Sarah's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:07:28 -0700 60 Sarah's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Lighthouse (Adam Dalgliesh, #13)]]> 3826 383 P.D. James 0307275736 Sarah 0 to-read 3.81 2005 The Lighthouse (Adam Dalgliesh, #13)
author: P.D. James
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House Witch (The House Witch, #1)]]> 61337597 A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.

When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.

But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a house witch and his kitten familiar, Kraken, take to meddling in imperial affairs. As his powers are gradually discovered by the court, Fin finds himself involved in a slew of intrigues: going head-to-head with knights with less-than-chivalrous intentions, helping to protect the pregnant queen, fending off the ire of the royal mage, and uncovering a spy in the castle. And that’s only the beginning—because Fin’s past is catching up with him just as his love life is getting complicated . . .]]> 658 Delemhach 1039410243 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 2022 The House Witch (The House Witch, #1)
author: Delemhach
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster]]> 40538681
Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. It is a story that has long remained in dispute, clouded from the beginning in secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation.

Midnight In Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of history's worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will - lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats - remain not just vital but necessary.

Now, Higginbotham brings us closer to the truth behind this colossal tragedy.]]> 538 Adam Higginbotham 1501134612 Sarah 0 to-read 4.35 2019 Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
author: Adam Higginbotham
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beowulf 52357 259 Unknown 0393320979 Sarah 0 to-read 3.46 1000 Beowulf
author: Unknown
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Third Gilmore Girl 207298106 Brought to you by Penguin.

Beloved award-winning actress Kelly Bishop, famous for playing the iconic Emily Gilmore in Gilmore Girls , finally tells the whole story of her six decades in show business.

Kelly Bishop’s storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing, but it is probably her role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.
Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future, sharing some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.
Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and powerful memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades.

]]> 256 Kelly Bishop 1668023776 Sarah 0 to-read 4.35 2024 The Third Gilmore Girl
author: Kelly Bishop
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

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

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

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

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

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

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House, #1)]]> 60596112
Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.]]> 347 Charlie N. Holmberg 1662500335 Sarah 0 to-read 4.14 2022 Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House, #1)
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> On a Quiet Street 58977601 A New York Times Book Review Summer Read and Edgar Award nominee! Don’t miss this unputdownable psychological thriller! Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware!

When you really start to look beyond the airy open floor plans and marble counters, Brighton Hills is filled with secrets. Some big, some little, some deadly. And one by one, they’re about to be revealed� “A writer to watch.� �Publishers Weekly

The perfect neighborhood can be the perfect place to hide�

Who wouldn’t want to live in Brighton Hills? This exclusive community on the Oregon coast is the perfect mix of luxury and natural beauty. Stunning houses nestle beneath mighty Douglas firs, and lush backyards roll down to the lakefront. It’s the kind of place where neighbors look out for one another. Sometimes a little too closely�

Cora thinks her husband, Finn, is cheating—she just needs to catch him in the act. That’s where Paige comes in. Paige lost her son to a hit-and-run last year, and she’s drowning in the kind of grief that makes people do reckless things like spying on the locals, searching for proof that her son’s death was no accident…and agreeing to Cora’s plan to reveal what kind of man Finn really is. All the while, their reclusive new neighbor, Georgia, is acting more strangely every day. But what could such a lovely young mother possibly be hiding?

Don't miss Seraphina's upcoming novel, The Vanishing Hour. You won't be able to put it down! 

Other thrillers from Seraphina to keep you up all
The Vanishing Hour Such a Good Wife Someone’s Listening

]]> 302 Seraphina Nova Glass 0369717058 Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 2022 On a Quiet Street
author: Seraphina Nova Glass
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement]]> 203956674 America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes.Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naïve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly. Sharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inpiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country. With the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream.The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.]]> 320 Sharon McMahon 0593541677 Sarah 0 to-read 4.44 2024 The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
author: Sharon McMahon
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship]]> 23164968 A thrilling new adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of the New York Times bestseller Shadow Divers

Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But two men—John Chatterton and John Mattera—are willing to risk everything to find the Golden Fleece, the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. At large during the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth century, Bannister’s exploits would have been more notorious than Blackbeard’s, more daring than Kidd’s, but his story, and his ship, have been lost to time. If Chatterton and Mattera succeed, they will make history—it will be just the second time ever that a pirate ship has been discovered and positively identified. Soon, however, they realize that cutting-edge technology and a willingness to lose everything aren’t enough to track down Bannister’s ship. They must travel the globe in search of historic documents and accounts of the great pirate’s exploits, face down dangerous rivals, battle the tides of nations and governments and experts. But it’s only when they learn to think and act like pirates—like Bannister—that they become able to go where no pirate hunters have gone before.

Fast-paced and filled with suspense, fascinating characters, history, and adventure, Pirate Hunters is an unputdownable story that goes deep to discover truths and souls long believed lost.

