Stephanie's bookshelf: 2024 en-US Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:40:02 -0700 60 Stephanie's bookshelf: 2024 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)]]> 207293948
Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com-worthy grand gestures she loves. Only . . . Liz will have none of it! Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend . . . a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.]]> 442 Lynn Painter 1665947136 Stephanie 5 2024, audio, 5-star-reads 3.98 2024 Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/30
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: 2024, audio, 5-star-reads
review:
I love love love these books. And the audibooks specifally are just wonderful- you will fall in love with each and every character.
]]> All the Other Mothers Hate Me 214537763 "The missing boy is 10-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he's a little shit."

Florence Grimes, age thirty-one, always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl-band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen-food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect.

Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name or risk losing Dylan forever—never mind that she has no useful skills (let alone investigative ones) and that all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and she has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe.]]> 384 Sarah Harman 0593851463 Stephanie 4 2024, arc, 4-star-reads 3.57 2025 All the Other Mothers Hate Me
author: Sarah Harman
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: 2024, arc, 4-star-reads
review:
When I first started this book, I thought I was going to dislike it. Let’s be honest. Florence is a highly unlikable main character. She’s selfish, greedy, and completely morally skewed. But she won me over. She’s like an evil version of Finley Donovan.
]]> The Teacher 195967140 A mind-bending, psychological thriller from Freida McFadden, the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Housemaid!

Lesson #1: trust no one

Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except�

Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye.

Addie can't be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that's what everyone says.

But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.

From the New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of twisting secrets and long-awaited revenge.]]> 379 Freida McFadden 1728296218 Stephanie 1 audio, 2024, 1-star-reads 3.82 2024 The Teacher
author: Freida McFadden
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 1-star-reads
review:
No No No No NOOOOOOO. Just. NO. How in the world are people giving this 5 stars? It gave me the ick in so many ways. Content Warning: GROOMING. I’m no reading snob, but this was terrible.The repetitive word choice, the clueless characters, the disgusting plot choices... I could go on and on. I think I’m officially breaking up with Freida McFadden.
]]> The Boyfriend 208503280 She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.

Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She’s seen it men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.

Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.

Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.

Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can’t shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn’t get to the truth, she’ll be the killer’s next victim...

A dark story about obsession and the things we’ll do for love, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden proves that crimes of passion are often the bloodiest…]]> 368 Freida McFadden 1728296226 Stephanie 1 audio, 2024, 1-star-reads 3.95 2024 The Boyfriend
author: Freida McFadden
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 1-star-reads
review:
Help. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELFFFFFF
]]> Run Away With Me 57135574

Laura is feeling content with her life. She is married, she has a good home and she is due to give birth to her first child any day now. But her perfect world is shattered when her husband comes home flustered and afraid. He's made a terrible mistake. He's done a bad thing. And now the police are going to be looking for him...

There's only one way out of this. He wants to run. But he won't go without his wife.

Laura knows it is wrong. They should stay and face the music. But she doesn't want to lose her man. She can't raise this baby alone. So she agrees to go with him...

But as time goes by, Laura worries that she has made a terrible mistake. They should never have ran. But it's too late for that now. Her life is ruined. The only question is: how will it end?]]> 293 Daniel Hurst Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads 4.21 2021 Run Away With Me
author: Daniel Hurst
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> A Secret Worth Keeping 210130065 A perfect weekend. The perfect company. A perfect cabin.

The perfect place to bury a body�

For Joel and Stella, it’s the trip they’ve been dreaming about. Fresh air, quiet time in the woods, and no work to distract them from each other. Being a new couple, they don’t waste any time with their first full weekend away together.

But their perfect getaway turns into a nightmare when an accident occurs and they find a dead woman lying outside their cabin.

Clearly they have to call the police, but what Joel reveals to Stella makes her understand there’s no way they can get the authorities involved.

Stella has no other choice than to go along with Joel’s plans to hide the body, realizing now that she never really knew the man she’s sharing a bed with.

But what if there’s more that Joel isn’t telling her? And what if he figures out that she doesn’t trust him anymore?

Most of all, what if Joel finds out the secret that she’s been hiding from him?]]> 211 Drew Strickland Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads 3.70 A Secret Worth Keeping
author: Drew Strickland
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> The Last Session 214151571 From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Writing Retreat, a white-knuckled locked-room thriller about a social worker who, after coming face-to-face with her dark past, must infiltrate a mysterious wellness center in the deserts of New Mexico.

When a catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.

Determined to find her, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote center in Southwestern New Mexico, where a charismatic couple holds a controversial monthly retreat to uncover attendees� romantic and sexual issues. Forced to participate in increasingly intimate exercises, Thea finds herself inching closer not only to her missing patient, but also to tantalizing answers about her harrowing past. However, time is running out, and if she stays for the last session, she too might lose her mind…or worse.]]> 368 Julia Bartz 1982199490 Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads
1.5 stars ]]> 3.05 2025 The Last Session
author: Julia Bartz
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:
What did I just read? This book was absolutely terrible and I feel a little bit bad saying that, but it’s the honest truth. It was all over the place, and not in a good way.

1.5 stars
]]> Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1) 199368721 She's been driving him wild for years . . . the good kind of wild.

The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her.

Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont.

After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat.

Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things.

And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.]]> 466 Elsie Silver 0349441626 Stephanie 2
I’ll still continue with the series though. ]]> 3.98 2024 Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, romance, 2-star-reads
review:
IDK. Between the super inappropriate crude conversation the first time Ford and Cora met to the fact that Rosie just came across as kind of a babyish mean girl jerk, and then mix in Ford kind of having the personality of cardboard � this one just wasn’t for me. Which was disappointing because Willa is my favorite character Elsie Silver has a created , so I was hoping I would love her brother.

I’ll still continue with the series though.
]]> Sugar, Baby 154985776
Sugar, Baby follows Agnes, a mixed-race 21-year-old whose life seems to be heading nowhere. Still living at home, she works as a cleaner and spends all her money in clubs on the weekends searching for distractions from her mundane life. That is until she meets Emily, daughter of one of her cleaning clients, who lives in London and works as a model . . . and a sugar baby, dating rich older men for money.

Emily's life is the escape Agnes has been longing for-extravagant tasting menus, champagne on tap, glamorous hotels with unlimited room service, designer gifts from dates who call her beautiful. But this new lifestyle is the last straw for her religious mother Constance.

Thrown out of her family home, Agnes moves in with Emily and the other sugar babies in their fancy London flat and is drawn deeper and deeper into their world. But these women come from they possess a safety net Agnes does not. And as she is thrown from one precarious relationship to the next-a married man who wants to show off the glamourous, exotic girl on his arm; a Russian billionaire's wife who makes Agnes central to a sex party in Miami-she finds herself searching for fulfillment just as desperately as she was before.

A compelling journey of self-discovery that offers sharp commentary on race, beauty, and class, Sugar, Baby is an electric, original, spellbinding novel that will keep readers turning the pages until the very end.]]> 304 Celine Saintclare 1639732462 Stephanie 2 2024, audio, 2-star-reads 3.39 2023 Sugar, Baby
author: Celine Saintclare
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leather & Lark (Ruinous Love, #2)]]> 202329680 “I don’t just want to hear her laugh, I need to earn it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light. Without even realizing it, I’ve become addicted to it. To her.�

From the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the genre-breaking international TikTok sensation Butcher & Blackbird comes the second book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy—a hate-to-love dark romantic comedy packed with danger, chaos, and heat.

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.

And they can’t stand each other.

Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.

There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.

And this one has come for blood.

Tropes:
Hate-to-love
Marriage of convenience
Grumpy / sunshine
He falls first
Groveling, but make it psycho
Touch her/him and die]]> 409 Brynne Weaver 1638931801 Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads 4.13 2024 Leather & Lark (Ruinous Love, #2)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> Trust No One 180345512
When I first found the note, I assumed it was a prank.
But then I am lured to a house where I witness a gruesome murder, and I realise the threat is real.
But who is tormenting me though, and why?

Noah Keen, my boyfriend, is determined to get to the bottom of things, and soon other familiar faces appear from my past. Ones who are connected to a tragic accident that happened when we were teenagers. They too have received similar notes.

Someone knows the truth about what really happened that night in Norfolk.
Someone believes we were responsible and they will not stop until every one of us has been punished.

The perfect read for fans of authors like Clare Mackintosh, Cara Hunter, and Paula Hawkins.

Praise for Keri Beevis 'Another winner from Ms Beevis. A gripping story with plenty of twists and turns' - J.A. Baker

'An atmospheric thriller that grips until the last page. Beevis at her best!' - Diana Wilkinson

'One of my favourite authors! Keri Beevis does it again, with this fast-paced, chilling thriller!' - Amanda Brittany

'Beevis delivers again with a creepy unsettling tale that had me looking nervously over my shoulder' - Valerie Keogh

'Another suspenseful page-turner from this very talented author' - John Nicholl

'Brilliant, chilling, and unputdownable' - Gemma Rogers

‘Beevis has created a dark psychological thriller thick with atmosphere. Cleverly woven threads pull together in a heart-stopping conclusion in this satisfyingly clever tale. Highly recommended� - Diane Saxon

'A disturbingly chilling thriller which is completely gripping. The Sleepover is an intense mystery full of clever twists which I didn't see coming' - Alex Stone]]> 416 Keri Beevis 1785139959 Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads 4.14 2020 Trust No One
author: Keri Beevis
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> Run on Red 61381555
By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills, it’s too late. What seems, at first, like a case of road rage quickly unfolds into a heart-pounding chase—and a battle for survival.

Who are the men in the truck? What do they want? And can Laura and Olivia outrun—and outsmart—them long enough to call for help, even if it means taking their chances in the hills on foot?

As their situation grows more perilous, the girls realize that the real terror has only just begun. But flight won’t save them from their pursuers. If they’re going to make it home alive, they'll have to fight.]]> 291 Noelle W. Ihli Stephanie 2 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads 3.73 2022 Run on Red
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads
review:
Really freaking scary and then really freaking ridiculous, but I’m giving 2 GENEROUS stars for the first half.
]]> Intercepts 45868683 Joe works at a facility that performs human experimentation.
His work just followed him home.

The government wanted to unlock hidden abilities in the human mind.

They put subjects in extreme sensory deprivation.

All the test subjects went violently insane.

But the research continued.

Today it has been perfected.

Almost perfected.


