Olivia's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 02 May 2025 11:41:15 -0700 60 Olivia's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Of Shadow and Light (Essence of Ash, #1)]]> 180412610
This book is a dark fantasy romance. Please mind trigger warnings!

**WARNING**
This book is intended for adult audiences and contains adult themes.
- Choking
- Blood Play
- Knife Play
- Attempted Rape
- Biting
- Murder/Torture
- Death
- Alcohol Use
- Graphic Violence
- Graphic Sex Scenes]]> 374 Melissa McSherry Olivia 0 3.61 Of Shadow and Light (Essence of Ash, #1)
author: Melissa McSherry
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.61
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/02
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts Olivia 0 to-read 4.17 2023 Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Message in a Bottle 3478
Nicholas Sparks is our very best chronicler of the human heart. His stunning first novel, The Notebook, has been given by friend to friend and lover to lover all over the world as a testament to the timeless power of love. But if we thought he could never again move us so deeply, he now shows us he can-in a story that renews our faith in destiny...in the ability of true lovers to find each other no matter where, no matter when... Message In A Bottle

Thrown to the waves, and to fate, the bottle could have ended up anywhere. Instead, it is found just three weeks after it begins its journey. Theresa Osborne, divorced and the mother of a twelve-year-old son, picks it up during a seaside vacation from her job as a Boston newspaper columnist. Inside is a letter that opens with:

My Dearest Catherine, I miss you my darling, as I always do, but today is particularly hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together...

For "Garrett," the man who signs the letter, the message is the only way he knows to express his undying love for a woman he has lost. For Theresa, wary of romance since her husband shattered her trust, the message raises questions that intrigue her. Who are Garrett and Catherine? Where is he now? What is his story?

Challenged by the mystery, and pulled to find Garrett by emotions she does not fully understand, Theresa begins a search that takes her to a sunlit coastal town and an unexpected confrontation. Brought together by chance-or something more powerful-Theresa and Garrett are people whose lives are about to touch for a purpose, in a tale that resonates with our deepest hopes for finding that special someone and everlasting love.

Shimmering with suspense and emotional intensity, Message in a Bottle takes readers on a hunt for the truth about a man and his memories, and about both the heartbreaking fragility and enormous strength of love. For those who cherished The Notebook and readers waiting to discover the magic of Nicholas Sparks's storytelling, here is his new, achingly lovely novel of happenstance, desire, and the choices that matter most...]]> 342 Nicholas Sparks 0446676071 Olivia 4 3.99 1998 Message in a Bottle
author: Nicholas Sparks
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214333691 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 400 Suzanne Collins 1546171479 Olivia 5 4.67 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves:
review:

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

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

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Olivia 0 to-read 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Olivia 4 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Forget Me Not (Summit Lake Thriller, #1)]]> 41043721 You'll pay for what you've done...

When a deranged lunatic starts targeting single mom, Amanda Schultz, with threatening letters and "presents" on her doorstep, she turns to the police, who offer advice but no real help. At the mercy of a psychopath, Amanda realizes she's in a game of cat-and-mouse, where the killer keeps changing the rules and the winner... is the only one left standing.

Language, violence, and adult situations.

Warning - reference to sexual abuse but no graphic details.]]> 385 Kristen Middleton Olivia 3 3.80 2018 Forget Me Not (Summit Lake Thriller, #1)
author: Kristen Middleton
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> What's Mine and Yours 54424592
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years.

On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.

When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What's Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.]]> 341 Naima Coster 1538702347 Olivia 4 3.52 2021 What's Mine and Yours
author: Naima Coster
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:

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

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Olivia 4 4.17 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Caught Up (Into Darkness, #2) 217562358
I wanted this woman, and I was a man who always got what he wanted.

Nico 'Junior' Trocci knows Lauren Marchetti is off limits. She is sweetness and laughter, whereas Junior exists in a world of violence and depravity. Men like him don't get to have women like her. It's why he pushed her away back in high school and has kept his distance ever since.

But when Junior looks Lauren up online, he discovers the shy, bookish girl he remembers is gone. In her place is a strikingly beautiful woman whose social media is filled with scantily clad pictures of herself and a connection to a nearby play club. Junior's innocent curiosity quickly turns into a dark obsession. But watching Lauren from a distance isn't enough; he needs to make her his.

He's ruthless; a walking red flag. Good thing red is my favorite color.

Lauren is intrigued by the mystery man who keeps showing up at her club, who tempts her white-hot desires. But as their flirty online messages stir up a deeper form of connection, Lauren worries she's developing real feelings for this brooding stranger. As their combined desire ratchets up to a breaking point, who will seduce who? And will they survive the fall?

Caught Up is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally grey male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. Please check the content warning at the beginning of the book.

]]> Navessa Allen 1529442443 Olivia 0 to-read 4.25 2025 Caught Up (Into Darkness, #2)
author: Navessa Allen
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lights Out 221521038 The viral TikTok stalker dark romance, burning with high heat, hilarious banter, and a love story like you’ve never seen before. Can you handle the ride?

I want someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.

