en-US Sat, 19 Apr 2025 07:09:20 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 58340706
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.]]> 399 Rachel Gillig 0316312487 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.25 2022
author: Rachel Gillig
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> 26032825 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 0316310271 arfafafa 4
girlie ate and left no crumbs.]]> 4.01 2018
author: Holly Black
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:
"If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse."

girlie ate and left no crumbs.
]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

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

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins arfafafa 4 4.34 2008
author: Suzanne Collins
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/28
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]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

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

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X arfafafa 0 currently-reading 3.98 2023
author: Heather Fawcett
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 220223963 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder—now a hit Netflix series—returns with her first novel for adults: a twisty thriller about a young woman trying to solve her own murder.

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.]]> 400 Holly Jackson 059397705X arfafafa 0 to-read 4.37 2025
author: Holly Jackson
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> 207611566 There’s power in a book��

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master�� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.00 2025
author: Grady Hendrix
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.16 2018
author: R.F. Kuang
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 60718856 A new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after.

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game �� and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy.]]> 408 Stephanie Garber 1529380944 arfafafa 5 4.05 2021
author: Stephanie Garber
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
jacks dyeing his hair blue after getting rejected is so real.
]]> 59808071 Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can...]]> 416 Stephanie Garber 1250268427 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.49 2022
author: Stephanie Garber
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 51335759
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

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

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> 413 Holly Jackson 1405297751 arfafafa 4 4.26 2020
author: Holly Jackson
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/10/01
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]]> 56905097 The finale to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. By the end of this mystery series, you'll never think of good girls the same way again...

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle... and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears...]]> 500 Holly Jackson 0593379853 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.20 2021
author: Holly Jackson
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> 13597723
What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.]]> 308 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1423168232 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.22 2013
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 arfafafa 4 4.30 2019
author: Holly Jackson
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X arfafafa 4 4.57 1999
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
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]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls�� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins �� someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects�� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 4 4.42 1998
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
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]]> 121121 Librarian note: Two alternate covers for this edition can be found here and here.

Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter.]]> 309 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 4 4.50 1997
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves:
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]]> 43909380
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems…]]> 187 Kaiu Shirai 1974708888 arfafafa 4 4.41 2019
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/21
date added: 2024/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 42640891
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems…]]> 189 Kaiu Shirai 1974708381 arfafafa 5 favourite 4.52 2018
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: favourite
review:

]]> 42640900
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems��

The battle for survival at Goldy Pond continues as Emma and the other children face off against even more devilish foes. They’ll have to work together and execute the perfect plan, but will it be enough against the most powerful demon they’ve ever met?]]> 191 Kaiu Shirai 197470498X arfafafa 5 favourite 4.51 2018
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: favourite
review:

]]> 40639169
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems��

The search for the mysterious Minerva has led Emma to a secret room within Goldy Pond. Heeding Minerva’s clues, Emma and the other children have successfully escaped Grace Field House and survived the dangerous terrain of the outside world. But when Emma opens the door to the truth, will Minerva’s secrets be everything she’s been hoping for?]]> 191 Kaiu Shirai 1974704874 arfafafa 5 favourite 4.58 2018
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: favourite
review:
damn who knew William Minerva aka James Ratri would be such a hottie. Also, loving the new charecters who know how to kick some ass.
]]> 38926373
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems…]]> 189 Kaiu Shirai 1974702243 arfafafa 4 The manga is soooooo much better.]]> 4.37 2018
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves:
review:
wth is season 2? To me it doesn't exist.
The manga is soooooo much better.
]]> 40639142
Life at Grace Field House is good for Emma and her fellow orphans. While the daily studying and exams they have to take are tough, their loving caretaker provides them with delicious food and plenty of playtime. But perhaps not everything is as it seems...]]> 189 Kaiu Shirai 1974702294 arfafafa 4 4.53 2018
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 57028076
Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear--no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.]]> 464 Elizabeth Lim 1529356555 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.20 2021
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 arfafafa 5 favourite 4.56 2000
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/11
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: favourite
review:
words cannot describe how much I love this series, but tears can.
]]> 12000020
But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other—and the power of their friendship—can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.]]> 390 Benjamin Alire Sáenz 1442408928 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.29 2012
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41045102
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child - not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long - and among her island's guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.

