Coral's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:41:27 -0700 60 Coral's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1)]]> 59416521
Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door.

No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne¡ªnot yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive.

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca¡¯s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women¡ªand their goddesses¡ª that will change the course of the world.]]> 391 Claire North Coral 0 currently-reading 3.69 2022 Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1)
author: Claire North
name: Coral
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Victorian Psycho 221625625
Whether creeping across the moonlit lawns in her undergarments or gently tormenting the house staff, Winifred struggles at every turn to stifle the horrid compulsions of her past until her chillingly dark imagination breaches the feeble boundary of reality on Christmas morning. Wielding her signature sardonic wit and a penchant for the gorgeously macabre, Virginia Feito returns with a vengeance in Victorian Psycho.]]> 204 Virginia Feito 0008739595 Coral 4 This was fun 3.73 2025 Victorian Psycho
author: Virginia Feito
name: Coral
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves:
review:
This was fun
]]> <![CDATA[The Shortest History of Japan: From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse¨DThe Global Drama of an Ancient Island Nation (The Shortest History Series)]]> 199587136 Discover the aesthetic traditions, political resilience, and modern economic might of this singular island nation.


Zen, haiku, martial arts, sushi, anime, manga, film, video games . . . Japanese culture has long enriched our Western way of life. Yet from a Western perspective, Japan remains a remote island country that has long had a complicated relationship with the outside world.


Japan¡ªan archipelago strung like a necklace around the Asian mainland¡ªis considerably farther from Asia than Britain is from Europe. The sea has provided an effective barrier against invasion and enabled the culture to develop in unique ways. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shoguns successfully closed the country to the West. Then, Japan swung in the opposite direction, adopting Western culture wholesale. Both strategies enabled it to avoid colonization¡ªand to retain its traditions and way of life.


A skilled storyteller and accurate historian, Lesley Downer presents the dramatic sweep of Japanese history and the larger-than-life individuals¡ªfrom emperors descended from the Sun Goddess to warlords, samurai, merchants, court ladies, women warriors, geisha, and businessmen¡ªwho shaped this extraordinary modern society.


The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.

]]> 256 Lesley Downer 1891011669 Coral 4
I've seen complaints that it skims over important moments, but I think that's people being particularly dense about a book called "The Shortest History of Japan". If you want something indepth, don't pick a book that's not even 250 pages long.]]> 3.77 2024 The Shortest History of Japan: From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse¨DThe Global Drama of an Ancient Island Nation (The Shortest History Series)
author: Lesley Downer
name: Coral
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves:
review:
A very accessible, whistle stop tour of Japan's expansive history.

I've seen complaints that it skims over important moments, but I think that's people being particularly dense about a book called "The Shortest History of Japan". If you want something indepth, don't pick a book that's not even 250 pages long.
]]> The Travelling Cat Chronicles 40723857
Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn't know why and Satoru won't say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan's changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana's story explores the wonder and thrill of life's unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. TRAVELLING CAT has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of kindness and truth. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.]]> 247 Hiro Arikawa 0857526332 Coral 5
I've seen a few 1star reviews labelling this boring and not understanding the hype. I can only assume those people are heartless monsters.]]> 4.38 2012 The Travelling Cat Chronicles
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: Coral
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:
I cried. So beautiful and bittersweet.

I've seen a few 1star reviews labelling this boring and not understanding the hype. I can only assume those people are heartless monsters.
]]> She's Always Hungry 227771193 Visceral, speculative body horror from the author of BOY PARTS and PENANCE ¨C the first collection from a major voice in British fiction.

A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Each of these characters has a desperate desire. Can any of them be sated?

Unsettling, revelatory, and laced with her signature dark humour, Eliza Clark¡¯s debut short story collection plumbs the depths of that most basic human feeling: hunger.]]> Eliza Clark 0571394698 Coral 3
There were plenty of cool ideas in this collection of short stories based around insatiable desire. However, I found a lot of them, while incredibly intriguing, petered away to nothing. The endings felt abrupt or a bit flat, which was a shame.

Still, it makes me realise how much I would probably enjoy a full length novel from this author.]]> 3.95 2024 She's Always Hungry
author: Eliza Clark
name: Coral
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
I really like Eliza Clark's writing style. I find it incredibly compelling.

There were plenty of cool ideas in this collection of short stories based around insatiable desire. However, I found a lot of them, while incredibly intriguing, petered away to nothing. The endings felt abrupt or a bit flat, which was a shame.

Still, it makes me realise how much I would probably enjoy a full length novel from this author.
]]> <![CDATA[The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales]]> 35397031
This collection, with an introduction and fresh new renderings of the tales by Neil Philip, includes not just "The Little Mermaid" but also such favorites as "The Tinderbox," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and "The Little Match Girl."

Philip also includes some lesser known tales that reflect different facets of Andersen's genius, such as the tall tale "The Flying Trunk," with its witty story-within-a-story, the charming fantasy of "Little Ida's Flowers," the comic fable "The Collar," and a story about the magic of everyday reality, "The Gardener and His Master."

A special feature of the book is the inclusion of several fairy tales of spiritual search and redemption, including "The Bell," "The Toad," and, of course, "The Little Mermaid."

The book is illustrated throughout by Isabelle Brent's magical watercolors, lavishly embellished with gold leaf, making this handsome volume a book the whole family will treasure.]]> 240 Hans Christian Andersen 0062692593 Coral 5 3.95 The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales
author: Hans Christian Andersen
name: Coral
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/25
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves:
review:
Beautifully illustrated classic fair tales. I love this series from Harper Collins.
]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea]]> 56978100
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village¡ªand the beloved of Mina¡¯s older brother Joon¡ªmay be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong¡¯s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin¡ªas well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits¡ªMina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn¡¯t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking¡­]]> 325 Axie Oh 1250780861 Coral 4
Beautifully written, this is definitely a novel for fans of Spirited Away and Elizabeth Lim. I understand that it's a retelling of a famous Korean folklore.

It gave me strong fairytale vibes in terms of being an equal blend of plot and romance. My only criticism is the secondhand of the book felt rushed, which did rush the romance a little.]]> 4.10 2022 The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
author: Axie Oh
name: Coral
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
A story about a girl who sacrifices herself to a sea god in order to save her family and village from his deadly storms.

Beautifully written, this is definitely a novel for fans of Spirited Away and Elizabeth Lim. I understand that it's a retelling of a famous Korean folklore.

It gave me strong fairytale vibes in terms of being an equal blend of plot and romance. My only criticism is the secondhand of the book felt rushed, which did rush the romance a little.
]]> A Palace Near the Wind 195593620 From a rising star author, a richly inventive, brutal and beautiful science-fantasy novella. A story of family, loss, oppression and rebellion for readers of Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Neon Yang's The Black Tides of Heaven and Kritika H. Rao's The Surviving Sky

Sometimes called Wind Walkers for their ability to command the wind, unlike their human rulers, the Feng people have bark faces, carved limbs, arms of braided branches, and hair of needle threads.?Bound by duty and tradition, Liu Lufeng, the eldest princess of the Feng royalty, is the next bride to the human king. The negotiation of bridewealth is the only way to stop the expansion of the humans so?that the Feng can keep their lands, people, and culture intact. As the eldest, Lufeng should be the next in line to lead the people of Feng, and in the past, that made her sisters disposable. Thankful that?her youngest sister, Chuiliu, is too young for a sacrificial marriage, she steps in with plans to kill the king to finally stop the marriages.

But when she?starts to uncover the truth about her peoples' origins and realizes Chuiliu will never be safe from the humans, she must learn to let go of duty and tradition, choose her allies carefully, and risk the unknown?in order to free her family and shape her own fate.

A powerfully imaginative, compelling story of a young woman seeking to save her family and her home, as well as a devastating meditation on the destruction of the natural world for the sake of an industrial future.]]> 192 Ai Jiang 1803369388 Coral 4
I found this to be a very curious bit of speculative fiction.

Inspired by Bluebeard's Castle, this novella ponders the themes of environmentalism and the merging of cultures - the shock of being introduced to new ways of living, feeling, communicating and how those can erode away your original identity.

While I really enjoyed this - it's beautifully written and the world is intricately built and designed. However, the plot at times felt meandering. I thought this was a standalone novella, but as you storm to the finish line, it was clear there had to be another book. So many questions left unresolved, and a cliff hanger as well?

With a year to wait for the second volume in this duology, and the fact it was a small hardback less than 200 pages long, I have to question why the author would make a multi part novella series. Why not just release it in its entirety as one, large standalone fantasy? It's quite frustrating as a reader.]]> 3.52 2025 A Palace Near the Wind
author: Ai Jiang
name: Coral
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
3.5 rounded up.

I found this to be a very curious bit of speculative fiction.

Inspired by Bluebeard's Castle, this novella ponders the themes of environmentalism and the merging of cultures - the shock of being introduced to new ways of living, feeling, communicating and how those can erode away your original identity.

While I really enjoyed this - it's beautifully written and the world is intricately built and designed. However, the plot at times felt meandering. I thought this was a standalone novella, but as you storm to the finish line, it was clear there had to be another book. So many questions left unresolved, and a cliff hanger as well?

With a year to wait for the second volume in this duology, and the fact it was a small hardback less than 200 pages long, I have to question why the author would make a multi part novella series. Why not just release it in its entirety as one, large standalone fantasy? It's quite frustrating as a reader.
]]> Sweet Bean Paste 33376821
Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve ¨C and plenty of pancakes ¨C to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.]]> 216 Durian Sukegawa 1786071959 Coral 5
This is a story exploring the themes of redemption, social commentary and stigma, human connection and acceptance of who we are and our own worth.

It discusses a topic I knew nothing about - the treatment of leprosy victims in Japan. It wasn't until 1996 that they repealed the law banning victims of the disease from leaving sheltered villages, even though some residents had been cured for many decades. Imagine being trapped in one place forever through no fault of your own? It makes for a curious dynamic between our main protagonists - both trapped at one point, but for different reasons.

Freedom is a big part of this novel - freedom from jail, debt, disease, social expectations and even the ability to fly.

I found this to be so compelling and the ending did invoke a few tears.]]> 4.07 2013 Sweet Bean Paste
author: Durian Sukegawa
name: Coral
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:
A heartwarming and poignant novel about the unlikely friendship between an ex-con and a elderly woman.

This is a story exploring the themes of redemption, social commentary and stigma, human connection and acceptance of who we are and our own worth.

It discusses a topic I knew nothing about - the treatment of leprosy victims in Japan. It wasn't until 1996 that they repealed the law banning victims of the disease from leaving sheltered villages, even though some residents had been cured for many decades. Imagine being trapped in one place forever through no fault of your own? It makes for a curious dynamic between our main protagonists - both trapped at one point, but for different reasons.

Freedom is a big part of this novel - freedom from jail, debt, disease, social expectations and even the ability to fly.

I found this to be so compelling and the ending did invoke a few tears.
]]> Goodnight Tokyo 201072367 A symphony of interconnected lives that offers a compelling reflection on life in modern-day metropolises at the intersection of isolation and intimacy.

Set over several nights, between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., in and around Tokyo, this mind-blowingly constructed book is an elaborate, energetic fresco of human nocturnal existence in all its mystery, an enigmatic literary mix of Agatha Christie, Teju Cole, and Heironymous Bosch.

On this journey through the labyrinthine streets and hidden corners of one of the world¡¯s most fascinating cities, everybody is searching for something, and maybe searching in the wrong places. Elements of the fantastical and the surreal abound, as they tend to do in the early pre-dawn hours of the morning, yet the settings, the human stories, and each character¡¯s search are all as real as can be.

Goodnight Tokyo offers readers a unique and intimate take on Tokyo as seen through the eyes of a large cast of colorful characters. Their lives, as disparate and as far apart as they may seem, are in fact intricately interconnected and as their fates converge against the backdrop of the city¡¯s neon-lit streets and quiet alleyways, Yoshida masterfully portrays in captivating, lyrical prose the complexities of human relationships, the mystery of human connection, and the universal quest for meaning.]]> 176 Atsuhiro Yoshida Coral 0 3.55 2018 Goodnight Tokyo
author: Atsuhiro Yoshida
name: Coral
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> The Transmigration of Bodies 31117054
Yuri Herrera¡¯s novel is a response to the violence of contemporary Mexico. With echoes of Romeo and Juliet, Roberto Bola?o and Raymond Chandler, The Transmigration of Bodies is a noirish tragedy and a tribute to those bodies ¨C loved, sanctified, lusted after, and defiled ¨C that violent crime has touched.]]> 112 Yuri Herrera 1908276738 Coral 3
A city has gone into lockdownn due to a plague, causing people to become sick and die within a few days. With discussions about cleanliness, mask wearing and soldiers prowling the streets questioning why people were outside, this could have been inspired by the covid pandemic.

Instead, it's a short but only hollow retelling of Romeo and Juliet, touching on cartel crime syndicates and police brutality. For a 100 page novella, there were two sex scenes that felt utterly unnecessary.

Our protagonist is a fixer for the mob, doing a body exchange of two crime families children. He's emotionally intelligent, sensitive, job proud with apparently zero self-confidence and a rampant horniness.

I felt a bit lost as to the purpose of the story, the passage of time didn't make sense and, quite frankly, I was a bit bored.]]> 3.68 2013 The Transmigration of Bodies
author: Yuri Herrera
name: Coral
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars rounded up.

A city has gone into lockdownn due to a plague, causing people to become sick and die within a few days. With discussions about cleanliness, mask wearing and soldiers prowling the streets questioning why people were outside, this could have been inspired by the covid pandemic.

Instead, it's a short but only hollow retelling of Romeo and Juliet, touching on cartel crime syndicates and police brutality. For a 100 page novella, there were two sex scenes that felt utterly unnecessary.

Our protagonist is a fixer for the mob, doing a body exchange of two crime families children. He's emotionally intelligent, sensitive, job proud with apparently zero self-confidence and a rampant horniness.

I felt a bit lost as to the purpose of the story, the passage of time didn't make sense and, quite frankly, I was a bit bored.
]]> <![CDATA[What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)]]> 65213381
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there¡¯s more to her parent¡¯s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian¡¯s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent¡¯s disappearance¡ªor risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.]]> 416 Isabel Iba?ez 1250803373 Coral 2
The magic was basically superfluous to the story - a few times it was desperately required to progress the plot, but the concept and design of it was poorly thought out, and it was far too convenient in its manifestation.

The love story was cringe worthy. Inez pursued Whit with ruthless abandonment, claiming to fully understand and love the functioning alcoholic despite only knowing him for a few weeks. He was so dull yet apparently this was incredibly intriguing to the young woman who simply wouldn't take no for an answer.

The pursuit of Cleopatra's tomb was interesting but was a very flimsy backdrop to what was a soap opera set in Egypt.

Sadly, both Inez and the River know nothing.

If I didn't have this as both a physical and audiobook, it would have been a DNF.]]> 3.82 2023 What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)
author: Isabel Iba?ez
name: Coral
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:
Lush descriptions and incredibly well researched, this romantasy inspired by The Mummy was a swing and a miss for me.

The magic was basically superfluous to the story - a few times it was desperately required to progress the plot, but the concept and design of it was poorly thought out, and it was far too convenient in its manifestation.

The love story was cringe worthy. Inez pursued Whit with ruthless abandonment, claiming to fully understand and love the functioning alcoholic despite only knowing him for a few weeks. He was so dull yet apparently this was incredibly intriguing to the young woman who simply wouldn't take no for an answer.

The pursuit of Cleopatra's tomb was interesting but was a very flimsy backdrop to what was a soap opera set in Egypt.

Sadly, both Inez and the River know nothing.

If I didn't have this as both a physical and audiobook, it would have been a DNF.
]]> Pick a Colour: A Novel 223316211 From Giller Prize and O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa comes a revelatory novel about loneliness, love, labour, and class. An intimate and sharply written book following a nail salon owner as she toils away for the privileged clients who don't even know her true name.

Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nail salon, she is just another worker named Susan. On this summer's day, much like any other, the Susans buff and clip and polish and tweeze. They listen and smile and nod. But beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. A woman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but also haunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange.
? ? ?As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities¡ªas anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her own circumstances¡ªwill gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.
? ? ?Told over a single day, with razor-sharp precision and wit, Pick a Colour confirms Souvankham Thammavongsa's place as literature's premier chronicler of the immigrant experience, in its myriad, complex, and slyly subversive forms.]]> Souvankham Thammavongsa 1039058469 Coral 0 to-read 4.00 Pick a Colour: A Novel
author: Souvankham Thammavongsa
name: Coral
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Raptornator (VHS Trash Book 5)]]> 195521797 115 Brian G. Berry Coral 1 4.00 Raptornator (VHS Trash Book 5)
author: Brian G. Berry
name: Coral
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:
I thought this was written by chat gpt, so I googled it and instead discovered the author is accused of abuse and has been dropped by his publisher
]]> The River Has Roots 211004176 Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

¡°Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.¡±

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family¡¯s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters¡¯ bond but also their lives will be at risk¡­]]> 133 Amal El-Mohtar 1250341086 Coral 5
This lyrical novella feels both familiar and startlingly new. The pondering on language is delightful. In this world, grammar is magic. Both are transformative in their intentions, which is such a wonderful idea.

