en-US Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:58:34 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 61272271 What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.

What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.

The invaluable insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom was bolstered by research findings from many other studies. Relationships in all their forms—friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups—all contribute to a happier, healthier life. And as The Good Life shows us, it’s never too late to strengthen the relationships you already have, and never too late to build new ones. The Good Life provides examples of how to do this.

Dr. Waldinger’s TED Talk about the Harvard Study, “What Makes a Good Life,�� has been viewed more than 42 million times and is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever.

The Good Life shows us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others.]]> 352 Robert Waldinger 1982166711 Priya 0 to-read 4.13 2023
author: Robert Waldinger
name: Priya
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 51291 142 Darrell Huff 0393310728 Priya 0 to-read 3.83 1954
author: Darrell Huff
name: Priya
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1954
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.��

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 400 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Priya 4 four-stars 4.35 2025
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Priya
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 50364458
Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the polarized politics of our time, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. Sandel highlights the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good.]]> 272 Michael J. Sandel 0241407605 Priya 0 to-read 4.18 2020
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: Priya
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 61219635 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250886088.

A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

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.]]> 304 Travis Baldree Priya 0 to-read 4.17 2022
author: Travis Baldree
name: Priya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 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 Priya 4 four-stars 4.19 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Priya
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.�� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood�� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood�� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood�� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems�� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Priya 0 to-read 4.36 2024
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Priya
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 55723020
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

"Brilliant... riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued."--Beth Macy, author of Dopesick


INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
“Brilliant�� riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick
As heard on Fresh Air]]> 304 Anna Lembke 1524746738 Priya 0 to-read 3.88 2021
author: Anna Lembke
name: Priya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 45032 488 Jane Austen Priya 0 to-read 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Priya
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Priya 0 to-read 3.95 1872
author: Jules Verne
name: Priya
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 110389
Ellie never dreamed she’d marry a stranger, especially one with such a devastating combination of rakish charm and debonair wit. She tries to keep him at arm’s length, at least until she discovers the man beneath the handsome surface. But Charles can be quite persusasive—even tender—when he puts his mind to it, and Ellie finds herself slipping under his seductive spell. And as one kiss leads to another, this unlikely pair discovers that their marriage is not so inconvenient after all�� and just might lead to love.]]> 384 Julia Quinn 0380789345 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.87 1997
author: Julia Quinn
name: Priya
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 527376 160 Ben M. Baglio 0439446163 Priya 5 five-stars 3.92 2002
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 483905 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries

The McGraths have arrived in Sundarbans Delta, at the mouth of the great Ganges River. There, Jody hopes to see the rare and unusual Irrawaddy dolphins. Her wish comes true when at last she spots one, whom she names Sandhi.

But her world is turned upside down when she learns there are poachers around, and Sandhi is missing. Does Sandhi have a secret hiding place, or has she been caught?]]> 151 Ben M. Baglio 0439446171 Priya 5 five-stars 3.94 2003
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 527119 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her diary!In the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia, Jody is delighted to spot a large mixed group of spotted and spinner dolphins - especially one she names Twister. On the islands, she meets two new friends, Lew and Monique, who work for a local dolphin-friendly tuna boat. Jody has the chance to witness them in action as they save dolphins. But when something goes wrong with Monique's breathing equipment at the last minute
]]> 160 Ben M. Baglio 0439446155 Priya 5 five-stars 3.95 2002
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 527123 160 Ben M. Baglio 0439446147 Priya 5 five-stars 3.91 2001
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 509051 Jody McGrath and her family are sailing around the world researching dolphins, and Jody records all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries.In the series' sixth book, Joday has arrived in the South American rain forest, desperate to see some botos--amazing, bubble-gum-pink river dolphins. She has heard that when teh river floods the forest, these magical creatures can e seen seimming between the trees!But botos are rare and difficult to track down. Will Jody's wish come true?
]]> 160 Ben M. Baglio 0439319528 Priya 5 five-stars 3.93 2001
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 527118 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries

Jody has arrived in the Caribbean, and already she's made a new dolphin friend, Frida. But other dolphins there have been captured and taken to live in dirty, unhealthy conditions - just to entertain tourists! Jody is outraged.

Can she help win freedom for these dolphins?]]> 153 Ben M. Baglio 043931951X Priya 5 five-stars 3.90 2001
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 496209
Jody McGrath and her family are sailing around the world researching dolphins, and Jody records all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries.

In the series' fourth book, Jody is at Dolphin Haven in the Bahamas, where dolphins Bella, Misty, and Evie are about to give birth. Everyone is excited, but also worried. In the past, Evie's calves have died, and this may be her last chance to become a mother.

Misty's and Evie's calves survive, but Bella's calf does not.
Although the crew is saddened over the stillborn calf, they still rejoice in the two new dolphins.]]> 176 Ben M. Baglio 0439319501 Priya 5 five-stars 3.92 2000
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 2151921 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries

The McGraths have arrived in the Bahamas. Jody can't wait to see some Atlantic spotted dolphins and maybe find out if the rumours about a lost treasure ship are really true.

But will a major tropical storm put her plans on hold?]]> 163 Ben M. Baglio 0439319498 Priya 5 five-stars 3.90 2000
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 527114 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries

The McGraths are in Key West, Florida, visiting a very special dolphin center - with "dolphin teachers." Jody loves watching the dolphins at work.

But when one dolphin gets tangled in netting, will Jody be able to free it?]]> 160 Ben M. Baglio 043931948X Priya 5 five-stars 3.92 2000
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 1677183 Jody McGrath's dolphin dreams are coming true! Her whole family is sailing around the world researching dolphins - and Jody is recording all their exciting adventures in her Dolphin Diaries

Jody can't believe her dolphin voyage has begun. A whole world of discovery awaits her aboard the Dolphin Dreamer.

But an unexpected passenger threatens to spoil the trip of a lifetime. And when a sudden storm puts Jody's life in danger, who can she turn to for help?]]> 163 Ben M. Baglio 0439544114 Priya 5 3.91 2000
author: Ben M. Baglio
name: Priya
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
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review:

]]> 159302318 How far would an abandoned son go to get revenge?

American Leonora Garrison has come to England in desperate search of investors to keep her family business afloat but instead finds surprising pleasure when she visits an exclusive ladies' club and dares to kiss a stranger, who leaves her yearning for more.

With a libertine for a father, Viscount Wyeth, more commonly known as Rook, vowed to live his life above reproach, with nary a hint of disgrace. Until one night, he takes a mysterious beauty into his arms, a lady who tempts him to cast his sterling reputation aside in favor of more wicked pursuits.

