Kelsea's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 23 Dec 2024 21:22:40 -0800 60 Kelsea's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 75670157 "Masterful. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a beautiful, timely book about the human condition--and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention." --Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re: Thinking

The instant #1 bestseller from John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, is now available in paperback with two brand-new essays!

"Gloriously personal and life-affirming. The perfect book for right now." --People
"Essential to the human conversation." --Library Journal, starred review

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale--from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity.

John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.]]> 318 John Green 0525555242 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.39 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Dark and Drowning Tide 174146852 A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor's murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.]]> 384 Allison Saft 0593722345 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.59 2024 A Dark and Drowning Tide
author: Allison Saft
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> So Thirsty 203608552 A woman must learn to take life by the throat after a night out leads to irrevocable changes in this juicy, thrilling novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such Sharp Teeth and Black Sheep.

Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life.

Her husband surprises her with a birthday weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi.

Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.

The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.]]> 304 Rachel Harrison 0593642546 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.49 2024 So Thirsty
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> Intermezzo 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 454 Sally Rooney 0374602638 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.87 2024 Intermezzo
author: Sally Rooney
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Kelsea 3 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> The Summer Job 55271529 Beach Read meets Sweetbitter in this laugh-out-loud and ultimately heartwarming debut of a good friend's very bad decision and the summer job that stands to ruin or make her life.

What if you could be someone else? Just for the summer...

Birdy has made a mistake. Everyone imagines running away from their life at some point. But Birdy has actually done it. And the life she's run into is her best friend Heather's. The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather.

The summer job at the highland Scottish hotel that her world class wine-expert friend ditched turns out to be a lot more than Birdy bargained for. Can she survive a summer pretending to be her best friend? And can Birdy stop herself from falling for the first man she's ever actually liked, but who thinks she's someone else?

One good friend's very bad decision is at the heart of this laugh-out-loud love story and unexpected tale of a woman finally finding herself in the strangest of places.]]> 384 Lizzy Dent 0593328116 Kelsea 4 3.49 2021 The Summer Job
author: Lizzy Dent
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves:
review:
4.5 ⭐️ Picked this up randomly at the library not thinking much of it. Now I’m realizing I slept on Lizzy Dent. This was so good, loved it!
]]> People We Meet on Vacation 54985743 Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?]]> 400 Emily Henry 1984806750 Kelsea 4 3.85 2021 People We Meet on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> The Sweetest Revenge 62649017
Her past is a mess. But her present is about to get delicious.

Amy is more than one disastrous night of drunken revenge on her boss/ex-boyfriend’s Audi—the night that tanked her rising TV producer career and led to a hasty move to London for a fresh start. She is thirty years of awesomeness. At least, that’s what Amy tells herself every morning before trekking to her mediocre job making trailers at a failing British TV channel.

Two years later, she’s finally starting to believe it. Sparks are flying between her and Jake, her handsome new downstairs neighbor, and there’s a competition at work that just might get her career back on track while bringing her and Jake even closer. But then, in a twisted turn of fate, the ex-boyfriend who wrecked her life is hired as her new boss and past and present are about to epically, hilariously collide.]]> 368 Lizzy Dent 0593545478 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.53 2023 The Sweetest Revenge
author: Lizzy Dent
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Just One Taste 199926243
Olive Stone is about to spend four weeks in Italy with the most beautiful man she’s ever hated.

When Olive Stone and her Italian pseudo-celebrity chef father fell out fourteen years ago, annoyingly handsome Leo Ricci slipped right in as his surrogate son and sous-chef.No one is more surprised than Olive when her father wills her his beloved (and now failing) restaurant. Or that his dying wish was for Olive and Leo to complete his cookbook…together.

She’s determined to sell the restaurant. Leo is determined to convince her not to. As they embark on four weeks in Italy, traveling from Sicily to Tuscany to Liguria, they’ll test each other as often as they test recipes. But the more time Olive and Leo spend together the more undeniable their attraction grows. Olive finds herself wondering whether selling the restaurant might be running away, and what it might be like to try Just One Taste of Leo Ricci. Because he isn’t who she expected, and this trip might reveal more about who Olive is than she’s ready for.]]> 335 Lizzy Dent 0593716043 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.62 Just One Taste
author: Lizzy Dent
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Grownup 26025580
“The Grownup,� originally appeared as “What Do You Do?� in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.]]> 64 Gillian Flynn 0804188971 Kelsea 4 3.55 2014 The Grownup
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/21
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)]]> 22299763
Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.

