en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 03:57:11 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 219856609 A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT
Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family live in prosperity and offer Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community.

A PRIESTESS WHO BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE
Joia, Neen’s sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain.

A MONUMENT THAT WILL DEFINE A CIVILIZATION
Joia’s vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life’s work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders � and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare�

Truly ambitious in scope, Circle of Days invites you to join master storyteller Ken Follett in exploring one of the greatest mysteries of our age: Stonehenge.]]> 704 Ken Follett 1538772779 KCM73 0 to-read 4.00
author: Ken Follett
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49116
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

(front flap)]]> 435 J.K. Rowling KCM73 5 4.57 1999
author: J.K. Rowling
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/23
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, young-adult, 2015-challenge-150, 2016-challenge-140, 2022-challenge-122, currently-reading, 125-in-2025-challenge
review:

]]> 52778479
Just when I start to feel safe again, Hudson is back with a vengeance. He insists there are secrets I don’t know about, threatening to drive a wedge between Jaxon and me forever. But far worse enemies are at our doorstep.

The Circle is caught in a power play and the Vampire Court is trying to drag me out of my world and into theirs. The only thing Hudson and Jaxon agree on is that leaving Katmere would mean my certain death.

And not only am I fighting for my life, but now everyone else’s is at stake—unless we can defeat an unspeakable evil. All I know is that saving the people I love is going to require sacrifice.

Maybe more than I’m able to give.

The Crave series is best enjoyed in order.
Reading Order:
Book #1 Crave
Book #2 Crush
Book #3 Covet
Book #4 Court]]> 704 Tracy Wolff KCM73 0 4.18 2020
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: currently-reading, 125-in-2025-challenge, roman-tasy, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 202260557 A wronged wife goes toe to toe with her cheating husband at the polls in this hilarious and heart-lifting novel by the bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write.

It’s a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What’s a DC suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be ex, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the louse at his own game, that’s what.

Larry runs the Maryland senatorial campaign for the incumbent candidate projected to win against his younger underdog opponent, Michael Landau. But Beverly has the pluck, political savvy, and sheer drive to push Landau’s campaign in a successful new direction, even if he already has a campaign manager who is less than pleased she has inserted herself into the race.

Now it’s rival against rival. She and Michael do make a great team…maybe in more ways than one. But with the election heating up, she needs to focus on one thing at a time. If Bev can convince Michael to go modern, pay attention to women’s issues, and learn how to dress himself properly, maybe she can show Larry exactly how much he has underestimated her their entire marriage—and make her own dreams come true in the process.]]> 339 Sara Goodman Confino 1662517718 KCM73 4 4.30 2024
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, women-s-fiction, historical-fiction
review:

]]> 3269998
Very pregnant and not quite married, Jenny Harris doesn't mind that she and her live-in fiancé, Dean, accidentally started their family a little earlier than planned. But Dean is acting distant, and the night he runs out for cigarettes and doesn't come back, he demotes himself from future husband to sperm donor. And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor.

In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never single motherhood. At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby's), there's not much time to dwell on her broken heart. And things are looking Jenny learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group, and even gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor. But Dean is never far from Jenny's thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end she must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she's been lucky to find.]]> 271 Katherine Center 0345497961 KCM73 4 3.71 2006
author: Katherine Center
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 57939567
After Katmere, I shouldn't be surprised by anything. Including the existence of a world beyond my world called the Shadow Realm. Yet here I am, stuck in a strange, dangerous place with the worst of the supernaturals, the monster that other monsters fear: Hudson Vega. He might be Jaxon's brother and ridiculously hot, but he's a complete bona fide pain in my ass.

The question is whether we'll find a way out before I kill him . . . or run out of time.

She's stealing my heart . . .

It's a truth universally known—at least according to Grace—that everything is my fault. But I have a nasty suspicion that Grace isn't as human as she thinks, and she's the one keeping us trapped. Now we'll have to work together not only to survive, but to save all those we've come to call family who live here.

Because there's something connecting us. Something stronger than fear . . . and way more bloody dangerous.]]> 592 Tracy Wolff 1649371292 KCM73 0 to-read 4.16 2022
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60136526
It’s been over three months since my friends and I took down Cyrus. Three months where my biggest fear was what paper was due next... But I should have known it was too good to last. Now everything is falling apart.

The Vampire Court has no king, the Dragon Court has no heart, and the Gargoyle Court has me―a teenager in way over her head. And it’s the worst possible timing, because a threat is brewing just as the Circle is collapsing.

I have no choice but to return to the Shadow Realm and face the terrifying queen who nearly ended us…and make a deal with her to save Mekhi. But this time, I’m bringing my powerful friends with me―and Hudson. Except something is wrong with him, too. He’s keeping a secret―even from me.

All I know is that everyone’s life hangs in the balance. And it’s my fault―because I still owe the Crone a favor... and now she’s come to collect.]]> 592 Tracy Wolff 1649373163 KCM73 0 to-read 3.79
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55527921
Now war is coming, and we’re not ready. We’re going to need an army to have any hope of winning. But first, there are questions about my ancestors that need answers. Answers that might just reveal who the real monster is among us.

And that’s saying something in a world filled with bloodthirsty vampires, immortal gargoyles, and an ancient battle between two gods.

