kait's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 11:50:59 -0700 60 kait's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Lord of Stariel (Stariel, #1)]]> 41838393 The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with. Winged, beautifully deadly problems. For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.The Lord of Stariel is the first book in the Stariel quartet, a romantic cozy fantasy series about fae, magical estates, and complicated families.]]> 322 A.J. Lancaster 0473451255 kait 0 currently-reading 3.94 2018 The Lord of Stariel (Stariel, #1)
author: A.J. Lancaster
name: kait
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Stepford Wives 52350
At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.]]> 144 Ira Levin 0060080841 kait 0 3.85 1972 The Stepford Wives
author: Ira Levin
name: kait
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)]]> 34873380 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 401 Pierce Brown kait 3 4.43 2014 Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
author: Pierce Brown
name: kait
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)]]> 40864002 ASIN B08H831J18 moved to the more recent edition

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?]]> 151 Becky Chambers kait 0 to-read 4.25 2021 A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)
author: Becky Chambers
name: kait
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August]]> 35066358 417 Claire North kait 4 book-club 4.03 2014 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
author: Claire North
name: kait
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Man at the Airport: How Social Media Saved My Life (One Syrian's Story)]]> 57689069
When revolution and war broke out in his home country in 2011, Hassan Al Kontar was a young Syrian living and working in the UAE. A conscientious objector by faith and temperament, he refused to return to Syria for compulsory military service and lived illegally before being deported to Malaysia in 2018. Unable to obtain a visa for any other country, he became trapped in the arrivals zone at Kuala Lumpur Airport. Exiled by war and trapped by geopolitics, Al Kontar used social media and humour to tell his story to the world, becoming an international celebrity and ultimately finding refuge in Canada.

Man at the Airport explores what it means to be a Syrian, an “illegal” and a refugee. More broadly, it examines the power of social media to amplify individual voices and facilitate political dissent. Hassan Al Kontar was the first—but not the last—to galvanize international public opinion in his own defense.]]> 232 Hassan Al Kontar 1777010187 kait 5 4.16 Man at the Airport: How Social Media Saved My Life (One Syrian's Story)
author: Hassan Al Kontar
name: kait
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
A book gifted to me by a coworker with a powerful story
]]> The Hobbit (Middle Earth, #0) 38819529 An alternate cover edition can be found here and here

A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.]]> 297 J.R.R. Tolkien kait 5 4.49 1937 The Hobbit (Middle Earth, #0)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: kait
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Big Swiss 60701439
One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…]]> 336 Jen Beagin 1982153083 kait 4 audiobook 3.69 2023 Big Swiss
author: Jen Beagin
name: kait
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: audiobook
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Little Women (Little Women, #1)]]> 1934 This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451529305.

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

]]> 449 Louisa May Alcott kait 5 audiobook 4.16 1868 Little Women (Little Women, #1)
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: kait
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1868
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: audiobook
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beautiful World, Where Are You]]> 75555793 *The Sunday Times and Global number one bestseller*
*Winner of Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards*
*A Book of the Year in The Times, the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Financial Times*

Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he'd like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.

Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young - but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they worry about sex and friendship and the times they live in. Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?]]> 337 Sally Rooney 0571365442 kait 2 audiobook 3.50 2021 Beautiful World, Where Are You
author: Sally Rooney
name: kait
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: audiobook
review:
No babe its fine it’s just the pompous artificial insufferable characters in the story that you loved that threw me off a little bit
]]> <![CDATA[Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)]]> 195820807
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?]]> 432 Abby Jimenez 1538704439 kait 2 audiobook 4.35 2024 Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: kait
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: audiobook
review:
2.5 or 2.75 idk maybe even a 3 if I’m feeling crazy. Maybe I need to stop reading romance
]]> <![CDATA[Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1)]]> 56791389 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BKGYQXW


The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.]]> 446 Matt Dinniman kait 5 favorites, audiobook 4.49 2020 Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1)
author: Matt Dinniman
name: kait
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: favorites, audiobook
review:
Are you asking me if I fucked the orc?
]]> <![CDATA[Mort (Discworld, #4; Death, #1)]]> 386372
Death is the Grim Reaper of the Discworld, a black-robed skeleton with a scythe who ushers souls into the next world. He is also fond of cats and endlessly baffled by humanity. Soon Death is yearning to experience what humanity really has to offer, but to do that, he'll need to hire some help.

It's an offer Mort can't refuse. As Death's apprentice he'll have free board, use of the company horse—and being dead isn't compulsory. It's a dream job—until Mort falls in love with Death's daughter, Ysabell, and discovers that your boss can be a killer on your love life…]]> 243 Terry Pratchett 0061020680 kait 5 book-club, favorites I LOVE YOU MORT 4.24 1987 Mort (Discworld, #4; Death, #1)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: kait
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: book-club, favorites
review:
I LOVE YOU MORT
]]> One-Star Romance 201245798 A struggling writer is forced to walk down the aisle at her best friend’s wedding with the man who gave her book a very public one-star rating in this fresh romantic comedy from Laura Hankin.

