Suzanna's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 05 Mar 2025 13:40:47 -0800 60 Suzanna's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Story of Edgar Sawtelle 2731276
Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires—spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.]]> 566 David Wroblewski 0061374229 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.64 2008 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
author: David Wroblewski
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope, #10)]]> 60127025
But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . .]]> 384 Ann Cleeves 1250204550 Suzanna 4 Pretty good

Not my favorite by this author but engrossing nonetheless. Looking forward to snapping up the next Vera novel. One can hardly go wrong. ]]> 4.61 2022 The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope, #10)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:
Pretty good

Not my favorite by this author but engrossing nonetheless. Looking forward to snapping up the next Vera novel. One can hardly go wrong.
]]> <![CDATA[The Market Women of Diamond Square]]> 216828939
A sisterhood of hucksters.

Shrewd, outspoken, hardworking—and hard drinking—market women. Women who congregate in the saloons around Diamond Square and make them their own.

The election of 1913 throws this world into turmoil. The new mayor announces that the market house will be demolished. With encouragement from the Billy Sunday revival, the mayor also cracks down on “vice.� By “vice� he means liquor, motion pictures, pool halls, dancing, street musicians—and women gathering in saloons without a male escort.

The market women fight back, but taking on city hall is an uphill battle. For Katya, the battle is complicated by her often-confusing attraction to Ester, a Russian Jewish immigrant. After Ester is arrested and disappears, Katya makes it her mission to find her. When the city of Pittsburgh decides to tear down the “new� market house almost fifty years later, Ester’s fate is finally made clear.]]> 277 Jan Ellen Kurth Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.88 The Market Women of Diamond Square
author: Jan Ellen Kurth
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11)]]> 203187399 The beloved series returns as Flavia de Luce, along with her pestilent younger cousin, investigates the murder of a former public hangman and uncovers secrets that bring the greatest shock of her life.Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious, moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine's main talent, aside from cultivating disgusting habits, seems to be raising Flavia's dander, although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing, trickery, and other assorted mayhems.ĚýĚýWhen Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead from a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family's longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn't it she who picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelette, and served it to Greyleigh in the moments before his death? “I have to admit,â€� says Flavia, an expert in the chemical nature of poisons, “that I’d been praying to God for a jolly good, old-fashioned mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die, but why give a girl a gift such as mine without giving her the opportunity to use it?”But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, she sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet's good name. Little does she know that following the case's twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one with the power to upend her entire life.]]> 288 Alan Bradley 0593724526 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.33 2024 What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11)
author: Alan Bradley
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Limpet Syndrome (How to Survive the Afterlife #1)]]> 36609852 What happens to us when we die? What if the religious and scientific beliefs are wrong. Perhaps there's some truth in both view points...or none at all.

Imagine there was a politician whose only ambition was to corrupt and manipulate the very people who elected him, without them even knowing it. This was Byron T Casey’s ambition. It helped that he was the Prime Minister and had just acquired Emorfed, a substance that had the ability to alter a person’s soul.

Sandy Logan was the only person capable of stopping him. But there was one problem. Sandy was dead. It complicated matters that his death had been aided by the mysterious Limpet Syndrome, which meant he wasn't dead dead. Very few people understood why Sandy’s soul had lingered on Earth, least of all Sandy.

This presented a far more serious problem. A soul wandering aimlessly around the globe threatened the stability of the Universe itself. Sandy’s soul had to be recovered and the powers that be had decided there was only one man for the job, the recently deceased John Hewson. Obviously he’s not dead dead you understand.

John would have to travel to Hell and back if he was going to work out the secrets of the Limpet Syndrome, locate Sandy’s soul and bring down a government. In his pursuit to discover the truth of his own death, John is about to find out that death isn't the end; it's just the beginning of the end.]]> 394 Tony Moyle Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.83 2017 The Limpet Syndrome (How to Survive the Afterlife #1)
author: Tony Moyle
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Blue Lightning (Shetland Island, #4)]]> 7157547
Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancée, Fran, to his parents. It’s a community where everyone knows each other, and strangers, while welcomed, are still viewed with a degree of mistrust.

Challenging to live on at the best of times, with the autumn storms raging, the island feels cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped, tension is high and tempers become frayed. Enough to drive someone to murder...

When a woman’s body is discovered at the renowned Fair Isles bird observatory, with feathers threaded through her hair, the islanders react with fear and anger. With no support from the mainland and only Fran to help him, Jimmy has to investigate the old-fashioned way. He soon realizes that this is no crime of passion—but a murder of cold and calculated intention.

With no way off the island until the storms abate, Jimmy knows he has to work quickly. There’s a killer on the island just waiting for the opportunity to strike again.]]> 368 Ann Cleeves 0230746659 Suzanna 4 4.03 2010 Blue Lightning (Shetland Island, #4)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/06
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
Well done, although the author revisited a plot from one of her earlier books in a different series. Guessing she just wanted to flesh those bones out in a different way, so to speak. It was a tad disturbing, as I had to keep reassuring myself that this was a new book to me. I finally tracked down the other one and felt less like I was going crazy, but it seems rather inappropriate to have copied so much of her other work. Still, a fast moving and interesting read, and just different enough to warrant a strongly positive review. Looking forward to the next adventure with Jimmy Perez.
]]> <![CDATA[Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2)]]> 203265775 It has been ten years since Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Now residents of the East Yorkshire village of Elvet are disturbed to hear of new evidence proving Jeanie’s innocence. Abigail’s killer is still at large.

For one young woman, Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend--and of that fearful winter’s day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch.

As Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh enquiries on the peninsula and villagers are hauled back to a time they hoped to forget, tensions begin to mount. But are people afraid of the killer or of their own guilty pasts?
With each person’s story revisited, the Inspector begins to suspect that some deadly secrets are threatening to unfurl�

]]> 415 Ann Cleeves Suzanna 4 4.36 2005 Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/05
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]]> <![CDATA[The Princess and the Pea: A Very Short Tale]]> 18764832 11 Diane Setterfield 1476773009 Suzanna 0 3.53 2013 The Princess and the Pea: A Very Short Tale
author: Diane Setterfield
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/16
date added: 2024/07/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Silent Voices (Vera Stanhope, #4)]]> 16045218 320 Ann Cleeves 1250033586 Suzanna 0 4.00 2011 Silent Voices (Vera Stanhope, #4)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woman on the Island (Vera Stanhope #9.5)]]> 61183273 New York Times bestseller Ann Cleeves returns with a delicious short story featuring DCI Vera Stanhope as a young woman, and also including an excerpt from the next Vera Stanhope novel, The Rising Tide.

"Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite mystery writers."-Louise Penny

A rare day off from policing leads DCI Vera Stanhope across the tidal causeway to Holy Island, the lure of crab sandwiches there too hard to resist.

While on the island, she is reminded of the day decades before when, as a teenager, she went with her father Hector on another day trip. The day she watched him meet with a mystery woman on the beach...

Vera already knew then that Hector kept secrets, but this time the fledging investigator was determined to find the truth of why he was meeting the woman on the island, never realizing it would mean taking her first step onto a path to becoming a detective...

In this wonderful short story, Ann Cleeves shows us the origins of Vera as a detective, and showcases the setting for her next novel, The Rising Tide.]]> 32 Ann Cleeves 1250877970 Suzanna 0 3.75 2022 The Woman on the Island (Vera Stanhope #9.5)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Miss Riddell Cozy Mystery Adventures - A 10 Book Boxset: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery Series (Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries)]]> 126217223 A Yorkshire Christmas, a Manchester mobster, and a Galapagos cruise. Will her determined detecting help her set them all to rights?


Over 2,300 pages of clues, conundrums, and canny investigating!

Northern England. Miss Pauline Riddell can’t abide injustice. So when she gets tangled up in a suspicious homicide, she sets her sharp mind to unraveling the messy murder. And after unmasking the killer, the eagle-eyed accountant realizes she has a flair for investigation that could change her entire life.

This collection contains all ten volumes in the Miss Riddell series, with adventures spanning from 1953 to 1988. While away the hours immersed in delightfully deft prose, vivid historical details, and humorous-yet-believable plots.

Can this daring damsel track down a priceless relic? Will her sensible sobriety help her unearth a lost fortune? Does a phantom prankster stand a chance against her well-honed wits?

Miss Riddell�s Cozy Mystery Adventures is the complete set of the intriguing Miss Riddell Cozy Mystery series. If you like watching characters grow, quirky casts, and a dash of globe-trotting, then you’ll love P.C. James’s shrewd sleuthing.

Buy Miss Riddell�s Cozy Mystery Adventures to leave no stone unturned today!]]> 2115 P.C. James Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.40 Miss Riddell Cozy Mystery Adventures - A 10 Book Boxset: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery Series (Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries)
author: P.C. James
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Familiars 59039645
Is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Fleetwood must risk everything to prove her innocence. As the two women’s lives become intertwined, the Witch Trials of 1612 loom. Time is running out; both their lives are at stake. Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other.

Rich and compelling, set against the frenzy of the real Pendle Hill Witch Trials, this novel explores the rights of 17th-century women and raises the question: Was witch-hunting really women-hunting? Fleetwood Shuttleworth, Alice Grey and the other characters are actual historical figures. King James I was obsessed with asserting power over the lawless countryside (even woodland creatures, or “familiars,� were suspected of dark magic) by capturing “witches”—in reality mostly poor and illiterate women.]]> 335 Stacey Halls Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.87 2019 The Familiars
author: Stacey Halls
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/01
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]]> The Phoenix Ballroom 201606225 From the wildly popular bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things: a heartfelt and inspiring story about a wealthy widow who revives a beloved famous local landmark—and restores joy and sparkle to her own life in the process.

It’s never too late to start dancing again...

For fifty years, Venetia Hargreaves’s world revolved around her husband. She built their life around his big career, with dinner on the table at six, a lovely home, and a dutiful son just as business-minded as his father. Now Venetia’s a wealthy widow left with a beautiful but empty home, an enviable bank balance, and a distinct feeling that she missed the boat. Once upon a time, she was a dance instructor who dreamed of opening her own ballroom school with a fellow teacher who won her heart. Instead, Venetia chose the safer path.

So, at seventy-four years of age, Venetia declares her independence, first with a makeover, and then by adopting a new dog. But something is still missing...until on one of her dog walks by the river she passes by a building she remembers all too well. In her youth it was the spectacular Phoenix Ballroom, where she used to teach waltzes and tangos. These days it’s a community center and spiritualist church, funded by a mysterious benefactor who only pays for the upkeep.

