Natlyn's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 23 Sep 2024 16:16:21 -0700 60 Natlyn's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Family Man 17558204
How does a man get to be forty without knowing whether he's gay? That's a question Vince Fierro is almost afraid to answer. If he is gay, it'll be a problem for his big, fat Italian family. Still, after three failed marriages, he can't help but wonder if he's been playing for the wrong team.

There's only one way to settle it, once and for all-head for Chicago's Boystown bars, far from anyone who knows him. Naturally, he runs smack into someone from the neighborhood.

Between working two jobs, going to school, taking care of his grandmother, and dealing with his mother's ongoing substance abuse, Trey Giles has little time for fun, let alone dating someone who swears he's straight. Yet after one night of dancing cheek-to-cheek to the sultry strains of Coltrane, Trey finds himself wanting to help Vinnie figure things out-no promises, and no sex.

It seems like a simple plan, until their "no-sex" night turns into the best date of their lives and forges a connection that complicates everything.

This book deals with alcoholism, broken promises, and overbearing little sisters.]]> 268 Heidi Cullinan 1619214660 Natlyn 5 romance Very sweet. 3.90 2013 Family Man
author: Heidi Cullinan
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: romance
review:
Very sweet.
]]> <![CDATA[River Marked (Mercy Thompson, #6)]]> 10631790 Ěý
Being a different breed of shapeshifter—a walker—Mercy can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—and innocent people are dying. As other walkers make their presence known to Mercy, she must reconnect with her heritage to exorcise the world of the legend known as the river devil.]]> 337 Patricia Briggs 1101475552 Natlyn 5 paranormal-investigation 4.40 2011 River Marked (Mercy Thompson, #6)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/06/02
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: paranormal-investigation
review:
This installment sees Mercy on her honeymoon and away from the fae, vampires, and werewolves and into the realm of Native American lore. There were fewer life or death confrontations in this novel, which I appreciated as it gave more time to the exploration of the characters, Native American lore, and Mercy's growth and discovery of her origins. That said, the final confrontation was just as action-packed and life or death as I have come to expect in this series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)]]> 56269078 You’re a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.

He’s asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.

And the madness of crowds.]]> 436 Louise Penny 1250145260 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.05 2021 The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Serpentine (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #26)]]> 36971855 Vampire hunter Anita Blake has managed to overcome everything she faces. But this time there's a monster that even she doesn't know how to fight...

A remote Florida island is the perfect wedding destination for the upcoming nuptials of Anita's fellow U.S. Marshal and best friend Edward. For Anita, the vacation is a welcome break, as it's the first trip she gets to take with wereleopards Micah and Nathaniel. But it's not all fun and games and bachelor parties...

In this tropical paradise Micah discovers a horrific new form of lycanthropy, one that has afflicted a single family for generations. Believed to be the result of an ancient Greek curse, it turns human bodies into a mass of snakes.

When long-simmering resentment leads to a big blowout within the wedding party, the last thing Anita needs is more drama. But it finds her anyway when women start disappearing from the hotel, and worse--her own friends and lovers are considered the prime suspects. There's a strange power afoot that Anita has never confronted before, a force that's rendering those around her helpless in its thrall. Unable to face it on her own, Anita is willing to accept help from even the deadliest places. Help that she will most certainly regret--if she survives at all, that is...]]> 486 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425255689 Natlyn 2 LKHamilton still sells well so there is clearly an audience for her work; I’m just not a part of that audience anymore. ]]> 3.95 2018 Serpentine (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #26)
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:
It’s been more than 10 years since I read an Anita Blake novel and this entry confirms why I stopped. The story has more to do with Anita’s love life than paranormal investigations, which is what I read for.
LKHamilton still sells well so there is clearly an audience for her work; I’m just not a part of that audience anymore.
]]> A Theory of Haunting 183778017 146 Sarah Monette 1837861102 Natlyn 3 3.61 2023 A Theory of Haunting
author: Sarah Monette
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Martians Abroad 29939341
Polly Newton has one single-minded dream, to be a starship pilot and travel the galaxy. Her mother, the director of the Mars Colony, derails Polly's plans when she sends Polly and her genius twin brother, Charles, to Galileo Academy on Earth—the one planet Polly has no desire to visit. Ever.

Homesick and cut off from her desired future, Polly cannot seem to fit into the constraints of life on Earth, unlike Charles, who deftly maneuvers around people and sees through their behavior to their true motives. Strange, unexplained, dangerous coincidences centered on their high-profile classmates begin piling up. Charles may be right—there's more going on than would appear, and the stakes are high. With the help of Charles, Polly is determined to find the truth, no matter the cost.]]> 288 Carrie Vaughn 0765382202 Natlyn 2 3.54 2017 Martians Abroad
author: Carrie Vaughn
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock, #8)]]> 199212560 Charlotte Holmes is accustomed to solving crimes, not being accused of them, but she finds herself in a dreadfully precarious position as the bestselling Lady Sherlock series continues.

Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip.

Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive.

But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?]]> 335 Sherry Thomas 0593640438 Natlyn 3 mystery 4.04 2024 A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock, #8)
author: Sherry Thomas
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Museum of Desire (Alex Delaware, #35)]]> 45712213 ONE NIGHT OF HEDONISM. FOUR MURDER VICTIMS.

A run-down mansion nestled between Beverley Hills and the San Fernando Valley is leased out for one night to house a party big enough to herald the end of days.

When a limo is discovered in the grounds of the house the morning after with four dead bodies inside, a mind-bending case begins.

With no link between the four people in the car, and each of the victims murdered in a different way, psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis are about to begin their grisliest and most baffling case yet.

And as they struggle to make sense of the vicious mass slaying, they will be forced to confront a level of lust and evil for which their combined wisdom can provide no preparation.]]> 368 Jonathan Kellerman Natlyn 0 mystery 3.96 2020 The Museum of Desire (Alex Delaware, #35)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Serpentine (Alex Delaware, #36)]]> 53511489 368 Jonathan Kellerman 0525618562 Natlyn 5 mystery 4.26 2021 Serpentine (Alex Delaware, #36)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/12
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> All the Birds in the Sky 25372801 316 Charlie Jane Anders 0765379945 Natlyn 2 bookgroup 3.57 2016 All the Birds in the Sky
author: Charlie Jane Anders
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: bookgroup
review:

]]> Killer (Alex Delaware, #29) 17910538 Ěý
The City of Angels has more than its share of psychopaths, and no one recognizes that more acutely than the brilliant psychologist and police consultant Dr. Alex Delaware. Despite that, Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. And when the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology.
Ěý
Nothing would please Alex more than to be free of the ugly spectacle known as Sykes v. Sykes. But then the little girl at the center of the vicious dispute disappears and Alex knows he must work with longtime friend Detective Milo Sturgis, braving an obstacle course ofĚý Hollywood washouts, gangbangers, and self-serving jurists in order to save an innocent life.
Ěý
Killer is Kellerman—and Delaware—at their finest.]]> 335 Jonathan Kellerman 0345505751 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.89 Killer (Alex Delaware, #29)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2014/10/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> Ink Blood Sister Scribe 62854842 In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .]]> 416 Emma Törzs 0063253461 Natlyn 0 currently-reading 3.98 2023 Ink Blood Sister Scribe
author: Emma Törzs
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[City of the Dead (Alex Delaware, #37)]]> 58108593
Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.'s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.

