en-US Wed, 16 Apr 2025 23:42:27 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 68428 What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.]]> 541 Brandon Sanderson Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.48 2006
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.20 2019
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 27189194
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid Sarah 0 to-read 4.03 2016
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> 60435878 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 384 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158687 Sarah 0 to-read 4.19 2022
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
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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 Sarah 0 to-read 4.44 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23492661
From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.]]> 342 Taylor Jenkins Reid Sarah 4 3.77 2015
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> 61356542
They said goodbye to their friends and family for the weekend. They weren’t counting on forever.


Jagged Island: a private amusement park for the very rich—or the very influential. Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley—social media influencers with millions of followers—have been invited for an exclusive weekend before the park opens. They’ll make posts and videos for their channels and report every second of their VIP treatment.

When the teens arrive, they're stunned: the resort is even better than they’d imagined. Their hotel rooms are unreal, the park’s themed rides are incredible, and the island is hauntingly beautiful. They’re given a jam-packed itinerary for the weekend.

But soon they'll discover that something's missing from their schedule: getting off the island alive.]]> 303 Natasha Preston 0593481496 Sarah 2 3.45 2023
author: Natasha Preston
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
Two and a half stars. Very quick read. The writing is definitely young adult. A little repetitive at parts. Was going to give it three stars, but the ending lost it half a star. Probably would be more enjoyable if I was a teenager.
]]> 208430658 Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

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

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

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

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

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 430 M.L. Wang 0593873351 Sarah 5 4.40 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> 220161029 In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Women in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?]]> 400 Ruth Ware 1668032325 Sarah 0 to-read 4.00 2025
author: Ruth Ware
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> 205335957
Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.]]> 400 Rachel Gillig 0356522962 Sarah 0 to-read 4.61 2025
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 382 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Sarah 4 4.65 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:
Four and a half stars! I really enjoyed seeing what Haymitch and other characters experienced before the original trilogy. Lots of tearful moments! I think a reread of the original trilogy now would affect me even more!
]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe � a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution � who she can't help but find herself falling for.

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

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 2024
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Sarah 5 4.18 2023
author: Ashley Poston
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:
This book gave me all the feelings. I cried lots, laughed lots, and loved every moment of it!
]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X Sarah 0 to-read 3.99 2023
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Sarah 4 3.99 2020
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I wasn't sure, at first, of how I felt about hearing Snow's story. It was interesting seeing the other side of the games and their beginnings. I think the book would have been even better, and held a stronger emotional impact, if we'd gotten to see Lucy Gray's perspective as well.
]]> 5821978 276 Jenny Han 1416968237 Sarah 3 Three and a half stars. 3.77 2009
author: Jenny Han
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars.
]]> 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Sarah 3 Three and a half stars 3.77 2023
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars
]]> 218515947 The gorgeous collector’s hardcover edition of Blood of Hercules contains full color customized artwork, exclusive bonus content, and gold foil sprayed edges, foil casing, and metallic cover treatment.

I’m just a girl. And it turns out, I’m Hercules.

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

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

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

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

Perfect for readers who love:
� "Who did this to you?"
� Extreme Enemies to Lovers
� Morally Gray Alpha Heros
� Stories where the Villains get the girl
� Greek Myths and War Academies]]> 512 Jasmine Mas 1335474730 Sarah 0 to-read 4.08 2024
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62926981
In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?

Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman� or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.]]> 384 Simone St. James 0593550188 Sarah 4 3.68 2014
author: Simone St. James
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
4.25 stars! Spooky read with great characters.
]]> 209456110
As the land continues to rebel, Lor must admit she is the key to saving the continent, whether she likes it or not. To fight for Nadir, she must lie, steal, and do whatever it takes to hunt down the remaining arks. Growing more and more desperate, she worries her actions are turning her into something she doesn't recognize, dooming her to repeat her grandmother's mistakes.

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

The only thing Lor ever wanted was to be free, but she may soon find she was always destined for a cage.]]> 672 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767694 Sarah 3
Overall, I enjoyed the series. It was well paced and had good characters, world building, and exciting moments. Book three and four could have been a little shorter and tighter, though.]]> 3.85 2024
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars. Wrapped up everything nicely. I did find it a little longer than necessary. There were parts that felt repetitive. Things were said again that the reader already knows and doesn't need to be restated.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It was well paced and had good characters, world building, and exciting moments. Book three and four could have been a little shorter and tighter, though.
]]> 61219118
Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.