There’s no guarantee that anyone will be left standing when the dust settles, but if we want to save this world, I have no choice. I’ll have to embrace every part of me...even the parts I fear the most.]]> 720 Tracy Wolff KCM73 0 to-read 4.06 2022
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59686746 Ìý
Always wanted to be a student at the boarding school with bite? The Katmere Academy Insider’s Guide will transport you. Explore everything Katmere has to offer and get lost within its walls with exclusive bonus content available for the very first time. Katmere Insiders will be able to dig deeper with full character bios—from Grace, the Vega brothers, Macy, and Flint to fan favorites like Eden, Remy, and even Byron. Get to know the staff, learn the history of some of the most unique and exciting traditions at Katmere, and discover which Court you would belong to. And, of course, enjoy numerous deleted scenes and outrageous outtakes from your favorite characters� POVs, giving readers insights into Crave series lore not found anywhere else. Bonus features include a never-before-seen Q&A with Tracy Wolff, where she reveals insider information about the series fans won’t want to miss, as well as a brand-new novella from Hudson’s POV!

Don’t miss a single book in the series that spawned a phenomenon! The Crave series is best enjoyed in
Crave
Crush
Covet
Court]]> 255 Tracy Wolff 1649372736 KCM73 0 to-read 4.03 2021
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53426743 not been intense?

And the hits just keep coming. Jaxon's turned colder than an Alaskan winter. The Circle is splintered over my upcoming coronation. As if things couldn’t get worse, now there’s an arrest warrant for Hudson’s and my supposed crimes—which apparently means a lifetime prison sentence with a deadly unbreakable curse.

Choices will have to be made...and I fear not everyone will survive.]]> 680 Tracy Wolff 1682815811 KCM73 0 to-read 4.15 2021
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45892228
Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.

Which could spell death for us all.

Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.]]> 575 Tracy Wolff 1640638954 KCM73 4 3.72 2020
author: Tracy Wolff
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: roman-tasy, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling KCM73 5 4.42 1998
author: J.K. Rowling
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, young-adult, 2015-challenge-150, 2022-challenge-122, 125-in-2025-challenge
review:

]]> 216437557 disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong�

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 0349442827 KCM73 4 4.12 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: happily-ever-afters, 125-in-2025-challenge
review:

]]> 63068377 The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?]]> 366 Brandon Sanderson 1250899672 KCM73 0 to-read 3.75 2023
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 KCM73 0 to-read 4.14 2022
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62854842 In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .]]> 416 Emma Törzs 0063253461 KCM73 0 to-read 3.98 2023
author: Emma Törzs
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58783802 A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are.

The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.]]> 367 Kelly Barnhill 0385548222 KCM73 0 to-read 3.79 2022
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55559887 A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education, the start of Naomi Novik’s groundbreaking crossover series.

At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year—and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .]]> 388 Naomi Novik 0593128869 KCM73 0 to-read 4.20 2021
author: Naomi Novik
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63068384 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings us deeper into the Cosmere universe with a rollicking, riveting tale that will appeal to fans of 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?]]> 369 Brandon Sanderson 1250899656 KCM73 0 to-read 4.27 2023
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 KCM73 0 to-read 4.17 2022
author: R.F. Kuang
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50679496 A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?Ìý

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers…t³ó±ð same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 399 Susan Meissner KCM73 4 4.29 2014
author: Susan Meissner
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: historical-fiction, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 211742041 The Cruel Prince meets The Selection in this captivating duology opener brimming with heart-pounding romance, vicious competition, and beautiful, cruel fae, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven, Sasha Peyton Smith.

Every citizen of England is granted one bargain from their immortal fae queen.

High society girls are expected to bargain for qualities that will win them suitors: a rare talent for piano in exchange for one’s happiest childhood memory. A perfect smile for one’s ability to taste.

But Ivy Benton’s debut season arrives with a shocking twist: a competition to secure the heart of the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. A prize that could save Ivy’s family from ruin� and free her sister from the bargain that destroyed her.

Yet every glittering fae deal has a rotting heart—and at the center of this contest is a dark plot that could destroy everything Ivy knows.

Sweepingly romantic and deceptively enchanting, this alternate history romantasy will enthrall readers of Holly Black, Stephanie Garber, and Adalyn Grace.]]> 400 Sasha Peyton Smith 0063372525 KCM73 4 3.97 2025
author: Sasha Peyton Smith
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, roman-tasy, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 203237161
If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.

When Bennet runs into Henry Adams just hours after standing him up for a first date, she makes an alcohol-fueled confession: She’s not ready to date. In fact, it’s been years since she felt passion for something. Not even pottery, or organized sports—not anything. Rather than leaving her to ruminate, Henry jumps at the opportunity for adventure: Bennet needs to find a passion for life, and Henry will help her find it. Every Saturday, they’ll try something new in New York City. As friends, of course.

As their “passion project� continues, the pair tackle everything from carpentry to tattooing to rappelling off skyscrapers, and Bennet feels her guarded exterior ebbing away. But as secrets surface, Bennet has to decide what she wants, and if she’s truly ready to move on. With emotional resonance and sparkling banter, Passion Project is a fun, flirty, thoughtful story of finding a spark—and igniting happiness.]]> 368 London Sperry 0143138561 KCM73 4 happily-ever-afters 3.96 2025
author: London Sperry
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 214537816 Four women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age.

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their rest, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions before she gets the itch to get back in the game. When they receive a call from Naomi Ndiaye, the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready to tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.

Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, all of them connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster who rules her business empire with an iron fist and plays puppet master in international affairs. Naomi is convinced this criminal queen is bent upon revenge, killing off the agents who attempted to thwart her, and the aging quartet of killers is next.

Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster and her assassin. But their nemesis is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their experience and a whole lot of luck to get out of this mission alive.]]> 356 Deanna Raybourn 0593638514 KCM73 4 3.94 2025
author: Deanna Raybourn
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, mystery-suspense, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 59651555 Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn�

Logically, Sadie knows that civil engineers are supposed to build bridges. However, as a woman of STEM she also understands that variables can change, and when you are stuck for hours in a tiny New York elevator with the man who broke your heart, you earn the right to burn that brawny, blond bridge to the ground. Erik can apologize all he wants, but to quote her rebel leader—she’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Not even the most sophisticated of Sadie’s superstitious rituals could have predicted such a disastrous reunion. But while she refuses to acknowledge the siren call of Erik’s steely forearms or the way his voice softens when he offers her his sweater, Sadie can’t help but wonder if there might be more layers to her cold-hearted nemesis than meet the eye. Maybe, possibly, even burned bridges can still be crossed�.

To read Mara and Hannah’s stories look for the novellas Under One Roof, available now, and Below Zero, coming soon from Berkley!]]> 127 Ali Hazelwood KCM73 4 3.56 2022
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.� Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 KCM73 3 3.91 2025
author: Fiona Davis
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: historical-fiction, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 59421417
Four years into her marriage, Jenna is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce. With time on her hands and her life in flux, she agrees to accompany her eccentric grandmother Evelyn on a road trip to the seaside Massachusetts town where much of their family history was shaped.

When they hit the road, Evelyn spins the tale of the star-crossed teenage romance that captured her heart more than seventy years ago and changed the course of her life. She insists the return to her hometown isn’t about that at all—no matter how much she talks about Tony, her unforgettable and forbidden first love.

Upon arrival, Jenna meets Tony’s attentive great-nephew Joe. The new friendship and fresh ocean air give her the confidence and distance she needs to begin putting the pain of a broken marriage behind her.

As the secrets and truths of Evelyn’s past unfold, Jenna discovers a new side of her grandmother, and of herself, that she never knew existed—and learns that the possibilities for healing can come at the most unexpected times in a woman’s life.]]> 389 Sara Goodman Confino 1542033608 KCM73 4 4.30 2022
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 223627279 A mother- and daughter-in-law. To move on, one of them will have to move out in a hopeful and hilarious novel about widowhood and family friction by the bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write .

It’s 1963, two years since Barbara Feldman’s husband died. Raising two kids, she’s finally emerging from her cocoon of grief. Not yet a butterfly, but she’s anxious to spread her wings.

Then one day her mother-in-law, Ruth, shows up on her doorstep with five suitcases, expecting a room of her own with a suitable mattress. Abrasive and stuck in her ways yet well meaning, Mother Ruth arrives without warning to help with the children. How can Barbara say no to a woman who is not only a widow herself but also a grieving mother? As Ruth’s prickly visit turns from days to weeks to what seems like forever, Barbara realizes Ruth has got to go. But Barbara has an ingenious introduce Ruth to some fine gentlemen and marry her off as fast as she can.

Soon enough, something tells Barbara that Ruth is trying to do the same for her. At least they’re finding common ground—helping each other to move forward. Even if it is in the most unpredictable ways two totally different women ever imagined.]]> 287 Sara Goodman Confino 1662527535 KCM73 0 to-read 4.55
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56484565 A sharp and hilariously relatable novel about the business of weddings, the toll they can take, and the lengths one exasperated bridesmaid will go to for the love of friends.

Lily Weiss is her mother’s worst nightmare: thirty-two and single—the horror! She’s also a talented writer but hides behind a boring job at a science foundation. To her friends, she’s reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is…well, she’d rather not talk about it. To keep her sanity, Lily needs a safe place to vent.

And so her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, is born. The posts start pouring out of her: all the feels about mom-zillas, her vanishing bank balance, the wicked bridesmaids of the west, high-strung brides-to-be, body-shaming dress clerks, bachelorette parties, and Spanx for days, not to mention being deemed guardian of eighty-eight-year-old Granny (who enjoys morning mimosas in the nude) for her brother’s destination wedding.

So far the blog has stayed anonymous. But as everyone knows, few things online remain secret forever�

When all is said and done, can Lily help all five couples make it to happily ever after? And will her own happy ending be close behind?]]> 364 Sara Goodman Confino 1542027608 KCM73 0 to-read 4.21 2021
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]> 324 Matt Haig 0593489276 KCM73 4 3.45 2024
author: Matt Haig
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general, magical-realism, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 218063235 Featuring exquisite emerald sprayed edges!

It’s enemies to lovers in this sexy and delightful holiday mash up that pairs the spare prince of Christmas with the crown prince of St. Patrick’s Day!

Someone has been stealing Christmas’s joy, and there’s only one clue to the culprit—a single shamrock.

With Coal busy restructuring Christmas—and their dad now having a full midlife crisis in the Caribbean—Kris volunteers to investigate St. Patrick’s Day. His cover: an ambassador from Christmas to foster goodwill. What could go wrong?

Everything, it seems. Because Prince Lochlann Patrick, Crown Prince of St. Patrick’s Day, happens to be the mysterious student that Kris has been in a small war with at Cambridge. They attempt to play nice for the tabloids, but Kris can’t get through one conversation without wanting to smash Loch’s face in—he’s infuriating, stubborn, loud, obstinate, hot�

°Â²¹¾±³Ùâ€�hot?