This is classic Delaware: Alex, a man Milo has come to see as irreplaceable, at his most insightful and brilliant.]]> 336 Jonathan Kellerman 0525618597 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.30 2022 City of the Dead (Alex Delaware, #37)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)]]> 843804
In his first book for young adults, Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school. This heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written tale, featuring poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, is based on the author's own experiences. It chronicles contemporary adolescence as seen through the eyes of one Native American boy.

Illustrated in a contemporary cartoon style by Ellen Forney.]]> 230 Sherman Alexie 0316013692 Natlyn 5 4.17 2007 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)
author: Sherman Alexie
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unnatural History (Alex Delaware, #38)]]> 61061722 320 Jonathan Kellerman 0525618627 Natlyn 4 4.17 2023 Unnatural History (Alex Delaware, #38)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost Orchid (Alex Delaware, #39)]]> 150247425
LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past . . . and who can still find you.

A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor.

An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double� in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day. The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,� and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware.

As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?

Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.]]> 304 Jonathan Kellerman 0593497678 Natlyn 3 mystery 3.88 2024 The Ghost Orchid (Alex Delaware, #39)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)]]> 75319056 Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.]]> 248 Martha Wells 1250826985 Natlyn 5 4.36 2023 System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Aura of Mystery (Ellie McEwan #1)]]> 205041927 The newly discovered novel from multi-million-selling author Joy Ellis. Never-before published!

Flower shop owner Ellie McEwan is driving home late one frosty November night when a shadowy figure leaps into the road out of nowhere. Ellie swerves to avoid him � and slams head-on into the crash barrier.

Days later, Ellie wakes up in hospital � and notices there’s something different. Everyone she looks at � the doctor, the nurse, her friend Carole � is surrounded by a coloured aura. Her near-death experience seems to have given her a new ability.

And now Ellie must use her new-found gift to catch a killer.

The battered body of a young woman is found in the grounds of a local hotel. She’s the third woman to be murdered in this sleepy Surrey village, her hands crushed and mutilated. Just like the other two.

Each of the women was a skilled professional � a musician, a doctor and an artist. Apart from that, they appear to have nothing in common.

And now the police’s one lead � a key witness � is missing.

Although skeptical, a desperate DCI Bob Foreman calls on Ellie for help. But Ellie’s involvement in the investigation will throw her into the path of a brutal killer . . .]]> 370 Joy Ellis 1835263283 Natlyn 3 mystery 4.28 2024 An Aura of Mystery (Ellie McEwan #1)
author: Joy Ellis
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> Some Desperate Glory 60784260
While we live, the enemy shall fear us.

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the majoda their victory over humanity.

They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to Nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.

Alongside her brother’s brilliant but seditious friend and a lonely, captive alien, Kyr escapes from everything she’s known into a universe far more complicated than she was taught and far more wondrous than she could have imagined.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 440 Emily Tesh 1250834996 Natlyn 0 currently-reading 4.29 2023 Some Desperate Glory
author: Emily Tesh
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman]]> 60626758
Alan Rickman remains the one of the most beloved actors of all time across almost every genre in the American and British markets, from his breakout role as Die Hard’s Hans Gruber to his heart-wrenching run as Professor Severus Snape, and beyond. His air of dignity, his sonorous voice, and the knowing wit he brought to each role have captivated viewers across nearly every generation alive today.

But Rickman’s artistry wasn’t confined to just his performances. Fans of movies, theater, and memoirs at large will delight in the intimate experience of Rickman detailing the extraordinary and the ordinary in a way that is “anecdotal, indiscreet, witty, gossipy and utterly candid.� He grants us access to his thoughts and insights on theater performances, the craft of acting, politics, friendships, work projects, and his general musings on life. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman was written with the intention to be shared, and reading it feels as if Rickman is chatting to a close friend.]]> 472 Alan Rickman 1250847966 Natlyn 0 currently-reading 3.72 2022 Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman
author: Alan Rickman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ghosts in the Snow (Dubric Bryerly, #1)]]> 1517507 Where does the fever of illusion stop...
and the cold truth begin?

This unique debut thriller combines forensics, fantasy, and edge-of-your-seat suspense like never before. In a world where sorcery is illegal, someone is murdering young women in ways that defy all reason—and all detection. Only one man knows how to track such an untraceable killer, a man called to deliver justice by an onslaught of�

For Dubric Bryerly, head of security at Castle Faldorrah, saving lives has become a matter of saving his sanity. A silent killer is afoot, savagely mutilating servant girls and leaving behind no clues and no witnesses—except the gruesome ghosts of the victims. Ghosts that only Dubric can see.

Caught in the eye of the grisly storm is Nella, a linen maid working to free herself from a dark past—if she can survive an invisible killer’s rampage. But with the death toll rising and Nella under the protective wing of a man who may be a prime suspect, Dubric must resort to unconventional methods. With the future of Faldorrah and countless lives at stake, including his own, he can’t afford to be wrong. And if he’s right, the entire kingdom could be thrust into war.]]> 488 Tamara Siler Jones 0553587099 Natlyn 4 3.78 2004 Ghosts in the Snow (Dubric Bryerly, #1)
author: Tamara Siler Jones
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Commitment Hour (League of Peoples #2)]]> 23816633 In this “rivetingâ€� series from “a brilliant new voice,â€� gender in the twenty-fifth century is a matter of personal choice—until you reach the Commitment Hour (David Feintuch). After most of Earth’s population has left for other planets, life is simple in the isolated village of Tober Cove. Fullin, a twenty-year-old musician, lives well off of his craft. But soon he must make a life-changing decision that all residents of Tober Cove must make.ĚýUp until their twenty-first birthdays, the people of Tober Cove change gender every year. But at the age of twenty-one, they must commit to being male, female, or a Neut (essentially a hermaphrodite) for the rest of their lives. As Fullin nears the moment of decision, his faith becomes shaken when he uncovers secrets that distort his beliefs.]]> 314 James Alan Gardner 1497623502 Natlyn 3 4.00 1998 Commitment Hour (League of Peoples #2)
author: James Alan Gardner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hunted (League of Peoples, #4)]]> 837273
It took all the Admiral’s influence to get Edward commissioned in the Outward Fleet Explorer Corps—a fiercely independent band of misfits who referred to themselves proudly as Expendables. Accompanying Sam on a mission to the troubled planet of Troyen, home to the alien Mandasar, Edward found himself in the midst of a civil war. There, in an instant of horrifying insanity, Sam was killed, along with the alien hive-queen.

For the next twenty years, Edward was exiled to a lonely outpost on one of Troyen’s moons, blamed by the Admiral for Sam’s death—and blaming himself as well. But when escalating violence forces the evacuation of the system, Edward embarks on a perilous journey home that will lead him into a forgotten past—and, with the assistance of another ex-Expendable, the greatest Explorer of them all, the legendary Admiral Festina Ramos, into a future thick with conspiracy and betrayal. For there lurks a dark secret powerful enough to bury the hopes of human and Mandasar alike…or give them a new and brighter beginning.]]> 422 James Alan Gardner 0380802090 Natlyn 5 4.09 2000 Hunted (League of Peoples, #4)
author: James Alan Gardner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/23
date added: 2024/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vigilant (League of Peoples #3)]]> 837272
Desperate to escape her past, Faye joins the Vigil, a band of fiercely independent monitors charged with rooting out government corruption. To help in this struggle, her mind is linked to the powerful datasphere that regulates the planet...and suddenly, she receives a cryptic vision promising peace and healing. Instead, Faye becomes the target of unknown assassins in a sinister conspiracy that threatens to unleash a new and more deadly outbreak.

