Michaela's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 14:20:25 -0700 60 Michaela's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)]]> 58650445
In a world where no entities exist but the Stars, cruel and merciless gods that watch over the world, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy that promises she will fall for a Star, and it will kill them both.

But when one descends to wreak havoc on Elara's Kingdom, she is forced to flee into the arms of her enemy in the neighbouring country.

As she learns more about her own magic, and the depth of the Stars' deceit, she also finds herself learning more about the country she is forced to take refuge in, and the enemy prince forced to train her into a weapon.

Something dark brews within her, a power made of night and shadows that begs to be broken free.]]> 619 Imani Erriu Michaela 3
Content warning: Some language and a couple steamy scenes.]]> 3.97 2022 Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)
author: Imani Erriu
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves:
review:
likeable characters, interesting plot, nice twists, romantic� and not in a cheesy way! Fun read. Looking forward to the next one.

Content warning: Some language and a couple steamy scenes.
]]> Nuclear War: A Scenario 182733784
Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds� notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading, and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.]]> 400 Annie Jacobsen 0593476093 Michaela 0 to-read 4.37 2024 Nuclear War: A Scenario
author: Annie Jacobsen
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> ±á´Ç°ů°ů´Ç°ů˛őłŮö°ů 22729262 From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires comes a hilarious and terrifying haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting: a furniture superstore.

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.]]> 240 Grady Hendrix 159474727X Michaela 0 currently-reading 3.80 2014 ±á´Ç°ů°ů´Ç°ů˛őłŮö°ů
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1)]]> 199667455 “I want to ruin her so that she’s mine, my beautiful disaster. My wild creature. My goddess of chaos.�

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and sizzling chemistry—unlike anything you’ve read before.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, they find something elusive—the friendship of two like-minded, pitch-black souls who just happen to enjoy killing other serial killers.

From small-town West Virginia to upscale California, and from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.

But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love.

Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves?
Or have they finally met their match?

Tropes:
Golden retriever x black cat
He falls first
Touch him/her and die
Friends to lovers
Forced proximity
One bed]]> 355 Brynne Weaver 1638931747 Michaela 0 4.05 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves:
review:
Dark, disturbing, graphic and horrific. This book was too much for me in every possible way. Loved the concept. Not the execution.
]]> Great Big Beautiful Life 218572920 Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.]]> 427 Emily Henry Michaela 1 What even was this? My goodness. Margaret’s story is unfortunately, boring. Every time we switched back to her chapters I almost gave up on the book. It’s supposed to be scandalous, sensational, fascinating� but it’s really not.

The “romance� is a joke. It’s underdeveloped and a bit outlandish. Bad first impression to instalove is really just not my thing. Their scenes are steamy and awkward. Because these two characters are skipping everything essential to what makes a good romance. It was just ick. They spend more time almost having sex than doing anything else�

Unfortunately I think a romance tacked on to this type of story just didn’t work. Neither piece gets the time and attention it deserves. So neither really draws you in or captures you the way it should. Also, it was poorly edited. I noticed several typos, missing words and poorly structured sentences throughout.
The big “surprise� at the end wasn’t so shocking. I predicted this almost from the beginning. Some slight surprises but not big enough to make up for the lack of emotion created by the book as a whole.

If you want a story that employs “the old celebrity finally sharing their life details� that’s actually worth reading, try - The Thirteenth Tale, The Goddess of Warsaw, or The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo.]]> 4.35 2025 Great Big Beautiful Life
author: Emily Henry
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 1
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves:
review:
I have never been more disappointed in an Emily Henry novel.
What even was this? My goodness. Margaret’s story is unfortunately, boring. Every time we switched back to her chapters I almost gave up on the book. It’s supposed to be scandalous, sensational, fascinating� but it’s really not.

The “romance� is a joke. It’s underdeveloped and a bit outlandish. Bad first impression to instalove is really just not my thing. Their scenes are steamy and awkward. Because these two characters are skipping everything essential to what makes a good romance. It was just ick. They spend more time almost having sex than doing anything else�

Unfortunately I think a romance tacked on to this type of story just didn’t work. Neither piece gets the time and attention it deserves. So neither really draws you in or captures you the way it should. Also, it was poorly edited. I noticed several typos, missing words and poorly structured sentences throughout.
The big “surprise� at the end wasn’t so shocking. I predicted this almost from the beginning. Some slight surprises but not big enough to make up for the lack of emotion created by the book as a whole.

If you want a story that employs “the old celebrity finally sharing their life details� that’s actually worth reading, try - The Thirteenth Tale, The Goddess of Warsaw, or The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo.
]]> The Lady in The Window 200515010 The women who live in The Home with Julia rarely speak with her. Julia is not like the other women. They leave Julia to herself, that is, all but Grace who never misses a chance to say a disparaging word to Julia.

Julia lives in a world she can only see when she is in her window. She sees a world that was and in her mind still is. Look through her window and what you will see is quite different than Julia's visions. When Julia becomes the only eye witness to the killers in a pair of murders her life will forever be changed. Detectives Ralph Timmons and Marquis Scott are assigned to the case. They quickly realize it won't be easy to learn from Julia what she saw. Julia can see clearly her life as it happened decades in the past and speak of those events in great detail. But she is a puzzel to Detectives Scott and Timmons who try to get from Julia a mental picture of the killers, but the camera in Julia's mind stopped recording events in her life 50 years ago.

There are several and unexpected twists in this story to keep you on the edge of your seat. The pace quickens when the killers try to get back at the detectives chasing them. A variety of characters twist the story one way and then another. A courageous neurosurgeon, a used car salesman and even Ralph Timmons' wife Sophia are essential in bringing this story to a close. But not before you ride along in a high speed chase in the streets of Manhattan.

Put on your seat belt and ride along with Detective Timmons in his hot blue Mustang or catch a ride with Mr Anthony as your chauffeur while a very youthful Julia and her husband, Justin ride along with you in the bright green 1934 Packard.

I don't want to reveal any of the suspenseful events that fill the pages of this book. I want you to feel your pulse quicken as you read. For those who like to read the ending first, fight that urge to do so. The ending is and should remain a secret until you read to the book's conclusion.]]> 264 Wayne Tamberelli Michaela 0 to-read 4.00 The Lady in The Window
author: Wayne Tamberelli
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bronze Horseman (The Bronze Horseman, #1)]]> 83144 Librarian note: alternate covers for this edition can be found here and here and here.

During the summer of 1941 the Metanov family are living a hard life in Leningrad. As the German armies advance their future looks bleak. For Tatiana, love arrives in the guise of Alexander, who harbours a deadly and extraordinary secret.]]> 637 Paullina Simons 0006513220 Michaela 0 to-read 4.32 2000 The Bronze Horseman (The Bronze Horseman, #1)
author: Paullina Simons
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)]]> 2459785
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a 12-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox (his partner and closest friend) find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.]]> 448 Tana French Michaela 0 to-read 3.82 2007 In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)
author: Tana French
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)]]> 34884810 Catching him will make her career - and change her forever.

August, 1999
On the hottest day of the year, Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, the convicted murderer she arrested thirty years earlier. A master carpenter and funeral director, Larry imprisoned his victims, alive, in the caskets he made himself. Clay effigies found entombed with their bodies suggested a motive beyond the worst human depravity.

June, 1969
13-year- old Patsy Wood has been missing for two days, the third teenager to disappear in as many months. New to the Lancashire police force and struggling to fit in, WPC Lovelady is sent to investigate an unlikely report from school children claiming to have heard a voice calling for help. A voice from deep within a recent grave.

August, 1999
As she tries to lay her ghosts to rest, Florence is drawn back to the Glassbrooks' old house, in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where she once lodged with the family. She is chilled by the discovery of another effigy - one bearing a remarkable resemblance to herself. Is the killer still at large? Is Florence once again in terrible danger? Or, this time, could the fate in store be worse than even her darkest imaginings?]]> 352 Sharon J. Bolton 140917414X Michaela 0 to-read 3.95 2018 The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)
author: Sharon J. Bolton
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Rock Paper Scissors 57026221 Think you know the person you married? Think again�

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts � paper, cotton, pottery, tin � and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.]]> 297 Alice Feeney 1250266114 Michaela 2
poor pacing, the story moves along at a snails crawl for much of the book. Too much alluding to secrets and lies between characters. We get it, you’re liars. Now tell us what you’re hiding and move on!

When the twist finally comes it’s an information waterfall. All of the secrets and lies come to light. The whole story comes together in a rush and wraps up very quickly.

Writing style is mediocre. This was a disappointing read considering how high most of its reviews are!]]> 3.96 2021 Rock Paper Scissors
author: Alice Feeney
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
What did I just read?�

poor pacing, the story moves along at a snails crawl for much of the book. Too much alluding to secrets and lies between characters. We get it, you’re liars. Now tell us what you’re hiding and move on!

When the twist finally comes it’s an information waterfall. All of the secrets and lies come to light. The whole story comes together in a rush and wraps up very quickly.

Writing style is mediocre. This was a disappointing read considering how high most of its reviews are!
]]> <![CDATA[The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)]]> 211081101
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara's homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.

