B's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:17:32 -0700 60 B's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 B 0 to-read 4.24 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: B
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #4)]]> 213650748 She’s the one that got away. He’s the one that never let her go.

From the bestselling author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance in which past lovers get a second chance to rediscover what they lost.

Camille Ashwood had always loved a plan. Her latest was her best yet. She was going to get married so she could secure her daughter’s future, get her overbearing parents off her back, and finally start building her own life in small town Meadowlark, Wyoming. Easy, right?

But when her groom doesn’t show up to the wedding, Cam’s life is turned upside down—she doesn’t even have a place to live. That is, until she finds out the house she’s loved since high school is available to rent. There’s only one problem: the neighbor.

Dusty Tucker has spent nearly all of his adult life running. Running from what, though? More like who: Cam Ashwood. But ever since he returned home last year, the girl who was his first, well, everything has become a woman seemingly determined to keep him at arm’s length. And he was okay with that—at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. She was getting married, after all. But now she’s single and living next door. Dusty wants to show her that they can be friends, and that he can stay put.

Despite her best attempts to stay far away from Dusty Tucker, Cam realizes that being close to him is like slipping on her favorite jeans. Easy. Comfortable. That is until past wounds start to open and feelings—both old and new—wreak havoc. Nearly ten years after they first met, Dusty and Cam begin to wonder if their first love can also be their last. And this time, will it be forever?]]> Lyla Sage B 3
3.5 ⭐️]]> 4.05 2025 Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #4)
author: Lyla Sage
name: B
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves:
review:
Dusty & Cam are adorable and I loved their friendship more than anything else.

3.5 ⭐️
]]> Such Quiet Girls 222668031 Ten children, abducted in broad daylight—and buried alive.

Sage and her sister won’t make it home from school today. Neither will the other children on Bus 315. But that’s only the beginning of the nightmare.

New bus driver Jessa blames herself for what happened. She couldn’t protect the kids she was supposed to deliver to daycare, just like she couldn’t protect her own daughter three years ago. But this time, everything will be different. It has to be.

Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground, Jessa and the children do their best to stay calm. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.

With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.

Such Quiet Girls was inspired by actual events.


]]> 354 Noelle W. Ihli B 0 to-read 4.38 2025 Such Quiet Girls
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: B
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)]]> 110386
Eloise Bridgerton couldn't marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking... and wondering... and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except... he wasn't. Her perfect husband wouldn't be so moody and ill-mannered. And he certainly should have mentioned that he had two young - and decidedly unruly - children, as much in need of a mother as Phillip is in need of a wife.

an alternate cover edition can be found here]]> 372 Julia Quinn 0380820854 B 3
I have several thoughts about this 5th installment.

1. Philip is 100% my least favorite character in the Bridgerton series.
The fact that he had the nerve to say to Eloise that she talks too much and could be doing much better things with her mouth, was revolting.
He is also the crappiest and laziest father EVER. All he wanted to do was marry a woman just to take care of HIS KIDS…just so he could go and play in the dirt and do his experiments or whatever he does.
All he wants is to perform “marital acts� with Eloise - then for her to shut up the rest of the time.

2. I love Eloise so I expected more characterization.

Overall, all my main problems are with Philip. This was a cute read just like all the others but Eloise deserved SOOOO MUCH MORE THAN PHILIP.

3 ⭐️]]> 3.65 2003 To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)
author: Julia Quinn
name: B
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves:
review:
To Sir Philip,� you SUCK.

I have several thoughts about this 5th installment.

1. Philip is 100% my least favorite character in the Bridgerton series.
The fact that he had the nerve to say to Eloise that she talks too much and could be doing much better things with her mouth, was revolting.
He is also the crappiest and laziest father EVER. All he wanted to do was marry a woman just to take care of HIS KIDS…just so he could go and play in the dirt and do his experiments or whatever he does.
All he wants is to perform “marital acts� with Eloise - then for her to shut up the rest of the time.

2. I love Eloise so I expected more characterization.

Overall, all my main problems are with Philip. This was a cute read just like all the others but Eloise deserved SOOOO MUCH MORE THAN PHILIP.

3 ⭐️
]]> Five Survive 61313902 Eight hours.
Six friends.
One sniper . . .

Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.

A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.]]> 391 Holly Jackson 0755504402 B 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Five Survive
author: Holly Jackson
name: B
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Divorce (Perfect, #2)]]> 219240806 From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling thriller The Perfect Marriage

Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine.

It’s been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress. Sarah has long since moved on, starting a family with her new husband, Bob Miller, and changing careers. Her life is back to being exactly how she always wanted � or is it?

After discovering Bob engaged in a one-night stand, Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. However, amid their ugly separation, new DNA evidence is uncovered in the case against Adam, forcing the police to reopen the investigation and putting Sarah right back in the spotlight. Everyone wants to know what really happened, most of all former deputy Marcus Hudson, who is hell-bent on finding the truth.

But when the woman Bob slept with is reported missing, he and Sarah start to fight dirty, and a high-stakes game of cat and mouse ensues. Filled with page-turning suspense and Jeneva Rose’s signature twists and turns, this book will have readers wondering: Can Bob and Sarah achieve the perfect divorce? Or will it be “’til death do us part�?]]> 288 Jeneva Rose B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 4.17 2025 The Perfect Divorce (Perfect, #2)
author: Jeneva Rose
name: B
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves:
review:
I loved this sequel as much as I did The Perfect Marriage! Sarah Morgan is a force to be reckoned with and I love her character. The little bits of comedy that Jeneva Rose can put into her thrillers is one of my favorite parts of her writing!

4 ⭐️
]]> Great Big Beautiful Life 218559595 Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years--or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.]]> 432 Emily Henry B 0 to-read 4.21 2025 Great Big Beautiful Life
author: Emily Henry
name: B
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Broken Country 214151202 “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.�

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> 320 Clare Leslie Hall 166807818X B 4
4.5 ⭐️]]> 4.41 2025 Broken Country
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: B
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
Wow - the hype was definitely appropriate for this one! I’ve never read a story like this and was gripped by every second of it. It’s one for pulling on your heartstrings but you’ll enjoy it all!

4.5 ⭐️
]]> The September House 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]> 352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 B 4 Which is odd to say, considering the amount of horror, gore and paranormal elements there were in this.

4.25 ⭐️]]> 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: B
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
I’m not sure what in the world I just read� but I really enjoyed it.
Which is odd to say, considering the amount of horror, gore and paranormal elements there were in this.

4.25 ⭐️
]]> Those Across the River 10772903 Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.

A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming...

]]> 357 Christopher Buehlman 0441020674 B 0 to-read 3.66 2011 Those Across the River
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: B
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)]]> 214907249 OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD. THE SIZZLING FINALE TO THE NO 1 BESTSELLING ROMANTASY PHENOMENON!
�
Praise for
‘Nothing short of epic’Rosie Talbot, bestselling author ofSixteen Souls
‘A thrilling fantasy with the most delicious slow-burn romance� M.A. Kuzniar, bestselling author ofMidnight in Everwood
‘[A] titillating debut’�Publishers Weekly
‘A masterpiece’�ŷ Reader Review
‘Everyone needs to read it’�TikTok Review
‘The BEST book I’ve read’�NetGalley Reader Review
‘A sizzling slice of fantasy romance’�Booksellers Review

PaedynGray and Kai Azer return to the Kingdom of Ilya...�
�
And Paedyn hasa life-altering choice to make.Whatever she decides willdetermineher fate –and the fate of those around her –forever.�
�
In theultimate battle of love and loyalty, who wins?

Be swept away by the conclusion to the smash hit,dagger-to-the-throatromantasy trilogy.

Follow Lauren Roberts on TikTok and Instagram @LaurenRobertsLibrary
]]> 604 Lauren Roberts B 3
1. Kai & Paedyn telling each other they are “inevitable� and are each others “ruin�
2. Kai & Kitt saying “you and me always brother�. They had so many of the same cringy moments that it felt forced and uncomfortable.

I did also predict a lot of the twists - to me they seemed fairly obvious and lacked the “punch� it needed to feel impactful.

3 ⭐️]]> 4.31 2025 Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: B
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
review:
This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year…and I was left a bit disappointed. If I could sum up the book in one word - REPETITIVE is what comes to mind. I got really tired of reading the same conversations over and over like:

1. Kai & Paedyn telling each other they are “inevitable� and are each others “ruin�
2. Kai & Kitt saying “you and me always brother�. They had so many of the same cringy moments that it felt forced and uncomfortable.

I did also predict a lot of the twists - to me they seemed fairly obvious and lacked the “punch� it needed to feel impactful.

3 ⭐️
]]> Shield of Sparrows 217171544 Shield of Sparrows is a slow-burn, high-stakes romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros―where enemies become lovers, monsters stalk a cursed realm, and a forgotten princess finds the strength to tear off her crown and become the warrior she was never meant to be.

The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel.

I’ve spent my life kneeling―to their will and to my father's. As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king.

I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood.

But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life.

Now I’m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him―bound to a future I didn’t choose and a husband I barely know.

Everyone wants me to be something I’m not―a queen, a spy, a sacrifice.

But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there’s power in being underestimated?

