en-US Thu, 17 Apr 2025 13:54:33 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 218123129 A new game of danger and desire is beginning. Ready or not��

When a mysterious invitation draws Genevieve Grimm to a palace in Italy, she expects magic and secrets, maybe even a ball.

She doesn’t expect the owner’s handsome son to slam the door in her face.

Rowin Silver is tall and dark and exceptionally rude. Invitation or no, he tells her to leave and never come back.

But Genevieve has never followed orders, especially from arrogant rich boys. She slips inside�� and immediately realises her mistake.

Rowin and his family are caught in a deadly game. There can be only one winner. The others are dragged away to Hell�� until the contest begins again.

Now Genevieve must join the hunt. And her only hope of survival is an alliance with Rowin. Even worse, to work together they must convince the others they’re in love.

As they race through a labyrinth of gold and marble, their instant loathing turns to irresistible attraction. Can Genevieve evade Rowin’s ruthless family, uncover the devilish secrets of the game and end it forever?

Packed with deadly intrigue and spicy romance, Enchantra will transport you to a world of feisty heroines and morally gray love interests, fake dating, forbidden desire and family secrets. If you love books by Rebecca Yarros, Carissa Broadbent and Lauren Roberts, prepare to discover your new romantasy obsession.

See why readers love this spicy fantasy romance

��OMG THIS BOOK!!!�� I’m truly obsessed�� I devoured it in two days.�� ŷ������ reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��I absolutely LOVED!! Romantasy at its finest.�� NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��God, I am never going to recover�� I’m addicted!�� I can’t even begin to put into words the rollercoaster of this book; the tension, the twists and turns that literally had me holding my breath until the VERY last page.�� ŷ������ reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

“I cannot begin to describe how much I love this book�� I have not stopped thinking about this story�� Oh gosh I wish I could read this for the first time again!�� I FELT EVERY EMOTION POSSIBLE WHILE READING THIS!!!�� will forever hold a special place in my heart.�� ŷ������ reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��ALL THE STARS. I LOVED. I finished this in less than two days and I didn’t want it to end!�� Gripping�� An absolute must-read.�� ŷ������ reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��PERFECT!!!�� Hooked from the very first moment�� I read it in one sitting because I could not put it down!!!�� Thenarnianreader_ ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

“One word �� A-MA-ZING!�� Loved loved loved�� Highly recommend!�� ŷ������ reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

“Fantastic read��spicy, spooky, and oh so swoon-worthy.]]> 443 Kaylie Smith 1835251471 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 kindle-tbr, currently-reading 4.47 2025
author: Kaylie Smith
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: kindle-tbr, currently-reading
review:

]]> 61756733
The epic finale to the #1 bestselling Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.

Aelin Galathynius has vowed to save her people-but at a tremendous cost. Locked in an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve unravels with each passing day.

With Aelin captured, her friends and allies have scattered. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. But as destinies weave together at last, all must stand together if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation.

Sarah J. Maas's #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights for her life, her people, and the promise of a better world.]]> 984 Sarah J. Maas 1639731075 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 4.79 2018
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.79
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 56359253
Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.]]> 8 Alex Michaelides 1250262356 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 currently-reading 3.40 2021
author: Alex Michaelides
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 211481283 The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology

A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.

A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.

In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.]]> 456 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866936 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 4.29 2025
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 223640997 They stole his crown, so he stole their daughter��

For years Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making Erik a prisoner in his own realm.

But on a dare gone wrong, his enemy’s daughter recklessly breaks the chains on the Ever. She soon becomes the unwitting pawn in Erik's vicious game of revenge.

She’s innocent. He’s vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.

Unless she steals his heart first.

Welcome to the passionate world of the Ever Kingdom where pirates, sirens, and fae collide with Vikings in a spicy, dark fantasy romance between a made villain and the innocent princess who holds his heart.

*This series is a spinoff series from the bestselling Broken Kingdoms series, but can be read independently*]]> 480 L.J. Andrews 0593955021 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.54 2023
author: L.J. Andrews
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220160823 From the New York Times bestselling author of Where the Dark Stands Still comes an atmospheric fantasy based on Swan Lake, following Odile as her plan to restore magic to her kingdom gets disrupted by a murder—forcing her to beg for help from the young woman whose identity she stole.

Can two girls—one enchanted, one the enchantress—save their kingdom and each other?

Two hundred years ago, a slighted deity stole the magic from Auréal and vanished without a trace. But seventeen-year-old Odile has a plan. All her life, her father, a vengeful sorcerer, has raised her for one singular task: infiltrate the royal palace and steal the king’s crown, an artefact with enough power to restore magic. But to enter the palace, she must assume the identity of a noblewoman. She chooses Marie d’Odette: famed for her beauty, a rumored candidate for future queen…and Odile’s childhood-friend-turned-sworn-enemy.

With her father’s help, Odile transforms Marie into a swan and takes her place at court. But when the king is brutally murdered and her own brother is accused, her plans are thrown into chaos. Desperate to free her brother, Odile is forced to team up with none other than elegant, infuriating Marie, the girl she has cursed…and the girl she can’t seem to stop thinking about despite her best efforts.

To make matters worse, there are whispers that the king’s murder was not at the hands of man, but beast. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing feelings for Marie, Odile becomes tangled in a web of treachery and deceit. To save her kingdom, she must find the true path to magic…and find the real killer before they—or it—strikes again.]]> 368 A.B. Poranek 1665936509 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.50 2025
author: A.B. Poranek
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62711573 A modern dark fantasy of betrayals, secret societies, and a dissolute thief of shadows.

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make.

She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but getting out isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that Charlie's shadowless and possibly soulless boyfriend, Vince, has been hiding things from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends into a maelstrom of murder and lies.

Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world―all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power.]]> 336 Holly Black 1250812216 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.53 2022
author: Holly Black
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 203579211
During a grocery run to her local shopping center, Shell Pine sees a ‘HELP NEEDED�� sign in a flower shop window. She’s just left her fiancé, lost her job, and moved home to her parents�� house. She has to make a change and bring some good into her life, so she goes inside and takes a chance. Shell realizes right away that flowers are just the good thing she's been looking for, as is Neve, the beautiful florist who wrote the sign asking for help. The thing is, Neve needs help more than Shell could possibly imagine.

An orchid growing out of sight in the heart of the mall is watching them closely. His name is Baby, and the beautiful florist belongs to him. He’s young, he’s hungry, and he’ll do just about anything to make sure he can keep growing big and strong. Nothing he eats �� nobody he eats �� can satisfy him, except the thing he most desires. Neve. He adores her and wants to consume her, and will stop at nothing to eat the one he loves.

This is a story about possession, and monstrosity, and working retail. It is about hunger and desire, and other terrible things that grow.]]> 288 Sarah Maria Griffin 1250910692 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.93 2025
author: Sarah Maria Griffin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 68488 alternate cover for ISBN 9780006486015

Fifteen years have passed since the end of the Red Ship War with the terrifying Outislanders. Since then, Fitz has wandered the world accompanied only by his wolf and Wit-partner, Nighteyes, finally settling in a tiny cottage as remote from Buckkeep and the Farseers as possible.

But lately the world has come crashing in again. The Witted are being persecuted because of their magical bonds with animals; and young Prince Dutiful has gone missing just before his crucial diplomatic wedding to an Outislander princess. Fitz’s assignment to fetch Dutiful back in time for the ceremony seems very much like a fool’s errand, but the dangers ahead could signal the end of the Farseer reign.

Cover illustration by John Howe

]]> 661 Robin Hobb ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.35 2001
author: Robin Hobb
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51846792 Named A Best Book of 2020 by NPR!

��᳾�������Ա� Call Me By Your Name set in Communist Poland and you'll get a sense of Jedrowski's moving debut about a consuming love affair amidst a country being torn apart.�� �� O, The Oprah Magazine

“Captivating both for its shimmering surfaces and its terrifying depths. Tomasz Jedrowski is a remarkable writer.�� �� Justin Torres, bestselling author of We the Animals

Set in early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of communism, a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide—a stunningly poetic and heartrending literary debut for fans of Andre Aciman, Garth Greenwell, and Alan Hollinghurst.

When university student Ludwik meets Janusz at a summer agricultural camp, he is fascinated yet wary of this handsome, carefree stranger. But a chance meeting by the river soon becomes an intense, exhilarating, and all-consuming affair. After their camp duties are fulfilled, the pair spend a dreamlike few weeks camping in the countryside, bonding over an illicit copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Inhabiting a beautiful natural world removed from society and its constraints, Ludwik and Janusz fall deeply in love. But in their repressive communist and Catholic society, the passion they share is utterly unthinkable.

Once they return to Warsaw, the charismatic Janusz quickly rises in the political ranks of the party and is rewarded with a highly-coveted position in the ministry. Ludwik is drawn toward impulsive acts of protest, unable to ignore rising food prices and the stark economic disparity around them. Their secret love and personal and political differences slowly begin to tear them apart as both men struggle to survive in a regime on the brink of collapse.

Shifting from the intoxication of first love to the quiet melancholy of growing up and growing apart, Swimming in the Dark is a potent blend of romance, post-war politics, intrigue, and history. Lyrical and sensual, immersive and intense, Tomasz Jedrowski has crafted an indelible and thought-provoking literary debut that explores freedom and love in all its incarnations.]]> 208 Tomasz Jedrowski ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5
ੈ✩‧₊˚

“we swam, fearless and free and invisible in the brilliant dark.�� ]]> 4.30 2020
author: Tomasz Jedrowski
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
tragically beautiful and lyrical and moving

ੈ✩‧₊˚

“we swam, fearless and free and invisible in the brilliant dark.��
]]> 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.47 2024
author: Percival Everett
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 224805580 SOON TO BE A FEATURE FILM STARRING MARGARET QUALLEY AND THOMASIN MCKENZIE

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Oprah Daily, Reader's Digest, Polygon, and Paste

“Simmering with rage, propulsive and laugh out loud funny, Victorian Psycho speaks profoundly of horror both within and without us.”—Catriona Ward

From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance.

Virginia Feito’s Mrs. March was hailed as “a brilliant debut �� [by] a writer who keeps pace with the grandees she invokes�� (Sarah Ditum, Guardian)—from Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson to Patricia Highsmith. Now, Feito returns with her “silver-polish sentences and her eerie psychological acumen�� (Constance Grady, Vox) to unleash an entirely new antihero on us all.

Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery �� and creeping across the moonlit lawns. ��

Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges listeners into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.]]> 5 Virginia Feito ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.73 2025
author: Virginia Feito
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:
absolutely disgusting and unhinged but in the best way
]]> 204515177 Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.]]> 15 Ruth Ware 1797174916 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 3.50 2024
author: Ruth Ware
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
the premise is so fun—think love island meets lord of the flies
]]> 7445 THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing--a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.]]> 288 Jeannette Walls 074324754X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.32 2005
author: Jeannette Walls
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35068705
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.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.16 2018
author: R.F. Kuang
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63347619
A Most Anticipated Book by Harper's Bazaar �� Real Simple ∙ BookRiot ∙ and more!

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 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.]]> 368 Ashley Poston 0593336526 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, kindle-tbr 4.25 2023
author: Ashley Poston
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read, kindle-tbr
review:

]]> 210191773 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 560 R.F. Kuang 0063021471 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.26 2025
author: R.F. Kuang
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 182761396 Set in a world of perilous magic and moonlit forests, this seductive romantic fantasy tells the story of a defiant changeling, her cursed sister, and the dangerous fae lord she must defeat to save her family.

In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen's daughter and retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg.

Most despise Fia's fae blood. But the queen raises her as a daughter and trains her to be a spy. Meanwhile, the real princess Eala is bound to Tír na nÓg, cursed to become a swan by day and only returning to her true form at night.