The combinations of music and riddles makes for an intriguing book that feels bizarrely English. For something so short, I took my time flowing along with the story, which has a delicious end.

In this volume, we are also given a sneak peak into El-Mohtar's future collection of short stories. The tale of a man missing his memories and a pound of flesh is a wonderful little mystery that makes me hungry for me.

These are stories that will stay with me, have taken up residence in my mind and will be carried forward until I'm gone.]]> 4.19 2025 The River Has Roots
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Coral
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Half fairytale, half murder ballad.

This lyrical novella feels both familiar and startlingly new. The pondering on language is delightful. In this world, grammar is magic. Both are transformative in their intentions, which is such a wonderful idea.

The combinations of music and riddles makes for an intriguing book that feels bizarrely English. For something so short, I took my time flowing along with the story, which has a delicious end.

In this volume, we are also given a sneak peak into El-Mohtar's future collection of short stories. The tale of a man missing his memories and a pound of flesh is a wonderful little mystery that makes me hungry for me.

These are stories that will stay with me, have taken up residence in my mind and will be carried forward until I'm gone.
]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe ¨C a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution ¨C who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune¡¯s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow fa?ade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she¡¯s the very villain he¡¯s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli¡¯s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch¡­ is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Coral 3
I rooted for our female MC. Leading a double life to rescue witches from the slaughter of a ruthless regime, one born from the cruelty of the previous ruling Witch Queens. Decent. Solid.

However, the romance is utterly stupid.

Ok, so at first, it's built on suberterfuge. Makes sense. She's grilling our male MC for information on captured witches because he's captain of the blood guard and prides himself on running down evil magic users. Fine. He's grilling her because he believes her to be the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante releasing all his captors before he can purge them. Ok, silly but fine.

But then they start to catch feelings.

However, this makes no sense. This is the man who slit her grandmother's throat in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. Who hunted down witches and had dogs rip them apart. Who murdered children proven to have magical abilities. I don't care how "solid" his chest is, he's still a violent monster and I don't believe anyone could look past that. Yes yes, there's a bit of a back story to explain why he's predjudiced. But still. NO. You just wouldn't. Even if you do secretly loathe yourself because you were the one to hand your grandmother over to this brute.

We get to see both perspectives. Rune has insta-lust that developes into love and Ok, maybe you could say its understandably a bit self destructive because she expects to one day be caught and killed. But Gideon - there's no development or depth. In his chapters he says "i find her attractive but if she's a witch I'll slit her throat" and that never changes. Not once throughout the book.

Utterly stupid, but I'll probably read the next book.]]> 4.16 2024 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Coral
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
Ok, so this is very atmospheric and has an intriguing magic system that I found fascinating. I liked the world that had been built. Although it's nothing particularly new or groundbreaking, it makes sense and flows naturally.

I rooted for our female MC. Leading a double life to rescue witches from the slaughter of a ruthless regime, one born from the cruelty of the previous ruling Witch Queens. Decent. Solid.

However, the romance is utterly stupid.

Ok, so at first, it's built on suberterfuge. Makes sense. She's grilling our male MC for information on captured witches because he's captain of the blood guard and prides himself on running down evil magic users. Fine. He's grilling her because he believes her to be the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante releasing all his captors before he can purge them. Ok, silly but fine.

But then they start to catch feelings.

However, this makes no sense. This is the man who slit her grandmother's throat in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. Who hunted down witches and had dogs rip them apart. Who murdered children proven to have magical abilities. I don't care how "solid" his chest is, he's still a violent monster and I don't believe anyone could look past that. Yes yes, there's a bit of a back story to explain why he's predjudiced. But still. NO. You just wouldn't. Even if you do secretly loathe yourself because you were the one to hand your grandmother over to this brute.

We get to see both perspectives. Rune has insta-lust that developes into love and Ok, maybe you could say its understandably a bit self destructive because she expects to one day be caught and killed. But Gideon - there's no development or depth. In his chapters he says "i find her attractive but if she's a witch I'll slit her throat" and that never changes. Not once throughout the book.

Utterly stupid, but I'll probably read the next book.
]]> Heir (Heir Duology, #1) 220958495 Prepare for the action-packed, ruthless, and romantic new fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award winning author Sabaa Tahir about love, legacy, and vengeance.

An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hot-headed mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her tribe for an unforgiveable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who speaks to the earth, air, and water to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But then, she falls for a charismatic and inconvenient fugitive who keeps getting in her way.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire, nephew of a famed and venerated empress, but he¡¯s loathe to pick up the mantle when his aunt steps down. As the son of the most hated emperor in the history of his people, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir masterfully interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with the burdens of power, the treachery of love and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed. Get ready for a dark and breathless journey that will captivate readers and that may cost these young people their lives¨Dand their hearts. Literally.]]> 534 Sabaa Tahir 0349125643 Coral 4
I could totally envisage this as a computer game! It loses a star because I felt the twist was incredibly predictable and lots of references were made to events occurring in the character's past that was never revealed. I assume that will come in book 2, but it's quite annoying to allude to something clearly so pivotal and then not address it in the same volume.]]> 4.18 2024 Heir (Heir Duology, #1)
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Coral
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves:
review:
A really well written, compelling fantasy novel filled with mystery, action and romance.

I could totally envisage this as a computer game! It loses a star because I felt the twist was incredibly predictable and lots of references were made to events occurring in the character's past that was never revealed. I assume that will come in book 2, but it's quite annoying to allude to something clearly so pivotal and then not address it in the same volume.
]]> Fray 63968783
A father who is trying to rescue his lost wife. Their child, desperately searching the wild forests and dangerous mountains of the Scottish Highlands, not knowing what's out there. An abandoned cottage in the remote wilderness, filled with thousands of confusing, terrifying handwritten notes. And a dark, looming voice who threatens to destroy everything...

Perfect for fans of Pine and The Loney, Fray announces an electrifying new voice in literary fiction.]]> 272 Chris Carse Wilson 0008539200 Coral 2
It's an intriguing premise: a genderless narrator searches for their missing father. Their father, who has vanished in the Scottish countryside whilst looking for their wife. A wife who is dead.

This is a book exploring what appears to be a generational mental health crisis. One parent has a breakdown after the death of their partner, and their child subsequently succumbs to their own inner demons of depression whilst trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to their missing father in the mountains. You piece this together through notes left by the missing dad, alongside the observations of the nameless narrator.

In order to portray this mental collapse, the author has the narrator spiral. Their stream of consciousness becomes more erratic, repetitive and hard to follow. They begin to reenact their father's unstable behaviour, making the narrative ceaseless and cyclical.

Unfortunately, this makes for a very mundane and monotonous read. While there are snippets of interest - references to a devil prowling the wilderness are particularly emotive and spine tingling - these are few and far between. I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness in general - there's usually very little dialogue and no real plot.

If you want to read a book about grief and overcoming poor mental health, I would highly recommend Brat by Gabriel Smith instead. That book made me weep more than once, whereas this novel had me skim reading it right to the last page.]]> 2.55 Fray
author: Chris Carse Wilson
name: Coral
average rating: 2.55
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
I really should have dnf'd this after the first 70 pages.

It's an intriguing premise: a genderless narrator searches for their missing father. Their father, who has vanished in the Scottish countryside whilst looking for their wife. A wife who is dead.

This is a book exploring what appears to be a generational mental health crisis. One parent has a breakdown after the death of their partner, and their child subsequently succumbs to their own inner demons of depression whilst trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to their missing father in the mountains. You piece this together through notes left by the missing dad, alongside the observations of the nameless narrator.

In order to portray this mental collapse, the author has the narrator spiral. Their stream of consciousness becomes more erratic, repetitive and hard to follow. They begin to reenact their father's unstable behaviour, making the narrative ceaseless and cyclical.

Unfortunately, this makes for a very mundane and monotonous read. While there are snippets of interest - references to a devil prowling the wilderness are particularly emotive and spine tingling - these are few and far between. I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness in general - there's usually very little dialogue and no real plot.

If you want to read a book about grief and overcoming poor mental health, I would highly recommend Brat by Gabriel Smith instead. That book made me weep more than once, whereas this novel had me skim reading it right to the last page.
]]> Murder at Mt. Fuji 223352662 A REDISCOVERED CLASSIC MYSTERY FROM JAPAN'S QUEEN OF CRIME

When American student Jane Prescott is invited to spend the holidays with her classmate Chiyo, she jumps at the chance to see in the new year at a luxurious mansion at the foot of Mount Fuji. Chiyo belongs to one of Japan's wealthiest families, the heiress to a pharmaceutical empire headed up by Yohei 'Grandpa' Wada.

With the whole Wada family gathered and snow falling outside, the festivities are in full swing. That is, until Chiyo bursts into the room - covered in blood, holding a knife, and screaming that she has stabbed her grandfather to death.

Stunned, the family closes ranks to protect one of its own - but Jane alone has more questions than answers. Could her sweet, timid friend really be capable of such violence? Did any other member of the Wada clan stand to gain everything with the patriarch¡¯s death? And if so, could the real murderer still be in their midst?

Packed full of atmosphere and nostalgia, and with a dark, gritty mystery at its heart, Murder at Mt. Fuji is the perfect rediscovered classic novel for fans of Japanese translated fiction and cosy crime.]]> 304 Shizuko Natsuki 152915510X Coral 0 to-read 3.48 1984 Murder at Mt. Fuji
author: Shizuko Natsuki
name: Coral
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Le Fay (Morgan le Fay, #2) 199894808 433 Sophie Keetch Coral 5
Still a masterful reimagining, although I think Le Fay is becoming blinded by her own arrogance and shaping the world to what she wants a bit too much.

I was surprised by how a particular character's anticipated demise was almost skimmed over. That felt a little anticlimactic although, because we sit on Morgan's shoulder and she wasn't there to witness it, it does make a certain amount of sense.

I was intrigued (and highly suspicious!) when a certain character had foreknowledge of where Morgan and Fair Garden were located when they had never been there before. I thought this might be addressed, but disappointingly never was. Perhaps it will be picked up in book 3 ]]> 4.36 2024 Le Fay (Morgan le Fay, #2)
author: Sophie Keetch
name: Coral
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars rounded up!

Still a masterful reimagining, although I think Le Fay is becoming blinded by her own arrogance and shaping the world to what she wants a bit too much.

I was surprised by how a particular character's anticipated demise was almost skimmed over. That felt a little anticlimactic although, because we sit on Morgan's shoulder and she wasn't there to witness it, it does make a certain amount of sense.

I was intrigued (and highly suspicious!) when a certain character had foreknowledge of where Morgan and Fair Garden were located when they had never been there before. I thought this might be addressed, but disappointingly never was. Perhaps it will be picked up in book 3
]]> Cursebound (Faebound, #2) 213618148 Cursed by love.
Bound by hope.

Yeeran and Lettle are no longer prisoners to the fae court, but now they¡¯re bound by the shackles of their hearts ¡­

Yeeran was born for war but is unprepared for love. She has left her new lover, the Queen of the fae, to return to her homeland, only to find that her former lover now threatens war against the fae.

Left behind, her sister Lettle is determined to break the curse that binds the fae to their realm. When a stranger appears in the city, Lettle is convinced he¡¯s the key. But the Fates that once spoke to her have fallen silent.

Can Lettle and Yeeran discover the secret behind the curse ¨C and unite these two worlds before they destroy each other?]]> 352 Saara El-Arifi 0593723031 Coral 3
I really wanted to dive into the second instalment of this trilogy and fall in love. Be swept away by the world building and mythology and sink deeper into the overarching story about the fae curse and the extinct humans.

Unfortunately, I was a more than a little disappointed.

While the universe is still rich and intriguing, I found the opening recap chapter clunky and utilitarian. This book really lacked the magic of the first one, which I think for me was intrinsically linked to the tale of the three Gods. Instead, what we got was chapters from Afa's grimoire which failed to expand on this mythology and were a little dull.

I also found the main cast of characters mostly disagreeable and unbelievably naive to the point of stupidity. There were a number of reveals in this book, which for me were incredibly obvious, yet the main characters were shocked by them. There were also way too many conveniences to push the plot forward.

Lettle at this point is fairly insufferable. Near the end of the book she appears to self reflect a little, but for the most part she is arrogant, angry and unbelievably selfish. It was a shame as she was a favourite character of mine in the first book. But she also suffers from the stupid character syndrome. Set up as this brilliant new seer of the ages, she can't interpret prophecies which are obvious to the reader. Silly.

Yeeran is also an idiot apparently. I find it difficult to believe she would genuinely think she could tell the elves, who have been hunting and slaughtering obeah for millennium, to stop just because it meant they might be killing a fae as well. Like they would care when they've already taken so many lives? And to think they wouldn't want to invade Mosima and steal their resources? Just because she asked nicely? Stupid, again.

Rayan is a 2d cutout and Salawa, our firebrand Elven chief, is stripped of everything that made her interesting.

The only redeeming characters are Golan, Alder and Furi and for the most part, they are sidelined.

While the final reveal was a kicker - I truly did not see that coming and yet when I look back, all the hints were there - a single twist cannot redeem this book.

It's an easy, fast paced read that is generally well written, but I spent too much of my time wondering how such a beautiful world could be filled with so many idiots to really enjoy it.]]> 3.89 2025 Cursebound (Faebound, #2)
author: Saara El-Arifi
name: Coral
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars rounded up.

I really wanted to dive into the second instalment of this trilogy and fall in love. Be swept away by the world building and mythology and sink deeper into the overarching story about the fae curse and the extinct humans.

Unfortunately, I was a more than a little disappointed.

While the universe is still rich and intriguing, I found the opening recap chapter clunky and utilitarian. This book really lacked the magic of the first one, which I think for me was intrinsically linked to the tale of the three Gods. Instead, what we got was chapters from Afa's grimoire which failed to expand on this mythology and were a little dull.

I also found the main cast of characters mostly disagreeable and unbelievably naive to the point of stupidity. There were a number of reveals in this book, which for me were incredibly obvious, yet the main characters were shocked by them. There were also way too many conveniences to push the plot forward.

Lettle at this point is fairly insufferable. Near the end of the book she appears to self reflect a little, but for the most part she is arrogant, angry and unbelievably selfish. It was a shame as she was a favourite character of mine in the first book. But she also suffers from the stupid character syndrome. Set up as this brilliant new seer of the ages, she can't interpret prophecies which are obvious to the reader. Silly.

Yeeran is also an idiot apparently. I find it difficult to believe she would genuinely think she could tell the elves, who have been hunting and slaughtering obeah for millennium, to stop just because it meant they might be killing a fae as well. Like they would care when they've already taken so many lives? And to think they wouldn't want to invade Mosima and steal their resources? Just because she asked nicely? Stupid, again.

Rayan is a 2d cutout and Salawa, our firebrand Elven chief, is stripped of everything that made her interesting.

The only redeeming characters are Golan, Alder and Furi and for the most part, they are sidelined.

While the final reveal was a kicker - I truly did not see that coming and yet when I look back, all the hints were there - a single twist cannot redeem this book.

It's an easy, fast paced read that is generally well written, but I spent too much of my time wondering how such a beautiful world could be filled with so many idiots to really enjoy it.
]]> All Involved 25686263 For six days, Los Angeles is a city ablaze.
For six days, seventeen people are caught in the chaos.
For six days, Los Angeles shows the world what happens when laws are no longer enforceable.

Ernesto Vera is walking home from his job at a taco truck when three guys jump out of a car and assault him. Ernesto's not in a gang, he's not involved, but his sister is - and when Payasa hears that her innocent brother has been murdered, she wants revenge. As widespread rioting breaks out across the city, Ernesto's death triggers an astonishing sequence of events, not just for the gangs involved, but for the firefighters, nurses and law enforcement who must deal with the consequences.

In April 1992, after one of the most notorious, racially charged trials in American history, the city of L.A. exploded in violence. All Involved tells the interconnected stories of seventeen characters over six life-changing days, and transforms the truly extraordinary story of the L.A. riots into a vivid, electrifying and addictive work of fiction.]]> 372 Ryan Gattis 1447283163 Coral 3
On the one hand I think its an important and honest exploration into the mentality behind city riots; what sparks them, why they grow out of control and how people link their experiences to the bigger picture.

What I Liked: Although I was too young to remember the Rodney King riots and am located in England, I have relatable experiences i.e. Mark Duggan. I also liked the form; splitting into 6 days, telling the story from multiple points of view, showing how everything was interlinked. It was also very well written.

