Megan's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 16:31:18 -0700 60 Megan's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Broken Country 214151202 “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.�

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> 320 Clare Leslie Hall 166807818X Megan 0 to-read 4.41 2025 Broken Country
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: Megan
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/01
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]]> The Briar Club 181110045 A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 Megan 0 currently-reading 4.26 2024 The Briar Club
author: Kate Quinn
name: Megan
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Megan 4 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Megan
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
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]]> Famous Last Words 212421066
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?

It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.

Then it starts. Breaking news: there's a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.

What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says...

Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.� (Emily Henry)]]> 336 Gillian McAllister 0063338424 Megan 0 to-read 3.71 2025 Famous Last Words
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Megan
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> Yellowface 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Megan 3 3.69 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Megan
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
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]]> The Lions of Fifth Avenue 48814109
It's 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn't ask for more out of life--her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open. As her studies take her all over the city, she finds herself drawn to Greenwich Village's new bohemia, where she discovers the Heterodoxy Club--a radical, all-female group in which women are encouraged to loudly share their opinions on suffrage, birth control, and women's rights. Soon, Laura finds herself questioning her traditional role as wife and mother. But when valuable books are stolen back at the library, threatening the home and institution she loves, she's forced to confront her shifting priorities head on . . . and may just lose everything in the process.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie Donovan struggles with the legacy of her grandmother, the famous essayist Laura Lyons, especially after she's wrangled her dream job as a curator at the New York Public Library. But the job quickly becomes a nightmare when rare manuscripts, notes, and books for the exhibit Sadie's running begin disappearing from the library's famous Berg Collection. Determined to save both the exhibit and her career, the typically risk-adverse Sadie teams up with a private security expert to uncover the culprit. However, things unexpectedly become personal when the investigation leads Sadie to some unwelcome truths about her own family heritage--truths that shed new light on the biggest tragedy in the library's history.]]> 354 Fiona Davis 1524744611 Megan 3 3.83 2020 The Lions of Fifth Avenue
author: Fiona Davis
name: Megan
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
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]]> This Tender Land 25813942
After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.]]> 450 William Kent Krueger 1476749299 Megan 4 4.35 2019 This Tender Land
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Megan
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> The Pull of the Stars 52722079
In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other's lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.

In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.]]> 295 Emma Donoghue 0316499013 Megan 0 to-read 3.91 2020 The Pull of the Stars
author: Emma Donoghue
name: Megan
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> I See You've Called in Dead 217204419 “Razor-sharp, darkly comedic, and emotionally piercing. With the satirical bite of Richard Russo’s Straight Man, the introspection of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, and the reinvention of Andrew Sean Greer's Less, Kenney’s vivid prose transforms the mundane into unexpected hilarity.�
�Booklist (starred review)

An Indie Next & LibraryReads Pick for April

The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting� man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.

As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.

Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.]]> 304 John Kenney Megan 0 to-read 4.18 2025 I See You've Called in Dead
author: John Kenney
name: Megan
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2]]> 48677941
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
]]> 162 Beth Brower Megan 0 currently-reading 4.59 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2
author: Beth Brower
name: Megan
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> 11/22/63 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane � and insanely possible � mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 Megan 0 currently-reading 4.33 2011 11/22/63
author: Stephen King
name: Megan
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
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]]> Weyward 127280850
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 392 Emilia Hart 1250842727 Megan 4 4.02 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Megan
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1]]> 52085140
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.]]> 125 Beth Brower 0998063614 Megan 3 4.23 2019 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1
author: Beth Brower
name: Megan
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Just Add Water: My Swimming Life]]> 203931794 A candid and inspiring memoir from Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and one of the best swimmers ever to compete: Katie Ledecky.

Katie Ledecky has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history. She is a three-time Olympian, a seven-time gold medalist, a twenty-one-time world champion, eight-time NCAA Champion, and a world record-holder in individual swimming events. Time and again, the question is posed to her family, her coaches, and to her—what makes her a champion? Now, for the first time, she shares what it takes to compete at an elite level.

Again and again, Ledecky has broken records: those of others and, increasingly, her own. She is both consistent and innovative—consistent at setting goals and shattering them, and innovative in the way she approaches her training. A true competitor, she sets her goals by choosing the ones that feel the scariest. But, crucially, she never sacrifices the joy of competition, even in the face of adversity. Her positive mental outlook and a great support system provides the springboard to her success.

Just Add Water charts Ledecky’s life in swimming. It details her start in Bethesda, Maryland, where she played sharks and minnows and first discovered the joy of the pool; her early foray into the Olympics at the tender age of fifteen where, as the youngest member of the American team, she stunned everyone by winning her first gold medal; her time balancing competition and her education at Stanford University; how she developed a champion’s mindset that has allowed her to persevere through so many meets, even under intense pressure; and how she has maintained her dominance in a sport where success depends on milliseconds. You learn how every element of her life—from the support of her family to the tutelage of her coaches, from her childhood spent in summer league swimming to the bright lights of Olympic pools in London, Rio, and Tokyo—set her up to become the champion she is.

In the end, Katie’s story is about testing yourself against the difficult, and seeing who you become on the other side.]]> 256 Katie Ledecky 1668060205 Megan 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Just Add Water: My Swimming Life
author: Katie Ledecky
name: Megan
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> Sisters in Science 203747797
In the 1930s, Germany was a hotbed of scientific thought. But after the Nazis took power, Jewish and female citizens were forced out of their academic positions. Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hildegard Stücklen were eminent in their fields, but they had no choice but to flee due to their Jewish ancestry or anti-Nazi sentiments.

Their harrowing journey out of Germany became a life-and-death situation that required Herculean efforts of friends and other prominent scientists. Lise fled to Sweden, where she made a groundbreaking discovery in nuclear physics, and the others fled to the United States, where they brought advanced physics to American universities. No matter their destination, each woman revolutionized the field of physics when all odds were stacked against them, galvanizing young women to do the same.

Well-researched and written with cinematic prose, Sisters in Science brings these trailblazing women to life and shows us how sisterhood and scientific curiosity can transcend borders and persist—flourish, even—in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.]]> 384 Olivia Campbell 0778333388 Megan 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Sisters in Science
author: Olivia Campbell
name: Megan
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective]]> 210129411 A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account—and how they became a cultural sensation

From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves.

Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women’s lives. She also reveals the sensational role played by the fantasy female detective in Victorian melodrama and popular fiction, enthralling a public who relished the spectacle of a cross-dressing, fist-swinging heroine who got the better of love rats, burglars, and murderers alike.