Eager to revive at least one meaningful thing from her past, Venetia buys the Phoenix Ballroom, and finds a supportive and loving community of lost souls who become a delightful multigenerational family-by-choice.

As the ballroom regains its former glory, the community and Venetia’s humdrum life are revived as well...proving wonderful things can come from the darkest of places.]]> 320 Ruth Hogan 0063386674 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.00 2024 The Phoenix Ballroom
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Trial of Phillis Wheatley 22042921 This play had its world premier at Bridgwater State University a decade ago as part of the University's celebration of "Black History Month."

"Classic American history theater for readers who are weary of The Crucible and Inherit the Wind." Kirkus Review. Winner Kirkus Review Best Book of the year 2015.

On the eve of the American Revolution in the fall of 1772, eighteen year old Phillis Wheatley, the household slave of John and Susanna Wheatley was invited to appear before eighteen of Boston’s most prominent men in the Governor’s Council Chamber in Boston to defend the premise that she was the author of a collection of poems. The so-called “jury� was comprised of the most prominent men in Boston. This was not a jury of her peers but rather one comprised of all white, all male, and largely middle-aged men. There is no transcript of that proceeding. The Trial of Phillis Wheatley is a courtroom docudrama “depicting� what occurred in that room that day. The final verdict would change the course of American history.]]> 243 Ronald B. Wheatley Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.74 2014 The Trial of Phillis Wheatley
author: Ronald B. Wheatley
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Crone of Midnight Embers (Myrtlewood Crones, #1)]]> 193548782 Why don't more 60-something-year-olds get to have fun magical adventures?

Delia Spark is caught in a maelstrom. Her former life as a London theatre director is on the brink of implosion amid a scandalous divorce, a tarnished reputation, and, for reasons she cannot fathom, things keep spontaneously combusting around her. Her sixties were supposed to be peaceful, but now even her grown daughter won't return her calls. Escape is the only option.

In the remote village of Myrtlewood, she seeks solace, not suspecting that in this quaint haven, far stranger adventures await than the urban chaos she left behind. Delia is oblivious to the undercurrent that her arrival stirs. Amid whispers of magic, she finds herself on the precipice of an extraordinary transformation.

As she grapples with these new realities, an ominous shadow lurks - a secret Order, steeped in ancient lore, is watching, plotting and scheming. Delia must confront her destiny. Will she surrender to the enchanting pull of Myrtlewood and the ancient prophecies of the elemental crones, or will she claw back her former life from her power-hungry ex?

Welcome to a world where the extraordinary is ordinary, where tranquillity is a veil for the mystical, and where time itself whispers secrets of old served with delicious cakes and cups of tea � or coffee if you insist!]]> 304 Iris Beaglehole Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.09 2023 The Crone of Midnight Embers (Myrtlewood Crones, #1)
author: Iris Beaglehole
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/28
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X Suzanna 0 to-read 4.03 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Peppermint Cookie Murder (Christmas Catastrophe #1)]]> 201269129 When Santa’s daughter leaves the North Pole on a baking quest, will her sweet dreams turn fatally sour?

Cindy Claus is excited to open her own bakery. She’s determined to pursue her passion and have her holiday treats prove she’s more than a Yuletide heir. But before she can whisk up a success, her roommate is murdered and Cindy is the prime suspect.

With finding the real killer the only way to beat the rap, Cindy relies on the kindness of strangers and her father’s trusted arctic fox. But without a recipe for success in the unfamiliar human world, grilling the wrong suspects could put her behind bars�

Can Cindy sift out the clues before she’s done and dusted?]]> 238 Trixie Silvertale 1952739918 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.22 Peppermint Cookie Murder (Christmas Catastrophe #1)
author: Trixie Silvertale
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/28
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters]]> 20903440
It begins with a singing and dancing septet, with Irish jigs kicked out in dusty church halls. But it is not the sisters� singing or their dancing that fills the seats: it is the torrents of hair they let loose at the end of each show. And their hair will take dark-hearted Darcy, bickering twins Berenice and Enda, plain Pertilly, gentle Oona, wild Ida and fearful, flame-haired Manticory � the inimitable narrator of their on-and-off stage adventures � out of poverty, through the dance halls of Ireland, to the salons of Dublin and the palazzi of Venice. It will bring some of them love and each of them loss. For their past trails behind the sisters like the tresses on their heads, and their fame and fortune will come at a terrible price...]]> 466 Michelle Lovric 1408833417 Suzanna 4 3.63 2014 The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters
author: Michelle Lovric
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/24
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review:
Super fun book! It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was entertaining and a page-turner.
]]> <![CDATA[Witches at the Wedding (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Book 8)]]> 60684133 "I can’t tell you how much I laughed."

*** SERIES NOW COMPLETE ***

A body in a barn. A secret from the past. Wedding plans can be murder...

Reverend Annabelle Dixon is back! A vicar with a taste for sweets and a nose for crime, Annabelle seems doggedly distracted from her impending wedding to Inspector Nicholls. Much to the dismay of her wedding organiser, Philippa.

So when a visiting priest stumbles over a corpse in a cow barn, Annabelle is all too eager to investigate. But when an ancient journal links the victim to a travesty from the past, Annabelle wonders if she’s in over her head. Meanwhile, the inspector has his hands full with potential suspects... And a troubling lack of clues.

Disgruntled laborers, absent relatives, a group of sinister travelers... The list of possible killers seems endless. But when someone burns down Annabelle and Mike’s wedding marquee days before the ceremony, they find themselves in a race against time.

Can Annabelle solve this disturbing crime, and banish her wedding day jitters once and for all, before it’s too late?

Witches at the Wedding is the eighth in a furiously fast-paced, funny new series featuring a young female vicar whose passion and dedication to her parish are matched only by her weakness for cake.

If you like quirky characters, clever puzzles, and a touch of sweet romance, then you’ll love Alison Golden’s deliciously addictive storytelling.

**This series of books are clean cozy mysteries that contain no swearing or graphic descriptions of violence or bedroom activities. There are even recipes in the back!**

"So good! Just the most wonderful ending for this series."

Praise for the Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery
"Too funny."
"Your descriptions of even the most commonplace are beautiful."
“Couldn't put it down and yes, I cried."

Books in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery
Death at the Cafe
Murder at the Mansion
Body in the Woods
Grave in the Garage
Horror in the Highlands
Killer at the Cult
Fireworks in France
Witches at the Wedding

Buy Witches at the Wedding today because you need a lift. Prepare to laugh.]]> 330 Alison Golden Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.60 Witches at the Wedding (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Book 8)
author: Alison Golden
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/02
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]]> The Lost Bookshop 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

â€The thing about books,â€� she said â€is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.â€�

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found�

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 Suzanna 4 4.04 2023 The Lost Bookshop
author: Evie Woods
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/02/02
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]]> <![CDATA[A Murder of Crows (Nell Ward, #1)]]> 60845211
In the sleepy village of Cookingdean, Dr Nell Ward is busy working in the grounds of a local manor house. Whilst inspecting an old tunnel, the last thing she expects to overhear is a murder. As the only person with any clues as to what happened, Nell soon finds herself in the middle of the investigation.

Desperate to clear her name Nell, along with her colleague Adam, set out solving the murder using their skills as ecologists to uncover details no one else would notice. But it soon becomes clear that playing Agatha Christie is much harder than it might at first appear�

The start of an exciting new cosy crime series � perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Faith Martin and Joy Ellis.]]> 368 Sarah Yarwood-Lovett Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.80 2022 A Murder of Crows (Nell Ward, #1)
author: Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Reading Group: December: a FREE short story]]> 32489381 'Brims with laughs, love, family and friendship. You will love this heartwarming read!' Trisha Ashley. Meet the Reading Group: six women in the seaside village of Little Sanderton come together every month to share their love of reading. No topic is off-limits: books, family, love and loss . . . and don't forget the glass of red!

Grace knows that the holiday season is going to be different this year. No turkey, no tinsel, no gorgeously wrapped gifts under the tree . . . how on earth is she going to break it to her little boys that Christmas is effectively cancelled? And can she bear to tell anyone her embarrassing secret? Enter the Reading Group: Grace's life might have turned upside down but there's no problem they can't solve.

]]> 17 Della Parker Suzanna 3 3.72 The Reading Group: December: a FREE short story
author: Della Parker
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Drowning Place (Det. Lew Kirby #2)]]> 63365686 Murder on an abandoned housing estate—and a web of dark secrets stretching back decades�

Amid the crumbling decay of the Grasmere Estate in London, flats are abandoned and boarded up; the church that was once at its heart lies disused and forgotten. But when urban explorer Connie Darke takes refuge in the church while looking for clues about her sister’s death, she makes a terrifying discovery: William Stark, the estate’s architect and long-time resident, is hanging from the vaulted ceiling.

For DI Lew Kirby, struggling with life-changing tragedies of his own, there’s no doubt that Stark was lured to his death—but who wanted him dead, and why? As Connie begins a covert investigation, desperate to find a connection to her sister, Kirby soon discovers that Grasmere’s remaining residents have something to hide.

Could there be a connection between Stark’s death and the unsolved case of Kevin Shires, a boy who went missing from the estate decades ago? And with Kirby and Connie both digging into the long-buried history of the estate’s darkest corners, what other secrets will be unearthed from the ruins of Grasmere?]]> 377 S.W. Kane Suzanna 5 4.23 2023 The Drowning Place (Det. Lew Kirby #2)
author: S.W. Kane
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/01
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]]> Entangled 25674986 282 Kathleen Cosgrove Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.96 2015 Entangled
author: Kathleen Cosgrove
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> All Boys Aren't Blue 48678512 Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy.

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.]]> 304 George M. Johnson 0374312729 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.23 2020 All Boys Aren't Blue
author: George M. Johnson
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You]]> 52339309 A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

]]> 321 Jason Reynolds 0316453706 Suzanna 0 4.56 2020 Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
author: Jason Reynolds
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Melissa (previously published as GEORGE)]]> 24612624
George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part... because she's a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte—but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.]]> 208 Alex Gino 0545812542 Suzanna 4
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It’s gently written and has some interesting parallels with Charlotte’s Web. There are also some interesting parallels with my own life and a friend I had in 4th grade.

My first day of 4th grade, I sat next to a kid named Sam. Sam had beautiful, short, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes framed with blonde-tipped lashes, and wore a pair of jeans with a matching denim vest.

We talked about whatever 4th graders talk about, I don’t remember that part. But I do remember being unsure of Sam’s gender at the time, and finding out later he was a biological boy. And thinking to myself that he was the prettiest boy I’d ever seen.