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

Passionate and violent, The Bridge Kingdom is a seductive fantasy perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 430 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975189 Michaela 3 *some language and 1 spicy scene]]> 4.01 2018 The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. Pretty fun romanticy right here.
*some language and 1 spicy scene
]]> <![CDATA[Instant Karma (Instant Karma, #1)]]> 53174679
Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.

When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate.]]> 400 Marissa Meyer 1250618819 Michaela 2 3.76 2020 Instant Karma (Instant Karma, #1)
author: Marissa Meyer
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves:
review:
2.5** they’re just wasn’t anything that I loved about this book. Nothing called out to me. I felt no connection to the characters or story� it wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t good either.
]]> Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug) 36555917
No one loves Christmas more than Pig. And the world's greediest pug will stay up all night to get his presents! When Pig yips at Santa and finds himself joining in on the flying sleigh ride, things quickly get out of hand in a way that is pure Pig pandemonium.]]> 32 Aaron Blabey 1338285920 Michaela 0 4.24 Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug)
author: Aaron Blabey
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Summer (Falling for Summer)]]> 210209498 Every good summer has a little bad...

I wasn’t supposed to be in Sunset Harbor for more than a weekend. But thanks to, let’s just call it—an unforeseen act of stupidity on my part—I’m here for the whole summer. And for the first time in my life, I’m in a whole lot of trouble.

The sentence? Community service paid toward the person I accidentally wronged.

The problem? That person happens to be Dax Miller. The guy who always spent more time fighting the law than obeying it. He's also the guy I once told to have a nice life amounting to nothing.

So…it’s been fun being court-ordered to serve him now.

Except the more time I spend with Dax fighting and fixing what was broken, the more I remember that sizzling…something…that’s always been between us. Or that smile of his that can get me to do just about anything. Let me be clear, with a politician for a father, I don’t do trouble. But what happens when the temptation to embrace that inner rebel becomes too strong to resist?

And what do I do when the guy who has only dated trouble his entire life, has his sights set on me?]]> 364 Cindy Steel Michaela 0 to-read 4.36 2024 Rebel Summer (Falling for Summer)
author: Cindy Steel
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)]]> 211165143 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance set in Rome, Kentucky—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rule Book and Practice Makes Perfect.

Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.

Jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]> 368 Sarah Adams 0593723708 Michaela 3 4.18 2025 Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)
author: Sarah Adams
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves:
review:
A bit more steamy than it’s predecessors, this book has more depth and is better written than the first two. Cute, fun read.
]]> <![CDATA[Spies Don't Fall for Their Asset (Romancing the Spy, #1)]]> 198289572
Every Tuesday, my best friend and I get together to watch spy movies, and I dream of a secret agent sweeping me off my feet.

Imagine my surprise when a) one actually does, b) I don’t realize he’s a spy (even though “secret� is in the job title, so I should’ve seen that coming), and c) his mission is to protect me.

For the I don’t need protecting. But if I did, Jace would be my top pick. I have more fun and feel more connected during the 10 minutes when he’s rescuing me from a blind date than I’ve had in the past several years of dating combined. Add a helicopter, a black-tie gala, and a motorcycle chase, and even though I’m reluctant to date anyone, I’m ready to let him protect me anytime.

Yet, my (considerable) reluctance to date is nothing compared to Jace’s. He has a rule not to date anyone until he is no longer a covert intelligence operative. Something about it being a bad idea to mix love and espionage.

But am I falling anyway? Yeah, I might be falling.

Send help.

“Spies Don’t Fall for Their Asset� is a closed-door romantic comedy brimming with chemistry, sizzling tension, and witty banter. In a world where the family business is the spy business, prepare to laugh, swoon, and fall head over heels in love.]]> 460 Meg Easton Michaela 0 to-read 4.07 Spies Don't Fall for Their Asset (Romancing the Spy, #1)
author: Meg Easton
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms, #1)]]> 36562225
After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.

What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.

This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.

Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace.]]> 334 Melanie Cellier Michaela 3 4.07 2016 The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms, #1)
author: Melanie Cellier
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
Barely reminiscent of the princess and the pea, thankfully! Haha. Very cute fairy tale story.
]]> Meet Me in the Margins 59243426 The Anthology of Medieval Didactic PoetryĚýmay be her day job, she has two secrets she’s hiding.

One: She’s writing a romance novel.

Two: She’s discovered the Book Nook—a secret room in the publishing house where she finds inspiration for her “lowbrow� hobby.

After leaving her manuscript behind one afternoon, she returns to the nook only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all. As the notes take a turn for the romantic, and as Savannah’s madcap life gets more complicated than ever, she uses the process of elimination to identify her mysterious editor—only to discover that what she truly wants and what sheĚý˛őłó´ÇłÜ±ô»ĺĚýwant just might not be the same. Melissa Ferguson’s latest—a love letter to books, readers, and romance—will leave fans laughing out loud and swooning in the same breath.]]> 336 Melissa Ferguson 0785231080 Michaela 3 3.83 2022 Meet Me in the Margins
author: Melissa Ferguson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
3.5 *** Sweet, clean romance. Cute and witty. Enjoyed this one!
]]> Everything I Never Told You 18693763
Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.

When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.

Everything I Never Told You is a gripping page-turner, about secrets, love, longing, lies and race.

Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.]]> 297 Celeste Ng 159420571X Michaela 0 to-read 3.81 2014 Everything I Never Told You
author: Celeste Ng
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Michaela 3 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Seven Percent of Ro Devereux 60656642
When MASH goes viral, swanky Silicon Valley app developer XLR8 swoops in to partner with Ro. She's thrilled until she's betrayed by her own algorithm and matched with her ex-best friend Miller, the person who hates her most in the world.

Thrust into the spotlight and labeled America's sweethearts, Ro and Miller watch MASH spread like wildfire. As the app takes on a life of its own, Ro realizes it's changing how people exist in society. And that if she can't regain control, MASH might take her—and everything she believes in—down with it.]]> 320 Ellen O'Clover Michaela 3 4.03 2023 Seven Percent of Ro Devereux
author: Ellen O'Clover
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
Cute YA rom com. Interesting concept. More language than I would have expected for YA though.
]]> <![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 Michaela 0 to-read 4.22 2022 How to Keep House While Drowning
author: K.C. Davis
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone, #1)]]> 42774138 Fall in love with this romantic comedy perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Helen Hoang.
Kristen Petersen doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.

Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen -- especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.

The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.
]]> 386 Abby Jimenez 1538715627 Michaela 3 The loss experienced was a shock. I got pretty teary eyed by the end.
Even though I did end up enjoying the story, I wouldn’t recommend it to pretty much anyone! Too much language, crass comments, and steamy sex scenes� ]]> 4.09 2019 The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:
I almost gave up on this book after the first chapter due to the amount of swearing and crass comments. But ironically, I was down for the count due to an exceptionally heavy & painful cycle this month� and didn’t have it in me to find new entertainment! So I stuck with it and was surprised by how real and emotional and heavy this romance became. It was relatable to those of us who have struggled with difficult periods and infertility. I felt for Kris, I really did. I understood that pain, I’ve been there. But she still drove me crazy, even if I understood where she was coming from.
The loss experienced was a shock. I got pretty teary eyed by the end.
Even though I did end up enjoying the story, I wouldn’t recommend it to pretty much anyone! Too much language, crass comments, and steamy sex scenes�
]]> Finale (Caraval, #3) 63829792 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
----

Welcome, welcome to Finale, the third and final book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series! A ll games must come to an end...

It’s been two months since the last Caraval concluded, two months since the Fates were freed from an enchanted deck of cards, two months since Tella saw Legend, and two months since Legend claimed the empire’s throne as his own. Now, Legend is preparing for his official coronation and Tella is determined to stop it. She believes her own mother, who still remains in an enchanted sleep, is the rightful heir to the throne.

Meanwhile, Scarlett has started a game of her own. She’s challenged Julian and her former fiancé, Count Nicolas d’Arcy, to a competition where the winner will receive her hand in marriage. Finally, Scarlett feels as if she is in complete control over her life and future. She is unaware that her mother’s past has put her in the greatest danger of all.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun—with lives, empires, and hearts all at stake. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win...and those who will lose everything.

]]> 489 Stephanie Garber 1250246261 Michaela 3 4.16 2019 Finale (Caraval, #3)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Legendary (Caraval, #2) 36337082 A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever...

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.]]> 416 Stephanie Garber Michaela 3 4.15 2018 Legendary (Caraval, #2)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
2.5 ** rounded up. Lots of issues with this book, but still engaging enough to make e want to continue.
]]> <![CDATA[Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar]]> 63193458 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

An anniversary edition of the bestselling collection of Dear Sugar advice columns written by the author of #1 New York Times bestseller Wild--featuring a new preface and six additional columns. Soon to be a Hulu Original series.

For more than a decade, thousands of people have sought advice from Dear Sugar--the pseudonym of bestselling author Cheryl Strayed--first through her online column at The Rumpus, later through her hit podcast, Dear Sugars, and now through her popular Substack newsletter. Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. This tenth-anniversary edition features six new columns and a new preface by Strayed. Rich with humor, insight, compassion--and absolute honesty--this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.]]> 400 Cheryl Strayed 0593685210 Michaela 5
Content warning: language, mentions of suicide, sexual abuse, and more.]]> 3.95 2012 Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
Phenomenal. Heartbreaking, uplifting, funny, beautiful. The advice and stories shared in this are just fantastic. I rarely disagreed on a point and felt like I grew in the listening of this. Due to its format o was able to enjoy sugars advice over the past year and I will certainly return to it again and again.

