Lu's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:38:31 -0700 60 Lu's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Turtles All the Way Down 35504431
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.]]> 290 John Green 0525555366 Lu 0 currently-reading 3.88 2017 Turtles All the Way Down
author: John Green
name: Lu
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Red, White & Royal Blue 41150487
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]> 448 Casey McQuiston 1250316774 Lu 4 to-read 4.06 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Lu
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)]]> 62627512 A special hardcover collector’s edition of It Ends with Us, featuring an exclusive Q&A between Colleen Hoover and her mother, a beautiful foil cover, an embossed case with the author’s signature, and newly designed endpapers—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.

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

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.]]> 373 Colleen Hoover Lu 4 3.87 2016 It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Lu
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 12089922 8 hrs 1 min

HARRY DRESDEN � WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.]]> 9 Jim Butcher Lu 4
review to follow]]> 3.77 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Lu
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/19
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars

review to follow
]]> Everneath (Everneath, #1) 12223662
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.]]> 384 Brodi Ashton 0062071157 Lu 3 netgalley
This was a very interesting read for me. The mythology was integrated into the story in a flawless believable way. I love the way the underworld was described and brought into the story. What I also enjoyed was that the novel switches between the past and the present. It gave it a certain something extra and it was executed very well.

The beginning however was a bit confusing. It all eventually made sense, but you had to work at it a bit.

My biggest complaint was that I didn’t feel for the characters. Nikki felt a bit flat to me and it was hard to believe she really loved Jack. The ending was a bit predictable, but still managed to entertain!

I will check out the next in the series, but it won’t be high on my to-read list.

*In Short*

The mythology made the book, the characters let it down.

*Slight Spoiler*

I love the idea of anchors!]]> 3.59 2012 Everneath (Everneath, #1)
author: Brodi Ashton
name: Lu
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/01/22
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: netgalley
review:
Rating 6/10

This was a very interesting read for me. The mythology was integrated into the story in a flawless believable way. I love the way the underworld was described and brought into the story. What I also enjoyed was that the novel switches between the past and the present. It gave it a certain something extra and it was executed very well.

The beginning however was a bit confusing. It all eventually made sense, but you had to work at it a bit.

My biggest complaint was that I didn’t feel for the characters. Nikki felt a bit flat to me and it was hard to believe she really loved Jack. The ending was a bit predictable, but still managed to entertain!

I will check out the next in the series, but it won’t be high on my to-read list.

*In Short*

The mythology made the book, the characters let it down.

*Slight Spoiler*

I love the idea of anchors!
]]> <![CDATA[The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)]]> 13512392
To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness�

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them, the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend, a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what, and who, is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.

]]> 484 Julie Kagawa 1459227042 Lu 5 netgalley, favorites
I have never had the pleasure of reading a novel by Julie Kagawa and wow is that going to change now! This novel too my breath away. It was action packed, thought provoking and any other aspect you want out of a novel! That is why I gave it a 10/10, there was nothing missing and the novel gave me everything I love about reading!

The characters were relatable but yet diverse, the paranormal element fanatically described! I just love the fact that two of my favorite paranormal elements, aka Zombies and Vampires came together in this unforgettable novel!

Allie is a kick-ass heroin and you can’t help but root for her! Zeke is the soft little sheep that follows whatever Jeb says. In a way I think Allie gave Zeke more backbone and Zeke softened Allie.

The lore about Vampires and how the “Rabid� apedemic came about was so intriguing and the fact that Allie hated vampires but ultimately became one was such a great dynamic!

Julie Kagawa is also an amazing writer that keeps you hooked until the end!

This is probably one of those novels I will collect in the various editions and cover, as well as salivate for the next in the series! Ultimately a must read, breathtaking and one a post-apocalyptic world that will stay with you for a very long time to come!

Read it! Read it! Read it!

What I liked:

* Everything!
* Action packed and fast paced
* Kick-ass heroine
* Zombies and Vampires

What I didn’t like:

* The cover model should have been Asian, but I can’t hold it against the novel.]]> 4.02 2012 The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)
author: Julie Kagawa
name: Lu
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2012/04/23
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: netgalley, favorites
review:
10/10

I have never had the pleasure of reading a novel by Julie Kagawa and wow is that going to change now! This novel too my breath away. It was action packed, thought provoking and any other aspect you want out of a novel! That is why I gave it a 10/10, there was nothing missing and the novel gave me everything I love about reading!

The characters were relatable but yet diverse, the paranormal element fanatically described! I just love the fact that two of my favorite paranormal elements, aka Zombies and Vampires came together in this unforgettable novel!

Allie is a kick-ass heroin and you can’t help but root for her! Zeke is the soft little sheep that follows whatever Jeb says. In a way I think Allie gave Zeke more backbone and Zeke softened Allie.

The lore about Vampires and how the “Rabid� apedemic came about was so intriguing and the fact that Allie hated vampires but ultimately became one was such a great dynamic!

Julie Kagawa is also an amazing writer that keeps you hooked until the end!

This is probably one of those novels I will collect in the various editions and cover, as well as salivate for the next in the series! Ultimately a must read, breathtaking and one a post-apocalyptic world that will stay with you for a very long time to come!

Read it! Read it! Read it!

What I liked:

* Everything!
* Action packed and fast paced
* Kick-ass heroine
* Zombies and Vampires

What I didn’t like:

* The cover model should have been Asian, but I can’t hold it against the novel.
]]> Recoil (Recoil Trilogy #1) 30184005
Three years after a series of terrorist attacks flooded the US with a lethal plague, society has changed radically.

Sixteen year-old Jinxy James spends her days trapped at home � immersed in virtual reality, worrying about the plague and longing for freedom. Then she wins a war simulation game and is recruited into a top-secret organisation where talented teenagers are trained to become agents in the war on terror. Eager to escape her mother’s over-protectiveness and to serve her country, Jinxy enlists and becomes an expert sniper of infected mutant rats.

She’s immediately drawn to Quinn O’Riley, a charming and subversive intelligence analyst who knows more about the new order of government and society than he is telling. Then a shocking revelation forces Jinxy to make an impossible decision, and she risks losing everything.

Recoil is the first book in a Young Adult dystopian romance trilogy, and makes great reading for lovers of Rick Yancey (The Fifth Wave), Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games), and Veronica Roth (Divergent).

BONUS CONTENT! Chapter one of Refuse (book 2 in the Recoil series) included in this version!]]> 260 Joanne Macgregor 0620702907 Lu 0 to-read, to-review, have 4.12 2016 Recoil (Recoil Trilogy #1)
author: Joanne Macgregor
name: Lu
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: to-read, to-review, have
review:

]]> <![CDATA[666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1)]]> 16217687
Ever since fabulously wealthy Malcolm Doran walked into her life and swept her off her feet, fledgling architect Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When he proposes with a stunning diamond to seal the deal, Jane can't believe her incredible luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job to make a new start with Malcolm in New York.

But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Soon everything she thought she knew about the world—and herself—is upended. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them.]]> 320 Gabriella Pierce 0062264451 Lu 0 to-read, have, kindle-bought 3.16 2011 666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1)
author: Gabriella Pierce
name: Lu
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves: to-read, have, kindle-bought
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)]]> 578587
A devastating new weapon of destruction.
When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.]]> 620 Dan Brown 0552150738 Lu 4 have
I have been meaning to read this book for some time and I am glad I finally did. It was a very entertaining read, that kept me guessing all the way through.