Trauma nurse Alyssa Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality.


I want things most people don’t, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love.

Joshua Hammond has an infamous father—the kind of man that true-crime podcasts love talking about. Josh has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. At night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans to drool over, but one follower has caught his Aly. After reading a comment begging him to break into her house wearing a mask, he decides to take her up on her offer.


Together, Aly and Josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that Aly has captured the attention of someone else. Someone with far more sinister intentions than a little light stalking. As Josh turns from predator to protector and the stakes heighten, he must ask himself how far he’s willing to go for the woman he’s obsessed with.


Lights Out is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally gray male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. Please check the TWs at the beginning of the book.
]]> 338 Navessa Allen Olivia 4 4.24 2024 Lights Out
author: Navessa Allen
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Last Letter 40045986
Beckett,

If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.

I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.

My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.

And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.

So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.

Please don’t make her go through it alone.

Ryan]]> 426 Rebecca Yarros 1640635335 Olivia 5 4.43 2019 The Last Letter
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Happily Never After 181853964 Two love sceptics agree to work together as professional wedding disruptors. But fate has more romantic plans in mind for them . . .

When Sophie finds out right before getting married that she’s been cheated on (again!) it’s time for drastic action. Instead of calling the wedding off, she hires a gorgeous stranger � Max � to interrupt the ceremony and confront her fiancé. It’s hardly the wedding she’d planned. But Sophie enjoys taking revenge. So, when Max asks if she’ll work with him to help others expose their cheating partners, Sophie agrees. When they’re hired by a man who’s marrying the girl that once broke Max’s heart, Sophie expects Max to revel in the job. But instead, he seems to be wrestling with his feelings for his ex. And worse than that, Sophie is jealous . . .Tropes/ Friends to lovers2. Slow burn romance3. Spicy books4. Love triangle]]> 313 Lynn Painter Olivia 0 to-read 3.63 2024 Happily Never After
author: Lynn Painter
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

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

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

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

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 Olivia 5 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ice Planet Honeymoon: Raahosh & Liz (Ice Planet Barbarians, #2.5)]]> 49452335
On a honeymoon, they can get to know each other better. Perfect, right?

This story is an extended epilogue for book 2 of Ice Planet Barbarians � Barbarian Alien � and is for readers who want a little more of their favorite couple. Don’t start here! Start with book 1, Ice Planet Barbarians.]]> 38 Ruby Dixon Olivia 3 3.73 2019 Ice Planet Honeymoon: Raahosh & Liz (Ice Planet Barbarians, #2.5)
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ice Planet Honeymoon: Vektal and Georgie (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1.5)]]> 46138995
Why not have a honeymoon?

This story is an extended epilogue for Ice Planet Barbarians and is for readers who want a little more of their favorite couple. Don’t start here! Start with book one, Ice Planet Barbarians.]]> 55 Ruby Dixon Olivia 3 3.50 2019 Ice Planet Honeymoon: Vektal and Georgie (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1.5)
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Barbarian Alien (Ice Planet Barbarians, #2)]]> 25802043
In order to survive, we have to take on a symbiont that wants to rewire our bodies to live in this brutal place. I like to call it a cootie. And my cootie’s a jerk, because it also thinks I’m the mate to the biggest, surliest alien of the group.

BARBARIAN ALIEN is a sequel to ICE PLANET BARBARIANS. You do not have to read both in order to understand the plot, but the story will be richer if you do!]]> 248 Ruby Dixon Olivia 4 3.76 2015 Barbarian Alien (Ice Planet Barbarians, #2)
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bound by Ravens (Bound by Ravens, #1)]]> 214117262 Two rival thieves
One fated heist gone wrong
And a curse that threatens to steal more than their freedom

It was a simple job.

All I had to do was steal a ring from a mainland witch for the Thieves� Guild that owned me. Easy enough, right? The reward would bring me closer to earning my freedom. And stars above, I wanted off this floating luxury island.

But then he showed up, a cocky thief from a rival guild, and ruined all my plans.

Every. Single. One.

I lost the ring and my chance at freedom. But on the bright side, if we fail to retrieve three magical artifacts for the witch, I’ll be forever cursed to exist no more than fifteen feet from that unnaturally beautiful, arrogant elf. As an additional treat, we’ll be hunted down by our own guilds when this curse prevents us from returning. I honestly didn’t believe things could get worse. Until he offered a solution to our not-so-little problem—a bargain to save our lives.

I would laugh, except I didn’t realize there was anything left in my life to steal.


� BOUND BY RAVENS ✨is a humorous short novel and perfect for fans of:
- new adult romantasy
- rival thieves to lovers
- cozy-ish with high stakes
- witty banter
- Irish mythology and faerie tales
- heist adventure
- forced proximity
- who did this to you
- he falls first
- fated mates
- romcom fantasy vibes
- otters


PLEASE NOTE:
BOUND BY RAVENS was originally part of The Starry Kingdoms of the Fae multi-author novella collection and now a standalone in the A Bound by Ravens Novel series, along with THE NIGHT MARKET.

