Serena's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:28:34 -0700 60 Serena's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Looking for Jane 61273371 A debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane.

1971: As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen� women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption—a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite harrowing police raids and the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had.

1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, twenty-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates “Jane� and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.]]> 400 Heather Marshall 1668013681 Serena 0 to-read 4.33 2022 Looking for Jane
author: Heather Marshall
name: Serena
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> <![CDATA[A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos, #0)]]> 60766189 A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms � but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow � exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.]]> 868 Samantha Shannon 1635577926 Serena 0 to-read 4.34 2023 A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos, #0)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Serena
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Serena 4 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Serena
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> Annie Bot 156023123
She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman, but the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she behaves. As Annie's relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder whether Doug truly desires what he says he does. In such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?]]> 231 Sierra Greer 0063312697 Serena 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Annie Bot
author: Sierra Greer
name: Serena
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> The Grace Year 43263520
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.]]> 416 Kim Liggett 1250145449 Serena 0 to-read 4.11 2019 The Grace Year
author: Kim Liggett
name: Serena
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> Between Shades of Gray 7824322
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.]]> 344 Ruta Sepetys 0399254129 Serena 0 to-read 4.36 2011 Between Shades of Gray
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Serena
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> Salt to the Sea 25614492
Sepetys (writer of 'Between Shades of Gray') crafts four fictionalized but historically accurate voices to convey the real-life tragedy. Joana, a Lithuanian with nursing experience; Florian, a Prussian soldier fleeing the Nazis with stolen treasure; and Emilia, a Polish girl close to the end of her pregnancy, converge on their escape journeys as Russian troops advance; each will eventually meet Albert, a Nazi peon with delusions of grandeur, assigned to the Gustloff decks.]]> 391 Ruta Sepetys Serena 0 to-read 4.35 2016 Salt to the Sea
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Serena
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> Minor Detail 52045757 Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba � the catastrophe that led to the displacement and expulsion of more than 700,000 people � and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers capture and rape a young Palestinian woman, and kill and bury her in the sand. Many years later, a woman in Ramallah becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with this ‘minor detail� of history. A haunting meditation on war, violence and memory, Minor Detail cuts to the heart of the Palestinian experience of dispossession, life under occupation, and the persistent difficulty of piecing together a narrative in the face of ongoing erasure and disempowerment.]]> 144 Adania Shibli 191309717X Serena 0 to-read 4.27 2017 Minor Detail
author: Adania Shibli
name: Serena
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> Homegoing 27071490 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

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

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

Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi's magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer.]]> 305 Yaa Gyasi Serena 0 to-read 4.48 2016 Homegoing
author: Yaa Gyasi
name: Serena
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> <![CDATA[On Wings of Blood (Bloodwing Academy, #1)]]> 210428052 What do you get if you mix Harry Potter with Fourth Wing, Zodiac Academy, a dash of Arthurian legend, and lots and lots of vampires? Bloodwing Academy.

I didn't sign up for this.

A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That's a recipe for torment.

I'm Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn't stopped the vampires from deciding I'm worth capturing. Now I'm stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We're just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.

But that's not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He's been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we're betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I'm not going down without a fight.

Bloodwing isn't just a school—it's a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you're weak? You're dead.

Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I'm starting to think the real danger isn't the academy—it's what I'm becoming in this twisted game of power.

And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.

They think they can control me. They think they can use me.

But they have no idea what they've awakened.


Bestselling epic fantasy author Briar Boleyn returns with a new series perfect for fans of hate to love romance, heart-pounding action, and dark magic.

On Wings of Blood is a dark academia fantasy romance featuring a bully villain with Draco Malfoy energy who (eventually) gets the girl, all the tension and banter, and a tantalizingly dangerous blend of court and school intrigue all set in an intricately crafted world with unique vampire and dragon lore. Bloodwing Academy may have crossover characters from the world of Blood of a Fae, but can be read completely independently. If you're a fan of original mythology, unique world-building, and character-driven romantasy books such as Crowns of Nyaxia, From Blood and Ash, and A Court of Thorns and Roses, you won't want to miss out on this riveting new saga. ]]> 523 Briar Boleyn Serena 0 to-read 4.03 2024 On Wings of Blood (Bloodwing Academy, #1)
author: Briar Boleyn
name: Serena
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> <![CDATA[King of Wrath (Kings of Sin, #1)]]> 217206738
Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally.

The billionaire CEO never planned to marry—until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows.

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.

There’s only one problem: Now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.

***

Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.

Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty.

Craving his touch was never part of the plan.

Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

King of Wrath is a steamy arranged-marriage billionaire romance. It includes explicit content and profanity. Recommended for mature listeners only.]]> 398 Ana Huang Serena 0 to-read 4.05 2022 King of Wrath (Kings of Sin, #1)
author: Ana Huang
name: Serena
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)]]> 216595852
I'm just a girl. And it turns out, I'm Hercules.

I'm struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from twelve royal families who have god-like powers and obscene wealth, rule over all. A shy-stammering foster child with nothing, I keep my head down, cover my scars, and focus on excelling in school. At least, I try to. Then it happens.

My blood test reveals I'm part of the powerful elite. I'm one of them. A Spartan.

Forced to attend the Spartan War Academy, I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal. There's just a few problems. Achilles and Patro are my scary mentors. Kharon, the ferryman of death, and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors. Also, I'm pretty sure either someone's stalking me everywhere I go, or my sanity's slipping––I have a bad feeling both are true.