What I didn't like: It was only told from 'gangbanger's' points of view which made the story very 2-D for me. I also disliked the fact it didn't portray any characters who rioted because of the police acquittal; it focused only people who took advantage of the situation to screw over their neighbours, other gangs or claim on their insurance. Pretty depressing and surely not true. There had to have been legitimate protests that sparked the riots, there usually are. It made the story feel so terribly detached from its circumstances. I thought there would be more exploration of Rodney King. Instead it felt like he was a tool that was used to justify telling a more depressing story about gang warfare.]]> 3.94 2015 All Involved
author: Ryan Gattis
name: Coral
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2015/07/12
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
This was a very tricky book for me to review.

On the one hand I think its an important and honest exploration into the mentality behind city riots; what sparks them, why they grow out of control and how people link their experiences to the bigger picture.

What I Liked: Although I was too young to remember the Rodney King riots and am located in England, I have relatable experiences i.e. Mark Duggan. I also liked the form; splitting into 6 days, telling the story from multiple points of view, showing how everything was interlinked. It was also very well written.

What I didn't like: It was only told from 'gangbanger's' points of view which made the story very 2-D for me. I also disliked the fact it didn't portray any characters who rioted because of the police acquittal; it focused only people who took advantage of the situation to screw over their neighbours, other gangs or claim on their insurance. Pretty depressing and surely not true. There had to have been legitimate protests that sparked the riots, there usually are. It made the story feel so terribly detached from its circumstances. I thought there would be more exploration of Rodney King. Instead it felt like he was a tool that was used to justify telling a more depressing story about gang warfare.
]]> Daughters of Sparta 57423631 For millennia, men have told the legend of the woman whose face launched a thousand ships--but now it's time to hear her side of the story. Daughters of Sparta is a tale of secrets, love, and tragedy from the women behind mythology's most devastating war, the infamous Helen and her sister Klytemnestra.

As princesses of Sparta, Helen and Klytemnestra have known nothing but luxury and plenty. With their high birth and unrivaled beauty, they are the envy of all of Greece. But such privilege comes at a cost. While still only girls, the sisters are separated and married to foreign kings of their father's choosing--the powerful Agamemnon, and his brother Menelaos. Yet even as Queens, each is only expected to do two things: birth an heir and embody the meek, demure nature that is expected of women.

But when the weight of their husbands' neglect, cruelty, and ambition becomes too heavy to bear, Helen and Klytemnestra must push against the constraints of their society to carve new lives for themselves, and in doing so, make waves that will ripple throughout the next three thousand years.

Daughters of Sparta is a vivid and illuminating reimagining of the Siege of Troy, told through the perspectives of two women whose voices have been ignored for far too long.

Required reading for fans of Circe, and a remarkable, thrilling debut.
--Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

"[A] gorgeous retelling of the classic Greek myth... Absolutely riveting!"
--Alka Joshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Henna Artist]]> 370 Claire Heywood 0593184378 Coral 3
While this is well written, I found the Spartan Princesses to be a little devoid of characterisation, weak willed, naive and selfish at times.]]> 3.86 2021 Daughters of Sparta
author: Claire Heywood
name: Coral
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves:
review:
Not the best retelling or reimagining of these characters.

While this is well written, I found the Spartan Princesses to be a little devoid of characterisation, weak willed, naive and selfish at times.
]]> <![CDATA[Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)]]> 62300945
When King Uther Pendragon murders her father and tricks her mother into marriage, Morgan refuses to be crushed. Trapped amid the machinations of men in a world of isolated castles and gossiping courts, she discovers secret powers. Vengeful and brilliant, it's not long before Morgan becomes a worthy adversary to Merlin, influential sorcerer to the king. But fighting for her freedom, she risks losing everything ¨C her reputation, her loved ones and her life.]]> 347 Sophie Keetch 0861545192 Coral 5 4.17 2022 Morgan Is My Name (Morgan le Fay, #1)
author: Sophie Keetch
name: Coral
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
A story I have always wanted to hear. I found the character of Morgan so compelling, I can't wait to discover where her journey takes her in the next book.
]]> Beautiful Star 199053703 'Interplanetary, quite extraordinary . . . awash with dark humour and scenes of intense beauty' Financial Times

'One of the greatest avant-garde Japanese writers of the twentieth century' New Yorker

Beautiful Star is a 1962 tale of family, love, nuclear war and UFOs, and was considered by Mishima to be one of his very best books.

Translated into English for the first time, this atmospheric black comedy tells the story of the Osugi family, who come to the sudden realization that each of them hails from a different planet: Father from Mars, mother from Jupiter, son from Mercury and daughter from Venus. This extra-terrestrial knowledge brings them closer together, and convinces them that they have a mission: to find others of their kind, and save humanity from the imminent threat of the atomic bomb...]]> 288 Yukio Mishima 0241441099 Coral 0
I just find his writing style too convoluted and dense. While the prose is clever and competent, I found it difficult to connect with.

Considering the premise - a family of aliens trying to scupper the cold war and potential nuclear armageddon - it was all a bit boring.

I'm keeping this as it was a gift and I love the cover, but it really was not my cup of tea.]]> 2.87 1962 Beautiful Star
author: Yukio Mishima
name: Coral
average rating: 2.87
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
DNF'd about a third of the way in.

I just find his writing style too convoluted and dense. While the prose is clever and competent, I found it difficult to connect with.

Considering the premise - a family of aliens trying to scupper the cold war and potential nuclear armageddon - it was all a bit boring.

I'm keeping this as it was a gift and I love the cover, but it really was not my cup of tea.
]]> Clytemnestra 61361681 For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.

As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best...

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.

But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.

Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.

If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.]]> 435 Costanza Casati 1728268230 Coral 4 4.22 2023 Clytemnestra
author: Costanza Casati
name: Coral
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Termush 62678428 Introduced by Jeff VanderMeer, welcome to a luxury hotel at the end of the world in this post-apocalyptic 1967 dystopia ...

The day we came up from the shelters four people were found dead on the steps of the hotel.

Welcome to Termush: a luxury coastal resort like no other. All the wealthy guests are survivors: preppers who reserved rooms long before the Disaster. Inside, they embrace exclusive radiation shelters, ambient music and lavish provisions; outside, radioactive dust falls on the sculpture park, security men step over dead birds, and a reconnaissance party embarks.

Despite weathering a nuclear apocalypse, their problems are only just beginning. Soon, the Management begins censoring news; disruptive guests are sedated; initial generosity towards Strangers ceases as fears of contamination and limited resources grow. But as the numbers - and desperation - of external survivors increase, they must decide what it means to forge a new moral code at the end (or beginning?) of the world ...]]> 119 Sven Holm 057137915X Coral 3
Told from an unnamed narrator's perspective, this story focuses on life after nuclear war as a guest at a luxury hotel.

The rich purchased safety and normality, hiding from the destruction in underground shelters, before emerging onto a desolate landscape to take up residence in a beach front retreat named Termush. Management work day and night to cater to their guests, all the while blocking out the barren wasteland that surrounds them. A wasteland that isn't so barren, filled with survivors who wish to encroach upon Termush's oasis.

It's easy to see how this little story was inspired by the fears surrounding the cold war. It's compelling and quietly horrifying. However, it was too short in my opinion. A story within a wider landscape and the end felt abrupt and unsatisfying, hence why I can only give it a 3.]]> 3.27 1967 Termush
author: Sven Holm
name: Coral
average rating: 3.27
book published: 1967
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:
An intriguing post-apocalyptic novella told in the form of a free flowing stream of consciousness.

Told from an unnamed narrator's perspective, this story focuses on life after nuclear war as a guest at a luxury hotel.

The rich purchased safety and normality, hiding from the destruction in underground shelters, before emerging onto a desolate landscape to take up residence in a beach front retreat named Termush. Management work day and night to cater to their guests, all the while blocking out the barren wasteland that surrounds them. A wasteland that isn't so barren, filled with survivors who wish to encroach upon Termush's oasis.

It's easy to see how this little story was inspired by the fears surrounding the cold war. It's compelling and quietly horrifying. However, it was too short in my opinion. A story within a wider landscape and the end felt abrupt and unsatisfying, hence why I can only give it a 3.
]]> The Master and Margarita 6718272 New cover edition of the same ISBN can be found here

One hot spring the devil makes a personal appearance in Moscow accompanied by various demons, including a naked girl and a huge black cat. When he leaves, the asylums are full and the forces of law and order in disarray. Only the Master, a man devoted to truth, and Margarita, the woman he loves, can resist the devil's onslaught.]]> 445 Mikhail Bulgakov Coral 4 4.18 1967 The Master and Margarita
author: Mikhail Bulgakov
name: Coral
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Dawn (Rebel Skies Trilogy)]]> 221128533 The third and final book in a pacy, lyrical and vivid fantasy adventure set in a world of flying ships, sky cities and powerful paper spirits.

Kurara and her friends have found the key to releasing shikigami from their bonds and granting them eternal freedom ¨C if they can unlock its power. The answer lies in Kurara¡¯s homeplace, deep in the mountains of Mikoshima. But can the crew reach it before the imperial forces catch up with them, or their own internal battles break them apart for ever?

Excellent world-building, a dramatic and pacy plot, and an array of deep and believable characters ¨C explored through multiple perspectives ¨C make for a thrilling final instalment in this masterful fantasy adventure.]]> 352 Ann Sei Lin 1406399612 Coral 3
I found this volume to be very repetitive and meandering, as if Lin wasn't sure how to get from the end of the last book to the final act of this book.

The reveal was incredibly obvious, and although I really enjoyed the final 20% of the book, it didn't make up for what was a limp to the finish, in my opinion.]]> 3.75 Rebel Dawn (Rebel Skies Trilogy)
author: Ann Sei Lin
name: Coral
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
Disappointing.

I found this volume to be very repetitive and meandering, as if Lin wasn't sure how to get from the end of the last book to the final act of this book.

The reveal was incredibly obvious, and although I really enjoyed the final 20% of the book, it didn't make up for what was a limp to the finish, in my opinion.
]]> Piercing 830979 A pulsating psycho-thriller from Ryu Murakami, author of In the Miso Soup

A renaissance man for the postmodern age, Ryu Murakami; a musician, filmmaker (Tokyo Decadence), TV personality, and award-winning author; has gained a cult following in the West. His first novel, Almost Transparent Blue, won Japan's most coveted literary prize and sold over a million copies, and his most recent psychosexual thriller, In the Miso Soup, gave readers a further taste of his incredibly agile imagination. In Piercing, Murakami, in his own unique style, explores themes of child abuse and what happens to the voiceless among us, weaving a disturbing, spare tale of two people who find each other and then are forced into hurting each other deeply because of the haunting specter of their own abuse as children.

]]> 185 Ry¨± Murakami 0747593132 Coral 0 to-read 3.58 1994 Piercing
author: Ry¨± Murakami
name: Coral
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Eyes Are the Best Part 195703882 Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.

Ji-won¡¯s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her appa¡¯s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying¡­ yet enticing.

In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George¡¯s, who is Umma¡¯s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family¡¯s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma¡¯s fawning adoration. No, George doesn¡¯t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.

For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won¡¯s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.

A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim¡¯s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.]]> 278 Monika Kim 1645661237 Coral 3
The premise is intriguing, the writing is bold and confident, the exploration of racism and misogyny is clear and concise - this is without a doubt an unashamed revenge horror told from the perspective of a character transitioning from a teenager to a young woman.

Ji-won's description of her life - the eldest daughter of immigrant parents whose relationship has just suddenly ended - is messy and believable. She's a compelling narrator who is clearly flawed, dramatically lacking in morals and ethics considering how she treats those she both loves and hates. There is not much distinction really.

However, I had three main problems with the novel. I found the male characters to be poorly written and fleshed out. George and Geoffrey felt like satirical caricatures pulled from a green text story rather than real people who could I invest my hatred in.

Next, I couldn't grasp Ji-won's obsession with eyes. They are introduced to us briefly as being symbols of luck - eat the fish eye and improve your fortune! A curious idea. I had thought this idead would be woven into the mythology of the novel - in the end it just felt like body horror though.

Finally, I thought the ending was silly. Utterly unbelievable. If the rest of the book had been absurd as well, this would have made sense. But instead the conclusion just felt very convenient.

My copy also seemed a bit poorly edited which is always frustrating.

I would deffi give Monika Kim's writing another go. This was a really inventive debut and I'm sure her work can only get better.]]> 3.81 2024 The Eyes Are the Best Part
author: Monika Kim
name: Coral
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:
I am torn about this book.

The premise is intriguing, the writing is bold and confident, the exploration of racism and misogyny is clear and concise - this is without a doubt an unashamed revenge horror told from the perspective of a character transitioning from a teenager to a young woman.

Ji-won's description of her life - the eldest daughter of immigrant parents whose relationship has just suddenly ended - is messy and believable. She's a compelling narrator who is clearly flawed, dramatically lacking in morals and ethics considering how she treats those she both loves and hates. There is not much distinction really.

However, I had three main problems with the novel. I found the male characters to be poorly written and fleshed out. George and Geoffrey felt like satirical caricatures pulled from a green text story rather than real people who could I invest my hatred in.

Next, I couldn't grasp Ji-won's obsession with eyes. They are introduced to us briefly as being symbols of luck - eat the fish eye and improve your fortune! A curious idea. I had thought this idead would be woven into the mythology of the novel - in the end it just felt like body horror though.

Finally, I thought the ending was silly. Utterly unbelievable. If the rest of the book had been absurd as well, this would have made sense. But instead the conclusion just felt very convenient.

My copy also seemed a bit poorly edited which is always frustrating.

I would deffi give Monika Kim's writing another go. This was a really inventive debut and I'm sure her work can only get better.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wolf Den (Wolf Den Trilogy, #1)]]> 56563852
Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For as a she-wolf, her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara's spirit is far from broken.

By day, she walks the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learned that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.]]> 464 Elodie Harper Coral 5 4.05 2021 The Wolf Den (Wolf Den Trilogy, #1)
author: Elodie Harper
name: Coral
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:
A compelling tale of slavery and misogyny in Pompeii, for fans of Pat Barker and Jennifer Saint.
]]> <![CDATA[Asa: The Girl Who Turned into a Pair of Chopsticks]]> 202489898 The startling first collection of dark, surreal, and unsettling stories from the international prize-winning author of The Woman in the Purple Skirt.

Asa tries to give her classmate a biscuit.
Nami evades her classmates' playground game of acorn-throwing.
Happy decides she's not interested in doing anything other than lying down on her sofa.

Each of these three stories begins in a reasonable place-but by the end you'll find yourself in another world altogether.]]> 191 Natsuko Imamura 0571384137 Coral 4
My favourite story is the namesake of the collection. I could really feel Asa's joy at finally being able to perform in a caregiving role.

I admit the second story is quite dark and I wonder if it alluded to suicide, but it wasn't clear cut. It was a very sad story overall.

The final in the trilogy felt it rounded things off nicely - these three stories are about women trying to find their way and place in modern society.]]> 3.45 2020 Asa: The Girl Who Turned into a Pair of Chopsticks
author: Natsuko Imamura
name: Coral
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:
I find Imamura's writing so compelling. Her stories are surreal but in a way that feels perfectly reasonable.

My favourite story is the namesake of the collection. I could really feel Asa's joy at finally being able to perform in a caregiving role.

I admit the second story is quite dark and I wonder if it alluded to suicide, but it wasn't clear cut. It was a very sad story overall.

The final in the trilogy felt it rounded things off nicely - these three stories are about women trying to find their way and place in modern society.
]]> <![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 9251500 Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out that 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.

Harry is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn't just slow, it 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.]]> 318 Jim Butcher 0356500276 Coral 2
Unfortunately I really disliked this book. It's told from a first person perspective (fine), the main protagonist being weather beaten but grimly handsome wizard PI Harry Dresden. He begins his tale with a gruesome murder investigation that the police have asked him to assist on. Throughout the book previous exciting events are hinted at but he doesn't go into much detail, the narrative is far more focused on the parade of dazzlingly beautiful women who keep popping into Harry's life, and his assessment of them.

Now, Harry is a self confessed chauvinist - I don't have a problem with that, sometimes it's fun to read things from the perspective of someone we don't particularly like, not everyone can be a Mary-Sue. What I do have a problem with is that all the women fall into the trope of beautiful but ditsy damsel in distress. Now, perhaps a chauvinist would only surround himself with women who behave in a way that affirms his view of the world - fine, but it all became utterly tiresome. Like a cheap crime novel, filled with shapely thighs and arched eyebrows. When mystical, magical and dangerous things did happen I didn't care because I knew Harry, occasionally naked, weaponless Harry, would save the day.

Now before you scream - what a snob - no. I liked the True Blood series and that was a hardly a work of literary genius but it was a lot more fun and tried a lot less hard. This is a numerous and successful series it seems but it is certainly not for me.

