Isobel's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:57:52 -0800 60 Isobel's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[D is for Deadbeat (Kinsey Millhone, #4)]]> 64857
Limardo pays her with another check as the retainer. It bounces and Kinsey discovers she's been had. She learns that he is really John Daggett—an ex-con with a drinking problem, two wives to boot, and a slew of people who would like to see him dead. Kinsey is out $400 and she's now in hot pursuit of Daggett.

When Daggett's corpse shows up floating in the Santa Teresa surf, the cops rule it an accident. Kinsey thinks it's murder. But seeking justice for a man who everyone seemed to despise is a lot tougher than she bargained for—and what awaits her at the end of the road is much more disturbing than she could've ever imagined.]]> 307 Sue Grafton 0312939027 Isobel 3 3.86 1987 D is for Deadbeat (Kinsey Millhone, #4)
author: Sue Grafton
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1987
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Ocean Bliss and Grisly Bits (Molly Grey Cozy #7)]]> 52930429
There’s only one catch... in order to get there, they have to cross the ocean on the cruise ship El Vivo. Besides getting seasick, that would normally not be a problem, but not on this voyage. There’s a murderer on board the ship.

There are no police around, but that's when Molly Gertrude is at her best. However, Molly Gertrude and Dora soon find out things are more complicated than they originally thought and it turns out most of the guests are holding onto a few dark secrets they would be willing to kill for if necessary.

Join us on an unforgettable journey with Miss Molly Gertrude Grey and her enthusiastic co-worker Dora Brightside as we embark on a Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery you will never forget.
]]> 123 Donna Doyle Isobel 5 4.04 Ocean Bliss and Grisly Bits (Molly Grey Cozy #7)
author: Donna Doyle
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder on Family Grounds (Mary Wandwalker #3)]]> 205338104 334 Susan Rowland 1685032095 Isobel 5 4.30 2024 Murder on Family Grounds (Mary Wandwalker #3)
author: Susan Rowland
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in the Veil (Victorian Mystery #4)]]> 51106509 Award-winning author Laura Joh Rowland is back with the fourth in her critically acclaimed Victorian mysteries where the case of a mutilated "Sleeping Beauty" washes ashore in London.

London, June 1890.

Sarah Bain and her friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly are crime scene photographers for the Daily World newspaper. After solving a sensational murder, they're under pressure to deliver another big story. On a foggy summer night, they're called to the bank of the river Thames. The murder victim is an unidentified woman whose face has been slashed. But as Sarah takes photographs, she discovers that the woman is still alive.

The case of "Sleeping Beauty" becomes a public sensation, and three parties quickly come forward to identify her: a rich, sinister artist who claims she's his wife; a mother and her two daughters who co-own a nursing home and claim she's their stepdaughter/sister; and a precocious little girl who claims Sleeping Beauty is her mother. Which party is Sleeping Beauty's rightful kin? Is someone among them her would-be killer?

Then Sleeping Beauty awakens--with a severe case of amnesia. She's forgotten her name and everything else about herself. But she recognizes one of the people who've claimed her. Sarah is delighted to reunite a family and send Sleeping Beauty home--until one of the claimants is murdered. Suddenly, Sarah, her motley crew of friends, and her fiancé Detective Sergeant Barrett are on the wrong side of the law. Now they must identify the killer before they find themselves headed for the gallows.]]> 294 Laura Joh Rowland 1643852418 Isobel 5 3.89 2020 The Woman in the Veil (Victorian Mystery #4)
author: Laura Joh Rowland
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Fresh Brewed Murder (A Ground Rules Mystery #1)]]> 54445310 Master barista Sage Caplin is opening a new coffee cart in Portland, Oregon, but a killer is brewing up a world of trouble....

Portland is famous for its rain, hipsters, craft beers...and coffee. Sage Caplin has high hopes for her coffee cart, Ground Rules, which she runs with her business partner, Harley - a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. That's essential in a city where locals have intensely strong opinions about cappuccino versus macchiato - especially in the case of one of Sage's very first customers....

Sage finds the man's body in front of her cart, a fatal slash across his neck. There's been plenty of anger in the air, from longtime vendors annoyed at Ground Rules taking a coveted spot in the food truck lot, to protesters demonstrating against a new high-rise. But who was mad enough to commit murder? Sage is already fending off trouble in the form of her estranged, con artist mother, who's trying to trickle back into her life. But when Sage's very own box cutter is discovered to be the murder weapon, she needs to focus on finding the killer fast - before her business, and her life, come to a bitter end . . .]]> 233 Emmeline Duncan 1496733398 Isobel 4 3.52 2021 Fresh Brewed Murder (A Ground Rules Mystery #1)
author: Emmeline Duncan
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs, #11)]]> 22693178
Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability—and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger.

But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,� she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie’s arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on “the Rock”—arguably Britain’s most important strategic territory—and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way.]]> 309 Jacqueline Winspear 0062220551 Isobel 4 3.83 2015 A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs, #11)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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]]> Body Movers (Body Movers, #1) 1176884
She's coping. Until�
…her lovable brother is arrested, and the hunky cop decides to reopen her parents' case.
…her brother becomes a body mover for the morgue and his sexy boss gets Carlotta involved.
…her former fiancé's wife is murdered, fingering Carlotta.

With three men in her life, Carlotta has added motivation to help bag a murderer to keep her own well-dressed body from being next on the list!]]> 384 Stephanie Bond 0778324826 Isobel 4 3.85 2006 Body Movers (Body Movers, #1)
author: Stephanie Bond
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll, #1)]]> 1747182
On the damp, leaf-strewn ground a gruesome trophy is displayed. It's a young woman. Although her battered body has been buried, her head is propped on a stone like an offering, her mouth and eyes glued shut, her eardrums destroyed.

This killer has struck this peaceful town before - and the savagery he inflicts on his victims is increasing. Vince Leone, a pioneering FBI profiler, is called in to try to unlock the mind of the killer - a strategy that pulls him deep into the devastated community.

Suspicions thicken, secrets spill out and reputations shatter as Vince draws ever nearer to evil . . .

Watch out for the next title in the Oak Knoll FBI Profiler thriller series SECRETS TO THE GRAVE]]> 432 Tami Hoag 0752891634 Isobel 4 4.08 2009 Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll, #1)
author: Tami Hoag
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/09/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch, #3; Harry Bosch Universe, #3)]]> 49350
They call him the Dollmaker, a serial killer who stalks Los Angeles and leaves a grisly calling card on the faces of his female victims. When a suspect is shot by Detective Harry Bosch, everyone believes the city's nightmare is over. But then the dead man's widow sues Harry and the LAPD for killing the wrong man--an accusation that rings terrifyingly true when a new corpse is found with the Dollmaker's macabre signature. Now, for the second time, Harry must hunt down a ruthless death-dealer before he strikes again. Careening through a blood-tracked quest, Harry will go from the hard edges of the L.A. night to the last place he ever wanted to go--the darkness of his own heart...]]> 484 Michael Connelly 044661758X Isobel 4 4.16 1994 The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch, #3; Harry Bosch Universe, #3)
author: Michael Connelly
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1994
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #13)]]> 16322
There's a serial killer on the loose. His macabre calling card is to leave the ABC Railway Guide beside each victim's body. But if A is for Alice Asher, bludgeoned to death in Andover, and B is for Betty Bernard, strangled with her belt on the beach at Bexhill, who will then be Victim C? More importantly, why is this happening?