When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. But she doesn’t go with her is prince Rogan, Fia's dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed.

As they journey through the forests of the Folk, where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince…and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has.

Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her mission. But time is running out to break her sister's curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything she has come to love.]]> 496 Lyra Selene 0316564966 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.71 2024
author: Lyra Selene
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56269205 From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs�� sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.

Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

From author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga.]]> 739 Jay Kristoff 1250245281 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.29 2021
author: Jay Kristoff
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 174695135 This sparkling edition will include a special case stamping, bonus content, and a teaser to book two in this heart-pounding series!

Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, this young adult fantasy follows the forbidden romance between a powerful prince and an ordinary girl as they try to survive their kingdom’s grueling laws pitting them against each other.

She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole live pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites. The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be keenly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can to stay alive and out of trouble…easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya’s princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites�� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is…completely Ordinary.]]> Lauren Roberts 1797170929 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 2 3.76 2023
author: Lauren Roberts
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
good for the romance (in the twilight edward cullen yearning obsession kind of way), not so great for the plot (unoriginal and unclear/illogical at times) but i still managed to finish it so that’s saying something, right?
]]> 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5
”it was hard to be frightened of the unknown when the unknown kept chickens.��

this was a fun, lightheartedly dark fairytale with the classic fantasy quest plot but with silliness, wit and lovable characters that made the journey such a joy to read! ]]> 4.07 2022
author: T. Kingfisher
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
�� 4.5 stars ��

”it was hard to be frightened of the unknown when the unknown kept chickens.��

this was a fun, lightheartedly dark fairytale with the classic fantasy quest plot but with silliness, wit and lovable characters that made the journey such a joy to read!
]]> 220642729
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.t.]]> 464 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599853 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.09 2024
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75384035 They stole his crown, so he stole their daughter��

For years Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making him a prisoner in his own realm.

Until his enemy’s daughter unintentionally breaks the chains on the Ever, and Erik makes her the unwitting pawn in his vicious game of revenge.

She’s innocent. He’s vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.

Unless she steals his heart first.

Welcome to the passionate world of the Ever Kingdom where pirates, sirens, and fae collide with Vikings in a dark fantasy romance between a villain and the innocent princess who holds his heart.

*Please note: This series is set in the same world as the bestselling Broken Kingdoms series, but can be read independently, and readers are encouraged to read the list of triggers inside*]]> 408 L.J. Andrews ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.15 2023
author: L.J. Andrews
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 227881514 In an isolated desert town, a young woman seeking a fresh start is confronted by ancient gods, malevolent supernatural forces, and eccentric neighbours. A witty horror-tinged fantasy, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Chuck Tingle, and Rachel Harrison.

When Selena travels to the remote desert town of Quartz Creek in search of her estranged Aunt Amelia, she is desperate and short of options. Fleeing an unhappy marriage, she has exactly twenty-seven dollars to her name, and her only friend in the world is her dog, Copper.

On arrival, Selena learns Amelia is dead. But the inhabitants of Quartz Creek are only too happy to have a new resident. Out of money and ideas, Selena sees no harm staying in her aunt's lovely house for a few weeks, tending to her garden and enjoying the strange, desolate beauty of the desert. The people are odd, but friendly, and eager to help Selena settle into her new home.

But Quartz Creek's inhabitants share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbours. Selena finds herself pursued by disturbing apparitions, visitations that come in the night and seem to want something from her.

Aunt Amelia owed a debt. Now her god has come to collect.]]> 208 T. Kingfisher 1835410049 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 0.0 2025
author: T. Kingfisher
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]> 82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 cuuute 4.12 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:
cuuute
]]> 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.�� —Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders�� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 that ending��.i’m��.in pain 4.33 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:
that ending��.i’m��.in pain
]]> 126918690
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe - a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution - who she can't help but find herself falling for.

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

Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to The Crimson Moth duology, a romantic fantasy series where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch...is falling in love.]]> 411 Kristen Ciccarelli 125086691X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3
this book really had me in the first half. i adored the premise of witch x witch hunter and was alternating between crying and kicking my feet while reading rune and gideon’s back stories and their moments together.

BUT the second half just got a little chaotic (in a bad way) and the writing was starting to really suffer. the pacing overall was pretty rushed but got even worse toward the ending.

i feel like the story had so much potential and i’m now on the fence about continuing it (which i probably still will, but less excitedly).

overall i would recommend for romantasy lovers who want an easy, fast-paced read.]]> 4.29 2024
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
�� 3 stars ��

this book really had me in the first half. i adored the premise of witch x witch hunter and was alternating between crying and kicking my feet while reading rune and gideon’s back stories and their moments together.

BUT the second half just got a little chaotic (in a bad way) and the writing was starting to really suffer. the pacing overall was pretty rushed but got even worse toward the ending.

i feel like the story had so much potential and i’m now on the fence about continuing it (which i probably still will, but less excitedly).

overall i would recommend for romantasy lovers who want an easy, fast-paced read.
]]> 17571466 358 Nick Cutter 1476717710 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.83 2014
author: Nick Cutter
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45100
For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her--a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim. For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, Vivacia is a life sentence.

But the fate of the Vestrit family--and the ship--may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture his own liveship and bend it to his will....


From the Paperback edition.]]> 880 Robin Hobb 000649885X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.20 1998
author: Robin Hobb
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 77197
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.]]> 435 Robin Hobb 055357339X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.21 1995
author: Robin Hobb
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217388302 From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White�� steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind.

Healer Anja knows little of politics but much of poisons. When she is summoned to treat the mysterious illness afflicting the king’s daughter, she finds herself against the clock, desperate to track down the source of the poison killing Princess Snow. But the chance discovery of a strange alternate world inside a magic mirror leads Anja to darker discoveries, including what really happened to Snow’s dead sister, Rose, and why their mother seemingly went mad and cut out her heart.