]]> 3.68 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Coral
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at: 2016/07/29
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
I was sent this as part of the #savetheculture initiative - I am always grateful to receive books from people, especially those I have never met who just want to get involved with spreading the love of reading. It's always exciting to not know what you will get and receiving something you have seen but never tried before. So onto the book.

Unfortunately I really disliked this book. It's told from a first person perspective (fine), the main protagonist being weather beaten but grimly handsome wizard PI Harry Dresden. He begins his tale with a gruesome murder investigation that the police have asked him to assist on. Throughout the book previous exciting events are hinted at but he doesn't go into much detail, the narrative is far more focused on the parade of dazzlingly beautiful women who keep popping into Harry's life, and his assessment of them.

Now, Harry is a self confessed chauvinist - I don't have a problem with that, sometimes it's fun to read things from the perspective of someone we don't particularly like, not everyone can be a Mary-Sue. What I do have a problem with is that all the women fall into the trope of beautiful but ditsy damsel in distress. Now, perhaps a chauvinist would only surround himself with women who behave in a way that affirms his view of the world - fine, but it all became utterly tiresome. Like a cheap crime novel, filled with shapely thighs and arched eyebrows. When mystical, magical and dangerous things did happen I didn't care because I knew Harry, occasionally naked, weaponless Harry, would save the day.

Now before you scream - what a snob - no. I liked the True Blood series and that was a hardly a work of literary genius but it was a lot more fun and tried a lot less hard. This is a numerous and successful series it seems but it is certainly not for me.


]]> <![CDATA[Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1)]]> 173404001 ?
But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk?¡ª?sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas¡ªwho live in the polluted waters below.
?
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn.?But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn't hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when?a water dragon is exiled to the city.
?
New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything.?Frustrated by the lack of progress from Mira's softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremist?group,?leaving?Mira to find the headstrong youth before she?makes everything?worse.
?
And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.
?
When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem.?Both she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.]]> 448 Eliza Chan 0316564923 Coral 2
Fathomfolk had the potential to be a rich, political fantasy discussing racism, bigotry and the climate crisis but the characters were mostly unlikeable, the author didn't world build particularly well (I still can't imagine what this half submerged city really looks like) and they also assume the reader has a very broad knowledge of water based mythological creatures from around the world. I was introduced to a myriad of beings, with no description of what they actually looked like.

Of our main characters, Cordelia had the most potential but felt like a caricature villain - I have no idea what her motivations were.

I also feel pretty uncomfortable regarding the ending. It felt at odds with the whole premise of the book and bizarre.

It was an easy, quick read but, unless I hear something spectacular about the sequel, I won't be continuing this series.]]> 3.14 2024 Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1)
author: Eliza Chan
name: Coral
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
This gets points for the idea, but the execution was sadly lacking.

Fathomfolk had the potential to be a rich, political fantasy discussing racism, bigotry and the climate crisis but the characters were mostly unlikeable, the author didn't world build particularly well (I still can't imagine what this half submerged city really looks like) and they also assume the reader has a very broad knowledge of water based mythological creatures from around the world. I was introduced to a myriad of beings, with no description of what they actually looked like.

Of our main characters, Cordelia had the most potential but felt like a caricature villain - I have no idea what her motivations were.

I also feel pretty uncomfortable regarding the ending. It felt at odds with the whole premise of the book and bizarre.

It was an easy, quick read but, unless I hear something spectacular about the sequel, I won't be continuing this series.
]]> <![CDATA[Beware the Past (DCI Matt Ballard, #1)]]> 37827358
ONE TERRIBLE CASE ALWAYS HAUNTED DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD. NOW MANY YEARS LATER, THE KILLER SEEMS TO BE BACK. AND THIS TIME HE¡¯S AFTER MATT.

When Matt Ballard was starting out his career, three boys were murdered in the same area, the remote and bleak Gibbet Fen. When the main suspect was killed in a hit-and-run, the killings stopped. But Matt was not satisfied that the real murderer had been caught.

Over 25 years later, Matt gets a photo in an unmarked envelope. It¡¯s of the Gibbet Fen crime scene. And the picture was taken before the murder took place.

More photos arrive, relating to the historic murders, as well as intimate pictures of Matt¡¯s very secret private life.

A KILLER WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO DESTROY A DETECTIVE.

Then another murder happens, with some of the hallmarks of the old case. Has the killer returned or is this just a sick copycat determined to ruin Matt¡¯s life and reputation? Everyone around Matt is in danger as the killer plays mind games with the detective.

In an absolutely breathtaking conclusion, Matt and his team race against time to stop a vicious killer who knows no limits.
]]> 367 Joy Ellis 1912106434 Coral 4 3.99 2017 Beware the Past (DCI Matt Ballard, #1)
author: Joy Ellis
name: Coral
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/04
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:
A compelling classic crime book with plenty of twists. I had guessed the ending but talked myself out of theory about 100 pages from the end
]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 Coral 0 to-read 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Coral
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Passage 62239893 She is.

Anthony Carter doesn¡¯t think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.
He¡¯s wrong.

FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.
It is.]]> 977 Justin Cronin 0752883305 Coral 2
Part 1 is essentially a prologue. It goes into an entirely unnecessary level of detail to provide backstory to a well worn dystopian idea.

What annoyed me is that I actually became quite invested in the characters you're introduced to, just to have it mean mostly f-all 350 pages later when there is a nearly 100 year time skip and the entire world has to be built by the author again.

I also felt there were times when the telling came to a natural end. Especially around the 800 page mark, where it made sense for the story to end in preparation for book 2. But instead the author insisted on smashing through what is quite an important plot point. I can't believe I'm saying it, but that part actually felt rushed.

Finally, comparing a woman's vagina as she gives birth to a "flower with its petals peeling away" - go away. I do not need to read a graphic description of someone shoving their hands into a uterus to pull a baby out.

This is a book about vampires, but not the sexy kind. Instead, more of an animalistic hive mind. And they can only be stopped by a girl who can give them back their identity.

It felt like a mashup of Doom, Resident Evil, The Strand and the actual Bible. Needless to say I won't be continuing on with the series.]]> 4.03 2010 The Passage
author: Justin Cronin
name: Coral
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
About 400 pages too long and segmented in an unnecessary way - I also disliked the obnoxious use of quotes from famous writers pre-facing every part.

Part 1 is essentially a prologue. It goes into an entirely unnecessary level of detail to provide backstory to a well worn dystopian idea.

What annoyed me is that I actually became quite invested in the characters you're introduced to, just to have it mean mostly f-all 350 pages later when there is a nearly 100 year time skip and the entire world has to be built by the author again.

I also felt there were times when the telling came to a natural end. Especially around the 800 page mark, where it made sense for the story to end in preparation for book 2. But instead the author insisted on smashing through what is quite an important plot point. I can't believe I'm saying it, but that part actually felt rushed.

Finally, comparing a woman's vagina as she gives birth to a "flower with its petals peeling away" - go away. I do not need to read a graphic description of someone shoving their hands into a uterus to pull a baby out.

This is a book about vampires, but not the sexy kind. Instead, more of an animalistic hive mind. And they can only be stopped by a girl who can give them back their identity.

It felt like a mashup of Doom, Resident Evil, The Strand and the actual Bible. Needless to say I won't be continuing on with the series.
]]> We Used to Live Here 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can¡¯t believe the killer deal they¡¯ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they¡¯re working in the house one day, there¡¯s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family¡¯s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can¡¯t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family¡ªor is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel ¡°is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it¡± (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Coral 0 to-read 3.67 2024 We Used to Live Here
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Coral
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Night of the Living Cat Vol. 5]]> 209544351 A TRUE CAT-ASTROPHE!Kunagi and company manage to return home with their new friend, the super-intelligent cat Jones. Everyone's happy to have a cat to dote on! However, the good times don't last as a new threat soon emerges when the base is attacked by a horde of animals being controlled by cats! Can humanity survive?!]]> 176 Hawkman Coral 4 4.18 2024 Night of the Living Cat Vol. 5
author: Hawkman
name: Coral
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:
Exactly the kind of delightful nonsense I was hoping for
]]> Cannibals 201763802
Translated from Japanese by Kalau Almony, Tanaka Shinya¡¯s Akutagawa Prize-winning masterpiece, Cannibals, sold over 200,000 copies in Japan and was adapted into a movie by Cannes Film Festival-winner Shinji Aoyama.]]> 88 Shin'ya Tanaka 1915829097 Coral 2
This novella is a bleak exploration of sex, poverty, family and toxic masculinity. It makes for deeply uncomfortable reading and I totally understand why some reviewers reject it.

TW for sexual violence.

I did not enjoy this book. However, I appreciate what I hope was Tanaka's expose of a young man, on the cusp of adulthood, battling against what he felt was his destiny - to become an abusive man just like his father.

His mother, who abandoned him, has told him since childhood that he is the diseased fruit of his father and even boasts of aborting their sibling because "that man should only have one seed". The damage this attitude has is obvious - he feels unable to do anything but repeat the sins of his father and uses violence against his girlfriend. He is the product of a violent father and a mother who rejected him.

I found the ending to be satisfying. It has a positive conclusion, although there no guarantee that life will get better for Toma. He must fight every day to be the better man.

While I felt relief in the concluding act, that doesn't change the fact this book made me unhappy while reading it. Understanding it and liking it are two different things, hence my low rating.]]> 3.02 2011 Cannibals
author: Shin'ya Tanaka
name: Coral
average rating: 3.02
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:
2.5*

This novella is a bleak exploration of sex, poverty, family and toxic masculinity. It makes for deeply uncomfortable reading and I totally understand why some reviewers reject it.

TW for sexual violence.

I did not enjoy this book. However, I appreciate what I hope was Tanaka's expose of a young man, on the cusp of adulthood, battling against what he felt was his destiny - to become an abusive man just like his father.

His mother, who abandoned him, has told him since childhood that he is the diseased fruit of his father and even boasts of aborting their sibling because "that man should only have one seed". The damage this attitude has is obvious - he feels unable to do anything but repeat the sins of his father and uses violence against his girlfriend. He is the product of a violent father and a mother who rejected him.

I found the ending to be satisfying. It has a positive conclusion, although there no guarantee that life will get better for Toma. He must fight every day to be the better man.

While I felt relief in the concluding act, that doesn't change the fact this book made me unhappy while reading it. Understanding it and liking it are two different things, hence my low rating.
]]> <![CDATA[The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story]]> 211189172
Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the nearby highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone ¨C or something ¨C seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczys?aw realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.]]> 321 Olga Tokarczuk 1804271098 Coral 0 to-read 3.89 2022 The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Coral
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Strange Pictures 216670080
A pregnant woman¡¯s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.

A child¡¯s picture of his home contains a dark secret message.

A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality.

Structured around these nine childlike drawings, every one holding a disturbing clue, this novel invites readers to piece together the harrowing truth behind each and the overarching backstory that connects them all. Strange Pictures is the bestselling international debut from mystery-horror YouTube sensation Uketsu¡ªan enigmatic masked figure who has become one of Japan's most talked about contemporary authors.]]> 236 Uketsu 0063433087 Coral 0 to-read 4.05 2022 Strange Pictures
author: Uketsu
name: Coral
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What You Are Looking For Is in the Library]]> 91274427 For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life.

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo¡¯s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves¡ªbut she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they¡¯re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine?editor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi¡ªand the surprise book she lends each of them¡ªwill have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.]]> 304 Michiko Aoyama 1335005625 Coral 5
A very thoughtful, reflective piece of work that weaves together five lives, encouraging positive introspection from the reader.

I've been feeling down lately and this gave me a little flicker of hope. No cats though, God damn sneaky cover artists.]]> 4.07 2020 What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
author: Michiko Aoyama
name: Coral
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
I can't think of a reason to mark it down, so it gets 5 stars.

A very thoughtful, reflective piece of work that weaves together five lives, encouraging positive introspection from the reader.

I've been feeling down lately and this gave me a little flicker of hope. No cats though, God damn sneaky cover artists.
]]> The Devils (The Devils #1) 212276037 A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey

Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side]]> 560 Joe Abercrombie 125088005X Coral 0 to-read 4.43 2025 The Devils (The Devils #1)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Coral
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sister Snake 199531653 A glittering, bold, darkly funny novel about two sisters¡ªone in New York, one in Singapore¡ªwho are bound by an ancient secret.

Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim as she freely uses her beauty and charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret; once they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang Dynasty China.

A thousand years later, their mysterious history is the only thing still binding them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the next flight to New York, the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades. Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her¡ªbut she soon begins to worry that Emerald¡¯s irrepressible behavior will out them both, in a sparkling, affluent city where everything runs like clockwork and any deviation from the norm is automatically suspect.

Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale ¡°The Legend of the White Snake,¡± this is a novel about being seen for who you are¡ªand, ultimately, how to live free.?]]> 272 Amanda Lee Koe 006335506X Coral 0 to-read 3.79 2024 Sister Snake
author: Amanda Lee Koe
name: Coral
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wind Child 88057030 172 Gabriela Houston 1912979780 Coral 4 4.03 The Wind Child
author: Gabriela Houston
name: Coral
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Two (Lore Olympus, #2)]]> 57717417 Witness what the gods do after dark in the second volume of a stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of the best-known stories in Greek mythology from creator Rachel Smythe.

Persephone was ready to start a new life when she left the mortal realm for Olympus. However, she quickly discovered the dark side of her glamorous new home¡ªfrom the relatively minor gossip threatening her reputation to a realm-shattering violation of her safety by the conceited Apollo¡ªand she¡¯s struggling to find her footing in the fast-moving realm of the gods. Hades is also off-balance, fighting against his burgeoning feelings for the young goddess of spring while maintaining his lonely rule of the Underworld. As the pair are drawn ever closer, they must untangle the twisted webs of their past and present to build toward a new future.

This full-color edition of Smythe¡¯s original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features a brand-new, exclusive short story, and brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 26¨C49 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus.]]> 368 Rachel Smythe 059335608X Coral 5 4.42 2022 Lore Olympus: Volume Two (Lore Olympus, #2)
author: Rachel Smythe
name: Coral
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Thirst 209810283 Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America¡¯s feminist Gothic.

In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires, on the run from the Church. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and, most importantly, be discreet.

In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother¡¯s terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women ¨D and they cross a threshold from which there¡¯s no turning back.

With echoes of Mary Shelley¡¯s Frankenstein and written in the vein of feminist Gothic writers like Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and Carmen Maria Machado, Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.]]> 256 Marina Yuszczuk 1914484649 Coral 3
This is beautifully written. I have seen some reviews criticising the prose, and I just don't understand why. It is raw and lyrical. Yuszczuk's depiction of both naked animal desire and the slow, surrender to death and disease is beautiful and honest.

The book is segmented into 2 sections. And that's where the problems arise. They feel like separate stories that are poorly and rapidly forced to entwine in the last fifth of the book, in order to justify the duel perspectives.

Section one follows a fairly typical vampire creation story that seems heavily inspired by Dracula. I particularly enjoyed how this vampire is devoid of humanity and driven by hunger. She has a strong, emotional connection to her vampire sisters but feels nothing for humans. It's quite refreshing, considering modern vampire tales have a tendency to make these monsters just very sexy immortal men. This vampire is an animal. A predator. And that's all they desire.

I found the secondary narrative of a woman dealing with her dying mother and how that forces her to examine her relationship with her young son, touching and carefully constructed.

But for me, it's feels a world away from the blurbs premise. I got to page 190 of 240 and only then started to see these two women's tales overlap. Their lives had to collide violently and at speed due to the page number constraints. I saw some pondering on female agency, but to suggest this echoes Frankenstein is an awful stretch.

The ending is what placed the final nails in the coffin, pun intended. Without spoiling it, I do not understand the human protagonists final decision. These characters had not had the time to construct any kind of meaningful relationship to justify this choice. The narrative had established the female vampire as animalistic - her behaviour with Alma contradicts this.

I finished the book annoyed and confused.

It needed to be longer. These were two interesting, beguiling tales and should have been given the time necessary to mesh them together. To conjur a meaningful relationship between a vampire who feels out of time and place, and a woman who has been so devastated by her mother's death, she no longer feels a part of her own life anymore.]]> 3.69 2020 Thirst
author: Marina Yuszczuk
name: Coral
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
"Nothing I do makes sense... I was dragged into this story; my only freedom is to create."

This is beautifully written. I have seen some reviews criticising the prose, and I just don't understand why. It is raw and lyrical. Yuszczuk's depiction of both naked animal desire and the slow, surrender to death and disease is beautiful and honest.

The book is segmented into 2 sections. And that's where the problems arise. They feel like separate stories that are poorly and rapidly forced to entwine in the last fifth of the book, in order to justify the duel perspectives.