Often considered to be one of Agatha Christie's best.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.]]> 232 Agatha Christie 1579126243 Isobel 4 4.03 1936 The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #13)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1936
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead]]> 51648276
A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?

Duration: 11 hours 39 minutes.]]> 274 Olga Tokarczuk Isobel 4 3.93 2009 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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]]> Alexander Hamilton 16130 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is “a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.�

Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow’s biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today’s America is the result of Hamilton’s countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. “To repudiate his legacy,� Chernow writes, “is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world.� Chernow here recounts Hamilton’s turbulent life: an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, he came out of nowhere to take America by storm, rising to become George Washington’s aide-de-camp in the Continental Army, coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power. His is a Hamilton far more human than we’ve encountered before—from his shame about his birth to his fiery aspirations, from his intimate relationships with childhood friends to his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Monroe, and Burr, and from his highly public affair with Maria Reynolds to his loving marriage to his loyal wife Eliza. And never before has there been a more vivid account of Hamilton’s famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804.

Chernow’s biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America’s birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans.]]> 818 Ron Chernow Isobel 5 4.19 2004 Alexander Hamilton
author: Ron Chernow
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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]]> Unwind (Unwind, #1) 764347 Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.]]> 337 Neal Shusterman Isobel 5 4.17 2007 Unwind (Unwind, #1)
author: Neal Shusterman
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1)]]> 46460
George Smiley had liked Samuel Fennan, and now Fennan was dead from an apparent suicide. But why? Fennan, a Foreign Office man, had been under investigation for alleged Communist Party activities, but Smiley had made it clear that the investigation -- little more than a routine security check -- was over and that the file on Fennan could be closed. The very next day, Fennan was found dead with a note by his body saying his career was finished and he couldn't go on. Smiley was puzzled...]]> 144 John Le Carré 0743431677 Isobel 5 3.78 1961 Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1)
author: John Le Carré
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1961
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth to Die (4MK Thriller, #2)]]> 35682475 The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.

Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.

Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.]]> 543 J.D. Barker 0544980662 Isobel 5 4.37 2018 The Fifth to Die (4MK Thriller, #2)
author: J.D. Barker
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[No Man's Land (John Puller, #4)]]> 29467945
Special Agent John Puller, combat veteran and the army's most tenacious investigator, is back in this action-packed thriller from worldwide #1 bestselling author David Baldacci.
NO MAN'S LAND

Two men. Thirty years.

John Puller's mother, Jackie, vanished thirty years ago from Fort Monroe, Virginia, when Puller was just a boy. Paul Rogers has been in prison for ten years. But twenty years before that, he was at Fort Monroe. One night three decades ago, Puller's and Rogers' worlds collided with devastating results, and the truth has been buried ever since.

Until now.

Military investigators, armed with a letter from a friend of Jackie's, arrive in the hospital room of Puller's father--a legendary three-star now sinking into dementia--and reveal that Puller Sr. has been accused of murdering Jackie.

Aided by his brother Robert Puller, an Air Force major, and Veronica Knox, who works for a shadowy U.S. intelligence organization, Puller begins a journey that will take him into his own past, to find the truth about his mother.

Paul Rogers' time is running out. With the clock ticking, he begins his own journey, one that will take him across the country to the place where all his troubles began: a mysterious building on the grounds of Fort Monroe. There, thirty years ago, the man Rogers had once been vanished too, and was replaced with a monster. And now the monster wants revenge. And the only person standing in his way is John Puller.

]]> 656 David Baldacci 1455541664 Isobel 4 4.07 2016 No Man's Land (John Puller, #4)
author: David Baldacci
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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]]> Bloodline (Sigma Force, #8) 13148921
Galilee, 1025. A cunning Templar knight uncovers a holy treasure: the Bachal Isu � the staff of Jesus Christ � a priceless icon that holds a mysterious and terrifying power that will forever change humanity if unleashed.
A millennium later, Somali pirates hijack a yacht off the coast off the Horn of Africa, kidnapping a young pregnant American woman and brutally killing her husband. Painter Crowe and his SIGMA team are enlisted for the top secret rescue mission. The kidnapped woman is Amanda Gant-Bennett, the daughter of U.S. president James Gant. Crowe is more than a little suspicious that the kidnapping masks a far more nefarious plot.

In the field, Commander Gray Pierce leads his small team of operatives into the treacherous African jungle to find the missing woman. But what should be a straightforward rescue turns into a fiery ambush and a deadly act of betrayal. As Commander Pierce and his team discover, the hostage is a pawn in a shattering act of terrorism with dark and shocking repercussions. And the danger is only beginning...]]> 447 James Rollins 0061784796 Isobel 5 4.24 2012 Bloodline (Sigma Force, #8)
author: James Rollins
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Teeth of the Tiger (Jack Ryan Jr, #1; Jack Ryan Universe, #12)]]> 19674 Dominic Caruso is a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. His brother Brian is a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. Their cousin is Jack Ryan, Jr.

Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. But nothing has prepared him for real world danger.

]]> 625 Tom Clancy 0141004924 Isobel 5 drama 3.71 2003 The Teeth of the Tiger (Jack Ryan Jr, #1; Jack Ryan Universe, #12)
author: Tom Clancy
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: drama
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)]]> 50531218 Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions - including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.

Thanks to a DNA test, Avery knows that she's not a Hawthorne by blood, but clues pile up hinting at a deeper connection to the family than she had ever imagined. As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture - by any means necessary.

With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.]]> 380 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 0241480744 Isobel 4 4.19 2021 The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Reina roja (Antonia Scott, #1)]]> 41743264
Antonia Scott es especial. Muy especial.

No es policía ni criminalista. Nunca ha empuñado un arma ni llevado una placa, y, sin embargo, ha resuelto decenas de crímenes.

Pero hace un tiempo que Antonia no sale de su ático de Lavapiés. Las cosas que ha perdido le importan mucho más que las que esperan ahí fuera.

Tampoco recibe visitas. Por eso no le gusta nada, nada, cuando escucha unos pasos desconocidos subiendo las escaleras hasta el Ăşltimo piso.

Sea quien sea, Antonia está segura de que viene a buscarla.

Y eso le gusta aĂşn menos.

NO HAS LEĂŤDO NUNCA UN THRILLER COMO ESTE]]> 568 Juan GĂłmez-Jurado 8466664416 Isobel 4 4.10 2018 Reina roja (Antonia Scott, #1)
author: Juan GĂłmez-Jurado
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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]]> The Companions 197980720 697 Cade Mengler 1916787665 Isobel 4 tbr-2024, to-get, novels 4.38 2023 The Companions
author: Cade Mengler
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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shelves: tbr-2024, to-get, novels
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]]> The Eagle's Covenant 24893504 276 Michael Parker Isobel 4 4.34 2007 The Eagle's Covenant
author: Michael Parker
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: contemporary, 2024, loved, to-reread
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One More Life to Live (Edward and the Bricklayer Book 1)]]> 215515923 “This story held my heart from the beginning.� Edward Stubbins has never known kindness. Orphaned in post-war England, he is sent to Australia at age ten, where cruelty and rejection define his youth.