The book starts of at CERN when Professor Langdon gets summoned there by the director of CERN to have a look at a branded sign on a dead body. Right away the book dragged me in. I have always wanted to go to CERN and I just loved reading about it.

Then there is the Illuminati, which was even more fascinating. Their history has always intrigued me so this Dan Brown novel hit the spot.

The novel is divided into 137 chapters or so, which leaves room for a LOT of cliffhangers. Oddly this only added to my experience.

All in all this novel flowed really well and I will most certainly pick up the next in the series!

What I liked:

* Fast paced
* Action packed
* Lots of twists and turns!
* Mystery and Intrigue

What I didn’t like:

* At some point Langdon takes something from the Vatican archives that is extremely old and fragile and then proceeded to run around with it in his pocket. This just made the archaeologist in me cringe!
* There we some discrepancies. They would be looking for lets say 20 churches and then suddenly only 5.]]> 3.82 2000 Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)
author: Dan Brown
name: Lu
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/11
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves: have
review:
Rating 7/10

I have been meaning to read this book for some time and I am glad I finally did. It was a very entertaining read, that kept me guessing all the way through.

The book starts of at CERN when Professor Langdon gets summoned there by the director of CERN to have a look at a branded sign on a dead body. Right away the book dragged me in. I have always wanted to go to CERN and I just loved reading about it.

Then there is the Illuminati, which was even more fascinating. Their history has always intrigued me so this Dan Brown novel hit the spot.

The novel is divided into 137 chapters or so, which leaves room for a LOT of cliffhangers. Oddly this only added to my experience.

All in all this novel flowed really well and I will most certainly pick up the next in the series!

What I liked:

* Fast paced
* Action packed
* Lots of twists and turns!
* Mystery and Intrigue

What I didn’t like:

* At some point Langdon takes something from the Vatican archives that is extremely old and fragile and then proceeded to run around with it in his pocket. This just made the archaeologist in me cringe!
* There we some discrepancies. They would be looking for lets say 20 churches and then suddenly only 5.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)]]> 41033158
So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].]]> 1235 Pirateaba Lu 0 to-read 4.25 2018 The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)
author: Pirateaba
name: Lu
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) 32307358 This an alternate cover for B01LY7FD0D

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement--the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 482 Dan Brown Lu 5
If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.

Merged review:

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the history, action, the 'what if's' and themes discussed. I really need to read more Dan Brown.

If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.

Merged review:

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the history, action, the 'what if's' and themes discussed. I really need to read more Dan Brown.

If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.]]> 3.87 2017 Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)
author: Dan Brown
name: Lu
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/12
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book! I loved the history, action, the 'what if's' and themes discussed. I really need to read more Dan Brown.

If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.

Merged review:

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the history, action, the 'what if's' and themes discussed. I really need to read more Dan Brown.

If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.

Merged review:

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the history, action, the 'what if's' and themes discussed. I really need to read more Dan Brown.

If you are religious, I would suggest you don't read this book.
]]> The Host (The Host, #1) 3411292
Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves -- Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.]]> 619 Stephenie Meyer 0316068055 Lu 5 want-a-copy, favorites
One of my favorites!]]> 4.04 2008 The Host (The Host, #1)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Lu
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2009/10/28
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: want-a-copy, favorites
review:
Loved this book! Don't know why it took me so long before i picked it up. Would definitely read the second one if there is going to be one. This is also going to be a very good movie!

One of my favorites!
]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)]]> 31076583 229 Sarah J. Maas 168119631X Lu 0 to-read, series-to-finish 3.77 2019 A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lu
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: to-read, series-to-finish
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling Lu 5 raru, currently-reading A brilliant series to read. 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Lu
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2009/05/13
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves: raru, currently-reading
review:
A brilliant series to read.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 72193
]]> 223 J.K. Rowling Lu 5 4.45 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Lu
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/23
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #4)]]> 42898
Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, he's found by a miracle, and the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him...]]> 482 J.R. Ward 0451412354 Lu 5 have 4.28 2007 Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #4)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/23
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: have
review:
They get better and better! Loved it once again :D
]]> <![CDATA[Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #5)]]> 304027 528 J.R. Ward 0451222350 Lu 4 4.31 2007 Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #5)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/14
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: want-a-copy, currently-reading
review:
I really liked this book. Was a bit different than the others (and a bit weirder). Can't wait to read the next one :)
]]> <![CDATA[The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4)]]> 8130423 In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.]]> 361 Rick Riordan Lu 2 Review to follwo 4.44 2008 The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Lu
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/10/16
shelves:
review:
Review to follwo
]]> <![CDATA[Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #2)]]> 35729
Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetite. He's the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover-for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin.

Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him. When Mary Luce is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world, she must rely on Rhage's protection. Knowing that Mary feels the same intense animal attraction, Rhage must make her his alone...]]> 441 J.R. Ward Lu 4 want-a-copy 4.32 2006 Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #2)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/12
date added: 2023/10/12
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
Loved it! This series is really good so far, so excited to start the next book!
]]> <![CDATA[Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #3)]]> 42900 In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other - six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Of these, Zsadist is the most terrifying member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her…]]> 434 J.R. Ward 0451219368 Lu 5 want-a-copy 4.43 2006 Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #3)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/10
date added: 2023/10/10
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
On of my favorites! Definitely my fav in the series so far!
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)]]> 42899 The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago.

But when his most trusted fighter is killed -- orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate -- Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger one that threatens to consume them both…]]> 393 J.R. Ward 0451216954 Lu 5 want-a-copy Loved it! 4.16 2005 Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/08
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
Loved it!
]]> Heat Wave (Nikki Heat, #1) 6566722 Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly bestselling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. She’s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York’s finest. Pulitzer- Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wisecracking and meddling aren’t her only problems. as she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called Heat.]]> 198 Richard Castle 1401323820 Lu 0 have, raru, to-read 3.57 2008 Heat Wave (Nikki Heat, #1)
author: Richard Castle
name: Lu
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/02
shelves: have, raru, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Darius (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #0)]]> 60774802
In this powerful audio exclusive, #1 New York Times bestseller J.R. Ward shares the star-crossed love story of reader favorite, and original member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Darius.

Darius, son of Marklon, isn’t looking for love the night destiny comes to claim him. He’s also not interested in crashing his new car. But when a human woman runs out into the road and he must swerve to avoid killing her...everything goes off course.

Disillusioned by his King’s lack of leadership and the losses in the war against the Lessening Society, Darius finds purpose in protecting a woman he cannot make his own. Love finds a way, however—until the truth of what he is comes out and she leaves him in horror.

Unbeknownst to them both, Anne is carrying his young, a female who is destined to be Queen—and after a tragic reunion, he vows to protect their daughter. Resigned to perpetual sadness, he is determined to serve the memory of his beloved no matter the cost...unless by some miracle, fate sees fit to once again bring them together.]]> 317 J.R. Ward Lu 4 4.25 2022 Darius (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #0)
author: J.R. Ward
name: Lu
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/30
date added: 2023/09/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Before I Let Go (Skyland, #1) 60568471
It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

Award-winning and bestselling "powerhouse" author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime (USA Today).]]> 391 Kennedy Ryan 1538706792 Lu 0 to-read 4.32 2022 Before I Let Go (Skyland, #1)
author: Kennedy Ryan
name: Lu
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The First Wives Club 202292
When their best friend commits suicide over her divorce, Elise, Brenda and Annie decide enough is enough. Each was crucial to her husband's career. But now that the men are successful, they've traded in their wives for newer, blonder models.

