Puja's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 28 Apr 2025 22:05:12 -0700 60 Puja's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1)]]> 448873 Instead of Three Wishes, the first book by Megan Whalen Turner. Her second book more than fulfills that promise.

The king's scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king's prison. The magus is interested only in the thief's abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone's guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen's stories and Gen's story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise.]]> 280 Megan Whalen Turner 0060824972 Puja 4 currently-reading 3.86 1996 The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1)
author: Megan Whalen Turner
name: Puja
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/09
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Hail Chaos (Time of Iron, #2)]]> 220525868 THE EMPEROR IS HERE. AND SHE MADE HIM WORSE.

Rae is a fantasy reader who's been transported to her favourite fictional world of swords and sorcery, castles and monsters. Playing the villainess, she thought she could change the narrative, but this version of the plot is far much more deadly than the one she knew.

Her friends are on the run: the Cobra shelters in an eerie manor haunted by dark secrets, while Emer and Lia stoke a revolution in the gutters. Undead armies roam the kingdom, raiders camp at the city gates, and the irresistible emperor - Rae's favourite character ever, now possibly the greatest monster in the land - wants her to be his evil queen.

What's a villainess to do? It's time for wicked bargains and fake engagements, in a fantasy where the most dangerous thing you can do is believe in someone.

All Hail Chaos is Sarah Rees Brennan's wicked, unmissable sequel to the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling Long Live Evil ('delicious, subversive' Leigh Bardugo).]]> Sarah Rees Brennan 0356522105 Puja 0 to-read 4.92 2025 All Hail Chaos (Time of Iron, #2)
author: Sarah Rees Brennan
name: Puja
average rating: 4.92
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nimona: A Graphic Novel 217896237
Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from N.D. Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.]]> 288 N.D. Stevenson 0063434695 Puja 0 to-read 4.67 2015 Nimona: A Graphic Novel
author: N.D. Stevenson
name: Puja
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Puja 5 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Puja
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: 100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime, owned-audiobooks, owned-physical-books, library-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve]]> 222055352 Length: 6 hours 33 minutes

Drew Afualo is best known as the internet’s 'Crusader for Women' and is at the head of a new generation of entertainment’s rising stars, with more than nine million followers across her social platforms. She soon realized that men on social media were creating sexist content aimed at disparaging women, and also containing rampant fatphobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry with very real-life consequences. It didn’t take long for her to step into the role of unofficial watchdog for misogyny, and her signature laugh is now recognized as a feminist call to arms.

Loud is part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir. It is a summoning cry to rid the internet (and our hearts, minds, and lives) of 'terrible men' and create a space to fight outdated patriarchal ideals. Above all, it makes it clear that behind Drew’s fearsome laugh is a mission and a life philosophy, a strategy for self-confidence from the inside out, and a pathway to once and for all remove men from the centre of how women and fems think about themselves.]]> Drew Afualo Puja 4 4.42 2024 Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
author: Drew Afualo
name: Puja
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
I think this book is geared towards younger folks but I still enjoyed it. Drew showed some real vulnerability and it’s always nice to learn more about good people.
]]> <![CDATA[First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]> 448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 Puja 4 4.06 2025 First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)
author: B.K. Borison
name: Puja
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. Cute and cheesy, perfectly fluffy. I’d love to learn more about the supporting cast of characters.
]]> A Dark and Drowning Tide 174146852 A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor's murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.]]> 384 Allison Saft 0593722345 Puja 4 lgbt 3.59 2024 A Dark and Drowning Tide
author: Allison Saft
name: Puja
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: lgbt
review:
I need so much more set in this universe!!
]]> <![CDATA[The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)]]> 42402528
Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.

While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?]]> 219 Olivia Waite Puja 4 lgbt 4.18 2019 The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)
author: Olivia Waite
name: Puja
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: lgbt
review:
Definitely a slower paced book, but very cute, sapphic and nerdy.
]]> <![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 400 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Puja 0 to-read 4.30 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Puja
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> On the Same Page 195096868 Riley Beckett met Gianna Mäkinen � drop-dead gorgeous influencer, trilingual, daughter of world-famous models, yes, that Gianna Mäkinen � their first year at Boston University, and it changed everything for the both of them. After all, when you find the person who just gets you, nothing feels quite "the same" right?


And in the ten years since, Riley has come to depend on Gianna more than anyone else in her life. She knows Gianna just as well as she knows herself � maybe better, some days. She knows Gianna is incredibly sex-positive, she knows Gianna doesn't do romance or relationships, and she knows nothing could ever come between them.


This is what makes sense to her, all of this is status-quo. But when a holiday party mix-up sets in motion a domino effect of changes to these previously inalienable truths, Riley has to question everything she thought she knew about their relationship. What, exactly, does Gianna mean to her after all?

]]> 468 Haley Cass Puja 4 currently-listening, lgbt 4.36 2023 On the Same Page
author: Haley Cass
name: Puja
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: currently-listening, lgbt
review:
Finally, a sapphic romcom that wasn’t contrived or rushed and was just a lovely, cozy slice of life. Low stakes escapism at its finest.
]]> <![CDATA[Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop]]> 215149232
For the first few months all Yeongju does is cry, but the long hours in the shop also give her time to mull over what makes a good bookseller and store. As she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she eases into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again.]]> 320 Hwang Bo-Reum 1639736379 Puja 0 to-read 3.76 2022 Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
author: Hwang Bo-Reum
name: Puja
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 222419283
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
Ěý
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
Ěý
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 384 Kristen Perrin 0593474023 Puja 0 to-read 3.90 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Puja
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Want You Like a Best Friend]]> 208500753 A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed!

Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.

It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be anywhere but here.

Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games.

“Let’s get them together,� she says.

It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead.

“It’ll be easy� she says.

There’s just…one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other.

But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be?

Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage.

Beth’s not mature enough for this�

Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she’s caught feelings, hard, and they’re definitely not for her potential fiancé.

That’s the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.]]> 11 Emma R. Alban 0063312026 Puja 4 lgbt 3.78 2024 Don't Want You Like a Best Friend
author: Emma R. Alban
name: Puja
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: lgbt
review:
Found this recommended on a random page and decided to give it a go. It was cute and charming (even if a little predictable) and exactly the kind of romcom shenanigans I wanted.
]]> The Lion Women of Tehran 199798217 A heartfelt novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.�

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls� high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.]]> 327 Marjan Kamali 1668036584 Puja 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Lion Women of Tehran
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Puja
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1)]]> 217327400
She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale.

So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.