How did the morally ambiguous work of real women detectives, sometimes paid to betray their fellow women, compare with the exploits of their fictional counterparts, who always save the day? Lodge’s book takes us into the murky underworld of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the female detective as both an unacknowledged labourer and a feminist icon.]]> 384 Sara Lodge 0300277881 Megan 0 to-read 3.70 2024 The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective
author: Sara Lodge
name: Megan
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> The Berry Pickers 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]> 307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 Megan 4 4.04 2023 The Berry Pickers
author: Amanda Peters
name: Megan
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
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review:

]]> The Ministry of Time 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 Megan 0 3.54 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Megan
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read, what-should-i-read-next-recs
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]]> The Coincidence Makers 34964938 In this genre-bending novel, there is no such thing as chance and every action is carefully executed by highly trained agents. You’ll never looks at coincidences the same way again.

What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it’s all part of a bigger plan? What if there’s no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don’t know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world?

Enter the Coincidence Makers—Guy, Emily, and Eric—three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events designed to spark significant changes in the lives of their targets—scientists on the brink of breakthroughs, struggling artists starved for inspiration, loves to be, or just plain people like you and me�

When an assignment of the highest level is slipped under Guy’s door one night, he knows it will be the most difficult and dangerous coincidence he’s ever had to fulfill. But not even a coincidence maker can see how this assignment is about to change all their lives and teach them the true nature of fate, free will, and the real meaning of love.]]> 291 Yoav Blum 1250146119 Megan 0 3.81 2011 The Coincidence Makers
author: Yoav Blum
name: Megan
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read, what-should-i-read-next-recs
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]]> Middletide 199798457
One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.]]> 288 Sarah Crouch 166803509X Megan 4 3.48 2024 Middletide
author: Sarah Crouch
name: Megan
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strong Mothers, Strong Sons: Lessons Mothers Need to Raise Extraordinary Men]]> 18240204
From the moment a mother holds her newborn son, his eyes tell her that she is his world. But often, as he grows up, the boy who needs her simultaneously pushes her away. Calling upon thirty years of experience as a pediatrician, Meg Meeker, M.D., a highly sought after national speaker, assistant professor of clinical medicine, and mother of four, shares the secrets that every mother needs to know in order to strengthen—or rebuild—her relationship with her son.

Boys today face unique challenges and pressures, and the burden on mothers to guide their boys through them can feel overwhelming. This empowering book offers a road map to help mothers find the strength and confidence to raise extraordinary sons by providing encouragement, education, and practical advice about

� the need for mothers to exercise courage and be bolder and more confident about advising and directing their boys
� the crucial role mothers play in expressing loveto sonsin healthy ways so they learn to respect and appreciate women as they grow up
� the importance of teaching sons about the values of hard work, community service, and a well-developed inner life
� the natural traps mothers of boys often fall into—and how to avoid them
� the need for a mother to heal her own wounds with the men in her life so she can raise her son without baggage and limitations
� the best ways to survive the moments when the going gets tough and a mom’s natural ways of communicating—talking, analyzing, exploring—only fuel the fire

When a mother holds her baby boy for the first time, she also instinctively knows something else: If she does her job right and raises her son with self-esteem, support, and wisdom, he will become the man she knows he was meant to be.]]> 368 Meg Meeker 0345518098 Megan 3 3.86 2014 Strong Mothers, Strong Sons: Lessons Mothers Need to Raise Extraordinary Men
author: Meg Meeker
name: Megan
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> By Any Other Name 203337138 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 528 Jodi Picoult 0593497228 Megan 4 4.12 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Megan
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
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]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Megan 5 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Megan
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:
So well done on audio! Pip reminded me a little of Nancy Drew.
]]> <![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)]]> 51335759
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> 413 Holly Jackson 1405297751 Megan 0 to-read 4.26 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Megan
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hypnotist's Love Story 23751850
Braced for the worst, Ellen is pleasantly surprised. It turns out that Patrick's ex-girlfriend is stalking him. Ellen thinks, "Actually, that's kind of interesting." She's dating someone worth stalking. She's intrigued by the woman's motives. In fact, she'd even love to meet her.

Ellen doesn't know it, but she already has.]]> 446 Liane Moriarty 0425260933 Megan 0 to-read 3.66 2011 The Hypnotist's Love Story
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Megan
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way]]> 29
From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation; Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use.

Bill Bryson's classic Mother Tongue is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language.]]> 270 Bill Bryson 0380715430 Megan 3 3.91 1990 The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
author: Bill Bryson
name: Megan
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[At Home: A Short History of Private Life]]> 7507825
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.� The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.
(front flap)]]> 497 Bill Bryson 0767919386 Megan 5 3.98 2010 At Home: A Short History of Private Life
author: Bill Bryson
name: Megan
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
My first re-read! I love everything Bill Bryson writes but this one is my favorite.
]]> All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Megan 5 4.23 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Megan
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:
The writing style reminded me of Frederick Backman in the Beartown series. The story was reminiscent of Demon Copperhead. I had a hard time tracking all the characters but the ending was so satisfying. I would be willing to reread this book in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering]]> 216857785
Why is Miami…Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena.

Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.]]> 352 Malcolm Gladwell 0316575801 Megan 0 to-read 4.03 2024 Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Megan
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Good Dirt 213618132 The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that's exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family's history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.]]> 368 Charmaine Wilkerson 0593358368 Megan 0 to-read 4.04 2025 Good Dirt
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Megan
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Megan 0 to-read 4.46 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Megan
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rom-Commers 195790586 She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.� Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?]]> 336 Katherine Center 1250283809 Megan 0 to-read 4.06 2024 The Rom-Commers
author: Katherine Center
name: Megan
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Babel 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Megan 0 to-read 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Megan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction]]> 61239984
Willful and determined, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. As a member of the French Resistance in World War II she survived imprisonment by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she defied two of the most daunting leaders of the postwar world, Egypt’s President Abdel Nasser and France’s President Charles de Gaulle. As she told one reporter, “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know.�

Desroches-Noblecourt also received help from a surprising source. Jacqueline Kennedy, America’s new First Lady, persuaded her husband to help fund the rescue effort. After a century and a half of Western plunder of Egypt’s ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt helped instead to preserve a crucial part of that cultural heritage.]]> 448 Lynne Olson 052550947X Megan 0 to-read 4.16 2023 Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction
author: Lynne Olson
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sandwich 200028726 From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.]]> 240 Catherine Newman 0063345161 Megan 3 3.55 2024 Sandwich
author: Catherine Newman
name: Megan
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Am N: Inspiring Stories of Christians Facing Islamic Extremists]]> 25785110 Abdulmasi kills hundreds of Christians in northern Nigeria with no remorse—until the day he chooses a new life of faith and sacrifices everything for a God of love.
What can we learn from these faith-filled brothers and sisters around the world? How can we pray for them? And what do their remarkable stories teach us about a God whose light shines in a dark world?