From the author of In My Father's Basement comes another chilling novel that's a must-read for fans of horror. "Gruesome, gripping, and terrifyingly real!"]]> 327 T.J. Payne Stephanie 2 2024, 2-star-reads 4.11 2019 Intercepts
author: T.J. Payne
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/13
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> The Other Mrs. 50748999
But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. It’s their eerie old home, with its decrepit decor and creepy attic, which they inherited from Will’s sister after she died unexpectedly. It’s Will’s disturbed teenage niece Imogen, with her dark and threatening presence. And it’s the troubling past that continues to wear at the seams of their family.

As the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of Morgan’s death. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.]]> 416 Mary Kubica 0778389359 Stephanie 2 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads 3.74 2020 The Other Mrs.
author: Mary Kubica
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads
review:
Meh. It was fine. I figured out the ending really early in the book but still found it somewhat enjoyable I guess ? Truly terrible audio narration.
]]> <![CDATA[What January Remembers (Jolvix Episodes, #3)]]> 62818911 A dysfunctional family holiday, a possible murder, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Jaggers were once a tight-knit family. But after their mother’s tragic death years ago, the four children and their father have drifted further apart. The children grew up, moved away, and now have lives of their own. And Dad? Well, let’s just say his new live-in friend January also has a permanent residence in the uncanny valley.

After a disturbing, violent Christmas two years ago the Jaggers wish they could forget, they’re reuniting in their childhood southern California home dubbed “the Pink Castle� to give celebrating the holidays one more shot this year. But in the days before they gather, the children each get a sinister note that reads Your mother was murdered.

Could this be the bizarre work of January?

Or is one of the Jaggers hiding a horrible, guilty secret?]]> 262 Faith Gardner Stephanie 2 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads 3.77 2022 What January Remembers (Jolvix Episodes, #3)
author: Faith Gardner
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/07
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 2-star-reads
review:

]]> Parents� Weekend 200705251 From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me, comes one of the year’s most anticipated thrillers.

In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner.

At first, everyone thinks that they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon, the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise.

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them—come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?

Told through multiple points of view in past and present—and marking the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift—Parents Weekend explores the weight of expectation, family dysfunction, and those exhilarating first days we all remember in the dorms when our friends become our family.]]> 320 Alex Finlay Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads Meh. Fine but I wanted more. 3.70 2025 Parents’ Weekend
author: Alex Finlay
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:
Meh. Fine but I wanted more.
]]> Maybe This Time 211109423
Finding true love is only a matter of time in this heartfelt and hilarious romantic comedy, starring Zoë Chao (The Afterparty), Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek), and a full cast!

Romance can be a little complicated when you get sucked into a wormhole. Just ask high school English teacher June Flint. One little solar flare happens and suddenly you find yourself 85 years in the future. Eighty-five years from your dream job. Your ailing mother whose only companion in this world is you. Your favorite stuffed-crust pizza from DeLucia’s on Sunday nights.

But when June’s cell phone inexplicably picks up a signal, she’s able to call back to the present—more specifically, four weeks before she accidentally time traveled. Problem is, the phone can only call one number: her work nemesis, gym teacher Mikey Shannon.

Now future June must help Mikey befriend present-day June to keep her from disappearing. But present-day June doesn't even want to be in the same room as Mikey, let alone become besties. And Mikey isn’t exactly...talkie. Yet he’s spending hours a day with future June on the phone, and even more time trying to befriend present-day June. Volunteering with June at school, check. Facing his fear of roller coasters to make June smile, check. Adopting a puppy and letting her name it. Check.

But what does succeeding in the present mean for future June, and for the serious feelings she and Mikey are starting to catch for one another? Stopping time travel is one thing—but can they stop themselves from falling in love?

Full list of narrators: Zoë Chao, Noah Reid, Josh Hurley, Beata Pozniak, Jim Seybert, Emily Lawrence, Tina Wolstencroft, Petrea Burchard, Joel Simler, Aaron Shedlock, Christian Barillas, Eric Yves Garcia, Alex Picard, Lorrie Grant, Andy Garcia-Ruse, Dominic Russo, Ian Hackney.

Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.]]> 6 Cara Bastone Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.84 2024 Maybe This Time
author: Cara Bastone
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Christmas Party 221205055 Christmas can be murder.

When Sasha receives a call from her old university friend Gabby inviting her to spend Christmas at Gabby’s remote Scottish lake house, Sasha knows she shouldn’t go.

Twelve years ago, on Christmas Eve, when Sasha and her five closest friends were celebrating the festive season, something truly horrific happened that would change the course of their friendship forever. Something that meant Sasha hasn’t spoken to any of them since that night.

But Gabby is insistent that they all get together this Christmas, to finally help her move on from the events of that night, so Sasha agrees to go.

Arriving at the sprawling house overlooking a stunning loch, Sasha quickly realises that Gabby has other reasons for getting the six friends together this Christmas. And now Sasha is forced to relive a past she’s tried hard to forget.

People had always told them their friendship wasn’t healthy. That the six of them spent far too much time together. No good would come of it, they said. How could relationships with others work when the six of them were so tightly interwoven?

When a snowstorm isolates them from the outside world, old flames are rekindled and tensions run high, and it soon becomes obvious: nothing that big can stay secret forever.]]> 5 Kathryn Croft Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.17 2024 The Christmas Party
author: Kathryn Croft
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Thicket 58709866
Norah can’t stop thinking about the night her brother died.

She was supposed to stay with him at the Halloween carnival. He’d begged her to stay. But they’d fought, and Norah left him alone in the woods. That was before she realized there was a real killer lurking among the costumes and macabre props.

When the carnival reopens just weeks later amid a media controversy, Norah decides to retrace her brother’s last steps in a desperate attempt to unravel what really happened that night. But the woods hold more than just traumatic memories.

Before long, Norah begins to suspect that the killer's choice of hunting ground was no coincidence. And that this nightmare is far from over.]]> 203 Noelle W. Ihli Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 3.52 The Thicket
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.52
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Just the Nicest Couple 60666845 Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband�

Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.

Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.]]> 320 Mary Kubica 0778333116 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.51 2023 Just the Nicest Couple
author: Mary Kubica
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Keep It in the Family 60109530
Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors.

In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Haunted by the terrible things she saw and desperate to find answers, her obsession pulls her ever further from her husband.

Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family—but is it already too late?]]> 380 John Marrs 1542017289 Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 4.08 2022 Keep It in the Family
author: John Marrs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Bitter House 212703563 Vera Bitter is dead, but her secrets have yet to be buried.

After the tragic death of Bridget’s parents, her grandmother took her in. Vera Bitter raised her from behind a closed door—cold and uncaring from the moment she arrived at Bitter House. After Bridget’s high school graduation, Vera kicked her out without so much as a goodbye, and Bridget never heard from her again. Which is why, when she receives word of Vera’s passing and discovers she’s inherited the family manor, she’s immediately filled with dread.

Those worries are amplified when she arrives at Bitter House after years away to find an enigmatic piece of her past waiting for her. Growing up, there was only one person Bridget distrusted more than her grandmother, and that was Cole Warner—the son of Vera’s house manager and the bane of her childhood existence. Now, he’s her new housemate.

Owning the house she was once forced to leave with a man she’s always despised forces Bridget to confront feelings and questions she’s been running from since the day she was driven away from Bitter House.

Then the first letter arrives.

And with it, a world of secrets, darkness, and deception is unlocked.

Years ago, Bridget tried and failed to find sanctuary inside the shadowy halls of Bitter House, and as she struggles to imagine a future there now, she discovers a terrifying behind the iron gate and stone walls of the old estate, nothing is quite what it seems. Bitter House has secrets and, if she can’t decide whom to trust, danger lies in wait.

From million-copy bestselling author Kiersten Modglin comes a bone-chilling, compulsively page-turning, and achingly addictive thriller set within the walls of a mysterious old manor with a sinister secret.]]> 248 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.85 2024 Bitter House
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Someone in the Attic 202468451 From a #1 internationally bestselling author comes an atmospheric, chilling novel about a family who thinks there's someone hiding in their attic.

“Andrea Mara is a star.� —Lee Child

You thought you were home alone.

Anya is enjoying a relaxing bath when she hears a noise coming from the ceiling. Through the open bathroom door, she sees the attic hatch swing down, and a masked figure drops to the floor. Thirty seconds later, Anya is dead.

You're not afraid of being alone in the dark. You're afraid you're not alone.

Across town, Anya's old school friend, Julia, sees an online video of a masked figure climbing out of an attic. She suddenly realizes why the footage is eerily familiar: it was filmed inside her house in a luxury gated community, designed to keep intruders out.

And now your worst fears are coming true.

Why would a stranger target Julia? Unless of course, it's not a stranger at all.]]> 368 Andrea Mara Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads
2.5 stars]]> 3.63 2024 Someone in the Attic
author: Andrea Mara
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:
I was absolutely infuriated by much of this book.. If your kid tells you that there’s something wrong in your house, listen to them. It’s one of my bookish pet peeves. I will say that I was surprised by the way things turned out and entertained, but I was so frustrated with the lack of common sense.

2.5 stars
]]> A Little Ray of Sunshine 63876577 A kid walks into your bookstore and... guess what? He's your son. The one you put up for adoption eighteen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise!

And a huge surprise it is.

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

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

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

This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined...and as both women learn that for them, there's no limit to a mother's love.]]> 512 Kristan Higgins 0593547616 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.99 2023 A Little Ray of Sunshine
author: Kristan Higgins
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Guest 65213277 New York Times bestselling author B. A. Paris captivated psychological thriller readers everywhere with Behind Closed Doors. Now she invites you into another home full of heart-pounding secrets, in The Guest.

Some secrets never leave.

Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

Laure has walked out on her husband—and their good friend—Pierre, over his confession of an affair and a secret child. Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive of their friends, but as Laure's mood becomes increasingly unpredictable, her presence takes its toll.

Iris and Gabriel's only respite comes in the form of a couple new to town. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past. Soon, secrets from all their pasts will unravel, some more dangerous than they could have known.]]> 308 B.A. Paris 1250289424 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.53 2024 The Guest
author: B.A. Paris
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Ask for Andrea 210326416 Meghan, Brecia, and Skye have just one thing in common.

They were all murdered by the same man.

He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.

He’s gotten away with murder three times now.

The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.

The haunt is on.]]> 295 Noelle W. Ihli Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 4.20 2022 Ask for Andrea
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Room for Rent 171835750 Nya can’t remember the last time she felt safe.

The rundown rental house didn’t seem so bad at first. But now, someone is stealing her food. Rattling her bedroom doorknob. Digging through her belongings.

Each night brings more disturbing incidents. And each night, Nya is more convinced that it’s not an intruder. She suspects the culprit is hiding in plain sight: her peculiar roommate-of-necessity, Sidney.