Natalie and Rob couldn’t have less in common. Nat’s a messy artist, and Rob’s a rigid academic. The only thing they share is their devotion to their respective best friends—who just got engaged. Still, unexpected chemistry has Natalie cautiously optimistic about being maid of honor to Rob’s best man.

Until, minutes before the ceremony, Nat learns that Rob wrote a one-star review of her new novel, which has them both reeling: Nat from imposter syndrome, and Rob over the reason he needed to write it.

When the reception ends, these two opposites hope they’ll never meet again. But, as they slip from their twenties into their thirties, they’re forced together whenever their fast-track best friends celebrate another milestone. Through housewarmings and christenings, life-changing triumphs and failures, Natalie and Rob grapple with their own choices—and how your harshest critic can become your perfectly imperfect match.

After all, even the truest love stories sometimes need a bit of rewriting.]]> 400 Laura Hankin 0593438213 kait 3 3.65 2024 One-Star Romance
author: Laura Hankin
name: kait
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Maniac 75665931 From one of contemporary literature’s most exciting new voices, a haunting story centered on the Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, tracing the impact of his singular legacy on the dreams and nightmares of the twentieth century and the nascent age of AI

Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year, it explored the life and thought of a clutch of mathematicians and physicists who took science to strange and sometimes dangerous new realms. In The MANIAC, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale.

A prodigy whose gifts terrified the people around him, John von Neumann transformed every field he touched, inventing game theory and the first programable computer, and pioneering AI, digital life, and cellular automata. Through a chorus of family members, friends, colleagues, and rivals, Labatut shows us the evolution of a mind unmatched and of a body of work that has unmoored the world in its wake.

The MANIAC places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych that begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, an encounter embodying the central question of von Neumann's most ambitious unfinished project: the creation of a self-reproducing machine, an intelligence able to evolve beyond human understanding or control.

A work of beauty and fabulous momentum, The MANIAC confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species.]]> 368 Benjamín Labatut 0593654471 kait 0 dnf, book-club 4.33 2023 The Maniac
author: Benjamín Labatut
name: kait
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: dnf, book-club
review:

]]> The Black Spider 17262519 The Black Spider can be seen as a parable of evil in the heart or of evil at large in society (Thomas Mann saw it as foretelling the advent of Nazism), or as a vision, anticipating H. P. Lovecraft, of cosmic horror. There’s no question, in any case, that it is unforgettably creepy.]]> 108 Jeremias Gotthelf 1590176685 kait 2 3.63 1842 The Black Spider
author: Jeremias Gotthelf
name: kait
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1842
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Yellowface 62060532
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 329 R.F. Kuang kait 4 book-club 3.77 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: kait
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 53463056 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.]]> 1137 Brandon Sanderson kait 3 Completely restarted this book early January after initially making it about 35% in, and I made it my life’s mission to finish this book before I even thought about picking up another one. I fear that is the only reason I finished it. This book felt like a chore to read.
Objectively, I feel like this is a good book that I would really like- in depth world building, complex magic system, multifaceted characters. So often, though, I found myself skimming pages at a time because I was simply bored. Maybe it’s a me thing, but reading lots of points of views makes a story drag. Don’t ask me any specifics about a good couple hundred pages in the last third of the books. The last 130 pages were absolutely riveting and I was on the edge of my seat as some of the pieces were tied together. But it took (literally) 1000 pages for me to be REALLY hooked.
Will I read the rest of the books… only time will tell. In the meantime, a cushy romance is calling my name]]> 4.73 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: kait
average rating: 4.73
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
Yeah, I finished this behemoth in… almost 5 months!
Completely restarted this book early January after initially making it about 35% in, and I made it my life’s mission to finish this book before I even thought about picking up another one. I fear that is the only reason I finished it. This book felt like a chore to read.
Objectively, I feel like this is a good book that I would really like- in depth world building, complex magic system, multifaceted characters. So often, though, I found myself skimming pages at a time because I was simply bored. Maybe it’s a me thing, but reading lots of points of views makes a story drag. Don’t ask me any specifics about a good couple hundred pages in the last third of the books. The last 130 pages were absolutely riveting and I was on the edge of my seat as some of the pieces were tied together. But it took (literally) 1000 pages for me to be REALLY hooked.
Will I read the rest of the books… only time will tell. In the meantime, a cushy romance is calling my name
]]> Lonely Castle in the Mirror 54633167
Delving into their emotional lives with sympathy and a generous warmth, Lonely Castle in the Mirror shows the unexpected rewards of reaching out to others. Exploring vivid human stories with a twisty and puzzle-like plot, this heart-warming novel is full of joy and hope for anyone touched by sadness and vulnerability.]]> 355 Mizuki Tsujimura 0857527274 kait 3 4.25 2017 Lonely Castle in the Mirror
author: Mizuki Tsujimura
name: kait
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells kait 3 book-club 4.11 2017 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: kait
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: book-club
review:
Honestly I don’t really remember what happened
]]> It's Kind of a Funny Story 9396843 452 Ned Vizzini 1423141083 kait 5 4.03 2006 It's Kind of a Funny Story
author: Ned Vizzini
name: kait
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves:
review:
4.75. Could not tell you the last time I finished an entire book in one sitting
]]> Flowers for Algernon 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.
?
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X kait 5 4.19 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: kait
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, #1)]]> 5899779 “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses,]]> 320 Seth Grahame-Smith 1594743347 kait 3 3.32 2009 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, #1)
author: Seth Grahame-Smith
name: kait
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is How You Lose the Time War]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar kait 2 book-club 3.86 2019 This Is How You Lose the Time War
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: kait
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves: book-club
review:
As the prophets say, “Plot is not necessary. Takes away from the prose”
]]> <![CDATA[Enemies with Benefits (Loveless Brothers #1)]]> 131840512 I don’t love him. I don’t even like him.
I just want him.

