Erica's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:06:26 -0700 60 Erica's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Highlander in her Bed (Highlander, #1)]]> 160416 All-business American Mara McDougall thinks there are no such things as ghosts. But a trip to Scotland and one gorgeous phantom are about to prove her dead wrong . . .

A self-employed tour guide, Mara is weary from leading her charges all over London. So she takes a breather at an antique shop—and spots perhaps the handsomest bed ever. Then she bumps into the handsomest man ever. He has a sexy Scottish burr, a fiery gaze, and a chip on his muscular shoulder. And despite a spat, Mara can't fight her yearning for the irresistible Highlander. Then she learns that she's inherited a Scottish castle, and the stipulations she must meet in order to keep her unexpected windfall will help her banish the hottie Scottie from her mind . . . she hopes.

As a ghost, Sir Alexander Douglas has hated the name MacDougall for ages. Once a medieval knight betrothed to a stranger, he fell victim to her beau, a MacDougall, who tricked him into a curse that he would forever haunt the bed intended for his would-be bride. Now Alexander will stop at nothing to keep the magnificent four-poster out of MacDougall—or McDougall—hands. But when Mara buys the bed for her castle, he reckons she's nothing like his enemy. After all, no other MacDougall ever made him burn with passion and long for the one thing he never knew he missed: love.]]> 340 Allie Mackay 0451219813 Erica 3 own
"Hottie Scottie with his yummy accent and dark scowls..."]]> 3.66 2006 Highlander in her Bed (Highlander, #1)
author: Allie Mackay
name: Erica
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: own
review:
"How easily her long-neglected femininity could grow hot and achy if he did not soon stop looking at her in a way that made her feel as if he'd stepped right out of her most heated dreams to tempt her - and knew it!"

"Hottie Scottie with his yummy accent and dark scowls..."
]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Erica 4 own 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Erica
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bookshop on the Corner (Kirrinfief, #1)]]> 28372019
Ěý

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.

Ěý

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 â€� a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.Ěý

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 Erica 0 to-read 3.80 2016 The Bookshop on the Corner (Kirrinfief, #1)
author: Jenny Colgan
name: Erica
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Library of Misremembered Books: When We're Searching for a Book but Have Forgotten the Title]]> 59333521 How do you find a book when you can't recall the title.or the author? This homage to a common reader's dilemma is a gift the booklover in your life won't soon forget.

Readers know all too well the comedy and tragedy of forgetting the name of a must-find book. Inspired by this torturous predicament, artist Marina Luz creates paintings of books based on the descriptions we use when we can't remember their titles—mining Internet book-search forums for the quirky, vague, and often hilarious language we come up with in these moments. This volume collects dozens of these imaginary books into a library all their own: Titles like "Cat, Possibly Named Henry," "It Was All a Dream," or "Something-Something, Beverly Hills" inspire dreaming up their contents, often as entertaining as trying to guess the real book behind them. A celebration of book love unlike any other, this petite book is a clever gift for bibliophiles that will spark knowing smiles.

PERFECT GIFT FOR BOOKLOVERS: The collection will spark recognition for everyone who has encountered this phenomenon (so, virtually every reader) and especially those who have worked in a bookstore, who know intimately well how often this dilemma arises. This impulse-priced delight is an excellent way to make book-loving friends feel seen.

A UNIQUE APPRECIATION OF BOOK LOVE: This is a loving tribute to the wonderful and bizarre ways that books leave impressions on our souls, if not always perfectly in our memories. It's a fun and fresh appreciation of bibliophilia that still delivers long after the first read.

Perfect for:

� Bibliophiles
� Booksellers
� People seeking gifts for the booklovers in their life]]> 95 Marina Luz 1452171629 Erica 3 own 3.42 A Library of Misremembered Books: When We're Searching for a Book but Have Forgotten the Title
author: Marina Luz
name: Erica
average rating: 3.42
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: own
review:
Kind of disappointed that not once were librarians mentioned as the ultimate source for finding misremembered books!!
]]> I Know This Much Is True 227711
One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human.]]> 897 Wally Lamb 0060987561 Erica 5 own 4.21 1998 I Know This Much Is True
author: Wally Lamb
name: Erica
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: own
review:

]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 168646 Ěý
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time
Ěý
Slaughterhouse-Five , an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.� George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.�

More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 215 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0440180295 Erica 4 own 4.08 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Erica
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood]]> 45299992
After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

]]> 431 Gregg Olsen 1542005248 Erica 3 3.99 2019 If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Erica
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Strange Sally Diamond 62322008
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .]]> 384 Liz Nugent 1844885968 Erica 4 own 4.14 2023 Strange Sally Diamond
author: Liz Nugent
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: own
review:

]]> What You Leave Behind 199119061
Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,� a fresh start.

She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work.

Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target.]]> 384 Wanda M. Morris Erica 0 to-read 3.92 2024 What You Leave Behind
author: Wanda M. Morris
name: Erica
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Erica 0 to-read 4.47 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Erica
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All the Sinners Bleed 61884832 A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction� (The Washington Post).]]> 338 S.A. Cosby 1250831911 Erica 0 to-read 4.19 2023 All the Sinners Bleed
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Erica
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nocticadia 163335066
Mortui vivos docent. The dead teach the living.
After watching my mother succumb to a mysterious illness, I promised myself two things. I'd find the cure for what ravaged her. And leave the godforsaken city where she abandoned me.
Four years later, I receive an acceptance letter from Dracadia University, one of the oldest, most prestigious schools in the country. Nestled on a secluded island off the coast of Maine, it's rumored to be haunted by the souls of the mental patients exiled there centuries before. Those whose bones are said to make up the island's white sandy shores.
And restless ghosts aren't even its most daunting peculiarity.
Devryck Bramwell, known on campus as Doctor Death, is a brilliant pathologist in charge of the midnight lab. He's also my devastatingly handsome professor, who seems to loathe tenacious first-years, like me. Except, his dark and enigmatic gaze tells me all the ways he'd devour me if given the chance, and his stolen kisses burn my lips with forbidden jealousy.
I crave his authority. He aches for redemption. Together, we're toxic. Delicious fodder for the prying eyes hellbent on exhuming the rotted skeletons of our pasts.
For the dead have much to teach, and it's only a matter of time before Dracadia's most depraved secret is resurrected.]]> 680 Keri Lake Erica 0 to-read 4.24 2023 Nocticadia
author: Keri Lake
name: Erica
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #2)]]> 60234574
The Diamond

Death walks alongside me,
But the reaper is no match for me.
I'm trapped in a world full of monsters dressed as men, and those who aren't as they seem.
They won't keep me forever.
I no longer recognize the person I've become,
And I'm fighting to find my way back to the beast who hunts me in the night.
They call me a diamond,
But they've only created an angel of death.