Nya can’t afford to live anywhere else. The horrible rental is her only option. In a few months, she’ll finish her final semester of college—and get the hell out of dodge. But to her horror, the sinister mind games are just the beginning. Before long, she’s forced to face the possibility that her physical safety may be at risk. Maybe even her life.

The truth is more terrifying than Nya could have guessed. And as the situation spirals out of control, it’s suddenly clear that surviving the night may no longer be an option.]]> 342 Noelle W. Ihli Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 3.60 2023 Room for Rent
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Wrong Key 76238810 Steph accepted this job to find herself.
She never expected to lose her daughter.

When her US work colleague is involved in a serious car accident, London-based Steph Knight is sent to New York to provide cover. After her recent divorce, it’s the perfect opportunity for a fresh start and for Steph to spend some time with her teenage daughter, Ellie, a gifted musician, before she leaves for university.

Soon after arriving, Steph meets Edward, a corporate lawyer, who leads Ellie to bartender Jack, a bioethics student on his summer break. As both relationships intensify, Steph begins to uncover a web of corruption within her company that seemingly reaches right to the top. Feeling increasingly threatened, she has no idea who she can trust. Not even the men they’ve fallen for are beyond suspicion.

And then the unthinkable happens. Ellie disappears.

When she receives a menacing text message, Steph learns Ellie has been kidnapped.

The clock is ticking. Ellie’s life is in danger. And so is Steph’s.

Terrified, far from home, and with no one to trust, Steph must draw on her inner strength to save her daughter� even if it kills her.]]> 273 A.J. Campbell Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 4.20 2023 The Wrong Key
author: A.J. Campbell
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Safe and Sound 194803837
In a town no one ever leaves, there are only so many places to hide.

As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving only a smear of blood on a door. Scrappy and driven, Grace had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and going to work at the meatpacking plant. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better.

Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about getting out of Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace—but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.

Amelia and Kylee vow to find Grace, dead or alive. But as they draw closer to the truth and slip deeper into danger, they question how far someone would go to put a woman in her place, or to cover up a crime. The answer is worse than they could have imagined, and in the end, it won’t just be Grace they’re trying to save—they’ll have to fight for their lives.]]> 304 Laura McHugh 0593448855 Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 3.70 2024 Safe and Sound
author: Laura McHugh
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Last One at the Wedding 203579177 From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.]]> 338 Jason Rekulak 1250895782 Stephanie 3 audio, 2024, 3-star-reads 3.61 2024 The Last One at the Wedding
author: Jason Rekulak
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Bad Tourists 199798187 Three tight-knit friends embark on an extravagant divorce trip to the Maldives where they can unwind and celebrate a new chapter in midlife—until they realize the resort of their dreams is harboring a killer.

Best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset, and embrace a fresh start in life. Darcy is learning how to be a free woman at forty-two. Camilla has found the perfect calling as a fitness and wellness influencer with a devoted following. And Kate is finally working on the book she was meant to write after years of telling other people’s stories.

Their dream getaway? The exclusive and isolated Sapphire Island Resort. With luxurious private villas, crystal-clear waters, and sun-drenched white sand beaches, relaxation is guaranteed. But this is no ordinary friendship, and they’re not the only guests on the island with secrets. Who left the body on the beach—and who’s next?

A propulsive and deliciously dark tale about female friendship, loyalty, and lies, Bad Tourists is a white-hot thriller from the first word to its mind-blowing finish.]]> 336 Caro Carver 1668058847 Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
2.5 stars.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press for a complimentary copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. ]]> 3.62 2024 Bad Tourists
author: Caro Carver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:
Started off strong then dragggeeedddd so much until the very end. I almost DNFed. The ending was highly interesting and unexpected though.

2.5 stars.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press for a complimentary copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

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


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


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

]]> 360 Brynne Weaver Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 3.99 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Amendment (The Arrangement, #2)]]> 59883984
First, there was the arrangement.
A simple, yet salacious fix to the problems looming in their marriage.
But when things took a tragic turn, Peter’s and Ainsley’s lives quickly fell into disarray.

Now, their secrets have been exposed.
They know the truth—about each other and their marriage.
As they struggle to move on from their past and the damage they’ve caused, new problems begin to surface.

Someone they love is hiding a catastrophic secret. The fragile ground they stand on is starting to crumble. Their family is being torn apart at the seams. And, maybe worst of all, a threat from the past is lurking, ready to unveil the things they’d kill to keep hidden.

They thought the nightmare they’d made it through was over, but the worst is just beginning�

Once, they vowed to do anything to make their marriage work.
Now, that vow will push every boundary they have left.

In order to survive, they’ll need to completely trust each other.
But can they?
Last time they did, things went terribly wrong�
This time, it might be worse.
If there’s one thing that’s certain, their secrets are too big to let anyone walk away alive.]]> 214 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 4.00 2022 The Amendment (The Arrangement, #2)
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Atonement (The Arrangement, #3)]]> 61165763
First, there was THE ARRANGEMENT—a scandalous story about Peter and Ainsley Greenburg’s attempt to fix their marriage, no matter the cost.
Next, came THE AMENDMENT—with their darkest secrets revealed, the couple set out in a treacherous attempt to repair what had been broken.
Now, Peter and Ainsley’s marriage will be put to one final test with THE ATONEMENT.

Ainsley Greenburg has always been a fixer.
But her latest attempt to repair her marriage left it more damaged than ever before.

Now, trapped in a vicious game of cat and mouse with the man she thought she knew, Ainsley must do what it takes to put out the fire their arrangement ignited.
But it won’t be that simple.

As Peter closes in on her, Ainsley finds herself driven down a path of paranoia and fear.
Her only hope lies in her ability to trust her instincts, but they’ve let her down before.
This time, there’s so much more at stake, and the secrets waiting to be revealed will change everything.

Whom can she trust when her world is up in flames?
One wrong decision could cost her everything she has left—her family, her home, and her life.

And, with a final showdown looming, Ainsley must decide what she's willing to let burn in order to survive.
As the blaze continues to heat up, it's only a matter of time before someone must atone for their sins.]]> 232 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 3.91 1969 The Atonement (The Arrangement, #3)
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/05
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Like a Mother 63007161
Sarah and Adam Morgan had the perfect suburban a beautiful house, an adorable daughter, a baby on the way, and a once-in-a-lifetime love. They were the couple everyone envied–until Adam died. 

In the wake of his death, Adam’s secrets begin to emerge. The first comes out when a woman named Candace introduces herself to Sarah as Adam’s mother. Adam had always said his mother was dead, so either Adam was lying to her, or this woman is not who she says she is. 

Candace proves that Adam was her son, but she admits that her relationship with her son was strained. But she’s still Sarah’s mother-in-law, and she’s here to help. Struggling with finances after Adam’s death, Sarah agrees to move in with Candace and to accept her help with her toddler and her pregnancy. 

Living in Adam’s childhood home, Sarah begins to understand the life he had before they met–the life he buried along with his relationship with his mother. When Sarah notices Candace’s strange obsession with her pregnancy, and the house begins to feel less like salvation and more like a cage, she realizes that Candace might not be the caring mother-in-law she seems. Maybe Adam had good reason to pretend that his mother was dead.]]> 240 Mina Hardy 1639106243 Stephanie 3 3.51 2024 Like a Mother
author: Mina Hardy
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Royal Valentine (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #6)]]> 200034641
Princess Ilaria has had it up to her tiara with the paparazzi, her own wild reputation, and the public eye. Trading places with her assistant, Ilaria wants just one blissfully ordinary weekend. Then a handsome photographer with a sexy Scottish burr offers to be her guide. Sparks fly, but how long can they last? Ilaria’s secret has to come out—and it could ruin a perfectly serendipitous romance.

Sariah Wilson’s Royal Valentine is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.]]> 71 Sariah Wilson Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.14 2024 Royal Valentine (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #6)
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:
Probably my least favorite of the set of stories- it’s basically just a direct ripoff of Roman Holiday. It’s my favorite movie of all time, so it’s pretty hard to live up to. Perfectly serviceable and cute, though, and the audio narrator was great!
]]> <![CDATA[Violet Is Nowhere (Jolvix Episodes, #2)]]> 62054171 Everything on the line.

Rising rock star Violet is kidnapped from her Los Angeles home, waking up locked in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a mysterious note and a burner phone that only dials one unfamiliar number.

Construction worker Bud answers a call from his Bay Area apartment and a stranger’s on the line claiming to have been kidnapped and locked in a cabin.

The note says they have one week to figure out the connection between them. Otherwise someone out there—or something—will take her life.

This psychological thriller is part of The Jolvix Episodes.]]> 268 Faith Gardner Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 3.31 2022 Violet Is Nowhere (Jolvix Episodes, #2)
author: Faith Gardner
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/27
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Romantic Comedy 62628727 A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamily handsome pop star flips the script on all her assumptions. Romantic Comedy is a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from New York Times–bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld.

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.]]> 309 Curtis Sittenfeld 0399590943 Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 3.60 2023 Romantic Comedy
author: Curtis Sittenfeld
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:
This was a little more acerbic and dry than my usual reads but I ended up really liking it. I so identified with Sally’s self doubt and self sabotage. Her inner monologue was super relatable to me. I found the political ideology pretty heavy handed (even though I agree with plenty of it)- it came across as pretty preachy. I loved the behind the scenes SNL stuff though.
]]> A Man Downstairs 202514148
From the acclaimed author of An Unthinkable Thing and Hideaway, a breath-stopping novel of suspense about a woman tormented by memories of the past and threatened by long-held secrets in the present.

Molly Wynters has moved back to her small hometown to care for her father, recently felled by a stroke and no longer able to communicate. She is ready to make a fresh start with her son after her divorce, but is haunted by both old events and new realities in her childhood home.

What Molly recalls of her young life with her father is full of love and care, even though a violent trauma defined her when she was a young girl, she witnessed her mother’s murder, and her testimony � “There was a man downstairs� � sent a teenager to prison. This tragic episode is still very much alive in the culture of the town, and the more Molly remembers, the more she fears that what she said on the stand all those years ago might not have been the whole truth.

After Molly, a trained therapist, volunteers for a local helpline, the threats begin. At first they seem random, but soon Molly realizes that she is a target, and even those closest to her seem suspicious, especially as unsuspected links between them emerge. More than one life was destroyed on that horrific long-ago day, and now someone intends to hold Molly accountable.