This story is not a novella but a 55,000 word short novel]]> 257 Jesikah Sundin 1954694199 Olivia 3 3.91 Bound by Ravens (Bound by Ravens, #1)
author: Jesikah Sundin
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Beach Read 52867387 A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

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

They’re polar opposites.

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

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.]]> 371 Emily Henry 1984806734 Olivia 4 3.99 2020 Beach Read
author: Emily Henry
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:

]]> A Novel Love Story 199261152 A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction� literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel�

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet� she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.]]> 368 Ashley Poston 0593640977 Olivia 0 to-read 3.62 2024 A Novel Love Story
author: Ashley Poston
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dead Romantics 58885776 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593336489.

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

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

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

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

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

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.]]> 368 Ashley Poston Olivia 4 3.90 2022 The Dead Romantics
author: Ashley Poston
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Lonely Hearts Book Club 61341469
Anxious, Sloane tracks the old man down only to discover him all but bedridden...and desperately struggling to hide how happy he is to see her. Wanting to bring more cheer into Arthur's gloomy life, Sloane creates an impromptu book club. Slowly, the lonely misfits of their sleepy town begin to find each other, and in their book club, find the joy of unlikely friendship. Because as it turns out, everyone has a special book in their heart—and a reason to get lost (and eventually found) within the pages.]]> 352 Lucy Gilmore 1728256216 Olivia 4 3.84 2023 The Lonely Hearts Book Club
author: Lucy Gilmore
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)]]> 25128811
And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me...]]> 188 Ruby Dixon Olivia 4 3.65 2015 Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Next Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #2)]]> 198563729 Daphne and Amber Parrish are thrust back into each other’s lives upon the resurgence of a long-forgotten threat, forcing a vicious game of cat and mouse where everything is on the line, in this thrilling sequel to the million-copy-bestselling Reese’s Book Club pick The Last Mrs. Parrish.

Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way from being an invisible wallflower. Her hard work and immaculate planning have paid off now that she’s a prominent socialite, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been bumps along the way. Less than a year since her husband Jackson’s tax-evasion scandal, Amber is still at the top of the Bishops Harbor community pecking order, free to do as she wishes while Jackson sits in prison. But that freedom is quickly coming to an end. With Jackson getting released from prison, Amber’s time—and money—is vanishing.

Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson Parrish, swearing she would never go back. But when one of her daughters runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer to allow him supervised visits. Once out of prison, Jackson swears he’s a changed man, but Daphne knows all too well that he can’t be trusted.

When a ghost from Amber’s past emerges looking for revenge, the three of them find unlikely allies in one another, but who is playing who? When all is said and done, they’ll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game.

With shocking turns and entertaining characters, The Next Mrs. Parrish will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about duplicity and betrayal.]]> 336 Liv Constantine 0593599926 Olivia 0 to-read 3.75 2024 The Next Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #2)
author: Liv Constantine
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hooked (Never After, #1) 58545703 From USA Today bestselling author Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan.

He wants revenge, but he wants her more�

James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.

Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.

Hooked is a dark contemporary romance and the first complete standalone in the Never After Series: A collection of fractured fairy tales where the villains get the happy ever after. It is not a literal retelling and not fantasy. Hooked features mature themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. For all content warnings, check the author's website. ]]> 312 Emily McIntire 173750832X Olivia 3 3.78 2021 Hooked (Never After, #1)
author: Emily McIntire
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Olivia 0 to-read 4.17 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Unmaking of June Farrow 66087062 A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.]]> 320 Adrienne Young 0593598679 Olivia 0 to-read 4.13 2023 The Unmaking of June Farrow
author: Adrienne Young
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> What You Wish For 51168993
Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way.

And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it.

As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love—which is the riskiest move of all.

With Katherine Center’s sparkling dialogue, unforgettable characters, heart, hope, and humanity, What You Wish For is the author at her most compelling best.]]> 320 Katherine Center 1250219361 Olivia 0 to-read 3.75 2020 What You Wish For
author: Katherine Center
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Happiness for Beginners 21853666
Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen's own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.]]> 320 Katherine Center 1250047307 Olivia 0 to-read 4.01 2015 Happiness for Beginners
author: Katherine Center
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1)]]> 123257687
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer―naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain―and his entire nefarious empire―out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.]]> 342 Hannah Nicole Maehrer 1649375808 Olivia 0 to-read 3.88 2023 Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1)
author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Local Woman Missing 55970694
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find�

In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.]]> 353 Mary Kubica Olivia 5 4.26 2021 Local Woman Missing
author: Mary Kubica
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
review:

]]> The Cross and the Switchblade 772852 176 David Wilkerson 0515090255 Olivia 4 4.26 1963 The Cross and the Switchblade
author: David Wilkerson
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Twisted Games (Twisted, #2) 56653002 She can never be his...but he's taking her anyway.

Stoic, broody, and arrogant, elite bodyguard Rhys Larsen has two rules: 1) Protect his clients at all costs 2) Do not become emotionally involved. Ever.

He has never once been tempted to break those rules…until her.