The Hunter

I was born a predator,
With ruthlessness ingrained in my bones.
When what's mine is stolen from me in the night,
Like a diamond hidden within a fortress,
I find that I can no longer contain the beast.
Blood will paint the ground as I tear apart this world to find her.
And bring her back to where she belongs.
No one will escape my wrath,
Especially not those who have betrayed me.

Warning: This is the second and final installment to the Duet. You must read Haunting Adeline first.]]> 649 H.D. Carlton 1957635010 Erica 0 to-read 4.29 2022 Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #2)
author: H.D. Carlton
name: Erica
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era]]> 63024187 Ěý
The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s is arguably the least examined crisis in American history. Beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan’s war on drugs, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey’s exacting analysis traces the path from the last triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement to the devastating realities we live with a racist criminal justice system, continued mass incarceration and gentrification, and increased police brutality.
Ěý
When Crack Was King follows four individuals to give us a startling portrait of crack’s destruction and devastating Elgin Swift, an archetype of American industry and ambition and the son of a crack-addicted father who turned their home into a “crack house�; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and sex worker; Kurt Schmoke, the longtime mayor of Baltimore and an early advocate of decriminalization; and Shawn McCray, community activist, basketball prodigy, and a founding member of the Zoo Crew, Newark’s most legendary group of drug traffickers.
Ěý
Weaving together riveting research with the voices of survivors, When Crack Was King is a crucial reevaluation of the era and a powerful argument for providing historically violated communities with the resources they deserve.]]> 448 Donovan X. Ramsey 0525511806 Erica 0 to-read 4.35 2023 When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era
author: Donovan X. Ramsey
name: Erica
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Do Not Part 205436018 Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter of Korean history.

One winter morning, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama.

A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn't yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into the darkness that awaits her at her friend's house.

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully illuminates a forgotten chapter in Korean history, buried for decades—bringing to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable violence—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.]]> 256 Han Kang 0593595459 Erica 4 3.88 2021 We Do Not Part
author: Han Kang
name: Erica
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Slice of Life #2 (Slice of Life, #1.2)]]> 204246871
"When gritty anime protagonist, Lady Vengeance, is brought to the real world by a super fan, she'll learn there's more to life than darkness and revenge...and she'll find love with the super fan's twin sister - a kind-hearted cheerleader."]]> 52 Kat Calamia Erica 0 to-read 4.62 Slice of Life #2 (Slice of Life, #1.2)
author: Kat Calamia
name: Erica
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beast and Snow (The Beast and Snow, #1)]]> 205888195 Kat Calamia Erica 0 to-read 4.39 2024 The Beast and Snow (The Beast and Snow, #1)
author: Kat Calamia
name: Erica
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Slice of Life #1 (Slice of Life, #1.1)]]> 59810253
Slice of Life is a queer romance that deconstructs the "slice of life" genre, unpacking the importance of everyday narratives to tell a larger story about the meaning of life from the point of view of a fictional character.]]> 46 Kat Calamia Erica 0 to-read 4.50 Slice of Life #1 (Slice of Life, #1.1)
author: Kat Calamia
name: Erica
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mr. Lovenstein Presents: Feelings]]> 207718179 LIVE. LAUGH. LOVENSTEIN.Ěý
Get ready to catch feelings in this brand-new collection of MR. LOVENSTEIN comics, including exclusive never-before-seen comics that can’t be found anywhere else. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll wonder if the tingling sensation in your stomach is butterflies...or something...else...!Ěý
Massively popular webcomics author J.L. WESTOVER follows up his Eisner-nominated debut by taking readers on a rollercoaster of emotions in MR. LOVENSTEIN FEELINGS.Ěý]]> 232 J.L. Westover 1534349529 Erica 5 4.17 Mr. Lovenstein Presents: Feelings
author: J.L. Westover
name: Erica
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mr. Lovenstein Presents Failure]]> 57309488
Comics for anyone who tried their best. Or didn't. Whatever.

In his (incredibly sweaty) new book, webcomics superstar J. L. Westover offers up painfully hilarious observations and cringeworthy situations, uniting us all through one of life’s most relatable experiences―failure.

All your favorite MR. LOVENSTEIN comics are right here, including brand new book exclusive comics that can’t be found online!

For fans of STRANGE PLANET, ADULTHOOD IS A MYTH: A “SARAH SCRIBBLES� COLLECTION, and DINOSAUR THERAPY!]]> 248 J.L. Westover Erica 0 to-read 4.05 2021 Mr. Lovenstein Presents Failure
author: J.L. Westover
name: Erica
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Husband's Wife 31227076
But Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only nine, but she has already learned that secrets are powerful things. That they can get her whatever she wants.

When Lily finds Carla on her doorstep twelve years later, a chain of events is set in motion that can end only one way.]]> 373 Jane Corry 0735220956 Erica 4 own 3.46 2016 My Husband's Wife
author: Jane Corry
name: Erica
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: own
review:

]]> The Last Witch in Edinburgh 202470530 This lush, atmospheric novel blends witchcraft, queer love, a vibrant Edinburgh setting, and Scottish folklore for a propulsive and emotional story exploring what it means to resist the patriarchy and find your voice.

In an alternate Edinburgh of 1824, every woman lives in fear that she will be the next one hanged for witchcraft. All it takes is invoking the anger, or the desire, of the wrong person. Nellie Duncan, beautiful and unwed, keeps to herself until she encounters the Rae Women’s Apothecary. There, fiery Jean Rae and the other women provide cures and teach others that they too can aid the winter deity, the Cailleach, embracing her characteristic independence, agency, and craft, in turn becoming witches themselves.

Nellie finds a place and a purpose at the shop, and a blossoming romance with Jean, as she learns about nature-based craft and a witch’s ability to return to life after death. But the Cailleach has an ancient enemy intent on stripping the power of the deity and all her witches, leaving a wake of patriarchal violence and destruction.

When heart-breaking disaster strikes, Nellie flees and spends the next two centuries hiding from the world—until love gives her the courage and the motivation to come back. Nellie’s past is waiting for her there, and hanging witches is no longer the only means of oppression. But this time, Nellie refuses to run—either from her foes, or from her resolve to awaken others to the unimaginable power that can come with fighting the patriarchy in its many forms—and finding one’s own magical inner-strength.]]> 370 Marielle Thompson 1496742648 Erica 0 to-read 3.51 2024 The Last Witch in Edinburgh
author: Marielle Thompson
name: Erica
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Great Big Visual Hug: Heartwarming Wawawiwa Comics]]> 207294835 Like a warm embrace in comic strip form, the cute, cuddly, and clever illustrations by Andrés Colmenares bring joy to millions of readers across the globe. A Great Big Visual Hug collects many of his most popular comics, along with dozens of never-before-seen images that are both heartwarming and hilarious.