I Am N reminds us that we are each “N”—as radical Muslims in Iraq identify followers of Jesus the Nazarene. Wherever we live, we have camaraderie with those who are persecuted. So come meet their families. Read their stories. Deepen your faith in a God who gives us the courage to shine in a dark and hurting world.]]> 304 The Voice of the Martyrs 1434709876 Megan 0 to-read 4.40 2016 I Am N: Inspiring Stories of Christians Facing Islamic Extremists
author: The Voice of the Martyrs
name: Megan
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Medicine Woman of Galveston]]> 197522445 In a uniquely vivid story of women in medicine, found family, and conquering fear for readers of Kristin Hannah, Ellen Marie Wiseman, and Audrey Blake, an impoverished former doctor and her disabled son join a traveling medicine show and its family of strangers on a collision course with the deadliest natural disaster in American history � the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. From the acclaimed author of The Nurse's Secret and The Second Life of Mirielle West.

Once a trailblazer in the field of medicine, Dr. Tucia Hatherley hasn’t touched a scalpel or stethoscope since she made a fatal mistake in the operating theater. Instead, she works in a corset factory, striving to earn enough to support her disabled son. When even that livelihood is threatened, Tucia is left with one option—to join a wily, charismatic showman named Huey and become part of his traveling medicine show.

Her medical license lends the show a pretense of credibility, but the cures and tonics Tucia is forced to peddle are little more than purgatives and bathwater. Loathing the duplicity, even as she finds uneasy kinship with the other misfit performers, Tucia vows to leave as soon as her debts are paid and start a new life with her son—if Huey will ever let her go.

When the show reaches Galveston, Texas, Tucia tries to break free from Huey, only to be pulled even deeper into his schemes. But there is a far greater reckoning ahead, as a September storm becomes a devastating hurricane that will decimate the Gulf Coast—and challenge Tucia to recover her belief in medicine, in the goodness of others—and in herself.]]> 384 Amanda Skenandore 1496741684 Megan 2 3.73 2024 The Medicine Woman of Galveston
author: Amanda Skenandore
name: Megan
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
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]]> The Outlaw Noble Salt 195511946 From New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon comes a sweepingly romantic tale of risk, redemption, and what happens when America’s most famous outlaw falls in love.

When infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy decides to go straight, he discovers that too many of the powerful men he crossed won’t let bygones be bygones. To have a chance at a new life, he’ll have to become someone else entirely.

A brief, fateful encounter with the celebrated singer Jane Touissant on the eve of his escape offers a glimpse of what might have been, but Butch disappears, leaving her behind, until their paths unexpectedly converge again in Paris.

Despite having discovered his true identity, Jane trusts the outlaw and enlists his protection on her upcoming American tour. Although Butch is reluctant to agree, fearing his sordid past may put the woman and her young son in danger, the salvation she offers is too hard to resist.

As they set forth on their journey, Butch’s past and Jane’s secrets put them at risk from threats far greater than the law, and this legend of the American West will have to decide what matters most—his life, his legacy, or the woman he loves.]]> 364 Amy Harmon 1662514441 Megan 0 to-read 4.41 2024 The Outlaw Noble Salt
author: Amy Harmon
name: Megan
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Is Not Forgiven (Detectives Kenda & Wilson, #1)]]> 123029184 When murder is your business, solving the case is personal �

The Homicide Hunter’s riveting debut novel proves that fiction really can be stranger than truth �

All Is Not Forgiven is the debut crime novel by television star Joe Kenda, a former homicide detective, whose hit series Homicide Hunter and Homicide Hunter: American Detective air on Investigation Discovery, the #1 true crime channel available in more than 80 million homes.

In this first novel, the rookie Det. Kenda investigates a 1975 case that begins with the murder of a beloved Colorado philanthropist and society figure whose husband, a gambler and womanizer, appears to have an air-tight alibi.

Mentored by his veteran partner Det. Lee Wilson, a former Nashville singer turned skilled investigator, Kenda’s case quickly attracts attention from the FBI, CIA, and Interpol, for its similarity to a string of killings involving wealthy married women. All the murders appear to have been committed by a hired professional whose trademark is the use of an unusual form of lethal ammunition that leaves no trace.

Detectives Kenda and Wilson travel across the country, following leads to Las Vegas and a mob “made man� pit boss who moonlights as a matchmaker for hit men. In this first extraordinary case, the detectives join a full law-enforcement blitz to track down a twisted killer who has made murder his business.]]> 238 Joe Kenda Megan 3 3.53 2023 All Is Not Forgiven (Detectives Kenda & Wilson, #1)
author: Joe Kenda
name: Megan
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves:
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]]> Playing Nice 49078674 What if you found out that your family isn't yours at all? How far would you go to protect them? A gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl Before. . . .

Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.

The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.

They are done playing nice.]]> 416 J.P. Delaney 1984821342 Megan 0 did-not-finish 3.99 2020 Playing Nice
author: J.P. Delaney
name: Megan
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
Did not finish. Read 44% and was really not enjoying the switched at birth storyline.
]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Megan 4 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Megan
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor]]> 123266603 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account." � Publishers Weekly

A U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor; a Japanese spy ordered to Hawaii to gather information on the American fleet. On December 7, 1941, their hidden stories are exposed by a morning of bloodshed that would change the world forever. Scrutinizing long-buried historical documents, NCIS star Mark Harmon and co-author Leon Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, have brought forth a true-life NCIS story of deception, discovery, and danger.

Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island's residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet.

Douglas Wada's experiences in his native Honolulu include posing undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate, and interrogating America's first captured POW of World War II, a submarine officer found on the beach. Takeo Yoshikawa is a Japanese spy operating as a junior diplomat with the consulate who is collecting vital information that goes straight to Admiral Yamamoto. Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu's gripping depiction of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of the second world war.

Also caught in the upheaval are Honolulu's innocent residents - including Douglas Wada's father - who endure the war's anti-Japanese fervor and a cadre of intelligence professionals who must prevent Hawaii from adopting the same destructive mass internments as California.

Ghosts of Honolulu depicts the incredible high stakes game of naval intelligence and the need to define what is real and what only appears to be real.]]> 272 Mark Harmon 1400337011 Megan 3 3.58 2023 Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
author: Mark Harmon
name: Megan
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:
This book was enlightening about how the Pearl Harbor attack was not as much as of a surprise as I had previously thought. A deliberate plan was in place for when hostilities broke out between Japan and the US. It was hard to keep track of who was narrating the events and whether it was from a present day or in the moment perspective.
]]> <![CDATA[Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, #3)]]> 40611999 Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war.

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible � and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them�

Career of Evil is the third in the series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A mystery and also a story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.]]> 609 Robert Galbraith 0316349925 Megan 3 4.22 2015 Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, #3)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Megan
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed the experience of reading this book, but at the end, there were several scenes too outlandish to believably fit into the rest of the book. I had a difficult time keeping all the characters straight. Despite my critiques, it did evoke strong emotions.
]]> Barbara Isn't Dying Yet 61936081
With biting humour and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and house-husband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara. Little by little, Walter’s rough facade begins to crumble—and with it his old certainties about his life and family.]]> 0 Alina Bronsky 1787704505 Megan 0 to-read 3.61 2021 Barbara Isn't Dying Yet
author: Alina Bronsky
name: Megan
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Within Arm's Reach 203086569 A tender and perceptive novel about three generations of an Irish American family jarred into crisis by an unexpected pregnancy—from the bestselling author of Hello Beautiful.