With its gripping descent into the shadowy corners of the human psyche A Man Downstairs is both an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride and a masterful exploration of the fragile nature of memory.]]> 432 Nicole Lundrigan 0735242720 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.60 2024 A Man Downstairs
author: Nicole Lundrigan
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/26
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:
Perfectly serviceable thriller. Kept me listening, but wasn’t anything earth shattering and I suspect I will forget it relatively quickly.
]]> The Search Party 176451530
Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their twelve-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears.

Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room, and the catastrophic weekend, The Search Party is a propulsive and twisty destination thriller about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children—perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.]]> 338 Hannah Richell 1668036061 Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
Thank you to atria books for a complementary advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. ]]> 3.64 2024 The Search Party
author: Hannah Richell
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/11
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:
This is a perfectly serviceable/solid locked room thriller. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat by any means but sometimes I just enjoy a good whodunit. I really enjoyed the setting and concept, but for some reason I simply could not keep the characters straight.

Thank you to atria books for a complementary advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
]]> She's Not Sorry 140111148
Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom to a teenage daughter and working as a full time nurse. While on duty at the hospital one day, a patient named Caitlin arrives in a coma with a traumatic brain injury, having jumped from a bridge and plunging over twenty feet to the train tracks below. 

But when a witness comes forward with shocking details about the fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was Caitlin  pushed  and if so, by whom and why? 

Meghan has always tried to stay emotionally detached from her patients, but this time, she mistakenly lets herself get too close until she’s deeply entangled in Caitlin’s and her family’s lives. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims.]]> 330 Mary Kubica 0778308065 Stephanie 3 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads 3.77 2024 She's Not Sorry
author: Mary Kubica
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/12
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 3-star-reads
review:
Super fun to listen to, but ultimately this suffered from a case of too many subplots, and too many red herrings. Plus, all of the characters were just absolutely awful and unlikable.
]]> House of Glass 195790531
A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?]]> 341 Sarah Pekkanen 125028399X Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 3.84 2024 House of Glass
author: Sarah Pekkanen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/26
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:
I'm sorry to say this one just didn't work for me, and I say that as a huge Sarah Pekkanen fan. It was just...disjointed and stilted and didn't pack the punch that her novels usually do. 2.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Drop, Cover, and Hold On (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #4)]]> 200033957
This Valentine’s Day, Daisy Murray has her heart set on binge-watching rom-coms. Instead, an earthquake traps her inside a bakery with its impossibly rude and insufferably handsome owner and head baker. They already have a history: she’s always smiled, he’s always scowled. Where better to finally get to know each other than amid the disaster? Then again, they have no choice. Besides, it could have its sweet, undeniable, and unpredictable perks.

Jasmine Guillory’s Drop, Cover, and Hold On is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.]]> 40 Jasmine Guillory 1662519834 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads Swoooooon the chemistry was 2.93 2024 Drop, Cover, and Hold On (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #4)
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Stephanie
average rating: 2.93
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:
Swoooooon the chemistry was
]]> The Lost Story 199927030 The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons� investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.]]> 352 Meg Shaffer 0593598873 Stephanie 3 2024, arc, 3-star-reads I certainly enjoyed it but it fell short for me in a couple of areas. I feel like it was almost YA? Adult Rafe and Jeremy seemed super juvenile- I felt that a lot of the dialogue was immature and a bit cringey? The narrator was jarring and took me out of the story every single time. That said, it was certainly whimsical and sweet. I'll definitely continue to read anything Meg Shaffer writes.

3.5 stars]]> 3.78 2024 The Lost Story
author: Meg Shaffer
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, arc, 3-star-reads
review:
I am a Meg Shaffer super fan and oh how I wanted to LOVE this book.
I certainly enjoyed it but it fell short for me in a couple of areas. I feel like it was almost YA? Adult Rafe and Jeremy seemed super juvenile- I felt that a lot of the dialogue was immature and a bit cringey? The narrator was jarring and took me out of the story every single time. That said, it was certainly whimsical and sweet. I'll definitely continue to read anything Meg Shaffer writes.

3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires, #1)]]> 199070596 Julian
If I ever caught on fire, Dahlia Muñoz would fan the flames with a smile.
So, when she returns to Lake Wisteria, I fully intend to avoid the interior designer.
At least until my meddling mother exploits my savior complex.
The faster I help Dahlia find her creative spark, the sooner she will leave town.
But while I was busy getting rid of Dahlia, I overlooked one potential issue.
What happens if I want her to stay?

Dahlia
People say the devil has many faces, but I know only one.
Julian Lopez—my childhood rival and family frenemy.
I vow to steer clear of him while recovering from my broken engagement, but then the billionaire makes an irresistible offer.
Renovate a historic house together and triple our profits.
Our temporary truce becomes compromised as we face years� worth of denied attraction and mixed emotions.
Giving into our desire is inevitable…but falling in love?
That isn’t part of the plan.

Love Redesigned is a steamy, small town romance about two family friends-turned-childhood rivals. It is the first book in the standalone Lakefront Billionaires series and has a happy ending.]]> 530 Lauren Asher Stephanie 3 romance, 2024, 3-star-reads 4.00 2023 Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires, #1)
author: Lauren Asher
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: romance, 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> If Something Happens to Me 195790670
With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He's put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me�

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

In classic Alex Finlay form, If Something Happens to Me is told from several distinct, compelling characters whose paths intersect, detonating into a story of twist after pulse-pounding twist. The story cements Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.]]> 324 Alex Finlay 1250863791 Stephanie 3 3.69 2024 If Something Happens to Me
author: Alex Finlay
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, to-review, 3-star-reads
review:
It kills me to say this as an Alex Finlay fan but this was just…fine. I figured out every single plot point and twist before it happened (like every.single.one). Usually I’m an advocate for not letting that ruin your reading experience but in this case, it just came across as predictable. Also what’s up with the zillion Chipotle mentions??
]]> The Nothing Man 51166217
Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man--the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family's killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim's not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Jim soon beings to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first ...]]> 288 Catherine Ryan Howard 1538519739 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 4.05 2020 The Nothing Man
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Twenty Years Later 57940030 The New York Times Best Thrillers This Season | E! News Recommended Books | Overdrive Biggest Books of the Month

Fans of Verity by Colleen Hoover won’t want to miss this thrilling new suspense novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Girl Who Was Taken! Hiding her own dark past in plain sight, a TV reporter is determined to uncover the truth behind a gruesome murder decades after the investigation was abandoned. But TWENTY YEARS LATER, to understand the present, you need to listen to the past�

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victori
Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life just the beginning. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will.]]> 304 Charlie Donlea Stephanie 3 2024, 3-star-reads 4.35 2021 Twenty Years Later
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/09
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> Our Little Secret 58505610 The locals make sure of it.

So, when the residents of the town’s most exclusive subdivision discover one of their own is missing, it sends a wave of panic and discord throughout the neighborhood.

They are supposed to be safe.
But they quickly realize not everything is as it once seemed in their idyllic world.
Slowly, the cracks have begun to show, revealing the dark and devious truth behind their home, their neighbors, and the lengths some people will go to protect their secrets.

Someone’s missing.
Someone’s dead.
Everyone’s lying.

In a town full of masterfully woven webs, these six friends are about to watch their world unravel. And, if they’re not careful, one of them might be the next to disappear�

When everyone you know is a liar, how do you decide whom to trust?]]> 300 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.87 2021 Our Little Secret
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Outsider 36124936
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.]]> 561 Stephen King 1501180983 Stephanie 3 2024, audio, 3-star-reads 3.98 2018 The Outsider
author: Stephen King
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 3-star-reads
review:

]]> The Retirement Plan 217223450 Three middle-aged best friends turn to murder in order to collect on their husbands� life insurance policies…but are unaware that their husbands have a devious plan of their own, in this darkly funny debut—perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club ԻEveryone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

Three wives wanting a new life, three husbands in their way�

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong, and their dreams of beachfront condos and a sunny, carefree retirement vanish. The golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.

But when one husband dies in a freak accident, the other three women are shocked to see his widow rebound with a huge life insurance payout and a new life in Florida. In the aftermath, the women discover that their husbands have identical, seven-figure life insurance policies. A new dream forms, and this time, it involves a hitman.

Meanwhile, their husbands have a secret retirement plan of their own. So, when things begin to go awry, they fear their own scheme may have backfired…with deadly consequences. The husbands scramble to stay alive, but they may not be fast enough to outmaneuver their wives.

What follows is a high-stakes tale of cat and mouse, both laugh-out-loud funny and unbearably tense, while ultimately a bighearted look at marriage, friendship, and middle-age. 


]]> 336 Sue Hincenbergs 006339801X Stephanie 4 2024, arc, 4-star-reads 3.97 2025 The Retirement Plan
author: Sue Hincenbergs
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, arc, 4-star-reads
review:
Fun and quirky and chaotic in the best way. Reminds me of a Mary Kay Andrews book mixed with a touch of Finley Donovan. Might have been a 5 star read, but a weird/ jarringly rude moment at the very end took me out of the moment . Still a fun ride.
]]> Pick-Up 207298319 Harkening to the witty and swoon-worthy rom-coms of Christina Lauren and Kate Clayborn, a new enemies-to-lovers romp whisking us from the stress of city life to lush Caribbean beaches.

Sasha Rubinstein is not on her game. Parenting with an absent (and objectively douchey) ex has never been easy, but, lately, the judgmental side-eye from people at school pick-up feels extra. It doesn’t help that some entitled dad—with his perfect t-shirts and perfectly punchable (yet adorable) face—keeps stealing the last after-school spots and school hoodies out from under her.

Ethan Jones is not trying to trip Sasha up� at school or otherwise. In fact, ever since they met (which she promptly forgot), he’s been hoping for the exact opposite…or at least to stop thinking about her.

When a game-changing job lands them trapped together on an exclusive private island, they resolve to stop sniping at each other and keep things professional. But with tension building between them and the permeating intoxication of island time, temptation blows in on every tropical breeze.]]> 368 Nora Dahlia 1668061163 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.58 2024 Pick-Up
author: Nora Dahlia
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
Thank you, Jesus for heroines over 40! More stories like this please. This book was absolutely adorable � fans of Annabel Monaghan and Amy Poeppel will love it!
]]> When She Was Gone 217953376
The pulse-pounding new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of You Don't Know Me

Rose once walked away from her daughter. Now she may be the only one who can save her.

Former London police officer Rose Campbell has been estranged from her daughter, Lou, for almost a decade. But when Lou disappears from a remote beach in Western Australian--and the police suspect her of kidnapping the two young children in her care--Rose is asked to help bring Lou home.

