Jan's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:46:32 -0700 60 Jan's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Horrible Women, Wonderful Girls (Jaycee Grayson, #1)]]> 227933828 “Sipos writes with wit, introducing a large cast of quirky characters hiding a trove of backstories and deceptions. The dialogue is filled with sharply focused sarcasm, and Jaycee, who narrates the tale, is a feisty protagonist relentlessly trudging through a chaotic swamp of miscreants...
Our Verdict: Get it.�
—Kirkus Reviews

In this spirited satire of sisterhood and survival across the urban frontier, a daring new literary heroine emerges to heal a divided nation—whether it wants her to or not.

An imaginative and creative kids� entertainment executive, Jaycee Grayson is forced out of a hard-won studio job in a bold face-off with the notorious Hollywood boy’s club. Armed with a fresh rehab rap sheet and a knack for making miracles out of mishaps, she seeks the unlikely refuge of Littleburgh, Wisconsin, Home of the World's Most Wonderful Girls.

Jaycee expects to find like-minded ladies helming Littleburgh's famous inspirational doll empire—only to confront an unfriendly outpost of Prairie Karens wearing smiles as plastic as the coveted merchandise. She soon discovers that behind the façade of this storybook village lurks an army of happy backstabbers harboring a billion-dollar web of secrets and masks. Even the empress of Littleburgh’s lucrative legend may never have existed at all.

Fueled by irreverence and wit as sharp as a stiletto skating on thin ice, a twisted plot leads Jaycee and her fellow misfits toward a joyful rebellion or a public execution in the town square. Heartbreaking news from home forces an ironic choice. Jaycee can return to a shattered dream under thumb of the patriarchy—or cling to a flimsy showcase of female hypocrisy exposed at her own peril.

A blockbuster finale reveals a powerful ally even life-long readers of girl-powered page-turners won't see coming. Buckle in for a poignant, provocative, and darkly funny showdown between Hollywood and the heartland.]]> 304 Julie Ann Sipos Jan 0 currently-reading 4.00 Horrible Women, Wonderful Girls (Jaycee Grayson, #1)
author: Julie Ann Sipos
name: Jan
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]> 60671823 Chris Riddell's brilliant new full-colour illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a sumptuous hardback and jacketed edition. A perfect gift for families, children and all fans of this much-loved favourite classic.

First published by Macmillan more than 150 years ago, Lewis Carroll’s iconic story has been loved and enjoyed by generations of children.

This edition presents Lewis Carroll's complete text, with new illustrations from Costa Award- and Kate Greenaway Medal-winner Chris Riddell. Published 200 years after the birth of Alice’s first illustrator, Sir John Tenniel, also the political cartoonist of his time, Chris Riddell's illustrations set a new bar in terms of excellence with his unique, rich and evocative interpretation of Carroll's world.

With the curious, quick-witted Alice at its heart, readers will not only rediscover characters such as the charming White Rabbit, the formidable Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and the grinning Cheshire Cat but will find fresh and wonderful creations of these characters by a true master of his art,; images that will live in our hearts and minds for generations to come.]]> 320 Lewis Carroll 152900246X Jan 3 It does have clever wordplay, I'll give it that.]]> 4.08 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Jan
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1865
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:
I may have enjoyed this more if I owned a hookah.
It does have clever wordplay, I'll give it that.
]]> Starter Villain 61885029
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Jan 4 It has a cat and a Scalzi on the cover.

Charlie inherited his estranged uncle's business, island, cats, dolphins and an array of villainous counterparts.
This is no ordinary island, it's a villain lair complete with a volcano, cats in managerial positions, and armed dolphins who patrol the waters.
Charlie's new life starts out with nothing but assassins showing up at his uncle's funeral, an attempted stabbing of the corpse, finding out his 2 cats are smarter than he is, there's a villain convention he must attend, and more pressing, those foul mouthed dolphins are threatening to strike due to labor disputes.
And this is just the beginning.

No more from me about the story.
Just know,
Scalzi's humor stands out.
This is about villains so there's antics and cats in laps.
Many surprises are in store because most villains are goofballs.
These cats should be wearing leather jackets not suits.
At least one cat is real estate savvy.
The dolphins cuss more than I do.
The ending surprised me.
I had a blast!
This is like no other.
Do enjoy.

I will be seeking out another Scalzi book in which there's some business of the moon turning into cheese.
See what I mean?]]> 4.09 2023 Starter Villain
author: John Scalzi
name: Jan
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
Of course I was going to read this.
It has a cat and a Scalzi on the cover.

Charlie inherited his estranged uncle's business, island, cats, dolphins and an array of villainous counterparts.
This is no ordinary island, it's a villain lair complete with a volcano, cats in managerial positions, and armed dolphins who patrol the waters.
Charlie's new life starts out with nothing but assassins showing up at his uncle's funeral, an attempted stabbing of the corpse, finding out his 2 cats are smarter than he is, there's a villain convention he must attend, and more pressing, those foul mouthed dolphins are threatening to strike due to labor disputes.
And this is just the beginning.

No more from me about the story.
Just know,
Scalzi's humor stands out.
This is about villains so there's antics and cats in laps.
Many surprises are in store because most villains are goofballs.
These cats should be wearing leather jackets not suits.
At least one cat is real estate savvy.
The dolphins cuss more than I do.
The ending surprised me.
I had a blast!
This is like no other.
Do enjoy.

I will be seeking out another Scalzi book in which there's some business of the moon turning into cheese.
See what I mean?
]]> Rebecca 239113
Ancient, beautiful Manderley, between the rose garden and the sea, is the county's showpiece. Rebecca made it so - even a year after her death, Rebecca's influence still rules there. How can Maxim de Winter's shy new bride ever fill her place or escape her vital shadow?

A shadow that grows longer and darker as the brief summer fades, until, in a moment of climatic revelations, it threatens to eclipse Manderley and its inhabitants completely...]]> 446 Daphne du Maurier 0575002328 Jan 0 currently-reading 4.29 1938 Rebecca
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Jan
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1938
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

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

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 Jan 0 to-read 4.28 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Jan
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[There's Something Wrong with the Cats]]> 229034809
Dan's cats are acting weird. One has grown into a strength powerhouse, the other wants to communicate... verbally. And now other kitties have begun to go missing from his quiet suburban street. Could the man in the parka that haunts a nearby industrial estate have answers? Or perhaps it’s something to do with the strange disappearing woman in the woods? Can our hero figure out the conspiracy before it turns into a catastrophe?]]> C.J. Powell Jan 0 to-read 3.44 There's Something Wrong with the Cats
author: C.J. Powell
name: Jan
average rating: 3.44
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Episode Thirteen 61030527 From the macabre mind of Bram Stoker Award nominated author Craig DiLouie, Episode Thirteen is a heart pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense that takes a ghost hunting reality TV crew into a world they could never have imagined possible. A beautiful Russian doll of a story... Episode Thirteen hooks you, creeps you out, and then it overwhelms you. It's House of Leaves meets Haunting of Hill House, in all the best possible ways. -- Peter Clines, NYT bestselling author of The Broken Room


Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts. Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen -- and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.


An epistolary descent into a living nightmare . . . well-written and genuinely unsettling. Fans of paranormal documentaries, ghost-hunting shows, and found-footage horror will lose their minds over this one. - Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Kin]]> 433 Craig DiLouie 0316443107 Jan 3 I however got 3 stars worth.]]> 3.46 2023 Episode Thirteen
author: Craig DiLouie
name: Jan
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
I guess you could say they got what they came for.
I however got 3 stars worth.
]]> <![CDATA[The Second-Smartest Dog That Ever Lived]]> 214172333 "A madcap, entertaining escape from reality from the canine perspective."Ěýâ€�KIRKUS REVIEWS


The human who found me is fine. She feeds me. She cuddles me. She puts a roof over my head. But I do not appreciate being held captive. Because I have the intelligence of a human. And I aim to find out why.

Accompanied by Shakespeare, a Pug with the intelligence of a Pug, I run away from home, embarking on an epic quest for freedom, understanding, and, quite possibly, revenge.

Together we must survive a harsh desert of cannibalistic coyotes, stray humans, a fugitive white tiger, and one hypnotic beacon that shines from a city of sin, luring us back into so-called civilization.

My name is Rousseau. I seek the truth. Even if it means I lose my mind...

Full of imagination and humor,ĚýThe Second-Smartest Dog That Ever LivedĚýis a dog book like no other, with a canine narrator who questions the value of human society, and a dog’s place within it.

]]> 387 Will Pass Jan 0 currently-reading 3.94 The Second-Smartest Dog That Ever Lived
author: Will Pass
name: Jan
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Elementals 22461751
The McCrays and Savages, two fine Mobile families allied by marriage, have been coming to Beldame for years. This summer, with a terrible funeral behind them and a messy divorce coming up, even Luker McCray and little India down from New York are looking forward to being alone at Beldame.

But they won't be alone. For something there, something they don't like to think about, is thinking about them...and about all the ways to make them die.]]> 288 Michael McDowell Jan 0 to-read 4.08 1981 The Elementals
author: Michael McDowell
name: Jan
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lolita 9216051 The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze."The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind." �The New YorkerAwe and exhilaration—along with heartbreak and mordant wit—abound in Lolita, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsession for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.]]> 376 Vladimir Nabokov Jan 5
Only a creative genius of the written word could invite me into the depths of the unreliable mind of a Humbert Humbert.

Humbert Humbert marries a woman to be close to her 12 year old girl child, Dolores.
Mom dies. Humbert takes possession of his obsession and calls her Lolita.
Told as memoir, smarty pants Humbert attempts to manipulate the reader into believing this is the greatest love story ever told. This is made clear to me by the last sentence of the book.
How dare Nabokov to use such grand prose to lure one into this narrow world of a pedophile.
Humbert is despicable.
Yet there I was.
Reading this, his memoir, I was uncomfortable.
Yet there I was.
Through Humbert's double entendres, dark humor, word play and delusion we see plainly his obsession and lust played out.
Yet I was there.
Dolores had no voice.
Yet there I was.
This man knew exactly what he was doing.
He didn't want to be caught.
Yet I was there.

I make no excuses.
I read this because I wanted to.
This was brilliant.
And I was there.]]> 3.86 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Jan
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
This is not a love story.

Only a creative genius of the written word could invite me into the depths of the unreliable mind of a Humbert Humbert.

Humbert Humbert marries a woman to be close to her 12 year old girl child, Dolores.
Mom dies. Humbert takes possession of his obsession and calls her Lolita.
Told as memoir, smarty pants Humbert attempts to manipulate the reader into believing this is the greatest love story ever told. This is made clear to me by the last sentence of the book.
How dare Nabokov to use such grand prose to lure one into this narrow world of a pedophile.
Humbert is despicable.
Yet there I was.
Reading this, his memoir, I was uncomfortable.
Yet there I was.
Through Humbert's double entendres, dark humor, word play and delusion we see plainly his obsession and lust played out.
Yet I was there.
Dolores had no voice.
Yet there I was.
This man knew exactly what he was doing.
He didn't want to be caught.
Yet I was there.

I make no excuses.
I read this because I wanted to.
This was brilliant.
And I was there.
]]> Cannery Row (Cannery Row, #1) 601119 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

In the din and stink that is Cannery Row a colourful bend of misfits - gamblers, whores, drunks, bums, and artists - survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Lee Chong, the astute owner of the fantastically well-stocked grocery store, is also the proprietor of the Palace Flophouse that Mack and his troupe of good-natured 'boys' call home. Dora, of the flaming orange hair and taste for Nile green dresses, runs the brothel with clockwork efficiency. Doc, who owns the laboratory, is the fount of all generosity and wisdom. Everybody wants to do something nice for Doc: the trouble is, he always ends up paying.

Packed with invention and joie de vivre, Cannery Row is Steinbeck's high-spirited tribute to his native California.

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE.

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.]]> 148 John Steinbeck 0141185082 Jan 0 to-read 4.09 1943 Cannery Row (Cannery Row, #1)
author: John Steinbeck
name: Jan
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1943
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree]]> 215363278 Disguised by years in exile and a name she found on a gravestone, an unconventional young woman returns to her childhood home in rural 1967 Arkansas in this hauntingly visceral Southern tale of desperate choices, found family, folk magic and noisy ghosts.

Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she’s wandered throughout the South, working in a Louisiana circus and as a hootchy kootch dancer in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she’s allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother’s Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.

Disguised by years in exile and a name she found on a gravestone, Genevieve intends only to visit briefly and leave. But a chance meeting with a guilt-ridden young Vietnam veteran draws her into more unexpected connections. Her hard-won independence inspires an abused woman and her daughters to find their own path to empowerment, and a hypocritical preacher is brought to a long-deserved reckoning.

With undertones of magical realism and dark humor, here is a powerful story of discovering—and sometimes rediscovering—one’s place in the world, and the unexpected challenges and gifts that present themselves along the way.
Ěý±Ő±Ő> 352 India Hayford 1496753127 Jan 0 to-read 4.27 The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree
author: India Hayford
name: Jan
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Becoming the Boogeyman 101144676 411 Richard Chizmar 1668009161 Jan 4 4.07 2023 Becoming the Boogeyman
author: Richard Chizmar
name: Jan
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:
Richard Chizmar wrote himself into this novel as a main character by the name of Richard Chizmar. Cool.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)]]> 2767793
Who is the Hero of Ages?

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

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. Vin can't even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!]]> 572 Brandon Sanderson 0765316897 Jan 4 Still I wait.

So I said screw it yet again and picked up Mistborn and company.
I immediately left my comfortable life and for hundreds and hundreds of pages I was lost in this here Cosmere Universe.
Great world building where a mysterious mist swirls in the night and ash covers the landscape by day.
The Lord Ruler, a god in a sense rules with a heavy hand. A steep price is paid for disobedience.
The magic system was cool. Metals are used to gain magical abilities by the few that are capable of such things.
It is an advantage that works both ways.

