en-US Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:54:12 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 63364022
Phoebe and Suze used to be closer than sisters. Growing up in a quiet and wildly beautiful coastal town in Oregon, they shared everything. Until the secrets they couldn’t share threatened their bond and complicated their lives.

Now, decades later, Suze, a famous actress desperate for safe haven following a brutal attack, is back in town. Phoebe, a successful illustrator and fabric designer, has discovered keeping a secret means she can’t let anyone get close, aside from her beloved granddaughter, Jasmine. As Jasmine’s move to London looms, Phoebe doesn’t know how to face the return of her old friend and all the drama she brings.

But Phoebe let Suze down once before and she’s not sure she can do it again. Can the two women who’ve never confronted their past do it now when the choice is between healing and survival?

Heartfelt and layered, The Starfish Sisters is a moving story about the complicated nature of female friendship, the joys and heartbreaks of life, and the resiliency and power that women possess.]]> 344 Barbara O'Neal 1542038081 Chriss 3 4.30 2023
author: Barbara O'Neal
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 28372019
��

Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion�� and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

��

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile �� a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.��

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home�� a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.]]> 348 Jenny Colgan 0062467263 Chriss 4 3.80 2016
author: Jenny Colgan
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 65214641
What happened to Lára?

Iceland, 1956. Fourteen-year-old Lára decides to spend the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík. In early August, the girl disappears without a trace. Time passes, and the mystery becomes Iceland‘s most infamous unsolved case. What happened to the young girl? Is she still alive? Did she leave the island, or did something happen to her there?

Thirty years later, as the city of Reykjavík celebrates its 200th anniversary, journalist Valur Robertsson begins his own investigation into Lára's case. But as he draws closer to discovering the secret, and with the eyes of Reykjavík upon him, it soon becomes clear that Lára's disappearance is a mystery that someone will stop at nothing to keep unsolved . . .]]> 355 Ragnar Jónasson 1250907349 Chriss 4 3.64 2022
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:
My first book set in Iceland! I listened to the audio, narrators did a great job. It moves quite slowly, nothing exciting going on at all, just a 30 year old mystery of a missing 15 year old girl waiting to be solved by a young reporter who took interest in the case. There wasn’t even a list of suspects until close to the end, though I did have a few suspicions throughout the book. The ending creeps up on you though, and it turns out not to be anything I suspected.
]]> 123156843 157 Truman Capote Chriss 5 3.65 1958
author: Truman Capote
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:
Wouldn’t swear to it but I think this was the first work I’ve read by Truman Capote. Will search out more. Michael C Hall did a fantastic job narrating this on Audible. The only thing that could have made it better was if it had been longer. I have never seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I know, I know, so I hadn’t an inkling what it was really about, only that Audrey Hepburn played the lead. In all respects Holly Golightly was thoroughly unlikable, and yet, like her I did and as I sit now reflecting on what I’d just read/heard I find myself wondering whatever happened to��
]]> 57771234
A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent�� the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death’s close proximity―woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest.

“The Mother of the World,�� as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest’s base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward.

In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.]]> 320 Silvia Vasquez-Lavado 1250776740 Chriss 0 to-read 4.23 2022
author: Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56461570
In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly "shopping days," when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklyn’s streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Center �� confirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all.

But then Qian’s headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctor’s visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here.

Inhabiting her childhood perspective with exquisite lyric clarity and unforgettable charm and strength, Qian Julie Wang has penned an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, who never stops seeking the light.

The moving story of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world �� an incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent]]> 320 Qian Julie Wang 0385547218 Chriss 0 to-read 4.16 2021
author: Qian Julie Wang
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214363953
After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir.

Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woman to top Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, she is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has been lauded by the Kennedy Center.

She is a lifelong activist and philanthropist.

As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors, and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship.

With her trademark honesty and humor, Cher: The Memoir traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono—and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous, but eventually drove them apart.

Cher: The Memoir reveals the daughter, the sister, the wife, the lover, the mother, and the superstar.

It is a life too immense for only one book.]]> 432 Cher 0008355371 Chriss 4 4.23 2024
author: Cher
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 43717362 An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller.

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.

Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news��

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.

After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.

Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.]]> 348 Barbara O'Neal 1542004519 Chriss 4 4.21 2019
author: Barbara O'Neal
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 35068755
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.

But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. They’re joined by Rusty, a Wall Street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth.�� ��

In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories.]]> 384 Sue Halpern 0062678973 Chriss 1 3.54 2018
author: Sue Halpern
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
I’ve been on a bit of a roll, reading books about book shops and libraries. This book broke me of that. Boring from beginning until I decided life was too short to finish books this dull. The writing was bad, the characters even worse, there’s not one you’re going to care about. I’m sorry, I couldn’t even give it 2⭐️.
]]> 58986627 A heartwarming literary-themed novel about a woman who turns an ordinary red phone box into the littlest library in England and brings together a struggling town.

A little red telephone box full of stories, a chance to change her life...

Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess' life is turned upside down.

Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it's time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother's cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she's now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property. Missing her job at the local library, Jess decides to give back to her new community--using her grandmother's collection to turn the ordinary phone box into the littlest library in England.

It's not long before the books are borrowed and begin to work their literary magic--bringing the villagers together... and managing to draw Jess' grumpy but handsome neighbor out of his shell.

Maybe it's finally time for Jess to follow her heart, let go of her old life, and make the village her home? But will she be able to take the leap?]]> 320 Poppy Alexander 0063216930 Chriss 3 3.63 2021
author: Poppy Alexander
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:
Maybe 3.5 stars? Not a thing wrong with it but it was very light in substance and detail. It almost felt like a YA book.
]]> 54191513 But just how deadly are his lies?

Shortly after marrying her soulmate and the birth of their son, the lies begin.

First, it’s the phone calls, always held in secret, always deleted from his phone.
Then it’s his odd disappearances and the little nagging voice in her head screaming: something is not right.

When Palmer follows her gut �� and her husband �� she catches him with an unfamiliar woman in the park and in his biggest lie thus far. Learning from her past, she hatches a plan to protect herself and their child.

But when her husband and son disappear one afternoon and don’t return, Palmer must retrace her steps and dig deep to discover the truth before it’s too late.

Who is the mysterious woman her husband lied about meeting? Who knows what happened to her family? Who’s lying? In this twisted psychological thriller, the better question is, who isn’t?]]> 270 Kiersten Modglin Chriss 3 3.91 2020
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
Because I listened to it all in one day without stopping I was going to give it a higher rating because it did keep me engaged. However, towards the end it just got weirder and weirder and even that didn’t prepare me for the very end, which is ultimately why I couldn’t give it more than 3⭐️. It was just a bizarre ending, as if the author called it in because she couldn’t imagine a better, more fitting ending.
]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

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

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

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Chriss 4 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 55918613 Libraries are being ransacked. France is torn apart by war. A French librarian is determined to resist. Told through smuggled letters to an author, an ordinary librarian describes the brutal Nazi occupation of her small coastal village and the extraordinary measures she takes to fight back.

Saint-Malo, France: August 1939. Jocelyn and Antoine are childhood sweethearts, but just after they marry, Antoine is drafted to fight against Germany. As World War II rages, Jocelyn uses her position as a librarian in her town of Saint-Malo to comfort and encourage her community with books. Jocelyn begins to write secret letters smuggled to a famous Parisian author, telling her story in the hope that it will someday reach the outside world.

France falls and the Nazis occupy Jocelyn's town, turning it into a fortress. The townspeople try passive resistance, but the German commander ruthlessly begins to destroy part of the city's libraries. Books deemed unsuitable by the Nazis are burnt or stolen, and priceless knowledge is lost.

Risking arrest and even her life, Jocelyn manages to hide some of the books while desperately waiting to receive news from her husband Antoine, now a prisoner in a German camp.

Jocelyn's mission unfolds in her letters: to protect the people of Saint-Malo and the books they hold so dear. Mario Escobar brings to life the occupied city in sweeping and romantic prose, re-creating the history of those who sacrificed all to care for the people they loved.


World War II historical fiction inspired by true events
Includes discussion questions for book clubs, a historical timeline, and notes from the author
Book length: 368 pages]]> 384 Mario Escobar 078523991X Chriss 5 3.64 2020
author: Mario Escobar
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 10711292
What she didn't need was a tragic car accident. As a single mom and the owner of a successful bead shop, Claire leads a predictable life in Hope's Crossing, Colorado. So what if she has no time for romance? At least, that's what she tells herself, especially when her best friend's sexy younger brother comes back to town as the new chief of police.

