Emily's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:34:43 -0700 60 Emily's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)]]> 57941596
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels� plans, the choice becomes stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.]]> 807 Sarah J. Maas 1635574080 Emily 0 currently-reading 4.57 2022 House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heir of Fire: Throne of Glass, Book 3]]> 199562610 The heir of ash and fire bows to no one.

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

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

Meanwhile, monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena will need the strength not only to fight the evil that is about to be unleashed but also to harness her inner demons. If she is to win this battle, she must find the courage to face her destiny-and burn brighter than ever before.]]> 576 Sarah J. Maas Emily 3 4.27 2014 Heir of Fire: Throne of Glass, Book 3
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History]]> 70240521 The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history.

Most histories have been written by men, about men, relegating women—with the exception of a few queens—to the shadows of time. Now, bestselling author Philippa Gregory reveals the importance of ordinary women, providing a more balanced and truer chronicle that expands and adds rich detail to the story of Great Britain.

In Normal Women, Gregory draws on an enormous archive of primary and secondary sources to rewrite British history, focusing on the agency, persistence, and effectiveness of everyday women throughout periods of social and cultural transition. She sweeps from the making of the Bayeux tapestry in the eleventh century to the Black Death in 1348—after which women were briefly paid the same wages as men, the last time for seven centuries—to the 1992 ordination of women by the Church of England, when the church accepted, for the first time, that a woman could perform the miracle of the mass.

Through the stories of the female soldiers of the civil war, the guild widows who founded the prosperity of the City of London, highwaywomen and pirates, miners, ship owners, international traders, the women who ran London theaters and commissioned plays from Shakespeare, and the "female husbands" who married each other legally in church and lived as husband and wife, Gregory redefines "normal" female behavior to include heroism, rebellion, crime, treason, money-making, and sainthood. As she makes clear, normal women make history.

Normal Women will include black-and-white illustrations throughout and a full-color insert.]]> 688 Philippa Gregory 0063304325 Emily 0 to-read 3.94 2023 Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History
author: Philippa Gregory
name: Emily
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 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 Emily 4 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Emily
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
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review:

]]> One August Night 201248847
Beloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy Number One bestseller, The Island.

25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.

When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.

In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.

Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island - the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island... and beyond.

Discover for yourself why ten million readers worldwide love the novels of Victoria Hislop...

'This dramatic, absorbing and good-natured novel abounds Greek Island atmosphere'
Daily Mail on One August Night

'Immersive storytelling sweeps you along'
Mail on Sunday on One August Night

'A dramatic story of love, betrayal and allegiances . . . Hislop evokes Greece beautifully'
Woman & Home on One August Night

'Hislop's love for Greece shines through this wonderfully descriptive and compelling tale'
Sunday Express on One August Night

'This love letter to Greece will sweep you away to another time and place'
The Sunday Mirror on One August Night

'Hislop expertly delves into the complex history of a fascinating country in this beautifully written family saga'
Daily Mirror on One August Night

'Compelling and moving, this is a real page turner'
Woman's Weekly on One August Night

'The descriptions of Greece leave you feeling like you're right there'
Good Housekeeping on One August Night

'A beautifully written story that will enchant the reader'
The Express on One August Night

'A dramatic story of love, betrayal and allegiances'
Woman magazine on One August Night]]> Victoria Hislop Emily 0 currently-reading 3.50 2020 One August Night
author: Victoria Hislop
name: Emily
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Wake-Up Call 199214773
It's the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel's front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through.

The hotel won't stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest's lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in lost property, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel - and their jobs.

As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there's more at stake here than the hotel's future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?]]> 10 Beth O'Leary Emily 3 3.34 2023 The Wake-Up Call
author: Beth O'Leary
name: Emily
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:

]]> The Fraud 66086834 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780525558965.

From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed.

It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years.

Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.

Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story.

The “Tichborne Trial”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task. . . .

Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of “other people.”]]> 464 Zadie Smith Emily 3 3.25 2023 The Fraud
author: Zadie Smith
name: Emily
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> The Fraud 123165176 🎧Audio Length = 12 hours and 26 minutes

This Earphones Award winner and New York Times bestseller was named a best book of 2023 by The New York Times, NPR, and more! When a lower-class butcher claims to be the heir to a vast fortune, the trial captivates 1873 London. And as housekeeper Eliza watches the case unfold, she begins to question her cousin’s success� Narrated by the author.
“With the virtuosic agility of an actor in a one-woman play, Smith as narrator so fully embodies each of her many distinct characters that she exposes, sometimes without their even knowing, the ways in which every one of us misrepresents ourselves in one way or another. This is a 19th-century novel of manners in which various people have very bad ones, and the result, thanks to the author’s perfect ear for comic timing, is vigorously, insistently funny…Smith bounces nimbly across the vernacular empire while leaving no mistake about her ubiquitous irony, her vocal side eye.� � Lauren Christensen, The New York Times Book Review

From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who deserves to tell their story—and who deserves to be believed

It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years.

Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.

Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story.

The “Tichborne Trial”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task. . . .

Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of “other people.”]]> Zadie Smith 059378877X Emily 3 3.35 2023 The Fraud
author: Zadie Smith
name: Emily
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
I think I liked the idea of this book - with the different characters and range of plots more than I liked the book itself. I annoyingly can’t really place what it was I didn’t like about it - as the characters were all ok (if not ones I instantly loved), the storylines were interesting (especially with the parts of them that were based on facts). It just felt like a bit of a slog to get through.
]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass, #0.2)]]> 18333581 40 Sarah J. Maas Emily 0 4.21 2013 The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass, #0.2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Underworld (Throne of Glass, #0.4)]]> 13546173 102 Sarah J. Maas Emily 0 4.33 2012 The Assassin and the Underworld (Throne of Glass, #0.4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass, #0.5)]]> 13565676 One final mission could be the beginning...or the end. Celaena Sardothien is the assassin with a place to call her own, the love of handsome Sam, and, best of all, freedom. But Celaena won't be truly free until she is far away from her old master, Arobynn Hamel-so she and Sam decide to take a last daring assignment that will liberate them forever. And that's how Celaena learns that having everything means that everything can be taken away.]]> 94 Sarah J. Maas Emily 0 4.40 2012 The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass, #0.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass, #0.3)]]> 13419891 103 Sarah J. Maas Emily 0 4.39 2012 The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass, #0.3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (Throne of Glass, #0.1)]]> 13415554 Celaena Sardothien, feared assassin, has come for retribution. Celaena Sardothien has been sent by the Assassin's Guild to a remote island in a tropical sea in order to collect on a debt owed by the Lord of the Pirates. But when Celaena learns that the agreed payment is not in money, but in slaves, her mission suddenly changes-and she will risk everything to right the wrong she's been sent to bring about.]]> 70 Sarah J. Maas Emily 0 4.20 2012 The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (Throne of Glass, #0.1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Song Rising (The Bone Season, #3)]]> 201559382 The magnificent third book in the New York Times bestselling Bone Season series, now updated with the author's preferred text and a gorgeous new design.