The cast was large, but by design each distinct member had a pivotal role in what is to come and as I read more I became invested in each.
My family knew at this point not to pester me with foolishness. I was no longer of this world.

Lots of imaginative beings of many forms live here. .
From mistborns, mistwraiths, and giant blue monsters made to kill, to the more terrifying spiked eyed Steel Inquisitors. This is just a sampling of many.

Likables and unlikables alike get muddled as the story progresses.
One little incident could change the trajectory of the storyline.
It had me guessing who, what, why, where, and huh on numerous occasions.

Being fantasy this story is too intricate to get into here but don't be intimidated. With Sandersons easy writing style this clipped along at a good pace. I had no problem with mixing up the magics, characters, or situations. I didn't even need the reference pages. I did look at the map a few times, but I didn't have to Google any vocabulary. Well played, author.

I was immersed in this world for 3 weeks.
I was happy there. Turmoil, war, politics, and severered limbs seems to be my happy place.]]> 4.54 2008 The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jan
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:
I was tired of waiting for a certain someone to finally finish the last installment of a certain work of written art.
Still I wait.

So I said screw it yet again and picked up Mistborn and company.
I immediately left my comfortable life and for hundreds and hundreds of pages I was lost in this here Cosmere Universe.
Great world building where a mysterious mist swirls in the night and ash covers the landscape by day.
The Lord Ruler, a god in a sense rules with a heavy hand. A steep price is paid for disobedience.
The magic system was cool. Metals are used to gain magical abilities by the few that are capable of such things.
It is an advantage that works both ways.

The cast was large, but by design each distinct member had a pivotal role in what is to come and as I read more I became invested in each.
My family knew at this point not to pester me with foolishness. I was no longer of this world.

Lots of imaginative beings of many forms live here. .
From mistborns, mistwraiths, and giant blue monsters made to kill, to the more terrifying spiked eyed Steel Inquisitors. This is just a sampling of many.

Likables and unlikables alike get muddled as the story progresses.
One little incident could change the trajectory of the storyline.
It had me guessing who, what, why, where, and huh on numerous occasions.

Being fantasy this story is too intricate to get into here but don't be intimidated. With Sandersons easy writing style this clipped along at a good pace. I had no problem with mixing up the magics, characters, or situations. I didn't even need the reference pages. I did look at the map a few times, but I didn't have to Google any vocabulary. Well played, author.

I was immersed in this world for 3 weeks.
I was happy there. Turmoil, war, politics, and severered limbs seems to be my happy place.
]]> Don't Tell Me How to Die 215177041 I have one thing to do before I die.
And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died at forty-three. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, she’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants�?

From thriller writer Marshall Karp (cocreator with James Patterson of the #1 New York Times bestselling NYPD Red series), and rich with Karp’s deft array of three-dimensional characters and his signature biting humor, Don’t Tell Me How to Die has so many twists and turns, you’d swear he wrote it with a corkscrew.]]> 336 Marshall Karp Jan 0 to-read 4.27 2025 Don't Tell Me How to Die
author: Marshall Karp
name: Jan
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)]]> 68429
The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler—the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years—has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.

As Kelsier's protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin's Mistborn skills sharp, but it's the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn't run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier's crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won't get easier with three armies - one of them composed of ferocious giants - now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler's hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.]]> 590 Brandon Sanderson 0765316889 Jan 4 Onto the The Hero Of Ages.]]> 4.38 2007 The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jan
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
No time for a review.
Onto the The Hero Of Ages.
]]> The Man Made of Smoke 217387838 The latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.]]> 320 Alex North 1250757894 Jan 0 to-read 4.25 2025 The Man Made of Smoke
author: Alex North
name: Jan
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)]]> 68428 What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.]]> 541 Brandon Sanderson Jan 4 4.48 2006 Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jan
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Peter Pan and Wendy 290131 266 J.M. Barrie 0543949796 Jan 3 Embonpoint.
Stumbling fairies going home from an orgy.
Street fairies.
One would think this story is for big people.]]> 3.93 1911 Peter Pan and Wendy
author: J.M. Barrie
name: Jan
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1911
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
A few things I didn't expect to be reading in this children's story.
Embonpoint.
Stumbling fairies going home from an orgy.
Street fairies.
One would think this story is for big people.
]]> <![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 125088120X Jan 5 Not that I expected less.
Two extraordinary gentlemen are raising a house full of magical youth on one delightful magical island.
Here this family of lovable misfits has a fight on their hands with a certain government agency that wants to tear their little world asunder.
We won't hear of it.
A fight they will get.
The whole group is back plus a bonus.
Each character has grown from the previous book and I love them even more.
Don't fret, Lucy is still Lucy and still retains his appreciation for music just like any other 7 year old child of Satan.
Yet, he loves deeply...
Talia the garden gnome still gardens and sports a beautiful beard, the envy of many.
Theodore the wyvern still has his horde and is adding to it daily. Shiny buttons, a favorite.
Phee a Forrest sprite, well she starts to come into her own as do the rest of the lovables.
All this under the devotion, love, care, and guidance of Arthur and Linus who are well deserving of their own little slice of happiness.
Wedding bells perhaps?
We learn some of Arthur's back story and what lead his life to the now.
Zoe an undocumented magical, living life freely with her partner, Helen.
Both play a bigger part in the sequel.
Zoe as it turns out is much more than meets the readers eye.
I will end here since I've out used the word magical and the word love in its various forms and it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
I will say however,
More please.
I'm not ready to let these characters go just yet.]]> 4.17 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Jan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves:
review:
A worthy sequel by T.J. Klune and I am one happy reader!
Not that I expected less.
Two extraordinary gentlemen are raising a house full of magical youth on one delightful magical island.
Here this family of lovable misfits has a fight on their hands with a certain government agency that wants to tear their little world asunder.
We won't hear of it.
A fight they will get.
The whole group is back plus a bonus.
Each character has grown from the previous book and I love them even more.
Don't fret, Lucy is still Lucy and still retains his appreciation for music just like any other 7 year old child of Satan.
Yet, he loves deeply...
Talia the garden gnome still gardens and sports a beautiful beard, the envy of many.
Theodore the wyvern still has his horde and is adding to it daily. Shiny buttons, a favorite.
Phee a Forrest sprite, well she starts to come into her own as do the rest of the lovables.
All this under the devotion, love, care, and guidance of Arthur and Linus who are well deserving of their own little slice of happiness.
Wedding bells perhaps?
We learn some of Arthur's back story and what lead his life to the now.
Zoe an undocumented magical, living life freely with her partner, Helen.
Both play a bigger part in the sequel.
Zoe as it turns out is much more than meets the readers eye.
I will end here since I've out used the word magical and the word love in its various forms and it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
I will say however,
More please.
I'm not ready to let these characters go just yet.
]]> Cat's People 215807488 A stray cat brings together five strangers over the course of one fateful summer in this heartwarming novel about love, found family, and the power of connection.

Núria, a single-by-choice barista with a resentment for the “crazy cat lady� label, is a member of The Meow-Yorkers, a group in Brooklyn who takes care of the neighborhood’s stray cats. On one of her volunteering days, she starts finding Post-It notes from a secret admirer at the spot where her favorite stray lives—a black cat named Cat. Like most cats, he is rather curious and sly, so of course he knows who the notes are from. Núria, however, is clueless.

Are the notes from Collin, a bestselling author and self-professed hermit with a weakness for good coffee? Are they from Lily, a fresh-out-of-high school Georgia native searching for her long-lost half-sister? Are they from Omar, the beloved neighborhood mailman going through an early mid-life crisis? Or are they from Bong, the grieving widower who owns her favorite bodega? When Cat suddenly falls ill, these five strangers find themselves connected in their desire to care for him and discover that chance encounters can lead to the meaningful connections they've been searching for.]]> 291 Tanya Guerrero 0593873858 Jan 0 to-read 4.19 2025 Cat's People
author: Tanya Guerrero
name: Jan
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Turn of the Screw 12948
A very young woman's first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate... An estate haunted by a beckoning evil. Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows- silent, foul phantoms who, day by day, night by night, come closer, ever closer. With growing horror, the helpless governess realizes the fiendish creatures want the children, seeking to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, own their souls. But worse-much worse- the governess discovers that Miles and Flora have no terror of the lurking evil. For they want the walking dead as badly as the dead want them.

Excerpt:
I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little seesaw of the right throbs and the wrong. After rising, in town, to meet his appeal, I had at all events a couple of very bad days - found myself doubtful again, felt indeed sure I had made a mistake. In this state of mind I spent the long hours of bumping, swinging coach that carried me to the stopping place at which I was to be met by a vehicle from the house.]]> 121 Henry James 0140620613 Jan 3 Using my brain power I have come to only one conclusion.
The governess is nuts and the kids are weird.
A better much simpler version can be found in movie form called The Innocents.

3 stars. I had to hard focus.
I did like it regardless.]]> 3.42 1898 The Turn of the Screw
author: Henry James
name: Jan
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1898
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
After nearly drowning in verbiage I somehow managed to fish out the story of this ambiguous tale.
Using my brain power I have come to only one conclusion.
The governess is nuts and the kids are weird.
A better much simpler version can be found in movie form called The Innocents.

3 stars. I had to hard focus.
I did like it regardless.
]]> A Sharp Scratch 221509844 From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Things We Do To Our Friends, comes a timely, gripping novel about the dark underbelly of wellness culture

'DARWENT HAS A GREAT CAREER AS A THRILLER WRITER AHEAD OF HER' SUNDAY TIMES

We can fix you.

It's a promise that Betsy has heard far too many times. From the child psychologist, from her husband, and from the wellness trends that scream at her from her screen.

So far, it's been a lie.

But this time, she believes it. Because Betsy has been offered a place at Carn - a luxurious, unorthodox retreat, where healing really is possible. At Carn, she discovers that her imperfections make her unique, not weak. She isn't broken, just special.

All Betsy has to do is follow the rules . . .

---

Praise for Heather Darwent
'Satisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted' Emma Flint, Little Deaths
'Smart, sophisticated, seductive' S J Watson, Before I Go To Sleep
'Startlingly lovely, like a fine, dark silk shivering on your skin' Julia Heaberlin, We Are All the Same in the Dark
'A deeply compelling story of friendships turned rotten' Rosemary Hennigan, The Truth Will Out
'Dark academia and twisted friendships in gothic Edinburgh - what more could you want?' Cailean Steed, Home]]> 271 Heather Darwent 140597446X Jan 0 to-read 3.48 A Sharp Scratch
author: Heather Darwent
name: Jan
average rating: 3.48
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Road to Tender Hearts 218460347 A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—from the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals

At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left—he’s had three heart attacks already.

But when PJ reads an obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.

Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also figures he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter, adrift in her 20s, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home.

This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a second shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.]]> 384 Annie Hartnett 0593873440 Jan 0 to-read 4.44 2025 The Road to Tender Hearts
author: Annie Hartnett
name: Jan
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lesser Dead 22249404 The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry�

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.]]> 368 Christopher Buehlman Jan 0 to-read 4.17 2014 The Lesser Dead
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Jan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Red Rabbit 65212070 A folk horror epic about a ragtag posse that must track down a witch through a wild west beset by demons and ghosts―and where death is always just around the bend.

Sadie Grace is wanted for witchcraft, dead (or alive). And every hired gun in Kansas is out to collect the bounty on her head, including bona fide witch hunter Old Tom and his mysterious, mute ward, Rabbit.

On the road to Burden County, they’re joined by two vagabond cowboys with a strong sense of adventure � but no sense of purpose � and a recently widowed school teacher with nothing left to lose. As their posse grows, so too does the danger.

Racing along the drought-stricken plains in a stolen red stagecoach, they encounter monsters more wicked than witches lurking along the dusty trail. But the crew is determined to get that bounty, or die trying.

Written with the devilish cadence of Stephen Graham Jones and the pulse-pounding brutality of Nick Cutter, Red Rabbit is a supernatural adventure of luck and misfortune.]]> 455 Alex Grecian 1250874688 Jan 4 Cowboys and Indians, well yes, there are those.
Also, ghosts, cannibals, witches, shape shifters, a nasty demon, a haunted forest, humans, good guys/gals, bad guys/gals, a rabbit, and other good stuff and bad stuff.

For a western without a Clint Eastwood anywhere to be seen or heard from this wasn't bad, not bad at all.
This world could use a little Clint.
Cannibals be damned if the pale rider comes riding into town.

The mixed bag variety of "people" end up accompanying an old fart of a witch hunter across the wild wild west to get his bounty for a witch he may or may not have killed.

Naturally along the way there's trouble.
Our little posse encounters numerous obstacles to impede their progress (see above).
Meanwhile the reader gets to know each character a little bit better and opinions and bonds are formed.

Some of the obstacles are quite creative.
All dangerous, but with touches of humor and sensitivity but always dire and deadly in nature.

There is blood and guts and that thing with the horse*.
Plus there's other scenarios of the supernatural persuasion that may make some squirm.
I was okay with it. I've read worse.

The characters were all well developed in my eyes.
I knew the who, the what, the where, the why, and the how of each.
A few favs of mine,
Joe, bless his heart. A good man.
Sadie Grace, so strong in spirit, yet misunderstood by many.
I think I'm in love.
Best to be friends with this one.
As for world building, dangerous and dusty.
Just like in the movies.
All very well done.

This is just an outline of what awaits you.
The fun is in the story as it unfolds and the cast within.
And fun it is.
There are some sad bits along the way which helps round out the story and brings some humanity amongst the horror.
So I have given you nothing but teasers.

Giddy-up and happy trails to you until we meet again and all that other jazz.

The sequel Rose of Jericho comes out in a few months and I can't wait.


* At least I didn't know its name.
That helps if I must endure it.]]> 4.16 2023 Red Rabbit
author: Alex Grecian
name: Jan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
For something a little different I decided to give this old western a bit of my attention.
Cowboys and Indians, well yes, there are those.
Also, ghosts, cannibals, witches, shape shifters, a nasty demon, a haunted forest, humans, good guys/gals, bad guys/gals, a rabbit, and other good stuff and bad stuff.