I'm surrounded by Villains and they're smothering me with their hate, obsession, and dark possessiveness. Too bad for them, they have no clue just who they're messing with.




]]> 496 Jasmine Mas Serena 0 to-read 3.85 2024 Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Serena
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed 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 with one eye, 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.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Serena 0 4.24 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Serena
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> Table for Two 195474144 From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood� describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.]]> 451 Amor Towles 0593296370 Serena 0 to-read 4.15 2024 Table for Two
author: Amor Towles
name: Serena
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> Playground 205478762 The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.]]> 381 Richard Powers 1324086033 Serena 0 to-read 4.17 2024 Playground
author: Richard Powers
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> The Berry Pickers 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]> 307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 Serena 0 to-read 4.04 2023 The Berry Pickers
author: Amanda Peters
name: Serena
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> James 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 Serena 0 to-read 4.47 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Serena
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

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

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

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Serena 0 to-read 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Serena
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/19
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review:

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

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

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

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the "real story" through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary. But she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy either. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

Inspired by the powerful love and hate that fuel Emily Bronte’s classic, Wuthering Heights, The Favorites is an exhilarating dance between passion, ambition, and what it truly means to win.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 Serena 0 to-read 4.20 2025 The Favorites
author: Layne Fargo
name: Serena
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

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

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

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

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

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

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Serena 4 4.18 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: Serena
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change]]> 36072 372 Stephen R. Covey 0743269519 Serena 0 4.16 1989 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
author: Stephen R. Covey
name: Serena
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Red Rising Trilogy Series Collection #1-3]]> 40238675 Pierce Brown 9123881453 Serena 0 to-read 4.61 The Red Rising Trilogy Series Collection #1-3
author: Pierce Brown
name: Serena
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> Vicious (Villains, #1) 40874032 A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.]]> 402 Victoria E. Schwab Serena 0 to-read 4.17 2013 Vicious (Villains, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
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review:

]]> Artificial Wisdom 197491143
A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician for the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.

Tully must convince the world to face the truth and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world, forcing readers to grapple with hard hitting questions about the climate crisis, our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we'd be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved. Perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Harlan Coben, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.]]> 433 Thomas R. Weaver 1739434307 Serena 0 to-read 3.97 2023 Artificial Wisdom
author: Thomas R. Weaver
name: Serena
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades, #1)]]> 200982383 It’s the season
for treason�

The king of Yusan must die.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.

He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.

And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.

They can agree on murder.

They can agree on treachery.

But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.

Let the best liar win.]]> 474 Mai Corland 1649376901 Serena 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades, #1)
author: Mai Corland
name: Serena
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk (Crowns of Nyaxia, #4)]]> 217388041 New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Carissa Broadbent returns with a brand new novel in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk.

Mische made the ultimate sacrifice to save those she loves � and plunged the world into an eternal night. Now, imprisoned by the gods and obsessed with revenge, Asar is desperate to find her again.

When a goddess offers them a final path to redemption � and back to each other � Asar and Mische embark on an extraordinary mission. Together, they must seize the power of the god of death so Asar may do the impossible: ascend to true divinity.

Their journey will take them through mortal and immortal realms, alongside both old friends and ruthless enemies. But as the underworld teeters on the brink of collapse and the gods prepare for a war, Asar and Mische must decide what they are willing to sacrifice for the power to defy death. In a game of vengeful gods and ancient betrayals, there are some debts that even love may not be able to repay.]]> 576 Carissa Broadbent 1250367816 Serena 0 to-read 4.31 2025 The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk (Crowns of Nyaxia, #4)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Serena
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet, #1)]]> 193898666
Packed with enemies-to-lovers tension, heart-pounding action and devastating twists, The Nightfire Quartet is an epic fantasy romance that begins with a slow burn and builds in intensity.

For years, Zarya has been trapped in a gilded prison. Her magic is forbidden, a dangerous secret—though nobody will explain why. Now she is ready to break free and find the truth.

Escaping to the dazzling city of Dharati, Zarya discovers a new world of enchantment and intrigue. With the help of seductive, blood-drinking rakshasa and magic-weaving Aazheri sorcerers, she searches for answers.

But the city is under siege. Every night, dark creatures attack. And since Zarya’s arrival they are growing stronger. To protect her new home, Zarya joins the fight.

As she battles on the walls and hunts through libraries for clues about her gifts, Zarya’s dreams are haunted by a mysterious stranger. Powerful, arrogant and handsome, Rabin sees through her secrets and ignites a desire she cannot resist. But can he be trusted?

When darkness threatens to overwhelm Dharati, Zarya is faced with a deadly choice. Will revealing her magic save the city? Or destroy everything she loves?

Enter a glittering new world inspired by Indian mythology and prepare to discover your new obsession.]]> 370 Nisha J. Tuli 1837904863 Serena 0 to-read 3.89 2023 Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet, #1)
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Serena
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fate of the Sun King (Artefacts of Ouranos, #3)]]> 195436605
With the Heart Crown now in her possession, Lor must navigate the dangers of being an heir on the run, knowing more than one power-hungry ruler is after her blood. When she returns to Aphelion to unlock her magic and recover her family's legacy, it becomes clearer than ever that all that’s gold doesn’t sparkle. No stranger to battles, she continues to fight her attraction to the Aurora Prince, understanding this might be the one she finally loses.
As the past mixes with the present, Lor uncovers the truth about the Artefacts and their role in shaping her destiny. Now, her future hangs in the balance, leaving her closer than ever to getting everything she's ever wanted... or losing it all forever.]]> 556 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767686 Serena 0 4.00 2024 Fate of the Sun King (Artefacts of Ouranos, #3)
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Serena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos, #4)]]> 209456110
As the land continues to rebel, Lor must admit she is the key to saving the continent, whether she likes it or not. To fight for Nadir, she must lie, steal, and do whatever it takes to hunt down the remaining arks. Growing more and more desperate, she worries her actions are turning her into something she doesn't recognize, dooming her to repeat her grandmother's mistakes.