Aided by a taciturn bodyguard, a narcissistic cat, and a late Renaissance understanding of the scientific method, Anja must navigate the mysteries of the mirror world before the dark queen that dwells within rises to threaten them all.]]> 368 T. Kingfisher 1250342031 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.31 2025
author: T. Kingfisher
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210223811 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 400 R.F. Kuang ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.10 2025
author: R.F. Kuang
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 222376572 Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

If only things were so simple��

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way.]]> 336 Travis Baldree 1250334888 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.07 2025
author: Travis Baldree
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 218422159 From NYT bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy sensation, a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a young prophetess who is forced on an impossible quest with the one infuriating knight whose future is beyond her sight. Perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout and Leigh Bardugo.

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral’s cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god. ]]> 401 Rachel Gillig 0316573787 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.72 2025
author: Rachel Gillig
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins 0439023483 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.34 2008
author: Suzanne Collins
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 212808273 160 J. Sheridan Le Fanu 1805332120 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.95 1872
author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 92303
Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack's ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack's country home on the same weekend the "rivals" to fight for Ernest's undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader's notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists.]]> 89 Oscar Wilde 158049580X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.17 1895
author: Oscar Wilde
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

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

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

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

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

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

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4
this book is by no means perfect—it’s predictable, uses so many overused tropes, and the writing style doesn’t quite make sense for the middle-age-esque fantasy setting.

BUT i feel like the criticisms of the book are easy to gloss over since the plot, the romance, the action had me flying through each page and loving it the whole time.

will definitely be picking up the next one asap~~]]> 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves:
review:
�� 4 stars ��

this book is by no means perfect—it’s predictable, uses so many overused tropes, and the writing style doesn’t quite make sense for the middle-age-esque fantasy setting.

BUT i feel like the criticisms of the book are easy to gloss over since the plot, the romance, the action had me flying through each page and loving it the whole time.

will definitely be picking up the next one asap~~
]]> 61756724
Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea's last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child at the hands of Adarlanian soldiers, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need, and she will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries his own dark past, and Yrene soon realizes that those shadows could engulf them both.

Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience to overcome the danger that surrounds them. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, long-awaited answers slumber deep in the mountains, where warriors soar on legendary ruks. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival . . . or doom them all.]]> 663 Sarah J. Maas 1639731059 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 favorites 4.32 2017
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 210985549
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher--the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is a physician from a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. But despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the ruler of Castellane's criminal underworld. But as long-kept secrets begin to unravel and forbidden attractions arise, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war--and the world into chaos?]]> 624 Cassandra Clare 052562001X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.92 2023
author: Cassandra Clare
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61756720
War is brewing in the fifth book of the #1 bestselling Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves increasingly at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, dark forces stand poised to claim her world. The only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may take more from Aelin than she has to give, a quest that forces her to choose what-and who-she's willing to sacrifice for the sake of peace.

Kingdoms collide in this fifth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series.]]> 720 Sarah J. Maas 1639731032 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 favorites 4.70 2016
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.70
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: favorites
review:
was not expecting this amount of tears to be coming out of my face
]]> 219217869
Adéntrate en la el libro que ha revolucionado BookTok: una comedia romántica oscura con una química eléctrica y una historia de amor como nunca has visto antes.¿Te atreves a apagar la luz?

La enfermera Alyssa Cappellucci no necesita más fetiches. De hecho, con su favorito le basta: no hay nada como los hombres enmascarados a los que sigue online. Y, aunque a menudo fantasea con encontrarse a uno esperándola en su dormitorio, jamás se habría imaginado que bastaría un mensaje para hacerlo realidad.

Joshua Hammond se ha pasado la vida escondiéndose, pero su identidad en redes es otra cosa: allí se pone una máscara y publica vídeos para sus millones de fans. Sin embargo, una seguidora en particular le ha llamado la atención: Aly.

Aly y Josh se dedican a explorar sus anhelos más ocultos mientras una amenaza inesperada se cierne sobre ellos... Y, a medida que la tensión aumenta, Josh deberá preguntarse si está dispuesto a salir a la luz por la única mujer a la que le obsesiona la oscuridad tanto como a él.

La crítica ha dicho:«Todo lo que una lectora de romance oscuro desea: un hombre enmascarado, una dosis épica de spice, bromas increíbles y un gato muy pesado llamado Fred».
C. M. Hutton

«A oscuras es una lectura sexy, para reírse a carcajadas... Aly y Josh tienen la dosis justa de locura para empujarte a seguir pasando páginas. Cinco estrellas».
Thea Claire

«Esta es la comedia romántica oscura con la que medio BookTok sueña».
Ashley Bennett

«Retorcida, sexy y divertida, es la lectura perfecta para aquellos que buscan sumergirse en el lado más oscuro del romance».
Luna Ramirez]]> Navessa Allen 1666672130 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 2 4.11 2024
author: Navessa Allen
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic �� the Hierarchy �� may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus �� what they call Will �� to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 639 James Islington 1982141190 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.60 2023
author: James Islington
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41886271 A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.��

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.]]> 651 M.L. Wang ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.46 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 15819270 “Terrific. A wild ride��.I loved it. It hooked me and I couldn’t put it down.��
—Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy

"Brom is that rare breed: a person who is skilled in more than one area of artistic expression. Here's hoping that he will continue to share his dark and often beautiful dreams with us for many years to come." --Christopher Paolini, New York Times bestselling author of Eragon

Acclaimed author and artist Brom raised eyebrows and pulse rates with The Child Thief, his grim, brilliantly audacious, gorgeously illustrated reimagining of the Peter Pan legend. So what does this innovative fantasist do for an encore? He tinkers darkly with the beloved mythology of Santa Claus.