Sam and I became friends, and were friends through high school. We weren’t exactly close like Melissa/George and Kelly, but we were close enough that when we decided to go to the same college, we bought season football tickets together, and seats next to each other.

Sam was always kind and reasonably popular in our small school. But I never knew Sam to date or have an interest in anyone of either gender. And I never saw Sam again after we left for college. I’ve talked with a few friends from our hometown, and to the best of my knowledge, he cut ties.

I’ve always wondered about Sam. I would have loved Sam the same if he had revealed an inner life, but we were children in a small, conservative, predominantly white town in the 70s, and I understand why he wouldn’t want to face the turmoil that would likely result.

This book prompted me to revisit my own thoughts about gender, and think about this question especially: Assuming he did change his identity in college, did Sam likely already know what he wanted on that day when I first met him? And I feel the answer is yes.

So, I’m grateful to the author. And do I feel this book should be banned? Absolutely not.

In my opinion, the only reason to ban this book would be to avoid difficult conversations with children. And I think that other children like Sam might greatly benefit from having it as a resource, and their classmates, friends, and family members might benefit from it, too. ]]> 4.04 2015 Melissa (previously published as GEORGE)
author: Alex Gino
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/20
date added: 2023/07/01
shelves:
review:
I’m in a group of “rebellious readers� who are working through a pile of banned books. We just formed our group, and chose to begin with Melissa/George.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It’s gently written and has some interesting parallels with Charlotte’s Web. There are also some interesting parallels with my own life and a friend I had in 4th grade.

My first day of 4th grade, I sat next to a kid named Sam. Sam had beautiful, short, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes framed with blonde-tipped lashes, and wore a pair of jeans with a matching denim vest.

We talked about whatever 4th graders talk about, I don’t remember that part. But I do remember being unsure of Sam’s gender at the time, and finding out later he was a biological boy. And thinking to myself that he was the prettiest boy I’d ever seen.

Sam and I became friends, and were friends through high school. We weren’t exactly close like Melissa/George and Kelly, but we were close enough that when we decided to go to the same college, we bought season football tickets together, and seats next to each other.

Sam was always kind and reasonably popular in our small school. But I never knew Sam to date or have an interest in anyone of either gender. And I never saw Sam again after we left for college. I’ve talked with a few friends from our hometown, and to the best of my knowledge, he cut ties.

I’ve always wondered about Sam. I would have loved Sam the same if he had revealed an inner life, but we were children in a small, conservative, predominantly white town in the 70s, and I understand why he wouldn’t want to face the turmoil that would likely result.

This book prompted me to revisit my own thoughts about gender, and think about this question especially: Assuming he did change his identity in college, did Sam likely already know what he wanted on that day when I first met him? And I feel the answer is yes.

So, I’m grateful to the author. And do I feel this book should be banned? Absolutely not.

In my opinion, the only reason to ban this book would be to avoid difficult conversations with children. And I think that other children like Sam might greatly benefit from having it as a resource, and their classmates, friends, and family members might benefit from it, too.
]]> <![CDATA[Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China]]> 40777999 432 Pearl S. Buck Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.29 1956 Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China
author: Pearl S. Buck
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Remains of the Day 274186 here.

The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.� But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness� and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served.]]> 245 Kazuo Ishiguro 0679731725 Suzanna 4 4.17 1989 The Remains of the Day
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2012/01/05
date added: 2023/05/16
shelves:
review:
Easy read that is conceptually interesting, subtly political and thought provoking.
]]> <![CDATA[The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 40033006
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.

Understood? Then let's begin . . .

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .

The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.]]> 482 Stuart Turton Suzanna 5 3.78 2018 The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/20
date added: 2023/04/16
shelves:
review:
Clever, fast paced, and intricate, this is a delightful read. Turton has a unique way of pulling together ideas, and I love his way of wordsmithing. I think anyone who likes Erin Morgenstern would enjoy this unusual and well-crafted novel.
]]> <![CDATA[River of Fallen Angels (Victorian Mystery, #7)]]> 61615713
London, April 1891. When the severed torso of a woman washes up on the bank of the river Thames, London believes a serial killer from the past has struck again. Crime photographer and investigator Sarah Bain Barrett is on the scene with her friends Mick O’Reilly and Lord Hugh Staunton. This is their chance to solve a grisly cold case and deliver a monster to belated justice, with help from Sarah’s husband Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett; her sister Sally Albert, an intrepid newspaper reporter; and Hugh’s psychologist, Dr. Joshua Lewes, who’s a pioneer in the new science of criminal profiling. But the opportunity brings troubles galore: Sarah and her husband can’t agree on what direction their inquiries should take. Barrett favors concentrating on two shady characters he knows from his days a a patrol constable in Whitechapel, while Sarah suspects the charismatic leader of a polygamous religious sect from which at least one woman has gone missing. Their discord threatens not only the investigation but their marriage.

To complicate matters, Sarah’s bitter enemy, Inspector Reid, is leading the police’s hunt for the killer they’re calling the Torso Murderer. Obsessed with the Ripper case and his own failure to solve it, he thinks the Ripper and the Torso Murderer are one and the same person—a notion that could steer the police investigation disastrously off course. Hot in pursuit of the killer, Reid is also hell-bent on discovering what Sarah and company have been hiding about the Ripper.

The Torso Murder case threatens to expose a dangerous truth, tear apart Sarah’s close-knit band of comrades, and send them to the gallows before they can put the killer out of action.]]> 296 Laura Joh Rowland 1639101527 Suzanna 3 It was okay

Not my favorite by Rowland by any means, but reasonably entertaining. I don't know if this wraps up the series, but I will keep going if there are more. ]]> 4.12 River of Fallen Angels (Victorian Mystery, #7)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/21
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:
It was okay

Not my favorite by Rowland by any means, but reasonably entertaining. I don't know if this wraps up the series, but I will keep going if there are more.
]]> Lady Tan’s Circle of Women 62919732
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 352 Lisa See 1982117087 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.31 2023 Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girls on the Shore (Two Rivers, #2.5)]]> 59586477 Ann Cleeves returns with a darkly delicious short story, "The Girls on the Shore", featuring DI Matthew Venn from the Two Rivers series.

It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud. Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone. Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.]]> 36 Ann Cleeves 1250859379 Suzanna 5 Easy, quick, compelling

Cleeves is a master of cadence and semantics, and this little read is a perfect sampling of her writing prowess. ]]> 3.36 2022 The Girls on the Shore (Two Rivers, #2.5)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/26
date added: 2022/12/10
shelves:
review:
Easy, quick, compelling

Cleeves is a master of cadence and semantics, and this little read is a perfect sampling of her writing prowess.
]]> <![CDATA[Fireworks in France (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Book 7)]]> 57410415 "The action played like scenes from a movie."*** SERIES NOW COMPLETE ***

A missing priest. Scandalous secrets. A reverend with a taste for justice�

When a French priest collapses at Easter Mass, the church suspects foul play. A missing junior priest quickly becomes the prime suspect, but not everyone agrees. Reverend Annabelle Dixon and Inspector Mike Nichols were looking forward to a few days off, but when her oldest friend in the whole world asks for help with this conundrum, how can Annabelle say no?

Annabelle and Mike dash off to France to join the investigation where they find themselves trapped in a culture clash of hilarious proportions. The lead French detective is pompous, arrogant, and utterly incompetent. And it's not long before another mysterious death rocks the church.

Annabelle may have a nose for crime, but she’s got no serious suspects, and too few clues. And even the rich French food can’t inspire her to crack the case. On top of all this, Mike has a puzzle of his own to solve. But he’s determined to help Annabelle put this killer away before they strike again, and spoil his romantic plan for good�

Fireworks in France is the seventh in a furiously fast-paced, funny new series featuring a young female vicar whose passion and dedication to her parish are matched only by her weakness for cake.

If you like quirky characters, clever puzzles, and a touch of sweet romance, then you’ll love Alison Golden’s deliciously addictive storytelling.

**This series of books are clean cozy mysteries that contain no swearing or graphic descriptions of violence or bedroom activities. There are even recipes in the back!**

"It amazes me, how I can be laughing out loud, sniffing, and opening my mouth in shock, when reading these books. "

Praise for the Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery "Too funny.""Your descriptions of even the most commonplace are beautiful."“Couldn't put it down and yes, I cried."

Books in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery Death at the CafeMurder at the MansionBody in the WoodsGrave in the GarageHorror in the HighlandsKiller at the CultFireworks in FranceWitches at the Wedding

Buy Fireworks in France today because you need a lift. Prepare to laugh. ]]> 340 Alison Golden Suzanna 0 to-read 4.54 Fireworks in France (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Book 7)
author: Alison Golden
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beauty and the Goblin King (Fairy Tale Heat, #1)]]> 35004623 Maybe I was the girl Clara didn’t want me to be. Here I was, with the goblin king, and I didn’t want him to stop.

For the past ten years, the Goblin King has stayed locked away in his caverns. He only opens his doors for one purpose: he will give one gold coin for every night a girl is willing to spend with him. Despite his fearsome reputation, his fangs and claws, the girls come back safe and sound, and they never say a word about it. One must be very desperate to accept such an offer…or very curious. Well, everyone says curiosity has always been my downfall. Too clever for a girl so beautiful.

Now my family is on the brink of losing everything. My sister Clara knows the goblin king’s story has always intrigued me, and she’s willing to sacrifice me to get her hands on his money. But I finally have the chance to sate my curiosity.

What will I find when I get there? A man who is cruelly cursed, haunted by a past misdeed? Or the man who will unlock all of my secret desires?

It has been a long time since the Goblin King trusted anyone, but if he is willing to trust me, I might be able to save him and his people. But the witch who cursed him is close at hand, and she doesn’t play fair.

