07/26
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline, and the New Generation - A Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy]]> 41433280 From New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli comes The Kennedy Heirs, his most revealing Kennedy book yet.

A unique burden was inherited by the children of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his celebrated siblings, Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy. Raised in a world of enormous privilege against the backdrop of American history, this third generation of Kennedys often veered between towering accomplishment and devastating defeat. In his revelatory new book, acclaimed Kennedy historian J. Randy Taraborrelli draws back the curtain on the next generation of America's most famous family.

John Kennedy, Jr.'s life in the public eye is explored, following the Kennedy scion as he faced the challenges posed by marrying his great love, Carolyn Bessette. Riveting new details are shared about the couple's tragic demise--and why Ethel Kennedy advised Carolyn not to take the trip that would ultimately end her life. John's sister, Caroline Kennedy, had her own complicated relationships, including a marriage to Ed Schlossberg that surprised her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and an unexpected bond with her mother-in-law, Mae Schlossberg.

Additional stories, many shared here for the first time, illuminate the rest of the Kennedy dynasty: Kara Kennedy, Ted's daughter, and her valiant battle against lung cancer; how Ted's wife, Vicki, introduced a new era of feminism to the Kennedy family; the lifelong struggles with addiction faced by Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy; the unexpected way pop star Taylor Swift helped Conor Kennedy heal after the death of his mother, Bobby's wife Mary; and Congressman Joe Kennedy III's rise to prominence. At the center of it all is the family's indomitable matriarch, Ethel Kennedy--a formidable presence with her maddening eccentricities and inspiring courage.

Based on hundreds of exclusive first-hand interviews and cultivated over twenty years of research--including numerous oral histories from the JFK Library and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute--The Kennedy Heirs is an epic drama of ambition, scandal, pride and power.]]>
606 J. Randy Taraborrelli 1250174066 Brianna 3 2023-reads, nonfiction Thinking they’d have a future together, she’d actually started doodling “Taylor Swift Kennedy� on a notepad just to see how it looked—and it looked pretty good.
Taylor Alison Swift - she's just like us!]]>
4.10 2019 The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline, and the New Generation - A Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy
author: J. Randy Taraborrelli
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: 2023-reads, nonfiction
review:
Thinking they’d have a future together, she’d actually started doodling “Taylor Swift Kennedy� on a notepad just to see how it looked—and it looked pretty good.

Taylor Alison Swift - she's just like us!
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Mrs. Nash's Ashes 62296523
Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.

She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion.

After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone.

But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.]]>
352 Sarah Adler 0593547799 Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.99 2023 Mrs. Nash's Ashes
author: Sarah Adler
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/19
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Agency for Scandal (The Agency for Scandal, #1)]]> 61398112 528 Laura Wood 0702303240 Brianna 4 4.27 2023 The Agency for Scandal (The Agency for Scandal, #1)
author: Laura Wood
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/18
date added: 2023/07/18
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)]]> 60784546 After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again�

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands � that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper � an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]>
357 Rebecca Ross 1250857430 Brianna 3 4.14 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/17
date added: 2023/07/17
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi, meh
review:
More of a 2.5 star read. This book was utterly disappointing. I was looking forward to it so much, but I found that most of it felt rushed -the plotline, the romance, everything. And because of it, nothing felt developed and I found myself disconnected from everything.
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<![CDATA[The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)]]> 6547259 Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the final empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness � the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists � is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Meanwhile, Vin is consumed with guilt at accidentally releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well.

The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfils all the promise of the first two books, in a finale unmatched for originality and audacity.]]>
748 Brandon Sanderson 0575089946 Brianna 3 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.58 2008 The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/14
date added: 2023/07/14
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)]]> 12968706
Worryingly for her Vin has become the focus of a new religion, a development that leaves her intensely uneasy. More worryingly still the mists have become unpredictable since the Lord Ruler died and a strage vaprous entity is stalking Vin.

As the siege of Luthadel intensifies the ancient legend of the Well of Ascension offers the only glimmer of hope. But no-one knows where it is or what it can do...]]>
804 Brandon Sanderson Brianna 4 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.44 2007 The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/10
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)]]> 12968705 Brandon Sanderson's epic fantasy trilogy overturns the expectations of readers and then goes on to tell the epic story of evil overturned in a richly imagined world.