This is the final case in DSS Mal Blackwood's illustrious career--and there's a lot riding on it. The missing children are heirs to the Fisher property empire, and while their multimillionaire grandfather is breathing down Blackwood's neck, the media storm is intensifying. Faced with a deluge of evidence and accusations, Blackwood doesn't know who he can trust.

Rose arrives in Australia intent on proving her daughter's innocence, but how can she be sure of that when she's no longer part of Lou's life? Meanwhile, as Blackwood begins to expose the Fishers' secrets, the investigation takes a dark turn. Shadows of the past gather around the Fishers, and Rose, and soon it's clear that every hour is critical. What has happened to Lou and the children? And can Rose and Blackwood find them in time?]]> 320 Sara Foster 1094094056 Stephanie 4 2024, arc, 4-star-reads 3.91 When She Was Gone
author: Sara Foster
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, arc, 4-star-reads
review:
What a fantastic, solid thriller. No twists and turns just for shock value and cheap entertainment, no plot holes- just a good old fashioned mystery set in the Australian bush. BRB - off to read everything Sara Foster has written !
]]> A Very Bad Thing 202991908 From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a taut thriller about one author at the pinnacle of her career, whose past threatens to destroy everything she has—and everyone she knows.

A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.

With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead in a pool of blood.

Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on—at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author’s illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won’t stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?]]> 446 J.T. Ellison 1662520328 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 4.16 2024 A Very Bad Thing
author: J.T. Ellison
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> The Glass Girl 208430624
There’s only one thing that dulls the pressure: alcohol. Vodka, beer, peppermint schnapps—alcohol smooths the sharp edges of Bella’s life. And what’s the big deal? Everyone drinks. Besides, Bella can stop whenever she wants. But after she gets blackout drunk at a Thanksgiving party and wakes up in the hospital, it’s time to face reality. And for Bella, reality means rehab.]]> 464 Kathleen Glasgow 0525708081 Stephanie 4 audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
Note: I listened to this on audio and it was good but somewhat grating and frenetic . I recommend the physical version .
]]> 4.31 2024 The Glass Girl
author: Kathleen Glasgow
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Kathleen Glasgow books are always beautiful and painfully brutal, as a former teen girl and as a mom of teen girls. This book is an unflinching and raw look at alcoholism and addiction and I think Glasgow was incredibly brave to write it. Make sure that you don’t miss the author’s note.

Note: I listened to this on audio and it was good but somewhat grating and frenetic . I recommend the physical version .

]]> The Hidden 218532224
Except…the date is nowhere to be found.
No one is.

The space she finds herself in is completely nondescript—the walls bare, fridge empty.
And just when she thought things couldn’t get bleaker or more confusing, she realizes the doors are locked from the outside.

Trapped inside an unfamiliar place and faced with a clock counting down to a mysterious deadline, Sophie tries desperately to recall the hours missing from her memory and formulate a plan to escape, but each attempt proves more futile than the last.

Hidden away from the world and unable to contact the people who would care that she’s missing, Sophie has two questions ringing in her mind: Who would bring her to this place? And why?

When she’s joined in her personal prison by someone she never thought she’d see again, everything changes and the idea of her being a random target instantly vanishes.

Whoever brought Sophie to this place has plans for her and, if she can’t figure out a way to escape before time runs out, her fate may be to remain hidden forever.

Ominous, dark, and completely disturbing, this pulse-pounding thriller from the twisted mind of million-copy bestselling author Kiersten Modglin is unlike anything you’ve read before.]]> 248 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 4 3.52 2024 The Hidden
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, arc, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> Prime Time Romance 205846802 Is love on the small screen better than the real thing?

A young divorcée finds herself in the ideal world of her favorite 2000s teen soap in this “gleefully nostalgic and completely fresh�* romance from the author of This Spells Love.

Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted (but has failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after.

The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson’s Cove might not be as perfect as seen on television . . . especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist no one has expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?]]> 336 Kate Robb 0593596552 Stephanie 4 2024, romance, 4-star-reads 3.53 2024 Prime Time Romance
author: Kate Robb
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, romance, 4-star-reads
review:
This book is adorable. It’s the perfect balance of nostalgia, magical realism, and romance and I couldn’t get enough. Fans of Rebecca Serle and Ashley Poston will love Kate Robb!
]]> Promise Me Sunshine 214269328 Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of... a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again� list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.]]> 416 Cara Bastone 0593595734 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads
That said, I kind of had a complicated relationship with this book.

I started it on my Kindle over a month ago and then I put it down and didn’t revisit. I have a difficult time with super millennial quirky girl books if that makes sense. I find zany girls , but also a little bit annoying. The main character in this book is extremely quirky. She has an odd habit of imagining specific scenarios about every man she meets, and it was distracting.

The first half of this book was probably a three to me. But the depiction of grief was a five throughout the book. I loved Miles, but he really seemed like a friend and once it turned into friends to lovers, I had a difficult time making the leap to lover.

I would not categorize this as a romcom. It is incredibly sad and deep and insightful. And also it is the most slow burn slow burn I’ve ever read. I don’t think there is any romance until 90%? Which I didn’t mind because like I said, I loved their friendship.

I ended up settling on a four because like I said, the grief aspect was absolutely phenomenal.


]]> 4.22 2025 Promise Me Sunshine
author: Cara Bastone
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/12
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Let me start off by saying that I love Cara Bastone. I think she is just the real deal and I adore her.

That said, I kind of had a complicated relationship with this book.

I started it on my Kindle over a month ago and then I put it down and didn’t revisit. I have a difficult time with super millennial quirky girl books if that makes sense. I find zany girls , but also a little bit annoying. The main character in this book is extremely quirky. She has an odd habit of imagining specific scenarios about every man she meets, and it was distracting.

The first half of this book was probably a three to me. But the depiction of grief was a five throughout the book. I loved Miles, but he really seemed like a friend and once it turned into friends to lovers, I had a difficult time making the leap to lover.

I would not categorize this as a romcom. It is incredibly sad and deep and insightful. And also it is the most slow burn slow burn I’ve ever read. I don’t think there is any romance until 90%? Which I didn’t mind because like I said, I loved their friendship.

I ended up settling on a four because like I said, the grief aspect was absolutely phenomenal.



]]> Cross My Heart 214152422 She has his dead wife’s heart; the one she wants is his. The author of The Family Plot brings her signature prose to a twisty novel about a heart transplant patient who becomes romantically obsessed with her donor’s husband.

Rosie Lachlan wants nothing more than to find The One.

A year after she was dumped in her wedding dress, she’s working at her parents� bridal salon, anxious for a happy ending that can’t come soon enough. After receiving a life-saving heart transplant, Rosie knows her health is precious and precarious. She suspects her heart donor is Daphne Thorne, the wife of local celebrity author Morgan Thorne, who she begins messaging via an anonymous service called DonorConnect, ostensibly to learn more about Daphne. But Rosie has a secret: She’s convinced that now that she has his wife’s heart, she and Morgan are meant to be together.

As she and Morgan correspond, the pretense of avoiding personal details soon disappears, even if Rosie’s keeping some cards close to her chest. But as she digs deeper into Morgan’s previous marriage, she discovers disturbing rumors about the man she’s falling for. Could Morgan have had something to do with his late wife’s death? And can Rosie’s heart sustain another break—or is she next?]]> 309 Megan Collins 1668048078 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads
Wild and unhinged - like a much better written Frieda McFadden book. ]]> 3.60 2025 Cross My Heart
author: Megan Collins
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
3.5 stars

Wild and unhinged - like a much better written Frieda McFadden book.
]]> One of Our Own 203146256 A suicide prevention hotline volunteer answers a call that turns her world upside down in this edge-of-your-seat audio original thriller by the bestselling author of The Perfect Child and The Best of Friends, performed by A.J. Cook (Criminal Minds) and Tessa Albertson (Younger).

Felicia, a single mother and lawyer by day, volunteers at a local crisis center to give back to her tightknit community in a small Wisconsin town. One night, she answers a horrifying call: through tears, a frantic teenage girl tells her that she was a victim of sexual assault at a local house party.

Felicia is shocked, and breaking protocol, she begins communicating with the girl on her own, determined to keep her safe and hold her assailants accountable. But as she gets closer and closer to the truth, she can’t shake the feeling that she and the girl are connected by more than the phone call. As the girl shares more details, Felicia begins to think the unthinkable—someone close to her may be involved in this heinous crime.

As Felicia earns the girl’s trust and more facts emerge about the incident, she faces a gut-wrenching battle between her protective instincts and the moral responsibility to do what’s right. This taut thriller is the perfect listen for fans of The Push, Wrong Place Wrong Time, and We Need to Talk About Kevin.]]> Lucinda Berry Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.88 2024 One of Our Own
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
Good but seemed somewhat incomplete to me for some reason. 3.5 stars
]]> Worst Case Scenario 210331622 Following her explosive debut thriller Falling and its harrowing follow-up Drowning, #1 internationally bestselling author T.J. Newman is back with Worst Case Scenario.

When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications.

The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now.

In this heart-stopping thriller, ordinary people—power plant employees, firefighters, teachers, families, neighbors, and friends� are thrust into an extraordinary situation as they face the ultimate test of their lives. It will take the combined courage, ingenuity, and determination of a brave few to save not only their community and loved ones, but the fate of humanity at large.]]> 336 T.J. Newman 0316576794 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
Luckily it gets a little less terrifying, although intense in a throughly different way.

This would have been 5 stars but I got a bit bogged down in the jargon and minutiae- and there were a couple of super cheesy moments.

I loved the portrayal of a small town with grit and heart.]]> 4.05 2024 Worst Case Scenario
author: T.J. Newman
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish this one. By chapter two my hands were shaking so hard- I couldn’t get a good grip on the book.

Luckily it gets a little less terrifying, although intense in a throughly different way.

This would have been 5 stars but I got a bit bogged down in the jargon and minutiae- and there were a couple of super cheesy moments.

I loved the portrayal of a small town with grit and heart.
]]> Do Not Open 199211629
The message—simple yet utterly life-changing—offers a glimmer of hope to her dismal existence. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and if she takes it, it could change everything.

Mari’s immediate sense of unease is eclipsed only by her curiosity—elicited from the supposed fan on the other end of the email. Unsatisfied despite doing her due diligence, and with no way to discern the legitimacy of the sender, Mari takes a leap of faith and replies.


What harm could come from one innocent message?

Soon, as she comes face to face with her ‘number one fan,� it’s all too clear things are not what they first appeared. Now trapped by a villain far more sinister than she could’ve crafted herself, the fate awaiting her is inspired by the darkest depths of the monsters in her own novels.

