en-US Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:59:20 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 43261127
When it comes to change,Ěýtiny is mighty. Start with two pushups a day, not a two-hour workout; or five deep breaths each morning rather than an hour of meditation. InĚýTiny Habits, B.J. Fogg brings hisĚýexperience coaching more than 40,000 people to help you lose weight, de-stress, sleep better, or achieve any goal of your choice.Ěý You just need Fogg’s behavior formula: make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding. Whenever you get in your car, take one yoga breath. Smile.Ěý Whenever you get in bed, turn off your phone. Give yourself a high five.Ěý

Change can be easy—once it starts, it grows.Ěý Let B.J. Fogg show you exactly how.]]> 320 B.J. Fogg 0358003326 Meg 0 currently-reading 4.13 2019
author: B.J. Fogg
name: Meg
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> 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 Meg 4 4.13 2023
author: Adrienne Young
name: Meg
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
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]]> 39045 homemade pie for her daughter's school, she has to admit her life has become unrecognizable. With panache, wisdom, and uproarious wit, I Don't Know How She Does It brilliantly dramatizes the dilemma of every working mom.]]> 337 Allison Pearson 0375713751 Meg 0 to-read 3.32 2001
author: Allison Pearson
name: Meg
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> 34964851 How Hard Can It Be? does so hands down.

Kate Reddy's comeback as a pushing-50 "Returner,� re-entering the workforce after a spell on the mommy track, is zesty, razor-sharp, and hilarious. With a robust absence of self-pity, she has defined the humiliating onset of "invisibility" that coincides with the onrushing pressures of parents, teenage kids, and a marriage gone flat, all while attempting to reinstate her perilous professional worth. It’s full of such quotable casual profundity on the female condition I couldn't read it without a pencil to underline the abundance of great lines. Get ready for Kate!� —Tina Brown

Allison Pearson's brilliant debut novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, was a New York Times bestseller with four million copies sold around the world. Called "the definitive social comedy of working motherhood" (The Washington Post) and "a hysterical look―in both the laughing and crying senses of the world―at the life of Supermom" (The New York Times), I Don't Know How She Does It introduced Kate Reddy, a woman as sharp as she was funny. As Oprah Winfrey put it, Kate's story became "the national anthem for working mothers."

Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Once again, Kate is scrambling to keep all the balls in the air in a juggling act that an early review from the U.K. Express hailed as "sparkling, funny, and poignant...a triumphant return for Pearson."

Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping� underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?]]> 352 Allison Pearson 1250086086 Meg 0 to-read 3.60 2017
author: Allison Pearson
name: Meg
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> 34964995
Alison, Julie, Sarah, Heather. Four friends living the suburban ideal. Their jobs are steady, their kids are healthy. They’re as beautiful as their houses. But each of them has a dirty little secret, and hidden behind the veneer of their perfect lives is a crime and a mystery that will consume them all.

Everything starts to unravel when Alison spots a nasty bruise on Heather’s wrist. She shares her suspicions with Julie and Sarah, compelling all three to investigate what looks like an increasingly violent marriage. As mysterious injuries and erratic behavior mount, Heather can no longer deny the abuse, but she refuses to leave her husband. Desperate to save her, Alison and the others dread the phone call telling them that she’s been killed. But when that call finally comes, it’s not Heather who’s dead. In a moment they’ll come to regret, the women must decide what lengths they’ll go to in order to help a friend.

Just Between Us is a thrilling glimpse into the underbelly of suburbia, where not all neighbors can be trusted, and even the closest friends keep dangerous secrets. You never really know what goes on in another person’s mind, or in their marriage.]]> 374 Rebecca Drake 1250167205 Meg 0 to-read 3.65 2018
author: Rebecca Drake
name: Meg
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> 59571699 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project - a literal dream come true - Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school - archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas... devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?]]> 368 Ali Hazelwood 1408725789 Meg 4 3.88 2022
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Meg
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
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]]> 214151421 The most “profound� (Booklist, starred review) memoir you will ever read about the power of love.



Did I Ever Tell You? reads like a novel but is an unforgettable true story.



Genevieve (Gwen) Kingston was just eleven years old when her mother passed away, leaving behind a chest filled with gifts and letters to celebrate the milestones of Gwen’s life and each of her birthdays until age thirty.



When Did I Ever Tell You? opens, just three packages remain: engagement, marriage, and first baby. Tracing Gwen’s coming-of-age, the book reveals a treasure hunt, with each gift and letter unveiling more about her mother, her family, and—ultimately—herself.



This transformative memoir is a moving coming-of age story and an “extraordinary testament to the power of love over death� (Sarah Ruhl, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Smile). Like Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Did I Ever Tell You? is a life-changing story that “has a scope and power that will take your breath away� (Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful and Dear Edward).]]> 288 Genevieve Kingston 1668006308 Meg 0 to-read 4.44 2024
author: Genevieve Kingston
name: Meg
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 214151663
When her new husband joins an elite Army unit, Simone Gorrindo is uprooted from New York City and dropped into Columbus, Georgia—a town so foreign she might as well have landed on the moon. With her husband frequently deployed, Simone is left to find her place in this new world, alone—until she meets the wives.

Gorrindo gives us an intimate look into the inner lives of a remarkable group of women and a tender, unflinching portrait of a marriage. A love story, an unforgettable coming-of-age tale, and a bracing tour of the intractable divisions that plague our country today, The Wives offers a rare and powerful gift: a hopeful stitch in the fabric of a torn America.]]> 432 Simone Gorrindo 1982178507 Meg 0 to-read 4.56 2024
author: Simone Gorrindo
name: Meg
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2024
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]]> 220161418 The Power of Habit and Angela Duckworth’s Grit, a renowned social psychologist demonstrates the power of small acts—and how a subtle turning of habits into rituals can add purpose and pleasure to life.

Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to boost productivity—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these habits (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) are done on autopilot. But when a layer of mindfulness accompanies a habit—when we focus on the precise way an act is performed—a ritual has been created. Now, an everyday act goes from black-and-white to technicolor. And as author Michael Norton explains here, it’s these rituals that make life worth living.

Think of the way you savor a certain beverage, the care you take with a certain outfit that only gets worn on special occasions, the unique way that your family gathers around the table at the holidays, or the secret language you enjoy with your significant other. To some, these behaviors may seem quirky, but because rituals matter so deeply to us on a personal level, they saturate our lives with purpose and meaning. Rituals can heal a community experiencing a great loss, guide a speaker through a difficult presentation, drive a stadium of sports fans to ecstasy, inspire courage in soldiers going into combat, and help us rise to challenges and realize opportunities. Among those who have made effective use of rituals are Maya Angelou, Keith Richards, Barack Obama, and Steve Jobs. Drawing on decades of original research, author Michal Norton reveals that shifting from a “habitual� mindset to a “ritual� mindset can both enhance performance and add meaning to your life.