No one in my mother’s family ever talks about anything that can be categorized as unpleasant or as having to do with emotions. . . .

This spellbinding debut by bestselling author Ann Napolitano is a poignant reminder of how connected we are to those we love, even when we cannot find the words to say it. The unforgettable story of three generations of a large Irish Catholic family, Within Arms Reach is another rich and deeply satisfying novel from the author who captured the many dimensions of grief in Dear Edward and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood in Hello Beautiful.]]> 332 Ann Napolitano 0593732502 Megan 4 3.73 2004 Within Arm's Reach
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Megan
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
The multi-generational family drama was enjoyable and reminded me a lot of Hello Beautiful. Some plot points seemed underdeveloped, but when I learned she wrote this book 20 years ago, that made sense for a first novel.
]]> A House with Good Bones 60784409 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 247 T. Kingfisher 1250829798 Megan 3 3.65 2023 A House with Good Bones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Megan
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
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review:
The first 75% of this book was funny and entertaining. I could tell there was an element of magical realism coming but I was not prepared for the truly disturbing/ horror turn it took in the last quarter.
]]> Truths I Never Told You 45701218 From the bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say comes a poignant novel about the fault in memories and the lies that can bond a family together—or tear it apart.

With her father recently moved to a care facility for his worsening dementia, Beth Walsh volunteers to clear out the family home and is surprised to discover the door to her childhood playroom padlocked. She’s even more shocked at what’s behind it—a hoarder’s mess of her father’s paintings, mounds of discarded papers and miscellaneous junk in the otherwise fastidiously tidy house.

As she picks through the clutter, she finds a loose journal entry in what appears to be her late mother’s handwriting. Beth and her siblings grew up believing their mother died in a car accident when they were little more than toddlers, but this note suggests something much darker. Beth soon pieces together a disturbing portrait of a woman suffering from postpartum depression and a husband who bears little resemblance to the loving father Beth and her siblings know. With a newborn of her own and struggling with motherhood, Beth finds there may be more tying her and her mother together than she ever suspected.

Exploring the expectations society places on women of every generation, Kelly Rimmer explores the profound struggles two women unwittingly share across the decades set within an engrossing family mystery that may unravel everything they believed to be true.]]> 352 Kelly Rimmer 1525804650 Megan 3 3.99 2020 Truths I Never Told You
author: Kelly Rimmer
name: Megan
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/25
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review:
Interesting perspective of postpartum depression in the 50s and unwanted pregnancy in the pre-birth control era. I was frustrated by some problems being too easily resolved and other plot points having no resolution.
]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Megan 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Megan
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cartographers 55004093 What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.]]> 392 Peng Shepherd 0062910698 Megan 5 3.62 2022 The Cartographers
author: Peng Shepherd
name: Megan
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
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I enjoyed this one much more than I expected. I loved the close friendship between the Cartographers and how they were always trying to care for one another even if it wasn’t communicated the way they meant. It had just a tiny bit of magical realism, which I am finding entertaining right now.
]]> Black Cake 57926137 We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right�? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.]]> 385 Charmaine Wilkerson Megan 4 4.06 2022 Black Cake
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Megan
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
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I loved all the inter generational connections and long held secrets in this book. The black cake motif woven throughout was enjoyable, even though it does not sound like something I would like. It did feel like it wrapped up quickly without resolving all the plot points.
]]> The Queens of Crime 211003830 The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women.

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers� own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.]]> 310 Marie Benedict 1250280753 Megan 0 to-read 3.81 2025 The Queens of Crime
author: Marie Benedict
name: Megan
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Where the Forest Meets the Stars]]> 40545956 In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.

The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay―just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.

Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?

Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.]]> 332 Glendy Vanderah 154204006X Megan 0 to-read 3.98 2019 Where the Forest Meets the Stars
author: Glendy Vanderah
name: Megan
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Stolen Queen 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.� Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 Megan 0 to-read 3.91 2025 The Stolen Queen
author: Fiona Davis
name: Megan
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Goddess of Warsaw 197448682 The Goddess Of Warsaw is an enthralling story of a legendary Hollywood screen goddess with a dark secret. When the famous actress Lena Browning is threatened by someone from her war-time past, she must put her skills into play to protect herself, her illustrious career, and those she loves, then and now.
Before she was a “Living Legend�, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a wealthy Polish Jew whose life and prominent family were destroyed by the Nazis and imprisoned with the rest of Warsaw's Jews in a ghastly ghetto. Determined to fight back, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy and an assassin, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the Warsaw ghetto to protect her family and fellow Jews. While Bina accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process � including a forbidden love.
More than a decade after escaping the horrors of the war, Lena Browning rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but hunger for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Fierce and fearless, Lena uses her star power to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even finds the happy ending she never had.
A gripping page-turner of one of history’s most heroic uprisings and a glamourous actress whose personal war never ends, The Goddess of Warsaw is filled with secrets, lies, twists and turns, and a burning pursuit of justice no matter the cost.
“Jaw-dropping moments worthy of a Tarantino film . . . Unrelentingly immersive and suspenseful, The Goddess of Warsaw spins a haunting tale of the cost of survival, sacrifice, and the long-denied secrets of the past.�
—NATALIE JENNER, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society]]> 368 Lisa Barr 0063296608 Megan 0 to-read 4.33 2024 The Goddess of Warsaw
author: Lisa Barr
name: Megan
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812]]> 15594
Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.]]> 444 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 0679733760 Megan 5 3.96 1990 A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
name: Megan
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
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The diary of Martha Ballard that The Frozen River is based on. I really appreciated how the author took the time to do the research to flesh out her diary and tell the story underneath Martha’s seemingly trivial day book entries. It was a little disappointing that Martha’s marriage to Ephraim was not as strong as depicted in The Frozen River. A fascinating read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau]]> 220160204 Kristin Harmel, the New York Timesbestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama� (Kelly Harms, author ofThe Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.

Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.

But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed� $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.]]> 384 Kristin Harmel 1982191732 Megan 0 to-read 4.53 The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Megan
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> The First Ladies 63024287
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows she becomes a celebrity, revered by titans of business and recognized by U.S. Presidents. Eleanor Roosevelt herself is awestruck and eager to make her acquaintance. Initially drawn together because of their shared belief in women’s rights and the power of education, Mary and Eleanor become fast friends confiding their secrets, hopes and dreams—and holding each other’s hands through tragedy and triumph.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president, the two women begin to collaborate more closely, particularly as Eleanor moves toward her own agenda separate from FDR, a consequence of the devastating discovery of her husband’s secret love affair. Eleanor becomes a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly oncivil rights. And when she receives threats because of her strong ties to Mary, it only fuels the women’s desire to fight together for justice and equality.