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

A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.]]> 561 Leigh Bardugo Kelsea 5 back-burner 4.58 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves: back-burner
review:
Screaming, crying, throwing up
]]> <![CDATA[Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself]]> 40909460
Rumple Buttercup has five crooked teeth, three strands of hair, green skin, and his left foot is slightly bigger than his right.

He is weird.

Join him and Candy Corn Carl (his imaginary friend made of trash) as they learn the joy of individuality as well as the magic of belonging.]]> 136 Matthew Gray Gubler 0525648445 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.66 2019 Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself
author: Matthew Gray Gubler
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Little Kid with the Big Green Hand]]> 123219979 224 Matthew Gray Gubler Kelsea 0 to-read 4.68 2023 The Little Kid with the Big Green Hand
author: Matthew Gray Gubler
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty & Female Creativity]]> 176443632
*A Waterstones Best Book of 2023*
*A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week*
*A New York Times Editor's Pick*

'Terrific' SARAH DUNANT

'Lively and intriguing ... You'll never look at Renaissance portraits in the same way' MAGGIE O'FARRELL

'Highlights a rich tapestry of female experience that encompasses everyone from artisans to aristocrats ...' THE TIMES

This is the story of the Renaissance, but not as you know it. Discover overlooked and silenced women from this extraordinary moment in history and how they forged opportunities for creativity, community and resistance. From the bedchamber to the court, they give us an intimate window into what life was really like - and hold a mirror up to our contemporary obsession with how we look.

'A witty and engaging history of cosmetics and beauty ... lavishly illustrated and hugely entertaining' IRISH TIMES

'A total eye-opener, I loved it' NUALA McGOVERN]]> 336 Jill Burke 1639365907 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.87 How to Be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty & Female Creativity
author: Jill Burke
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Bell Jar 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 Kelsea 4 4.05 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Familiar 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]> 387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X Kelsea 0 to-read 3.74 2024 The Familiar
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> The House of Rust 56269267 The first Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize winner, a story of a girl’s fantastical sea voyage to rescue her father

The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too). On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters. After she survives a final confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her own father, and hopes that life will return to normal. But at home, things only grow stranger.

Khadija Abdalla Bajaber’s debut is a magical realist coming-of-age tale told through the lens of the Swahili and diasporic Hadrami culture in Mombasa, Kenya. Richly descriptive and written with an imaginative hand and sharp eye for unusual detail, The House of Rust is a memorable novel by a thrilling new voice.]]> 272 Khadija Abdalla Bajaber 1644450682 Kelsea 0 currently-reading 3.57 2021 The House of Rust
author: Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Creeping Beauty 63228320 Anatomy of a Misfit comes a subversive and feminist take on Sleeping Beauty, sure to appeal to fans of Damsel and To Kill a Kingdom.

Bitsy is no one’s ideal princess.

She’s heard it all: that it’s a shame she’s so plain, so lacking in grace. That the best thing for her to do is simply wait (and wait some more), and hope some prince will grant her a happy ending.

Then Bitsy pricks her finger on a spindle and falls down, down, down.

Into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. Where no one ages and everyone is beautiful. Where an inscrutable evil rests at its core.

A land where Bitsy’s fate and her future are solely in her own hands—and neither are what she expects.

The dark and deadly world of Heartless meets the empowering twist of Cruel Beauty in this thrilling, unpredictable, multigenre retelling of one of the most beloved fairy tales: where instead of falling asleep to await her prince, this sleeping beauty finally wakes up.]]> 336 Andrea Portes 0062422472 Kelsea 2 2.62 2023 Creeping Beauty
author: Andrea Portes
name: Kelsea
average rating: 2.62
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/08
date added: 2024/02/08
shelves:
review:
The idea of this story had a lot of potential I feel, but it was executed so poorly.
]]> <![CDATA[Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1)]]> 55710822 In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door.