For humans and Ooloms were not the first species to inhabit Demoth. Somewhere in the ruins of long-abandoned settlements, something was left behind: an alien technology of unimaginable potential to build -- or destroy. Enemy agents will stop at nothing to find it. Some of Faye's own people will kill to uncover its secret. With no one else to trust, she turns to the one person who can help unravel the mystery: Festina Ramos -- explorer, outcast, ever-vigilant champion of those whom society deems expendable.]]> 384 James Alan Gardner 0380802082 Natlyn 4 4.04 1999 Vigilant (League of Peoples #3)
author: James Alan Gardner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2)]]> 36307674
The wolves are circling and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant #1 New York Times-bestselling King of Scars Duology.

The Demon King. As Fjerda's massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm—and even the monster within—to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king's gift for the impossible.

The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost.

The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.

King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall.]]> 592 Leigh Bardugo 1510109188 Natlyn 3 4.34 2021 Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/19
date added: 2024/01/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Expendable (League of Peoples, #1)]]> 739986
Festina Ramos belongs to the well-trained, always-dwindling ranks of ECMs (Expendable Crew Members). Now she and her partner, Yarrun Derigha, have been ordered to escort the unstable Admiral Chee to Melaquin -- the feared "Planet of No Return"-- which has swallowed up countless Explorers before them without a trace.Obviously, this is meant to be the last mission for Ramos and Derigha. But it won't be, if Festina can help it.]]> 352 James Alan Gardner 038079439X Natlyn 4 3.91 1997 Expendable (League of Peoples, #1)
author: James Alan Gardner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/28
date added: 2023/12/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Ochre Court (Gilded Newport Mysteries #6)]]> 36588306 For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries�

In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society . . .

After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald and staying with her more well-heeled Vanderbilt relatives in New York City, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering ocean vistas, and grand stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news.

But for now she's covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a coming-out ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be literally on display, fittingly as Cleopatra, in an elaborate tableau vivant. Recently installed modern electricity will allow Miss Cooper-Smith to truly shine. But as the deb ascends to her place of honor, the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come back on, Cleo sits still on her throne, electrocuted to death.

Quickly establishing that the wiring was tampered with, Emma now has a murder to investigate. And the array of eligible suspects could fill another ballroom--from a shady New York real estate developer to a neglected sister and the mother of a spurned suitor. As Emma begins to discover this crime has unseen connections to a nefarious network, she puts her own life at risk to shine a light on the dark motives behind a merciless murder.]]> 324 Alyssa Maxwell 1496703375 Natlyn 0 mystery 4.10 2018 Murder at Ochre Court (Gilded Newport Mysteries #6)
author: Alyssa Maxwell
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/04
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Chateau Sur Mer (Gilded Newport Mysteries #5)]]> 32920013 For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries�

In the late nineteenth century, Newport, Rhode Island, is home to some of America s wealthiest citizens. It s also the beat of society reporter Emma Cross, a less well-heeled cousin to the illustrious Vanderbilts, who occasionally moonlights in solving murders . . .

Covering a polo match for the Observer, Emma s job is to take note of the real players off the field Newport s well-bred elite. But the fashionable facade is breached when a woman in gaudy clothing creates a scene demanding to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmore until she is escorted off the grounds by the police.
The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the Wetmores Bellevue Avenue home, Chateau sur Mer, where the senator s wife, Edith, has mysteriously asked to see her. Upon entering the mansion, Emma is confronted with a crime scene the intruder from the polo match lies dead at the foot of a grand staircase.
To avoid scandal, Edith Wetmore implores Emma to use her reporter skills and her discretion to investigate. When Emma learns the victim was a prostitute and pregnant she wonders if the senator was being blackmailed. As Emma peels back layers of deception and family secrets, she may have met her match in a desperate killer who will trample anyone who gets in the way...
Praise for Alyssa Maxwell and her Gilded Newport Mysteries!
MURDER AT ROUGH POINT
Pleasantly twisty . . . will appeal to lovers of atmospheric country house mysteries. Publishers Weekly
Emma is an interesting, independent career woman in this satisfying first-person account that includes well-drawn characters. Booklist
The characters are fun, the dialogue is both charming and intelligent, but the scenery that makes up that extravagant time period in New England really is the gem in these glorious tales. Suspense Magazine
MURDER AT BEECHWOOD
Another entertaining entry in this cozy series. Library Journal
Several cuts above the usual feisty heroine tale; it provides a good picture of life among the privileged and not-so-privileged classes in Gilded Newport. San Jose Mercury News
MURDER AT MARBLE HOUSE
Maxwell s second entry has a credible mystery, solved by a female detective who s likeable. Kirkus Reviews
Maxwell again deftly weaves fictional and real-life characters into her story. Publishers Weekly
MURDER AT THE BREAKERS
A promising start to an engaging mystery series filled with smart observations. Library Journal
Sorry to see the conclusion of Downton Abbey Season 4? Well, here is a morsel to get you through a long afternoon.Brew some Earl Grey and settle down with a scone with this one. Washington Independent Review of Books

Will keep you guessing. Historical Novels Reviews"]]> 288 Alyssa Maxwell 1496703324 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.90 2017 Murder at Chateau Sur Mer (Gilded Newport Mysteries #5)
author: Alyssa Maxwell
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/08
date added: 2023/11/04
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Knocks Twice (Death in Paradise, #3)]]> 32489929
Just as he is feeling as fed up as can be, a mysterious vagrant is found dead on the grounds of the historic Beaumont coffee plantation. It's immediately assumed to be a suicide, but D.I. Poole is not so convinced. He's determined to prove otherwise. Never mind that the only fingerprints on the murder weapon belong to the victim. Or that the room was locked from the inside.

Before long, death knocks twice and a second body turns up. The hunt is on to solve the case � despite the best efforts of the enigmatic Beaumont family�

It's #3 in the popular 'Death in Paradise' series!]]> 400 Robert Thorogood 1848455062 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.02 2017 Death Knocks Twice (Death in Paradise, #3)
author: Robert Thorogood
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/18
date added: 2023/07/18
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Killing of Polly Carter (Death in Paradise, #2)]]> 25882387
Supermodel Polly Carter was famed for her looks and party-girl lifestyle. Now she's dead, apparently having thrown herself from the clifftop near her home on the island of Saint-Marie. Those who knew her say Polly would never have killed herself…and when he is called in to investigate, DI Poole is inclined to agree there is more to Polly’s death than meets the eye.

Already fighting a losing battle against the intense summer heat of the Caribbean, Richard now faces fresh adversaries: a stream of alibis, a host of conflicting motives, and worst of all, a visit from his mother. It's a frenzy which would surely allow a murderer to slip away unnoticed…yet Richard is certain that the guilty party is still on the island.