Over lunch one day they form the First Wives Club. But this is no support group. This is the SAS in Chanel. Painstakingly, inexorably, they plan the downfall of the men who've wrecked their lives—and know that revenge has never tasted sweeter...]]> 480 Olivia Goldsmith 0099435136 Lu 0 to-read 3.91 1992 The First Wives Club
author: Olivia Goldsmith
name: Lu
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beware the Mermaids 56462668
Hermosa Beach housewife Nancy Hadley is no pushover. So when her philandering husband, Roger, is caught in flagrante with an opportunistic widow on their racing sailboat, Nancy sticks it to him. She tells him she wants a divorce--with the sailboat, Bucephalus, part of the deal, too.

Roger would rather make Nancy's life a living hell than give up his boat. But Nancy has other plans. After moving out of their opulent home, she and her posse of girlfriends invest in a racing boat of their own to live on, and she teaches them the fine points of sailing. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to Nancy, a big real estate development is under way that would destroy her beloved harbor and new home. When scheming Roger returns to ask Nancy to help capture the last committee vote--held by Nancy's old college friend--Nancy prepares for battle.

Nancy is not skittish about taking a few risks, so in a bold gambit, she makes a bet with Roger: a showdown in the thrilling Border Dash Race from Newport Harbor down to Ensenada, Mexico. The winner of the race will get everything they want.

The stage is set for the race of a lifetime--and the tantalizing possibility of new romance for Nancy--in a novel as heartwarming as it is breathlessly exciting.]]> 352 Carrie Talick 1643858246 Lu 0 to-read 4.04 2021 Beware the Mermaids
author: Carrie Talick
name: Lu
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Who Wins: Ditch Your Inner Good Girl, Overcome Uncertainty, and WIN at Your Life]]> 125064366
If these past years have taught us anything, it's that so many women are stuck―stuck in jobs they despise, marriages that are joyless, roles they didn't ask for, and even in their own heads. The pandemic shook our world and now as we emerge from the cover of COVID, going back to "normal" seems insufferable.

If there was ever an opportunity to shake things up, it's now. Through the pages of SHE WHO WINS, Renee Bauer breaks down some uncomfortable truths about the things holding us back from truly winning in life. Because if we can survive a pandemic, homeschooling, loss of income, and even a toilet paper shortage don't we deserve to win?

Using her over two decades as an award-winning divorce attorney and entrepreneur, Renee Bauer shares her own vulnerable stories of divorce, failure, and ultimately, reinvention, to embolden, empower, and inspire women to choose the path most uncomfortable. This self-empowerment and motivational book is equal parts mindset and strategy, that can catapult women's lives from flatlined to fabulous by leaning into doing the hard thing.]]> 288 Renée C. Bauer 1953027083 Lu 0 to-read 4.18 She Who Wins: Ditch Your Inner Good Girl, Overcome Uncertainty, and WIN at Your Life
author: Renée C. Bauer
name: Lu
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Flicker in the Dark 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]> 357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 Lu 0 to-read 3.96 2022 A Flicker in the Dark
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Lu
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]> 353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 Lu 0 to-read 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: Lu
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sea of Tranquility 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Lu 0 to-read 4.04 2022 Sea of Tranquility
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Lu
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fairy Tale 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 Lu 0 to-read 4.05 2022 Fairy Tale
author: Stephen King
name: Lu
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The It Girl 59345249
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide� including a murder.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.

]]> 423 Ruth Ware 1982155264 Lu 0 to-read 3.81 2022 The It Girl
author: Ruth Ware
name: Lu
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lessons in Chemistry 58065033 390 Bonnie Garmus Lu 0 to-read 4.23 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Lu
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1) 55196813
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0593356152 Lu 0 to-read 3.71 2022 The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1)
author: Nita Prose
name: Lu
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Lu 0 to-read 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Lu
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines, #3)]]> 8709526 401 Richelle Mead 159514319X Lu 5 want-a-copy
Loved it! Review to follow :)]]> 4.35 2013 The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines, #3)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/27
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
4.5 stars

Loved it! Review to follow :)
]]> The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller Lu 0 to-read 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Lu
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Miss Frost Chills the Cheater (Jayne Frost, #6)]]> 41722576
Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now... private investigator. Sort of.

Jayne takes Sinclair on a much needed visit to her winter wonderland home, the North Pole. She wants him to see what her royal life is truly like. She knows the protocol and regulations that define her existence as heir to the Winter Throne aren’t for everyone and worries that it will be more than he wants to handle.

All seems well until a weird coincidence in a toy contest has some of the citizens of the North Pole giving Sinclair the side-eye. He’s a necromancer, and not everyone is okay with that.

Jayne vows to prove his presence and the apparent cheating are unrelated, but digging deeper uncovers all kinds of strange occurrences that only complicate things and make another perfectly clear. Someone doesn’t want Sinclair around.

When that someone cracks and takes action, Sinclair is in danger of losing more than his good name. Can Jayne chill the rumors that threaten the royal family and keep Sinclair from being permanently iced?]]> 370 Kristen Painter 194169540X Lu 5 4.35 2018 Miss Frost Chills the Cheater (Jayne Frost, #6)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/14
date added: 2023/01/18
shelves:
review:
Loved it! Lots of action and twists and turns. Can't wait to read the final one!
]]> <![CDATA[Homecoming (Vampire Academy, #6.5)]]> 49113963 Homecoming is a short story that takes place after the events of Last Sacrifice, about Rose and Dimitri, the couple from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. They are going back to Russia to see Dimitir's family, something that both of them sorely need. Dimitri had finally been restored into a dhampir, after being forcibly changed into strigoi. His family needs to see him for themselves, and Rose needs to go back to Russia and face her trauma from the trip she made before.

(Published in the Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction collection)]]> 24 Richelle Mead Lu 4 3.96 2012 Homecoming (Vampire Academy, #6.5)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/10
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, #2)]]> 8709523
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she's been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California - tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age-old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and her sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi - the fiercest vampires, the ones who don't die. But it's her fear of being just that - special, magical, powerful - that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Braydon, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else - someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney's loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists - or her heart?]]> 418 Richelle Mead 1595143181 Lu 5 want-a-copy Awesome!<br /><br /> 4.31 2012 The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, #2)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
Awesome!


]]> Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1) 10945140 Sydney protects vampire secrets - and human lives.

Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires.

But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.

The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one...]]> 421 Richelle Mead 0141337117 Lu 5 have
What a surprise! I went into this thinking that I would be disappointed, as nothing could possibly live up to the Vampire Academy series. I was wrong.

This novel was just as good and it has left me feeling like a kid in a candy store whose favourite sweets are out of stock. I can’t wait for the sequel and I am sure it will live up to its predecessor.

Sydney was a very relatable, yet interesting character. And Adrian, oh Adrian what a fantastic and infuriating character (unquestionably one of my favourite characters ever)! Jill and Eddie were also great additions as Main characters and did not disappoint. Even the minor characters were rich with detail.

Sure I could see most things coming (the big plot details), but the little surprises and plot twists kept me on my toes. They say it’s about the little things in life and I have always thought that is what delights me about Richelle Mead’s writing.

I also read this Novel surprisingly quickly and most of it in one day, and found myself sad when it was over. This will definitely be one of those series I collect and put right next to my VA books.