When the Aurora King finally comes for her, Lor ventures into the Underworld's shadowy depths, where, once again, she finds herself at the heart of another deadly test. Only this time, she’s competing for everyone's future, not just a crown.

The only thing Lor ever wanted was to be free, but she may soon find she was always destined for a cage.]]> 672 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767694 Serena 0 3.85 2024 Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos, #4)
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Serena
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Rule of the Aurora King (Artefacts of Ouranos, #2)]]> 191754348
When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn’t sure she can trust him. All she knows is she won’t fall for another royal fae’s promises again.

With the Sun King determined to reclaim her, Lor must keep on the move, but nowhere is safe. Not until she destroys him and the Aurora King. But she soon learns that the future of Ouranos depends on much more than avenging her shattered legacy.  ]]> 512 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767651 Serena 0 3.89 2023 Rule of the Aurora King (Artefacts of Ouranos, #2)
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Serena
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Martyr! 139400713 Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 331 Kaveh Akbar 0593537610 Serena 0 to-read 4.23 2024 Martyr!
author: Kaveh Akbar
name: Serena
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/18
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]]> I Who Have Never Known Men 60811826 Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.


As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.


Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.]]> 208 Jacqueline Harpman 1945492600 Serena 0 to-read 4.13 1995 I Who Have Never Known Men
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: Serena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos, #1)]]> 191755077 Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King's heart.

Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to escape and pay him back for every moment of misery she's endured.

When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the rival Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight as she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she'll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge.

But Lor doesn't belong in the Sun Queen Trials. Not only does she not understand why she was freed, she isn’t a citizen of the Sun King’s court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is removed from the competition, permanently.

Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she'll be returned to the evil—and now vengeful—Aurora King.]]> 400 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767481 Serena 0 3.81 2023 Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos, #1)
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Serena
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.


When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.


But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

]]> 360 Brynne Weaver Serena 0 to-read 4.00 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Serena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/15
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]]> By Any Other Name 203164368 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 544 Jodi Picoult 059349721X Serena 0 to-read 4.10 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Serena
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/28
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]]> The Lion Women of Tehran 199798217 A heartfelt novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.�

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls� high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.]]> 327 Marjan Kamali 1668036584 Serena 0 to-read 4.48 2024 The Lion Women of Tehran
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Serena
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Blue Sisters 195430687 Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.

The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.]]> 342 Coco Mellors 0593723767 Serena 0 to-read 3.94 2024 Blue Sisters
author: Coco Mellors
name: Serena
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/28
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review:

]]> The Let Them Theory 216351768
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words�Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins�New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control Stop comparing yourself to other peopleBreak free from fear and self-doubtRelease the grip of people's expectationsBuild the best friendships of your lifeCreate the love you deservePursue what truly matters to you with confidenceBuild resilience against everyday stressors and distractionsDefine your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory now and discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words.]]> 311 Mel Robbins 1401971377 Serena 0 to-read 4.20 2024 The Let Them Theory
author: Mel Robbins
name: Serena
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/28
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Salt and Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt, #1)]]> 39679076 In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.]]> 403 Erin A. Craig 1984831925 Serena 0 to-read 3.89 2019 House of Salt and Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt, #1)
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Serena
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Serena 2 4.19 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Serena
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
I loved the first two books so this was such a let down. I truly don’t understand all the positive reviews. Such a disappointment. Hopefully she redeems herself with the next one but after that disaster I’m not holding my breath.
]]> <![CDATA[Metal Slinger (Fire & Metal, #1)]]> 213309864
Neither is the encounter with an enemy soldier.

Returning home to Alaha, she’s confronted with the aftermath of the day’s events. The future is uncertain as the threat of hunger looms over the people. With rumors of a growing rebellion, Brynn and her closest friends promise to stick together.

When an unexpected visitor arrives, Brynn’s loyalty will be tested as she learns of a world of magic and treachery. Once her enemy, always her enemy, right? But the dark, knowing eyes of a stranger make her question everything�

…including her heart.]]> 497 Rachel Schneider Serena 0 to-read 4.29 Metal Slinger (Fire & Metal, #1)
author: Rachel Schneider
name: Serena
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[A Tribute of Fire (The Eye of the Goddess, #1)]]> 208920886 The fate of a cursed nation depends on a princess who must outwit a mortal enemy and outlast the trials of a death-defying ritual in a thrilling adventure by USA Today bestselling author Sariah Wilson.

Lia is the princess of Locris, a dying desert nation cursed centuries ago by an earth goddess—one still worshipped by the thriving and adversarial nation of Ilion. Every year, Ilion offers the goddess a sacrifice: two Locrian maidens forced to compete in a life-and-death race to reach her temple. In a millennium, no maiden has made it out of Ilion alive. This year, Lia is one of the hunted.

An education in battle gives her a fighting chance, but the challenges are greater than she feared: Lia’s beloved but untrained sister Quynh has been put in the path of danger. The winding streets of Ilion itself have been transformed into a labyrinthine maze of countless choices and dead ends. And if the risks weren’t significant enough, Lia is reluctantly drawn to the commandingly attractive Jason, an Ilionian sailor she loathes to trust and desires like no man before.