Beauty and the Goblin King is a fairy tale retelling for those who like an adorable happily ever after with a side of serious steaminess!]]> 154 Lidiya Foxglove Suzanna 2 Not great

This is a somewhat adulty take on Beauty and the Beast. I say somewhat because there is plenty of explicit sex. However, the storyline and writing quality are preteen feeling. I quit about halfway through. I rounded up to 2 stars for creativity; otherwise it’s a 1 star read for me. ]]> 3.62 2017 Beauty and the Goblin King (Fairy Tale Heat, #1)
author: Lidiya Foxglove
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2022/07/04
date added: 2022/07/04
shelves:
review:
Not great

This is a somewhat adulty take on Beauty and the Beast. I say somewhat because there is plenty of explicit sex. However, the storyline and writing quality are preteen feeling. I quit about halfway through. I rounded up to 2 stars for creativity; otherwise it’s a 1 star read for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Garden of Sins (Victorian Mystery #6)]]> 58519117
London, November 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain Barrett faces a perfect storm of events. She and her husband Detective Sergeant Barrett are riding on a train that crashes. While rescuing other passengers, they find a woman who's been strangled to death. Their search for her identity and her killer lead them to Cremorne Gardens, a seedy riverside pleasure park that's a combination carnival, theater, freak show, and museum of oddities. It's among the most challenging cases that Sarah, Barrett, and her friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly have ever undertaken. The suspects include a dwarf, a female acrobat, and a member of the Royal Family. Due to the royal connection, the police commissioner declares the case top-secret. Sarah and company must investigate on the quiet, keeping the suspects, the press, and the public in the dark. That's easier said than done. The investigation is complicated by the injury Hugh sustained during their last case, Mick's romance with a woman who has psychic powers, and Barrett's old flame.

Meanwhile, Sarah's father Benjamin Bain goes on trial for a rape and murder that happened more than two decades ago. The victim was a teenage girl named Ellen Casey. Is Benjamin Bain as innocent as he claims? Sarah has serious doubts. The trial is the scandal of the year, a media blitz. The outcome--and the truth about the murder on the train--are beyond Sarah's wildest imaginings. What dangerous secrets are hidden behind the tawdry glamor of Cremorne Gardens? Is Benjamin Bain wrongly accused, or a guilty sinner who deserves to be hanged?]]> 304 Laura Joh Rowland 1643857959 Suzanna 4 4.12 Garden of Sins (Victorian Mystery #6)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/22
date added: 2022/06/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1)]]> 25511627 For readers of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an enchanting, bestselling novel that sweeps readers into a magical Victorian London inhabited by a clockwork octopus and a mysterious watchmaker who is not at all what he first appears.1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.]]> 336 Natasha Pulley 162040835X Suzanna 5 3.86 2015 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1)
author: Natasha Pulley
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/28
date added: 2022/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Whitey's First Round Up (An Avon/Camelot Book)]]> 3762837 94 Glen Rounds 0380571412 Suzanna 3 Cute enough, but not great. 3.40 1942 Whitey's First Round Up (An Avon/Camelot Book)
author: Glen Rounds
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1942
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/17
date added: 2022/05/17
shelves:
review:
Cute enough, but not great.
]]> <![CDATA[The Troll Garden and Selected Stories]]> 11808589 129 Willa Cather Suzanna 0 to-read 4.00 The Troll Garden and Selected Stories
author: Willa Cather
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Jar (Detective Lew Kirby, #1)]]> 53714160 Two murders. An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth?

The body of an elderly woman has been found in the bowels of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. How are the two murders connected?

Before long, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves. There are rumours about underground bunkers and secret rooms, unspeakable psychological experimentation, and a dark force that haunts the ruins, trying to pull back in all those who attempt to escape. Urban explorer Connie Darke, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum, is determined to help Lew expose its grisly past. Meanwhile Lew discovers a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down.

As his world crumbles around him, Lew must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again. Only an eccentric former patient really knows the truth—but will he reveal it to Lew before it’s too late?]]> 335 S.W. Kane 1542018889 Suzanna 5
Will be looking for more by this author.]]> 3.96 2020 The Bone Jar (Detective Lew Kirby, #1)
author: S.W. Kane
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/28
date added: 2022/03/28
shelves:
review:
A page-turner! And a very effective one at that; I read a lot of mysteries, and this one gave me the creeps, which is a first.

Will be looking for more by this author.
]]> <![CDATA[Belle and the Pirate (Once Upon a Spell, #4)]]> 42262143
Captain James Hook deserted the Eisland Navy twelve years ago to battle slavery on the high seas. As a pirate, he raids the ships of his former kingdom and their corrupt allies to the east while liberating them of ill-gotten goods. Rescuing a little fairy bound for the pet trade is an unexpected bonus.

Tink is everything James has ever desired in a woman—courageous, feisty, and loyal, but her diminutive size isn’t their largest obstacle. The Eisland Navy has a new weapon at its command, a mystery capable of demolishing a ship in a single blow. And the Jolly Roger is their next target.

Undertake a magical journey in Vivienne Savage's new romantic fantasy series loosely based on the lore of multiple fairy tales. Meet strong heroines supported byĚýa cast of sexyĚýheroes,Ěýintriguing friends,Ěýand devious villains.
]]> 332 Vivienne Savage Suzanna 3 Good but not great

A few discrepancies bothered me in this one, but they were pretty minor. The story didn't grab and hold me as well as some of the other books in the series, so between that and the editing errors I decided on three stars. Not bad, but definitely not great. ]]> 4.39 2017 Belle and the Pirate (Once Upon a Spell, #4)
author: Vivienne Savage
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/12
date added: 2022/03/27
shelves:
review:
Good but not great

A few discrepancies bothered me in this one, but they were pretty minor. The story didn't grab and hold me as well as some of the other books in the series, so between that and the editing errors I decided on three stars. Not bad, but definitely not great.
]]> Dark Earth 59426770
With an intimate yet cinematic scope, Dark Earth re-creates an ancient world steeped in myth and folklore, and introduces us to unforgettable women who come to vibrant life on the page. A heart-in-mouth adventure full of moments of tenderness, this is a beautiful, profound novel about oppression and power that puts a female perspective on a historical period dominated by men’s stories.]]> 336 Rebecca Stott 0812989112 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.43 2022 Dark Earth
author: Rebecca Stott
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cherry Robbers 55959421
Connecticut, 1950: Iris Chapel is the second youngest of six sisters, all heiresses to a firearms fortune. They’ve grown up cloistered in a palatial Victorian house, mostly neglected by their distant father and troubled mother, who believes that their house is haunted by the victims of Chapel weapons. The girls long to escape, and for most of them, the only way out is marriage. But not long after the first Chapel sister walks down the aisle, she dies of mysterious causes, a tragedy that repeats with the second, leaving the rest to navigate the wreckage, to heart-wrenching consequences.

Ultimately, Iris flees the devastation of her family, and so begins the story of Sylvia Wren. But can she outrun the family curse forever?]]> 432 Sarai Walker 0358251877 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.94 2022 The Cherry Robbers
author: Sarai Walker
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Time Machine 11505756
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.Ěý There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.Ěý Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 128 H.G. Wells Suzanna 4 3.98 1895 The Time Machine
author: H.G. Wells
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/23
date added: 2022/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1)]]> 56978089
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.]]> 374 Judy I. Lin 1250767083 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.82 2022 A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1)
author: Judy I. Lin
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> In My Dreams I Hold a Knife 60000306 Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has been invited back to her university for a reunion and she is obsessed with dazzling everyone with her beauty and success. This time when they see her, it has to be perfect because she is perfect. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year.

But there’s more at stake than the delicious envy of her peers—not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. In fact, someone has orchestrated the whole weekend to trap the real killer. As the weekend unfolds and they get closer to the truth, the group finds there was more than murder hidden amongst them on campus.

Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is an addictive, propulsive thriller you won’t be able to put down.]]> 336 Ashley Winstead 1728243203 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.84 2021 In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)]]> 53138095
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.]]> 757 Sarah J. Maas 168119628X Suzanna 0 to-read 4.44 2021 A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post]]> 57792084 Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . .

So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar's treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood's biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweather Post lived an epic life few could imagine.

Marjorie's journey began gluing cereal boxes in her father's barn as a young girl. No one could have predicted that C. W. Post's Cereal Company would grow into the General Foods empire and reshape the American way of life, with Marjorie as its heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history in the process. Before turning thirty she amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States. But it was her life-force, advocacy, passion, and adventurous spirit that led to her stunning legacy.

And yet Marjorie's story, though full of beauty and grandeur, set in the palatial homes she built such as Mar-a-Lago, was equally marked by challenge and tumult. A wife four times over, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded party boy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm turned to betrayal, the international diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake Marjorie and all of society. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love.

Bestselling and acclaimed author Allison Pataki has crafted an intimate portrait of a larger-than-life woman, a powerful story of one woman falling in love with her own voice and embracing her own power while shaping history in the process.]]> 400 Allison Pataki 0593355687 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.05 2022 The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
author: Allison Pataki
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sea of Tranquility 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.04 2022 Sea of Tranquility
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Goldilocks and the Bear (Once Upon a Spell, #3)]]> 34732311
Ramsay is a shifter without a mate. Overwhelmed by the responsibilities of becoming his clan's new Father Bear--and the females throwing themselves at him--he leaves on holiday to enjoy the peaceful, northern hunting lodge. Finding his bed occupied by a golden-haired beauty wasn't part of the plan, but claiming her may be.]]> 272 Vivienne Savage Suzanna 4 4.21 2017 Goldilocks and the Bear (Once Upon a Spell, #3)
author: Vivienne Savage
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/21
date added: 2022/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Red and the Wolf (Once Upon a Spell, #2)]]> 33641891
As the alpha of clan TalWolthe, Conall is obligated to protect his fellow wolves at all costs--even if it means his life. After the pack lands in the crosshairs of a huntsman with a grudge, Conall encounters a red-cloaked beauty who may hold the key to defeating an ancient evil menacing their land.]]> 284 Vivienne Savage Suzanna 4 Just fun


I needed something light and this fit the bill. If you're in the mood for something that's just purely entertainment, this is it!]]> 4.21 2017 Red and the Wolf (Once Upon a Spell, #2)
author: Vivienne Savage
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/12
date added: 2022/02/12
shelves:
review:
Just fun


I needed something light and this fit the bill. If you're in the mood for something that's just purely entertainment, this is it!
]]> <![CDATA[Beauty and the Beast (Once Upon a Spell, #1)]]> 31578741
Prince Alistair isn’t an ordinary dragon. He’s a shifter afflicted by a curse, unable to become human again until he finds his true love. When a mortal king’s adventurers trespass in Alistair’s territory to steal a rare flower, the prince decides to steal a valuable prize of his own.

(Author's Note: This is a magical retelling of the beloved tale written for an adult audience. Reader discretion is advised.)]]> 270 Vivienne Savage Suzanna 4 3.95 2016 Beauty and the Beast (Once Upon a Spell, #1)
author: Vivienne Savage
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/04
date added: 2022/02/04
shelves:
review:
Fun! At first I was a little put off by the simple verse and canned vibe I was getting, but once I covered a few chapters I was hooked. Definitely an adult tale but with elements of childhood fairy stories - light reading and just what I needed right now.
]]> Rikki-Tikki-Tavi 11143753 54 Rudyard Kipling 1936666006 Suzanna 3 4.29 1894 Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
author: Rudyard Kipling
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1894
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/26
date added: 2022/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Last of the Mountain Men: Mystery. History. Comedy. (Ally Oldfield Series Book 2)]]> 49822411 Their true identities hidden. Their real motives unknown. Until now.