Advance praise for Pirate Hunters

“A great thriller full of tough guys and long odds . . . and: It’s all true.�—Lee Child

“Action and adventure on land and sea—you can’t ask for more. But Robert Kurson raises the ante in Pirate Hunters with an array of mystery and a fleet of colorful characters spanning four centuries. This is a great summer read!�—Michael Connelly

�Pirate Hunters is a fantastic book, an utterly engrossing and satisfying read. It tells the story of the hunt for the rare wreck of a pirate ship, which had been captained by one of the most remarkable pirates in history. This is a real-life Treasure Island, complete with swashbuckling, half-crazy treasure hunters and vivid Caribbean settings—a story for the ages.�—Douglas Preston

“A terrific read. I was pulled in from page one. Kurson brings us face to face with some of the most swashbuckling pirates ever to sail the Caribbean, even as he takes us underwater on a high-tech quest to discover the relics they left behind.�—Daniel James Brown

“There’s nothing in the world like buried treasure—and people hungry and obsessed enough to risk their lives for it. Pirate Hunters isn’t just a good story—it’s a true one. Searching for the souls of its explorers, it takes you to the far tip of the plank and plunges you deep to the bottom of the ocean.�—Brad Meltzer

�Pirate Hunters is a gripping account of two courageous divers� quest to uncover the shipwrecked vessel of Joseph Bannister, one of history’s most infamous pirates. Robert Kurson will keep you on the edge of your seat in this high-stakes journey around the globe that ultimately teaches these explorers about much more than an old ship.�—Sen. John McCain

“Kurson’s own enthusiasm, combined with his copious research and an eye for detail, makes for one of the most mind-blowing pirate stories of recent memory.��Publishers Weekly ]]> 275 Robert Kurson 1400063361 Sarah 0 to-read 3.99 2015 Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship
author: Robert Kurson
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> One by One 54197718
A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation.

She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven.

Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought.

Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.

And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them?

But as more time passes, one thing becomes clear:

Only one of them will return home alive.]]> 295 Freida McFadden Sarah 0 to-read 3.87 2020 One by One
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unspeakable Things 44323551
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents� strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.]]> 296 Jess Lourey 154200876X Sarah 0 to-read 3.84 2020 Unspeakable Things
author: Jess Lourey
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Locked Door 57795665
While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.]]> 313 Freida McFadden Sarah 0 to-read 4.00 2021 The Locked Door
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wilds (Detective Elin Warner, #3)]]> 200555227
Elin Warner is on vacation with her brother Isaac in a rugged national park in Portugal—the last place Kier was seen. It’s supposed to be a time for the siblings to reconnect, but when Elin discovers Kier’s disturbing final map, it seems the park—especially the inhabitants of a camp buried deep in the forest—holds clues to what happened to Kier, and a lot more besides.

After a sinister discovery, Elin is shocked to learn Kier's disappearance is more personal to her than she’d ever imagined. And as she seeks the truth, Elin soon finds the wilderness hides something far darker than shifting shadows…]]> 386 Sarah Pearse 0593654048 Sarah 0 to-read 3.67 2024 The Wilds (Detective Elin Warner, #3)
author: Sarah Pearse
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spellshop 199269577 The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst Sarah 0 to-read 4.05 2024 The Spellshop
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Sarah 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tress of the Emerald Sea 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Sarah 0 to-read 4.35 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.]]> 296 Travis Baldree Sarah 0 4.04 2022 Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: currently-reading, 2024-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> The Lost Apothecary 53288434 A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders� that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive.]]> 301 Sarah Penner 0778311015 Sarah 0 currently-reading 3.72 2021 The Lost Apothecary
author: Sarah Penner
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World]]> 38743564 An epic true-tale of hubris and greed from two Pulitzer-finalist Wall Street Journal reporters, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how a young social climber pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history--right under the nose of the global financial industry--exposing the shocking secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics.

The dust had yet to settle on the global financial crisis in 2009 when an unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.

Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about the financial world in the twenty-first century.]]> 400 Tom Wright 031643650X Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 2018 Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World
author: Tom Wright
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> And Then There Were None 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 Sarah 0 to-read 4.28 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Woman in the Library 56803179 In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.]]> 292 Sulari Gentill Sarah 0 to-read 3.46 2022 The Woman in the Library
author: Sulari Gentill
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is How You Lose the Time War]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Sarah 0 to-read 3.86 2019 This Is How You Lose the Time War
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Claudia and Mean Janine (The Baby-Sitters Club, #7)]]> 48866 160 Ann M. Martin 0590410415 Sarah 3 3.75 1987 Claudia and Mean Janine (The Baby-Sitters Club, #7)
author: Ann M. Martin
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Call of the Wild (Troll Illustrated Classics)]]> 2964259 44 Earle Hitchner 0816718644 Sarah 3 4.00 2001 The Call of the Wild (Troll Illustrated Classics)
author: Earle Hitchner
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 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 Sarah 0 to-read 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Little Secrets 45046683
A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She's lost her son; she's not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix.

Permanently.

All it takes to unravel a life is one little secret...