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

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

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love - and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.]]> 356 Lynn Painter 1534467629 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.28 2021 Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 213 Stephen Chbosky Kelsea 5 4.24 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Girl, Interrupted 68783
Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching documnet that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.]]> 169 Susanna Kaysen 0679746048 Kelsea 4 3.95 1993 Girl, Interrupted
author: Susanna Kaysen
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/28
date added: 2024/01/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Poor Things 72355 Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter - a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for Baxter's creation.

The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be "the whole story" in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland's most accomplished authors.]]> 318 Alasdair Gray 0747562288 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.92 1992 Poor Things
author: Alasdair Gray
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[how sunflowers bloom under moonlight: a collection of poems on love and heartbreak by isabella dorta]]> 60465779 154 Isabella Dorta 1399917145 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.35 how sunflowers bloom under moonlight: a collection of poems on love and heartbreak by isabella dorta
author: Isabella Dorta
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Kelsea 0 to-read 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> Book Lovers 58690308 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 377 Emily Henry 0593334833 Kelsea 4 4 1/2 ⭐️ 4.09 2022 Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/20
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
review:
4 1/2 ⭐️
]]> Love and Other Words 61221543 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).]]> 403 Christina Lauren Kelsea 0 to-read 4.29 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)]]> 122753311
A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.

In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend.

Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.]]> 332 B.K. Borison 0593641124 Kelsea 3 3 1/2 ⭐️ 3.74 2021 Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1)
author: B.K. Borison
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/11
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves:
review:
3 1/2 ⭐️
]]> Sharp Objects 18045891
Librarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition - ISBN 10: 0307341550 (ISBN 13: 9780307341556)]]> 254 Gillian Flynn 0297851535 Kelsea 4 4.05 2006 Sharp Objects
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/04
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves:
review:
This family was beyond dysfunctional.
]]> Dead Poets Society 67238 166 N.H. Kleinbaum 0553282980 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.19 1988 Dead Poets Society
author: N.H. Kleinbaum
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.06 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography]]> 62674346
"A must-have for any Taylor Swift collection." � Rolling Stone

This Little Golden Book about Taylor Swift--the singer and songwriter whose distinctive talent for storytelling has made her one of the biggest superstars in both country and pop music--is an inspiring read-aloud for young children as well as their Swiftie parents!

Look for more Little Golden Book
� Willie Nelson
� Beyoncé
� Dolly Parton
� Tony Bennett]]> 24 Wendy Loggia 0593566718 Kelsea 4 4.66 Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography
author: Wendy Loggia
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.66
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/12
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review:

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

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

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> 309 Ann Patchett 006332752X Kelsea 0 to-read 3.92 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Kelsea 5 3.99 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/29
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves:
review:
Everyone is a hater. I loved it. Let’s be real, Lucy Gray is the main character and this story should have been about her.
]]> Happy Place 61718053
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week� in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.]]> 400 Emily Henry 0593441273 Kelsea 4 4.5/5 :) 3.95 2023 Happy Place
author: Emily Henry
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/10
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves:
review:
4.5/5 :)
]]> Hot Dog Girl 35843729
* She's landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou's never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who's always been up for anything, suddenly isn't when it comes to Lou's quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou's scheme to get close to Nick.
* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland--ever--unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Jennifer Dugan's sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love--and themselves--in unexpected people and unforgettable places.]]> 320 Jennifer Dugan 0525516263 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.47 2019 Hot Dog Girl
author: Jennifer Dugan
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/23
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review:

]]> The Love Hypothesis 56732449
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding... six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.]]> 356 Ali Hazelwood 0593336828 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.11 2021 The Love Hypothesis
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)]]> 23437156 Alternate cover of ISBN 9781627792127

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

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.]]> 480 Leigh Bardugo 1627792120 Kelsea 5 4.47 2015 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/22
date added: 2023/06/22
shelves:
review:

]]> My Best Friend's Exorcism 41015038 337 Grady Hendrix Kelsea 0 to-read 3.94 2016 My Best Friend's Exorcism
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Camp Firwood 56352678
When the rebellious teenager Kevin gets sent to a summer camp by his parents, he initially has no idea what's in store for him. Every two weeks, the camp organizes an event called The Trial. The campers all dread it. They don't want to spend the night in the woods with the Firwood Wraith roaming around. And the more they misbehave, the higher the chances they'll be chosen.