Thisis the story of two different, yet equally formidable, passionate, and committed women, and the way in whichtheir singular friendshiphelped form the foundation for the modern civil rights movement.]]> 389 Marie Benedict 0593440285 Megan 5 3.96 2023 The First Ladies
author: Marie Benedict
name: Megan
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
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I love how Marie Benedict’s books take a little known woman from history and tell their stories, making them live on through fiction. I was surprised how little I knew about all the civil rights work Eleanor Roosevelt did during the Great Depression.
]]> You Are Here 201465867
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future . . . if they can survive the journey.]]> 368 David Nicholls 0063394057 Megan 0 to-read 3.97 2024 You Are Here
author: David Nicholls
name: Megan
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Only Woman in the Room 39971465
But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis and revolutionize modern communication...if anyone would listen to her.

A novel based on the true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication.]]> 312 Marie Benedict 1492666866 Megan 0 to-read 3.75 2019 The Only Woman in the Room
author: Marie Benedict
name: Megan
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Bletchley Riddle 205064698 This middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death.

Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act�

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?]]> 392 Ruta Sepetys 0593527542 Megan 4 4.12 2024 The Bletchley Riddle
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Megan
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children]]> 25898058
Today’s kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble� outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses?

Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment.

Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments.

With this book, you’ll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.


]]> 256 Angela J. Hanscom 1626253730 Megan 0 to-read 4.16 2016 Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children
author: Angela J. Hanscom
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 42844155 An alternative cover for this ASIN can be found here

"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!]]> 333 J.K. Rowling Megan 3 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Megan
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
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]]> Muscle and a Shovel 13740182 Muscle and a Shovel is a raw and gritty true story about a pair of young newly-weds who move to the city to chase the American dream. In the process they're befriended by a man who turns their belief about God, their church, and their faith upside down! Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, the Community Churches - none are spared when Truth is at stake and their new friend Randall isn't about to "candy coat" God's Word for the sake of "political correctness" or "religious tolerance."

This story will grip you from opening to close and will stimulate your spirit on levels you didn't think possible. Get ready to fight or flee because Muscle and a Shovel is one of those rare books that will raise your heart-rate and your blood-pressure. You won't want to wait to share it with your friends or you'll want to dowse it in gasoline and set on fire! There'll be no middle ground.

Many Christian reviewers have said, "This book will turn our current religious world upside-down!"]]> 418 Michael Shank 0012066869 Megan 3 4.20 2011 Muscle and a Shovel
author: Michael Shank
name: Megan
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
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]]> 84, Charing Cross Road 368916
[text from the back cover of the book]]]> 106 Helene Hanff Megan 4 4.17 1970 84, Charing Cross Road
author: Helene Hanff
name: Megan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
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]]> The Traveller's Gift 755364 Andy Andrews 0340834706 Megan 3 3.85 2002 The Traveller's Gift
author: Andy Andrews
name: Megan
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect]]> 60018618
Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park.

Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation. And his hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more—not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.

Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business—and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.]]> 288 Will Guidara 0593418573 Megan 4 4.42 Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
author: Will Guidara
name: Megan
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
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]]> Becoming Madam Secretary 177192295 She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it�

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.

When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.

But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.

Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.]]> 528 Stephanie Dray 0593437055 Megan 3 4.36 2024 Becoming Madam Secretary
author: Stephanie Dray
name: Megan
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
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]]> Building a Non-Anxious Life 128713713 "Why are my anxiety alarms going off all the time?"

"Why do I feel like I'm in an endless cycle of blame and anger and impatience?"

"Why are the people I love most melting down around me?"

No one needs to be told that our lives are filled with more anxiety than ever before. We know it. Our bodies can feel it. The questions we really need to answer "Why?" and "Is there anything we can do about it?"

Dr. John Delony decided to get to the root of the issue by mapping out a plan to understand where our anxiety is coming from and the actions we can take to change it (because he's been there too). Over the past twenty years, he's learned through research, personal experience, and walking alongside countless others that there are six daily choices people have to make to create a non-anxious life:

- Choosing Reality
- Choosing Connection
- Choosing Freedom
- Choosing Health and Healing
- Choosing Mindfulness
- Choosing Belief

In this no-nonsense, straightforward approach to mental health, John will break down exactly what each choice means and how to start making it on a daily basis.

Now, here's the truth: Those choices aren't easy, and anxiety isn't going to magically disappear. But if you commit to building a non-anxious life, you'll be able to better respond to whatever life throws at you. You'll grow from hard challenges. You'll learn to find peace during chaos.

And you will learn to be well.]]> 304 John Delony Megan 4 4.19 2023 Building a Non-Anxious Life
author: John Delony
name: Megan
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Gospel Comes with a House Key]]> 36384252 240 Rosaria Champagne Butterfield 143355786X Megan 4 4.30 2018 The Gospel Comes with a House Key
author: Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
name: Megan
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves:
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]]> Wrong Place Wrong Time 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up� it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]> 416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 Megan 4 3.95 2022 Wrong Place Wrong Time
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Megan
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
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]]> The Keeper of Happy Endings 57429914 An enchanting novel about fate, second chances, and hope, lost and found, by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls.

Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.

Decades later, while coping with her own tragic loss, aspiring gallery owner Rory Grant leases Soline’s old property and discovers a box containing letters and a vintage wedding dress, never worn. When Rory returns the mementos, an unlikely friendship develops, and eerie parallels in Rory’s and Soline’s lives begin to surface. It’s clear that they were destined to meet—and that Rory may hold the key to righting a forty-year wrong and opening the door to shared healing and, perhaps, a little magic.]]> 415 Barbara Davis 1542021480 Megan 0 to-read 4.47 2021 The Keeper of Happy Endings
author: Barbara Davis
name: Megan
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Women of Chateau Lafayette]]> 55502887 Named one of 2021's Most Anticipated Historical Novels by Oprah Magazine � Cosmo � PopSugar � SheReads � Parade � and more!

An epic saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy.

Most castles are protected by men. This one by women.

A founding mother...
1774. Gently-bred noblewoman Adrienne Lafayette becomes her husband, the Marquis de Lafayette's political partner in the fight for American independence. But when their idealism sparks revolution in France and the guillotine threatens everything she holds dear, Adrienne must renounce the complicated man she loves, or risk her life for a legacy that will inspire generations to come.

A daring visionary...
1914. Glittering New York socialite Beatrice Chanler is a force of nature, daunted by nothing--not her humble beginnings, her crumbling marriage, or the outbreak of war. But after witnessing the devastation in France firsthand, Beatrice takes on the challenge of a lifetime: convincing America to fight for what's right.

A reluctant resistor...
1940. French school-teacher and aspiring artist Marthe Simone has an orphan's self-reliance and wants nothing to do with war. But as the realities of Nazi occupation transform her life in the isolated castle where she came of age, she makes a discovery that calls into question who she is, and more importantly, who she is willing to become.