Overwhelmed by tragedy, a woman desperately tries to save her marriage in award-winning author Jennifer Hillier's Little Secrets, a riveting novel of psychological suspense.]]> 352 Jennifer Hillier Sarah 0 to-read 4.19 2020 Little Secrets
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Brown Girl Dreaming 20821284
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.]]> 337 Jacqueline Woodson 0399252517 Sarah 0 to-read 4.14 2014 Brown Girl Dreaming
author: Jacqueline Woodson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Sarah 0 to-read 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Little Life 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 Sarah 0 to-read 4.28 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Sarah 0 to-read 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)]]> 77390 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

When twelve-year-old Anne Shirley came to Avonlea, she quickly won everyone’s heart. Now, she’s five years older, almost a woman, and about to embark on a new adventure: becoming the teacher in her old Avonlea school. It’s an exciting year as Anne struggles to win over all her students, welcomes two new members to her family, and feels the first stirrings of love.]]> 276 L.M. Montgomery 0553213148 Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.23 1909 Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1909
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 62229748 A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror.

'Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.'

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden � one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party � can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

Also titled as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.]]> 525 Stuart Turton 1408889560 Sarah 0 to-read 3.79 2018 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking: Pippi Longstocking / Pippi goes on Board / Pippi in the South Seas]]> 19301
Since Pippi Longstocking was first published in 1950, the escapades of the incomparable Pippi,the girl with upside-down braids and no parents to tell her what to do, have delighted boys and girls alike. Now, for the first time, Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board , and  Pippi in the South Seas are all together in one bumper volume, with new illustrations in full-color and black-and-white.The collection is an ideal introduction for anyone discovering Pippi for the first time, while confirmed fans will enjoy revisiting their favorite episodes and recalling some they've forgotten. Her admirers will also find fascinating new biographical information about author Astrid Lindgren and the origin of the Pippi stories. Astrid Lindgren was awarded the 1958 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her contribution to international children's literature.]]> 290 Astrid Lindgren 0670876127 Sarah 0 to-read 4.23 1945 The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking: Pippi Longstocking / Pippi goes on Board / Pippi in the South Seas
author: Astrid Lindgren
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1945
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)]]> 8127 Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family� and, most of all, love.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]> 320 L.M. Montgomery 0451528824 Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.30 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1908
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/06
date added: 2023/06/06
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> Homegoing 27071490 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel. Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi's magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer.]]> 305 Yaa Gyasi Sarah 0 to-read 4.48 2016 Homegoing
author: Yaa Gyasi
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember]]> 60113442
With her signature sense of humor and down-to-earth storytelling, Lauren Graham opens up about her years working in the entertainment business—from the sublime to the ridiculous—and shares personal stories about everything from family and friendship to the challenges of aging gracefully in Hollywood. In "RIP Barneys New York," she writes about an early job as a salesperson at the legendary department store -- and the time she inadvertently shoplifted; in "Ne Oublie" she warns us about the perils of coming from an extremely forgetful family; and in "Actor-y Factory" she recounts what a day in the life of an actor looks like (unless you’re Brad Pitt).

Filled with surprising anecdotes, sage advice, and laugh-out-loud observations, Graham's latest collection of all-new, original essays showcases the winning charm and wit that she's known for.]]> 186 Lauren Graham 0593355423 Sarah 0 to-read 3.66 2022 Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember
author: Lauren Graham
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology]]> 26827675 The outspoken actress, talk show host, and reality television star offers up a no-holds-barred memoir, including an eye-opening insider account of her tumultuous and heart-wrenching thirty-year-plus association with the Church of Scientology.

Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.

That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.

Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology's causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she'd worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology's most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

But when she began to raise questions about some of the church's actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a "Suppressive Person," and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.

Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini's remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.]]> 256 Leah Remini 110188696X Sarah 4 4.02 2015 Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
author: Leah Remini
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/28
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup]]> 37976541 ŮŮ…Řą Ř°ŮŠŮعصيت "(ثيرانŮŘł)ŘŚ بدأت بعض الŮقائع بالتŮش٠عن عدم جهŮزية، بل عدم صلاحية، الأجهزة المنتجة، رغم أن إليزابيث Ů‚ŘŻ ŮŘŞŘ­ŘŞ قنŮات ŘŞŘłŮŮŠŮ‚ŮŠŘ© Ůبيرة Ů…Řą Ůبيريات الشرŮات الدŮائية (نŮŮارتيس)ŘŚ Ůسلسلة المتاجر الصيدلانية الŮبرى (ŮŮلغرينز)ŘŚ Ůمتاجر الأغذية متعددة الŮرŮŘą (سيŮŮاي)ŘŚ ŮŮ…Řą تسرب أخبار تؤŮŘŻ أن الأجهزة مزŮŘŻŘ© ببرنامج يظهر نتائج عشŮائية لعينات الدم، الأمر الذي Ů‚ŘŻ ŮŠŮŘŻŮŠ بحيŮات أناس Ůثيرين، Ůعلى الرغم من أن مجلس إدارة الشرŮŘ© Ů‚ŘŻ استقطب مجمŮعة من السياسيين ŮالعسŮريين المخضرمين ŮŮŠ أعلى هرم السياسة الأمريŮŮŠŘ©ŘŚ Ů…Ř«Ů„ جŮرج Ř´Ůلتز Ůهنري Ůيسنجر ŮرŮبرت مردŮŘ® Ůجيمس ماتيس، Ůحتى ŘŁŮباما، الذي استقبلها ŮŮŠ Ů…Ůتبه البيضاŮŮŠ- على الرغم من Ř°Ů„ŮŘŚ ŮŮŮŠ Ř­Ů‚Ů„ مليء بالتهديدات Ůالألغام، بدأت رحلة الصحاŮŮŠ الŮبير جŮن Ůارير٠ŮŮŠ ŮŮŮ„ ستريت جŮرنال، إثر معلŮŮ…Ř© Ůصلته ŮŮŠ ٢٠١٥، ŮŮŠ تحري أسرار (ثيرانŮŘł)ŘŚ من ŘŁŮŮاه الشرŮاء الذين Ů‚ŘŻŮ…Ůا استقالاتهم من الشرŮŘ©ŘŚ Ůعلى رأسهم تيلر Ř´Ůلتز، Ř­ŮŮŠŘŻ جŮرج Ř´Ůلتز، ŮالحصŮŮ„ على الŮثائق Ůالأدلة التي تثبت ŘŞŮرط الشرŮŘ© ŮŮŠ ŘŁŘłŮŘŁ عملية غش طالت المرضى قبل المستثمرين ŮمالŮŮŠ الأسهم ŮŮŠ ثيرانŮŘł.
ŮŠŮضح هذا الŮتاب الذي استغرق إنجازه ثلاث سنŮات Ůنص٠السنة، رؤŮŘł الŮساد ŮŮŠ قلب المؤسسة السلطŮŮŠŘ© الأميرŮŮŠŘ© منجهة، Ůيشير إلى الظمائر النبيلة التي Ů‚ŘŻŮ…ŘŞ الأدلة الدامغة على ŘŞŮرط ثيرانŮŘł من جهة أخرى، الأمر الذي قاد إليزابيث هŮلمز، السايŮŮباثية بحسب تعبير ŮاريرŮŘŚ Ů…Řą أزلامها، إلى قاعات المحاŮŮ…ŘŚ لتنتهي أسطŮرة شرŮتها التي بلغ رأس مالها تسعة مليارات ŘŻŮلار.]]> 339 John Carreyrou Sarah 0 to-read 4.38 2018 Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
author: John Carreyrou
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)]]> 40411206
In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?� She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!�), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout�).

In “What It Was Like, Part One,� Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay “What It Was Like, Part Two� reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls (“If you’re meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you’ve already set the bar too high�), and she’s a card-carrying REI shopper (“My bungee cords now earn points!�).

Including photos and excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and—of course—talking as fast as you can.]]> 224 Lauren Graham 0425285189 Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 3.92 2016 Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)
author: Lauren Graham
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

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

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

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

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

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/05
date added: 2023/04/05
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 Sarah 0 4.11 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/05
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge, currently-reading, 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> In the Lives of Puppets 60784549
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,� he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.]]> 432 T.J. Klune 125021744X Sarah 0 to-read 3.90 2023 In the Lives of Puppets
author: T.J. Klune
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/03
date added: 2023/04/03
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Sarah 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Boy In Makeup: TikTok made me buy it!]]> 75469908 Despite being the school’s outcast, his life is changed forever when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with popular footballer Ben Roberts.
Trouble arises when Cory starts catching feelings for his new friend.]]> 197 Anthony Connors-Roberts 173919490X Sarah 0 to-read 4.00 2023 The Boy In Makeup: TikTok made me buy it!
author: Anthony Connors-Roberts
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beyond the Wand: The Magic & Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard]]> 61062194 From the magical moments on set as Draco Malfoy to the challenges of growing up in the spotlight, get a backstage pass into Tom Felton’s life on and off the big screen in this #1 New York Times bestseller.

Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.

Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience.

Tom Felton’s Beyond the Wand is an entertaining, funny, and poignant must-read for any Harry Potter fan. Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.]]> 288 Tom Felton 1538741369 Sarah 3 2023-52-book-challenge 4.28 2022 Beyond the Wand: The Magic & Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard
author: Tom Felton
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/11
date added: 2023/03/11
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> A Message from Ukraine 62818027 An urgent call to arms from Time’s Person of the Year, the Ukrainian leader whose unwavering courage in the face of the Russian invasion has inspired the world and turned him overnight into a global beacon of democracy.

The words of a man. The message of a people.

Bringing together a new introduction by Volodymyr Zelensky with his most powerful war speeches, this book recounts Ukraine’s story through the words of its president.

It is the story of a nation valiantly defending itself from Russian aggression. And it is the story of a people leading the world in the struggle for democracy.

Above all, it is a battle cry for us all to stand up and fight for liberty. If not now, when?

The only book officially authorized by President Zelensky, A Message from Ukraine includes speeches he has personally selected to tell the story of the Ukrainian people.]]> 134 Volodymyr Zelensky 1529153549 Sarah 0 to-read 4.63 2022 A Message from Ukraine
author: Volodymyr Zelensky
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)]]> 28187230 341 Ruth Ware 1501132938 Sarah 4 3.73 2016 The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/24
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves: 2018-challenge, 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> The Searcher 52661162
Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. And once again, Cal feels that restless itch.