For a western without a Clint Eastwood anywhere to be seen or heard from this wasn't bad, not bad at all.
This world could use a little Clint.
Cannibals be damned if the pale rider comes riding into town.

The mixed bag variety of "people" end up accompanying an old fart of a witch hunter across the wild wild west to get his bounty for a witch he may or may not have killed.

Naturally along the way there's trouble.
Our little posse encounters numerous obstacles to impede their progress (see above).
Meanwhile the reader gets to know each character a little bit better and opinions and bonds are formed.

Some of the obstacles are quite creative.
All dangerous, but with touches of humor and sensitivity but always dire and deadly in nature.

There is blood and guts and that thing with the horse*.
Plus there's other scenarios of the supernatural persuasion that may make some squirm.
I was okay with it. I've read worse.

The characters were all well developed in my eyes.
I knew the who, the what, the where, the why, and the how of each.
A few favs of mine,
Joe, bless his heart. A good man.
Sadie Grace, so strong in spirit, yet misunderstood by many.
I think I'm in love.
Best to be friends with this one.
As for world building, dangerous and dusty.
Just like in the movies.
All very well done.

This is just an outline of what awaits you.
The fun is in the story as it unfolds and the cast within.
And fun it is.
There are some sad bits along the way which helps round out the story and brings some humanity amongst the horror.
So I have given you nothing but teasers.

Giddy-up and happy trails to you until we meet again and all that other jazz.

The sequel Rose of Jericho comes out in a few months and I can't wait.


* At least I didn't know its name.
That helps if I must endure it.
]]> To Hell With Hallmark 221199380
Here, a lonely librarian bumps into the man of her dreams and is swept away into a whirlwind romance. A big city girl runs into her high school sweetheart and rekindles a forgotten spark. A secret prince escapes the pressures of royalty - and finds his true love.

Except this year, something sinister has infected Hallmark's Christmas magic, turning Christmas morning dreams into Christmas Eve nightmares.

Hell has come to Hallmark!]]> 228 Brad Ricks Jan 0 to-read 3.72 2024 To Hell With Hallmark
author: Brad Ricks
name: Jan
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Scary Stories for Bananaphobes]]> 223099808 horror stories unlike anything you've ever read? Brace yourself for Scary Stories for Bananaphobes, the most outrageous collection of terrifying tales ever written.

From Godzilla-sized bananas stomping through cities to pirate fruit and fire-breathing banana dragons, these stories will chill your bones. If you have problems with your heart, or high-blood pressure, don't read this book.

Perfect for fans of dark humor and thrilling horror. Whether you’re a horror enthusiast or just someone who wants to see fruit run amok (with chainsaws) , this book will keep you entertained—and looking twice at your fruit bowl.]]> 207 Bruce McBruce Jan 0 to-read 3.83 Scary Stories for Bananaphobes
author: Bruce McBruce
name: Jan
average rating: 3.83
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Disgusting Book of Poetry 223528762
“My Disgusting Book of Poetry� is an irreverent token of unconventional poetry, sure to enchant lovers of the genre and anti-poetry enthusiasts alike.]]> 33 Sirius Imnot Jan 4 Anti poetry for poetry haters.
No interpretation needed.]]> 4.00 My Disgusting Book of Poetry
author: Sirius Imnot
name: Jan
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
He's not a poet and he knows it.
Anti poetry for poetry haters.
No interpretation needed.
]]> Lost in the Garden 208159162 "Like an old wives� tale, like a piece of wisdom passed down through generations which no one questioned or even thought about too hard. Like folklore. It was just something everyone knew, a rule to be followed:

Don’t go to Almanby."

Heather, Rachel and Antonia are going to Almanby. Heather needs to find her boyfriend who, like so many, went and never came back. Rachel has a mysterious package to deliver, and her life depends on it. And Antonia—poor, lovestruck Antonia just wants the chance to spend the day with Heather.

So off they set through the idyllic yet perilous English countryside, in which nature thrives in abundance and summer lasts forever. And as they travel through ever-shifting geography and encounter strange voices in the fizz of shortwave radio, the harder it becomes to tell friend from foe.

Creepy, dreamlike, unsettling and unforgettable—you are about to join the privileged few who come to understand exactly why we don't go to Almanby.]]> 446 Adam S. Leslie 1915368480 Jan 4 What a long strange trip it's been.]]> 3.61 2024 Lost in the Garden
author: Adam S. Leslie
name: Jan
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
I've just had an acid trip minus the acid.
What a long strange trip it's been.
]]> The Bewitching 220458657 Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches�: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.]]> 368 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593874323 Jan 0 to-read 4.37 2025 The Bewitching
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Jan
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Whiteout 214101838 A researcher stranded in Antarctica receives a radio message that a nuclear war has broken out in this claustrophobic survival thriller, perfect for fans of The Martian, The Last Murder at the End of the World and Breathless.

It’s been four months since glaciologist Rachael Beckett left her husband and daughter to join an urgent research trip to a remote field station deep in the Antarctic. But after losing all communication with her crew at base camp, she’s trapped and alone â€� and running out of supplies. The only information she has about what’s gone so catastrophically wrong is an emergency radio broadcast playing on a a nuclear war has broken out, and Rachael might be the last survivor on Earth.Ěý

Abandoned and starving, all she has left is a fierce determination to stay alive in the extreme cold and perpetual darkness of the polar winter. The research she’s gathered about catastrophic climate damage means she holds the fate of the continent and the world in her grasp…if there’s even a world left to save.

Struggling with loneliness and grief over the unknown fate of her family back home, Rachael knows both her life and her sanity balance on a knife edge. As she battles to stay alive in unimaginable conditions, she soon discovers she’s not completely alone in the dark and cold–but she might wish she was…]]> 352 R.S. Burnett Jan 0 to-read 3.58 2025 Whiteout
author: R.S. Burnett
name: Jan
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Whispers 63222079
The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.

The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions.]]> 336 Ashley Audrain 1984881698 Jan 4 Well, as it turns out I never even read The Push.
And here I thought I remembered that I liked the story.
Where this idea came from, I know not.
But I'm glad for it.

*UPDATE 1/21/25*
Thanks to my friend, Federico I have learned that yes, I have indeed read the book The Push.
I knew I liked that phantom book!
My apologies for being an unintentional liar, liar.
My pants are now no longer on fire.

This begins innocently enough with 3 neighbor families enjoying a backyard BBQ.
One screaming mom moment overheard by all obviously brings this little get-together to a halt.

Later on, one of the kids is found on the ground unconscious after falling from a high window.
Tragic accident, or not?

Audrain takes the reader on a deep dive here in the lives and minds of 4 women.
(Sensitive content for some)

One is elderly who seems to know the secrets of others and may have a secret of her own.
One is an ER doc desperate for a baby but her body won't let her carry a babe to term.
One is a stay at home mom who listens to the whispers in her inner ear and is in possession of a key.
Last but not least, a successful business woman and mother of 3 whose children give her perpetual PMS. Not a good mommy make.

Told in the voice of each of the 4 women in alternating chapters throughout, we learn inner thoughts, yearnings, their relationship to each other, secrets, lies, essentially what makes each tick.
This is told in what transpires in the 3 days following the 'fall'.
It ain't pretty.

The good, the bad, and the ugly are here for us to see.
Some relatable senerios, most not.
I didn't mind.
It makes the earth spin after all.
2 of the 4 ladies were unlikable, which made me like not liking them more.
Yes, it does make sense.
None of this deterred me from the story.
Not at all.

This author doesn't hold back on the darkness some may harbor.
The things one does when keeper of a key.
The lies and obsession of a desperate woman.
The empathetic narcissist type who hates children but once maybe did a nice thing, I think. Nah.
Then that one that knows the most.

There are menfolk and kids but they're held back as minor players until they are not.

And oh, such a satisfying ending.

I'll be reading more from Ashley Audrain.]]> 3.78 2023 The Whispers
author: Ashley Audrain
name: Jan
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
Since I've read The Push I knew I had to read this.
Well, as it turns out I never even read The Push.
And here I thought I remembered that I liked the story.
Where this idea came from, I know not.
But I'm glad for it.

*UPDATE 1/21/25*
Thanks to my friend, Federico I have learned that yes, I have indeed read the book The Push.
I knew I liked that phantom book!
My apologies for being an unintentional liar, liar.
My pants are now no longer on fire.

This begins innocently enough with 3 neighbor families enjoying a backyard BBQ.
One screaming mom moment overheard by all obviously brings this little get-together to a halt.

Later on, one of the kids is found on the ground unconscious after falling from a high window.
Tragic accident, or not?

Audrain takes the reader on a deep dive here in the lives and minds of 4 women.
(Sensitive content for some)

One is elderly who seems to know the secrets of others and may have a secret of her own.
One is an ER doc desperate for a baby but her body won't let her carry a babe to term.
One is a stay at home mom who listens to the whispers in her inner ear and is in possession of a key.
Last but not least, a successful business woman and mother of 3 whose children give her perpetual PMS. Not a good mommy make.

Told in the voice of each of the 4 women in alternating chapters throughout, we learn inner thoughts, yearnings, their relationship to each other, secrets, lies, essentially what makes each tick.
This is told in what transpires in the 3 days following the 'fall'.
It ain't pretty.

The good, the bad, and the ugly are here for us to see.
Some relatable senerios, most not.
I didn't mind.
It makes the earth spin after all.
2 of the 4 ladies were unlikable, which made me like not liking them more.
Yes, it does make sense.
None of this deterred me from the story.
Not at all.

This author doesn't hold back on the darkness some may harbor.
The things one does when keeper of a key.
The lies and obsession of a desperate woman.
The empathetic narcissist type who hates children but once maybe did a nice thing, I think. Nah.
Then that one that knows the most.

There are menfolk and kids but they're held back as minor players until they are not.

And oh, such a satisfying ending.

I'll be reading more from Ashley Audrain.
]]> A Matter of Life and Death 198970526
As the weeks pass and his mother’s condition continues to worsen, secrets are revealed and longstanding grudges resurface within the Halliday home. But by re-examining their shared histories and the status of each tattered relationship, the family begins to reconnect in moving and unexpected ways, and Tom is finally able to make sense of the mess his life has become.

From the author of â€Hunger for Lifeâ€� comes a smart, funny and emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, friendship, family, and the ties that bind â€� whether we want them to or not.]]> 292 Andy Marr Jan 0 to-read 4.30 2021 A Matter of Life and Death
author: Andy Marr
name: Jan
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Rose of Jericho 211004018 From the New York Times bestselling author of Red Rabbit comes a supernatural horror where ghosts and ghouls are the least of a witch’s problems in historical New England.Not all is as it seems in the small village of Ascension, Massachusetts. A mother wasting away from cancer is suddenly up and about. A boy trampled by a milk cart walks away from the accident. A hanged man can still speak, broken neck and all. The dead are not dying. When Rabbit and Sadie Grace accompany their friend Rose to Ascension to help take care of her ailing cousin, they immediately notice that their new house, Bethany Hall, is occupied by dozens of ghosts. And there’s something in the attic that neither want to investigate. New England in the 1880s is notoriously unwelcoming to the weird, and the villagers are wary of their visitors. As the three women attempt to find out what’s happening in the town, they must be careful not to be found out. But a much larger—and dangerous—force is galloping straight for them…Also by Alex At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 352 Alex Grecian 1250874718 Jan 0 to-read 3.97 2025 Rose of Jericho
author: Alex Grecian
name: Jan
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Parakeet 51542251 Acclaimed author of 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas Marie-Helene Bertino's Parakeet is a darkly funny and warm-hearted novel about a young woman whose dead grandmother (in the form of a parakeet) warns her not to marry and sends her out to find an estranged loved one.

The week of her wedding, The Bride is visited by a bird she recognizes as her dead grandmother because of the cornflower blue line beneath her eyes, her dubious expression, and the way she asks: What is the Internet?

Her grandmother is a parakeet. She says not to get married. She says: Go and find your brother.

In the days that follow, The Bride's march to the altar becomes a wild and increasingly fragmented, unstable journey that bends toward the surreal and forces her to confront matters long buried.

A novel that does justice to the hectic confusion of becoming a woman today, Parakeet asks and begins to answer the essential questions. How do our memories make, cage, and free us? How do we honor our experiences and still become our strongest, truest selves? Who are we responsible for, what do we owe them, and how do we allow them to change?

Urgent, strange, warm-hearted, and sly, Parakeet is ribboned with joy, fear, and an inextricable thread of real love. It is a startling, unforgettable, life-embracing exploration of self and connection.]]> 240 Marie-Helene Bertino 0374229457 Jan 2 One thought leads to another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, eternity.
Before you know it you lose perspective as to what thought brought all these other random/trivial thoughts on and what you were thinking about to begin with and then it begins again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, eternity.
That's this book.

Bride is getting married.
We know not her name.
Her family is dysfunctional, whose isn't.
We know all their names.
Her dead grandmother visits her as a parakeet and tells Bride to find her estranged brother.
The parakeet poops on the Brides wedding dress.
The Bride lives in her mother's body for an afternoon.
There may be more to the story but I had to wade through countless ideas that lead to that random thought process that I mentioned earlier.
By the time Bride was done thinking trival thoughts, I had forgotten her original thought.
It made my head spin and I'm exhausted.
This is someone else's daydream and I'm privy to every trivial thought/illusion/delusion that the Bride thinks/thought, again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, eternity.
One would think she's neurotic.
But we all do it.
My stream of consciousness is more than enough for me.
I'll just stick in my own head with all those thoughts that morph into the endlessness of my mind, again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again, eternity and call it a day.

I'm done thinking thoughts.....which brings me to another thought...........]]> 3.66 2020 Parakeet
author: Marie-Helene Bertino
name: Jan
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
review:
We all know how the thought process works.
One thought leads to another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, eternity.
Before you know it you lose perspective as to what thought brought all these other random/trivial thoughts on and what you were thinking about to begin with and then it begins again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, eternity.
That's this book.