When fate reunites the couple, they are torn between desire and duty. Leonora may want the viscount, but she needs a stakeholder not a lover. When caught in a compromising situation that places everything they hold dear at risk, they must determine how best to win. However, in this scandalous game, nothing except love takes all.]]> 381 Lorraine Heath 0063114720 Priya 3 three-stars, romance 3.98 2024
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Priya
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/21
shelves: three-stars, romance
review:

]]> 128029
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Priya 0 to-read 4.44 2007
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Priya
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6493208
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored�� ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia �� a land of wooden quarters for enslaved people, faith healings, and voodoo �� to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality�� until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family �� past and present �� is inextricably connected to the history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?

Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.]]> 370 Rebecca Skloot 1400052173 Priya 0 to-read 4.12 2010
author: Rebecca Skloot
name: Priya
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26032912 He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity��

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy.]]> 321 Holly Black 0316310409 Priya 4 four-stars 4.33 2019
author: Holly Black
name: Priya
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 53835 The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.��

This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it.]]> 293 Edith Wharton 159308143X Priya 0 to-read 3.96 1920
author: Edith Wharton
name: Priya
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1920
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39035673 New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes introduces us to the unconventional Wentworth family in this charming Regency romance with a Cinderella twist.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gallows...
One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he's declared the long-lost heir to a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the vilest slums, and now he's ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who schemed against him.

There was just one tiny problem...
Jane Winston, the widowed, pregnant daughter of a meddlesome prison preacher, crosses paths with Quinn in jail. Believing his days are numbered, Quinn offers Jane marriage as a way to guarantee her independence and provide for her child. Neither thinks they'll actually have a future together.

They were wrong.
He's a wealthy gutter rat out for vengeance. She's a minister's daughter who must turn a marriage of desperation into a proper ducal union. Are they doomed from the start or destined for a happily-ever-after?]]> 442 Grace Burrowes 1538728958 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.76 2018
author: Grace Burrowes
name: Priya
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 49993653 Two friends. Too many missed chances.

Leopold Halton, the Duke of Dammerton, is the man with everything: perfect hair, beautiful waistcoats, and London’s finest collection of decorative objects. But two years after his highly entertaining divorce (entertaining for everyone but him, that is), Leo still doesn’t have what he wants most: another wife.

Leo is ready to propose to a suitable lady, but with gossip dissecting his every move, the family of his nearly-ideal bride demands that he first stop calling on artist Juno Bell, the first woman he ever kissed and now, a decade later, his friend.

After ten years of hard work to become an artist, Juno has everything she dreamed of: a flourishing studio, a wealthy patroness, and the freedom to live as she pleases. She even receives visits from a duke (and don’t London’s gossips love that!).

Juno has always known she can never hold on to Leo, yet when he declares their friendship must end, she finds it harder than expected to let him go. At least, not without a kiss.

After all, if their friendship must end anyway, then they have nothing more to lose �� right?]]> 336 Mia Vincy Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.54 2022
author: Mia Vincy
name: Priya
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/04/26
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 154462768
Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , she’s hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expect…until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve's loyal��friendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And it’s Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is�� suddenly kinda hot? Then there’s the baby's father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.

Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.]]> 400 Cara Bastone 0593595718 Priya 4 romance, four-stars 3.97 2024
author: Cara Bastone
name: Priya
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves: romance, four-stars
review:

]]> 26032887 The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.]]> 336 Holly Black 0316310336 Priya 4 four-stars 4.27 2019
author: Holly Black
name: Priya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/16
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 62192519
A challenge to the tyranny of work and a call to reclaim our lives from its clutches.

From the moment we ask children what they want to “be�� when they grow up, we exalt the dream job as if it were life’s ultimate objective. Many entangle their identities with their jobs, with predictable damage to happiness, wellbeing, and even professional success.
��
In The Good Enough Job , journalist Simone Stolzoff traces how work has come to dominate Americans�� lives—and why we find it so difficult to let go. Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with Michelin star chefs, Wall Street bankers, overwhelmed teachers and other workers across the American economy, Stolzoff exposes what we lose when we expect work to be more than a job. Rather than treat work as a calling or a dream, he asks what it would take to reframe work as a part of life rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough?
��
Through provocative critique and deep reporting, Stolzoff punctures the myths that keep us chained to our jobs. By exposing the lies we--and our employers--tell about the value of our labor, The Good Enough Job makes the urgent case for reclaiming our lives in a world centered around work.]]> 272 Simone Stolzoff 059353896X Priya 4 four-stars 4.13 2023
author: Simone Stolzoff
name: Priya
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 63135522 The Duke of Huntington has no interest in an eccentric redhead who frowns at him over her spectacles…until he realizes that she is the only possible duchess for him. A new enemies-to-lovers romance by New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James.

Bespeckled and freckled, Lady Stella Corsham at least has a dowry that has attracted a crowd of fortune-hunting suitors—which definitely doesn’t include the sinfully handsome Silvester Parnell, Duke of Huntington, who laughingly calls her “Specs�� as he chases after elegant rivals.

And then��

The worst happens. Marriage.

To the duke. To a man marrying her for all the wrong reasons.

How can Silvester possibly convince Stella that he’s fallen in love with the quirky woman he married? Especially after she laughingly announces that she’s in love—but not with that duke.

Not with her husband.]]> 384 Eloisa James 0063139626 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.72 2023
author: Eloisa James
name: Priya
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 52196567 The cure for a willful wife...

Drusilla Clare is full of opinions about why a woman shouldn't marry. But that doesn't stop the rush of desire she feels each time her best friend's brother, notorious rake Gabriel Marlington, crosses her path. So imagine her dismay when she finds herself in the clutches of a scoundrel, only to be rescued by Gabriel himself. And when Gabriel's heartless—and heart-pounding—proposal comes, it's enough to make Dru's formidable resolve crumble...

...is a smitten husband.

She's sharp-tongued, exasperating—and due to one careless moment—about to become his wife. Still, something about Drusilla has Gabriel intrigued. First there's the delicious flush of her skin every time she delivers a barb—and then the surprisingly sensual feel of her in his arms. Gabriel even finds himself challenged by her unusual philosophies. And when he discovers a clandestine rival for Dru's affection, his temperature flares even hotter. But the real threat to their happiness is one neither of the newlyweds sees coming. If they're to save their future—and their very lives—they'll need to trust in each other and their growing love.]]> 352 Minerva Spencer 1496732839 Priya 2 romance, two-stars 3.27 2020
author: Minerva Spencer
name: Priya
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: romance, two-stars
review:

]]> 58346123 ton for her less than ideal looks, on the other hand, is the last thing she wants. But her reckless father has a different idea for her future when he puts up the ultimate ante—her hand in marriage—and loses. Over her dead body.