The tribute game is on. It’s up to Lia to lift the goddess’s curse, restore Locris to its former glory, and change the fate of every young woman destined to follow in her path.]]> 524 Sariah Wilson 1662525133 Serena 0 to-read 4.13 2024 A Tribute of Fire (The Eye of the Goddess, #1)
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Serena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)]]> 165940202
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.]]> 419 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599837 Serena 0 to-read 3.91 2024 A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Serena
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The God of the Woods 199700434 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.]]> 478 Liz Moore 0593418913 Serena 0 to-read 4.10 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Serena
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> The Booklover's Library 207909446
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job to provide for herself and her beloved daughter, Olivia. But with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots� Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her.

When the threat of war becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In her daughter’s absence, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, as well as the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing, and her work forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.]]> 416 Madeline Martin 1335015132 Serena 0 to-read 3.85 2024 The Booklover's Library
author: Madeline Martin
name: Serena
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Intermezzo 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 454 Sally Rooney 0374602638 Serena 0 to-read 3.88 2024 Intermezzo
author: Sally Rooney
name: Serena
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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review:

]]> My Best Friend's Exorcism 41015038 337 Grady Hendrix Serena 0 to-read 3.94 2016 My Best Friend's Exorcism
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Serena
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> The Stolen Queen 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

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

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

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

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

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 Serena 0 to-read 3.93 2025 The Stolen Queen
author: Fiona Davis
name: Serena
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> We Begin at the End 50279680
Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

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

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families—the ones we are born into and the ones we create.]]> 384 Chris Whitaker 1250759668 Serena 0 to-read 4.10 2020 We Begin at the End
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Serena
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> <![CDATA[A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)]]> 22055262
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.]]> 400 Victoria E. Schwab 0765376458 Serena 0 to-read 4.04 2015 A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Serena
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of the Forgotten (Witch Walker, #4)]]> 63853061
Raina Bloodgood never imagined existing during an era reigned by gods, much less falling back in time to a divided, warring continent. But after a cataclysmic meeting near the City of Ruin, that’s exactly where she lands, in an age known only from history and legend, imprisoned by a deadly sorcerer.

Alexi of Ghent. Un Drallag. The Gatherer.

Though Raina makes every attempt to escape her nightmare as Un Drallag’s prisoner, the power that delivered her to this foreign land—along with her magick—now denies her. Trapped but far from invisible, her mysterious presence draws the attention of not only Alexi, but his malevolent king and god as well.

Soon, Raina finds herself guided by an unimaginable mentor as she navigates her lineage, her passion for a villain, and unstoppable events that leave her with a heart-wrenching divulge the truth of her circumstance to the man she’s fallen in love with all over again or abandon him to a torturous fate.

And three centuries searching for a life forgotten.]]> Charissa Weaks Serena 0 to-read 4.17 2025 Kingdom of the Forgotten (Witch Walker, #4)
author: Charissa Weaks
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/05
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]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

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

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

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Serena 5 4.12 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Serena
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> Mother-Daughter Murder Night 65646968
A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Gilmore Girls , but with murder.

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy   coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. 

Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always depend on each other.]]> 357 Nina Simon 0063315041 Serena 0 to-read 3.52 2023 Mother-Daughter Murder Night
author: Nina Simon
name: Serena
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> The Goddess of Warsaw 197448682 The Goddess Of Warsaw is an enthralling story of a legendary Hollywood screen goddess with a dark secret. When the famous actress Lena Browning is threatened by someone from her war-time past, she must put her skills into play to protect herself, her illustrious career, and those she loves, then and now.
Before she was a “Living Legend�, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a wealthy Polish Jew whose life and prominent family were destroyed by the Nazis and imprisoned with the rest of Warsaw's Jews in a ghastly ghetto. Determined to fight back, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy and an assassin, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the Warsaw ghetto to protect her family and fellow Jews. While Bina accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process � including a forbidden love.
More than a decade after escaping the horrors of the war, Lena Browning rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but hunger for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Fierce and fearless, Lena uses her star power to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even finds the happy ending she never had.
A gripping page-turner of one of history’s most heroic uprisings and a glamourous actress whose personal war never ends, The Goddess of Warsaw is filled with secrets, lies, twists and turns, and a burning pursuit of justice no matter the cost.
“Jaw-dropping moments worthy of a Tarantino film . . . Unrelentingly immersive and suspenseful, The Goddess of Warsaw spins a haunting tale of the cost of survival, sacrifice, and the long-denied secrets of the past.�
—NATALIE JENNER, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society]]> 368 Lisa Barr 0063296608 Serena 0 to-read 4.33 2024 The Goddess of Warsaw
author: Lisa Barr
name: Serena
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> The Maid's Diary 60588456
When homicide cop Mallory Van Alst is called to a scene at a luxury waterfront home known as the Glass House, she’s confronted with evidence of a violent attack so bloody it’s improbable the victim is alive. But there’s no body. The homeowners are gone. And their maid is missing. The only witness is the elderly woman next door, who woke to screams in the night. The neighbor was also the last person to see Kit Darling alive.

As Mal begins to uncover the secret that has sent the lives of everyone involved on a devious and inescapable collision course, she realizes that nothing is quite as it seems.