Set in Appalachia, Krampus the Yule Lord is a twisted fairytale about a failed West Virginia songwriter who gets ensnared on Christmas Eve in an eternal war between a not-so-saintly Saint Nick and his dark enemy Krampus, aka Black Peter, an ancient trickster demon. Krampus the Yule Lord is Gregory Maguire (Wicked) meets Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) in the realm of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, as Clive Barker (Mr. B. Gone) works his dark sorcery from the shadows. Once again featuring Brom’s chillingly beautiful artwork throughout, Krampus the Yule Lord is a feast of wonder straight from the kitchen of Sweeney Todd.]]> 368 Brom 0062095676 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 3.74 2012
author: Brom
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 112973698
I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

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

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 416 Emilia Hart 1250880696 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 3.90 2023
author: Emilia Hart
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 220514557
Cherise Bates escaped the Silent Night Asylum one year ago, scarred and with no memory of her past—except for one burning truth: her family was murdered by The Saint, the Archdemon who twisted Christmas into a night of terror. Now, as the holiday approaches, Cherise is driven by one goal—revenge. But The Saint, marking souls for his dark harvest in the quiet town of Lockwood, is captivated by something new. A soul so sweetly wicked it intoxicates him—and it's Cherise's. As Christmas Eve draws near, secrets will unravel, identities will be revealed, and their deadly collision may set the stage for chaos.

Will Cherise get her revenge, or will the demon claim more than her soul this Christmas?]]> 180 Nova B. Quinn ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 3.89
author: Nova B. Quinn
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10664113 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B004XISI4A

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.]]> 1125 George R.R. Martin ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.33 2011
author: George R.R. Martin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 13497 Crows will fight over a dead man's flesh, and kill each other for his eyes.

Bloodthirsty, treacherous and cunning, the Lannisters are in power on the Iron Throne in the name of the boy-king Tommen. The war in the Seven Kingdoms has burned itself out, but in its bitter aftermath new conflicts spark to life.

The Martells of Dorne and the Starks of Winterfell seek vengeance for their dead. Euron Crow's Eye, as black a pirate as ever raised a sail, returns from the smoking ruins of Valyria to claim the Iron Isles. From the icy north, where Others threaten the Wall, apprentice Maester Samwell Tarly brings a mysterious babe in arms to the Citadel.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory will go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel and the coldest hearts.]]> 1060 George R.R. Martin 055358202X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.16 2005
author: George R.R. Martin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 62291 An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.

Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. And as opposing forces manoeuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...]]> 1177 George R.R. Martin 055357342X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.54 2000
author: George R.R. Martin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 10572
It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Here is the second volume in George R.R. Martin magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R.R. Martin stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.]]> 1009 George R.R. Martin 0553381695 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.42 1998
author: George R.R. Martin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 13496
Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.]]> 835 George R.R. Martin 0553588486 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.44 1996
author: George R.R. Martin
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 208430658 Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 430 M.L. Wang 0593873351 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read 4.40 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 88000958
Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer��I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,�� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]> Riley Sager ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 dnf 3.88 2023
author: Riley Sager
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: dnf
review:
may pick this one up again in the future. just couldn't get into the story right now
]]> 215040743
From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that “hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel�� (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl).

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.]]> Chris Whitaker ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 4.04 2024
author: Chris Whitaker
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 4012997
DERRY: A small city in Maine, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in the Derry the haunting is real...

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they were grown up men and women who had gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them could withstand the force that drew them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end and the evil without a name...]]> 1094 Stephen King ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.28 1986
author: Stephen King
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/17
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 62977669
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads

Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner's office, she's never encountered a case she couldn't solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren's examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.

An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.]]> Alaina Urquhart 1666621714 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 3.40 2022
author: Alaina Urquhart
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 210593320
From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn't Have Come Here, comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.

After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate.

Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end.

Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm's length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction.

Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn't been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parent's belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends. Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.]]> Jeneva Rose ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 3.58 2024
author: Jeneva Rose
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 213939313
When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 15 Liz Moore 0593867793 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 3.83 2024
author: Liz Moore
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 60177376
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

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

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

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 24 Stephen King 1797145290 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 3.95 2022
author: Stephen King
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 202507554 moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When a renowned bounty hunter is employed by The Crown to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve’s world is turned upside down. Blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles—a group of dual-beaded elementals who intend to turn her into a political statement. Only death will set her free.

Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to assuage the never-ebbing ache in his chest, his hunt for a moonshard lures him into the belly of Gore’s notorious prison where he stumbles upon something that rips apart his perception of reality. A shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.

The echo of the past sings louder than the Creators themselves, and even Raeve can’t ignore the truths blaring at her from a warmer, happier time.
However.
There’s more to this song than meets the eye, and some truths ��
They’re too poisonous to swallow.

When the Moon Hatched is a fast-paced fantasy romance for fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists. Beneath the cover is an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages. ]]> 718 Sarah A. Parker ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, kindle-tbr 3.99 2024
author: Sarah A. Parker
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, kindle-tbr
review:

]]> 59616018
A delight for readers of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, this blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride��) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.]]> Bonnie Garmus 0593507533 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, audio-tbr 4.17 2022
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, audio-tbr
review:

]]> 60524927
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.]]> 7 Travis Baldree ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 5 stars ��

such a lovely comforting read. the audiobook read by the author was so sweet and I could almost smell the warm coffee and gooey cinnamon rolls while listening. can’t wait to come back to this cozy fantasy world in the next one! ☕]]> 3.90 2022
author: Travis Baldree
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 5 stars ��

such a lovely comforting read. the audiobook read by the author was so sweet and I could almost smell the warm coffee and gooey cinnamon rolls while listening. can’t wait to come back to this cozy fantasy world in the next one! ��
]]> 544058
Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists.

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive), capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769533 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.79 1951
author: J.D. Salinger
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 5470 328 George Orwell ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 4.15 1949
author: George Orwell
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 3486989 Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.