This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both 'brilliant' (Holly Black) and 'supremely satisfying' (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.]]> 18 Sarah Rees Brennan Puja 5 3.79 2024 Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1)
author: Sarah Rees Brennan
name: Puja
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
review:
Hooooly moly. I loved this. The despair, the hope, the snark - SRB did it all with aplomb. All top tier. I had a feeling about the ending super early on but it changed nothing for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)]]> 61317425
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 354 Heather Fawcett Puja 0 currently-reading 4.11 2023 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection]]> 220341389 John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.]]> 208 John Green 0525556575 Puja 0 to-read 4.52 2025 Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
author: John Green
name: Puja
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 217313011
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

By an “endlessly inventive� (Vulture) author with a “wicked sense of humor� (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that’s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new.]]> 432 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820710 Puja 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection]]> 212431771 Romance, luxury, and secrets abound in this thrilling new collection that take readers deeper into the world of the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games series

There is nothing frivolous about the way a Hawthorne man loves.

An amnesiac playboy and the woman with every reason to hate him. A daredevil, his favorite heiress, and three nights in Prague. An unlikely pairing between a cowboy and a goth. Four brothers with an inescapable bond, strengthened by the family they chose, in a house of wonders that promises to always deliver one more secret.

Discover their stories of love and loss, power, puzzles, and life-and-death secrets in this mind-blowingly romantic collection that proves that when you love the way Hawthornes love, there is no going back.

This collection includes:
That Night in Prague (novella)
The Same Backward as Forward (novella)
The Cowboy and the Goth
Five Times Xander Tackled Someone (and One Time He Didn't)
One Hawthorne Night*
What Happens in the Treehouse*
$3CR3T $@NT@
Pain at the Right Gun

*previously published in limited release]]> 12 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1668644118 Puja 4 3.57 2024 Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Puja
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. I did not realize that it would be a series of novellas! Revisiting the main characters was nice but The Same Backwards as Forwards was the one that really hooked me. An easy read.
]]> The Burning Queen 218022666
Ravence has fallen. Her enemies have ravaged her people. And now Elena Aadya Ravence must decide how far she will go to reap her revenge. As she is pulled into a bitter war that will decide the fate of her kingdom, a new tyrant rises to reclaim his home, and Elena finds that perhaps her hunger isn't enough.

And his knows no bounds.

In the thrilling sequel to The Phoenix King, deadly secrets are uncovered, new alliances are forged, and an exiled princess will rise from the ashes of the old world as the burning queen.]]> 400 Aparna Verma 0356522040 Puja 0 to-read 4.50 2025 The Burning Queen
author: Aparna Verma
name: Puja
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 210554793
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 24 Rebecca Yarros Puja 3 currently-listening 3.95 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Puja
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: currently-listening
review:
3.5 stars. It took a while for me to get into it, but then it picked up. I guess more happened in the book than I expected to, but I also wanted more. I also had no idea this was a 5 book series and not a trilogy, so that’s on me.
]]> <![CDATA[A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)]]> 213618143 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 465 Robert Jackson Bennett 0593723821 Puja 0 to-read 4.55 2025 A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Awakening (Zodiac Academy, #1)]]> 58007521
You have been selected to attend Zodiac Academy, where your star sign defines your destiny.

If you're one of the Fae, elemental magic is in your blood. And apparently it's in ours. As twins born in the month of Gemini, we're a rare breed even in this academy of supernatural a-holes.

Changelings were outlawed hundreds of years ago but I guess our birth parents didn't get the memo. Which means we're totally unprepared for the ruthless world of Fae.

Air. Fire. Water. Earth.

No one has ever harnessed all four of them, until we arrived. And it hasn't made us any friends so far.

As the rarest Elementals ever known, we're already a threat to the four celestial heirs; the popular, vindictive bullies who happen to be some of the hottest guys we've ever seen. It doesn't help that they're the most dangerous beasts in the Academy. And probably on earth too.

Our fates are intertwined, but they want us gone. They've only got until the lunar eclipse to force us out and they'll stop at nothing to succeed.

We never knew we had a birthright to live up to but now that we do, we intend to claim our throne.

We can't expect any help from the faculty when it comes to defending ourselves. So if the dragon shifters want some target practice, the werewolves want someone to hunt or the vampires fancy a snack then we have to be ready. But we've been looking after each other for a long time and fighting back is in our blood.

Today's horoscope: totally screwed.

This is a full-length medium burn novel that is the first in a university-age academy series. Expect forbidden love and bully romance with mature content suitable for upper YA readers and onwards.]]> 12 Caroline Peckham Puja 3
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if someone told me the book was written with the intention of being made into a TV show. The world building is intriguing enough (other than the ridiculous levels of misogyny), but if I continue with the series it will definitely be a hate-read.]]> 3.34 2019 The Awakening (Zodiac Academy, #1)
author: Caroline Peckham
name: Puja
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars. What in the 2000s CW TV did I just read? Everyone is hot, horny, painfully straight and except for two folks, white??? Like seriously, you create a mirror world and have it be casually misogynistic in a way that threw me right back to the 2000s. The bullying is at a level that is truly hateful (as in deliberately digging into a character's deepest trauma) and I have a feeling the perpetrators are just going to be forgiven in the future.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if someone told me the book was written with the intention of being made into a TV show. The world building is intriguing enough (other than the ridiculous levels of misogyny), but if I continue with the series it will definitely be a hate-read.
]]> The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist 200054870
Ivy’s fanfic writing has somehow brought Weston as she’s imagined him to life, but living out her fanfiction dreams isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Her not-so-fictional crush is causing some major real-world problems and Ivy is desperate for help. To figure out why Weston is suddenly three-dimensional, she ropes Henry and a reluctant Mack into the chaos. As they spend more time together, Ivy and Mack are forced to deal with the fallout of their broken friendship and might just realize that they both want something more…]]> 10 Sophie Gonzales Puja 3 lgbt 3.37 2024 The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist
author: Sophie Gonzales
name: Puja
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: lgbt
review:
The meta commentary on fanfic tropes and all the fandom stuff generally was A++, but weirdly the romance fell short. Also, the whole Weston thing got a little played out by the end.
]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Life (All Souls, #3)]]> 16054217 The #1 New York Times bestselling series finale and sequel to A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night

Bringing the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion, this highly anticipated finale went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.]]> 561 Deborah Harkness 0670025593 Puja 4 owned-audiobooks 4.15 2014 The Book of Life (All Souls, #3)
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Puja
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/11/25
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> Death at Morning House 217737290 From the bestselling author of the Truly Devious books, Maureen Johnson, comes a new stand-alone YA about a teen who uncovers a mystery while working as a tour guide on an island and must solve it before history repeats itself.

The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.

With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.

Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?]]> 9 Maureen Johnson Puja 4 lgbt 3.61 2024 Death at Morning House
author: Maureen Johnson
name: Puja
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: lgbt
review:
This one felt more like the early truly devious books. I was invested in both the past and present storylines, and huzzah for the adorable sapphic rep!
]]> <![CDATA[This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn, #2)]]> 42082990 In this gripping, romantic sequel to These Witches Don't Burn, Hannah must work alongside her new girlfriend to take down the Hunters desperate to steal her magic.

Hannah Walsh just wants a normal life. It's her senior year, so she should be focusing on classes, hanging out with her best friend, and flirting with her new girlfriend, Morgan. But it turns out surviving a murderous Witch Hunter doesn't exactly qualify as a summer vacation, and now the rest of the Hunters seem more intent on destroying her magic than ever.