Bride is getting married.
We know not her name.
Her family is dysfunctional, whose isn't.
We know all their names.
Her dead grandmother visits her as a parakeet and tells Bride to find her estranged brother.
The parakeet poops on the Brides wedding dress.
The Bride lives in her mother's body for an afternoon.
There may be more to the story but I had to wade through countless ideas that lead to that random thought process that I mentioned earlier.
By the time Bride was done thinking trival thoughts, I had forgotten her original thought.
It made my head spin and I'm exhausted.
This is someone else's daydream and I'm privy to every trivial thought/illusion/delusion that the Bride thinks/thought, again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, eternity.
One would think she's neurotic.
But we all do it.
My stream of consciousness is more than enough for me.
I'll just stick in my own head with all those thoughts that morph into the endlessness of my mind, again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again, eternity and call it a day.

I'm done thinking thoughts.....which brings me to another thought...........
]]> Anima Rising 217223362 ąó°ů´ÇłľĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling author Christopher Moore comes a hilariously deranged tale of a mad scientist, a famous painter, and an undead woman’s electrifying journey of self-discovery.

Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive!

Back at his studio, Klimt and his model-turned-muse Wally tend to the erstwhile-drowned girl. She’s nearly feral and doesn’t remember who she is, or how she came to be floating in the canal. Klimt names her Judith, after one of his most famous paintings, and resolves to help her find her memory.

With a little help from Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Judith recalls being stranded in the arctic one hundred years ago, locked in a crate by a man named Victor Frankenstein, and visiting the Underworld.

So how did she get here? And why are so many people chasing her, including Geoff, the giant croissant-eating devil dog of the North?

Poor Things meets Bride of Frankenstein in Anima Rising, Christopher Moore’s most ingenious (and probably most hilarious) novel yet.


]]> 400 Christopher Moore 0062434152 Jan 0 to-read 4.04 Anima Rising
author: Christopher Moore
name: Jan
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy, #1)]]> 211003690 An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.]]> 384 Ed Crocker 1250287731 Jan 0 to-read 3.55 2025 Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy, #1)
author: Ed Crocker
name: Jan
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Priest, the Boy and the Slug: A Dark Children's Fairy Tale for Adults]]> 222180242
"The Priest, the Boy and the Slug" is a fable deviously disguised as a fairy tale, with elements of horror, humor and magical realism, all blend in together in a hauntingly beautiful genre-defying story that can enchant youth and adults alike.]]> 22 Sirius Imnot Jan 4 Boy did.
Mean uncle Priest was as mean as mean can be.
He takes his wrath out on poor orphaned Boy who unfortunately becomes his ward due to tragedy.
One day Boy misses mass and found a slug.
The fairytale begins.
This starts out sad, turns tragic, goes dark, gives us hope, and goes dark again.
All the good stuff of fairytale telling.
The prose easy, the tale simple, now the meaning, well that's endless.
There's that secret I've been mulling over and I think when Boy becomes Man, instead of a parrot he'll have a dark passenger.
My take, and I'm sticking to it!

Thank you Mr. Sirius Imnot for sharing this short.
I congratulate you for a story well written! Ima Sirius.]]> 4.19 The Priest, the Boy and the Slug: A Dark Children's Fairy Tale for Adults
author: Sirius Imnot
name: Jan
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Who knew one could find a friend and guardian in a bright green magical slug.
Boy did.
Mean uncle Priest was as mean as mean can be.
He takes his wrath out on poor orphaned Boy who unfortunately becomes his ward due to tragedy.
One day Boy misses mass and found a slug.
The fairytale begins.
This starts out sad, turns tragic, goes dark, gives us hope, and goes dark again.
All the good stuff of fairytale telling.
The prose easy, the tale simple, now the meaning, well that's endless.
There's that secret I've been mulling over and I think when Boy becomes Man, instead of a parrot he'll have a dark passenger.
My take, and I'm sticking to it!

Thank you Mr. Sirius Imnot for sharing this short.
I congratulate you for a story well written! Ima Sirius.
]]> The Heart's Invisible Furies 33253215 real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.

At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from � and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more.

In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.]]> 582 John Boyne Jan 0 to-read 4.51 2017 The Heart's Invisible Furies
author: John Boyne
name: Jan
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid's Secret (The Housemaid, #2)]]> 62848145 As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can't risk losing this job � not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe . . .

It's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want. It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything...

That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs. Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go...]]> 318 Freida McFadden 1837901317 Jan 3 Like what it was about and who the hell Enzo was.
I wasn't even sure who Millie was.
I thought her name was Nina.
This is precisely the reason I don't care for a series read.
Unless I'm truly captivated by something/someone in the first installment, I just can't remember much from book to book.
I was entertained here, but not captivated.
I think that says it all.

3 stars because I'm still in a good mood from Christmas.]]> 4.22 2023 The Housemaid's Secret (The Housemaid, #2)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Jan
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves:
review:
I read the first book months ago and I don't remember much.
Like what it was about and who the hell Enzo was.
I wasn't even sure who Millie was.
I thought her name was Nina.
This is precisely the reason I don't care for a series read.
Unless I'm truly captivated by something/someone in the first installment, I just can't remember much from book to book.
I was entertained here, but not captivated.
I think that says it all.

3 stars because I'm still in a good mood from Christmas.
]]> King of Ashes 219833252 Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.

When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.

Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.

Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.

Because everything burns.]]> 352 S.A. Cosby 1250832063 Jan 0 to-read 4.38 2025 King of Ashes
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Jan
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book Club Hotel 75692052 This Christmas, USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan returns with another heartfelt exploration of change, the power of books to heal, and the enduring strength of female friendship. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Jennifer Weiner.

With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the winter destination. As the holidays approach, the inn is fully booked with guests looking for their dream vacation. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through the festive season.

But when Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends who seem to have it all—check in for a girlfriends� book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs. In the span of a week over the most enchanting time of the year, can these four women come together to improve each other’s lives and make this the start of a whole new chapter?]]> 368 Sarah Morgan 1335005129 Jan 4 3.84 2023 The Book Club Hotel
author: Sarah Morgan
name: Jan
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> The Ghostwriter 217506549 368 Julie Clark 1464221286 Jan 0 to-read 4.25 2025 The Ghostwriter
author: Julie Clark
name: Jan
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Jan 5 Me with my silly pipe dream.]]> 4.00 2024 The Phoenix Ballroom
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Jan
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
I want to live in Ruth Hogan's head where I like everything and I like everybody.
Me with my silly pipe dream.
]]> Senseless 216751889 A page-turning, supernaturally-tinged LA puzzle-box thriller � Zodiac with teeth, from the Bram Stoker Award-nominated and bestselling author of Come with Me. Perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Lauren Beukes.

What do you see...?

When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in the desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the detective assigned to the case can't deny the similarities between this murder and one that occurred a year prior. Media outlets are quick to surmise this is the work of a budding serial killer, but Detective Bill Renney is struggling with an altogether different a secret that keeps him tethered to the husband of the first victim.

What do you hear...?

Maureen Park, newly engaged to Hollywood producer Greg Dawson, finds her engagement party crashed by the arrival of Landon, Greg’s son. A darkly unsettling young man, Landon invades Maureen’s new existence, and the longer he stays, the more convinced she becomes that he may have something to do with the recent murder in the high desert.

What do you feel...?

Toby Kampen, the self-proclaimed Human Fly, begins an obsession over a woman who is unlike anyone he has ever met. A woman with rattlesnake teeth and a penchant for biting. A woman who has trapped him in her spell. A woman who may or may not be completely human.Ěý

In Ronald Malfi's brand-new thriller, these three storylines converge to create a tapestry of deceit, distrust, and unapologetic horror.ĚýA brand-new novel of dark suspense set in the City of Angels, as only “horror’s Faulknerâ€� can tell it.]]> 432 Ronald Malfi 1803367601 Jan 0 to-read 4.14 2025 Senseless
author: Ronald Malfi
name: Jan
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA['Twas the Night Before Christmas: or Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas]]> 497461 32 Clement Clarke Moore 0763631183 Jan 5 4.37 1823 'Twas the Night Before Christmas: or Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas
author: Clement Clarke Moore
name: Jan
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1823
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves:
review:
Be still my beating childhood heart.
]]> Grave Talk 209496283 Time is a healer, but it helps to have a friend.

The last thing Alice expects to see at her husband’s graveside on his birthday is a giant, talking frog. On closer inspection, it’s a grown man dressed as Kermit.

Turns out Alice’s husband is buried next to Ben’s older brother Harry, who—as a parting practical joke in his will—insisted that Ben visit his grave each year, on this specific day, dressed in an as-yet-undisclosed pageant of embarrassing fancy dress.

With little but their grief and this one day in common, Alice and Ben form a very special, very strange friendship, meeting just once a same day, same time, same place—different silly costume. As the years pass and grief alters, can their unique bond help them cope with the hardest part of life?]]> 314 Nick Spalding 1662519990 Jan 0 to-read 4.24 2024 Grave Talk
author: Nick Spalding
name: Jan
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ghost Camera 202124461
Fixated on her.

Moving one step closer with every picture she takes.

Desperate, Jenine shares her secret with her best friend, Bree. Together they realize the camera captures unsettling impressions of the dead. But now the ghosts seem to be following the two friends. And with each new photo taken, a terrible danger grows ever clearer�

INCLUDES CHILLING NEW BONUS STORIES:

*A woman survives a plane crash in a remote arctic tundra, accompanied only by a stranger who seems fixated on something moving through the blinding snow.

* A house stands empty. Hungry. Waiting for the children drawn to it like moths to a flame.

*A woman finds a shoebox filled with old VHS tapes. They have a note attached: "Don't watch. You'll regret it."

*And more!]]> 354 Darcy Coates Jan 4 I may read a few as a stand alone here or there but otherwise not.
I can't even tell you why.
The reason has been lost for years.
I saw the name Darcy Coates and without hesitation, bought it.
I didn't realize it was filled with shorts.
And that's okay.
There are 8 stories within which gave me varying degrees of reading enjoyment.
Just to name a few favorites.
Ghost Camera:
Janine finds an old polaroid camera, snaps a pic, waits for the instant development, and waits somemore and low and behold captures a few ghostly apparitions in frame. Uh oh, that's odd.
It's a good one.
Death Birds:
Ryan works the ER as a nurse. The Death Birds roam the halls waiting for death, waiting to feed. A few at a time are the norm, but when more and more of the birds arrive Ryan knows something horrible is about to take place.
This one was unsettling.
Untamed Things:
2 women are the lone survivors of a horrific plane crash. As they trek across the cold winter tundra to seek a working radio something follows them and its not quite human. It smells of rot.
This was my favorite.
A Box Of Tapes:
Mom and young daughter move into a new house. Mom finds a box of old VHS tapes in her daughter's closet complete with the warning " Don't watch. You'll regret it."
Of course she does.
I liked this one.
The other stories waivered in the 3 star area. But still, not too bad.
I'm just gonna wrap this up with a 4 star and call this collection a success.]]> 3.71 2014 Ghost Camera
author: Darcy Coates
name: Jan
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:
Short stories are something I don't gravitate to on the average.
I may read a few as a stand alone here or there but otherwise not.
I can't even tell you why.
The reason has been lost for years.
I saw the name Darcy Coates and without hesitation, bought it.
I didn't realize it was filled with shorts.
And that's okay.
There are 8 stories within which gave me varying degrees of reading enjoyment.
Just to name a few favorites.
Ghost Camera:
Janine finds an old polaroid camera, snaps a pic, waits for the instant development, and waits somemore and low and behold captures a few ghostly apparitions in frame. Uh oh, that's odd.
It's a good one.
Death Birds:
Ryan works the ER as a nurse. The Death Birds roam the halls waiting for death, waiting to feed. A few at a time are the norm, but when more and more of the birds arrive Ryan knows something horrible is about to take place.
This one was unsettling.
Untamed Things:
2 women are the lone survivors of a horrific plane crash. As they trek across the cold winter tundra to seek a working radio something follows them and its not quite human. It smells of rot.
This was my favorite.
A Box Of Tapes:
Mom and young daughter move into a new house. Mom finds a box of old VHS tapes in her daughter's closet complete with the warning " Don't watch. You'll regret it."
Of course she does.
I liked this one.
The other stories waivered in the 3 star area. But still, not too bad.
I'm just gonna wrap this up with a 4 star and call this collection a success.
]]> The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 37381 here.

Carson McCullers� prodigious first novel was published to instant acclaim when she was just twenty-three. Set in a small town in the middle of the deep South, it is the story of John Singer, a lonely deaf-mute, and a disparate group of people who are drawn towards his kind, sympathetic nature. The owner of the café where Singer eats every day, a young girl desperate to grow up, an angry drunkard, a frustrated black doctor: each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant, and he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways they could never imagine.

Contains Chronology, list of Further Reading and Notes.]]> 317 Carson McCullers 0141185228 Jan 3 4.06 1940 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
author: Carson McCullers
name: Jan
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1940
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:
Many saw the brilliance I failed to see.
]]> Come Closer 220772
The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?]]> 194 Sara Gran 0425210316 Jan 0 to-read 3.63 2003 Come Closer
author: Sara Gran
name: Jan
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tom Lake 63241104 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> 309 Ann Patchett 006332752X Jan 2 The end.]]> 3.92 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jan
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:
Once upon a time the perfect family talks of the play Our Town and picks an abundance of cherries.
The end.
]]> Shy Creatures 199531966
Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen's home. A mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness.]]> 400 Clare Chambers 0063258226 Jan 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Shy Creatures
author: Clare Chambers
name: Jan
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All the Ugly and Wonderful Things]]> 26114135
As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold.