Following a fierce battle for the Rose Crown, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over the clairvoyant syndicate of London. But with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilizing the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging.

As Paige rallies her army of criminals, she continues to meet in secret with her former enemy, Arcturus Mesarthim. Should they be discovered, the fragile alliance with the Ranthen will fail.

But all bets are off when Scion introduces Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for clairvoyants. Now Paige must race against the clock to stop her reign ending in blood.]]> 384 Samantha Shannon 1639734600 Emily 2 4.27 2017 The Song Rising (The Bone Season, #3)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Emily
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)]]> 21940131 12 hrs 52 mins

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam.

When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes - and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn's orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn's clutches - and if they fail, they'll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives�


A prequel to Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas offers listeners a deeper look into the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling - and deadly - world.

Included in this volume:
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Healer
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire]]> 13 Sarah J. Maas Emily 4 4.06 2014 The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Emily 3 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Emily
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:
I really liked the idea of this book but it was difficult to get into or really say I enjoyed. The plot was interesting, there was so much in the storyline that was interesting but it felt like it dragged, a lot and could have done with a decent editor. It made some valid points on colonialism and even capitalism but perhaps in parts it felt like this could have been done in a better way.
]]> When Women Were Dragons 61053996 Learn about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons...and change the world.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and a new "sister" obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex's journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself.]]> 15 Kelly Barnhill 1471412180 Emily 3 3.64 2022 When Women Were Dragons
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: Emily
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Black Cake 60292604 Length: 12 hours and 2 minutes

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right�? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.]]> Charmaine Wilkerson Emily 4 3.97 2022 Black Cake
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jimmy Anderson: Finding the Edge: The Autobiography]]> 224080091 THIS AUTUMN'S MUST-HAVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY FROM CRICKET LEGEND, JIMMY ANDERSON

'Revealing and often moving' - Guardian

21 years, 188 Test Matches, 704 Test Wickets.

This is Jimmy's an intimate, honest reflection told with his trademark humility and dry humour. From growing up in. Burnley as an outsider, isolated at school, bunking off, dreaming of being somewhere - anywhere - else, to dominating the 22 yards of the wicket as part of the deadliest England attack ever assembled.

Jimmy takes us inside the dressing room, to those unforgettable his debut under Nasser Hussain, facing off the Aussies with Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen's 'textgate' and that Mitchell Johnson incident. He reflects on the intense rivalries with Michael Clarke and Sachin Tendulkar and the burgeoning friendships with Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad. Delving behind the cricket, Jimmy reveals his experiences of personal loss alongside the pain of professional injury, and the strength he found from his marriage and the arrival of his two children.

Finding the Edge is a front-row seat at the greatest games of the last two decades as England journey from perennial losers to world number one. But, above all, it is a coming-of-age story that reveals the real Jimmy vulnerable, introspective, relentlessly determined, constantly evolving - a bowler unequalled, a career like no other.]]> 262 Jimmy Anderson Emily 4 3.96 Jimmy Anderson: Finding the Edge: The Autobiography
author: Jimmy Anderson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)]]> 59960088
She is the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But does she have the heart of a killer?

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. But Calaena is far from loyal to the crown. Keeping up the charade - while pretending to do the king's bidding - will test her skills in an entirely new way. And it certainly isn't the only point of confusion for the young girl. Because though she's made her choice between Dorian and Chaol, the ways of the heart are never simple...]]> 13 Sarah J. Maas 1547607556 Emily 3 4.13 2013 Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent & the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)]]> 180724703 Wall Street Journal bestselling Crowns of Nyaxia series by Carissa Broadbent. Filled with heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue—perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

For humans and vampires, the rules of survival are the 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 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.]]> 464 Carissa Broadbent 1250343178 Emily 0 to-read 4.29 2022 The Serpent & the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Emily
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Book Lovers 58690308 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 377 Emily Henry 0593334833 Emily 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
name: Emily
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Survivalists 59952867 A single Black lawyer puts her career and personal moral code at risk when she moves in with her coffee entrepreneur boyfriend and his doomsday-prepping roommates in a novel that’s packed with tension, curiosity, humor, and wit from a writer with serious comedy credentials.

In the wake of her parents� death, Aretha, a habitually single Black lawyer, has had only one obsession in life—success—until she falls for Aaron, a coffee entrepreneur. Moving into his Brooklyn brownstone to live along with his Hurricane Sandy-traumatized, illegal-gun-stockpiling, optimized-soy-protein-eating, bunker-building roommates, Aretha finds that her dreams of making partner are slipping away, replaced by an underground world, one of selling guns and training for a doomsday that’s maybe just around the corner.

For readers of Victor LaValle’s The Changeling, Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, and Zakiya Harris’s The Other Black Girl, The Survivalists is a darkly humorous novel from a smart and relevant new literary voice that’s packed with tension, curiosity and wit, and unafraid to ask the questions most relevant to a new generation of Americans: Does it make sense to climb the corporate ladder? What exactly are the politics of gun ownership? And in a world where it’s nearly impossible for young people to earn enough money to afford stable housing, what does it take in order to survive?]]> 288 Kashana Cauley 1593767277 Emily 0 to-read 2.89 2023 The Survivalists
author: Kashana Cauley
name: Emily
average rating: 2.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> These Letters End in Tears 185767239 Set in a country where being gay is punishable by law, These Letters End in Tears is the heart-wrenching forbidden love story of a Christian girl with a deviant heart and a Muslim girl leading a double life

Bessem notices Fatima for the first time on the soccer field—muscular and focused, she’s the only woman playing and seems completely at ease. When Fatima chases a rogue ball in her direction, Bessem freezes, mesmerized by the athlete’s charm and beauty. One playful wink from Fatima, and Bessem knows her life will never be the same.