Compelling, inspiring, and practical, The Ritual Effect takes us on a fascinating tour of the intention-filled acts that drive human behavior and shows us how to create simple rituals to imbue everyday life with a sense of purpose and joy.]]> 288 Michael Norton 1982153032 Meg 0 to-read 0.0 2024
author: Michael Norton
name: Meg
average rating: 0.0
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]]> 214175208 224 Joyce Meyer 1546008381 Meg 0 to-read 0.0 2006
author: Joyce Meyer
name: Meg
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> 127280429 SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.]]> 359 Sally Hepworth 125028452X Meg 4 3.98 2024
author: Sally Hepworth
name: Meg
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/12
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]]> 210137341
With his trademark storytelling and winsome take on life, bestselling author and self-dubbed chief balloon inflator Bob Goff returns with another 365-day devotional. He offers a daily tap on the shoulder to remind you how over the moon God is about you and your beautiful, often complicated life.

Catching WhimsyĚýwill help you leave behind endless cycles of planning and floundering and instead wake up to the curiosity, delight, and possibility in this marvelous adventure called life. You don't have to stay stuck in ambivalence and paralysis, unsure of the right next step. Instead, get settled in God's love for you and start journeying, wide-eyed and expectant, into a more meaningful life, a more engaged faith, and a more intentional future.]]> 432 Bob Goff 1400226988 Meg 4 4.75
author: Bob Goff
name: Meg
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> 220481303
Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Nick, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there's never been anything but friendship between them and Nick loves being a bachelor in NYC.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over fifteen years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to Boston College, and after graduation, they married and Cory joined a successful hedge fund in Boston, while Mandy stayed home and had two children, Blake and Brooke. They moved home to Nantucket when Cory opened a competing hedge fund. Now that the children are older, Mandy is eager to do more than coordinate local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

When their beloved grandmother, Ethel Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday, she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learn that she was the silent owner of Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants.

There is of course, a catch--she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill--and also to Paul, the restaurant chef for the past fifteen years.

And before they can sell, all three girls must work at the restaurant for one year--or their shares of the restaurant will go to Paul.

The same Paul that broke one of their hearts many years ago.]]> 352 Pamela M. Kelley 146424619X Meg 0 to-read 4.67 2020
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: Meg
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> 217005288
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]> 416 Ann Napolitano 0593243757 Meg 0 to-read 4.13 2023
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Meg
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> 222419283
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
Ěý
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
Ěý
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 384 Kristen Perrin 0593474023 Meg 0 to-read 3.83 2024
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Meg
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> 61373532 Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me.

Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes.

He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist?

But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him.

Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms.

My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months.

But my heart says this is forever.
]]> 476 Elsie Silver Meg 0 to-read 4.39 2022
author: Elsie Silver
name: Meg
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2022
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date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 53631533 "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."
So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy-- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling-- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.
Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors--yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness.
Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.]]> 385 Frank McCourt Meg 0 to-read 4.40 1996
author: Frank McCourt
name: Meg
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1996
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]]> 57777139 A dead body is one mess she can't clean up on her own.

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanour has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black. But will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

Both a Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different--and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0735241333 Meg 0 to-read 3.72 2022
author: Nita Prose
name: Meg
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> 54304141
Where do you see yourself in five years?

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

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

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

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

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.]]> 288 Rebecca Serle 1982137452 Meg 0 to-read 3.83 2020
author: Rebecca Serle
name: Meg
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> 209399768 When it comes to Christian parenting, we crave confidence, wisdom, and—most of all—peace.We pray for peace when our little ones are tossed about by waves of emotions, for connection and confidence when navigating stressful mornings and exhausting nights, and for wisdom in knowing how best to discipline our kids. As Christian parents, we’re desperate to “get it right,� to raise our children to be strong, courageous followers of Jesus—and yet, despite the overload of endless advice at our fingertips, we often feel completely and utterly lost.You can become the parent Christ has called you to be—and change your home and family from the inside out. In The Flourishing Family, Dr. David and Amanda Erickson offer a new parenting perspective—one that cultivates peace, gentleness, and confidence. Deeply rooted in Scripture and backed by modern neuroscience as well as insight into child development, their book will equip you torethink common assumptions about what the Bible says about parenting—and align your parenting approach with the teachings of Jesus and your identity in Him,cultivate the inner peace needed to lead and guide your family with Christ, and His grace, at the center,respond to your child with understanding and patience, honoring the divine image and unique personality God created them to have, anduse compassionate discipline as discipleship to focus on the heart behind your child’s actions, addressing the developmental or neurological roots of their behavior rather than merely correcting or punishing their actions or choices.Your legacy is not defined by your parenting perfection but by your commitment to follow in the way of Jesus and to trust His Spirit to cultivate the seeds you’re diligently planting throughout your children’s lives. Trust that He will meet you in these pages—and that He will transform your hearts and home.]]> 256 David Erickson 1496488466 Meg 0 to-read 4.43
author: David Erickson
name: Meg
average rating: 4.43
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]]> 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 Meg 0 to-read 3.54 2024
author: Miranda July
name: Meg
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
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date added: 2025/02/24
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]]> 55723020
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

"Brilliant... riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued."--Beth Macy, author of Dopesick


INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
“Brilliant� riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick
As heard on Fresh Air]]> 304 Anna Lembke 1524746738 Meg 4 3.88 2021
author: Anna Lembke
name: Meg
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
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]]> 735106 368 Sarah Strohmeyer 0451219104 Meg 0 to-read 3.40
author: Sarah Strohmeyer
name: Meg
average rating: 3.40
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 223541020 #1 bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand teams up with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, to deliver a dishy, page-turning novel following an intertwined cast of characters over the course of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school.

It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy and amidst the happy chaos of friends reuniting, selfies uploading, and cars unloading, shocking news America Today just ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. It’s a seventeen-spot jump � was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, class sizes are small, and the dining hall is run by an acclaimed New York chef. And they do have fun—lots of parties and school dances, and a piano man plays in the student lounge every Monday night.

But just as the rarefied air of Tiffin is suffused with self-congratulation, the wheels begin to turn � and then they fall off the bus. One by one, scandalous blind items begin to appear on phones across Tiffin’s campus, thanks to a new app called ZipZap, and nobody is safe. From Davi Banerjee, international influencer and resident queen bee, to Simone Bergeron, the new and surprisingly young history teacher, to Charley Hicks, a transfer student who seems determined not to fit in, to Cordelia Spooner, Admissions Director with a somewhat idiosyncratic methodology � everyone has something to hide.

As if high school wasn’t dramatic enough...As the year unfolds, bonds are forged and broken, secrets are shared and exposed, and the lives of Tiffin’s students and staff are changed forever. The Academy is Elin Hilderbrand’s fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life, and a thrilling new direction from one of America’s most satisfying and popular storytellers.]]> 544 Elin Hilderbrand 0316580775 Meg 0 to-read 3.91
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Meg
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 215363302
The bright, courageous boy Alma knew could never have murdered anyone. But she barely recognizes the man Asku has become, cold and embittered at being an outcast in the white world and a ghost in his own. Her lawyer husband, Stewart, reluctantly agrees to help defend Asku for Alma’s sake. To do so, Alma must revisit the painful secrets she has kept hidden from everyone—especially Stewart.