In order to escape and survive, Mari must use the strength of the heroines she’s spent years writing about. But this villain has spent years inside her worlds, too.

How will she defeat an evil who has learned from the best?

For fans of Misery, YOU, and Behind Closed Doors, million-copy bestselling author Kiersten Modglin brings us a haunting tale of obsession and survival in the form of a writer’s worst nightmare come to life.]]> 206 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.93 2023 Do Not Open
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> The Return of Ellie Black 199798460
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.]]> 299 Emiko Jean 1668023938 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.97 2024 The Return of Ellie Black
author: Emiko Jean
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> Humor Me 195391615
Presley Fry is not amused. She’s been an assistant at the Late Night Show for way too long, she’s adopted a “business casual� approach to dating to save herself from the embarrassment of seeking genuine connection, and she’s content to allow her gregarious roommate, Isabelle, to orchestrate her entire social life. And yet, Presley is absolutely enamored with her job and the world of stand-up comedy. The joy she finds in discovering up-and-coming comedians, the beauty and connection in their shared humor―it’s enough for now.

Enter Susan Clark, the childhood best friend of Presley’s late mother, whose death still knocks the wind out of Presley whenever she reaches for the phone. Susan is married to the head of the network where Presley works, and she is determined to take Presley under her wing and ease her way through life in the big city. She’s also determined to connect Presley with her son, the bright and affable Lawrence, who couldn’t be further from Presley’s type.

As Presley grapples with the loss of her mother and finds her people among those who seek out comedy to make the world a bit brighter, Humor Me reminds us that friendship can emerge from where you least expect it and that shared laughter can ease some of the deepest pain.]]> 320 Cat Shook 1250904714 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.63 2024 Humor Me
author: Cat Shook
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
I felt a little old for this one but I found it witty and enjoyable.
]]> The Days I Loved You Most 198189780 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Today Show Pick

Unforgettable and utterly romantic, The Days I Loved You Most is an emotional, life-affirming novel that asks, What if you could write the final chapter of your own love story?

In the summer of 1941, on the New England shores where they were raised, Evelyn and Joseph fell in love. Now, more than sixty years later, with a lifetime between them, they have gathered their three grown children to share the staggering news: she has received a heartbreaking diagnosis, and he can't live without her. So in one year's time they will end their love story on their own terms.

Over the next year, the couple retraces their past—all the joys and regrets that brought them to this moment. They embark on a journey to live out their greatest dreams and to connect with each of their children. But as their final days draw closer, they must confront the stark reality of what's to come, and make peace with the legacy they will leave behind for their family.

Spanning the twentieth century from World War II to 9/11 and beyond, The Days I Loved You Most is a timeless tale of unwavering devotion -- a moving tribute to the enduring power of love and a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is always hope and beauty to be found.]]> 336 Amy Neff Stephanie 4 audio, 2024, 4-star-reads 3.96 2024 The Days I Loved You Most
author: Amy Neff
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
This is a beautiful story of family and commitment and love. It's both heartbreaking and uplifting. It would have been five stars, but the middle was a bit slow and some of the audio narration was...not good. But I bet if I would have read the hard copy it would have been 5 stars!
]]> Hemlock 197792760
Thirteen years ago, Maggie Ellis left her small town and vowed to never return. In her rearview mirror were two men she loved and an ominous secret that would forever haunt her.

Now, tragedy has brought her back, and she’s determined to forget that fateful night. But in a town like Myers, with familiar faces and chilling memories lurking around every corner, moving on is easier said than done.

Before the ink can dry on the closing documents for her new residence, Maggie begins to feel unsettled. In every room, there’s the unmistakable sensation she’s being watched. The strange sounds, odd smells, and bizarre occurrences only add to her paranoia.

There’s something sinister about her new home�

When she discovers the devastating truth about the house and its grim history, Maggie’s worst fears are realized. In order to survive, she must unearth the secrets she’d always planned to keep buried.

After all, they say that home is where the heart is, but as Maggie knows, home is also where the skeletons lie.

Seamlessly blurring the edges between psychological thriller and romantic suspense, million-copy bestselling author Kiersten Modglin brings us a dark and twisted romantic thriller, perfect for fans of Verity , Tell Me Lies , The Ghost Writer , and YOU .]]> 404 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 4.19 2023 Hemlock
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> Baby X 173476065 When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder—or the craziest stalker—in this propulsive thriller.

With a vivid imagining of the future, _Gattaca _meets Black Mirror in Kira Peikoff’s Baby X.

In the near-future United States, where advanced technology can create eggs or sperm from any person’s cells, celebrities face the alarming potential of meeting biological children they never conceived. Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety.

Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks—discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes—and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip—love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off.

Brilliantly plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Baby X is an unpredictable and relentless speculative thriller perfect for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.]]> 326 Kira Peikoff 1639106332 Stephanie 4 3.82 2024 Baby X
author: Kira Peikoff
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, sci-fi, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> The Husbands 193781998 An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?]]> 352 Holly Gramazio 0385550618 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.5 stars 3.50 2024 The Husbands
author: Holly Gramazio
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/09
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[The Other Side of Disappearing]]> 139923147 From the acclaimed author of Georgie, All Along and Love Lettering, a pitch-perfect, radiantly transporting love story about an unexpected road trip, true crime obsessions, and hard won vulnerability�

Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .]]> 373 Kate Clayborn 1496737318 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.67 2024 The Other Side of Disappearing
author: Kate Clayborn
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> The Unraveling 199797651 This chilling, sizzling, and addictive thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Vi Keeland follows a New York psychiatrist’s dark descent into dangerous obsession.

This isn’t a love story.

It’s a story about obsession.

After experiencing a terrible loss, New York City psychiatrist Meredith McCall feels painfully adrift. When she crosses paths with a man with whom she has a tragic connection, she follows him, sparking an unhealthy obsession with Gabriel Wright. How is he doing so well while her life is in shambles?

But when Gabriel walks into her office as a patient, seemingly unaware of who she is, she knows it crosses all ethical and moral bounds to treat him. Yet, Meredith can’t bring herself to turn him away and becomes further entangled. With her life and career continuing to unravel, it appears that things could not get any worse…until they do.]]> 291 Vi Keeland 1668046857 Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads 3.83 2024 The Unraveling
author: Vi Keeland
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/04
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
Oooh I devoured this twisty, messy novel in under 24 hours. I didn’t try to figure out what was happening, I just enjoyed the ride and I’m so glad I did. Excellent!
]]> Middle of the Night 199026522 In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend—and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines of his picture-perfect neighborhood.

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed monsters roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.

The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.]]> 367 Riley Sager 0593472373 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.65 2024 Middle of the Night
author: Riley Sager
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/09
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Worst Wingman Ever (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #2)]]> 200034606
Holly is dealing with the impending death of her grandmother and still reeling from a bad breakup. One bright spot: a Valentine’s Day card on Holly’s windshield—even if it wasn’t meant for her. An amusing mistake soon turns into a lovely exchange of anonymous notes, little acts of kindness, and a growing affection between two strangers. What happens when one of them has to say goodbye?]]> 61 Abby Jimenez 166251963X Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads
3.5 stars]]> 3.99 2024 Worst Wingman Ever (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #2)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Super sweet and heartwarming. Rather abrupt ending.

3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Rosie and the Dreamboat (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #3)]]> 200034154 USA Today bestselling author of The Hating Game.

Rosie Whittaker and her sister are up for some Galentine’s pampering at a day spa. Getting locked inside a flotation tank is so Rosie. Enter a firefighter hero determined to pry this luckless pearl out of her high-tech shell. All Rosie has to go on is a dreamy voice and a flirty sense of humor. Remain calm, Rosie. This could be what you’ve been waiting for. Is this the man she’s waited for her whole life?

Sally Thorne’s Rosie and the Dreamboat is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.]]> 44 Sally Thorne 1662520085 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.42 2024 Rosie and the Dreamboat (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #3)
author: Sally Thorne
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
Such an original premise for a meet cute. I loved this one, it made me feel warm and safe and that’s my favorite kind of love story!
]]> <![CDATA[With Any Luck (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #5)]]> 200034157
Audrey Love is cursed to be the person before you find your soulmate, the girl you dump for your true love. So when her best friend disappears hours before his Valentine’s Day wedding, Audrey fears that she did the unthinkable and kissed him at last night’s bachelor party. With help from the best man, she retraces her steps to find the missing groom and, with any luck, a true love of her own.

Ashley Poston’s With Any Luck is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.]]> 43 Ashley Poston 166251980X Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 3.22 2024 With Any Luck (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #5)
author: Ashley Poston
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
This one was super cute. I truly do love Ashley Poston. She adds such perfect touches of magic realism to her love stories. I thought it was super adorable how the characters last names were love and luck.
]]> <![CDATA[This Could Be Us (Skyland, #2)]]> 182762109 fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.

But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.

But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?

After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?]]> 416 Kennedy Ryan 1538706822 Stephanie 4
4.5 stars]]> 4.36 2024 This Could Be Us (Skyland, #2)
author: Kennedy Ryan
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, romance, 4-star-reads
review:
Gosh I love you, Kennedy Ryan. Thank you for over 40 romances. Thank you for complicated, nuanced, complex, steamy love stories.

4.5 stars
]]> Red String Theory 145624991
Just a date . . . or a twist of fate?
 When it comes to love and art, Rooney Gao believes in signs. Most of all, she believes in the Chinese legend that everyone is tied to their one true love by the red string of fate. And that belief has inspired her career as an artist, as well as the large art installations she makes with ( obviously ) red string. That is until artist’s block strikes and Rooney begins to question everything. But then fate leads her to the perfect guy . . . Jack Liu is perfect. He’s absurdly smart, successful, handsome, and after one enchanting New York night—under icy February skies and fueled by fried dumplings—all signs point to destiny. Only Jack doesn’t believe. And after their magical date, it looks like they might be lost to each other forever . . . until they’re given one more chance to reconnect. But can Rooney convince a reluctant skeptic to take a leap of fate?
ձ> 352 Lauren Kung Jessen 1538710285 Stephanie 4 audio, 2024, 4-star-reads 3.57 2024 Red String Theory
author: Lauren Kung Jessen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Sweet and wholesome and cheesy and nerdy and lovable in the best possible way. I didn’t love it on audio so I would definitely recommend a paper copy. 3.5 stars.
]]> Good Half Gone 136340537 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Never Never and The Wives

Iris Walsh saw her twin sister, Piper, get kidnapped—so why does no one believe her?