Content warning: language, mentions of suicide, sexual abuse, and more.
]]> She Doesn't Have a Clue 211653273 With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen―from murder to a second chance at love―in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hotstralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.]]> 336 Jenny Elder Moke 1250354978 Michaela 3
Content warning: strong language and a few spicy scenes]]> 3.43 2025 She Doesn't Have a Clue
author: Jenny Elder Moke
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
3.5 *** such a fun, clever, enjoyable read.

Content warning: strong language and a few spicy scenes
]]> <![CDATA[The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom]]> 214151420 From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral 8 Passengers family vlog and the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, and how, in the face of unimaginable pain, she found freedom and healing.

Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.

Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.�

For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.� No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.]]> 320 Shari Franke 1668065398 Michaela 4 4.42 2025 The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom
author: Shari Franke
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
What a disturbing, horrible, dark story this young woman had to share. But such a beautiful, uplifting testimony she developed through it all. Impressive how she was able to share her story with such thoughtfulness and insight.
]]> Every Tom, Dick & Harry 213558038 From one of the most beloved comedic writers of our time comes a charming, laugh-out-loud tale of love and criminality, a pitch-perfect romantic comedy from the author of Ms. Demeanor.

Taking over her parents� estate sale business is more than Emma Lewis bargained for. Coming from a long line of estate liquidators has its challenges but Emma was completely unprepared for the people she would meet. Pimps, prostitutes, crooked cops, art thieves? Should she turn down potential clients in need of decluttering just because they are shady and proud of it?

No.

A girl must make a living—and it could be more fortuitous than she ever imagined . . .Ěý]]> 312 Elinor Lipman 0063322250 Michaela 0 to-read 3.37 2025 Every Tom, Dick & Harry
author: Elinor Lipman
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Upgrade 59439117 The mind-blowing new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion

“You are the next step in human evolution.�

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.]]> 352 Blake Crouch 0593157516 Michaela 0 currently-reading 3.98 2022 Upgrade
author: Blake Crouch
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)]]> 153283393 This sparkling edition will include a special case stamping, bonus content, and a teaser to book two in this heart-pounding series!

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

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

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

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

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya’s princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is…completely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts 1665954884 Michaela 3 This book sucks you in. It captures your attention. It makes you want to keep reading.
However, the writing is a bit sloppy and repetitive. And, the ending? Ugh. I was very disappointed. As soon as Paedyn found the resistance and decided to help them, I knew she was making a huge mistake. My instant thought was, you’re going to break Kitt. He could be everything you want for this kingdom and you’re choosing to betray him? They’ll probably kill the king which will only make things worse. Kitt is a genuinely good guy, he wants to be a good king. And Pae had such a chance to take advantage of that! Help him see the truth, help him be better. Instead you basically forced him to turn into a monster. Why do authors do that? Do they find that more entertaining? I read another series that had a similar dilemma but the girl was being forced to court the prince and convince him of their cause. It was also dumb. But in this case, Paedyn could have seen Kitt’s potential, and her own! And turned things around. She didn’t. Of course not. They never do. I want a book where the characters make. better. choices. PLEASE.
And the reveal of Kai being Paedyns father’s killer, felt so DUMB. You GUYS. We spend so much time in Kai’s head. He doesn’t recognize Pae’s father’s name? Don’t care if you’ve since become a murderer and a monster, that first kill would stick with you, forever. Every detail would be ingrained in his mind right? He should have realized he killed her dad. He should have struggled with that guilt in tandem with his desire for Paedyn. Would have made him a more complex and interesting character. Instead he’s just super lustful and feels like a monster who doesn’t deserve better the whole book. It would have been more interesting if he’d also had the burden of knowing he killed her father on his conscience to contend with. He should have asked how her dad died at some point too. Both princes should have. Maybe she would have told them the truth, maybe she would have lied. But I mean, if Kai found out she thought the king was the killer but he knew it wasn’t, another complexity to add to their relationship! Would have given their storyline more depth.
Also, why is everyone always the victim? Why can’t the princes evaluate the situation and see why and how Paedyn ended up killing their dad? He was powerful, she shouldn’t have been able to take him out. He obviously hurt her a ton too... or consider the fact that the king had her best friend murdered right in front of her? So she had at least that grudge against him.
I just hope in the next book the princes are more clear headed and able to see that their dad was a lying psychopath obsessed with power. That now that he’s gone they can see the truth and be better. Be more than he carved them to be. Their father didn’t care about his kingdom at all, is that really who they want to be?
Okay. I really hope things resolve themselves in an acceptable way because right now I’m just super annoyed with this book.
Not to mention the fact that it’s a rerun of so many YA books we’ve all read before! The hunger games and red queen being the strongest contenders for similarities. This book had unique enough characters and events that it was still enjoyable. But I have yet to finish one of these series since the hunger games, so we’ll see how much longer I can stick with it!]]> 4.21 2023 Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
Honestly, 2.5** rounded up.
This book sucks you in. It captures your attention. It makes you want to keep reading.
However, the writing is a bit sloppy and repetitive. And, the ending? Ugh. I was very disappointed. As soon as Paedyn found the resistance and decided to help them, I knew she was making a huge mistake. My instant thought was, you’re going to break Kitt. He could be everything you want for this kingdom and you’re choosing to betray him? They’ll probably kill the king which will only make things worse. Kitt is a genuinely good guy, he wants to be a good king. And Pae had such a chance to take advantage of that! Help him see the truth, help him be better. Instead you basically forced him to turn into a monster. Why do authors do that? Do they find that more entertaining? I read another series that had a similar dilemma but the girl was being forced to court the prince and convince him of their cause. It was also dumb. But in this case, Paedyn could have seen Kitt’s potential, and her own! And turned things around. She didn’t. Of course not. They never do. I want a book where the characters make. better. choices. PLEASE.
And the reveal of Kai being Paedyns father’s killer, felt so DUMB. You GUYS. We spend so much time in Kai’s head. He doesn’t recognize Pae’s father’s name? Don’t care if you’ve since become a murderer and a monster, that first kill would stick with you, forever. Every detail would be ingrained in his mind right? He should have realized he killed her dad. He should have struggled with that guilt in tandem with his desire for Paedyn. Would have made him a more complex and interesting character. Instead he’s just super lustful and feels like a monster who doesn’t deserve better the whole book. It would have been more interesting if he’d also had the burden of knowing he killed her father on his conscience to contend with. He should have asked how her dad died at some point too. Both princes should have. Maybe she would have told them the truth, maybe she would have lied. But I mean, if Kai found out she thought the king was the killer but he knew it wasn’t, another complexity to add to their relationship! Would have given their storyline more depth.
Also, why is everyone always the victim? Why can’t the princes evaluate the situation and see why and how Paedyn ended up killing their dad? He was powerful, she shouldn’t have been able to take him out. He obviously hurt her a ton too... or consider the fact that the king had her best friend murdered right in front of her? So she had at least that grudge against him.
I just hope in the next book the princes are more clear headed and able to see that their dad was a lying psychopath obsessed with power. That now that he’s gone they can see the truth and be better. Be more than he carved them to be. Their father didn’t care about his kingdom at all, is that really who they want to be?
Okay. I really hope things resolve themselves in an acceptable way because right now I’m just super annoyed with this book.
Not to mention the fact that it’s a rerun of so many YA books we’ve all read before! The hunger games and red queen being the strongest contenders for similarities. This book had unique enough characters and events that it was still enjoyable. But I have yet to finish one of these series since the hunger games, so we’ll see how much longer I can stick with it!
]]> <![CDATA[Reckless (The Powerless Trilogy, #2)]]> 188365460 Paedyn and Kai battle with duty and desire in this highly anticipated second installment in the sizzling and epic romantic fantasy trilogy that’s packed with spicy tension and edge-of-your-seat betrayal.

The kingdom of Ilya is in turmoil�

After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.

Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.

Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts—and the battle between duty and desire is deadly.]]> 396 Lauren Roberts 1665955457 Michaela 2
Anyway. Nice cliffhanger, I’ll give ya that.]]> 4.16 2024 Reckless (The Powerless Trilogy, #2)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
2.5** Ugg. This BOOK. Is one long� repetition. The beginning was actually okay. But then�. It’s a will they won’t they? I hate you I love you. I want you I need you. I despise you� kinda thing. In a loop. Paedyn’s acceptance of her fate and excessive flirting with this man she by all accounts should hate with a burning passion... Makes no sense. She just forgave Kai way too easily and quickly after he chained her to him. I mean literally dragging her to her death. Struggled with that a bit. This is a romance disguised as a YA fantasy series. Like big sappy desire filled chapter after another. Honestly, if it weren’t for the end of the book I would have zero desire to keep reading. I figured out the princes plan seconds before I read it because Kitt’s chapters were semi disjointed and I was much more distracted by the whole Calum thing. Like, who the heck is this guy for real?? That distracted me from the box. Not that I would have figured it out before the end because we were never made aware of its size... beside the point.