Bridget von Ascheberg. A princess with a stubborn streak that matches his own and a hidden fire that reduces his rules to ash. She’s nothing he expected and everything he never knew he needed.

Day by day, inch by inch, she breaks down his defenses until he’s faced with a truth he can no longer deny: he swore an oath to protect her, but all he wants is to ruin her. Take her.

Because she’s his.

His princess.
His forbidden fruit.
His every depraved fantasy.

***

Regal, strong-willed, and bound by the chains of duty, Princess Bridget dreams of the freedom to live and love as she chooses.

But when her brother abdicates, she’s suddenly faced with the prospect of a loveless, politically expedient marriage and a throne she never wanted.

And as she navigates the intricacies—and treacheries—of her new role, she must also hide her desire for a man she can’t have.

Her bodyguard.
Her protector.
Her ultimate ruin.

Unexpected and forbidden, theirs is a love that could destroy a kingdom…and doom them both.

Twisted Games is a slow to medium burn contemporary royal bodyguard romance. It’s book two of the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.

Warning: This book contains a possessive alpha hero, explicit sexual content, and profanity.]]> 456 Ana Huang Olivia 4 4.10 2021 Twisted Games (Twisted, #2)
author: Ana Huang
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Small Things Like These 59016923 "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." --Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 70 Claire Keegan 0802158757 Olivia 4 4.22 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 45874065 For readers of Kara Thomas and Karen McManus, an addictive, twisty crime thriller with shades of Serial and Making a Murderer about a closed local murder case that doesn't add up, and a girl who's determined to find the real killer--but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.]]> 390 Holly Jackson 1984896369 Olivia 0 to-read 4.29 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1)]]> 92141 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

]]> 560 Gregory Maguire 0061350966 Olivia 0 to-read 3.43 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1)
author: Gregory Maguire
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)]]> 52857700
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 835 Sarah J. Maas 1681193094 Olivia 5 4.15 2024 House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Shopgirl 6625969 130 Steve Martin Olivia 3 3.76 2000 Shopgirl
author: Steve Martin
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Piranesi 52702097
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 246 Susanna Clarke Olivia 4 4.24 2020 Piranesi
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

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

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

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

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Olivia 4 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Olivia 5 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Of Mice and Men 890 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.�

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 107 John Steinbeck 0142000671 Olivia 4 3.88 1937 Of Mice and Men
author: John Steinbeck
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Pretty Baby 23638955 A chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this stunning new psychological thriller from national bestselling author Mary Kubica

She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can't get the girl out of her head...

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family's objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she's willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.]]> 380 Mary Kubica 0778317706 Olivia 4 3.67 2015 Pretty Baby
author: Mary Kubica
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)]]> 40132775
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels� plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.]]> 805 Sarah J. Maas 1408884429 Olivia 5 4.41 2022 House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Satan's Affair 57748116
We travel the country, offering terrifying haunted houses, thrilling rides and the tastiest food. And with every passing town, I cleanse this world, one execution at a time.

I hide within the walls, casting my judgement for those that reek of evil, singing lullabies to their rotting souls.

Once you've been chosen, there's no escaping my henchmen—they cater to my every desire.

You can run and you can hide, but it only excites me.

Come.

Take a walk through my dollhouse, where your screams will blend and your cute little pleas will go unanswered.

But I can't promise it'll be over quickly...]]> 197 H.D. Carlton Olivia 3 3.71 2021 Satan's Affair
author: H.D. Carlton
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #1)]]> 58763686
I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.


The Shadow

I didn't mean to fall in love.
But now that I have, I can't stay away.
I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.
The way she undresses...
I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.
And once she is, I'll never let her go.
Not even when she begs me to.]]> 583 H.D. Carlton Olivia 3 3.95 2021 Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #1)
author: H.D. Carlton
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[White as Frost (Darkwood Trilogy, #1)]]> 57906481 Two sisters. One enchanted forest. And a hidden destiny that could doom them both�

Swept away to the castle beside the Darkwood, Rose Valrois finds herself in a world full of secrets and forbidden magic. There she meets her new stepsister, the enigmatic Princess Neeve, who will either become her best friend - or her worst enemy.

When Rose follows her stepsister into the enchanted shadows beneath the trees, she is beset by dangerous creatures and rescued by Thorne, the Dark Elf guardian of the forest, who binds her to the Darkwood and forbids her to speak of its mysteries.

Yet despite the danger surrounding her, Rose continues to risk everything in her quest for answers, until the day she steals into the depths of the forest and discovers the most perilous secret of all...

A fantasy fairy-tale weaving elements of Snow White & Rose Red with romance, magic, and dangerous secrets that will destroy a kingdom.]]> 373 Anthea Sharp Olivia 3 3.96 2021 White as Frost (Darkwood Trilogy, #1)
author: Anthea Sharp
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)]]> 199116301
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.]]> 255 Peter Swanson 0063205033 Olivia 5 3.58 2024 A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/31
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Twisted Love (Twisted, #1) 55817097 He has a heart of ice...but for her, he'd burn the world.

Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape.

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.

But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.

Her brother’s best friend.
Her neighbor.
Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.

Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.

WARNING: This book contains a possessive, morally gray alphahole; explicit sexual content, and profanity. No cheating or menage, but if you're looking for a traditionally sweet, loveable hero, this is not the book for you. Recommended for 18+. ]]> 360 Ana Huang Olivia 3 3.74 2021 Twisted Love (Twisted, #1)
author: Ana Huang
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)]]> 44778083
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.]]> 803 Sarah J. Maas 1635574048 Olivia 5 4.43 2020 House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leather & Lark (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2)]]> 127611580 Ěý
And they can’t stand each other.Ěý
Ěý
Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.Ěý

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomesĚýimpossible to discernĚýtheirĚýfake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.Ěý
There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.Ěý

And this one has come for blood.]]> 416 Brynne Weaver 0349441588 Olivia 4 3.98 2024 Leather & Lark (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/09
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)]]> 60784546 After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again�

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands � that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper � an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 357 Rebecca Ross 1250857430 Olivia 5 4.14 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory]]> 41949311
“Transcendent tragicomedy.... Prepare to be devastated and made whole again.� —The A.V. Club

Featuring:

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

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

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

And fifteen more tales of humor, romance, whimsy, cultural commentary, and crushing emotional vulnerability.]]> 256 Raphael Bob-Waksberg Olivia 0 to-read 4.04 2019 Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory
author: Raphael Bob-Waksberg
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Olivia 5 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/30
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Good Girl 18812405 I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will.

One night, Mia Dennett enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. At first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

When Colin decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota instead of delivering her to his employers, Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them. But no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.]]> 352 Mary Kubica 0778316556 Olivia 4 3.78 2014 The Good Girl
author: Mary Kubica
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/26
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.


When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.


But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

]]> 360 Brynne Weaver Olivia 4 3.99 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Olivia 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Bound by Treason 146188184 *See all the Starry Kingdoms of the Fae Collection HERE.*

A Mysterious Death. A Forbidden Romance. A Reign at its End.

When her third daughter mysteriously dies, Queen Moira will do whatever it takes to discover the truth and keep her youngest safe. She’s lost three children in the span of a year and will not lose another.

Her husband, the dragon king of the fae, had long left her chambers and found solace in his wicked mistresses who eased his erratic fears. He would not help Moira in this quest, and so she turned to the only fae she trusted: Tallis

Tallis, the head of the royal guard and her dear friend, would do anything to protect his queen and the royal line, but as the two fae search around the castle, they discover the truth behind the murders, and bringing the culprit to justice will tear the kingdom apart.

With each passing day, Moira is forced to choose who she is loyal to: the crown or her heart, because she can no longer honor both.


Bound by Treason is the first book in the Starry Kingdoms of the Fae Collection. These books are all standalones written by your favorite fantasy authors and are the perfect read for your summer vacation. Prepare to be swept away into magical worlds with tropes you obsess over and swoon-worthy romance.]]> 122 Eliza Tilton Olivia 3 3.05 Bound by Treason
author: Eliza Tilton
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.05
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)]]> 38335045 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

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

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

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas's New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights to save herself―and the promise of a better world.]]> 989 Sarah J. Maas Olivia 5 4.73 2018 Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.73
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sacrifice (Her Monstrous Boys, #1)]]> 184383375
I’ve spent my life in the Borderlands with no feeling. I am half a ghost, born with half a soul and numb because of it. On my 22nd birthday, I’m bound for the Sacrifice in the Wailing Woods and come face to face with the monsters—only to discover I can feel them.

Perhaps I’d rather play with the monsters than kill them.

So, I follow the monsters through the Veil of Souls and into their cursed wasteland. Luckily, I’m not looking for a happily ever after.

I’m looking for a dark and dangerous once upon a time�

Bestselling Kindle Vella author Emily Shore brings you a dark fantasy romance inspired by the myth of Cupid and Psyche. If you love fast-burn dark romance, morally gray monsters, and the sassy sweetheart they’ll burn worlds for, you will fall hard for touch-starved Quintessa and her beastly boys. Perfect for fans of the Vicious Lost Boys Series.

CW available on author’s website.]]> 384 Emily Shore Olivia 2 3.43 2023 The Sacrifice (Her Monstrous Boys, #1)
author: Emily Shore
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Wife (Jessie Hunt, #1)]]> 42594568 Book #1 from the series: A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller
🎧Listening Length = 8 hours and 20 minutes

Suburbia harbors dark secrets in this suspenseful listen! After moving to a swanky new neighborhood, Jessie, a criminal profiler in training, starts to notice things aren’t quite what they seem. Not to mention that the serial killer she’s studying forces her to confront nightmares from her own hidden past�

In THE PERFECT WIFE (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book 1), Criminal profiler-in-training Jessie Hunt is sure she's finally put the darkness of her childhood behind her. She and her husband, Kyle, just moved from a cramped downtown Los Angeles apartment into a Westport Beach mansion. Kyle's promotion has them swimming in money. And Jessie is on the verge of getting her Master's degree in forensic psychology, the last step in her dream of becoming a criminal profiler.