When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.

As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.

"By turns hopeful and devastating, So Let Them Burn is a masterful debut with a blazing heart. I was captivated from beginning to end by Cole’s sharp, clever prose and by her protagonists—two remarkable sisters with an unforgettable bond." � Chelsea Abdullah, author of The Stardust Thief]]> 400 Kamilah Cole Sarah 0 to-read 3.83 2024
author: Kamilah Cole
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Sarah 5 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:
I loved everything about this book. It was an emotional rollarcoaster, for sure! The audiobook was really well done and added to the story.
]]> 223338534 Fates collide and passions ignite in New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s steamy adult fantasy debut about three characters torn between chasing, betraying, and craving each other: a princess caught between duty and desire, the fearsome warrior king she’s promised to, and the assassin now tasked with hunting them down.

WARRIOR. King Maddox Kyronan’s fire magic has earned him a ruthless reputation on the battlefield, but now his land is slowly burning. Ky’s only chance to save his people is to enter a marriage alliance with the neighboring nation of Astranza, and hope that their royal family’s power to manipulate the weather will help his kingdom flourish once more. He just needs to ensure no one finds out how this blaze began.

PRINCESS. With enemies advancing on Astranza, Princess Jory’s home needs the protection of the fearsome warrior king, but she is hiding a dangerous secret: her family’s magic is fading. Tempting as it is to reject her duties and run away with her childhood friend, Asher, Jory knows that she is the kingdom’s last hope. When she meets her intended, Jory is surprised to discover that beneath Ky’s daunting exterior is a compassionate and sharp-witted man who sets her heart aflame. But what will he do when he realizes she’s deceiving him?

ASSASSIN. Asher’s done what he must to survive, even if that means getting his hands dirty. Once a young nobleman in Astranza’s palace, where he and Jory caused mischief together, now he’s part of the Hunter’s Guild, employing much darker skills. When a lucrative job comes his way, Asher can’t say no—until he discovers the targets. Someone wants Ky and Jory dead. With the Guild watching, Asher must decide what he’s willing to do to protect the woman he loves.

A tale of three complex characters torn between chasing, betraying, and craving each other, Warrior Princess Assassin marks the beginning of a thrilling new fantasy trilogy filled with enchantment, adventure, and passionate romance.]]> 400 Brigid Kemmerer 0063450879 Sarah 0 to-read 4.24 2025
author: Brigid Kemmerer
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26030734
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home—until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.]]> 282 Peter Brown 0316381993 Sarah 5 4.19 2016
author: Peter Brown
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 195436605
With the Heart Crown now in her possession, Lor must navigate the dangers of being an heir on the run, knowing more than one power-hungry ruler is after her blood. When she returns to Aphelion to unlock her magic and recover her family's legacy, it becomes clearer than ever that all that’s gold doesn’t sparkle. No stranger to battles, she continues to fight her attraction to the Aurora Prince, understanding this might be the one she finally loses.
As the past mixes with the present, Lor uncovers the truth about the Artefacts and their role in shaping her destiny. Now, her future hangs in the balance, leaving her closer than ever to getting everything she's ever wanted... or losing it all forever.]]> 556 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767686 Sarah 4 4.00 2024
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable read with an intense ending!
]]> 18007564
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error� are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills � and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit � he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

]]> 384 Andy Weir 0804139024 Sarah 0 to-read 4.41 2011
author: Andy Weir
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56197501 From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity.

Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect.

Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island—and their own past—or they risk losing not only their future, but their life.]]> 352 Alyssa Cole 006311495X Sarah 3
I listened to it as an audiobook. I think reading the physical book would have been better for this story, as it has online post pages and lots of point of view switches with internal conversations.]]> 3.10 2024
author: Alyssa Cole
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.10
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
I'm debating between 2.5 and 3 stars. The first half of the book was kinda slow. Not much happened in the "outer world," though I guess a fair bit of back story and understanding for the "inner world" happened. In the second half of the book, a lot was happening to the point of aspects of the story not being given enough attention.