By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy's family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. A powerful novel you wont soon forget, Bryn Greenwood's All the Ugly and Wonderful Things challenges all we know and believe about love.]]> 432 Bryn Greenwood Jan 0 to-read 3.96 2016 All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
author: Bryn Greenwood
name: Jan
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Stepsister]]> 219301793 A princess with a mostly useless magical talent takes on horrible monsters, a dozen identical masked heroes, and a talking lion in a quest to save a kingdom—and herself—in this affectionate satire of the Grimm Brothers� fairy tale The Twelve Huntsmen.

Someone wants to murder Princess Melilot. This is sadly normal.

Melilot is sick of being ordered to go on dangerous quests by her domineering stepmother. Especially since she always winds up needing to be rescued by her more magically talented stepsisters. And now, she's been commanded to marry a king she’s never met.

When hideous spider-wolves attack her on the journey to meet her husband-to-be, she is once again rescued—but this time, by twelve eerily similar-looking masked huntsmen. Soon, she has to contend with near-constant attempts on her life, a talking lion that sets bewildering gender tests, and a king who can't recognize his true love when she puts on a pair of trousers. And all the while, she has to fight her growing attraction to not only one of the huntsmen, but also her fiancé’s extremely attractive sister.

If Melilot can't unravel the mysteries and rescue herself from peril, kingdoms will fall. Worse, she could end up married to someone she doesn’t love.]]> 416 Ry Herman 0593733088 Jan 0 to-read 4.27 2025 This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Stepsister
author: Ry Herman
name: Jan
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 127280850
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 392 Emilia Hart 1250842727 Jan 4 I do not pretend to be one here on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.
Although it certainly would come in handy in a number of life's situations.
By the amount of books I've read on the subject one would think I should become an honorary.
So far, I'm just your average ordinary that could maybe pull off a couple of card tricks and talk a toddler into believing that I'm the tooth fairy.
That's about my extent of spellcasting.
Here we have 3 generations of women who stumble upon their gift through circumstance.
Altha (1619), Violet (1942) and Kate (2019) each experience a personal crisis of one sort or another not necessarily unique to each time period, minus the stake burnings.
Told in alternating timelines/chapters we learn of the lives of these 3 ladies and the dilemma that brought each to the small Weyward Cottage in the middle of the wood.
Be it by birth, imprisonment, or refuge the cottage gives knowledge to each of past inhabitants and the connection they share and thus becomes a sanctuary.
Nature plays a large part from weeds, herbs, and insects, to the mighty, ever cool, underappreciated crow.
Cattle are present.
The girls have an uncanny relationship with the bee I envy.
An enjoyable relaxing story of life and that in which it entails.
Love, true love, lost love, lost loved ones, secrets, lies, gardening, finding ones self, and all that other stuff that makes the world go round.
With witches.]]> 4.02 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Jan
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves:
review:
I am not a witch.
I do not pretend to be one here on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.
Although it certainly would come in handy in a number of life's situations.
By the amount of books I've read on the subject one would think I should become an honorary.
So far, I'm just your average ordinary that could maybe pull off a couple of card tricks and talk a toddler into believing that I'm the tooth fairy.
That's about my extent of spellcasting.
Here we have 3 generations of women who stumble upon their gift through circumstance.
Altha (1619), Violet (1942) and Kate (2019) each experience a personal crisis of one sort or another not necessarily unique to each time period, minus the stake burnings.
Told in alternating timelines/chapters we learn of the lives of these 3 ladies and the dilemma that brought each to the small Weyward Cottage in the middle of the wood.
Be it by birth, imprisonment, or refuge the cottage gives knowledge to each of past inhabitants and the connection they share and thus becomes a sanctuary.
Nature plays a large part from weeds, herbs, and insects, to the mighty, ever cool, underappreciated crow.
Cattle are present.
The girls have an uncanny relationship with the bee I envy.
An enjoyable relaxing story of life and that in which it entails.
Love, true love, lost love, lost loved ones, secrets, lies, gardening, finding ones self, and all that other stuff that makes the world go round.
With witches.
]]> <![CDATA[Lolly Willowes or the Loving Huntsman]]> 146504260
With a subversive talent that foreshadows the fantastical flights of such contemporaries as Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson, Warner is one of the remarkable and essential mavericks of 20th-century literature, a writer to set beside Djuna Barnes and Jane Bowles.]]> 178 Sylvia Townsend Warner Jan 2 Commendable as that is, how it becomes a possible reality is uneventful, lackluster, and a tad sleep inducing.
There's an exhausting late night dancing ritual, witches, warlocks, Satan gets involved for some reason, and there's even a snippet about a familiar.
There's a bird farmer she spends time with.
I don't know why.
Nothing is of consequence to me within these pages.
The prose flowed, there was humor here and there but as this short story progressed I liked Lolly less and less.
So shallow and uninteresting she became for me.
I grew weary of her attitude and grew wary of her.
Her nephew comes to visit, decides to live in the same little odd village and all of a sudden she can't stand the guy.
Aunt Lolly, becomes Aunt Lolly the jerk.
I thought I would really enjoy this.
There's so many elements I like, well not Satan, but cool witchy stuff.
There's that witch dance/ritual thing but I've been to more exciting birthday rituals at Chuck E. Cheese.
At least I know why I'm there.
I love a strong independent woman of unconventional means who I can root for and form a book bond.
I looked.
She was not in this book.
A crack in the sidewalk has more of a personality than I could muster out of Lolly.
Lolly loves Lolly.
I did not.
I lost her person due to boredom.
All surface. No depth. Pointless.
At the beginning when I had hope, I was yelling, you go girl, you got this, you can do this!
But by the end of the story all I could utter was, Frankly Lolly Willowes, I just don't give a damn.

A story not meant to be for thee.]]> 3.44 1926 Lolly Willowes or the Loving Huntsman
author: Sylvia Townsend Warner
name: Jan
average rating: 3.44
book published: 1926
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves:
review:
Aging whiny spinster Lolly wants to be an independent liberated woman in the early 1920's England.
Commendable as that is, how it becomes a possible reality is uneventful, lackluster, and a tad sleep inducing.
There's an exhausting late night dancing ritual, witches, warlocks, Satan gets involved for some reason, and there's even a snippet about a familiar.
There's a bird farmer she spends time with.
I don't know why.
Nothing is of consequence to me within these pages.
The prose flowed, there was humor here and there but as this short story progressed I liked Lolly less and less.
So shallow and uninteresting she became for me.
I grew weary of her attitude and grew wary of her.
Her nephew comes to visit, decides to live in the same little odd village and all of a sudden she can't stand the guy.
Aunt Lolly, becomes Aunt Lolly the jerk.
I thought I would really enjoy this.
There's so many elements I like, well not Satan, but cool witchy stuff.
There's that witch dance/ritual thing but I've been to more exciting birthday rituals at Chuck E. Cheese.
At least I know why I'm there.
I love a strong independent woman of unconventional means who I can root for and form a book bond.
I looked.
She was not in this book.
A crack in the sidewalk has more of a personality than I could muster out of Lolly.
Lolly loves Lolly.
I did not.
I lost her person due to boredom.
All surface. No depth. Pointless.
At the beginning when I had hope, I was yelling, you go girl, you got this, you can do this!
But by the end of the story all I could utter was, Frankly Lolly Willowes, I just don't give a damn.

A story not meant to be for thee.
]]> Jane Eyre 10210 Alternate editions can be found here and here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis in Penguin Classics.

Charlotte Brontë tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 532 Charlotte Brontë 0142437204 Jan 4 4.14 1847 Jane Eyre
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Jan
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1847
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:
I have to admit to slumber in parts but overall Jane Eyre and I remain friends throughout the years.
]]> The Black Cat Bookshop 203251599
An entity was born into smoke and rage, a destructive force that was bound into a Bookshop, sentient, feral, and hungry. It offers knowledge and power, enough to fulfil your wildest dreams, but there is always a price. Payment will always be due.

The Black Cat Bookshop is a Gothic Horror story that explores what it is to find knowledge, and if it is really worth the price, in the end.]]> E.M. McConnell Jan 5 Once though its door you're greeted by its proprietor, Meredith an unusual woman with a knack for knowing one's heart desires.
Four unsuspecting souls are invited in.
This is told in 4 sections with each patron receiving their own unique story.
Here they happily find the knowledge they each crave but unbeknownst to each, payment becomes due.
And the price is steep.
All are willing whether they know it or not, but then along comes Brandon.
The bookshop is a main character and we learn its secrets.
Mysterious black cats roam within its shelves and stacks and we learn their secrets.
Meredith becomes known to us.
A entity by the name of Magali floats through the story from time to time and through him we learn much.
I'm in love with him. Just shush now.
Brandon's story was a favorite of mine.
With the help of a book called Eloquent Empathy and that which dwells within its pages along with the love of my life, Magali Brandon attempts to free himself from the bookshop with its grip on his soul.
This is unlike anything I've read before.
Some typos are present such as Carl becomes Karl which I thought at first to be intentional, but wasn't.
That's a big boo boo but I just didn't let it pester me too much for the simple fact that the story absorbed me.
I could have had more on those cats ... I'll take what I can get.
That aside, I enjoyed every page.
Everything wrapped up neat and tidy.
Be it a curse, a sickness or an obsession I can't walk by a bookstore without taking my happy ass inside.
This Black Cat Bookshop would be my doom.]]> 4.23 2024 The Black Cat Bookshop
author: E.M. McConnell
name: Jan
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:
The Black Cat Bookshop only makes itself known to those it seeks to entice through its door.
Once though its door you're greeted by its proprietor, Meredith an unusual woman with a knack for knowing one's heart desires.
Four unsuspecting souls are invited in.
This is told in 4 sections with each patron receiving their own unique story.
Here they happily find the knowledge they each crave but unbeknownst to each, payment becomes due.
And the price is steep.
All are willing whether they know it or not, but then along comes Brandon.
The bookshop is a main character and we learn its secrets.
Mysterious black cats roam within its shelves and stacks and we learn their secrets.
Meredith becomes known to us.
A entity by the name of Magali floats through the story from time to time and through him we learn much.
I'm in love with him. Just shush now.
Brandon's story was a favorite of mine.
With the help of a book called Eloquent Empathy and that which dwells within its pages along with the love of my life, Magali Brandon attempts to free himself from the bookshop with its grip on his soul.
This is unlike anything I've read before.
Some typos are present such as Carl becomes Karl which I thought at first to be intentional, but wasn't.
That's a big boo boo but I just didn't let it pester me too much for the simple fact that the story absorbed me.
I could have had more on those cats ... I'll take what I can get.
That aside, I enjoyed every page.
Everything wrapped up neat and tidy.
Be it a curse, a sickness or an obsession I can't walk by a bookstore without taking my happy ass inside.
This Black Cat Bookshop would be my doom.
]]> The Staircase in the Woods 216971063 A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

“Chuck Wendig weaves his magic once more, turning a lonely staircase in the woods into a searing, propulsive, dread-filled exploration of the horrors of knowing and being known.”—Kiersten White, author of Hide and Lucy Undying

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .]]> 400 Chuck Wendig 0593156579 Jan 0 to-read 3.80 2025 The Staircase in the Woods
author: Chuck Wendig
name: Jan
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sideways Life of Denny Voss]]> 216624124 In this poignant and funny novel, a man who is defined by his limitations sets out to fight a murder charge—and discovers unexpected truths about himself, his family, and the world at large.

On the surface, Denny Voss’s life in rural Minnesota is a quiet one. At thirty years old, he lives at home with his elderly mother and his beloved blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George. He cleans up roadkill to help pay the bills. Though his prospects are limited by a developmental delay—the result of an accident at birth—Denny has always felt that he has “a good life.�

So how did he wind up being charged with the murder of a mayoral candidate—after crashing a sled full of guns into a tree?

As Denny awaits trial, his court-appointed therapist walks him through the events of the past year. Denny’s had other scuffles with the law, the first for kidnapping a neighbor’s cantankerous goose. And then there was the time he accidentally assisted in a bank robbery. It seems like whenever Denny tries to do the right thing, chaos ensues.

Untangling the events around the murder reveals even more painful truths about his family’s past. He’s always been surrounded by people who love him, but now it’s up to Denny to set his life on a new course.]]> 335 Holly Kennedy 1662525923 Jan 0 to-read 4.52 2025 The Sideways Life of Denny Voss
author: Holly Kennedy
name: Jan
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #1)]]> 52694527 Set in a brand-new, Norse-inspired world, and packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance, The Shadow of the Gods begins an epic new fantasy saga from bestselling author John Gwynne.

After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of VigriĂ°.

Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power for those brave - or desperate - enough to seek them out.

Now, as whispers of war echo across the mountains and fjords, fate follows in the footsteps of three people: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman who has rejected privilege in pursuit of battle fame, and a thrall who seeks vengeance among the famed mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn.

All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods . . .]]> 480 John Gwynne 0356514188 Jan 0 to-read 4.19 2021 The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #1)
author: John Gwynne
name: Jan
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]> 199743722
On a cold winter’s evening in 1987, six middle-school paperboys wander an unfamiliar Milwaukee neighborhood, selling newspaper subscriptions, fueled by their manager Kevin’s promises of cash bonuses and dinner at Burger King. But the freaks come out at night in Hampton Heights. Sent out into the neighborhood in pairs, the boys will encounter a host of primordial monsters—and triumph over them.

Sigmone, who is bussed to a white school, is stuck with Joel, a white kid who idolizes Black culture. Mark, who's wrestling with his sexuality, joins his secret crush, Ryan. Nishu and Al are outsiders; one is a second-generation immigrant, the other a poor kid in a rich school. Over the course of one eventful evening, the three pairs will encounter the wild things of Hampton Heights—werewolves, witches with a centuries-old story to tell, and a creepy, ancient monster who feeds on memories. Meanwhile, Kevin is having an adventure of his own, seducing a beautiful woman in the neighborhood’s tavern . . . but who is actually in control? As the night nears its end, everyone will reunite for a cataclysmic finale.