So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss - the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man's world.]]> 337 Madeline Miller 1408890046 arfafafa 4 ]]> 4.16 2018
author: Madeline Miller
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves:
review:
the ending was unexpected. Throughout, the book explores themes of feminism and women's independence but ends with a supposed romantic partner which I don’t mind but it is weird when that romantic partner happens to be a stepbrother to your son.

]]> 30753651 'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel.]]> 352 Lisa Jewell 1501154591 arfafafa 2
Edit: this put me in a six month long book slump. ]]> 3.89 2016
author: Lisa Jewell
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/04
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves:
review:
so a man who doesn't know his own name confesses that he might have "killed" someone, your first instinct is to coax him then proceed to sleep with him after knowing him for two whole days.

Edit: this put me in a six month long book slump.
]]> 27877139
Now Annie wants Paul to write his greatest work �� just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an ax. And if they don't work, she can get really nasty.]]> 368 Stephen King 1501143107 arfafafa 4 4.20 1987
author: Stephen King
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves:
review:
Annie Wilkes is Miss Trunchbull, if she got a medical degree in another universe.
]]> 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller arfafafa 4 4.30 2011
author: Madeline Miller
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/26
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves:
review:
Patroclus is my roman empire .
]]> 55710822 In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door.

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar - and maybe snag him as a prom date - even befriend Wes Bennet.

The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love - and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.]]> 356 Lynn Painter 1534467629 arfafafa 4 Wes Bennet is THE standard. 4.28 2021
author: Lynn Painter
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves:
review:
Wes Bennet is THE standard.
]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 5 "After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.

For Severus Snape alone, I give this book five stars.]]> 4.61 2007
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves:
review:
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.

For Severus Snape alone, I give this book five stars.
]]> 146145975 “What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?��

In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue.

In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead.

And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before.

Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.

As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love—a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both.

An unpredictable roller coaster of a debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a genre-bending romantasy that challenges everything we think we know about true love.]]> 312 Justinian Huang 0778305236 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.48 2024
author: Justinian Huang
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56898248 Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.

As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.

In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.]]> 354 Alison Cochrun 1982170719 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.11 2021
author: Alison Cochrun
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6900
Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.]]> 210 Mitch Albom arfafafa 0 to-read 4.19 1997
author: Mitch Albom
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199743738 Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin...

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests�� healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule�� cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

THE FOUNDER * THE HUSBAND * THE MYSTERY GUEST * THE KITCHEN HELP

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at�� The Midnight Feast.]]> 354 Lucy Foley 0063003104 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.55 2024
author: Lucy Foley
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> 123206645 A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder �� from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient.

This is a tale of murder.

Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?

Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time �� it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.

We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse �� a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.

But who am I?

My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.]]> 298 Alex Michaelides 125075898X arfafafa 0 to-read 3.34 2024
author: Alex Michaelides
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 56238004 Six teens murdered. A suspect behind bars. A desperate father. In a case this shadowy, the truth is easy to hide.

Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Moore is an expert on killers. She’s spent a decade treating California’s most depraved predators and unlocking their motives—predators much like the notorious Bloody Heart serial killer, whose latest teenage victim escaped and then identified local high school teacher Randall Thompson as his captor. The case against Thompson as the Bloody Heart Killer is damning—and closed, as far as Gwen and the media are concerned. If not for one new development��

Defense attorney Robert Kavin is a still-traumatized father whose own son fell prey to the BH Killer. Convinced of Thompson’s innocence, he steps in to represent him. Now Robert wants Gwen to interview the accused, create a psych profile of the killer and his victims, and help clear his client’s name.

As Gwen and Robert grow closer and she dives deeper into the investigation, grave questions arise. So does Gwen’s suspicion that Robert is hiding something—and that he might not be the only one with a secret.

Six teenagers dead. Finally, the killer behind bars. But are the games just beginning?]]> 257 A.R. Torre 1542020174 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.12 2021
author: A.R. Torre
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57132570
You are her therapist.
Kristina is a successful therapist in central Oslo. She spends her days helping clients navigate their lives with a cool professionalism that has got her to the top.

She is your client.
When her client Leah begs her to come to her remote cabin in the woods, Kristina refuses. But then Leah disappears and Kristina feels her control beginning to slip.