I listened to it as an audiobook. I think reading the physical book would have been better for this story, as it has online post pages and lots of point of view switches with internal conversations.
]]> 63133205 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]> 288 Britney Spears 1668009048 Sarah 5 3.83 2023
author: Britney Spears
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
The book could have gone deeper, but hearing her story in her words really hit me. It was so sad to hear how alone she was and how much she had been used by people who were supposed to support and care for her. I listened to the audio book and really recommend giving it a listen.
]]> 35522836
Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper.

Who is the little girl? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?]]> 287 Taylor Adams 1912106760 Sarah 1 3.98 2017
author: Taylor Adams
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
The book was very fast-paced and caught my attention quickly. I think there were a few plot points that either didn't quite work or could have been expanded on more. I also didn't think some of the racist comments were necessary to the characters or story and shouldn't have been included.
]]> 191754348
When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn’t sure she can trust him. All she knows is sheĚýwon’tĚýfall for another royal fae’s promises again.

With the Sun King determined to reclaim her, Lor must keep on the move, but nowhere is safe. Not until she destroys him and the Aurora King. But she soon learns that the future of Ouranos depends on much more than avenging her shattered legacy. Ěý]]> 512 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767651 Sarah 3 3.89 2023
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars! Lots more world building and character growth in this one. Took a little bit for me to get back into this one. But I really enjoyed the second half. I'm intrigued to find out what happens next!
]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

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

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

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

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Sarah 3 4.31 2022
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:
Quick, enjoyable read! I predicted a few of the twists and turns but still liked the story.
]]> 211081092
A queen now in exile as a traitor, Lara has watched Ithicana be conquered by her own father, helpless to do anything to stop the destruction. But when she learns her husband, Aren, has been captured in battle, Lara knows there is only one reason her father is keeping him alive: as bait for his traitorous daughter.

And it is bait she fully intends to take.

Risking her life to the Tempest Seas, Lara returns to Ithicana with a plan not only to free its king, but for liberating the Bridge Kingdom from her father's clutches using his own weapons: the sisters whose lives she spared. But not only is the palace inescapable, there are more players in the game than Lara ever realized, enemies and allies switching sides in the fight for crowns, kingdoms, and bridges. But her greatest adversary of all might be the very man she's trying to free—the husband she betrayed.

With everything she loves in jeopardy, Lara must decide who—and what—she is fighting for: her kingdom, her husband, or herself.]]> 416 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975219 Sarah 4 4.18 2020
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
review:
Great read! Loved that there were lots of strong, kickass women. Nice closure on the characters in this story, but left you interested in reading the next duology.
]]> 211081101
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara's homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.

Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save� and which kingdom she’ll destroy.

Passionate and violent, The Bridge Kingdom is a seductive fantasy perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 448 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975189 Sarah 4 4.01 2018
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
Fast-paced with a great FMC. Liked the world and the MMC as well. Going to jump into book two right away!
]]> 214329001 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391155 Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 2025
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127280850
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 392 Emilia Hart 1250842727 Sarah 0 to-read 4.02 2023
author: Emilia Hart
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50659471
Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, her concern for those dearest to her deepens. They have more wounds than she anticipated-scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.

Bridging the events of A Court of Wings and Ruin with the later books in the series, A Court of Frost and Starlight explores the far-reaching effects of a devastating war and the fierce love between friends.]]> 272 Sarah J. Maas 1635575621 Sarah 4 3.69 2019
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves:
review:
Cute little in between novel! I liked that we got to see the different characters' perspectives and connect with them a bit more.
]]> 55829194 In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standingĚýwhen the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after?

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. FromĚýchainĚýsaws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The TexasĚýChainsaw Massacre, AĚýNightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.]]> 352 Grady Hendrix 059320123X Sarah 3 3.50 2021
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 211479192 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 384 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0593724992 Sarah 0 to-read 3.81 2025
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 122977981
Riley Rhodes finally has the chance to turn her family’s knack for the supernatural into a legitimate business when she’s hired to break the curse on an infamous Scottish castle. Used to working alone in her alienating occupation, she's pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome stranger upon arrival—until he tries to get her fired.