Section one follows a fairly typical vampire creation story that seems heavily inspired by Dracula. I particularly enjoyed how this vampire is devoid of humanity and driven by hunger. She has a strong, emotional connection to her vampire sisters but feels nothing for humans. It's quite refreshing, considering modern vampire tales have a tendency to make these monsters just very sexy immortal men. This vampire is an animal. A predator. And that's all they desire.

I found the secondary narrative of a woman dealing with her dying mother and how that forces her to examine her relationship with her young son, touching and carefully constructed.

But for me, it's feels a world away from the blurbs premise. I got to page 190 of 240 and only then started to see these two women's tales overlap. Their lives had to collide violently and at speed due to the page number constraints. I saw some pondering on female agency, but to suggest this echoes Frankenstein is an awful stretch.

The ending is what placed the final nails in the coffin, pun intended. Without spoiling it, I do not understand the human protagonists final decision. These characters had not had the time to construct any kind of meaningful relationship to justify this choice. The narrative had established the female vampire as animalistic - her behaviour with Alma contradicts this.

I finished the book annoyed and confused.

It needed to be longer. These were two interesting, beguiling tales and should have been given the time necessary to mesh them together. To conjur a meaningful relationship between a vampire who feels out of time and place, and a woman who has been so devastated by her mother's death, she no longer feels a part of her own life anymore.
]]> Mexican Gothic 60007818
Noem¨ª is also an unlikely rescuer: She¡¯s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she¡¯s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin¡¯s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noem¨ª; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi¡¯s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family¡¯s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noem¨ª, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family¡¯s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family¡¯s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noem¨ª digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noem¨ª, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 301 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 1529402689 Coral 4
Incredibly atmospheric and exquisitely descriptive, I felt my heartbeat quicken near the end of this tale.]]> 3.67 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Coral
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/20
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:
Nice to see author's refusing to allow the horror genre to die.

Incredibly atmospheric and exquisitely descriptive, I felt my heartbeat quicken near the end of this tale.
]]> <![CDATA[Comfort Eating: What We Eat When Nobody's Looking]]> 122780976 256 Grace Dent 178335285X Coral 5
Highly recommend the audio book as its narrated by Grace herself.]]> 4.17 Comfort Eating: What We Eat When Nobody's Looking
author: Grace Dent
name: Coral
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
Made me cry and waxed lyrical and about the healing properties of uncomplicated, memory unlocking food ??

Highly recommend the audio book as its narrated by Grace herself.
]]> Bear 55922101 Margaret Atwood

Lou is a shy and diligent librarian at the local Heritage Institute. She works monotonous and dusty hours long into the night but she has found nothing ¨C and no one ¨C to go home to. She has resigned herself to passionless sex on her desk with the Director of the Institute.

When she is summoned to a remote island to inventory the estate of Colonel Cary, she takes it as an opportunity to get out of the city, hoping for an industrious summer of cataloguing.

Colonel Cary left many possessions behind, but she didn¡¯t expect the bear. She soon begins to anticipate the bear¡¯s needs for food and company. But as summer blossoms across the island and Lou shakes off the city, she realises the bear might satisfy some needs of her own.]]> 167 Marian Engel 1911547941 Coral 1
My understanding is that this is an novella adapted from, or appropriating, an Indigenous story: Haida Bear Princess Myth.

Sparking discussions about colonialization in Canada - the desire by settlers to claim local plants, fauna and wildlife as their own, even their stories and myths.

Meet Lou - an educated, frustrated, older White woman who works for an unnamed institution that has just been gifted a remote Canadian mansion and all it's belongings.

Lou travels up from New York to Canada, in order to catalogue said house and it's library over the coming Summer. Built on an isolated island by earlier settlers with desires of imitating British High Society, this unique property has an extra bit of oddness - a domesticated bear that has 'always been there'.

As Lou begins her work, she forms a companionship with this seemingly docile beast, that quickly turns sexual.

I guess in a way, I can see a parallel being drawn between the way conquerors/colonisers have used sex as a weapon to oppress those they wish to dominate. To own people and places. And that's precisely what Lou tries to do. She deludes herself into thinking she has a unique, precious relationship with this bear and that she can convince it to love her back, through the use of sex. The bear isn't interested beyond the curiosity of a wild animal. She deliberately ignores the friendship already in place between the bear and an older, indigenous female character. She thinks she can replace it. The bear representing native cultures, Lou representing European colonialism. An important conversation to be had.

The reason I rate this so low isn't necessarily the bestiality - although, its not my bag one bit thank you very much. It's because I couldn't tell how much of the author was in Lou. I couldn't tell if the racialised language came from the characters or represented the author's mindset. It felt odd that this stranger - this outsider - came to this place, took from it forcibly what they needed to heal (she was sad, washed up and stuck in a rut when she arrived - by the time she leaves, she's reborn and excited to start again) and then pisses off happily into the sunset.

It felt like the author was condoning the sexual abuse perpetrated in this book because 'the healing power of nature is good'. Mm no no.]]> 3.41 1976 Bear
author: Marian Engel
name: Coral
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1976
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:
How bizarre.

My understanding is that this is an novella adapted from, or appropriating, an Indigenous story: Haida Bear Princess Myth.

Sparking discussions about colonialization in Canada - the desire by settlers to claim local plants, fauna and wildlife as their own, even their stories and myths.

Meet Lou - an educated, frustrated, older White woman who works for an unnamed institution that has just been gifted a remote Canadian mansion and all it's belongings.

Lou travels up from New York to Canada, in order to catalogue said house and it's library over the coming Summer. Built on an isolated island by earlier settlers with desires of imitating British High Society, this unique property has an extra bit of oddness - a domesticated bear that has 'always been there'.

As Lou begins her work, she forms a companionship with this seemingly docile beast, that quickly turns sexual.

I guess in a way, I can see a parallel being drawn between the way conquerors/colonisers have used sex as a weapon to oppress those they wish to dominate. To own people and places. And that's precisely what Lou tries to do. She deludes herself into thinking she has a unique, precious relationship with this bear and that she can convince it to love her back, through the use of sex. The bear isn't interested beyond the curiosity of a wild animal. She deliberately ignores the friendship already in place between the bear and an older, indigenous female character. She thinks she can replace it. The bear representing native cultures, Lou representing European colonialism. An important conversation to be had.

The reason I rate this so low isn't necessarily the bestiality - although, its not my bag one bit thank you very much. It's because I couldn't tell how much of the author was in Lou. I couldn't tell if the racialised language came from the characters or represented the author's mindset. It felt odd that this stranger - this outsider - came to this place, took from it forcibly what they needed to heal (she was sad, washed up and stuck in a rut when she arrived - by the time she leaves, she's reborn and excited to start again) and then pisses off happily into the sunset.

It felt like the author was condoning the sexual abuse perpetrated in this book because 'the healing power of nature is good'. Mm no no.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories]]> 52958130
These are short stories from an unparalleled master of the form. Sublimely crafted and stylishly original, Akutagawa's writing is shot through with a fantastical sensibility. This collection, in a vivid new translation by Bryan Karetnyk, brings together the most essential work from this iconic Japanese writer.]]> 206 Ry¨±nosuke Akutagawa 178227555X Coral 3
Like all short story collections, there are hits and misses. Depressing re the representation of women but unsurprised.

Favourite story was Hell Screen which was genuinely unsettling.

Least liked was The General which was a bit dull and didn't seem to fit the themes of murder, madness and obsession.

I particularly enjoyed how the last story tied things together even if it was a little confusing.]]> 3.88 2020 Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories
author: Ry¨±nosuke Akutagawa
name: Coral
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
3.5

Like all short story collections, there are hits and misses. Depressing re the representation of women but unsurprised.

Favourite story was Hell Screen which was genuinely unsettling.

Least liked was The General which was a bit dull and didn't seem to fit the themes of murder, madness and obsession.

I particularly enjoyed how the last story tied things together even if it was a little confusing.
]]> <![CDATA[Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter]]> 60500186
Growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales, Angela Hui was made aware at a very young age of just how different she and her family were seen by her local community. From attacks on the shopfront (in other words, their home), to verbal abuse from customers, and confrontations that ended with her dad wielding the meat cleaver; life growing up in a takeaway was far from peaceful.

But alongside the strife, there was also beauty and joy in the rhythm of life in the takeaway and in being surrounded by the food of her home culture. Family dinners before service, research trips to Hong Kong, preparing for the weekend rush with her brothers ¨C the takeaway is a hive of activity before a customer even places their order of ¡®egg-friend rice and chop suey¡¯.

Bringing readers along on the journey from Angela¡¯s earliest memories in the takeaway to her family closing the shop after 30 years in business, this is a brilliantly warm and immersive memoir from someone on the other side of the counter.]]> 304 Angela Hui 1398705543 Coral 5
I found this to be a poignant, honest memoir about a girl who was born and raised in Wales with Chinese origins. This book contemplates and explores the inevitable challenges that brought to her life and should have us all examining the way we treat our neighbours and those in the wider community.

I was particularly touched about Angela's relationship with her mother and father. I'm not a child of immigrant parents - I was born in England and my parents are White English/Welsh people - but I could relate to that feeling of poor communication. Not due to language barriers, but experiences and lifestyles. That feeling of disconnect.

I'm also very excited to try all the recipes, which sound delicious.]]> 3.86 2022 Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter
author: Angela Hui
name: Coral
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:
I always feel a bit awkward rating memoirs - surely it's not my place to put people's lives into a star hierarchy.

I found this to be a poignant, honest memoir about a girl who was born and raised in Wales with Chinese origins. This book contemplates and explores the inevitable challenges that brought to her life and should have us all examining the way we treat our neighbours and those in the wider community.

I was particularly touched about Angela's relationship with her mother and father. I'm not a child of immigrant parents - I was born in England and my parents are White English/Welsh people - but I could relate to that feeling of poor communication. Not due to language barriers, but experiences and lifestyles. That feeling of disconnect.

I'm also very excited to try all the recipes, which sound delicious.
]]> <![CDATA[The Whispering Night (The Luminaries, #3)]]> 221764267
Winnie Wednesday¡¯s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive.

Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task¡ªone that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won't stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?

The forest is more dangerous than ever as secrets are revealed in this highly-anticipated conclusion to the bestselling Luminaries trilogy.]]> 438 Susan Dennard 183784089X Coral 3 3.5 3.81 2024 The Whispering Night (The Luminaries, #3)
author: Susan Dennard
name: Coral
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:
3.5
]]> Hogfather (Discworld #20) 58492009 THE DISCWORLD CHRISTMAS NOVEL - with a new introduction by Tony Robinson

'Twas the night before Hogswatch and all through the house...something was missing.


The stockings are hanging ready, the sherry and pies are waiting by the fireplace - but where is the jolly fat man with his sack? It's not right to find Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho - but someone's got to bring the little kiddies their presents. Or else they might stop believing. Belief is important in Discworld, particularly on the last night of the year when the time is turning. If the real man in the red suit isn't found by morning, there won't be a morning. Ever again...

A festive feast of darkness, jolly robins and tinsel. As they say: 'You'd better watch out...']]> 448 Terry Pratchett 055217730X Coral 0 to-read 4.23 1996 Hogfather (Discworld #20)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Coral
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)]]> 52843028
A refugee of the Great War, Poirot has settled in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim¡¯s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.

All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that contribute to Agatha Christie's well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.]]> 174 Agatha Christie 1734452595 Coral 5 4.06 1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Coral
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1920
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves:
review:
One of my favourite Poirot mysteries!
]]> <![CDATA[Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation]]> 36360063 112 Kishore Mahbubani 0241312868 Coral 2 3.71 2018 Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation
author: Kishore Mahbubani
name: Coral
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:

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

When Sasha receives a call from her old university friend Gabby inviting her to spend Christmas at Gabby¡¯s remote Scottish lake house, Sasha knows she shouldn¡¯t go.

Twelve years ago, on Christmas Eve, when Sasha and her five closest friends were celebrating the festive season, something truly horrific happened that would change the course of their friendship forever. Something that meant Sasha hasn¡¯t spoken to any of them since that night.

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

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

People had always told them their friendship wasn¡¯t healthy. That the six of them spent far too much time together. No good would come of it, they said. How could relationships with others work when the six of them were so tightly interwoven?

When a snowstorm isolates them from the outside world, old flames are rekindled and tensions run high, and it soon becomes obvious: nothing that big can stay secret forever.]]> 5 Kathryn Croft Coral 3
Nothing groundbreaking, but good for the wintery months. Excellent pace.]]> 3.17 2024 The Christmas Party
author: Kathryn Croft
name: Coral
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
Solid, short mystery thriller.

Nothing groundbreaking, but good for the wintery months. Excellent pace.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods #1)]]> 60568206
Reina is desperate.

Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she¡¯s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can¡¯t always avert disaster.

Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Do?a¡¯s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn¡ªand keep¡ªher favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.

Eva Kesare is unwanted.

Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family¡¯s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.

Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it¡¯s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she¡¯ll become something she never imagined.]]> 511 Gabriela Romero Lacruz 0316336440 Coral 3
This was a very slow, dense read. The world is complicated and diverse, but the author doesn't explain this in a clear, concise fashion. We are instead presented with races and places, with little to no explanation in terms of how they all fit together. There is obviously a very complicated history this world is built on, but it's not delved into, just briefly referenced how one race enslaved another, how a third liberated while humans conquered. It's messy.

This made it difficult for me to follow along with the plot and relationships.

The pace is also incredibly slow. The opening scene is very dramatic and exciting, but then you hit a brick wall. Over a year passes for the first MC in around 100 pages, yet you don't really learn how she spends it. Your second MC PoV - I have no idea how time works for her or really what's happening.

Perhaps the author hashes out the plot more coherently the further you dive into the book, but at over 500 pages, and the first book in a series, I'm not prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

It's such a shame as I was excited to see an epic fantasy based South American mythology, but it really hasn't captured me at all.]]> 3.32 2023 The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods #1)
author: Gabriela Romero Lacruz
name: Coral
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:
DNF'd at the 25-30% mark.

This was a very slow, dense read. The world is complicated and diverse, but the author doesn't explain this in a clear, concise fashion. We are instead presented with races and places, with little to no explanation in terms of how they all fit together. There is obviously a very complicated history this world is built on, but it's not delved into, just briefly referenced how one race enslaved another, how a third liberated while humans conquered. It's messy.

This made it difficult for me to follow along with the plot and relationships.

The pace is also incredibly slow. The opening scene is very dramatic and exciting, but then you hit a brick wall. Over a year passes for the first MC in around 100 pages, yet you don't really learn how she spends it. Your second MC PoV - I have no idea how time works for her or really what's happening.

Perhaps the author hashes out the plot more coherently the further you dive into the book, but at over 500 pages, and the first book in a series, I'm not prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

It's such a shame as I was excited to see an epic fantasy based South American mythology, but it really hasn't captured me at all.
]]> My Animals, and Other Animals 212924042 'I'm always wary of llamas. They're mischievous and smart. I get a sense, when I approach them, that they are conferring . . . as if to say, 'That's that bloke off the telly.'Bill Bailey has always had dogs in his life, including a Lakeland Terrier called Rocky who would travel with him in the van to his first shows and occasionally join him on stage. Fast forward a few decades and Bill shares his home with a variety of birds, dogs, frogs, chameleons, and an armadillo called Tommy. 'We even had a giant chicken at the house for a while, a huge Malay cockerel, Kid Creole. After a few stand-offs he took against me. He had to go in the end, I was being stalked in my own back garden.'That chicken apart, animals have always been at the heart of an extraordinary life as one of the nation's favourite comedians, actors, musicians and (thanks to Strictly) from terriers to the orangutans of Sumatra and the parrots that share his breakfast every morning in west London.As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill's life, but more than that, it's the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.]]> 304 Bill Bailey 1529436141 Coral 4 4.36 My Animals, and Other Animals
author: Bill Bailey
name: Coral
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves:
review:
A thoroughly heart-warming memoir about one comedian's relationship with both domesticated and wild animals.
]]> <![CDATA[Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women]]> 203164074
In the last few years, as identity politics has taken hold, middle-aged women have found themselves talked and written about as morally inferior beings, the face of bigotry, entitlement and selfishness, to be ignored, pitied or abused.

Hags asks the question why these women are treated with such active disdain. Each chapter takes a different theme - care work, beauty, violence, political organization, sex - and explores it in relation to middle-aged women's beliefs, bodies and choices. Victoria Smith traces the attitudes she describes back to the same anxieties about older women that drove Early Modern witch hunts, and explores the very specific reasons why this type of misogyny is so powerful today. The demonisation of hags has never felt more now.

Victoria Smith has decided in this book that she will be the Karen so nobody else has to be, and she ends on a positive note, exploring potential solutions which can benefit all women, hags and hags-in-waiting.]]> 368 Victoria Smith 0349726981 Coral 1
Usually I wouldn't rate a DNF but in this instance, I felt I got more than enough from those 50 pages to judge this book, and judge it I have.