This is an alternate-cover edition ISBN 0679723161]]> 317 Vladimir Nabokov ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.00 1955
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/03
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 43837634 Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl�� haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 13 Delia Owens ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.03 2018
author: Delia Owens
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/12
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 28591456 Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

From New York Times bestselling author of the “twisty-mystery�� (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in Cabin 10, an equally suspenseful and haunting novel from Ruth Ware—this time, set at sea.

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong��

With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.]]> 12 Ruth Ware 1508217742 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.42 2016
author: Ruth Ware
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/01
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 386482
�� A New York Times bestseller for over a decade
�� An international bestseller published in 52 languages worldwide

“This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter.�� �� Oprah Winfrey

“Don Miguel Ruiz’s book is a roadmap to enlightenment and freedom.�� �� Deepak Chopra, Author, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

“An inspiring book with many great lessons.�� �� Wayne Dyer, Author, Real Magic

“In the tradition of Castaneda, Ruiz distills essential Toltec wisdom, expressing with clarity and impeccability what it means for men and women to live as peaceful warriors in the modern world.�� �� Dan Millman, Author, Way of the Peaceful Warrior]]> 140 Miguel Ruiz 1878424319 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 4.23 1997
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 897831 340 William Peter Blatty ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.22 1971
author: William Peter Blatty
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 33160963
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the `80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501161938 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.48 2017
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 63279879
The opportunity of a lifetime: kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard’s world things aren’t that simple, and his assignment turns into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit �� and the hunter becomes the hunted . . .

Voted in a Locus poll as one of the 100 pre-1990 SF Novels, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep spawned two blockbuster movies. Philip K. Dick won multiple awards for his works, examining human identity, psychology, conspiracy and paranoia, challenging the idea of objective truth in a manner that remains relevant today.

Welcome to The Best Of The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction]]> 208 Philip K. Dick ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.99 1968
author: Philip K. Dick
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/20
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 59780078 Sarah J. Maas's sexy, richly imagined A Court of Thorns and Roses series continues with the journey of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta...

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly �� proud, swift to anger and slow to forgive. And since the war �� since being made High Fae against her will �� she's struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court.

The person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred, winged warrior who is there at Nesta's every turn. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. And when they are forced to train in battle together, sparks become flame.

As the threat of war casts its shadow over them once again, Nesta and Cassian must fight monsters from within and without if they are to stand a chance of halting the enemies of their court. But the ultimate risk will be searching for acceptance �� and healing �� in each other's arms.]]> 751 Sarah J. Maas 1526635364 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4.48 2021
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/20
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 52861201 A Maiden...

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty...

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom...

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.]]> 613 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457009 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 2 4.17 2020
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 2182634 185 Walter Trevis 0747542643 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 4.22 1963
author: Walter Trevis
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 59606241
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide....

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up �� to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? �� he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite �� The nice guy �� The alcoholic �� The girl on the verge �� The concierge

Everyone's a neighbor. Everyone's a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 11 Lucy Foley ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 3 2.5 stars ��

this is definitely a book i wouldn't call amazing, but i was at least interested enough to power through to that messy yet underwhelming conclusion.

i can't comment too much on the writing since i listened to the audiobook, but the plot itself just moved so slowww and it felt like not much was happening until about 80% of the way in.

overall it was an ok listen with a fun concept and premise, but as an exciting mystery/thriller it just wasn't doing it for me.]]> 3.42 2022
author: Lucy Foley
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 2.5 stars ��

this is definitely a book i wouldn't call amazing, but i was at least interested enough to power through to that messy yet underwhelming conclusion.

i can't comment too much on the writing since i listened to the audiobook, but the plot itself just moved so slowww and it felt like not much was happening until about 80% of the way in.

overall it was an ok listen with a fun concept and premise, but as an exciting mystery/thriller it just wasn't doing it for me.
]]> 61756728 The twist of a knife. The birth of a legend.

Step into the world of the #1 bestselling Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas with this collection of prequel novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful Assassin's Guild and its scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, she yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. But when Arobynn dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, Celaena finds herself acting independently of his wishes and questioning her own allegiance.

If she hopes to escape Arobynn's clutches, Celaena will have to put her faith in her wits and her blade . . . knowing that if she fails, she'll lose not just a chance at freedom but her life.

A prequel to the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas explores the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling-and deadly-world.

Included in this volume:
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Healer
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire]]> 464 Sarah J. Maas 1639731091 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.5 stars ��

“if you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. some people learn to embrace it—to love it. some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. others turn it into anger.��

as is the trend with sjm’s series, the books tend to get better as you progress through—and by better, i mean capable of taking over your whole life and personality. so this being the first in the series, it didn’t quite do that for me.

i listened to some reviewers who said to read this after HOF, and i don’t see any reason to do that now other than that this one isn’t as strong of a hook for the series and i might not have been as excited to read the other books had i started with this one. it also felt tedious reading this after HOF since it’s basically just reliving her past trauma in detail. it was a bit hard to read through those last 100 pages (iykyk) even though i knew what was coming.

that being said, i did love getting a taste of the assassin life that was only briefly mentioned in the later books and getting to know her first love.

tldr; this was a fun yet heartbreaking venture into celaena’s past as an assassin. it’s definitely an important book to read in the series and shouldn’t be skipped over, but i wish i had read it first instead of waiting.

⠂⠁⠈⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂�ձ�> 4.16 2014
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 3.5 stars ��

“if you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. some people learn to embrace it—to love it. some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. others turn it into anger.��

as is the trend with sjm’s series, the books tend to get better as you progress through—and by better, i mean capable of taking over your whole life and personality. so this being the first in the series, it didn’t quite do that for me.

i listened to some reviewers who said to read this after HOF, and i don’t see any reason to do that now other than that this one isn’t as strong of a hook for the series and i might not have been as excited to read the other books had i started with this one. it also felt tedious reading this after HOF since it’s basically just reliving her past trauma in detail. it was a bit hard to read through those last 100 pages (iykyk) even though i knew what was coming.

that being said, i did love getting a taste of the assassin life that was only briefly mentioned in the later books and getting to know her first love.

tldr; this was a fun yet heartbreaking venture into celaena’s past as an assassin. it’s definitely an important book to read in the series and shouldn’t be skipped over, but i wish i had read it first instead of waiting.