So why does she know so much about you ?
Kristina reluctantly heads out into the wilderness to find Leah. Alone and isolated, surrounded by snow and trees, Kristina realizes she has made a huge mistake.]]> 320 Alex Dahl 1789544068 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.56 2021
author: Alex Dahl
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56754296 The people he hurt. The way he lied about it so easily. The way she defended him. Now he’s back.
He says a murderer is after her. He says only he can protect her. Would you trust him?
The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike…]]> 480 Jane Casey 0008477922 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.80 2021
author: Jane Casey
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62334530
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]> 390 Lisa Jewell 1982179007 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.08 2023
author: Lisa Jewell
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters�� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

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

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

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

They don’t know what I’m capable of��

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 arfafafa 3 4.31 2022
author: Freida McFadden
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/20
date added: 2023/10/20
shelves:
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]]> 53138099 Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moment, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.]]> 355 Elle Cosimano 1250241707 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.99 2021
author: Elle Cosimano
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 4 4.57 2005
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/17
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 123276004
He wants to forget the crimson sand dunes, violent dust storms, and meteor impacts. He wants to forget the sight of his neighbors bleeding from their eyes as boils ravaged their bodies. He wants to forget the fact that his best friend was left to die.

Most of all, he wants to forget that, without Prescott, humanity is doomed.

But when a Prescott dropship plummets from the sky twenty-three years later, he has no choice but to remember.

As Zach embarks on a life-or-death quest for answers about the dropship’s impossible return, he discovers something even more important: there is still hope for humanity’s survival.

With conditions rapidly worsening on Earth, he is in a race against time to return to Mars, finish the work that Prescott started, and save the human race from extinction. To do so, he must face the truth about what really happened in Prescott—a truth that calls into question everything he thinks he knows about who he is, who he trusts, and what he has done.]]> 496 J.B. Ryder arfafafa 0 to-read 4.22
author: J.B. Ryder
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 128123545 He’s coming for you.

Death is meant to come on a chariot of broken dreams or in the dark trenches of a storm, not in love letters and gifts.

He did not take my soul when I was meant to die. He did not want it all the other times that I’ve offered it to him on a silver platter. Yet, time and time again, he reminds me that I am his: His night monster, his dark love, his perfect other.

Death was the only thing keeping me alive. He watches me from his corner, taunts me with sweet messages, marks my body with his touch as I sleep.

He took the people that I love away from me. Still, no one believed me when I said that I saw the faceless man on the night of the accident.

No one can escape death.

Me? I’m chasing it.]]> 178 Avina St. Graves arfafafa 3 3.38 2023
author: Avina St. Graves
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/11
date added: 2023/09/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 27189194
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid arfafafa 3 4.03 2016
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/24
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves:
review:
In the first half of the book, I wasn't as invested in the relationship between the characters but in the second half, I resonated with Jesse and his struggles in adapting to his new life and having to come to terms with his wife whom he'd been working hard to return home to, has someone else besides him that she loves. As for Emma, it was frustrating that she slept with both men when she was unsure of whom she'd choose and that Sam was willing to let her back after having to compromise twice due to Emma's unresolved feelings.
]]> 36739755 Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura.

Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,�� she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction―many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual―and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal�� person excellently, more or less. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action��

A brilliant depiction of a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures we all feel to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.]]> 163 Sayaka Murata 0802128254 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.65 2016
author: Sayaka Murata
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61767163 No Exit and Hairpin Bridge.

Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.

One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?

As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?]]> 337 Taylor Adams 0063222892 arfafafa 4 3.67 2023
author: Taylor Adams
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/06
shelves:
review:
interesting premise and concept - I love reading about thrillers revolving around authors, but the ending was overwhelming and dragging. Bumping it up to four stars.
]]> 54860443
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.]]> 418 Casey McQuiston 1250244498 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.90 2021
author: Casey McQuiston
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56978100
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…]]> 325 Axie Oh 1250780861 arfafafa 4 4.10 2022
author: Axie Oh
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/18
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:
Perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli- reminded me strongly of spirited away. I just had to go back and re-watch it for the millionth time again, and this book did that for me. Dragons, angst, and handsome men, it has it all.
]]> 39988 “The Trunchbull�� is no match for Matilda!

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world...

For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Miss ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will, and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter-pilot, chocolate historian, and medical inventor. He was also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, and many more brilliant stories. He remains the World's No. 1 Storyteller.]]> 240 Roald Dahl 043512398X arfafafa 5 4.33 1988
author: Roald Dahl
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/14
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:
I LOVED this as a kid. Heck, it isn't an exaggeration to say that I was OBSESSED. Just something about Matilda resonated with me dearly and picking this up many years later, oh how I had forgotten about the wholesome relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey. So bittersweet and cute.
]]> 29800406
__________

Teenagers in a small Oklahoma town have split into two gangs, divided by money, tastes and attitude. The Socs' idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy Curtis.

Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends - until the night someone takes things too far, and life is changed forever.
__________

Iconic, outspoken, first.

The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes:

(Un)arranged Marriage - Bali Rai
Stone Cold - Robert Swindells
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend
The Tulip Touch - Anne Fine
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith]]> 224 S.E. Hinton 0141368888 arfafafa 5 favourite 4.17 1967
author: S.E. Hinton
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/24
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: favourite
review:
If I could read this for the first time again, I would. But no matter how many times I re-read it, I will never be the same again.
]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 4 4.50 2003
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/25
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 60487511
After agreeing they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realize they’re each other’s perfect wing-person in their searches for The One. They text each other about their dates, often scheduling them at the same restaurant so that if things don’t go well, the two of them can get tacos afterward.

Spoiler: they get a lot of tacos together.

Discouraged by the lack of prospects, Jack and Hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. As they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they both struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.]]> 315 Lynn Painter 0593437292 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.86 2023
author: Lynn Painter
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61294937 Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.]]> 483 Shannon Chakraborty arfafafa 0 to-read 4.25 2023
author: Shannon Chakraborty
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62039263 For readers of Outlawed, Piranesi, and The Night Tiger, a riveting, roaring adventure novel about a legendary Chinese pirate queen, her fight to save her fleet from the forces allied against them, and the dangerous price of power.

When Shek Yeung sees a Portuguese sailor slay her husband, a feared pirate, she knows she must act swiftly or die. Instead of mourning, Shek Yeung launches a new plan: immediately marrying her husband's second-in-command, and agreeing to bear him a son and heir, in order to retain power over her half of the fleet.

But as Shek Yeung vies for control over the army she knows she was born to lead, larger threats loom. The Chinese Emperor has charged a brutal, crafty nobleman with ridding the South China Seas of pirates, and the Europeans-tired of losing ships, men, and money to Shek Yeung's alliance-have new plans for the area. Even worse, Shek Yeung's cutthroat retributions create problems all their own. As Shek Yeung navigates new motherhood and the crises of leadership, she must decide how long she is willing to fight, and at what price, or risk losing her fleet, her new family, and even her life.

A book of salt and grit, blood and sweat, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is an unmissable portrait of a woman who leads with the courage and ruthlessness of our darkest and most beloved heroes.]]> 281 Rita Chang-Eppig 1639730370 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.47 2023
author: Rita Chang-Eppig
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58468990 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide��

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

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

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

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 arfafafa 3 3.63 2022
author: Lucy Foley
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/16
date added: 2023/05/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

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

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 53331565
When body parts are found on the banks of the River Thames in Deptford, DI Anjelica Henley is tasked with finding the killer. Eerie echoes of previous crimes lead Henley to question Peter Olivier, aka The Jigsaw Killer, who is currently serving a life sentence for a series of horrific murders.

When a severed head is delivered to Henley's home, she realises that the copycat is taking a personal interest in her and that the victims have not been chosen at random.

To catch the killer, Henley must confront her own demons - - and when Olivier escapes from prison, she finds herself up against not one serial killer, but two.]]> 496 Nadine Matheson arfafafa 0 to-read 3.80 2020
author: Nadine Matheson
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 35890397
It is a group of children who see - and feel - what makes Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurks, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one's deepest dread. Sometimes IT appears as an evil clown named Pennywise and sometimes IT reaches up, seizing, tearing, killing...

Time passes and the children grow up, move away and forget. Until they are called back, once more to confront IT as IT stirs and coils in the sullen depths of their memories, emerging again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.]]> 1166 Stephen King 1473666945 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.07 1986
author: Stephen King
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]> 357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.96 2022
author: Stacy Willingham
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50833559 What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?]]> 389 Riley Sager 1524745170 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.05 2020
author: Riley Sager
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 58909880 The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his most unexpected thriller yet.

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.