Told in compelling narratives that alternate between Alma’s childhood and her present life, Between Earth and Sky is a haunting and complex story of love and loss, as a quest for justice becomes a journey toward understanding and, ultimately, atonement.]]> 352 Amanda Skenandore 149675526X Meg 0 to-read 4.36 2018
author: Amanda Skenandore
name: Meg
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 123087802 You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again.

Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball—and yet clinging to her sense of humor.

Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who's determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor.

When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time?

When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free?

The Last Love Note will make listeners laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart—and in love itself.]]> 384 Emma Grey 1958506281 Meg 5 4.04 2023
author: Emma Grey
name: Meg
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
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]]> 50519007 A curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it's never too late to be the person you want to be in this rich, heartwarming story from the acclaimed author of Ellie and the Harpmaker.

Eighty-five-year-old Veronica McCreedy is estranged from her family and wants to find a worthwhile cause to leave her fortune to. When she sees a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica, she tells the scientists she’s coming to visit—and won’t take no for an answer. Shortly after arriving, she convinces the reluctant team to rescue an orphaned baby penguin. He becomes part of life at the base, and Veronica's closed heart starts to open.

Her grandson, Patrick, comes to Antarctica to make one last attempt to get to know his grandmother. Together, Veronica, Patrick, and even the scientists learn what family, love, and connection are all about.]]> 355 Hazel Prior 1984803816 Meg 0 to-read 3.99 2020
author: Hazel Prior
name: Meg
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 35457692 "It is not an overstatement to say that this is one of the most radical and important books on raising healthy, resilient, purpose-driven kids." - Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege

"An invaluable resource for the thinking parent." - Lisa Damour, author of Untangled

"Compelling, revolutionary, and wise, The Self-Driven Child empowers parents with the courage, the tools, and the mindset to reduce toxic stress, and to foster our child's capacity for resilience. Its message is one every parent needs to hear." --Tina Payne Bryson, co-author of The Whole Brain Child

"Read it. Your children will thank you." - Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed

A few years ago, Bill Stixrud and Ned Johnson started noticing the same problem from different angles: Even high-performing kids were coming to them acutely stressed and lacking any real motivation. Many complained that they had no control over their lives. Some stumbled in high school or hit college and unraveled. Bill is a clinical neuropsychologist who helps kids gripped by anxiety or struggling to learn. Ned is a motivational coach who runs an elite tutoring service. Together they discovered that the best antidote to stress is to give kids more of a sense of control over their lives. But this doesn't mean giving up your authority as a parent. In this groundbreaking book they reveal how you can actively help your child to sculpt a brain that is resilient, stress-proof and ready to take on new challenges.

The Self-Driven Child offers a combination of cutting-edge brain science, the latest discoveries in behavioral therapy, and case studies drawn from the thousands of kids and teens Bill and Ned have helped over the years to teach you how to set your child on the real road to success. As parents, we can only drive our kids so far. At some point, they will have to take the wheel and map out their own path. But there is a lot you can do before then to help them find their passion and tackle the road ahead with courage and imagination.]]> 384 William Stixrud 0735222517 Meg 0 to-read 4.33 2018
author: William Stixrud
name: Meg
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
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]]> 7942600 Happy All the Time follows four sane, intelligent, and good-intentioned people who manage to find love in spite of themselves.]]> 224 Laurie Colwin Meg 0 to-read 3.89 1978
author: Laurie Colwin
name: Meg
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 31753
The Mary Celeste was cursed as soon as she was launched on the Bay of Fundy in the spring of 1861. Her first captain died before completing the maiden voyage. In London she accidentally rammed and sank an English brig. Later she was abandoned after a storm drove her ashore at Cape Breton. But somehow the ship was recovered and refitted, and in the autumn of 1872 she fell to the reluctant command of a seasoned mariner named Benjamin Spooner Briggs. It was Briggs who was at the helm when the Mary Celeste sailed into history.

In Brian Hicks’s skilled hands, the story of the Mary Celeste becomes the quintessential tale of men lost at sea. Hicks vividly recreates the events leading up to the crew’s disappearance and then unfolds the complicated and bizarre aftermath—the dark suspicions that fell on the officers of the ship that intercepted her; the farcical Admiralty Court salvage hearing in Gibraltar; the wild myths that circulated after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a thinly disguised short story sensationalizing the mystery. Everything from a voodoo curse to an alien abduction has been hauled out to explain the fate of the Mary Celeste . But, as Brian Hicks reveals, the truth is actually grounded in the combined tragedies of human error and bad luck. The story of the Mary Celeste acquired yet another twist in 2001, when a team of divers funded by novelist Clive Cussler located the wreck in a coral reef off Haiti.

Written with the suspense of a thriller and the vivid accuracy of the best popular history, Ghost Ship tells the unforgettable true story of the most famous and most fascinating maritime mystery of all time.]]> 304 Brian Hicks 0345466659 Meg 3 3.81 1980
author: Brian Hicks
name: Meg
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
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]]> 34460460 240 Annie F. Downs 031008962X Meg 5 4.24 2017
author: Annie F. Downs
name: Meg
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> 19886258
Annie F. Downs admits she's not exactly the bravest girl in the world. She still cries sometimes when she leaves her parents' home in Georgia, she's never jumped out of a plane, and she only rides roller coasters to impress boys. But Annie knows that courage resides inside each and every one of us, and she's on a mission to triumph over her own fears while encouraging the reader to do the same. As a single young woman, writer, speaker, and blogger, Annie Downs shares her journey toward bravery with honesty and humor. Using wonderful stories from her own life, contemporary real-life examples, and fascinating historical and biblical references, Annie encourages readers to grab hold of the brave life that they desperately desire. How often does fear hold us back from the very things we most want to taste, touch, and experience? The call to be brave isn't just for one person---it's for everyone. Let's All Be Brave is more than a book, it's a battle cry. Annie challenges us to live boldly, she calls us to step into those places that require courage, and she gives us the help to take the next step forward---even when it's scary. This non-fiction, essay-driven book opens the door to many different views of courage---nudging, encouraging, and inspiring readers to be brave whenever given the chance.]]> 192 Annie F. Downs 0310337933 Meg 0 to-read 4.10 2014
author: Annie F. Downs
name: Meg
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Meg 0 to-read 3.67 2024
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Meg
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/12
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]]> 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 Meg 5 4.18 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Meg
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
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]]> 214152483
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West� Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

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

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

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.]]> 368 Christina Lauren 1668017733 Meg 0 to-read 4.14 2024
author: Christina Lauren
name: Meg
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> 218014044 An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!
The global phenomenon by Callie Hart--a highly addicting enemies-to-lovers Romantasy with razor-sharp banter, heart-stopping action, and blistering hot romance.Ěý

DoĚýnotĚýtouch the sword. DoĚýnotĚýturn the key. DoĚýnotĚýopen the gate.

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.ĚýIn the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water. But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it isĚýboundĚýto come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens 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 right 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…Ěýor her. Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s theĚýonlyĚýway Saeris is going to make it home.

Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details...