The Duke of Chase cannot bear to see a woman misused. After all, he saw that often enough as a child. So when he’s witness to a marquess gambling away his daughter to a lecher of a man, he has no choice but to step in and rescue her. Lady Victoria has a reputation for being as tart as a lemon and as bitter as one, too. So, he may have just found the perfect wife to keep a promise he made to himself long ago—to never have an heir. With her, surely, he'll never be tempted to take her to bed and break that promise.

But when he meets the wild, witty, intelligent, young lady he’s bound to marry, he knows trouble is headed his way... And everything he ever swore to uphold may very well come undone, especially his heart.

]]> 292 Eva Devon 1649371950 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.97 2021
author: Eva Devon
name: Priya
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 63874598 New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the next Hell’s Belles novel about a chaotic bluestocking and the buttoned-up detective enlisted to keep her out of trouble (spoiler: She is the trouble).

With her headful of wild curls and wilder ideas and an unabashed love of experiments and explosives, society has labeled Lady Imogen Loveless peculiar…and doesn’t know she’s one of the Hell’s Belles—a group of vigilantes operating outside the notice of most of London.

Thomas Peck is not most of London. The brilliant detective fought his way off the streets and into a promising career through sheer force of will and a keen ability to see things others miss, like the fact that Imogen isn’t peculiar…she’s pandemonium. If you ask him, she requires a keeper. When her powerful family discovers her late-night activities, they couldn’t agree more…and they know just the man for the task.

Thomas wants nothing to do with guarding Imogen. He is a grown man with a proper job and no time for the lady’s incendiary chaos, no matter how lushly it is packaged. But some assignments are too explosive to pass up, and the gruff detective is soon caught up in Imogen’s world, full of her bold smiles and burning secrets…and a fiery passion that threatens to consume them both.]]> 404 Sarah MacLean 0063056798 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 4.15 2023
author: Sarah MacLean
name: Priya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 59464697
Für die introvertierte und hochbegabte Lady Catriona ist nichts wichtiger als ihre wissenschaftliche Arbeit und der Kampf für Frauenrechte. Heimlich sehnt sie sich auch nach Liebe - aber welcher Mann würde ihr schon gestatten, sie selbst zu bleiben? Doch als sie den jungen Wissenschaftler Elias aus dem Nahen Osten kennenlernt, fällt es ihr schwer, ihre Gefühle dem Verstand unterzuordnen. Zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben hat sie das Gefühl, dass jemand sie wirklich sieht und schätzt, wie sie ist. Sie ahnt nicht, dass Elias aus ganz anderen Gründen in England ist, als er vorgibt. Catriona steht bald schon vor der Wahl zwischen der Liebe und der Arbeit, die ihr alles bedeutet ...]]> 500 Evie Dunmore 3736317794 Priya 0 romance, three-stars 3.74 2023
author: Evie Dunmore
name: Priya
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 52857700
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

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

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 835 Sarah J. Maas 1681193094 Priya 5 five-stars 4.15 2024
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Priya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 56492872 ��
Benedict Toomes has long thought Lizzie a thorn in his side, but after seeing her staunchness in the face of adversity, he finds himself picturing her in a totally different role in his life. A stand-in for the betrothed he no longer wants to marry�� Find out how this unlikeliest of couples navigates life together after a rocky start and find their preconceived notions about the other could not have been further from the truth!]]> 344 Alice Coldbreath Priya 4 romance, four-stars 4.20 2020
author: Alice Coldbreath
name: Priya
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/19
shelves: romance, four-stars
review:

]]> 60557409 ��
Winters in the World is a beautifully observed journey through the cycle of the year in Anglo-Saxon England, exploring the festivals, customs, and traditions linked to the different seasons. Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including poetry, histories, and religious literature, Eleanor Parker investigates how Anglo-Saxons felt about the annual passing of the seasons and the profound relationship they saw between human life and the rhythms of nature. Many of the festivals celebrated in the United Kingdom today have their roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, and this book traces their surprising history while unearthing traditions now long forgotten. It celebrates some of the finest treasures of medieval literature and provides an imaginative connection to the Anglo-Saxon world.]]> 268 Eleanor Parker 1789146720 Priya 0 to-read 4.19 2022
author: Eleanor Parker
name: Priya
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63035432
Unfortunately, the gods aren’t quite done with him yet. Poseidon breaks the bad news that if Percy expects to get into New Rome University, he will have to fulfill three quests in order to earn the necessary three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus.

The first task is to help Ganymede, Zeus’s cupbearer, retrieve his golden goblet before it falls into the wrong hands. You see, one sip from it can turn a mortal into a god, and Zeus would not be pleased with that result. Can Percy and his friends Grover and Annabeth find the precious cup in time? And if they do, will they be able to resist its special power?

Readers new to Percy Jackson universe and fans who have been awaiting this reunion for more than a decade will delight equally in this latest hilarious take on Greek mythology by the "storyteller of the gods."]]> 288 Rick Riordan 1368098177 Priya 5 five-stars 4.27 2023
author: Rick Riordan
name: Priya
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.�� —Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders�� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Priya 4 four-stars 4.34 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Priya
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile�� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 498 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Priya 5 five-stars 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Priya
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 63028657
Londra, 1870
Accanto al nuovo diamante della Stagione, Hattie Woodchurch si sente piuttosto insignificante. A cambiare le cose è l'arrivo a Londra di Mateo Vincente, Duca di Santiava nonché neo Visconte Abbott, al quale occorre una segretaria per gestire la notevole mole di inviti provenienti dalle dame del ton, ansiose di incontrare il timido e affascinante scapolo, e per trovare la sua futura viscontessa. Hattie assume quel ruolo e presto scopre una speciale connessione tra lei e Mateo, ma quando la sua amica Flora si infatua di lui la giovane non può che farsi da parte e aiutarla a conquistarlo.]]> 368 Julia London 1335498222 Priya 0 to-read 3.77 2023
author: Julia London
name: Priya
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40779647
Rahul Kapoor is heading into seventh grade in a small town in Indiana. The start of middle school is making him feel increasingly anxious, so his favorite person in the whole world, his grandfather Bhai, gives him some well-meaning advice: Find one thing you’re really good at. And become the BEST at it.

Those four little words sear themselves into Rahul’s brain. While he’s not quite sure what that special thing is, he is convinced that once he finds it, bullies like Brent Mason will stop torturing him at school. And he won’t be worried about staring too long at his classmate Justin Emery. With his best friend, Chelsea, by his side, Rahul is ready to crush this challenge. . . . But what if he discovers he isn’t the best at anything?