But when the accident forces Claire to slow down and lean on others—especially Riley McKnight—she realizes, for the first time, that things need to change. And not just in her own life. The accident—and the string of robberies committed by teenagers that led up to it—is a wake-up call to the people of Hope's Crossing. The sense of community and togetherness had been lost during those tough years. But with a mysterious "Angel of Hope" working to inspire the town, Riley and Claire will find themselves opening up to love and other possibilities by the end of an extraordinary summer��.]]> 384 RaeAnne Thayne 0373775938 Chriss 3 3.94 2011
author: RaeAnne Thayne
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
The kind of book I like to read while busy doing other things. Good development of pleasant characters, it’s almost too sweet. I couldn’t give it more than 3 stars. The biggest detractor was the over acting by the narrator. The next was that throughout the story you are always aware of time lapses. Just when it built up to an event you were looking forward to reading, ie Riley’s undercover work in the Bay area, it skips over to the next event or chapter. Charming likable characters though, set in a high mountain town in CO, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, it gives Gilmore Girls or Sweet Magnolia vibes.
]]> 61827549
“Reads like a thriller . . . The Secret Gate is a fast-paced escape narrative, but it is also a morally complex interrogation.”�� The Washington Post

When the U.S. began its withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Afghan Army instantly collapsed, Homeira Qaderi was marked for death at the hands of the Taliban. A celebrated author, academic, and champion for women's liberation, Homeira had achieved celebrity in her home country by winning custody of her son in a contentious divorce, a rarity in Afghanistan's patriarchal society. As evacuation planes departed above, Homeira was caught in the turmoil at the Kabul Airport, trying and failing to secure escape for her and her eight-year-old son, Siawash, along with her parents and the rest of their family.��

Meanwhile, a young American diplomat named Sam Aronson was enjoying a brief vacation between assignments when chaos descended upon Afghanistan. Sam immediately volunteered to join the skeleton team of remaining officials at Kabul Airport, frantically racing to help rescue the more than 100,000 stranded Americans and their Afghan helpers. When Sam learned that the CIA had established a secret entrance into the airport two miles away from the desperate crowds crushing toward the gates, he started bringing families directly through, personally rescuing as many as fifty-two people in a single day.��

On the last day of the evacuation, Sam was contacted by Homeira's literary agent, who persuaded him to help her escape. He needed to risk his life to get them through the gate in the final hours before it closed forever. He borrowed night-vision goggles and enlisted a Dari-speaking colleague and two heavily armed security contract “shooters.�� He contacted Homeira with a burner phone, and they used a flashlight code signal borrowed from boyhood summer camp. For her part, Homeira broke Sam’s rules and withstood his profanities. Together they braved gunfire by Afghan Army soldiers anxious about the restive crowds outside the airport. Ultimately, to enter the airport, Homeira and Siawash would have to leave behind their family and everything they had ever known.��

The Secret Gate tells the thrilling, emotional tale of a young man's courage and a mother and son’s skin-of-the-teeth escape from a homeland that is no longer their own.]]> 316 Mitchell Zuckoff 0593594843 Chriss 3 4.24
author: Mitchell Zuckoff
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 204901666 From the first content creator to interview President Biden, leading progressive voice Brian Tyler Cohen takes a step back from the day-to-day news cycle to explain how American politics has turned into such a dumpster fire—and what Democrats need to do to get us out of it.

In Shameless,
With a foreword by Congressman Jamie Raskin, drawing on interviews and insights from Pete Buttigieg, Mehdi Hasan, Jen Psaki, and other luminaries of the Left, Cohen reveals:

· How Republicans have leaned on their histor­ical branding to give themselves a permission structure to behave antithetically to everything they say;
· Why the mainstream media has proved itself a willing participant in this ongoing farce—particularly since the rise of toxic, sensational­ist MAGA mania; and
· What lessons Democrats can glean from a clear-eyed view of the landscape we’re operating in—and the steps we must take to rebalance our political landscape.

During this all-hands-on-deck moment in our his­tory, Shameless is essential listening for those seeking to understand our dire situation, and a rallying cry for those fighting to preserve democracy.]]> 224 Brian Tyler Cohen 0063392887 Chriss 0 to-read 4.28 2024
author: Brian Tyler Cohen
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16248142
Frozen in Time tells the story of these crashes and the fate of the survivors, bringing vividly to life their battle to endure 148 days of the brutal Arctic winter, until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen brought them to safety. Mitchell Zuckoff takes the reader deep into the most hostile environment on earth, through hurricane-force winds, vicious blizzards, and subzero temperatures.

Moving forward to today, he recounts the efforts of the Coast Guard and North South Polar Inc. �� led by indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza �� who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight and recover the remains of its crew.

A breathtaking blend of mystery and adventure Mitchell Zuckoff's Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II is also a poignant reminder of the sacrifices of our military personnel and a tribute to the everyday heroism of the US Coast Guard.]]> 391 Mitchell Zuckoff 0062133438 Chriss 4 3.93 2013
author: Mitchell Zuckoff
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:
Perhaps it wasn’t the best time to read about plane crashes, and Greenland. IYKYK. Interesting non fiction work, a genre I’m trying to read more of, this is a well researched book about a plane crash into the mountains of Greenland during the winter of 1942 and 2 subsequent crashes of rescuers, survivors and victims. I found myself drifting during chapters of present day searches but was completely engrossed in the retelling chapters. Hence loss of a star.
]]> 219754243 Come back to Coconut Key as the New Year brings surprises, secrets, and second chances…and one shocking new arrival!

For Beck and her mother, Lovely, the serene island life they’ve carefully built is about to be upended. Plans for a quiet holiday with no guests at their popular Coquina House Bed & Breakfast are disrupted when they agree to host a trio of last-minute guests. These unexpected arrivals stir up more than just the peaceful waters of Coconut Key, leading to revelations that will transform the family forever.

At seventy-five, Lovely is thriving—healthy, happy, and finally spending her life with Beck, the daughter she never had a chance to raise. But when a figure from the past steps into her home—and heart—in a way she never dreamed possible, Lovely faces the daunting task of reimagining her entire life.

Meanwhile, Beck is standing at her own crossroads. Her newfound love, Oliver, is torn between his native Australia and their idyllic life in Coconut Key. When an opportunity arises that could give Oliver everything he wants, Beck must make a difficult pursue her own dreams of happiness or sacrifice everything for the man she loves.

As a new year dawns on Coconut Key, there's a wedding on the horizon and babies on the way, so celebration should be in the air. But will the changes, choices, and challenges ahead bring an end to this family’s hard-won happiness?

The Coconut Key Series celebrates older heroines, second chance romance, entangled families, and lifelong friendships. With a cast of unforgettable characters and stories that touch every woman’s heart, you’ll be binging your way through the Keys!

A Secret in the Keys (Book 1)
A Reunion in the Keys (Book 2)
A Season in the Keys (Book 3)
A Haven in the Keys (Book 4)
A Return to the Keys (Book 5)
A Wedding in the Keys (Book 6)
A Promise in the Keys (Book 7)
A New Year in the Keys (Book 8)]]> 282 Hope Holloway Chriss 4 4.72
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.72
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 56646710 Celebrate the season��with this sparkling holiday romance, perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber, Dorthea Benton Frank, and Nancy Thayer!

Ranch manager Annie McCade thought her twin niece and nephew could join her at the Angel View Ranch for Christmas with her absent employer being none the wiser. But when the ranch's owner, Tate Sheridan, shows up out of the blue, Annie's plans are upended. Soon she finds herself helping Tate make a Christmas to remember for his grieving and fractured extended family.

Sleigh Bells Ring��is��the latest heartwarming, festive Christmas story by��New York Times��bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne.

��]]> 352 RaeAnne Thayne 1335522441 Chriss 4 3.89 2021
author: RaeAnne Thayne
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
Just nice clean warm and fuzzy chick lit, no language, no smut, just a sweet Christmas story. I don’t usually give them 4 stars but it was well written, descriptive, with endearing characters.
]]> 210999999 What would it be like to sit down for an impassioned, entertaining conversation with Hillary Clinton? In Something Lost, Something Gained, Hillary offers her candid views on life and love, politics, liberty, democracy, the threats we face, and the future within our reach.

She describes the strength she draws from her deepest friendships, her Methodist faith, and the nearly fifty years she’s been married to President Bill Clinton—all with the wisdom that comes from looking back on a full life with fresh eyes. She takes us along as she returns to the classroom as a college professor, enjoys the bonds inside the exclusive club of former First Ladies, moves past her dream of being president, and dives into new activism for women and democracy.

From canoeing with an ex-Nazi trying to deprogram white supremacists to sweltering with salt farmers in the desert trying to adapt to the climate crisis in India, Hillary brings us to the front lines of our biggest challenges. For the first time, Hillary shares the story of her operation to evacuate Afghan women to safety in the harrowing final days of America’s longest war. But we also meet the brave women dissidents defying dictators around the world, gain new personal insights about her old adversary Vladimir Putin, and learn the best ways that worried parents can protect kids from toxic technology. We also hear her fervent and persuasive warning to all American voters. In the end, Something Lost, Something Gained is a testament to the idea that the personal is political, and the political is personal, providing a blueprint for what each of us can do to make our lives better.

Hillary has “looked at life from both sides now.�� In these pages, she shares the latest chapter of her inspiring life and shows us how to age with grace and keep moving forward, with grit, joy, purpose, and a sense of humor.]]> 324 Hillary Rodham Clinton 1668017237 Chriss 5 4.16 2024
author: Hillary Rodham Clinton
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 223959699
When their best friend Josh proposes a daring climb of Alaska’s perilous summit, aspiring writer Finn (Jack Falahee, How to Get Away with Murder) sees it as his ticket to literary success, and local lifer Doug (Jake Lacy, The White Lotus) signs up for the challenge. But as the trio ascends into the deadly "Death Zone," long-buried secrets and rivalries emerge, threatening to tear them apart before the mountain does.