But soon after their arrival, Jessie begins to notice a series of strange developments. The neighbors—and their au pairs—all seem to be hiding secrets. The mysterious yacht club Kyle is desperate to join is rife with cheating spouses, and with troubling rules of its own. And the notorious serial killer being held at the psychiatric hospital where Jessie is completing her degree seems to know more about her life than is normal—or safe.

As her world starts to unravel, Jessie begins to question everything around her—including her own sanity. Has she truly uncovered a disturbing conspiracy buried within a sunny, wealthy Southern California beach town? Does the mass murderer she's studying really somehow know the origin of her private nightmares?

Or has her tortured past finally come back to claim her?

Book #2-- THE PERFECT BLOCK/42616441 --is also now available!

A fast-paced psychological suspense thriller with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding suspense, THE PERFECT WIFE is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you listening late into the night.]]> 199 Blake Pierce Olivia 4 4.03 2018 The Perfect Wife (Jessie Hunt, #1)
author: Blake Pierce
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Apples Never Fall 56143578 #1 New York Times Bestseller
A Peacock Original TV Series–Streaming Soon

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty comes a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest

The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.]]> 467 Liane Moriarty 1250220254 Olivia 3 3.69 2021 Apples Never Fall
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Water for Elephants 43641
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.]]> 368 Sara Gruen 1565125606 Olivia 4 4.11 2006 Water for Elephants
author: Sara Gruen
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Before She Knew Him 40390756
But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either...]]> 309 Peter Swanson Olivia 4 3.85 2019 Before She Knew Him
author: Peter Swanson
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/26
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Reminders of Him 58341222 A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover. After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them. The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.]]> 335 Colleen Hoover 1542025605 Olivia 4 4.33 2022 Reminders of Him
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/23
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)]]> 76713323 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

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

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

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.]]> 693 Sarah J. Maas 1639731024 Olivia 5 4.65 2016 Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)]]> 76714487 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

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

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

In this sweeping parallel novel to the New York Times bestselling Empire of Storms, Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience if they wish to save their friends. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, deep in the shadows of mighty mountains where warriors soar on legendary ruks, long-awaited answers slumber. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival—or doom them all . . .]]> 663 Sarah J. Maas 1639731040 Olivia 5 4.26 2017 Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)]]> 60916172 In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale� sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.]]> 303 Peter Swanson 0063204983 Olivia 5 3.65 2023 The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fortune Favors the Cruel (Dark Maji, #1)]]> 57543829
Lazarus Fierté is a nobleman without equal. He’s as controlling as he is stubborn, and for the last six years he’s been waiting for a woman to appear—but not just any woman. A Maji of great power, capable of terrible things. She could be the key to everything he holds dear.

His savior � or his destroyer.

The only thing he didn’t predict was that she would become both.]]> 370 Kel Carpenter 1960167286 Olivia 3 3.75 2019 Fortune Favors the Cruel (Dark Maji, #1)
author: Kel Carpenter
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/24
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 Olivia 4 3.62 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)]]> 76707900 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past�

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1639731008 Olivia 5 4.64 2015 Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Olivia 5 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/24
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where Lost Girls Go (Detective Casey White, #1)]]> 55148827 An alternative cover for this ASIN can be found here.

“Help me,� the girl cries, alone in the forest, shivering in her nightgown, her small frame almost lost between the trees. “Please.�

When Detective Casey White discovers the body of a beautiful teenage girl in a white nightgown near the shoreline in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a familiar fear floods through her. Could this be Hannah, her sweet, blue-eyed daughter snatched from home fourteen years ago? But it only takes one look to confirm that the girl with dark bruising around her throat is another family’s tragedy.

Putting her own grief aside, Casey digs into unsolved missing child cases in the area. The victim is Cheryl Parry, one of two little girls taken during a family beach vacation nine years ago. Her sister’s body was found strangled a week later, but someone has been keeping Cheryl alive—until now.

Fearful there may be other innocent lives in danger, Casey and her team work around the clock to trace the material from Cheryl’s nightgown, but hit a dead end and don’t know where to turn. Then, another teenager’s body is found in a nearby pine forest, dressed all in white. It’s suddenly clear that a twisted killer has been hiding in the Outer Banks for years, and he will strike again.

Casey painstakingly combs the forest soil for clues to the killer’s next move, but nothing prepares her for what she finds: a buried charm bracelet exactly matching one that her little Hannah always wore—right down to the broken star charm by the clasp�


An absolutely unputdownable crime thriller with twists and turns that will have you racing through the pages. Fans of Kendra Elliot, Rachel Caine and Robert Dugoni will be completely hooked.]]> 366 B.R. Spangler Olivia 3 4.17 2020 Where Lost Girls Go (Detective Casey White, #1)
author: B.R. Spangler
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2024/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)]]> 76706470 576 Sarah J. Maas Olivia 5 4.44 2014 Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/10
date added: 2024/02/10
shelves:
review:

]]> The Woman in Me 63133205 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]> 288 Britney Spears 1668009048 Olivia 4 3.83 2023 The Woman in Me
author: Britney Spears
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Girl, Alone (Ella Dark, #1) 55954896 FBI Agent Ella Dark has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own father. With her photographic memory, she has obtained an encyclopedic knowledge of every serial killer, every victim and every case. But when a serial killer strikes in the swamps of Louisiana, Ella soon comes to learn that the real thing is like nothing she ever expected.

FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavioral Crimes Unit. Ella’s hidden obsession of gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers has led to her being singled out for her brilliant mind, and invited to join the big leagues.

But face to face with a real murder, a real killer, and a real ticking clock, Ella realizes she can’t rely on her knowledge. She must learn to trust her instinct, and allow herself to enter the dark canals of a real killer’s mind.

If she gets it wrong, her career is at stake.

And so is the next victim’s life.

Will Ella’s talent be an asset?

Or the source of her downfall?]]> 211 Blake Pierce Olivia 3 4.03 2020 Girl, Alone (Ella Dark, #1)
author: Blake Pierce
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/26
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)]]> 126062562
When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes—and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn’s orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn’s clutches—and if they fail, they’ll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives . . .

A prequel to Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas offers readers a deeper look into the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling—and deadly—world.

Included in this volume:
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Healer
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire]]> 451 Sarah J. Maas 1619632217 Olivia 4 4.16 2014 The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Manacled 52122096
Fanfiction for Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.
Words: 370,256]]> 925 SenLinYu Olivia 0 to-read 4.64 2019 Manacled
author: SenLinYu
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)]]> 76705490 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.]]> 420 Sarah J. Maas 1639730966 Olivia 5 4.34 2013 Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)]]> 76703559 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas 163973094X Olivia 5 4.18 2012 Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Olivia 4 3.99 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Lacuna 55703944 A boychild swathed in green, a distinct tree-shaped birthmark on his wrist. A girlchild enveloped in red, marked with the three lines of the desert winds. A boy bundled in white, the koi mark on his wrist as defined as his shock of red hair. And a boychild wrapped in black, a raven his mark to serve his fate.

~ ~ ~

Twenty-five years ago, the hand of fate marked four newborns and sent them to the four corners of the Great Kingdoms. They were schooled and trained as rulers of their lands in preparation for the Golden Eclipse ceremony: a festival to celebrate a thousand years of peace and prosperity since the Great War.

Crow, ruler of Northlands, a skilled swordsman and expert tactician, is as reclusive and stoic as the mountains that surround him.

Tancho has spent his life in strict discipline, governing the Westlands with a fair mind and gentle hand. Quiet and unassuming, yet lethal in combat, he is the embodiment of the waters he lives by.

Yet the same hand of fate unknowingly linked Tancho to Crow in ways they cannot comprehend. Ruled by the stars, the brother sun and the two sister moons above them, and marked by an alchemical sorcery as old as time, their destinies were never their own.

As the eclipse draws near and the festival begins, word comes of another threat. Invaders from unknown lands bring a war no one was prepared for, and Crow and Tancho must decide on which side of the battle line they stand.

In life or death, their destinies will see them joined either way.
]]> 366 N.R. Walker Olivia 3 3.82 2020 Lacuna
author: N.R. Walker
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Olivia 5 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/19
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kingdoms of Shadow and Ash (Shadow and Ash, #1)]]> 203177464
Fyia defied the odds when she won the Five Kingdoms, but to make her daring changes stick, she needs dragons, and the dragon eggs are missing.

But she faces savage threats from both within her new kingdoms and from the abhorrent Emperor across the Kraken Sea. He plans to saddle her as his trophy wife ... or take her lands by force.

Nowhere else to turn, Fyia brazenly travels north, seeking an accord with the startlingly attractive King of the Black Hoods. Fyia sees the secrets swirling behind his smoldering gaze, but when he stubbornly refuses her request, she can’t discern the game he plays, because dragons would save his people and her own.

As Fyia lures the King into her ambitious quest and works to unravel his mysteries and his magic, their journey becomes perilous, the Emperor turning his sights north and entwining them in a deadly plot that threatens to strip away everything Fyia's worked so hard for. The King proposes an audacious solution, one he sees as obvious, but for Fyia, it means risking the one thing she swore she never would. Her heart.

Action-packed from the start with twists and dangerous intrigue, Kingdoms of Shadow and Ash is book one in this complete, spicy romantasy duology featuring magic, strong women, and dragons. Perfect for fans of Jennifer L Armentrout and Danielle L Jensen.]]> 345 H.R. Moore 1739721926 Olivia 4 3.86 Kingdoms of Shadow and Ash (Shadow and Ash, #1)
author: H.R. Moore
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Uzumaki 17837762
Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral � the hypnotic secret shape of the world. This bizarre masterpiece of horror manga is now available in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!]]> 653 Junji Ito 1421561328 Olivia 4 4.45 2000 Uzumaki
author: Junji Ito
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)]]> 110391 Librarian note: See alternate cover editions here and here.

The Duke and I is a romance set in the Regency era.

In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable� but not too amiable.

Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.

Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.