For more than four centuries â€The Mountain Menâ€� have changed the course of human history and, very occasionally, some of them were even quite good at it. Like most things in life, successful revolutions take a bit of practice.

The only thing Mario Peruzzi left behind following his untimely death was a plastic bag full of letters, which was disappointing to those who knew him because he was reportedly worth twelve billion dollars. The FBI were particularly irritated given their plans to seize it. The pile of letters made little sense. Addressed to individuals long since dead, at locations long since demolished. Yet they were the only clue to the missing cash and, as Mario knew full well, an even darker secret � the truth about the Mountain Men.

Dr Ally Oldfield isn’t bothered about the money or an ancient order of misogynists. She has enough on her plate with a new job, an exhibition to curate with Lance - her seemingly useless and clumsy intern, busy-body neighbours who don’t understand the phrase â€sod offâ€� and a recent intruder who insists she’s on the run from the â€FIBâ€�. It’s just the beginning of a very bad week.

The theft of a rare and priceless Indian manuscript from the Bodleian Library triggers an international incident. It’s an event that pushes the country towards social unrest and impending crisis. The government need a scapegoat and a business card found at the crime scene implicates Ally in the theft. What’s more interesting to her are the scribbled initials on the back of the card - T.M.M. Someone is determined to frame Ally for the theft and a series of revolts against the establishment that spark up across the globe. The more she fights to prove her innocence, the more she discovers how these events are connected to her own murky past and a mysterious individual called Radu Goga.

History holds the key to cracking the Mountain Men’s code, but success will force Ally to confront her own.

Last of the Mountain Men is the second novel featuring Dr Ally Oldfield after The End of the World is Nigh. This is a standalone novel but readers who loved the first book will be further rewarded in the second. If you love â€who dunnitsâ€� with bags of history and comedy, then this book is for you. Pratchett meets Dan Brown! Get stuck in. Reactions from readers to Tony’s ]]> 385 Tony Moyle Suzanna 4 4.32 Last of the Mountain Men: Mystery. History. Comedy. (Ally Oldfield Series Book 2)
author: Tony Moyle
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/23
date added: 2022/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Earth Abides 93269 345 George R. Stewart 0345487133 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.94 1949 Earth Abides
author: George R. Stewart
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Incense Game (Sano Ichiro, #16)]]> 13538717
In the wake of a terrifying earthquake, Sano Ichiro races to solve a crime that could bring down the shogun's regime

When a massive earthquake devastates Japan in 1703, even the shogun's carefully regulated court is left teetering on the brink of chaos. This is no time for a murder investigation except when a nobleman's daughters are found dead from incense poisoning and their father threatens to topple the regime unless Sano Ichiro tracks down the killer.

As Sano and his wife strive to solve the case in a world that is crumbling around them, Laura Joh Rowland author of one of the "five best historical mystery novels" "(The Wall Street Journal) "brings us her most powerful and evocative thriller set in Feudal Japan yet, "The Incense Game.""]]> 304 Laura Joh Rowland 0312658532 Suzanna 4 3.83 2012 The Incense Game (Sano Ichiro, #16)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/02
date added: 2022/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Hooked (Never After, #1) 58545703 From USA Today bestselling author Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan.

He wants revenge, but he wants her more�

James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.

Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.

Hooked is a dark contemporary romance and the first complete standalone in the Never After Series: A collection of fractured fairy tales where the villains get the happy ever after. It is not a literal retelling and not fantasy. Hooked features mature themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. For all content warnings, check the author's website. ]]> 312 Emily McIntire 173750832X Suzanna 2 Not my thing

Someone in one of my reading groups recommended this to me and said it was a steamy, dark, modern day version of Captain Hook. That's a very loose interpretation, and while all those elements sounded like a fun diversion, the plot and execution didn't work for me. If you're into YA level reading with adult language and themes, you might love this. There is plenty of x-rated material if that's your only objective. Unfortunately it was far too predictable and shallow for me to engage.

]]> 3.78 2021 Hooked (Never After, #1)
author: Emily McIntire
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/26
date added: 2021/12/26
shelves:
review:
Not my thing

Someone in one of my reading groups recommended this to me and said it was a steamy, dark, modern day version of Captain Hook. That's a very loose interpretation, and while all those elements sounded like a fun diversion, the plot and execution didn't work for me. If you're into YA level reading with adult language and themes, you might love this. There is plenty of x-rated material if that's your only objective. Unfortunately it was far too predictable and shallow for me to engage.


]]> <![CDATA[The Shogun's Daughter (Sano Ichiro, #17)]]> 17286828
The death of the Shogun's daughter has immediate consequences on his regime. There will be no grandchild to leave the kingdom. Faced with his own mortality andĚýbeset by troubles caused by the recent earthquake, he names as his heir Yoshisato, the seventeen-year-oldĚýson he only recently discovered was his. Until five months ago, Yoshisato was raised as the illegitimate son of Yanagisawa, the shogun's favorite advisor. YanagisawaĚýis also the longtime enemy of Sano Ichiro.

Sano doubts that Yoshisato is really the Shogun's son, believing it's more likely a power-play by Yanagisawa.ĚýWhen Sano learns that Tsuruhime's death may have been a murder,Ěýhe sets off on a dangerous investigation that leads to more death and destruction as he struggles to keep his pregnant wife, Reiko, and his son safe. Instead, heĚýand his family become the accused. And this time, they may not survive the day.
Ěý
Laura Joh Rowland's thrilling series set in Feudal Japan is as gripping and entertainingĚýas ever.]]> 336 Laura Joh Rowland 1250028612 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.77 2013 The Shogun's Daughter (Sano Ichiro, #17)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero's Journey Issue #0]]> 40105058 28 D.J. Milky 1427860408 Suzanna 4 3.94 2018 Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero's Journey Issue #0
author: D.J. Milky
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/18
date added: 2021/12/18
shelves:
review:
Cute! The illustrations were awesome and the story was appropriate for youngsters. I snagged this for free out of curiosity, and it's a fun little story.
]]> <![CDATA[The Night Country (The Hazel Wood, #2)]]> 43565384 The New York Times bestselling sequel to Melissa Albert’s beloved The Hazel Wood!

In The Night Country, Alice Proserpine dives back into a menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors of The Hazel Wood. Follow her and Ellery Finch as they learn The Hazel Wood was just the beginning, and that worlds die not with a whimper, but a bang.

With Finch’s help, Alice escaped the Hinterland and her reclusive grandmother’s dark legacy. Now she and the rest of the dregs of the fairy tale world have washed up in New York City, where Alice is trying to make a new, unmagical life. But something is stalking the Hinterland’s survivors—and she suspects their deaths may have a darker purpose. Meanwhile, in the winking out world of the Hinterland, Finch seeks his own adventure, and—if he can find it—a way back home...]]> 331 Melissa Albert 1250246075 Suzanna 3 3.70 2020 The Night Country (The Hazel Wood, #2)
author: Melissa Albert
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/18
date added: 2021/12/18
shelves:
review:
Meh. I was really excited about this one because I loved The Hazel Wood so much, but I didn’t find it as engaging. Parts were great and held me, but some parts felt disjointed and didn’t flow as well. I wonder if the editing was done in haste. Anyway, it was okay, but that’s all.
]]> <![CDATA[Knightswrath (Dragonkin Trilogy, #2)]]> 25427468
The sadistic Dhargots still threaten the kingdoms, but another menace lurks in the shadows, playing a game none can see. As Rowen struggles to prove his worth—to his allies and to himself—chaos raises its hand to strike. A price must be paid, and not even the wielder of Knightswrath will remain untouched.]]> 375 Michael Meyerhofer 194021551X Suzanna 4 3.90 2015 Knightswrath (Dragonkin Trilogy, #2)
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/28
date added: 2021/11/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Feel It Just Below the Ribs]]> 57094312 A fictional autobiography in an alternate twentieth century that chronicles one woman’s unusual life, including the price she pays to survive and the cost her choices hold for the society she is trying to save.

Born at the end of the old world, Miriam grows up during The Great Reckoning, a sprawling, decades-long war that nearly decimates humanity and strips her of friends and family. Devastated by grief and loneliness, she emotionally exiles herself, avoiding relationships or allegiances, and throws herself into her work—disengagement that serves her when the war finally ends, and The New Society arises.

To ensure a lasting peace, The New Society forbids anything that may cause tribal loyalties, including traditional families. Suddenly, everyone must live as Miriam has chosen to—disconnected and unattached. A researcher at heart, Miriam becomes involved in implementing this detachment process. She does not know it is the beginning of a darkly sinister program that will transform this new world and the lives of everyone in it. Eventually, the harmful effects of her research become too much for Miriam, and she devises a secret plan to destroy the system from within, endangering her own life.

But is her “confession� honest—or is it a fabrication riddled with lies meant to conceal the truth?]]> 384 Jeffrey Cranor 0063066629 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.99 2021 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs
author: Jeffrey Cranor
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Gap Creek 77398
But Julie and Hank's new life in the valley, in the last years of the nineteenth century, is more complicated than the couple ever imagined. Sometimes it's hard to tell what to fear most—the fires and floods or the flesh-and-blood grifters, drunks, and busybodies who insinuate themselves into their new life. To survive, they must find out whether love can keep chaos and madness at bay. Their struggles with nature, with work, with the changing century, and with the disappointments and triumphs of their union make Gap Creek a timeless story of a marriage.

A native of the North Carolina mountains, Robert Morgan was raised on land settled by his Welsh ancestors. An accomplished novelist and poet, he has won the James B. Hanes Poetry Prize, the North Carolina Award in Literature, and the Jacaranda Review Fiction Prize. His short stories have appeared in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and New Stories from the South, and his novel The Truest Pleasure was a finalist for the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.]]> 336 Robert Morgan 0743203631 Suzanna 5 favorites
This book is, indeed, written by a man. And it is told from a young woman's perspective. But I found the author to be extremely insightful, and I'm sure if he had used a woman's penname I would never have guessed his gender. Not only does he grasp what it is to be a woman, he has the naïveté of what it is to be a newlywed, young woman, down pat. He also understands how women perceive men, and how the actions of a husband affect a wife. And he showed insight into how one grows in the beginning of marriage. So, as far as I am concerned, the author's gender is not a problem.