Told through a masterful blend of present-day scenes, excerpts from Finn’s now best-selling memoir, and their pulse-pounding ascent, Denali keeps listeners on edge, slowly revealing the mystery of what really happened on that fateful expedition. As Abby (Amrit Kaur, Sex Lives of College Girls), Josh’s sister, pieces together conflicting accounts years later, she’s forced to confront unsettling questions about the brother she thought she knew—and the man she's chosen to love.

Denali explores the complex bonds of friendship, the seductive power of fame, and the psychological toll of surviving when others do not.]]> Austin Bunn Chriss 2 2.84 2025
author: Austin Bunn
name: Chriss
average rating: 2.84
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
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]]> 53540403
These people did not even realize that movie star Meredith White was living on their street. Now, they are sharing her mansion, as well as their most closely kept secrets. Without the walls and privacy of their own homes, one by one, new relationships are forged. For every neighbor there is a story, from the doctor whose wife and children fear him, to the beautiful young woman dating a dishonorable man, to the aspiring writer caring for a famous blind musician.

In the heart of the crisis, Meredith finds herself venturing back into the world. And thanks to the suspicions and the dogged detective work of a disaster relief volunteer, a former military officer named Charles, a shocking truth about her own world is exposed. Suddenly Meredith sees her isolation, her estranged family, and even her acting career in a whole new light.

Filled with powerful human dramas, Neighbors is a penetrating look at how our world can be upended in a moment. In a novel of unforgettable characters and stunning twists, acts of love and courage become the most powerful forces of all.]]> 270 Danielle Steel 1984821385 Chriss 2 4.10 2021
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:
While it was interesting enough to avoid membership on my DNF list, I wouldn’t recommend. While I haven’t read any of the author’s books in decades, I read numerous Danielle Steel books in the eighties. Neighbors felt like it was written by someone else. Maybe it’s just how Steel has evolved during those decades. My biggest disappointment isn’t with the story itself, but with the writing and especially the editing. I’d prefer to blame the editing because I can’t imagine a popular, seasoned author making the errors encountered, perhaps chief of which was the constant repetition of minor details. Even at my advancing age and its annoyingly questionable memory lapses, that stood out throughout the book. 2 stars because I finished it, it’s sadly no better than that.
]]> 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

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

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

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

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 Chriss 3 4.11 2021
author: T.J. Klune
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
It took me what too long to read this and not because of my daily dim scrolling, well maybe a little because of my daily doom scrolling. It got so I started reading other books at the same time, not something I usually do. It wasn’t a bad book, it just didn’t hold my interest and I ended up reading it in bits and starts. It’s TJ Klune, so I expected a quirky characters, it did deliver. It was the story itself that was lacking and I felt like there were gaps, almost like I skipped a chapter in the middle, the second half wasn’t as engaging as the beginning.
]]> 196890737
A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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

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

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

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?]]> 11 Emily Henry Chriss 4 4.11 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
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]]> 133938826 should feel successful—but all she feels is drained. Haunted by an abandoned dream, she takes a leap of faith and leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a quiet residential neighborhood outside the city and opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.

The transition isn’t easy. For months, all Yeongju can do is cry. But as the long hours in the shop stretch on, she begins to reflect on what makes a good bookseller and a meaningful store. She throws herself into reading voraciously, hosting author events, and crafting her own philosophy on bookselling. Gradually, Yeongju finds her footing in her new surroundings.

Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that bind them, Yeongju begins to write a new chapter in her life. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop evolves into a warm, welcoming haven for lost souls—a place to rest, heal, and remember that it’s never too late to scrap the plot and start over.]]> 307 Hwang Bo-Reum Chriss 0 to-read 3.94 2022
author: Hwang Bo-Reum
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 209220944
But Sarah has begun to wonder... Who is she without her other half?

When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memoriam of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter, after all. Independent and capable.

That is until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.

The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances between them and doubts begin to grow. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?

In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is near breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.

What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.]]> 336 Hannah Bonam-Young 0593871863 Chriss 0 to-read 3.99 2025
author: Hannah Bonam-Young
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 211479192 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 384 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0593724992 Chriss 0 to-read 3.80 2025
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible �� a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 125033778X Chriss 0 to-read 3.64 2025
author: Alice Feeney
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 2213661
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.

But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.

A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.]]> 312 Neil Gaiman 0060530928 Chriss 0 to-read 4.15 2008
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Chriss 0 to-read 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 89724 Shirley Jackson’s beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secret

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.]]> 152 Shirley Jackson 0143039970 Chriss 3 3.93 1962
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 Chriss 4 4.37 2023
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 221571058 Brighten the holidays with this funny, heartfelt rom-com about the stories—and the love—that we never forget.

When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year.

When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.

As Hanukkah unfolds, Abi and Dov cozy up in his grandmother’s brownstone apartment working their way through his writer’s block and untangling plot threads. Before long, the novel starts taking shape ... and so does their simmering attraction. Will their own story end once the book is written, or is this just the first chapter?]]> 4 Liz Maverick Chriss 3 3.49 2024
author: Liz Maverick
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
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Just a fluffy little short story, just long enough for in the car listening. It was offered free on Audible and I neglected to read the whole description before starting the book, which would have told me it’s more a Hanukkah love story, rather than a grandson and publisher secretly finishing the book of a renowned, albeit deceased, author. Good narrators, Brooklyn brownstone, flirty repartee, what’s not to love?
]]> 59912428 A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.]]> 464 Jodi Picoult 1984818384 Chriss 5 4.05 2022
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
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]]> 6952
The number one bestseller in Mexico and America for almost two years, and subsequently a bestseller around the world, Like Water For Chocolate is a romantic, poignant tale, touched with moments of magic, graphic earthiness, bittersweet wit - and recipes.

A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family. Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her, so that Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.]]> 222 Laura Esquivel Chriss 0 to-read 3.96 1989
author: Laura Esquivel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 203298142 Read by Liz Cheney with 50+ audio source material clips included, Oath and Honor is a gripping first-hand account from inside the halls of Congress as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution—leading to the violent attack on our Capitol on January 6th, 2021—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.

Liz Cheney, one of the few Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the attack first-hand, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor, she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and the risks we still face.]]> Liz Cheney Chriss 4 4.33 2023
author: Liz Cheney
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
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]]> 53573233
When Olivia Glass, 34, concocts an ad for a cheap wine that propels her advertising company to the top, she is ashamed by her own work—yet offered the promotion she’s dreamed of. Olivia, at a crossroads, realizes this is not the life she signed up for. Worse, when Olivia discovers her long-time boyfriend, about to propose, has been cheating on her, she realizes it’s time for a major life change.

Olivia has always dreamed of moving to Tuscany, living a simple life, and starting her own vineyard.

When her long-time friend messages her about a Tuscan cottage available, Olivia can’t help wonder: is it fate?

Hilarious, packed with travel, food, wine, twists and turns, romance and her newfound animal friend—and centering around a baffling small-town murder that Olivia must solve—AGED FOR DEATH is an un-putdownable cozy that will keep you laughing late into the night.]]> 205 Fiona Grace Chriss 1 3.92 2020
author: Fiona Grace
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
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]]> 123121061 All she wanted was one last summer at the beach house...

When the unthinkable happens and Claire Thompson’s husband dies suddenly, she’s left wondering how to go on. Being a wife and mother is all she’s ever known. Grieving and lost, she decides to take her family for one last trip to their beach house before she’s forced to put it up for sale. The house is filled with happy memories, and it seems like a great way to remember Bryan.

But as she soon finds out, Bryan was harboring some complicated secrets. The kind that will change the lives of Claire and her daughter. And those secrets come to light while Claire is at the beach house, shattering her memories and making her realize she never really knew her husband.

How does she move forward with these new revelations? How will her daughter cope? What will become of them now that they know Bryan wasn’t the man they thought he was?

Claire can only pray things work out for them during their last summer at the beach house.]]> 408 Maggie Miller Chriss 3 4.47
author: Maggie Miller
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
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]]> 203578916 Explore this delightfully cozy and joyful novel of second chances at the most wonderful time of the year, from USA Today bestselling author Pamela Kelley.

A feel-good novel as delightful and comforting as a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night, The Christmas Inn is bestselling author Pamela Kelley’s most heartwarming and magical book yet.

Riley Sanders didn’t plan on losing her job as a content marketing manager right before Christmas. When she calls her sister Amy to vent, she learns that their mother has broken her leg and could really use some help at the inn. Riley decides to head home to the inn, nestled along the shores of Cape Cod, in time for the Christmas rush. She is happy to help and needs something to distract her as mistletoe is hung and snowflakes begin to fall.

When she gets there, she not only finds delicious cookies and a crackling fire to lift her spirits, but also the sense of family she’s been missing all along. There’s Franny, a woman who has just lost her sister and has four unopened letters from her that she plans to use to open her up to new experiences on the Cape. And there’s Aidan, her high school sweetheart, now a widower, who is staying at the inn with his nine year-old son, Luke. What begins as a quick stay over the holidays to help her mom turns into something that means much more—a second chance at romance, a deeper sense of found family, and all the joy and wonder that comes with Christmastime on Cape Cod.]]> 320 Pamela M. Kelley 1250861632 Chriss 0 3.62 2024
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
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]]> 56922701
Sofia har ærlig talt heller ikke lyst til at byde Carmen velkommen. Hendes søster har altid været sarkastisk og umedgørlig. Men Sofia venter sig igen, boghandlen mangler hænder, og deres mors største ønske er, at de to søstre kommer bedre ud af det med hinanden. Måske skulle hun give Carmen en chance?