When Hannah learns the Hunters have gone nationwide, armed with a serum capable of taking out entire covens at once, she's desperate to help. Now, with witches across the country losing the most important thing they have—their power—Hannah could be their best shot at finally defeating the Hunters. After all, she's one of the only witches to escape a Hunter with her magic intact.

Or so everyone believes. Because as good as she is at faking it, doing even the smallest bit of magic leaves her in agony. The only person who can bring her comfort, who can make her power flourish, is Morgan. But Morgan's magic is on the line, too, and if Hannah can't figure out how to save her—and the rest of the Witches—she'll lose everything she's ever known. And as the Hunters get dangerously close to their final target, will all the Witches in Salem be enough to stop an enemy determined to destroy magic for good?]]> 336 Isabel Sterling Puja 0 to-read 3.89 2020 This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn, #2)
author: Isabel Sterling
name: Puja
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)]]> 48499167
But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica.

While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.]]> 10 Isabel Sterling Puja 4 3.60 2019 These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)
author: Isabel Sterling
name: Puja
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
3.75 stars. I didn’t expect the there’s to get as heavy as they did, or even realize this was the first in a series. It’s a shame I guessed who the baddie was so early on. It was a good book, just not the sapphic romance I came in expecting.
]]> <![CDATA[Oathbound (The Legendborn Cycle, #3)]]> 214151316
Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.

But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.

Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war with their Round Table fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick is detained by the Order’s Merlins, he invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to convene at the Northern Keep and grant him an audience. No one knows what he will demand of them...or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.

As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.]]> 656 Tracy Deonn 1665951907 Puja 0 to-read 4.39 2025 Oathbound (The Legendborn Cycle, #3)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Puja
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stardust - BBC Dramatisation 33409773
Challenged to retrieve a fallen star, Tristran Thorn leaves the sleepy English village of Wall and crosses into the land of Faerie and the realm of Stormhold. Locating the star, he discovers it is no meteorite, but a young woman, Yvaine.

When Yvaine evades him and escapes, Tristran discovers he is not the only one in pursuit of the star: there are dark forces in this magical land, and he must find Yvaine before she falls into their clutches. As he does so, Tristran will uncover the secret to his own identity and a fate beyond his wildest dreams.

Directed by Dirk Maggs and Heather Larmour, and featuring over 35 minutes of unbroadcast material, this stunning new dramatisation boasts an extensive cast including Frances Barber, Maggie Steed, Nicholas Boulton, Blake Ritson, Bryan Dick, Charlotte Riley, Aisling Loftus, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Alex Macqueen. There are also cameo appearances by Tori Amos and Neil Gaiman. Duration: 2 hours 30 mins approx.]]> 2 Neil Gaiman Puja 5 4.30 Stardust - BBC Dramatisation
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/30
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: audio-dramas-and-plays, favorites, owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Puja 0 to-read 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Puja
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 75670157 "Masterful. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a beautiful, timely book about the human condition--and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention." --Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re: Thinking

The instant #1 bestseller from John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, is now available in paperback with two brand-new essays!

"Gloriously personal and life-affirming. The perfect book for right now." --People
"Essential to the human conversation." --Library Journal, starred review

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale--from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity.

John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.]]> 318 John Green 0525555242 Puja 0 to-read 4.39 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Puja
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-Time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]> 293 Ally Carter 0063276682 Puja 4 currently-listening 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: Puja
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: currently-listening
review:
Honestly enjoyed it way more than I thought I would! Just a delightful little romp. Closed circle mystery with some enemies-to-lovers thrown into the mix.
]]> <![CDATA[Never Ever Getting Back Together]]> 61401002
But when she gets to the set, she’s confronted with the one person she hasn’t accounted for: Skye, the beautiful, charismatic girl Jordy cheated on Maya with. How is she supposed to live with this girl for six weeks? Sharing bunkbeds, for crying out loud?

Except, of course, there’s more to Skye than she lets most people see. Skye has her own reasons for being careful with her heart, and might be more willing to take Maya’s side than it initially seems. If they can sustain their reluctant alliance—and keep their unexpected chemistry from interfering—they might just have a chance to take Jordy down.


9 hours 53 minutes]]> 10 Sophie Gonzales 1250868599 Puja 4 lgbt 3.57 2022 Never Ever Getting Back Together
author: Sophie Gonzales
name: Puja
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: lgbt
review:
3.5 stars. This would have made more sense as New Adult than YA. I think the book spent a little too long in the miscommunication phase and not enough time in the budding romance phase, but overall it was very cute. The author did a great job making Jordy truly disposable. I was super annoyed at the climax for a moment when I thought something big would stay unresolved, but thankfully the issue was fixed before the end.
]]> Perfect on Paper 55468127
In Perfect on Paper: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back.

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
� Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
� Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
� Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
� Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
� Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she's not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?]]> 9 Sophie Gonzales Puja 4 lgbt 4.06 2021 Perfect on Paper
author: Sophie Gonzales
name: Puja
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: lgbt
review:

]]> Nobody in Particular 198983192 Young Royals meets The Prince and Me when a disgraced princess falls for a new student at their all-girls boarding school, but the two must hide their forbidden love at all costs.

Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford distractions. She’s working tirelessly to repair her image following a scandal that lost the trust of both her country and her best friend. Unfortunately, when a beautiful and funny new student joins her boarding school, Rose finds herself quite distracted indeed.

Attending Bramppath College on a music scholarship, talented pianist Danni expects to be an outcast amongst the wealthy children of the elite, but she is pleasantly surprised to be taken in by the ex-best friend of the princess. The more Danni gets to know her new classmates, the more intrigued she becomes by Rose.

When somebody sees something they shouldn’t and rumors circulate throughout Henland, Rose and Danni must either find a way to deflect the ever-increasing eyes on their relationship, or end it altogether. Because one thing is clear: if Rose’s fragile reputation takes any more hits, the palace will do whatever they must to separate Rose and Danni. Forever.]]> Sophie Gonzales Puja 0 to-read 4.38 2025 Nobody in Particular
author: Sophie Gonzales
name: Puja
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 52873094
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 304 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Puja 0 currently-reading, book-club 3.76 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Puja
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: currently-reading, book-club
review:

]]> Normal People 41057294
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.

Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.]]> 273 Sally Rooney 1984822179 Puja 3 3.81 2018 Normal People
author: Sally Rooney
name: Puja
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
A quick read but ultimately underwhelming. I just wanted more.
]]> <![CDATA[The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games, #4)]]> 62804238
Four brothers. Two missions. One explosive read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes returns to the world of her #1 bestselling,ĚýTikTok sensationĚýInheritance Games trilogy, and the stakes have never been higher. Ěý
Ěý
Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson’s half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem—efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements.
Ěý
Jameson Hawthorne is a risk-taker, a sensation-seeker, a player of games. When his mysterious father appears and asks for a favor, Jameson can’t resist the challenge. Now he must infiltrate London’s most exclusive underground gambling club, which caters to the rich, the powerful, and the aristocratic, and win an impossible game of greatest stakes. Luckily, Jameson Hawthorne lives for impossible.
Ěý
Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson—with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune—must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.