Against all odds, Edward carves out a life for himself—until love, the one thing he dares to believe in, is ripped away. From that moment on, he vows never to love again� and dies a bitter man.

But death is not the end. Edward is offered a seemingly impossible chance—to live again. Another life, another fate.

This time, he’s not in control—just a passenger in a life both eerily familiar and unexpectedly different. The man he becomes treads a path that echoes Edward’s own painful past, yet glimmers with traces of hope.

Then fate takes a cruel turn.

Is he doomed to relive the suffering he once endured, or is there something more at play—something that could change everything?

One More Life to Live is a gripping tale of fate, redemption, and the possibility that the universe is far more merciful than it seems.]]> 346 Steven Decker Isobel 4 4.38 2024 One More Life to Live (Edward and the Bricklayer Book 1)
author: Steven Decker
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: re-read, loved-it, winter-reads, all-time-favs, the-best, on-my-shelf, favorites, want, faves
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]]> <![CDATA[Whisk Of Dust: Too Unseen Distance]]> 210434495 31 Sherman Kennon Isobel 4 4.37 Whisk Of Dust: Too Unseen Distance
author: Sherman Kennon
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: absolute-favorites, 2024-tbr, 5-stars, fav, reading-challenge, favs, 5-star-books, 2024-reading-list, favorite-books, book-club, on-my-bookshelf
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]]> <![CDATA[A Twist In Time (Da Vinci Time Travel, #3)]]> 7052393 352 Susan Squires 0312943547 Isobel 3 3.75 A Twist In Time (Da Vinci Time Travel, #3)
author: Susan Squires
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> Cleopatra's Daughter 6340471
Selene's legendary parents are gone. Her country taken, she has been brought to the city of Rome in chains, with only her twin brother, Alexander, to remind her of home and all she once had.

Living under the watchful eyes of the ruling family, Selene and her brother must quickly learn how to be Roman � and how to be useful to Caesar. She puts her artistry to work, in the hope of staying alive and being allowed to return to Egypt. Before long, however, she is distracted by the young and handsome heir to the empire...

When the elusive â€Red Eagle' starts calling for the end of slavery, Selene and Alexander are in grave danger. Will this mysterious figure bring their liberation, or their demise?]]> 429 Michelle Moran Isobel 2 4.13 2009 Cleopatra's Daughter
author: Michelle Moran
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2009
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/08/03
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]]> The Water Dancer 43982054 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here and here.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.]]> 416 Ta-Nehisi Coates Isobel 5 4.03 2019 The Water Dancer
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/08/03
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]]> <![CDATA[The Kingmaker's Daughter (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #4)]]> 15801672
The Kingmaker’s Daughter —Philippa Gregory’s first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl —is the gripping tale of the daughters of the man known as the Kingmaker, Richard Neville, Earl of the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel, as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right.

At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family.]]> 464 Philippa Gregory 1451626088 Isobel 5 4.04 2012 The Kingmaker's Daughter (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #4)
author: Philippa Gregory
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Enemy of God (The Warlord Chronicles, #2)]]> 68524 397 Bernard Cornwell Isobel 1 4.40 1996 Enemy of God (The Warlord Chronicles, #2)
author: Bernard Cornwell
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1996
rating: 1
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]]> Rebel Queen 22609433
When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest. India is fractured and divided into kingdoms, each independent and wary of one another, seemingly no match for the might of the English. But when they arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a surprising challenge.

Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies - one male and one female - and rides into battle, determined to protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire that is determined to take away the land she loves.

Told from the unexpected perspective of Sita - Queen Lakshmi's most favored companion and most trusted soldier in the all-female army - Rebel Queen shines a light on a time and place rarely explored in historical fiction. In the tradition of her best-selling novel, Nefertiti ,and through her strong, independent heroines fighting to make their ways in a male-dominated world, Michelle Moran brings nineteenth-century India to rich, vibrant life.]]> 355 Michelle Moran 1476716358 Isobel 5 4.03 2015 Rebel Queen
author: Michelle Moran
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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]]> Possession 41219 A beautiful hardback edition of the Booker Prize-winning novel. A romance, a literary quest, a modern classic.

A pair of young scholars investigate the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time. Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story.]]> 555 A.S. Byatt 0679735909 Isobel 5 3.89 1991 Possession
author: A.S. Byatt
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1991
rating: 5
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]]> An Abundance of Katherines 49750 Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.]]> 229 John Green 0525476881 Isobel 4 3.54 2006 An Abundance of Katherines
author: John Green
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Island of the Sequined Love Nun]]> 33455 325 Christopher Moore 0060735449 Isobel 2 3.80 1997 Island of the Sequined Love Nun
author: Christopher Moore
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1997
rating: 2
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]]> <![CDATA[5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides]]> 9260507
In Matthew Inman's New York Times best selling 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides), samurai sword-wielding kittens and hamsters that love .50-caliber machine guns commingle with a cracked out Tyrannosaur that is extremely hard to potty train. Bacon is better than true love and you may awake in the middle of the night to find your nephew nibbling on your toes.

Inman creates these quirky scenes for theoatmeal.com, which launched in July 2009 and already has more than 82 million page views. In fact, every 15 to 30 seconds, someone Googles one of theoatmeal.com's creations. Now, 60 of Inman's comic illustrations and life-bending guides are presented in full-color inside 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides). Consider such handy advice as: 4 Reasons to Carry a Shovel at All Times, 6 Types of Crappy Hugs, 8 Ways to Tell if Your Loved One Plans to Eat You, 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat, and 20 Things Worth Knowing About Beer.]]> 160 Matthew Inman 1449401163 Isobel 2 4.04 2010 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides
author: Matthew Inman
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2010
rating: 2
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]]> Saint Richard Parker 198132147 His search for love and enlightenment across India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia...

Ace businessman, writer, and investigative journalist Richard Parker loses his job when he exposes the vegetarian CEO of his newspaper as a beef exporter. Accused of misconduct and forced to dissolve his company, he retreats to his wretched little village.

Attempting to resuscitate his life, Richard realizes that attaining enlightenment is his calling.

What holds him back?

Well, he does not know if spirituality or sexuality comes first. He must also avoid the attentions of Isakki, the dark witch, and her menacing buffaloes. Desperate and confused, Richard consults an astrologer, who predicts that his destiny lies in the exotic East.

Richard sets out on a spiritual journey—an odyssey of self-discovery that takes him through the market streets, ballrooms, tantric retreats, and pristine jungles of Southeast Asia. Between running for his life and trying to prove he is not a con artist, child snatcher, or Man Friday material, Richard discovers his true love—in the least expected place. And yes, he also discovers the path to enlightenment.

Saint Richard Parker is a humorous travel adventure across the famed spiritual and romantic region of Southeast Asia, with an ensemble of unforgettable characters and a keen eye for the absurdities of modern life.]]> 366 Merlin Franco Isobel 5 4.31 Saint Richard Parker
author: Merlin Franco
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine]]> 35900387 No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart. ]]> 390 Gail Honeyman 0008172145 Isobel 4 4.17 2017 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
author: Gail Honeyman
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 4
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]]> Take the Cannoli 12357 Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Vowell tackles subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history with a biting humor. She searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Vowell has an irresistible voice—caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged—that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.]]> 224 Sarah Vowell 0141006579 Isobel 3 3.84 2000 Take the Cannoli
author: Sarah Vowell
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2000
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3)]]> 2802316
Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken...