Another issue I noticed in several reviews is that some readers feel this book is depressing. Now this is going to sound harsh, but it's how I feel. Either they are reading from an unsophisticated, naive or very young perspective, or they read the Cliffs Notes version and didn't get everything out of it they should have. Yes, the main character in this novel faces some terrible times. That's life, and it was certainly how life was during the 19th century for the average working person in the mountains of America. People on farms then, and similarly now, dealt with death on sometimes a daily basis, at least in some form. And at that time, illness was terrible and people died from things that don't kill normally healthy people now. What apparently was lost on these readers is the strength and perseverance of the main character, Julie. Julie is a powerhouse of courage and hope. She gets handed lemons in life, and she makes lemonade every time, even when she doesn't feel like it. She delights in the small joys of life - such as the blueness of the summer sky and frost on morning grass, and birds in the trees. When she reaches that point that a trial is over, she feels cleansed or strengthened. And no matter what happens or how bad things get, she never gives up, and always clings to hope - whether for herself or for someone she loves. And the book ends with that very sentiment - hope.

The last of the concerns expressed by other readers I want to address was the graphic details of some of the events, such as a hog killing and butchering. I did not feel it was indulgent. It was graphic, but why wouldn't it be? I'm not sure hog butchering is something you can effectively sugarcoat. And I doubt that the average reader would grasp what a chore it is for a woman to help with hog killing and butchering without some details. Like other events in the book, it's explained in a manner that makes the reader understand it, and in a way that I think a woman who had to go through it might actually explain it.

I'll wrap up by saying one of the things I loved about this book is that it is not terribly romantic, at least in the traditional sense. I don't like books (or movies for that matter) that are fluff. Real life is about people hanging onto each other and relationships through what is described in wedding vows - for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. Julie falls in love with her husband just like so many women do. He is physically attractive to her, he appears to be strong in character, and he appears to be ready to do anything in the world to make her happy. But when he disappoints her, and when life is rough, and that "sickness" and "worse" come into play, they learn how to hang onto each other, and how to make a life together - in spite of differences and difficulties. If you need fluff to make you happy, this book is not for you.]]> 3.75 1999 Gap Creek
author: Robert Morgan
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2008/08/05
date added: 2021/11/13
shelves: favorites
review:
I loved this book. I selected it to read because my public library's website said that if you liked "These is My Words", you would like this one. However, between requesting it from there and starting it, I read some Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ reviews and thought, ugh, I picked a bummer. Not so! In that light, I want to address some of the negatives I read on this site from other readers.

This book is, indeed, written by a man. And it is told from a young woman's perspective. But I found the author to be extremely insightful, and I'm sure if he had used a woman's penname I would never have guessed his gender. Not only does he grasp what it is to be a woman, he has the naïveté of what it is to be a newlywed, young woman, down pat. He also understands how women perceive men, and how the actions of a husband affect a wife. And he showed insight into how one grows in the beginning of marriage. So, as far as I am concerned, the author's gender is not a problem.

Another issue I noticed in several reviews is that some readers feel this book is depressing. Now this is going to sound harsh, but it's how I feel. Either they are reading from an unsophisticated, naive or very young perspective, or they read the Cliffs Notes version and didn't get everything out of it they should have. Yes, the main character in this novel faces some terrible times. That's life, and it was certainly how life was during the 19th century for the average working person in the mountains of America. People on farms then, and similarly now, dealt with death on sometimes a daily basis, at least in some form. And at that time, illness was terrible and people died from things that don't kill normally healthy people now. What apparently was lost on these readers is the strength and perseverance of the main character, Julie. Julie is a powerhouse of courage and hope. She gets handed lemons in life, and she makes lemonade every time, even when she doesn't feel like it. She delights in the small joys of life - such as the blueness of the summer sky and frost on morning grass, and birds in the trees. When she reaches that point that a trial is over, she feels cleansed or strengthened. And no matter what happens or how bad things get, she never gives up, and always clings to hope - whether for herself or for someone she loves. And the book ends with that very sentiment - hope.

The last of the concerns expressed by other readers I want to address was the graphic details of some of the events, such as a hog killing and butchering. I did not feel it was indulgent. It was graphic, but why wouldn't it be? I'm not sure hog butchering is something you can effectively sugarcoat. And I doubt that the average reader would grasp what a chore it is for a woman to help with hog killing and butchering without some details. Like other events in the book, it's explained in a manner that makes the reader understand it, and in a way that I think a woman who had to go through it might actually explain it.

I'll wrap up by saying one of the things I loved about this book is that it is not terribly romantic, at least in the traditional sense. I don't like books (or movies for that matter) that are fluff. Real life is about people hanging onto each other and relationships through what is described in wedding vows - for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. Julie falls in love with her husband just like so many women do. He is physically attractive to her, he appears to be strong in character, and he appears to be ready to do anything in the world to make her happy. But when he disappoints her, and when life is rough, and that "sickness" and "worse" come into play, they learn how to hang onto each other, and how to make a life together - in spite of differences and difficulties. If you need fluff to make you happy, this book is not for you.
]]> The Thursday Murder Club 54846475 Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to�
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?]]> 368 Richard Osman 1984880977 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.08 2020 The Thursday Murder Club
author: Richard Osman
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> First Woman on Mars 49472545 209 John Minichillo Suzanna 5 4.50 First Woman on Mars
author: John Minichillo
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/07
date added: 2021/11/07
shelves:
review:
What a fun read! Clever take on pop culture, very entertaining and insightful.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni, #2)]]> 36300633 In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I-- the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni--Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world.

Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they'll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human--just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined--but they're not yet certain of what they mean to each other.

Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who's been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele--not knowing that she's about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.

Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart--especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?]]> 480 Helene Wecker 006246874X Suzanna 0 to-read 4.08 2021 The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni, #2)
author: Helene Wecker
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ragged Eden 45858385 84 Michael Meyerhofer 1941783589 Suzanna 5 4.75 Ragged Eden
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/04
date added: 2021/11/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wytchfire (The Dragonkin Trilogy, #1)]]> 22388244
But that dream crumbled—replaced by a new nightmare.
War is overrunning the realms, an unprecedented duel of desire and revenge, steel and sorcery. And for one disgraced man who would be a knight, in a world where no one is blameless, the time has come to decide which side he’s on.]]> 362 Michael Meyerhofer Suzanna 4 3.83 2013 Wytchfire (The Dragonkin Trilogy, #1)
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/02
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves:
review:
What a fun book! I was a little slow getting into it, but once I did I enjoyed it very much. A tale centered around honor, adventure and magic, give this one a whirl when you’re looking for a wholesome hero story.
]]> <![CDATA[Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales]]> 27830840
This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning, black arts and dirty tricks could only have been collected by the unique and much-missed Angela Carter. Illustrated throughout with original woodcuts.]]> 587 Angela Carter 0349008213 Suzanna 0 currently-reading 3.93 1992 Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales
author: Angela Carter
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)]]> 52654173 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 260 Olivia Atwater 1777241723 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.21 2020 Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Damnatio Memoriae 22706843 132 Michael Meyerhofer Suzanna 0 4.33 2011 Damnatio Memoriae
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons (Saffron Everleigh Mystery, #1)]]> 58202849
Debut author Kate Khavari deftly entwines a pulse-pounding mystery with the struggles of a woman in a male-dominated field in 1923 London.

Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to blaze a new trail at the University College London, but with her colleagues� beliefs about women’s academic inabilities and not-so-subtle hints that her deceased father’s reputation paved her way into the botany department, she feels stymied at every turn.

When she attends a dinner party for the school, she expects to engage in conversations about the university's large expedition to the Amazon. What she doesn’t expect is for Mrs. Henry, one of the professors� wives, to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin.

Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect and evidence quickly mounts. Joined by fellow researcher--and potential romantic interest--Alexander Ashton, Saffron uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons to clear Maxwell's name.

Will she be able to uncover the truth, or will her investigation land her on the murderer’s list, in this entertaining examination of society’s expectations?]]> 262 Kate Khavari 1639100075 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.50 2022 A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons (Saffron Everleigh Mystery, #1)
author: Kate Khavari
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blue Collar Eulogies 6496997 100 Michael Meyerhofer 0982416903 Suzanna 5 4.35 2009 Blue Collar Eulogies
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/11
date added: 2021/10/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Search: A Short Story 56934812 13 Steven Wyble Suzanna 2 2.00 The Search: A Short Story
author: Steven Wyble
name: Suzanna
average rating: 2.00
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2021/02/08
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Portrait of Peril (Victorian Mystery #5)]]> 53960989 For fans of C. S. Harris comes Laura Joh Rowland's fifth Victorian mystery where Sarah must confront her own ghosts--and face her most elusive and deadly adversary yet.

Victorian London is a city gripped by belief in the supernatural--but a grisly murder becomes a matter of flesh and blood for intrepid photographer Sarah Bain.

London, October 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is overjoyed to marry her beloved Detective Sergeant Barrett--but the wedding takes a sinister turn when the body of a stabbing victim is discovered in the crypt of the church. Not every newlywed couple begins their marriage with a murder investigation, but Sarah and Barrett, along with their friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly, take the case.

The dead man is Charles Firth, whose profession is "spirit photography"-- photographing the ghosts of the deceased. When Sarah develops the photographs he took in the church, she discovers one with a pale, blurred figure attacking the victim. The city's spiritualist community believes the church is haunted and the figure is a ghost. But Sarah is a skeptic, and she and her friends soon learn that the victim had plenty of enemies in the human world--including a scientist who studies supernatural phenomena, his psychic daughter, and an heiress on a campaign to debunk spiritualism and expose fraudulent mediums.

In the tunnels beneath a demolished jail, a ghost-hunting expedition ends with a new murder, and new suspects. While Sarah searches for the truth about both crimes, she travels a dark, twisted path into her own family's sordid history. Her long lost father is the prime suspect in a cold-case murder, and her reunion with him proves that even the most determined skeptic can be haunted by ghosts from the past.]]> 360 Laura Joh Rowland 1643854739 Suzanna 4 3.99 2021 Portrait of Peril (Victorian Mystery #5)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/08
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Shadow King 43726511 Ethiopia. 1935.

With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilize his strongest men before the Italians invade.

Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale. She helps disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor and soon becomes his guard, inspiring other women to take up arms. But how could she have predicted her own personal war, still to come, as a prisoner of one of Italy's most vicious officers?