N.B. Quicksilver contains depictions of graphic violence/adult situations and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author's website.]]> 615 Callie Hart Meg 0 to-read 4.50 2024
author: Callie Hart
name: Meg
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/07
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]]> 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]> 82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 Meg 0 to-read 4.12 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Meg
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/07
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]]> 210482187 New York Times bestselling author of Fourth Wing comes a new contemporary romance about the summer a celebrated dancer returns home and unearths years of family secrets with the Coast Guard rescue swimmer she never forgot.

Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother’s eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matter the cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she’s sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover. But the memories she’s tried to forget rush in and threaten to take her under.

As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation can mean the difference between life and death. He’s always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau…until the night he left for basic. After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath.

When Hudson’s niece shows up on Allie’s doorstep, desperate to find her birth mother, Allie finds herself in an unimaginable position. Allie and Hudson’s past and present might be endlessly complicated. The thread that tied them to each other all those years ago may have unraveled, but the truth could pull them back together, or drive them apart forever.]]> 459 Rebecca Yarros 1662514697 Meg 0 to-read 4.20 2024
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Meg
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 129355235 384 Lucy Score 1728295149 Meg 0 to-read 3.77 2017
author: Lucy Score
name: Meg
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 25814222 A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.]]> 372 Fredrik Backman 1501115073 Meg 0 to-read 4.07 2013
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Meg
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.� —Xaden Riorson

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

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

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

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

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Meg 4 4.33 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Meg
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
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]]> 54762314 Set in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder—perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and If the Creek Don't Rise.

Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her hard life on the swamp and her harsh father. But now, after running away to Baton Rouge and briefly knowing a different kind of life, she finds herself with nowhere to go but back home. And she knows there will be a price to pay with her father.

Matilda, daughter of a sharecropper, is from the other side of the Trace. Doing what she can to protect her family from the whims and demands of some particularly callous locals is an ongoing struggle. She forms a plan to go north, to pack up the secrets she's holding about her life in the South and hang them on the line for all to see in Ohio.

As the two girls are drawn deeper into a dangerous world of bootleggers and moral corruption, they must come to terms with the complexities of their tenuous bond and a hidden past that links them in ways that could cost them their lives.]]> 326 Kelly Mustian 1728217725 Meg 0 to-read 4.35 2021
author: Kelly Mustian
name: Meg
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/03
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]]> 211003854 In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.]]> 448 Kristin Hannah 1250370116 Meg 0 to-read 4.75 2015
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Meg
average rating: 4.75
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/03
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]]> 211742041 The Cruel Prince meets The Selection in this captivating duology opener brimming with heart-pounding romance, vicious competition, and beautiful, cruel fae, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven, Sasha Peyton Smith.

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

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

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

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

Sweepingly romantic and deceptively enchanting, this alternate history romantasy will enthrall readers of Holly Black, Stephanie Garber, and Adalyn Grace.]]> 400 Sasha Peyton Smith 0063372525 Meg 0 to-read 3.98 2025
author: Sasha Peyton Smith
name: Meg
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/02
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]]> 216052895 The phrase “cleanliness is next to godlinessâ€� isn’t found in the Bible. Your house can never be good enough to please God—not because you can’t scrub it or declutter hard enough, but because that is never what He was looking for in the first place. Join Dana K. White, author ofĚýDecluttering at the Speed of Life, as she works through removing the shame associated with having a messy home and reveling in the grace and love of our Savior.

This book is for you, if no matter how competent you feel in other parts of your life, you still feel overwhelmed and defeated by your messy home. While it’s true that keeping a clean and organized living space can contribute to a sense of peace and well-being, it should never be equated with your worth, moral standing, or what Jesus thinks about you.Ěý

Dana K. White, trusted by millions for her no-holds-barred cleaning confessions and practical decluttering method wants

remove any shame or identity crisis associated with disorganizationhelp you understand God's love and purposeful design for you that is much bigger than any mess in your house.ĚýSharing relatable stories, biblical teaching, and practical life application, Dana will help you find a sense of freedom, acceptance, and a deeper understanding of God's love and purpose for you and your house.]]> 240 Dana K. White 1400344379 Meg 0 to-read 4.53
author: Dana K. White
name: Meg
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> 50822406 Over 900,000 copies sold!
This parenting book shows you how to raise self-confident, motivated children who are ready for the real world. Learn how to parent effectively while teaching your children responsibility and growing their character. Establish healthy control through easy-to-implement steps without anger, threats, nagging, or power struggles.

Trusted by generations of parents, counselors, and teachers to lovingly raise responsible children. Includes solutions for dozens of specific topics like tantrums, managing screen time, and getting ready for school, all indexed for easy reference.

Updated with parenting wisdom for today's world, including new material on cyber-bullying and technology.]]> 272 Foster Cline 1631469061 Meg 0 to-read 4.26
author: Foster Cline
name: Meg
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> 209192698 In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.Ěý

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.]]> 320 Ina Garten 0593799895 Meg 0 to-read 4.25 2024
author: Ina Garten
name: Meg
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> 37810006 0 Richard C. Schwartz 1683640616 Meg 0 to-read 4.32 2018
author: Richard C. Schwartz
name: Meg
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 58330567 Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.

Over the past two decades, Brown's extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown's singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn't give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.

Brown shares, "I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves."]]> 301 Brené Brown 0399592555 Meg 0 to-read 4.33 2021
author: Brené Brown
name: Meg
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
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]]> 151339300 CHANGE YOUR HABITS, CHANGE YOUR LIFE.Ěý More than 3 million emotional intelligence books sold! Includes a passcode for you to take the world's #1 emotional intelligence test.
Ěý
Emotional Intelligence Habits is a groundbreaking new book from Dr. Travis Bradberry, author of the multi-million copyĚýbestsellerĚý Emotional Intelligence 2.0. In Emotional Intelligence Habits , Dr. Bradberry, the world's foremost expert on increasing EQ, offers an abundance of practical strategies that will teach you how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the micro behaviors that will take your EQ to new heights. The book includes a passcode to the updated online edition of the world's #1 EQ test, the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal®, which will show you where your EQ stands today and which new habits from the book will increase your EQ the most.

By now, emotional intelligence (EQ) needs little introduction—it's no secret that EQ is critical to your success. But knowing what EQ is and knowing how to use it to improve your life are two very different things. Emotional Intelligence Habits offers a proven framework for increasing your EQ via tiny habits that make big changes in small steps. Step-by-step, you'll learn habits that will increase your ability in the four, core EQ skills:

- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Management
Ěý
Dr. Bradberry is known for his ability to turn complicated topics into simple behaviors you can easily apply to your life and work. He draws on decades of experience and the latest research in psychology and neuroscience to create an easy-to-follow guide for increasing your EQ. He will teach you how to:

- overcome a lack of motivation and willpower to form powerful new habits
- increase your confidence, likeability, happiness, self-control & mental strength
- form strong relationships by mastering conflict, communication, and neutralizing toxic people
- beat stress, increase your productivity, and become a great leader
Ěý
Emotional Intelligence Habits will radically alter how you see yourself and the world around you. Better yet, it will give you the tools you need to rewrite your habits and transform yourself as you work to achieve your goals.