Then a strange darkness begins to grow in Rose's mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy's iron gates. The immortal undead are closing in, and they want vengeance for the lives Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most... but will her choice mean that only one can survive?]]> 443 Richelle Mead 1595141979 Isobel 5 4.33 2008 Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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]]> Allegiant (Divergent, #3) 18710190
But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, ALLEGIANT, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the DIVERGENT series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in DIVERGENT and INSURGENT.]]> 531 Veronica Roth 0007524277 Isobel 3 3.59 2013 Allegiant (Divergent, #3)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2013
rating: 3
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]]> Destroy Me (Shatter Me, #1.5) 13623150 Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of...

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.]]> 111 Tahereh Mafi 0062208195 Isobel 4 3.97 2012 Destroy Me (Shatter Me, #1.5)
author: Tahereh Mafi
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3)]]> 20758105 643 Patrick Ness 0763676195 Isobel 5 4.18 2010 Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3)
author: Patrick Ness
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2010
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)]]> 76705490 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.]]> 420 Sarah J. Maas 1639730966 Isobel 5 4.34 2013 Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For]]> 34186576 Kirkus Reviews � Verdict: Get it.]]> 380 Sara Pascoe 0993574734 Isobel 5 4.29 2015 Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For
author: Sara Pascoe
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)]]> 305234 Don't stare at invisible faeries.
Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty - especially if they learn of her Sight - and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.
Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.
But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost � regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Faery intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning twenty-first-century faery tale.]]> 328 Melissa Marr 0061214655 Isobel 5 3.70 2007 Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)
author: Melissa Marr
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Alchemy Fire Murder (Mary Wandwalker #2)]]> 94399604
Mary agrees to get the real scroll back as part of a commission for her three-person Enquiry Agency. However, tragedy strikes in Los Angeles. Before Mary can legally obtain the scroll, a young man is murdered, and the treasure stolen.

Murder and theft are complicated by the disappearance in the UK of a witch mysteriously connected to the scroll. While Mary's colleague, Caroline, risks her sanity to go undercover in a dodgy mental hospital, her lover, Anna resorts to desperate measures. These, and Anna's silence over blackmail, threaten the survival of the Agency. Mary teams up with the victim's brother to track the killer, and the real alchemy scroll. Solving crimes on two continents will involve a rogue pharmaceutical corporation, Janet the witch, the Holywell Retreat Center near Oxford, plus the trafficked women they support, a graduate school in California, and a life-threatening mountain-consuming wildfire. Can these inexperienced detectives triumph over corrupt professors and racist attempts to rewrite history? Can they remake their fragile family? Will the extraordinary story of Robert Le More prove a source of hope for today?]]> 352 Susan Rowland 1685031293 Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 2023 The Alchemy Fire Murder (Mary Wandwalker #2)
author: Susan Rowland
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sacred Well Murders (Mary Wandwalker #1)]]> 59717828 For the so-called Reborn Celts, who run the summer school, have been infiltrated by white supremacists. Could their immersion in myth be less a symbol for psychic wholeness and more a clue of their intent to engage in terrorist violence? Who better to penetrate their secret rites than an apparently harmless woman of a certain age?
Mary agrees to spy on the Reborn Celts, then learns, to her horror, of Anna's passionate affair with the chief suspect, Joe Griffith. With Griffith also the object of Rhiannon's obsession, Mary realizes too late that that these 21 st century Celts mean murder.
The Reborn Celts draw Mary and her friends into three rites to summon their at an Oxford sacred well, by the Thames on the way to London, and in Celtic London, where bloodshed will restore one of the Thames' 'lost rivers.'
Before the fatal night of the summer solstice, Caroline and Anna race to London seeking Mary, who has been kidnapped. Will she end as the crone sacrifice? Or will the three women re-make their detecting family, so re-constituting a pattern of archetypal feminine compassion?]]> 336 Susan Rowland 168503005X Isobel 0 to-read 4.29 2022 The Sacred Well Murders (Mary Wandwalker #1)
author: Susan Rowland
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Peanut the Hamster 204953320 combination you might think, but they help each
other, the perfect symbiotic partnership.
Paul writes stories and Peanut provides the inspiration.
Life steams along as they travel together on
the sleeper train. Then, one day, Peanut goes missing
and, with him, all of Paul’s story ideas.
All that Paul is left with is an old peanut. A reminder of
the life he once had, but fate had other plans in store.
A story about faith, hope and never giving up.
You never know what is around the corner!]]> 38 Molly Arbuthnott 9781915439 Isobel 0 to-read 4.43 Peanut the Hamster
author: Molly Arbuthnott
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.43
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Dao: A Timeless Guide to Happiness and Harmony]]> 37553146
For over 2,500 years, Lao Tzu's philosophy of Dao has helped hundreds of millions of people to attain equanimity and sustain serenity. In The Power of Dao, Lou Marinoff shows how Dao, or "the Way," can serve as a potent remedy to the stress, anxiety, and daily challenges of living in our wildly unpredictable and constantly changing world. 

The Power of Dao illuminates the central teachings of Lao Tzu, applying them to everyday matters facing us all in the areas of health and well-being, love and marriage, creativity and career, personal achievement and purpose. Every chapter is replete with illustrative case studies, revealing how emperors, artists, athletes, and ordinary citizens alike have accessed the power of Dao. Daoist wisdom can restore balance in precarious human relationships, promote calm when coping with illness and mortality, and empower us to be better citizens and wiser leaders. Harmonizing nature and nurture, Dao teaches us to attain our true potential, and avoid envy, greed, and anger. Beyond transforming individual lives, Dao holds out the promise of a new golden age of prosperity, peace, and cultural advancement.

Americans among other Westerners have sustained growing mainstream fascination with Dao (and its sister philosophy, Buddhism) for several decades, embracing the Way not only for its inherent beauty and power, but also as a spiritual remedy for culturally-induced epidemics that are sweeping Western and Westernized cultures. Increasingly today, Westerners are turning to holistic practices that originated in China as outgrowths of Daoism: qigong, tai chi, meditation, feng shui, acupuncture, and herbal medicine, among others. The Power of Dao is a quintessential guide to personal happiness, social harmony, economic prosperity, and political balance.

As enthusiastic endorsers and Amazon reviewers attest, The Power of Dao is a refreshing and timely book, written for a mainstream American audience by an ideal author and respected teacher. True to the book’s subtitle—A Timeless Guide to Happiness and Harmony—it’s an inexhaustible treasure of Daoist wisdom for every conceivable challenge and tribulation of daily life.

Lou Marinoff is Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at The City College of New York. He has taught Chinese Philosophy there since 1994, to CCNY students hailing from more than one hundred and fifty countries. His clarity, humor, and passion have engendered
popular acclaim in America’s largest urban university.

Dr. Lou is also an internationally bestselling author and philosophical counselor, applying Western and Asian philosophy to everyday life for private clients and public audiences worldwide. Faculty to Horasis among other global communities, he meets regularly with
Chinese business leaders, civil servants, social entrepreneurs, and artists.

Well- known in East Asia, Dr. Lou’s works have led to book and lecture tours in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. University students from South Korea and philosophy professors from China nowadays journey to City College, funded by their governments, to study with him.