And what if―for the first time―I reached for it?]]> 528 Devney Perry 1649378513 B 0 to-read 4.71 2025 Shield of Sparrows
author: Devney Perry
name: B
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)]]> 196241667 From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller and viral TikTok phenomenon, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes a brand new spicy romance set in Dream Harbor!

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues� she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells�

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store is a cozy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:
� opposites attract
� small town
� forced proximity
� he falls first]]> 384 Laurie Gilmore B 3
⭐️ 3.25]]> 3.67 2024 The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: B
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
I read this series for the fun and vibes! This was pretty cute and I did enjoy it more than the Pumpkin Spice Cafe. Was it lusty and cheesy at times - yes but it also had some really cute moments, specifically one at the very end that Noah did for Hazel!

⭐️ 3.25
]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 B 3 I expected a lot more from Haymitch’s character (he is one of my favorite characters in this series) - he didn’t have the same sarcastic and unique personality, but I understand that this traumatic experience is what shaped him in later years.
There are also a lot of characters and none were much of a standout, besides Maysilee- I loved her personality!

The ending was good! But overall, I didn’t find the plot to be keeping my interest.

3 ⭐️]]> 4.62 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: B
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:
I’m definitely in the minority with my lack of enjoyment and high praise for this prequel. I’m very surprised that I didn’t enjoy this like I thought I would, but most of the book felt EHH and a bit dull.
I expected a lot more from Haymitch’s character (he is one of my favorite characters in this series) - he didn’t have the same sarcastic and unique personality, but I understand that this traumatic experience is what shaped him in later years.
There are also a lot of characters and none were much of a standout, besides Maysilee- I loved her personality!

The ending was good! But overall, I didn’t find the plot to be keeping my interest.

3 ⭐️
]]> If Two Are Dead 212431587 Three girls go into the woods, but only one comes out�

Driving alone at night in a wild rainstorm, Luke Conway strikes something—or someone. He and his wife, Carrie, recently moved back to Clear River to help take care of her ailing father, and after a tragedy at his previous job, this move is their last chance at a new life. Now, standing in the downpour on this Texas road, Luke, an off-duty cop, has a decision to make—and he has to make it fast.

No one else is around. No witnesses. And he can’t find a body.

Wanting to believe he’s being paranoid, that he’s just seeing things, Luke panics and leaves, deciding not to report the incident but rather to secretly investigate it. He can’t put more stress on Carrie, who’s already haunted by the unsolved attack and murder of two teenage girls that happened years ago in Clear River, a horrific crime in which she was the sole survivor. The killer has not been found, but Carrie and Luke’s anguished search for answers will slowly reveal the horrific truth.]]> 416 Rick Mofina 0778368599 B 0 to-read 4.05 If Two Are Dead
author: Rick Mofina
name: B
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nightshade (Sorrowsong University, #1)]]> 229003381 *Book one of a duet*

When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents' death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple; keep her grades up and her head down. The last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty.

Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain's eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade.

Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own.

Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior.

Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?
__________

Dark Academic Romance - Enemies to Lovers - Slow Burn - University Setting

This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.]]> 416 Autumn Woods 1638933731 B 0 to-read 4.05 Nightshade (Sorrowsong University, #1)
author: Autumn Woods
name: B
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Academy 223541023 #1 bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand teams up with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, to deliver a dishy, page-turning novel following an intertwined cast of characters over the course of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school.

It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy and amidst the happy chaos of friends reuniting, selfies uploading, and cars unloading, shocking news America Today just ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. It’s a seventeen-spot jump � was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, class sizes are small, and the dining hall is run by an acclaimed New York chef. And they do have fun—lots of parties and school dances, and a piano man plays in the student lounge every Monday night.

But just as the rarefied air of Tiffin is suffused with self-congratulation, the wheels begin to turn � and then they fall off the bus. One by one, scandalous blind items begin to appear on phones across Tiffin’s campus, thanks to a new app called ZipZap, and nobody is safe. From Davi Banerjee, international influencer and resident queen bee, to Simone Bergeron, the new and surprisingly young history teacher, to Charley Hicks, a transfer student who seems determined not to fit in, to Cordelia Spooner, Admissions Director with a somewhat idiosyncratic methodology � everyone has something to hide.

As if high school wasn’t dramatic enough...As the year unfolds, bonds are forged and broken, secrets are shared and exposed, and the lives of Tiffin’s students and staff are changed forever. The Academy is Elin Hilderbrand’s fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life, and a thrilling new direction from one of America’s most satisfying and popular storytellers.]]> 432 Elin Hilderbrand 031656785X B 0 to-read 4.00 The Academy
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: B
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Up in Smoke 214438346 Perfect for fans of Karen McManus and The Hate U Give, this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the author of Promise Boys follows a girl determined to clear her brother’s name and a boy desperate to keep his own out of the line of fire. As the heat turns up in a murder investigation, old feelings reignite between them, but a shocking secret could tear them apart.

Unmask a murderer or take the fall.

After Cooper King is pressured by big brother figure Jason to go on a looting spree during a local march, the unthinkable gunshots ring in the air and someone ends up dead. After Cooper flees, the news shows four teens in ski masks near the scene of the murder—Cooper and his friends. Cooper fears the cops will come knocking at his door, and the pressure only mounts when a suspect is taken into Jason.

Monique, Jason's sister and Cooper's longtime crush, is willing to go any length to clear her brother's name. Even if she needs to go into the belly of the beast and confront the killer herself. When she teams up with Cooper, they fall down the investigation rabbit hole and start to fall for each other. But little does Monique know that within this web of deception, Cooper is shrouding the truth that he was there when the shots went off. If the pair fail to uncover the real murderer, Jason will get locked up for a crime he didn't commit—and drag down Cooper with him.

Pick this up if you
� high stakes, dual POV thrillers
� page-turning mysteries
� will-they-won't-they romance
� twists and turns you never see coming]]> 256 Nick Brooks 1250359937 B 0 to-read 3.97 Up in Smoke
author: Nick Brooks
name: B
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1) 204593914 Welcome to Phantasma. There are only two rules to the game: Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart . . .]]> 497 Kaylie Smith 1538769255 B 4 4.05 2024 Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)
author: Kaylie Smith
name: B
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:
This was a creatively well written gothic ghosty romantic fantasy
]]> Fifty-Fifty (Eddie Flynn, #5) 50805422 Alexandra Avellino has just found her father's mutilated body, and needs the police right away. She believes her sister killed him, and that she is still in the house with a knife.

Sofia Avellino has just found her father's mutilated body and needs the police right away. She believes her sister, Alexandra did it, and that she is still in the house, locked in the bathroom.

Both women are to go on trial at the same time. A joint trial in front of one jury.

But one of these women is lying. One of them is a murderer. Sitting in a jail cell, about to go on trial with her sister for murder, you might think that this is the last place she expected to be.

You'd be wrong.

]]> 349 Steve Cavanagh B 0 to-read 4.31 2020 Fifty-Fifty (Eddie Flynn, #5)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: B
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Truly, Devious (Truly Devious, #1)]]> 29589074
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.� It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.

The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart.]]> 416 Maureen Johnson B 2
2 ⭐️]]> 3.89 2018 Truly, Devious (Truly Devious, #1)
author: Maureen Johnson
name: B
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:
Unfortunately, not the book for me. The synopsis sounded so intriguing and the delivery was dull and frankly boring. There was so much character “build up� but none of the characters were interesting in the slightest. I had to listen to the audiobook to try and get through and tbh it should have been a DNF. I held out for the ending, and got absolutely nothing.

2 ⭐️
]]> The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) 50520939
Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality—an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society’s archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.

Most of them.]]> 376 Olivie Blake B 4
I thought there could have been more action so that’s why it’s not a 5 star but I really enjoyed it.

4 ⭐️]]> 3.56 2020 The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
author: Olivie Blake
name: B
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
I thought the premise of this book was very unique and intriguing! The characters are definitely the definition of “morally gray� but I grew attached to all of them and loved reading from each of their perspectives.

I thought there could have been more action so that’s why it’s not a 5 star but I really enjoyed it.

4 ⭐️
]]> Witness 8 (Eddie Flynn, #8) 214152415 This riveting psychological thriller from master of twists Steve Cavanagh, author of the �unguessable and unputdownable� (Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Kill For Me, Kill for You, What if the witness was more twisted than the killer?

Something is wrong with Ruby Johnson.

A former resident of the ultra-elite Manhattan upper class, Ruby now works as a maid in the type of houses she used to live in. Unassuming, she sees everyone’s dirty secrets from the inside of their beautiful, renovated brownstones. But when Ruby witnesses a murder, she has wicked plans in mind that don’t involve telling the authorities the truth.

Eddie Flynn, streetwise ex con-artist-turned-defense attorney, is the only lawyer in New York City willing to take on hopeless cases. And none is more hopeless than John Jackson’s—the gun that killed his neighbor found, with Jackson’s DNA, in his own home. Flynn and his unconventional team will need to use every trick they know to keep an innocent man from being locked up. But to save his client’s life, Eddie must first protect his own, as the scariest organized criminals in the city are out for his head.