As his team closes in on Polly’s household, Richard becomes convinced that the model’s death was an inside job. He's determined to ascertain if he is correct. Who did kill Polly Carter and why?]]> 333 Robert Thorogood 1848454155 Natlyn 5 mystery 4.00 2015 The Killing of Polly Carter (Death in Paradise, #2)
author: Robert Thorogood
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/13
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> Exhalation 41160292
In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic—revelatory.]]> 368 Ted Chiang Natlyn 0 currently-reading 4.27 2019 Exhalation
author: Ted Chiang
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Meditation on Murder (Death in Paradise, #1)]]> 23282781
Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life as leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean's most unspoiled islands, Saint Marie. Until he's murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut. Aslan was killed inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who'd rather discuss his 'aura' than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don't quite stack up. In fact, he's convinced that the person who's just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn’t have done it.

Determined to track down the real killer, Poole is soon on the trail and he won't leave any stone unturned.]]> 358 Robert Thorogood 1848453566 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.90 2015 A Meditation on Murder (Death in Paradise, #1)
author: Robert Thorogood
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: mystery
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 Natlyn 5 4.58 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)]]> 22294935
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 a Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they dont kill each other first.]]> 479 Leigh Bardugo Natlyn 4 4.37 2015 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/15
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume III]]> 59864447 The third series of the celebrated Vox Machina Origins comics, from Critical Role and Dark Horse!

Vox Machina enjoy a week in Westruun's lap of luxury leading up to the Winter's Crest Festival. But that costs coin, which has a bad habit of running out, so they join an underground fighting ring and bash their way to cash. Unfortunately, their ring-fighting turns out to be just a warm-up for a cold reality when a mysterious attack on Winter's Crest festivities leaves the whole town magically frozen--including one of their own. Vox Machina will have to save the day again, against a much bigger foe than they first realized!

Prepare for more misadventure with series III of Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, from the New York Times bestselling team of Jody Houser (Orphan Black, Stranger Things), Olivia Samson, MSASSYK (Isola, Gotham Academy), Diana Sousa (Isola, Crowded) and Ariana Maher (James Bond, Xena)!

Collects Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins III #1-#6.
]]> 152 Jody Houser 1506723683 Natlyn 3 4.32 Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume III
author: Jody Houser
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/05
date added: 2023/05/05
shelves:
review:

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

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]> 468 N.K. Jemisin Natlyn 5 bookgroup 4.29 2015 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves: bookgroup
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)]]> 28147302 The second novel in a new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula & World Fantasy Award nominated author N.K. Jemisin.

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS... FOR THE LAST TIME.

The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring -- madman, world-crusher, savior -- has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy.

It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last.

The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken.
]]> 321 N.K. Jemisin Natlyn 4 bookgroup 4.44 2016 The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/10
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves: bookgroup
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)]]> 34017126 The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the phenomenal power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every outcast child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother's mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.]]> 398 N.K. Jemisin Natlyn 3 4.47 2017 The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/20
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Babel 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Natlyn 4 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/28
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves:
review:

]]> The Queen's Gambit 62022 258 Walter Tevis 1400030609 Natlyn 3 mainstream 4.14 1983 The Queen's Gambit
author: Walter Tevis
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/02/19
shelves: mainstream
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins: Series I & II Collection]]> 54180893 The celebrated series Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins returns in this stunning hardcover edition! Fans of the series won't want to miss this beautiful collection.

What do a flirtatious bard, a clueless barbarian, a naĂŻve druid, and a pair of stealthy twins all have in common? They're not sure either, but one day they'll become the heroes known as Vox Machina! Follow the main characters from the smash-hit series Critical Role as they team up for the first time, facing cults and curses in the revelation of their origins and the path that will lead them to glory...eventually.

Collects Vox Machina Origins I and II in a gorgeous new Hardcover with never before seen artwork!]]> 320 Matthew Mercer 1506721737 Natlyn 3 sequential-art 4.58 Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins: Series I & II Collection
author: Matthew Mercer
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.58
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/01
date added: 2023/01/02
shelves: sequential-art
review:

]]> The Sudden Appearance of Hope 25746699 My name is Hope Arden, and you won't know who I am. But we've met before - a thousand times.

It started when I was sixteen years old.

A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger.

No matter what I do, the words I say, the crimes I commit, you will never remember who I am.

That makes my life difficult. It also makes me dangerous.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you forever.]]> 476 Claire North 0316335991 Natlyn 3 3.58 2016 The Sudden Appearance of Hope
author: Claire North
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2023/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)]]> 60899502 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators� lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt these children beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered, and are they now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long-dead stonemason is discovered. In it, the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir, and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.]]> 390 Louise Penny 1250145295 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.33 2022 A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/01/02
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism]]> 54818328 Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism.

Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's first Black friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal". But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey.

From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman". And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.]]> 6 Amber Ruffin 154910540X Natlyn 5 non-fiction 4.42 2021 You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism
author: Amber Ruffin
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/01/02
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mixed: My Life in Black and White]]> 372434
“Love has no color,� insist Angela Nissel’s parents, but does it have a clue? In this candid, funny, and poignant memoir, Angela recounts growing up biracial in Philadelphia–moving back and forth between black inner-city schools and white prep schools–where her racial ambiguity and doomed attempts to blend in dog her teen years. Once in college, Angela experiments with black activism (hoping to find clarity in extremism), capitalizes on her “exotic� look at a strip club, and ends up with a major case of the blues (aka, a racial identity problem). Yet Angela is never down for the count. After moving to Los Angeles, she discovers that being multiracial is anything but simple, especially in terms of dating and romance.
By turns a comedy of errors and a moving coming-of-age chronicle, Mixed traces one woman’s unforgettable journey to self-acceptance and belonging.

Praise for Mixed

“I love Angela Nissel's writing. Reading Mixed was like getting a letter from a best friend I forgot I had. How ironic that a book written by someone who felt like no one "got" her will surely be one of those rare books everyone gets- black, white, both, neither. Hilarious, sweet, and honest, Mixed is the perfect read if you've ever felt like the one standing on the outside-- and let's face it, who hasn't? - -Jill Soloway, author of Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants

“Nissel is humorous, poignant, and proud yet also empathetic and generous as she recounts her constant struggle to answer the perennial question persons of mixed race seem required to ask of themselves in our society–where do I fit in?.... All readers stand to learn from her account.� � Booklist

“Colorful anecdotes, marvelous dialogue and a thoughtful narrative make this memoir a delight.�–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"If David Sedaris was a straight biracial female, this is the book he'd write. This book is so funny I've already started telling people I helped Angela write it." -- Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs

"Growing up black and white, I always felt I had the best of both worlds. I feel the same way about Mixed. It's the perfect blend of hilarious comedy and sometimes tragic reality." -- Yvette Lee Bowser, creator of Living Single and executive producer of Half and Half
"Mixed is a hilarious must-read for anyone searching for the enchanting path to self-discovery. Angela Nissel's precise account of living the mixed race experience not only hit home with me, but the journey is deliciously enlightening and heart-rending at the same time. It's a journey well worth taking." --Halle Berry]]> 228 Angela Nissel 0345481143 Natlyn 4 3.79 2006 Mixed: My Life in Black and White
author: Angela Nissel
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/13
date added: 2022/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Having It All?: Black Women and Success]]> 809672
In a single generation, black women have made extraordinary strides academically, professionally, and financially. They’ve entered the workplace at a far greater rate than white women; increased their enrollment in law schools and graduate programs by 120 percent; and many are now running top companies, or in some cases, the country. Isn’t that enough? Not necessarily. With sharp insight, award-winning journalist Veronica Chambers explores the challenges and stereotypes she and other African American women continue to endure, and answers the question most often posed to her: What does success mean for black women?