A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash fields.

But now a troublemaker has arrived and there is rumour of revolt. A revolt that depends on criminal that no-one can trust and a young girl who must master Allomancy - the magic that lies in all metals.

A word of mouth success in the states the Mistborn trilogy has, this year, broken onto the New York Times Bestseller list. The time is ripe for its success to cross the Atlantic.]]>
676 Brandon Sanderson Brianna 5 4.50 2006 The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi, favorites
review:
dang i guess brandon sanderson isn't overrated after all
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<![CDATA[Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane, #1)]]> 8699810 A man controlled by his desires . . .

Infamous for his wild, sensual needs, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, is searching for a savage killer in St. Giles, London's most notorious slum. Widowed Temperance Dews knows St. Giles like the back of her hand - she's spent a lifetime caring for its inhabitants at the foundling home her family established. Now that home is at risk . . .

A woman haunted by her past . . .

Caire makes a simple offer - in return for Temperance's help navigating the perilous alleys of St. Giles, he will introduce her to London's high society so that she can find a benefactor for the home. But Temperance may not be the innocent she seems, and what begins as cold calculation soon falls prey to a passion that neither can control -
one that may well destroy them both.

A bargain neither could refuse.]]>
401 Elizabeth Hoyt Brianna 3 3.93 2010 Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane, #1)
author: Elizabeth Hoyt
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: historical-romance, 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)]]> 15808621 My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view � a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived ... until Kvothe.

In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

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1107 Patrick Rothfuss 0756407915 Brianna 3 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.54 2011 The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/29
date added: 2023/06/29
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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<![CDATA[Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)]]> 124933932 Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider. Notorious ladies� man. Scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package.

And he’s looking at me like I might be his next meal.

But I’m almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look back is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak.

The man is hard to trust—and even harder to resist.

Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defenses.

Over a drink in a small town bar, I blurt out my deepest, darkest secrets. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

He worships my body. He makes me blush. I come alive beneath his hands.

Then I tell him to forget it ever happened. I want simple, and with him it all feels complicated.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.]]>
432 Elsie Silver 0349437726 Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.36 2023 Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/17
date added: 2023/06/17
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)]]> 2495567 My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature--the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

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722 Patrick Rothfuss 0756404746 Brianna 4 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.43 2007 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/16
date added: 2023/06/16
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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Cry No More 6499627 Count your blessings; they can be snatched away in an instant. It is a sentiment Milla Edge knows too well. With an astonishing blend of savvy, instinct, and passion, Milla displays an uncanny gift for finding lost children. When all seems helpless, desperate souls from across the country come to her for hope and results. Driven by an obsessive desire to fill the void in other people’s lives, Milla throws herself into every case–all the while trying to outrun the brutal emotions stemming from a horrific tragedy in her past.

Traveling to a small village in Mexico on a reliable tip, Milla begins to uncover the dire fate of countless children who have disappeared over the years in the labyrinth of a sinister baby-smuggling ring. The key to nailing down the organization may rest with an elusive one-eyed man. To find him, Milla joins forces with James Diaz, a suspicious stranger known as the Tracker who conceals his own sinister agenda.

As the search intensifies, the mission becomes more treacherous. For the ring is part of something far larger and more dangerous, reaching the highest echelons of power and influence. Caught between growing passion and imminent peril, Milla suddenly finds herself the hunted–in the crosshairs
of an invisible, lethal assassin who aims to silence her permanently.