HIGH PRAISE FOR TRAVIS BRADBERRY

"Succinctly explains how to deal with emotions creatively and employ our intelligence in a beneficial way."
- THE DALAI LAMA

"Gives abundant, practical findings and insights with emphasis on how to develop EQ. Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leadership roles."
- STEPHEN R. COVEY, AUTHOR OF THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

"We need no more convincing that emotional intelligence is at the core of life success. What we need are practical ways of improving it. This brilliant new book is a godsend. It will change your life."
-JOSEPH GRENNY, NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS

"Build these habits into your life. Emotional intelligence is as important as IQ in determining success and unlike IQ can be increased over time. Habits like these can become second nature and improve your ability to handle stress."
-THE GLOBE AND MAIL

"Compelling anecdotes and good context in which to understand and improve your score."
-NEWSWEEK

"Read-worthy strategies for improving emotional intelligence skills make this our how-to book of the week. It's nice to know that average IQ doesn't limit a person to average performance. And who can resist an online quiz with instant feedback?"
- NEWSDAY

--From the Back Cover--

HARNESS THE POWER OF THE #1 PREDICTOR OF PERSONAL EXCELLENCE

Filled with powerful new strategies targeting everything from happiness and likeability to neutralizing toxic people and beating stress, Emotional Intelligence Habits will show you how to use EQ to form better habits that improve every important facet of your life. It will radically alter how you see yourself and the world around you. Better yet, it will give you the tools you need to rewrite your habits and transform yourself as you work to achieve your goals.

Emotional Intelligence Habits is a groundbreaking new book from Dr. Travis Bradberry, coauthor of the multimillion copy bestseller Emotional Intelligence 2.0. As the world's foremost expert on increasing emotional intelligence (EQ), Dr. Bradberry offers an abundance of practical strategies to teach you how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the micro-behaviors that will take your EQ to new heights.

By now, emotional intelligence needs little introduction--it's no secret that it's critical to your success and fulfillment. But knowing what emotional intelligence is and knowing how to use it to improve your life are two very different things. Emotional Intelligence Habits offers a proven framework for increasing your EQ via tiny habits that make big changes in small steps. Step-by-step, you will learn new habits that will increase your ability in the four core EQ skills:

- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Management

Your copy of the book includes a unique passcode to access a new online edition of the world's bestselling emotional intelligence test, The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal. Rooted in sound research involving millions of people, this new edition will measure your EQ and pinpoint which of the book's emotional intelligence habits will increase your EQ the most.]]> 432 Travis Bradberry 0974719374 Meg 0 to-read 4.18
author: Travis Bradberry
name: Meg
average rating: 4.18
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]]> 214152298 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER For the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting. Jill Duggar and her husband Derick are finally ready to share their story, revealing the secrets, manipulation, and intimidation behind the show that remained hidden from their fans.Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore.For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.]]> 288 Jill Duggar 1668024454 Meg 0 to-read 4.12 2023
author: Jill Duggar
name: Meg
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/27
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]]> 381057 168 Cheri Huber 0971030936 Meg 0 to-read 4.38 1994
author: Cheri Huber
name: Meg
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

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

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

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

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

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

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Meg 5 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Meg
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/21
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]]> 214151700 Jackie Goldschneider, star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, bravely chronicles her decades-long battle with anorexia and public journey to recovery in this unflinching, moving, and ultimately inspiring self-written memoir.

All Jackie Goldschneider ever wanted was to be thin. As a child, she’d stand in front of the mirror, sucking in her stomach and arching her back to feel her ribs, praying to see a model-like figure looking back. As an obese teen, lonely and tormented by her weight, her doctor encouraged her to start dieting, ultimately leading to a prolonged battle with anorexia that nearly took her life.

After decades of hiding her eating disorder from friends, family, and the world, Jackie is ready to expose the realities of her devastating struggle with anorexia, including the harrowing day-to-day tactics she employed to count calories and restrict meals, her struggles with fertility and pregnancy, the effects her eating disorder had on her relationships with her husband and children, and ultimately how, in a twist of fate, becoming a reality TV star saved her life.

The Weight of Beautiful is Jackie’s personal story, but within it are also the stories of millions like her, striving to lead healthy, happy lives despite their eating disorders. In the vein of Unbearable Lightness, Hiding from Reality, and What Remains, The Weight of Beautiful is a moving testament of strength, honesty, and recovery.]]> 272 Jackie Goldschneider 1668023814 Meg 0 to-read 4.17 2023
author: Jackie Goldschneider
name: Meg
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> 16054217 The #1 New York Times bestselling series finale and sequel to A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night

Bringing the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion, this highly anticipated finale went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.]]> 561 Deborah Harkness 0670025593 Meg 0 to-read 4.15 2014
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Meg
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> 214489723
Lucy has her rigid, middle-class life mapped out for her until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance. Her eyes are opened by the unconventional characters she meets at the Pension Bertolini: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, curious Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate son George.

Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of life in Italy and the repressed morals of Edwardian England, personified in her terminally dull fiancé Cecil Vyse. Will she ever learn to follow her own heart?]]> 272 E.M. Forster 0571388574 Meg 0 to-read 4.08 1908
author: E.M. Forster
name: Meg
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1908
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> 214151655
One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.]]> 288 Sarah Crouch 1668035103 Meg 0 to-read 3.57 2024
author: Sarah Crouch
name: Meg
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> 201335424
Nora November was living life on autopilot before she nearly died in a surfing accident. When she recovers, she realizes how close she came to the end of her life and regrets that she let so many wishes and dreams go undone. There are reasons for that--a pressure-filled career working for her impossible-to-please father and chronic depression to name a few. But with a renewed sense of vigor, she sets out to do all the things she never did before she died. Her "reverse bucket list" includes ordinary aspirations like learning how to cook and cleaning out her late grandpa's garden. But it also includes finding the man she was unexpectedly locked for hours with in a backroom while being held hostage in a corner store holdup . . . the one who got away.

From New York Times bestselling author Julia London comes an uplifting and heartwarming story of second chances and the power of finding out what makes life worth truly living.]]> 368 Julia London 1400245737 Meg 0 to-read 3.76 2024
author: Julia London
name: Meg
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> 214310631
But then the Silveria Circus finds him.

Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with Silveria, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder and mayhem when she’s not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with a broken leg, she finds herself stuck in Nebraska at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor.

The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together.

. . . And the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts are to catch up.]]> 390 Brynne Weaver 163893181X Meg 0 to-read 4.20 2025
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Meg
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> 212755924 From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.�

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?

Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.]]> 464 Yuval Noah Harari 006342200X Meg 0 to-read 4.20 2011
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Meg
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> 214151562
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes the romance that will define a generation.

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

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

Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.]]> 288 Rebecca Serle 1982166835 Meg 0 to-read 3.54 2024
author: Rebecca Serle
name: Meg
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> 211004135
One In a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned (for better and for worse) from coming of age as a member of a much-maligned generation.