Intricately woven and powerfully told, The Women of Chateau Lafayette is a sweeping novel about duty and hope, love and courage, and the strength we take from those who came before us.]]> 576 Stephanie Dray 0593335937 Megan 4 4.21 2021 The Women of Chateau Lafayette
author: Stephanie Dray
name: Megan
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power]]> 60880794 From psychotherapist Katherine Morgan Schafler, an invitation to every “recovering perfectionist� to challenge the way they look at perfectionism, and the way they look at themselves.

We’ve been looking at perfectionism all wrong. As psychotherapist and former on-site therapist at Google Katherine Morgan Schafler argues in The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control, you don’t have to stop being a perfectionist to be healthy. For women who are sick of being given the generic advice to “find balance�, a new approach has arrived.

Which of the five types of perfectionist are you? Classic, intense, Parisian, messy, or procrastinator? As you identify your unique perfectionist profile, you'll learn how to manage each form of perfectionism to work for you, not against you. Beyond managing it, you'll learn how to embrace and even enjoy your perfectionism. Yes, enjoy!

Full of stories and brimming with humor, empathy, and depth, this book is a love letter to the ambitious, high achieving, full-of-life clients who filled the author’s private practice, and who changed her life. It’s a clarion call for all women to dare to want more without feeling greedy or ungrateful. Ultimately, this book will show you how to make the single greatest trade you’ll ever make in your life, which is to exchange superficial control for real power.]]> 325 Katherine Morgan Schafler 059332952X Megan 0 to-read 4.16 2023 The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power
author: Katherine Morgan Schafler
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Golden Doves 61058362
American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.

A decade later the Doves fall headlong into a dangerous dual mission: Josie is working for U.S. Army intelligence and accepts an assignment to hunt down the infamous doctor, while a mysterious man tells Arlette he may have found her son. The Golden Doves embark on a quest across Europe and ultimately to French Guiana, discovering a web of terrible secrets, and must put themselves in grave danger to finally secure justice and protect the ones they love.

Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into the stories of women throughout history and for exploring the terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of Nazi fugitives in the wake of World War II—and the unsung females spies who risked it all to bring them to justice.]]> 528 Martha Hall Kelly 0593354885 Megan 5 4.16 2023 The Golden Doves
author: Martha Hall Kelly
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
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]]> Eleanore of Avignon 203956661 Eleanore of Avignon is the story of a woman who is unwilling to bend to the limitations her society places upon her when she becomes the unlikely apprentice to the pope’s physician at the most challenging and dangerous moment in medieval European history.

Provence, 1347. Eleanore (Elea) Blanchet is a midwife and budding herbalist with remarkable skills. But as she knows all too well from her late mother’s fate, she must be careful to stay within her station. So, she quietly accepts her role tending to the pregnant women in her home city of Avignon; spending time with her father and beloved twin sister, Margot; and escaping to the surrounding woods to forage for herbs when she can. At the very least, she is determined to preserve the little freedom she does have by staying unwed—unlike Margot, who is about to marry a man with painful connections to their mother’s death.

Then, in a chance encounter, Elea meets Guy de Chauliac, “Guigo,� the enigmatic personal physician to the powerful Pope Clement, who, against all odds, agrees to take her on as his apprentice. Under his tutelage, a whole new world opens to Elea—a world of status, wealth, and fascinating medical cases—but just as she starts to settle into her new position, the much-feared plague hits Europe, making Elea and Guigo's work more urgent than ever. And as if that weren’t enough, the disgraced Queen Joanna of Naples arrives in Avignon to stand trial for her husband’s murder—and she is pregnant and in need of a midwife, a role only Elea can fill.

As the Black Death spreads like wildfire, leaving half the city dead in its wake—and as the queen's childbirth approaches—Elea finds herself battling what seems to be an unwinnable war. All the while, the people of Avignon are becoming more and more desperate for a scapegoat, and a group of religious heretics launch a witch hunt, one that could cost her everything.]]> 320 Elizabeth DeLozier 0593475038 Megan 0 to-read 4.28 2024 Eleanore of Avignon
author: Elizabeth DeLozier
name: Megan
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout]]> 197773418 Do fewer things. Work at a natural pace. Obsess over quality.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work, a groundbreaking philosophy for pursuing meaningful accomplishment while avoiding overload.

Our current definition of “productivity� is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?

Long before the arrival of pinging inboxes and clogged schedules, history’s most creative and impactful philosophers, scientists, artists, and writers mastered the art of producing valuable work with staying power. In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs. Drawing from deep research on the habits and mindsets of a varied cast of storied thinkers—from Galileo and Isaac Newton, to Jane Austen and Georgia O’Keefe—Newport lays out the key principles of “slow productivity,� a more sustainable alternative to the aimless overwhelm that defines our current moment. Combining cultural criticism with systematic pragmatism, Newport deconstructs the absurdities inherent in standard notions of productivity, and then provides step-by-step advice for workers to replace them with a slower, more humane alternative.

From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.]]> 244 Cal Newport 0593544854 Megan 0 to-read 3.65 2024 Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
author: Cal Newport
name: Megan
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
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]]> Dark August 52167189
When Gus spots a front-page news story about the unearthing of a body linked to one of the cold case files from her childhood trunk, she can't resist following her mother's clues. As she digs deeper, determined to finish her mother's investigation, her search leads her to a deserted ghost town, which was left abandoned when the residents fled after a horrific fire. As Gus' obsession with the case grows, she inadvertently stirs up the evils of the past, putting her life in danger. But Gus is undeterred and is committed to uncovering long-buried secrets, including the secrets surrounding a missing geology student, the young ballerina in the Polaroid, a prominent family's devastating legacy, and a toxic blast that blew an entire town off the map.

But is Gus ready to learn the truths that culminated on one terrible August night, more than a decade earlier, when lives were taken, and secrets were presumed buried forever...?

Dark August introduces a bold new voice and will leave readers guessing until the final startling conclusion.]]> 448 Katie Tallo 0062948040 Megan 0 to-read 3.74 2020 Dark August
author: Katie Tallo
name: Megan
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
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]]> Poison Lilies 58825281
After moving back to her hometown and solving her mother's murder, August (Gus) Monet thought she was done. Settled. Content for the first time in her life.

Cue hard reset number whatever.

She made a mistake she couldn't undo, so Gus cut and run. Packed all her things in the dead of night and took off. Now somewhat settled into The Ambassador, an art-deco apartment building with cheap rent in one of Ottawa's oldest neighborhoods, Gus has found the perfect place for a fresh start—or a good place to hide.