På Sofias foranledning hvirvles Carmen snart ind i den gamle boghandels daglige trummerum. Det viser sig dog, at det vil kræve et sandt julemirakel at få den på rette kurs igen. Kan Carmen mon overraske dem alle denne jul? Og kan hun klinke skårene med de vigtigste mennesker i hendes liv: sin familie?]]> 310 Jenny Colgan 0063141671 Chriss 0 dnf 3.61 2021
author: Jenny Colgan
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 58327298 There’s a little island magic in the air…and the promise of something brand new.

With her daughters more settled than ever, it’s time for Beck to live her life in Coconut Key to the fullest. Coquina House Bed & Breakfast is open and running, and with every new challenge, Beck and her mother discover they were born for the life of hospitality. So it’s not her new business that keeps Beck awake at night now…but the temptation of starting a new, uncharted course for her heart. Will those waters be warm and welcoming, or does she risk drowning once again?

As she adjusts to her new life, Jessie discovers that being a parent isn’t as easy as she’d hoped, and Kenny faces new challenges as he and Heather tentatively explore the possibility of blending their hearts and families. All over Coconut Key, lessons are learned and love is earned. And no matter what happens, there will be laughter, love, sunshine, and mimosas on the beach.

The Coconut Key Series celebrates older heroines, second chance romance, entangled families, and lifelong friendships. With a cast of unforgettable characters and stories that touch every woman’s heart, be sure to read them all!]]> 308 Hope Holloway Chriss 0 4.65
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
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]]> 56925005 An unimaginable change is in the air when a long lost love reappears on the sands of Coconut Key to complicate lives and open old wounds. With shocking news that changes history and the family dynamic, the new arrival brings hope, love, and the answers some have been searching for years to find.

As Jessie builds a brand new life and business, and Beck nears the opening of the Coquina House B&B, everyone is tested and forced to lean on each other for love and laughter. And when a budding friendship blossoms into something more, lives are once again changed by love…old and new, lost and found.]]> 284 Hope Holloway Chriss 4 4.66
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.66
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
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]]> 56924986 When tourist season ends, the next one begins…and hurricane season is never easy in the Keys. Especially when the winds have blown in a man who threatens everything Beck has built over the last few months in Coconut Key.

The newest arrival might be the contractor Beck’s been longing to find…but he’s also a man from her past. With his attention on her as much as the B&B renovation, this new twist is equal parts thrilling and terrifying. Beck’s son, Kenny, is working through own personal trials, and daughter Savannah inches toward a tenuous relationship with her soon-to-be-born baby’s father.

But all eyes turn to the skies as a major hurricane bears down on Coconut Key, bringing everyone together for one heart-stopping night of trauma, drama, and close calls. And if they survive what Mother Nature throws at them, what will be left of the life they’ve all been building on the beach?]]> 276 Hope Holloway Chriss 0 4.66
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.66
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
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]]> 56924992 A new life begins on Coconut Key when Beck and her family and friends are blessed with a beachfront sanctuary after the hurricane damages their side of the island. Although it is a haven where life and love carries on in an unforeseen way, they face a new set of challenges.

As Beck rebuilds Coquina House into a beachfront B&B and finds safety in a new romance, her daughter, Savannah, learns how to be a mother…and lands in a relationship unlike any she’s ever known. Three new arrivals add yet another branch to the family tree, bringing big surprises, fresh ideas, and precious bonds. Both Beck and her closest friend, Jessie, have to reimagine their businesses…and lives.

Although there are forces working against them and an unseen nemesis threatens to blow their plans to smithereens, the strength, resolve, and love that this group has formed never wavers. In this haven, they learn that love really does conquer all.]]> 280 Hope Holloway Chriss 0 4.65
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
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]]> 56924971 While renovating her childhood home into a B&B and navigating the waters of a second-chance romance, Beck Foster is suddenly forced to face the past and open her arms to strangers she never dreamed she’d meet.

With the help of her daughters Savannah and Peyton, Beck resolves to undo the past and expand her family forever…but that decision isn't always easy. As Savannah faces the challenges of having a baby on her own, and Peyton takes her budding romance to the next step, the Foster woman all learn that life in the Keys might be warm and breezy, but it’s still complicated.

With four generations of strong women and a few equally amazing men, the characters in Coconut Key comes together once again with a sense of solidarity that gets them through the toughest times. Will that be enough when the storms of life throw them into whitewater and threaten an unimaginable loss?]]> 276 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.63
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.63
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
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]]> 56924961 The last thing Beck Foster wants to do is attend a party for her estranged aunt in the Florida Keys. One month earlier, Beck’s seemingly ideal existence imploded when her husband of thirty-four years announced he was leaving her. Now, so she has to sell her house, get a job, and somehow put her broken heart and life back together. She can’t do all that if she runs off to visit a woman she barely remembers.

Or can she?

Accompanied by her grown daughter who also longs for an escape, Beck heads to Coconut Key, where she’d lived the earliest years of her life. There, she forges a life-changing relationship with a woman she never really understood, dips her toes into the waters of a new romance, and begins the process of starting over.

But when a secret kept for nearly fifty years comes crashing down on them, all of Beck’s dreams are once again threatened. Can she forgive the lies that have shaped her life, or will the past ruin her chance at a new beginning in Coconut Key?]]> 276 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.54
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 202452121 The continuation of a charming, heartwarming holiday series that will whisk you away to a dreamy winter in the mountains. With sweet romance, strong family bonds, and an uplifting story of hope and joy, this is the perfect Christmas collaboration between two beloved women’s fiction authors!Return to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a brand new saga with the Chambers sisters and their growing family. It is one year after the triplets changed their lives and relocated to Asheville, each starting off in a new direction. Once again, the holidays bring challenges and change, happiness and heartbreak, and the power of unbreakable family bonds. Join these strong, funny, and loving women as the holiday spirit lifts them as high as the Blue Ridge Mountains as they celebrate old traditions and create a few new ones along the way.The Carolina Christmas SeriesThe Asheville Christmas Cabin -- book 1The Asheville Christmas Gift -- book 2The Asheville Christmas Wedding -- book 3The Asheville Christmas Tradition �� book 4]]> 0 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.62
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
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]]> 53425138
The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats--leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm?

Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers--one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. It's also the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. It is Woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. Boosters needed immigrants to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told them to get them there--or whose land it originally was.

At its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. It is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today--because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country.]]> 355 Melanie Benjamin 0399182284 Chriss 5 3.91 2021
author: Melanie Benjamin
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 45032 488 Jane Austen Chriss 4 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 1067556 136 Jim Murphy 0590673092 Chriss 4 3.81 2000
author: Jim Murphy
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves:
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]]> 63876577 A kid walks into your bookstore and... guess what? He's your son. The one you put up for adoption eighteen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise!

And a huge surprise it is.

It's a huge surprise to his adoptive mother, Monica, who thought she had a close relationship with Matthew, her nearly adult son. Until he secretly arranged a vacation to Cape Cod so he could meet his birth mother... without a word to her.

It's also a surprise to Harlow, the woman who secretly placed him for adoption so many years ago. She has built a quiet life, running a bookstore with her grandfather, and is happily single... though she can't help gravitating toward Grady Byrne, an old friend who has moved back to town, three-year-old daughter in tow, and no wife in the picture.

When Matthew walks into Harlow's store, she faints. Monica panics. And all their assumptions about what being a parent really means explode...

This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined...and as both women learn that for them, there's no limit to a mother's love.]]> 512 Kristan Higgins 0593547616 Chriss 5 3.99 2023
author: Kristan Higgins
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves:
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]]> 65678550
Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which served the neighborhood's quirky collection of blacks and European immigrants, helped by her husband, Moshe, a Romanian-born theater owner who integrated the town's first dance hall. When the state came looking for a deaf black child, claiming that the boy needed to be institutionalized, Chicken Hill's residents—roused by Chona's kindess and the courage of a local black worker named Nate Timblin—banded together to keep the boy safe.

As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear how much the people of Chicken Hill have to struggle to survive at the margins of white Christian America and how damaging bigotry, hypocrisy, and deceit can be to a community. When the truth is revealed about the skeleton, the boy, and the part the town’s establishment played in both, McBride shows that it is love and community—heaven and earth—that ultimately sustain us.]]> 385 James McBride 0593422945 Chriss 3 3.83 2023
author: James McBride
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves:
review:
I was looking forward to reading this book for three reasons. 1-son read it for his book club and recommended it 2-it was on Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year list 3-it takes place somewhere I lived for a decade, and reading about those places is always fun. Unfortunately I found it hard to get into and it didn’t get much better. I’m sure it’s me because it was a very well reviewed book but I found finishing it to be a chore and if I hadn’t been listening on Audible I doubt I’d have finished it.
]]> 205435940 Join Cecilia Blomdahl in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the world’s northernmost town.