Intense emotion...potent suspense...pounding action.]]>
392 Linda Howard Brianna 4 4.35 2003 Cry No More
author: Linda Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/22
date added: 2023/06/16
shelves: contemp-romance, crime-mystery-thrillers, favorites, 2023-reads
review:

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A Flicker in the Dark 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]>
357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 Brianna 4 3.96 2022 A Flicker in the Dark
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/09
date added: 2023/06/14
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers
review:

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<![CDATA[Powerless (Chestnut Springs, #3)]]> 108519097 But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.
To his fans, he’s the handsome, talented athlete on TV. But to me he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold.
The man I’ve loved in secret for years.
So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I’m there to return the favor.
But the more time we spend alone, the more Jasper doesn’t feel like a friend at all. He feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and thought I could never have.
Our feelings aren’t straight forward though. They twist and turn around the pain of his past and the reality of my present.
Jasper Gervais acts like he wants me.
But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it.]]>
496 Elsie Silver 034943770X Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.94 2023 Powerless (Chestnut Springs, #3)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/22
date added: 2023/05/22
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[A Photo Finish (Gold Rush Ranch, #2)]]> 57722155 I’ve seen every square inch of Violet Eaton’s delectable body and she has no idea who I am.

Until now.

What happened between us online, in our chats, was meant to stay anonymous and in the past.

Until it didn’t.

It’s a small world, but Ruby Creek is even smaller. When I move to the tiny town, the grumpy facade I’ve created slips when we’re forced to live under the same roof.

Every flush of her cheeks, every time her eyes flare with heat, every time she begs me not to stop, the ice I’ve encased myself in melts. She has me wanting things I ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t want. Things I’ve been dreaming about since I first laid eyes on her two years ago—things I don’t deserve.

But my invisible wounds have the power to ruin us both. As a former soldier, I should have the discipline to walk away, but the more I open up to Violet, the more I want to keep her.

I came back from the war a different man, but my scars are older and deeper than anyone knows—and I planned to keep it that way. I planned to keep my secrets hidden.

Until her.]]>
420 Elsie Silver Brianna 3 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.06 2021 A Photo Finish (Gold Rush Ranch, #2)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/20
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)]]> 108519099 Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t keep my eyes off him. And he ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t keep his hands off of me.Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes. He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist?But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him.Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms.My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months.But my heart says this is forever.]]> 464 Elsie Silver 0349437688 Brianna 0 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.35 2022 Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/15
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)]]> 108519100 The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t stop running.A mouth I ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t stop thinking about.Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.She says this means nothing.I say this means everything.She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart.I say I’m going to steal it anyway.]]> 416 Elsie Silver 034943767X Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.95 2022 Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/12
date added: 2023/05/12
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Throttled (Dirty Air, #1) 61306529 What happens when my brother's rival becomes my secret crush?

Noah Slade is a Formula 1 legend in the making.
Focused. Unapproachable. Ruthless on and off the track.
A man with walls higher than the Grand Canyon.
And my brother's new teammate.

Despite everyone warning me to stay away from Noah, I can't resist the man hiding behind a mask of indifference.
I want more of the villain disguised as a prince.
His passion. His pain. His flaws and insecurities.

Except while I search for my happy ending, he wants to destroy his.

Throttled is a standalone romance packed with action, steam, and banter.]]>
404 Lauren Asher Brianna 2 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.48 2020 Throttled (Dirty Air, #1)
author: Lauren Asher
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2023/05/10
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)]]> 62015945 A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin�-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass� scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,â€� and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t refuse.]]>
417 Abby Jimenez 1538704412 Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.38 2023 Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/04
date added: 2023/05/04
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)]]> 58684524
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]>
389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 Brianna 4 2023-reads, contemp-romance 4.26 2022 Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/02
date added: 2023/05/02
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Happy Place 61718053
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t stand to break their friendsâ€� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one weekâ€� in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.]]>
400 Emily Henry 0593441273 Brianna 2 2023-reads, contemp-romance 3.95 2023 Happy Place
author: Emily Henry
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/04/30
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: 2023-reads, contemp-romance
review:

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Morning Glory 987577
ELLY
In town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule--she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way.

WILL
He drifted into Whitney, Georgia, one lazy afternoon in the summer of 1941, hoping to put his lonely past behind him. He yearned for the tenderness he had never known, the home he'd never had. All he needed was for someone to give him a chance.