PS: Read Vampire Academy before you read this Novel.]]> 4.25 2011 Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/29
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: have
review:
Rating 9/10

What a surprise! I went into this thinking that I would be disappointed, as nothing could possibly live up to the Vampire Academy series. I was wrong.

This novel was just as good and it has left me feeling like a kid in a candy store whose favourite sweets are out of stock. I can’t wait for the sequel and I am sure it will live up to its predecessor.

Sydney was a very relatable, yet interesting character. And Adrian, oh Adrian what a fantastic and infuriating character (unquestionably one of my favourite characters ever)! Jill and Eddie were also great additions as Main characters and did not disappoint. Even the minor characters were rich with detail.

Sure I could see most things coming (the big plot details), but the little surprises and plot twists kept me on my toes. They say it’s about the little things in life and I have always thought that is what delights me about Richelle Mead’s writing.

I also read this Novel surprisingly quickly and most of it in one day, and found myself sad when it was over. This will definitely be one of those series I collect and put right next to my VA books.

PS: Read Vampire Academy before you read this Novel.
]]> <![CDATA[Vampire Academy: The Untold Stories]]> 34992040
The Turn and the Flame takes a deeper look into the dark stain on the Ozera dynasty . . .

From the Journal of Vasilisa Dragomir unearths the princess's private thoughts from a transformative period of her life . . .

The Meeting gives us a glimpse of Rose Hathaway through Dimitri's eyes . . .

Hello My Name Is Rose Hathaway reveals the chaos that ensues when Rose and Dimitri become unlikely teammates in a high-stakes scavenger hunt . . .]]> 127 Richelle Mead 0241320542 Lu 0 to-read 4.24 2017 Vampire Academy: The Untold Stories
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6)]]> 6527740 They come first.

My vision was growing dimmer, the blackness and ghosts closing in. I swore it was like I could hear Robert whispering in my ear: The world of the dead won't give you up a second time. Just before the light completely vanished, I saw Dimitri's face join Lissa's. I wanted to smile. I decided then that if the two people I loved most were safe, I could leave this world.

The dead could finally have me.

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose - for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead's international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series.]]> 594 Richelle Mead 1595143068 Lu 5 have, won
Once again a great read from Richelle Mead! Rose is in real trouble when this starts and only a crazy plan put together by her friends and family could save her.

A lot of loose ends are dealt with in this book, but also a lot of things were left open at the end.

As you will see in the spoiler section there was one thing I really really did not like and that is why this book can't get 5 stars from me, but 4. Rose lived up to her reputation but she also disappointed me.

The story however is as gripping as always!

****Spoilers****

What really got to me was the fact that Rose hurt Adrian so much. I did not like it all. He deserved better and he should have had a happy ending too.

Don't get me wrong I want her to be with Dimitri, but she could have handled it better.

I do love the fact that Lissa became queen! Most of it was wrapped up in a nice little package at the end, but it left me wanting more. I don't feel like the story is done, but we will see what the rumoured "spin-off" series will entail. Sydney will be in it, so hopefully we will find out more about what happened to her. I wonder if it will be about the Alchemists?

Adrian better get a happy ending! That will make this book ok then.

I will definitely read the new series!]]> 4.37 2010 Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/08
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: have, won
review:
Rating: 7/10

Once again a great read from Richelle Mead! Rose is in real trouble when this starts and only a crazy plan put together by her friends and family could save her.

A lot of loose ends are dealt with in this book, but also a lot of things were left open at the end.

As you will see in the spoiler section there was one thing I really really did not like and that is why this book can't get 5 stars from me, but 4. Rose lived up to her reputation but she also disappointed me.

The story however is as gripping as always!

****Spoilers****

What really got to me was the fact that Rose hurt Adrian so much. I did not like it all. He deserved better and he should have had a happy ending too.

Don't get me wrong I want her to be with Dimitri, but she could have handled it better.

I do love the fact that Lissa became queen! Most of it was wrapped up in a nice little package at the end, but it left me wanting more. I don't feel like the story is done, but we will see what the rumoured "spin-off" series will entail. Sydney will be in it, so hopefully we will find out more about what happened to her. I wonder if it will be about the Alchemists?

Adrian better get a happy ending! That will make this book ok then.

I will definitely read the new series!
]]> <![CDATA[Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5)]]> 6479259 Salvation has its price . . .
The words stunned Adrian for a moment, but he kept going. "You're lying. What you're describing is impossible. There's no way to save a Strigoi. When they're gone, they're gone. They're dead. Undead. Forever."
Robert's next words weren't directed at Adrian. They were spoken to me. "That which is dead doesn't always stay dead...."

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Siberia, Dimitri’s birthplace, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir. It's graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives outside the academy’s cold iron gates to finally begin. But even with the intrigue and excitement of court life looming, Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri. He’s out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance, and now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won't join him, he won't rest until he has silenced her . . . forever.

But Rose can't forget what she learned on her journey—whispers of a magic too impossible and terrifying to comprehend. A magic inextricably tied to Lissa that could hold the answer to all of Rose's prayers, but not without devastating consequences. Now Rose will have to decide what—and who—matters most to her. And in the end, is true love really worth the price?

Fall in love with Rose and Dimitri all over again in Spirit Bound, the eagerly awaited fifth novel in Richelle Mead's enthralling Vampire Academy series.]]> 489 Richelle Mead 1595142509 Lu 5 want-a-copy
8/10

If you haven't read this series I suggested you pick it up! It will not disappoint!

My Take (Spoilers):

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment of the Vampire academy series. It was fast-paced and Richelle Mead draws you in like not many Authors can.

I thought that Rose would only "save" Dimitri in the last few pages and was surprised when it happened earlier! I also did not see Tatiana's murder coming and these surprises delighted me! I think that Rose needs to learn some Self-control, although I like her reckless side.

Another cliffhanger that leaves us turning the pages to find there is no more!

My Questions:

Why does Rose retaliate against Dimitri by spending the night with Adrian? If she really loves him so much why does she delude herself into thinking it can work with Adrian?

Why does Rose not just tell people Abe is her Dad?

Favourite Quote:

"I'll find you. There is no place in this world you can hide from me. I'm watching.
Love, Dimitri"


Next Instalment:

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6) by Richelle Mead]]> 4.33 2010 Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/07
date added: 2022/10/07
shelves: want-a-copy
review:
My Rating:

8/10

If you haven't read this series I suggested you pick it up! It will not disappoint!

My Take (Spoilers):

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment of the Vampire academy series. It was fast-paced and Richelle Mead draws you in like not many Authors can.

I thought that Rose would only "save" Dimitri in the last few pages and was surprised when it happened earlier! I also did not see Tatiana's murder coming and these surprises delighted me! I think that Rose needs to learn some Self-control, although I like her reckless side.

Another cliffhanger that leaves us turning the pages to find there is no more!

My Questions:

Why does Rose retaliate against Dimitri by spending the night with Adrian? If she really loves him so much why does she delude herself into thinking it can work with Adrian?

Why does Rose not just tell people Abe is her Dad?

Favourite Quote:

"I'll find you. There is no place in this world you can hide from me. I'm watching.
Love, Dimitri"


Next Instalment:

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, #6) by Richelle Mead
]]> <![CDATA[Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, #4)]]> 5996153 Bound by love, but sworn to kill...
The world thought Dimitri was dead. And to a certain extent, he was. But I hadn't been able to forget a conversation he and I had once had. We'd both agreed that we'd rather be dead - truly dead - than walk the world as Strigoi. It was time to honor our words.