Funny, charming, and incredibly touching, this is a story about friendship, family, and the courage it takes to live your truth.]]> 336 Maulik Pancholy Priya 4 four-stars 4.14 2019
author: Maulik Pancholy
name: Priya
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 37759534
Universally blamed for the death of his wife and unborn child, Simon Hastings doesn’t dispute his guilt over an accident he cannot even remember. He hasn’t had a drink since, nor a moment’s peace. Determined to be a better man, Simon rescues a young woman in need—only to be accused of kidnapping. They must marry to save him from prison. But how can a man haunted by the love he lost and a woman afraid to get too close find happiness together?]]> 306 Darcy Burke 194457624X Priya 4 four-stars, romance 4.23 2018
author: Darcy Burke
name: Priya
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 43263291 desperate wallflower. To save her family, she’ll do anything. Luckily, she has the perfect plan...

She’ll impress the ton by simply announcing she is engaged to the reclusive and mysterious Duke of Thornton, Alexander Masters, and secure strong matches for her sisters. No one has heard from the duke in years. Surely he’ll never find out before her sisters�� weddings, and she can go back to her own quiet life.

Soon, though, everything is out of control. At first, it’s just a few new ball gowns on the duke’s accounts. Then, it’s interviews with reporters eager for gossip. Before she knows it, Katherine has transformed herself into Kitty Danvers, charming and clever belle of the ton―with everyone eager to meet her thankfully absent fiancé.

But when the enigmatic Alexander Masters suddenly arrives in the city, dashing and oh so angry, he demands retribution. Except not in the way Katherine expected…]]> 377 Stacy Reid 1640637451 Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.92 2019
author: Stacy Reid
name: Priya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Priya 4 four-stars 4.39 1946
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Priya
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 26032825 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 0316310271 Priya 4 four-stars 4.01 2018
author: Holly Black
name: Priya
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/03
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 31076583 229 Sarah J. Maas 168119631X Priya 3 three-stars, romance 3.77 2019
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Priya
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: three-stars, romance
review:

]]> 42080479 The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are��?]]> 488 Soman Chainani 006210490X Priya 3 three-stars 4.00 2013
author: Soman Chainani
name: Priya
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: three-stars
review:

]]> 14497
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]> 370 Neil Gaiman 0060557818 Priya 3 three-stars 4.17 1996
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Priya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: three-stars
review:

]]> 30659 Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. While the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation and encouragement, Marcus Aurelius also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a timeless collection that has been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and readers throughout the centuries.]]> 254 Marcus Aurelius 0140449337 Priya 0 to-read 4.29 180
author: Marcus Aurelius
name: Priya
average rating: 4.29
book published: 180
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8130423 In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.]]> 361 Rick Riordan Priya 5 five-stars 4.44 2008
author: Rick Riordan
name: Priya
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/16
shelves: five-stars
review:
Why do authors have to have cliffhangers? This book was really interesting for me seeing that I was doing a short Daedalus/Icarus unit in my English class (right after I read this book!) And then when I went back to reread this, I noticed so many things that I missed before. It was pretty cool.
]]> 61897968 A small-town sweetheart and an emotionally unavailable bad boy try to find some common ground in this chemistry-filled romance from the author of The Cheat Sheet and When in Rome.

Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match—someone who complements her happy, quiet life running the local flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. But finding her dream man may be harder than Annie imagined. Everyone knows everyone in her hometown, and the dating prospects are getting fewer by the day. After she overhears her latest date say she is “so unbelievably boring,�� Annie starts to think the problem might be her. Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice . . . and Annie has the perfect person in mind to be her tutor: Will Griffin.

Will—the sexy, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard—is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement builds for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker, Annie’s brother. He has one personal objective while on the job: stay away from Annie Walker and any other possible attachments to this sleepy town. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will finds himself tasked with helping Annie find the love of her life by becoming the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky. Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie. He knows for a fact that some stuffy, straitlaced guy won’t make her happy, but he doesn’t have the heart to say no.

Amid steamy practice dates and strictly “educational�� tutoring lessons, Annie discovers there are more layers to Will’s usual stoic attitude. As the lines of their friendship become dangerously blurred, Annie reconsiders her dream guy. Maybe her love life doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be real.]]> 335 Sarah Adams 0593500806 Priya 0 to-read 4.00 2023
author: Sarah Adams
name: Priya
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61918816 A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin��-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass�� scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,�� and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she ������’t refuse.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 1538704390 Priya 0 to-read 4.29 2023
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Priya
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Priya 5 five-stars, romance 4.05 2022
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Priya
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/11
shelves: five-stars, romance
review:

]]> 59571699 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project - a literal dream come true - Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school - archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas... devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?]]> 368 Ali Hazelwood 1408725789 Priya 4 romance, four-stars 3.88 2022
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Priya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves: romance, four-stars
review:

]]> 123257687
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

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

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

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

After all, a good job is hard to find.]]> 342 Hannah Nicole Maehrer 1649375808 Priya 0 to-read 3.88 2023
author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
name: Priya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18954642
The little drowned mermaid has an interesting proposition indeed; one that Sebastian is surprised to find quite agreeable. Although he’s had women more beautiful, she is pleasing to the eye, and besides, it’s time he fathered an heir. Beatrice promises to be the ideal wife; a woman who hates him with an all-consuming passion is far too sensible to expect romance. However, it isn’t long before Sebastian’s plan for a marriage of convenience unravels, and he’s caught up in the exhilarating undertow of seduction.]]> Bronwen Evans Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.88 2014
author: Bronwen Evans
name: Priya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 18209623 In Bronwen Evans’s Loveswept debut, a pair of damaged souls ignite each other’s deepest passions—even as they tempt fate by deceiving the world.
��
Desperate to escape her abusive past, Sarah Cooper disguises herself as a governess in the employ of Christian Trent, Earl of Markham, the man who, long ago, she fantasized about marrying. Despite the battle scars that mar his face, Sarah finds being near Christian rekindles her infatuation. A governess, however, has no business in the arms of an earl, and as she accompanies Christian on his voyage home, Sarah must resist her intense desires—or risk revealing her dangerous secrets.
��
One of the renowned Libertine Scholars, Christian Trent once enjoyed the company of any woman he chose. But that was before the horrors of Waterloo, his wrongful conviction of a hideous crime, and his forcible removal from England. Far from home and the resources he once had, Christian believes the life he knew—and any chance of happiness—is over . . . until his ward’s governess sparks his heart back to life, and makes him remember the man he used to be. Now Christian is determined to return to England, regain his honor, and win the heart of the woman he has come to love.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from other Loveswept titles.]]> 320 Bronwen Evans 0345547284 Priya 0 to-read 3.84 2014
author: Bronwen Evans
name: Priya
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2328841
Scarlett is the third of four children in the Martin family. The Martins live in and manage a shabby hotel in NYC that dates back to the 1920s. When Scarlett turns 15, she is put in charge of one of the hotel's 27 rooms- the Empire Suite. Into this room moves Mrs. Amberson, a failed 1970s starlet who has returned to New York to write her memoirs. Soon, Scarlett is taking dictation, running around town with Mrs. Amberson, and getting caught up in her Auntie Mame-meets-Bianca Jagger adventures.]]> 368 Maureen Johnson 0439899273 Priya 3 three-stars 3.61 2008
author: Maureen Johnson
name: Priya
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/06/12
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: three-stars
review:

]]> 31185918 New York Times-bestselling Tad Williams�� ground-breaking epic fantasy saga of Osten Ard begins an exciting new cycle! �� Volume One of The Last King of Osten Ard

The Dragonbone Chair, the first volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, was published in hardcover in October, 1988, launching the series that was to become one of the seminal works of modern epic fantasy. Many of today’s top-selling fantasy authors, from Patrick Rothfuss to George R. R. Martin to Christopher Paolini credit Tad with being the inspiration for their own series.