In Cameroon, a country where same-sex relationships are punishable by law, the odds are stacked against Bessem and Fatima from the start. And when Fatima’s older brother, a staunch Muslim, finds out about their affair, he intervenes by physically assaulting them, an incident that precedes a police raid at the only gay bar in town. After spending days in jail, Fatima goes missing without a trace, and Bessem is left with only rumors of her whereabouts. Has Fatima been sentenced to an unknown prison? Has she been banished from her community, or married off, as some have suggested? Or something even more sinister?

Thirteen years later, Bessem is now a university professor leading a relatively quiet life, occasionally and secretly dating other women. However, she has never forgotten Fatima. After spotting a mutual friend for the first time in years—the last person who may have seen Fatima—Bessem embarks on a winding search for her lost love.]]> 240 Musih Tedji Xaviere 1646221869 Emily 0 to-read 3.91 2024 These Letters End in Tears
author: Musih Tedji Xaviere
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> All We Were Promised 182484361 A housemaid with a dangerous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape, in volatile pre-Civil War Philadelphia.

The rebel . . . the socialite . . . and the fugitive. Together, they will risk everything for one another in this “beguiling story of friendship, deception, and women crossing boundaries in the name of freedom� (Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends).

Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.

Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.]]> 368 Ashton Lattimore 0593600150 Emily 0 to-read 3.79 2024 All We Were Promised
author: Ashton Lattimore
name: Emily
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)]]> 204593711
It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.]]> 432 Tigest Girma Emily 0 to-read 3.67 2024 Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)
author: Tigest Girma
name: Emily
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> This Motherless Land 199531828 READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY

From the acclaimed author of Wahala, a “vibrant� (Charmaine Wilkerson) decolonial retelling of Mansfield Park: Jane Austen meets The Vanishing Half

Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.

Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends.

But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.

Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.]]> 352 Nikki May 0063084295 Emily 0 to-read 4.22 2024 This Motherless Land
author: Nikki May
name: Emily
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?: 25 Arguments That Won't Go Away]]> 145624972
The most toxic racial arguments share one of five traits. They try to erase Black history, prioritize white victimhood, deny Black oppression, promote myths of Black inferiority, or rebrand racism as something else entirely. They’re all designed to distract society from racial justice, but now we have the tools to debunk them.

With a mixture of personal experience, reportage, and extensive research, Keith Boykin takes a wrecking ball to twenty-five of the most widespread deceptions about race, such
and shows us how to refute lies, myths, and misinformation with history, knowledge, and truth.]]> 288 Keith Boykin 1541703316 Emily 0 to-read 4.45 Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?: 25 Arguments That Won't Go Away
author: Keith Boykin
name: Emily
average rating: 4.45
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]]> <![CDATA[We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance]]> 199493786 A radical reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy.

Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.� In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.

The dismissal of “Black violence� as an illegitimate form of resistance is itself a manifestation of white supremacy, a distraction from the insidious, unrelenting violence of structural racism. Force—from work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt—has played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people since the days of the American and Haitian Revolutions. But violence is only one tool among many.

Carter Jackson examines other, no less vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle, from the restorative power of finding joy in the face of suffering to the quiet strength of simply walking away. Clear-eyed, impassioned, and ultimately hopeful, We Refuse offers a fundamental corrective to the historical record, a love letter to Black resilience, and a path toward liberation.]]> 304 Kellie Carter Jackson 1541602900 Emily 0 to-read 4.54 2024 We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
author: Kellie Carter Jackson
name: Emily
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2024
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]]> <![CDATA[Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America]]> 55959466 From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.

America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington’s cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. It is the fantastic tale of slaves that spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and negro spirituals. It is a sugarcoated legend based on an almost true story.

It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights—after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie.

InBlack AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history. Combining unapologetically provocative storytelling with meticulous research based on primary sources as well as the work of pioneering Black historians, scholars, and journalists, Harriot removes the white sugarcoating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. With incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans. From the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the unenslavable bandit who inspired America’s first police force, this long overdue corrective provides a revealing look into our past that is as urgent as it is necessary. For too long, we have refused to acknowledge that American history is white history. Not this one. This history is Black AF.]]> 432 Michael Harriot 0358439167 Emily 0 to-read 4.59 2023 Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
author: Michael Harriot
name: Emily
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism]]> 139400705
This is my offering. My love letter to them, and to us.

Jenn M. Jackson, PhD, has been known to bring historical acuity to some of the most controversial topics in America today. Now, in their first book, Jackson applies their critical analysis to the questions that have long energized their Why has Black women’s freedom fighting been so overlooked throughout history, and what has our society lost because of our refusal to engage with our forestrugglers� lessons?

A love letter to those who have been minimized and forgotten, this collection repositions Black women’s intellectual and political work at the center of today’s liberation movements.

Across eleven original essays that explore the legacy of Black women writers and leaders—from Harriet Jacobs and Ida B. Wells to the Combahee River Collective and Audre Lorde—Jackson sets the record straight about Black women’s longtime movement organizing, theorizing, and coalition building in the name of racial, gender, and sexual justice in the United States and abroad. These essays show, in both critical and deeply personal terms, how Black women have been at the center of modern liberation movements despite the erasure and misrecognition of their efforts. Jackson illustrates how Black women have frequently done the work of liberation at great risk to their lives and livelihoods.

For a new generation of movement organizers and co-strugglers, Black Women Taught Us serves as a reminder that Black women were the first ones to teach us how to fight racism, how to name that fight, and how to imagine a more just world for everyone.]]> 368 Jenn M. Jackson 0593243331 Emily 0 to-read 4.44 Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism
author: Jenn M. Jackson
name: Emily
average rating: 4.44
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]]> <![CDATA[Everything and Nothing at Once: A Black Man's Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future]]> 198902274 For readers of Kiese Laymon�s Heavy and Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America, a beautiful, painful, and soaring tribute to everything that Black men are and can be

Growing up in the Bronx, Joél Leon was taught that being soft, being vulnerable, could end your life. Shaped by a singular view of Black masculinity espoused by the media, family and friends, and society, he learned instead to care about the gold around his neck and the number of bills in his wallet. He absorbed the “facts� that white was always right and that Black men were either threatening or great for comic relief but never worthy of the opening credits. It wasn’t until years later that Joél understood he didn’t have to be defined by these and other stereotypes.