⠂⠁⠈⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂
]]> 209813409 Welcome to Phantasma.

There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize��a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart��

A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Caraval in this seductive fantasy adventure. With steamy romance, a sexy morally gray love interest, OCD rep and jaw-dropping twists, Phantasma is perfect for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Nisha J. Tuli and Carissa Broadbent.]]> 428 Kaylie Smith 1835251412 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4 stars����

“the matter of my soul will always have your name etched into it.��

this was such a fun little spooky season read!

sure, the romance was a little instalove-y and the writing might not have been as descriptive as i would have liked, BUT the fast-paced plot, action and (spicy) romance made it easy to get immersed in and hard to put down.

it has all those delightful elements that make for the perfect fall read: paranormal beings, gore, gothic atmosphere, a haunted mansion, and fights to the death. how can you not have a good time?

tldr; go read this if you’re a romantasy lover who needs some spooky vibes and a hot phantom in your life ]]> 4.15 2024
author: Kaylie Smith
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
✩��4 stars����

“the matter of my soul will always have your name etched into it.��

this was such a fun little spooky season read!

sure, the romance was a little instalove-y and the writing might not have been as descriptive as i would have liked, BUT the fast-paced plot, action and (spicy) romance made it easy to get immersed in and hard to put down.

it has all those delightful elements that make for the perfect fall read: paranormal beings, gore, gothic atmosphere, a haunted mansion, and fights to the death. how can you not have a good time?

tldr; go read this if you’re a romantasy lover who needs some spooky vibes and a hot phantom in your life
]]> 38244894 Now a major motion picture! Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestseller is a “wild, powerful, disturbing�� (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the grave—among King’s most iconic and frightening novels.

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better…]��> Stephen King ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4 stars ��

“you learned to accept, or you ended up in a small room writing letters home with crayolas.��

i went into this not knowing anything about the story other than that king views it as the scariest book he’s ever written.

it’s definitely not your typical horror story, but witnessing the character’s long, slow descent into grief-fueled madness made it feel all the more terrifying in its own realistic way.]]> 4.08 1983
author: Stephen King
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 4 stars ��

“you learned to accept, or you ended up in a small room writing letters home with crayolas.��

i went into this not knowing anything about the story other than that king views it as the scariest book he’s ever written.

it’s definitely not your typical horror story, but witnessing the character’s long, slow descent into grief-fueled madness made it feel all the more terrifying in its own realistic way.
]]> 195791015 A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist
A ŷ������ Best Horror Choice Award Nominee

A gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher�� from Hugo, Locus, & Nebula award-winning author T. Kingfisher

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.]]> 165 T. Kingfisher 1250830818 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 3.5 stars ��

“the dead don’t walk. except, sometimes, when they do.��

a delightfully creepy tale of fungus and hares that stare into your soul.

loved the eerie, grotesque atmosphere and the mystery surrounding the house of usher.

unfortunately, the story fell short as a retelling of the original, with unnecessary filler that made it somehow feel too long despite only being under 200 pages.]]> 3.90 2022
author: T. Kingfisher
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 3.5 stars ��

“the dead don’t walk. except, sometimes, when they do.��

a delightfully creepy tale of fungus and hares that stare into your soul.

loved the eerie, grotesque atmosphere and the mystery surrounding the house of usher.

unfortunately, the story fell short as a retelling of the original, with unnecessary filler that made it somehow feel too long despite only being under 200 pages.
]]> 199897857
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West�� Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.]]> 352 Christina Lauren ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 4 4 stars ��

what a fun time! funny, spicy, and lighthearted with such great banter between the two main characters that had me laughing out loud at times. it was sweet seeing their relationship blossom from both of their perspectives. only removing a star because the ending dragged on a little too long and there was some unnecessary (non-romance) drama.]]> 4.20 2024
author: Christina Lauren
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
�� 4 stars ��

what a fun time! funny, spicy, and lighthearted with such great banter between the two main characters that had me laughing out loud at times. it was sweet seeing their relationship blossom from both of their perspectives. only removing a star because the ending dragged on a little too long and there was some unnecessary (non-romance) drama.
]]> 61756735 The heir of ash and fire bows to no one.

A new threat rises in the third book in the Throne of Glass series.

Celaena Sardothien has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak, but now she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth. That truth could change her life-and her future-forever.

Meanwhile, monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena will need the strength not only to fight the evil that is about to be unleashed but also to harness her inner demons. If she is to win this battle, she must find the courage to face her destiny-and burn brighter than ever before.]]> 592 Sarah J. Maas 1639730990 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 favorites 5 stars ��

i am…speechless.

this book was an emotional rollercoaster and i lived for it. i love when a story can really make me feel things and boy, did this one deliver. i went through all the emotions: pain, sorrow, fear, love, happiness; and grew to love the characters even more in the process.

i adore celaena and her character development in this book had me in tears. we're introduced to so many new characters in this book (hello rowan & manon) who i'm just in love with and have no other words for.

while it did start off a bit slow, this book gets 5 stars from me for being my favorite book in the series so far, and possibly my favorite book of the year. the writing, plot, and world building were all so captivating and i'm excited to see how the story unfolds in the next one.

⠂⠁⠈⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂�ձ�> 4.47 2014
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/31
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: favorites
review:
�� 5 stars ��

i am…speechless.

this book was an emotional rollercoaster and i lived for it. i love when a story can really make me feel things and boy, did this one deliver. i went through all the emotions: pain, sorrow, fear, love, happiness; and grew to love the characters even more in the process.

i adore celaena and her character development in this book had me in tears. we're introduced to so many new characters in this book (hello rowan & manon) who i'm just in love with and have no other words for.

while it did start off a bit slow, this book gets 5 stars from me for being my favorite book in the series so far, and possibly my favorite book of the year. the writing, plot, and world building were all so captivating and i'm excited to see how the story unfolds in the next one.