Fresh off a professional scandal, Clark Edgeware can’t allow a self-proclaimed “curse breaker� to threaten his last chance for redemption. After he fails to get Riley kicked off his survey site, he vows to avoid her. Unfortunately for him, she vows to get even.

Riley expects the curse to do her dirty work by driving Clark away, but instead, they keep finding themselves in close proximity. Too close. Turns out, the only thing they do better than fight is fool around. If they’re not careful, by the end of all this, more than the castle will end up in ruins.]]> 317 Rosie Danan 0593437144 Sarah 3 3.44 2023
author: Rosie Danan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
It took me a while to finish this one. The first half had a few cringe interactions and not as much paranormal fun as I was hoping. I enjoyed the second half of the book a lot more, though!
]]> 203579254
Every hundred years, the gods toy with us mere mortals.
And we let them.

The gods of myth are alive and well.
Once every century, they select a new ruler in a cutthroat competition, pushing mortal players to the limit. But this year, Hades is done sitting on the sidelines. And he’s picking a champion no one expects—in this modern mythic romantasy, she’ll fight for her life�
for the god of Death.]]> 592 Abigail Owen 1649376413 Sarah 0 to-read 3.99 2024
author: Abigail Owen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216595852
I'm just a girl. And it turns out, I'm Hercules.

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

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

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

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




]]> 496 Jasmine Mas Sarah 0 to-read 3.85 2024
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

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

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst Sarah 0 to-read 4.05 2024
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63910262 In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.]]> 437 Rachel Gillig 0356519503 Sarah 0 to-read 4.39 2023
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210714656
�'An absolutely stunning fantasy world� Raven Kennedy, author of international bestseller, The Plated Prisoner Series

�A wild ride that thrills as much as it enchants � An instant classic� Thea Guanzon, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Hurricane Wars

He's fire and brimstone.
I'm shattered ice �
I'll gladly burn beneath him until the world comes crumbling down.
As an assassin for the rebellion, Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter shatters her world, Raeve finds herself captured by the Guild of Nobles � a group of powerful fae.

Crushed by the loss of his great love, dragon rider Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, a clue lures him into the capital’s high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve �

Together, they seek truths that threaten to unravel everything they knew about their world � and each other.

Bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched will transport you into a world filled with magic, dragons and a love that blazes through the ages…]]> 576 Sarah A. Parker 0008710228 Sarah 0 to-read 3.92 2024
author: Sarah A. Parker
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63121123 For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom--but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.



Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home--she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King's own nephew, Captain of the Destriers...and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him]]> 394 Rachel Gillig 035652017X Sarah 0 to-read 4.26 2022
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61326735
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?]]> 389 Ali Hazelwood 1408725797 Sarah 0 to-read 4.07 2023
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62919847 A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.]]> 576 Tananarive Due 1982188340 Sarah 0 to-read 4.44 2023
author: Tananarive Due
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205363979 Explosive and enthralling romantasy debut from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall...

Thrown into a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts, Kai wakes in the woods with no idea who she is or how she got there. All she knows is that if she cannot reach the Sea of Devour, even this hellscape will get worse. But when she sees the village blacksmith fight invaders with unspeakable skill, she decides to accept his offer of help.

Too bad he’s as skilled at annoying her as he is at fighting.

As she searches for answers, Kai only finds more questions, especially regarding the blacksmith who can ignite her body like a flame, then douse it with ice in the next breath.

And no one is what—or who—they appear to be in the kingdom of Vinevridth, including the man whose secrets might be as deadly as the land itself.]]> 496 Rachel Howzell Hall 1649377096 Sarah 0 to-read 2.73 2024
author: Rachel Howzell Hall
name: Sarah
average rating: 2.73
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50659472 The epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the fate of Feyre's world is at stake as armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy it.]]> 699 Sarah J. Maas 1635575605 Sarah 4 4.47 2017
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
4.5 Stars! This was my favourite one so far. It lost half a star mostly because I still don't feel as emotionally connected to the characters as I'd like. There was also one ending piece that I think should have been different. It would have made a bigger impact. Overall, fun read, though! I enjoyed the political aspects of the story, the continued building of the world, and seeing how it all unfolded.
]]> 57693184 Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes� Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended.