Something is wrong in this community, and he must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door.]]> 451 Tana French 073522465X Sarah 0 to-read 3.70 2020 The Searcher
author: Tana French
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)]]> 7093952
But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd given him the brush-off--probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he’s a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he’s willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.]]> 400 Tana French 0670021873 Sarah 0 to-read 3.98 2010 Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)
author: Tana French
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)]]> 5941114 466 Tana French 0143115626 Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 2008 The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)
author: Tana French
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When She Woke 11045709 When She Woke is a fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, who embarks on a path of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith.

Bellwether Prize Winner Hillary Jordan's provocative new novel is the fiercely imagined story of a woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed -- their skin color is genetically altered to match the class of their crime -- and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder.]]> 344 Hillary Jordan 1565126297 Sarah 0 to-read 3.67 2011 When She Woke
author: Hillary Jordan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Greenlights 52838315 From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.�

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights - and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.]]> 289 Matthew McConaughey 0593139135 Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.21 2020 Greenlights
author: Matthew McConaughey
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/13
date added: 2023/02/13
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:
McConoughey tells his story in a unique, upbeat and belly-laugh inducing way. It’s like sitting down with a good friend. I enjoyed the fast paced stories and found this to be a very well -rounded life tale without too much detail and length.
]]> Spells for Forgetting 59559145
August knows he is not welcome on Saoirse, not after the night everything changed. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from his past that has never healed—Emery. But the town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises spanning generations threaten to reveal the truth behind Lily’s mysterious death once and for all.]]> 351 Adrienne Young 0593358511 Sarah 0 to-read 3.85 2022 Spells for Forgetting
author: Adrienne Young
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Paris Seamstress 36604561 How much will a young Parisian seamstress sacrifice to make her mark in the male-dominated world of 1940s New York fashion? From the bestselling author of A Kiss From Mr Fitzgerald and Her Mother's Secret.

1940. Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine, and a dream: to have her own atelier.

2015. Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.

Crossing generations, society's boundaries and international turmoil, The Paris Seamstress is the beguiling, transporting story of the special relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter as they attempt to heal the heartache of the past.]]> 448 Natasha Lester 073364001X Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 2018 The Paris Seamstress
author: Natasha Lester
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe]]> 8584913
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the incredible true story of this unlikely entrepreneur who mobilized her community under the Taliban. Former ABC Newsreporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon spent years on the ground reporting Kamila's story, and the result is an unusually intimate and unsanitized look at the daily lives of women in Afghanistan. These women are not victims; they are the glue that holds families together; they are the backbone and the heart of their nation.

Afghanistan's future remains uncertain as debates over withdrawal timelines dominate the news. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana moves beyond the headlines to transport you to an Afghanistan you have never seen before. This is a story of war, but it is also a story of sisterhood and resilience in the face of despair. Kamila Sidiqi's journey will inspire you, but it will also change the way you think about one of the most important political and humanitarianissues of our time.]]> 258 Gayle Tzemach Lemmon 0061732370 Sarah 0 to-read 3.71 2011 The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
author: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians, #1)]]> 16085481
When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.

Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should—and should not—marry.

Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.]]> 403 Kevin Kwan 0385536976 Sarah 0 to-read 3.91 2013 Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians, #1)
author: Kevin Kwan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream]]> 9742 The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward.]]> 375 Barack Obama 0307237699 Sarah 0 to-read 3.83 2006 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
author: Barack Obama
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance]]> 88061 453 Barack Obama 1921351438 Sarah 0 to-read 3.93 1995 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
author: Barack Obama
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose]]> 76334 With his bestselling spiritual guide "The Power of Now," Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived ?in the now.? In "A New Earth," Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence. "The Power of Now" was a question-and-answer handbook. "A New Earth" has been written as a traditional narrative, offering anecdotes and philosophies in a way that is accessible to all. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, "A New Earth" is a profoundly spiritual manifesto for a better way of life?and for building a better world.]]> 316 Eckhart Tolle 0452287588 Sarah 0 to-read 4.15 2005 A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
author: Eckhart Tolle
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Girl Who Drank the Moon 28110852
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule--but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her--even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.]]> 388 Kelly Barnhill 1616205679 Sarah 0 to-read 4.11 2016 The Girl Who Drank the Moon
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy Sarah 0 to-read 4.45 2022 I'm Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Becoming 38746485
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.]]> 426 Michelle Obama 1524763136 Sarah 5 2023-52-book-challenge 4.42 2018 Becoming
author: Michelle Obama
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/04
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)]]> 53450790 Would you defend your husband if he was accused of killing his mistress?

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working.

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home.

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?]]> 337 Jeneva Rose 1913419657 Sarah 0 to-read 3.90 2020 The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Witch in the Well 55077699
When two former friends reunite after decades apart, their grudges, flawed ambitions, and shared obsession swirl into an all-too-real echo of a terrible town legend.

Centuries ago, beautiful young Ilsbeth Clark was accused of witchcraft after several children disappeared. Her acquittal did nothing to stop her fellow townsfolk from drowning her in the well where the missing children were last seen.

When author and social media influencer Elena returns to the summer paradise of her youth to get her family's manor house ready to sell, the last thing she expected was connecting with―and feeling inspired to write about―Ilsbeth’s infamous spirit. The very historical figure that her ex-childhood friend, Cathy, has been diligently researching and writing about for years.