Then he saw her classified ad: WANTED--A husband. When he stepped across Elly Dinsmore's cluttered yard, Will Parker knew he had come home at last ...]]>
480 LaVyrle Spencer 0586210415 Brianna 4 4.25 1989 Morning Glory
author: LaVyrle Spencer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/25
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:
I really have no clue how to rate this book because I thoroughly enjoyed probably 80% of it. It's a slow-burn romance about two lonely people finding each other at the eve of World War II. But while LaVyrle Spencer is a very good writer and I know this book is dated, I couldn't get past the continued Madonna/whore comparison between Elly and Lula, and that–combined with Will's desire to be mothered by his wife–was just very odd to read about in 2023. I'm settling on four stars since I did enjoy most of it, but it's probably closer to 3.5.
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Meant to Be 59357142 400 Emily Giffin 0425286657 Brianna 3 2023-reads Taylor Jenkins Reid writes more original stories than this. It's not that I hate reading stories based off of real life people, families, or events, but I find it extremely cheap when the fictional stories are so incredibly close to the true stories I could read about instead. It also felt disrespectful to John F. Kennedy, Jr and Carolyn Bessette to read this fictionalized, happily-ever-after account of their love story.]]> 4.08 2022 Meant to Be
author: Emily Giffin
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: 2023-reads
review:
Taylor Jenkins Reid writes more original stories than this. It's not that I hate reading stories based off of real life people, families, or events, but I find it extremely cheap when the fictional stories are so incredibly close to the true stories I could read about instead. It also felt disrespectful to John F. Kennedy, Jr and Carolyn Bessette to read this fictionalized, happily-ever-after account of their love story.
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Hang the Moon 61272702
Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans.

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.]]>
368 Jeannette Walls 1501117297 Brianna 3 3.67 2023 Hang the Moon
author: Jeannette Walls
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/28
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[Return to Satterthwaite Court (Somerset Stories)]]> 122497204
Lieutenant Charles Heywood has had his fill of adventure. Battle-weary and disillusioned, he returns to England, resolved to settle down to a quiet, uneventful life on an estate of his own. But arranging to purchase the property he desires is more difficult than Charles ever imagined. The place is mired in secrets, some of which may prove deadly. If he’s going to unravel them, he’ll need the assistance of someone as daring as he is.

At only twenty, Lady Katherine Beresford has already earned a scandalous reputation. As skilled with pistols as she is on horseback, she’s never met an obstacle she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t surmount—or a man she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t win. That is, until she encounters the infuriatingly somber Lieutenant Heywood. But Kate refuses to be deterred by the raven-haired soldier’s strong, silent facade. After all, faint heart never won handsome gentleman.

From the wilds of rural Somersetshire to the glittering ballrooms of early-Victorian London, Charles and Kate embark on a cross-country quest to solve a decades� old mystery. Will the greatest danger be to their hearts—or to their lives?]]>
298 Mimi Matthews 1736080245 Brianna 3 3.80 2023 Return to Satterthwaite Court (Somerset Stories)
author: Mimi Matthews
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/21
date added: 2023/04/21
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners, #2)]]> 197743 Why is Lady Sophia looking for a lover?
And could she seduce the most marriageable man in London?

Lady Sophia Sydney would do anything to ensnare the unattainable Sir Ross Cannon. Her goal: to ruin his reputation and cause a scandal that would be the talk of all London. So she insinuates herself into his life by gaining his trust and living in his house.

Every morning, her lush presence tempts him beyond all reason . . . the way she bends over the table to serve him the meals she has prepared . . . the way her hands oh, so gently—yet sensuously—brush against him. Every night, she promises with her eyes—and her body—that the hours before dawn could be spent in unbridled passion instead of restless sleep—if only he'd let her share his bed.

She knows he is falling more in love with her each day. But she never counted on falling in love with him. And she never dreamed he might very respectably ask for her hand in marriage.]]>
377 Lisa Kleypas 0380811065 Brianna 0 3.94 2002 Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners, #2)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/18
date added: 2023/04/18
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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Someone to Watch Over Me 24290132 There is a previously published cover edition for this ASIN here.


Grant Morgan is one of London's most eligible and unattainable bachelors. He's also a powerful member of the Bow Street Runners, and when he's called to the waterfront late one night to investigate a drowning victim, Grant is stunned to recognize the face of Vivien Rose Duvall, a well-known woman of the night. He's even more startled when he realizes that she's alive. With no one to care for her, Grant carries Vivien to his home and revives her, only to learn that she is suffering from amnesia.