A GHOST SHIP.
A SALVAGE CREW.
UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.]]> 343 S.A. Barnes 1250819997 Sarah 4 3.76 2022
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
Fast-paced and kinda creepy! Enjoyed the story and characters. Fun read!
]]> 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 Sarah 5 4.18 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:
Loved every second of this book. It was full of stress, humor, great world building, and amazing dragons. I want to do an instant re-read. I can't wait for the next book!
]]> 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 Sarah 5
I'm so glad this book was already out when I read Fourth Wing. I jumped into it right away. The first half and second half of Iron Flame are quite different, but I enjoyed them equally. I'm really looking forward to book three coming out!]]> 4.33 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed re-reading it!

I'm so glad this book was already out when I read Fourth Wing. I jumped into it right away. The first half and second half of Iron Flame are quite different, but I enjoyed them equally. I'm really looking forward to book three coming out!
]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

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

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

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

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

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

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Sarah 5
I really loved this book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but as soon as my attention was grabbed, I couldn't put it down. The characters are interesting. The war college adds a dark vibe, and I love the dragons!]]> 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:
Just as good on reread!

I really loved this book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but as soon as my attention was grabbed, I couldn't put it down. The characters are interesting. The war college adds a dark vibe, and I love the dragons!
]]> 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 Sarah 0 to-read 4.15 2014
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62874245 Ěý
Lee Gulliver never thought she’d find herself living on the streets—no one ever does—but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she leaves her old life behind with nothing but her clothes and her Toyota Corolla. In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move—until early one morning, she sees aĚýsobbing woman throw herself into the ocean. Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead of appreciation, she is met with fury. The drowning woman, Hazel, tells her that she wanted to die, that she’s trapped in a toxic, abusive marriage, that she’s a prisoner in her own home. Lee has thwarted her one chance to escape her life.

Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And thenĚýone day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear. It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was.]]> 336 Robyn Harding 1538726769 Sarah 0 to-read 3.99 2023
author: Robyn Harding
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50659468
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.]]> 626 Sarah J. Maas 1635575583 Sarah 4
I connected a lot more with the characters in this book. The world felt more filled out. I still found the story dragged in places. It could probably have been tightened up a bit.

There were still some things I didn't really love about this book, so it didn't quite make it a five-star read for me. But there were a lot of interesting side quests and good back stories on the characters and world. I will definitely be continuing the series!]]> 4.65 2016
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
This was much better than the first book. To be honest, it feels like this was the first book in the series. Book one seemed more like a prequel, or maybe it should have been a novella.

I connected a lot more with the characters in this book. The world felt more filled out. I still found the story dragged in places. It could probably have been tightened up a bit.

There were still some things I didn't really love about this book, so it didn't quite make it a five-star read for me. But there were a lot of interesting side quests and good back stories on the characters and world. I will definitely be continuing the series!
]]> 191755077 Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King's heart.

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

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

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

Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she'll be returned to the evil—and now vengeful—Aurora King.]]> 400 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767481 Sarah 3 3.81 2023
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars. This one was a fun read! Very fast-paced and loved the trials. While it's an adult read, with adult content, the writing felt more young adult. I would have loved to see more world-building and descriptions. I really enjoyed the story, though, and it easily kept my attention. Will be reading book two soon!
]]> 220161593 In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Women in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?]]> 400 Ruth Ware 1668025620 Sarah 0 to-read 3.78 2025
author: Ruth Ware
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Sarah 2 4.16 2015
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Two and a half stars. I enjoyed aspects of this book, but it wasn't as good as it's been hyped to be. Not much happens in the first three quarters of the book. Very much a beauty and the beast retelling that wasn't that compelling. The beginning with the sisters also felt very Cinderella. There is some neat world building sprinkled throughout. I just wished we'd seen more of it. I'm going to read the next book because I've heard it's much better, but if I didn't know that, I probably wouldn't have continued.
]]> 39816076 From the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female spies during World War II.

1946, Manhattan

Grace Healey is rebuilding her life after losing her husband during the war. One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, she finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.

Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a ring of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.

Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war, and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances]]> 377 Pam Jenoff 0778330273 Sarah 0 to-read 3.88 2019
author: Pam Jenoff
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58490567 The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper--a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC--until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila's past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.]]> 435 Kate Quinn 0062943510 Sarah 0 to-read 4.26 2022
author: Kate Quinn
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53914938 The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy...]]> 624 Kate Quinn 0062943472 Sarah 0 to-read 4.42 2021
author: Kate Quinn
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58724745
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.]]> 298 Sunyi Dean 1250810183 Sarah 0 to-read 3.60 2022
author: Sunyi Dean
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58132544
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.]]> 480 Rebecca Ross 0063055988 Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 2022
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]> 387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X Sarah 0 to-read 3.74 2024
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58293924 Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies.

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.]]> 304 Holly Black 1250812194 Sarah 0 to-read 3.51 2022
author: Holly Black
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 73071451 Sinner. Villain. Wicked.

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

Virtuous. Darling. Liar.

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

Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld—from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond—while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.]]> 612 Kerri Maniscalco 031655751X Sarah 0 to-read 4.00 2023
author: Kerri Maniscalco
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60714999 Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always � always � guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown� and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone � but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first book in a new series of heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue, perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 504 Carissa Broadbent Sarah 0 to-read 4.30 2022
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44778083
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

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

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.]]> 803 Sarah J. Maas 1635574048 Sarah 0 to-read 4.43 2020
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Sarah 0 to-read 4.39 2017
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61149872 1) Treat all prisoners with respect.
2) Never reveal any personal information.
3) Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates.

But none of the staff at the prison knows Brooke has already broken the rules. Nobody knows about her intimate connection to Shane Nelson, one of the penitentiary's most notorious and dangerous inmates. And they certainly don't know that Shane was Brooke's high school sweetheart―the star quarterback who is now spending the rest of his life in prison for a series of grisly murders. Or that Brooke's testimony was what put him there.

But Shane knows. And he will never forget.]]> 388 Freida McFadden Sarah 3 4.03 2022
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
review:
Quick and enjoyable read! Didn't love the main character and found aspects of the story unbelievable but still enjoyed reading it.
]]> 75668288 The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire's shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor's only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire's rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion--one that could save their world...or destroy it.

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters, sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, and richly drawn worlds, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.]]> 472 Thea Guanzon 0063277271 Sarah 3
I enjoyed the characters but would have liked a little more time spent with some of the secondary characters. I also felt like the action slowed as the story progressed rather than picking up. It was very action-packed at the beginning but didn't have the same punch at the end.

I am excited to read the second book, though, and see where it goes. Lots of promising story lines and an intriguing world!]]> 3.65 2023
author: Thea Guanzon
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars. I really loved the world in this book! It was well thought out and described. It felt a little more like another planet than a magical realm. A little mix of sci-fi and fantasy. The world building was a little work to settle into, but it was so worth it!

I enjoyed the characters but would have liked a little more time spent with some of the secondary characters. I also felt like the action slowed as the story progressed rather than picking up. It was very action-packed at the beginning but didn't have the same punch at the end.

I am excited to read the second book, though, and see where it goes. Lots of promising story lines and an intriguing world!
]]> 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Sarah 0 to-read 4.00 2019
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55594990 Alternate covers can be found here and here

The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman.

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape.

One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic...
]]> 286 Alice Hoffman 0425190374 Sarah 0 to-read 3.71 1995
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 2020
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213309864
Neither is the encounter with an enemy soldier.

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

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

…including her heart.]]> 497 Rachel Schneider Sarah 0 to-read 4.29
author: Rachel Schneider
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 76703559 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas 163973094X Sarah 0 to-read 4.18 2012
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 2023
author: Adrienne Young
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Sarah 0 to-read 3.96 2020
author: Matt Haig
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54981009
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]> 307 Laura Dave 1501171348 Sarah 0 to-read 3.78 2021
author: Laura Dave
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55196813
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 demeanor 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?

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 0593356152 Sarah 0 to-read 3.71 2022
author: Nita Prose
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 21853621 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.]]> 564 Kristin Hannah 0312577222 Sarah 0 to-read 4.63 2015
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127280062 Torn apart by war. Reunited by love?

Two weeks have passed since Iris returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over.

Roman is missing, lost behind enemy lines, with no memory of his past, or Iris. Hoping his memories return, he begins to write again � but this time for the enemy.

When a strange letter arrives through his wardrobe door, he strikes up a correspondence with a penpal who seems at once mysterious� and strangely familiar.