What begins as a fiercely competitive sense of ownership over Ilsbeth and her story soon turns both women’s worlds into something more haunted and dangerous than they could ever imagine.]]> 296 Camilla Bruce 1250302099 Sarah 0 to-read 2.99 2022 The Witch in the Well
author: Camilla Bruce
name: Sarah
average rating: 2.99
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, #1)]]> 25893817
Tsukimi Kurashita has a strange fascination with jellyfish. She’s loved them from a young age and has carried that love with her to her new life in the big city of Tokyo. There, she resides in Amamizukan, a safe-haven for girl geeks who regularly gush over a range of things from trains to Japanese dolls. However, a chance meeting at a pet shop has Tsukimi crossing paths with one of the things that the residents of Amamizukan have been desperately trying to avoid—a beautiful and fashionable woman! But there’s much more to this woman than her trendy clothes! This odd encounter is only the beginning of a new and unexpected path for Tsukimi and her friends.]]> 379 Akiko Higashimura 1632362287 Sarah 0 to-read 4.34 2016 Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, #1)
author: Akiko Higashimura
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Meet Me at the Museum 36237290 Please be aware I am writing to you to make sense of myself ...

When the curator of a Danish museum responds to a query about ancient exhibits, he doesn’t expect a reply.

When Tina Hopgood first wrote it, nor did she �

Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. He does not know that a query from a Mrs Tina Hopgood about a world-famous antiquity in his museum is about to alter the course of his life.

Oceans apart, an unexpected correspondence flourishes as they discover shared passions: for history and nature; for useless objects left behind by loved ones; for the ancient and modern world, what is lost in time, what is gained and what has stayed the same. Through intimate stories of joy, anguish, and discovery, each one bares their soul to the other. But when Tina's letters suddenly cease, Anders is thrown into despair. Can this unlikely friendship survive?]]> 224 Anne Youngson 0857525522 Sarah 0 to-read 3.89 2018 Meet Me at the Museum
author: Anne Youngson
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)]]> 52439531
To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.]]> 386 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1368052401 Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 2020 The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America]]> 60012484 320 Cody Keenan 0358651891 Sarah 0 to-read 4.55 2022 Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America
author: Cody Keenan
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing]]> 59641216
So begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who traveled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell—and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it—Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humor, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening—as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for.]]> 250 Matthew Perry 1250866448 Sarah 0 to-read 3.89 2022 Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
author: Matthew Perry
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Light on Snow 14965 288 Anita Shreve 0316014281 Sarah 4 2023-52-book-challenge 3.61 2004 Light on Snow
author: Anita Shreve
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/09
date added: 2023/01/09
shelves: 2023-52-book-challenge
review:
A fast read with a likeable 12 year old at the center. Winter is depicted very well and I enjoyed the story even though it has a lot of sad/hard points.
]]> All Good People Here 60142750 In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?]]> 312 Ashley Flowers 0593496477 Sarah 0 to-read 3.81 2022 All Good People Here
author: Ashley Flowers
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)]]> 11901
Demonstrating, once again, her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of legend, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of witches—a family given to poetry and to incest, to murder and to philosophy; a family that, over the ages, is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being.

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking... and The Witching Hour begins.

It begins in our time with a rescue at sea.  Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful woman, a brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery—aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches—finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life.  He is Michael Curry, who was born in New Orleans and orphaned in childhood by fire on Christmas Eve, who pulled himself up from poverty, and who now, in his brief interval of death, has acquired a sensory power that mystifies and frightens him.

As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love and—in passionate alliance—set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift, the novel moves backward and forward in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV.  An intricate tale of evil unfolds—an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first "witch," Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher... a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn.

From the coffee plantations of Port au Prince, where the great Mayfair fortune is made and the legacy of their dark power is almost destroyed, to Civil War New Orleans, as Julien—the clan's only male to be endowed with occult powers—provides for the dynasty its foothold in America, the dark, luminous story encompasses dramas of seduction and death, episodes of tenderness and healing.  And always—through peril and escape, tension and release—there swirl around us the echoes of eternal war: innocence versus the corruption of the spirit, sanity against madness, life against death.  With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us, through circuitous, twilight paths, to the present and Rowan's increasingly inspired and risky moves in the merciless game that binds her to her heritage. And in New Orleans, on Christmas Eve, this strangest of family sagas is brought to its startling climax.]]> 1207 Anne Rice 0099471426 Sarah 0 to-read 4.11 1990 The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)
author: Anne Rice
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Keeper of Lost Things 30363088 A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.

Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles�Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Bone china cup and saucer�Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.

Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.

Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.

Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made.

As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest?

Full of character, wit, and wisdom, The Keeper of Lost Things is heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs Queen Takes the Train, and The Silver Linings Playbook.]]> 288 Ruth Hogan Sarah 0 to-read 3.70 2017 The Keeper of Lost Things
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> The House in the Pines 61251242 Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend's sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed....

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can't account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer--the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother's house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father's book that didn't stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank's cabin....

Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.]]> 321 Ana Reyes 0593186710 Sarah 0 to-read 3.05 2023 The House in the Pines
author: Ana Reyes
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Night She Disappeared 55922299
Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah's friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

'DIG HERE' . . .