The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule...]]> 384 Julia Quinn 0380800829 Olivia 4 3.80 2000 The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)
author: Julia Quinn
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)]]> 27362503
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up � she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating� rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan � her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.]]> 386 Colleen Hoover 1668021048 Olivia 3 4.11 2016 It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Pram 195945795
Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.

Joe Hill’s The Pram is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.]]> 58 Joe Hill 1662516894 Olivia 3 3.75 2023 The Pram
author: Joe Hill
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Gyo 22716175
The floating smell of death hangs over the island. What is it? A strange, legged fish appears on the scene... So begins Tadashi and Kaori's spiral into the horror and stench of the sea. Here is the creepiest masterpiece of horror manga ever from the creator of Uzumaki, Junji Ito. Hold your breath until all is revealed.]]> 398 Junji Ito 1421579154 Olivia 3 3.88 2002 Gyo
author: Junji Ito
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1)]]> 21936809 The Girl on the Train will love this modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train from the author of the acclaimed The Girl with a Clock for a Heart—which the Washington Post said “should be a contender for crime fiction’s best first novel of 2014.�

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.� After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.

Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062267523 Olivia 5 3.98 2015 The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Maidens 45300567
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.]]> 337 Alex Michaelides 1250304458 Olivia 3 3.61 2021 The Maidens
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

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

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

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]> 415 Gillian Flynn 0307588378 Olivia 4 4.22 2012 Gone Girl
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Water Cure 39335566 The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Virgin Suicides in this dystopic feminist revenge fantasy about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men.

King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has laid the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world.

But when their father, the only man they’ve ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day three strange men wash ashore. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent. Can they survive the men?

A haunting, riveting debut about the capacity for violence and the potency of female desire, The Water Cure both devastates and astonishes as it reflects our own world back at us.]]> 288 Sophie Mackintosh 0385543875 Olivia 4 3.21 2018 The Water Cure
author: Sophie Mackintosh
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> New People 33275357 Caucasia, a subversive and engrossing novel of race, class and manners in contemporary America.

As the twentieth century draws to a close, Maria is at the start of a life she never thought possible. She and Khalil, her college sweetheart, are planning their wedding. They are the perfect couple, "King and Queen of the Racially Nebulous Prom." Their skin is the same shade of beige. They live together in a black bohemian enclave in Brooklyn, where Khalil is riding the wave of the first dot-com boom and Maria is plugging away at her dissertation, on the Jonestown massacre. They've even landed a starring role in a documentary about "new people" like them, who are blurring the old boundaries as a brave new era dawns. Everything Maria knows she should want lies before her--yet she can't stop daydreaming about another man, a poet she barely knows. As fantasy escalates to fixation, it dredges up secrets from the past and threatens to unravel not only Maria's perfect new life but her very persona.

Heartbreaking and darkly comic, New People is a bold and unfettered page-turner that challenges our every assumption about how we define one another, and ourselves.]]> 240 Danzy Senna 159448709X Olivia 3 3.24 2017 New People
author: Danzy Senna
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Your Perfects (Hopeless, #3)]]> 38926487
Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.

All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?]]> 305 Colleen Hoover 1501193325 Olivia 3 3.97 2018 All Your Perfects (Hopeless, #3)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1)]]> 34043643
To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.]]> 560 Liv Constantine 0062688162 Olivia 4 3.93 2017 The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1)
author: Liv Constantine
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Perfect Son 52616342
Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until the evening when two detectives show up at her front door.

A high school girl has vanished from Erika's quiet suburban neighborhood. The police suspect the worst--murder. And Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive.

Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth--Liam may have done the unthinkable.

Now she must ask herself:

How far will she go to protect her son?]]> 373 Freida McFadden Olivia 3 4.03 2019 The Perfect Son
author: Freida McFadden
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Brain Damage 30108909 400 Freida McFadden Olivia 4 4.03 2016 Brain Damage
author: Freida McFadden
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Unmissing 57360704
Merritt Coletto and her husband, Luca, have the life they dreamed of: a coastal home, a promising future, and a growing family. That dream ends with a late-night knock on the door.

Weak, broken, and emaciated, it’s Luca’s first wife, Lydia. Missing for ten years, presumed dead, and very much alive, she has quite a story. Her kidnapping. A torturous confinement that should’ve ended with her dead. And finally, escape. Racked with guilt over the beautiful life they’ve built, Merritt and Luca agree to help get Lydia back on her feet—it’s the least they can do.

But the more enmeshed Lydia becomes in Merritt’s family, the more questions Merritt has. What is it about Lydia that’s especially unnerving? Why hasn’t she gone to the police with her harrowing tale? What does she really want of them? The answers, when they come, are terrifying.

Because Lydia isn’t the only one with secrets.]]> 252 Minka Kent Olivia 4 3.99 2022 Unmissing
author: Minka Kent
name: Olivia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Quarry Girls 57836903
Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can’t stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.

She also knows she’s next.]]> 335 Jess Lourey 1542034302 Olivia 4 4.03 2022 The Quarry Girls
author: Jess Lourey
name: Olivia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]>