Twenty-first century black women draw their inspiration from a wide range of sources: Claire Huxtable to Audrey Hepburn, snowboarding to basketball, Gloria Steinem to bell hooks. They choose what they like. Yet they are misunderstood by mainstream America and lack an accurate portrayal in the media of their lives. HAVING IT ALL? interweaves the thoughts and reflections of more than fifty women who occupy this territory. The voices range from Thelma Golden, chief curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, to a Silicon Valley executive, to medical and legal professionals, and stay-at-home “mocha moms.�

Successful black women today want it all: marriage, motherhood, engaging work, and prosperity. The difference is that they come to the table with the strength, courage and wisdom of black women ancestors who-did-it-all, even when they didn’t-have-it-all. What has gone so undocumented by the media is that modern black women are coming up with creative, satisfying answers to the juggling act that all women face.

Veronica Chambers chronicles this topic for the first time in her absorbing, riveting and groundbreaking book HAVING IT ALL?]]> 240 Veronica Chambers 0385506384 Natlyn 4 3.88 2003 Having It All?: Black Women and Success
author: Veronica Chambers
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Sweet Spot 22318422 Learn how to achieve more by doing less! Live in that zone you’ve glimpsed but can’t seem to hold on to—the sweet spot where you have the greatest strength, but also the greatest ease.
Ěý
Not long ago, Christine Carter, a happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a speaker, writer, and mother, found herself exasperated by the busyness of modern life: too many conflicting obligations and not enough time, energy, or patience to get everything done. She tried all the standard techniques—prioritizing, multitasking, delegating, even napping—but none really worked. Determined to create a less stressful life for herself—without giving up her hard-won career success or happiness at home—she road-tested every research-based tactic that promised to bring more ease into her life. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the latest research related to happiness, productivity, and elite performance, she followed every strategy that promised to give her more energy—or that could make her more efficient, creative, or intelligent.
Ěý
Her trials and errors are our reward. In The Sweet Spot, Carter shares the combination of practices that transformed her life from overwhelmed and exhausting to joyful, relaxed, and productive. From instituting daily micro-habits that save time to bigger picture shifts that convert stress into productive and creative energy, The Sweet Spot shows us how to
Ěý
� say “no� strategically and when to say “yes� with abandon
� make decisions about routine things once to free our minds to focus on higher priorities
� stop multitasking and gain efficiency
� “take recess� in sync with the brain’s need for rest
� use technology in ways that bolster, instead of sap, energy
� increase your ratio of positive to negative emotions
Ěý
Complete with practical “easiest thing� tips for instant relief as well as stories from Carter’s own experience of putting The Sweet Spot into action, this timely and inspiring book will inoculate you against “The Overwhelm,� letting you in on the possibilities for joy and freedom that come when you stop trying to do everything right—and start doing the right things.
Ěý
Advance praise for The Sweet Spot
Ěý
“Illuminates the simple and sustainable path toward a precious and happy balance.�—Deepak Chopra
Ěý
“A gift, like a good friend drawing a personal road map out of the crazy busy swirl of our overloaded lives.�—Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed
Ěý
“This book did something I thought was impossible: It seemed to give me more time.�—Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Ěý
“A page-turning thriller full of proven ways to have the life you want.�—Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Hardwiring Happiness
Ěý
“Timely, lively, and vital, The Sweet Spot is an immediately useful must-read.�—Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage

�The Sweet Spot inspired me to make immediate changes that have increased my productivity and lowered my stress.]]> 320 Christine Carter 0553392042 Natlyn 0 currently-reading 3.83 2015 The Sweet Spot
author: Christine Carter
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry (Unnatural Magic #2)]]> 52448614 A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.

Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.

At first Delly thinks the danger is exaggerated, but a series of attacks shows there’s much to fear. Then she begins to fall for Winn, one of the other bodyguards, and the women team up against a mysterious, magical foe who seems to have allies everywhere.]]> 400 C.M. Waggoner 1984805878 Natlyn 3 3.99 2021 The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry (Unnatural Magic #2)
author: C.M. Waggoner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/01
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unnatural Magic (Unnatural Magic, #1)]]> 43562764
Tsira is a troll who never quite fit into her clan, despite being the leader’s daughter. She decides to strike out on her own and look for work in a human city, but on her way she stumbles upon the body of a half-dead human soldier in the snow. As she slowly nurses him back to health, an unlikely bond forms between them, one that is tested when an unknown mage makes an attempt on Tsira’s life. Soon, unbeknownst to each other, Onna and Tsira both begin devoting their considerable talents to finding out who is targeting trolls, before their homeland is torn apart…]]> 388 C.M. Waggoner 1984805843 Natlyn 4 3.75 2019 Unnatural Magic (Unnatural Magic, #1)
author: C.M. Waggoner
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/10
date added: 2022/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Pioneers: A History of a Pioneer Family in Colorado Springs]]> 58480022 40 Dorothy Bass Spann Natlyn 3 3.00 Black Pioneers: A History of a Pioneer Family in Colorado Springs
author: Dorothy Bass Spann
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/07/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Rough Point (Gilded Newport Mysteries, #4)]]> 28351140 For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries�

In glittering Newport, Rhode Island, status is everything. But despite being a poorer relation to the venerable Vanderbilts, Emma Cross has shaped her own identity—as a reporter and a sleuth.

As the nineteenth century draws to a close, Fancies and Fashion reporter Emma Cross is sent by the Newport Observer to cover an elite house party at Rough Point, a “cottage� owned by her distant cousin Frederick Vanderbilt that has been rented as an artist retreat. To her surprise, the illustrious guests include her estranged Bohemian parents—recently returned from Europe—as well as a variety of notable artists, including author Edith Wharton.

But when one of the artists is discovered dead at the bottom of a cliff, Rough Point becomes anything but a house of mirth. After a second murder, no one is above suspicion—including Emma’s parents. As Newport police detective Jesse Whyte searches for a killer, Emma tries to draw her own conclusions—with the help of Mrs. Wharton. But with so many sketchy suspects, she’ll need to canvas the crime scenes carefully, before the cunning culprit takes her out of the picture next . . .

Praise for Alyssa Maxwell and her Gilded Newport Mysteries

“Another entertaining entry in this cozy series.� �Library Journal on Murder at Beechwood

“Maxwell’s second entry has a credible mystery, solved by a female detective who’s likeable.� �Kirkus Reviews on Murder at Marble House]]> 305 Alyssa Maxwell 1496703294 Natlyn 3 3.97 2016 Murder at Rough Point (Gilded Newport Mysteries, #4)
author: Alyssa Maxwell
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/01
date added: 2021/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Beechwood (Gilded Newport Mysteries #3)]]> 22859799 For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries�

For Newport, Rhode Island’s high society, the summer of 1896 brings lawn parties, sailboat races…and murder. Having turned down the proposal of Derrick Andrews, Emma Cross has no imminent plans for matrimony—let alone motherhood. But when she discovers an infant left on her doorstep, she naturally takes the child into her care. Using her influence as a cousin to the Vanderbilts and a society page reporter for the Newport Observer , Emma launches a discreet search for the baby’s mother.