While you wait for The Brothers Hawthorne to come out, try Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s thrilling mystery series, The Naturals.Ěý]]> 13 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1668623811 Puja 3
This really didn't feel like an Inheritance Games book. Avery was barely in it. Jameson's whole story was kinda pointless. Grayson was the only one that needed more story, and it should have just been about him.

I really missed the brothers being together and Avery being even a little bit involved.]]> 3.84 2023 The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games, #4)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Puja
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
It took my almost an ENTIRE YEAR to get through this.

This really didn't feel like an Inheritance Games book. Avery was barely in it. Jameson's whole story was kinda pointless. Grayson was the only one that needed more story, and it should have just been about him.

I really missed the brothers being together and Avery being even a little bit involved.
]]> <![CDATA[The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games, #3)]]> 58658940 Avery’s fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.

To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets and they know her.

But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.]]> 400 Jennifer Lynn Barnes Puja 3 owned-audiobooks 4.10 2022 The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games, #3)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Puja
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/11
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Trouble with Hating You (The Trouble with Hating You, #1)]]> 49624654
Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also arrogant and infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts. Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?]]> 336 Sajni Patel 1538733331 Puja 0 to-read 3.80 2020 The Trouble with Hating You (The Trouble with Hating You, #1)
author: Sajni Patel
name: Puja
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kaikeyi 59045819 "Patel’s mesmerizing debut shines a brilliant light on the vilified queen from [the Indian epic] the Ramayana....This easily earns its place on shelves alongside Madeline Miller’s Circe." �Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.�

So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. And Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.

A stunning debut from a powerful new voice, Kaikeyi reimagines the life of the infamous queen from the Indian epic the Ramayana, weaving a tale of fate, family, courage, and heartbreak—of an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate the shape of things to come.

Praise for Kaikeyi:

“Utterly captivating from start to finish. I was immersed in Kaikeyi's world from the moment I opened Vaishnavi Patel's stunning debut.”�―Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart
ĚýĚý
“Patel shines an elegant, incisive lens on an ancient epic and the vilified queen tangled within it. Brave, compassionate and powerful.� ―Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
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“Mythic retelling at its best: entrancing, troubling, and complicated. Kaikeyi is marvelous.� ―R. F. Kuang, author of The Poppy War
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“A lyrical and evocative retelling, full of power and grace, which brings forward a traditionally maligned woman of myth. A spellbinding debut.� ―Ava Reid, author of The Wolf and the Woodsman
Ěý
“Compulsively readable and infinitely compassionate, this is the story I’ve been yearning for all my life.â€� ―Roshani Chokshi, author of The Gilded WolvesĚý
Ěý
“The best kind of retelling. Deftly weaving fantasy elements with beloved mythology, this brilliant reinterpretation enriches the Ramayana with counternarratives.� ―Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing
Ěý
“A thought-provoking, nuanced new look at one of humanity’s most foundational stories.� �Shannon Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass
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“Kaikeyi is a glorious tapestry of a novel. I adored it.� —Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong
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“The novel is compelling and rich, drawing on the source material while furnishing its characters with new complexity and motivations. Fans of Madeline Miller's Circe will fall hard for this story.â€� ―B´Ç´Ç°ě±ôľ±˛őłŮ (starred review)]]> 497 Vaishnavi Patel 0759557314 Puja 3 book-club
Ultimately, I think I wanted the book to be better than it was. In redeeming Kaykeyi I think the book went a little too far towards painting Kaykeyi as only Good, and the forces that opposed her entirely Bad. For all its length, I think the characters needed more nuance, if only to explain to better explain how the story could fit in with the context of the Ramayana as a whole.]]> 4.24 2022 Kaikeyi
author: Vaishnavi Patel
name: Puja
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves: book-club
review:
It took me a LONG time to get through this audiobook (it was over 17 hours long!)

Ultimately, I think I wanted the book to be better than it was. In redeeming Kaykeyi I think the book went a little too far towards painting Kaykeyi as only Good, and the forces that opposed her entirely Bad. For all its length, I think the characters needed more nuance, if only to explain to better explain how the story could fit in with the context of the Ramayana as a whole.
]]> A Bánh Mì for Two 200982340 In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families' histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.

In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father but has stopped updating since his passing.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh, has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.

When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.]]> 224 Trinity Nguyen 125091082X Puja 0 to-read 3.88 2024 A Bánh Mì for Two
author: Trinity Nguyen
name: Puja
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dungeons and Drama (Dungeons and Drama, #1)]]> 160047094
Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she's grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop.

Riley can't waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn't require as much acting as she would've thought...]]> 304 Kristy Boyce 0593647017 Puja 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Dungeons and Drama (Dungeons and Drama, #1)
author: Kristy Boyce
name: Puja
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Heir (Heir Duology, #1) 206780522 An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.

And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she's willing to give up.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives―and their hearts. Literally.]]> 484 Sabaa Tahir 0593616944 Puja 0 to-read 4.24 2024 Heir (Heir Duology, #1)
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Puja
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to End a Love Story 212432167 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show... Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang.

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers� room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except�

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet� the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.]]> 384 Yulin Kuang 0063310686 Puja 0 to-read 3.51 2024 How to End a Love Story
author: Yulin Kuang
name: Puja
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)]]> 134117196 Ěý
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
Ěý
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.
Ěý
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
Ěý
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.]]> 345 Heather Fawcett 0593500199 Puja 0 to-read 4.32 2024 Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Margo's Got Money Troubles 199534613
“[An] enormously entertaining and lovable book.� —Nick Hornby, New York Times Book Review

A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

“A wholly original novel. . . . Thorpe is both poetic and profound in the way she brings her remarkable story to an end.� —The Associated Press]]> 304 Rufi Thorpe 0063356589 Puja 0 to-read 3.86 2024 Margo's Got Money Troubles
author: Rufi Thorpe
name: Puja
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop]]> 133938826 should feel successful—but all she feels is drained. Haunted by an abandoned dream, she takes a leap of faith and leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a quiet residential neighborhood outside the city and opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.

The transition isn’t easy. For months, all Yeongju can do is cry. But as the long hours in the shop stretch on, she begins to reflect on what makes a good bookseller and a meaningful store. She throws herself into reading voraciously, hosting author events, and crafting her own philosophy on bookselling. Gradually, Yeongju finds her footing in her new surroundings.

Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that bind them, Yeongju begins to write a new chapter in her life. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop evolves into a warm, welcoming haven for lost souls—a place to rest, heal, and remember that it’s never too late to scrap the plot and start over.]]> 307 Hwang Bo-Reum Puja 0 to-read 3.94 2022 Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
author: Hwang Bo-Reum
name: Puja
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Winter Sea (Slains, #1) 35894505
In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

Please note: This novel has also been published under a different title: Sophia's Secret.