The Shadow King is a gorgeously crafted and unputdownable exploration of female power, and what it means to be a woman at war.]]> 448 Maaza Mengiste 039308356X Suzanna 0 to-read 3.63 2019 The Shadow King
author: Maaza Mengiste
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Workshop 43203132
At least that’s the rumor.

When the famous writer’s secretary contacted the students of the Deep South Writers� Workshop on the his behalf after years of silence, they suspected something was up.

Out of respect for their former mentor, several former students agreed to return to Mississippi for a reunion:

A final get-together for one last workshop.]]> 197 John Minichillo 1948743035 Suzanna 0 to-read 5.00 The Last Workshop
author: John Minichillo
name: Suzanna
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Snow Whale 11697052
So begins this postmodern satire, a seriocomic, quirky adventure set in the oldest continuously settled town in North America, in the North Slope of Alaska, on the frozen Chukchi Sea, literally at the top of the world, where the inhabitants and their ancestors have depended on subsistence whaling for thousands of years.]]> 266 John Minichillo 0984510591 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.75 2011 The Snow Whale
author: John Minichillo
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> HEIMAT 59062580
Dreaming of returning to their beloved hometown of Neisse as triumphant American citizens, their fate takes a dramatic twist in the heart of Berlin's teeming train station. A daring rescue of an American diplomat binds them in an enduring friendship, setting them on a path through the shattered illusions of the American dream, the harrowing depths of the Great Depression, and the challenging process of assimilating into a new culture.

As the world plunges into the chaos of World War II, their lives diverge in ways they could never have imagined. Matthias finds himself in the paradoxical role of building ships in an American yard aimed at the destruction of their homeland. Feliks, driven by a sense of duty, joins the US Army to fight against the Japanese in the Pacific, later aiding the Polish resistance in their homeland. Josef, caught in an ill-timed visit to Neisse, is swept into the ranks of the Wehrmacht, partaking in the invasions of France and Russia, eventually coming face-to-face with Americans in the Battle of the Bulge.

Meanwhile, Edo steps into the hallowed halls of the Nuremberg trials, contributing to the monumental task of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice.

Their story is a tapestry of loyalty, betrayal, and the relentless grip of fate, weaving a compelling saga of friendship tested by war, ideology, and the quest for identity in a world coming undone.

This is more than a tale of four immigrants; it is a poignant exploration of the human spirit caught in the tumult of history.]]> 515 Paul Marzell Suzanna 0 to-read 4.60 HEIMAT
author: Paul Marzell
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> No One Goes Alone 58502749 From New York Times best-selling author Erik Larson comes his first venture into fiction, an otherworldly tale of intrigue and the impossible that marshals his trademark approach to nonfiction to create something new: a ghost story thoroughly grounded in history.

Pioneering psychologist William James leads an expedition to a remote isle in search of answers after a family inexplicably vanishes. Was the cause rooted in the physical world...or were there forces more paranormal and sinister at work? Available only on audio, because as Larson says, ghost stories are best told aloud.

A group of researchers sets sail for the Isle of Dorn in the North Atlantic in 1905 to explore the cause of several mysterious disappearances, most notably a family of four who vanished without a trace after a week-long holiday on the island. Led by Professor James, a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research, they begin to explore the island’s sole cottage and surrounding landscape in search of a logical explanation.

The idyllic setting belies an undercurrent of danger and treachery, with raging storms and unnerving discoveries adding to the sense of menace. As increasingly unexplainable events unfold, the now-stranded investigators are unsure whether they can trust their own eyes, their instincts, one another - or even themselves.

Erik Larson has written a terrifying tale of suspense, underpinned with actual people and events. Created specifically to entertain audio listeners, this eerie blend of the ghostly and the real will keep listeners captivated till the blood-chilling end.

Featuring Erik Larson reading his Notes for a Narrator.]]> 8 Erik Larson 0593557948 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.31 2021 No One Goes Alone
author: Erik Larson
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Damnatio Memoriae 13415519 130 Michael Meyerhofer 0984100555 Suzanna 5 4.81 2011 Damnatio Memoriae
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.81
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/30
date added: 2021/10/02
shelves:
review:
Meyerhofer’s poems are brilliant. He intuitively probes the human experience, with unapologetic and honest insights into what makes us - and himself - tick. Emotionally, his work ranges from witty to somber, thoughtful to politically charged. He has an unusual talent for observation, revealing something new in the familiar, but doing so in a way that we realize that it was there all along. I found his poetry artful, satisfying and evocative. Looking forward to more.
]]> The Dragonkin Trilogy 34842706
Wytchfire: In the dragon-haunted land of Ruun, Rowen Locke has been many things: orphan, gravedigger, mercenary. All he ever wanted was to become a Knight of Crane and wield a kingsteel sword against horrors he's known since childhood.

But that dream crumbled—replaced by a new nightmare. War is overrunning the realms, and in a world where no one is blameless, the time has come for one disgraced man to decide which side he’s on.

Knightswrath: Rowen Locke has achieved his dream of becoming a Knight of the Crane, and he now bears Knightswrath, the legendary sword of Fâyu Jinn. But the land remains torn, and though Rowen suffers doubts, he would see it healed. His knightly order is not what it seems, though, and allies remain thin. When Rowen and his friends seek an alliance with the forest-dwelling Sylvs, a tangle of events results in a midnight duel that teaches Rowen a dangerous lesson and leaves him with a new companion of uncertain loyalties.

The sadistic Dhargots still threaten the kingdoms, but another menace lurks in the shadows, playing a game none can see. As Rowen struggles to prove his worth—to his allies and to himself—chaos raises its hand to strike. A price must be paid, and not even the wielder of Knightswrath will remain untouched.

Kingsteel: Rowen Locke has won the battle. But from the shadows comes an ancient enemy--a calculating and merciless foe who has been waiting centuries for the chance to strike. Despite all he has already suffered and sacrificed, Rowen finds himself mired in a war bigger and more terrible than anything he could have imagined.

The world’s only hope lies in Knightswrath, whose hard-won powers he has only begun to understand, let alone control. Calling upon unlikely new allies, Rowen must raise an army to defeat the vengeful Dragonkin before everything he loves becomes a smoldering ruin.]]> 1172 Michael Meyerhofer Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.33 2017 The Dragonkin Trilogy
author: Michael Meyerhofer
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz]]> 51187948
On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally-and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.

Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports-some released only recently-Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill's "Secret Circle," including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann.

The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when-in the face of unrelenting horror-Churchill's eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together."--]]> 546 Erik Larson 038534872X Suzanna 0 currently-reading 4.30 2020 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
author: Erik Larson
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers]]> 34220644
Literary Witches draws a connection between witches and visionary writers: both are figures of formidable creativity, empowerment, and general badassery. Through poetic portraits, Taisia Kitaiskaia and Katy Horan honor the witchy qualities of well-known and obscure authors alike, including Virginia Woolf, Mira Bai, Toni Morrison, Emily Dickinson, Octavia E. Butler, Sandra Cisneros, and many more.

Perfect for both book lovers and coven members, Literary Witches is a treasure and a source of inspiration. Kitaiskaia and Horan bring fresh insights on your most beloved authors, suggest enchanting new writers, and invite you to rediscover the magic of literature.]]> 166 Taisia Kitaiskaia 1580056733 Suzanna 4 3.98 2017 Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers
author: Taisia Kitaiskaia
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/19
date added: 2021/09/19
shelves:
review:
Reading-wise, this would be a 3.5 star book for me, but I bumped it up because it’s so aesthetically appealing. It’s an interesting, quick guide to women writers of dark subject matter. It’s well done and very creative, but I would’ve liked a little more elaboration on each writer’s life.
]]> The Underground Railroad 30555488
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor--engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey--hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.]]> 320 Colson Whitehead 0385542364 Suzanna 5
I didn’t find the literal railroad to be off-putting as many people seem to. I thought I would, but instead it felt like a combination of artistic license, metaphor, and a little bit of softening of an otherwise intense and serious flow of events.

I loved the author’s ability to show the influence of slavery over all of society, how it’s tendrils reached and reach far beyond those directly affected.

As to the complaints of the book not following an understandable and logical progression, even within chapters, I’m not sure what was confusing to those readers. I was never lost and had no trouble keeping pace with the storyline. Not even once. There are a couple of chapters that describe events in the past, but they are well placed and not in any way confusing. In fact, they lend important elements to the story.

There are also some who took issue with the author’s voice and use of “big words�, as if he was putting on heirs. I’ll just say there are many books I refuse or quit because of a lower grade reading level. This one, however, I found satisfying.

Grateful for this read and looking forward to more from the author.
]]> 4.04 2016 The Underground Railroad
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/18
date added: 2021/09/18
shelves:
review:
I’m surprised at some of the poor reviews this one received. I read a handful when I was about four chapters in and almost quit reading it as a result. I’m glad I didn’t. In case others face the same dilemma, I’ll address some of the concerns those reviews brought up.

I didn’t find the literal railroad to be off-putting as many people seem to. I thought I would, but instead it felt like a combination of artistic license, metaphor, and a little bit of softening of an otherwise intense and serious flow of events.

I loved the author’s ability to show the influence of slavery over all of society, how it’s tendrils reached and reach far beyond those directly affected.

As to the complaints of the book not following an understandable and logical progression, even within chapters, I’m not sure what was confusing to those readers. I was never lost and had no trouble keeping pace with the storyline. Not even once. There are a couple of chapters that describe events in the past, but they are well placed and not in any way confusing. In fact, they lend important elements to the story.

There are also some who took issue with the author’s voice and use of “big words�, as if he was putting on heirs. I’ll just say there are many books I refuse or quit because of a lower grade reading level. This one, however, I found satisfying.

Grateful for this read and looking forward to more from the author.

]]> My Own Miraculous 17824647
Now, four years later, Shandi is still more parented than parent. She lives with her mom, her dad pays her bills, and her best friend Walcott acts as her white knight. But Natty is no ordinary kid, and when his savant behavior catches the attention of an obsessive stranger, only Shandi sees the true menace.

To protect her son, Shandi must grow up, fast, and find an answer to the question—How does a girl remake herself into a mother?]]> 128 Joshilyn Jackson 0062300539 Suzanna 5 3.80 2013 My Own Miraculous
author: Joshilyn Jackson
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/11
date added: 2021/09/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Moonlight Child 54733883 A gripping and emotional novel that will leave you wondering about the neighbors next door...

On a cold January night, Sharon Lemke heads outside to see a lunar eclipse when she notices something odd at the house behind her backyard. Through her neighbor's kitchen window, she sees what appears to be a little girl washing dishes late at night. But the Fleming family doesn't have a child that age, and even if they did, why would she be doing housework at this late hour?