Guardian Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same. The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck; a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count.

But only one victim matters... Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

Readers who fell in love with Rose, Lissa, and Dimitri won't want to miss Blood Promise, the much-anticipated, epic fourth novel in Richelle Mead's enthralling Vampire Academy series.]]> 503 Richelle Mead 1595141987 Lu 5 want-a-copy 4.31 2009 Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, #4)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/03
date added: 2022/10/03
shelves: want-a-copy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3)]]> 2802316
Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken...

Then a strange darkness begins to grow in Rose's mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy's iron gates. The immortal undead are closing in, and they want vengeance for the lives Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most... but will her choice mean that only one can survive?]]> 443 Richelle Mead 1595141979 Lu 4 4.33 2008 Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/01
date added: 2022/10/01
shelves:
review:
i can't wait for the next one!!
]]> <![CDATA[Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)]]> 2282133
It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks.... This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…]]> 327 Richelle Mead Lu 4 Loved it! 4.26 2008 Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/24
date added: 2022/09/24
shelves:
review:
Loved it!
]]> <![CDATA[Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)]]> 345627 Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies...

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires—the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger... and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever...]]> 332 Richelle Mead 159514174X Lu 4 it started off abit confusing but it all came out in the end.
was definitely different from other reads but that's what makes it so good :D]]> 4.12 2007 Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/22
date added: 2022/09/22
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book!
it started off abit confusing but it all came out in the end.
was definitely different from other reads but that's what makes it so good :D
]]> <![CDATA[The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism]]> 16113737
Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?� “Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?� “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?� and “What’s the reason you jump?� (Naoki’s answer: “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.�) With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights—into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory—are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.]]> 135 Naoki Higashida 0812994868 Lu 0 to-read 3.84 2005 The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
author: Naoki Higashida
name: Lu
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[United as One (Lorien Legacies, #7)]]> 27161189
The Mogadorians have invaded Earth. Their warships loom over our most populated cities, and no country will risk taking them head on. The Garde are all that stand in the way, but they’ll need an army of their own to win this fight.

They’ve teamed up with the US military, but it might not be enough. The Garde need reinforcements, and they’ve found them in the most unexpected place. Teenagers from across the globe, like John Smith’s best friend, Sam, have developed abilities. So John and the others must get to them before the Mogs, because if they don’t their enemies will use these gifted teens for their own sinister plan.

But after all the Mogadorians have taken from John—his home, his family, his friends, and the person he loves most—he might not want to put any more lives in danger. He’s got nothing left to lose, and he’s just discovered he has been given an incredible new Legacy. Now he can turn himself into the ultimate weapon. So will he risk his life to save the world, or will he realize that power in numbers will save us all?]]> 449 Pittacus Lore 0062387650 Lu 0 to-read 4.28 2016 United as One (Lorien Legacies, #7)
author: Pittacus Lore
name: Lu
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway]]> 22237163
On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb outside government buildings in central Oslo, killing eight people. He then proceeded to a youth camp on the island of Utøya, where he killed sixty-nine more, most of them teenage members of Norway’s governing Labour Party. In The Island, the journalist Åsne Seierstad tells the story of this terrible day and what led up to it. What made Breivik, a gifted child from an affluent neighborhood in Oslo, become a terrorist?    

As in her bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, Seierstad excels at the vivid portraiture of lives under stress. She delves deep into Breivik’s troubled childhood, showing how a hip-hop and graffiti aficionado became a right-wing activist and Internet game addict, and then an entrepreneur, Freemason, and self-styled master warrior who sought to “save Norway� from the threat of Islam and multiculturalism. She writes with equal intimacy about Breivik’s victims, tracing their political awakenings, aspirations to improve their country, and ill-fated journeys to the island. By the time Seierstad reaches Utøya, we know both the killer and those he will kill. We have also gotten to know an entire country—famously peaceful and prosperous, and utterly incapable of protecting its youth.]]> 530 Åsne Seierstad 0374277893 Lu 5 4.38 2013 One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway
author: Åsne Seierstad
name: Lu
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves:
review:
A book that touched me so deeply that I stopped reading for 6 months.
]]> Never 57747930 The new must-read epic from master storyteller Ken Follett: more than a thriller, it's an action-packed, globe-spanning drama set in the present day.


In the Sahara Desert, two elite intelligence agents are on the trail of a powerful group of drug-smuggling terrorists, risking their lives—and, when they fall desperately in love, their careers—at every turn. Nearby, a beautiful young widow fights against human traffickers while traveling illegally to Europe with the help of a mysterious man who may not be who he says he is.

In China, a senior government official with vast ambitions for himself and his country battles against the older Communist hawks in the government, who may be pushing China—and its close military ally, North Korea—to a place of no return.

And in the United States, Pauline Green, the country's first woman president, navigates terrorist attacks, illegal arms trading, and the smear campaigns of her blustering political opponent with careful and deft diplomacy. She will do everything in her power to avoid starting an unnecessary war. But when one act of aggression leads to another, the most powerful countries in the world are caught in a complex web of alliances they can't escape. And once all the sinister pieces are in place, can anyone—even those with the best of intentions and most elite skills—stop the inevitable?

Never is an extraordinary thriller, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and a delivers a visceral, heart-pounding read that transports readers to the brink of the unimaginable.]]> 802 Ken Follett 0593300017 Lu 0 to-read 3.94 2021 Never
author: Ken Follett
name: Lu
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Final Girl Support Group 55829194 In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standing when the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after?

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.]]> 352 Grady Hendrix 059320123X Lu 0 to-read 3.49 2021 The Final Girl Support Group
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Lu
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Summer Sons 53290204
As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.]]> 372 Lee Mandelo 125079028X Lu 0 to-read 3.80 2021 Summer Sons
author: Lee Mandelo
name: Lu
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)]]> 52439531
To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.]]> 386 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1368052401 Lu 0 to-read 4.13 2020 The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Lu
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unfinished 55538528
A remarkable life story rooted in two different worlds, Unfinished offers insights into Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s childhood in India; her formative teenage years in the United States; and her return to India, where against all odds as a newcomer to the pageant world, she won the national and international beauty competitions that launched her global acting career. Whether reflecting on her nomadic early years or the challenges she has faced as she has doggedly pursued her calling, Priyanka shares her challenges and triumphs with warmth and honesty. The result is a book that is philosophical, sassy, inspiring, bold, and rebellious. Just like the author herself.

From her dual-continent twenty-year-long career as an actor and producer to her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, from losing her beloved father to cancer to marrying Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s story will inspire a generation around the world to gather their courage, embrace their ambition, and commit to the hard work of following their dreams.]]> 256 Priyanka Chopra Jonas 1984819216 Lu 0 to-read 3.64 2021 Unfinished
author: Priyanka Chopra Jonas
name: Lu
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Taste: My Life Through Food 55360284
Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them.

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley's signature wry humour and nostalgia, Taste is a heartwarming read that will be irresistible for anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.]]> 291 Stanley Tucci 1982168013 Lu 0 to-read 4.19 2021 Taste: My Life Through Food
author: Stanley Tucci
name: Lu
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside]]> 57936600
Nick Offerman has always felt a particular affection for the Land of the Free—not just for the people and their purported ideals but to the actual land the bedrock, the topsoil, and everything in between that generates the health of your local watershed. In his new book, Nick takes a humorous, inspiring, and elucidating trip to America's trails, farms, and frontier to examine the people who inhabit the land, what that has meant to them and us, and to the land itself, both historically and currently.  