Eli Loveless was my nemesis from the first day of kindergarten until we graduated high school. Everything I did, he had to do better - and vice versa. The day he left town was the best day of my life.

Ten years later, the day he came back was the worst.

Now he’s my co-worker.

Grown-up Eli Loveless is sexy as sin. He’s hotter than asphalt in the summer. The irritating kid I once knew is gone, and he’s been replaced by a man with green eyes, perfect abs, and a cocky smile.

It’s bad that I want him.

It’s worse that he wants me back.

There are looks. There are smirks. There are smiles that make my panties burst into flame.

And then there’s a shared kiss that leads to the hottest night of my life.

This is no office romance. This is a five-alarm fire.

What’s a girl to do when the man I can’t stand is the one I can’t stop lusting after?

Enter into a friends-with-benefits agreement, of course.

No dates. No relationship. Just blisteringly hot sex, because if there’s one person I could never fall for, it’s Eli.

...right?

Words: 112,319]]> 434 Roxie Noir 1393906648 kait 2 3.68 2019 Enemies with Benefits (Loveless Brothers #1)
author: Roxie Noir
name: kait
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Travelling Cat Chronicles 40961230
An instant international bestseller and indie bestseller, The Travelling Cat Chronicles has charmed readers around the world. With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe...

With his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love.]]> 281 Hiro Arikawa 0735235244 kait 5 book-club 4.35 2012 The Travelling Cat Chronicles
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: kait
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> If We Were Villains 30319086
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.]]> 354 M.L. Rio 125009528X kait 0 to-read 4.11 2017 If We Were Villains
author: M.L. Rio
name: kait
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)]]> 22055262
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.]]> 400 Victoria E. Schwab 0765376458 kait 0 to-read 4.04 2015 A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: kait
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]> 331 David Grann 0385534264 kait 0 dnf, book-club 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: kait
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: dnf, book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)]]> 59406549 Why save the world when you can have tea?

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city's most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times—bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]> 338 Hafsah Faizal 0374389403 kait 0 to-read 3.49 2024 A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: kait
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Crane Among Wolves 213092742 June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul's and Daehyun's fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.]]> 359 June Hur 1250858097 kait 0 to-read 3.91 2024 A Crane Among Wolves
author: June Hur
name: kait
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) 32768522
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.]]> 522 Rainbow Rowell 1250135028 kait 0 4.17 2015 Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: kait
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
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]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 kait 3 book-club 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: kait
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> Love and Other Words 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

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

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

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

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 kait 4 teeeheeeheheheeeeheheeheeh 4.23 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: kait
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves:
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teeeheeeheheheeeeheheeheeh
]]> I Who Have Never Known Men 11996 "As far back as I can recall, I have been in the bunker."

A young woman is kept in a cage underground with thirty-nine other females, guarded by armed men who never speak; her crimes unremembered... if indeed there were crimes.

The youngest of forty—a child with no name and no past—she survives for some purpose long forgotten in a world ravaged and wasted. In this reality where intimacy is forbidden—in the unrelenting sameness of the artificial days and nights—she knows nothing of books and time, of needs and feelings.

Then everything changes... and nothing changes.

A young woman who has never known men—a child who knows of no history before the bars and restraints—must now reinvent herself, piece by piece, in a place she has never been... and in the face of the most challenging and terrifying of unknowns: freedom.]]> 208 Jacqueline Harpman 0380731819 kait 5 favorites 4.22 1995 I Who Have Never Known Men
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: kait
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> The Goldfinch 17333223
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]> 771 Donna Tartt 0316055433 kait 5 favorites 3.94 2013 The Goldfinch
author: Donna Tartt
name: kait
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/30
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2)]]> 40727118
But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: The magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters--the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millenia--only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name...the Bermuda Triangle.

Now Percy and his friends--Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson--must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family--one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.]]> 279 Rick Riordan 0120000318 kait 0 4.24 2006 The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2)
author: Rick Riordan
name: kait
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune kait 4 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: kait
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/08/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Secret History 29044 559 Donna Tartt 1400031702 kait 4 4.17 1992 The Secret History
author: Donna Tartt
name: kait
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Permafrost 42200387
Repleto de imágenes poéticas, contundentes y muy físicas, este carácter tan palpable del texto no es gratuito en una novela que nos habla del cuerpo, del sexo, del yo; una obra aguda y directa que reivindica la libertad femenina en el placer y en la soledad.