Iris narrowly escaped her twin sister’s fate as a teen: abducted in broad daylight and long gone before she could convince the cops there was anything to investigate. With Piper presumed a runaway and no evidence to go on but Iris’s scattered memories, the case quickly goes cold.

Ever since that terrible day, Iris� search for Piper has bordered on obsession. Chasing leads across years and following clues that all seem to point to a single name, Iris does everything she can to get close to the only person who might know the answer to the question that still haunts her: where did Piper go? And if the police still won’t help, she’ll just have to find the answer herself--using her criminal psychology degree to intern at the isolated psychiatric hospital on Shoal Island, where secrets lurk in the shadows and are kept under lock and key. But Iris soon realizes that something even more sinister is simmering beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients aren’t the only ones being observed…]]> 304 Tarryn Fisher 152580488X Stephanie 4

3.5 stars

]]> 3.39 2024 Good Half Gone
author: Tarryn Fisher
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/04
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
I feel like thrillers have been disappointing me for the most part for a few years now. It was nice to read a creative, inventive, original book like this. Did it go off the rails a bit? Yes. But did it also entertain me? Big time. The audio version was excellent.


3.5 stars


]]> Dark Ride 86033989
Twenty-one-year-old Hardy “Hardly� Reed—good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned—is drifting through life. A minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions.

Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if they’re okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids.

He reports the incident to Child Protective Service.

That should be the end of it. After all, Hardly's not even good at looking out for himself so the last thing he wants to do is look out for anyone else. But he's haunted by the two kids, his heart breaking for them. And the more research he does the less he trusts that Child Protective Services —understaffed and overworked—will do anything about it.

That leaves…Hardly. He is probably the last person you’d ever want to count on. But those two kids have nobody else but him. Hardly has to do what's right and help them.

For the first time in his life, Hardly decides to fight for something. This might be the one point in his entire life, he realizes, that is the entire point of his life. He will help those kids.

At first, trying to gather evidence that will force the proper authorities to intervene, Hardly is a total disaster. Gradually, with assistance from unexpected allies, he develops investigative skills and discovers he’s smarter and more capable than he ever imagined.

But Hardly also discovers that the situation is more dangerous than he ever expected. The abusive father who has been hurting these children isn’t just a lawyer—he also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. The mother claims she wants to escape with the kids—but Hardly isn't sure he can trust her.

Faced with a different version of himself than he has ever known, Hardly refuses to give up. But his commitment to saving these kids from further harm might end up getting the kids, and Hardly himself, killed.]]> 244 Lou Berney 0062663860 Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads 3.78 2023 Dark Ride
author: Lou Berney
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
What a ride! I FLEW through this one. I randomly grabbed an audio copy on Libby because it was in the “available now� section. The audio is EXCELLENT by the way. I was so enthralled by the story that I couldn’t listen fast enough so I checked out the E reader version as well. Phenomenal pacing and A+ character development. I really enjoyed getting to know the ragtag group of characters and their personalities.
]]> Zero Days 62919765 Ruth Ware returns with this adrenaline-fueled thriller about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer.]]> 356 Ruth Ware 1982155299 Stephanie 4 3.5 stars 3.59 2023 Zero Days
author: Ruth Ware
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
3.5 stars
]]> Everyone Is Watching 127975602
Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.

When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show—someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…]]> 320 Heather Gudenkauf 0778310795 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
3.5 stars]]> 3.61 2024 Everyone Is Watching
author: Heather Gudenkauf
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:
I learned about Heather Gudenkauf through my friend Sally Hepworth and I’m so glad I did. Her books are always so entertaining and freaking fun! This one did not disappoint- great audio narration as well.

3.5 stars
]]> Recipe for a Charmed Life 71872867 After a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.

American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens, she is on the cusp of success. But in one disastrous night, Georgia loses her sous-chef position, her French boyfriend, and her sense of taste! Renowned for her refined palate and daring use of bold flavors to create remarkable dishes, Georgia is devastated to discover her culinary gift has simply...vanished.

When she receives a surprising invitation from her estranged mother, Georgia flees to a small island near Seattle hoping the visit will help her regain her spark in the kitchen. There she tentatively reconnects with her mom, a free-spirited hippie eager to make up for her past mistakes. But there’s something about the enigmatic island Georgia just can’t piece together. Good luck charms keep appearing in the oddest places. Her neighbor is a puzzlingly antagonist (and annoyingly handsome) oyster farmer. And her mom keeps hinting at a mysterious family legacy.

With the clock ticking and time running out to win her dream job in Paris, Georgia begins to unravel some astonishing secrets that make her wonder if the true recipe for a charmed life might look—and taste—very different than she ever imagined.]]> 372 Rachel Linden 0593440218 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.70 2024 Recipe for a Charmed Life
author: Rachel Linden
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/15
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
This is an absolutely heartwarming, wholesome, uplifting story sprinkled with a little magic and I so enjoyed it. A bit of whimsy, a touch of Julia Child, and a heavy dose of setting as a main character = the most delicious dish.
]]> <![CDATA[Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)]]> 108518990 Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider. Notorious ladies� man. Scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package.

And he’s looking at me like I might be his next meal.

But I’m almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look back is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak.

The man is hard to trust—and even harder to resist.

Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defenses.

Over a drink in a small town bar, I blurt out my deepest, darkest secrets. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

He worships my body. He makes me blush. I come alive beneath his hands.

Then I tell him to forget it ever happened. I want simple, and with him it all feels complicated.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.]]> 466 Elsie Silver Stephanie 4 2024, romance, 4-star-reads 4.38 2023 Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, romance, 4-star-reads
review:
Gosh, I love Theo. That man really does it for me.
]]> <![CDATA[The Prediction (The Jolvix Episodes #1)]]> 203326212 A new marriage.
A perfect home.
A machine that says it’s all a lie.

Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high � and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot.

Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend� that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assistant, Maxine has “advice� and “prediction� modes that have shown promise for patients with mental health issues. To Rowena’s shock, the device turns out to be not just helpful, but eerily accurate, predicting events before they occur.

It’s a godsend until Maxine offers a series of increasingly bone-chilling predictions that will change Rowena’s life forever.

This domestic suspense novel set in a near-future dystopia asks, who do you trust more—your mind, your man, or your machine?]]> Faith Gardner Stephanie 4 3.68 2022 The Prediction (The Jolvix Episodes #1)
author: Faith Gardner
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
I found this one to be black mirror-esque and absolutely fascinating. The ending was a little weak, but I will give the author a pass, because I know endings are difficult to nail . I look forward to reading the rest of this series.
]]> You Can Trust Me 62802782
Eager for a big score, Leo catches in her crosshairs Michael Forrester, a self-made billionaire and philanthropist. When her charm wins him over, Leo is rewarded with an invitation to his private island off the California coastline for a night of fabulous excess. She eagerly anticipates returning with photos that can be sold to the paparazzi, jewelry that can be liquidated, and endless stories to share with Summer.

Instead, Leo disappears.

On her own for the first time in years, Summer decides to infiltrate Michael's island and find out what really happened. But when she arrives, no one has seen Leo--she's not on the island as far as they know. Plus, there was only one way on the island--and no way off--for the coming days. Trapped in a scheme she helped initiate, could Summer have met her match?]]> 304 Wendy Heard 0593599314 Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads 3.71 2023 You Can Trust Me
author: Wendy Heard
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
Fun and bingeable. Add this to your beach reads TBR!!!!
]]> Just Another Missing Person 62292411 From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that lead a detective to an impossible moral choice.

22-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day…and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.

Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get.

Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife: it’s a secret. Her worst one. And her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia - and must frame somebody else for her murder.

If you find her, you will lose everything. What would you do?

This clever and endlessly surprising thriller is laced with a smart look at family and motherhood, and cements Gillian McAllister as a major talent in the world of suspense and a master of creating ethical dilemmas that show just how murky the distinction between right and wrong can be.]]> 377 Gillian McAllister 0063252392 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.59 2023 Just Another Missing Person
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
I've come to depend on Gillian McAllister for creative, solid, twisty thrillers. Like legitimately good twists, not cheap twists to get Booktok famous. She is so so good. I do recommend starting her books on paper before moving to audio. Her stories are often fast paced and super confusing...and beginning on audio can be very difficult. This one was another fantastic read and I adored it!
]]> Only If You're Lucky 60891867
And so Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

A tantalizing thriller about the nature of friendship and belonging, about loyalty, envy, and betrayal—another gripping novel from an author quickly becoming the gold standard in psychological suspense.]]> 371 Stacy Willingham 1250887933 Stephanie 4 audio, 2024, 4-star-reads 3.54 2024 Only If You're Lucky
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Stacy’s books are always adjust solidly excellent . Dependable, no plot holes, believable twists. This one was the same. I devoured it and couldn’t wait to figure out how it ended. Good stuff! 3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)]]> 60755618 The rules were simple . . .
Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.

But now I’m stuck with her . . . And there’s only one bed . . .
Oh well, rules are made -- to be broken . . . aren't they?

I’m the face of professional bull riding -- the golden boy.
Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face.
Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.�

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter --
especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk,
and a mouth she can’t stop running.

A mouth I just can’t stop thinking about . . .

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest.
She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run --
she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.

She says this means nothing -- but I say this means everything.

She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross.
That my reputation can’t take any more hits -- and neither can her damaged heart.

I say I’m going to steal it anyway.
]]> 424 Elsie Silver Stephanie 4 2024, romance, 4-star-reads 4.06 2022 Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/28
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, romance, 4-star-reads
review:
Sweet and super spicy (filthy??
]]> How to End a Love Story 63247365
“Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy." –Tessa Bailey

“I’ll read anything she writes. An absolute star." –Emily Henry

“I was hooked on the very first page. Don't miss this one!" � Carley Fortune

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show. Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers� room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except�

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet� the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.]]> 384 Yulin Kuang Stephanie 4 3.61 2024 How to End a Love Story
author: Yulin Kuang
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, romance, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Stephanie 4 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/11
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, thriller, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
OK this was awesome! I literally could not stop listening, I burned through my Spotify minutes so fast! This was twisty and interesting and messy. Loved it.
]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 4.03 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/07
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
Dark and difficult subject matter- research content warnings first- but powerful and magical too. Not my usual type of book but I found it compulsively readable and quite beautiful in a dark way.
]]> Charm City Rocks 62926961
Billy Perkins is happy. No, for real. It’s kind of his thing, actually. And why wouldn't he be? He loves his job as an independent music teacher and his apartment in Baltimore above a record shop called Charm City Rocks. Most of all, he loves his brainy teenage son, Caleb. Although not the world’s most traditional parent, Billy has plenty to teach his son about art and manhood before Caleb goes off to college.