And no one escapes their past.]]> 376 Loreth Anne White Serena 0 to-read 4.23 2023 The Maid's Diary
author: Loreth Anne White
name: Serena
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> Cursed (Gilded, #2) 59251223
Romance, danger, and Serilda's journey to find her power as a woman, a mother, and a storyteller make this reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin one that Meyer fans—old and new—will treasure.]]> 485 Marissa Meyer Serena 0 to-read 3.98 2022 Cursed (Gilded, #2)
author: Marissa Meyer
name: Serena
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea]]> 56978100
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

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

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…]]> 325 Axie Oh 1250780861 Serena 0 to-read 4.10 2022 The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
author: Axie Oh
name: Serena
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[A Curse of Blood & Stone (Fate & Flame, #2)]]> 59023246 “I do not know how to love you and be a good king to my people.�

Romeria has fled Cirilea as a traitor. Zander has sacrificed his crown to save her life but dreads what her existence means for the future of his realm. They both know that no immortal will ever welcome her as Islor's queen. Side-by-side as outcasts - yet with a growing distance between them - they watch as a new threat to the kingdom unfurls, one larger than they could have imagined.

Guided by an uncertain prophecy and with their allies rapidly losing faith, their company journeys to the Venhorn Mountains in search of answers. Yet with Romeria struggling to wield her newfound abilities and the mortal rebellion growing in strength, it may already be too late.

From internationally bestselling author K.A. Tucker comes the second novel in her Fate and Flame series, an adult fantasy story that should be read in series order.]]> 464 K.A. Tucker 199010522X Serena 0 to-read 4.08 2022 A Curse of Blood & Stone (Fate & Flame, #2)
author: K.A. Tucker
name: Serena
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Serena 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Serena
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)]]> 123027751
Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood–the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire� and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Six Scorched Roses is a standalone fantasy romance novella set in the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, perfect for those who love dark, romantic tales with bite and fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout.]]> 187 Carissa Broadbent Serena 0 4.25 2023 Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Serena
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Reign & Ruin (Mages of the Wheel, #1)]]> 50607309 “All magic is beautiful,� she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.�

She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy.

She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people.

His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war.

Now, a new war is coming. Science and machines to replace magic and old religion.

They must find a way to save their people from annihilation and balance the sacred Wheel—but first, they will have to balance their own forbidden passion. His peace for her tempest, his restlessness for her calm�

Night and day, dusk and dawn, the end, and the beginning. ]]> 420 J.D. Evans 1951607015 Serena 0 to-read 4.17 2020 Reign & Ruin (Mages of the Wheel, #1)
author: J.D. Evans
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[A Kiss of Iron (Shadows of the Tenebris Court, #1)]]> 75565941 In the cut-throat game of court life, masters manipulate pawns—and you never know which one you are. One thing is certain: there’s no space on the board for love.

A penniless noblewoman, Kat is on the verge of losing everything when she’s offered a well-paid job that could be her salvation� or her ruin. Drawn into court’s deadly intrigues, she’s given a single task: spy on the powerful fae lord known as the Night Queen’s Shadow.

Bastian Marwood is handsome, ruthless, and cunning, but Kat can’t decide if he’s a threat to her kingdom or just her heart. To uncover the truth, she must play a dangerous game of desire and deceit, pushing him to reveal his secrets while protecting her own. But Bastian’s shadows have a hold on her—one she isn’t sure she wants to escape.

Kat soon learns that at court, nothing is as it seems and even the best-laid plans can be destroyed in an instant. As a pawn on the board, she can’t afford to fall victim to love—only fight for survival.

A Kiss of Iron is the first book in a new series featuring court intrigue, a morally grey hero, and an unforgettable enemies-to-lovers romance. Perfect for fans of Gild and From Blood and Ash.]]> 608 Clare Sager Serena 0 to-read 3.99 2023 A Kiss of Iron (Shadows of the Tenebris Court, #1)
author: Clare Sager
name: Serena
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils, #1)]]> 59820919 Welcome to the city of Angelthene. We hope you survive.

Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.

Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren's life in exchange for her friend's safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back—even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.

Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human—and couldn't hurt a fly if her life depended on it—he decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward. As much as Loren doesn't want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him—and not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.

When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien's search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene's corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world. And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.

From the author of Dreams of Ice and Iron comes a new fantasy romance perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Ilona Andrews, and Cassandra Clare.

Please note: This book contains darker content that might be triggering for some readers, including violence, mature language, sexual content, drug abuse, death of an animal (with a HEA), sexual harassment, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and suicide. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.]]> 760 Kayla Edwards 1777880734 Serena 0 to-read 3.68 2022 City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils, #1)
author: Kayla Edwards
name: Serena
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)]]> 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 Serena 0 to-read 4.15 2023 The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)
author: L.J. Andrews
name: Serena
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Songbird & the Heart of Stone (Crowns of Nyaxia, #3)]]> 210134467 New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Carissa Broadbent returns with a brand new novel in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, Songbird and the Heart of Stone, where A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Dante's Inferno, in an epic fantasy romance of love and treachery between mortals and gods. Features beautiful case art and a detailed map.

In the descent to the underworld, a bride of the sun must choose between the light of her redemption� or a dark love that defies the gods themselves

Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire � her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life. Now, sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who Turned her, redemption feels impossible.

But when Mische is saved by Asar, the bastard prince of the House of Shadow with a past as brutal as his scars, she’s forced into a mission worse than execution: a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death himself.

Yet, Mische’s punishment may be the key to her salvation. In a secret meeting, her sun god commands her to help Asar in his mission, only to betray him� by killing the very death god she’ll help resurrect.

Mische and Asar must travel the treacherous path to the underworld, facing trials, beasts, and the vengeful ghosts of their pasts. Yet, most dangerous of all is the alluring call of the darkness � and her forbidden attraction to Asar, a burgeoning bond that risks invoking the wrath of gods.