One of her first stops is a lawn party at Mrs. Caroline Astor’s Beechwood estate. But an idyllic summer’s day is soon clouded by tragedy. During a sailboat race, textile magnate Virgil Monroe falls overboard. There are prompt accusations of foul play—and even Derrick Andrews falls under suspicion. Deepening the intrigue, a telltale slip of lace may link the abandoned child to the drowned man. But as Emma navigates dark undercurrents of scandalous indiscretions and violent passions, she’ll need to watch her step to ensure that no one lowers the boom on her…]]> 304 Alyssa Maxwell 0758290861 Natlyn 3 3.95 2015 Murder at Beechwood (Gilded Newport Mysteries #3)
author: Alyssa Maxwell
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/01
date added: 2021/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura, #4)]]> 25898527
Prior to the groundlings� arrival, the Indigo Cloud court had been plagued by visions of a disaster that could destroy all the courts in the Reaches. Now, the court’s mentors believe the ancient city is connected to the foretold danger. A small group of warriors, including consort Moon, an orphan new to the colony and the Raksura’s idea of family, and sister queen Jade, agree to go with the groundling expedition to investigate. But the predatory Fell have found the city too, and in the race to keep the danger contained, the Raksura may be the ones who inadvertently release it.

The Edge of Worlds, from celebrated fantasy author Martha Wells, returns to the fascinating world of The Cloud Roads for the first book in a new series of strange lands, uncanny beings, dead cities, and ancient danger.]]> 388 Martha Wells 1597808431 Natlyn 3 4.01 2016 The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura, #4)
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #16)]]> 49127539 The 16th novel by #1 bestselling author Louise Penny finds Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec investigating a sinister plot in the City of Light

On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.

When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.

It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades.

A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.]]> 439 Louise Penny 1250145236 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.35 2020 All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #16)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/03/20
date added: 2021/04/01
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)]]> 13649197
But now a rival court has laid claim to Moon, and Jade may or may not be willing to fight for him. Beset by doubts, Moon must travel in the company of strangers to a distant realm where he will finally face the forgotten secrets of his past, even as an old enemy returns with a vengeance.

The Fell, a vicious race of shapeshifting predators, menaces groundlings and Raksura alike. Determined to crossbreed with the Raksura for arcane purposes, they are driven by an ancient voice that cries out from...THE SIREN DEPTHS]]> 277 Martha Wells 1597804401 Natlyn 4 4.21 2012 The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/01/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)]]> 11834447
But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree � a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.]]> 340 Martha Wells 1597803324 Natlyn 5 4.06 2012 The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/01/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Decaffeinated Corpse (Coffeehouse Mystery, #5)]]> 89657 262 Cleo Coyle 0425216381 Natlyn 3 mystery 3.92 2007 Decaffeinated Corpse (Coffeehouse Mystery, #5)
author: Cleo Coyle
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2020/11/01
date added: 2020/12/04
shelves: mystery
review:
Decent mystery but the style wasn't my speed. I did learn a lot about coffee--growing it, decaffeinating it, making a decent cup, etc.
]]> The Angel of the Crows 54260612
In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London, too. But this London has an Angel - The Angel of the Crows.

Listening Length: 16 hours and 2 minutes.]]> 16 Katherine Addison Natlyn 4 3.87 2020 The Angel of the Crows
author: Katherine Addison
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/01
date added: 2020/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Old Guard, vol. 1: Opening Fire]]> 33153548
Old soldiers never die…and some of them don’t even fade away. Cursed with immortality, Andromache of Scythia and her comrades-in-arms ply their trade for those who can find—and afford—their services. But in the 21st century, being immortal is a difficult secret to keep, and when you live long enough, you learn that there are many fates far worse than death.

Collects THE OLD GUARD #1-5]]> 169 Greg Rucka Natlyn 3 sequential-art 3.99 2017 The Old Guard, vol. 1: Opening Fire
author: Greg Rucka
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/09/20
shelves: sequential-art
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hopcross Jilly Vol. 1 (Mercy Thompson)]]> 25076719
This 168 page hardcover collects the six-issue Mercy Thompson comic book series by PATRICIA BRIGGS, RIK HOSKIN, and TOM GARCIA aand features the original script and line art to issue #1, along with character designs and sketches by Tom Garcia.]]> 168 Patricia Briggs 1606906682 Natlyn 3 sequential-art 4.01 2015 Hopcross Jilly Vol. 1 (Mercy Thompson)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/09/20
shelves: sequential-art
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)]]> 46033842
After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.

But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.

Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.

As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.

The final chapter in the bestselling, critically acclaimed Daevabad Trilogy, in which a con-woman and an idealistic djinn prince join forces to save a magical kingdom from a devastating civil war.]]> 766 S.A. Chakraborty 0008239495 Natlyn 5 4.52 2020 The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/31
date added: 2020/09/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero]]> 11441356
In Pursuit of Spenser offers a look at Parker and to Spenser through the eyes of the writers he influenced. Editor Otto Penzler-- proprietor of one of the oldest and largest mystery specialist bookstores in the country, New York's The Mysterious Bookshop, and renowned mystery fiction editor whose credits include series editor for the Best American Crime Writing and Best American Mystery Stories, among many others (and about whom Parker himself once wrote, "Otto Penzler knows more about crime fiction than most people know about anything")-- collects some of today's bestselling mystery authors to discuss Parker, his characters, the series, and their impact on the world.

From Hawk to Susan Silverman to Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall, from the series' Boston milieu to Parker's own take on his character, In Pursuit of Spenser pays tribute to Spenser, and Parker, with affection, humor, and a deep appreciation for what both have left behind.]]> 247 Otto Penzler 1935618571 Natlyn 3 non-fiction 3.82 2012 In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero
author: Otto Penzler
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/21
date added: 2020/08/22
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Space Opera (Space Opera, #1) 24100285
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented-something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.

Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix - part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Instead of competing in orbital combat, the powerful species that survived face off in a competition of song, dance, or whatever can be physically performed in an intergalactic talent show. The stakes are high for this new game, and everyone is forced to compete.

This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny - they must sing.

A one-hit-wonder band of human musicians, dancers and roadies from London - Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes - have been chosen to represent Earth on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of their species lies in their ability to rock.]]> 294 Catherynne M. Valente 1472115074 Natlyn 2 bookgroup Space Opera was too interested in being clever and not interested enough in character and plot. YMMV.]]> 3.45 2018 Space Opera (Space Opera, #1)
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2020/08/22
date added: 2020/08/22
shelves: bookgroup
review:
This is Douglas Adams on overdrive. For my tastes, Space Opera was too interested in being clever and not interested enough in character and plot. YMMV.
]]> Hellspark 1056201 Hugo Award winner Janet Kagan's Hellspark is now back in print

Lassti, a newly discovered planet, is the center of political intrigue. Recently, Oloitokitok, the planet survey team's physicist, was found dead. Was he killed? If so, by whom? One of his fellow surveyors? Or by one of the Sprookjes, the birdlike natives of Lassti? Are the Sprookjes intelligent? If so, then parties that want the planet for development will lose it. Why is the survey team having so much trouble finding out?

Into this situation arrives Tocohl, a Hellspark trader who just wanted to have a vacation on Sheveschke at the St. Veschke festival. After being attacked, rescuing a young woman, and going before a judge, Tocohl has learned all she ever wanted to know about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she is on her way to find Lasti to find answers to the mysteries there.]]> 311 Janet Kagan Natlyn 5 4.35 1988 Hellspark
author: Janet Kagan
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock, #4)]]> 36510437 Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of The Hollow of Fear.