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda, Witness 8 is a fresh knockout page-turner from an author who is “the real deal� (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author).]]> 416 Steve Cavanagh 1668049376 B 0 to-read 4.12 2024 Witness 8 (Eddie Flynn, #8)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: B
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood & Betrayals (Avalon University, # 1)]]> 219853415 Fear, Fury and Fire.

To Know is Not Enough.

Power flows through the ancient halls of Avalon University like a neverending flood. Admission to the elite institution enables students to hone their magic under the watchful eye of their icy headmaster.

Summer Tuatha De Daanan planned to slide through her tenure at Avalon, unnoticed and inconspicuous. She has no interest in learning more about her past or why someone applied to the school on her behalf. Her emotional walls keep everyone at bay, and her sharp tongue makes people give her a wide berth. Yet, despite her best attempts, her emotional armor begins to melt from her feral vampire roommate to the angelic senior who is never dissuaded by her feigning disinterest. Maybe this could be good for her, a new life. Yet, dark secrets lurk in the halls of Avalon, and soon those same halls are drenched in blood.

Summer finds herself as the obsession of the sadistic stalker with the Seven lessons to learn. With the help of her new friends, she races against the clock to solve the mystery, hoping to save lives and catch the killer before it's too late.]]> 712 Jeanette Rose 1962599051 B 0 to-read 4.26 Blood & Betrayals (Avalon University, # 1)
author: Jeanette Rose
name: B
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Reality of Everything (Flight & Glory, #5)]]> 41556924
At twenty-eight, single-dad Jackson Montgomery’s life revolves around his five-year-old daughter and his job as a search-and-rescue pilot for the coast guard. He’s no stranger to saving a damsel in distress, and though his gorgeous new neighbor is clearly in distress, she’s no damsel. She’s stubborn as hell with walls a mile thick, and the dog tags hanging from her rearview mirror give him a pretty good clue as to why.

It doesn’t matter that their attraction is undeniable―she swore she’d never fall for another pilot, let alone a military man. There are some wounds time can’t heal, and some fears too consuming to conquer.

She’s a barely breathing heartbreak on the edge of recovery.
He’s a crash waiting to happen.
Together they could have it all...if they can endure the coming storm.]]> 470 Rebecca Yarros B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 4.37 2020 The Reality of Everything (Flight & Glory, #5)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: B
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:
I will just say, Jackson (MMC) carried this book. He is the true definition of “if he wanted to he would� I know Morgan (FMC) was going through a lot in this book but I would have liked for her to consider Jackson a bit more. Jackson is an absolute saint of a human being…if you read this you’ll understand why.

4 ⭐️
]]> Enchantra (Wicked Games, #2) 217182344 Ready or Not meets Throne of the Fallen in a spicy, enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, where an Italian getaway turns deadly after a young woman is trapped in her host family's cursed game.

Ready or not, the game has begun.

Genevieve Grimm has felt adrift ever since her sister became the head of the family. So when a mysterious friend of their mother's invites her to Italy, she accepts. She arrives at his grand palace, expecting passion and magic, decadence and luxury... perhaps even a midnight ball.

She doesn't expect the owner's ruthlessly handsome son to slam the door in her face. Rowin Silver is tall, dark, and exceptionally rude, and invitation or not, he demands Genevieve leave and never come back. But Genevieve follows nobody's orders, especially those of arrogant rich boys. She slips inside—and immediately discovers her mistake.

Rowin and his family are caught in an insidious game of hide and seek, where only one can win. The rest will be trapped in Hell... until the competition begins again.

Genevieve must either join the hunt or forfeit any hope of escaping. But to her dismay, her best chance of survival lies with Rowin. Since lovers may play as a pair, Rowin and Genevieve agree to form an alliance under the guise of a fake courtship. However, as they race through the game's elaborate labyrinth, trapped among gleaming gold and shining marble, their loathing gives way to irresistible attraction. Only Rowin is keeping secrets, especially when it comes to his ruthless family, and Genevieve can't help but wonder if she's trapped in two treacherous games: Enchantra and the one Rowin is playing with her heart.]]> 448 Kaylie Smith 1538770806 B 0 to-read 4.37 2025 Enchantra (Wicked Games, #2)
author: Kaylie Smith
name: B
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: B
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:
I loved how different this storyline was! It was unique, well thought out and also suspenseful to keep you guessing. Evie is a perfect morally gray FMC who is on a mission that cannot fail. The END - amazing!

4 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[In Good Company (Pembroke Hills, #1)]]> 228569777
Callahan Hastings is relentless when it comes to getting what he wants, and what he wants is me–to be his private chef in the Hamptons for the summer.

My dream job served to me on a silver platter by one of the wealthiest members of Pembroke Hills Country Club.

The only catch? He’s my ex-boyfriend’s older brother with a reputation for being as charming as he is cunning.

But Cal doesn’t take no for an answer. He draws you in with flirty smiles and extravagant promises.

I should have seen him coming, but I didn’t. I should have stayed away, but I couldn’t.

His playful touches and burning gaze have ignited a fire in me. The more I resist him, the more irresistible he becomes.

I've always known there's an expiration date on the job–an expiration date on us.

But leaving isn't going to be easy with Cal on his knees, begging me to stay...]]> 386 Kat Singleton 1958292184 B 0 to-read 3.84 In Good Company (Pembroke Hills, #1)
author: Kat Singleton
name: B
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Whispers of the Lake 219521987 A marriage on the rocks, a missing friend, an investigative journalist, a tangle of shocking lies, and a peaceful North Carolina lakefront cottage converge in this irresistibly twisty new psychological thriller fromNew York TimesandUSA Todaybestselling author—perfect for readers of Liv Constantine, Tarryn Fisher, Kellye Garrett, and Caroline Kepnes.

At the peak of her career, investigative reporter Rose Howard is exhausted from trying to manage her seemingly perfect life. With her marriage to her one true love collapsing, she desperately needs to rest, regroup, and decide which way to go next. The direction becomes clear when she discovers that her former best friend, Eve Castillo, isn't responding to attempts to contact her at the North Carolina cottage where she's vacationing. Rose knows Eve can be flaky and irresponsible—that’s why they fell out. Still, Rose heads to the tranquil small town of Sage Hill . . .

Rose soon discovers that Eve has vanished without her purse and passport—even after booking a trip abroad. The personable cabin owners� accounts of Eve's stay just don’t to add up . . . and most of the town's initially hospitable inhabitants becoming increasingly less helpful . . .

Rose's instincts tell her the solution lies somewhere in Eve's—and Sage Hill's—past. To get answers, she’ll have to ask inconvenient questions, rattle long-buried skeletons . . . and face vicious attempts on her life. But some truths are best left alone. And secrets Rose never saw coming could easily sink her and her future without a trace . . .]]> 272 Shanora Williams 1496745841 B 0 to-read 3.84 Whispers of the Lake
author: Shanora Williams
name: B
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Used to Live Here 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 B 3
3 ⭐️]]> 3.67 2024 We Used to Live Here
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: B
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:
I got to the end and thought…where is the rest of it?!? I was craving more answers but ultimately thought the ending was very well done! It left you thinking of all the possibilities.

3 ⭐️
]]> Neverthorn 229059483 In a realm where magic reigns, a legendary Hero once stood against the encroaching darkness. But with his death, hope dwindled, and the best the world can muster is Harlow Daygon—a thief, magic school dropout, and notorious troublemaker.

At nearly thirty, Harlow can't even cast a simple rune without blundering it. So why does anyone think she can take up the mantle of Hero? Reluctantly, she’s dragged back to Neverthorn Academy with seven former classmates, tasked with training to confront and defeat the Villain of their world.

But the challenges are stacked against

Professor Hot-As-Sin makes it clear she’s a failure.

Professor Used-To-Be-A-Mean-Girl has a vendetta.

And lurking in her past is a secret so dark it could reveal she’s not the Hero the world needs—but the next Villain.

With fate hanging in the balance, can Harlow embrace her destiny before the shadows claim her?]]> Shannon Mayer B 0 to-read 3.96 Neverthorn
author: Shannon Mayer
name: B
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rose Bargain 211742041 The Cruel Prince meets The Selection in this captivating duology opener brimming with heart-pounding romance, vicious competition, and beautiful, cruel fae, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven, Sasha Peyton Smith.

Every citizen of England is granted one bargain from their immortal fae queen.

High society girls are expected to bargain for qualities that will win them suitors: a rare talent for piano in exchange for one’s happiest childhood memory. A perfect smile for one’s ability to taste.

But Ivy Benton’s debut season arrives with a shocking twist: a competition to secure the heart of the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. A prize that could save Ivy’s family from ruin� and free her sister from the bargain that destroyed her.

Yet every glittering fae deal has a rotting heart—and at the center of this contest is a dark plot that could destroy everything Ivy knows.

Sweepingly romantic and deceptively enchanting, this alternate history romantasy will enthrall readers of Holly Black, Stephanie Garber, and Adalyn Grace.]]> 400 Sasha Peyton Smith 0063372525 B 3
While there is a forbidden love, trials, marriage of convenience, magic, etc. all fell a little flat for me. The trials were not high stakes and the forbidden love between Emmett & Ivy - I thought could use more buildup.