Featuring cheerful characters like sloths, broccoli, snakes, cacti, pigs, and the cutest possible version of just about any animal or object you can imagine, Andrés Colmenares' comics are wholesome, amusing, clever, and often hilarious. This book collects the greatest hits from his popular series and feature dozens of new comics. A Great Big Visual Hug is great for all ages and an excellent birthday, gift, or self-care purchase.]]> 208 Andrés J. Colmenares 1524893889 Erica 4 4.42 2024 A Great Big Visual Hug: Heartwarming Wawawiwa Comics
author: Andrés J. Colmenares
name: Erica
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)]]> 61242426
The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success � not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.]]> 296 Travis Baldree Erica 3 4.05 2022 Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Erica
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Cursed Princess Club, vol. 1 60872395
[Episodes 1-29]]]> 288 LambCat 1990259936 Erica 3 3.5* 4.32 2023 Cursed Princess Club, vol. 1
author: LambCat
name: Erica
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:
3.5*
]]> Oona Out of Order 45046893 A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.]]> 339 Margarita Montimore 1250236606 Erica 0 to-read 3.84 2020 Oona Out of Order
author: Margarita Montimore
name: Erica
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Two Lives of Louis & Louise]]> 43522278 Two people.
Two lives.
One chance to see the same world differently.

Louis and Louise are the same person born in two different lives. One was born female, and one male.

They have the same best friends, the same red hair, the same dream of being a writer, the same excellent whistle. They both suffer one catastrophic night, with life-changing consequences.

Thirteen years later, they are both coming home . . .

A tender, insightful and timely novel about the things that bring us together - and those which separate us, from the author of Richard & Judy recommended book Together]]> 320 Julie Cohen 1409179842 Erica 0 to-read 3.70 2019 The Two Lives of Louis & Louise
author: Julie Cohen
name: Erica
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Maybe in Another Life 23492661
From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.]]> 342 Taylor Jenkins Reid Erica 0 to-read 3.77 2015 Maybe in Another Life
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Erica
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Two Lives of Lydia Bird 46225061
But she was wrong. On her twenty-eighth birthday, Freddie died in a car accident.

So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob until her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to try to live fully, happily, even without him. So, enlisting the help of his best friend, Jonah, and her sister, Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world, open to life--and perhaps even love--again.

But then something inexplicable happens that gives her another chance at her old life with Freddie. A life where none of the tragic events of the past few months have happened.

Lydia is pulled again and again across the doorway of her past, living two lives, impossibly, at once. But there's an emotional toll to returning to a world where Freddie, alive, still owns her heart. Because there's someone in her new life, her real life, who wants her to stay.

Written with Josie Silver's trademark warmth and wit, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is a powerful and thrilling love story about the what-ifs that arise at life's crossroads, and what happens when one woman is given a miraculous chance to answer them.]]> 369 Josie Silver 0593135237 Erica 0 to-read 3.71 2020 The Two Lives of Lydia Bird
author: Josie Silver
name: Erica
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tongue is Sharp: An Anthology of Feminine Rage]]> 223810838 324 Rowan Redfield Erica 0 to-read 5.00 The Tongue is Sharp: An Anthology of Feminine Rage
author: Rowan Redfield
name: Erica
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Oh Honey 35716417 They hang up.
“Hello. My name is Joan. I am calling on behalf of—�
They hang up.
“Hello. My name’s Doreen.�

Jane is a telemarketer. She uses a different name each time, and soon it becomes clear that she is calling the same man again and again. Each call is a new battle between them, with him becoming angrier and more threatening. But Jane isn’t calling him at random; Jane has a purpose; Jane has a past which seems to change each time she tells it. The story is revealed through exchanges like ritual incantations.

As the story twists and turns in unexpected ways, it moves from amusing to terrifying—a transition that Austin also handles expertly. A well-crafted and engaging novel, even when the protagonist’s actions are hard to take. –Kirkus Reviews]]> 140 Emily R. Austin Erica 0 to-read 3.90 2017 Oh Honey
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Erica
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Could Be Rats 214152402 A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society.

But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta’s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.

What unfolds is an unforgettable story of two sisters finding their way back to each other, and a celebration of that transcendent, unshakable bond.]]> 256 Emily R. Austin 1668058146 Erica 0 to-read 4.08 2025 We Could Be Rats
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Erica
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Interesting Facts about Space 176443380
As her paranoia spirals out of control, Enid must contend with her mounting suspicion that something is seriously wrong with her. Because at the end of the day there’s only one person she can’t outrun—herself.

Brimming with quirky humor, charm, and heart, Interesting Facts about Space effortlessly shows us the power of revealing our secret shames, the most beautifully human parts of us all.]]> 320 Emily R. Austin 1668014238 Erica 0 to-read 3.83 2024 Interesting Facts about Space
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Erica
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead]]> 59366182 In this “fun, page-turner of a novel� (Sarah Haywood, New York Times bestselling author) that’s perfect for fans of Mostly Dead Things and Goodbye, Vitamin, a morbidly anxious young woman stumbles into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church and soon finds herself obsessed with her predecessor’s mysterious death.

Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she’s there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace.

In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Grace’s old friend. She can’t bear to ignore the kindly old woman who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also can’t bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace’s death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence.

With a “kindhearted heroine we all need right now� (Courtney Maum, New York Times bestselling author), Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling and “delightfully weird reminder that we will one day turn to dust and that yes, this is depressing, but it’s also what makes life beautiful� (Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl).]]> 256 Emily R. Austin 198216736X Erica 4 3.85 2021 Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Erica
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Price of Salt 52258 The Price of Salt tells the riveting story of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by an erotic epiphany - the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to stalk the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job. They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol in a choice between her daughter and her lover.]]> 262 Claire Morgan 0393325997 Erica 0 to-read 4.03 1952 The Price of Salt
author: Claire Morgan
name: Erica
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Salt Path 38085814
They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey.

The Salt Path is an honest and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.]]> 288 Raynor Winn 0241349648 Erica 0 to-read 3.97 2018 The Salt Path
author: Raynor Winn
name: Erica
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy]]> 195790788
Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia Levings learned that being a good Christian meant following a list of additional life principles—a series of secret, special rules to obey. Being a godly and submissive wife in Christian Patriarchy included strict discipline, isolation, and an alternative lifestyle that appeared wholesome to outsiders. Women were to be silent, “keepers of the home.�

Tia knew that to their neighbors her family was strange, but she also couldn't risk exposing their secret lifestyle to police, doctors, teachers, or anyone outside of their church. Christians were called in scripture to be “in the world, not of it.� So, she hid in plain sight as years of abuse and pain followed. When Tia realized she was the only one who could protect her children from becoming the next generation of patriarchal men and submissive women, she began to resist and question how they lived. But in the patriarchy, a woman with opinions is in danger, and eventually, Tia faced an urgent and extreme stay and face dire consequences, or flee with her children.