As "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective," Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.
Ěý
But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.
Ěý
Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia's admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake...]]> 304 Sherry Thomas 0451492471 Natlyn 3 mystery 4.05 2019 The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock, #4)
author: Sherry Thomas
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/07
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15)]]> 44034500 Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny.

It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Floodwaters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil, a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter.

As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father.

Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel..., he resumes the search.

As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made.

In the next novel in this "constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves" (The New York Times Book Review), Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question.

What would you do if your child's killer walked free?]]> 437 Louise Penny 1250066212 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.20 2019 A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/07/07
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)]]> 10680329 "Hearts are broken," Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. "Sweet relationships are dead."

But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montréal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Québec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart. And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they've found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.]]> 339 Louise Penny 0312655452 Natlyn 3 mystery 4.26 2011 A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/06/28
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #2)]]> 7723463 No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?
With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.]]> 0 Louise Penny 1441728554 Natlyn 5 mystery 3.81 2006 A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #2)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/20
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of the Blind (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #14)]]> 42975699 The entrancing new crime thriller featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, from number one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny

When Armand Gamache receives a letter inviting him to an abandoned farmhouse outside of Three Pines, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec discovers that a complete stranger has named him as an executor of her will.

Armand never knew the elderly woman, and the bequests are so wildly unlikely that he suspects the woman must have been delusional - until a body is found, and the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem far more menacing.

But it isn't the only menace Gamache is facing. The investigation into the events that led to his suspension has dragged on, and Armand is taking increasingly desperate measures to rectify previous actions. As he does, Armand Gamache begins to see his own blind spots - and the terrible things hiding there.

]]> Louise Penny 1250308135 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.02 2018 Kingdom of the Blind (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #14)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/17
date added: 2020/06/19
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hangman (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6.5)]]> 12967351 The dead man was a guest at the local Inn and Spa. He might have been looking for peace and quiet, but something else found him. Something horrible.
Did the man take his own life? Or was he murdered? Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called to the crime scene. As Gamache follows the trail of clues, he opens a door into the past. And he learns the true reason why the man came to Three Pines.
This book is a quick and easy read for people on the go.]]> 96 Louise Penny Natlyn 3 3.81 2010 The Hangman (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6.5)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/15
date added: 2020/06/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6)]]> 32171983 Ěý
Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smouldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. â€It doesn't make sense,â€� Olivier’s partner writes every day. â€He didn't do it, you know.â€� As past and present collide in this novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.]]> 13 Louise Penny 1427218099 Natlyn 4 4.21 2010 Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/14
date added: 2020/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)]]> 28245284 10 Louise Penny 1427258384 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.73 2005 Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/10
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #3)]]> 7633226
It's spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .

When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil—until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?

Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.]]> 0 Louise Penny 1441728562 Natlyn 3 mystery 3.92 2007 The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #3)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/09
date added: 2020/06/10
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)]]> 36530921
From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Surete du Quebec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.

Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montreal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgment.

In Glass Houses, her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.]]> Louise Penny 1427287414 Natlyn 4 mystery 4.04 2017 Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/05/31
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11)]]> 35827432
But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.

And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.

And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.

A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.

Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.]]> 13 Louise Penny 1427271941 Natlyn 3 mystery 3.88 2015 The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2020/05/30
date added: 2020/05/31
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9)]]> 18774120
Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.

As events come to a head, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna's friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear?]]> 15 Louise Penny 1427236836 Natlyn 3 mystery 4.40 2013 How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/05/28
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)]]> 15775212 New York Times bestselling series by Louise Penny, one of the most acclaimed crime writers of our time.

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as "the beautiful mystery."

But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.]]> 14 Louise Penny 142722885X Natlyn 4 mystery 3.93 2012 The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/25
date added: 2020/05/25
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #5)]]> 25690747
"Chaos is coming, old son."

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As autumn descends, and families prepare to head back to the city while children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store at the center of town. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.

No one admits to knowing the murdered man, who has kept his identity and his existence well hidden, along with an astounding legacy of cultural treasures. As secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier, whose past is unknown. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures—from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word "WOE" woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and then back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the final, brutal telling.]]> 14 Louise Penny 1483058328 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.98 2009 The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #5)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/22
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear. Get On the Mat. Love Your Body]]> 30754069
It’s a book of inspiration for beginners of all shapes and sizes: If Jessamyn could transcend these emotional and physical barriers, so can we.

It’s a book for readers already doing yoga, looking to refresh their practice or find new ways to stay motivated.

It’s a how-to book: Here are easy-to-follow directions to 50 basic yoga poses and 10 sequences to practice at home, all photographed in full color.

It’s a book that challenges the larger issues of body acceptance and the meaning of beauty.

Most of all, it’s a book that changes the paradigm, showing us that yoga isn’t about how one looks, but how one feels, with yoga sequences like “I Want to Energize My Spirit,� “I Need to Release Fear,� “I Want to Love Myself.�

Jessamyn Stanley, a yogi who breaks all the stereotypes, has built a life as an internationally recognized yoga teacher and award-winning Instagram star by combining a deep understanding for yoga with a willingness to share her personal struggles in a way that touches everyone who comes to know her. Now she brings her body-positive, emotionally uplifting approach to yoga in a book that will help every reader discover the power of yoga and how to weave it seamlessly into his or her life.]]> 222 Jessamyn Stanley 0761193111 Natlyn 5 non-fiction 4.35 2017 Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear. Get On the Mat. Love Your Body
author: Jessamyn Stanley
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12)]]> 33651739
When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.

Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.]]> Louise Penny 142727438X Natlyn 5 mystery 4.22 2016 A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/17
date added: 2020/05/17
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> A Rule Against Murder 26883211 "What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.
"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."

It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own.
The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax in A Rule Against Murder.]]> 0 Louise Penny 1427276595 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.96 2008 A Rule Against Murder
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/11
date added: 2020/05/12
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)]]> 52381770
It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see.

It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

]]> 350 Martha Wells 1250229863 Natlyn 5 4.44 2020 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/07
date added: 2020/05/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10)]]> 23153506
While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. "There’s power enough in Heaven," he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, "to cure a sin-sick soul." And then he gets up. And joins her.

Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Québec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence river. To an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it The land God gave to Cain. And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.]]> 12 Louise Penny 1427258597 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.78 2014 The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10)
author: Louise Penny
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves: mystery
review:
A different take on a mystery. This is a missing person case that tries to get into the mind of the artist who didn’t return when he’d promised to. It contains many philosophical musings on creativity and balms for the soul that I found thoughtful and fitting to the mood of the story but that I may have skipped had I been reading rather than listening to the audiobook. This is my first Louise Penny novel. I saw a TV adaptation of Still Life last week which introduced me to these characters.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wedding Guest (Alex Delaware, #34)]]> 39808468 The electrifying new Alex Delaware thriller from global bestseller Jonathan Kellerman. First comes love...then comes murder.

In the middle of a 'Saints and Sinners' themed wedding, a bridesmaid finds a young woman's corpse collapsed in the bathroom. None of the wedding guests claim to know the well-dressed victim but psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis aren't so convinced.]]> 384 Jonathan Kellerman 1780899025 Natlyn 4 mystery 3.59 2019 The Wedding Guest (Alex Delaware, #34)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/05/03
shelves: mystery
review:

]]> Heroes' Reward 27870115 This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN: B00BAVQD6S

Shield Dunleavy Mallorough and Source Shintaro Karish have lived in Flown Raven for five years, protecting its residents from natural disasters and enjoying the lack of interference from both the council of the Triple S and the Emperor.