By the time Kevin realizes what Camp Firwood really is, he is trapped - and every week, more and more campers go missing.]]> 447 Boris Bacic Kelsea 0 to-read 4.07 Camp Firwood
author: Boris Bacic
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Summer Slasher Horror Anthology: Vol. 1]]> 58640653
Contributors: Greg Bhatia, Mark Braught, Emma Cariello, Alyssa Hamilton, Ann Hite, Annie James, Maria Klouda, Dawn Major, Bonnie Medford, Ben Meeks, Austin C. Nichols, Lincoln Reed, Kristen Reid, Juliet Rose, Jon Sokol]]> 151 Clay Anderson 1736089854 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.41 Summer Slasher Horror Anthology: Vol. 1
author: Clay Anderson
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.41
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Summer of '99 60894312
What is now the abandoned location of one of Michigan’s most notorious unsolved mysteries gains national attention when former camper Quinn Harstead pens a best-selling account of the events that occurred.

The camp remains empty and frozen in time for twenty-three years before Quinn receives an invitation for its grand reopening.

Will she return to the place that continues to haunt her memories in search of answers, or will the secrets of Shady Oaks stay buried forever?]]> 238 J.L. Hyde 0578292971 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.98 2022 Summer of '99
author: J.L. Hyde
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Saturday Night Ghost Club 36911680 A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of "Stranger Things" and "Stand by Me" about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends.

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls--a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place--Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly lighthearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become.]]> 253 Craig Davidson 0735274827 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.82 2018 The Saturday Night Ghost Club
author: Craig Davidson
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Shuddering 17327053
A group of close friends gathers at a secluded cabin in the wintry mountains of Colorado for a final holiday hurrah. Instead, it may be their last stand. First a massive blizzard leaves them marooned. Then the more chilling realization: something is lurking in the woods, watching them, waiting...

Now a weekend of family, friends, and fun has turned into a test of love and loyalty in the face of inhuman horrors. The only hope for those huddled inside is to fight—tooth and nail, bullet and blade—for their lives. Otherwise, they'll end up like the monsters' other victims: bright pools of blood on glittering snow, screams lost in the vast mountains.]]> 283 Ania Ahlborn 1611099676 Kelsea 4 3.60 2013 The Shuddering
author: Ania Ahlborn
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/28
date added: 2023/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Kelsea 4 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/11
date added: 2023/05/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love in the Time of Serial Killers]]> 59722215
PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She’s even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It’s hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn’t had a relationship with for years.

It doesn’t help that she’s low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he’s clearly up to something). It’s not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier—a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.]]> 336 Alicia Thompson 0593438663 Kelsea 2 3.27 2022 Love in the Time of Serial Killers
author: Alicia Thompson
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/04/30
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rosemary’s Baby (Rosemary's Baby, #1)]]> 228296
Suppose that only after you became pregnant did you begin to suspect the building harbored a diabolically evil group of devil worshippers who had mastered the arts of black magic and witchcraft.

Suppose that this satanic conspiracy set out to claim not only your husband but your baby.

Well, that's what happened to Rosemary... Or did it...?]]> 308 Ira Levin 0451194004 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.04 1967 Rosemary’s Baby (Rosemary's Baby, #1)
author: Ira Levin
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 11
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]> 216 Douglas Adams Kelsea 0 to-read 4.21 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)]]> 6148028 Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.]]> 391 Suzanne Collins 0439023491 Kelsea 5 4.34 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/25
date added: 2023/04/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

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

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Kelsea 5 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/09
date added: 2023/04/09
shelves:
review:
Protect Peeta at all costs. He is pookie.
]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Kelsea 5 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> A Manual for How to Love Us 61319761 A debut, interlinked collection of stories exploring the primal nature of women's grief--offering insight into the profound experience of loss and the absurd ways in which we seek control in an unruly world.