Anyway. Nice cliffhanger, I’ll give ya that.
]]> Wizard for Hire 35909705 Wizard for Hire. Call 555-SPEL." Ozzy has read about wizards in books like Harry Potter, but wizards couldn't actually exist today, could they? After Ozzy meets the wizard Labyrinth � aka Rin � he's even more skeptical.

Sure, Rin dresses like a wizard, but the short robe and high-top tennis shoes seem unorthodox, as does Rin's habit of writing notes on his shoes and eating breakfast for every meal. Plus, Rin doesn't even cast any magic spells, which means that the unexplained coincidences that start happening around Ozzy are just that � coincidences.

With the help of a robotic-talking raven invented by Ozzy's father, a kind and curious girl at school who decides to help Ozzy, and, of course, a self-proclaimed wizard who may or may not have a magical wand, Ozzy begins an unforgettable quest that will lead him closer to the answers he desperately seeks about his missing parents.]]> 400 Obert Skye 1629724122 Michaela 3 2.5** rounded up 3.91 2018 Wizard for Hire
author: Obert Skye
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
2.5** rounded up
]]> The Licanius Trilogy 134913109

Davian has won a victory for the Augurs, but treachery surrounds him and his allies on all sides in the second book of the acclaimed Licanus Trilogy, in which "fans of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson will find much to admire." (The Guardian) Following a devastating attack, an amnesty has been declared for all Augurs -- finally allowing them to emerge from hiding and openly oppose the dark forces massing against the land of Andarra.


The journey that began with The Shadow of What Was Lostreaches its spectacular conclusion in The Light of All That Falls, the final chapter of the Licanius Trilogy by acclaimed epic fantasy author James Islington. After a savage battle, the Boundary is whole again -- but it may be too late. Banes now stalk the lands of Andarra, and the Venerate have gathered their armies for a final, crushing blow.]]> 0 James Islington 9123917644 Michaela 0 to-read 4.53 2020 The Licanius Trilogy
author: James Islington
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Woman in the Library 56803179 In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.]]> 292 Sulari Gentill Michaela 0 to-read 3.46 2022 The Woman in the Library
author: Sulari Gentill
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery]]> 30753888 Join over 1 million other readers worldwide on a journey of spiritual growth and self-awareness.

What you don't know about yourself can hurt you and your relationships—and even keep you in the shallows with God. Do you want help figuring out who you are and why you're stuck in the same ruts?

The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system with an uncanny accuracy in describing how human beings are wired, both positively and negatively. In The Road Back to You Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile forge a unique approach—a practical, comprehensive way of accessing Enneagram wisdom and exploring its connections with Christian spirituality for a deeper knowledge of ourselves, compassion for others, and love for God.

Witty and filled with stories, this book allows you to peek inside each of the nine Enneagram types, keeping you turning the pages long after you have read the chapter about your own number. Not only will you learn more about yourself, but you will also start to see the world through other people's eyes, understanding how and why people think, feel, and act the way they do.

To guide your first steps into your self-awareness journey, The Road Back to You

Introductions to each Enneagram typeQuestions to help you identify your numberChanges you can make today to pursue deeper self-awarenessDigestible windows into the other types, helping you see others with more compassion and empathyThe wisdom of the Enneagram can help take you further along into who you really are—leading you into places of spiritual discovery you would never have found on your own, and paving the way to the wiser, more compassionate person you want to become.]]> 229 Ian Morgan Cron Michaela 3 4.28 2016 The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery
author: Ian Morgan Cron
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Caraval (Caraval, #1) 38715000 A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.]]> 361 Stephanie Garber Michaela 3 3.97 2016 Caraval (Caraval, #1)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The List (The Konrath Dark Thriller Collective #1)]]> 37003268 YOU WON'T GUESS THE BIGGEST TWIST IN THRILLER FICTION...

A billionaire Senator with money to burn...
A thirty year old science experiment, about to be revealed...
Seven people, marked for death, not for what they know, but for what they are...

THE LIST by JA Konrath
History is about to repeat itself

If you are a more sensitive (or adventurous) reader, the Konrath scale rates specific categories from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) to give you some idea if this is your kind of book.

THE LIST
Scary - 6
Violent - 6
Funny - 7
Sexy - 4
Crossovers - Includes characters from the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective, the Jack Daniels thrillers, the Codename: Chandler series, and the Timecaster series.]]> 347 J.A. Konrath 0786042745 Michaela 0 to-read 3.61 2009 The List (The Konrath Dark Thriller Collective #1)
author: J.A. Konrath
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

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

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

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

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

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Michaela 3 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
This book is interesting but I’m honestly not sure if I’ll finish it. I learned a lot but got bored over time. I do agree that the topics he tackles are important and eye opening. Maybe I’ll try to pick up again eventually!
]]> Six Years 59119564
But she is not Natalie.

Soon Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart puts his very life at risk, as he uncovers the secrets and lies that love can hide...]]> 369 Harlan Coben Michaela 2 An ending makes or breaks a book for me. It can lift it up half a star or take it down. This ending was solid. Not amazing or mind blowing. But it did wrap everything up in a neat little bow. Which really, was there any other way to end this book?
I didn’t figure out the twist in this one, but it wasn’t because it was supremely clever, it was because I didn’t care enough to try to. I realized at the end of reading it that I genuinely didn’t think about the book except when I was reading it and my brain wasn’t whirring trying to figure out the mystery of it all, I was just. Reading.
The writing was clever and funny at times but was lacking a good cadence or flow. At times it felt sloppy and it often felt like we jumped around. We’d skip to the past and back but that wasn’t made clear so it took a second to realize what had happened.
Overall not a terrible read, I was engaged enough that I wanted to finish the story and I did chuckle a time or two. But it was missing something. Something that sucked me in, made me want to figure out the story myself, had me guessing and surprised. But honestly? Even though I didn’t figure out the twist, I wasn’t surprised at all. It was like “okay, yeah. That tracks.� ]]> 4.24 2013 Six Years
author: Harlan Coben
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
2.5**
An ending makes or breaks a book for me. It can lift it up half a star or take it down. This ending was solid. Not amazing or mind blowing. But it did wrap everything up in a neat little bow. Which really, was there any other way to end this book?
I didn’t figure out the twist in this one, but it wasn’t because it was supremely clever, it was because I didn’t care enough to try to. I realized at the end of reading it that I genuinely didn’t think about the book except when I was reading it and my brain wasn’t whirring trying to figure out the mystery of it all, I was just. Reading.
The writing was clever and funny at times but was lacking a good cadence or flow. At times it felt sloppy and it often felt like we jumped around. We’d skip to the past and back but that wasn’t made clear so it took a second to realize what had happened.
Overall not a terrible read, I was engaged enough that I wanted to finish the story and I did chuckle a time or two. But it was missing something. Something that sucked me in, made me want to figure out the story myself, had me guessing and surprised. But honestly? Even though I didn’t figure out the twist, I wasn’t surprised at all. It was like “okay, yeah. That tracks.�
]]> <![CDATA[How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (How to Train Your Dragon, #4)]]> 454600 241 Cressida Cowell 0316114251 Michaela 3 4.23 2006 How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (How to Train Your Dragon, #4)
author: Cressida Cowell
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Speak Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon, #3)]]> 971239 256 Cressida Cowell 0340893044 Michaela 3 4.14 2005 How to Speak Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon, #3)
author: Cressida Cowell
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Midnight Feast 199743738 Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin...

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests� healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule� cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

THE FOUNDER * THE HUSBAND * THE MYSTERY GUEST * THE KITCHEN HELP

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at� The Midnight Feast.]]> 354 Lucy Foley 0063003104 Michaela 3 Lots of language but a clever, dark premise. Great twists.]]> 3.55 2024 The Midnight Feast
author: Lucy Foley
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:
3.5 ***
Lots of language but a clever, dark premise. Great twists.
]]> The September House 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]> 352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 Michaela 3 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
Lots of language and quite gory. This was a unique ghost story and I feel like I’m still processing it�
]]> Mask of the Deer Woman 211953352 To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself. At rock bottom following her daughter’s murder, ex-Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation that raised him, but they need a new tribal marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home. In the last decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some dead, others just� gone. Now, local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save. Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her. What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.]]> 336 Laurie L. Dove 0593816102 Michaela 0 to-read 3.56 2025 Mask of the Deer Woman
author: Laurie L. Dove
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Return of Ellie Black 199798460
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

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

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

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.]]> 299 Emiko Jean 1668023938 Michaela 0 to-read 3.97 2024 The Return of Ellie Black
author: Emiko Jean
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Last Twilight in Paris 212378273
London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.

Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours.]]> 336 Pam Jenoff 0778307980 Michaela 0 to-read 3.95 2025 Last Twilight in Paris
author: Pam Jenoff
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Promise Me Sunshine 214269328 Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of... a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again� list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.]]> 416 Cara Bastone 0593595734 Michaela 0 to-read 4.23 2025 Promise Me Sunshine
author: Cara Bastone
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Outsiders 16147088
Written forty-five years ago, S. E. Hinton's classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was written.]]> 196 S.E. Hinton 1101642610 Michaela 0 currently-reading 4.40 1967 The Outsiders
author: S.E. Hinton
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Librarian Spy 58787295 A moving novel inspired by the true history of America’s library spies of World War II.