When they are unexpectedly summoned to Shidonee’s Gap by the council, Lee and Taro learn that while they have been living at their isolated post, there have been a lot of changes in the world, changes that will drag them into unimaginable duties and unprecedented danger.]]> 332 Moira J. Moore Natlyn 4 3.42 2012 Heroes' Reward
author: Moira J. Moore
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/02/28
shelves:
review:
I kinda think this series doesn't have anything more to say about its world, but Moore is a decent writer and I enjoy the characters.
]]> <![CDATA[The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1)]]> 24876258
Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship, Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is severely damaged in combat, leaving captain and crew grounded, Grimm is offered a proposition from the Spirearch of Albion—to join a team of agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring Predator to its fighting glory.

And even as Grimm undertakes this dangerous task, he will learn that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake…]]> 630 Jim Butcher 0451466802 Natlyn 5 4.15 2015 The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/02/28
shelves:
review:
So fun! Butcher really understands cats.
]]> The Power 29751398 The Power the world is a recognizable place: There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; and a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: They can cause agonizing pain and even death. With this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.]]> 341 Naomi Alderman 0670919985 Natlyn 5 bookgroup 3.75 2016 The Power
author: Naomi Alderman
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2020/02/01
date added: 2020/02/28
shelves: bookgroup
review:
Fascinating. Interesting ideas.
]]> Bound (Alex Verus, #8) 31142620 Mage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.

Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares, he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead...

Alex Verus is still haunted by his time apprenticed to Richard Drakh. He's been free of him for many years, but now the only way to keep his friends from being harmed is to again work for Richard and his deadly ally. Even worse, he’s forced to bring the Light mage Anne into this servitude as well.

After weeks of being hunted and finally cornered into what he thought was his last stand, Alex never thought his life would be spared—and never anticipated at what price. This time, the diviner can see no way out...]]> 346 Benedict Jacka Natlyn 5 paranormal-investigation 4.40 2017 Bound (Alex Verus, #8)
author: Benedict Jacka
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/05/13
date added: 2020/02/21
shelves: paranormal-investigation
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries, and Lore]]> 33163204 This captivating compilation of science fiction and fantasy short fiction showcases stories of librarians-mysterious curators, heroic bibliognosts, arcane archivists, catalogers of very special collections-and libraries-repositories of arcane wisdom, storehouses of signals from other galaxies, bastions of culture, the last outposts of civilization in a post-apocalyptic world . . . grand adventures and small sagas of the magical places we call libraries and the wizards who staff them!
]]> 384 Paula Guran 1607014890 Natlyn 3 short-stories 3.68 2017 Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries, and Lore
author: Paula Guran
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2019/12/29
date added: 2019/12/29
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)]]> 39863238
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.]]> 462 Arkady Martine 1250186439 Natlyn 4 4.07 2019 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/01
date added: 2019/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Station Eleven 20170404 An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.]]> 333 Emily St. John Mandel 0385353308 Natlyn 2 bookgroup 4.05 2014 Station Eleven
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/11/24
shelves: bookgroup
review:

]]> Wheel of the Infinite 367336 400 Martha Wells 0380788152 Natlyn 5 3.88 2000 Wheel of the Infinite
author: Martha Wells
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/01
date added: 2019/11/24
shelves:
review:
Lovely world building of religion/reality plus adventure and a cranky middle-aged woman.
]]> <![CDATA[Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7)]]> 36534574
Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague–Lesley May–who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch . . .]]> 406 Ben Aaronovitch 1473207819 Natlyn 4 4.20 2018 Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2019/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy, #2)]]> 39988431 Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS.

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.

Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her familyand one misstep will doom her tribe.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid, the unpredictable water spirits, have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.]]> 625 S.A. Chakraborty 0008239444 Natlyn 4 4.37 2019 The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy, #2)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2019/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Becoming 40786511 Listening Length: 19 hrs 3 min

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.]]> 20 Michelle Obama Natlyn 5 4.57 2018 Becoming
author: Michelle Obama
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/12
date added: 2019/08/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard]]> 8140252
The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick . Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort - but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

In Switch , the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic

� The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients
â€� The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeepingĚý
â€� The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer serviceĚý

In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.]]> 322 Chip Heath 030759016X Natlyn 0 currently-reading 4.12 2010 Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
author: Chip Heath
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deep Roots (The Innsmouth Legacy, #2)]]> 36144841 "Wicked for the Cthulhu Mythos" —Seanan McGuire on the Innsmouth Legacy

Ruthanna Emrys� Innsmouth Legacy, which began with Winter Tide and continues with Deep Roots, confronts H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos head-on, boldly upturning his fear of the unknown with a heart-warming story of found family, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of human cruelty and the cosmic apathy of the universe. Emrys brings together a family of outsiders, bridging the gaps between the many people marginalized by the homogenizing pressure of 1940s America.

Aphra Marsh, descendant of the People of the Water, has survived Deep One internment camps and made a grudging peace with the government that destroyed her home and exterminated her people on land. Deep Rootscontinues Aphra’s journey to rebuild her life and family on land, as she tracks down long-lost relatives on land. She must repopulate Innsmouth or risk seeing it torn down by greedy developers, but as she searches she discovers that people have been going missing. She will have to unravel the mystery, or risk seeing her way of life slip away.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

]]> 400 Ruthanna Emrys 0765390922 Natlyn 3 4.02 2018 Deep Roots (The Innsmouth Legacy, #2)
author: Ruthanna Emrys
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2019/07/01
date added: 2019/07/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)]]> 34814099 NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal | Vulture | The Verge | SYFYWire

Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty perfect for fans of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and Uprooted, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts.

On the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, Nahri is a con woman of unsurpassed skill. She makes her living swindling Ottoman nobles, hoping to one day earn enough to change her fortunes. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, during one of her cons, she learns that even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

Forced to flee Cairo, Dara and Nahri journey together across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, to Daevabad, the legendary city of brass.

It’s a city steeped in magic and fire, where blood can be as dangerous as any spell; a city where old resentments run deep and the royal court rules with a tenuous grip; a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound—and where her very presence threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.

*Finalist for the World Fantasy Award: Best Novel

*Nominated for the Locus Award: Best First Novel

*Finalist for the British Fantasy Award: Best Newcomer

Featuring a stepback and extra content including a bonus scene and an excerpt from The Kingdom of Copper.]]> 569 S.A. Chakraborty Natlyn 4 4.27 2017 The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/07/15
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life]]> 28119637 Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: during much of the day we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, while during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Transform a routine task by taking a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Thought they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-altering.]]> Mihály Csíkszentmihályi 1469095394 Natlyn 3 non-fiction 3.69 1995 Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
author: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
name: Natlyn
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2019/06/01
date added: 2019/06/25
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Spinning Silver 40651157
But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it's worth--especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins]]> 18 Naomi Novik 0525530991 Natlyn 4 bookgroup 4.13 2018 Spinning Silver
author: Naomi Novik
name: Natlyn
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/25
date added: 2019/06/25
shelves: bookgroup
review:

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