The ending was good and I thought this was a standalone so now I have to wait for book 2 ]]> 3.97 2025 The Rose Bargain
author: Sasha Peyton Smith
name: B
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
This was a fun YA romanticy! I enjoyed my time reading this but I will say nothing will probably stick with me after finishing it because there wasn’t anything super memorable in my opinion.

While there is a forbidden love, trials, marriage of convenience, magic, etc. all fell a little flat for me. The trials were not high stakes and the forbidden love between Emmett & Ivy - I thought could use more buildup.

The ending was good and I thought this was a standalone so now I have to wait for book 2
]]> Tell Me What You Did 209823382
Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they've committed to her audience. She can't guarantee the police won't come after her "guests," but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that's proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother's murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother's murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?]]> 420 Carter Wilson 1464226229 B 3
I was curious to see how everything ended and the ending was decent.

3 ⭐️]]> 3.77 2025 Tell Me What You Did
author: Carter Wilson
name: B
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
This was good but not great. I think I expected more from reading the synopsis because it sounded super interesting but the execution was just okay. I don’t think I was a fan of the writing with some of the dialogue being a bit cringy and not expanding very much on character traits/personality, to where I could be fully invested. I also guessed the twist.

I was curious to see how everything ended and the ending was decent.

3 ⭐️
]]> Long Bright River 43834909 Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then, one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.]]> 482 Liz Moore 0525540679 B 0 to-read 4.03 2020 Long Bright River
author: Liz Moore
name: B
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Favorites 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER � An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“P Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story� through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 B 4 And the only way to read it is on audio!! I think Katarina (FMC) perfectly resembles Carrie’s relentlessness and Daisy’s “I give no shit what anyone thinks� attitude.

I could have kept reading this book no matter how long it was. I couldn’t wait to see what was gonna happen next because you think you know, but you don’t.

The only thing I wish there could have been more of was longer conversations between Katarina & Heath - specifically about something that happened at the end involving someone else.

4.5 ⭐️]]> 4.17 2025 The Favorites
author: Layne Fargo
name: B
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
If you loved Carrie Soto is Back or Daisy Jones & the Six - PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!
And the only way to read it is on audio!! I think Katarina (FMC) perfectly resembles Carrie’s relentlessness and Daisy’s “I give no shit what anyone thinks� attitude.

I could have kept reading this book no matter how long it was. I couldn’t wait to see what was gonna happen next because you think you know, but you don’t.

The only thing I wish there could have been more of was longer conversations between Katarina & Heath - specifically about something that happened at the end involving someone else.

4.5 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[The Orphanage by the Lake (The Orphanage by the Lake, #1)]]> 221206051 A MISSING GIRL. AN ORPHANAGE FILLED WITH SECRETS.

Hazel wants a new life.

She's thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding.

Her luck takes a turn when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, pays Hazel a visit with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children's home—The Orphanage By The Lake, as the locals call it—and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.

At first glance, it appears to be a standard runaway case, but as Hazel plunges into the investigation, she finds signs of something unexplained blood stains, cryptic symbols, sinister figures shadowing her every move. The more she digs, the more she realizes that The Orphanage By The Lake holds terrifying secrets, and even worse�

…so does Madeline.

Fans of Freida McFadden's The Housemaid, Charlie Donlea's The Girl Who Was Taken, and Karin Slaughter's Pretty Girls will love this twisty, suspenseful thill-ride.]]> 336 Daniel G. Miller 146424636X B 0 to-read 3.85 2024 The Orphanage by the Lake (The Orphanage by the Lake, #1)
author: Daniel G. Miller
name: B
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Not Quite Dead Yet 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 B 0 to-read 4.37 2025 Not Quite Dead Yet
author: Holly Jackson
name: B
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)]]> 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 B 3
That last page tho ]]> 4.20 2021 As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)
author: Holly Jackson
name: B
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
Ummm what was this ENDING!? I can’t believe this was the last book in the AGGGTM series. Overall I really enjoyed this series and how everything and everyone all connected back to one another was crazy. Pip is one of the most fascinating teenagers I’ve read about. Ravi is absolutely endearing and funny.

That last page tho
]]> <![CDATA[Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3)]]> 61447046 645 Jessa Hastings B 3
As for the rest of the book, there was such a lack of character development and growth that it felt like I was just reading the first book that was overextended. It was definitely too long and the one thing that I didn’t want to happen to someone, happened.

3 ⭐️]]> 4.24 2022 Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3)
author: Jessa Hastings
name: B
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
The best part of this book is Magnolia and Christian fighting in the kitchen. Absolutely hilarious.

As for the rest of the book, there was such a lack of character development and growth that it felt like I was just reading the first book that was overextended. It was definitely too long and the one thing that I didn’t want to happen to someone, happened.

3 ⭐️
]]> I Who Have Never Known Men 60811826 Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.


As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.


Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.]]> 184 Jacqueline Harpman 1945492600 B 0 to-read 4.11 1995 I Who Have Never Known Men
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: B
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I Am Made of Death 212398691 From bestselling author Kelly Andrew comes the most electrifying dark romance of the decade...

Following the death of his father, Thomas Walsh had to grow up quickly, taking on odd-jobs to keep food on the table and help pay his gravely ill mother's medical bills. When he's offered a highly paid position as an interpreter for an heiress who exclusively signs, Thomas -- the hearing child of a Deaf adult -- jumps at the opportunity.

But the job is not without its challenges. Thomas is expected to accompany Vivienne wherever she goes, but from the start, she seems determined to shake him. To make matters worse, her parents keep her on an extremely short leash. She is not to go anywhere without express permission. She is not to deviate from her routine.

She is, most importantly, not to be out after dark.

A selective-mute, Vivienne Farrow hasn't said a word in years -- not since going missing in Red Rock Canyon when she was four years old. No one knows quite what happened to her out in the dark. They only know that the sound of her voice is now as deadly as a poison. Anyone who hears her speak suffers a horrible death.

Ever since that fatal family vacation, Vivienne has been desperately searching for a way to regain control of both her voice and her body. Because the face staring out of the mirror isn't hers. It's something with teeth.

Thankfully, Vivienne has a plan. She's finally found someone who claims to be able to perform a surgical exorcism. She just needs to find a way to get rid of Thomas first. But Thomas can't afford to walk away, nor is he willing to abandon the mysterious girl he's quickly falling for, no matter what dark powers threaten to swallow them both whole.]]> 368 Kelly Andrew 1546104488 B 0 to-read 4.00 2025 I Am Made of Death
author: Kelly Andrew
name: B
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Promise Me Sunshine 214269328 Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of... a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again� list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.]]> 416 Cara Bastone 0593595734 B 0 to-read 4.23 2025 Promise Me Sunshine
author: Cara Bastone
name: B
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Overruled 219848320 Two divorce lawyers determined to share only beds but not hearts discover that love is something that can’t be overruled in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson, USA Today bestselling author of The Game Changer.

Danica Pierce has one great love in her life: work. As one of the top divorce lawyers in Austin, Danica lets her caseload keep her warm at night and has no problem being married to her job, not when love only ends in hurt. When the biggest case of her career gives her a shot at making partner, it seems like nothing could possibly stand in her way...except for her infuriating secret: she's sleeping with the enemy.

Ezra Hart is known for charming his way in and out of a courtroom. In the matter of winning Danica Pierce's heart, however, he's been far less successful. With her verdict to keep things purely physical with no chance of appeal, Ezra struggles to show Danica he's more than the insufferable playboy she's pegged him to be--especially since they find themselves on opposing sides of Danica's most important case to date.

While Dani and Ezra battle it out in the courtroom, the real trial is the one happening between them. When Dani realizes that everything she knows of Ezra might be hearsay--and that she's not the only one with emotional baggage--she must choose between her fear of trusting again and the feelings blossoming between her and the man she thought was her worst enemy.]]> 432 Lana Ferguson 0593549392 B 0 to-read 4.21 2025 Overruled
author: Lana Ferguson
name: B
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Thrashers 217387802 Either you're in or you're out.

Welcome to the Thrashers, the elite friend group at New Helvetia High.

They’re everything everyone wants to be.

Jodi Dillon was never meant to be one of them. Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. Jodi feels out of place, but Zack’s her childhood best friend, so she’s in.

Then Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—and the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her friends or protect herself.

But as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet.

A twisty thrill-ride of unforgettable drama and suspense that "encapsulates the vulnerability of adolescents playing adult games" (Ali Hazelwood) from USA Today bestselling author Julie Soto, The Thrashers will keep you up at night desperate to read just one more page.

"A tour-de-force YA debut from Julie Soto." - Alexa Donne

"For fans of Karen McManus and Kara Thomas, The Thrashers had me holding my breath, sweaty-palming my e-reader, and dying to flip each page to see what would happen next." - Susan Lee

"Expertly plotted and full of flawed, morally gray characters you still can't help rooting for, The Thrashers is one of the best books I've read this year." - Evelyn Skye]]> 352 Julie Soto 125037717X B 4
I love Julie Soto’s writing and the way she tells her stories. Since she has only released romance novels I was a little skeptical about a YA thriller but I thoroughly enjoyed it! The ending I thought could have been more intricate but it was an overall satisfying ending!