Kate is a pop culture commentator and host of the popular millennial-focused podcast Be There in Five . Part-funny, part-serious, Kate navigates the complicated nature of celebrating and criticizing the culture that shaped her as a woman, while arguing that great depths can come from surface-level interests.

With her trademark style and vulnerability, One In a Millennial is sharp, hilarious, and heartwarming all at once. She tackles AOL Instant Messenger, purity culture, American Girl Dolls, going out tops, Spice Girl feminism, her feelings about millennial motherhood, and more. Kate’s laugh-out-loud asides and keen observations will have you nodding your head and maybe even tearing up.]]> 336 Kate Kennedy 1250874165 Meg 0 to-read 3.49 2024
author: Kate Kennedy
name: Meg
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> 59807954 An enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go.

Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.

Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey's new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island's famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.
Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn't yet been written.]]> 290 Sarah Addison Allen 1250019869 Meg 0 to-read 4.00 2022
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Meg
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 52762903 The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named RĂ©my, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and RĂ©my disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.]]> 388 Kristin Harmel 1982131896 Meg 0 to-read 4.41 2020
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Meg
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 181478452
Eden Miller’s world is crumbling. Her husband blindsided her with divorce, and her daughter barely speaks to her. In an impulsive decision to escape her present and revisit the past, she sends a friend request to her college crush, Justin Ward.

One night twenty-three years ago changed the course of her life. It closed the door on Justin and opened the door to her husband, Dave. But what if Eden could have a do-over?

Eden begins an online relationship with Justin that awakens her in ways she never thought possible, and his voice and words make her take bold risks. But something’s off. He knows too much about her and her family…he’s been following her.

Eden is forced to awaken from her fantasy and look for answers—who really is the man on the other line? The truth about Justin—and about what happened that fateful night two decades ago—puts her and her family in a fight for their lives.]]> 242 Samantha M. Bailey 1662513550 Meg 0 to-read 3.66 2024
author: Samantha M. Bailey
name: Meg
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 75349380 334 Sara Goodman Confino 1662512236 Meg 0 to-read 4.49 2023
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: Meg
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> 212924176
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

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

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

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

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.]]> 368 Tia Williams 1538726718 Meg 0 to-read 4.00 2024
author: Tia Williams
name: Meg
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 173404023
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

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

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

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

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.]]> 352 Tia Williams 153872670X Meg 0 to-read 3.98 2024
author: Tia Williams
name: Meg
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 176443541 Based on her "Modern Love" piece ("She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box"), this extraordinary memoir tells the astonishing story of a mother's last gifts to her daughter, and the wisdom and love she bestowed upon her from beyond the grave.

Genevieve (Gwen) Kingston's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer when Gwen was just three years old. Defying the odds, she lived another eight years—during which time she filled a chest with gifts and letters to Gwen and her brother, Jamie, for every major milestone and birthday through age thirty. The day Gwen got her driver's license. The day she graduated from high school. Gwen is now in her thirties and, when Did I Ever Tell You? begins, three unopened boxes remain: engagement, marriage, and first baby. Two decades after her passing, Gwen's mother's extraordinary efforts created a lifelong conversation beyond the grave.

Did I Ever Tell You? is Crying in H Mart meets The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. This is not just a gorgeously written mother-daughter story. It's also the story of a family riven by grief and mental illness, and a story of a young woman's navigation through both. It's a book about family and legacy; and it's one that emphatically declares, as Gwen's mother does in a particularly powerful letter, that "Love is stronger than death."]]> 288 Genevieve Kingston 1668006294 Meg 0 to-read 4.29 2024
author: Genevieve Kingston
name: Meg
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
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]]> 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Meg 0 to-read 4.46 2022
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Meg
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 62929342 Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made, and if so, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? ]]> 399 Rachel Khong 0593537254 Meg 0 to-read 3.94 2024
author: Rachel Khong
name: Meg
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 201335518 A near-death experience catapults workaholic junior editor Kelsey Worthington into changing her life--one yes at a time.

Kelsey Worthington always dreamed of being a writer, but she's settled into a routine of helping other people tell their stories in her job as a junior editor. She doesn't go outside of her comfort zone. Her relationships are safe. Her job is secure. Her existence is stable. And she's great with that.

And then, the accident.

While she's in the hospital overnight, she meets an older woman named Georgina Tate--a glass-ceiling-shattering, wildly successful businesswoman. Georgina sacrificed everything to become the woman she is today, but now, with a pair of failing kidneys and only a handful of months left to live, Georgina is forced to come face-to-face with her regrets. Kelsey is forced to reckon with her own list of "things I'll do someday," and she starts to ask a simple but life-changing What if I said yes to all the things I normally say no to? And The Yes Plan is born.

It takes some convincing, but Georgina finally agrees to go along with Kelsey on her Summer of Yes adventures. The two of them set off to see what might be out there waiting for them if they simply open themselves up to it. Together, they say yes to whatever comes their way--a whole day being tourists in their own New York City, dinner with strangers, a convertible that is far from practical but so much fun. But when Kelsey springs a surprise visit to Georgina's son Hayden and Georgina's ex-husband (who is not so much of an ex), the older woman is less than thrilled. But this is where the true journey begins.

Two stories of love, forgiveness, regret, romance, and finding a way to live a fearless life intertwine as these two women make an indelible impression on each other. And it all starts with a simple "yes."]]> 384 Courtney Walsh 084071369X Meg 0 to-read 3.95 2024
author: Courtney Walsh
name: Meg
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 197108968 From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect�

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby�

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.]]> 384 John Marrs 1335000364 Meg 0 to-read 4.01 2024
author: John Marrs
name: Meg
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 123018918 368 Liz Moody 0063333716 Meg 0 to-read 4.09 2023
author: Liz Moody
name: Meg
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 61822460
It’s time to ditch the diet and learn how our bodies actually work. In Metabolism Makeover , registered dietitian nutritionist Megan Hansen strips away the complexity and confusion surrounding dieting and replaces them with a simple framework that will give you the tools
Your body knows how to lose weight and keep it off―you just haven’t been given the owner’s manual yet. Metabolism Makeover empowers you to regain control of your appetite, mindset, and life.]]> 192 Megan Hansen 1736357980 Meg 0 to-read 4.32
author: Megan Hansen
name: Meg
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> 55255764
We all know that gratitude is good for us--but the real magic comes when we express it. Writer Gina Hamadey learned this life-changing lesson firsthand when a case of burnout and too many hours on social media left her feeling depleted and disconnected. In this engaging book, she chronicles how twelve months spent writing 365 thank-you notes to strangers, neighbors, family members, and friends shifted her perspective. Her journey shows that developing a lasting active gratitude practice can make you a happier person, heal complicated relationships, and reconnect you with the people you love--all with just a little bit of bravery at the mailbox.

How can we turn an often-dreaded task into a rewarding act of self-care that makes us feel more present, joyful, and connected? Whether we're writing to a long-lost friend, a helpful neighbor, or a child's teacher, this inspiring book helps us reflect on meaningful memories and shared experiences and express ourselves with authenticity, vulnerability, and heart. Informed by Hamadey's year of discovery as well as interviews with experts on relationships, gratitude, and more, this deceptively simple guide offers a powerful way to jump-start your joy.