As her betrayal looms, the underworld closes in and angry gods are growing restless. Mische will be forced to choose between the redemption of the sun or the damnation of the darkness.]]> 498 Carissa Broadbent Serena 0 4.03 2024 The Songbird & the Heart of Stone (Crowns of Nyaxia, #3)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Serena
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
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]]> The Unmaking of June Farrow 66087062 A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.]]> 320 Adrienne Young 0593598679 Serena 4 4.13 2023 The Unmaking of June Farrow
author: Adrienne Young
name: Serena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/12
date added: 2024/11/22
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review:

]]> An Age of Winters 205213989 In the seventeenth century, witchfinders rule and paranoia thrives in a chilling novel about unrequited love, persecution, and betrayal by the bestselling author of The Road Beyond Ruin and Broken Angels.

In 1625, the Franconian village of Eisbach has been plagued by disease, famine, heinous crimes, and a merciless winter. Katarin Jaspers is the maidservant to the enigmatic Reverend Zacharias Engel, appointed by Rome to cure the village of suspected diabolism and save every God-fearing soul.

Zacharias soon finds his first witch, and the public burning of a local man could spell the end of misfortune. As a sense of peace settles over the village, Katarin finds herself increasingly infatuated with Zacharias, who is a disruption to her predictable existence and a balm for her cruel past. But peace for Katarin is short-lived. Margaretha Katz—the new midwife—is seen as a rival for the reverend’s attention. Fear and recrimination reach a fever pitch when a great tragedy sets the town fully on edge.

With the walls of winter closing in around Eisbach once again, rumours flourish and villagers turn on each other. Now, no one is safe from the pyre.]]> 311 Gemma Liviero 166252062X Serena 0 to-read 3.87 2024 An Age of Winters
author: Gemma Liviero
name: Serena
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/22
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]]> The Frozen River 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 Serena 4 4.38 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Serena
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
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]]> <![CDATA[A Kingdom of Bitter Magic (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns, #1)]]> 208126287
I’m nothing but an orphan, a dragon trainer in one of the many border fortresses. When beasts attack the villages, I ride, driving them back to the hellscape they crawled from.

When my adopted brother’s killed during battle, I discover who’s controlling the invading beasts—the brutal ruler of the neighboring fae kingdom. A gruesome plot is brewing beneath the glimmering fae surface, and he’s responsible for it all. Now vengeance is all I live for. No matter how powerful or well-guarded the king is, I will avenge my brother. This I swear.

To infiltrate the king’s court, I’m forced to make a deal with Vexxion, a devastatingly beautiful and equally malicious fae lord. In exchange for getting me close to the king, I’ll allow Vexxion to collar me at the upcoming Claiming. He’ll train me, and I’ll give him access to my supposedly dormant magic. Little does he know I have no power for him to harness.

Surrendering to Vexxion’s seductive allure could fracture what little remains of my heart. Falling for him could destroy my wounded soul.

But learning his wicked secrets could shatter me completely.

A Kingdom of Bitter Magic is Book 1 in the Kingdom of Blighted Thorns trilogy. Expect spice, suspense, a ruthless, determined woman, and a fae lord with stalker-like tendencies who will stop at nothing to claim her as his own.]]> 526 Alaya Wells Serena 0 to-read 3.95 2024 A Kingdom of Bitter Magic (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns, #1)
author: Alaya Wells
name: Serena
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Throne of the Fallen (Prince of Sin, #1)]]> 73071451 Sinner. Villain. Wicked.

The Prince of Envy has never claimed to be a saint. But when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows it will take more than a hint of sin to win and save his falling demon court. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin like no other�

Virtuous. Darling. Liar.

The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven’t a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows Waverly Green’s most notorious rake to blackmail her. To avoid a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil’s bargain with Envy, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature...

Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld—from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond—while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.]]> 612 Kerri Maniscalco 031655751X Serena 0 to-read 4.00 2023 Throne of the Fallen (Prince of Sin, #1)
author: Kerri Maniscalco
name: Serena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1)]]> 22840421 This comical, fantastical, romantical, New York Times bestselling, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey is “an uproarious historical fantasy that’s not to be missed� (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.]]> 474 Cynthia Hand 0062391798 Serena 0 to-read 4.00 2016 My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1)
author: Cynthia Hand
name: Serena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life 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 in order 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 overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas 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.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts Serena 0 to-read 4.17 2023 Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Language of Dragons 211096516 EVERY ACT OF TRANSLATION REQUIRES SACRIFICE

Welcome to Bletchley Park� with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job�, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort � if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.]]> 432 S.F. Williamson 0063353849 Serena 0 to-read 3.84 2025 A Language of Dragons
author: S.F. Williamson
name: Serena
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)]]> 60217777 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 choice: 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.]]> 464 Kristen Ciccarelli Serena 0 to-read 4.25 2025 Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Serena
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe � 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 The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Serena 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Serena
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)]]> 10194157 Alternative Cover Edition #1

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.]]> 358 Leigh Bardugo 1250048117 Serena 0 to-read 3.93 2012 Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Serena
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)]]> 209741142 A spellbinding gothic dark fantasy about a shunned woman who is forced beyond the mortal realm's forbidden boundary, into a terrifying world of cursed souls and grotesque creatures.

Only the banished know what lies beyond the woods ...

There are whispers about what lurks in Witch Knell—the forest where sinners go to die. The villagers call it The Eating Woods because what’s taken is never given back. Only those who’ve lost their senses would dare to go near it.

Or the banished.