In 2018, Wendell Berry posed a question to Nick, a query that planted the seed of this book, sending Nick on two memorable journeys with pals—a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders, as well as an extended visit to his friend James Rebanks, the author of The Shepherd's Life and English Pastoral . He followed that up with an excursion that could only have come about in 2020—Nick and his wife, Megan Mullally, bought an Airstream trailer to drive across (several of) the United States. These three quests inspired some “deep-ish" thinking from Nick, about the history and philosophy of our relationship with nature in our national parks, in our farming, and in our backyards; what we mean when we talk about conservation; and the importance of outdoor recreation, all subjects very close to Nick's heart. 

With witty, heartwarming stories and a keen insight into the human problems we all confront, this is both a ramble through and celebration of the land we all love.]]> 352 Nick Offerman 1101984694 Lu 0 to-read 3.69 2021 Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside
author: Nick Offerman
name: Lu
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rose Code 53914937
Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband.

Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips postwar Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy—closer...]]> 624 Kate Quinn 006305941X Lu 0 to-read 4.41 2021 The Rose Code
author: Kate Quinn
name: Lu
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Paris Library 52761909 Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors�The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.]]> 368 Janet Skeslien Charles 1982134194 Lu 0 to-read 4.00 2021 The Paris Library
author: Janet Skeslien Charles
name: Lu
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Begin at the End 50279680
Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother.

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families—the ones we are born into and the ones we create.]]> 384 Chris Whitaker 1250759668 Lu 0 to-read 4.10 2020 We Begin at the End
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Lu
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Rock Paper Scissors 56269064 Think you know the person you married? Think again�

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts � paper, cotton, pottery, tin � and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.]]> 294 Alice Feeney 1250266106 Lu 0 to-read 3.88 2021 Rock Paper Scissors
author: Alice Feeney
name: Lu
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Billy Summers 56852407
How about everything...]]> 517 Stephen King 1982173610 Lu 0 to-read 4.11 2021 Billy Summers
author: Stephen King
name: Lu
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[10th Anniversary (Women's Murder Club, #10)]]> 9436746
At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life - a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children. Yuki's career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct?

Lindsay's every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby starts interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she'll ever be able to start a family of her own.]]> 395 James Patterson 0316036269 Lu 3 4.08 2011 10th Anniversary (Women's Murder Club, #10)
author: James Patterson
name: Lu
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/31
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves:
review:
This a fun fast paced book, however, it was too short to do the story justice. It felt too rushed.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder, Interrupted: (Murder Is Forever: Volume 1)]]> 37757771 Two true-crime cases from the hit TV series Murder is Forever

MURDER, INTERRUPTED. Rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes. But when the bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives . . .

MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS. Dee Dee Blancharde is a local celebrity. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. But when Gypsy Rose realises she isn't actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, the daughter exacts her revenge . . .

]]> 295 James Patterson Lu 5 3.70 2018 Murder, Interrupted: (Murder Is Forever: Volume 1)
author: James Patterson
name: Lu
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/28
date added: 2021/05/28
shelves:
review:
What a good retelling of crime stories. This series takes it further rather than just giving the reader facts, instead it is told as a story with conversations between characters etc. I also really enjoyed learning more about the Gypsy Rose story.
]]> <![CDATA[The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)]]> 40914165 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 978-1492671527 can be found here.

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.]]> 309 Kim Michele Richardson Lu 5
A must read!]]> 4.17 2019 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)
author: Kim Michele Richardson
name: Lu
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/25
date added: 2021/05/25
shelves:
review:
What a beautiful and infuriating story! It is also so interesting knowing that the story is based on a lot of historical happenings and facts.

A must read!
]]> <![CDATA[The Immortal Crown (Age of X, #2)]]> 16156357 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series.

Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.]]> 432 Richelle Mead 0525953698 Lu 5
I can't believe book 3 was dropped. I am not sure how this series didn't sell. Is religion such a taboo subject? Because if that is what is keeping you from reading this, you have no idea what you are missing.]]> 4.28 2014 The Immortal Crown (Age of X, #2)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/22
date added: 2021/05/22
shelves:
review:
What a book! What a series! Honestly some of the best I have ever read. This story is so complex yet easy to understand. The characters are richly described and the story takes you to places you didn't even know you needed. This is something Richelle Mead always does masterfully.

I can't believe book 3 was dropped. I am not sure how this series didn't sell. Is religion such a taboo subject? Because if that is what is keeping you from reading this, you have no idea what you are missing.
]]> <![CDATA[The Eye of Andromeda (Age of X, #3)]]> 22057201 Richelle Mead Lu 0 to-read 4.19 The Eye of Andromeda (Age of X, #3)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Miss Frost Says I Do (Jayne Frost, #7)]]> 52897953
Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and soon to be newlywed.

Now that she and fiancé Sinclair (and their cats, Spider and Sugar) have moved back to the North Pole, they’re firmly entrenched in planning their wedding. With Jayne’s royal heritage, it’s a major undertaking.

And while Jayne is trying to organize the myriad details, Sinclair is taking the necessary classes to learn how to be a royal and adjust to his impending new life as Prince Consort. But with too much assistance from her well-meaning mother and aunt, Jayne quickly gets overwhelmed.

Sinclair suggests calling a friend to help, the ever-resourceful Birdie Caruthers. Jayne does, and Birdie is thrilled to pitch in. Not long after she arrives, however, the trio discovers the most terrible thing in the wedding carriage.

Will this dreadful discovery derail the wedding? Or can they solve the problem in time to make it to the altar unscathed? Make no bones about it, this is some serious trouble.]]> 314 Kristen Painter 1941695507 Lu 5 4.37 2019 Miss Frost Says I Do (Jayne Frost, #7)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/19
date added: 2021/05/19
shelves:
review:
A perfect ending to a great series!
]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Lu 0 to-read 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Lu
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

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

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

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

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Lu 0 to-read 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Lu
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> People We Meet on Vacation 54985743 Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?]]> 400 Emily Henry 1984806750 Lu 0 to-read 3.85 2021 People We Meet on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Lu
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 Lu 0 to-read 4.22 2018 Circe
author: Madeline Miller
name: Lu
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Anxious People 49127718 A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.

Includes short story - The Last Round of Golf]]> 336 Fredrik Backman 198216963X Lu 0 to-read 4.17 2019 Anxious People
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Lu
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ace of Spades 55518780 Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.

Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.

As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.]]> 422 Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé 1250800811 Lu 0 to-read 4.20 2021 Ace of Spades
author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
name: Lu
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Girl One 54785541 Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood

Josephine Morrow is Girl One, the first of nine “Miracle Babies� conceived without male DNA, raised on an experimental commune known as the Homestead. When a suspicious fire destroys the commune and claims the lives of two of the Homesteaders, the remaining Girls and their Mothers scatter across the United States and lose touch.

Years later, Margaret Morrow goes missing, and Josie sets off on a desperate road trip, tracking down her estranged sisters who seem to hold the keys to her mother’s disappearance. Tracing the clues Margaret left behind, Josie joins forces with the other Girls, facing down those who seek to eradicate their very existence while uncovering secrets about their origins and unlocking devastating abilities they never knew they had.]]> 368 Sara Flannery Murphy 0374601747 Lu 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Girl One
author: Sara Flannery Murphy
name: Lu
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Velvet Was the Night 54746205
Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ’n� roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman—and his soul.

Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir where life is cheap and the price of truth is high.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a simmering historical noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman they’re both desperate to find.]]> 289 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593356829 Lu 0 to-read 3.49 2021 Velvet Was the Night
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Lu
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Lu 0 to-read 3.79 2021 Falling
author: T.J. Newman
name: Lu
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Razorblade Tears 57660923 here.

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Provocative and fast-paced, S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.]]> 322 S.A. Cosby 1250252709 Lu 0 to-read 4.10 2021 Razorblade Tears
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Lu
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)]]> 13477883
When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.]]> 448 Richelle Mead 052595368X Lu 5 3.94 2013 Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Lu
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/18
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: can-t-wait, new-netgalley, have, raru
review:
What a wonderful book! I can't believe book 3 was cancelled. I will however, read book 2 asap.
]]> <![CDATA[Generation One (Lorien Legacies Reborn, #1)]]> 32497565
It has been over a year since the invasion of Earth was thwarted in Pittacus Lore's United as One. But in order to win, our alien allies known as the Garde unleashed their Loric energy that spread throughout the globe. Now human teenagers have begun to develop incredible powers of their own, known as Legacies.

To help these incredible and potentially dangerous individuals—and put the world at ease—the Garde have created an academy where they can train this new generation to control their powers and hopefully one day help mankind. But not everyone thinks that's the best use of their talents. And the teens may need to use their Legacies sooner than they ever imagined.]]> 416 Pittacus Lore 0062493728 Lu 0 to-read 4.17 2017 Generation One (Lorien Legacies Reborn, #1)
author: Pittacus Lore
name: Lu
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Queen of Hearts 35142025 A powerful debut novel, praised by The New York Times, Bustle, and Hypable, that pulses with humor and empathy as it explores the heart's capacity for forgiveness....

Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're happily married wives and mothers with successful careers--Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years.

As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie's life--both professionally and personally--throughout a tragic chain of events during her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick's unexpected reappearance at a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.]]> 366 Kimmery Martin 0399585060 Lu 4 3.59 2018 The Queen of Hearts
author: Kimmery Martin
name: Lu
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/13
date added: 2021/05/13
shelves:
review:
What a great read! It is often that you get to read a book about doctors, written by a doctor.
]]> <![CDATA[Miss Frost Braves the Blizzard (Jayne Frost, #5)]]> 38089160
Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now...private investigator. Sort of.

Christmas is over, the new year has begun, and life is thankfully slowing down for Jayne, giving her more time to chill with her new guy. That is, until Myra Grimshaw’s death reveals the elderly fae had a strange obsession with Jayne’s royal family and an unauthorized collection of exclusive winter elf objects. Including one very questionable snow globe.

Then a whiteout of magical proportions snows the town in and unraveling the mystery of Myra and the objects becomes job number one. Especially when Jayne suspects one of those objects is behind the dangerous creatures now roaming the town’s streets.

Things take a chilling turn when one of Jayne’s dearest friends is kidnapped and rescuing her means cracking the secrets of Myra’s past. But when Jayne discovers blood really is thicker than water, her own life is suddenly on thin ice. Can she save the town and her crown?]]> Kristen Painter Lu 4 4.31 2018 Miss Frost Braves the Blizzard (Jayne Frost, #5)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/11
date added: 2021/05/11
shelves:
review:
Loved this one! Things are certainly ramping up and Jayne finally has her love life mostly sorted out :)
]]> Hunted 24485589 New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner spins a thoroughly thrilling Beauty and the Beast story for the modern age, expertly woven with spellbinding romance, intrigue, and suspense that readers won’t soon be able to forget.

Beauty knows the Beast's forest in her bones—and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering its secrets.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman.

But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. The Beast.

Deaf to her sisters� protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin, or salvation.

Who will the Beauty, or the Beast?]]> 384 Meagan Spooner 0062422308 Lu 4 3.88 2017 Hunted
author: Meagan Spooner
name: Lu
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/10
date added: 2021/05/10
shelves:
review:
I didn't know this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I am glad that it took me by surprise. A really refreshing retelling! If this was a series I would definitely read book 2.
]]> <![CDATA[At Home: A Short History of Private Life]]> 7507825
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.� The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.
(front flap)]]> 497 Bill Bryson 0767919386 Lu 0 to-read 3.98 2010 At Home: A Short History of Private Life
author: Bill Bryson
name: Lu
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Exit Wounds 45042129 A brand-new anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre, including Jeffery Deaver, Val McDermid and Lee Child.

A brand-new anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre. Featuring both original in-universe stories and rarely seen reprints, this collection of nineteen masterful short stories brings together some of the genre’s greatest living authors. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan take on a delightfully twisted killer in Val McDermid’s ‘Happy Holidays�. In Fiona Cummin’s ‘Dead Weight�, an overbearing mother resorts to desperate measures to keep control of her teenage daughter. And in Dean Koontz’s ‘Kittens�, a young girl learns the truth about how her pets have been dying, and devises a horrible revenge. Tense, twisted and disturbing, Exit Wounds is a visceral and thrilling collection showcasing the very best modern crime fiction has to offer.

]]> 400 Paul Kane 1785659197 Lu 4 3.41 2019 Exit Wounds
author: Paul Kane
name: Lu
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/08
date added: 2021/05/08
shelves:
review:
This anthology had some serious gems in it! I especially enjoyed: The Bully, Voices Through The Walls, Kittens and The New Lad!
]]> <![CDATA[The Body: A Guide for Occupants]]> 43582376 A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe.

Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.

A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.]]> 450 Bill Bryson 0385539304 Lu 5 4.30 2019 The Body: A Guide for Occupants
author: Bill Bryson
name: Lu
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/07
date added: 2021/05/07
shelves:
review:
Fascinating read! Love Bill Bryon!
]]> <![CDATA[When Birdie Babysat Spider (Jayne Frost, #4.5)]]> 36618268 84 Kristen Painter Lu 4 4.27 2017 When Birdie Babysat Spider (Jayne Frost, #4.5)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/04
date added: 2021/05/04
shelves:
review:
Birdie and Spider are lots of fun!
]]> Dreadnought (Nemesis, #1) 30279514 Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero.

Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing� her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.]]> 280 April Daniels 1682300684 Lu 4 4.10 2017 Dreadnought (Nemesis, #1)
author: April Daniels
name: Lu
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/04
date added: 2021/05/04
shelves:
review:
This book was a lot like reading a comic or watching a superhero movie. Some great queer superhero fun! Will get to the second one asap.
]]> Sovereign (Nemesis, #2) 32565582
When she crosses a newly discovered billionaire supervillain, Dreadnought comes under attack from all quarters. From her troubled family life to her disintegrating friendship with Calamity, there’s no lever too cruel for this villain to use against her.

She might be hard to kill, but there’s more than one way to destroy a hero. Before the war is over, Dreadnought will be forced to confront parts of herself she never wanted to acknowledge.

And behind it all, an old enemy waits in the wings, ready to unleash a plot that will scar the world forever.]]> 315 April Daniels 1682308243 Lu 0 to-read 4.24 2017 Sovereign (Nemesis, #2)
author: April Daniels
name: Lu
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Miss Frost Cracks a Caper (Jayne Frost, #4)]]> 36318341 Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost’s daughter, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now� private investigator. Sort of.