Hamadey found herself thanking not only family members and friends, but less expected people in her sphere, including local shopkeepers, physical therapists, long-ago career mentors, favorite authors, and more. Once you get going, you might find yourself cultivating an active gratitude practice, too--one heartfelt note of thanks at a time.]]> 208 Gina Hamadey 0593189620 Meg 0 to-read 3.96 2021
author: Gina Hamadey
name: Meg
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> 200028726 From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.]]> 240 Catherine Newman 0063345161 Meg 0 to-read 3.55 2024
author: Catherine Newman
name: Meg
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 53257881 Sometimes, love finds you when you least expect it...

Having worked for Southern Service Paws for a few years now, I like to think I’m prepared for just about any client meeting under the sun. I am dead wrong.

The day I meet with single dad, Jacob Broaden, about potentially matching his daughter with one of our service dogs, I learn a few valuable lessons.

1) Always set my alarm clock.
2) Single dads are way hotter than I previously thought.
3) It is possible to go from fantasizing about kissing someone to wishing they would be run over by a truck in a matter of two minutes.

Unfortunately, I don’t hold that opinion of him for very long. Not when he shows me a different side of himself—one that’s sweet as maple syrup and hot as apple pie fresh out of the oven. And after a few days of working closely with him and his daughter, he starts looking at me with fire in his eyes, making me dream of something I probably shouldn’t�
A family.

The Match is a feel-good, closed-door romantic comedy! Perfect for readers who enjoy sweet, sizzling chemistry with passionate kissing only. ]]> 284 Sarah Adams Meg 0 to-read 3.95 2020
author: Sarah Adams
name: Meg
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> 199798457
One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.]]> 288 Sarah Crouch 166803509X Meg 0 to-read 3.48 2024
author: Sarah Crouch
name: Meg
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 207567814
Type-A mathematician Catherine Lipton’s carefully calculated life goes awry when a university’s human resources system rejects her employment paperwork. Soon after, her credit card is declined. At the Social Security office, Catherine makes a shocking discovery—she’s disappeared from the government’s records, and there’s no evidence she exists at all.

The one person who offers to help is Luca Morelli, her attractive but aggravating doorman who spends more time flirting with Catherine’s neighbors than he does enforcing the building rules.

Left with no other options, Catherine reluctantly agrees to enlist the help of Luca’s well-connected Italian family. Soon, she finds herself following Luca into a smoky bar to meet the Mafia, breaking into the records room of a local hospital, doing a little light stalking, and having a surprising amount of fun–all while growing closer to Luca.

As Catherine begins to unravel the mystery behind her missing identity, she may discover that the “real� Catherine is someone she never expected.]]> 368 Melissa Wiesner 1538741946 Meg 0 to-read 3.68
author: Melissa Wiesner
name: Meg
average rating: 3.68
book published:
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]]> 54870208
The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, IMPEACHMENT: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): The doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job—helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.Ěý]]> 320 Jessica Anya Blau 0063052296 Meg 0 to-read 4.09 2021
author: Jessica Anya Blau
name: Meg
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> 60468332
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.

As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.

Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time� The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

Includes a Reading Group Guide.]]> 336 Lily Brooks-Dalton 1538708272 Meg 0 to-read 4.01 2022
author: Lily Brooks-Dalton
name: Meg
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> 204593562 B&N Best Horror of 2024
A Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award Finalist
A Book of the Month Club Pick

A new mom in need of help opens her door to her long-estrangedĚýmother—only to invite something much darker inside—in this "fast-paced and frightening debut" (Rachel Harrison) about the long shadows cast by family secrets, perfect for readers of Grady Hendrix or Ashley Audrain.

Flora is a new mom enamored of her baby girl, Iris, even if she arrived a few weeks early. With her husband still deployed, Flora navigates the newborn stage alone. But as the sleepless nights pass in the loneliness of their half-empty home, the edges of her reality begin to blur.

Just as Flora becomes convinced she is losing her mind, a surprising guest shows up: Flora’s own mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken in years. Can they mend their fraught relationship? Or is there more Flora’s mother isn’t telling her about the events that led to their estrangement?

As stranger and scarier events unfold, Flora begins to suspect the house is not as empty as she once thought. She must determine: is her hold on reality slipping dangerously away? Or is she, in fact, the only thing standing between a terrifying visitor and her baby?Ěý]]> 297 Jacquie Walters 0316580295 Meg 0 to-read 3.50 2024
author: Jacquie Walters
name: Meg
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 193781998 An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actuallyĚýliving?]]> 352 Holly Gramazio 0385550618 Meg 0 to-read 3.50 2024
author: Holly Gramazio
name: Meg
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 199798460
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.]]> 299 Emiko Jean 1668023938 Meg 0 to-read 3.97 2024
author: Emiko Jean
name: Meg
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 195790531
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?]]> 341 Sarah Pekkanen 125028399X Meg 0 to-read 3.84 2024
author: Sarah Pekkanen
name: Meg
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 204593567 A gripping story of motherhood and motherloss and the brutal, mighty things women do to keep themselves and each other alive, MADWOMAN marks the arrival of a major fiction talent.

The world is not made for mothers.
Yet mothers made the world�

Clove hasĚýgone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she’s landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation.Ěý

But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As weĚýraceĚýbetween her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced toĚýfinally unravel the defining day of her life. How did she survive that day, and what will it take to end the cycle of violence? Will the truth undo her, or could it ultimately save her?]]> 336 Chelsea Bieker 0316573299 Meg 0 to-read 3.71 2024
author: Chelsea Bieker
name: Meg
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 214312329
“What Does It Feel Like? is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve’s story is my story.”—Sophie Kinsella

Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain.

As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.

Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief. This short, extraordinary novel is a celebration of life, shot through with warmth and humor—it will both break your heart and put it back together again.

“Why did I write such a personal book? I have always processed my life through writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.”—Sophie Kinsella]]> 144 Sophie Kinsella 0593977564 Meg 0 to-read 4.26 2024
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Meg
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 218653773 "If we do this again, it won’t stop at kissing.� It was a dark promise...

Beckett Pierce is the most eligible bachelor in the nosiest small town in upstate New York. But after his last girlfriend handcuffed herself to his porch and set his welcome mat on fire, he's not looking for any more romance.

Even if it lands right in his backyard. And has miles of red hair.

Gianna Decker has her hands full--no, overflowing--with problems. With two kids, a useless ex, and a brand new yoga studio, the last thing on her mind is finding a man who'll cause her more problems.

Making out with her broody landlord? Yeah, that would be a problem. Lusting after the sexy mayor of the town she just moved to? Definitely a problem. Dating the “favorite� son of her father's new lady friend? It seems like Beckett is a bad idea just waiting to happen.

But he's a bad idea she can’t seem to resist.

As Beckett and Gianna find themselves thrown together again and again, they can't help but fall into the temptation of sizzling stolen kisses, of a desire so hot it brands. And soon they're much, much closer than they ever wanted. Tempers flare when their families complicate things and the interfering citizens of Blue Moon Bend step in with their special brand of chaos.