With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy surprises, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake unveils more than one twist that will shock readers until the very last page.]]> 369 Riley Sager arfafafa 0 to-read 3.57 2022
author: Riley Sager
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41837243
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid's disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building's hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.]]> 381 Riley Sager 1524745154 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.88 2019
author: Riley Sager
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 32796253 ��
Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.
��
That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.]]> 352 Riley Sager 1101985364 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.81 2017
author: Riley Sager
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55196693
Ellen was just trying to help a stranger. That was how it started: giving a few minutes respite to a flustered young mother sitting opposite her on the train. A few minutes holding her baby while the mother makes an urgent call. The weight of the child in her arms making Ellen's heart ache for what she can never have.

Five minutes pass.
Ten.

The train pulls into a station and Ellen is stunned to see the mother hurrying away down the platform, without looking back. Leaving her baby behind. Ellen is about to raise the alarm when she discovers a note in the baby's bag, three desperate lines scrawled hastily on a piece of paper:

Please protect Mia
Don't trust the police
Don't trust anyone

Why would a mother abandon her child to a stranger? Ellen is about to discover that the baby in her arms might hold the key to an unspeakable crime. And doing the right thing might just cost her everything . . .]]> 420 T.M. Logan 1838772936 arfafafa 4 3.92 2021
author: T.M. Logan
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/27
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 58763686
I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.


The Shadow

I didn't mean to fall in love.
But now that I have, I can't stay away.
I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.
The way she undresses...
I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.
And once she is, I'll never let her go.
Not even when she begs me to.]]> 583 H.D. Carlton arfafafa 0 currently-reading 3.95 2021
author: H.D. Carlton
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 52656911
The bride �� The plus one �� The best man �� The wedding planner �� The bridesmaid �� The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley arfafafa 4 3.82 2020
author: Lucy Foley
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51933429
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 330 Lucy Foley arfafafa 4 3.64 2020
author: Lucy Foley
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 19288043 What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]> 415 Gillian Flynn 0307588378 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.22 2012
author: Gillian Flynn
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49090884
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.�� Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.]]> 209 Agustina Bazterrica 1982150920 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.75 2017
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23437156 Alternate cover of ISBN 9781627792127

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.]]> 480 Leigh Bardugo 1627792120 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.47 2015
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 14889679
Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When, in March of 2006, Charles Cullen was marched from his final sentencing in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, courthouse into a waiting police van, it seemed certain that the chilling secrets of his life, career, and capture would disappear with him. Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism nearly ten years in the making, journalist Charles Graeber presents the whole story for the first time. Based on hundreds of pages of previously unseen police records, interviews, wire-tap recordings and videotapes, as well as exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself and the confidential informant who helped bring him down, THE GOOD NURSE weaves an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship, and betrayal.

Graeber's portrait of Cullen depicts a surprisingly intelligent and complicated young man whose promising career was overwhelmed by his compulsion to kill, and whose shy demeanor masked a twisted interior life hidden even to his family and friends. Were it not for the hardboiled, unrelenting work of two former Newark homicide detectives racing to put together the pieces of Cullen's professional past, and a fellow nurse willing to put everything at risk, including her job and the safety of her children, there's no telling how many more lives could have been lost.

In the tradition of In Cold Blood, THE GOOD NURSE does more than chronicle Cullen's deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him; it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers a penetrating look inside America's medical system. Harrowing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at medicine, hospitals, and the people who work in them, in an entirely different way.]]> 307 Charles Graeber 0446505293 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.71 2013
author: Charles Graeber
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35297426 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]> 359 Lisa Jewell 1501154648 arfafafa 4 4.02 2017
author: Lisa Jewell
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2023/01/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 37944571
It isn't paranoia if it's really happening . . .

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn't, her world begins to crumble?and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Twisty and powerful, ingenious and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock.]]> 448 A.J. Finn 0008294372 arfafafa 4 3.83 2018
author: A.J. Finn
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/04
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 arfafafa 4 favourite ]]> 4.17 2019
author: Alex Michaelides
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/04
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: favourite
review:
I'd like to discover a thriller that can top this.

]]> 39796904 A couple's fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting...

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451491725]]> 390 Samantha Downing arfafafa 0 to-read 3.81 2019
author: Samantha Downing
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35031085 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780143131847.

Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.

This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.]]> 260 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0143131842 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.02 1818
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1818
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50389112 We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.

Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort �� a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.

But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.

Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny is a spellbinding trip of a novel from one of fiction's most original new voices.]]> 375 Mona Awad 1788545443 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.57 2019
author: Mona Awad
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 893136
YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with her foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH.