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.]]> 400 Madeline Martin 1335426914 Michaela 0 to-read 3.91 2022 The Librarian Spy
author: Madeline Martin
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Chalice of the Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Senior Year Adventures, #1)]]> 63035432
Unfortunately, the gods aren’t quite done with him yet. Poseidon breaks the bad news that if Percy expects to get into New Rome University, he will have to fulfill three quests in order to earn the necessary three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus.

The first task is to help Ganymede, Zeus’s cupbearer, retrieve his golden goblet before it falls into the wrong hands. You see, one sip from it can turn a mortal into a god, and Zeus would not be pleased with that result. Can Percy and his friends Grover and Annabeth find the precious cup in time? And if they do, will they be able to resist its special power?

Readers new to Percy Jackson universe and fans who have been awaiting this reunion for more than a decade will delight equally in this latest hilarious take on Greek mythology by the "storyteller of the gods."]]> 288 Rick Riordan 1368098177 Michaela 2 Also, what happened to all that development? These characters were caricatures of the originals. It’s been a very long time since I read Percy’s first books, but I still felt turned off by so much of the events and actions and thoughts of our characters. They’re supposed to be seniors in high school, they should be more mature, deep and complex.
I love Percy, Anabeth and Grover but honestly wouldn’t have picked up this book had my ten year old not begged me to. Our time spent with them was over. Their cameos in other Riordan books was enough to let us see how they’re doing. We didn’t need this series. In fact we don’t need anymore books in this world. Riordan has milked these characters for all they’re worth and the books have been steadily declining in quality since the original series. Let it go man, let it go. Find a new idea.]]> 4.27 2023 The Chalice of the Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Senior Year Adventures, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:
This book is essentially an extended short story. It’s written like a short story but is too long for that style to feel comfortable. This book has much of the charm of the original series and can certainly feel nostalgic, but it also feels� rushed. It doesn’t feel as polished as the other books. It feels� incomplete. Like we’re skipping some steps. It’s not as well developed as it should be. It is missing the depth and development spent on the original series.
Also, what happened to all that development? These characters were caricatures of the originals. It’s been a very long time since I read Percy’s first books, but I still felt turned off by so much of the events and actions and thoughts of our characters. They’re supposed to be seniors in high school, they should be more mature, deep and complex.
I love Percy, Anabeth and Grover but honestly wouldn’t have picked up this book had my ten year old not begged me to. Our time spent with them was over. Their cameos in other Riordan books was enough to let us see how they’re doing. We didn’t need this series. In fact we don’t need anymore books in this world. Riordan has milked these characters for all they’re worth and the books have been steadily declining in quality since the original series. Let it go man, let it go. Find a new idea.
]]> <![CDATA[Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell, #1)]]> 204276 The Barnes & Noble Review
From the bestselling author of Last Man Standing and Absolute Power comes another high-tension thriller guaranteed to get your heart hammering.

Sean King is a former Secret Service agent who, eight years ago, botched the job of protecting a presidential candidate. When he meets Michelle Maxwell, an attractive agent whose political charge has just been kidnapped, the two disgraced operatives uncover an ominous connection between the incidents. They team up, and -- as bodies begin to pile up -- they find themselves racing against the clock to prevent an assassin from striking again along the campaign trail.

A masterful craftsman, Baldacci manipulates his story line with great effectiveness, creating a sense of danger and foreboding and imbuing even secondary characters with enough depth and dimension to rescue them from stereotypes. Conspiracies and mysteries abound in this taut mystery that weaves together action-packed scenarios and solid emotional impact. If Absolute Power elevated Baldacci to the highest ranks of suspense fiction, the compulsively readable Split Second will solidify his position at the top. Tom Piccirilli]]> 512 David Baldacci 0446614459 Michaela 0 to-read 4.00 1979 Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Just for the Summer 195834342
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?]]> 400 Abby Jimenez Michaela 3 A bit of language and one spicy scene.]]> 4.47 2024 Just for the Summer
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
Another sweet romance by Abby Jimenez! This was my favorite of this series. Some beautiful insight into trauma, grief, and the way we deal with it. I really enjoyed this one.
A bit of language and one spicy scene.
]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209668781 Discover the instant #1 New York Times bestseller! TV series now in development at MGM Amazon Studios with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society.

Accolades for Fourth Wing
Amazon Best Books of the Year, #4 â€� Apple Best Books of the Year 2023 â€� Barnes & Noble Best Fantasy Book of 2023 â€� NPR "Books We Love" 2023 â€� Audible Best Books of 2023 â€� Hudson Book of the Year â€� Google Play Best Books of 2023 â€� Indigo Best Books of 2023 â€� Waterstones Book of the Year finalist â€� Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice Award Winner â€� Newsweek Staffersâ€� Favorite Books of 2023 â€� Paste Magazine’s Best Books of 2023 â€� TikTok Book Awards UK and Ireland Book of the Year (International) 2024

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

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

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.

But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.
Reading Order:
Book #1 Fourth Wing
Book #2 Iron Flame
Book #3 Onyx Storm]]> 758 Rebecca Yarros 1649376944 Michaela 2
The whole venin thing could have been explained more. Like I just don’t get Xaden’s struggle. I could have used just, more� explanation on that? I don’t know.

Several battles ensue, all of which feel very similar. Kill the wyvern and venin! Not many casualties that we care about. AND there are too many characters in the book for me to keep up with. I think if you read these books back to back with no break in between you could keep up with it all� but we have to wait between releases and I don’t have time to reread everything every time� so many characters were brought up and I was just like “…who?� A few of the losses were clearly meant to be impactful but I didn’t even remember who the character was enough to care.

The story would have been better if the author had spent most of its time on the search for answers. Most interesting and underdeveloped part of the story.
The venin could have been explored more. Why one toe dipped in the water is such a problem and how more people don’t end up doing it. Is it hard the first time? Why so easy after that? Why is it addicting to the point where you can’t control yourself? How does the heirarchy work? Are they permanently attached to the venin that “turned them� are they really turned if they make the choice themself? Because they put people in such a compromising situation they feel they have no choice but to turn to evil magic?? Black magic? Destructive magic? So many questions.
Also was Barlowe turning before Violet “killed him?� Thats how he survived? Pretty sure that’s what they’re going for, but we could have spent more time on understanding his story and what they were doing to him in the previous book. Maybe it would have given Violet some insight into what’s going on with Xaden if nothing else? But I felt Violet’s questions were just dumb in this book. Pointless and unhelpful.

Honestly? This book felt unnecessary. Unfortunate. The first book was a blast. Second left me very conflicted. I loved parts of it and hated others so I wasn’t going into this book with high expectations� but I was still left disappointed. Not enough character growth or story progression. Plenty happened and yet nothing happened in this book. Also too much obsessive behavior, explicit sex scenes, and language. (Not a surprise, but it would be nice to see the author move away from this a little bit� maybe the next one will?) maybe 1/4 of this book was necessary to the story. Can I get an abridged version please? Hunt for answers, all the Andarna, and the final battle. That’s all you need from this one.

I’ll give it to Yarros though, that woman is the queen of cliff hangers. Didn’t love the perspective jumps at the end of the book and didn’t see the need for them. But holy moly. Where is the book even going from here?

Also, random question…s. Do the dragons still die if their rider actually gets old and dies of natural causes? Do most riders die dramatically at a young age? Do most dragons die with their rider? That’s what it sounds like. If so, why are any of these dragons still bonding? Is their race dying out because they’re bonding? How many eggs are these dragons laying? And which ones are laying them? The only mated pair we really learn about are Sgaeyl and Tairn� why ARE they the only ones talked about? Are there more? Do they not bond if they’re mated? Why did Tairn and Sgaeyl bond then? Just a thought haha.]]> 4.42 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:
2.5** this just felt like more of the same? Drama, sex, avoidance, battle� on repeat. The time at the school feels unnecessary. The time spent traveling was the most interesting� but it felt rushed. Surprising since the book was long enough that everything else felt dragged out.

The whole venin thing could have been explained more. Like I just don’t get Xaden’s struggle. I could have used just, more� explanation on that? I don’t know.

Several battles ensue, all of which feel very similar. Kill the wyvern and venin! Not many casualties that we care about. AND there are too many characters in the book for me to keep up with. I think if you read these books back to back with no break in between you could keep up with it all� but we have to wait between releases and I don’t have time to reread everything every time� so many characters were brought up and I was just like “…who?� A few of the losses were clearly meant to be impactful but I didn’t even remember who the character was enough to care.

The story would have been better if the author had spent most of its time on the search for answers. Most interesting and underdeveloped part of the story.
The venin could have been explored more. Why one toe dipped in the water is such a problem and how more people don’t end up doing it. Is it hard the first time? Why so easy after that? Why is it addicting to the point where you can’t control yourself? How does the heirarchy work? Are they permanently attached to the venin that “turned them� are they really turned if they make the choice themself? Because they put people in such a compromising situation they feel they have no choice but to turn to evil magic?? Black magic? Destructive magic? So many questions.
Also was Barlowe turning before Violet “killed him?� Thats how he survived? Pretty sure that’s what they’re going for, but we could have spent more time on understanding his story and what they were doing to him in the previous book. Maybe it would have given Violet some insight into what’s going on with Xaden if nothing else? But I felt Violet’s questions were just dumb in this book. Pointless and unhelpful.