⠂⠁⠈⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂
]]> 61756726
Celaena's story continues in this second book in the Throne of Glass series.

Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become the King's Champion. But she is far from loyal to the crown. Though she goes to great lengths to hide her secret, her deadly charade becomes more difficult when she realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. Her search for answers ensnares those closest to her, and no one is safe from suspicion-not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a princess with a rebel heart.

Then, one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie . . . and what she is willing to fight for.

The second book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series returns readers to a land destroyed by liars, where one woman's truth is the only thing that can save them all.]]> 418 Sarah J. Maas 1639730974 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 favorites
even though i loved book one, crown of midnight was so much better.

shout out to sjm for creating yet another series that sucks me in and makes me feel all sorts of things ✨]]> 4.41 2013
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: favorites
review:
the action�� the intrigue�� the heartbreak��

even though i loved book one, crown of midnight was so much better.

shout out to sjm for creating yet another series that sucks me in and makes me feel all sorts of things ��
]]> 61756727
In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not come to kill him. She has come to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three murderers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the King's Champion.

Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. And a princess from a faraway country will befriend her. But something rotten dwells in the castle, and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying mysteriously, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival-and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 432 Sarah J. Maas 1639730958 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 5 favorites 4.19 2012
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 350540 The searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son’s fight to survive.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,�� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 287 Cormac McCarthy 0307387895 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.99 2006
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 527869 Trainspotting—the novel and the film that became the cult sensations of Britain.

Trainspotting is the hilarious, appalling, riveting, bestselling, and altogether masterful first novel that launched the spectacular career of Irvine Welsh. It is an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating group portrait of blasted lives in Edinburgh—as unforgettable a clutch of junkies, rude boys, and nutters as readers will ever encounter.]]> 349 Irvine Welsh 0393314804 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.05 1993
author: Irvine Welsh
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 56268878 The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that “reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world�� (Kim Stanley Robinson).

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for years. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. Expeditions into Area X have ended in disaster or death.

In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the latest expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and the narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover lifeforms that surpass understanding. But it’s the secrets they carried across the border with them that change everything.]]> 224 Jeff VanderMeer 1250824044 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.05 2014
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 32929156 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Emily Brontë's only novel, a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence, the Penguin Classics edition of Wuthering Heights is the definitive edition of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor. Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before; of the intense relationship between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; and how Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.]]> 359 Emily Brontë 0141439556 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.04 1847
author: Emily Brontë
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1847
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 37859715
When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.

However, as soon as her first night falls, she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in front of her.]]> 312 Elana K. Arnold 0062742329 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.36 2018
author: Elana K. Arnold
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 380919 The classic Existentialist novel.

Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature, Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, critic, novelist, and dramatist, holds a position of singular eminence in the world of letters. Among readers and critics familiar with the whole of Sartre's work, it is generally recognized that his earliest novel, La Nausée (first published in 1938), is his finest and most significant. It is unquestionably a key novel of the twentieth century and a landmark in Existentialist fiction.

Nausea is the story of Antoine Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified at his own existence. In impressionistic, diary form he ruthlessly catalogues his every feeling and sensation. His thoughts culminate in a pervasive, overpowering feeling of nausea which "spreads at the bottom of the viscous puddle, at the bottom of our time -- the time of purple suspenders and broken chair seats; it is made of wide, soft instants, spreading at the edge, like an oil stain." Roquentin's efforts to come to terms with life, his philosophical and psychological struggles, give Sartre the opportunity to dramatize the tenets of his Existentialist creed.]]> 178 Jean-Paul Sartre 0811217000 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.85 1938
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1938
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
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review:

]]> 227463 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. And when the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him, the novel asks, "At what cost?"

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."]]> 192 Anthony Burgess ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.98 1962
author: Anthony Burgess
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 983100
One of the most talked-about books of the new millennium, American Gods is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an American landscape at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece.
--back cover]]> 592 Neil Gaiman 0060558121 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.04 2001
author: Neil Gaiman
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 49769884 Neuromancer is a science-fiction masterpiece—a classic that ranks as one of the twentieth century's most potent visions of the future.

Case was the sharpest data thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Neuromancer was the first fully realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.]]> 320 William Gibson 0441007465 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.72 1984
author: William Gibson
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 39813935 By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him—and face the consequences.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 031631031X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 physical-tbr, to-read 4.00 2018
author: Holly Black
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: physical-tbr, to-read
review:

]]> 123312858
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse—with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 838 Sarah J. Maas 1526628236 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 physical-tbr, to-read 4.20 2024
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: physical-tbr, to-read
review:

]]> 123274962
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri's power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels' plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what's right. And they've never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood , Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode-and the people who will do anything to save it.]]> 816 Sarah J. Maas 163973175X ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 physical-tbr, to-read 4.48 2022
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: physical-tbr, to-read
review:

]]> 54486963 Sarah J. Maas's bestselling Crescent City series begins with House of Earth and Blood, which follows the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.]]> 816 Sarah J. Maas 1635577020 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 physical-tbr, to-read 4.57 2020
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: physical-tbr, to-read
review:

]]> 44107480
Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who's played Carnegie Hall, he's a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that's before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who's already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans.

Thirty years after these four lovers' fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love.

A sweeping, multi-layered romance with a divine twist, by the Printz Honor-winning author of The Passion of Dolssa, set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II.]]> 471 Julie Berry ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.23 2019
author: Julie Berry
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 34454589 320 Margaret Atwood 1328879941 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.31 1985
author: Margaret Atwood
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 15797663
A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.�� A world that bears a question.�� Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s��1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 1157 Haruki Murakami 0307476464 ash ☾⋆⁺₊�� 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.94 2009
author: Haruki Murakami
name: ash ☾⋆⁺₊��
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]>