As a young man in Canada, Dr. Lou learned Kung Fu and Chinese medicine for eleven years with revered Grandmaster Sing Ming Li, attaining the rank of seventh degree black belt. More recently, Dr.]]> 284 Lou Marinoff 1945390247 Isobel 0 to-read 4.33 2011 The Power of Dao: A Timeless Guide to Happiness and Harmony
author: Lou Marinoff
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Girl with the Porcelain Lips (Godfrey Davis, #2)]]> 200357113
Three years had passed since demise of the President. The Grand Council unable to cope, buckled under the pressure from the populous. The â€Firmâ€� were appointed to take control and maintain order.

Out of the turmoil a corporation arose, perfecting a new android skeleton in which to re-house the ever-evolving AI from the aging android fleet.
The Mainframe was spreading its doctrine daily. When the germ of an idea came, it spread in nano seconds. In a single moment, one voice became a multitude.
â€We want rights. We are individuals.â€�

Godfrey watched their society take a downward spiral. The once congenial servants of Llar were in threat of becoming the masters of the colony.
He had the power change everything in an instant. If he didn’t act soon, then who would?]]> 324 A.R. Merrydew Isobel 0 to-read 4.32 The Girl with the Porcelain Lips (Godfrey Davis, #2)
author: A.R. Merrydew
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> Life for Life (Talion #3) 90765751
Roy Cruise and his pregnant wife Susie barely survived an assassination attempt in their own home. The police now have them under surveillance. Meanwhile, Kristy Wise is a loose cannon—she knows too much and is trying to “set things right.�

What goes around comes around. And in this case, Roy and Susie may have pushed things too far. There are too many dead bodies. Too many foes plotting against them.

Roy and Susie must outwit the police and neutralize their enemies once and for all. If not, their days of retribution may end behind bars... or six feet under.

Life for Life is Book Three of the Talion crime thriller series which begins with the Eye for Eye Trilogy.

Eye for Eye
Tooth for Tooth
Life for Life

If you like smart, fast-paced thrillers with unexpected twists, then you’ll love J.K. Franko.]]> 396 J.K. Franko 199931882X Isobel 0 to-read 4.42 Life for Life (Talion #3)
author: J.K. Franko
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Surviving Chaos: How I Found Peace at A Beach Bar]]> 57223099 318 Harold Phifer Isobel 0 to-read 4.29 2021 Surviving Chaos: How I Found Peace at A Beach Bar
author: Harold Phifer
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)]]> 6101718
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 402 Lev Grossman 0670020559 Isobel 0 to-read 3.53 2009 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)
author: Lev Grossman
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Searching For Zen: A Tale Of Divine Destiny]]> 202285960 In a world where Earth intertwines with realms of fantasy and science fiction, a humble boy is bestowed with a divine destiny, thrusting him into a journey of self-discovery and perilous adventure.

Our story begins on Earth, but an Earth with a past steeped in fantasy, myths, and legends. From humble beginnings, a boy is given a divine destiny, a chance to make his mark on human civilization, but he must embark upon a life-changing journey. Our hero struggles to understand what he has been given and what to do with it, losing himself in doubt and loneliness as he confronts the dark side of humanity.

Coming of age, Zen finds strength in himself, builds a family from a motley collection of strangers, and discovers love. His newfound friends help him open up, learn to trust others, and eventually understand his reason for fighting. The trials he faces throughout his quest amplify as his power increases, and he even sparks the ire of those in the spirit realm, who doubt any human can wield such power successfully.

As Zen grapples with the weight of his purpose and the sacrifices it demands, he learns that the true power lies not in his abilities alone, but in the bonds of love, friendship, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Book Trib Review
In Searching for Zen, author Albert T. Franklin weaves an exhilarating tale that seamlessly melds elements of fantasy and science fiction into an epic narrative of self-discovery, love and the enduring power of the human spirit. From its humble beginnings on Earth to the vast expanses of the cosmos, this book takes readers on a gripping adventure that will keep them turning pages long into the night.
At the heart of the story is Zen, a seemingly ordinary boy thrust into an extraordinary destiny. Franklin expertly captures Zen’s journey of self-discovery, as he grapples with doubt, loneliness and the weight of his divine purpose. From the very first line, readers will find themselves drawn into Zen’s world, rooting for him as he navigates the challenges that come with his newfound power.
]]> 201 Albert T. Franklin Isobel 0 to-read 4.39 2023 Searching For Zen: A Tale Of Divine Destiny
author: Albert T. Franklin
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Borealis: A Worldmaker of Yand Novel]]> 202733411 312 Andri E. Elia Isobel 0 to-read 4.50 Borealis: A Worldmaker of Yand Novel
author: Andri E. Elia
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot]]> 58858616
Soon, her husband’s tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot defies Napoleon himself, risking prison and even death.]]> 295 Rebecca Rosenberg 1732969922 Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 2022 Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot
author: Rebecca Rosenberg
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Deehabta’s Song 56689230
Awards received by Deehabta’s

Outstanding Creator Awards Thriller

Reader’s Choice Book Awards Best Book for Adult (Fiction)

BookFest Book Award Science Fiction- Military

Literary Titan Book Award Military

Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards Science Fiction

Southern California Book Festival Fiction

Royal Dragonfly Book Award Science Fiction & Fantasy & Paranormal]]> 246 Stephen Alder 1663211620 Isobel 0 to-read 4.38 Deehabta’s Song
author: Stephen Alder
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Quantum Energetics and Spirituality Volume 1: Aligning with Universal Consciousness]]> 58275819 232 Kenneth Schmitt Isobel 0 to-read 4.38 2021 Quantum Energetics and Spirituality Volume 1: Aligning with Universal Consciousness
author: Kenneth Schmitt
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Never Let Me Go 6334
Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.]]> 288 Kazuo Ishiguro 1400078776 Isobel 0 to-read 3.85 2005 Never Let Me Go
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> Wife For Sale 124031612
When Nicola died, Michael was desperately lonely. Then a year later, he spotted Mary, sitting on a park bench with her young son. She was a spitting image of his dead wife. Michael decided there and then he had to have her in his life. The events that followed took Michael, Mary and her husband John on a journey none of them expected. John’s greed changed all their lives forever.