It would be easy for Sharon to just let this go, but when eighteen-year-old Niki, a former foster child, comes to live with Sharon, she notices suspicious activity at the Flemings' house as well. When calling social services doesn't result in swift action, the two decide to investigate on their own.]]> 343 Karen McQuestion Suzanna 1 4.16 2020 The Moonlight Child
author: Karen McQuestion
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2021/09/10
date added: 2021/09/10
shelves:
review:
Rudimentary writing, unnatural dialogue, simplistic and overly sweet plot. Why is this designated a thriller? Very strange way to categorize the story. Anyway, not worth the time IMO.
]]> <![CDATA[Poe: Stories and Poems: A Graphic Novel Adaptation]]> 32970543 In a thrilling adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe s best-known works, acclaimed artist-adapter Gareth Hinds translates Poe's dark genius into graphic-novel format.
It is true that I am nervous. But why will you say that I am mad?
In "The Cask of Amontillado," a man exacts revenge on a disloyal friend at carnival, luring him into catacombs below the city. In "The Masque of the Red Death," a prince shielding himself from plague hosts a doomed party inside his abbey stronghold. A prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, faced with a swinging blade and swarming rats, can t see his tormentors in "The Pit and the Pendulum," and in "The Tell-Tale Heart," a milky eye and a deafening heartbeat reveal the effects of conscience and creeping madness. Alongside these tales are visual interpretations of three poems "The Raven," "The Bells," and Poe s poignant elegy to lost love, "Annabel Lee." The seven concise graphic narratives, keyed to thematic icons, amplify and honor the timeless legacy of a master of gothic horror."]]> 120 Gareth Hinds 0763681121 Suzanna 4 4.10 2017 Poe: Stories and Poems: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
author: Gareth Hinds
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/09
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)]]> 34275232
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.]]> 359 Melissa Albert 1250147905 Suzanna 5 3.55 2018 The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)
author: Melissa Albert
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/08
date added: 2021/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Surrender, New York 28952751 New York Times bestselling author of The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, returns with a contemporary, edge-of-your-seat thriller featuring Dr. Trajan Jones, a criminal psychologist—and the world’s leading expert on the life and work of one Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the hero of The Alienist, in whose brilliant but unconventional footsteps he follows.

In the small town of Surrender in upstate New York, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler, and Dr. Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones’s family farm. Once famed advisors to the New York City Police Department, Trajan and Li now work in exile, having made enemies of those in power. Protected only by farmhands and Jones’s unusual pet cheetah, the outcast pair is unexpectedly called in to consult on a disturbing case.

In rural Burgoyne County, a pattern of strange deaths has emerged: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered in gruesome fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, yet their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective.

Jones and Li soon discover that the victims are all “throwaway children,� a new state classification of young people who are neither orphans, runaways, nor homeless, but who are abandoned by their families and left to fend for themselves. Two of these throwaways, Lucas Kurtz and his older sister, cross paths with Jones and Li, offering information that could blow the case wide open.

As the stakes grow higher, Jones and Li must not only unravel the mystery of how the throwaways died, but also defend themselves and the Kurtz siblings against shadowy agents who don’t want them to uncover the truth. Jones believes the real story leads back to the city where both he and Dr. Kreizler did their greatest work. But will they be able to trace the case to New York before they fall victim to the murderous forces that stalk them?

Tautly paced and richly researched, Surrender, New York brings to life the grim underbelly of a prosperous nation—and those most vulnerable to its failings. This brilliant novel marks another milestone in Caleb Carr’s triumphant literary suspense career.]]> 624 Caleb Carr 0812989317 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.13 2016 Surrender, New York
author: Caleb Carr
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/05
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]]> <![CDATA[High Island Blues (George & Molly Palmer-Jones, #8)]]> 12060402
Among the birders from around the world gathered for the dazzling spring avian migration on the Texas coast are three old friends from England - Rob, Mick, and Oliver - celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their first unforgettable trip to High Island.

But the party's over when Mick, the introvert who surprisingly got the girl they all wanted years ago, is murdered. The police tag Rob for the crime, but shrewd birder-investigator George Palmer-Jones focuses his attention on some odd ducks among the English contingent.

Meanwhile, back home in England, George's wife, Molly, digs up the dirt on a save-the-earth society. And on High Island, a killer finds that one murder is not enough . . .]]> 432 Ann Cleeves 0708937888 Suzanna 4 3.52 1996 High Island Blues (George & Molly Palmer-Jones, #8)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/04
date added: 2021/09/04
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]]> <![CDATA[The Secret Order of the Orchid]]> 58451462 108 Randle Crews Suzanna 0 to-read 3.00 2021 The Secret Order of the Orchid
author: Randle Crews
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder in the Haunted Chamber (Sarah Kennecott and Jack Harden Mystery #2)]]> 57903180
Haunted memories of an army massacre overseas push Jack Hardin near emotional collapse. The medium draws him in with a promise to contact his ghosts during a séance, an event that turns deadly.

The case tests their detective partnership as Sarah and Jack move from seedy saloons, to high society parlors, to confrontations with what might—or might not—be the supernatural. Everything, including their relationship and their lives, hinges on thwarting a killer who is deceptive, clever, and brutal.

Praise for "Murder In the Haunted Chamber"

If you like historical mysteries with a brilliant female lead, you’ll love the latest from Bill LeFurgy. Dr. Sarah Kennecott is as intelligent as she is socially awkward. Her crime solving partner, Jack Hardin, is as hot-headed as she is cool. Together, they take on the fakers and frauds of early 20th Century mysticism in Baltimore. As they close in on the perpetrators, these two troubled souls also find solace in each other. This whodunnit is filled with intriguing characters and two compelling and complex, stand-out leads. Highly recommended.

—Kelly Oliver, bestselling and award-winning author of the Jessica James Mysteries and the Fiona Figg Mysteries.]]> 340 Bill LeFurgy Suzanna 0 to-read 4.41 2021 Murder in the Haunted Chamber (Sarah Kennecott and Jack Harden Mystery #2)
author: Bill LeFurgy
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/27
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]]> Trail of Destruction 57603237
Eager for distraction in the aftermath of her messy divorce, Ellie Mileham dives into moderating the petty squabbles on her local Facebook group. When a prankster starts trolling uptight members, it’s a welcome diversion at first. But then the war of words moves onto the streets of Forest Grove, with threatening letters escalating into violent destruction. It’s suddenly clear there’s something much more dangerous at play.

With lives at risk, Ellie delves into the history of Forest Grove and realises the so-called rural paradise has a dark and sinister heart. As she pieces together the puzzle of her own troubled childhood on the edge of the forest, Ellie learns this is not the first time the villagers have been targeted by an anonymous vigilante with an axe to grind�

Could the two cases be connected? Ellie is determined to find out. But with everybody watching and nobody quite what they seem, can she uncover the truth before online threats become nightmarish reality?]]> 331 Tracy Buchanan Suzanna 0 to-read 3.91 2021 Trail of Destruction
author: Tracy Buchanan
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/27
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]]> The Saints of Swallow Hill 57973844 It takes courage to save yourself...

In the dense pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners labor, hacking into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap that gives the Tar Heel State its nickname, and hauling the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together.

Though the work is hard and often dangerous, Rae Lynn, who spent her childhood in an orphanage, is thankful for it—and for her kind if careless husband. When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn undertakes a desperate act of mercy. To keep herself from jail, she disguises herself as a man named "Ray" and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity—a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill.

Swallow Hill is no easy haven. The camp is isolated and squalid, and commissary owner Otis Riddle takes out his frustrations on his browbeaten wife, Cornelia. Although Rae Lynn works tirelessly, she becomes a target for Crow, the ever-watchful woods rider who checks each laborer’s tally. Delwood Reese, who’s come to Swallow Hill hoping for his own redemption, offers “Ray� a small measure of protection, and is determined to improve their conditions. As Rae Lynn forges a deeper friendship with both Del and Cornelia, she begins to envision a path out of the camp. But she will have to come to terms with her past, with all its pain and beauty, before she can open herself to a new life and seize the chance to begin again.]]> 372 Donna Everhart 1496733320 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.88 2022 The Saints of Swallow Hill
author: Donna Everhart
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[A Letter to Three Witches (A Cupcake Coven Romance, #1)]]> 57698924 Bewitched meets Practical Magic in this sparkling and quirky rom-com with an enchanted twist. When romance problems cause their powers to go berserk, a trio of witches whose family was banned from practicing magic risk getting in serious trouble with the Grand Council. Can they get their magic—and their love lives—in order before it’s too late?

Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting�

Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with him at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research.

Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes?]]> 288 Elizabeth Bass 1496734327 Suzanna 0 to-read 3.37 2022 A Letter to Three Witches (A Cupcake Coven Romance, #1)
author: Elizabeth Bass
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]> The Essential Paulo Coelho 37969137 The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage,Ěý Warrior of the Light,Ěý The Valkyries,Veronika Decides to Die, and Eleven Minutes.]]> 1448 Paulo Coelho 0062845063 Suzanna 0 to-read 4.44 The Essential Paulo Coelho
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]> Dearly 50706476 A new book of poetry from internationally acclaimed, award-winning and bestselling author Margaret Atwood

InĚýDearly, Margaret Atwood’s first collection of poetry in over a decade, Atwood addresses themes such as love, loss, the passage of time, the nature of nature and - zombies. Her new poetry is introspective and personal in tone, but wide-ranging in topic. In poem after poem, she casts her unique imagination and unyielding, observant eye over the landscape of a life carefully and intuitively lived.


While many are familiar with Margaret Atwood’s fiction—including her groundbreaking and bestselling novelsĚýThe Handmaid’s Tale,ĚýThe Testaments,ĚýOryx and Crake, among others—she has, from the beginning of her career, been one of our most significant contemporary poets. And she is one of the very few writers equally accomplished in fiction and poetry.ĚýĚýThis collection is a stunning achievement that will be appreciated by fans of her novels and poetry readers alike.]]> 124 Margaret Atwood 006303249X Suzanna 0 to-read 3.75 2020 Dearly
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]> The Midnight Library 56241022
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of exchanging her life for a different one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist, she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.]]> 304 Matt Haig Suzanna 0 to-read 4.04 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Suzanna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]> The Devil and the Dark Water 51854625 A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.

It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

The breathtaking new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.]]> 463 Stuart Turton Suzanna 0 to-read 3.82 2020 The Devil and the Dark Water
author: Stuart Turton
name: Suzanna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/26
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]]>