Vivien hesitantly accepts her handsome rescuer's claim that she is his mistress, despite her misgivings about her true identity. Nevertheless, she can't deny the marks on her throat that prove her near-drowning in the Thames was not an accident, and now she must trust the man who claims her as his paramour, for her life is in danger. As Grant searches for Vivien's attacker, the two find themselves falling in love, all the while struggling to stay one step ahead of the evil forces that will stop at nothing to see Vivien dead.]]>
384 Lisa Kleypas Brianna 2 3.98 1998 Someone to Watch Over Me
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1998
rating: 2
read at: 2023/04/16
date added: 2023/04/17
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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The Hotel Nantucket 59227941 Ěý
Filled with the emotional tension and multiple points of view that characterize Elin's books (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages.Ěý]]>
416 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258679 Brianna 0 2023-reads, summer-books 4.01 2022 The Hotel Nantucket
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/11
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves: 2023-reads, summer-books
review:

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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]>
352 J.K. Rowling Brianna 4 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/21
date added: 2023/04/08
shelves: rereads, fantasy-sci-fi, 2023-reads
review:

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Every Summer After 60026536 Ěý
They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.

Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.
Ěý
When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.Ěý

Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love andĚýthe people and choices that mark us forever.]]>
320 Carley Fortune Brianna 3 4.36 2022 Every Summer After
author: Carley Fortune
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/08
date added: 2023/04/08
shelves: contemp-romance, meh, tiktok-made-me-read, 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgertons, #3)]]> 23287496
Who was that extraordinary woman? Ever since that magical night, a radiant vision in silver has blinded Benedict to the attractions of any other—except, perhaps, this alluring and oddly familiar beauty dressed in housemaid's garb whom he feels compelled to rescue from a most disagreeable situation. He has sworn to find and wed his mystery miss, but this breathtaking maid makes him weak with wanting her. Yet, if he offers her his heart, will Benedict sacrifice his only chance for a fairy tale love?]]>
390 Julia Quinn 0062353659 Brianna 0 4.13 2001 An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgertons, #3)
author: Julia Quinn
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/04
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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Strangers in the Night 61102577 It was the tumultuous romance that scandalized the world: Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner fought, loved, and lived life to the hilt. Now their unbridled story is brought vividly to life by Heather Webb, the bestselling author of Meet Me in Monaco and The Next Ship Home.


In the golden age of Hollywood, two of the brightest stars would define--and defy--an era...

She was the small-town southern beauty transformed into a Hollywood love goddess. He was the legendary crooner whose voice transfixed the world. They were Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. Separately they were irresistible; together they were an explosive combination.

Ava's star is rising just as Frank's career--and public image as a family man--is taking a hit. Gone are the days of the screaming bobbysoxers and chart-topping hits. Ava, however, finds herself gracing the front page of every tabloid in America. Jealousy and cheating abound, and when the two succumb to their temperaments and their vices, their happiness is threatened at every turn.

As the pair ride the rollercoaster of success and failure, passion and anger, they both wonder if the next turn will be the end of their careers, and most devastating of all--the end of all they've shared.

A captivating novel with a star-studded cast spanning continents and decades, Strangers in the Night brings to life the most riveting love story of the twentieth century.


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432 Heather Webb 0063004186 Brianna 2
� 2.5 stars]]>
3.81 2023 Strangers in the Night
author: Heather Webb
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:
Some love stories shouldn't be made into novels.

� 2.5 stars
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<![CDATA[The Lady Gets Lucky (The Fifth Avenue Rebels, #2)]]> 56817015 Following The Heiress Hunt, beloved author Joanna Shupe continues her new Fifth Avenue Rebels series with a scandalous romance about a good girl desperate to rebel and the rebel desperate to corrupt her.

A first-rate scoundrel.

A desperate wallflower.

Lessons in seduction.

The woman no one notices . . .

Shy heiress Alice Lusk is tired of being overlooked by every bachelor. Something has to change, else she’ll be forced to marry a man whose only desire is her fortune. She needs to become a siren, a woman who causes a man’s blood to run hot . . .and she’s just met the perfect rogue to help teach her.

He’s the life of every party . . .