Kris might be in some trouble. Especially when it turns out that the mystery behind Christmas’s stolen magic isn’t as simple as an outright theft. But why would a Holiday that Christmas has never had contact with, one that’s always been the very basis of carefree, want to steal joy? Can a spare prince even hope to unravel all this, or will Kris lose something way more valuable than his Holiday’s resources—like his heart?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 320 Sara Raasch 1250333210 KCM73 4 4.37 2025
author: Sara Raasch
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, happily-ever-afters, queer-lit, roman-tasy
review:

]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 KCM73 5 4.47 1997
author: J.K. Rowling
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, young-adult, 2015-challenge-150, 2022-challenge-122
review:

]]> 192723842 Just when she thought she’d gotten far enough away . . . a life-changing phone call throws an antisocial scientist back into her least favorite place—the spotlight. A hilarious and insightful new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Liddle has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father—long thought dead after a plane crash—turns out to be alive, well, and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on . . . if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and—most importantly—any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.]]> 379 Abbi Waxman 0593198786 KCM73 4 3.53 2024
author: Abbi Waxman
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, happily-ever-afters, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 60375966 From the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material comes a sweet and scrumptious romantic comedy about facing your insecurities, finding love, and baking it off, no matter what people say.Ìý

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.
Ìý
But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his own impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s vicious fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread.
Ìý
But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves.
Ìý]]> 368 Alexis Hall 1538703335 KCM73 4 3.44 2022
author: Alexis Hall
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: queer-lit, happily-ever-afters, 125-in-2025-challenge, food-fiction
review:

]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 KCM73 5 4.62 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 61885131 Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom-com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run-up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, Gwen and Art make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight, and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.]]> 416 Lex Croucher 1250847214 KCM73 4 3.96 2023
author: Lex Croucher
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, historical-fiction, queer-lit
review:

]]> 200987258
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic� books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.

But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome� dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.

That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.]]> 298 Kirsten Miller 0063348691 KCM73 4 4.06 2024
author: Kirsten Miller
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 50265329
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice.

But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.

After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways--the first known map of the afterlife.

As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she's never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices...or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now?]]> 416 Jodi Picoult 198481835X KCM73 3 3.61 2020
author: Jodi Picoult
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general
review:

]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien KCM73 5 4.29 1937
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: classics, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, karalee-s-160-2013-challenge, 2017-book-challenge, 2019-challenge-125, 2023-reading-challenge
review:

]]> 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER � An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“P²¹°ù³Ù Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.â€�—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story� through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 KCM73 4 4.17 2025
author: Layne Fargo
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general, mystery-suspense
review:

]]> 62346321 Dear Jane column has been cancelled she has no choice but to look outside of London’s rental market. That is until she’s left an idyllic country home by the black sheep of the family, long-not-so-lost Cousin Nigel.

But of course there’s a stipulation� and not only is Maddy made chair of the committee for the annual village literary festival, she also has to put up with bestselling crime author –and romance sceptic � Cameron Massey as her new neighbour.

When Maddy challenges Cameron to write romantic fiction, which he claims is so easy to do, sparks fly both on and off the page�

‘Sparkling romance, secrets from the past…Witty and romantic, I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages� Alison Sherlock, bestselling author of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Witty, sharp and beautifully observed � I feel sure Jane would approve� Julie Caplin

Readers are LOVING What Would Jane Austen Do?:�I absolutely demolished this book! � If you love romance you’ll love this (whether you’re an Austen aficionado or not)!� ����

‘A perfect read for a day you need a pick me up� �����

‘Fans of Jane Austen, or of reading in general, will particularly enjoy this book�sure to be a favourite of many readers this year� �����

‘Playful, fun, and a love letter to Jane Austen and her wise words. Glorious� �����

�The antidote to a bad day…If you’re a Jane Austen fan (as I am) then you will really love the well-chosen quotes that start each chapter and spotting the wisdom included within� ����

â€�A five out of five for me…t³ó±ð witty, observant writing lifts it above the ordinary…There are lots of subtle nods to Jane Austen's writing and if you're a Janeite, this is a lovely ode to her workâ€� â­�â­�â­�â­�â­�

‘An uplifting humorous read, reminiscent of a modern day Jane Austen novel� �����

�A delightful escape into the world of love, literature, and unexpected connections� �����

‘Reading this book brightened my day and made me smile� �����]]> 385 Linda Corbett 0008554579 KCM73 4 3.59
author: Linda Corbett
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.59
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 214229691 From an outstanding new voice in cozy fantasy comesÌýGreenteeth,Ìýa Ìýtale of fae, folklore, and found family, narrated by a charismatic lake-dwelling monster with a voice unlike any other, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher.

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she's worth saving. Temperance doesn't know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny's lake and Temperance's family, as well as the very soul of Britain.]]> 304 Molly O'Neill KCM73 0 3.98 2025
author: Molly O'Neill
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, to-read
review:

]]> 199798905 The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the “captivating, richly drawn� (Woman’s World) The Paris Library returns with a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France.

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.]]> 318 Janet Skeslien Charles 166800898X KCM73 4 3.91 2024
author: Janet Skeslien Charles
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, historical-fiction
review:

]]> 56036 312 Jennifer Sturman 0373250797 KCM73 3 chick-lit 3.58
author: Jennifer Sturman
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: chick-lit
review:

]]> 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]> 303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 KCM73 0 to-read 4.27 2025
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58438583
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.]]> 255 Rebecca Serle 1982166797 KCM73 0 to-read 3.56 2022
author: Rebecca Serle
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 609514 112 Margaret Atwood KCM73 2 3.72 1983
author: Margaret Atwood
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1983
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general, mystery-suspense
review:

]]> 53415121
When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it's this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it's not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.