Eva Baltasar inicia con "Permafrost" un tríptico de protagonistas femeninas que quiere explorar distintas etapas en la vida de las mujeres.]]> 144 Eva Baltasar 8439735146 kait 5 3.81 2018 Permafrost
author: Eva Baltasar
name: kait
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)]]> 28187 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.]]> 377 Rick Riordan 0786838655 kait 4 4.31 2005 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: kait
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Boulder 49236083 Finalista del International Booker Prize 2023.

Después de la exitosa Permafrost, Boulder es la segunda novela del tríptico donde Eva Baltasar explora la voz, la vida y el cuerpo de tres mujeres.

La protagonista de Boulder se gana la vida como cocinera en un viejo barco mercante. Es la situación perfecta: soledad, una cabina, el océano, algún puerto en el que conocer mujeres y horas para encarar el vacío, para sentir la fuerza de la provisionalidad. Hasta que un día una de ellas consigue que abandone el mar, acceda a vivir entre cuatro paredes y se implique en la gestación asistida y en la educación de un hijo. ?Qué ha hecho la maternidad con la mujer que en su día conoció en un bar de la Patagonia? ?Qué hará ella, animal enjaulado en una casa unifamiliar de Reikiavik?
Todo ha cambiado excepto su apodo, Boulder: esas enormes piedras aisladas en medio del paisaje, expuestas a todo sin que nadie sepa de dónde vienen ni porque están ahí.]]> 128 Eva Baltasar 8439736967 kait 5 3.88 2020 Boulder
author: Eva Baltasar
name: kait
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Forevers 56777027 What would you do if you knew the world was going to be destroyed by a huge asteroid in one month? The mesmerising YA debut from acclaimed crime writer and New York Times Bestselling author of We Begin at the End.

They knew the end was coming. They saw it ten years back, when it was far enough away in space and time and meaning.
The changes were gradual, and then sudden.

For Mae and her friends, it means navigating a life where action and consequence are no longer related. Where the popular are both trophies and targets. And where petty grudges turn deadlier with each passing day. So, did Abi Manton jump off the cliff or was she pushed? Her death is just the beginning of the end.

With teachers losing control of their students and themselves, and the end rushing toward all of them, it leaves everyone facing the answer to one, simple question...

What would you do if you could get away with anything?]]> 355 Chris Whitaker 1471410676 kait 0 dnf 3.23 2021 The Forevers
author: Chris Whitaker
name: kait
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: dnf
review:
DNF at page 130. I have never been more confused by a book in my life
]]> Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, #1) 28954189 Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

An alternate cover edition of ISBN: 9781442472426]]> 435 Neal Shusterman kait 3 4.32 2016 Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, #1)
author: Neal Shusterman
name: kait
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves:
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]]> The Little Prince 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]> 96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 kait 0 4.32 1943 The Little Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: kait
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/05
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]]> <![CDATA[A Spy in the House of Love (Cities of the Interior, #4)]]> 248665 166 Ana?s Nin 0671871390 kait 0 to-read 3.75 1954 A Spy in the House of Love (Cities of the Interior, #4)
author: Ana?s Nin
name: kait
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke]]> 57876868
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?]]> 120 Eric LaRocca 1951658132 kait 0 to-read 2.93 2021 Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
author: Eric LaRocca
name: kait
average rating: 2.93
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Husband Material (London Calling, #2)]]> 58323892 Wanted:
One (very real) husband
Nowhere near perfect but desperately trying his best

In BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends…and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc’s feeling the social pressure to propose. But it’ll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from I don’t know what I’m doing to I do.

Good thing Oliver is such perfect HUSBAND MATERIAL.

This Summer 2022, you’re invited to the event(s) of the season.]]> 423 Alexis Hall 1728250943 kait 2 I’m mad this book exists 3.55 2022 Husband Material (London Calling, #2)
author: Alexis Hall
name: kait
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves:
review:
I’m mad this book exists
]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band – and meeting the man who would become her husband – her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 kait 0 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: kait
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos, #0)]]> 60766189 A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.]]> 868 Samantha Shannon 1635577926 kait 5 favorites 4.34 2023 A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos, #0)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: kait
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> My Husband 63017297 In this suspenseful and darkly funny debut novel, a sophisticated French woman spends her life obsessing over her perfect husband--but can their marriage survive her passionate love?

At forty years old, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated. After all, would a truly infatuated man ever let go of his wife's hand when they're sitting on the couch together?

Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, charting every mistake and punishing him accordingly to help him improve. And she tests him--setting traps to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met.

Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . .

The winner of France's First Novel Prize in 2021, My Husband builds on the premise of hits like Gone Girl and Fates and Furies--how well can you really know your spouse?--and adds the tension and creepy obsession of You. The result is an irresistible read--compelling, tense, and engaging, infused with sly subversive humor, and told in an utterly original voice that makes it unforgettable.