©2010 Susanna Kearsley (P)2011 Audible, Inc.]]> 544 Susanna Kearsley Puja 0 to-read 4.38 2008 The Winter Sea (Slains, #1)
author: Susanna Kearsley
name: Puja
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Risk Worth Taking 201867518
Her second chance? That appears on her last night in Portland in the form of a gorgeous attendee at the holiday party where she's bartending. Lingering glances turn into a chemistry-filled exchange, and by the end of the night Claire knows exactly what she wants: one night and no strings with Connor Stella. It'll be one last hot memory to close her chapter in this city.

But the weather has other plans: a winter storm grounds all flights for the weekend, Claire's included, and suddenly one night turns into an entire weekend. It would be a true inconvenience if Claire and Connor weren't already forging an electric connection. Instead, three nights cooped up in Connor's apartment together is the gift that keeps on giving. The only real inconvenience is that she's starting to get attached to the gorgeous stranger who feels more familiar than anyone she's ever met.

Claire's new adventure is on the other side of PDX's de-iced runways, but her biggest—and most worth—risk might be opening her heart up to the man she's leaving behind.]]> 78 Jessica Joyce Puja 3 4.05 2023 A Risk Worth Taking
author: Jessica Joyce
name: Puja
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Complete Tales and Poems 3210714 Edgar Allan Poe is credited with having pioneered the short story, having perfected the tale of psychological horror, and having revolutionized modern poetics. The entirety of Poe's body of imaginative work encompasses detective tales, satires, fables, fantasies, science fiction, verse dramas, and some of the most evocative poetry in the English language. This leatherbound omnibus collects all of Poe's fiction and poetry in a single volume, including "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," the full-length novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and much more.]]> 1023 Edgar Allan Poe 1435106342 Puja 0 4.47 1849 The Complete Tales and Poems
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Puja
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1849
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: library-paranormal-gothic-horror, to-read
review:

]]> Mansfield Park 16058947 346 Jane Austen Puja 0 to-read 4.12 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Puja
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1814
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required]]> 43345855 From two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age, with a reproducible formula to financial independence

A bull***t-free guide to growing your wealth, retiring early, and living life on your own terms

Kristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one, and she did it without hitting a home run on the stock market, starting the next Snapchat in her garage, or investing in hot real estate. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule and the Yield Shield--so you can quit the rat race forever. Not everyone can become an entrepreneur or a real estate baron; the rest of us need Shen's mathematically proven approach to retire decades before sixty-five.]]> 336 Kristy Shen 0525538690 Puja 4 4.21 2019 Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required
author: Kristy Shen
name: Puja
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves:
review:
There were a lot of terms in here I had no idea about but the book does a fairly decent job explaining them. I still have questions, but onwards to the next personal finance book!
]]> <![CDATA[Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble (Winner Bakes All #2)]]> 60382683 From the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material comes a sweet and scrumptious romantic comedy about facing your insecurities, finding love, and baking it off, no matter what people say.Ěý

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.
Ěý
But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his own impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s vicious fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread.
Ěý
But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves.
Ěý]]> Alexis Hall 1668606402 Puja 3 lgbt
I get anxiety. I *have* anxiety. But it was still rough spending 90% of a book of spiraling thoughts when the tin advertised feel good fun times.]]> 3.51 2022 Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble (Winner Bakes All #2)
author: Alexis Hall
name: Puja
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: lgbt
review:
2.5 stars. This one was really rough, and not at all a romcom. I'm not even sure the main characters were good for each other.

I get anxiety. I *have* anxiety. But it was still rough spending 90% of a book of spiraling thoughts when the tin advertised feel good fun times.
]]> <![CDATA[I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt, No Excuses, No B.S.]]> 45699866
Sethi covers how to save time by not wasting it managing money; the guns and cars myth of credit cards; how to negotiate like an Indian—the conversation begins with "no"; why "Budgeting Doesn't Have to Suck!"; how to get things rolling—for real—with only $20; what most people don't understand about taxes; how to get a CEO to take you out to lunch; how to avoid the Super Mario Brothers trap by making your savings work harder than you do; the difference between cheap and frugal; the hidden relationship between money and food. Not to mention his first key lesson: Getting started is more important than being the smartest person in the room. Integrated with his website, where readers can use interactive charts, follow up on the latest information, and join the community, it is a hip blueprint to building wealth and financial security.

Every month, 175,000 unique visitors come to Ramit Sethi's website, Iwillteachyoutoberich.com, to discover the path to financial freedom. They praise him thoughtfully ("Your site summarizes everything I want with my life—to be rich in finances, rich in experience, rich in family blessings," --Dan Esparza) and effusively ("Dude, you rock. I love this site!" --Richard Wu). The press has caught on, too: "Ramit Sethi is a rising star in the world of personal finance writing . . . one singularly attuned to the sensibilities of his generation. his style is part frat boy and part silicon Valley geek, with a little bit of San Francisco hipster thrown in" (San Francisco Chronicle). His writing is smart, his voice is full of attitude, and his ideas are uncommonly sound and refreshingly hype-free.]]> 13 Ramit Sethi Puja 5 owned-audiobooks 4.28 2009 I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt, No Excuses, No B.S.
author: Ramit Sethi
name: Puja
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 54816556 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]> 540 Tasha Suri 0316538515 Puja 0 to-read 4.14 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Puja
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Even Though I Knew the End 58846190 —Laini Taylor

C. L. Polk turns their considerable powers to a fantastical noir. A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above.

An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can't resist � the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves. To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago's most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.]]> 144 C.L. Polk Puja 0 to-read 3.94 2022 Even Though I Knew the End
author: C.L. Polk
name: Puja
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Puja 0 to-read 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Puja
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1) 98182228 The Bennett family has a secret: They're not just a family, they're a pack. Wolfsong is Oxnard "Ox" Matheson's story.

Ox Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a lesson: Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harbouring a secret that would change him forever. For the family are shapeshifters, who can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known. He also finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy. Joe is charming and handsome, but haunted by scars he cannot heal.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town, and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man � and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers. ]]> 517 T.J. Klune Puja 0 to-read 4.21 2016 Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Puja
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer]]> 58446236 The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape…and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.

Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts—as a means of self-conception—could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.

Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence…and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor—and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place�The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.]]> 12 Janelle Monáe 0063070901 Puja 0 3.73 2022 The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer
author: Janelle Monáe
name: Puja
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: currently-reading, currently-listening, book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (Winner Bakes All, #1)]]> 55278534
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.

Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory.Ěý Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.

Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.]]> 12 Alexis Hall 1549135562 Puja 4 lgbt 3.86 2021 Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (Winner Bakes All, #1)
author: Alexis Hall
name: Puja
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: lgbt
review:

]]> Starling House 141324812 A grim and gothic new tale from New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared.

Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 13 Alix E. Harrow 1250882788 Puja 4 book-club 3.5 stars. 3.76 2023 Starling House
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Puja
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: book-club
review:
3.5 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)]]> 184584595
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 352 Heather Fawcett 0593500156 Puja 0 to-read 4.00 2023 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Master of Verona (Star-Cross'd #1)]]> 15706682 The Master of Verona is a sweeping historical novel that takes place, primarily, in early 14th Century Verona. It is the story of Pietro Alaghieri - the eldest surving son of the poet Dante - who gets caught up in the sweep of history: the war between Padua and Verona; the rise of Verona's Capitano, Cangrande della Scala, Dante's increasing fame since the publication of The Inferno, an infernal plot against Cangrande's bastard son, and the rivalry of his two best friends over the affections of a girl, a rivalry that will severe a friendship, divide a city, and ultimately lead to the best-known tragic romance in history.

In 1312, the exiled poet Dante and his two sons, seventeen year old Pietro and fourteen year old Jacopo (“Pocoâ€�), travel to Verona at the invitation of Verona's leader, the legendary Franceso “Cangrandeâ€� della Scalla.Ěý While there, a sneak attack on Vincenza, Verona's client city, leads Pietro into his first battle, into the confidences of the charaismatic Cangrande, and into a tight friendship with Mariotto (“Mariâ€�) MontecchiĚý and Antonio (“Antonyâ€�) Capuletti.Ěý But hidden forces are at work against Cangrande - a series of attempts against a male baby, named Francesco and adopted by Cangrande's sister, widely believed to be his bastard son and possible heir.

Based on historical figures and the stories that formed the basis for some of Shakespeare's greatest plays, The Master of Verona is a compelling novel of politics, friendship, and conspiracy that recalls the best of Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Dunnett.]]> 592 David Blixt 1944540016 Puja 5 4.02 2007 The Master of Verona (Star-Cross'd #1)
author: David Blixt
name: Puja
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2016/11/23
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:
Picked this up due to a recommendation from a friend but it is EXACTLY right up my alley. Most easily described of historical fiction meets Shakespearean characters, this book is a lengthy but thoroughly entertaining read. I'll admit that it took me a little bit to get used to the multiple names characters went by, but once I got that down it was a lot of fun. The fight scenes are tremendous, as are the political machinations. I enjoy the characters so much I'm already 70% of the way through book 2!
]]> Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) 16160667 The first novel in a masterful trilogy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld that School Library Journal hailed is "sure to become a classic."

It is the cusp of World War I. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ genetically fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, a Clanker, and Deryn Sharp, a Darwinist, are on opposite sides of the war. But their paths cross in the most unexpected way, taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure�.One that will change both their lives forever.]]> 434 Scott Westerfeld 1416987061 Puja 4 3.91 2009 Leviathan (Leviathan, #1)
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: Puja
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/12/30
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
Like a lot of other steampunk books, it took me a little bit to fall in with the world and stop wondering about every new term I saw. Once that was done however, I thought the book was really enjoyable. Scott Westerfeld does in this book what he does best - keep the story and action moving at a rapid pace, leaving you no time or opportunity to get bored.
]]> <![CDATA[Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)]]> 58502265
Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Peniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne—a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama's betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to contain—no matter what it costs her.]]> Elizabeth Lim 0593398882 Puja 4 book-club 4.01 2021 Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: Puja
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 214161672
Yet the cautious Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician. Young, handsome and daring, Jonathan Strange is his very antithesis. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men � which overwhelms that between England and France. And soon their own secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine…]]> 864 Susanna Clarke 1526681552 Puja 0 to-read 4.20 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Puja
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Middlegame (Alchemical Journeys, #1)]]> 35965482 New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in this standalone fantasy.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 492 Seanan McGuire 1250195519 Puja 0 to-read 4.01 2019 Middlegame (Alchemical Journeys, #1)
author: Seanan McGuire
name: Puja
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Neverwhere (London Below, #1) 14497
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]> 370 Neil Gaiman 0060557818 Puja 5 owned-physical-books exactly what and where they're referring to.]]> 4.17 1996 Neverwhere (London Below, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2008/10/01
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: owned-physical-books
review:
I loved, loved, loved this book. It was as witty and well-written as any of Gaiman's books. As a big fan of quest games and books, as well as a short-term London-dweller, this book was pretty much tailor-made for me. Because honestly? There's nothing quite like the feeling of reading a book about a foreign place and to know exactly what and where they're referring to.
]]> Stardust 9820245 7 Neil Gaiman 0061336238 Puja 5 owned-audiobooks 4.05 1998 Stardust
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> Neverwhere 474072 370 Neil Gaiman 0380789019 Puja 0 library-fantasy 4.06 1996 Neverwhere
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: library-fantasy
review:

]]> Neverwhere: BBC Dramatisation 20362706

An act of kindness sees Richard Mayhew catapulted from his ordinary life into a subterranean world under the streets of London. Stopping to help an injured girl on a London street, Richard is thrust from his workaday existence into the strange world of London Below.

So begins a curious and mysterious adventure deep beneath the streets of London, a London of shadows where the tube cry of 'Mind the Gap' takes on new meaning; for the inhabitants of this murky domain are those who have fallen through the gaps in society, the dispossessed, the homeless. Here Richard meets the Earl of Earl’s Court, Old Bailey and Hammersmith, faces a life-threatening ordeal at the hands of the Black Friars, comes face to face with Great Beast of London, and encounters an Angel. Called Islington.

Joining the mysterious girl named Door and her companions, the Marquis de Carabas and the bodyguard, Hunter, Richard embarks on an extraordinary quest to escape from the clutches of the fiendish assassins Croup and Vandemar and to discover who ordered them to murder her family. All the while trying to work out how to get back to his old life in London Above.

A six part adaption of Neil Gaiman’s novel adapted by Dirk Maggs for Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra, sees James McAvoy as Richard lead a stellar cast which includes Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Anthony Head, David Schofield, Bernard Cribbens, Romola Garai, George Harris, Andrew Sachs, Lucy Cohu, Johnny Vegas, Paul Chequer, Don Gilet and Abdul Salis.]]> 4 Neil Gaiman Puja 5 owned-audiobooks, favorites 4.32 2013 Neverwhere: BBC Dramatisation
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/30
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: owned-audiobooks, favorites
review:

]]> She Drives Me Crazy 52516406 High school nemeses fall in love in this queer YA rom com perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Casey McQuiston.

After losing spectacularly to her ex-girlfriend in their first game since their break up, Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, the incredibly beautiful and incredibly mean Irene Abraham. Things only get worse when their nosey, do-gooder moms get involved and the girls are forced to carpool together until Irene’s car gets out of the shop.