Told in a beautiful, honest, and sometimes harrowing voice, A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable and timely memoir about a woman's race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.]]> 304 Tia Levings 1250288282 Erica 0 to-read 4.31 2024 A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
author: Tia Levings
name: Erica
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Do You Still Talk to Grandma?: When the Problematic People in Our Lives Are the Ones We Love]]> 204640582 Renowned motivational speaker, teacher, and diversity trainer Brit Barron offers a path to holding onto our deepest convictions without losing relationships with the people we love.Brit Barron knows that the people who hurt us with bigotry and ignorance are often the very people we friends, parents, grandparents, religious leaders. And we want to see them grow, not unpersoned by an online mob. But how do we strive for justice without giving up on these relationships or causing new harm? According to Barron, the only way forward is to create a gracious and difficult space for people to forming relationships where we can practice difficult truth-telling, boundary setting, forgiveness, and sharing stories of own failings. This way forward begins by examining ourselves.In Do You Still Talk to Grandma?, Barron draws readers into this tension between relationship and painful accountability, sharing experiences from her own life, like her parentsâ€� divorce and a church community that sided with the forces that dehumanize BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks. Barron illuminates the challenges and hope for these relationships, showing that the best research points towards humility, self-awareness, and an openness to learning and to remembering that others can learn too.BarronĚýenvisions a redemptive way of being that allows progressives to love people who say or believe problematic things without sacrificing themselves, their values, or their beliefs. Provocative, charming, and vulnerable, Do You Still Talk to Grandma? is an essential read for anyone struggling to live compassionately without giving up on conviction.]]> 160 Brit Barron 0593594347 Erica 1 audio-books 3.80 2024 Do You Still Talk to Grandma?: When the Problematic People in Our Lives Are the Ones We Love
author: Brit Barron
name: Erica
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: audio-books
review:
What??? What???? I have absolutely no idea what this book was supposed to be about but it definitely had nothing to do with the title, subtitle or summary description. I have serious cognitive whiplash (not sure if this is a thing but that's the best way to describe how I feel!) trying to stay with the unpredictable narrative. It was all over the place. I kept thinking I was falling asleep and missing the transitions, but nope, that was just the way it was written.
]]> <![CDATA[The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Erica 0 to-read 4.52 2007 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Erica
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bell in the Fog (Evander Mills, #2)]]> 65213896 The Bell in the Fog, a dazzling historical mystery by Lev AC Rosen, asks―once you have finally found a family, how far would you go to prove yourself to them?

San Francisco, 1952. Detective Evander “Andy� Mills has started a new life for himself as a private detective―but his business hasn’t exactly taken off. It turns out that word spreads fast when you have a bad reputation, and no one in the queer community trusts him enough to ask an ex-cop for help.

When James, an old flame from the war who had mysteriously disappeared, arrives in his offices above the Ruby, Andy wants to kick him out. But the job seems to be a simple case of blackmail, and Andy’s debts are piling up. He agrees to investigate, despite everything it stirs up.

The case will take him back to the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, and then out into the gay bars of the city, where the past rises up to meet him, like the swell of the ocean under a warship. Missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos that could destroy lives are a whirlpool around him, and Andy better make sense of it all before someone pulls him under for good.]]> 261 Lev A.C. Rosen 1250834252 Erica 5 audio-books 4.14 2023 The Bell in the Fog (Evander Mills, #2)
author: Lev A.C. Rosen
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: audio-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom]]> 214151420 From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral 8 Passengers family vlog and the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, and how, in the face of unimaginable pain, she found freedom and healing.

Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.

Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.�

For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.� No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.]]> 320 Shari Franke 1668065398 Erica 0 to-read 4.44 2025 The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom
author: Shari Franke
name: Erica
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Someone You Know: An Unforgettable Collection of Canadian True Crime Stories]]> 62664732 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Someone You Know takes you into dangerous territory—behind closed doors where family, friendship and love can ultimately turn fatal

Someone You Know is an anthology of twelve unforgettable Canadian true-crime stories by Story Hunter podcast producer, host and writer Catherine Fogarty. Each story reveals the haunting truth and statistical reality that a person is more likely to be murdered by someone they know than by a stranger. And while “stranger dangerâ€� is often the stuff of our nightmares and Hollywood horror films, sometimes those who are closest to us are even more dangerous than strangers.Ěý

The collection is divided into four Fatal Friendships (when your best friend turns out to be your worst enemy); Family Ties That Bind (when family dysfunction becomes deadly); In the Name of Love (when obsession and jealousy lead to murder); and ’Till Death Do Us Part (when matrimonial bliss turns into the kiss of death).Ěý

In this uniquely Canadian anthology, Fogarty digs up famous historical cases, often revealing new twists, and explores more recent murder cases that will shock even die-hard true-crime aficionados. Fogarty’s original and empathetic approach to true-crime storytelling, enjoyed by thousands of podcasts listeners, brings a new level of compassion and insight to each of these exceptional cases in which the victim and their loved ones are never forgotten.

Ěý]]> 292 Catherine Fogarty 1443470015 Erica 3 own 3.72 Someone You Know: An Unforgettable Collection of Canadian True Crime Stories
author: Catherine Fogarty
name: Erica
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: own
review:

]]> The Blue Hour 207252770
Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, and cements Hawkins’s place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.]]> 320 Paula Hawkins 0063396521 Erica 3 3.26 2024 The Blue Hour
author: Paula Hawkins
name: Erica
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Just Like You 51152433 This warm, wise, highly entertaining twenty-first century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected

Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she'd been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable. Now, two decades later, she's a nearly-divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn't exactly looking for love--she's more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet. It's not a match anyone one could have predicted. He's of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.

Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person--someone you didn't see coming.]]> 368 Nick Hornby 0593191382 Erica 0 to-read, own 3.31 2020 Just Like You
author: Nick Hornby
name: Erica
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read, own
review:

]]> The Vegetarian 25489025
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.]]> 188 Han Kang 0553448188 Erica 5 3.61 2007 The Vegetarian
author: Han Kang
name: Erica
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Ain't Burned All the Bright 58437699 Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.]]> 384 Jason Reynolds 1534439463 Erica 5 own 4.42 2022 Ain't Burned All the Bright
author: Jason Reynolds
name: Erica
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life]]> 14572
World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to “mindfulness”—the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.

Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh’s experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is—in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part—and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. The deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the “mindless� into the mindFUL.]]> 134 Thich Nhat Hanh 0553351397 Erica 5 audio-books 4.32 1992 Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Erica
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: audio-books
review:

]]> The Library Book 39507318
Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.