Can Beckett and Gianna manage to disentangle themselves before it’s too late?

Or is the temptation too much for either of them to deny?]]> 382 Lucy Score 1945631392 Meg 0 to-read 3.95 2016
author: Lucy Score
name: Meg
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 218653555 “I can’t wait anymore.� His mouth claimed hers in a storm of heat and power.

Carter Pierce is a man who believes in signs. He just doesn't know what to do with this one.

In the small town of Blue Moon Bend, where everybody is a matchmaker, Carter wants to be left alone to tend the family farm. After returning from Afghanistan with scars, his only goal is recovery. He doesn't need any distractions, and definitely not one with silver-blonde hair and lips that beg to be kissed.

Summer Lentz is a journalist from the city sent to interview Carter and his family. She's out of place in the small town, with her designer wardrobe and workaholic lifestyle. She asks too many questions and doesn't take no for an answer, threatening to destroy the peace and balance that Carter has been working towards. She thwarts every attempt Carter makes to retreat back inside himself, somehow bringing him closer to being whole again.

Summer has secrets of her own, but she never planned to open up to anyone - let alone the scowling, secretive farm owner whose story she's after. But as she gets drawn into the community, she starts to realize that she can't stay closed off forever.

And what's more, she doesn't want to.

As Carter and Summer grow closer, will they be able to push past the secrets that are holding both of them back?]]> 328 Lucy Score 1945631376 Meg 0 to-read 3.85 2016
author: Lucy Score
name: Meg
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 210163133 From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller and viral TikTok phenomenon, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes a brand new spicy romance set in Dream Harbor!

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues� she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells�

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store is a cozy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:
� opposites attract
� small town
� forced proximity
� he falls first]]> 348 Laurie Gilmore 0008641587 Meg 4 3.68 2024
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Meg
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 213186396 Fall in love with the brand new spring romance set in Dream Harbor, from the bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Café.

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

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

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

Tropes:

� single dad
� forced proximity
� slow burn
� found family
� one bed]]> 361 Laurie Gilmore 0008713340 Meg 0 to-read 3.95 2025
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Meg
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 128138997
A perfectionist maid of honor and a carefree, surfer-bro best man team up to plan a wedding and end up finding a spark of their own in the first audio original from author duo Christina Lauren, a full-cast sequel to theirĚýNew York TimesĚýbestsellerĚýThe Unhoneymooners.

Ami is determined to break the Torres family wedding curse. Her own disaster of a reception ended with all the guests getting food poisoning, and she left her cheating husband soon after. But even though she’s still processing her own divorce, Ami won’t let her twin sister Olive’s day be anything but perfect. Olive may think she wants a private ceremony in Maui, where she and her fiancé Ethan first fell in love, but Ami knows better and secretly flies the whole Torres family out to surprise the couple. Now she and her meticulously organized binder have less than two weeks to get everything together for the big day, thousands of miles from home.

Enter Brody, Ethan’s best man, who happens to be living in Maui and insists on helping with the preparations. His playfully elaborate schemes and happy-go-lucky attitude are the last thing Ami needs. When sparks start to fly, could it derail all her carefully laid plans?

Equal parts hilarious and swoon-worthy, this full-cast production is your ticket to the ultimate destination wedding, bringing to life both a captivating couple and an unforgettable family.ĚýThe Honeymoon CrashersĚýis Christina Lauren at their charming, hilarious best.]]> 5 Christina Lauren 1797158147 Meg 0 to-read 3.56 2023
author: Christina Lauren
name: Meg
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 167770288
Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.

But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore. For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members � they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.]]> 287 Jill Duggar Meg 0 to-read 4.01 2023
author: Jill Duggar
name: Meg
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> 213618156 From the New York Times bestselling author of Nobody’s Cuter than You comes a poignant, deeply personal story about trusting God to heal generational wounds so you can be a strong, loving presence for your teenage daughter.

In medieval times, uncharted waters were marked on maps as Here Be Dragons to signify that no one knew what dangers might lie ahead. Melanie Shankle quips that the years spent raising our teenage daughters could be labeled the same due to the uncertainties before us.

Like a lot of moms, Melanie found herself in need of a parenting map when her teenage daughter, Caroline, entered her sophomore year of high school where she encountered relentless mean girls and brutal heartache. While trying to equip her daughter to deal with the toxic social dynamics of high school, Melanie was hit with a cruel The shame, criticism, and verbal abuse she had endured throughout her own life was wrought by one particular mean girl—her own mother.

Melanie hoped to raise her daughter to be a warrior, and she realized she couldn’t do that unless she became healthy enough to fight her own dragons. She invites you into her story as she explores her complex family dynamics, discovering what it takes for any of us to survive and ultimately thrive in spite of wounds that remain. This was the beginning of her journey of trusting God to help break generational cycles that had told the women in her family to find their value in everything but His love.Ěý

Filled with personal stories and written in the same whimsical and honest style Melanie is known for, Here Be Dragons will have you both laughing out loud and crying—sometimes on the same page—as you confront the challenges of raising your own strong, independent daughter while fighting dragons along the way.]]> 224 Melanie Shankle 0593601203 Meg 0 to-read 4.71
author: Melanie Shankle
name: Meg
average rating: 4.71
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date added: 2025/01/08
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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 Meg 4 4.36 2024
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Meg
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
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]]> 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

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

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

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

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

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 Meg 0 to-read 4.45 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Meg
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> 220999062 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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

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

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

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 416 Emily Henry 0593441214 Meg 0 to-read 4.20 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: Meg
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> 212806981 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

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

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

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]> 447 Ali Hazelwood 0593550447 Meg 0 to-read 4.11 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Meg
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> 56269832 AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

�I absolutely loved Invisible Girl� Lisa Jewell has a way of combining furiously twisty, utterly gripping plots with wonderfully rich characterization—she has such compassion for her characters, and we feel we know them utterly� A triumph!� —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone returns with an intricate thriller about a young woman’s disappearance and a group of strangers whose lives intersect in its wake.

Young Saffyre Maddox spent three years under the care of renowned child psychologist Roan Fours. When Dr. Fours decides their sessions should end, Saffyre feels abandoned. She begins looking for ways to connect with him, from waiting outside his office to walking through his neighborhood late at night. She soon learns more than she ever wanted to about Roan and his deceptively perfect family life. On a chilly Valentine’s night, Saffyre will disappear, taking any secrets she has learned with her.

Owen Pick’s life is falling apart. In his thirties and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct—accusations he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel forums, where he meets a charismatic and mysterious figure.

Owen lives across the street from the Fours family. The Fours have a bad feeling about their neighbor; Owen is a bit creepy and suspect and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Could Owen be responsible? What happened to the beautiful missing Saffyre, and does her disappearance truly connect them all?

Evocative, vivid, and unputdownable, Lisa Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read� (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author).]]> 384 Lisa Jewell 1982137347 Meg 0 to-read 3.81 2020
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Meg
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
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