Seamlessly shifting between the speculative and the blindingly real, balancing the bizarre with the subtle brutality of the mundane, A Manual for How to Love Us is a tender portrait of women trying their best to survive, love, and find genuine meaning in the aftermath of loss.

In these unconventional and unpredictably connected stories, Erin Slaughter shatters the stereotype of the soft-spoken, sorrowful woman in distress, queering the domestic and honoring the feral in all of us. In each story, grieving women embrace their wildest impulses as they attempt to master their lives: one woman becomes a "gazer" at a fraternity house, another slowly moves into her otherworldly stained-glass art, a couple speaks only their basement's black box, and a throuple must decide what to do when one partner disappears.

The women in Erin Slaughter's stories suffer messy breaks, whisper secrets to the ghosts tangled in the knots of their hair, eat raw meat to commune with their inner wolves, and build deadly MLM schemes along the Gulf Coast.

Set across oft-overlooked towns in the American South, A Manual for How to Love Us spotlights women who are living on the brink and clinging to its precipitous edge. Lyrical and surprisingly humorous, A Manual for How to Love Us is an exciting debut that reveals the sticky complications of living in a body, in all its grotesquerie and glory.]]> 304 Erin Slaughter 0063230887 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.49 2023 A Manual for How to Love Us
author: Erin Slaughter
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If He Had Been With Me (If He Had Been with Me, #1)]]> 15835031 If he had been with me everything would have been different...

I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial.

So let me tell you...]]> 336 Laura Nowlin 1402277822 Kelsea 3 3.76 2013 If He Had Been With Me (If He Had Been with Me, #1)
author: Laura Nowlin
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/21
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
review:
Couldn’t get into 80% of the book then by the end was devastated. Crying in my room at 1 am. Was not bad overall just maybe not the right book for me. It doesn’t help I found the main character really annoying.
]]> Brother 23492624 Brother follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions.

Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows� backyard.

But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place…]]> 319 Ania Ahlborn 147678373X Kelsea 4 4 1/2 ⭐️ 3.89 2015 Brother
author: Ania Ahlborn
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/01
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
review:
4 1/2 ⭐️
]]> Winter Roses after Fall 56898956
There's a harshness in the air; the season is changing its colors. The rain is chilled, icy to the touch, and the sky, filled with melancholy. Your search for warmth has brought you here; you starve for something profound. You require something that will resonate with your soul. Despite how cold, you're determined to grow. And with these words, you bloom, a winter rose.]]> 240 R.H. Sin 1524867896 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.73 Winter Roses after Fall
author: R.H. Sin
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.73
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rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/18
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]]> Normal People 41057294
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.

Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.]]> 273 Sally Rooney 1984822179 Kelsea 5 I just really loved it 3.81 2018 Normal People
author: Sally Rooney
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/29
date added: 2023/01/29
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I just really loved it
]]> The Sun and Her Flowers 35606560 256 Rupi Kaur 1449486797 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.09 2018 The Sun and Her Flowers
author: Rupi Kaur
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Pillow Thoughts (Pillow Thoughts, #1)]]> 32468495
It is divided into sections to read when you feel you need them most.

Make a cup of tea and let yourself feel.]]> 259 Courtney Peppernell Kelsea 0 to-read 3.83 2017 Pillow Thoughts (Pillow Thoughts, #1)
author: Courtney Peppernell
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> soft thorns 35288488 202 bridgett devoue Kelsea 0 to-read 3.83 2017 soft thorns
author: bridgett devoue
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> Funny You Should Ask 58065414 Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she's in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker--her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone--who's also just been cast as the new James Bond. It's terrifying and thrilling all at once... yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.

Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she's still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she's promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so... he says yes.

Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she's tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.

A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob--and, ten years later, it's clear that their time together meant more than meets the eye in this sexy, engrossing adult debut novel. ]]> 352 Elissa Sussman 0593357329 Kelsea 4 3.55 2022 Funny You Should Ask
author: Elissa Sussman
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/22
date added: 2023/01/22
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]]> The Sun Is Also a Star 28763485
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents� high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?]]> 344 Nicola Yoon 0553496689 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.96 2016 The Sun Is Also a Star
author: Nicola Yoon
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search, Part 1 (The Search, #1)]]> 16277248 Azula Joins Team Avatar?!