Translated from the French by Emma Ramadan]]> 272 Maud Ventura 0063274825 kait 4 book-club 3.67 2021 My Husband
author: Maud Ventura
name: kait
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> Infinite Jest 6759
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.]]> 1088 David Foster Wallace kait 0 to-read 4.27 1996 Infinite Jest
author: David Foster Wallace
name: kait
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Year of Rest and Relaxation]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]> 289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 kait 3 3.62 2018 My Year of Rest and Relaxation
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: kait
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns, #1)]]> 28374007 When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.?]]> 403 Kendare Blake 0062385437 kait 2 3.78 2016 Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns, #1)
author: Kendare Blake
name: kait
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves:
review:
Nothing happens for 350 pages and when something finally does happen it’s all tell no show
]]> <![CDATA[The Tattooist of Auschwitz (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #1)]]> 38359036 T?towierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.]]> 272 Heather Morris 006287067X kait 0 to-read 4.32 2018 The Tattooist of Auschwitz (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #1)
author: Heather Morris
name: kait
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Piranesi 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X kait 0 to-read 4.22 2020 Piranesi
author: Susanna Clarke
name: kait
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Between 41534
As he battles both the psychotic stalking of his family and the unseen enemy that haunts his sleep, Hilton's sense of reality is slipping away.]]> 304 Tananarive Due 0060819847 kait 0 book-club, dnf 4.03 1995 The Between
author: Tananarive Due
name: kait
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves: book-club, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)]]> 19161852
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]> 468 N.K. Jemisin kait 0 to-read 4.29 2015 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: kait
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Billionaire’s Wake-up-call Girl (Billionaires of Manhattan, #2)]]> 55538972
Answer: practically impossible. It turns out that no wake-up call company in the world will take him on as a client. They’ve all had enough of his surly personality.

So in an effort not to lose my job, I secretly start making the calls myself, every day at 4:30 am sharp. OMG yes you read that right—four freaking thirty in the morning.

Confession: I’m not the nicest wake-up-call girl at that hour. Hello! Who wakes up before the roosters are even crowing? Luckily he doesn’t seem to mind my get-your-ass-out-of-bed attitude.

Day by day we’re becoming closer, and the calls start turning hot, like pay-by-the-minute hot and oh-so-wild. Snuggled under the covers with the moonlight streaming in the windows, we divulge our secrets to each other, but the one thing that he can never find out is that the sexy vixen who wakes him up every morning is just the lowly assistant who wears frumpy dresses. I can only imagine his disappointment.

Now he wants to take me out on a date and he’s scouring Manhattan to find me. He’s an overachieving billionaire bent on a mission. How much longer can I keep up this charade?]]> 299 Annika Martin kait 2 3.91 2018 The Billionaire’s Wake-up-call Girl (Billionaires of Manhattan, #2)
author: Annika Martin
name: kait
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Roommate Is a Vampire (My Vampires, #1)]]> 60041932 True love is at stake in this charming, debut romantic comedy.

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean...

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.]]> 341 Jenna Levine 0593548914 kait 3 3.46 2023 My Roommate Is a Vampire (My Vampires, #1)
author: Jenna Levine
name: kait
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
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]]> Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

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

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

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

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 kait 4 book-club 4.11 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: kait
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/15
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> Neverwhere (London Below, #1) 14497
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]> 370 Neil Gaiman 0060557818 kait 3 book-club 4.17 1996 Neverwhere (London Below, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: kait
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/12
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves: book-club
review:

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

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

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 kait 2 book-club 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: kait
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/30
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves: book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1)]]> 36199084 A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...]]> 323 Helen Hoang 0451490819 kait 1 3.88 2018 The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1)
author: Helen Hoang
name: kait
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Boyfriend Material (London Calling, #1)]]> 50225678 425 Alexis Hall 1728206146 kait 4 Witty, charming, and serious yet so unserious at the same time, Boyfriend Material is my favorite romance novel I’ve read to date.]]> 3.98 2020 Boyfriend Material (London Calling, #1)
author: Alexis Hall
name: kait
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/29
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:
What started as light and easy fluff to turn off my brain to after reading lengthy fantasy has ended in writing a review to cherish the high this novel has given me. While I usually opt out of reading romance books on account of a lack of relatability and desire for more depth, this silly fake-british-boyfriend book does just the opposite and more. Quirky in the way that modern romances tend to be. The characters are humanly flawed and make choices that are so real to what any person would do if presented with the situation. Rather than simply being told they have figured it out after an inspirational one-liner, you watch the characters grow and learn through their own self-deprecating mistakes. The side characters added genuine movement to the storyline (both forward and backwards). While the ending was rushed, I constantly found myself genuinely anticipating picking back up this book throughout my day whenever I was able to.
Witty, charming, and serious yet so unserious at the same time, Boyfriend Material is my favorite romance novel I’ve read to date.
]]> Red, White & Royal Blue 41150487
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]> 448 Casey McQuiston 1250316774 kait 4 4.06 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: kait
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/29
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin kait 0 to-read 4.08 2006 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
author: Liu Cixin
name: kait
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I'm Glad My Mom Died 59364173
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy kait 0 4.45 2022 I'm Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: kait
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)]]> 44418194 A powerful curse forces the exiled Queen of Faerie to choose between ambition and humanity in this highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the thronePower is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her twin sister, Taryn, whose life is in peril.Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity . . .]]> 321 Holly Black kait 2 4.35 2019 The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)
author: Holly Black
name: kait
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/27
date added: 2024/03/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)]]> 26032887 The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.]]> 336 Holly Black 0316310336 kait 2 4.27 2019 The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)
author: Holly Black
name: kait
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> When the Apricots Bloom 51831724 In this moving, suspenseful debut novel, three courageous women confront the complexities of trust, friendship, motherhood, and betrayal under the rule of a ruthless dictator and his brutal secret police. Former foreign correspondent Gina Wilkinson draws on her own experiences to take readers inside a haunting story of Iraq at the turn of the millennium and the impossible choices faced by families under a deadly regime.