A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's remarkable new novel.]]> 416 Lisa Jewell 1982137363 Sarah 0 to-read 4.05 2021 The Night She Disappeared
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Children's Blizzard 53425138
The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats--leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm?

Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers--one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. It's also the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. It is Woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. Boosters needed immigrants to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told them to get them there--or whose land it originally was.

At its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. It is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today--because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country.]]> 355 Melanie Benjamin 0399182284 Sarah 0 to-read 3.91 2021 The Children's Blizzard
author: Melanie Benjamin
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet]]> 3367956 290 Jamie Ford 0345505336 Sarah 0 to-read 4.03 2009 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
author: Jamie Ford
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Treasure Island 295 Treasure Island has never been surpassed. From the moment young Jim Hawkins first encounters the sinister Blind Pew at the Admiral Benbow Inn until the climactic battle for treasure on a tropic isle, the novel creates scenes and characters that have fired the imaginations of generations of readers. Written by a superb prose stylist, a master of both action and atmosphere, the story centers upon the conflict between good and evil - but in this case a particularly engaging form of evil. It is the villainy of that most ambiguous rogue Long John Silver that sets the tempo of this tale of treachery, greed, and daring. Designed to forever kindle a dream of high romance and distant horizons, Treasure Island is, in the words of G. K. Chesterton, 'the realization of an ideal, that which is promised in its provocative and beckoning map; a vision not only of white skeletons but also green palm trees and sapphire seas.' G. S. Fraser terms it 'an utterly original book' and goes on to write: 'There will always be a place for stories like Treasure Island that can keep boys and old men happy.']]> 352 Robert Louis Stevenson 0753453800 Sarah 3 2022-52-book-challenge 3.84 1882 Treasure Island
author: Robert Louis Stevenson
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1882
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2023/01/01
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> Coraline 17061
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it's different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.]]> 176 Neil Gaiman 0061139378 Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Coraline
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/31
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins, #1)]]> 152380 Saving Mr. Banks. From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed.

It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!]]> 209 P.L. Travers 0152058109 Sarah 0 to-read 4.04 1934 Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins, #1)
author: P.L. Travers
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1934
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/31
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]]> <![CDATA[I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban]]> 17851885 I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.]]> 327 Malala Yousafzai 0316322407 Sarah 0 to-read 4.15 2012 I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
author: Malala Yousafzai
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> All the Dangerous Things 60784636
Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust... including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.]]> 326 Stacy Willingham 1250803853 Sarah 0 to-read 4.04 2023 All the Dangerous Things
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Sarah 0 to-read 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune]]> 58786859 Discover the “fascinating and outrageously readable� account of the roguish acts of the first pirates to raid the Pacific in a crusade that ended in a sensational trial back in England—perfect for readers of Nathaniel Philbrick and David McCullough (Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God)

The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers—gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era—a story not given its full due until now.

Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan—yes, that Captain Morgan—the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent.

With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates� legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, Born to Be Hanged offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.]]> 384 Keith Thomson 0316703613 Sarah 0 to-read 3.75 2022 Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune
author: Keith Thomson
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile]]> 58777696 From the New York Times bestselling author of RIVER OF DOUBT and DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC, the stirring story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time, and its complicated legacy

The Nile River is the longest in the world. Its fertile floodplain allowed for rise to the great civilization of ancient Egypt, but for millennia the location of its headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Pharaonic and Roman attempts to find it were stymied by a giant labyrinthine swamp, and subsequent expeditions got no further. In the 19th century, the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone set off a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe - and extend their colonial empires.

Two British men - Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke - were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was already famous for being the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain. He spoke twenty-nine languages, was a decorated soldier, and literally wrote the book on sword-fighting techniques for the British Army. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs.

From the start the two men clashed, Speke chafing under Burton's command and Burton disapproving of Speke's ignorance of the people whose lands through which they traveled. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke's great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate, Speke shot himself.

Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without his talents, it is likely that neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.

In RIVER OF THE GODS Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
]]> 349 Candice Millard 052552407X Sarah 0 to-read 3.77 2022 River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
author: Candice Millard
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, #4)]]> 7664041 Eragon... It ends with Inheritance.

Not so very long ago, Eragon � Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider � was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.

Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.

The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?

This is the spellbinding conclusion to Christopher Paolini's worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.