4 ⭐️
]]> 4.35 2025 The Thrashers
author: Julie Soto
name: B
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
This was such a fun teenage drama mixed with a supernatural mystery! I also loved the subplot of tension filled romance between two of the characters. I really enjoyed following these characters as their navigating the aftermath of a previous “thrasher’s� suicid. It was an addicting, fast pace read that you want to binge in one sitting!

I love Julie Soto’s writing and the way she tells her stories. Since she has only released romance novels I was a little skeptical about a YA thriller but I thoroughly enjoyed it! The ending I thought could have been more intricate but it was an overall satisfying ending!

4 ⭐️

]]> Variation 210482187 New York Times bestselling author of Fourth Wing comes a new contemporary romance about the summer a celebrated dancer returns home and unearths years of family secrets with the Coast Guard rescue swimmer she never forgot.

Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother’s eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matter the cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she’s sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover. But the memories she’s tried to forget rush in and threaten to take her under.

As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation can mean the difference between life and death. He’s always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau…until the night he left for basic. After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath.

When Hudson’s niece shows up on Allie’s doorstep, desperate to find her birth mother, Allie finds herself in an unimaginable position. Allie and Hudson’s past and present might be endlessly complicated. The thread that tied them to each other all those years ago may have unraveled, but the truth could pull them back together, or drive them apart forever.]]> 459 Rebecca Yarros 1662514697 B 5
It’s one of those books you wish you could read again for the first time!

5 ⭐️]]> 4.19 2024 Variation
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: B
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:
I loved everything about this book. Rebecca Yarros is becoming one of my favorite authors. The way she ropes you into her stories with the characters is truly a talent. The occupations of both the main characters, Allie and Hudson are such a huge part of this story. Him being a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard and her a prima ballerina. I also loved how both of the characters families played such a big role.

It’s one of those books you wish you could read again for the first time!

5 ⭐️
]]> The Night We Lost Him 207299448
Though the authorities rule Liam's death accidental, Nora and her estranged brother, Sam, believe otherwise. As they form an uneasy alliance to unpack the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

With Laura Dave’s “signature blend of pulse-pounding suspense� (PEOPLE) and “trademark emotional heft� (The New York Post), The Night We Lost Him is a “propulsive� (Oprah Daily) must-read, with a heartbreaking final twist you’ll never see coming.]]> 298 Laura Dave 1668002930 B 4
4.5 ⭐️]]> 3.56 2024 The Night We Lost Him
author: Laura Dave
name: B
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:
Loved this! I personally don’t understand the overall rating not being higher for this book bc I thought it was amazing! It wasn’t any longer than what it needed to be, it gives you mystery and a thrilling aspect without it being dragged out and the writing was well crafted, fun and even humorous at times.

4.5 ⭐️
]]> Mile High (Windy City, #1) 60909831
Chicago hockey isn't complete without me - everyone's favourite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.

What I don't like is the new flight attendant on our team's private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I'll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she'll be begging to quit her job.

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can't quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons, or if it's more than that.

STEVIE

I've been a flight attendant for years. I thought I'd seen it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again . . . no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.

Everything but him.]]> 603 Liz Tomforde B 3
Honestly my favorite part was the dogs ]]> 3.98 2022 Mile High (Windy City, #1)
author: Liz Tomforde
name: B
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves:
review:
I liked this one! I know it will be my least favorite in the series just because the stories and characters got much better as the series has went on. But I decided to read this one to see how it all started and I’m glad I did. I will say the characters were kinda put in these boxes of being the one with “body issues� and being the one with “bad boy status� and it did get repetitive to where that’s all they were supposed be was one dimensional.

Honestly my favorite part was the dogs
]]> The Tenant 221733722 There’s no place like home�

Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone that he shares with his fiancee, he's desperate to make ends meet.

Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden knocks at your door with a gripping story of revenge, privilege, and secrets turned sour�]]> 368 Freida McFadden 1464227314 B 0 to-read 4.44 2025 The Tenant
author: Freida McFadden
name: B
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Chain 42779092
"You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last." Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals—and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you'd have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago.

But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning.]]> 357 Adrian McKinty 031653126X B 0 to-read 3.77 2019 The Chain
author: Adrian McKinty
name: B
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wild Eyes (Rose Hill, #2) 209568782
As a chart-topping country singer with a recent streak of bad press it’s hard to find any peace. But I find it in Rose Hill. With a little boy and a little girl who steal my heart just as thoroughly as their dad.

Weston Belmont.

The man is a shameless flirt. He oozes confidence and masculinity in a way that’s downright distracting. And in bed? He’s addictive.

Everything with him is wild and impulsive and I’m desperate to regain some control.

But no one has supported me like West does. And no one has ever made me feel as loved as he does either.

So, while my brain says settling down with a small-town horse trainer is impossible� my heart says I’m right where I belong.

Still, my life as a celebrity haunts me. It has the power to pull us apart.

I can see in his eyes that wants me to stay. And I want that too.

But I know better than anyone that we don’t always get what we want.]]> 464 Elsie Silver 1464220824 B 3
I did really like West and his laidback personality, along with his kids they were really cute!

3 ⭐️]]> 4.24 2024 Wild Eyes (Rose Hill, #2)
author: Elsie Silver
name: B
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
This was overall, an okay read. My main issue was with the FMC-Skylar, I thought she really played into the martyr role at times. She acted as if her life has been extremely difficult but in all actuality she had the ability at 26 years old to make a change if she was that miserable in her career and knew her parents were taking advantage of her. Towards the end it also felt a bit unrealistic at how quickly everything happened when the majority of the book was so easygoing.

I did really like West and his laidback personality, along with his kids they were really cute!

3 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)]]> 211004882 The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology.

A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.

A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.

In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.]]> 464 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866928 B 2 4.37 2025 Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: B
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
I could not be more surprised with my rating on this sequel
]]> Mary Jane 54870208
The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, IMPEACHMENT: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): The doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job—helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.]]> 320 Jessica Anya Blau 0063052296 B 0 to-read 4.09 2021 Mary Jane
author: Jessica Anya Blau
name: B
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach B 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: B
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent and the Wolf (Dark Inheritance Trilogy, #1)]]> 207297940 Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson’s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.

After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.

But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins—and help keep it at bay.

This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?]]> 352 Rebecca Robinson 1668052482 B 0 to-read 4.00 2024 The Serpent and the Wolf (Dark Inheritance Trilogy, #1)
author: Rebecca Robinson
name: B
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Missing Half 217213002 Two women haunted by their sisters' unsolved disappearances band together in this captivating mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Good People Here and host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie.

Nicole “Nic� Monroe is in a rut. At twenty-four, she lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school, a job she only has because her boss is a family friend and feels sorry for her. Everyone has felt sorry for her forthelast seven years—since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace.

On thenight Kasey went missing, her car was found overahundred miles from home. Thedriver’s door was open and her purse was untouched intheseat next to it. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared inthesame way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both their cases eventually went cold.

Nic wants nothing more than to move on—from her sister’s disappearance andthestate it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into her life and offers Nic something she hasn’t felt inalong hope. What follows isagripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find theirmissinghalves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.]]> 272 Ashley Flowers 0593726987 B 0 to-read 4.04 2025 The Missing Half
author: Ashley Flowers
name: B
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Caught Up (Windy City, #3) 199335111
I’m a single dad and starting pitcher for Chicago’s MLB team.
I’m stretched too thin, but I don’t want help raising my son.

Each of his previous nannies only lasted a few weeks before I let them go.
Now, my coach is putting his foot down by hiring the one person I can’t fire—his daughter.

Miller Montgomery is the last woman I should fall for. Too wild, too young, and too unattached.

Chicago is just a quick stop for her. I thought I’d be counting down the days until she left, but summer feels too short when I start thinking about forever.


Miller

As a high-end pastry chef who recently won the most prestigious award in my industry, I’m desperate to prove I deserve it. But with a new title comes new pressure, and I can’t create a fresh and inspiring dessert to save my life.

With only two months to get back on track, I should be focusing in the kitchen, but instead, I let my dad talk me into using my time off to nanny for his star player’s kid.

Kai Rhodes forgot how to have fun, and I’m eager to jog his memory. But when he and his son start to feel like home, I have to remind us both that my time in Chicago ends with the summer.

Besides, I’ve always been a runner, and the last thing I want is to get caught.]]> 408 Liz Tomforde 139972858X B 4 4.37 2023 Caught Up (Windy City, #3)
author: Liz Tomforde
name: B
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
OH MY GOODNESS was this the CUTEST book
]]> Wrong Place Wrong Time 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up� it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]> 416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 B 2
Would not recommend listening to this on audio bc it’s more confusing, if you’re going to read it, do it physically.

2 ⭐️]]> 3.95 2022 Wrong Place Wrong Time
author: Gillian McAllister
name: B
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
I don’t know what else to say about this book other than, NOTHING HAPPENED. It wasn’t until the last 15-20% that something somewhat interesting was revealed but I couldn’t even revel about it because the rest of the book felt pointless and boring.

Would not recommend listening to this on audio bc it’s more confusing, if you’re going to read it, do it physically.

2 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)]]> 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 B 4
I think my favorite thing about this book is seeing how Pip is evolving as a character.