Along the way, Orlean introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters from libraries past and present—from Mary Foy, who in 1880 at eighteen years old was named the head of the Los Angeles Public Library at a time when men still dominated the role, to Dr. C.J.K. Jones, a pastor, citrus farmer, and polymath known as “The Human Encyclopedia� who roamed the library dispensing information; from Charles Lummis, a wildly eccentric journalist and adventurer who was determined to make the L.A. library one of the best in the world, to the current staff, who do heroic work every day to ensure that their institution remains a vital part of the city it serves.

Brimming with her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks that reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country. It is also a master journalist’s reminder that, perhaps especially in the digital era, they are more necessary than ever.]]> 317 Susan Orlean 1476740186 Erica 0 to-read 3.88 2018 The Library Book
author: Susan Orlean
name: Erica
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Untamed 52129515 Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member’s ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is.]]> 333 Glennon Doyle 1984801252 Erica 5 3.98 2020 Untamed
author: Glennon Doyle
name: Erica
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

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

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Erica 5 own 4.18 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Erica
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: own
review:

]]> Kill for Me, Kill for You 176451879
One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.

In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?

Intricate, heart-racing, and from an author who “is the real deal� (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Kill for Me, Kill for You will keep you breathless until the final page.]]> 340 Steve Cavanagh 1668049341 Erica 5 own 4.14 2023 Kill for Me, Kill for You
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[By Hook & Crook (Kings of Copper Trilogy #1)]]> 219840269 What if robbing a vault earned you a standing ovation?

In the city of Azoria, heists are a sanctioned sport, a dazzling spectacle where only the boldest thieves thrive. And Lars Harrow is the best.

But Lars wants more than fame. He wants the heist that will cement his legacy and put him beyond the reach of the city's power brokers. When a shadowy patron offers him a job targeting Cecil Thume—the ruthless mastermind who controls every theft in Azoria—Lars sees his shot at something bigger.

Yet the deeper he digs, the more dangerous the game becomes. A brutal murder sends a clear Thume isn’t just profiting from the city’s underworld... he is the underworld. And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep control.

As the line between thief and pawn blurs, Lars must decide how much he’s willing to risk. The city, his crew, and his own future hang in the balance.

If you enjoyed books like Six of Crows, Mistborn, or The Lies of Locke Lamora, you won't be able to put down this electrifying tale of ambition, greed, betrayal, and redemption.]]> 364 S.G. Karam Erica 0 to-read 4.14 2024 By Hook & Crook (Kings of Copper Trilogy #1)
author: S.G. Karam
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]> 7442 416 Tom Wolfe 0553380648 Erica 0 own, to-read 3.93 1968 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
author: Tom Wolfe
name: Erica
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1968
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: own, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!]]> 24001092
Jonathan Evison—bestselling author of West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and All About Lulu—has crafted a bighearted novel with a supremely endearing heroine at its center. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of a postmodern everywoman with great warmth, humanity, and humor. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of the mother/daughter relationship, nothing is what it seems in this tale of acceptance, reexamination, forgiveness, and, ultimately, healing. It is sure to appeal to admirers of Evison’s previous work, as well as fans of such writers as Meg Wolitzer, Junot Diaz, and Karen Joy Fowler.]]> 296 Jonathan Evison 1616202610 Erica 0 to-read, own 3.36 2015 This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
author: Jonathan Evison
name: Erica
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read, own
review:

]]> The Poison Principle 392559 288 Gail Bell 0330491261 Erica 0 own, to-read 3.35 2001 The Poison Principle
author: Gail Bell
name: Erica
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: own, to-read
review:

]]> Thirsty Animals 63103830
Aida is forced back home to live on the farm with her mum. For now, they are safe with enough to get by.

But Aida's life continues to change. The service station she works at grows emptier with each day, and suspicious strangers arrive on the farm who are beginning to overstay their welcome. And with the horrific scenes she witnessed at the border - between those with water and those without - she wonders how it could get any worse.

And then their taps are turned off.

Everything Aida and her disjointed family have been preparing for, and Aida thought impossible, is happening. Now they must try and survive long enough for the rain to come.]]> 368 Rachelle Atalla 1529342163 Erica 0 to-read 3.98 2023 Thirsty Animals
author: Rachelle Atalla
name: Erica
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Gothikana 222179095
An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an old, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.

An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his path crosses with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is.

They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years over the past century, Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.

And so begins a tale of the mysterious, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.]]> 399 RuNyx 1250334209 Erica 0 to-read 3.92 2021 Gothikana
author: RuNyx
name: Erica
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> More or Less Maddy 214151333 A breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal� life for a career in stand-up comedy.

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

With her signature “deep empathy and insight� (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.]]> 368 Lisa Genova 1668026163 Erica 0 to-read 4.23 2025 More or Less Maddy
author: Lisa Genova
name: Erica
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We'll Prescribe You a Cat (We'll Prescribe You a Cat, #1)]]> 209891170 A cat a day keeps the doctor away�.

Discover this utterly charming, vibrant celebration of the healing power of cats in the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel that has become an international sensation.

Tucked away on the fifth floor of an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can be found only by people who are struggling in their lives and who genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they “take� their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, and occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

Throughout these pages, the power of the human-animal bond is revealed as a disheartened businessman finds unexpected joy in physical labor, a middle-aged man struggles to stay relevant at work and home, a young girl navigates the complexities of elementary school cliques, a hardened handbag designer seeks emotional balance, and a geisha learns to move on from the memory of her lost cat. As the clinic’s patients grapple with their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them toward healing, self-discovery, and newfound hope.]]> 297 Syou Ishida 0593818741 Erica 0 to-read 3.78 2023 We'll Prescribe You a Cat (We'll Prescribe You a Cat, #1)
author: Syou Ishida
name: Erica
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Brainwyrms 65212043 From Alison Rumfitt, the author of Tell Me I’m Worthless � “a triumph of transgressive queer horror� (Publishers Weekly) � comes Brainwyrms, a searing body horror novel of obsession, violence and pleasure.

When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, fucking strangers, pushing away her friends. Then she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya.

The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined. Shocking, grotesque, and downright filthy, Brainwyrms confronts the creeping reality of political terrorism while exploring the depths of love, pain and identity.]]> 304 Alison Rumfitt 1250866251 Erica 3 3.66 2023 Brainwyrms
author: Alison Rumfitt
name: Erica
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both]]> 185767233 Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise meets Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity in a Black woman’s coming-of-age story, chronicling a life-changing friendship, the interplay between music fandom and identity, and the slipperiness of sanity

Set in the suburbs of Los Angeles and New York City, I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both is an immersive journey into the life and mind of Khaki Oliver, who’s perennially trying to disappear into something: a codependent friendship, an ill-advised boyfriend, the punk scene, or simply, the ether. These days it’s a meaningless job and a comfortingly empty apartment. Then, after a decade of estrangement, she receives a letter from her former best friend. Fiona’s throwing a party for her newly adopted daughter and wants Khaki to join the celebration.