Now, twenty-four years after the conclusion of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Tad returns to his beloved universe and characters with The Witchwood Crown, the first novel in the long-awaited sequel trilogy, The Last King of Osten Ard.

Thirty years have passed since the events of the earlier novels, and the world has reached a critical turning point once again. The realm is threatened by divisive forces, even as old allies are lost, and others are lured down darker paths. Perhaps most terrifying of all, the Norns—the long-vanquished elvish foe—are stirring once again, preparing to reclaim the mortal-ruled lands that once were theirs....]]> 733 Tad Williams 069819148X Priya 0 to-read 4.17 2017
author: Tad Williams
name: Priya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61355265 #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER - ONE OF TIME'S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2022 - In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world.

There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life's big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles--the earned wisdom that helps her continue to "become." She details her most valuable practices, like "starting kind," "going high," and assembling a "kitchen table" of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.

"When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it," writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.]]> 319 Michelle Obama 0593237463 Priya 4 four-stars 4.26 2022
author: Michelle Obama
name: Priya
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 54189398
She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.]]> 487 Elena Armas 1668002531 Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.80 2021
author: Elena Armas
name: Priya
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 60017073 USA TODAY bestselling author Eva Leigh continues her Last Chance Scoundrels series with a steamy romance between two opposites--a rogue with a taste for wagers and a bookish wallflower--who marry for convenience... but neither bet on falling in love.

Finn Ransome is an expert on Lady Luck, which is why he refuses to take a chance on love. Experience has taught him that he's happier at a gaming table than around people he will, inevitably, disappoint. However, the clock is ticking on his father's matrimonial demands. But the only woman to catch his eye is a bluestocking who would never consider a rogue like him.

After a disastrous first Season, Tabitha Seaton decided to focus on books instead of ballrooms. She hopes to join the Sterling Society, a collective of the most brilliant, influential minds in London. Except, they will never admit an unmarried lady. Now Tabitha needs a husband, and a notorious, handsome gambler may be her best bet.

Finn and Tabitha are opposites who have no intention of wagering on a love match, and a calculated marriage of convenience solves all their problems--with no risk to their hearts. Once married, however, their potent attraction boils over into a deep passion that neither expected. When a painful mistake drives the new lovers apart, Finn will risk it all to prove a scoundrel and a wallflower are a winning pair...]]> 366 Eva Leigh 006308628X Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.64 2022
author: Eva Leigh
name: Priya
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/03
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 49354511 Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium��, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid�� flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.]]> 384 Pip Williams 1925972593 Priya 4 four-stars 3.97 2020
author: Pip Williams
name: Priya
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/26
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 61062983 By beloved USA Today bestselling author Joanna Shupe, the fourth installment in the Fifth Avenue Rebels series about a secret affair between a free-spirited heiress and an uptight duke which turns more passionate than either could have imagined.


A rebellious heiress.

A duke in dire straits.

An anonymous midnight tryst.

To escape the shackles of marriage, Nellie Young purposely ruined her reputation a long time ago. Now she dedicates herself to hedonistic pleasures only, like kissing a handsome stranger in the ocean under the moonlight...

To save his estate, the proper Duke of Lockwood must marry the perfect bride--wealthy, with an unblemished reputation. While in New York he's the perfect gentleman, and no one knows he's suppressing his darkest desires. The last thing he needs is another scandal.

Except Nellie sees through Lockwood's charade, straight to the real man underneath. This uptight duke is far more than he lets on, and she can't resist him. Their secret affair turns scorching, far more than either expected. And when his beautiful rebel finds an unconventional cause, Lockwood has to decide if he's willing to sacrifice everything to keep her.]]> 372 Joanna Shupe 0063045079 Priya 5 five-stars, romance 4.02 2023
author: Joanna Shupe
name: Priya
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: five-stars, romance
review:

]]> 58212242 In USA TODAY bestselling author Eva Leigh’s new novel a notorious rake and an innocent debutante strike a scandalous bargain��

When Kieran Ransome’s latest antics result in a massive scandal, his father issues an ultimatum: find a respectable wife or inherit nothing. But as one of London’s most inveterate scoundrels, Kieran doesn’t know any ladies who fit the bill. Or does he?

Celeste Kilburn is a society darling, beloved by influential members of the ton. But keeping a spotless reputation leaves little room for adventure and she longs to escape her gilded cage, especially with her impending engagement to a stuffy earl. When Kieran—her older brother’s best friend and an irresistibly attractive rogue—begs for her help, Celeste makes a deal: she’ll introduce him to the right social circles if he’ll show her the scandalous side of London.

In between proper teas and garden parties, Kieran escorts Celeste—disguised as “Salome”—to rowdy gaming hells, wild fêtes, and sensual art salons. As they spend more time together, their initial attraction builds to a desperate desire that neither can ignore. But when someone discovers their midnight exploits, Celeste’s freedom and reputation are endangered, and Kieran must save the woman he loves�� respectable or not.]]> 367 Eva Leigh 0063086271 Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.74 2022
author: Eva Leigh
name: Priya
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/28
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 61273344
The author of numerous best-selling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,�� Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, although no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the baking competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned too high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.]]> 288 Jessa Maxwell 1668008009 Priya 0 to-read 3.44 2023
author: Jessa Maxwell
name: Priya
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44792512
A year later, Reid has tracked Meg down to find out—before he leaves New York for good—how she knew that his meticulously planned future was about to implode. But with a looming deadline, a fractured friendship, and a bad case of creative block, Meg doesn’t have time for Reid’s questions—unless he can help her find her missing inspiration. As they gradually open up to each other about their lives, work, and regrets, both try to ignore the fact that their unlikely connection is growing deeper. But the signs are there—irresistible, indisputable, urging Meg to heed the messages Reid is sending her, before it’s too late . . .]]> 307 Kate Clayborn 1496725174 Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.62 2019
author: Kate Clayborn
name: Priya
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/24
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 41014401 Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.

Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own��

Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.]]> 366 Alka Joshi 0778309452 Priya 4 four-stars 4.18 2020
author: Alka Joshi
name: Priya
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/18
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 45152372 "She smiled a soft, troubled smile and I felt the whole world slipping away, and I wanted to slip with it, to go wherever she was going... I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.]]> 339 Matt Haig 0525522891 Priya 0 to-read 3.78 2018
author: Matt Haig
name: Priya
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12953722 ��
Early in her tenure as First Lady, despite being a novice gardener, Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden on the White House’s South Lawn. To her delight, she watched as fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs sprouted from the ground. Soon the White House Kitchen Garden inspired a new conversation all across the country about the food we feed our families and the impact it has on the nutrition and well-being of our children.
��
In American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden, from the first planting to the satisfaction of the seasonal harvest. She reveals her early worries and struggles—would the new plants even grow?—and her joy as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil. She��shares the stories of��other gardens that have moved and inspired her on her journey across the nation.��And she offers what she learned about planting your own backyard, school, or community garden.
��
American Grown features:��
�� a��behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth
•��unique recipes created by White House chefs
•��striking original photographs that bring the��White House garden to life
•��a fascinating history of community gardens in the United States
��
From a modern-day vegetable truck that brings fresh produce to underserved communities in Chicago, to Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom, to a New York City school that created a scented garden for the visually impaired, to a garden in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that devotes its entire harvest to those less fortunate, American Grown isn’t just the story of a single garden. It’s a celebration of the bounty of our nation and a reminder of what we can all grow together.]]> 272 Michelle Obama 0307956024 Priya 4 four-stars 3.95 2012
author: Michelle Obama
name: Priya
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 53445631 A Princess of Thieves

Raised among London's most notorious criminals, a twist of fate landed Adelaide Frampton in the bright ballrooms of Mayfair, where she masquerades as a quiet wallflower--so plain and unassuming that no one realizes she's the Matchbreaker...using her superior skills as a thief to help brides avoid the altar.

A King of Reputation

Henry, Duke of Clayborn, has spent a lifetime living in perfection. He has no time for the salacious gossip that arises every time the Matchbreaker ends another groom. His own reputation is impeccable--and the last thing he needs is a frustrating, fascinating woman discovering the truth of his past, or the secrets he holds close.

A Royal Match

When the two find themselves on a breakneck journey across Britain to stop a wedding, it's impossible for Clayborn to resist this woman who both frustrates and fascinates him. But late-night carriage rides make for delicious danger...and soon Adelaide is uncovering Clayborn's truths, throwing his well-laid plans into chaos...and threatening to steal his heavily guarded heart.]]> 391 Sarah MacLean 006305678X Priya 4 four-stars, romance 3.98 2022
author: Sarah MacLean
name: Priya
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/04/25
shelves: four-stars, romance
review:

]]> 59364173
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,�� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?�� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!��), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy Priya 4 four-stars 4.45 2022
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Priya
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/04/14
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 60439686 England, 1820

Rosalind Newbury is counting down the days until her wedding to the Duke of Marlow, a man she has only met twice. The marriage is more an agreement between two families and less a romantic connection between two hearts, but Rosalind becoming a duchess will elevate her family’s status to dizzying heights. And the duke is a kind man who will care for Rosalind, even if he doesn’t love her.

She only has three weeks before her life changes forever, and she knows exactly how she wants to spend her days. As a child, Ros was inspired by her adventurous Aunt Alice and created a list of ten things to do before her wedding day. So far, Ros has done none of them.

She is determined to tackle each item, though she’ll have to accomplish them all in secret. After all, a soon-to-be-duchess is not usually allowed to bury treasure in the pasture, eat sweets all day, or learn how to swim. She enlists the help of her best friend, Liza, who brings along her cousin, Charlie, a prodigal son-turned-boxer who has come to the countryside to mend his reputation and learn how to be his father’s heir.

Together, the three of them work to complete the list, and as each item is crossed off, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Ros and Charlie. The more time they spend together, the more Ros falls in love with this imperfect man and his good heart.

With the wedding looming, Ros must decide to either admit her romantic feelings for Charlie and risk her family’s future, or keep her promise to marry the duke and start a new life as a noblewoman.]]> 368 Megan Walker 1639930523 Priya 0 to-read 4.06 2023
author: Megan Walker
name: Priya
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60469859
Emily quickly realizes that there’s something different about these manuscripts. Any changes she makes come true. At first, she embraces the gift. She has a chance to help characters find true love or chart a new course for their future. But then things go terribly wrong. Her edits have the opposite effect. The sweet and funky seaside community of Cascata is reeling from the chaos Emily has created. Everything she thought she believed about her family and her past is in jeopardy, and no amount of editing can fix the damage she’s done.

Then she finds one last manuscript. If Emily can get this edit right, maybe she’ll have a chance to create a new narrative for herself and everyone around her.]]> 282 Ellie Alexander 173739152X Priya 0 to-read 3.84 2022
author: Ellie Alexander
name: Priya
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50093704 Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She ������’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.]]> 272 Rebecca Serle 1982137444 Priya 4 four-stars 3.74 2020
author: Rebecca Serle
name: Priya
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/28
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 59598
Life After Life introduced us to concepts—including the bright light, the tunnel, the presence of loved ones waiting on the other side—that have become cultural memes and have shaped countless readers notions about the end life and the meaning of death.]]> 175 Raymond A. Moody Jr. 0062517392 Priya 0 to-read 4.11 1975
author: Raymond A. Moody Jr.
name: Priya
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57007401 Dating Dr. Dil features a love-phobic TV doctor who must convince a love-obsessed homebody they are destined to be together.��

Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.

Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic.����

Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate.��]]> 364 Nisha Sharma 0063001101 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.58 2022
author: Nisha Sharma
name: Priya
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 61175551 Living on their own terms means being there for one another.

When sixty-five-year-old Bindu Desai inherits a million dollars, she’s astounded―and horrified. The windfall threatens to expose a shameful mistake from her youth. On an impulse, Bindu quickly spends it on something a condo in a posh retirement community in Florida.

The impulsive decision blindsides Bindu’s daughter-in-law, Aly. At forty-seven, Aly still shares a home with Bindu even after her divorce from Bindu’s son. But maybe this change is just the push Aly needs to fight for her own dreams.

As Bindu and Aly navigate their new dynamic, Aly’s daughter, Cullie, is faced with losing the business that made her a tech-world star. The only way to save it is to deliver a new idea to her investors―and they want the dating app she pitched them in a panic. Problem is, Cullie has never been on a real date. Naturally, enlisting her single mother and grandmother to help her with the research is the answer.

From USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev comes a heartfelt novel about three generations of hilarious, unconventional, ambitious women who embark on a shared journey of self-discovery. Join the Desai women as they come together to embrace the hijinks and heartbreak of facing their greatest fears to finally live their most vibrant lives.]]> 272 Sonali Dev 1542036232 Priya 2 two-stars 3.98 2022
author: Sonali Dev
name: Priya
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves: two-stars
review:

]]> 55660774 32 Alice Hemming 0702303208 Priya 5 five-stars, picture-books 4.16 2020
author: Alice Hemming
name: Priya
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/17
shelves: five-stars, picture-books
review:

]]> 60875181
It’s falling from the sky and in the air we breathe. It’s in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It’s microplastic and it’s everywhere—including our own bodies. Scientists are just beginning to discover how these tiny particles threaten health, but the studies are alarming.
��
In A Poison Like No Other , Matt Simon reveals a whole new dimension to the plastic crisis, one even more disturbing than plastic bottles washing up on shores and grocery bags dumped in landfills. Dealing with discarded plastic is bad enough, but when it starts to break down, the real trouble begins. The very thing that makes plastic so useful and ubiquitous �� its toughness �� means it never really goes away. It just gets smaller and eventually small enough to enter your lungs or be absorbed by crops or penetrate a fish’s muscle tissue before it becomes dinner.
��
Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail of plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers.
��
A Poison Like No Other is the first book to fully explore this new dimension of the plastic crisis,��following the intrepid scientists who travel to the ends of the earth and the bottom of the ocean to understand the consequences of our dependence on plastic. As Simon learns from these researchers, there is no easy fix. But we will never curb our plastic addiction until we begin to recognize the invisible particles all around us.��
��]]> 252 Matt Simon 1642832359 Priya 0 to-read 3.81
author: Matt Simon
name: Priya
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8449698
Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.

Linnet is not just any woman.

She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.

Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return.

If she decides to be very wicked indeed . . . what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?]]> 372 Eloisa James 0062021273 Priya 3 romance, three-stars 4.05 2011
author: Eloisa James
name: Priya
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/10/26
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 55481231
As Martha Beck says in her book, “Integrity is the cure for psychological suffering. Period.��

In The Way of Integrity , Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us—people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits—all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.

Inspired by The Divine Comedy , Beck uses Dante’s classic hero’s journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.

With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but also bring us to a place of genuine happiness.]]> 327 Martha N. Beck 1984881485 Priya 0 gave-up 4.15 2021
author: Martha N. Beck
name: Priya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/26
shelves: gave-up
review:

]]> 55825273 The new uplifting book from Matt Haig, the New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library, for anyone in search of hope, looking for a path to a more meaningful life, or in need of a little encouragement.

“It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learnt while we are at our lowest. But then we never think about food more than when we are hungry and we never think about life rafts more than when we are thrown overboard.��

The Comfort Book is Haig’s life raft: it’s a collection of notes, lists, and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as gentle reminders to Haig’s future self that things are not always as dark as they may seem. Incorporating a diverse array of sources from across the world, history, science, and his own experiences, Haig offers warmth and reassurance, reminding us to slow down and appreciate the beauty and unpredictability of existence.]]> 272 Matt Haig 0143136666 Priya 3 three-stars 4.07 2021
author: Matt Haig
name: Priya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/10/22
shelves: three-stars
review:

]]> 8303977 Neohelix albolabris —a common woodland snail.

While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own confined place in the world.

Intrigued by the snail’s molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, providing a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal.��

Told with wit and grace, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world illuminates our own human existence and provides an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.]]> 208 Elisabeth Tova Bailey 1565126068 Priya 0 to-read 4.15 2010
author: Elisabeth Tova Bailey
name: Priya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58214328 A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life.

"Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, of migration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bones know."

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.]]> 352 Stephanie Foo 0593238109 Priya 0 to-read 4.50 2022
author: Stephanie Foo
name: Priya
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 81227
Infidel shows the coming of age of this distinguished political superstar and champion of free speech as well as the development of her beliefs, iron will, and extraordinary determination to fight injustice. Raised in a strict Muslim family, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries ruled largely by despots. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Under constant threat, demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from family and clan, she refuses to be silenced.

Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali’s story tells how a bright little girl evolves out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely or more significant.]]> 353 Ayaan Hirsi Ali 0743289684 Priya 0 to-read 4.17 2006
author: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
name: Priya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60254955
Few of us give much thought to computer code or how it comes to be. The very word “code�� makes it sound immutable or even inevitable. “You Are Not Expected to Understand This�� demonstrates that, far from being preordained, computer code is the result of very human decisions, ones we all live with when we use social media, take photos, drive our cars, and engage in a host of other activities.

Everything from law enforcement to space exploration relies on code written by people who, at the time, made choices and assumptions that would have long-lasting, profound implications for society. Torie Bosch brings together many of today’s leading technology experts to provide new perspectives on the code that shapes our lives. Contributors discuss a host of topics, such as how university databases were programmed long ago to accept only two genders, what the person who programmed the very first pop-up ad was thinking at the time, the first computer worm, the Bitcoin white paper, and perhaps the most famous seven words in Unix “You are not expected to understand this.��

This compelling book tells the human stories behind programming, enabling those of us who don’t think much about code to recognize its importance, and those who work with it every day to better understand the long-term effects of the decisions they make.

With an introduction by Ellen Ullman and contributions by Mahsa Alimardani, Elena Botella, Meredith Broussard, David Cassel, Arthur Daemmrich, Charles Duan, Quinn DuPont, Claire L. Evans, Hany Farid, James Grimmelmann, Katie Hafner, Susan C. Herring, Syeda Gulshan Ferdous Jana, Lowen Liu, John MacCormick, Brian McCullough, Charlton McIlwain, Lily Hay Newman, Margaret O’Mara, Will Oremus, Nick Partridge, Benjamin Pope, Joy Lisi Rankin, Afsaneh Rigot, Ellen R. Stofan, Lee Vinsel, Josephine Wolff, and Ethan Zuckerman.]]> 216 Torie Bosch 0691208484 Priya 0 to-read 3.53
author: Torie Bosch
name: Priya
average rating: 3.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39342186 From one of Barack Obama's closest aides comes a revelatory behind-the-scenes account of his presidency--and how idealism can confront harsh reality and still survive--in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.

For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration--first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President's Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now he tells the full story of his partnership--and, ultimately, friendship--with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.

Rhodes was not your typical presidential confidant, and this is not your typical White House memoir. Rendered in vivid, novelistic detail by someone who was a writer before he was a staffer, this is a rare look inside the most poignant, tense, and consequential moments of the Obama presidency--waiting out the bin Laden raid in the Situation Room, responding to the Arab Spring, reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, leading secret negotiations with the Cuban government to normalize relations, and confronting the resurgence of nationalism and nativism that culminated in the election of Donald Trump.