4 ⭐️]]> 4.26 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: B
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
I will say, this book starts off a little slow. BUT it drastically picks up around the 30-40% mark and I was addicted, just like how I was for AGGGTM. I was entertained and had a good time!

I think my favorite thing about this book is seeing how Pip is evolving as a character.

4 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)]]> 58650445
In a world where no entities exist but the Stars, cruel and merciless gods that watch over the world, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy that promises she will fall for a Star, and it will kill them both.

But when one descends to wreak havoc on Elara's Kingdom, she is forced to flee into the arms of her enemy in the neighbouring country.

As she learns more about her own magic, and the depth of the Stars' deceit, she also finds herself learning more about the country she is forced to take refuge in, and the enemy prince forced to train her into a weapon.

Something dark brews within her, a power made of night and shadows that begs to be broken free.]]> 619 Imani Erriu B 0 to-read 3.97 2022 Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)
author: Imani Erriu
name: B
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secret History 29044 559 Donna Tartt 1400031702 B 0 to-read 4.17 1992 The Secret History
author: Donna Tartt
name: B
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2)]]> 59708060
As their romance blossoms into something neither were anticipating, Daisy, Christian, and Julian each have to come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. As their relationships intersect and tangle, they all learn that sometimes life’s most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.]]> 436 Jessa Hastings B 3
I’m not a fan of Daisy or Julian. Christian was okay. The story wasn’t very interesting and I didn’t see the need for it.

2.5 ⭐️]]> 4.09 2021 Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2)
author: Jessa Hastings
name: B
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
These characters truly are ones you love to hate. I didn’t enjoy Daisy Haites nearly as much as Magnolia Parks. This book was the two main characters just throwing around the word “love� so casually and making it fit into any scenario in order for their actions feel justified.

I’m not a fan of Daisy or Julian. Christian was okay. The story wasn’t very interesting and I didn’t see the need for it.

2.5 ⭐️
]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 B 5
The cliffhanger tho ]]> 4.17 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: B
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
I am obsessed!! I loved the way Onyx Storm was written, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. The journey it takes through finding Andarna’s family is fun and entertaining. Xaden is absolute perfection and the tension between him and Violet is unmatched. However, Ridoc is the best part of this book - he is hilarious!

The cliffhanger tho
]]> These Summer Storms 220239075 New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean’s first foray into contemporary fiction, with a sharp, sexy novel about a wealthy New England family's long-overdue reckoning with hidden desires, destructive secrets…and one week that threatens to tear them apart

Alice isn't like the other Storm siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents' approval, attention, and untold billions, she left, building her own life beyond the family’s name and influence. Nothing could induce her to come back, except the shocking death of her larger-than-life father. Now back on the family’s private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave the minute the funeral is over.

Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his widow and their grown children a final challenge--an inheritance game designed to humiliate, devastate, and unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules of the game are clear: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance.

One week on Storm Island is an impossible task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting dysfunctional chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s incessant mansplaining. Her sister-in-law’s unapologetic greed. Her younger sister’s obsession with "vibes". Her mother’s penchant for stirring up competition between her children. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s enigmatic, unfairly good-looking, second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.

A story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel is at once deliciously clever and surprisingly tender, exploring past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.]]> 400 Sarah MacLean 0593972252 B 0 to-read 4.28 2025 These Summer Storms
author: Sarah MacLean
name: B
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Right Move (Windy City, #2)]]> 84943172
She’s a distraction, that’s what she is.

I’m the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister’s best friend, to move into my apartment. She’s messy, emotional, and way too tempting.

But when the team’s General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can’t think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate.

The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural.

Having a fake girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her.


INDY

I never imagined I’d be living with my best friend’s brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who’s suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy.

Because, well…he’s not. He’s controlling of his space and untrusting of others.

Our arrangement isn’t one-sided, though. I’m in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there’s no better date than my ex’s celebrity hero.

Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn’t believe in love.

I’m a romantic and can’t help fantasizing that he’ll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend’s brother was the right move after all]]> 499 Liz Tomforde B 3 1) Indy; FMC was extremely emotional, she cried over everything.
2) Ryan was very thoughtful - some of the kind things he did were realistic and some seemed super unlikely that it was over the top unbelievable.
Overall, it was a good romance with a little bit of cringy dialogue here and there but cute!

3 ⭐️]]> 4.39 2023 The Right Move (Windy City, #2)
author: Liz Tomforde
name: B
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
This was a cute read! Was it a bit insta lovey - yes, but that didn’t really bother me. I think the couple things that did were
1) Indy; FMC was extremely emotional, she cried over everything.
2) Ryan was very thoughtful - some of the kind things he did were realistic and some seemed super unlikely that it was over the top unbelievable.
Overall, it was a good romance with a little bit of cringy dialogue here and there but cute!

3 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 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 B 4
It was like a Nancy Drew moment that was so much fun!

4.5 ⭐️]]> 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: B
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:
This is such a gripping story with so many twists and turns! As the suspect list kept growing, it became so much more difficult to put all the pieces together of what really happened that night that changed everything.

It was like a Nancy Drew moment that was so much fun!

4.5 ⭐️
]]> A Dance of Lies 216420298 A debut fantasy romance filled with hope after heartbreak, secrets, and betrayal, as a dancer-turned-spy must decide how far she will go to secure her freedom

My protector is gone, revealed to be a monster. But I remind myself that I am not a damsel. I’m no princess bound within a tower.

I am a shadow.

Vasalie Moran was once a dancer in King Illian’s court, until he framed her for murder. Barely surviving her two years in the dungeons, she’s suddenly called to face her king. He offers her a deal: become his spy at the six-week royal Gathering and he’ll grant her freedom.

As Illian’s orders grow bloody and dangerous, forcing her to harm and betray those around her, Vasalie discovers that the monster she serves may be aligned with a bigger monster—one far closer to home. With her world threatened, Vasalie enlists the help of Illian’s brother and greatest adversary, the infamous King of the East.

As the rivalry between brothers escalates, with Vasalie caught in the middle, the horrifying truth of her past comes to light. If she wants to survive, she must decide who to trust, who to fight for, and how much of her soul she’s willing to damn in the process.]]> Brittney Arena B 0 to-read 4.00 2025 A Dance of Lies
author: Brittney Arena
name: B
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 B 0 to-read 4.58 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: B
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> That's Not My Name 123429195
Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.

When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.]]> 297 Megan Lally 1728270111 B 4
I flew through reading this thriller! It’s one of those books you wanted binge within one sitting. To be following Lola’s friends as they try to find her while this random male adult claims to be this lost girls father - and trying to put the pieces together was so much fun!

4.25 ⭐️]]> 4.04 2023 That's Not My Name
author: Megan Lally
name: B
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:
Who was gonna tell me how good this book is!!??

I flew through reading this thriller! It’s one of those books you wanted binge within one sitting. To be following Lola’s friends as they try to find her while this random male adult claims to be this lost girls father - and trying to put the pieces together was so much fun!

4.25 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1)]]> 58527403 423 Jessa Hastings 1737281198 B 4
The story between the beloved Magnolia Parks & infamous BJ Valentine is so utterly toxic, messy and just a complete disaster that it’s thoroughly entertaining! I question myself after reading this bc I enjoyed both loving and hating these characters - individually and together.

4.25 ⭐️]]> 3.68 2021 Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1)
author: Jessa Hastings
name: B
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:
It’s funny because early in 2024, I dnf’d this book because I didn’t think I would like where it was going. BOY WAS I WRONG!

The story between the beloved Magnolia Parks & infamous BJ Valentine is so utterly toxic, messy and just a complete disaster that it’s thoroughly entertaining! I question myself after reading this bc I enjoyed both loving and hating these characters - individually and together.

4.25 ⭐️
]]> All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 B 0 to-read 4.23 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: B
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Strange Sally Diamond 62322008
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .]]> 384 Liz Nugent 1844885968 B 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Strange Sally Diamond
author: Liz Nugent
name: B
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Betty 48564330 A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in which a young girl discovers stark truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

"A girl comes of age against the knife."

So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty and violence--both from outside the family, and also, devastatingly, from within. The lush landscape, rich with birdsong, wild fruit, and blazing stars, becomes a kind of refuge for Betty, but when her family's darkest secrets are brought to light, she has no choice but to reckon with the brutal history hiding in the hills, as well as the heart-wrenching cruelties and incredible characters she encounters in her rural town of Breathed, Ohio.

But despite the hardship she faces, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters, and her father's brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all she bears witness to, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write. She recounts the horrors of her family's past and present with pen and paper and buries them deep in the dirt--moments that has stung her so deeply, she could not tell them, until now.