Now, in a collection of wide-ranging essays, he takes readers from his upbringing in the Bronx to his life raising two little girls of his own, unraveling those narratives to arrive at a deeper understanding of who he is as a son, friend, partner, and father. Traversing both the serious and the lighthearted, from contemplating male beauty standards to his decision to seek therapy to the difficulties of making co-parenting work, Joél cracks open his heart to reveal his multitudes.

In this book crafted like an album, each essay is a single that stands alone yet reverberates throughout the entire collection. Pieces like “How to Make a Black Friend� consider challenging, delightful, and absurd moments in relationships, while others like “Sensitive Thugs You All Need Hugs� and “All Gold Everything� ponder the collective harms of society's lens.

With incisive, searing prose, Everything and Nothing at Once deconstructs what it means to be a Black man in America.]]> 304 Joel Leon 1250887100 Emily 0 to-read 4.36 2024 Everything and Nothing at Once: A Black Man's Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future
author: Joel Leon
name: Emily
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)]]> 123211531
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

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

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 835 Sarah J. Maas 1635574102 Emily 0 to-read 4.15 2024 House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> David Copperfield 28464497
Listen to Richard Armitage bring Dickens� words to life, and you’ll understand why Virginia Woolf called David Copperfield “the most perfect of all the Dickens novels�.]]> Charles Dickens Emily 4
Perhaps most importantly, this audiobook version is incredible. The way all of the characters are brought to life and you can recognise who is speaking in an instant is wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed listening.]]> 4.29 1850 David Copperfield
author: Charles Dickens
name: Emily
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1850
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
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I used to find Charles Dickens difficult to read, not helped by finding out how awfully he had treated his wife which discouraged me to try. So after reading Bleak House had refused to read any more for several years. Glad that I am slowly moving myself away from this, his books and characters are not without their flaws but there is also such merit within them. The descriptions of places and people help to bring them to life in a way many are unable to. His obvious outrage at the behaviour of certain characters, some of which has aged well and perhaps others less so.

Perhaps most importantly, this audiobook version is incredible. The way all of the characters are brought to life and you can recognise who is speaking in an instant is wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed listening.
]]> <![CDATA[The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1)]]> 32764598
Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee - whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not - stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden - a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?]]> 13 Patrick Ness Emily 3 3.64 2008 The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1)
author: Patrick Ness
name: Emily
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet, #1)]]> 357091 365 Elizabeth Knox 0374318530 Emily 4 3.76 2005 Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet, #1)
author: Elizabeth Knox
name: Emily
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2025/01/20
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]]> How To Train Your Dragon 21454725
Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons--and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe.]]> 0 Cressida Cowell Emily 5 3.96 2003 How To Train Your Dragon
author: Cressida Cowell
name: Emily
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
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So this rating may have been influenced slightly by the fact the audiobook I listened to was read by David Tennant. But this was such an enjoyable way to spend an evening. The book is very different to the film, but just as good but in a different way. The characters are perfectly written, the plot is fun and easy to follow and the descriptions are perfect to imagine every character. It reminded me how much I love reading kids books.
]]> <![CDATA[Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)]]> 19234711 12 hrs 47 mins

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.]]> 13 Sarah J. Maas Emily 4 3.91 2012 Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
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]]> <![CDATA[It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)]]> 62627512 A special hardcover collector’s edition of It Ends with Us, featuring an exclusive Q&A between Colleen Hoover and her mother, a beautiful foil cover, an embossed case with the author’s signature, and newly designed endpapers—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating� rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.]]> 373 Colleen Hoover Emily 5 3.87 2016 It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Emily
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
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The plot of this story is as difficult to read as you would imagine if you know anything about it in advance. However, for me I feel like it does exactly what the author intended in that it describes the complexity of abusive relationships. It can be easy as an outsider to look at relationships like Ryle’s and Lily’s and think “why did it take her so long to leave?� I think this book perfectly shows that it is rarely as easy as you think as an outsider. I loved that it showed not just someone who was staying because they felt they had to but because they were still in love with the person who was abusing them. I also appreciated how it showed the complexity of the abuser themselves. Ryle is shown to quote the book not as a bad person but as a person who sometimes does bad things. The things that he does are just a bit worse than those of us that would judge him might do. Yet despite that, there is still an immense sense of relief that Lily does get out of the situation. That she is able to move on with her life, and be safe from harm from one of the people she loves most in the world. In essence, I guess, the book effectively handles a difficult topic in a very sensitive and compassionate way.
]]> The Water Dancer 43982054 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here and here.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.]]> 416 Ta-Nehisi Coates Emily 0 to-read 4.03 2019 The Water Dancer
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Emily
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> The Personal Librarian 55333938 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780593101537.

The remarkable, little-known story of Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan's personal librarian—who became one of the most powerful women in New York despite the dangerous secret she kept in order to make her dreams come true, from New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and acclaimed author Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle's complexion isn't dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths to which she must go—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.]]> 341 Marie Benedict Emily 0 to-read 3.98 2021 The Personal Librarian
author: Marie Benedict
name: Emily
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> The Lost Apothecary 53288434 A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders� that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive.]]> 301 Sarah Penner 0778311015 Emily 0 to-read 3.72 2021 The Lost Apothecary
author: Sarah Penner
name: Emily
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> The Vanishing Half 51791252
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.]]> 343 Brit Bennett 0525536299 Emily 0 to-read 4.12 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Emily
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)]]> 36679274
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.

As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?]]> 624 Cassandra Clare 0525619992 Emily 0 to-read 3.79 2023 Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Emily
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> The Familiar 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 Emily 0 to-read 3.74 2024 The Familiar
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Emily
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> Nettle & Bone 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 Emily 0 to-read 4.08 2022 Nettle & Bone
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Emily
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Book of Night (Book of Night, #1)]]> 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 Emily 0 to-read 3.51 2022 Book of Night (Book of Night, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: Emily
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Keep House While Drowning]]> 60139504 How to Keep House While Drowning will introduce you to six life-changing principles that will revolutionize the way you approach home care—without endless to-do lists. Presented in 31 daily thoughts, this compassionate guide will help you begin to get free of the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.