Located in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, Svalbard is a unique archipelago that boasts stunning wintry landscapes, endangered Arctic animals, and awe-inspiring natural phenomena. Since 2015, Cecilia has called this beautiful and remote location home. Along with her partner, Christoffer, and her dog, Grim, she has adjusted to life at the top of the world—where polar bears roam free and northern lights shine bright.

With evocative text and spectacular photography, Cecilia shares the joys and challenges of adapting to an inhospitable climate. Her story begins in the darkness of polar night, and the allure of her remote location is revealed gradually as sunlight returns months later. Through personal stories and firsthand advice, Cecilia offers insight for anyone seeking to thrive in unusual living conditions.

Whatever your location, Life on Svalbard will give you a deeper understanding of why people choose to live in extreme environments and perhaps help you find the hidden magic of where you live too.]]> 256 Cecilia Blomdahl 0744095093 Chriss 5 4.46
author: Cecilia Blomdahl
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves:
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]]> 58662236
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.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Chriss 4 4.14 2021
author: Claire Keegan
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves:
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]]> 33517560 An Irish Country Practice is the twelfth heartwarming installment in New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author Patrick Taylor's beloved Irish Country series.

Once, not too long ago, there was just a single Irish country doctor tending to the lively little village of Ballybucklebo: Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly. Now his thriving practice is growing by leaps and bounds.

Not only has O'Reilly taken a new trainee under his wing, Doctor Connor Nelson, he's also added a spirited Labrador puppy to his ever-expanding household at Number One Main Street. Meanwhile, his trusted partner, young Doctor Barry Laverty, finds himself wondering if he's truly ready to settle down and start a family with his lovely fiancee, Sue.

As the doctors cope with domestic and professional challenges, they also look after their patients and their ailments, including a mysterious cough, a housewife whose frequent "accidents" may have a disturbing cause, and a respected colleague who might be succumbing to an old vice.

All is not sickness and worry, however. There's plenty of joy and merriment to be found as well, from a visiting circus to racing to sailing . . . and maybe even a happy ending or two.]]> 384 Patrick Taylor 076538275X Chriss 0 4.16 2017
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
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]]> 28260497
For decades, ever since the war, Number One Main Street, Ballybucklebo, has housed O’Reilly and his practice. In recent years, it has also opened its doors to O’Reilly’s wife, Barry Laverty, and a new addition to the practice, Doctor Nonie Stevens, a sultry and occasionally prickly young woman who may not be fitting in as well as she should. It is to Number One that patients young and old come when they need a doctor’s care, for everything from the measles to a rare and baffling blood disease.

An unexpected turn of events threatens to drive O’Reilly from his home for good, unless the entire village can rally behind their doctor and prove that love really can conquer all.

An Irish Country Love Story is a new and heartwarming installment in Patrick Taylor's beloved bestselling Irish Country series.]]> 384 Patrick Taylor 0765382725 Chriss 3 4.06 2016
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 15771862 274 Sonali Deraniyagala Chriss 3 3.76 2013
author: Sonali Deraniyagala
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 13539629 An Irish Country Wedding is another heart-warming addition to New York Times bestselling author Patrick Taylor's Irish Country series.

Love is in the air in the colourful Ulster village of Ballybucklebo, where Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly has finally proposed to the darling of his youth, Kitty O'Hallorhan. There's a wedding to be planned, but before O'Reilly can make it to the altar, he and his young colleague, Barry Laverty, M.B., must deal with the usual round of eccentric patients—and crises both large and small.
Being a G.P. in a place like Ballybucklebo often means more than simply splinting broken bones and tending to aches and pains. It can also mean helping a struggling young couple acquire their first home, clearing the name of a cat accused of preying on a neighbor's prize pigeons, and encouraging a bright working-class girl who dreams of someday becoming a doctor herself. And, if you're Barry Laverty, still smarting from a painful breakup, there might even be a chance for a new romance with a lovely school teacher, if her passionate political convictions don't get in the way.
Much has changed in Ballybucklebo, and bigger changes are in store, but the lives and practices of these Irish country doctors remain as captivating and irresistible as ever.]]> 10 Patrick Taylor 1427226393 Chriss 3 4.14 2012
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/19
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 8537714 464 Patrick Taylor 0765321742 Chriss 0 4.10 2010
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
I think I’ve figured out why I’m still reading this series. Yes, the characters are charming, the stories quaint, and the narrator truly exceptional in bringing it all to life. But as a retired nurse, I’m also partial to the author’s (he’s a retired medical doctor) telling of the maladies and treatments of the villager’s illnesses in 1965 Ballybucklebo.
]]> 215950185
After a string of bad dates and no prospects, Sophia Othonos has finally hit the jackpot: an actual nice guy. When he suggests a romantic getaway, she’s sure they’re about to take the next step toward their future. A rustic cruise to the Galápagos Islands isn’t exactly her idea of a vacation, but Sophia is ready for anything…until her boyfriend has to cancel.

Now she’s all alone on a trip that was meant for two. Sophia finds herself at a crossroads about who she is, what she wants, and whether her relationship is really everything she thought. But if she’s going to suffer an identity crisis, at least she gets to do it amid the unexpected majesty of nature.

Eight days of wild, unobstructed beauty are enough to make anyone reevaluate their life. These islands are all about adapting to your surroundings—and change just might be what Sophia needs most of all.]]> 54 Elin Hilderbrand 1662521472 Chriss 2 3.63 2024
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
My first read (listen) from Amazon First Reads, this is a short story, less than 2 hours long. I listened to it in one fell swoop and figured it out WAY before Sophia. It was much too predictable and its ending so abrupt it felt like the author just gave up and threw the last couple of sentences at the wall to see if it would stick.
]]> 15798334

Der renommierte Journalist Ari Shavit sieht Israel in einer halt- und ausweglosen Lage: als jüdisch-westlicher Staat in einer arabisch-islamischen (Um-)Welt seit seiner Gründung in der Existenz bedroht, andererseits Okkupationsmacht über ein anderes, das palästinensische Volk. Der Innovationskraft und Lebensfreude seiner Menschen stehen ein bröckelndes Gemeinwesen, zermürbende Konflikte, militärische Scheinerfolge und der Verlust internationalen Ansehens gegenüber. Was als gemeinschaftlicher hoffnungsfroher Aufbruch begann, insbesondere nach den Schrecken des Holocausts, der gemeinsame Bau von Eretz Israel, ist heute allgemeiner Desillusion und Desintegration gewichen. Shavit erzählt, zunächst auf den Spuren seines zionistischen Urgroßvaters, eine sehr persönliche Geschichte Israels während der letzten anderthalb Jahrhunderte, von Erfolgen im steten Überlebenskampf, aber auch von schuldbehafteter Tragik und unübersehbarem Niedergang.


]]> 464 Ari Shavit 0385521707 Chriss 1 dnf 4.18 2013
author: Ari Shavit
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2013
rating: 1
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 17962788 44 Alice Boeing 5517230660 Chriss 0 dnf 3.82
author: Alice Boeing
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 63327797
It's been eight years since Sara Lancaster left her home in Savannah, Georgia. Eight years since her daughter, Alana, came into this world, following a terrifying sexual assault that left deep emotional wounds Sara would do anything to forget. But when Sara's father falls ill, she's forced to return home and face the ghosts of her past.

While caring for her father and running his bookstore, Sara is desperate to protect her curious, outgoing, genius daughter from the Wylers, the family of the man who assaulted her. Sara thinks she can succeed—her attacker is in prison, his identical twin brother, Jacob, left town years ago, and their mother are all unaware Alana exists. But she soon learns that Jacob has also just returned to Savannah to piece together the fragments of his once-great family. And when their two worlds collide—with the type of force Sara explores in her poetry and Jacob in his astrophysics—they are drawn together in unexpected ways.]]> 464 Terah Shelton Harris 1728265746 Chriss 0 dnf 4.08 2023
author: Terah Shelton Harris
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/18
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: dnf
review:
DNF First time I’ve ever dropped a book because I couldn’t deal with the narrator. Will pick it up again once I get a hard copy from the library.
]]> 3688759 496 Patrick Taylor 0765320703 Chriss 4 3.99 2008
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves:
review:
So this was book 3 for me, and I just noticed how many more there are. I don’t think I can do them all but I have enjoyed the audio. The narrator is excellent, fun how he manages an Irish brogue with different voices and accents for all the characters. Luckily I haven’t been sucked into book 4 simply because it has a different narrator and I’m already used to Kinky’s voice from the last 3 books. It’s probably only 3.5 star worthy but I rounded up simply because I’m enjoying this bit of small town fluff in Northern Ireland.
]]> 2270950 An Irish Country Doctor, a warm and enchanting novel in the tradition of James Herriot and Jan Karon. Now Taylor returns to the colorful Northern Ireland community of Ballybucklebo, where there's always something brewing beneath the village's deceptively sleepy surface.

Young Doctor Barry Laverty has only just begun his assistantship under his eccentric mentor, Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, but he already feels right at home in Ballybucklebo. When the sudden death of a patient casts a cloud over Barry's reputation, his chances of establishing himself in the village are endangered, especially since the grieving widow is threatening a lawsuit.