This is a poorly written, glorified Facebook rant by a woman who is putting her feelings, and personal anger, before the subject matter of the book. There is an important conversation to be had about the disparity between how aging women and men are treated, specifically in Western Culture. How older men are held up as vestibules of knowledge and experience, while women instead slowly vanish from spaces. How often women who strive to be heard after their use as an impregnatable vessel, are relegated to the 'ranting old bat' category, or in this case 'hags'. This book is not it though. In fact, I argue that it does all women - young, middle aged and old - a disservice.

The author fails to set out a clear and coherent argument or aim for the book beyond 'Modern Feminism is bad'. In the introduction alone it is clear she feels that it is specifically White, middle class, middle aged women who are maligned by society. Which wipes BiPOC women out of the conversation - never a good start. And while Victoria is not explicitly transphobic in these opening pages, it is heavily implied that 3rd/4th wave feminism has spoilt things for all women by allowing the definition of a 'woman' to become murky. That this space has been broadened out to allow too many people who aren't 'women' in, which is a danger for all of us, especially the kiddies. Of dear.

There is something deeply ironic about this book - Victoria acknowledges that she suffered internalised misogyny to older women in her youth. She brought into the ideas of youth being a woman's greatest asset. Now that she is on the flip side, and witnessing this behaviour as the receiver rather than perpetrator, she is riled up. She used to see women over 40 as a homogenised mass. Now she's a part of that group, she knows that is nonsense. However, she then decides to lump all younger women together - saying they all (apart from a few lovely exceptions, specifically the younger women she interviews in the book) either engage in passive internalised misogyny because 'plastic surgery and makeup' or engage actively in 4th wave feminism by seeking to demonise older women as bigots and problematic because they some old school feminists have spoken out against the inclusion of trans women in women only spaces. Big yikes.

Any book that punches down to make a point has already failed in its argument. You can't change my mind on that.

Every knew generation criticises the previous one - you are, in theory, seeing things through a more enlightened lens than those who came before. Nothing is above criticism, though according to Victoria, she is - and so are all of her friends - and if you do criticise her, you're proving her point that she is being erased. A canny embrace of Lewis's Law there.

Now, I know some people will say that, because I didn't read the book in it's entirety, it's unfair to review it. Well, I don't need to be it by a bus to know I don't want to be hit by a bus. And I don't need to finish this book to know it's garbage.



]]> 2.95 2023 Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women
author: Victoria Smith
name: Coral
average rating: 2.95
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves:
review:
DNF'd after 50 pages - so past the introduction and into the first chapter.

Usually I wouldn't rate a DNF but in this instance, I felt I got more than enough from those 50 pages to judge this book, and judge it I have.

This is a poorly written, glorified Facebook rant by a woman who is putting her feelings, and personal anger, before the subject matter of the book. There is an important conversation to be had about the disparity between how aging women and men are treated, specifically in Western Culture. How older men are held up as vestibules of knowledge and experience, while women instead slowly vanish from spaces. How often women who strive to be heard after their use as an impregnatable vessel, are relegated to the 'ranting old bat' category, or in this case 'hags'. This book is not it though. In fact, I argue that it does all women - young, middle aged and old - a disservice.

The author fails to set out a clear and coherent argument or aim for the book beyond 'Modern Feminism is bad'. In the introduction alone it is clear she feels that it is specifically White, middle class, middle aged women who are maligned by society. Which wipes BiPOC women out of the conversation - never a good start. And while Victoria is not explicitly transphobic in these opening pages, it is heavily implied that 3rd/4th wave feminism has spoilt things for all women by allowing the definition of a 'woman' to become murky. That this space has been broadened out to allow too many people who aren't 'women' in, which is a danger for all of us, especially the kiddies. Of dear.

There is something deeply ironic about this book - Victoria acknowledges that she suffered internalised misogyny to older women in her youth. She brought into the ideas of youth being a woman's greatest asset. Now that she is on the flip side, and witnessing this behaviour as the receiver rather than perpetrator, she is riled up. She used to see women over 40 as a homogenised mass. Now she's a part of that group, she knows that is nonsense. However, she then decides to lump all younger women together - saying they all (apart from a few lovely exceptions, specifically the younger women she interviews in the book) either engage in passive internalised misogyny because 'plastic surgery and makeup' or engage actively in 4th wave feminism by seeking to demonise older women as bigots and problematic because they some old school feminists have spoken out against the inclusion of trans women in women only spaces. Big yikes.

Any book that punches down to make a point has already failed in its argument. You can't change my mind on that.

Every knew generation criticises the previous one - you are, in theory, seeing things through a more enlightened lens than those who came before. Nothing is above criticism, though according to Victoria, she is - and so are all of her friends - and if you do criticise her, you're proving her point that she is being erased. A canny embrace of Lewis's Law there.

Now, I know some people will say that, because I didn't read the book in it's entirety, it's unfair to review it. Well, I don't need to be it by a bus to know I don't want to be hit by a bus. And I don't need to finish this book to know it's garbage.




]]> DOUBT, Vol. 1 (Doubt, 1) 16002089 408 Yoshiki Tonogai 0316245305 Coral 4 3.85 2007 DOUBT, Vol. 1 (Doubt, 1)
author: Yoshiki Tonogai
name: Coral
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/17
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves:
review:
Really really really good! But slightly confusing to read at times. Sometimes it didn't quite make sense but I do enjoyed it.
]]> The Woman in Coach D 217587790 ¡°Let the fear set you free, Jenny.¡±

It¡¯s been sixteen years since Susie Patterson last told me those words. Sixteen years since our ever-escalating dares and challenges finally went too far, and my best friend plunged into the icy waters of Hangman¡¯s Cave never to be seen again.

I¡¯ve spent every moment since trying to come to terms with what happened - and recover the memories I lost the night my best friend died. I¡¯ve been a wreck - tormented by panic attacks, treated like a pariah, and never quite certain that all the terrible things people whisper about me behind my back aren¡¯t true.

All I know for certain is that the night Susie died, the person I used to be died as well.

Except suddenly, I¡¯ve discovered that Susie¡¯s not dead. I saw her again just now, getting off the same train as me at Manchester Piccadilly station. I looked into her eyes, and they were exactly the same as the eyes I used to stare into back when we were teenagers.

It shouldn¡¯t be possible. I thought my fractured mind was playing tricks on me. There¡¯s no way Susie could still be alive all these years later¡­

Then, the letter arrives. An envelope containing pages from the diary I wrote back when I was just seven years old, accompanied by a handwritten note.

Susie is alive, and she's asking me a

¡°Are you ready to play our game again?¡±

The Woman in Coach D is an intense and addictive psychological suspense by bestselling author Sarah A. Denzil, the ¡°mistress of twists.¡± It¡¯s a must-read for fans of Gillian Flynn, Frieda McFadden, and Paula Hawkins.

"Sarah Denzil writes clever and original plots, and The Woman in Coach D is one of her finest yet." -- Miranda Rijks, bestselling author of The Visitors and Make Her Pay

"It will haunt you for a long while after you close the book." -- Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer]]> 406 Sarah A. Denzil Coral 1
Not badly written, but I hated every character and the plot was unbelievably ridiculous.]]> 3.43 The Woman in Coach D
author: Sarah A. Denzil
name: Coral
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves:
review:
Utter garbage.

Not badly written, but I hated every character and the plot was unbelievably ridiculous.
]]> An Academy for Liars 203956639 A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.

Lennon Carter¡¯s life is falling apart.

Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because¡ªlike everyone else at the school¡ªshe has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.

After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion¡¯s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton¡¯s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.

As Lennon continues in her studies her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College, and the way her mentor¡¯s tragic and violent past intertwines with it. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns. For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.]]> 464 Alexis Henderson 0593638301 Coral 0 3.45 2024 An Academy for Liars
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Coral
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Sunny Place for Shady People]]> 203956643 A diabolical collection of stories featuring achingly human characters whose lives intertwine with ghosts, goblins, and the macabre, by ¡°one of Latin America¡¯s most exciting authors¡± (Silvia Moreno-Garcia)

On the shores of this river, all the birds that fly, drink, perch on branches, and disturb siestas with the demonic squawking of the possessed¡ªall those birds were once women.

Welcome to Argentina and the fascinating, frightening, fantastical imagination of Mariana Enriquez. In twelve spellbinding new stories, Enriquez writes about ordinary people, especially women, whose lives turn inside out when they encounter terror, the surreal, and the supernatural. A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolved in the water tank on the roof, a riverbank populated by birds that used to be women¡ªthese and other tales illuminate the shadows of contemporary life, where the line between good and evil no longer exists.

Lyrical and hypnotic, heart-stopping and deeply moving, Enriquez¡¯s stories never fail to enthrall, entertain, and leave us shaken. Translated by the award-winning Megan McDowell, A Sunny Place for Shady People showcases Enriquez¡¯s unique blend of the literary and the horrific, and underscores why Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, calls her ¡°the most exciting discovery I¡¯ve made in fiction for some time.¡±]]> 257 Mariana Enr¨ªquez 0593733258 Coral 0 3.79 2024 A Sunny Place for Shady People
author: Mariana Enr¨ªquez
name: Coral
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> William 203164421 Psychological horror meets cyber noir in this delicious one-sitting read ¡ª a haunted house story in which the haunting is by AI.

Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home lab, has achieved the breakthrough of his career ¡ª he¡¯s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William.

No one knows about William. Henry¡¯s agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily.

When Lily¡¯s coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house ¡ª the smartest of smart homes ¡ª Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades intended to keep danger out of the house are even better at locking it in.]]> 224 Mason Coile 0593719603 Coral 0 3.52 2024 William
author: Mason Coile
name: Coral
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bell Witches (Savannah Red, #1)]]> 199518924
After Emily¡¯s father tragically dies, she is forced to live with the only family she has left, an aunt and grandmother in the heart of Savannah, Georgia in a house as beautiful as it is mysterious.

But all is not what it seems with the Bell family; they¡¯re hiding a magical secret.

When Emily meets the alluring Wyn, she forms a connection that feels like it was always meant to be. As the spark between them grows more powerful, her life takes an exhilarating and terrifying turn; but every step closer to him, takes her a step further away from her family.

Emily will find out that blood is always thicker than water...

THERE¡¯S NO BOND GREATER THAN MAGIC]]> 411 Lindsey Kelk Coral 0 3.62 The Bell Witches (Savannah Red, #1)
author: Lindsey Kelk
name: Coral
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> A Dark and Drowning Tide 174146852 A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor's murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she¡¯s only ever read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader¡ªLorelei¡¯s beloved mentor¡ªis murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again¡ªand a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth¡ªand resist their growing feelings for one another¡ªthey discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.]]> 384 Allison Saft 0593722345 Coral 0 3.59 2024 A Dark and Drowning Tide
author: Allison Saft
name: Coral
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> Marigold Mind Laundry 210847428
Overnight, in the village of Marigold on top of a hill, old Jieun has conjured up a magical Mind Laundry, where she cleanses painful experiences from her customer's hearts, transferring them into stains on a T-shirt and transforming them into dazzling red petals.

We meet five of Jieun's customers to her laundry: a frustrated young filmmaker; a tortured social-media influencer; a distraught mother who has discovered her husband¡¯s other family; a young woman two-timed by her lover, and Yeonghui, a victim of bullying, who works as a delivery man to escape his pain in routine.

After washing away their pain and ironing out their creases, Jieun discovers an astonishing revelation about memory, pain and moving on.

As we laugh, wonder and grow with the vivid characters in this book, MARIGOLD MIND LAUNDRY shows how we too can tap into the positivity and magic that lies in us all.

Which bad memories would you like to wash away?]]> 256 Yun Jung-eun 0593733932 Coral 0 3.36 2023 Marigold Mind Laundry
author: Yun Jung-eun
name: Coral
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> My Annihilation 59241078
Turn this page, and you may forfeit your entire life.

With My Annihilation, Fuminori Nakamura, master of literary noir, has constructed a puzzle box of a narrative in the form of a confessional diary that implicates its reader in a heinous crime.

Delving relentlessly into the darkest corners of human consciousness, My Annihilation interrogates the unspeakable thoughts all humans share that can be monstrous when brought to life, revealing with disturbing honesty the psychological motives of a killer.]]> 264 Fuminori Nakamura 1641292725 Coral 0 3.34 2016 My Annihilation
author: Fuminori Nakamura
name: Coral
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> Tales from the Perilous Realm 3772535
The book is the perfect opportunity for fans of Middle-earth to enjoy some of Tolkien¡¯s often overlooked yet most creative storytelling. With dragons and sand sorcerers, sea monsters and hobbits, knights and dwarves, this collection contains all the classic elements for Tolkien buffs of all ages.

Roverandom is the story of a toy dog who becomes enchanted by a sand sorcerer. He gets to explore the world and encounter strange and fabulous creatures.

Farmer Giles of Ham is the tale of a fat, unheroic farmer who, having unwittingly managed to scare off a short-sighted giant, is called upon to do battle when the dragon Chrysophylax comes to town.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil tells, in verse, of Tom's many adventures with hobbits, princesses, dwarves and trolls.

Smith of Wootton Major takes us on a journey to the Land of Faery, thanks to the magical ingredients of the Great Cake of the Feast of Good Children.

Leaf by Niggle recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle, who sets out to paint the perfect tree.
?
Also includes, as an appendix, Tolkien's essay On Fairy Stories.]]> 403 J.R.R. Tolkien 0547154119 Coral 0 4.21 1997 Tales from the Perilous Realm
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Coral
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: to-read, books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet
review:

]]> The Saturday Night Ghost Club 42378784 A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of "Stranger Things" and "Stand by Me" about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends.

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls--a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place--Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly lighthearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become.]]> 211 Craig Davidson 0143133934 Coral 4 3.84 2018 The Saturday Night Ghost Club
author: Craig Davidson
name: Coral
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
Not what I expected at all. I thought this would be a light-hearted novel but instead it's a hard hitting, coming of age tale story that isn't afraid to expose the misery, pain and sadness you have to face when transitioning from child to adult.
]]> <![CDATA[The Temptation of Magic (Empyreal, #1)]]> 213661999
Like they did her mother.

Securing an undergraduate research role to study the collection, Nicole discovers her greatest enemy¡ªone of The Wake¡¯s Empyreals. Kyan McCarter is their best hunter, stationed at the manor to track and kill a deadly creature, but when they realise a painting¡¯s been stolen by his prey, Nicole and Kyan are forced to work together to find it.

As the creature threatens to expose Nicole¡¯s power, her tenuous alliance with Kyan threatens her heart. If Kyan finds out what she is, he¡¯ll hunt her next¡ªor risk execution. No one disobeys The Wake and survives. Especially not when the art they¡¯re seeking holds the key to a conspiracy that could get them both killed, and change the lives of creatures, and humans, forever.

SERPENT AND DOVE meets A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, in this luxurious, forbidden romance.]]> 384 Megan Scott 0008587132 Coral 4 3.83 2024 The Temptation of Magic (Empyreal, #1)
author: Megan Scott
name: Coral
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves:
review:

]]> The Blue Salt Road 40200607 And aye she sings, "Ba lilly wean,
Little ken I my bairn's father,
Far less the land that he staps in.
(Child Ballad, no. 113)

So begins a stunning tale of love, loss and revenge, against a powerful backdrop of adventure on the high seas, and drama on the land. The Blue Salt Road balances passion and loss, love and violence and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless, wild young man.

Passion drew him to a new world, and trickery has kept him there - without his memories, separated from his own people. But as he finds his way in this dangerous new way of life, so he learns that his notions of home, and your people, might not be as fixed as he believed.

Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale.]]> 215 Joanne M. Harris 1473222214 Coral 2
For me this was a pretty book that told a terribly depressing tale. It was well written and easy to read but it's not a book I would go back to read again and again.]]> 3.87 2018 The Blue Salt Road
author: Joanne M. Harris
name: Coral
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2019/01/24
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:
So I really wanted to like this - I enjoy myths/modern myths and this dinky book is so terribly beautiful, a lovely binding littered with charming illustrations. However, it all felt a little preachy and I didn't enjoy the way it portrayed women as scheming, selfish creatures and men as the wayward sex whom hold no responsibility for their actions. I wasn't sure about the message the author was trying to get across and I didn't like a single character in the tale.

For me this was a pretty book that told a terribly depressing tale. It was well written and easy to read but it's not a book I would go back to read again and again.
]]> Redemptor (Raybearer, #2) 55624056
Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.

With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can't quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.]]> 336 Jordan Ifueko 1683357205 Coral 4
While I think this was a solid conclusion to the duology, I felt it was very sluggish in the middle of the book as Tarisai struggled to gather her own council.