When Lark Bramble, an old frenemy, shows up in Nocturne Falls, Jayne finds herself reliving the painful past and trying to make responsible decisions that won’t mess up her future. But being an adult proves harder than she thought.

Finally at peace with where things stand between her and Lark, Jayne thinks everything’s cool until a chilling event at the Black and Orange Ball shatters that peace and puts Jayne at odds with the powers that be. She knows she’s on thin ice, but she’s determined to crack the caper.

Can Jayne find a way to right the wrongs she might have caused or will she forever bear the guilt of allowing herself to be snowed again?]]> 302 Kristen Painter 1941695337 Lu 3 4.30 2017 Miss Frost Cracks a Caper (Jayne Frost, #4)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/02
date added: 2021/05/02
shelves:
review:
Always a fun series. However, Jayne needs to get her life in order. She is fast on the way to end up alone.
]]> <![CDATA[Miss Frost Saves the Sandman (Jayne Frost, #3)]]> 33021969
Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now...private investigator. Sort of.

When the Sandman comes to Santa’s Workshop, the shop Jayne manages, to do his first ever book signing, it’s a major event. He’s kind of a supernatural celebrity and she needs to keep him happy.

All is well until trouble shows up at the party thrown in his honor. Trouble in the form of Luna Nyx, the Mistress of Nightmares and his creepy counterpart. The Sandman’s assistant says Luna is dangerous, and Jayne believes it when her dreams turn dark.

Can Jayne keep the Sandman safe from this gothic goddess? Or will Luna’s threats put them both to sleep for good?]]> 270 Kristen Painter 1941695221 Lu 4 As always lots of fun! 4.19 2016 Miss Frost Saves the Sandman (Jayne Frost, #3)
author: Kristen Painter
name: Lu
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/02
date added: 2021/05/02
shelves:
review:
As always lots of fun!
]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)]]> 32542 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780385338608

Before The Firm and The Pelican Brief made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence, as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town, Clanton, Mississippi.

The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young men. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. That is, until her black father acquires an assault rifle and takes matters into his hands.

For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life, and then his own.]]> 738 John Grisham Lu 0 to-read 4.11 1989 A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Lu
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Who Fears Death 7767021 An award-winning literary author presents her first foray into supernatural fantasy with a novel of post-apocalyptic Africa.

In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue.

Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny � to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture � and eventually death itself.]]> 386 Nnedi Okorafor 075640617X Lu 5
A beautiful story about love, loss and sacrifice.

I cannot wait for book 2!

Some great quotes:
“I was young but I hated like a middle-aged man at the end of his prime.�
“Oh, how our traditions limit and outcast those of us who aren't normal.”]]> 3.92 2010 Who Fears Death
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Lu
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/29
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves:
review:
Wow what a story! I love this type of fantasy, not over bearing and constant. The lore is easy to understand and comprehend and you don't spend half the book trying to memorize the world.

A beautiful story about love, loss and sacrifice.

I cannot wait for book 2!

Some great quotes:
“I was young but I hated like a middle-aged man at the end of his prime.�
“Oh, how our traditions limit and outcast those of us who aren't normal.�
]]> <![CDATA[Medieval Myths & Mysteries (The Great Courses)]]> 48611870
Was King Arthur a real person? What about Robin Hood? Is the Holy Grail a cup, or something else, altogether? Did Europeans really burn millions of people at the stake for witchcraft, in the past? These are just a few of the questions you will explore with the help of medieval scholar Dorsey Armstrong as she reveals the truth about the stories we continue to tell about the medieval period. Some contain nuggets of truth, others are wholly fabricated, but all of them can tell us something about the past.

From films like Braveheart and Excalibur to literature such as Ivanhoe and Morte d'Arthur, the years between 500 and 1500 have generated amazing stories of knights and damsels, superstitions and magic; some of these stories even made it into our grade school history curriculum. But what were those years really like? Known, somewhat inaccurately, as the "Middle Ages," this period was not merely a transition from Roman antiquity to the Renaissance, but a vibrant time full of people just as curious, innovative, malicious, joyful, confused, ambitious, complex - in other words, just as human - as in any other period of history.

The 10 enlightening (and often humorous) lectures of Medieval Myths and Mysteries will show you how far from the "dark" times of legend these centuries were. Uncover the facts about the Knights Templar. Reveal the truth behind the tales of legendary creatures like the Questing Beast and the unicorn. Trace the events of the Black Death and the ways it altered the world in its wake, and much more.

With Professor Armstrong, you will dig deep into the ways that later generations reshaped the narrative of the medieval years and perpetuated the myths of a simpler and less civilized age, which was, in fact, much richer and more complex than many of us have been led to believe.]]> 6 Dorsey Armstrong Lu 5 4.14 2019 Medieval Myths & Mysteries (The Great Courses)
author: Dorsey Armstrong
name: Lu
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/30
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves:
review:
What a great audiobook! I loved learning more about King Arthur, Robin Hood, Unicorns, and especially the comparison of the Medieval world with Game of Thrones!
]]> <![CDATA[To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)]]> 110386
Eloise Bridgerton couldn't marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking... and wondering... and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except... he wasn't. Her perfect husband wouldn't be so moody and ill-mannered. And he certainly should have mentioned that he had two young - and decidedly unruly - children, as much in need of a mother as Phillip is in need of a wife.

an alternate cover edition can be found here]]> 372 Julia Quinn 0380820854 Lu 0 to-read 3.65 2003 To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5)
author: Julia Quinn
name: Lu
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer]]> 1797248
In 2006, HarperCollins announced the publication of a book, titled If I Did It, in which O.J. Simpson told how he hypothetically would have committed the murders. In response to public outrage that Simpson stood to profit from these crimes, HarperCollins canceled the book. A Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the Goldmans in August 2007 to partially satisfy the unpaid civil judgment, which has risen to over $38 million with interest.

The Goldman family views this book as his confession and has worked hard to ensure that the public will read this book and learn the truth. This is the original manuscript approved by O.J. Simpson, with a subtitle added by the Goldman family and up to 14,000 words of additional commentary.]]> 208 O.J. Simpson 0825305888 Lu 4 3.27 2006 If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
author: O.J. Simpson
name: Lu
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/30
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves:
review:
I didn't know what to expect when listening to this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't read as a confession, but more as a 'why I did it'.
]]> <![CDATA[Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons, #4)]]> 110384
Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone's preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can't seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph. But when Colin returns to London from a trip abroad he discovers nothing in his life is quite the same - especially Penelope Featherington! The girl haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide...is she his biggest threat - or his promise of a happy ending?]]> 370 Julia Quinn 0380820846 Lu 5 3.86 2002 Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons, #4)
author: Julia Quinn
name: Lu
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/30
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves:
review:
This was probably my favorite of the Bridgertons yet! I love Colin and Penelope.
]]> My Dark Vanessa 44890081
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.]]> 373 Kate Elizabeth Russell 006294150X Lu 0 to-read 4.09 2020 My Dark Vanessa
author: Kate Elizabeth Russell
name: Lu
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Sun Down Motel 45885644
Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…]]> 327 Simone St. James 0440000173 Lu 0 to-read 3.99 2020 The Sun Down Motel
author: Simone St. James
name: Lu
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>