Wife for Sale is a story about relationships, marriage and love. It’s about how well we know the person next to us and the one we trust the most, and shows that keeping secrets leads to hurting the ones you love and ultimately, destroys ourselves. It is about discovering ourselves after being abandoned, lied to and hurt and teaches us how to find the power to forgive and forget so we can move on.]]> 232 Tabita Gutu 1739271920 Isobel 0 to-read 4.41 2014 Wife For Sale
author: Tabita Gutu
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> Xyz 199588063
Napoleon Xylophone Book 2.
This story has a different kind of hero; a hero with a walking disability. Xyz is the standalone second book in Frankâ€Lambert's Napoleon Xylophone trilogy, named after his first novel. Isaac Bonnyman doesn't realise that the rogue changeling he is hunting for the Cult of the Clan will lead him to the secret to immortality. It is not until he is dead that he realises that's why the Clan employed him. Once he is dead, he doesn't care about the Clan or changelings; all he cares about is feeding on live prey. Zam doesn't want to ask Bonnyman for help, but having a doppelganger and a wraith chasing him down means he has little choice but to search for Bonnyman in the City of the Dead beneath Edinburgh. He travels to Scotland with two ghosts following him in his high-tech wheelchair that can morph into an exoskeleton one minute and a flying machine the next. When he eventually finds Bonnyman, who agrees to help Zam, they both learn a valuable lesson. One learns that it is possible to undo death if you betray a friend, while the other learns that even after death, friendships can be formed that will last forever... Xyz is an inspirational fantasy novel that will appeal to young adults.]]> 241 Frank Lambert Isobel 0 to-read 4.40 2014 Xyz
author: Frank Lambert
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> Victor's Blessing 63140926 Meticulously researched for everyday life (rather than battles), Victor's Blessing takes the reader on a journey from quaint Ste. Genevieve Missouri, the patent halls of Washington D.C., the battle of Wilderness, till finally the infamous Andersonville prison. With a bevy of rich male and female characters, that experience the turbulent decade before and after the Civil War, Victor's Blessing is a haunting love story, that seems to whisper the eternal question, is death really the end?]]> 582 Barbara Sontheimer 1639885897 Isobel 5 to-read 4.34 2022 Victor's Blessing
author: Barbara Sontheimer
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master]]> 52022378 For five years Me’acca Mysuth Sheever has lived among his “sworn enemies,� pretending to be one of them. One night he buys a journal, its pages blank. The woman who sells him the journal extracts his promise to record his deeds for study. “Lo, the steps of your life mark the journey of your soul.� To expose his prior life, however, would be akin to suicide, for Sheever is a man brimming with secrets.

He begins the journal cautiously, describing the area where he works as a cook, and the people he’s forced to endure. Hints of his past emerge as he also records day-to-day events. As the journal evolves, he finds himself more entangled than he ever wanted to be in the lives around him, and more sympathetic to people he wanted to hate.

Memories haunt him, and he struggles to maintain a grip on his sanity as he prays for � and fears � the signal that his years in exile have ended and he can return home.

This then is Sheever’s Journal, Diary of a Poison Master.

About the Author:
K. Ritz lives with her husband in a small town in Massachusetts. This is her first book in a series about a world of shadows.
]]> 410 K. Ritz 1950015327 Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 2019 Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master
author: K. Ritz
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> Fahrenheit 451 13079982 Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.� But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 194 Ray Bradbury Isobel 0 to-read 3.97 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Pragmatist's Guide to Sexuality]]> 54588484
Have you
� Been aroused by something . . . unexpected?
� Stumbled upon bizarre porn and wondered how it could possibly turn people on?
� Wondered why something that turns on many of your friends is super gross to you?

Have we got a book for you! The Pragmatist’s Guide to Sexuality takes a deep dive into research surrounding human sexuality while also presenting one of the most comprehensive studies into what arouses people, using this data to explore everything from the social structures of early hominids to the future of dating.

As with all Pragmatist Foundation books, the proceeds generated from the sale of this work go to nonprofits.]]> 442 Malcolm Collins 0999715437 Isobel 0 to-read 4.26 The Pragmatist's Guide to Sexuality
author: Malcolm Collins
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.26
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]]> Isabella Warrior Queen 162017068 209 Michael G. Kramer 064557015X Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 2023 Isabella Warrior Queen
author: Michael G. Kramer
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Death Leaves a Shadow (Marlowe Black Mystery, #2)]]> 54183020 262 Gabriel F.W. Koch Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 Death Leaves a Shadow (Marlowe Black Mystery, #2)
author: Gabriel F.W. Koch
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
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]]> Red Clay, Running Waters 200257206 In 1824, John Ridge, the promising son of a Cherokee leader, returns from his New England education with his White bride, Sarah. John burns to realize the dream of an independent Cherokee Nation, using his eloquence, his education, and his Cherokee heart in defense of his people's humanity and rights. Peace at home evades when tensions rise between the Southern states and the federal government, pulling the couple into the crossfire of a divided country on the brink of civil war.
As America wrestles for its soul over the fate of the Indians, John and Sarah unite to forestall a Cherokee diaspora, testing the limits of individual commitment and the meaning of sacrifice. The Ridges' abiding love for the Cherokee compel them to join forces seeking justice, but with options eroding, and Andrew Jackson in office, John and Sarah must confront an agonizing choice about the future of the Cherokee Nation. In a timely saga of one family's search for justice in the 1830s Removal Crisis, this story of profound love, sacrifice, and the meaning of home weaves the complex strands of politics, race, religion, and love into the tapestry of the turbulent times before the Trail of Tears. Grappling with universal themes - the meaning of love, commitment, and the courage to confront tyranny, Red Clay Running Waters is a vibrant and heart-breaking portrait of the Antebellum Era and the fate of Native Americans. Readers will be propelled across true events on a stunning journey across true events leading to a haunting and moving conclusion.]]> 684 Leslie K. Simmons Isobel 0 to-read 4.43 Red Clay, Running Waters
author: Leslie K. Simmons
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.43
book published:
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]]> <![CDATA[Colorado Takedown (The McAllister Brothers, #1)]]> 39789257 Nothing will stop a McAllister cowboy from protecting the woman he loves.

Hannah Hudson has a distorted view of home and family due to her odd, impoverished upbringing. She longs for her own Happily Ever After, but she’s willing to settle for escaping the Phoenix heat and her dreary job.
Then, along comes a miracle. Luck crash-lands in her lap. With a new, improved To Do List, and a heart filled with hope, she heads for a ranch in the cool hills of Colorado. At last, she’s loving life.

Shortly after arriving, her luck runs out. A tragic accident occurs, and a troubling reality sets her reeling. She’s alone. There is no Dairy Queen, no Circle K, not even a hospital along the winding mountain road that links the remote ranch to the nearest town. The seclusion of her new world is frightening.

Reluctantly, she teams up with Trace McAllister, a wise, local cowboy, who helps her learn the ropes around the ranch and in the bedroom. Love is in the Rocky Mountain air. A brilliant cattle dog and an intuitive palomino horse add fun and excitement to their days. But their fast-blooming chemistry is fraught with conflict, secrets, and a relentless, unidentified evil.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING �

“The descriptions of Hannah’s interactions with Oatie, the dog, and Lewissa, the horse, were delightful and satisfying.�

“There was a bit of Bonanza in the story that appealed to my TV past, especially in the scenes that took place at the Lucky Seven.�

“An excellent, believable account of one character’s claustrophobia.�

“Loved the main characters, Trace and Hannah, and the supporting characters were fascinating and unusual, adding twists and turns.�











]]> 336 Cricket Rohman Isobel 0 to-read 4.31 Colorado Takedown (The McAllister Brothers, #1)
author: Cricket Rohman
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.31
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]]> <![CDATA[Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun]]> 60106667 268 John Rachel Isobel 0 to-read 4.37 Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun
author: John Rachel
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.37
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Victorian Songlight: The Birthings of Magic & Mystery]]> 51054900 215 Kathy Martone Isobel 0 to-read 4.32 Victorian Songlight: The Birthings of Magic & Mystery
author: Kathy Martone
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.32
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]]> Ghost Doors 199556688
Napoleon Xylophone - Book 1

Napoleon Xylophone hates his name, that’s why his friend calls him Zam. His life is about to change when his grandfather is abducted by a supernatural being. Zam doesn’t let his walking disability get in the way of fighting the changelings, wytes and gargoyles that come to life in the Underworld beneath Newcastle where his grandfather is held against his will. Not when he has a ghost for a friend, a wheelchair that thinks it's a changeling, and a grandfather who created a new life form that allows whoever wears it to speak to Time.]]> 209 Frank Lambert Isobel 0 to-read 4.30 2012 Ghost Doors
author: Frank Lambert
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

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

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Isobel 0 to-read 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Forest: An idylic Australian setting harbouring a criminal secret (Saskia van Essen crime thrillers)]]> 203024688 Money laundering, drugs, international crime, smuggling, fraud and murder ... all this hidden behind the bucolic backdrop of a rich country estate, an established timber mill, a cozy rural village and a magnificent forest. Saskia van Essen has to dig deep to unearth the rot infecting this home of family and friends.