Honestly? This book felt unnecessary. Unfortunate. The first book was a blast. Second left me very conflicted. I loved parts of it and hated others so I wasn’t going into this book with high expectations� but I was still left disappointed. Not enough character growth or story progression. Plenty happened and yet nothing happened in this book. Also too much obsessive behavior, explicit sex scenes, and language. (Not a surprise, but it would be nice to see the author move away from this a little bit� maybe the next one will?) maybe 1/4 of this book was necessary to the story. Can I get an abridged version please? Hunt for answers, all the Andarna, and the final battle. That’s all you need from this one.

I’ll give it to Yarros though, that woman is the queen of cliff hangers. Didn’t love the perspective jumps at the end of the book and didn’t see the need for them. But holy moly. Where is the book even going from here?

Also, random question…s. Do the dragons still die if their rider actually gets old and dies of natural causes? Do most riders die dramatically at a young age? Do most dragons die with their rider? That’s what it sounds like. If so, why are any of these dragons still bonding? Is their race dying out because they’re bonding? How many eggs are these dragons laying? And which ones are laying them? The only mated pair we really learn about are Sgaeyl and Tairn� why ARE they the only ones talked about? Are there more? Do they not bond if they’re mated? Why did Tairn and Sgaeyl bond then? Just a thought haha.
]]> <![CDATA[A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)]]> 199116301
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.]]> 255 Peter Swanson 0063205033 Michaela 0 to-read 3.58 2024 A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)]]> 60916172 In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale� sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.]]> 303 Peter Swanson 0063204983 Michaela 0 to-read 3.65 2023 The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel]]> 55083196
But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.� After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.

Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.]]> 1 Peter Swanson 1799950778 Michaela 0 to-read 3.94 2015 The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel
author: Peter Swanson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> The Negotiator (O'Malley, #1) 285011 Danger in the Shadows is back. He's about to meet Kate O'Malley, and his life will never be the same. She's a hostage negotiator. He protects people. He's about to find out that falling in love with a hostage negotiator is one thing, but keeping her safe is another!

Introducing the O'Malleys, an inspirational group of seven, all abandoned or orphaned as teens, who have made the choice to become a loyal and committed family. They have chosen their own surname, O'Malley, and have stood by each other through moments of joy and heartache. Their stories are told in CBA best-selling, inspirational romantic suspense novels that rock your heart and restore strength and hope to your spirit.]]> 296 Dee Henderson 1414310560 Michaela 0 to-read 4.32 2000 The Negotiator (O'Malley, #1)
author: Dee Henderson
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China]]> 1848 9780743246989

The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author.

An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents� experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,� a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.]]> 562 Jung Chang Michaela 0 to-read 4.28 1991 Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
author: Jung Chang
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II]]> 55920278 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat, a gripping World War II saga of patriotism and courage: the special Japanese-American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe; their families, incarcerated back home; and a young man who refused to surrender his constitutional rights, even if it meant imprisonment.

They came from across the continent and Hawaii. Their parents taught them to embrace both their Japanese heritage and the ways of their American homeland. They faced bigotry, yet they believed in their bright futures as American citizens. But within days of Pearl Harbor, the FBI was ransacking their houses and locking up their fathers. And within months many would themselves be living behind barbed wire.

Facing the Mountain is an unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on Daniel James Brown's extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible.

But this is more than a war story. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to shutter the businesses, surrender their homes, and submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of a brave young man, one of a cadre of patriotic resisters who stood up against their government in defense of their own rights. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best--striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring.]]> 560 Daniel James Brown 0525557407 Michaela 0 to-read 4.45 2021 Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II
author: Daniel James Brown
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster]]> 1898
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.]]> 368 Jon Krakauer Michaela 0 to-read 4.24 1997 Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10]]> 711901

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.


A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.]]> 390 Marcus Luttrell 0316067598 Michaela 0 to-read 4.32 2006 Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
author: Marcus Luttrell
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)]]> 682804 The Killer Angels is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—a dramatic re-creation of the battleground for America's destiny.]]> 345 Michael Shaara 0345348109 Michaela 0 to-read 4.32 1974 The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)
author: Michael Shaara
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival]]> 18600 Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1985. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead.

What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.]]> 218 Joe Simpson 0060730552 Michaela 0 to-read 4.22 1988 Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
author: Joe Simpson
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[That Fine Line (Pride and Pranks, #1)]]> 205173767
I didn’t think that was too much to ask. With my fiancé in California, I was back home for three months to plan my wedding. I had colors to pick, cows to milk, and a wedding dress to squeeze into.

Which was why I didn’t need anybody messing with me.

Especially not the guy who had dedicated his whole life to making mine a joke. The guy who filled my high school locker with frogs and my hot car with cans of tuna. I mean…I always got him back. But not this summer. Things were different now. I was engaged. I had grown up. I would NOT fall victim to Cade’s pranks, teasing, or his manly charms.

If only my dad hadn’t hired the moron to cowboy for him this summer.

Now my childhood enemy is living on our ranch and seems to think we have a score to settle.

And all bets are off.]]> 288 Cindy Steel Michaela 3 3.89 2021 That Fine Line (Pride and Pranks, #1)
author: Cindy Steel
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
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]]> Threshing of Straw 59734433
MACEY MAY JOHNSON knows something isn’t right when her mama puts her alone on a bus to her grandma’s farm with strict instructions to wait to be picked up at the station. She’s only nine and has never been allowed to travel by herself before, but her daddy’s gone and the bills can’t be paid. And Macey May knows her family keeps secrets. She can feel it in her bones.

Her grandma keeps secrets from her mama. Her mama keeps secrets from her. Her daddy, well, he keeps them even from himself. And now Macey May has one of her own. A terrible secret. But which secrets are meant to be kept, and which ones are meant to be told?]]> 308 Kim Catron 163337579X Michaela 0 to-read 4.50 2021 Threshing of Straw
author: Kim Catron
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> The Warm Hands of Ghosts 154462576 New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.]]> 325 Katherine Arden 0593128257 Michaela 0 to-read 3.96 2024 The Warm Hands of Ghosts
author: Katherine Arden
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> The Wedding People 177328214 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick

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 1250899567 Michaela 3
Warning: strong language throughout, suicide discussed almost flippantly? Sexual comments, thoughts, fantasies throughout - some bdsm]]> 4.22 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:
Liked the message of this book. The ending was a little unsatisfying, but it wasn’t meant to be wrapped up in a neat little bow. Overall I liked it, didn’t love it.

Warning: strong language throughout, suicide discussed almost flippantly? Sexual comments, thoughts, fantasies throughout - some bdsm
]]> The Heartbreak Hotel 213015262 A bed-and-breakfast for the brokenhearted might hold the key to another chance at love in this achingly hopeful debut romance.

Louisa Walsh emerged from a tumultuous childhood with a degree in counseling, a wealthy boyfriend, and her sunny outlook on life mostly intact. But that optimism is tested when she’s dumped and left unable to afford rent on their gorgeous house in the mountains of Colorado. Even with her life in disarray, Lou knows losing the one stable place she’s ever called home is not an option.

Her plan: ask her reclusive landlord, Henry Rhodes, to let her stay for free in exchange for renting out the house’s many rooms as a bed-and-breakfast. She’s shocked when he agrees to her terms, and even more surprised to discover Henry is a handsome thirtysomething veterinarian with silver at his temples and sadness in his eyes. One who does not take it well when Lou starts marketing her B and B as a retreat for the recently heartbroken.

But as the Comeback Inn opens its doors to its weary, hopeful guests, Lou and Henry find themselves dancing around both their undeniable connection and the closely held secrets that threaten to topple this fragile new start. A chance at love, here, could be too close to home…or it could be exactly where their hearts finally heal.]]> Ellen O'Clover Michaela 0 to-read 4.51 2025 The Heartbreak Hotel
author: Ellen O'Clover
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Love Redesigned (Some Kind of Love, #1)]]> 59207439
Stepson to Dani’s former boss, Alex had good reasons for ghosting Dani, especially since she was still loyal to head designer Sasha Wellington—the woman trying to take his stepfather's company down. But when Dani reappears in his life, his feelings quickly reignite, complicating everything.

Despite their reservations, Alex and Dani find plenty of ways to spend time together. (A wedding dress heist? Why not?) As they unravel the real reasons why Alex left New York—and Dani—will they be able to rediscover the happily ever after they always hoped for?]]> 297 Jenny Proctor Michaela 0 to-read 3.67 Love Redesigned (Some Kind of Love, #1)
author: Jenny Proctor
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Kiss Your Best Friend (Hawthorne Brothers, #1)]]> 146578360 309 Jenny Proctor Michaela 0 to-read 3.73 2022 How to Kiss Your Best Friend (Hawthorne Brothers, #1)
author: Jenny Proctor
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> #Starstruck (#Lovestruck, #1) 36349801 “You’ve done better.�

With one uncharacteristically sassy tweet to her longtime celebrity crush, Zoe Miller’s life turns upside down. Ultrahot A-lister Chase Covington doesn’t just respond to Zoe’s tweet, he does the unthinkable: he messages Zoe directly. Now she must decide between walking away or meeting her crush in person.