As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.]]> 345 Rachel Lynn Solomon KCM73 4 3.67 2021
author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 41454019
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 527 R.F. Kuang 0062662589 KCM73 4 4.30 2018
author: R.F. Kuang
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 10614 #1, #2, #3, #4

Paul Sheldon. He's a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader - she is Paul's nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.]]> 370 Stephen King 0450417395 KCM73 5 4.22 1987
author: Stephen King
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, mystery-suspense, summer-09-chall, 125-in-2025-challenge
review:
This is one of my favorite Stephen King books. It is absolutely horrifying despite a very simple premise -- famous writer crashes his car and his "number 1 fan" rescues him and then holds him hostage in her house as her "pet writer." The horrors that Annie Wilkes (the fan) puts Paul Sheldon (the writer) through are unbelievably vivid and shocking. I understand that this book was written while Stephen King was fighting to overcome his addiction to drugs and alcohol and the corresponding effect that struggle had on his ability to write (and how writing helped get him through the tough times). You can definitely see some of the same themes with Paul Sheldon's struggle with the pain of his injuries and the terrible circumstances in which Annie Wilkes is forcing him to write a novel. Interestingly, writing the novel becomes the one thing that keeps Paul Sheldon alive and able to survive his experience. This is a great read, even for someone who is not typically a fan of Stephen King books. The movie version is probably the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel (up there with The Shawshank Redemption), even though it is not entirely faithful to all of the plot points.
]]> 22609310
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?]]> 306 Colleen Hoover 1476791457 KCM73 4 4.14 2015
author: Colleen Hoover
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/21
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: 2015-challenge-150, young-adult
review:

]]> 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston KCM73 4 happily-ever-afters 4.17 2023
author: Ashley Poston
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 203680931 A “wonderfully joyful read� (Good Housekeeping) a funny, uplifting story about the power of friendship and finding love in unexpected places from the author of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: When twentysomething Bella learns that 90-year-old Eddie has never been kissed, she makes it her mission to help him find love.
Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and loved, but he has never been kissed.

A true gentleman and incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love. It is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life.

When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help Eddie Winston finally find love, sparking an adventure that will take them to unexpected places and, they hope, bring Eddie Winston to the moment he has waited for all his life.

A tale of friendship and kindness that reminds us that those we love are never forgotten and it is never too late to try again.]]> 304 Marianne Cronin 0063383519 KCM73 4 4.31 2024
author: Marianne Cronin
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: fiction-general, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 56530123
Now I’m here, a prisoner of Fourth Kingdom’s army, and I’m not sure if I’m going to make it out of this in one piece. They’re marching to battle, and I’m the bargaining chip that will either douse the fire or spark a war.

At the heart of my fear, my worry, there’s him—Commander Rip.

Known for his brutality on the battlefield, his viciousness is unsurpassed. But I know the truth about what he is.

Fae.

The betrayers. The murderers. The ones who nearly destroyed Orea, wiping out Seventh Kingdom in the process. Rip has power sizzling beneath this skin and glinting spikes down his spine. But his eyes—his eyes are the most compelling of all.

When he turns those black eyes on me, I feel captive for an entirely different reason.

I may be out of my cage, but I’m not free, not even close. In the game of kings and armies, I’m the gilded pawn. The question is, can I out maneuver them?

This is the captivating second book of The Plated Prisoner series. It’s an adult epic fantasy story blending romance, intrigue, and beautiful imagery. Return to the seductive story of magic inspired by the myth of King Midas, and get caught up in the world of Orea.

Please note: There is explicit language and romance in this book, not suitable for those under the age of 18.]]> 479 Raven Kennedy KCM73 4 4.16 2022
author: Raven Kennedy
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: roman-tasy, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 209318826 Pride and Prejudice is arguably the forerunner of all romantic comedies and certainly one of her most popular and irreverent works. And now, graphic designer and Nerdy Ink co-owner—and obsessive fan of Pride and Prejudice—Alexis Lampley gives this timeless, classic, Regency-era romance a new twist, setting it among the stars in a futuristic universe where spaceships and interplanetary travel is the daily norm. Featuring 50+ color illustrations of the Londinium Lunar System, drawings of gowns by Lydia Bennet, and spaceship designs by Elizabeth Bennet, this is a futuristic take on a classic by a dedicated Jane Austen fan, for Austen newbies and super-fans alike.]]> 504 Alexis Lampley 1454954116 KCM73 4 3.73
author: Alexis Lampley
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach KCM73 5 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: fiction-general, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 127306192 New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death

1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten—certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist.

Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.]]> 342 Xóchitl González 1250786215 KCM73 0 to-read 3.76 2024
author: Xóchitl González
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 22674105 Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians, is back with a wickedly funny new novel of social climbing, secret e-mails, art-world scandal, lovesick billionaires, and the outrageous story of what happens when Rachel Chu, engaged to marry Asia's most eligible bachelor, discovers her birthfather.

On the eve of her wedding to Nicholas Young, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Asia, Rachel should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond from JAR, a wedding dress she loves more than anything found in the salons of Paris, and a fiance willing to sacrifice his entire inheritance in order to marry her. But Rachel still mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won't be able to walk her down the aisle. Until: a shocking revelation draws Rachel into a world of Shanghai splendor beyond anything she has ever imagined. Here we meet Carlton, a Ferrari-crashing bad boy known for Prince Harry-like antics; Colette, a celebrity girlfriend chased by fevered paparazzi; and the man Rachel has spent her entire life waiting to meet: her father. Meanwhile, Singapore's It Girl, Astrid Leong, is shocked to discover that there is a downside to having a newly minted tech billionaire husband. A romp through Asia's most exclusive clubs, auction houses, and estates, China Rich Girlfriend brings us into the elite circles of Mainland China, introducing a captivating cast of characters, and offering an inside glimpse at what it's like to be gloriously, crazily, China-rich.]]> 378 Kevin Kwan 0385539088 KCM73 0 to-read 3.80 2015
author: Kevin Kwan
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59314709 The Reese's Book Club hardcover edition can be found here.