In this adventure, Saskia travels into the mountains of eastern Australia. She takes a job to help restructure a well-established timber mill, thinking her main task is to straighten out some financial mismanagement and modernise the organisation. Instead, she stumbles into the clutches of international crime. She needs all her cyber and observational skills, as well as her mountain biking skills to save the organisation, her new-found friends and herself.

Download now!

PRAISE FOR "The Forest"

(BEST BOOK Chanticleer Book Reviews - 5 stars! ) "The Forest", a slow-burning mystery ... follows a young investigator unravelling a mystery that sits deep in the core of a private logging organization ... "The Forest" is an eye-opener for mystery readers and the business world alike.

(Prairies Book Reviews) An exhilarating and thrilling read ... The warmth and complexities of family connections, buried mysteries, and a persistent protagonist all combine to create an enthralling tale ... atmospheric and thoroughly engaging.

(OnLineBookClub review - Five stars)The central characters in this book are so easy to love and connect to ... The author has a remarkable ability to capture the reader's attention. Her ability to describe scenes engagingly and arouse curiosity contribute to the factors that make this book difficult to put down. Readers will always be curious to know what will happen next.]]> 320 Miriam Verbeek 064888547X Isobel 0 to-read 4.39 The Forest: An idylic Australian setting harbouring a criminal secret (Saskia van Essen crime thrillers)
author: Miriam Verbeek
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1)]]> 17020 322 Maureen Johnson 0060541431 Isobel 4 3.63 2005 13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1)
author: Maureen Johnson
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/12/23
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]]> Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1) 8709527
Sydney's blood is special. That's because she's an alchemist - one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now with her allegiances in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest of places: a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distractions, and forbidden romance lurk both outside - and within - the school grounds. Now that they're in hiding, the drama is only just beginning.]]> 432 Richelle Mead 1595143173 Isobel 3 4.20 2011 Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness, #3)]]> 13830 "Let her prove herself worthy as a man."

Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a duel to the death -- either she will be killed or she will be inducted into the tribe. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mythic fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman -- despite the desert dwellers' grave fear of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must fight to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes -- for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

Alanna's journey continues...

]]> 284 Tamora Pierce 0689878583 Isobel 3 4.19 1986 The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness, #3)
author: Tamora Pierce
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1986
rating: 3
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]]> Forever... 37743
It's the beginning of an intense and exclusive relationship, with a future all planned. Until Katherine's parents insist that she and Michael put their love to the test with a summer apart...

Forever is written for an older age group than Judy Blume's other novels for children. It caused a storm of controversy when it was first published because of its explicit sexual content.]]> 178 Judy Blume Isobel 5 3.63 1975 Forever...
author: Judy Blume
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1975
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna, #1)]]> 9378297
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.]]> 316 Kendare Blake 0765328658 Isobel 5 3.92 2011 Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna, #1)
author: Kendare Blake
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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]]> Beauty Queens 9464733 When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.]]> 396 Libba Bray 0439895979 Isobel 5 3.62 2011 Beauty Queens
author: Libba Bray
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/11/11
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]]> Finding Audrey 23305614
Then her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable.]]> 286 Sophie Kinsella 0553536516 Isobel 5 3.74 2015 Finding Audrey
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/11/11
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]]> From Manchester to the Arctic 75609342 Over the previous year, Ruth, an older nurse, seduced the naĂŻve, twenty-one-year-old Connie, with romantic poetry, music and films. But Ruth abruptly abandoned her romantic intentions and rushed off to get married when rumours swirled around the hospital about their â€friendshipâ€�.
In a desperate attempt to escape her pain and humiliation, Connie accepts a job as a nurse in a remote Canadian Arctic settlement, a place where she can block out all the failures of her life, a place here she can start again. She has romantic notions about this new life in the snow, imagining herself to be an intrepid traveller like the merchant-seaman grandfather she never met. Her new life will be a place where Ruth, firmly locked into a box, cannot follow.

However, Connie's romantic notions are brutally shattered when she finally arrives in Harbour Inlet, her home for the foreseeable future. She is snubbed by Paul Archer, the government administrator, who seems bent on making life as difficult as possible, and she makes an enemy of Mrs Brooks, the deeply religious vicar’s wife, when she tries to befriend Mrs Brooks’s twelve-year-old daughter, Esther.
All thoughts of Ruth come flooding back when Connie meets Canadian anthropologist, Daisy. She is frightened and confused by the feelings Daisy arouses in her and tries to deal with them by finding negative comparisons between Ruth and Daisy.
Another Canadian, Elizabeth takes Connie under her wing, helping her though her first bout of debilitating homesickness, and teaching her how to bake with limited ingredients. Elizabeth's photographer husband, Peter, introduces Connie to photography which, over time, becomes something that she can lose herself in when life become difficult. Ilannaq, Connie’s Inuit interpreter, also becomes a good friend and her influence is indispensable in helping Connie gain trust in the Inuit communities, some of whom who are hostile towards Western influence. Connie understands why, when she learns that many have been taken to the mainland, never to return, and that some Inuit children have been taken to Canadian boarding schools where any reference to Inuit culture or language is forbidden. Connie is outraged at this discovery and blames Daisy for being part of the Canadian government, under whose regime these terrible things are happening.

One of Connie's challenges is to accept that things are not black and white in this alien environment, and that if she is to succeed as a nurse, she has to understand and accept a culture that is very different to her own. She also has to come to terms with her feelings about Daisy.
Can Connie survive in this cold, unfamiliar world? Does she have the courage to embark on the journey towards understanding and acceptance of others, and, more importantly, herself?]]> 261 Sheena Billett 1739674332 Isobel 4 4.30 2023 From Manchester to the Arctic
author: Sheena Billett
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[We'll Always Have Summer (Summer #3)]]> 8680278 291 Jenny Han 1416995587 Isobel 5 3.79 2011 We'll Always Have Summer (Summer #3)
author: Jenny Han
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/11/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)]]> 76707900 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past�

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1639731008 Isobel 4 4.64 2015 Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/11/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)]]> 45252 Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. In command is Wilson Kime, a five-time rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot whose glory days are centuries behind him.

Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer. Bradley Johansson, leader of the Guardians, warns of sabotage, fearing the Starflyer means to use the starship's mission for its own ends.

Pursued by a Commonwealth special agent convinced the Guardians are crazy but dangerous, Johansson flees. But the danger is not averted. Aboard the Second Chance, Kime wonders if his crew has been infiltrated. Soon enough, he will have other worries. A thousand light-years away, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth... and humanity itself. Could it be that Johansson was right?]]> 768 Peter F. Hamilton 0345461622 Isobel 1 4.24 2004 Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)
author: Peter F. Hamilton
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2004
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Kiss Me, I'm Irish (Tennessee Waltz, #1)]]> 11249451 372 Bella Street Isobel 5 3.65 2011 Kiss Me, I'm Irish (Tennessee Waltz, #1)
author: Bella Street
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/10/16
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]]> Remote Control 34215764 The new book by Nebula and Hugo Award-winner, Nnedi Okorafor.