Christopher “Kit� Ward plans to open a not-so-reputable supper club in New York City, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to hire the best chef in the city to guarantee its success. Even if it requires giving carnal lessons to a serious-minded spinster who has an in with the chef.

Their bedroom instruction grows passionate, and Alice is a much better pupil than Kit had ever anticipated. When the Society gentlemen start to take notice, Kit has to try to win Alice in other ways . . . but is he too late to win her heart?Ěý]]>
391 Joanna Shupe 0063045052 Brianna 3 4.06 2021 The Lady Gets Lucky (The Fifth Avenue Rebels, #2)
author: Joanna Shupe
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/27
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Promise Me Forever (Lost Lords, #3)]]> 5959695
Now a sinfully handsome would-be gentleman has arrived in London—and Lauren nearly swoons when she realizes it is her Tom, grown to magnificent manhood. He has come to claim his lost title as Earl of Sachse . . .and to fulfill an oath once made by two young lovers beneath a long-ago moon, a scandalous promise no proper lady would dare honor.

Lauren could never love a staid and stifling lord, and Tom's future is the aristocracy. So she will teach him their ways before she exits his life forever. But the wildness she adored still lives in Tom's heart—and he will not rest until he proves to the proud, resisting beauty that "forever" is a promise that must be kept . . .]]>
368 Lorraine Heath Brianna 3 4.19 2006 Promise Me Forever (Lost Lords, #3)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/24
date added: 2023/03/24
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[A Matter of Temptation (Unforgettable Love, #1)]]> 58725067
Simon Loughton, the Earl of Creswick, needs help if he wants to finally pass the reform bill he’s been championing for years and secure the vote for England’s most vulnerable constituents. Too bad help comes in the form of a woman with breathtaking nerve, fiery red hair, and a sense of humor to match.

Now temptation—disguised as a lovely, clever-mouthed devil—lives and works under Simon’s very roof. And Mina finally feels as though she’s truly living life to her wildest dreams. But even the most incendiary of kisses ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t incinerate Mina’s past…or the shocking secret that could ruin them both.]]>
400 Stacy Reid 1649370962 Brianna 3 3.97 2022 A Matter of Temptation (Unforgettable Love, #1)
author: Stacy Reid
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/20
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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Some Mistakes Were Made 55818239 You ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t always go home again.

Ellis and Easton have been inseparable since childhood. But when a rash decision throws Ellis’s life—and her relationship with Easton� into chaos she’s forced to move halfway across the country, far from everything she’s ever known.

Now Ellis hasn’t spoken to Easton in a year, and maybe it’s better that way; maybe eventually the Easton shaped hole in her heart will heal. But when Easton’s mother invites her home for a celebration, Ellis finds herself tangled up in the web of heartache, betrayal, and anger she left behind... and with the boy she never stopped loving.]]>
384 Kristin Dwyer 0063088533 Brianna 3 2023-reads, young-adult 3.90 2022 Some Mistakes Were Made
author: Kristin Dwyer
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/20
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: 2023-reads, young-adult
review:

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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Brianna 4 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/17
date added: 2023/03/17
shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, rory-gilmore-list, 2023-reads, rereads
review:

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<![CDATA[A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell, #8)]]> 61260992 Veronica must find and stop a devious killer when a group of old friends is targeted for death in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Veronica's natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: preparing an iguanodon for a very special dinner party.

Tiberius has received a cryptic message-along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners-that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate.

As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening's events turn deadly. More clues come to light, leading Veronica, Stoker, and Tiberius to uncover a shared past among the Sinners that has led to the fatal present. But the truth might be far more sinister than what they were prepared for.]]>
310 Deanna Raybourn 0593545923 Brianna 4 4.13 2023 A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell, #8)
author: Deanna Raybourn
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/14
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves: 2023-reads, crime-mystery-thrillers, historical-fiction
review:

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Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]>
461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Brianna 4 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi 4.00 2019 Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/12
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves: 2023-reads, fantasy-sci-fi
review:

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The Plague of Doves 10137688 The Plague of Doves—the first part of a loose trilogy that includes the National Book Award-winning The Round House and LaRose—is a gripping novel about a long-unsolved crime in a small North Dakota town and how, years later, the consequences are still being felt by the community and a nearby Native American reservation.