Maevyth Bronwick knows better than to breach the misty labyrinth of trees, but a tragic turn of events compels her beyond the archway of bones, to a boundary no mortal has crossed before. One that cloaks a dark and fantastical world that’s as dangerous as it is alluring.

It’s there that he dwells, the cursed lord of Eidolon. The one tasked to keep her hidden from the magehood that seeks to crucify her in the name of an arcane prophesy. Zevander Rydainn, known to his prey as The Scorpion, is the coldest, most calculated assassin in all of Aethyria and he’d sooner toss his feisty ward to a pack of vicious fyredrakes than keep her safe.

If only he could.

Maevyth’s blood is the key to breaking his despised curse and vanquishing the slumbering evil in Witch Knell. Unfortunately for Lord Rydainn, fate has other plans for the irresistible little enchantress. And his growing obsession with her threatens to destroy everything.

Including himself.

Anathema is a full-length, gothic dark fantasy, the first book in The Eating Woods duology. Perfect for readers who enjoy a plot-heavy and atmospheric story with a unique magic system, a slow-burn romance and a touch of horror.]]> 688 Keri Lake Serena 0 to-read 4.14 2024 Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)
author: Keri Lake
name: Serena
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, #1)]]> 1421990 Flirting With The Grave�

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father � the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unlikely partnership.

In exchange for help finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner � are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side � and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.]]> 374 Jeaniene Frost 0061245089 Serena 0 to-read 4.13 2007 Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, #1)
author: Jeaniene Frost
name: Serena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)]]> 212127083
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares... but it turns out they're real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.]]> 588 Callie Hart Serena 0 4.35 2024 Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)
author: Callie Hart
name: Serena
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> Baby X 173476065 When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder—or the craziest stalker—in this propulsive thriller.

With a vivid imagining of the future, _Gattaca _meets Black Mirror in Kira Peikoff’s Baby X.

In the near-future United States, where advanced technology can create eggs or sperm from any person’s cells, celebrities face the alarming potential of meeting biological children they never conceived. Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety.

Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks—discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes—and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip—love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off.

Brilliantly plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Baby X is an unpredictable and relentless speculative thriller perfect for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.]]> 326 Kira Peikoff 1639106332 Serena 0 to-read 3.82 2024 Baby X
author: Kira Peikoff
name: Serena
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/30
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]]> How to Age Disgracefully 199603377 A senior citizens� center and a daycare collide with hilarious results in the new ensemble comedy from New York Times-bestselling author Clare Pooley

When Lydia takes a job running the Senior Citizens� Social Club three afternoons a week, she assumes she’ll be spending her time drinking tea and playing gentle games of cards.

The members of the Social Club, however, are not at all what Lydia was expecting. From Art, a failed actor turned kleptomaniac to Daphne, who has been hiding from her dark past for decades to Ruby, a Banksy-style knitter who gets revenge in yarn, these seniors look deceptively benign—but when age makes you invisible, secrets are so much easier to hide.

When the city council threatens to sell the doomed community center building, the members of the Social Club join forces with their tiny friends in the daycare next door—as well as the teenaged father of one of the toddlers and a geriatric dog—to save the building. Together, this group’s unorthodox methods may actually work, as long as the police don’t catch up with them first.]]> 352 Clare Pooley 0593512030 Serena 0 to-read 4.31 2024 How to Age Disgracefully
author: Clare Pooley
name: Serena
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> The Briar Club 181110045 A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 Serena 0 to-read 4.26 2024 The Briar Club
author: Kate Quinn
name: Serena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Mexican Gothic 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

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

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Serena 0 to-read 3.66 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Serena
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/30
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]]> <![CDATA[A Touch of Darkness (Hades & Persephone, #1)]]> 43175155 This is a previously-published edition - ASIN: B07S9HLL34

Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.

Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.

After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.

The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a Goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.]]> 438 Scarlett St. Clair Serena 0 to-read 3.77 2019 A Touch of Darkness (Hades & Persephone, #1)
author: Scarlett St. Clair
name: Serena
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
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]]> Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) 54659771 He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell... he was, quite simply, mine.

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth... a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close�

A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.]]> 380 Katee Robert 1728231736 Serena 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1)
author: Katee Robert
name: Serena
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
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]]> Then She Was Gone 35297426 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]> 359 Lisa Jewell 1501154648 Serena 0 to-read 4.02 2017 Then She Was Gone
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Serena
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Goldfinch (The Plated Prisoner, #6)]]> 200246606 The seductive and thrilling dark fantasy romance series comes to an end in this powerful finale.

One king caged my body.

Another has caged my mind.

War has broken out between Annwyn and Orea, though that’s not the only battle being waged.

There’s a fight inside me, and it’s one I’m determined to win, no matter how much they try to strip me down and hollow me out.

Yet they’ve forgotten one thing. The ancient magic of the pair bond. One can never truly be lost when two souls are already bound.

Because Slade and I? We are connected by more than just fated magic, and we will always find each other.

In any life.

The fae king is trying to destroy me. My heritage. My memory. But what he hasn’t realized is this: gold bends, but stone breaks.

And a Goldfinch does not fall.

It flies.