Their bumpy start only gets bumpier the more time they spend together. But when an opportunity presents itself for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex (and climb her school’s social ladder at the same time), she bribes Irene into playing along. Hijinks, heartbreak, and gay fake-dating scheme for the ages. From author Kelly Quindlen comes a new laugh-out-loud romp through the ups and downs of teen romance.]]> 288 Kelly Quindlen 1250209161 Puja 4 lgbt 3.93 2021 She Drives Me Crazy
author: Kelly Quindlen
name: Puja
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/02
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: lgbt
review:

]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 43837634 Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl� haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

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

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 13 Delia Owens Puja 4 4.04 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Puja
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:
Beautifully written, but honestly could have done without the murder trial. Also, why did the author call them fireflies and not lightning bugs? It was kind of jarring!
]]> <![CDATA[What Darkness Brings (Sebastian St. Cyr, #8)]]> 17410546 The death of a notorious London diamond merchant draws aristocratic investigator Sebastian St. Cyr and his new wife Hero into a sordid world of greed, desperation, and the occult, when the husband of Sebastian’s former lover Kat Boleyn is accused of the murder.

Regency England, September 1812: After a long night spent dealing with the tragic death of a former military comrade, a heart-sick Sebastian learns of a new calamity: Russell Yates, the dashing, one-time privateer who married Kat a year ago, has been found standing over the corpse of Benjamin Eisler, a wealthy gem dealer. Yates insists he is innocent, but he will surely hang unless Sebastian can unmask the real killer.

For the sake of Kat, the woman he once loved and lost, Sebastian plunges into a treacherous circle of intrigue. Although Eisler’s clients included the Prince Regent and the Emperor Napoleon, he was a despicable man with many enemies and a number of dangerous, well-kept secrets—including a passion for arcane texts and black magic. Central to the case is a magnificent blue diamond, believed to have once formed part of the French crown jewels, which disappeared on the night of Eisler’s death. As Sebastian traces the diamond’s ownership, he uncovers links that implicate an eccentric, powerful financier named Hope and stretch back into the darkest days of the French Revolution.

When the killer grows ever more desperate and vicious, Sebastian finds his new marriage to Hero tested by the shadows of his first love, especially when he begins to suspect that Kat is keeping secrets of her own. And as matters rise to a crisis, Sebastian must face a bitter truth--that he has been less than open with the fearless woman who is now his wife.]]> 368 C.S. Harris Puja 4 4.40 2013 What Darkness Brings (Sebastian St. Cyr, #8)
author: C.S. Harris
name: Puja
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/06
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 8200487 150 Jules Verne Puja 0 to-read 4.15 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Puja
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1872
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ex Vows 209266538
Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View.

Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.

With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.

What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.

As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.]]> Jessica Joyce Puja 3 4.00 2024 The Ex Vows
author: Jessica Joyce
name: Puja
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:
I loved Joyce's first book so much and I really wanted more from this one. But it just fell a little flat. The secondary characters are barely there, the queer friends are yet again shoehorned in, and neither of the two main characters felt very unique. Like the attempt to give them dimensionality was there, but somehow they both ended up being characters I'd seen before in other new adult romances.
]]> Daisy Darker 59843691
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows�

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.]]> 342 Alice Feeney Puja 0 to-read 3.81 2022 Daisy Darker
author: Alice Feeney
name: Puja
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass, #0.2)]]> 18333581 40 Sarah J. Maas Puja 3 owned-audiobooks 4.21 2013 The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass, #0.2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Puja
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/10/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:
This was almost too short to get a lot done. Enjoyable, but unremarkable. I think I might just skip forward to book 3 before completing the short stories/
]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 58678422 Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down.

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together.

John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.]]> 304 John Green 0525556532 Puja 0 to-read 4.42 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Puja
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> If I Dig You 211003925 An f/f adventure romance where the only thing trickier than finding gold is understanding what's in your best friend's heart.

Archaeologists Isadora Ross and Louise Morgenstern have been best friends for sixteen years. But ever since Lou went back on a promise, broke off her toxic engagement and took a once-in-a-lifetime job on a dig in Turkey, leaving Isi behind - their relationship has been teetering on a precipice.

Lou’s been back a year, and Isi’s avoiding her, struggling with her resentment and unrequited romantic feelings. She throws herself even further into her never ending search for her mom, who went missing on a research trip in the mountains fourteen years ago.

But when Isi unearths an old journal of her mom’s indicating that the legends of lost Cherokee gold were more than legends, and she and Louise are kidnapped by a wealthy private collector who’s also been searching for it, they are forced to work together. After escaping, all they have is a half-empty pack of supplies they stole from the camp, a broken compass, the clothes on their backs� and each other.

Now, they must navigate not only the complicated feelings between them but also predators, the weather, and even the dark as they race through the mountains. Isi will have to decode her mom’s map in order to find the gold and get them out alive.

In Colby Wilkens� thrilling friends-to-lovers adventure romance If I Dig You, there’s no place better for getting dirty than the woods.]]> 336 Colby Wilkens 125029293X Puja 0 to-read 3.14 2025 If I Dig You
author: Colby Wilkens
name: Puja
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Puja 3 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Puja
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Cleat Cute 65214313 A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?]]> 328 Meryl Wilsner 1250873304 Puja 4 lgbt 3.72 2023 Cleat Cute
author: Meryl Wilsner
name: Puja
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves: lgbt
review:
3.5 stars. Very cute and easy to listen to. I loved the neurodivergent representation!
]]> A Place for Us 43837230 A Place for Us is a deeply moving and resonant story of love, identity, and belonging

As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia: their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister's footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride. What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best?

A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family's life: from the bonds that bring them together, to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla's own arrival in America from India, to the years in which their children--each in their own way--tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world, as well as a path home.

A Place for Us is a book for our times: an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging, and a resonant portrait of what it means to be an American family today. It announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.]]> 388 Fatima Farheen Mirza 152476356X Puja 0 to-read 4.24 2018 A Place for Us
author: Fatima Farheen Mirza
name: Puja
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)]]> 29453805
Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.]]> 16 Victoria E. Schwab Puja 4 owned-audiobooks 4.10 2016 A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Puja
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2016/03/29
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)]]> 20174424
Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched � along with her terrifying “secretary�, Sigrud � to solve a murder.

But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem, and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

A tale of vast conspiracies, dead gods, and buried histories, City of Stairs is at once a gripping spy novel and a stunningly original work of fantasy.

]]> 452 Robert Jackson Bennett 080413717X Puja 5 owned-audiobooks
It definitely started slow (and I also veered away to go read Euphoria for book club), but once it picked up the pace it never slowed down.]]> 4.07 2014 City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Puja
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/08
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:
Bennett continues to do brilliant things with his characters and his world building. His amazing, flawed, badass ladies give me wings.

It definitely started slow (and I also veered away to go read Euphoria for book club), but once it picked up the pace it never slowed down.
]]> <![CDATA[The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)]]> 40189879 The Traitor Baru Cormorant is an epic geopolitical fantasy about one woman's mission to tear down an empire by learning how to rule it.

Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up from the sand of her home and see red sails on the horizon.

The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and lies. They'll conquer Baru’s island, rewrite her culture, criminalize her customs, and dispose of one of her fathers. But Baru is patient. She'll swallow her hate, prove her talent, and join the Masquerade. She will learn the secrets of empire. She’ll be exactly what they need. And she'll claw her way high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free.