Though generations have passed, the town of Pluto continues to be haunted by the murder of a farm family. Evelina Harp—part Ojibwe, part white—is an ambitious young girl whose grandfather, a repository of family and tribal history, harbors knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.

Bestselling author Louise Erdrich delves into the fraught waters of historical injustice and the impact of secrets kept too long.]]>
352 Louise Erdrich 0061736589 Brianna 3 3.62 2008 The Plague of Doves
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/06
date added: 2023/03/06
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois]]> 51183428 Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.

The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,� a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s Problem on her shoulders.

Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother’s family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.

To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself.]]>
816 Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 006294293X Brianna 5 2023-reads 4.51 2021 The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
author: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/23
date added: 2023/02/23
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons, #6)]]> 50172892 She wants lessons in seduction

Althea Stanwick was a perfect lady destined to marry a wealthy lord, until betrayal left her family penniless. Though she’s lost friends, fortune, and respectability, Althea has gained a scandalous plan. If she can learn to seduce, she can obtain power over men and return to Society on her terms. She even has the perfect teacher in mind, a man whose sense of honor and dark good looks belie his nickname: Beast.

But desire like this ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t be taught

Benedict Trewlove may not know his parentage but he knows where he belongs—on the dark side of London, offering protection wherever it’s needed. Yet no woman has ever made such an outrageous request as this mysterious beauty. Althea is out of place amongst vice and sin, even if she offers a wicked temptation he ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t resist. But as the truth of his origin emerges at last, it will take a fierce, wild love to overcome their pasts.]]>
384 Lorraine Heath 0062951939 Brianna 4 4.09 2020 Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons, #6)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/22
date added: 2023/02/22
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Earl Takes a Fancy (Sins for All Seasons, #5)]]> 44557428 New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath pens another richly satisfying romance in her Sins for all Seasons series.

She’s looking for a nobleman to wed�

Though born out of wedlock, Fancy Trewlove is determined to fulfill her mother’s wish that she marry into nobility. Fancy’s keen intellect and finishing school manners make her the perfect wife for any gentleman—if he’s willing to overlook her scandalous lineage. But Fancy’s plans are thrown into chaos when an intriguing commoner begins visiting her bookshop—and she finds herself unable to stop thinking about him.

He’s looking to escape his title�

Widowed just a year ago, the reclusive Matthew Sommersby, Earl of Rosemont, has been besieged by women hoping to become his next wife. Desperate for anonymity, he sheds Society life to search for the peace that eludes him. Fancy’s shop is his one refuge, until the night their passion erupts into a kiss that nearly leads to her ruin—and leaves both longing for much more.

Together, they discover an unlikely love�

As Fancy finds herself torn between her family’s expectations and her growing feelings for Matthew, secrets are exposed—secrets that force Fancy to question if she can trust her heart’s desire...]]>
403 Lorraine Heath 0062951882 Brianna 4 3.85 2020 The Earl Takes a Fancy (Sins for All Seasons, #5)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/17
date added: 2023/02/17
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Duchess in His Bed (Sins for All Seasons, #4)]]> 41745477
For a duchess with practical desires, falling in love is an inconceivable part of her plan�

As owner of the Elysium Club which caters to women's fantasies, Aiden Trewlove is accustomed to introducing adventurous ladies to sin and vice. But he is uncharacteristically intrigued by the mysterious beauty who visits his club one night, yearning to indulge in the forbidden—with him. Drawn to her indomitable spirit, he breaks his rule of never becoming personally involved with his clientele and is determined to fully awaken her desires.

A recent widow, Selena Sheffield, Duchess of Lushing, has never known passion, not until Aiden's slow, sensual seduction leads her on a journey of discovery and incredible pleasure. But her reasons for visiting the notorious club are not all that they seem.

As Selena's motives become complicated by love, she finds herself with a most unexpected choice: forge ahead with a secret plan that could secure her future—or follow her heart which could prove ruinous.]]>
400 Lorraine Heath 0062676075 Brianna 2 2023-reads 3.58 2019 The Duchess in His Bed (Sins for All Seasons, #4)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/16
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[The Scoundrel in Her Bed (Sins for All Seasons, #3)]]> 38594296
Driven by a past that haunts her, Lady Lavinia Kent seeks redemption in London’s underworld, engaged in a daring cause inspired by the young man to whom she gave her innocence, and who then proved himself a scoundrel by abandoning her.