Funny, thrilling, outrageous, and sneakily beautiful, Dan Kois’s Hampton Heights captures without sentimentality the dreams and fears of teenage boys in a tender horror-comedy about camaraderie, bravery, vulnerability, and the terrifying prospect of growing up.]]> 208 Dan Kois 0063358751 Jan 5 Things sure have changed since I lived in Milwaukee.]]> 3.46 2024 Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
author: Dan Kois
name: Jan
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
So the werewolves turf is the north side of Milwaukee and the vampires on the south side?!
Things sure have changed since I lived in Milwaukee.
]]> Dreadful 179782672 A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is� you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing � from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess � is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all � who does he want to be?
Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.]]> 368 Caitlin Rozakis 180336548X Jan 4 Obviously this is the doing of a Dark Wizard, right?
Who else would live with such tacky decor.
So begins the story of Dread Lord Gavrax.
He who sets aflame those whom he deems unworthy.
He who has a princess locked in a cell to use as sacrifice, eventually.
He who has cowering goblin minions as no one else would dare.
And maybe there's more to these little green beings that meets the eye.
He who rules the village below with an iron fist.
He who has way too much garlic.
Garlic festival, anyone?
He who has suffered memory loss and doesn't want to be a dark lord any longer.
He who now calls himself Gav.
I mean what parent in their right mind would name a baby Gavrax?!
Gav just wants to be good guy.
And I was cheering him on.
How this attempted transformation takes place makes for a fun romp.
There's those 3 dark wizards to deal with.
And Gav's not too keen on summoning a monster from another realm for some diabolical scheme.
Who or what has taken his memory?
Gav's got problems.
With the help of some unlikely allies he just may be able to pull this off.
No one is who or what they seem to be.
This makes for some twists and turns.
A great way to forget about all the nuisance that life brings your way and laugh about all the nuisance life brings someone elses way.
After all, laughter being the best medicine and all that jazz makes one a happy soul.
I got along with all the characters and approved of most decision making which is rare for me.
Someone always manages to irritate me in one way or another and then I'm pissed at them for the remainder of the book.
Usually it's because they have some hare brained ideas that defy any reasonable logic whatsoever.
Not so here.
This was a little bit evil, a little bit good, a lot a bit funny, but never a little bit dreadful.
I consider this a win.]]> 3.85 2024 Dreadful
author: Caitlin Rozakis
name: Jan
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
A man awakes in a castle with no eyebrows and no memory of the whom, the where, or the why of his predicament.
Obviously this is the doing of a Dark Wizard, right?
Who else would live with such tacky decor.
So begins the story of Dread Lord Gavrax.
He who sets aflame those whom he deems unworthy.
He who has a princess locked in a cell to use as sacrifice, eventually.
He who has cowering goblin minions as no one else would dare.
And maybe there's more to these little green beings that meets the eye.
He who rules the village below with an iron fist.
He who has way too much garlic.
Garlic festival, anyone?
He who has suffered memory loss and doesn't want to be a dark lord any longer.
He who now calls himself Gav.
I mean what parent in their right mind would name a baby Gavrax?!
Gav just wants to be good guy.
And I was cheering him on.
How this attempted transformation takes place makes for a fun romp.
There's those 3 dark wizards to deal with.
And Gav's not too keen on summoning a monster from another realm for some diabolical scheme.
Who or what has taken his memory?
Gav's got problems.
With the help of some unlikely allies he just may be able to pull this off.
No one is who or what they seem to be.
This makes for some twists and turns.
A great way to forget about all the nuisance that life brings your way and laugh about all the nuisance life brings someone elses way.
After all, laughter being the best medicine and all that jazz makes one a happy soul.
I got along with all the characters and approved of most decision making which is rare for me.
Someone always manages to irritate me in one way or another and then I'm pissed at them for the remainder of the book.
Usually it's because they have some hare brained ideas that defy any reasonable logic whatsoever.
Not so here.
This was a little bit evil, a little bit good, a lot a bit funny, but never a little bit dreadful.
I consider this a win.
]]> Maeve Fly 59007823
By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes.

But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet.

Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho . Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife.]]> 288 C.J. Leede Jan 3 3.85 2023 Maeve Fly
author: C.J. Leede
name: Jan
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves:
review:
I'm going to feign ignorance and tell myself that I've never met Mauve Fly.
]]> The Safekeep 199798201
A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget.]]> 272 Yael van der Wouden 1668034344 Jan 0 to-read 4.05 2024 The Safekeep
author: Yael van der Wouden
name: Jan
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dracula 123878454
Dracula was mostly written in the 1890s. Stoker produced over a hundred pages of notes for the novel, drawing extensively from Transylvanian folklore and history. Some scholars have suggested that the character of Dracula was inspired by historical figures like the Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler or the countess Elizabeth Báthory, but there is widespread disagreement. Stoker's notes mention neither figure. He found the name Dracula in Whitby's public library while holidaying there, picking it because he thought it meant devil in Romanian.]]> 460 Bram Stoker 1915932130 Jan 4 The original "Scooby gang" if you will.
We do get up close and personal with Dracula and minions in the first 70 pages or so.
This is told via journal entries of one Mr. Jonathan Harker.
To say more would just spoil the fun.
Just a few things though.
This story is told in letter form, and diary entries.
I thought it would be a problem for me.
It wasn't.
Van Helsing and gang are at the forefront.
All gallant.
Dracula is in the periphery and most of his vampire antics are off page.
Sometimes an eerie vibe.
Van Helsing's syntax differs from mine.
I adapted.
The Count has a mustache.
I suppose to tickle his victim into submission before he gives them the fang?
I think not.
I have never known a vampire to rock a stache.
If I'm wrong, please enlighten.
Anyway, I thought that may be a problem for me.
It was.
Did I like it?
Oh, I did.
Was it worth the read?
Most definitely.]]> 4.23 Dracula
author: Bram Stoker
name: Jan
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves:
review:
This seemed to be less about the Count and more about Van Helsing and his band of reluctant but obligated vampire hunters.
The original "Scooby gang" if you will.
We do get up close and personal with Dracula and minions in the first 70 pages or so.
This is told via journal entries of one Mr. Jonathan Harker.
To say more would just spoil the fun.
Just a few things though.
This story is told in letter form, and diary entries.
I thought it would be a problem for me.
It wasn't.
Van Helsing and gang are at the forefront.
All gallant.
Dracula is in the periphery and most of his vampire antics are off page.
Sometimes an eerie vibe.
Van Helsing's syntax differs from mine.
I adapted.
The Count has a mustache.
I suppose to tickle his victim into submission before he gives them the fang?
I think not.
I have never known a vampire to rock a stache.
If I'm wrong, please enlighten.
Anyway, I thought that may be a problem for me.
It was.
Did I like it?
Oh, I did.
Was it worth the read?
Most definitely.
]]> <![CDATA[A Night in the Lonesome October]]> 62005
In the murky London gloom, a knife-wielding gentleman named Jack prowls the midnight streets with his faithful watchdog Snuff � gathering together the grisly ingredients they will need for an upcoming ancient and unearthly rite. For soon after the death of the moon, black magic will summon the Elder Gods back into the world. And all manner of Players, both human and undead, are preparing to participate.

Some have come to open the gates. Some have come to slam them shut.

And now the dread night approaches � so let the Game begin.]]> 280 Roger Zelazny 0380771411 Jan 0 to-read 4.16 1993 A Night in the Lonesome October
author: Roger Zelazny
name: Jan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)]]> 32452160
Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.]]> 320 Vivian Shaw Jan 0 to-read 3.82 2017 Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)
author: Vivian Shaw
name: Jan
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witches of New York (Witches of New York, #1)]]> 20053031 The Birth House and The Virgin Cure is back with her most beguiling novel yet, luring us deep inside the lives of a trio of remarkable young women navigating the glitz and grotesqueries of Gilded-Age New York by any means possible, including witchcraft...

The year is 1880. Two hundred years after the trials in Salem, Adelaide Thom ('Moth' from The Virgin Cure) has left her life in the sideshow to open a tea shop with another young woman who feels it's finally safe enough to describe herself as a witch: a former medical student and "gardien de sorts" (keeper of spells), Eleanor St. Clair. Together they cater to Manhattan's high society ladies, specializing in cures, palmistry and potions--and in guarding the secrets of their clients.

All is well until one bright September afternoon, when an enchanting young woman named Beatrice Dunn arrives at their door seeking employment. Beatrice soon becomes indispensable as Eleanor's apprentice, but her new life with the witches is marred by strange occurrences. She sees things no one else can see. She hears voices no one else can hear. Objects appear out of thin air, as if gifts from the dead. Has she been touched by magic or is she simply losing her mind?

Eleanor wants to tread lightly and respect the magic manifest in the girl, but Adelaide sees a business opportunity. Working with Dr. Quinn Brody, a talented alienist, she submits Beatrice to a series of tests to see if she truly can talk to spirits. Amidst the witches' tug-of-war over what's best for her, Beatrice disappears, leaving them to wonder whether it was by choice or by force.

As Adelaide and Eleanor begin the desperate search for Beatrice, they're confronted by accusations and spectres from their own pasts. In a time when women were corseted, confined and committed for merely speaking their minds, were any of them safe?]]> 529 Ami McKay Jan 4 3.80 2016 The Witches of New York (Witches of New York, #1)
author: Ami McKay
name: Jan
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Sunday Lunch Club 35888778 The first rule of Sunday Lunch Club is â€� don'tĚýmake any afternoon plans.
Ěý
Every few Sundays, Anna and her extended family and friends get together for lunch. They talk, they laugh, they bicker, they eat too much. Sometimes the important stuff is left unsaid, other times it's said in the wrong way.Ěý
Ěý
Sitting between her ex-husband and her new lover, Anna is coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy at the age of forty. Also at the table are her ageing grandmother, her promiscuous sister, her flamboyantly gay brother and a memory too terrible to contemplate.
Ěý
Until, that is, a letter arrives from the person Anna scarred all those years ago. Can Anna reconcile her painful past with her uncertain future?
Ěý
Juliet Ashton weaves a story of love, friendship and community that will move you to laughter and to tears. Think Cold Feet meets David Nicholls, with a dash of the joy of Jill Mansell added for good measure.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 265 Juliet Ashton 1471168395 Jan 0 to-read 3.71 2018 The Sunday Lunch Club
author: Juliet Ashton
name: Jan
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Benighted 17930604
Benighted (1927), a classic â€old dark houseâ€� story of psychological terror, was the second novel by one of the most prolific and beloved British authors of the 20th century, J.B. Priestley (1894-1984). This edition includes an introduction by Orrin Grey, who discusses the connections between the novel and its film adaptation, James Whale’s The Old Dark House (1932).]]> 182 J.B. Priestley Jan 3 3.87 1927 Benighted
author: J.B. Priestley
name: Jan
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
I'm trying to understand the logic of locking two scared women in a dark room for their own safety only to leave the key in the lock on the outside of the door where the threat lurks. My only gripe.
]]> The Wife Next Door 61670075
Just because it’s over between us, doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. My ex-husband and I still care for each other a lot, and we are determined to put our sweet little boy, Toby first.

Now we’ve moved into houses right next door to each other, with each of our new partners and their children. We’ve even knocked down the garden fence, so Toby can easily run between our homes.

But it seems not everyone is happy about this big, blended stepfamily. I try to ignore the viciously-worded note in the â€new homeâ€� card, the red pen scrawled through my divorce paperwork, and the day I find myself locked into my house, all the keys suddenly missingâ€�

But I can’t pretend it’s all in my head when a false accusation is made against me that could destroy my life � and Toby’s � forever.

Someone doesn’t like what’s happening under these two neighbouring roofs.

What they don’t know is that they’re messing with the wrong person. And that hell hath no fury like the wife next door�

A completely unputdownable, jaw-on-the-floor psychological thriller for fans of Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Couple at No.9.]]> 290 Rona Halsall 180314159X Jan 3 They remain besties.
Both find new partners.
Jess finds Ben and his spoiled rotten daughter.
Rob finds Carol and her frail young son.
In the best interest of Jess, oops I mean their son, the soon to divorce couple decide to become next door neighbors.
Now Jess, Ben, Rob, and Carol along with 3 kids become one big happy blended family.
Happy happy joy joy.
Knuckleheads.
This doesn't even last one week.
It starts out as a nasty note in a housewarming card.
Bad things escalate.
All directed at Jess.
No one believes her, poor dear.
She has self doubt. I wouldn't.
She starts to blame the others. I would.
Even her mother. I wouldn't.
Jess did nothing to deserve what befell her.
Besides her pipe dream of this goofy set-up, she's not bad people.
On the flip, Jess didn't do what I thought to be in our, oops I mean her best interest from the get go.
How could Jess let this get so out of hand?
I would have called the cops the moment I read that card.
And as for my beloved blended family to diss my concerns.
Happy happy joy joy this, jerks.
A small but worthy group of culprits to choose from.
Predictable as to the who and to the why.
A little surprise at the end.
I only liked Jess. And that's okay.
There's no pet to worry about. Thankfully.
Frustratingly fun because I would have handled this whole situation in an entirely different way.
Like a real girl.
Starting with the living arrangements.
Therefore there would be no story to tell.
And thats why I read books and don't write them.]]> 3.95 2022 The Wife Next Door
author: Rona Halsall
name: Jan
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:
Jess and Rob's marriage ends, but they got a son out of the deal.
They remain besties.
Both find new partners.
Jess finds Ben and his spoiled rotten daughter.
Rob finds Carol and her frail young son.
In the best interest of Jess, oops I mean their son, the soon to divorce couple decide to become next door neighbors.
Now Jess, Ben, Rob, and Carol along with 3 kids become one big happy blended family.
Happy happy joy joy.
Knuckleheads.
This doesn't even last one week.
It starts out as a nasty note in a housewarming card.
Bad things escalate.
All directed at Jess.
No one believes her, poor dear.
She has self doubt. I wouldn't.
She starts to blame the others. I would.
Even her mother. I wouldn't.
Jess did nothing to deserve what befell her.
Besides her pipe dream of this goofy set-up, she's not bad people.
On the flip, Jess didn't do what I thought to be in our, oops I mean her best interest from the get go.
How could Jess let this get so out of hand?
I would have called the cops the moment I read that card.
And as for my beloved blended family to diss my concerns.
Happy happy joy joy this, jerks.
A small but worthy group of culprits to choose from.
Predictable as to the who and to the why.
A little surprise at the end.
I only liked Jess. And that's okay.
There's no pet to worry about. Thankfully.
Frustratingly fun because I would have handled this whole situation in an entirely different way.
Like a real girl.
Starting with the living arrangements.
Therefore there would be no story to tell.
And thats why I read books and don't write them.
]]> We Spread 60209475 A new work of philosophical suspense.