For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.

Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.

Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.

Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.]]> 288 Kirstin Chen KCM73 3 3.43 2022
author: Kirstin Chen
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: mystery-suspense, 125-in-2025-challenge, bipoc
review:

]]> 40142464 Seventeen-year-old Kim gets more than she bargained for when she is set up forÌýmurder. Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying, E. Lockhart, and Gillian Flynn.

17-year-old Kim never expected to plot a murder. But that was before her boyfriend dumped her for another girl. Now, Kim’s stuck on a class trip to London with him and his new soulmate and she can’t help wishing he was a little bit dead, even if she’d never really do that.
Ìý
But when Kim meets Nicki, a stranger on the plane who’s more than willing to listen to Kim’s woes, things start to look up. Nicki's got a great sense of humor, and when she jokes about swapping murders, Kim plays along—that is, until Kim’s ex-boyfriend mysteriously dies.
Ìý
Blackmailed by Nicki to fulfill her end of the deal, Kim will have to commit a murder or take the fall for one.
Ìý]]> 368 Eileen Cook 1328519023 KCM73 4 mystery-suspense 3.53 2019
author: Eileen Cook
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: mystery-suspense
review:

]]> 62060274
With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers� tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.]]> 431 Barbara Davis 1542038154 KCM73 4 4.27 2023
author: Barbara Davis
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: historical-fiction, magical-realism
review:

]]> 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]> 387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X KCM73 0 to-read 3.74 2024
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62919375
At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.]]> 416 Emily Habeck 1668006499 KCM73 0 to-read, magical-realism 3.95 2023
author: Emily Habeck
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read, magical-realism
review:

]]> 45046893 A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.]]> 339 Margarita Montimore 1250236606 KCM73 4 3.84 2020
author: Margarita Montimore
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/22
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: 2020-challenge-100, book-club, women-s-fiction, magical-realism
review:

]]> 35411685 “The first rule is that you don’t fall in love," he said�, "There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love. If you stick to this you will just about be okay."

A love story across the ages - and for the ages - about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher--the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him.

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

How to Stop Time is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.]]> 325 Matt Haig 0525522875 KCM73 0 to-read, magical-realism 3.77 2018
author: Matt Haig
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read, magical-realism
review:

]]> 43521657
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.]]> 374 Alix E. Harrow 0316421995 KCM73 5 3.99 2019
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/06
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: 2020-challenge-100, historical-fiction, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, magical-realism
review:

]]> 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,� she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.�

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found�

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 KCM73 4 4.03 2023
author: Evie Woods
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, 2024-reading-challenge-124, magical-realism
review:

]]> 173404023
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.

When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.

One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.]]> 352 Tia Williams 153872670X KCM73 4 3.97 2024
author: Tia Williams
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, happily-ever-afters, magical-realism
review:

]]> 50420 One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, alive with unforgettable men and women, and with a truth and understanding that strike the soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece of the art of fiction.]]> 458 Gabriel García Márquez 0060929790 KCM73 4 4.10 1967
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: fiction-general, historical-fiction, magical-realism
review:

]]> 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane � and insanely possible � mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 KCM73 5 4.33 2011
author: Stephen King
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/03/19
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-horror, historical-fiction, fiction-general, karalee-s-160-2013-challenge, 2012-challenge-155, magical-realism
review:

]]> 37638145 From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel.

When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before—and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.

Now, Hunter is telling her that something can be done about her baby's heart. Something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Caroline has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage that Caroline never knew existed. Something that will mean a mind-bending leap of faith on Caroline's part.

And all for the love of her unborn child.

A rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.]]> 384 Diane Chamberlain 1250087309 KCM73 4 4.25 2018
author: Diane Chamberlain
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/31
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2021-challenge-110, historical-fiction, women-s-fiction, magical-realism
review:

]]> 199455340 A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction� literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel�

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet� she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.]]> 370 Ashley Poston 0593640993 KCM73 4 3.59 2024
author: Ashley Poston
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: happily-ever-afters, magical-realism
review:

]]> 58885776 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593336489.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.]]> 368 Ashley Poston KCM73 4 3.90 2022
author: Ashley Poston
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/11
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2023-reading-challenge, happily-ever-afters, magical-realism
review:

]]> 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 KCM73 4 3.96 2020
author: Matt Haig
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/23
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2021-challenge-110, book-club, fiction-general, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, magical-realism
review:

]]> 36399096 We’ve been waiting for an hour. That’s what Audrey says. She states it with a little bit of an edge, her words just bordering on cursive. That’s the thing I think first. Not: Audrey Hepburn is at my birthday dinner, but Audrey Hepburn is annoyed.

At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen? These are the questions Rebecca Serle contends within her utterly captivating novel, The Dinner List, a story imbued with the same delightful magical realism as One Day, and the life-changing romance of Me Before You.

When Sabrina arrives at her thirtieth birthday dinner she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also three significant people from her past, and well, Audrey Hepburn. As the appetizers are served, wine poured, and dinner table conversation begins, it becomes clear that there’s a reason these six people have been gathered together.