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.]]> 420 Rebecca Ross 1250857457 Sarah 5 3.99 2023
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
Loved this book and the duology as a whole! Such a sweet love story. I felt really connected to the characters and the world. I was sad to see it come to an end, but it was nice to have closure too!
]]> 56084054 An annual backpacking trip has deadly consequences in a chilling new novel from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.

Emily is having the time of her life--she's in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of their trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she'd been flirting with attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year's trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can't believe it's happened again--can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving head-first into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her friend's motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their coverups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can she outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom--even her life?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781984820464.]]> 304 Andrea Bartz Sarah 0 to-read 3.46 2021
author: Andrea Bartz
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32895291 New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel.

On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...

The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.�

The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other—ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).]]> 370 Ruth Ware 1501156004 Sarah 0 to-read 3.51 2017
author: Ruth Ware
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29868610 Up in the Air and Pitch Perfect.

Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, Twilight, and Into the Woods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird, and �10 percent defiant.�

At the ripe age of thirteen, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.� In Scrappy Little Nobody, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.

With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments� (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.�

Enter Anna’s world and follow her rise from “scrappy little nobody� to somebody who dazzles on the stage, the screen, and now the page—with an electric, singular voice, at once familiar and surprising, sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious).]]> 275 Anna Kendrick 1501117203 Sarah 4 3.84 2016
author: Anna Kendrick
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2017/10/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 10335308
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you've come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door - not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.]]> 222 Mindy Kaling 0307886263 Sarah 4 3.86 2011
author: Mindy Kaling
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 9416
Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from the bank –letters with large red sums she can't bear to read–and they're getting ever harder to ignore.

She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something....

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life–and the lives of those around her–forever.]]> 368 Sophie Kinsella 0440241413 Sarah 3 3.71 2000
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 256683
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...]]> 485 Cassandra Clare 1416914285 Sarah 3 4.08 2007
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2017/01/05
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 30809786 Beyond the Martial Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister's life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. Yet danger lurks on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor's volatility to grow her own power—regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows that the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. During the hunt to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would help her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. However, in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that demands his complete surrender—even if that means abandoning the woman he loves.]]> 458 Sabaa Tahir 0448494507 Sarah 4 4.16 2018
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/13
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 213075289 Prepare for the jaw-dropping finale of Sabaa Tahir's beloved New York Times bestselling An Ember in the Ashes fantasy series, and discover: Who will survive the storm?

Picking up just a few months after A Reaper at the Gates left off...

The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

By his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory--or to an unimaginable doom.

And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life--and love--he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save--or destroy--all that he knows.]]> 544 Sabaa Tahir 044849454X Sarah 0 to-read 4.24 2020
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55240343 She's been the victim and the survivor�

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior�

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms� dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.

A lover and heartmate�

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.

And now she will become Queen.]]> 645 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457254 Sarah 1 4.11 2021
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
Really wanted to enjoy this series. The overall plot had such potential! But DNF'd about 40 or 50 percent in. Just wasn't going anywhere, and the writing wasn't good enough to keep me going.
]]> 54319549 A Betrayal�

Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that’s one order she’s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.

A Choice...

Casteel Da’Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he’s the only way for her to get what she wants—to find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she’s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself—about him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she’s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.

A Secret�

But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.]]> 637 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457106 Sarah 3 4.32 2020
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
Found this one a little slower than the first. Still a quick read and showed potential to really have an interesting story going forward.
]]> 52831200 A Maiden�

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

A Duty�

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

A Kingdom�

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.]]> 622 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457017 Sarah 3 4.19 2020
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/10
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
Quick read. Not the best writing but had potential to be an interesting world and series. The books start to go down hill after this one.
]]> 133938782
Bravery isn't what you do. It's what you endure.

The duke of the powerful House Hauteclare is the first to die. With my dagger in his back.

He didn’t see it coming. Didn’t anticipate the bastard daughter who was supposed to die with her mother—on his order. He should have left us with the rest of the Station’s starving, commoner rubbish.

Now there’s nothing left. Just icy-white rage and a need to make House Hauteclare pay. Every damn one of them.

Even if it means riding Heavenbreaker—one of the few enormous machines left over from the War—and jousting against the fiercest nobles in the system.