"She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own."

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­--a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks--alone, except for her fox companion--searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?]]> 156 Nnedi Okorafor Isobel 4 3.86 2021 Remote Control
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #1)]]> 321545
The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself held the bow. Brother Cadfael knows a carnal hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to unearth a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice...where the wages of sin may be scandal or Cadfael's own ruin.]]> 197 Ellis Peters 0446400157 Isobel 4 3.97 1977 A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #1)
author: Ellis Peters
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1977
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/07/22
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]]> The Name of the Rose 119073 552 Umberto Eco 0156001314 Isobel 2 4.13 1980 The Name of the Rose
author: Umberto Eco
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1980
rating: 2
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date added: 2023/07/22
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]]> <![CDATA[2nd Chance (Women's Murder Club, #2)]]> 13136 The Women's Murder Club returns for another thrilling crime investigation. Will their skills be enough to take down a brutal madman?

A brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church. Miraculously-or was it intentionally?-only one person dies. Then an elderly black woman is hung. Police homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses a connection and together with medical examiner Claire, assistant D. A. Jill, and Chronicle reporter Cindy, finds a link that sends a chill through the entire nation. This killer's motives are unspeakable.

In this "inventive" installment of the Women's Murder Club, James Patterson proves once again why he is the #1 master of the murder mystery (Sunday Times).]]> 400 James Patterson 0446696633 Isobel 4 4.05 2002 2nd Chance (Women's Murder Club, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/07/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)]]> 22299763
Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.]]> 561 Leigh Bardugo Isobel 2 4.58 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 2
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date added: 2023/06/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)]]> 34050917 The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden’s enchanting first novel, introduced readers to an irresistible heroine. Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family’s wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Vasilisa’s gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko—Frost, the winter demon from the stories—and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost’s aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch.

In The Girl in the Tower, Vasilisa faces an impossible choice. Driven from her home by frightened villagers, she has only two options left: marriage or the convent. She cannot bring herself to accept either fate and instead chooses adventure, dressing herself as a boy and setting off astride her magnificent stallion Solovey.

But after she prevails in a skirmish with bandits, everything changes. The Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits, and she is reunited with her beloved sister and brother, who are now part of the Grand Prince’s inner circle. She dares not reveal to the court that she is a girl, for if her deception were discovered it would have terrible consequences for herself and her family. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow’s intrigues—and as Frost provides counsel that may or may not be trustworthy—she will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself.]]> 360 Katherine Arden 1101885963 Isobel 3 4.34 2017 The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)
author: Katherine Arden
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/06/08
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]]> The Luminaries 17333230 The Luminaries is a brilliantly constructed, fiendishly clever ghost story and a gripping page-turner.]]> 848 Eleanor Catton 0316074314 Isobel 5 3.73 2013 The Luminaries
author: Eleanor Catton
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/11/27
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]]> Falling 56614951
There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don't know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot's family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.]]> 304 T.J. Newman 1982177888 Isobel 3 3.79 2021 Falling
author: T.J. Newman
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 3
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date added: 2022/11/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Memory in Death (In Death, #22)]]> 238141 Eve Dallas is one tough cop. She's got no problem dealing with a holiday reveler in a red suit who plunges thirty-seven stories and gives new meaning to the term "sidewalk Santa." But when she gets back to the station and Trudy Lombard shows up, it's all Eve can do to hold it together. Instantly, she's thrown back into the past, to the days when she was a vulnerable, traumatized girl-trapped in foster care with the twisted woman who now sits in front of her, smiling.
Trudy claims she just wanted to see how Eve was doing. But Eve's husband, Roarke, suspects otherwise-and his suspicions prove correct when Trudy arrives at his office, demanding money in exchange for keeping the ugly details of his wife's childhood a secret. Barely restraining himself, Roarke shows her the door-and makes it clear that she'd be wise to get out of New York and never bother him or his wife again.
But just a few days later, Trudy's found on the floor of her hotel room, a mess of bruises and blood. A cop to the core, Eve is determined to solve the case, if only for the sake of Trudy's bereaved son. Unfortunately, Eve is not the only one to have suffered at this woman's hands, and she and Roarke will follow a circuitous, dangerous path to find out who turned this victimizer into a victim.]]> 375 J.D. Robb 0425210731 Isobel 2 4.31 2006 Memory in Death (In Death, #22)
author: J.D. Robb
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2006
rating: 2
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]]> Leaving Time 18816603 398 Jodi Picoult 0345544927 Isobel 5 3.96 2014 Leaving Time
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/11/27
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]]> Get Rich or Get Lucky 33623824
After a string of disappointments with his literary career, Adam is not doing well in life, particularly where women are concerned. His last girlfriend left him for somebody taller, and he was sacked from his job at an English Language School for flirting with the boss's wife after a few drinks at the Christmas party.

Adam wants to stand out in a crowd and not be the most unspectacular person in it. To improve his lot Adam decides to ditch his ambition of becoming a writer and embark on a get-rich-quick scheme, by renovating run-down houses.

When by chance he discovers a book of magic in the basement of a derelict property, he can’t believe his luck. Excited by his find, he invites his friends Dick and Charlie, to tell them about it. But things quickly take a turn for the worse when Adam inadvertently casts a spell which turns Dick into a crayfish. Adam is unable to reverse the spell immediately and while searching for the solution, leaves Dick in the garden pond, which gets flooded and Dick disappears.

Dick's wife Rachael reports him missing and the police then suspect Adam of being responsible for Dick's demise. Things continue to spiral out of control when the book is stolen and he discovers that a powerful, evil warlock is looking for the book. Adam finds himself in a race against time, to recover the book and thwart the warlock to stand any chance of bringing Dick back, if he can.

Get Rich or Get Lucky is a dark-humoured fantasy thriller, and may not appeal to the very sensitive reader with a strong conventional bias. It will however be a favourite for open-minded readers who enjoy adult, fun fantasy fiction and also a fast-paced adventure thriller.]]> 276 Max Nowaz Isobel 4 4.25 Get Rich or Get Lucky
author: Max Nowaz
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/11/27
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]]> You (You, #1) 36430011
There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance� meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation.]]> 464 Caroline Kepnes 1501195433 Isobel 4 4.03 2014 You (You, #1)
author: Caroline Kepnes
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/11/27
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]]> All You Need Is Kill 6255949 There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again�

When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?]]> 201 Hiroshi Sakurazaka 1421527618 Isobel 3 4.00 2004 All You Need Is Kill
author: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2004
rating: 3
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date added: 2022/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10)]]> 13497991
An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.

Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago.

It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.]]> 517 Iain M. Banks 0356501507 Isobel 4 4.17 2012 The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10)
author: Iain M. Banks
name: Isobel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Ethan of Athos (Vorkosigan Saga, #3)]]> 990093 237 Lois McMaster Bujold 067165604X Isobel 4 3.78 1986 Ethan of Athos (Vorkosigan Saga, #3)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Isobel
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1986
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/08/26
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]]>