Inside you will learn:
· How to shift your perspective of care tasks from moral to functional;
· How to stop negative self-talk and shame around care tasks;
· How to give yourself permission to rest, even when things aren’t finished;
· How to motivate yourself to care for your space.]]> 151 K.C. Davis 166800285X Emily 0 to-read 4.22 2022 How to Keep House While Drowning
author: K.C. Davis
name: Emily
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life]]> 28257707 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited�"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.]]> 212 Mark Manson Emily 0 to-read 3.88 2016 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
author: Mark Manson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1)]]> 55987278 How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy...]]> 408 Stephanie Garber 1250268397 Emily 0 to-read 4.06 2021 Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Emily
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)]]> 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 Emily 4 4.43 2020 House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Emily
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel]]> 156735611 1 Satoshi Yagisawa Emily 3 3.50 2010 Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: Emily
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> Weirdo 200213561 THE DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AND AWARD-WINNING COMEDIAN, WRITER AND ACTOR SARA PASCOE

'Moving and bittersweet and clever . . . I love it.' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH

'Hilarious and heartbreaking at every sentence.' CARIAD LLOYD

'Quietly profound and laughing-in-public funny.' CAITLIN MORAN

'A tragicomic masterpiece.' DAISY BUCHANAN

I hope since our chat he thinks I'm normal . . . I told him that I was several times.

Deep in Essex and her own thoughts, Sophie had a feeling something was going to happen and then it did. Chris has entered the pub and re-entered her life. Just as she's finally stopped thinking about him. Now Sophie has a chance at creating a happier ending and paying off her emotional debts (if not her financial ones). All she has to do is act exactly like a normal person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her light paranoia and pathological lying, maybe she'll even end up getting the guy she wants?]]> Sara Pascoe Emily 3 3.22 2023 Weirdo
author: Sara Pascoe
name: Emily
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
I wanted to like it more than I should. At times it was hilarious, others sad but more often than not it made me cringe. I think I found the main character too frustrating although towards the end of the book she almost felt like she’d grown up a bit.
]]> <![CDATA[Wonderland: A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day]]> 39088928
' Vibrant, fascinating, poetic - a year in living all the things we love, all the things we wish we could, all the little things we step over and never know - the best of British wildlife from two superb naturalists and writers ' CHRIS PACKHAM

From blackbirds, beavers and beetles to tawny owls, natterjack toads and lemon slugs. Every day of the year, winter or summer, in every corner of the British Isles, there's plenty to see if you know where - and how - to look.

From encounters with the curious black redstart, which winters on our rocky coasts, to the tiny green snowdrop shoots that are the first sign that spring might be round the corner. And from the blossom-time and dawn choruses of April and May into the abundant noisiness of summer, where days start with hawker dragonflies and drowsy bumblebees and end with glow-worms and ghost moths; to autumn when in the early morning mist of London's Richmond Park male red deer lock horns in competition for a mate.

Nature is always full of surprises - whether it's the strange behaviour of clothes moths or the gruesome larder of the strike. Distilling two lifetimes' knowledge, expert insight and enthusiasm, award-winning authors and passionate naturalists Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss take us through the year, day by day, sharing the unexpected delights that we can experience in our skies, beaches, rivers, fields, forests and back gardens. There are all kinds of adventures waiting on your doorstep, any day of the year, all you need is Wonderland.]]> 496 Brett Westwood 1473609267 Emily 4 4.23 Wonderland: A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day
author: Brett Westwood
name: Emily
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> The Sociopath Next Door 72536 you know?

Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband?
Your sadistic high school gym teacher?
Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings?
The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own?

In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex was not just misunderstood. He’s a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, and colleague? They may be sociopaths too.

We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people—one in twenty-five—has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt.

How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. They’re more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others� suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win.

The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we know—someone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted for—is a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game.

It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know.]]> 256 Martha Stout 0767915828 Emily 3 3.76 2005 The Sociopath Next Door
author: Martha Stout
name: Emily
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves:
review:
I feel like having read confessions of a sociopath this pales in comparison. It’s an interesting concept and the author obviously has a reasonable understanding of sociopaths. However it at times feels very simplistic. It also feels like a lot has been written from the perspective that everything the author writes is correct with limited evidence to prove or disprove. There are things I would take from it as being interesting but it’s not something I’d recommend.
]]> Cassandra in Reverse 162728951
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
“A Time-Twisting Delight� —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club June �23 Pick)

If you had the power to change the past…where would you start?
Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is a creature of habit. She likes what she likes (museums, jumpsuits, her boyfriend, Will) and strongly dislikes what she doesn't (mess, change, her boss drinking out of her mug). Her life runs in a pleasing, predictable order…until now.
� She's just been dumped.
� She's just been fired.
� Her local café has run out of banana muffins.

Then, something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past. One small rewind at a time, Cassie attempts to fix the life she accidentally obliterated, but soon she'll discover she's trying to fix all the wrong things.

“A great read-alike for The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, and The Boys by Katie Hafner.� �Booklist (STARRED)]]> 13 Holly Smale 1488228124 Emily 4 3.61 2023 Cassandra in Reverse
author: Holly Smale
name: Emily
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
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]]> Harlem Shuffle 58733606
From two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.

"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..."

To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home.

Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask
questions, either.

Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the "Waldorf of Harlem" - and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.

Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

'Harlem Shuffle's' ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

But mostly, it's a joy to listen to, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.]]> 11 Colson Whitehead 0593455568 Emily 3 3.58 2021 Harlem Shuffle
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Emily
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Nothing But The Truth: Stories of Crime, Guilt and the Loss of Innocence]]> 61055508
Nothing But The Truth charts an outsider’s progress down the winding path towards practising at the Bar, taking in the sometimes absurd traditions of the Inns of Court, where every meal mandates a glass of port and a toast to the Queen, to the Hunger Games-type contest for pupillage, through the endlessly frustrating experience of being a junior barrister � as a creaking, ailing justice system begins to convince them that something has to change . . .