Inspired by the life of her own mother, Tiffany McDaniel sets out to free the past by telling this heartbreaking yet magical story--a remarkable novel that establishes her as one of the freshest and most important voices in American fiction.]]> 480 Tiffany McDaniel 052565707X B 0 to-read 4.41 2020 Betty
author: Tiffany McDaniel
name: B
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nightwatching 150246179 The Fallon Spring Reads Book Club Pick

A mother is forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.]]> 368 Tracy Sierra 0593654765 B 0 to-read 3.79 2024 Nightwatching
author: Tracy Sierra
name: B
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Atmosphere 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 B 0 to-read 4.45 2025 Atmosphere
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: B
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Vicious (Villains, #1) 40874032 A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.]]> 402 Victoria E. Schwab B 4
4.25 ⭐️]]> 4.17 2013 Vicious (Villains, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: B
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves:
review:
I have never read anything like this - and I mean that in the best way possible! This was so intriguing and original that I had to keep reading to find out what was gonna happen. Victor Vale had wit and creativity while Eli Cardhale (I refuse to use Ever) is delulu. Mitch is like the protective, intimidating guy you want on your side for fights and a friend. Sydney is so caring and loyal. Dol - thank goodness for this dog ♥️

4.25 ⭐️
]]> Gifted & Talented 211004124 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?]]> 512 Olivie Blake 1250883407 B 0 to-read 3.84 2025 Gifted & Talented
author: Olivie Blake
name: B
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]> 353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 B 0 to-read 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: B
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> No Exit 35522836
Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper.

Who is the little girl? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?]]> 287 Taylor Adams 1912106760 B 2
2.5 ⭐️]]> 3.98 2017 No Exit
author: Taylor Adams
name: B
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:
SO after reading this, I’m a little confused how this book has such a high rating. The premise sounded good and I was excited to read it…but then shortly after I started it, I became less excited because I didn’t like the writing. The style of writing was just not good, in my opinion. The pacing also was not great. The characters and some of the twists seemed unrealistic. Just not for me!

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

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

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

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

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

Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.]]> 309 Sally Hepworth 1250120950 B 3
3.5 ⭐️]]> 4.11 2020 The Good Sister
author: Sally Hepworth
name: B
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:
While I don’t have a lot of thoughts about this book - I still really enjoyed it! The first half of the book read more like fiction to me and then it started to become more of mystery situation but nothing very high stakes. I liked the way it was written and I was interested to see where the story went.

3.5 ⭐️
]]> Hidden Pictures 58724923 A wildly inventive spin on the supernatural thriller, about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.

Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.

Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.]]> 372 Jason Rekulak 1250819342 B 4
I was I intrigued right off the bat and my interest continued with every single page! It’s one of those books you wish you could go back and read again for the first time!

Happy I started off 2025 with this book!
4.5 ⭐️]]> 4.12 2022 Hidden Pictures
author: Jason Rekulak
name: B
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
Wow was I surprised by this book! I could not have predicted that ending! I actually love books that a bit of paranormal elements to it.

I was I intrigued right off the bat and my interest continued with every single page! It’s one of those books you wish you could go back and read again for the first time!

Happy I started off 2025 with this book!
4.5 ⭐️
]]> Last Twilight in Paris 212378273
London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.

Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours.]]> 336 Pam Jenoff 0778307980 B 0 to-read 3.95 2025 Last Twilight in Paris
author: Pam Jenoff
name: B
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Through the Woods 18659623 'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.

These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.

Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there...]]> 208 Emily Carroll 1442465956 B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 3.94 2014 Through the Woods
author: Emily Carroll
name: B
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
This was an interesting, creepy and little gory graphic read! I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! I was intrigued by every story!

4 ⭐️
]]> Final Girls 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 B 4
I still loved this book almost as much, if not equally as much as his other books I’ve read so far. The beginning was very fascinating getting to know the characters and the storyline, the middle did have a couple slower parts where you wondered where this was going? However it is uphill from there because the action doesn’t stop and I couldn’t put down my kindle to take a break - I was immersed in this story!

The ending - what!? Did not predict that!

4.5 ⭐️]]> 3.81 2017 Final Girls
author: Riley Sager
name: B
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
I’ll admit I had lower expectations going into this book because it was Riley Sagers first published novel - BUT he still did NOT disappoint!

I still loved this book almost as much, if not equally as much as his other books I’ve read so far. The beginning was very fascinating getting to know the characters and the storyline, the middle did have a couple slower parts where you wondered where this was going? However it is uphill from there because the action doesn’t stop and I couldn’t put down my kindle to take a break - I was immersed in this story!

The ending - what!? Did not predict that!

4.5 ⭐️
]]> Home Before Dark 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 B 5 - and I mean that in the best way possible

I have come to love Riley Sager books and this is one of my favorites from him! I loved getting to read the horror novel written by Ewan (FMC father) about his family’s time living in the “haunted house� while also getting to read his daughter; Maggie experience back at the house in present time!

I loved several aspect of this book such as what actually happened 25 years ago in this haunted house where the Holt family lived for 20 days. Several people have died before so how did they make it out alive?
~Haunted House
~Ghosts
~Mystery
~Creepiness

The ENDING tho ]]> 4.05 2020 Home Before Dark
author: Riley Sager
name: B
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
WOW! What did I just read!!??
- and I mean that in the best way possible

I have come to love Riley Sager books and this is one of my favorites from him! I loved getting to read the horror novel written by Ewan (FMC father) about his family’s time living in the “haunted house� while also getting to read his daughter; Maggie experience back at the house in present time!

I loved several aspect of this book such as what actually happened 25 years ago in this haunted house where the Holt family lived for 20 days. Several people have died before so how did they make it out alive?
~Haunted House
~Ghosts
~Mystery
~Creepiness

The ENDING tho
]]> Lock Every Door 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 B 4
“The only reason this building exists is to serve the rich…and trap the poor�

All I can say is this is an absolute page turner. With all the mixed reviews, I didn’t know if I would love this one or it would be one of my favorites by this author - but it was!! I wanted to go back and reread it.

4.5 ⭐️]]> 3.88 2019 Lock Every Door
author: Riley Sager
name: B
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
UMMM WHAT!? I don’t know how Riley Sager does it, but he gets me with his plot twists EVERY TIME!

“The only reason this building exists is to serve the rich…and trap the poor�

All I can say is this is an absolute page turner. With all the mixed reviews, I didn’t know if I would love this one or it would be one of my favorites by this author - but it was!! I wanted to go back and reread it.

4.5 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[The Maid's Secret (Molly the Maid, #3)]]> 216351856 When a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand, Molly’s life is threatened. The question is who’s out to get her, and why? Long-buried secrets will be revealed in this intriguing and heartwarming novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest

A wedding. A heist. A secret.

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away.

But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone's surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.

The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well�.

Together with her friends, Molly combs the past and the present to catch the thief before looming threats against her become real.

A spirited heist caper and an epic love story, The Maid’s Secret is a spellbinding whodunnit that will capture and warm your heart.]]> 336 Nita Prose 0593875419 B 0 to-read 3.93 2025 The Maid's Secret (Molly the Maid, #3)
author: Nita Prose
name: B
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> With a Vengeance 219603177 One train. No stops. A deadly game of survival and revenge.

In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family.Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution.

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall ontoa luxurytrain from Philadelphia to Chicago,an overnightjourney of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.

But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge—and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead.

With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them—even though it means putting her own life at risk.]]> 400 Riley Sager 0593472403 B 0 to-read 3.60 2025 With a Vengeance
author: Riley Sager
name: B
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Skipping Christmas 5357
A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that has become part of our holiday tradition.]]> 198 John Grisham 0099481685 B 4 3.55 2001 Skipping Christmas
author: John Grisham
name: B
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves:
review:
I love this book and movie! It is my favorite Christmas
]]> <![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

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

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

She hates his guts.

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

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

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

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

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

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]> 293 Ally Carter 0063276682 B 2
The dialogue was barely there because as soon as a conversation started between characters, it ended 10 seconds later. The chapters were SUPER short which normally I like short chapters but these were so short I think it kept me getting invested. I also did not feel the romance between the main characters. I just don’t think the writing style was for me.

2 ⭐️]]> 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: B
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
When I heard this was like a Knives Out murder/mystery with romance I was excited to read it but unfortunately it fell really flat.

The dialogue was barely there because as soon as a conversation started between characters, it ended 10 seconds later. The chapters were SUPER short which normally I like short chapters but these were so short I think it kept me getting invested. I also did not feel the romance between the main characters. I just don’t think the writing style was for me.

2 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1)]]> 50548197
A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) � until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets.

There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate� or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere.

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.]]> 320 Naomi Novik 0593128486 B 0 to-read 3.93 2020 A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1)
author: Naomi Novik
name: B
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)]]> 157062582
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to know: Who killed J. D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?

As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past, as long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery posthaste. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.]]> 293 Nita Prose 0593356187 B 0 to-read 3.75 2023 The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)
author: Nita Prose
name: B
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1) 55196813
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0593356152 B 4
I went into this book with low expectations due to the mixed reviews but I was completely enamored by this story and the FMC. Even tho this is a “murder/mystery� the characters bring light and heart into this story that makes it a complete page turner!

4.25 ♥️]]> 3.71 2022 The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1)
author: Nita Prose
name: B
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves:
review:
The most interesting and endearing female main character in a long time - Stephen King…couldn’t have said it better myself!

I went into this book with low expectations due to the mixed reviews but I was completely enamored by this story and the FMC. Even tho this is a “murder/mystery� the characters bring light and heart into this story that makes it a complete page turner!