While he anxiously waits for the postmortem results that he prays will exonerate him, Barry must regain the trust of the gossipy Ulster village, one patient at a time. From a put-upon shop girl with a mysterious rash to the troubled pregnancy of a winsome young lass who's not quite married yet, Ballybucklebo provides plenty of cases to keep the two country G.P.s busy.

Not all their challenges are medical in nature. When a greedy developer sets his sights on the very heart of the community, the village pub, it's up to the doctors to save the Black Swan (affectionately known to the locals as the "Mucky Duck") from being turned into an overpriced tourist trap. After all, the good citizens of Ballybucklebo need some place to drink to each other's health. . . .

Whether you've visited in the past, or are discovering Ballybucklebo for the first time, An Irish Country Village is an ideal location for anyone looking for wit, warmth, and just a touch of blarney.]]> 432 Patrick Taylor 0765316242 Chriss 4 4.05 2008
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Chriss 0 to-read 3.87 2020
author: Richard Osman
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 173233 An Irish Country Doctor from bestselling author Patick Taylor is a charming and engrossing tale that will captivate readers from the very first page--and leave them yearning to visit the Irish countryside of days gone by.



Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there. But Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice.

At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly.

The older physician has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met or the best teacher he could ever hope for. Through O'Reilly, Barry soon gets to know all of the village's colourful and endearing residents and a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor.

Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about country life. But with pluck and compassion, and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life--and love--than he ever imagined back in medical school.]]> 352 Patrick Taylor 0765316234 Chriss 4 3.87 2004
author: Patrick Taylor
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves:
review:
So I’m going to have to better nail down my rating system. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, both the story, reminiscent of a gentler time, and the narrator’s Irish brogue and ability to change the tone for each character, who brings the story to life. But it certainly isn’t great literature, more like a guilty pleasure. Delightfully simple story of a small Irish village’s medical practice and its charming and quirky characters. Side note: author is a retired doctor who hails from the area he writes about, but the village is fictional.
]]> 206235081 The uplifting and unforgettable conclusion to the Seven Sisters series!

After coming together following their father’s stroke, the Wingate women have found second-chance romance, faced trials and tribulations, and built wonderful lives on Amelia Island. Their father is fully recovered and healthy, their businesses are flourishing, and the whole family is bursting with love and laughter.

But as they fill Wingate House with wedding plans and celebrations, not everything is smooth sailing down the Amelia River. One final crisis threatens this unshakeable family, and it will test everyone and everything they hold dear.

Before the sun sets on their saga, the sisters must join forces and hearts one last time to earn a truly heartwarming happily ever after.]]> 282 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.69
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.69
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:
Well I made it through all seven books of this series. It took me awhile, i couldn’t read them straight through. It was fun getting to know all the characters, but the books did get progressively more cutesy. If chicklit is your preferred genre you’ll enjoy this series.
]]> 63255109
Being a single mother is tough, but I’d do anything for my little girl Scarlet. I’d given up on my career as a voice actor when the call came, but suddenly I was the new narrator for a secret book from bestselling author Philippa Roberts, who has been missing for eight months. It was a lifeline for me and my daughter.

I hated that it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex in his perfect new home with his perfect new girlfriend. But I knew it was the right thing to do.

But as I start reading Philippa’s new novel, I start to wonder if it’s no coincidence that I’ve been chosen to narrate it. There’s something hidden in the pages of this book, I’m sure of it. Some clue to Philippa’s disappearance. And I don’t feel safe. I think I’m being watched. My room has been searched.

And then my ex’s girlfriend calls in tears and everything starts to click together. If I don’t find answers fast, I’ll lose more than my second chance. I’ll lose my daughter.]]> 363 K.L. Slater 1803149302 Chriss 5 3.86 2022
author: K.L. Slater
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
I don’t usually do thrillers and I’m not even sure how this one turned up on my radar. Nor had I read the reviews so I had very little knowledge of what the book was about. But oh my, it looks like I’m adding thrillers to my favorite genres. It was excellent, I literally couldn’t put it down start to finish and I was unprepared for the twist at the end. Excellent.
]]> 54814861
Almost instantly, Thea becomes enamored with the quaint cottage, comforted by its cozy rooms and shaggy, tulip-covered lawn. The locals in nearby Baldochrie are just as warm, quirky, and inviting. The only person she can't seem to win over is bookshop owner Edward Maltravers, to whom she hopes to sell her uncle's antique novel collection. His gruff attitude--fueled by an infamous, long-standing feud with his brother, a local lord--tests Thea's patience. But bickering with Edward proves oddly refreshing and exciting, leading Thea to develop feelings she hasn't felt in a long time. As she follows a thrilling yet terrifying impulse to stay in Scotland indefinitely, Thea realizes that her new life may quickly become just as complicated as the one she was running from.]]> 431 Jackie Fraser 0593355652 Chriss 4 3.54 2020
author: Jackie Fraser
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/13
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves:
review:
Delightful read, lots of dialogue, by a new-to-me author. Excellent narrator too, she rocked a Scottish brogue when it came up, and I spent the last couple of days very unproductively because I read the whole book in those two days.
]]> 201465867
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future . . . if they can survive the journey.]]> 368 David Nicholls 0063394057 Chriss 3 3.97 2024
author: David Nicholls
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:
I’m feeling a bit guilty with this low rating, I know I’m in the minority, everyone seems to love it so much which is why I picked it up in the first place. There’s really nothing wrong with it, I just found it to be boring. I didn’t relate to any of the characters (and certainly not to hiking
]]> 199149525
When the Chambers sisters receive an invitation from their jet-setting aunt to spend the entire month of December at the family’s cabin in Asheville, North Carolina, they have one question -- why? The retreat, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, may be the site of many happy childhood holidays and summers spent enjoying the beauty of the area and each other…but it also holds sad memories. The sisters, and their aunt, have spent twenty-five years avoiding the cabin and renting it to strangers. Why would Aunt Elizabeth want her “dearest darling�� nieces to put their busy lives in three different states on hold and spend a month in the mountains?

Eve, Angie, and Noelle, triplets born on Christmas Day, owe their very lives to their aunt, and they agree they must go. Once there, not only do they learn to let go of the past and embrace a bright future, they all start to see their lives in a new way.

Big city girl Noelle comes face-to-face with her first love and feelings for this single dad are strong, tempting her with a small town lifestyle that she never imagined she’d embrace. A stressed-mother of three, Eve revels in the change of scenery and begins to learn the art of letting go of complete control. And when Angie’s rocky marriage truly cracks, she finds a new kind of joy with a connection to the past and a reconnection with her daughter.

Can one Christmas in Asheville change everything? Join these strong, funny, and loving women as the holiday spirit lifts them as high as the Blue Ridge Mountains and promises a whole new life ahead.

The Carolina Christmas Trilogy
The Asheville Christmas Cabin -- book 1
The Asheville Christmas Gift -- book 2
The Asheville Christmas Wedding -- book 3]]> 217 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.70
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.70
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
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]]> 836984 --back cover]]> 342 Kristin Hannah 0345450728 Chriss 2 3.59 2002
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
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Narration was flat and uninspiring. Story was good enough to hold my interest but it’s hard to reconcile this is the same author who wrote The Women. Also, very disappointing abrupt ending.
]]> 20890479
A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, 'Even though you've done your travelling, you're starting a new journey too.'

Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.]]> 352 Rachel Joyce 0385682824 Chriss 3 4.03 2014
author: Rachel Joyce
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
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]]> 127392 Never Change tells the bittersweet story of Myra Lipinsky, a 51-year-old home care nurse and self-acclaimed spinster who finds herself assigned to care for the golden boy she secretly worshipped back in high school. Only Chip Reardon isn't quite so golden these days -- he's dying from a highly virulent type of brain tumor.

For Myra, the chance to care for Chip fills her with both pleasure and anxiety, particularly when she realizes that she still has strong feelings for him. At first their reunion is marked by fun, joy, and memories. But then reality kicks in when Chip's old girlfriend, Diann, shows up, and Myra once again finds herself feeling like the fifth wheel she was back in high school. Yet despite slipping into their old roles, the three quickly discover that they have all changed. For Myra, this leads to a bittersweet irony as she finds herself in a loving relationship for the first time in her life -- only to have it be with a man whose days are drastically numbered.]]> 214 Elizabeth Berg 0099461277 Chriss 0 3.83 2001
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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]]> 128289
Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this year’s gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings imagined. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister. Forever wrapped up in events of long ago, Caroline is the family’s restless black sheep. When Caroline confronts Laura and their brother, Steve, with devastating allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house. But a sudden misfortune will lead them all to face the past, their own culpability, and their common need for love and forgiveness.