Full of hilarious, shocking and surprising stories, Nothing But The Truth tracks the Secret Barrister’s transformation from hang ‘em and flog ‘em, austerity-supporting twenty-something to campaigning, bestselling, reforming author whose writing in defence of the law is celebrated around the globe. It asks questions about what we understand by justice, and what it takes to change our minds. It also reveals the darker side of working in criminal law, and how the things our justice system gets wrong are not the things most people expect.]]> The Secret Barrister Emily 5 4.00 2022 Nothing But The Truth: Stories of Crime, Guilt and the Loss of Innocence
author: The Secret Barrister
name: Emily
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/10
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves:
review:
I loved this book so much. It resulted in me sighing, saying “wtf� and rolling my eyes many times in public at the state of the legal system. At the same time I learned so much. Such a worthwhile read.
]]> The Ministry of Time 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 Emily 0 to-read 3.54 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Emily
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Funny Story 194803835 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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

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

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

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry 0593441281 Emily 0 to-read 4.18 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Emily
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> The God of the Woods 199700434 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 478 Liz Moore 0593418913 Emily 0 to-read 4.10 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Emily
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
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]]> The Lion Women of Tehran 199798217 A heartfelt novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

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

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

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

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.]]> 327 Marjan Kamali 1668036584 Emily 0 to-read 4.48 2024 The Lion Women of Tehran
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Emily
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Emily 0 to-read 4.59 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Emily
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Intermezzo 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

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

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

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

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 454 Sally Rooney 0374602638 Emily 0 to-read 3.88 2024 Intermezzo
author: Sally Rooney
name: Emily
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

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

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

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Emily 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Emily
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/07
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]]> The Tenth Circle 10909
»In atemberaubender Weise erzählt Jodi Picoult von familiären Missverständnissen, von Verrat und Vergebung. Unerschrocken und mit tiefem Verständnis für ihre Figuren ein absoluter Pageturner.« -Die Washington Post]]> 387 Jodi Picoult 074349671X Emily 0 3.53 2006 The Tenth Circle
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Emily
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Four Musketeers: The Revenge Of Milady]]> 5679593 124 Michael Hardwick 086025125X Emily 0 3.50 1975 The Four Musketeers: The Revenge Of Milady
author: Michael Hardwick
name: Emily
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
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]]> <![CDATA[One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying, #3)]]> 197298619
The global phenomenon returns with the third book in the One of Us Is Lying series, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen M. McManus. When someone from the Bayview Four’s past resurfaces, history begins to repeat itself—and the consequences are deadly.

The third time’s a charm.

It’s been almost two years since Simon died in detention, and the aftermath has been hard to shake. First the Bayview Four had to prove they weren’t killers. Then a new generation outwitted a vengeful copycat. Now the entire Bayview Crew is back home for the summer, and everyone is trying to move on.

Only, this is Bayview, and life is never that simple.

At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview. But when a member of the Bayview Crew disappears, it’s clear this “game� is serious—and whoever’s in charge isn’t sharing the rules. Or maybe there aren’t any.

Bronwyn. Cooper. Addy. Nate. Maeve. Phoebe. Knox. Luis. Kris. Everyone’s a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things could start getting deadly.

The thing is, Simon was right about secrets—they all come out eventually. And Bayview has a lot it’s still hiding.]]> Karen M. McManus Emily 3 3.60 2023 One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying, #3)
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Emily
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games 0: The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes]]> 53463024
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.]]> Suzanne Collins Emily 4 3.90 2020 The Hunger Games 0: The Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Emily
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> <![CDATA[As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)]]> 59030168 The third thrilling book in the bestselling, award-winning A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is The New York Times No.1 bestselling YA crime thriller and WINNER of The British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year 2020 and SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE 2020

Pip Fitz-Amobi is haunted by the way her last investigation ended. Soon she’ll be leaving for Cambridge University but then another case finds her . . . and this time it’s all about Pip.

Pip is used to online death threats, but there’s one that catches her eye, someone who keeps asking: who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? And it’s not just online. Pip has a stalker who knows where she lives. The police refuse to act and then Pip finds connections between her stalker and a local serial killer. The killer has been in prison for six years, but Pip suspects that the wrong man is behind bars. As the deadly game plays out, Pip realises that everything in Little Kilton is finally coming full circle. If Pip doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears . . .

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is The New York Times No.1 bestselling YA crime thriller and WINNER of The British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year 2020.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE 2020

Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, Eva Dolan, C L Taylor, We Were Liars and Riverdale]]> 16 Holly Jackson 0593416759 Emily 3 3.53 2021 As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle, #3)]]> 23264672
The Nevernight Chronicle is a complex fantasy series about Mia Corvere, a kick-butt, flawed heroine who trains as an assassin as part of her mission for personal revenge. Her tale takes place in the immersive world of Godsgrave which, although based on ancient Rome and Venice, is imaginative with many original details provided by a beloved snarky narrator.

The Republic of Itreya is in chaos. Mia has assassinated Cardinal Duomo and rumors of Consul Scaeva’s death ripple through the street of Godsgrave like wildfire. But buried beneath those same streets, deep in the ancient city’s bones, lies a secret that will change the Republic forever.

Mia and her brother Jonnen must journey through the depths of the ancient metropolis. Their quest will take them through the Godsgrave underdark, back to the library of the Quiet Mountain and the poisoned blades of Mia’s old mentors, and at last the fabled Crown of the Moon. There, Mia will at last discover the origins of the darkin, and learn the destiny that lies in store for her and her world. But with the three suns now in descent, and Truedark on the horizon, will she survive?]]> 491 Jay Kristoff 146688505X Emily 3 4.30 2019 Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle, #3)
author: Jay Kristoff
name: Emily
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Year of the Witching (Bethel, #1)]]> 49789629 A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.

In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet’s word is law, Immanuelle Moore’s very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol, and lead a life of submission, devotion, and absolute conformity, like all the other women in the settlement.