4.25 ♥️
]]> <![CDATA[The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5)]]> 210040063 Molly the Maid has a whole new mystery to solve in this heartwarming novella from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.

Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s mofinst joyful yet.

But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?

A heartwarming, magical story about the true spirit of the season, The Mistletoe Mystery reminds us that love is the greatest mystery of all.]]> 112 Nita Prose 0593875443 B 3
3 ⭐️]]> 3.41 2024 The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5)
author: Nita Prose
name: B
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
This was a cute little story. It probably would have helped had I read The Maid first, but it was still easy to understand and nice to read before the holidays!

3 ⭐️
]]> The Christmas Guest 83814905 An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family's Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village's grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.]]> 96 Peter Swanson 0063297450 B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 3.58 2023 The Christmas Guest
author: Peter Swanson
name: B
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this novella. I listed to it on audio and I was interested the whole time and didn’t expect the outcome. It was creatively written for it being so short. If you’re looking for a quick, fun, intriguing murder mystery for Christmas - this is a great one!

4 ⭐️
]]> The Hunting Party 37642030 Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?]]> 406 Lucy Foley 0008297126 B 2
2 ⭐️]]> 3.59 2018 The Hunting Party
author: Lucy Foley
name: B
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
Unfortunately this may be my last Lucy Foley book. I just don’t think her writing style is for me. I find myself intrigued at the beginning and then the stories always seem to drag on and I become bored. There was a lot of filler in this book that really took away from the story. And it didn’t feel like with the murder mystery that the stakes were high or urgent, it was almost lagging.

2 ⭐️
]]> Tell Me Lies 32735369 Tell Me Lies is about that one person who still haunts you—the other one. The wrong one. The one you couldn’t let go of. The one you’ll never forget.

Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she’s never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.

Confident and cocksure, Stephen sees something in Lucy that no one else has, and she’s quickly seduced by this vision of herself, and the sense of possibility that his attention brings her. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him, and his single-minded drive for success extends to winning, and keeping, Lucy’s heart.

Alternating between Lucy’s and Stephen’s voices, Tell Me Lies follows their connection through college and post-college life in New York City. Deep down, Lucy knows she has to acknowledge the truth about Stephen. But before she can free herself from this addicting entanglement, she must confront and heal her relationship with her mother—or risk losing herself in a delusion about what it truly means to love.

With the psychological insight and biting wit of Luckiest Girl Alive, and the yearning ambitions and desires of Sweetbitter, this keenly intelligent and staggeringly resonant novel chronicles the exhilaration and dilemmas of young adulthood, and the difficulty of letting go, even when you know you should.]]> 352 Carola Lovering B 4
I watched the show first and then realized I had to read the book to find out more because I was obsessed! I will say I love the show more than the book but I still loved the book - it was a page turner. I was still so excited to see how things would play out. I loved how in this book we get Stephen perspective because it helps you understand his thoughts play into his actions. He is something different that one but entertaining nonetheless! Lucy’s character has absolutely no backbone in this book whereas in the tv show she does. I would have preferred to see more of that side to her in the book as well.

4.25 ⭐️]]> 3.46 2018 Tell Me Lies
author: Carola Lovering
name: B
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
One word to describe Stephen DeMarco - SOCIOPATH.

I watched the show first and then realized I had to read the book to find out more because I was obsessed! I will say I love the show more than the book but I still loved the book - it was a page turner. I was still so excited to see how things would play out. I loved how in this book we get Stephen perspective because it helps you understand his thoughts play into his actions. He is something different that one but entertaining nonetheless! Lucy’s character has absolutely no backbone in this book whereas in the tv show she does. I would have preferred to see more of that side to her in the book as well.

4.25 ⭐️
]]> Spectacular (Caraval, #3.5) 203578793 Welcome, welcome back to the mysteriously enchanting world of CARAVAL! Return to the legendary magic and the whimsical wonder with this beautifully illustrated holiday novella.

Snowflakes are falling.
Invitations are arriving.
And holiday magic is swirling in the capital city of the Meridian Empire.

It’s Great Holiday Eve Eve. Scarlett Dragna is planning a spectacular Holiday celebration for the city. Donatella is searching for the perfect gift. Julian is looking ridiculously handsome in green. And Legend . . .

Well, sadly Legend is not fond of the Great Holiday. Tella is hoping her perfect gift will change his mind. Unfortunately, she hasn’t found this perfect gift just yet. But it is Great Holiday Eve Eve . . . surely there’s some holiday magic swirling around.

Welcome, welcome back to the world of Caraval, where even holidays are not as they seem.

Set after Stephanie Garber's #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Caraval series, this delightful novella will take readers on the ultimate holiday adventure full of clockwork boys, poisoned candy, impish snow globes, merriment, and―if Tella gets her way―love.

Gorgeously illustrated by Rosie Thorns, SPECTACULAR is the perfect edition for collectors, readers, dreamers, and lovers of holiday magic.]]> 207 Stephanie Garber 1250893402 B 3
3 ⭐️]]> 3.71 2024 Spectacular (Caraval, #3.5)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: B
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:
I loved the Caraval Series so I was happy to get a novella continuing this story in anyway possible! Hard to rate novellas but this was a decent one - not a whole lot to it but cute for short Christmas read!

3 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid's Wedding (The Housemaid, #2.5)]]> 220921867 The Housemaid’s Wedding is a winter-themed short story meant to fill in the long gap between Book 2 of the Housemaid series (The Housemaid’s Secret) and Book 3 (The Housemaid is Watching). It can be read either between Book 2 and Book 3, or after Book 3.

Today is supposed to be the happiest day of my life.

I'm engaged to the man of my dreams, and in a few short hours, I'm going to stand before a judge, who will declare us husband and wife, till death does us part. Despite some bumps in the road, this day is everything I dreamed it would be.

There's only one problem:

Someone out there doesn't want me to live long enough to say my vows.

And if I'm not careful, they may very well get their wish.]]> 76 Freida McFadden B 4
4 ⭐️]]> 3.40 2024 The Housemaid's Wedding (The Housemaid, #2.5)
author: Freida McFadden
name: B
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:
Cute, fun short story! I’ll read anything that’s within The Housemaids series!

4 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)]]> 123027751
Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood–the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire� and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Six Scorched Roses is a standalone fantasy romance novella set in the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, perfect for those who love dark, romantic tales with bite and fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout.]]> 187 Carissa Broadbent B 3
3 ⭐️]]> 4.25 2023 Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: B
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:
I thought this novella was just okay. I’m realizing that I don’t think Clarissa Broadbent’s writing is for me. I’ve read this novella and The Serpent and the Wings of Night and I didn’t love either of them. This was a decent novella but I’ll likely forget it soon.

3 ⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)]]> 207611511 She thrives in chaos. He prefers routine. The only thing they have in common? How much they hate each other.

From the author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the highly anticipated next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance in which enemies turn to lovers when they're forced to work together during one hot summer.

Teddy Andersen doesn’t have a plan. She’s never needed one before. She’s always been more of a go with the flow type of girl, but for some reason, the flow doesn’t seem to be going her way this time.

Her favorite vintage suede jacket has a hole in it, her sewing machine is broken, and her best friend just got engaged. Suddenly, everything feels like it’s starting to change. Teddy’s used to being a leader, but now she feels like she’s getting left behind, wondering if life in the small town she loves is enough for her anymore.

Gus Ryder has a lot on his plate. He doesn’t know what’s taking care of his family’s 8,000 acre ranch, or parenting his spunky six-year-old daughter, who is staying with him for the summer. Gus has always been the dependable one, but when his workload starts to overwhelm him, he has to admit that he can’t manage everything on his own. He needs help.

His little sister’s best friend, the woman he can’t stand, is not who he had in mind. But when no one else can step in, Teddy's the only option he’s got. Teddy decides to use the summer to try and figure out what she wants out of life. Gus, on the other hand, starts to worry that he’ll never find what he needs.

Tempers flare, tension builds, and for the first time ever, Gus and Teddy start to see each other in a different light. As new feelings start to simmer below the surface, they must decide whether or not to act on them. Can they keep things cool? Or will both of them get burned?]]> 313 Lyla Sage 0593732456 B 3
However� I didn’t love the way their story was written.

The beginning was really good and then it felt like all of sudden, Teddy & Gus went from straight hating each other to insta love. Their funny banter that we got in the previous books from them was almost nonexistent in this book. I also didn’t like the spicy scenes, it was a bit cringy with some of the dialogue. I will say I did love Gus’s daughter - she was adorable!

I was so sad because I thought I would absolutely love this book and have been looking forward to it for a long time ]]> 4.32 2024 Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)
author: Lyla Sage
name: B
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves:
review:
I have been waiting since “Done and Dusted� to read Teddy & Gus’s story and I had such high expectations because I loved these characters interactions in the previous two books!

However� I didn’t love the way their story was written.

The beginning was really good and then it felt like all of sudden, Teddy & Gus went from straight hating each other to insta love. Their funny banter that we got in the previous books from them was almost nonexistent in this book. I also didn’t like the spicy scenes, it was a bit cringy with some of the dialogue. I will say I did love Gus’s daughter - she was adorable!

I was so sad because I thought I would absolutely love this book and have been looking forward to it for a long time
]]>