Chase knows better than to trust anyone from the Internet, but Zoe’s saucy challenge has totally caught his interest—and her girl-next-door personality is keeping it. He’s been burned enough to know he needs to keep his heart close. But his feelings for Zoe might be a lot more than just an online flirtation. He just has to convince her�

When the press gets wind of Zoe and Chase’s secret relationship, their romance turns into tabloid headlines. Will they be able to hold on to their Hollywood love story?

]]> 316 Sariah Wilson 1503934322 Michaela 0 to-read 4.18 2018 #Starstruck (#Lovestruck, #1)
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Friend Zone (End of the Line, #1)]]> 43164832 From the bestselling author of the #Lovestruck novels comes a rousing romance about following your dreams, second chances, and playing the game of love.

Disgraced college quarterback Logan Hunt was on his way to NFL stardom when he messed up big-time. Now the Texas star player with a bad temper has a new Seattle’s EOL College—as in End of the Line, to his fellow misfit recruits. It’s Logan’s last chance. If he can follow the rules. No parties, no fighting, no swearing, and oh, no dating the coach’s daughter, Jess. Simple. Yeah, right. For Logan, there has never been a rule he’s more tempted to break.

The deal is “just friends.� The pretty, confident, and fiercely smart math whiz is fine with pizza, tutoring, and keeping Logan in line. But the closer Jess gets, the more receptive she is to his warm heart and spirit—not to mention his irresistible off-field passes. With defenses down, they’re both heading into the danger zone.

It’s more than thrilling. It’s love. It’s also a game changer that could sideline Logan’s NFL goals—and more important, a future with Jess. But dreams are worth fighting for, right?]]> 299 Sariah Wilson 1542094305 Michaela 0 to-read 3.91 2019 The Friend Zone (End of the Line, #1)
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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review:

]]> The Seat Filler 54332582 The movie star and the dog groomer are one kiss away from the perfect love story. That’s the hiccup in a warm and witty romance by the bestselling author of Roommaid.

The meet-cute award goes to dog groomer Juliet Nolan. It’s one of Hollywood’s biggest nights when she volunteers as a seat filler and winds up next to movie heartthrob Noah freaking Douglas. Tongue tied and toes curling in her pink Converse, she pretends that she doesn’t have a clue who he is. It’s the only way to keep from swooning.

She’s pretty and unpretentious, loves his dog, and is not a worshipping fan. No way Noah’s giving up on her, even if his affectionate pursuit comes with a bump: Juliet has a pathological fear of kissing and the disappointments that follow. What odds does romance have without that momentous, stupendous, once-in-a-lifetime first smooch? Patient, empathetic, and carrying personal burdens of his own, Noah suggests a remedy: they rehearse.

The lessons begin. The guards come down. But there’s another hitch they weren’t betting on. As for that cue-the-orchestra-and-roll-credits happy ending? It might take more than practice to make it perfect.]]> 353 Sariah Wilson 1542025729 Michaela 0 to-read 3.92 2021 The Seat Filler
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Finding Jack (Fairy Tale Flip, #1)]]> 43033532 Can their online flirtation become something real?

When smart, practical Emily finds herself in the crosshairs of an Internet prankster, her orderly world goes topsy-turvy. Instead of getting mad at the handsome stranger behind the joke, she finds herself drawn to him. But Jack Dobson, though hilarious and thoughtful, has a lot of secrets. Despite her growing feelings for her new and unexpected long-distance friend, his biggest secret of all might be the one that breaks the spell they've been weaving around each other.]]> 389 Melanie Jacobson Michaela 0 to-read 4.12 2019 Finding Jack (Fairy Tale Flip, #1)
author: Melanie Jacobson
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Maybe I Will (Love in New Orleans, #3)]]> 60536090
Chloe Morel, junior reporter by day, has a secret by night: she’s the most discerning—and notorious--food critic in New Orleans. Now one of the biggest food magazines in the business wants her, and she’s on the verge of making her food writing dreams come true. Everything would be perfect—if only her least favorite chef and seven-year nemesis wasn’t moving into the apartment across the hall.

Dylan Jones is back in town after a six-month exile for bad behavior that nearly cost him a career. He’s got a lot to prove professionally—but even more to prove to Chloe, the woman he’s been half in love with since he was nineteen. He'll use every tool at his disposal to change her mind about him, from the dopiest rescue mutt in dog pound history to dazzling dishes and delicious kisses.

But when each of them is suddenly the only thing standing in the way of the other’s dreams, is their sizzling chemistry enough risk scorching their careers to find the recipe for love?

This book refers to characters from So Not My Thing but is written as a standalone.]]> 322 Melanie Jacobson Michaela 0 to-read 4.04 Maybe I Will (Love in New Orleans, #3)
author: Melanie Jacobson
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> The Enigma of Room 622 59977147 574 Joël Dicker 0063098830 Michaela 3 3.83 2020 The Enigma of Room 622
author: Joël Dicker
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Child Whisperer: The Ultimate Handbook for Raising Happy, Successful, Cooperative Children]]> 16003806
Maybe it's the tantrum at the store, or the hour-long bedtime battle, or the head-scratcher of getting your child to eat veggies. You wonder what on Earth to do, so you get advice, read books, watch videos, ask the internet. And still, something's missing.

You need a plan that addresses your child's needs, not everyone else's. Why couldn't children come with a handbook?

Turns out, children are born with a handbook—they are the handbook.

In The Child Whisperer, bestselling author Carol Tuttle explains that children tell their parents every day exactly how they need to be parented. They tell their teachers exactly how they need to be taught. Children are trying to tell adults who they are so they can be recognized and treated in a way that honors them uniquely.

The Child Whisperer reveals that the key to raising happy, healthy, cooperative children lies in understanding and responding to a child's inner nature.

Children's true natures are written in the shape of their faces and expressed daily in their appearance, body language, tone of voice, and choice of words. Your child's unique laugh, cry, joys, worries, and even tantrums speak volumes about they type of parenting they need. And you'll learn exactly how to offer it by reading The Child Whisperer.

This simple but unique approach actually makes parenting more intuitive, fun, cooperative, and most importantly—customized to your individual child.

The Child Whisperer will give you the tools to:
- Have a happier, more cooperative child, using less discipline
- Foster more confidence and natural success in your child
- Repair trouble parent/teen relationships
- Reconnect with your adult children

The Child Whisperer teaches how to read unsaid clues that children naturally give every day, and shows how parenting, teaching, coaching, and mentoring children can be an even more intuitive, cooperative experience than ever.

Join the conversation and learn how to become a child whisperer too: ]]> 432 Carol Tuttle 9780984402 Michaela 0 to-read 3.94 2012 The Child Whisperer: The Ultimate Handbook for Raising Happy, Successful, Cooperative Children
author: Carol Tuttle
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage]]> 44171292
Becoming Us pulls back the curtain on marriage and weaves the Enneagram through the lense of the Gospel to reveal why you and your spouse behave in different ways. Beth and Jeff will explain how you can:
* Answer the question, “What is my spouse thinking?�
* Defuse conflict before it starts, especially the same old arguments
* Stop assuming each other’s motives and make communication work
* Affirm each other in meaningful ways that matter
* Enjoy your spouse all over again, even if you’ve loved each other for years

Whether you are preparing for marriage or celebrating a 50th anniversary, Becoming Us will revolutionize the way you view yourself and your spouse. Let Beth and Jeff guide you through the Enneagram and transform your marriage into the powerful relationship that God intended.

Yes, you really will understand your spouse better after you read this book.]]> 264 Beth McCord 1642794163 Michaela 0 to-read 4.01 2019 Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage
author: Beth McCord
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World]]> 58735075 The New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head offers practical solutions for creating true community, the kind that's crucial to our mental and spiritual health.

"My dear friend Jennie Allen shows us how to make true emotional connections with the right people so that our authentic relationships can be healthy for all."--Lysa TerKeurst, author of It's Not Supposed to Be This Way

In a world that's both more connected and more isolating than ever before, we're often tempted to do life alone, whether because we're so busy or because relationships feel risky and hard. But science confirms that consistent, meaningful connection with others has a powerful impact on our well-being. We are meant to live known and loved. But so many are hiding behind emotional walls that we're experiencing an epidemic of loneliness.

In Find Your People, bestselling author Jennie Allen draws on fascinating insights from science and history, timeless biblical truth, and vulnerable stories from her own life to help you:

- overcome the barriers to making new friends and learn to initiate with easy-to-follow steps
- find simple ways to press through awkward to get to authentic in conversations
- understand how conflict can strengthen relationships rather than destroy them
- identify the type of friend you are and the types of friends you need
- learn the five practical ingredients you need to have the type of friends you've always longed for

You were created to play, engage, adventure, and explore--with others. In Find Your People, you'll discover exactly how to dive into the deep end and experience the full wonder of community. Because while the ache of loneliness is real, it doesn't have to be your reality.]]> 304 Jennie Allen 0593558235 Michaela 0 to-read 3.95 2022 Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World
author: Jennie Allen
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)]]> 345627 Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies...