Delicious but never indulgent, sweet with just the right amount of bitter, The Dinner List is a romance for our times. Bon appetit.]]> 288 Rebecca Serle KCM73 4 3.53 2018
author: Rebecca Serle
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: fiction-general, 2024-reading-challenge-124, magical-realism
review:

]]> 176443178
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes the romance that will define a generation.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.]]> 272 Rebecca Serle 1982166827 KCM73 4 3.58 2024
author: Rebecca Serle
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: women-s-fiction, magical-realism
review:

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

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

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

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

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

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.]]> 272 Rebecca Serle 1982137444 KCM73 5 3.74 2020
author: Rebecca Serle
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2023-reading-challenge, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, women-s-fiction, magical-realism
review:

]]> 212806619 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]> 446 Ali Hazelwood 0593641051 KCM73 0 happily-ever-afters, to-read 3.89 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: happily-ever-afters, to-read
review:

]]> 214152244 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781668076217.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.]]> 304 Kate Fagan KCM73 0 to-read 3.75 2025
author: Kate Fagan
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 198530925
They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.]]> 400 Rainbow Rowell 0063380196 KCM73 4 happily-ever-afters 3.63 2024
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 44074800 Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.]]> 410 Grady Hendrix KCM73 4 3.78 2020
author: Grady Hendrix
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: book-club, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 218362004 A young man who has improbably escaped death twice reveals his secret in a spine-tingling short story by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Martin Lorensen is a twenty-three-year-old counselor for disturbed teenagers. He’s bright, compassionate, attractive, and outgoing. He’s also—and this is the most interesting thing—not dead. Martin has improbably survived not one but two deadly disasters that claimed dozens of lives. The kid is riding one hell of a lucky streak. Two federal agents think there is something darker at play. Now that they’ve arranged to interview Martin, they want answers. Martin is ready to share everything he knows. One thing is for certain: when it comes to escaping death, luck doesn’t figure into it at all.]]> 29 Joe Hill 1662527942 KCM73 4 4.23 2024
author: Joe Hill
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 200033957
This Valentine’s Day, Daisy Murray has her heart set on binge-watching rom-coms. Instead, an earthquake traps her inside a bakery with its impossibly rude and insufferably handsome owner and head baker. They already have a history: she’s always smiled, he’s always scowled. Where better to finally get to know each other than amid the disaster? Then again, they have no choice. Besides, it could have its sweet, undeniable, and unpredictable perks.

Jasmine Guillory’s Drop, Cover, and Hold On is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.]]> 40 Jasmine Guillory 1662519834 KCM73 4 2.93 2024
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: KCM73
average rating: 2.93
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 54798175
Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King's classic novel It, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.]]> 248 Stephen King KCM73 4 3.99 2021
author: Stephen King
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: 2021-challenge-110, mystery-suspense, sci-fi-fantasy-horror
review:

]]> 199344873
She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.]]> 498 Claire Lombardo 0385549555 KCM73 4 3.82 2024
author: Claire Lombardo
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, fiction-general, women-s-fiction
review:

]]> 59124921 234 Victoria Walker KCM73 3 happily-ever-afters 4.15 2021
author: Victoria Walker
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 KCM73 0 to-read 4.45 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209997824 From the author of the nationally bestselling Dungeons and Drama comes another gaming romance that's sure to win you over!

Quinn Norton is starting over at a new high school and hopes that joining a D&D game will be the trick to making friends. The plan sounds even better when she’s invited into a group that includes Logan Weber, the cute and charming guy she met on her first day of class. But this isn’t your average D&D campaign� this group livestreams their games and enforces strict rules: no phones allowed, and no dating other group members.

Quinn is willing to accept the rules, even if it makes Logan off-limits. And she quickly learns that doing so won’t be a problem, since Logan goes from charismatic to insufferable as soon as she agrees to join. As their bickering—and bantering—intensifies inside and outside the game, Quinn can’t help wondering: Is Logan’s infuriating behavior a smokescreen for hidden feelings? Quinn is risking it all, and the twenty-sided dice are rolling!]]> Kristy Boyce KCM73 0 to-read 4.01 2024
author: Kristy Boyce
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217387810 It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch� Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.]]> 320 Katherine Center 1250283825 KCM73 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Katherine Center
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216247471 The exciting new contemporary romance—and her first to feature a queer romance—by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory

Avery Jensen is almost thirty, fresh off a breakup, and she’s tired of always being so uptight and well-behaved. She wants to get a hobby, date around (especially other women), flirt with everyone she sees, all the fun stuff normal people do in their twenties. One Avery doesn't know how to do any of that. She doesn't have a lot of dating experience, with men or women, and despite being self-assured at work, she doesn't have a lot of confidence when it comes to romance.

Enter Taylor Cameron,ÌýNapa Valley's biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker. Taylor just broke up with her most recent girlfriend, and her best friend bet her that she can't make it until Labor Day without sleeping with someone. (Two whole months? Without sex? Taylor?!?!) So, she offers to give Avery flirting lessons. It will keep her busy, stop her from texting people she shouldn't. And it might distract her from how inadequate she feels compared to her friends, who all seem much more settled and adult than Taylor.

At first, Avery is stiff and nervous, but Taylor is patient and encouraging, and soon, Avery looks forward to their weekly lessons. She tells herself it's because the lessons are fun, not because she kind of might have a little bit of a crush on Taylor. Taylor doesn't even try to deny that she's intrigued by Avery, but she's still got a bet to win. With Taylor’s help, Avery is finally doing what she wants to flirting with lots of women, making friends, having fun! But after a while, it becomes impossible for Avery and Taylor to ignore their attraction to one another, despite them both insisting to themselves and everyone else that it isn't serious. When Taylor is forced to confront her feelings for Avery, she doesn't know what to do, how to deal with it, and most importantly, if she's already ruined the best thing she's ever had.]]> 416 Jasmine Guillory 0593100913 KCM73 0 to-read 3.46 2025
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213186396 Fall in love with the brand new spring romance set in Dream Harbor, from the bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Café.