]]> 849 Christopher Paolini 0375856110 Sarah 0 to-read 4.14 2011 Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, #4)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking]]> 31645392 specific mindfulness techniques that create more "space" in your mind to enjoy inner peace and happiness. With these habits, you'll have the clarity to prioritize what's most important in your life, what no longer serves your goals, and how you want to live on a daily basis. And that's what you'll learn in Declutter Your Mind. Declutter Your Mind -- How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking The goal of this book is We will teach you the habits, actions, and mindsets to clean up the mental clutter that's holding you back from living a meaningful life. You will 4 Causes of Mental Clutter How to Reframe ALL Your Negative Thoughts 4 Strategies to Improve (or Eliminate) Bad Relationships The Importance of Decluttering the Distractions That Cause Anxiety A Simple Strategy to Discover What's Important to YOU 400 Words That Help Identify YOUR Values The Benefit of Meditation and Focused Deep Breathing (and How to Do Both) How to Create Goals That Connect to Your Passions Declutter Your Mind is full of exercises that will have an immediate, positive impact on your mindset. Instead of just telling you to do something, we provide practical, science-backed actions that can create real and lasting change if practiced regularly. Would You Like To Know More? Download now to stop worrying, deal with anxiety, and clear your mind. Scroll to the top of the page and select the buy now button.]]> 157 S.J. Scott Sarah 0 to-read 3.71 2016 Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking
author: S.J. Scott
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> One by One 50892433
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.]]> 372 Ruth Ware Sarah 0 to-read 3.70 2020 One by One
author: Ruth Ware
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Number the Stars 47281 137 Lois Lowry 0440227534 Sarah 4 2022-52-book-challenge 4.19 1989 Number the Stars
author: Lois Lowry
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/07
date added: 2022/02/07
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of the Dog (Pacy, #1)]]> 215014 A special edition of a modern classic by the Newbery-Award winning and bestselling author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

When Pacy's mom tells her that this is a good year for friends, family, and "finding herself," Pacy begins searching right away. As the year goes on, she struggles to find her talent, deals with disappointment, makes a new best friend, and discovers just why the Year of the Dog is a lucky one for her after all.

This funny and profound book is a wonderful debut novel by award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator Grace Lin, and young readers will be sure to love and treasure it for years to come.

This special edition of the modern classic features over 15 pages of new content, including deleted stories, a Q&A with the author and editor, photos from the author's childhood, and more!]]> 160 Grace Lin 031606002X Sarah 4 2022-52-book-challenge 3.96 2005 The Year of the Dog (Pacy, #1)
author: Grace Lin
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/07
date added: 2022/02/07
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)]]> 8921 256 Arthur Conan Doyle Sarah 3 2022-52-book-challenge 4.15 1901 The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1901
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/20
date added: 2022/01/21
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor]]> 52198367 Based on the viral Instagram challenge that captivated participants worldwide, Me and White Supremacy takes readers on a 28-day journey, complete with journal prompts, to do the necessary and vital work that can ultimately lead to improving race relations.

Updated and expanded from the original workbook (downloaded by nearly 100,000 people), this critical text helps you take the work deeper by adding more historical and cultural contexts, sharing moving stories and anecdotes, and including expanded definitions, examples, and further resources, giving you the language to understand racism, and to dismantle your own biases, whether you are using the book on your own, with a book club, or looking to start family activism in your own home.

This book will walk you step-by-step through the work of examining:

Examining your own white privilege What allyship really means Anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation Changing the way that you view and respond to race How to continue the work to create social change

Awareness leads to action, and action leads to change. For readers of White Fragility, White Rage, So You Want To Talk About Race, The New Jim Crow, How to Be an Anti-Racist and more who are ready to closely examine their own beliefs and biases and do the work it will take to create social change.

]]> 256 Layla F. Saad 1728209811 Sarah 0 to-read 4.38 2020 Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
author: Layla F. Saad
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)]]> 100915
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.]]> 206 C.S. Lewis Sarah 5 2022-52-book-challenge 4.24 1950 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/18
date added: 2022/01/18
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> You'll Be the Death of Me 56200366
Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out--he's been working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up.... again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they've barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say...

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school--and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it's about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something.

Now they're all wondering--could it be that their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly--and fatally--wrong.]]> 336 Karen M. McManus 0593175867 Sarah 0 to-read 3.73 2021 You'll Be the Death of Me
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Christmas Carol 5326
Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler
To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this abridged edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.]]> 184 Charles Dickens 1561797464 Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 1843 A Christmas Carol
author: Charles Dickens
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1843
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/03
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Official Illustrated Movie Companion]]> 65633
"Excellent for Homeschool Use"]]> 176 Perry Moore 0060827874 Sarah 5 2022-52-book-challenge 4.46 2005 The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Official Illustrated Movie Companion
author: Perry Moore
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

]]> Journey Beyond the Burrow 53440828 A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD GOLD STANDARD SELECTION!

With the adventure of Avi’s Poppy series and the heart of A Wolf Called Wander, this charming and exciting middle grade adventure follows one mouse’s journey to save his baby brother from a sinister evil.

There are rules every mouse must follow if they’re to survive in the forest.

Tobin knows these guidelines by heart. After all, with one younger sibling, another on the way, and a best friend with a penchant for trouble-making, he needs to be prepared for anything.

But one stormy night, Tobin’s safe burrow is invaded by monstrous arachnids, and his baby brother stolen away. To save him, Tobin will have to do something he’s never done break the rules.

Drawing inspiration from the author’s work as a natural science documentarian, Journey Beyond the Burrow is as alive as the forest floor, where nature is unpredictable, occasionally frightening, and inspirational all the same.  

Includes a black-and-white illustrated front piece.]]> 276 Rina Heisel 0063016052 Sarah 0 4.69 2021 Journey Beyond the Burrow
author: Rina Heisel
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.69
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: to-read, 2022-52-book-challenge
review:

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