I also don't like it when a character overcomes a detrimental personality trait in the first book, only to repeat the same mistakes in the second book.]]> 4.25 2021 Redemptor (Raybearer, #2)
author: Jordan Ifueko
name: Coral
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:
A low 4.

While I think this was a solid conclusion to the duology, I felt it was very sluggish in the middle of the book as Tarisai struggled to gather her own council.

I also don't like it when a character overcomes a detrimental personality trait in the first book, only to repeat the same mistakes in the second book.
]]> My Throat an Open Grave 199858226
In the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania, they fear the Lord of the Wood almost as much as they fear God. According to legend, ghosts of the nearby forest steal unattended babies, leaving enigmatic tokens of wood and bone in their place. Leah Jones didn¡¯t believe the legend, thinking it just a way to scare the local kids¨Duntil her baby brother disappears.

Filled with shame and the weight of the town¡¯s judgment, Leah crosses the river into the Lord of the Wood¡¯s domain to bring her brother back. But the devilish figure who has haunted Winston for generations isn¡¯t what she expects. He tells her she can have her brother back... for a price.

It¡¯s a bargain that will uncover secrets her hometown has tried to keep buried for decades. And what she unearths will have her questioning everything she¡¯s been taught to fear.]]> 253 Tori Bovalino 1803367687 Coral 4
Although I guessed the main plot points fairly early on, this book is so exquisitely written that I couldn't help but immerse myself in it's atmospheric forest.

I don't know why, but it reminded me a little of The Labyrinth and Lord of the Rings. Sometimes things break people, and the place they want to save, while now safe for everyone else, is no longer somewhere they belong. If they ever belonged there to begin with.]]> 3.78 2024 My Throat an Open Grave
author: Tori Bovalino
name: Coral
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves:
review:
This dark fairytale has a refreshing and unexpected ending.

Although I guessed the main plot points fairly early on, this book is so exquisitely written that I couldn't help but immerse myself in it's atmospheric forest.

I don't know why, but it reminded me a little of The Labyrinth and Lord of the Rings. Sometimes things break people, and the place they want to save, while now safe for everyone else, is no longer somewhere they belong. If they ever belonged there to begin with.
]]> Gate to Kagoshima 216145076
2005: While researching her Japanese ancestors, Isla travels from Scotland to Kagoshima. There, a vicious typhoon hurls her through a strange white gate and back to 1877, amid the dawn of the Satsuma Rebellion¨Cthe conflict that ended the samurai.

When she meets Keiichiro Maeda, a samurai who introduces her to a way of life only previously encountered in books, Isla begins to wonder if she has found her true home. But as the samurai fight a losing battle, she is increasingly distraught. Should she forewarn Keiichiro and save the man she loves or let him die the glorious death he so believes in, proud to the end that he remained a faithful warrior?

And what will come of Isla? Is she willing to leave the past behind, knowing her future will forever be changed?]]> Poppy Kuroki 0861547616 Coral 0 3.62 2025 Gate to Kagoshima
author: Poppy Kuroki
name: Coral
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
review:

]]> The Forest Demands Its Due 199556045
Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he¡¯s just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt 400 years in the making¡ªor it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness.

And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he¡¯s always felt was missing: power. But if he¡¯s not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.]]> 432 Kosoko Jackson 000866546X Coral 3
This book is dark academia with some genuinely creepy moments. However, for a 400+ page book, it often felt rushed and certain, key characters felt underdeveloped.

I really liked the protagonist Douglas and his story's conclusion, but I felt the villains needed more substance and I wanted more spooky, magical moments.

It was incredibly refreshing to have our lead be a young, gay Black boy though.]]> 2.50 2023 The Forest Demands Its Due
author: Kosoko Jackson
name: Coral
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
A great premise that fell a little flat.

This book is dark academia with some genuinely creepy moments. However, for a 400+ page book, it often felt rushed and certain, key characters felt underdeveloped.

I really liked the protagonist Douglas and his story's conclusion, but I felt the villains needed more substance and I wanted more spooky, magical moments.

It was incredibly refreshing to have our lead be a young, gay Black boy though.
]]> Graveyard Shift 203578770 Author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college¡¯s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn¡¯t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks¡ªand that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio¡¯s inimitable style.]]> 144 M.L. Rio 1250356792 Coral 3
Big meh vibes.

Interesting idea, but I've seen Scooby-Doo episodes with sturdier plots and properly fleshed out characters.]]> 3.18 2024 Graveyard Shift
author: M.L. Rio
name: Coral
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars.

Big meh vibes.

Interesting idea, but I've seen Scooby-Doo episodes with sturdier plots and properly fleshed out characters.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fall of N¨²menor: and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth]]> 61331094
Íжû½ð¶ÔÕâ×ùµºÓìµÄ´´Ôì¼°Æä×îÖÕÃüÔ˵ÄÃÔÁµ£¬²¿·ÖÔ´×ÔÒ»¸ö·´¸´³öÏÖµÄجÃΣ¬Ëü´ÓËûµÄÓ×Ä꿪ʼ£¬Ò»Ö±ÑÓÐøµ½³ÉÄê¡£ËûÃμûÎÞ´ÓÌӱܵľÞÀË£¬»òÊÇ´Óƽ¾²µÄº£ÉÏÓ¿ÏÖ£¬»òÊÇÌÏÌì¾íÆð£¬ÆËÏòÇàÂ̵ÄÄÚ½¡£ÓÚÊÇËûÒÔд×÷À´ÅŽ⣬²¢Ïë´´×÷¡°Ð°æµÄÑÇÌØÀ¼Ìá˹´«Ëµ¡±¡£±Õ±Õ> 352 J.R.R. Tolkien 0008537836 Coral 5 4.31 2022 The Fall of N¨²menor: and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Coral
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves:
review:
A clear and concise narration of the rise and fall of N¨²menor packed with stunning illustrations.
]]> Bury Your Gays 216414753
Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for decades, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale¡ª"for the algorithm "¡ªMisha discovers that it's not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right¡ªbefore it's too late.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 352 Chuck Tingle 1803365188 Coral 4 4.05 2024 Bury Your Gays
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Coral
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/28
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:
A fast-paced, highly addictive queer horror.
]]> The Woman in the Purple Skirt 57133425 224 Natsuko Imamura 0571364691 Coral 3
Would have got an extra star if I could have learnt more about our unreliable narrator.]]> 3.33 2019 The Woman in the Purple Skirt
author: Natsuko Imamura
name: Coral
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/20
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
A story told from the perspective of a stalker who inexplicably becomes the object of their infatuation.

Would have got an extra star if I could have learnt more about our unreliable narrator.
]]> <![CDATA[Mother Lola: A Disturbing Psychological Horror Novel]]> 199737557
It emerges from its shell and as it explores the world, it discovers that a fascinating species is living in the woods with it ¨C humans. Over time, the monster learns that these humans are much different than other species, not only because of their intelligence, but because of their profound ability to suffer.

Suffering has been at the forefront of Benjamin Callahan¡¯s life. The winter is cold, the harvest is barren, and his youngest daughter has caught a deadly disease. Ben wants nothing more than to end his suffering, but in his pursuit to end the pain, he makes one fatal mistake.

Set in rural 19th century America, Mother Lola is a psychological suspense about trauma, psychosis, and the unforgiving nature of life. On this ill-fated journey, will Ben¡¯s mind fracture into a gruesome visage that renders him unrecognizable, or will his desperation unmask the deep wounds that laid underneath all along?]]> 181 J. S. Conley Coral 4
A unique and unsettling horror novella for fans of Alma Katsu's The Hunger.

This story is broken down into 4 parts:

Prologue - A depiction of the simultaneous birth of an unknown monster and human baby. A baby loved and cherished, a monster with the ability to transform into anything it sees. A monster fascinated by an isolated cabin in the woods, filled with coos and fresh milk.

Part One - We are introduced to our protagonist Ben, a rural farmer, possibly located in the mid-west of America. Specific geographical location is never provided, but that's the feel I get from the story. He and his family are struggling - lack of money, food and plunging into the depths of Winter with their youngest daughter Enid sick with a mysterious and destructive illness.

Part Two - Tragedy strikes and Ben falls into madness.

Part Three - Monster and Man meet, spiralling to a surreal and satisfying conclusion.

This is a book about identity, family, grief and what it means to be human. The plot contemplates human suffering, viewed through the eyes of a creature not bound by the concept of psychological pain and guilt. I appreciated the author allowing us, the reader, to peer into Ben's past and see a young, sensitive boy often pushed to uncontrollable rage. A child in stark contrast to the man we meet at the start of the book - practical, with traditionally reigned in emotions. Men don't cry, and neither does Ben.

It made the finale even more palpable and enthralling.

My only quibble was around part 2, as I felt Ben's descent into madness occurred too quickly. We had been introduced to a controlled, stoic individual, so this almost immediate breakdown of his emotional state felt at odds with the character. Obviously, the flashbacks helped to qualify this change in nature, but it still felt a little awkward.

I would be excited to read a full-length book from this author.]]> 4.40 Mother Lola: A Disturbing Psychological Horror Novel
author: J. S. Conley
name: Coral
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:
*Disclaimer* - I was gifted an ebook copy of this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

A unique and unsettling horror novella for fans of Alma Katsu's The Hunger.

This story is broken down into 4 parts:

Prologue - A depiction of the simultaneous birth of an unknown monster and human baby. A baby loved and cherished, a monster with the ability to transform into anything it sees. A monster fascinated by an isolated cabin in the woods, filled with coos and fresh milk.

Part One - We are introduced to our protagonist Ben, a rural farmer, possibly located in the mid-west of America. Specific geographical location is never provided, but that's the feel I get from the story. He and his family are struggling - lack of money, food and plunging into the depths of Winter with their youngest daughter Enid sick with a mysterious and destructive illness.

Part Two - Tragedy strikes and Ben falls into madness.

Part Three - Monster and Man meet, spiralling to a surreal and satisfying conclusion.

This is a book about identity, family, grief and what it means to be human. The plot contemplates human suffering, viewed through the eyes of a creature not bound by the concept of psychological pain and guilt. I appreciated the author allowing us, the reader, to peer into Ben's past and see a young, sensitive boy often pushed to uncontrollable rage. A child in stark contrast to the man we meet at the start of the book - practical, with traditionally reigned in emotions. Men don't cry, and neither does Ben.

It made the finale even more palpable and enthralling.

My only quibble was around part 2, as I felt Ben's descent into madness occurred too quickly. We had been introduced to a controlled, stoic individual, so this almost immediate breakdown of his emotional state felt at odds with the character. Obviously, the flashbacks helped to qualify this change in nature, but it still felt a little awkward.

I would be excited to read a full-length book from this author.
]]> <![CDATA[Before We Forget Kindness (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #5)]]> 200998630 Before the Coffee Gets Cold series translated from Japanese, the mysterious caf¨¦ where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time welcomes four new guests:

- The father who could not allow his daughter to get married
- A woman who couldn't give Valentine's Day chocolates to her loved one
- A boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents
- A wife holding a child with no name . . .

They must follow the caf¨¦'s strict rules, however, and come back to the present before their coffee goes cold. Another moving and heartwarming tale from Toshikazu Kawaguchi, in Before We Forget Kindness our new visitors wish to go back into their past to move on their present, finding closure and comfort so they can embark on a beautiful future.]]> 224 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1035046245 Coral 0 3.92 2023 Before We Forget Kindness (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #5)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Coral
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read, books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet
review:

]]> Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1) 33035581
William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the Cyberpunk movement.

More than three decades later, Gibson's text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions of the rise and abuse of corporate power look more prescient every day. Part thriller, part warning, Neuromancer is a timeless classic of modern SF and one of the 20th century's most potent and compelling visions of the future.]]> 297 William Gibson 1473217385 Coral 4
This early cyberpunk novel is a hectic, erratic and overwhelming, fast paced machine. The plot is relentless and sometimes difficult to track.

It's clear how this book inspired the Matrix - but also many other infamous titles in the genre such as Ghost in a Shell and Bladerunner.

For me, this is a contemplation on technology, society and what it means to be human.

Enjoyable but sometimes so frenetic, the story sometimes became obscured by all the light and noise of Chiba City.]]> 3.59 1984 Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
author: William Gibson
name: Coral
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
3.75 rounded up.

This early cyberpunk novel is a hectic, erratic and overwhelming, fast paced machine. The plot is relentless and sometimes difficult to track.

It's clear how this book inspired the Matrix - but also many other infamous titles in the genre such as Ghost in a Shell and Bladerunner.

For me, this is a contemplation on technology, society and what it means to be human.

Enjoyable but sometimes so frenetic, the story sometimes became obscured by all the light and noise of Chiba City.
]]> Brat: A Ghost Story 198961805 I was in the waiting room. Then I was in the examination room.

Gabriel¡¯s skin is falling off.

His dad is dead.

He owes his editor a novel.

His girlfriend won¡¯t answer his calls.

Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing out the family home for sale, Gabriel¡¯s sanity quickly begins to unravel. His parents¡¯ old manuscripts appear to change each time he reads them. A bizarre home video hints at long-buried secrets. And there¡¯s a hideous man in the garden.

From a stunningly original new talent, this is a debut novel unlike anything you have read.]]> 240 Gabriel Smith 1398525324 Coral 5
However, I really connected with it, especially with Gabriel the protagonist and narrator. It's probably because I have suffered the loss of a parent. That crushing, derailing grief when someone who has been central to your life, provided structure and safety, is suddenly no longer there. I recognised the temptation to fall apart. To rot. Gabriel still has his mother, but dementia is eroding her away. Like Gabriel, I still have my other parent, but they are hardly present, so I connect with this false feeling of orphan hood.

The book explores this loss exceptionally well in my opinion - the idea of pawing through someone's belongings and discovering questions you will never be able to answer satisfactorily because that person is no longer here. Of wanting to cling to objects and buildings. Of trying to find your new place in this empty space. While navigating this loss with those around you. Everyone grieves differently, and I recognised my own experiences and family members in this tale.

For me it was very emotional.

I think perhaps the book hasn't necessarily been marketed well. This is a ghost story, but not in the traditional sense. Gabriel is falling apart, mentally and physically, and this is reflected by the house collapsing around him. The house is haunted by his childhood memories. His skin is peeling away, he is being reborn. There is a creature in the garden. But it is not horrifying. It is good. Death is natural and we must all face it.

]]> 3.34 2024 Brat: A Ghost Story
author: Gabriel Smith
name: Coral
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/11
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves:
review:
Firstly, I want to acknowledge that I understand that this isn't a book for everyone. The writing style is unusual, the rawness of the relationships in the book are uncomfortable and the fact there isn't much of a 'plot' makes the narrative feel a little meandering - all this combined with a metafiction structure (a book within a book) exploring grief and family makes this book odd, unique and therefor divisive.

However, I really connected with it, especially with Gabriel the protagonist and narrator. It's probably because I have suffered the loss of a parent. That crushing, derailing grief when someone who has been central to your life, provided structure and safety, is suddenly no longer there. I recognised the temptation to fall apart. To rot. Gabriel still has his mother, but dementia is eroding her away. Like Gabriel, I still have my other parent, but they are hardly present, so I connect with this false feeling of orphan hood.

The book explores this loss exceptionally well in my opinion - the idea of pawing through someone's belongings and discovering questions you will never be able to answer satisfactorily because that person is no longer here. Of wanting to cling to objects and buildings. Of trying to find your new place in this empty space. While navigating this loss with those around you. Everyone grieves differently, and I recognised my own experiences and family members in this tale.

For me it was very emotional.

I think perhaps the book hasn't necessarily been marketed well. This is a ghost story, but not in the traditional sense. Gabriel is falling apart, mentally and physically, and this is reflected by the house collapsing around him. The house is haunted by his childhood memories. His skin is peeling away, he is being reborn. There is a creature in the garden. But it is not horrifying. It is good. Death is natural and we must all face it.


]]> <![CDATA[Mina and the Undead (Mina and the Undead, #1)]]> 52128599
17-year-old Mina, from England, arrives in New Orleans to visit her estranged sister, Libby. After growing up in Whitby, the town that inspired Dracula, Mina loves nothing more than a creepy horror movie.

She can't wait to explore the city's darkest secrets - vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries, disturbing local myths...

And it gets even better when Mina lands a part-time job at a horror movie mansion and meets Jared, Libby's gorgeous housemate, co-worker and fellow horror enthusiast.

But the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion, Mina stumbles upon the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck, clutching a lock of hair that suspiciously resembles Libby's...

Someone is replicating New Orleans' most brutal supernatural killings. Mina must discover the truth and prove her sister's innocence before she becomes the victim of another myth.]]> 294 Amy McCaw 1912979470 Coral 3
This is a nostalgia driven, decently written, vampire infested YA book with a bucket load of cultural references that will have you reminiscing about Buffy and Interview with a Vampire.