Please note: This adult fantasy book includes dark elements that may be triggering. Full content list will be located inside the book, but it includes violence, death, adult language, and explicit romance. It is intended for ages 18 years and older. Read at your own discretion.]]> 688 Raven Kennedy Serena 0 4.17 2024 Goldfinch (The Plated Prisoner, #6)
author: Raven Kennedy
name: Serena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Shark Heart 62919375
At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.]]> 416 Emily Habeck 1668006499 Serena 0 to-read 3.96 2023 Shark Heart
author: Emily Habeck
name: Serena
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/11
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]]> Holly 65916344 Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.� � BILL HODGES

Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.]]> 449 Stephen King 1668016133 Serena 0 to-read 4.02 2023 Holly
author: Stephen King
name: Serena
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Great Believers 45304101 A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

The Great Believers has become a critically acclaimed, indelible piece of literature; it was selected as one of New York Times Best 10 Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Buzzfeed Book of the Year, a Skimm Reads pick, and a pick for the New York Public Library's Best Books of the year.]]> 421 Rebecca Makkai 073522353X Serena 0 to-read 4.26 2018 The Great Believers
author: Rebecca Makkai
name: Serena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All Fours 197798168
A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.]]> 336 Miranda July 0593190262 Serena 0 3.54 2024 All Fours
author: Miranda July
name: Serena
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves:
review:

]]> A House with Good Bones 60784409 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 247 T. Kingfisher 1250829798 Serena 0 3.65 2023 A House with Good Bones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Serena
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Throne of Broken Gods (Gods and Monsters, #2)]]> 141275671 619 Amber V. Nicole Serena 0 4.21 2023 The Throne of Broken Gods (Gods and Monsters, #2)
author: Amber V. Nicole
name: Serena
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Azrael (Gods and Monsters, #1)]]> 59986018 A thousand years ago, Dianna gave up her life in the deserts of Eoria to save her dying sister. She called upon anyone who would listen, not expecting a monster far worse than any nightmare to answer. Now she does what Kaden asks, even if that means securing an ancient relic from the very creatures that hunt her.

A King thought long dead and long forgotten.
In the old world his name was Samkiel. In the new world it is Liam, but one title remains true throughout time. He is the World Ender, a myth to his enemies, a savior and King to those loyal to him. After the Gods War, he locked himself away, hiding from the world. He denied his crown and responsibilities, leaving the very ones who needed him most to deal with the fallout of the death of their homeworld. Now an attack on those he holds dear sends him back to the one realm he never wished to visit again and into the sights of an enemy he thought imprisoned eons ago.

Now enemies older than time must put aside their differences and work together in hopes of saving both their world and every realm in between.]]> 572 Amber V. Nicole Serena 0 4.07 2022 The Book of Azrael (Gods and Monsters, #1)
author: Amber V. Nicole
name: Serena
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 Serena 0 to-read 4.04 2023 The Lost Bookshop
author: Evie Woods
name: Serena
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Happy Place 61718053
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week� in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.]]> 400 Emily Henry 0593441273 Serena 0 3.95 2023 Happy Place
author: Emily Henry
name: Serena
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> House of Glass 198112104 The next thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen, House of Glass.

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?]]> 352 Sarah Pekkanen 1250284007 Serena 0 to-read 4.07 2024 House of Glass
author: Sarah Pekkanen
name: Serena
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gold (The Plated Prisoner, #5)]]> 61314205 "Find me in another life. Find me in them all."

Every end is also a beginning.

I thought I was going to die, and would have if it weren’t for Slade. The only way he could save me was to open a rip between worlds. The only way for me to save myself was to go through it.

Sometimes, fleeing one dangerous place just brings you to another.

Annwyn.

The realm of the fae.

There is magic and beauty here, though around every corner, threats lurk.

But I’m a threat too.

I’m not a girl in a gilded cage anymore, and no one is going to stop me from finding my way back to Slade.

But returning home means facing danger and secrets. So I have to burn bright enough to light my own way�

Or else I might be swallowed by the dark.

Please note: This adult fantasy book includes dark elements that may be triggering, including violence, cruelty, death, adult language, and explicit romance. It is intended for ages 18 years and older. Read at your own discretion.]]> 646 Raven Kennedy Serena 0 4.10 2023 Gold (The Plated Prisoner, #5)
author: Raven Kennedy
name: Serena
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glow (The Plated Prisoner, #4)]]> 58159316
My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot.

Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I'm finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I've been kept in.

Yet the world doesn't want to let me.

That's the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you.

Good thing I have a different king in my corner.

But even with the dark threat of Slade Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me.

So I will fight for him and he will kill for me, and if we need to become the villains, then so be it.

Because so long as I live in this world, I won't be used again.

Please note: This is an adult fantasy series with dark elements that may be triggering, including past emotional and physical trauma, violence, adult language, and explicit romance. Read at your own discretion.]]> 705 Raven Kennedy Serena 0 4.14 2022 Glow (The Plated Prisoner, #4)
author: Raven Kennedy
name: Serena
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Gleam (The Plated Prisoner, #3)]]> 57214537 His.

The thing about being confined is that you believe it’s to keep the bad out... Until you realize it’s about keeping you in.

I’m now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won’t sit idly by and let myself wither. No, there’s something that’s bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry.

But the last thing I expected was for my anger to call out to him. King Ravinger.

He’s sinister and powerful and entirely too seductive. I’ve learned my lesson with trusting manipulative kings, so why does my chest constrict every time he’s near? I need to tread carefully, or I’m at risk of losing much more than just my freedom.

Regret and revenge war inside of me, and I need to figure out a plan fast before I get tangled up in the schemes of kings and queens.

Because I won’t be caught in a cage again. No, this time, It’ll be me setting the trap... I just hope my heart comes out of this unscathed.]]> 674 Raven Kennedy Serena 0 4.38 2021 Gleam (The Plated Prisoner, #3)
author: Raven Kennedy
name: Serena
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/09
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves:
review:

]]>