Each win means another one of my enemies dies. And here, in the cold terror of space, the machine and I move as one, intent on destroying each adversary—even if it’s someone I care about. Even if it’s someone I’m falling for.

Only I’m not alone. Not anymore.

Because there’s something in the machine with me. Something horrifying. Something�more.

And it won’t be stopped.]]> 448 Sara Wolf 1649375700 Sarah 4 3.66 2024
author: Sara Wolf
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
Three and a half stars. I really like the world being created in this story. The characters were interesting, but it did take a while for the main character to grow on me. This book is definitely sci-fi with a very slow burn romance as a subplot. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and world, and I'm looking forward to the next novel!
]]> 61070523 A sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, where one girl seeks revenge against those who betrayed her—including the boy she used to love.

Three hundred and sixty-four days.
Framed for a crime she didn't commit, Dania counts down her days in prison until she can exact revenge on Mazin, the boy responsible for her downfall, the boy she once loved—and still can't forget. When she discovers a fellow prisoner may have the key to exacting that vengeance--a stolen djinn treasure--they execute a daring escape together and search for the hidden treasure.

Armed with dark magic and a new identity, Dania enacts a plan to bring down those who betrayed her and her family, even though Mazin stands in her way. But seeking revenge becomes a complicated game of cat and mouse, especially when an undeniable fire still burns between them, and the power to destroy her enemies has a price. As Dania falls deeper into her web of traps and lies, she risks losing her humanity to her fight for vengeance--and her heart to the only boy she's ever loved.]]> 439 Emily Varga 1250877385 Sarah 0 to-read 3.67 2024
author: Emily Varga
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Sarah 0 to-read 3.67 2024
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199700434 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet, The God of the Woods is a story of inheritance and second chances, the tensions between a family and a community, and a history that will not let any of them go.]]> 478 Liz Moore 0593418913 Sarah 0 to-read 4.10 2024
author: Liz Moore
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217442094 A widowed mother, ready to give love another chance, moves into her fiancé’s old family home with her teenage daughter. But as they try to build a future together, the past refuses to let go in this haunting short story from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.

When Jules first meets the handsome artist Kirin, she’s still mourning her husband’s death, but a fairytale romance soon sweeps her off her feet. Now she and her daughter Scout are moving out of the city and into Kirin’s once-lonely mansion. He’s thoughtfully updated and adapted the home to match their personalities. But Scout is determined to keep her father’s memory alive by rejecting the new life her mother and Kirin have spun for her.

Scout’s sullenness begins to fade, though, when she finds a beautiful handmade doll in one of the many empty rooms in the house. Kirin says that the doll belonged to his late sister and he’d like Scout to have it. Scout’s hopeful for a connection over their shared grief, but as she grows more curious about Kirin’s sister, she can’t escape the feeling that a danger lurks in the house…and its gaze is fixed on her mother.]]> 98 Lisa Unger 1662518323 Sarah 3
It was definitely a little suspenseful and spooky at parts, but I think there could have been more suspense added. I really love how spooky the cover looks, so it had me thinking there would be lots of creepy scenes. It would be interesting to see this story fleshed out further as a full novel. I'd definitely read it!]]> 3.74
author: Lisa Unger
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/15
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
I got this novella as an ARC. I really like how fast-paced a novella can be, and this one did not disappoint. The story moved quickly but still had lots of back stories for the characters. I enjoyed switching back and forth between the mother's and daughter's perspective. It did take a chapter or two to get used to the switching while using first-person narrative.

It was definitely a little suspenseful and spooky at parts, but I think there could have been more suspense added. I really love how spooky the cover looks, so it had me thinking there would be lots of creepy scenes. It would be interesting to see this story fleshed out further as a full novel. I'd definitely read it!
]]> 127280445 A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.

Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.

While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by� and the crew isn’t the only one keeping secrets.]]> 377 S.A. Barnes 1250884926 Sarah 4 3.52 2024
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
Fast-paced and enjoyable read! Liked the characters and the mix of sci-fi and thriller/horror. A very accessible sci-fi book. There was a slight love interest hint that probably was unnecessary or should have been played up more. Otherwise, great book! I'd love to read more by S.A. Barnes.
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