But a mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood surrounding Bethel, where the first prophet once chased and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still lurking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the journal of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by the secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realizes the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And she starts to understand that if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her.]]> 368 Alexis Henderson 0593099605 Emily 0 to-read 3.79 2020 The Year of the Witching (Bethel, #1)
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

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

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

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 Emily 0 to-read 4.16 2018 The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Emily
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 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 Emily 4 4.34 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Emily
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Notes on Feminism: Being a woman in a Church led by men]]> 62559825
The hot topic of feminism has been well documented and debated in mainstream media and yet, as Christians we come to the conversation from a slightly different vantage point. For starters, we have the benefit of a personal relationship with our creator plus the ultimate handbook in the Bible to work out what is right and just when it comes to equality.

So why do many Christians feel the Bible presents a barrier rather than a boost when it comes to championing equality between the sexes?

In Notes on Feminism, Lauren Windle draws upon her years as a journalist to weave together different voices on a topic that countless are wrestling with, but few are brave enough to probe and poke for fear of what we might find.]]> 224 Lauren Windle 0281087679 Emily 0 to-read 4.28 Notes on Feminism: Being a woman in a Church led by men
author: Lauren Windle
name: Emily
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation]]> 48930297 An incendiary examination of burnout in millennials—the cultural shifts that got us here, the pressures that sustain it, and the need for drastic change

Do you feel like your life is an endless to-do list? Do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram because you’re too exhausted to pick up a book? Are you mired in debt, or feel like you work all the time, or feel pressure to take whatever gives you joy and turn it into a monetizable hustle? Welcome to burnout culture.

While burnout may seem like the default setting for the modern era, in Can’t Even, BuzzFeed culture writer and former academic Anne Helen Petersen argues that burnout is a definitional condition for the millennial generation, born out of distrust in the institutions that have failed us, the unrealistic expectations of the modern workplace, and a sharp uptick in anxiety and hopelessness exacerbated by the constant pressure to “perform� our lives online. The genesis for the book is Petersen’s viral BuzzFeed article on the topic, which has amassed over eight million reads since its publication in January 2019.

Can’t Even goes beyond the original article, as Petersen examines how millennials have arrived at this point of burnout (think: unchecked capitalism and changing labor laws) and examines the phenomenon through a variety of lenses—including how burnout affects the way we work, parent, and socialize—describing its resonance in alarming familiarity. Utilizing a combination of sociohistorical framework, original interviews, and detailed analysis, Can’t Even offers a galvanizing, intimate, and ultimately redemptive look at the lives of this much-maligned generation, and will be required reading for both millennials and the parents and employers trying to understand them.
]]> 304 Anne Helen Petersen 0358315077 Emily 0 to-read 3.91 2020 Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation
author: Anne Helen Petersen
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It]]> 208868800 NOTHING WORKS IN BRITAIN.

It’s harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises inexorably. Why is everything going wrong at the same time?

It's easy to point the finger at dysfunctional or even corrupt politicians. But in reality it’s more complicated. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And ours are irrevocably broken and outmoded.

In Failed State, respected political analyst Sam Freedman offers a devastating analysis of where we’ve gone wrong. Speaking to politicians of all stripes, civil servants, workers on the frontline and key thinkers across the world, this book bursts with insight on the real problems that are so often hidden from the front pages. The result is a witty, landmark book that paves the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.]]> 359 Sam Freedman 1035026619 Emily 0 to-read 4.32 2024 Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It
author: Sam Freedman
name: Emily
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 123010965
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

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.]]> 0 Rebecca Yarros 1705085040 Emily 5 4.21 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Emily
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
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]]> <![CDATA[One of Us Is Next (One of Us Is Lying, #2)]]> 50370170
COME ON, BAYVIEW, YOU KNOW YOU'VE MISSED THIS.

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one's been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it's not an app, though - it's a game.

TRUTH OR DARE.

Phoebe's the first target. If you choose not to play, it's a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve, and she should know better - always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it's that they can't count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon's gone, but someone's determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there's a whole new set of rules.

AND DON'T MISS 'TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET', KAREN'S THIRD "MUST-READ YA THRILLER" (BUSTLE)!

PRAISE FOR 'ONE OF US IS LYING':

"Pretty Little Liars meets the Breakfast club. . .so make room for 'One of Us Is Lying' in your bags, because this one carry-on you won't want to put down." (EW.com)

"You'll tear through this juicy, super-fun (if murder can ever be fun?) thriller." (Bustle.com)

"A whodunit with a 'Breakfast Club' twist. . .following four unique voices on a chase to find the killer, this one will keep you guessing until the very, very end." (Popcrush)

"Twisty plotting, breakneck pacing and intriguing characterization add up to an exciting, single-sitting thrillerish treat." (The Guardian)

"This is no ordinary whodunit. . .surprising and relevant." (USA Today)

©2020 Karen M. McManus (P) 2020 Listening Library]]> Karen M. McManus Emily 4 3.55 2020 One of Us Is Next (One of Us Is Lying, #2)
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Emily
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)]]> 776407 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 Emily 3 4.37 1928 The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)
author: A.A. Milne
name: Emily
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)]]> 59633934
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> Holly Jackson Emily 4 3.91 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
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]]> One of Us Is Lying 35557386 One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.]]> 11 Karen M. McManus Emily 5 3.77 2017 One of Us Is Lying
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Emily
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/19
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
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This was such a fun story. It may have helped that I’d seen the tv show first so was drawn in from that but it’s something I wish I’d read sooner. The characters are fantastic, they feel more than the stereotypes that they match. Plus Nate and Bronwyn make the cutest couple. It was easy to get involved in and I loved the chapters from each of the characters perspective in this story because I actually liked all of the characters!
]]> The Outrun 35187182 312 Amy Liptrot 0393355594 Emily 0 to-read 3.95 2015 The Outrun
author: Amy Liptrot
name: Emily
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 51001293
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 11 Holly Jackson Emily 4 4.17 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Emily
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this. An easy read but with lots of twists and turns making it difficult to predict what would happen or who was responsible (or remember in my case after having seen the tv show recently). I liked all of the main characters which always makes a book easier to read too.
]]> <![CDATA[Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity]]> 58537365 Celebrating special interests Cultivating Autistic relationships Reframing Autistic stereotypes And rediscovering your valuesIt’s time to honor the needs, diversity, and unique strengths of Autistic people so that they no longer have to mask—and it’s time for greater public acceptance and accommodation of difference. In embracing neurodiversity, we can all reap the rewards of nonconformity and learn to live authentically, Autistic and neurotypical people alike.]]> 304 Devon Price 0593235231 Emily 3 4.38 2022 Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity
author: Devon Price
name: Emily
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Snow White and Rose Red (Well Loved Tales)]]> 509901 51 Vera Southgate 0721405932 Emily 0 3.91 1827 Snow White and Rose Red (Well Loved Tales)
author: Vera Southgate
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1827
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> Cinderella 1366730 32 Jacob Grimm 0060851600 Emily 4 3.89 1812 Cinderella
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Emily
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1812
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/06
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review:

]]> Perfume 49020139
But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day, he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume" - the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.]]> Patrick Süskind 1684412439 Emily 2 3.46 1985 Perfume
author: Patrick Süskind
name: Emily
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1985
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
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The idea is this book was really clever but I just didn’t find any enjoyment in it. There were so many far fetched and weird ideas. It was something that I was pleased to finish so I didn’t have to keep reading it rather than something I was really interested in.
]]> Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) 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 Emily 0 to-read 4.00 2019 Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Emily
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)]]> 14061957 Alternative Cover Edition #1

The capital has fallen.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.]]> 350 Leigh Bardugo Emily 0 to-read 3.97 2014 Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Emily
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)]]> 14061955 Alternative Cover Edition #1

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.]]> 435 Leigh Bardugo Emily 0 to-read 3.81 2013 Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Emily
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)]]> 32061282
The highly anticipated sequel to the thrilling New York Times best-selling Six of Crows.

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.
©2016 Leigh Bardugo (P)2016 Audible, Inc.]]> 18 Leigh Bardugo Emily 4 4.40 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Emily
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves:
review:

]]> The First Woman 60605294

Seeking answers, Kirabo begins spending afternoons with Nsuuta, a local witch, trading stories and learning not only about this force inside her, but about the woman who birthed her, who she learns is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also explains that Kirabo has a streak of the “first woman”—an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.Kirabo’s journey to reconcile her rebellious origins, alongside her desire to reconnect with her mother and to honor her family’s expectations, is rich in the folklore of Uganda and an arresting exploration of what it means to be a modern girl in a world that seems determined to silence women. Makumbi’s unforgettable novel is a sweeping testament to the true and lasting connections between history, tradition, family, friends, and the promise of a different future.]]> Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Emily 3 3.67 2020 The First Woman
author: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
name: Emily
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Road 4770168 307 Cormac McCarthy 0330468464 Emily 3 3.85 2006 The Road
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Emily
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle, #2)]]> 36481352 455 Jay Kristoff 0008180067 Emily 4 4.43 2017 Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle, #2)
author: Jay Kristoff
name: Emily
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 25772375 Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.

Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's life-span to making intersteller travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis.

Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.

When the Emperor transfers stewardship of Arrakis from the noble House Harkonnen to House Atreides, the Harkonnens fight back, murdering Duke Leto Atreides. Paul, his son, and Lady Jessica, his concubine, flee into the desert. On the point of death, they are rescued by a band for Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, who control Arrakis' second great resource: the giant worms that burrow beneath the burning desert sands.

In order to avenge his father and retake Arrakis from the Harkonnens, Paul must earn the trust of the Fremen and lead a tiny army against the innumerable forces aligned against them.

And his journey will change the universe.]]> 577 Frank Herbert 0340960191 Emily 2
I was disappointed because I found this book really difficult to read. This was a book that I tended to put off reading, I would find anything to do but read it which is rare for me especially with a long commute several times a week!

It’s difficult to review in full as I think the basic ideas behind the book were interesting. It was something new and the world building was detailed and felt believable. Perhaps it was that there was too much background information - the quotes at the beginning of each chapter frustrated me. I felt like I was continuously trying to wade through chapters to get to a point where the story would move forwards.

Towards the end of the book I felt like I finally understood who all the characters were, how they interlinked etc. I also think the actual plot of the book was interesting but it felt very lost and very very long winded to get there. By the time I got to the last section within the book I was almost enjoying it but it took 350 plus pages to get to that point and several times I was tempted to give up. I can see why others would enjoy it but there was so much in it that felt unnecessary and I kind of wish the author had had a harsher editor to cut down the length a little.

I look forward to seeing the films and whether this will be the one time I prefer the films to the books! ]]> 4.13 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1965
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:
I wanted to enjoy this book as I had seen and heard so many positive reviews about it. I also wanted to read it before seeing any of the films.

I was disappointed because I found this book really difficult to read. This was a book that I tended to put off reading, I would find anything to do but read it which is rare for me especially with a long commute several times a week!

It’s difficult to review in full as I think the basic ideas behind the book were interesting. It was something new and the world building was detailed and felt believable. Perhaps it was that there was too much background information - the quotes at the beginning of each chapter frustrated me. I felt like I was continuously trying to wade through chapters to get to a point where the story would move forwards.

Towards the end of the book I felt like I finally understood who all the characters were, how they interlinked etc. I also think the actual plot of the book was interesting but it felt very lost and very very long winded to get there. By the time I got to the last section within the book I was almost enjoying it but it took 350 plus pages to get to that point and several times I was tempted to give up. I can see why others would enjoy it but there was so much in it that felt unnecessary and I kind of wish the author had had a harsher editor to cut down the length a little.

I look forward to seeing the films and whether this will be the one time I prefer the films to the books!
]]> <![CDATA[Does My Head Look Big in This?]]> 3265822
"This is a superb first novel with clever, entertaining dialogue, language and characters " - Good Reading Magazine]]> 9 Randa Abdel-Fattah 1740939077 Emily 4 3.56 2007 Does My Head Look Big in This?
author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
name: Emily
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth]]> 215956203 11 Zoë Schlanger Emily 4 4.33 2024 The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
author: Zoë Schlanger
name: Emily
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/31
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves:
review:
Genuinely such a fascinating read/listen. I feel like I’ve learned so much about plants and yet equally like there is so much more to learn in the world of plant-science.
]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Emily 3 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Emily
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 3
read at: 2017/08/10
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 61207289 This is not a romance, but it is about love

Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world -- of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, fades from view.

When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.

This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Listening length: 13 hours, 53 minutes]]> 14 Gabrielle Zevin 059359164X Emily 4 3.92 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Emily
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]>