Gus also finds friendship in Poppy Honeywell, her reclusive neighbor perpetually wrapped in a pink kimono like an aging Old Hollywood starlet. She's also a descendant of the Mutchmores, one of the town's founding families. When a body is found in the pond of a nearby park, her connection to this powerful and wealthy family turns dangerous, possibly deadly. The Mutchmores are hiding something and are willing to do anything to keep their secrets buried.]]> 368 Katie Tallo 0063211742 Megan 0 to-read 3.77 2022 Poison Lilies
author: Katie Tallo
name: Megan
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
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]]> Love & Saffron 58284121 The #1 Indie Next Pick, in the vein of the classic 84, Charing Cross Road and Meet Me at the Museum, this witty and tender novel follows two women in 1960s America as they discover that food really does connect us all, and that friendship and laughter are the best medicine.

When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter--as well as a gift of saffron--to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she's never tasted fresh garlic--exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives.

Food and a good life--they can't be separated. It is a discovery the women share, not only with each other, but with the men in their lives. Because of her correspondence with Joan, Imogen's decades-long marriage blossoms into something new and exciting, and in turn, Joan learns that true love does not always come in the form we expect it to. Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of Joan and Imogen's friendship--a test that summons their unconditional trust in each other.

A brief respite from our chaotic world, Love & Saffron is a gem of a novel, a reminder that food and friendship are the antidote to most any heartache, and that human connection will always be worth creating.]]> 208 Kim Fay 0593419332 Megan 0 to-read 4.10 2022 Love & Saffron
author: Kim Fay
name: Megan
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
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]]> Carnegie's Maid 34931300 From the author of The Other Einstein, the mesmerizing tale of what kind of woman could have inspired an American dynasty.

Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the other woman with the same name has vanished, and pretending to be her just might get Clara some money to send back home.

If she can keep up the ruse, that is. Serving as a lady's maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills he doesn't have, answering to an icy mistress who rules her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara does have is a resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for, coupled with an uncanny understanding of business, and Andrew begins to rely on her. But Clara can't let her guard down, not even when Andrew becomes something more than an employer. Revealing her past might ruin her future -- and her family's.

With captivating insight and heart, Carnegie's Maid tells the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie's transformation from ruthless industrialist into the world's first true philanthropist..

]]> 283 Marie Benedict 149264661X Megan 4 3.83 2018 Carnegie's Maid
author: Marie Benedict
name: Megan
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
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]]> <![CDATA[An Inquiry into Love and Death]]> 202468470 368 Simone St. James 059364168X Megan 4 3.71 2013 An Inquiry into Love and Death
author: Simone St. James
name: Megan
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
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]]> Every Moment Since 210191334
Everyone in Wynotte, North Carolina, knows the name Davy Malcor. Knows the video clip of him juggling four balls, "All at the very same time!" Knows the Marty McFly jacket his mother made for his birthday that he wore proudly, and often. But no one knows what happened to him the night he went missing more than twenty years ago.

When the jacket is unexpectedly uncovered, the cold case reopens, and Davy's family is thrust into yet another media storm. But at the heart of the story are four people forever changed by one single Thaddeus Malcor, Davy's older brother, created the life of his dreams by writing a bestselling memoir about his family's experience and is enjoying success and notoriety as a result, even if the memoir doesn't quite reveal the whole story. Tabitha Malcor, his mother, is divorced and living alone, advocating for victims' rights and faithfully cataloging her regrets each week, never including her biggest regret of all. Anissa Weaver was just a kid herself when Davy went missing, and her connection to him is one she cannot reveal as she serves as the Malcor family's Public Information Officer. And, long suspected in Davy's disappearance, Gordon Swift has kept his head down and scraped together a decent life. But the new attention to the case makes it impossible to hide from the public, and the past.

With hauntingly vivid prose, Marybeth Mayhew Whalen peels back the curtain on the inner turmoil of those who were left behind in the small Southern community as they pick up the pieces that remain and press forward into the light to find hope and healing.]]> 384 Marybeth Mayhew Whalen 1400345022 Megan 3 3.89 2024 Every Moment Since
author: Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
name: Megan
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
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]]> Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Megan 4 3.98 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Megan
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> When Ghosts Come Home 56382097
When the roar of a low-flying plane awakens him in the middle of the night, Sheriff Winston Barnes knows something strange is happening at the nearby airfield on the coast of North Carolina. But nothing can prepare him for what he finds: a large airplane has crash-landed and is now sitting sideways on the runway, and there are no signs of a pilot or cargo. When the body of a local man is discovered—shot dead and lying on the grass near the crash site—Winston begins a murder investigation that will change the course of his life and the fate of the community that he has sworn to protect.

Everyone is a suspect, including the dead man. As rumors and accusations fly, long-simmering racial tensions explode overnight, and Winston, whose own tragic past has followed him like a ghost, must do his duty while facing the painful repercussions of old decisions. Winston also knows that his days as sheriff may be numbered. He’s up for re-election against a corrupt and well-connected challenger, and his deputies are choosing sides. As if these events weren’t troubling enough, he must finally confront his daughter Colleen, who has come home grieving a shattering loss she cannot fully articulate.

As the suspense builds and this compelling mystery unfolds, Wiley Cash delves deep into the hearts of these richly drawn, achingly sympathetic characters to reveal the nobility of an ordinary man struggling amidst terrifying, extraordinary circumstances.]]> 290 Wiley Cash 0062312669 Megan 4 3.63 2021 When Ghosts Come Home
author: Wiley Cash
name: Megan
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Secret Lives of Church Ladies]]> 51582376 The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.

There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher’s wife. At forty-two, Lyra realizes that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new love. As Y2K looms, Caroletta’s “same time next year� arrangement with her childhood best friend is tenuous. A serial mistress lays down the ground rules for her married lovers. In the dark shadows of a hospice parking lot, grieving strangers find comfort in each other.

With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.]]> 217 Deesha Philyaw 1949199738 Megan 2 4.16 2020 The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
author: Deesha Philyaw
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
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]]> Shelterwood 198563674 A sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth.

Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.

Oklahoma, 1990. Law Enforcement Ranger Valerie Boren O’dell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the wild and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.]]> 368 Lisa Wingate 0593726502 Megan 3 3.82 2024 Shelterwood
author: Lisa Wingate
name: Megan
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II]]> 34184307 In the tradition of Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, Code Girls is the astonishing, untold story of the young American women who cracked key Axis codes, helping to secure Allied victory and revolutionizing the field of cryptanalysis.

Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.]]> 640 Liza Mundy 0316439894 Megan 4 3.91 2017 Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II
author: Liza Mundy
name: Megan
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2024/10/28
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]]> Code Name Hélène 50089336 Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.

It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.

As LUCIENNE CARLIER Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border. Her success and her remarkable ability to evade capture earns her the nickname THE WHITE MOUSE from the Gestapo. With a five million franc bounty on her head, Nancy is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. When she enters training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, her new comrades are instructed to call her ÉÈ. And finally, with mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDRÉ, where she claims her place as one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, armed with a ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and the ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces.