For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question—what happened to Fire Lord Zuko's mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar—and the most unlikely ally of all—to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.

Written by Eisner winner and National Book Award nominee Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) in close collaboration with Avatar creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, this story will change the lives of Aang and his friends forever!]]> 76 Gene Luen Yang 1616550546 Kelsea 5 4.38 2013 Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search, Part 1 (The Search, #1)
author: Gene Luen Yang
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/01/08
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]]> Beach Read 52867387 A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.]]> 371 Emily Henry 1984806734 Kelsea 4 3.99 2020 Beach Read
author: Emily Henry
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/06
date added: 2023/01/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Love & Luck (Love & Gelato, #2)]]> 32333026 "I wanted this to be real life, not a detour...."

Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once-inseparable siblings.

But when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s finally able to escape her anxious mind—and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is, if they don’t get completely lost along the way.]]> 303 Jenna Evans Welch Kelsea 0 to-read 3.61 2018 Love & Luck (Love & Gelato, #2)
author: Jenna Evans Welch
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Love & Gelato (Love & Gelato, #1)]]> 25756328 “I made the wrong choice.�

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.]]> 386 Jenna Evans Welch 1481432540 Kelsea 5 4.03 2016 Love & Gelato (Love & Gelato, #1)
author: Jenna Evans Welch
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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]]> Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2) 23174274 If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.]]> 444 Victoria Aveyard 0062310666 Kelsea 4 3.79 2016 Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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]]> Secret Santa 53869658
Out of work for months, Lussi Meyer is desperate to work anywhere in publishing. Prestigious Blackwood-Patterson isn’t the perfect fit, but a bizarre set of circumstances leads to her hire and a firm mandate: Lussi must find the next horror superstar to compete with Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub. It’s the �80s, after all, and horror is the hottest genre.

But as soon as she arrives, Lussi finds herself the target of her co-workers' mean-spirited pranks. The hazing reaches its peak during the company’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange, when Lussi receives a demonic-looking object that she recognizes but doesn't understand. Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie, and Lussi suspects that her gift is involved. With the help of her former author, the flamboyant Fabien Nightingale, Lussi must track down her anonymous Secret Santa and figure out the true meaning of the cursed object in her possession before it destroys the company—and her soul.]]> 220 Andrew Shaffer 1683692055 Kelsea 3 3.43 2020 Secret Santa
author: Andrew Shaffer
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2020
rating: 3
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]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Janesplains: A Compendium of Jane Austen’s Wit & Wisdom (Literary Wit and Wisdom)]]> 60450278 Jane Austen is one of the most eminently quotable authors in all of English letters and her books abound with delightful observations that are memorable for their sparkling wit and humor. This compilation collects several hundred quotes and extracts from Jane Austen’s works, organized thematically and illustrated with spot art. Examples “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.� ( Pride and Prejudice ); “I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but, like every body else, it must be in my own way.� ( Sense and Sensibility ); “I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other.� ( Emma ).]]> 256 Jane Austen 1454946512 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.93 Janesplains: A Compendium of Jane Austen’s Wit & Wisdom (Literary Wit and Wisdom)
author: Jane Austen
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.93
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Kelsea 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]> 60671823 Chris Riddell's brilliant new full-colour illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a sumptuous hardback and jacketed edition. A perfect gift for families, children and all fans of this much-loved favourite classic.