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.�

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny—with a growing sense of unrest and distrust—starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging, or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?

At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid’s genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.]]> 289 Iain Reid 1982169354 Jan 3 I'm just not sure....
Simple prose made for easy reading.
Quite elderly Penny takes a tumble in her apartment.
Next thing we know she's at an assisted living facility.
There are only 4 residents and 2 care givers.
It doesn't take Penny long to figure out something is amiss.
But Penny is an unreliable narrator.
Is this just the ramblings of an elderly woman or does more meet the eye?
Does Penny suffer from dementia or is she just simply confused?
Is something more sinister at play?
Time is surreal.
Have days gone by or not?
Was that hall there yesterday?
Why can't we go outside?
Everyone is mysterious.
Are those bags full of hair and nail clippings?
What are these people doing other than napping or eating?
In-between the oddness there's lots of math and art talk and how that applies to life.
I'm a novice in both, but I could follow the flow of meaning, surprisingly.
I'm being intentionally vague here.
It's one of those stories left for interpretation.
You'll get the gist, you just have to figure out the mechanics of it all.
Unusual and melancholy best describes this story for me.
3 semi shining stars.
I had to use that organ known as the brain to filter through the fog and look for truth.
Did I find it?
I like to think I did.
Questions do linger though.

Mr. Reid has intrigued me and I'm curious as to what else he has out there.]]> 3.76 2022 We Spread
author: Iain Reid
name: Jan
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves:
review:
I went in blind and maybe came out blind as well.
I'm just not sure....
Simple prose made for easy reading.
Quite elderly Penny takes a tumble in her apartment.
Next thing we know she's at an assisted living facility.
There are only 4 residents and 2 care givers.
It doesn't take Penny long to figure out something is amiss.
But Penny is an unreliable narrator.
Is this just the ramblings of an elderly woman or does more meet the eye?
Does Penny suffer from dementia or is she just simply confused?
Is something more sinister at play?
Time is surreal.
Have days gone by or not?
Was that hall there yesterday?
Why can't we go outside?
Everyone is mysterious.
Are those bags full of hair and nail clippings?
What are these people doing other than napping or eating?
In-between the oddness there's lots of math and art talk and how that applies to life.
I'm a novice in both, but I could follow the flow of meaning, surprisingly.
I'm being intentionally vague here.
It's one of those stories left for interpretation.
You'll get the gist, you just have to figure out the mechanics of it all.
Unusual and melancholy best describes this story for me.
3 semi shining stars.
I had to use that organ known as the brain to filter through the fog and look for truth.
Did I find it?
I like to think I did.
Questions do linger though.

Mr. Reid has intrigued me and I'm curious as to what else he has out there.
]]> Memorials 207294741 A group of students encounter a supernatural terror while on a road trip through Appalachia in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the “unforgettable and scary� (Harlan Coben) Chasing the Boogeyman. 1983: Three students from a small college embark on a week-long road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. The project starts out as a fun adventure with long stretches of empty road and nightly campfires where they begin to open up with one another. But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming. Before long, the students can’t help but wonder if these roadside deaths were really random accidents…or is something terrifying at work here?]]> 480 Richard Chizmar 1668009196 Jan 0 to-read 3.75 2024 Memorials
author: Richard Chizmar
name: Jan
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Where I End 204523373 Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, a modern gothic horror where a young woman falls into a dark obsession after a new artist and her baby arrive on her small Irish island.

At night, my mother creaks. The house creaks along with her. Sometimes in the morning we find her in places. We never see her move. We just come upon her.Ěý
Aoileann is cursed. She has no friends, never gone to school. She has never left this windswept craggy isle off the coast of Ireland.Ěý

Her mother is a silent wreck Aoileann calls the “bed-thing.â€� Alongside her grandmother, Aoileann’s days are an endless monotony of feeding, changing, and caring for the bed-thing.Ěý

Their island seems cursed, whispering secrets only Aoileann hears. Then Rachel, a vivacious artist from the mainland, arrives with her colicky newborn. Rachel arouses yearnings Aoileann cannot fully comprehend. Soon, the unfolding of her mother’s secret tragedy and Aoileann’s pursuit of her own dark desires are both destined to unleash a maelstrom upon all three of their lives.Ěý

Described by New York Times–bestselling author John Connolly as “perhaps the finest Irish horror novel of the 21st century,� Where I End is a modern Irish gothic that will pull readers into its undertow of family resentments and relentless obsession.]]> 187 Sophie White 1645661873 Jan 0 to-read 3.89 2022 Where I End
author: Sophie White
name: Jan
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 Jan 5 4.11 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: Jan
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:
If T.J. Klune wrote obituaries for a living I'd read each and every one. Twice.
]]> Unspeakable Things 44323551
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents� strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.]]> 296 Jess Lourey 154200876X Jan 0 to-read 3.84 2020 Unspeakable Things
author: Jess Lourey
name: Jan
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spellshop 199269577 The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst Jan 4 I bought it for the cover.
It's a beauty.
There's a winged cat on the lid.
I didn't care if it was a kids chapter book, YA, a self help book, some covens cookbook, or if it was written in a text only a gnome could decipher.
I just wanted it for my very own to gaze upon from time to time.
I wasn't gonna read it anyway.

So, I read it.

It was full of magicalness.
So much magicalness.
Kiela, a blue skinned, blue haired librarian along with her friend Caz, a sedient spider plant flee a burning library with a boat load of forbidden spell books.
With the city in turmoil due to an uprising they have nowhere to go so sail to Kiela's childhood island home.
All the magic happens here.
Get your cozy fantasy on if you're so inclined.
With sugar on top.
99% of the characters were filled with goodness.
99% of the deeds are done in kindness.
You get my drift.
Sugar on top.
Merhorses, a singing tree, forest spirits, a goat boy, and winged cats are just a sampling of what you'll encounter here.
Oh, and the handsome neighbor guy.
There's also some forbidden spell casting going on with some zany as well as enchanting results.
And jam.
Pleasant place, this island.
I dig this magic stuff, so I had a swell time.
Triggers- no nudity, no sex, no horror, no blood, guts or gore, no mayhem.
Never a bump in the night.
Yes, your kid can read it.]]> 4.05 2024 The Spellshop
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Jan
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves:
review:
Oh yes, I most certainly did.
I bought it for the cover.
It's a beauty.
There's a winged cat on the lid.
I didn't care if it was a kids chapter book, YA, a self help book, some covens cookbook, or if it was written in a text only a gnome could decipher.
I just wanted it for my very own to gaze upon from time to time.
I wasn't gonna read it anyway.

So, I read it.

It was full of magicalness.
So much magicalness.
Kiela, a blue skinned, blue haired librarian along with her friend Caz, a sedient spider plant flee a burning library with a boat load of forbidden spell books.
With the city in turmoil due to an uprising they have nowhere to go so sail to Kiela's childhood island home.
All the magic happens here.
Get your cozy fantasy on if you're so inclined.
With sugar on top.
99% of the characters were filled with goodness.
99% of the deeds are done in kindness.
You get my drift.
Sugar on top.
Merhorses, a singing tree, forest spirits, a goat boy, and winged cats are just a sampling of what you'll encounter here.
Oh, and the handsome neighbor guy.
There's also some forbidden spell casting going on with some zany as well as enchanting results.
And jam.
Pleasant place, this island.
I dig this magic stuff, so I had a swell time.
Triggers- no nudity, no sex, no horror, no blood, guts or gore, no mayhem.
Never a bump in the night.
Yes, your kid can read it.
]]> Tartufo 212924015
After nearly losing the election to a geriatric but wildly popular donkey named Maurizio, newly installed Mayor Delizia Miccuci can’t help but feel like the sun has finally set on the rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino. Tourists only stop by to ask for directions, Nonna Amara’s cherished ristorante is long shuttered, and the town hall is disgustingly overrun with glis glis poo—even Postman Duccio has been disgraced. All that’s left is Bar Celebrità, a rustic establishment where weary locals gather to quibble over decades-long disputes, submit their poor stomachs to bartender Giuseppina’s volcanic espresso, and wonder what will become of the place where together they’ve spent their entire lives.

Little do the villagers know that, mere miles away in the forest, local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza has just happened upon something that could change everything. Swollen to massive proportions, soaking the atmosphere in its pungent fumes, potentially worth six figures in certain international circles, a truffle—un tartufo, that is—sits beneath the soil with the power to either be the greatest gift or the foulest curse the village has ever seen—they’re not completely sure which since Giuseppina’s psychic was a bit unclear on the matter.

Tartufo is much more than a charming romp through the foothills of Tuscany. Written in the same enchanting style and raucous humor that defines Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures, Buxton’s newest story is a reflection on the interconnectedness of life in all its manifestations—and how holding on to harmony in the face of hardship can grow something beautiful and rare beneath the surface.]]> 352 Kira Jane Buxton 1538770814 Jan 0 to-read 3.79 2025 Tartufo
author: Kira Jane Buxton
name: Jan
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Small Mercies 61812308 The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River —an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,� the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.]]> 303 Dennis Lehane 0062129481 Jan 0 to-read 4.22 2023 Small Mercies
author: Dennis Lehane
name: Jan
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 763951 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780812504750.

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.

This edition of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow includes an Introduction and Afterword by Charles L. Grant.

Sleepy Hollow is a strange little place...some say bewitched. Some talk of its haunted valleys and streams, the ghostly woman in white, eerie midnight shrieks and howls, but most of all they talk of the Headless Horseman. A huge, shadowy soldier who rides headless through the night, terrifying unlucky travellers.

Schoolteacher Ichabod Crane is fascinated by these stories....Until late one night, walking home through Wiley's swamp, he finds that maybe they're not just stories.

What is that dark, menacing figure riding behind him on a horse? And what does it have in its hands?

And why wasn't schoolteacher Crane ever seen in Sleepy Hollow again?]]> 80 Washington Irving Jan 3 3.45 1820 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
author: Washington Irving
name: Jan
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1820
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/07
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves:
review:
Ichabod Crane gets punked with a pumpkin.
]]> Exhumed (Golden Blood #1) 208579691
Confusion turns to incredulity when those gathered are finally informed of the reason they have been summoned. An archaeological dig in Romania has unearthed something that had been buried for centuries; something that should be no more than skeletal remains; something that is still alive to this day � thirsting, lusting, scheming �

The ancient vampire has been freed from his tomb and is slowly regaining his strength. A â€prisonerâ€� at the ECDC, he plots his emancipation from captivity with one goal in mind: retribution against those who entombed him all those centuries ago. Dr Reynolds is dragged into a world of revenge and pure hatred spanning the millennia. A world where only he holds the key to putting a lid on things before the consequences become dire for all of humankind.]]> 448 S.J. Patrick Jan 0 to-read 3.72 2024 Exhumed (Golden Blood #1)
author: S.J. Patrick
name: Jan
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We'll Prescribe You a Cat (We'll Prescribe You a Cat, #1)]]> 217146458 For fans of The Travelling Cat Chronicles, The Cat Who Saved Books and She and Her Cat, discover the Japanese bestseller that celebrates the healing power of cats.

A cat a day keeps the doctor away ...

On the top floor of an old building at the end of a cobbled alley in Kyoto lies the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. Only a select few - those who feel genuine emotional turmoil - can find it.

The mysterious centre offers a unique treatment for its troubled patients: it prescribes cats as medication.

Get ready to fall in love:
- Bee, an eight-year-old female, mixed breed helps a young man deal with the anxiety of a corporate sales job he despises;
- Margot, muscly like a lightweight boxer, helps Koga a family man and callcentre worker with severe insomnia;
- Koyuki, an exquisite white cat brings closure to Megumi a young mother whose own parents forced her to abandon an adored rescue kitten;
- Tank and Tangerine bring peace to a high-flying handbag designer Tomoko, as she learns to let go of her perfectionism and be kinder to herself;
- Mimita, the Scottish Fold kitten helps a broken-hearted young Geisha to stop blaming herself for the cat she lost years ago;

Follow how each cat brings joy, hope and self-discovery to the human who is lucky enough to have them in this utterly charming, vibrant celebration of the healing power of cats.