But no one can protect Nancy if the enemy finds out these four women are one and the same, and the closer to liberation France gets, the more exposed she--and the people she loves--become.]]> 451 Ariel Lawhon 0385544685 Megan 5 4.39 2020 Code Name Hélène
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Megan
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/10/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Travels with Charley: In Search of America]]> 5306 A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula

To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.]]> 214 John Steinbeck 0142000701 Megan 4 4.07 1961 Travels with Charley: In Search of America
author: John Steinbeck
name: Megan
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1961
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius]]> 205064678 The New York Times bestselling author of The Lazy Genius Way brings her beloved Kind Big Sister Energy to a time management book for productivity-weary people who want to live an easier life, not do more homework.

Why do so-called life hacks leave usdrowning in tasks, schedules, and unfulfilled expectations?In her straightforward, humorous style, author Kendra Adachi reveals why the problem is not you.

Most time management systems prioritizeoptimization and greatness in service to an imagined future, but what if that's not your goal? What if you long for a book that helps you live wholeheartedly today? The PLAN is the answer.

Using thememorable acronym "PLAN," you will learn to prepare, live, adjust, and notice like a Lazy Genius, all through the lens of what matters to you in your current season:
� Discover two beliefs that will change time management forever
� Integrate your hormones, personality, and life stage into your planning process
� Learn the Lighten the Load to-do list framework to help you get your stuff done
� Use The PLAN Pyramid to help you visualize a balanced life
� Experience freedom from the crushing pressure of greatness, potential, and hustle

Refreshingly compassionate and immediately practical, The PLAN is the book you've been waiting for.]]> 233 Kendra Adachi 0593727932 Megan 0 currently-reading 3.89 2024 The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius
author: Kendra Adachi
name: Megan
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear]]> 56132724
The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line - conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored.

No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose...]]> 540 Kate Moore 1492696722 Megan 4 4.29 2021 The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
author: Kate Moore
name: Megan
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations]]> 210136975 Are you a people pleaser? Can you even begin to measure how the approval of others has shaped your heart and mind? Your faith and relationships? Your habits and identity? InPeople Pleaser,New York Timesbestselling author Jinger Vuolo shares her personal journey of constantly seeking approval from others and how she found her true identity.

From childhood to early adulthood, Jinger Duggar Vuolo followed the expectations of others, never taking the time to discover who she truly was. It wasn't until she asked herself the question, "Who am I?" that she realized she was a people pleaser. This realization led her on a journey of self-discovery and ultimately, to rely on God for her approval and sense of self-worth.

Through her faith and reliance on God, Jinger began to break free from the need for approval and discover true freedom. This book is a guide for anyone struggling with people-pleasing tendencies and seeking to find their true identity and purpose in life. Learn how to:

- discover the beauty of community and how we were made to enjoy others,
- identify sin and how it can hinder your ability to be in community with one another,
- diagnose yourself with ruthless honesty but without judgement, and
- understand who you are in God's eyes.

Jinger hopes this book will inspire others to embark on a similar journey towards freedom.]]> 224 Jinger Duggar Vuolo 140034171X Megan 0 to-read 3.54 People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations
author: Jinger Duggar Vuolo
name: Megan
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement]]> 203956674 America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes.Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naïve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly.Sharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inpiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country.With the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream.The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.]]> 320 Sharon McMahon 0593541677 Megan 0 to-read 4.44 2024 The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
author: Sharon McMahon
name: Megan
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> The Museum of Ordinary People 63202481
In the process of finding the books a new home, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curious housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum's unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse’s mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Inspired by an abandoned box of mementos, The Museum of Ordinary People is a poignant novel about memory and loss, the things we leave behind, and the future we create for ourselves.



]]> 336 Mike Gayle 1538740842 Megan 3 3.79 2022 The Museum of Ordinary People
author: Mike Gayle
name: Megan
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> The Last Castle 30354429
The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.

Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best-known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House.

Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore—and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy.

The Last Castle is the uniquely American story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day.]]> 307 Denise Kiernan 1476794049 Megan 0 to-read 3.62 2017 The Last Castle
author: Denise Kiernan
name: Megan
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Love Without Borders: How Bold Faith Opens the Door to Embracing the Unexpected]]> 44889824
Love Without Bordersshares Angela's relatable,humorous,and honest view of motherhood. Angela chronicles her journey to discover God’s purpose for herlife. For years she walked the safe, expected path, until one day she could feel God calling her to boldly step out and follow him into new places, which led her toraise a large, non-traditional family that looked different than she ever imagined.

It was a winding path to motherhood, complete with heartbreak from failed adoptions, challenging pregnancies, and secondaryinfertility, but through it all Angela found the unique adventure God had for her. She has shared her family’s stories on her popular YouTube channel, This Gathered Nest, and now invites us in to go deeper and listen to where God might be calling us to go and who we’ve been tasked with loving, no matter how unusual (or just plain crazy) it may sound! The beauty of God’s plan is he uses imperfect people to bring about perfectly beautiful stories.]]> 211 Angela Braniff 0062936271 Megan 0 to-read 4.41 2020 Love Without Borders: How Bold Faith Opens the Door to Embracing the Unexpected
author: Angela Braniff
name: Megan
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Nineteen Minutes 14866
Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.

Nineteen Minutes is New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's most raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?]]> 440 Jodi Picoult 0743496728 Megan 4 4.16 2007 Nineteen Minutes
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Megan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> The Keeper of Lost Things 30363088 A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.

Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles�Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Bone china cup and saucer�Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.

Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.

Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.

Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made.

As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest?

Full of character, wit, and wisdom, The Keeper of Lost Things is heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs Queen Takes the Train, and The Silver Linings Playbook.]]> 288 Ruth Hogan Megan 0 to-read 3.70 2017 The Keeper of Lost Things
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Megan
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> When We Meet Again 207293854 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Harmel, a beautifully repackaged and updated edition of When We Meet Again.


Emily Emerson is used to being alone; her dad walked out on the family when she was a just a kid, her mom died when she was eighteen, and her beloved grandmother has just passed away as well. But when she’s laid off from her reporting job, she finds herself completely adrift…until the day she receives a beautiful painting of a young woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky. She recognizes the woman as her grandmother, but the painting arrived with no identification other than a handwritten note saying, “He never stopped loving her...�


Curious, Emily begins to do some digging and uncovers a fascinating moment in American history. Her trail leads her to the POW internment camps of 1940s Florida, where German prisoners worked for American farmers...and sometimes fell in love with American women. But how does this all connect to the painting? The answer to that question will take Emily on a road that leads from the sweltering Everglades to Munich, Germany and back before she’s done.


This new edition has been refreshed by the author and contains a new author’s note, along with a teaser of Harmel’s next historical novel.

]]> 384 Kristin Harmel 1668046059 Megan 0 to-read 4.26 2016 When We Meet Again
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Megan
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> Hello Stranger 61884987 Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary� condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.]]> 323 Katherine Center 1250283787 Megan 4 3.92 2023 Hello Stranger
author: Katherine Center
name: Megan
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/10/07
shelves:
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]]>