Margot Hammer, on the other hand, is far from happy. The former drummer of the once-famous rock band Burnt Flowers, she’s now a rock and roll recluse living alone in New York City. When a new music documentary suddenly puts Margot back in the spotlight, she begins to realize how much she misses her old band and the music that gave her life meaning.

Billy has always had a crush on Margot. But she’s a legitimate rock star—or at least, she was—so he never thought he’d actually meet her. Until Caleb, worried that his easygoing dad might actually be lonely, cooks up a scheme to get Margot to perform at Charm City Rocks.

It’s the longest of long shots, but Margot’s label has made it clear that any publicity is an opportunity she can’t afford to miss. When their paths collide, Billy realizes that he maybe wasn’t as happy as he thought—and Margot learns that sometimes the sweetest music is a duet.]]> 368 Matthew Norman 0593499832 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.96 2023 Charm City Rocks
author: Matthew Norman
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
This book is adorable. I fell in love with Baltimore and every dang character.
]]> A Better World 176443112 The author of Good Neighbors, “one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia I’ve ever read,� (NPR), returns with a cunning, out-of-the-box satirical thriller about a family’s odyssey into an exclusive enclave for the wealthy that might not be as ideal as it seems.

You’ll be safe here. That’s what the greasy tour guide tells the Farmer-Bowens when they visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with clean air, pantries that never go empty, and blue-ribbon schools. On a very trial basis, the company offers to hire Linda Farmer’s husband, a numbers genius, and relocate her whole family to this bucolic paradise for the .0001%. Though Linda will have to sacrifice her medical career back home, the family jumps at the opportunity. They’d be crazy not to take it. With the outside world literally falling apart, this might be the Farmer-Bowens last chance.

But fitting in takes work. The pampered locals distrust outsiders, cruelly snubbing Linda, Russell, and their teen twins. And the residents fervently adhere to a group of customs and beliefs called Hollow . . . but what exactly is Hollow?

It’s Linda who brokers acceptance by volunteering her medical skills to the most powerful people in town with their pet charity, ActHollow. In the months afterward, everything seems fine. Sure, Russell starts hyperventilating through a paper bag in the middle of the night, and the kids have drifted like bridgeless islands, but living here’s worth sacrificing their family’s closeness, isn’t it? At least they’ll survive. The trouble is, the locals never say what they think. They seem scared. And Hollow’s ominous culminating event, the Plymouth Valley Winter Festival, is coming.

Linda’s warned by her husband and her powerful new friends to stop asking questions. But the more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. Should the Farmer-Bowens be fighting to stay, or fighting to get out?

Sarah Langan’s latest novel A Better World is gleefully ruthless in its dissection of wealth, power, and privilege, timely in its depiction of a self-destructing world—and it is a prescient warning to us all.

Sarah Langan, a Columbia MFA graduate and three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, is the author of several novels including A Better World and Good Neighbors. She grew up on Long Island and she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughters.]]> 368 Sarah Langan 1982191066 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.57 2024 A Better World
author: Sarah Langan
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/17
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
A wanted an epilogue SO BAD and I was incredibly disappointed there wasn’t one. Otherwise this is a super fast paced, creepy read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
]]> Falling 56614951
There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don't know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot's family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.]]> 304 T.J. Newman 1982177888 Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
3.5 stars]]> 3.79 2021 Falling
author: T.J. Newman
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
Kind of over the top and required bigggg time suspension of disbelief, but a fast-paced and fun read nonetheless. Only took a few hours to read- definitely a wild ride!

3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[The Arrangement (The Arrangement, #1)]]> 56484743 It’s what she prides herself on.

So, when she realizes her marriage is at its breaking point, she makes a decision to repair it, no matter the cost. Approaching her husband to propose the arrangement is supposed to be the hard part, but Peter agrees to the salacious plan almost immediately.

The rules are simple:
They will each date someone new once a week.
They will never discuss what happens on the dates.

Soon, though, the rules are broken, turning terrible mistakes into unspeakable consequences.

When the only person they can count on to keep their darkest secret is each other, new questions and deceits surface. Can they truly trust the person they share a life with, or will the vicious lies that have mounted over the years destroy everything they’ve built?

Once, Peter and Ainsley vowed to stand together forever, but as they push boundaries of deception, suspicion, and temptation, each begins to wonder if ’til death do us part may come sooner than they’d intended.]]> 228 Kiersten Modglin Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads 4.09 2021 The Arrangement (The Arrangement, #1)
author: Kiersten Modglin
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
WHAT THE HECK. I at no point in time had ANY idea what was going to happen in this book. Holy crap. What a wild ride.
]]> The Sweetest Remedy 56462354 When a woman travels to Nigeria to attend the funeral of the father she never knew, she meets her extravagant family for the first time, a new and inspiring love interest, and discovers parts of herself she didn't know were missing, from Jane Igharo, the acclaimed author of Ties That Tether.

Hannah Bailey has never known her father, the Nigerian entrepreneur who had a brief relationship with her white mother. Because of this, Hannah has always felt uncertain about part of her identity. When her father dies, she's invited to Nigeria for the funeral. Though she wants to hate the man who abandoned her, she's curious about who he was and where he was from. Searching for answers, Hannah boards a plane to Lagos, Nigeria.

In Banana Island, one of Nigeria's most affluent areas, Hannah meets the Jolades, her late father's prestigious family--some who accept her and some who think she doesn't belong. The days leading up to the funeral are chaotic, but Hannah is soon shaped by secrets that unfold, a culture she never thought she would understand or appreciate, and a man who steals her heart and helps her to see herself in a new light.]]> 320 Jane Igharo 0593101960 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.76 2021 The Sweetest Remedy
author: Jane Igharo
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
I adored this book. At its core it’s a journey of self acceptance, love, and finding out what family truly means. The adorable closed door romance is just the icing on the cake.
]]> Every Last Secret 52347808 Welcome to the neighborhood. Watch your husband, watch your friends, and watch your back.

Cat Winthorpe has worked hard to get what she has: a gorgeous home; social standing; and William, her successful, handsome husband. Then a friendly new couple moves into the estate next door. While cautious, a good neighbor like Cat greets them with open arms and warm hospitality.

Neena Ryder isn’t a fellow lady of leisure. A life coach with off-the-rack dresses, personal issues, and a husband who hasn’t delivered, she’s anxious to move up in the world. This beautiful new town is a step in the right direction. It’s also making Neena aware of what she doesn’t have. Namely, William. When Neena’s infatuation escalates into obsession, it’s just a matter of eliminating a few obstacles to get the life she wants. The life next door.

As Neena’s secret fixation grows, so does her friendship with Cat. But beneath their cordial interactions is a wealth of temptations, secrets, and toxic jealousy. For both women, the desire for a perfect life can turn perfectly dangerous.]]> 291 A.R. Torre 1542020182 Stephanie 4 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads Delightfully twisted and fun 3.95 2020 Every Last Secret
author: A.R. Torre
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, thriller, 4-star-reads
review:
Delightfully twisted and fun
]]> <![CDATA[Black Girls Must Die Exhausted]]> 56645992 The first novel in a captivating three-book series about modern womanhood, in which a young Black woman must rely on courage, laughter, and love—and the support of her two longtime friends—to overcome an unexpected setback that threatens the most precious thing she’s ever wanted.

Tabitha Walker is a black woman with a plan to “have it all.”� At 33 years old, the checklist for the life of her dreams is well underway. Education? Check. Good job? Check. Down payment for a nice house? Check. Dating marriage material? Check, check, and check. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, a "paper-perfect" boyfriend, and even a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, everything seems to be falling into place.

Then Tabby receives an unexpected diagnosis that brings her picture-perfect life crashing down, jeopardizing the keystone she took for granted: having children. With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist, suddenly she is faced with an impossible choice between her career, her dream home, and a family of her own.

With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the mom jeans-wearing former "Sexy Lexi," and the generational wisdom of her grandmother and the nonagenarian firebrand Ms. Gretchen, Tabby explores the reaches of modern medicine and tests the limits of her relationships, hoping to salvage the future she always dreamed of. But the fight is all consuming, demanding a steep price that forces an honest reckoning for nearly everyone in her life. As Tabby soon learns, her grandmother's age-old adage just might still be true: Black girls must die exhausted.]]> 350 Jayne Allen 0063137909 Stephanie 4 audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
I enjoyed this book because it made me more empathetic, and even more understanding of the struggles that my Black friends face. The scene with the police officer at the beginning, had my heart racing and brought tears to my eyes.

I feel like this book was unnecessarily verbose in some places, but it didn’t impact my enjoyment.

3.5 stars.]]> 3.85 2018 Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
author: Jayne Allen
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, 2024, 4-star-reads
review:
This book is so much deeper than I thought it would be. And I anticipated that it would be deep! There are lots of trigger warnings that I would research before jumping in.

I enjoyed this book because it made me more empathetic, and even more understanding of the struggles that my Black friends face. The scene with the police officer at the beginning, had my heart racing and brought tears to my eyes.

I feel like this book was unnecessarily verbose in some places, but it didn’t impact my enjoyment.

3.5 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Pines (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #1)]]> 35672370
A deaf reporter terrified of nature.

A dense spruce forest overdue for harvest.

A pair of eyeless hunters found murdered in the woods.

It’s week one of the Swedish elk hunt and the sound of gunfire is everywhere. When Tuva Moodyson investigates the story that could make her career she stumbles on a web of secrets that knit Gavrik town together. Are the latest murders connected to the Medusa killings twenty years ago? Is someone following her? Why take the eyes? Tuva must face her demons and venture deep into the woods to stop the killer and write the story. And then get the hell out of Gavrik.]]> 328 Will Dean 178607253X Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.68 2018 Dark Pines (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #1)
author: Will Dean
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> Not a Sound 32739978
As clues begin to surface, Amelia finds herself swept into an investigation that hits all too close to home. But how much is she willing to risk in order to uncover the truth and bring a killer to justice?]]> 320 Heather Gudenkauf 0778319954 Stephanie 4 2024, 4-star-reads 3.90 2017 Not a Sound
author: Heather Gudenkauf
name: Stephanie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/03
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, 4-star-reads
review:

]]> Before We Were Strangers 23309634
We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.

You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.

We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.

Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding�

I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.

After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?

M

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection� post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.]]> 310 Renee Carlino 1501105779 Stephanie 4 2024, audio, 4-star-reads 4.02 2015 Before We Were Strangers
author: Renee Carlino
name: Stephanie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: 2024, audio, 4-star-reads
review:

]]>