Containing five exquisite cat line-drawings, discover the inspirational story that has become an international sensation.]]> Syou Ishida Jan 0 to-read 4.00 2023 We'll Prescribe You a Cat (We'll Prescribe You a Cat, #1)
author: Syou Ishida
name: Jan
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Jan 4 And oddly, calming.
The writing, rudimentary.
I liked the ease.
The story of Funiculi Funiculi, a small intimate cafe that allows its patrons to go forward or backwards in time.
There are an exorbitant amount of rules to follow.
Seriously though, one cannot travel through time willy-nilly for ones own gain without rules to follow.
The price is steep for those who abuse this privilege.
If not followed, you live eternity as a ghost.
Your time in the past/future must be complete before the coffee presented to you gets cold.
Four characters take the chair of future/past.
One lover, left behind.
A wife, the husband the victim of Alzheimer's.
One estranged sister.
A mother and unborn daughter.
Never does this endeavor change the present.
Not the here, not the now,
Never.
The easy, steady, simple prose was refreshing for a change.
Relatable human beings.
A ghost that reads novels, drinks coffee, and is the permanent resident of the time traving chair.
Don't cross this bitch, or a hex is upon you.
She only vacates the chair for the potential time traveler when she needs to pee.
I know, right?!
A ghost has to pee?!!
I was hoping that wasn't a part of the afterlife.
Simple story with the impossible, possible.
Characters with simple easy lives facing life's many obstacles.
How nice to read a story so.....normal?
Regardless the time travel.
If this opportunity ever happened to cross my path...
I'd take it in a hot minute.]]> 3.67 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Jan
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:
Well, this was .....nice.
And oddly, calming.
The writing, rudimentary.
I liked the ease.
The story of Funiculi Funiculi, a small intimate cafe that allows its patrons to go forward or backwards in time.
There are an exorbitant amount of rules to follow.
Seriously though, one cannot travel through time willy-nilly for ones own gain without rules to follow.
The price is steep for those who abuse this privilege.
If not followed, you live eternity as a ghost.
Your time in the past/future must be complete before the coffee presented to you gets cold.
Four characters take the chair of future/past.
One lover, left behind.
A wife, the husband the victim of Alzheimer's.
One estranged sister.
A mother and unborn daughter.
Never does this endeavor change the present.
Not the here, not the now,
Never.
The easy, steady, simple prose was refreshing for a change.
Relatable human beings.
A ghost that reads novels, drinks coffee, and is the permanent resident of the time traving chair.
Don't cross this bitch, or a hex is upon you.
She only vacates the chair for the potential time traveler when she needs to pee.
I know, right?!
A ghost has to pee?!!
I was hoping that wasn't a part of the afterlife.
Simple story with the impossible, possible.
Characters with simple easy lives facing life's many obstacles.
How nice to read a story so.....normal?
Regardless the time travel.
If this opportunity ever happened to cross my path...
I'd take it in a hot minute.
]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Jan 4 Enter Adeline LaRue.
So desperate is she, that she makes a deal with the darkness.
The deal being, immortality for her very soul once she's had enough of living the immortal life.
The catch being, that no one will remember her once she leaves their sight.
Which is tempting in and of itself really.
Imagine the possibilities of this particular freedom.
And yes, I've thought of the down side.
So of course, no.
As her old life slips into oblivion so begins The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Addie roams the globe for some 300 years drifting through history and all its various time periods.
Meeting the famous and the not so famous.
The rich, the poor.
The good, the bad.
With no one remembering her at all.
Meanwhile the darkness, who has acquired the name "Luc" materializes unannounced from time to time to taunt and pester.
An odd fondness developed between Addie and Luc.
Hmmm..
I got Stockholm Syndrome vides.
Then one fine day Addie meets Henry in a bookstore.
And now, I can't put the book down.]]> 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Jan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:
Desperate people do desperate things when they're desperate.
Enter Adeline LaRue.
So desperate is she, that she makes a deal with the darkness.
The deal being, immortality for her very soul once she's had enough of living the immortal life.
The catch being, that no one will remember her once she leaves their sight.
Which is tempting in and of itself really.
Imagine the possibilities of this particular freedom.
And yes, I've thought of the down side.
So of course, no.
As her old life slips into oblivion so begins The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Addie roams the globe for some 300 years drifting through history and all its various time periods.
Meeting the famous and the not so famous.
The rich, the poor.
The good, the bad.
With no one remembering her at all.
Meanwhile the darkness, who has acquired the name "Luc" materializes unannounced from time to time to taunt and pester.
An odd fondness developed between Addie and Luc.
Hmmm..
I got Stockholm Syndrome vides.
Then one fine day Addie meets Henry in a bookstore.
And now, I can't put the book down.
]]> A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1622 298 William Shakespeare 0743477545 Jan 4 A good cure if ever you find yourself in the doldrums.]]> 3.95 1595 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jan
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1595
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves:
review:
A jolly good time.
A good cure if ever you find yourself in the doldrums.
]]> <![CDATA[Preternatural: A Psychological Horror Book (Preternatural, #1)]]> 62845899
Welcome to Meadowsville, the home of the most popular urban myth, Mr. Smith. This vicious, vampire-like entity rules over this booming town by any means necessary, slaughtering its citizens, and upholding a long-standing tradition. ĚýFollow several residents as they form an unlikely alliance to combat the common threat of this dangerous monster and embark on an undertaking that will change each of them and their town forever. Ěý

This rerelease of the original first book in theĚýPreternatural TrilogyĚýfeatures added content, a beautiful new cover, and an in-depth preface from Peter Topside that gives further insight into the series that took him almost twenty-five years to develop.]]> 188 Peter Topside 1736347241 Jan 0 to-read 4.20 2019 Preternatural: A Psychological Horror Book (Preternatural, #1)
author: Peter Topside
name: Jan
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Guncle (The Guncle, #1) 54508798
So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules� ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting—even if temporary—isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.]]> 326 Steven Rowley 0525542280 Jan 4 Although grief hung around like a ghoul from time to time this was a light read filled with endearing moments.
It was done well.
Patrick, as in Guncle, was snarky and sarcastic.
He too we find has a dark cloud of sadness hanging over his days.
The kids were adorable, a word I rarely use to describe anything but a puppy or kitten or a baby elephant.
I was charmed.
Over a 3 month span our trio learn to depend on each other not only for their own individual needs but they also develop a true bond and healing is sure to follow.
How they get to this point is the bones of the story.
Swimming, brunch, and a pink Christmas tree along with some Guncle rules and you have the makings for some fun stuff.
Death does lurk, but this story is more about the healing process at its core.
All emotions are present.
Not only for the characters but the reader as well.
Yeah, I felt feelings.
Secondary characters lend more stability with some fun little scenarios.
I especially liked the neighbors.
I developed a connection to all but that nasty Clara.
This was such a sweet story that my teeth hurt.
And I don't care.]]> 4.09 2021 The Guncle (The Guncle, #1)
author: Steven Rowley
name: Jan
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/13
date added: 2024/08/13
shelves:
review:
Nice breezy story about a gay man who takes charge of his young niece and nephew after their mom dies from cancer and their dad is off to rehab due to a drug dependency brought on by his wife's lengthy illness.
Although grief hung around like a ghoul from time to time this was a light read filled with endearing moments.
It was done well.
Patrick, as in Guncle, was snarky and sarcastic.
He too we find has a dark cloud of sadness hanging over his days.
The kids were adorable, a word I rarely use to describe anything but a puppy or kitten or a baby elephant.
I was charmed.
Over a 3 month span our trio learn to depend on each other not only for their own individual needs but they also develop a true bond and healing is sure to follow.
How they get to this point is the bones of the story.
Swimming, brunch, and a pink Christmas tree along with some Guncle rules and you have the makings for some fun stuff.
Death does lurk, but this story is more about the healing process at its core.
All emotions are present.
Not only for the characters but the reader as well.
Yeah, I felt feelings.
Secondary characters lend more stability with some fun little scenarios.
I especially liked the neighbors.
I developed a connection to all but that nasty Clara.
This was such a sweet story that my teeth hurt.
And I don't care.
]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Jan 3 *Please read the many stellar reviews*
I did enjoy the prose and if the author wanted to impress me with her extensive vocabulary choices in which I needed Google on more than one occasion I would say, bravo.
The story is about 2 kids who meet in a hospital and bond over a video game.
Sam is there because he's a patient, Sadie a visitor, her sister being a patient.
An on again, off again friendship begins though time.
There's a rift in the relationship early on and they're "off" for a number of years.
Because the stars aligned in their favor they meet up again while both are in college and they are now "on" for a number of years.
During their "on" years they create a video game together which becomes a huge success, as do they.
Another rift and it's "off" again.
This goes on and off for years.
Thankfully other characters are brought into the fold to give the story some depth.
Sadie seemed to be my problem.
I couldn't form a personality for her.
I could only conger a vague image of her in my mind's eye.
I just couldn't connect with her and that became troublesome.
Sadie and I remained strangers throughout.
All others, were clear to me.
And some dear to me
I'm not judging these two characters friendship.
There's a reason they say to not mix business with pleasure.
Of course all kinds of things happened in-between which kept me engaged enough to say I liked it fine, okay, good enough.]]> 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Jan
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves:
review:
I see I am but one of a few who thought this was, fine, okay, good enough.
*Please read the many stellar reviews*
I did enjoy the prose and if the author wanted to impress me with her extensive vocabulary choices in which I needed Google on more than one occasion I would say, bravo.
The story is about 2 kids who meet in a hospital and bond over a video game.
Sam is there because he's a patient, Sadie a visitor, her sister being a patient.
An on again, off again friendship begins though time.
There's a rift in the relationship early on and they're "off" for a number of years.
Because the stars aligned in their favor they meet up again while both are in college and they are now "on" for a number of years.
During their "on" years they create a video game together which becomes a huge success, as do they.
Another rift and it's "off" again.
This goes on and off for years.
Thankfully other characters are brought into the fold to give the story some depth.
Sadie seemed to be my problem.
I couldn't form a personality for her.
I could only conger a vague image of her in my mind's eye.
I just couldn't connect with her and that became troublesome.
Sadie and I remained strangers throughout.
All others, were clear to me.
And some dear to me
I'm not judging these two characters friendship.
There's a reason they say to not mix business with pleasure.
Of course all kinds of things happened in-between which kept me engaged enough to say I liked it fine, okay, good enough.
]]> The Complete Fairy Tales 163716
A true classic of wonder for all ages.]]> 144 Oscar Wilde 1934169579 Jan 0 to-read 4.35 1888 The Complete Fairy Tales
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Jan
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1888
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Havoc 209594864 In the vein of The Bad Seed comes a twisty, atmospheric psychological suspense about a meddlesome elderly guest at a decadent luxury hotel who believes she has left her problematic past behind, until she decides to interfere in the lives of a young mother and her eight-year-old son, and finally meets her wicked match.

The war between age and youth has never been so vicious.

Eighty-one-year-old widow Maggie Burkhardt came to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are relaxing at this threadbare luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile. Maggie, a compulsive fixer of other people’s lives, may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and just might have needed to get out of there fast... But here at the Royal Karnak, under the hot Saharan sun, she has a comfortable suite, a loyal confidante in the hotel manager, Ahmed, and a handful of sympathetic friends, similar “long-termers� who understand her still-vivid grief for her late husband, Peter. Here, she is merely the sweet old lady in Room 309.

One morning, however, Maggie notices a new arrival at a mournful-looking young mother named Tess and her impish eight-year-old, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. But it isn’t long before Maggie realizes that in her longing to be a part of their family, she has let in an enemy much stronger than she bargained for. In scrawny, homely Otto, Maggie Burkhardt has finally met her match.]]> 256 Christopher Bollen 0063378892 Jan 0 to-read 3.58 2024 Havoc
author: Christopher Bollen
name: Jan
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> News of the World 25817493 Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.

In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.� Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.

Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.

]]> 209 Paulette Jiles 0062409204 Jan 0 to-read 4.02 2016 News of the World
author: Paulette Jiles
name: Jan
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mongrels 26156471 A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy whose family lives on the fringes of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them.

He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his Aunt Libby and Uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixedblood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.

For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and close calls—always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they’ve been running from for so long are catching up fast, now. Everything is about to change.

A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story—funny, bloody, raw, and real—told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.]]> 302 Stephen Graham Jones 0062412698 Jan 2 Darren and Libby both werewolves, or here called mongrels along with the hopeful werewolf to be, their unnamed nephew, drift from state to state over and over again.
When not driving a dilapidated vehicle from state to state they live in a dilapidated residence, watch game shows, work at dead end jobs, get fired, do werewolf wanderings in the evening, ravish livestock and wildlife alike, sleep, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
All the while the nephew pines to become a werewolf.
Not a glamorous existence.
I'd rather be a vampire.]]> 3.90 2016 Mongrels
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Jan
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves:
review:
I don't believe this is meant to be the stuff of legend as far as werewolf lore is concerned.
Darren and Libby both werewolves, or here called mongrels along with the hopeful werewolf to be, their unnamed nephew, drift from state to state over and over again.
When not driving a dilapidated vehicle from state to state they live in a dilapidated residence, watch game shows, work at dead end jobs, get fired, do werewolf wanderings in the evening, ravish livestock and wildlife alike, sleep, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
All the while the nephew pines to become a werewolf.
Not a glamorous existence.
I'd rather be a vampire.
]]> Nestlings 65212029 Nat Cassidy is at his razor-sharp best again with his horror novel Nestlings, which harnesses the creeping paranoia of Rosemary's Baby and the urban horror of 'Salem's Lot, set in an exclusive New York City residential building.

Ana and Reid need a break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling―with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia, but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on their baby.]]> 293 Nat Cassidy 1250265258 Jan 0 to-read 3.81 2023 Nestlings
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Jan
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Good Sister 53137974 An alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BYCWK6T can be found here.

Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters in The Good Sister.

There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be...dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.]]> 309 Sally Hepworth 1250120950 Jan 4 4.11 2020 The Good Sister
author: Sally Hepworth
name: Jan
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)]]> 61612864
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.]]> 559 Mark Lawrence 0593437918 Jan 0 to-read 3.94 2023 The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Jan
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Nightingale and the Rose 590272 A nightingale overhears a student complaining that his professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the white roses tell her that there's a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night, and sacrifice her life to do so.]]> 18 Oscar Wilde 1430439866 Jan 5 My heart hurts a little.]]> 4.31 1888 The Nightingale and the Rose
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Jan
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1888
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves:
review:
As bitter as it is sweet.
My heart hurts a little.
]]> I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons 199798488
What happens next is not the fairy tale you may be expecting.]]> 278 Peter S. Beagle 1668025272 Jan 0 to-read 3.62 2024 I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons
author: Peter S. Beagle
name: Jan
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Find Her First 59409320 Paramedic Andy Campbell has a secret he can't tell anyone, not least the police.

But when his missing wife's image is found at the home of a suspected killer, detectives start asking questions, and they're not the only ones . . .�

The race for the truth leads them far from their Edinburgh home � but who will find her first, and will they save her life or take it? ]]> 352 Emma Christie 1787396983 Jan 0 to-read 3.58 Find Her First
author: Emma Christie
name: Jan
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>