In The World as It Is, Rhodes shows what it was like to be there--from the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours of the presidency. It is a story populated by such characters as Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, Bob Gates, and--above all--Barack Obama, who comes to life on the page in moments of great urgency and disarming intimacy. This is the most vivid portrayal yet of Obama's worldview and presidency, a chronicle of a political education by a writer of enormous talent, and an essential record of the forces that shaped the last decade.]]> 704 Ben Rhodes 1984833359 Priya 4 four-stars 4.26 2018
author: Ben Rhodes
name: Priya
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/09/12
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]> 60222807 A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

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 Priya 0 to-read 4.33 2022
author: Travis Baldree
name: Priya
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25894026 From Amanda Flower—who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan—comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...]]> 345 Amanda Flower 0451477448 Priya 0 to-read 3.92 2016
author: Amanda Flower
name: Priya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29496490 ��
In Cascade Springs, New York, Violet Waverly and her grandma, Daisy, are the proprietors of Charming Books, where the power of the written word is positively enchanting...
��
October in Cascade Springs means tourists are pouring in for the annual Food and Wine Festival, and Daisy hopes to draw those crowds to the store. She asks Violet and the local writing group, the Red Inkers, to give a reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the shop’s back garden to entertain the revelers. Everyone eagerly agrees.
��
Yet their enthusiasm is soon extinguished when Violet discovers one of the writers dead during the event. After the shop magically tells Violet she’ll need to rely on Poe’s works to solve the murder, she enlists the help of her trusty tuxedo cat, Emerson, and the shop’s crow, Faulkner. But they must act fast before someone else’s heart beats nevermore...]]> 323 Amanda Flower 0451477456 Priya 0 to-read 4.03 2016
author: Amanda Flower
name: Priya
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58986612 Cat Sebastian returns to Georgian London with a stunning tale of a reluctant criminal and the thief who cannot help but love her.


Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her--and who she may have left tied up a few hours before...

A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody's bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband's blood and in desperate need of his help?

As they flee across the country--stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats--they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob's past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.]]> 352 Cat Sebastian 0063026252 Priya 3 three-stars, romance 3.82 2022
author: Cat Sebastian
name: Priya
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/08/23
shelves: three-stars, romance
review:

]]> 13425570
The speech was memorable not only because it was deeply revealing but also because it came at a time of intense personal reflection: Christensen had just overcome the same type of cancer that had taken his father's life. As Christensen struggled with the disease, the question "How do you measure your life?" became more urgent and poignant, and he began to share his insights more widely with family, friends, and students.

In this groundbreaking book, Christensen puts forth a series of questions: How can I be sure that I'll find satisfaction in my career? How can I be sure that my personal relationships become enduring sources of happiness? How can I avoid compromising my integrity—and stay out of jail? Using lessons from some of the world's greatest businesses, he provides incredible insights into these challenging questions.

How Will You Measure Your Life? is full of inspiration and wisdom, and will help students, midcareer professionals, and parents alike forge their own paths to fulfillment.]]> 240 Clayton M. Christensen 0062102427 Priya 5 five-stars 4.03 2012
author: Clayton M. Christensen
name: Priya
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/08/15
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 57933306 Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening--and how to get our attention back.

In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions--even abandoning his phone for three months--but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention--and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers' productivity.

Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus--as individuals, and as a society--if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.]]> 357 Johann Hari 0593138511 Priya 5 five-stars 4.22 2022
author: Johann Hari
name: Priya
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/08/13
shelves: five-stars
review:

]]> 59040894 Paris, 1889

The Exposition Universelle is underway, drawing merchants from every corner of the globe. Luz Alana Heith-Benzan set sail from Santo Domingo armed with three hundred casks of rum, her two best friends and one simple rule: under no circumstances is she to fall in love.

The City of Light is where Luz Alana will expand Caña Brava, the rum business her family built over three generations. It’s a mission that’s taken on new urgency after her father’s untimely death and the news that her trust fund won’t be released until she marries. But buyers and shippers alike are rude and dismissive; they ������’t imagine doing business with a woman…never mind a woman of color.

From her first tempestuous meeting with James Evanston Sinclair, Earl of Darnick, Luz Alana is conflicted. Why is this man—this titled Scottish man—so determined to help her? And why, honestly, is he so infuriatingly charming?

All Evan Sinclair ever wanted was to find a purpose away from his father’s dirty money and dirtier politics. Ignoring his title, he’s built a whiskey brand that’s his biggest—and only—passion. That is, until he’s confronted with a Spanish-speaking force of nature who turns his life upside down.

Evan quickly suspects he’ll want Luz Alana with him forever. Every day with her makes the earl wish for more than her magnificent kisses or the marriage of convenience that might save them both. But Luz Alana sailed for Paris with her eyes on liquor, money and new beginnings. She wasn't prepared for love to find��her.

Las Leonas

Book 1: A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

]]> 368 Adriana Herrera Priya 3 romance, three-stars 3.90 2022
author: Adriana Herrera
name: Priya
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/08/11
shelves: romance, three-stars
review:

]]> 37569338 National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals--her friends--who have profoundly affected her in this stunning, poetic, and life-affirming memoir featuring illustrations by Rebecca Green.

Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet's rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy's life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets.

This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals--Sy's friends--and the truths revealed by their grace. It also explores vast themes: the otherness and sameness of people and animals; the various ways we learn to love and become empathetic; how we find our passion; how we create our families; coping with loss and despair; gratitude; forgiveness; and most of all, how to be a good creature in the world.]]> 208 Sy Montgomery 0544938321 Priya 0 to-read 4.04 2018
author: Sy Montgomery
name: Priya
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58669443 An exciting novel based on the fearless reporter Nellie Bly, who would stop at nothing to expose injustices against women in early 19th century New York, even at the risk of her own life and freedom.

In 1887 New York City, Nellie Bly has ambitions beyond writing for the ladies pages, but all the editors on Newspaper Row think women are too emotional, respectable and delicate to do the job. But then the New York World challenges her to an assignment she'd be mad to accept and mad to refuse: go undercover as a patient at Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum for Women.

For months, rumors have been swirling about deplorable conditions at Blackwell’s, but no reporter can get in—that is, until Nellie feigns insanity, gets committed and attempts to survive ten days in the madhouse. Inside, she discovers horrors beyond comprehension. It's an investigation that could make her career—if she can get out to tell it before two rival reporters scoop her story.

From USA Today bestselling author Maya Rodale comes a rollicking historical adventure series about the outrageous intrigues and bold flirtations of the most famous female reporter—and a groundbreaking rebel—of New York City’s Gilded Age.
]]> 336 Maya Rodale 0593436768 Priya 4 four-stars 4.19 2022
author: Maya Rodale
name: Priya
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/03
shelves: four-stars
review:

]]>