When their paths cross again, they ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t deny the yearning and desire that still burns. As they discover the truth behind the deceptions that tore them apart, Finn and Lavinia must fight to reclaim what they’ve lost, no matter how dangerous—because love is worth the risk . . .]]>
386 Lorraine Heath 0062676032 Brianna 4 3.88 2019 The Scoundrel in Her Bed (Sins for All Seasons, #3)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/12
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[When a Duke Loves a Woman (Sins for All Seasons, #2)]]> 35564579
Being left at the altar is humiliating; being rescued from thugs by a woman—albeit a brave and beautiful one—is the pièce de résistance to the Duke of Thornley’s extraordinarily bad day. After nursing him back from the brink, Gillie agrees to help him comb London’s darker corners for his wayward bride. But every moment together is edged with desire and has Thorne rethinking his choice of wife. Yet Gillie knows the aristocracy would never accept a duchess born in sin. Thorne, however, is determined to prove to her that no obstacle is insurmountable when a duke loves a woman.]]>
287 Lorraine Heath 0062676040 Brianna 3 3.88 2018 When a Duke Loves a Woman (Sins for All Seasons, #2)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/09
date added: 2023/02/09
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[Beyond Scandal and Desire (Sins for All Seasons, #1)]]> 35068744 legitimate son—and woo the heir’s betrothed into his own unloving arms . . .

Orphaned and sheltered, Lady Aslyn Hastings longs for a bit of adventure. With her intended often preoccupied, Aslyn finds herself drawn to a darkly handsome entrepreneur who seems to understand her so well. Surely a lady of her station should avoid Mick Trewlove. If only he weren’t so irresistible . . .

As secrets are about to be exposed, Mick must decide if his plan for vengeance is worth risking what his heart truly desires.]]>
384 Lorraine Heath 0062676016 Brianna 4 3.91 2018 Beyond Scandal and Desire (Sins for All Seasons, #1)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/04
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves: 2023-reads, historical-romance
review:

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<![CDATA[The Return of the Duke (Once Upon a Dukedom, #3)]]> 59450147 In the thrilling third book in New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath's Once Upon a Dukedom series, the dashing son of a disgraced duke teams up with a sultry beauty to thwart an assassination plot against Queen Victoria.

When his father, the Duke of Wolfford, is hanged for an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, Marcus Stanwick is stripped of everything. Vowing to return honor to his family, he seeks to expose the others involved in the treasonous plot and bring them to justice. His search forces him to turn to a woman he despises for her unforgiveable betrayal--a woman known as the heartless harlot.

Harboring secrets, Esme Lancaster has her own reasons for wanting to discover who's behind the conspiracy that's still afoot. She doesn't trust Marcus but can't deny the handsome devil makes her wonder if she does indeed possess a heart, one he could very easily steal.

As their hunt for the truth leads them into danger, Marcus finds Esme isn't cold and calculating as he'd assumed but fire and brimstone, with courage and determination to match his own. Soon, they're unable to deny their growing desire for each other. But giving into temptation comes at a cost, and they must decide if love is worth the risk of losing their one chance for redemption.

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384 Lorraine Heath 0063114593 Brianna 3 2023-reads 3.80 2022 The Return of the Duke (Once Upon a Dukedom, #3)
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/03
date added: 2023/02/03
shelves: 2023-reads
review:

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I Must Betray You 58887254 A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.

Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.

Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.

Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?

Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys is back with a historical thriller that examines the little-known history of a nation defined by silence, pain, and the unwavering conviction of the human spirit.]]>
335 Ruta Sepetys 1984836056 Brianna 4 4.47 2022 I Must Betray You
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/21
date added: 2023/01/21
shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, 2023-reads
review:

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Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]>
410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Brianna 0 2023-reads, nonfiction 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/15
date added: 2023/01/21
shelves: 2023-reads, nonfiction
review:

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