Khaki is equal parts terrified and tempted to reconnect. Their platonic love was confusing, all-consuming, and encouraged their worst impulses. While stalling her RSVP, Khaki starts crafting the perfect mixtape—revisiting memories of formative shows, failed romances, and the ups and downs of desire and denial—while weighing the risks and rewards of saying yes to Fiona again.

One song at a time, from 1980s hardcore to 2010s emo, the shared and separate contours of each woman’s mind come into focus. Will listening to the same old songs on repeat doom Khaki to a lonely life of arrested development? Or will hindsight help her regain her sense of self and pave a healthy path for the future, with or without Fiona?]]> 336 Mariah Stovall 1593767609 Erica 0 to-read 3.17 2024 I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both
author: Mariah Stovall
name: Erica
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Looking for Jane 61273371 A debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane.

1971: As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen� women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption—a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite harrowing police raids and the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had.

1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, twenty-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates “Jane� and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.]]> 400 Heather Marshall 1668013681 Erica 0 to-read 4.33 2022 Looking for Jane
author: Heather Marshall
name: Erica
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster]]> 34964868 The Trauma Cleaner is a love letter to an extraordinary ordinary life. In Sandra Pankhurst she discovered a woman capable of taking a lifetime of hostility and transphobic abuse and using it to care for some of society's most in-need people.

Sandra Pankhurst founded her trauma cleaning business to help people whose emotional scars are written on their houses. From the forgotten flat of a drug addict to the infested home of a hoarder, Sandra enters properties and lives at the same time. But few of the people she looks after know anything of the complexity of Sandra's own life. Raised in an uncaring home, Sandra's miraculous gift for warmth and humour in the face of unspeakable personal tragedy mark her out as a one-off.]]> 291 Sarah Krasnostein 1250101204 Erica 5 audio-books 3.87 2017 The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster
author: Sarah Krasnostein
name: Erica
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: audio-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow, #2)]]> 52934483
With political unrest and perilous forces aiming to undermine Zetian at every turn, can she enact positive changes as a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance?]]> 540 Xiran Jay Zhao Erica 5 own 3.90 2024 Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow, #2)
author: Xiran Jay Zhao
name: Erica
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blessed Water (Sister Holiday Mystery #2)]]> 192793664 Sister Holiday is back with a newly minted PI apprentice certificate, a twisty mystery to solve, and something to prove in this fast-paced, blistering follow-up to Scorched Grace.

Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she’s committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux’s latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency―both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers.

When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the swollen Mississippi River, and with it, Redemption’s next case. It’s significantly more gruesome than their orig­inal mission, but Sister Holiday feels called on by God to hunt down the murderer and keep her community safe.

As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans for three harrowing days over Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favorite punk nun-sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again.

A lacerating and lyrical plunge into obsession, deception, and the questions that hold us captive, Blessed Water is a lights-out mystery that will leave you breathless.]]> 288 Margot Douaihy 1638930260 Erica 3 audio-books *3.5 3.50 2024 Blessed Water (Sister Holiday Mystery #2)
author: Margot Douaihy
name: Erica
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: audio-books
review:
*3.5
]]> <![CDATA[Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1)]]> 60610668 Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test in this debut crime novel.

When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding community are thrust into chaos. Unsatisfied with the officials' response, sardonic and headstrong Sister Holiday becomes determined to unveil the mysterious attacker herself and return her home and sanctuary to its former peace. Her investigation leads down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets in the sticky, oppressive New Orleans heat, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way.

Sister Holiday is more faithful than most, but she's no saint. To piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must first reckon with the sins of her checkered past-and neither task will be easy.

An exciting start to Margot Douaihy's bold series for Gillian Flynn Books that breathes new life into the hard-boiled genre, Scorched Grace is a fast-paced and punchy whodunnit that will keep readers guessing until the very end.]]> 320 Margot Douaihy 1638930244 Erica 3 *3.5 3.16 2023 Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1)
author: Margot Douaihy
name: Erica
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
*3.5
]]> Nettle & Bone 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 Erica 0 to-read 4.08 2022 Nettle & Bone
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Erica
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lavender House (Evander Mills, #1)]]> 59808133
Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept―his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.

Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.]]> 274 Lev A.C. Rosen 1250834228 Erica 4 3.84 2022 Lavender House (Evander Mills, #1)
author: Lev A.C. Rosen
name: Erica
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Erica 3 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/24
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wildest Things 211003939 In this sapphic Snow White retelling, if Snow is to save her kingdom from being ravaged by the Blight, she’ll have to kill the Evil Queen’s daughter…if she doesn’t fall in love with her first.

When her glass coffin unexpectedly shatters, Snow White awakens to anything but a dream. The land is rotting. The animals have mutated. In the twenty years that have passed since Snow bit into the poisoned apple, the kingdom of Roanfrost has transformed from a luscious wild land to a blight-ravaged nightmare. In search of answers and a way to restore her kingdom to its former glory, Snow sets out on a dangerous journey that will test the strength she never knew she had.

Friends will become foes.

New alliances will form.

The Queen with the blood red lips will stop at nothing to seize her power as well as her heart.

If Snow has any chance to survive and restore not only her kingdom, but all of Garedenne, her only option is to become the Seasonkeeper and access the life-giving magic that will heal the plague. But the path to becoming the Seasonkeeper is more treacherous than she could ever imagine—because the wild things have awakened and Snow’s darker impulses yearn to set them free.]]> 320 Andrea Hannah 1250884497 Erica 0 to-read 3.42 2025 The Wildest Things
author: Andrea Hannah
name: Erica
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hammajang Luck 204325152 HAMMAJANG | adjective. Definition: In a disorderly or chaotic state; messed up. Chiefly in predicative use, esp. in all hammajang. Etymology: A borrowing from Hawaiian Pidgin. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.

Edie is done with crime. Eight years behind bars changes a person - costs them too much time with too many of the people who need them most.

And it's all Angel's fault. She sold Edie out in what should have been the greatest moment of their lives. Instead, Edie was shipped off to the icy prison planet spinning far below the soaring skybridges and neon catacombs of Kepler space station - of home - to spend the best part of a decade alone.

But then a chance for early parole appears out of nowhere and Edie steps into the pallid sunlight to find none other than Angel waiting - and she has an offer.

One last job. One last deal. One last target. The trillionaire tech god they failed to bring down last time. There's just one thing Edie needs to do - trust Angel again - which also happens to be the last thing Edie wants to do. What could possibly go all hammajang about this plan?

Ocean's 8 meets Blade Runner in this trail-blazing debut science fiction novel and swashbuckling love letter to Hawai'i about being forced to find a new home and striving to build a better one - unmissable for fans of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.]]> 372 Makana Yamamoto 139961679X Erica 0 to-read 3.57 2024 Hammajang Luck
author: Makana Yamamoto
name: Erica
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Bookstore on Earth 214490415 This searing YA debut follows two teen girls as they fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore, just weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us!