At night, in Huda’s fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the mukhabarat—the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador’s wife. Huda has no wish to be an informant, but fears for her teenaged son, who may be forced to join a deadly militia. Nor does she know that Ally has dangerous secrets of her own.

Huda’s former friend, Rania, enjoyed a privileged upbringing as the daughter of a sheikh. Now her family’s wealth is gone, and Rania too is battling to keep her child safe and a roof over their heads. As the women’s lives intersect, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing possible betrayal at every turn, all three must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect their families.]]> 304 Gina Wilkinson 1496729358 kait 0 dnf 3.81 2021 When the Apricots Bloom
author: Gina Wilkinson
name: kait
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)]]> 62202008 When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross's Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 356 Rebecca Ross kait 4 4.23 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: kait
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (Stars and Shadows, #1)]]> 61189711
Where does your allegiance lie?

I am told my union to the crowned prince will determine the fate of the kingdom, but it isn’t my betrothed who haunts my dreams. It’s the half-breed prince who stands at his side.

He is darkness and sin, and when he whispers promises of wickedness in my ear, I crave a man who I can’t have.

Every thought I have is treasonous. The way my hands ache to touch him deceitful.

Even my dreams make me a traitor to the kingdom I am sworn to protect.

But when the kingdom is attacked, I am forced to make choices I’m not prepared for. Our lies and deception are entangled in the shadows and stars, and as they unravel so shall my fate. Betray a kingdom or betray my heart.]]> 259 Holly Renee kait 2 3.70 2022 A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (Stars and Shadows, #1)
author: Holly Renee
name: kait
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/10
date added: 2024/03/18
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]]> <![CDATA[A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone Saga, #1)]]> 55215339
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.

After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.

The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.]]> 379 Scarlett St. Clair kait 1 3.77 2019 A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone Saga, #1)
author: Scarlett St. Clair
name: kait
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves:
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]]> ベルセルク 41 [Berserk 41] 54739527 一行が妖精岛で身体を休める中、シールケとファルネーゼは、新たな力を求めて修行场へと向かう。
束の間の平穏を過ごすガッツの前に、髑髏の騎士が現れる…! ?]]> 180 Kentaro Miura 4592166914 kait 5 favorites 4.83 2021 ベルセルク 41 [Berserk 41]
author: Kentaro Miura
name: kait
average rating: 4.83
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> The Robber Bride 17650 The Robber Bride is inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom," a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends, Tony, Charis, and Roz. All three "have lost men, spirit, money, and time to their old college acquaintance, Zenia. At various times, and in various emotional disguises, Zenia has insinuated her way into their lives and practically demolished them. To Tony, who almost lost her husband and jeopardized her academic career, Zenia is 'a lurking enemy commando.' To Roz, who did lose her husband and almost her magazine, Zenia is 'a cold and treacherous bitch.' To Charis, who lost a boyfriend, quarts of vegetable juice and some pet chickens, Zenia is a kind of zombie, maybe 'soulless'" (Lorrie Moore, New York Times Book Review). In love and war, illusion and deceit, Zenia's subterranean malevolence takes us deep into her enemies' pasts.]]> 528 Margaret Atwood kait 0 to-read 3.83 1993 The Robber Bride
author: Margaret Atwood
name: kait
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)]]> 60714999 Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first book in a new series of heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue, perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 504 Carissa Broadbent kait 4 4.30 2022 The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: kait
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/29
date added: 2024/03/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)]]> 3236307
She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.