In a final test of her loyalty, the Masquerade will send Baru to bring order to distant Aurdwynn, a snakepit of rebels, informants, and seditious dukes. Aurdwynn kills everyone who tries to rule it. To survive, Baru will need to untangle this land’s intricate web of treachery - and conceal her attraction to the dangerously fascinating Duchess Tain Hu.

But Baru is a savant in games of power, as ruthless in her tactics as she is fixated on her goals. In the calculus of her schemes, all ledgers must be balanced, and the price of liberation paid in full.]]> 401 Seth Dickinson Puja 0 to-read 4.14 2015 The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)
author: Seth Dickinson
name: Puja
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> You Should Be So Lucky 196774347 We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.]]> 400 Cat Sebastian 0063272806 Puja 0 to-read 4.26 2024 You Should Be So Lucky
author: Cat Sebastian
name: Puja
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Phoenix King (The Ravence Trilogy, #1)]]> 63325346
The Ravani kingdom was born of a prophecy, carved from unforgiving desert sands and ruled by the Ravence bloodline: those with the power to command the Eternal Fire.

Elena Aadya is the heir to the throne—and the only Ravence who cannot wield her family’s legendary magic. As her coronation approaches, she will do whatever it takes to prove herself a worthy successor to her revered father. But she doesn’t anticipate the arrival of Yassen Knight, the notorious assassin who now claims fealty to the throne. Elena’s father might trust Yassen to be a member of her royal guard, but she is certain he is hiding something.]]> 513 Aparna Verma 0316522775 Puja 4 owned-audiobooks 3.64 2023 The Phoenix King (The Ravence Trilogy, #1)
author: Aparna Verma
name: Puja
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Puja 5 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Puja
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: lgbt, library-fantasy, owned-audiobooks, owned-physical-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)]]> 59365195
All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.]]> 576 Tracy Deonn 1534441638 Puja 4 4.31 2022 Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Puja
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)]]> 50892338
A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn� students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin� and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.]]> 502 Tracy Deonn 1534441603 Puja 4 4.32 2020 Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Puja
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)]]> 6481065
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is an enthralling mystery, a wonderfully told tale of deception—and a rich literary delight.]]> 373 Alan Bradley 0385343493 Puja 0 to-read 3.79 2009 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)
author: Alan Bradley
name: Puja
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Pairing 199440249 definitely not.

Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all.

Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It's in the past.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.

It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?

But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can't have.]]> 432 Casey McQuiston 1250862744 Puja 4 lgbt, owned-physical-books
It's clear that McQuiston spent a lot of time researching the food, wine and history of the various places that the leads visited. And while this may not be everyone's cup of tea, I definitely loved it because of the memories it brought up for me.

We love queer leads who are messy, and boy were these two messy. I wasn't the biggest fan of the way sex was weaponized to make the other person jealous (generally not a kind thing to do to the person you're actually hooking up with!), but it also felt very much how people of that age range with heartbreak would act.

Splitting the POV was probably the strongest single decision in the book. Kit was a sweetheart. Theo needed therapy. I need to go back to Europe!!]]> 3.70 2024 The Pairing
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Puja
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/02/28
shelves: lgbt, owned-physical-books
review:
I won this in a goodreads giveaway and anyone who knows the story of how I (a bisexual woman) met my wife (on a 24 day tour of Europe) knows that there isn't a better-suited book out there for me.

It's clear that McQuiston spent a lot of time researching the food, wine and history of the various places that the leads visited. And while this may not be everyone's cup of tea, I definitely loved it because of the memories it brought up for me.

We love queer leads who are messy, and boy were these two messy. I wasn't the biggest fan of the way sex was weaponized to make the other person jealous (generally not a kind thing to do to the person you're actually hooking up with!), but it also felt very much how people of that age range with heartbreak would act.

Splitting the POV was probably the strongest single decision in the book. Kit was a sweetheart. Theo needed therapy. I need to go back to Europe!!
]]> <![CDATA[One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In]]> 123921296
One In a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned (for better and for worse) from coming of age as a member of a much-maligned generation.

Kate is a pop culture commentator and host of the popular millennial-focused podcast Be There in Five . Part-funny, part-serious, Kate navigates the complicated nature of celebrating and criticizing the culture that shaped her as a woman, while arguing that great depths can come from surface-level interests.

With her trademark style and vulnerability, One In a Millennial is sharp, hilarious, and heartwarming all at once. She tackles AOL Instant Messenger, purity culture, American Girl Dolls, going out tops, Spice Girl feminism, her feelings about millennial motherhood, and more. Kate’s laugh-out-loud asides and keen observations will have you nodding your head and maybe even tearing up.]]> 328 Kate Kennedy 1250285127 Puja 4 3.73 2024 One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In
author: Kate Kennedy
name: Puja
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars rounded up. I think I expected more pop culture commentary but it ended up being more a series of personal essays. Still very very good, though. It reminded me of certain very specific times of my life (so much cringe) but also left me curious about the ways in which oughts culture shaped me that I haven’t even had a chance to examine yet.
]]> The Paris Apartment 58529537 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide�

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up � to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? � he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite � The nice guy � The alcoholic � The girl on the verge � The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 363 Lucy Foley Puja 0 to-read 3.82 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Puja
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Neverwhere 12421152
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]> 13 Neil Gaiman Puja 5 owned-audiobooks 4.08 1996 Neverwhere
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Puja
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/01
shelves: owned-audiobooks
review:

]]> Slow Dance 198530925
They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.]]> 400 Rainbow Rowell 0063380196 Puja 0 to-read 3.63 2024 Slow Dance
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Puja
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Third Eye 183222153
Now, instead of being a legendary hero, Laurel's the resident pariah of the magic realm. And what’s worse, the dark wizard Tybus swooped in, took over the realm, and forced all supernatural creatures to live under his tyrannical rule. He’s even stripped away the magical powers of those who refused to join his wicked cause. Yeah, everyone hates her. Well, everyone except her two roomies—Sybil, the sassiest diva of a fairy, who could throw shade with the flick of a wing. And Frank, the vampire who rocks a bald spot and a serious paunch. They are the real MVPs, the ride-or-die buddies who have her back, no matter how many colossal fails she racks up.

And it’s all about to get even weirder. Along comes Kate, a Normie who somehow knows more about Laurel than Laurel knows about herself. Turns out, she's got some secrets up her sleeve that might just give Laurel a shot at redemption and a chance to rewrite her destiny.

Third Eye is a side-splitting adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Laurel and her ragtag team of misfits must embark on a wild journey to take down Tybus. It's a treacherous path, but they'll have to put their differences aside and work together. Get ready to laugh, gasp, and cheer as they stumble their way towards an epic showdown.]]> Felicia Day Puja 4 audio-dramas-and-plays 4.12 2023 Third Eye
author: Felicia Day
name: Puja
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: audio-dramas-and-plays
review:

]]>