The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.]]> 320 Lily Braun-Arnold 0593899482 Erica 0 to-read 3.44 2025 The Last Bookstore on Earth
author: Lily Braun-Arnold
name: Erica
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Pharmacist 58475430
But when the leader starts to ask things of Wolfe, favours she can hardly say no to, it seems her luck is running out. Forming an unlikely alliance with the young Doctor Stirling, her troubled assistant Levitt, and Canavan - a tattooed giant of a man who's purpose in the bunker is a mystery - Wolfe must navigate the powder keg of life underground where one misstep will light the fuse. The walls that keep her safe also have her trapped.

How much more is Wolfe willing to give to stay alive?]]> 368 Rachelle Atalla 1529342104 Erica 4 3.59 2022 The Pharmacist
author: Rachelle Atalla
name: Erica
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Eleanor Rigby 10008 Eleanor Rigby is the story of Liz, a self-described drab, overweight, crabby, and friendless middle-aged woman, and her unlikely reunion with the charming and strange son she gave up for adoption. His arrival changes everything, and sets in motion a rapid-fire plot with all the twists and turns we expect of Coupland. By turns funny and heartbreaking, Eleanor Rigby is a fast-paced read and a haunting exploration of the ways in which loneliness affects us all.

]]> 272 Douglas Coupland 1582346437 Erica 0 to-read 3.67 2004 Eleanor Rigby
author: Douglas Coupland
name: Erica
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The List of My Desires 17304053
Then the twins persuade Jocelyn to enter the euromillion lottery and she wins 18 million euros. She could do anything with the money, change her life completely, but what does she really want? She doesn't tell anyone about the win. . . not just yet. . . Without cashing the cheque she begins to write down her 'list of desires' - a new coat, a bathmat, a visit to her daughter in England. She goes in to the Chanel shop in Paris, thinking she could buy anything she wants but will a new bag really make her any happier than the sandwich her husband prepared for her that morning? Meanwhile, her dressmaking blog is taking off, bringing her new friendships as well as business. And what if the money brings changes she can't foresee?]]> 224 Grégoire Delacourt 0297868357 Erica 5 3.59 2012 The List of My Desires
author: Grégoire Delacourt
name: Erica
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gray Matter: A Neurosurgeon Discovers the Power of Prayer . . . One Patient at a Time]]> 10423494 Gray Matter is a fascinating account of Dr. David Levy's decision to begin asking his patients if he could pray for them before surgery. Some are thrilled. Some are skeptical. Some are hostile, and some are quite literally transformed by the request. Each chapter focuses on a specific case, opening with a detailed description of the patient's diagnosis and the procedure that will need to be performed, followed by the prayer "request." From there, readers get to look over Dr. Levy's shoulder as he performs the operation, and then we wait--right alongside Dr. Levy, the patients, and their families--to see the final results. Dr. Levy's musings on what successful and unsuccessful surgical results imply about God, faith, and the power of prayer are honest and insightful. As we watch him come to his ultimate conclusion that no matter what the results of the procedure are, "God is good," we cannot help but be truly moved and inspired.]]> 304 David I. Levy 1414339755 Erica 0 to-read 4.19 2011 Gray Matter: A Neurosurgeon Discovers the Power of Prayer . . . One Patient at a Time
author: David I. Levy
name: Erica
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When Breath Becomes Air 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naĂŻve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Erica 0 to-read 4.41 2016 When Breath Becomes Air
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Erica
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 357 Rebecca Ross 1250857430 Erica 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Erica
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Book Nerd 49150986 Book nerds rule! And what better gift than a book that celebratesĚýbookishness?

You know you’re a Book Nerd when�

—You have a minimum of 5 books on your night table.

—You never once thought the movie was better.

—Your favorite mug says “I’d rather be reading.�

—You use words like librocubicularist in casual conversation (though no conversation about books is ever "casual�).

—You wear a T-shirt that says—what else?�"Too many books, too little time."

Charming, affectionate, and unabashed in its celebration of book nerdiness, this little love letter is for every avid reader. Every page is packed with bright, playful, intricately detailed illustrations by Holly Maguire, and wonderful mottoes, definitions, relatable moments, and more.]]> 112 Holly Maguire 1523510269 Erica 0 to-read 4.52 2020 Book Nerd
author: Holly Maguire
name: Erica
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pumpkin Spice Peril (Cupcake Bakery Mystery, #12)]]> 52575302
Life is all sugar and spice for the Fairy Tale Cupcake bakers--Melanie Cooper is engaged to the delectable Joe DeLaura, Angie Harper and her husband Tate are savoring married life, and the bakery is bustling with happy customers. Until one of their most valued cupcake connoisseurs ends up dead.

Local glass artist and cupcake lover Rene Fischer-Klein has always suffered from a wide variety of health issues. In an effort to cheer her up, her doting husband, Peter, brings her a four-pack of her favorite cupcakes every week. But when the police discover that Rene has been poisoned, there's no sugarcoating the fact that the last things she ate were the bakery's signature pumpkin spice cupcakes! With their lives and bakery at stake, it's up to Mel and Angie to find out who poisoned their artist friend and why, before their future is frosted for good.]]> 259 Jenn McKinlay 045149265X Erica 3 3.92 2020 Pumpkin Spice Peril (Cupcake Bakery Mystery, #12)
author: Jenn McKinlay
name: Erica
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Coming Ashore: A Memoir 20694902 408 Catherine Gildiner 1770412255 Erica 0 to-read 4.21 2014 Coming Ashore: A Memoir
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: Erica
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> After the Falls 6347515
When Cathy McClure is thirteen years old, her parents make the bold decision to move to suburban Buffalo in hopes that it will help Cathy focus on her studies and stay out of trouble. But “normal� has never been Cathy’s forte, and leaving Niagara Falls and Catholic school behind does nothing to quell her spirited nature. As the 1960s dramatically unfold, Cathy takes on many personas � cheerleader, vandal, HoJo hostess, civil rights demonstrator � with the same gusto she exhibited as a child working split shifts in her father’s pharmacy. But when tragedy strikes, it is her role as daughter that proves to be most challenging.]]> 352 Catherine Gildiner 0307398226 Erica 0 to-read 4.05 2009 After the Falls
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: Erica
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Too Close to the Falls: A Memoir]]> 977268
At the tender age of four, Cathy accompanies Roy, the deliveryman at her father's pharmacy, on his routes. She shares some of their memorable deliveries-sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe (in town filming Niagara), sedatives to Mad Bear, a violent Tuscarora chief, and fungus cream to Warty, the gentle operator of the town dump. As she reaches her teenage years, Cathy's irrepressible spirit spurs her from dangerous sled rides that take her "too close to the Falls" to tipsy dances with the town priest.]]> 400 Catherine Gildiner 014200040X Erica 0 to-read 3.90 1999 Too Close to the Falls: A Memoir
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: Erica
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery]]> 49127514
Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years. They seek Gildiner's help to overcome an immediate challenge in their lives, but discover that the source of their suffering has been long buried.