Readers have come to love Elizabeth Berg for the “lucent beauty of [her] prose, the verity of her insights, and the tenderness of her regard for her fellow human�� ( Booklist ). In The Art of Mending,�� she confronts some of the deepest mysteries of life, as she explores how even the largest sins can be forgiven by the smallest gestures, and how grace can come to many through the trials of one.]]> 256 Elizabeth Berg 034548648X Chriss 0 3.63 2004
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 15798782
Cecilia Ross is looking for a change. She has decided to take time off from her job as a successful motivational speaker and sell her home. She moves in to a beautiful old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, complete with a big front porch, a wild garden, a chef's kitchen-and three roommates. The four women are different ages, but all are feeling restless, and want to take a roadtrip to find again the people and things they miss. One woman wants to connect with a daughter she gave away at birth; another wants to visit her long-absent ex-husband; a third woman, a professional chef, is seeking new inspiration from the restaurants along the way. And Cecilia is looking for Dennis Halsinger, the man she never got over, who recently sent her a postcard out of the blue. This novel is classic Elizabeth Berg-a portrait of how women grow through the relationships that define them, and a testament to the power of female friendship.]]> 219 Elizabeth Berg 0812993144 Chriss 0 3.49 2013
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> 10857942 22 Maeve Binchy 0307957268 Chriss 0 3.64 2011
author: Maeve Binchy
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> 22721
In Maeve Binchy's "Carissima," an ex-pat returns to Ireland and shakes things up for her family, who finds her free spirit scandalous. In "Soulmates," by Marian Keyes, one woman's relationship is so bleedin' perfect that it's driving her friends crazy. In Cathy Kelly's "Thelma, Louise and the Lurve Gods," two women on a madcap Stateside road trip encounter a pair of insanely good-looking men....These fabulous stories and a baker's dozen more prove that when it comes to spinning a good yarn, the Irish are the best in the business.]]> 337 Maeve Binchy 0743483014 Chriss 0 3.68 1995
author: Maeve Binchy
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> 501246
His new tenants, Mark Friedman and Jimmy O'Connor, have problems of their own. Mark's wife of sixteen years just walked out, and Jimmy recently lost his own wife to a devastating illness. But then Mark's teenage son and daughter move in - and everything changes. Music blasts from every corner, young starlets stream in and out, a scandal erupts and, unexpectedly, three men who never met are becoming friends... Then The Cottage welcomes a new houseguest with a secret of her own, who will change Coop's life in unexpected ways.

Amid a glittering backdrop of celebrity and glamour, Danielle Steel digs deeper to tell a story of friendship and love, tragedy and second chances.]]> 312 Danielle Steel 0385335520 Chriss 0 3.75 2002
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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]]> 864741 393 Danielle Steel 0440168724 Chriss 0 3.78 1981
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1981
rating: 0
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]]> 59842
As preparations begin, the chaos of last-minute arrangements, surprise announcements and ever-increasing anxiety brings out both the best and the worst in everyone. But while couples in each generation of the Steinberg family struggle with broken vows and new hopes, the real meaning of Allegra's wedding emerges. It is a bridge between the past and the future, an opportunity for reconciliation, forgiveness and new hope for the future--as weddings often are for us all.]]> 539 Danielle Steel 0552141356 Chriss 0 3.72 2000
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> 59881 400 Danielle Steel 0751505420 Chriss 0 3.90 1985
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> 26511
From her secret perch at the top of the stairs, seven-year-old Gabriella watches the guests arrive at her parents' lavish Manhattan home. The click, click click of her mother's high heels strikes terror into her heart, as she has been told that she is to blame for her mother's rage - and her father's failure to protect her. Her world is a confusing blend of terror, betrayal and pain, and Gabriella knows that there is no safe place for her to hide.

When her parents' marriage collapses, her father disappears and her mother abandons her to a convent, where Gabriella's battered body and soul begin to mend amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns. And when she grows into womanhood, young Father Joe Connors comes into her life. Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood, and with her he takes the first steps towards healing. But their relationship leads to disaster as Joe must choose between the priesthood and Gabriella. She struggles to survive on her own in New York, where she seeks escape through her writing, until eventually she is able to find forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and healing from abuse.

In this work of daring and compassion, Danielle Steel has created a vivid portrait of an abused child's broken world which will shock and move you to your very soul.]]> 476 Danielle Steel 0552145025 Chriss 0 4.01 1998
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> 8719258
The plumbing was prone to leaks, the furniture rescued from garage sales. And every square inch was being devotedly restored to its original splendor—even as a relationship fell to pieces. Now Francesca Thayer, newly separated from her lawyer boyfriend Todd, is desperate. The owner of a struggling art gallery, and suddenly the sole mortgage payer on her Greenwich Village townhouse, Francesca does the math and then the unimaginable. She puts out an advertisement for boarders. Soon her house becomes a whole new world.

First comes Eileen, a fresh, pretty L.A. transplant, now a New York City schoolteacher. Then there’s Chris, a young father struggling with a troubled ex-wife and the challenge of parenting a seven-year-old son who visits every other weekend. The final tenant is Marya, a celebrated cookbook author hoping to start a new chapter in her life after the death of her husband. As Francesca’s art gallery begins to find its footing and Todd moves on to another woman, she discovers that her accidental tenants have become the most important people in her life.

As the roommates bond, and the house fills with the aroma of Marya’s exquisite cuisine, there are shadows as well as light. Naïve Eileen explores the precarious boundaries of online dating with a series of strangers. Chris’s custody fight for his son escalates to devastating levels. Marya faces an unexpected choice that will take her into untested waters. And Francesca herself will contemplate what had seemed opening her heart once more.

Over the course of one amazing, unforgettable, ultimately life-changing year, the house at 44 Charles Street fills with laughter, heartbreak, and, always, hope. In the hands of master storyteller Danielle Steel, it’s a place those who visit will never want to leave.]]> 336 Danielle Steel 0385343140 Chriss 0 3.66 2011
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> 2892420

Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington was born into a life of privilege, raised amid the glamour of New York society, with glorious homes on Fifth Avenue and in Newport, Rhode Island. But everything changed on a cold April day in 1912, when the sinking of the Titanic shattered her family and her privileged world forever. Finding strength within her grief, Annabelle pours herself into volunteer work, nursing the poor, igniting a passion for medicine that would shape the course of her life.

But for Annabelle, first love, and a seemingly idyllic marriage, will soon bring more grief—this time caused by the secrets of the human heart. Betrayed, and pursued by a scandal she does not deserve, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, hoping to lose herself in a life of service. There, in the heart of the First World War, in a groundbreaking field hospital run by women, Annabelle finds her true calling, working as an ambulance medic on the front lines, studying medicine, saving lives. And when the war ends, Annabelle begins a new life in Paris—now a doctor, a mother, her past almost forgotten…until a fateful meeting opens her heart to the world she had left behind. Finding strength in the most unlikely of friendships, pulling together the broken fragments of her life, Annabelle will return to New York one more time—this time as a changed woman, a woman of substance, infused with life’s experience, building a future filled with hope…out of the rich soil of the past.

Filled with breathtaking images and historical detail, Danielle Steel’s new novel introduces one of her most unique and fascinating characters: Annabelle Worthington, a remarkable woman, a good woman, a true survivor who triumphs against overwhelming odds. For Annabelle’s story is more than compelling fiction, it is a powerful celebration of life, dignity, and courage—and a testament to the human will to survive.]]> 336 Danielle Steel 0385340265 Chriss 0 3.88 2008
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> 63580
For the soldiers she knew and met there, Viet Nam would change their lives in ways they could never have imagined. For the men in her life, Viet Nam would change their lives in ways hey could not escape or deny. Peter Wilson, fresh from law school, was a new recruit who would confont his fate in Da Nang. Ralph Johnson, a seasoned AP correspondent, had been in Saigon since the beginning. He knew Vietnam and the war inside out. Bill Quinn, captain of the Cu Chi tunnel rats, was on his fourth tour of duty and it seemed nothing could touch him. Sergeant Tony Campobello had come to Vietnam from the streets of New York to vent a rage that had followed him all the way to Saigon.

For seven years����Paxton Andrews would write an acclaimed newspaper column from the front before finally returning to the States and then attending the Paris peace talks. But for her and the men who fought in Viet Nam, life would never be the same again.]]> 417 Danielle Steel 0440209412 Chriss 0 4.09 1990
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> 59843 not be experienced ever again. --Alison Trinkle]]> 352 Danielle Steel 0751505560 Chriss 0 4.02 1980
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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]]> 59889
Matt Bowles senses something magical about Pip, who reminds him of his own daughter at that age, before a bitter divorce tore his family apart and swept his children halfway across the world. At first, Ophelie is thrown off-balance by her daughter's new companion--until she realizes how much joy he is bringing into their lives. As Matt confronts unfinished business from his past, and Ophelie is struck by a stunning betrayal, out of the darkness that has shadowed them both comes an unexpected gift of hope.]]> 338 Danielle Steel 0739437585 Chriss 0 4.07 2003
author: Danielle Steel
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> 251971 JUDE DEVERAUX entwines the fronteir adventures of two unforgettable sisters -- demure beauty Houston Chandler and her independent, hot-tempered twin Blair -- discover heartfelt passions as powerfully as compelling as ice and fire....
Twin of Fire
While dreaming of practicing medicine, Blair falls in love with her placid sister's fianceé, himself a doctor. Blair's impetuous spirit has won her a medical degree in a man's world -- and captured Lee Westfield's heart. But even as the couple's ardor grows, there are nights when Lee disappears only to return exhausted, haunted. His silence imperils their love, but the truth would imperil her life.]]> 384 Jude Deveraux 0671739794 Chriss 0 3.90 1985
author: Jude Deveraux
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> 322617
Jude Deveraux entwines the frontier adventures of two unforgettable sisters—demure beauty Houston Chandler and her independent, hot-tempered twin Blair—who discover heartfelt passions as powerfully compelling as ice and fire��

Happily betrothed to Dr. Lee Westfield, Houston is every bit the good girl she was raised to be. So when faced with Kane Taggert’s brash marriage proposal, Houston is outwardly shocked. But beneath her gracious demeanor lies a woman of hidden longings—and her defenses begin to melt the second this rugged stranger touches his hungry lips to hers.]]> 303 Jude Deveraux 0671739719 Chriss 0 3.97 1985
author: Jude Deveraux
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> 44539831 Three modern sisters bound by the timeless beauty of Ireland... When the harsh storms of winter descended upon western Ireland, the locals stayed indoors - and visitors stayed away. Brianna Concannon's bed-and-breakfast became a cold and empty place. But that was fine with Brianna. She enjoyed the peace and quiet, even when the icy winds howled at her window. But this year, cool, capable and thoroughly domestic Brianna is expecting an unusual guest - mystery writer Grayson Thane, from America. A restless wanderer with a painful past, he plans to spend the cold winter alone. But sometimes fate has a plan of its own. Sometimes a fire can be born in ice...]]> 384 Nora Roberts 0515116750 Chriss 0 4.20 1995
author: Nora Roberts
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> 85459
Meg Galloway, born and raised in Lunacy, is used to being alone. She was a young girl when her father disappeared, and she has learned to be independent, flying her small plane, living on the outskirts of town with just her huskies for company. After her New Year's kiss with the chief of police, she allows herself to give in to passion - while remaining determined to keep things as simple as possible. But there's something about Nate's sad eyes that gets under her skin and warms her frozen heart.

And now, things in Lunacy are heating up. Years ago, on one of the majestic mountains shadowing the town, a crime occurred that is unsolved to this day - and Nate suspects that a killer still walks the snowy streets. His investigation will unearth the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath the placid surface, as well as bring out the big-city survival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And his discovery will threaten the new life - and the new love - that he has finally found for himself.]]> 637 Nora Roberts 0515139742 Chriss 0 4.01 2004
author: Nora Roberts
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 43604960 Three modern sisters bound by the timeless beauty of Ireland...

The eldest Concannon sister, Maggie, is a reclusive, stubborn and free-spirited glassmaker—with a heart worth winning.

Margaret Mary is a glass artist with an independent streak as fierce as her volatile temper. Hand-blowing glass is a difficult and exacting art, and while she may produce the delicate and the fragile, Maggie is a strong and opinionated woman, a Clare woman, with all the turbulence of that fascinating west country.

One man, Dublin gallery owner Rogan Sweeney, has seen the soul in Maggie’s art, and vows to help her build a career. When he comes to Maggie’s studio, her heart is inflamed by their fierce attraction—and her scarred past is slowly healed by love...]]> 416 Nora Roberts 0515114693 Chriss 0 4.23 1994
author: Nora Roberts
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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]]> 199149498
When the Chambers sisters receive an invitation from their jet-setting aunt to spend the entire month of December at the family’s cabin in Asheville, North Carolina, they have one question -- why? The retreat, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, may be the site of many happy childhood holidays and summers spent enjoying the beauty of the area and each other…but it also holds sad memories. The sisters, and their aunt, have spent twenty-five years avoiding the cabin and renting it to strangers. Why would Aunt Elizabeth want her “dearest darling�� nieces to put their busy lives in three different states on hold and spend a month in the mountains?

Eve, Angie, and Noelle, triplets born on Christmas Day, owe their very lives to their aunt, and they agree they must go. Once there, not only do they learn to let go of the past and embrace a bright future, they all start to see their lives in a new way.

Big city girl Noelle comes face-to-face with her first love and feelings for this single dad are strong, tempting her with a small town lifestyle that she never imagined she’d embrace. A stressed-mother of three, Eve revels in the change of scenery and begins to learn the art of letting go of complete control. And when Angie’s rocky marriage truly cracks, she finds a new kind of joy with a connection to the past and a reconnection with her daughter.

Can one Christmas in Asheville change everything? Join these strong, funny, and loving women as the holiday spirit lifts them as high as the Blue Ridge Mountains and promises a whole new life ahead.

The Carolina Christmas Trilogy
The Asheville Christmas Cabin -- book 1
The Asheville Christmas Gift -- book 2
The Asheville Christmas Wedding -- book 3]]> 270 Hope Holloway Chriss 3 4.64
author: Hope Holloway
name: Chriss
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2024/09/03
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]]> 6435078 238 Dan Jones 0007213913 Chriss 3 3.96 2009
author: Dan Jones
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/03
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]]> 13227454
Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.

Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him - allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years.

And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.]]> 320 Rachel Joyce 0812993292 Chriss 4
Edit: turns out there is a sequel of sorts, it’s Queenie’s telling and I’ll move right on to that. ]]> 3.91 2012
author: Rachel Joyce
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2024/09/03
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My first book borrowed on LIBBY. This is a charming, somewhat quirky story chock full of meaning�� or am I the only one who reads between the lines? I think a sequel with all the characters Harold meets on his walk would be entirely appropriate.

Edit: turns out there is a sequel of sorts, it’s Queenie’s telling and I’ll move right on to that.
]]> 400693 Faith of My Fathers. That book ended in 1972, with McCain’s release from imprisonment in Vietnam. This is the rest of his story, about his great American journey from the U.S. Navy to his electrifying run for the presidency, interwoven with heartfelt portraits of the mavericks who have inspired him through the years—Ted Williams, Theodore Roosevelt, visionary aviation proponent Billy Mitchell, Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata!For Whom the Bell Tolls, who showed McCain the ideals of heroism and sacrifice, stoicism and redemption, and why certain causes, despite the costs, are . . .

Worth the Fighting For

After five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, naval aviator John McCain returned home a changed man. Regaining his health and flight-eligibility status, he resumed his military career, commanding carrier pilots and serving as the navy’s liaison to what is sometimes ironically called the world’s most exclusive club, the United States Senate. Accompanying Senators John Tower and Henry “Scoop�� Jackson on international trips, McCain began his political education in the company of two masters, leaders whose standards he would strive to maintain upon his election to the U.S. Congress. There, he learned valuable lessons in cooperation from a good-humored congressman from the other party, Morris Udall. In 1986, McCain was elected to the U.S. Senate, inheriting the seat of another role model, Barry Goldwater.

During his time in public office, McCain has seen acts of principle and acts of craven self-interest. He describes both ex-tremes in these pages, with his characteristic straight talk and humor. He writes honestly of the lowest point in his career, the Keating Five savings and loan debacle, as well as his triumphant moments—his return to Vietnam and his efforts to normalize relations between the U.S. and Vietnamese governments; his fight for campaign finance reform; and his galvanizing bid for the presidency in 2000.

Writes McCain: A rebel without a cause is just a punk. Whatever you’re called—rebel, unorthodox, nonconformist, radical—it’s all self-indulgence without a good cause to give your life meaning. This is the story of McCain’s causes, the people who made him do it, and the meaning he found. Worth the Fighting For reminds us of what’s best in America, and in ourselves.]]> 396 John McCain 0375505423 Chriss 0 to-read 3.46 2002
author: John McCain
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2002
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]]> 99965
John McCain is one of the most admired leaders in the United States government, but his deeply felt memoir of family and war is not a political one and ends before his election to Congress. With candor and ennobling power, McCain tells a story that, in the words of Newsweek, "makes the other presidential candidates look like pygmies."

John McCain learned about life and honor from his grandfather and father, both four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy. This is a memoir about their lives, their heroism, and the ways that sons are shaped and enriched by their fathers.

John McCain's grandfather was a gaunt, hawk-faced man known as Slew by his fellow officers and, affectionately, as Popeye by the sailors who served under him. McCain Sr. played the horses, drank bourbon and water, and rolled his own cigarettes with one hand. More significant, he was one of the navy's greatest commanders, and led the strongest aircraft carrier force of the Third Fleet in key battles during World War II.

John McCain's father followed a similar path, equally distinguished by heroic service in the navy, as a submarine commander during World War II. McCain Jr. was a slightly built man, but like his father, he earned the respect and affection of his men. He, too, rose to the rank of four-star admiral, making the McCains the first family in American history to achieve that distinction. McCain Jr.'s final assignment was as commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War.

It was in the Vietnam War that John McCain III faced the most difficult challenge of his life. A naval aviator, he was shot down over Hanoi in 1967 and seriously injured. When Vietnamese military officers realized he was the son of a top commander, they offered McCain early release in an effort to embarrass the United States. Acting from a sense of honor taught him by his father and the U.S. Naval Academy, McCain refused the offer. He was tortured, held in solitary confinement, and imprisoned for five and a half years.

Faith of My Fathers is about what McCain learned from his grandfather and father, and how their example enabled him to survive those hard years. It is a story of three imperfect men who faced adversity and emerged with their honor intact. Ultimately, Faith of My Fathers shows us, with great feeling and appreciation, what fathers give to their sons, and what endures.]]> 349 John McCain 0060957867 Chriss 0 to-read 3.86 1999
author: John McCain
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/03
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]]> 4894
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" �� beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life �� whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind.

And the "Maze" is where you look for what you want �� the organisation you work in or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the Maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.]]> 98 Spencer Johnson 0091883768 Chriss 0 3.88 1999
author: Spencer Johnson
name: Chriss
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/01
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]]>