As a renowned chef, single-dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when Mayor Kelly suggests Archer is looking for a nanny, and Iris might be available, she shudders at the thought. But in need of money she reluctantly agrees.

As Archer and Iris get used to their new roles, is it possible that they might have more in common than they first thought, or is Olive just determined to play match-maker�

Tropes:

� single dad
� forced proximity
� slow burn
� found family
� one bed]]> 361 Laurie Gilmore 0008713340 KCM73 0 to-read 3.92 2025
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213618276 A hilarious and sexy romance about a woman who gets dropped on a strange planet only to fall for not one, but two, aliens, from the author of I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf.

Dorothy Valentine is close to getting her PhD in wildlife biology when she’s attacked by a lion. On the bright side, she’s saved! On the not-so-bright side, it’s because they’re abducted by aliens. In her scramble to escape, Dory and the lion commandeer an escape pod and crash-land on an alien planet that has...dinosaurs?

Dory and her new lion bestie, Toto, are saved in the nick of time by a mysterious and sexy alien, Sol. On their new adventure, they team up with the equally hot, equally dangerous Lok, who may or may not be a war criminal. Whether it be trauma, fate, or intrigue, Dory can’t resist the attraction that’s developing in their trio....

As this ragtag group of misfits explore their new planet, Dory learns more about how and why they’ve all ended up together, battles more prehistoric creatures than she imagined (she imagined...zero), and questions if she even wants to go back home to Earth in this hilarious and steamy alien romance adventure comedy romp.]]> 287 Kimberly Lemming 0593818636 KCM73 0 to-read 3.67 2025
author: Kimberly Lemming
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211003731 With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen―from murder to a second chance at love―in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.]]> 336 Jenny Elder Moke 125035496X KCM73 0 to-read 3.46 2025
author: Jenny Elder Moke
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211004860 The Princess Bride meets Travis Baldree in Tea You at the Altar, the third cosy fantasy in Rebecca Thorne's bestselling Tomes & Tea series. Our sapphic adventurers must navigate the ultimate maelstrom � their own wedding!

Kianthe and Reyna are ready to finally walk down the aisle, and in just seven days their wedding of a wifetime will become a reality. There's still so much to do but, like all best-laid plans, everything seems to be going awry.

Their baby dragons are causing mayhem in the town of Tawney, and Kianthe’s uptight parents have invited themselves to the wedding. Yet, worst of all, Reyna has become embroiled in a secret plot to overthrow Queen Tilaine. The world seems against them � and how are they going to live long enough to say ‘I do�?]]> 336 Rebecca Thorne 1250333253 KCM73 0 to-read 4.32 2025
author: Rebecca Thorne
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217388144 USA Today, Sunday Times, and Indie bestselling author Rebecca Thorne brings the Tomes & Tea series to a delightful, cozy close for our beloved lesbian book- and tea- sellers.

Reyna and Kianthe have no trouble ruling the Queendom, battling evil alchemists, and rescuing adorable baby dragons, but can they save their town from the ravening influx of.... tourists?!?

On the night of her kidnapping, all Reyna wanted was a relaxing cup of tea. She didn’t expect to be dropped in a hidden cell, but what the hells. She’s flexible.

When Kianthe “rescues� her wife, she expects they’ll be back at New Leaf having tea by noon. But there’s a problem: an alchemy circle marred Reyna’s cell. What does a radical group of alchemists want with the Queendom’s newest sovereign� and why did they think they could get away with this?

To make matters worse, Kianthe and Reyna’s hometown is having its own problems. Word of New Leaf Tomes and Tea―and its celebrity owners―has finally spread, and tourists are flooding into Tawney. As their friends struggle with the sudden influx, Kianthe and Reyna have to face a bigger conundrum than rogue alchemists: the fact that closing their bookshop might be the only way to save their town.

Things can’t just be simple, can they?]]> 320 Rebecca Thorne 125033327X KCM73 0 to-read 4.50 2025
author: Rebecca Thorne
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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On one side is Serina, a failed farmer turned river pirate. Her booty? Wheat, grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It's quite the embarrassment to Diarn Arlon, the powerful lord of the Nacean River, and he'll conscript anyone to bring her to justice. Especially Kianthe, the elemental mage who just crashed his party, and her somewhat-scary fiancée.

Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon's constables--who happens to be Serina's childhood friend. Bobbie is determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serina didn't absolutely loathe her now.

As Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Reyna's favorite past time. The dragon eggs may have to wait.]]> 384 Rebecca Thorne 1250333172 KCM73 4 4.23 2023
author: Rebecca Thorne
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, queer-lit, roman-tasy
review:

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Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035.]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501128035 KCM73 4 happily-ever-afters 3.88 2019
author: Christina Lauren
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: happily-ever-afters
review:

]]> 211004124 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?]]> 512 Olivie Blake 1250883407 KCM73 0 to-read 3.83 2025
author: Olivie Blake
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211721797 The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves.

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.]]> 358 Heather Fawcett 0593500229 KCM73 0 to-read 4.19 2025
author: Heather Fawcett
name: KCM73
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible � a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 125033778X KCM73 3 3.63 2025
author: Alice Feeney
name: KCM73
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 125-in-2025-challenge, mystery-suspense
review:

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