She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.]]> 471 Kristin Cashore 015206396X kait 0 to-read 4.07 2008 Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: kait
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/26
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review:

]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston kait 0 to-read 4.17 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: kait
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/21
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]]> The Bell Jar 25851562
Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.]]> 291 Sylvia Plath 0062444476 kait 5 favorites 4.03 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: kait
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)]]> 76714487 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea's last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

In this sweeping parallel novel to the New York Times bestselling Empire of Storms, Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience if they wish to save their friends. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, deep in the shadows of mighty mountains where warriors soar on legendary ruks, long-awaited answers slumber. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival—or doom them all . . .]]> 663 Sarah J. Maas 1639731040 kait 4 favorites 4.26 2017 Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: kait
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/23
date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)]]> 50659468
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.]]> 626 Sarah J. Maas 1635575583 kait 5 favorites 4.65 2016 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: kait
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/07
date added: 2024/02/16
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)]]> 40275288
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 845 Samantha Shannon 1408883457 kait 4 favorites 4.18 2019 The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: kait
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> Mushishi, Vol. 8/9/10 6503720 720 Yuki Urushibara 0345505603 kait 5 favorites 4.61 2010 Mushishi, Vol. 8/9/10
author: Yuki Urushibara
name: kait
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2010
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> Out of Love 50705453
As a young woman boxes up her ex-boyfriend’s belongings and prepares to see him one last time, she wonders where it all went wrong, and whether it was ever right to begin with. Burdened with a broken heart, she asks herself the age-old question . . . is love really worth it?

Out of Love is a bittersweet romance told in reverse. Beginning at the end of a relationship, each chapter takes us further back in time, weaving together an already unravelled tapestry, from tragic break-up to magical first kiss.

In this dazzling debut Hazel Hayes performs a post-mortem on love, tenderly but unapologetically exploring every angle, from the heights of joy to the depths of grief, and all the madness and mundanity in between. This is a modern story with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic and ultimately full of hope.]]> 384 Hazel Hayes 1783528966 kait 5 favorites 3.83 2020 Out of Love
author: Hazel Hayes
name: kait
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory]]> 41949311
“Transcendent tragicomedy.... Prepare to be devastated and made whole again.” —The A.V. Club

Featuring:

? A young engaged couple forced to deal with interfering relatives dictating the appropriate number of ritual goat sacrifices for their wedding.

? A pair of lonely commuters who ride the subway in silence, forever, eternally failing to make that longed-for contact.

? A struggling employee at a theme park of U.S. presidents who discovers that love can’t be genetically modified.

And fifteen more tales of humor, romance, whimsy, cultural commentary, and crushing emotional vulnerability.]]> 256 Raphael Bob-Waksberg kait 5 favorites 4.04 2019 Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory
author: Raphael Bob-Waksberg
name: kait
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> Same Bed Different Dreams 122993405
In 1919, far-flung Korean patriots establish the Korean Provisional Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, though, and after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts, resulting in the North-South split that remains today.

But what if the KPG still existed now, today—working toward a unified Korea, secretly harnessing the might of a giant tech company to further its aims? That’s the outrageous premise of Same Bed Different Dreams, which weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope, spinning Korean history, American pop culture, and our tech-fraught lives into an extraordinary and unforgettable novel.

Early on we meet Soon Sheen, who works at the sprawling international technology company GLOAT, and comes into possession of an unfinished book authored by the KPG. The manuscript is a mysterious, revisionist history, tying famous names and obscure bit players to the KPG’s grand project. This strange manuscript links together figures from architect-poet Yi Sang to Jack London to Marilyn Monroe. M*A*S*H is in here, too, and the Moonies, and a history of violence extending from the assassination of President McKinley to the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.

Just as foreign countries have imposed their desires on Korea, so too has Park tucked different dreamers into this sprawling bed of a novel. Among them: Parker Jotter, Korean War vet and appliance-store owner, who saw something--a UFO?--while flying over North Korea; Nora You, nail salon magnate; and Monk Zingapan, game designer turned writing guru. Their links are revealed over time, even as the dreamers remain in the dark as to their own interconnectedness. A thrilling feat of imagination and a step forward from an award-winning author, Same Bed Different Dreams begins as a comic novel and gradually pulls readers into another dimension—one in which utopia is possible.]]> 528 Ed Park 0812998979 kait 0 to-read 3.73 2023 Same Bed Different Dreams
author: Ed Park
name: kait
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> Good Guy (Rookie Rebels, #1) 198707493 He's a Special Forces veteran making his pro hockey debut. She's a dogged sports reporter determined to get a scoop. She's also his best friend's widow...

Fans can’t get enough of Levi Hunt, the Special Forces veteran who put his NHL career on hold to serve his country and fight the bad guys. So when his new Chicago Rebels bosses tell him to cooperate with the press on a profile, he’s ready to do his duty. Until he finds out who he has to work with: flame-haired, freckle-splashed, impossibly perky Jordan Cooke.

The woman he should not have kissed the night she buried her husband, Levi’s best friend in the service.