As in such recent classics as The Glass Castle and Educated, each patient embodies self-reflection, stoicism, perseverance, and forgiveness as they work unflinchingly to face the truth. Gildiner's account of her journeys with them is moving, insightful, and sometimes very funny. Good Morning Monster offers an almost novelistic, behind-the-scenes look into the therapist's office, illustrating how the process can heal even the most unimaginable wounds.]]> 368 Catherine Gildiner 1250271487 Erica 4 4.44 2020 Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: Erica
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X Erica 0 to-read 4.05 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Erica
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Funeral Songs for Dying Girls 61423997 After inadvertently starting rumors of a haunted cemetery, a teen befriends a ghost in this brand-new young adult novel exploring Indigenous identity from the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves series.

Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium all her life, close to her mother's grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Winifred has settled into a lazy summer schedule, lugging her obese Chihuahua around the grounds in a squeaky red wagon to visit the neglected gravesides and nursing a serious crush on her best friend, Jack.

Her habit of wandering the graveyard at all hours has started a rumor that Winterson Cemetery might be haunted. It's welcome news since the crematorium is on the verge of closure and her father's job being outsourced. Now that the ghost tours have started, Winifred just might be able to save her father's job and the only home she's ever known, not to mention being able to stay close to where her mother is buried. All she has to do is get help from her con-artist cousin to keep up the ruse and somehow manage to stop her father from believing his wife has returned from the grave. But when Phil, an actual ghost of a teen girl who lived and died in the ravine next to the cemetery, starts showing up, Winifred begins to question everything she believes about life, love and death. Especially love.]]> 272 Cherie Dimaline 0735265631 Erica 3 3.52 2023 Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
author: Cherie Dimaline
name: Erica
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Piglet 127282554 A New York Times Book Review Editors� Choice
A Belletrist Book Club Pick

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.]]> 320 Lottie Hazell 125028984X Erica 0 to-read 3.40 2024 Piglet
author: Lottie Hazell
name: Erica
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Erica 0 to-read 4.00 2019 Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Erica
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Erica 0 to-read 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Erica
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary]]> 193544124
The Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others.Ěý

Of deep transgenerational and broad appeal, a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak. It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time. Ěý

The Dictionary People is a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.]]> 368 Sarah Ogilvie 0593536401 Erica 4 3.81 2023 The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
author: Sarah Ogilvie
name: Erica
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal]]> 28881 Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more—except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala—and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.]]> 444 Christopher Moore 0380813815 Erica 4 4.23 2002 Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
author: Christopher Moore
name: Erica
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/31
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash, #2)]]> 54319549 A Betrayal�

Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that’s one order she’s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.

A Choice...

Casteel Da’Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he’s the only way for her to get what she wants—to find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she’s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself—about him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she’s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.

A Secret�

But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.]]> 637 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457106 Erica 4 own 4.32 2020 A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash, #2)
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Erica
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> Fool 3684856 --Dallas Morning News

Fool--the bawdy and outrageous New York Times bestseller from the unstoppable Christopher Moore--is a hilarious new take on William Shakespeare's King Lear...as seen through the eyes of the foolish liege's clownish jester, Pocket. A rousing tale of "gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity," Fool joins Moore's own Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, and You Suck! as modern masterworks of satiric wit and sublimely twisted genius, prompting Carl Hiassen to declare Christopher Moore "a very sick man, in the very best sense of the word."
]]> 311 Christopher Moore 0060590319 Erica 4 own 3.97 2009 Fool
author: Christopher Moore
name: Erica
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> Lying in Wait 36373425 My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.

On the surface, Lydia Fitzsimons has the perfect life—wife of a respected, successful judge, mother to a beloved son, mistress of a beautiful house in Dublin. That beautiful house, however, holds a secret. And when Lydia’s son, Laurence, discovers its secret, wheels are set in motion that lead to an increasingly claustrophobic and devastatingly dark climax.

From the international bestselling author of Unraveling Oliver, an “unputdownable psychological thriller with an ending that lingers long after turning the final page� (The Irish Times) about a Dublin family whose dark secrets and twisted relationships are suddenly revealed.]]> 320 Liz Nugent 1501167774 Erica 4 own 3.76 2016 Lying in Wait
author: Liz Nugent
name: Erica
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:
Wow! I love this author - she knows how to write some truly horribly characters!!
]]> A Dirty Job (Grim Reaper, #1) 33456
It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's got to do it.]]> 387 Christopher Moore 0060590270 Erica 4 own 4.04 2006 A Dirty Job (Grim Reaper, #1)
author: Christopher Moore
name: Erica
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The ​Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, #3)]]> 55240343 She's been the victim and the survivor�

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior�

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms� dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.

A lover and heartmate�

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.

And now she will become Queen.]]> 645 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457254 Erica 4 own 4.11 2021 The ​Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, #3)
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Erica
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> Redshirts 13055592 Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:
(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces
(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations
(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues� understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.]]> 320 John Scalzi 0765316994 Erica 5 own 3.85 2012 Redshirts
author: John Scalzi
name: Erica
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards]]> 199798901
In the midst of mourning her husband’s sudden death, writer Jessica Waite discovered shocking secrets that undermined everything she thought she knew about the man she’d loved and trusted. From uncovered affairs to drug use and a pornography addiction, Waite was overwhelmed reconciling this devastating information with her new reality as a widowed single mom. Then, to further complicate matters, strange, inexplicable coincidences forced her to consider whether her husband was reaching back from beyond the grave.

With her signature candor and unflinching honesty, Waite details her tumultuous love story and the pain of adjusting to the new normal she built for herself and her son. A riveting, difficult, and surprisingly beautiful story, The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is also a lyrical exploration of grief, mental health, single parenthood, and betrayal that demonstrates that the most moving love stories aren’t perfect—they’re flawed and poignantly real.]]> 320 Jessica Waite 1668044854 Erica 5 own 3.52 2024 The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards
author: Jessica Waite
name: Erica
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]> The Last Love Song 199902769 286 Kalie Holford Erica 4 own 3.5* rounded up to 4 3.54 2024 The Last Love Song
author: Kalie Holford
name: Erica
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:
3.5* rounded up to 4
]]> milk and honey 23513349 Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

It is split into four chapters, with each chapter dealing with a different pain. Healing a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them -- because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.]]> 204 Rupi Kaur 1502784270 Erica 5 own 3.97 2014 milk and honey
author: Rupi Kaur
name: Erica
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/03
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: own
review:

]]>