It's incredibly fast paced, which makes some of the relationships fairly ridiculous in how quickly they are established. I would also say that the reveals felt a little bamboozling - McCaw, in my opinion, could have done more to foreshadow them in the narrative as they felt a little random. This coupled with the main characters reaction's or incredible lack of reaction to the multitude of revelations was frankly unbelievable.

Still, it was a fun read. ]]> 3.86 2021 Mina and the Undead (Mina and the Undead, #1)
author: Amy McCaw
name: Coral
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars rounded up.

This is a nostalgia driven, decently written, vampire infested YA book with a bucket load of cultural references that will have you reminiscing about Buffy and Interview with a Vampire.

It's incredibly fast paced, which makes some of the relationships fairly ridiculous in how quickly they are established. I would also say that the reveals felt a little bamboozling - McCaw, in my opinion, could have done more to foreshadow them in the narrative as they felt a little random. This coupled with the main characters reaction's or incredible lack of reaction to the multitude of revelations was frankly unbelievable.

Still, it was a fun read.
]]> <![CDATA[Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World]]> 55502857 A trailblazing, conversation-starting history of women's health--from the earliest medical ideas about women's illnesses to hormones and autoimmune diseases--brought together in a fascinating sweeping narrative.

Elinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman ten years ago. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after a long period of being told her symptoms were anything from psychosomatic to a possible pregnancy. As Elinor learned to live with her unpredictable disease she turned to history for answers, and found an enraging legacy of suffering, mystification, and misdiagnosis.

In Unwell Women, Elinor Cleghorn traces the almost unbelievable history of how medicine has failed women by treating their bodies as alien and other, often to perilous effect. The result is an authoritative and groundbreaking exploration of the relationship between women and medical practice, from the wandering womb of Ancient Greece to the rise of witch trials across Europe, and from the dawn of hysteria as a catchall for difficult-to-diagnose disorders to the first forays into autoimmunity and the shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation, menopause, and conditions like endometriosis.

Packed with character studies and case histories of women who have suffered, challenged, and rewritten medical orthodoxy--and the men who controlled their fate--this is a revolutionary examination of the relationship between women, illness, and medicine. With these case histories, Elinor pays homage to the women who suffered so strides could be made, and shows how being unwell has become normalized in society and culture, where women have long been distrusted as reliable narrators of their own bodies and pain. But the time for real change is long overdue: answers reside in the body, in the testimonies of unwell women--and their lives depend on medicine learning to listen.]]> 386 Elinor Cleghorn 0593182952 Coral 3
I found this to be a fascinating conversation and exploration, albeit not a deep dive, into women's health throughout the ages. Cleghorn's writing style is very accessible and compelling, making for an easier read.

As someone who has suffered chronic back pain and had it take 10 years to be offered a solution (late enough to guarantee further health complications), as well as repeatedly suffered the indignation of being ignored, belittled and dismissed in the doctors office - by both male and female medical professionals - it's a relief and also a complete tragedy to appreciate how widely sexism effects female health. How indoctrinated it is alongside racism.

My main point of contention is the choice to not include trans women. This is addressed very briefly and unsatisfactorily at the start. Non binary is briefly touched upon in the narrative, so I am unsure why there wasn't more inclusion. I have also seen others criticise the author's representation of certain diseases, and some claims to be provenly false - I cannot speak to those things but they must be considered, alongside the fact Cleghorn's background isn't in medicine. This is a book spurred on by her own health as opposed to an academic pursuit - nothing wrong with that, but it does mean a bias comes into play throughout the narrative of this book.]]> 4.13 2021 Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World
author: Elinor Cleghorn
name: Coral
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars.

I found this to be a fascinating conversation and exploration, albeit not a deep dive, into women's health throughout the ages. Cleghorn's writing style is very accessible and compelling, making for an easier read.

As someone who has suffered chronic back pain and had it take 10 years to be offered a solution (late enough to guarantee further health complications), as well as repeatedly suffered the indignation of being ignored, belittled and dismissed in the doctors office - by both male and female medical professionals - it's a relief and also a complete tragedy to appreciate how widely sexism effects female health. How indoctrinated it is alongside racism.

My main point of contention is the choice to not include trans women. This is addressed very briefly and unsatisfactorily at the start. Non binary is briefly touched upon in the narrative, so I am unsure why there wasn't more inclusion. I have also seen others criticise the author's representation of certain diseases, and some claims to be provenly false - I cannot speak to those things but they must be considered, alongside the fact Cleghorn's background isn't in medicine. This is a book spurred on by her own health as opposed to an academic pursuit - nothing wrong with that, but it does mean a bias comes into play throughout the narrative of this book.
]]> Kittentits 196841905
It¡¯s 1992, and ten-year-old Molly is tired of living in the fire-rotted, nun-haunted House of a Semi-Cooperative Living Community of Peace Faith(s) in Action with her formerly blind dad and grieving Evelyn. But when twenty-three-year-old Jeanie, a dirt bike¨Criding ex-con with a questionable past, moves in, she quickly becomes the object of Molly¡¯s adoration. She might treat Molly terribly, but they both have dead moms and potty mouths, so naturally Molly can¡¯t seem to leave Jeanie alone.

When Jeanie fakes her own death in a hot-air balloon accident, Molly runs away to Chicago with just a stolen credit card and a sweet pair of LA Gear Heatwaves to meet her pen pal Demarcus and hunt down Jeanie. What follows is a race to New Year¡¯s Eve, as Molly and Demarcus plan a s¨¦ance to reunite with their lost moms in front of a live audience at the World¡¯s Fair.

A surrealist and bold take on the American coming-of-age novel, Holly Wilson¡¯s debut is about the interstices of loss, grief, and friendship.]]> 368 Holly Wilson 1638931089 Coral 0 3.16 2024 Kittentits
author: Holly Wilson
name: Coral
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: to-read, books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond]]> 102187969 The new book by Sunday Times bestselling author of Ancestors and Buried - the final instalment in Professor Alice Roberts' acclaimed trilogy. In her previous two bestsellers, Professor Alice Roberts powerfully and evocatively revived people of the past through examining their burial rites, bringing a fresh perspective on how they lived. In Crypt, Professor Roberts brings us face to face with individuals who lived and died between ten and five centuries ago. The stories in this book are not comforting tales; there¡¯s a focus on pathology, on disease and injury, and the experience of human suffering in the past. We learn of an episode of terrible brutality, when hate speech unleashed a tide of violence against an ethnic minority; of the devastation caused by incurable epidemics sweeping through medieval Europe; of a protracted battle between Church and State for the heart of England ¨C a battle that saw the most famous tomb in the country created and destroyed; and a tumultuous story, forged in the heat of warfare, that takes us out of the Middle Ages into the sixteenth century and the reign of Henry VIII. In the Middle Ages, there¡¯s barely a written note for most people¡¯s lives. The information we can extract from archaeological human remains represents is an essential tool for understanding our history. Most of these dead will remain anonymous. But, in the thrilling final chapter, Professor Roberts introduces an individual whose life and bones were marked by chronic debilitating disease ¨C and whose name might just be found in history¡­ Beautifully written, vividly drawn, and expertly researched, this is a brilliant and unexpected portrait of modern Britain.]]> 342 Alice Roberts 1398519235 Coral 4
This is clearly a thoroughly well researched book by someone passionate about their field of expertise. However, it often felt like I was reading an academic paper more than a well rounded book, especially when the author chose to become bogged down in the nuances of the science behind certain ailments. These sections were incredibly dry and repetitive. While I completely understand the need to validate one's conclusions by showing your working practice, that's when it verges into academia.

I wanted to something a little more accessible that focused on narrative - these moments could have easily made up part of the appendix instead, so reader's who want the nitty gritty of the science can choose to engage with it.

The historical moments chosen by Alice to demonstrate life, death & disease in the middle ages were really interesting - especially the final chapter which introduced me to the religious figure of the Anchoress. Someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life - literally walled up like a living prophet in the walls of a Church. How this could be linked to disease in women that might have ostracised them from society. But this was dwelt on very briefly in regards to a skeleton that, in the end, didn't add much to Robert's overall conversation about whether syphilis was present in Europe before Columbus "discovered" the Americas.

This is a good book, but it left me craving more.]]> 4.10 2024 Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond
author: Alice Roberts
name: Coral
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:
3.5-3.75 *

This is clearly a thoroughly well researched book by someone passionate about their field of expertise. However, it often felt like I was reading an academic paper more than a well rounded book, especially when the author chose to become bogged down in the nuances of the science behind certain ailments. These sections were incredibly dry and repetitive. While I completely understand the need to validate one's conclusions by showing your working practice, that's when it verges into academia.

I wanted to something a little more accessible that focused on narrative - these moments could have easily made up part of the appendix instead, so reader's who want the nitty gritty of the science can choose to engage with it.

The historical moments chosen by Alice to demonstrate life, death & disease in the middle ages were really interesting - especially the final chapter which introduced me to the religious figure of the Anchoress. Someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life - literally walled up like a living prophet in the walls of a Church. How this could be linked to disease in women that might have ostracised them from society. But this was dwelt on very briefly in regards to a skeleton that, in the end, didn't add much to Robert's overall conversation about whether syphilis was present in Europe before Columbus "discovered" the Americas.

This is a good book, but it left me craving more.
]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Coral 4
A fun little adventure. I would highly recommend listening to a performance of this while reading along, it really brings the book to life.]]> 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Coral
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves:
review:
My first time reading this classic.

A fun little adventure. I would highly recommend listening to a performance of this while reading along, it really brings the book to life.
]]> The Examiner 207294238
Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University¡¯s new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master¡¯s program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.

There¡¯s Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family¡¯s gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students¡¯ final works¡ªan art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda¡ªand who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger¡­or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance.

With her trademark ¡°unique and exhilarating¡± (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) voice, Janice Hallett weaves a fresh and mind-bending mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end.]]> 480 Janice Hallett 1668023423 Coral 0 3.71 2024 The Examiner
author: Janice Hallett
name: Coral
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: books-i-own-yet-haven-t-read-yet, to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)]]> 202468425 Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it¡¯s never too late to follow our stars.

In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they¡¯ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives.

It¡¯s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course¡ªbecause every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them¡­]]> 240 Mai Mochizuki 0593726820 Coral 0 3.60 2020 The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)
author: Mai Mochizuki
name: Coral
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Mistress of Lies (The Age of Blood, #1)]]> 63106097
The daughter of a powerful but disgraced Blood Worker, Shan LeClaire has spent her entire life perfecting her blood magic, building her network of spies, and gathering every scrap of power she could. Now, to protect her brother, she assassinates their father and takes her place at the head of the family. And that is only the start of her revenge.

Samuel Hutchinson is a bastard with a terrible gift. When he stumbles upon the first victim of a magical serial killer, he's drawn into the world of magic and intrigue he's worked so hard to avoid - and is pulled deeply into the ravenous and bloodthirsty court of the vampire king.

Tasked by the Eternal King to discover the identity of the killer cutting a bloody swath through the city, Samuel, Shan and mysterious Royal Bloodworker Isaac find themselves growing ever closer to each other. But Shan's plans are treacherous, and as she lures Samuel into her complicated web of desire, treason and vengeance, he must decide if the good of their nation is worth the cost of his soul.]]> 432 K.M. Enright 0356521133 Coral 0 3.28 2024 Mistress of Lies (The Age of Blood, #1)
author: K.M. Enright
name: Coral
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/26
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]]> The Girl with No Reflection 201785804 A young woman chosen as the crown prince¡¯s bride must travel to the royal palace to meet her new husband¡ªbut her world is shaken when she discovers the dark truth the royal family has been hiding for centuries¡ªin this lush fantasy debut perfect for fans of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and Violet Made of Thorns.

Princess Ying Yue believed in love...once upon a time.

Yet when she¡¯s chosen to wed the crown prince, Ying¡¯s dreams of a fairy tale marriage quickly fall apart. Her husband-to-be is cold and indifferent, confining?Ying to her room?for reasons he won¡¯t explain.?Worse still are the rumors that swirl around the imperial whispers of seven other royal brides who, after their own weddings, mysteriously disappeared.

Left alone with only her own reflection for company, Ying begins to see things. Strange things.?Movements in the corners of her mirror. Colorful lights upon its surface. And when, on the eve of her wedding, she unwittingly tears open?a gateway, she is pulled into a mirror world.

This realm is full of sentient reflections, including the enigmatic Mirror Prince. Unlike his real-world counterpart, the Mirror Prince is kind and compassionate, and before long Ying falls in love¡ªthe kind of love she always dreamed of.

But there is darkness in this new world, too.

It turns out the two worlds have a long and blood-soaked history, and Ying has a part to play in the future of them both. And the brides who came before Ying? By the time they discovered what their role was, it was already too late.]]> 496 Keshe Chow 0593707524 Coral 0 3.27 2024 The Girl with No Reflection
author: Keshe Chow
name: Coral
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Impact Winter Season 2 (Impact Winter #2)]]> 188963408
Six months have passed since the Vampire Queen fell silent, and the world balances on a knife¡¯s edge. Rejoin the courageous Dunraven sisters, Darcy and Hope, as they navigate the vampire apocalypse in a sunless, endless winter that grows deadlier with each passing day. Brace yourself for a frigid realm of sacred daggers, mighty swords, secret seaside caves, unthinkable human blood farms, and a superpowered vampire villain on the hunt. Will Darcy emerge from hiding to save her sister? Will Hope venture from the castle refuge and find Darcy first? When all paths converge, everyone in Hope and Darcy¡¯s orbit is in mortal danger, including the sisters themselves.

Dare to listen in the dark again as this thrilling saga expands to new lands, new loves, new weapons, and new warriors. Presented in Dolby Atmos spatial audio, the second season of Impact Winter is designed to haunt you like never before. Hear your heart stop.

Please note: This content is for mature audiences only. It contains adult language and themes. Discretion is advised.

?2023 Shoe Leather Digital, Inc (P)2023 Audible Originals LLC]]> 6 Travis Beacham Coral 4 3.98 2023 Impact Winter Season 2 (Impact Winter #2)
author: Travis Beacham
name: Coral
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
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]]> youthjuice 198509203
A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible¡ªat a terrible cost¡ªin this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion¡¯s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE (hee-bee), a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York¡¯s trendy SoHo neighborhood and named after the Greek goddess of youth, it¡¯s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn¡¯t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence¡ªand a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE¡¯s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle¡ªespecially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE¡¯s infrastructure start to worsen¡ªand Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice¡ªshe has to decide how far she¡¯s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia¡¯s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue¡¯s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry¡¯s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You¡¯ll never moisturize the same way again.]]> 288 E.K. Sathue 1641295929 Coral 0 to-read 3.13 2024 youthjuice
author: E.K. Sathue
name: Coral
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Night Ends with Fire (The Night Ends with Fire, #1)]]> 201129898 Infused with magic and romance, this sweeping fantasy adventure?inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman?determined to choose her own destiny¡ªeven if that means going against everyone she loves.

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin¡¯s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.

The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father¡¯s place.

In the army, Meilin's relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship¡ªand a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another??As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.

With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust¡ªSky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew¡ªabout her kingdom and about her own heart.]]> 432 K.X. Song 0593815726 Coral 0 3.80 2024 The Night Ends with Fire (The Night Ends with Fire, #1)
author: K.X. Song
name: Coral
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> Ami (Guardians of Dawn, #2) 195791521 When the Pillar blooms, the end of the world is not far behind.

Li Ami was always on the outside¡ªoutside of family, outside of friendships, outside of ordinary magic. The odd and eccentric daughter of a former imperial magician, she has devoted her life to books because she finds them easier to read than people. Exiled to the outermost west of the Morning Realms, Ami has become the sole caretaker of her mentally ill father, whose rantings and ravings may be more than mere ramblings; they may be part of a dire prophecy. When her father is arrested for trespassing and stealing a branch from the sacred tree of the local monastery, Ami offers herself to the mysterious Beast in the castle, who is in need of someone who can translate a forbidden magical text and find a cure for the mysterious blight that is affecting the harvest of the land.

Meanwhile, as signs of magical corruption arise throughout the Morning Realms, Jin Zhara begins to realize that she might be out of her element. She may have defeated a demon lord and uncovered her identity as the Guardian of Fire, but she¡¯ll be more than outmatched in the coming elemental battle against the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons¡­unless she can find the other Guardians of Dawn. Her magic is no match for the growing tide of undead, and she needs the Guardian of Wood with power over life and death in order to defeat the revenants razing the countryside.

The threat of the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons looms larger by the day, and the tenuous peace holding the Morning Realms together is beginning to unravel. Ami and Zhara must journey to the Root of the World in order to seal the demon portal that may have opened there and restore balance to an increasingly chaotic world.]]> 368 S. Jae-Jones 1250191459 Coral 0 3.88 2024 Ami (Guardians of Dawn, #2)
author: S. Jae-Jones
name: Coral
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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