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

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

With the curious, quick-witted Alice at its heart, readers will not only rediscover characters such as the charming White Rabbit, the formidable Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and the grinning Cheshire Cat but will find fresh and wonderful creations of these characters by a true master of his art,; images that will live in our hearts and minds for generations to come.]]> 320 Lewis Carroll 152900246X Kelsea 5 4.08 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1865
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)]]> 78411
I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket]]> 162 Lemony Snicket 0439206472 Kelsea 5 4.02 1999 The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)
author: Lemony Snicket
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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]]> The Dead Romantics 58885776 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593336489.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.]]> 368 Ashley Poston Kelsea 0 to-read 3.90 2022 The Dead Romantics
author: Ashley Poston
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)]]> 8127 Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family� and, most of all, love.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]> 320 L.M. Montgomery 0451528824 Kelsea 5 4.30 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1908
rating: 5
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]]> <![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 Kelsea 5 4.16 1868 Little Women (Little Women, #1)
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1868
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 72193
]]> 223 J.K. Rowling Kelsea 5 4.45 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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]]> And Then There Were None 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 Kelsea 4 4.28 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 4
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]]> Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) 22328546 This is a world divided by blood—red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance—Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.]]> 388 Victoria Aveyard 0062310631 Kelsea 5 3.98 2015 Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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]]> Final Girls 32796253
Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.]]> 352 Riley Sager 1101985364 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.81 2017 Final Girls
author: Riley Sager
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> The Girl on the Train 22557272
An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.]]> 336 Paula Hawkins 1594633665 Kelsea 0 to-read 3.97 2015 The Girl on the Train
author: Paula Hawkins
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass]]> 43554866 The highly anticipated spoken word poetry collection from Lana Del Rey, Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass

�'Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass' is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many. Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I worked laboriously picking apart each word to make the perfect poem. They are eclectic and honest and not trying to be anything other than what they are and for that reason I’m proud of them, especially because the spirit in which they were written was very authentic.� (Lana Del Rey)

Lana Del Rey brings her breathtaking poetry to life in an unprecedented audiobook. In this stunning spoken word performance, Lana Del Rey reads 14 poems from her debut book Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass accompanied by music from Grammy Award-winning musician Jack Antonoff. Lana’s debut book solidifies her further as “the essential writer of her times� (The Atlantic). This audiobook features Lana reading select poems from the book, including "LA Who Am I to Love You?", "The Land of 1,000 Fires", "Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving", "Never to Heaven", "Tessa DiPietro", "Happy", and several others. The result is an extraordinary poetic landscape that reflects the unguarded spirit of its creator.]]> 1 Lana Del Rey Kelsea 0 to-read 4.03 2020 Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
author: Lana Del Rey
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> Milk and honey 23513349 Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

It is split into four chapters, with each chapter dealing with a different pain. Healing a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them -- because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.]]> 204 Rupi Kaur 1502784270 Kelsea 5 3.96 2014 Milk and honey
author: Rupi Kaur
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> Fruits Basket, Vol. 1 271199
And the girl who will change their lives forever...

Tohru Honda was an orphan with no place to go until the mysterious Sohma family offered her a place to call home. Now her ordinary high school life is turned upside down as she's introduced to the Sohma's world of magical curses and family secrets.]]> 216 Natsuki Takaya 1591826039 Kelsea 5 4.29 1999 Fruits Basket, Vol. 1
author: Natsuki Takaya
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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]]> 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 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.45 2022 I'm Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires]]> 44074800 Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.]]> 410 Grady Hendrix Kelsea 4 3.78 2020 The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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]]> Coraline 17061
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it's different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.]]> 176 Neil Gaiman 0061139378 Kelsea 4 4.13 2002 Coraline
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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]]> The House Across the Lake 58909880 The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his most unexpected thriller yet.

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

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

With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy surprises, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake unveils more than one twist that will shock readers until the very last page.]]> 369 Riley Sager Kelsea 0 to-read 3.57 2022 The House Across the Lake
author: Riley Sager
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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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 Kelsea 0 to-read 4.01 2018 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> The Fault in Our Stars 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]> 313 John Green Kelsea 4 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1)]]> 41865
First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite.]]> 498 Stephenie Meyer 0316015849 Kelsea 3 3.66 2005 Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Kelsea 5 4.16 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Heartstopper: Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)]]> 40495957
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie - the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months - but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...]]> 288 Alice Oseman 152722533X Kelsea 5 4.43 2018 Heartstopper: Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)
author: Alice Oseman
name: Kelsea
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)]]> 42201431
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035.]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501128035 Kelsea 4 3.88 2019 The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)
author: Christina Lauren
name: Kelsea
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
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]]>