Hockey-stick-up-his-butt-serious Levi Hunt might despise Jordan for reasons she can’t fathom—okay, it’s to do with kissing—but her future in the cutthroat world of sports reporting hangs on delivering the goods on the league’s hottest, grumpiest rookie. So what if he’s not interested in having his life plated up for public consumption. Too bad. Jordan will have to play dirty to get her scoop and even dirtier to get her man. Only in winning the story, she might just lose her heart...]]> 334 Kate Meader 0998517801 kait 2 3.53 2019 Good Guy (Rookie Rebels, #1)
author: Kate Meader
name: kait
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/30
date added: 2024/01/31
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]]> The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]> 272 Oscar Wilde kait 3 4.13 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray
author: Oscar Wilde
name: kait
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/20
date added: 2024/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)]]> 26032825 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

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

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

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

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 0316310271 kait 3 4.01 2018 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: kait
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
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]]> ベルセルク 40 [Berserk 40] 41540926 2018年9月刊闭闭> 180 Kentaro Miura 4592144406 kait 0 4.79 2018 ベルセルク 40 [Berserk 40]
author: Kentaro Miura
name: kait
average rating: 4.79
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/31
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]]> ベルセルク 39 [Berserk 39] 35524848 196 Kentaro Miura 4592144392 kait 0 4.76 2017 ベルセルク 39 [Berserk 39]
author: Kentaro Miura
name: kait
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Berserk, Vol. 38 (Berserk, #38)]]> 33253014 208 Kentaro Miura 1506703984 kait 0 4.68 2016 Berserk, Vol. 38 (Berserk, #38)
author: Kentaro Miura
name: kait
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)]]> 76715522 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Aelin Galathynius has vowed to save her people ― but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unraveling with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, friends and allies are scattered to different fates. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. As destinies weave together at last, all must fight if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation.

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas's New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights to save herself―and the promise of a better world.]]> 984 Sarah J. Maas 1639731067 kait 4 4.74 2018 Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: kait
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/27
date added: 2023/12/27
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]]> The Thick and the Lean 61273325 In Lambda Award finalist Chana Porter’s highly anticipated new novel, an aspiring chef, a cyberthief, and a kitchen maid each break free of a society that wants to constrain them.

In the quaint religious town of Seagate, abstaining from food brings one closer to God.

But Beatrice Bolano is hungry. She craves the forbidden: butter, flambé, marzipan. As Seagate takes increasingly extreme measures to regulate every calorie its citizens consume, Beatrice must make a choice: give up her secret passion for cooking or leave the only community she has known.

Elsewhere, Reiko Rimando has left her modest roots for a college tech scholarship in the big city. A flawless student, she is set up for success...until her school pulls her funding, leaving her to face either a mountain of debt or a humiliating return home. But Reiko is done being at the mercy of the system. She forges a third path—outside of the law.

With the guidance of a mysterious cookbook written by a kitchen maid centuries ago, Beatrice and Reiko each grasp for a life of freedom—something more easily imagined than achieved in a world dominated by catastrophic corporate greed.

A startling fable of the entwined perils of capitalism, body politics, and the stigmas women face for appetites of every kind, Chana Porter’s profound new novel explores the reclamation of pleasure as a revolutionary act.]]> 384 Chana Porter 1668000199 kait 0 to-read 3.68 2023 The Thick and the Lean
author: Chana Porter
name: kait
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/22
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]]> <![CDATA[A Market of Dreams and Destiny]]> 61933929 Nominated for the 2024 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature!

Enter the bazaar of the bizarre where fate and fortunes are for sale in this high-stakes magical adventure across a London not quite like our own, perfect for fans of Neverwhere and The Night Circus.

Below Covent Garden lies the Untermarkt, where anything and everything has a price: a lover’s first blush, a month of honesty, a wisp of fortune. As a child, Deri was sold to one of the Market’s most powerful merchants. Now, after years of watchful servitude, Deri finally spots a chance to buy not only his freedom but also his place amongst the Market’s elite when he stumbles into the path of a runaway princess desperate to sell her royal destiny.

But news of the missing princess and her wayward destiny spreads. Royal enforcers and Master Merchants alike are after it. Outmanoeuvring them all would all be hard enough had Deri not just also met the love of his life, a young man called Owain, whose employers are using the Market for their own nefarious schemes.

Deri soon finds that the price of selling the royal destiny, making a name for himself, and saving the man he loves is dear. The cost of it all might just change the destiny of London forever.]]> 424 Trip Galey 1803363681 kait 0 to-read 3.85 2023 A Market of Dreams and Destiny
author: Trip Galey
name: kait
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/22
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]]> One for My Enemy 43795562
After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.

If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.]]> 427 Olivie Blake kait 0 to-read 3.70 2019 One for My Enemy
author: Olivie Blake
name: kait
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/22
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]]> Malice (Malice Duology, #1) 51530580 A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale.

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.

You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.

Utter nonsense.

Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either.

Until I met her.

Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.

But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.

Nonsense again.

Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—

I am the villain.]]> 470 Heather Walter 1984818651 kait 0 to-read 3.92 2021 Malice (Malice Duology, #1)
author: Heather Walter
name: kait
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/22
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]]> Belladonna (Belladonna, #1) 59227936
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each one more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation, and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
?
However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.]]> 409 Adalyn Grace 0316158232 kait 3 3.97 2022 Belladonna (Belladonna, #1)
author: Adalyn Grace
name: kait
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)]]> 76713323 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.]]> 693 Sarah J. Maas 1639731024 kait 3 4.65 2016 Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: kait
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/13
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves:
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]]>