It's a small story, about:
a girl
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fistfighter
and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW:

DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES.]]> 554 Markus Zusak 0552773891 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.43 2005
author: Markus Zusak
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5886881
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?]]> 424 Gillian Flynn 0307341569 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.95 2009
author: Gillian Flynn
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55963583 The phenomenal new thriller from the international bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie.

Ten years of marriage.
Ten years of secrets.
An anniversary they’ll never forget.

Adam and Amelia are spending the weekend in the Scottish Highlands. The remote location is perfect for what they have planned.

But when their romantic trip takes a dark turn, they both start to wonder �� can they trust the one they’re with?

Because every couple tells little white lies. Only for Adam and Amelia, the truth is far more dangerous.]]> 312 Alice Feeney 0008370982 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.94 2021
author: Alice Feeney
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18045891
Librarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition - ISBN 10: 0307341550 (ISBN 13: 9780307341556)]]> 254 Gillian Flynn 0297851535 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.05 2006
author: Gillian Flynn
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23347055
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason��, she calls them. Their life �� as she sees it �� is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

UNTIL TODAY

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…]]> 316 Paula Hawkins 0857522329 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.67 2015
author: Paula Hawkins
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/01
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]]> 9361589
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 506 Erin Morgenstern arfafafa 0 to-read 4.00 2011
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/31
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]]> 57022251
If Maia’s ruse is discovered, her life will be forfeit. But if she wins, she will achieve her greatest dream.

Yet nothing could have prepared her for the challenge ahead: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s bride-to-be. One from the laughter of the sun, one from the tears of the moon, and one from the blood of stars.

Accompanied by the mysterious court enchanter, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise, Maia’s journey will take her to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.]]> 416 Elizabeth Lim 1529362903 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.98 2019
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/31
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]]> 55948826 New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist, Traci Chee, comes a Japanese-influenced fantasy brimming with demons, adventure, and plans gone awry.

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her�� and perhaps never did.]]> 400 Traci Chee arfafafa 0 to-read 3.78 2022
author: Traci Chee
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> 13455782
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war �� and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.]]> 338 Tahereh Mafi 0062085506 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.72 2011
author: Tahereh Mafi
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 55820574 An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher.

Vanessa Wye was fifteen years old when she first had sex with her English teacher.

She is now thirty-two and the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student of his. Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn’t abuse. It was love. She’s sure of that. But now, in 2017, in the midst of allegations against powerful men, she is being asked to redefine the great love story of her life �� her great sexual awakening �� as rape.

Nuanced, uncomfortable, bold and powerful, and as riveting as it is disturbing, My Dark Vanessa goes straight to the heart of some of the most complex issues our age is grappling with.]]> 372 Kate Elizabeth Russell 0008342253 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.20 2020
author: Kate Elizabeth Russell
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/25
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]]> 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.23 2018
author: Christina Lauren
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 41150487
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]> 448 Casey McQuiston 1250316774 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.06 2019
author: Casey McQuiston
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 49130
And in his case, different can be deadly.
--jacket flap]]> 734 J.K. Rowling arfafafa 0 to-read 4.57 2000
author: J.K. Rowling
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/24
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]]> 30319086
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.]]> 354 M.L. Rio 125009528X arfafafa 0 to-read 4.11 2017
author: M.L. Rio
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/13
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]]> 43822820 here.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.]]> 352 Lisa Jewell 1501190105 arfafafa 3 3.93 2019
author: Lisa Jewell
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2022/12/13
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]]> 17333223
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]> 771 Donna Tartt 0316055433 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.94 2013
author: Donna Tartt
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/22
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]]> 51035594 In this riotous young adult romp for fans of Recommended for You and A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, a teen girl has the worst Valentine’s Day ever—only to relive it over and over again.

After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day.

Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways.

How many days can one girl passively watch her life go up in flames? And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?]]> 304 Lynn Painter arfafafa 0 to-read 3.93 2022
author: Lynn Painter
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/17
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]]> 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs�� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.00 2019
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> 52766407 The Hating Game meets Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow �� maybe she’s already fallen for him.]]> 364 Rachel Lynn Solomon 1534440240 arfafafa 0 to-read 4.04 2020
author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
name: arfafafa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/10/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 34499221
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?]]> 344 Alexandra Christo 1250112680 arfafafa 0 to-read 3.71 2018
author: Alexandra Christo
name: arfafafa
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/10/09
shelves: to-read
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