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires—the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger... and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever...]]> 332 Richelle Mead 159514174X Michaela 0 to-read 4.12 2007 Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)
author: Richelle Mead
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth]]> 12499
Revealing the naked truth about the tremendous joys, the excruciating pains, and the inevitable disfigurement that go along with pregnancy, Jenny McCarthy tells you what you can really expect when you're expecting! From morning sickness and hormonal rage, to hemorrhoids, granny panties, pregnant sex, and the torture and sweet relief that is delivery, Belly Laughs is must-read comic relief for anyone who is pregnant, has ever been pregnant, is trying to get pregnant, or, indeed, has ever been born!]]> 165 Jenny McCarthy 0738210072 Michaela 0 to-read 3.70 2004 Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth
author: Jenny McCarthy
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lady Tan's Circle of Women 62969999
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 343 Lisa See 1982117109 Michaela 4 4.49 2023 Lady Tan's Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Michaela 0 to-read 4.62 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The One with the Kiss Cam 198638176 It was just one date.

My friend told me I needed more fun in my life, so I reluctantly said yes. Fun wasn’t exactly in my wheelhouse. After watching my own mother’s love life implode time and time again it’s only natural that I have a few rules to protect myself.

Actually, it’s just one rule�
Avoid relationships with men so I don’t get attached.

I wasn’t worried. Getting attached has never been a big problem for me. This guy was just a warm body in a chair. I was here for the basketball game. I was absolutely NOT here for my date.

Or the kiss cam.
Or the kiss.
Or the impromptu evening with the one man who seems bent on throwing my tidy world off of its axis.

But when my life takes a nose dive, he’s also the man who seems bent on proving to me that good men do exist, dreams can come true, and sometimes throwing out the rule book is when the magic really starts to happen.]]> 318 Cindy Steel Michaela 3 4.23 2023 The One with the Kiss Cam
author: Cindy Steel
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:
Cute clean romance. Perfect fluff read!
]]> <![CDATA[Host for the Holidays (Christmas Escape)]]> 62799144
Madi

After two years and zero proposals, my relationship could use a little spark. Paris during the holidays seems like just the ticket—one perfect, final opportunity for my boyfriend to take things to the next level.

The fact that he’s rented me the tiny servant quarters in the apartment of a very good-looking Frenchman is . . . puzzling. And when he asks that Frenchman to take me around the city while he’s busy at work trainings? Color me confused.

Is this some sort of pre-engagement test? If so, I’m not sure I’m doing too hot.

¸éĂ©łľ˛â

Offering to host my friend’s vacation rental means making sure the first review is five solid, sparkling stars. When the guest who shows up is a beautiful American woman, I’m thinking my task might be more enjoyable than I thought. Until I find out she has a boyfriend. Madi deserves to have an amazing time in Paris, though, so I’m more than happy to oblige when the guy asks me to show her the city.

It’s cool. I’m cool. This is all for that five-star review�


â—� Host for the Holidays is a closed door romance full of fun, chemistry, and a generous dash of the magic of Paris]]> 378 Martha Keyes Michaela 3 4.03 2022 Host for the Holidays (Christmas Escape)
author: Martha Keyes
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars rounded up. More holiday romance fluff. Some details in the story could have been better developed and worked through though. Like the whole boyfriend situation.
]]> <![CDATA[Be Ready When the Luck Happens]]> 209192698 In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.Ěý

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

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.]]> 320 Ina Garten 0593799895 Michaela 0 to-read 4.25 2024 Be Ready When the Luck Happens
author: Ina Garten
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement]]> 203956674 America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes.Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naĂŻve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly.ĚýSharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inpiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country.ĚýWith the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream.The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.]]> 320 Sharon McMahon 0593541677 Michaela 0 to-read 4.44 2024 The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
author: Sharon McMahon
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cartographers 55004093 What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.]]> 392 Peng Shepherd 0062910698 Michaela 3 3.62 2022 The Cartographers
author: Peng Shepherd
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Christmas Baggage (Christmas Escape)]]> 62235806 If there is one thing she has learned in England, it's that not all Englishmen are created equal.
Because this guy was turning out to be a real pill.

Tired of spending the holidays throwing up on cruises with her parents and, you know, being dumped by ex-boyfriends, Claire Frost is determined to change her luck this Christmas. Taking time off from her flower shop, she follows her friend to London, ready to enjoy all-things England. And boy, does she. The frost-covered flowers. The frozen green hills. The bright red telephone boxes. The festive Christmas markets.

Also the men. Definitely the men.

Except, of course, her friend's cousin. Liam Everhart is super attractive, super swoony, and super English. Too bad he's also a super jerk. A super jerk whom she now has to spend every minute with. What a blessed, blessed relief that his Darcy/Poldark looks are overshadowed by his Darth Vader/Malfoy personality. She had enough Christmas baggage to deal with, so why would she ever add a swoony Englishman to the mix?]]> 304 Deborah M. Hathaway 1956091033 Michaela 3 3.77 2022 Christmas Baggage (Christmas Escape)
author: Deborah M. Hathaway
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
Completely predictable and ridiculously cheesy, but still cute and enjoyable. Love me some Christmas fluff this time of year!
]]> Small Things Like These 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Michaela 0 to-read 4.13 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Faking Christmas (Christmas Escape)]]> 62005119 One little white lie.

That's all it took. Now I'm suddenly having to fake-date my work nemesis to get me through a week at a Vermont Christmas lodge with my family.

The problem? I can't stand Miles Taylor. Not only that, but I don't date people I work with. But I can handle it. I've had practice faking my emotions for years. So it shouldn't matter that Miles never lets me get away with anything. And that he happens to boil my blood hotter than a steaming pot of wassail. So when he throws his annoying grin my way or forces me on dates he knows I'll hate, I'll just grit my teeth and smile.

Or maybe not. Did I mention that Miles is the one person in the world I can't seem to fool?

When my emotions begin feeling less like a sham and his arms feel way too comfortable, it makes me think that maybe Miles had a plan of his own. And I'm starting to like it a lot more than mine.]]> 340 Cindy Steel Michaela 3 4.14 2022 Faking Christmas (Christmas Escape)
author: Cindy Steel
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
Totally predictable but super cute Christmas romance. Like reading a hallmark movie
]]> Here One Moment 208894791 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Ěý
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
Ěý
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�
Ěý
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
Ěý
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
Ěý
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
Ěý
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintainĚýcertainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 505 Liane Moriarty 0593798619 Michaela 3 4.18 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Ask for Andrea 219407654 Meghan, Brecia, and Skye have just one thing in common.

They were all murdered by the same man.

He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.

He’s gotten away with murder three times now.

The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.

The haunt is on.]]> 295 Noelle W. Ihli Michaela 3
As I was listening I realized that the murderer was supposed to be LDS. I wasn’t sure what to think of that at first. But I think the author was trying to make the point that a serial killer could be anyone. They are exceptional liars and deceivers. This man had the perfect cover, no one would ever suspect him of the nefarious activities he got up to. It didn’t feel like a slight against my religion, which I appreciated.

I do wish the audio book had three different readers, one for each girl. The reader did a good job, it was just hard to keep track of who was talking without looking at the chapter title sometimes. When you’re working on Halloween costumes while listening, you can get lost or miss things sometimes, different readers would have helped and added dimension to the reading.

This is a dark tale that was a perfect October read.]]> 4.08 2022 Ask for Andrea
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
I liked this book, didn’t love it, but I thought it was an interesting way to tell a story. From the perspective of the women who were all murdered by the same man. The book starts with each of their murders and you follow these women on their journey from there. An interesting way to tell a story.

As I was listening I realized that the murderer was supposed to be LDS. I wasn’t sure what to think of that at first. But I think the author was trying to make the point that a serial killer could be anyone. They are exceptional liars and deceivers. This man had the perfect cover, no one would ever suspect him of the nefarious activities he got up to. It didn’t feel like a slight against my religion, which I appreciated.

I do wish the audio book had three different readers, one for each girl. The reader did a good job, it was just hard to keep track of who was talking without looking at the chapter title sometimes. When you’re working on Halloween costumes while listening, you can get lost or miss things sometimes, different readers would have helped and added dimension to the reading.

This is a dark tale that was a perfect October read.
]]> The Frozen River 56699106
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546882 Michaela 4 Content warning: a rape is described in detail. Others are mentioned and alluded to throughout the story]]> 4.52 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
3.5 *** wonderful book. Well written and developed. Based on a true story and remarkable woman. Loved it.
Content warning: a rape is described in detail. Others are mentioned and alluded to throughout the story
]]> Daisy Darker 59808050 The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows�

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.]]> 352 Alice Feeney 1250843936 Michaela 3 3.75 2022 Daisy Darker
author: Alice Feeney
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
Okay okay, I totally predicted the twist and the murderer super early in the book. So that was a bit of a bummer for me BUT. The book was interesting, and there was one surprise that had me gasping. Sooo, enjoyable read. Even if the shocks weren’t as good as they could have been. Do you think the fact that I already read “and then there were none� made it easier to guess a few things? Maybe! But maybe I’ve just been reading too many whodunits lately?
]]> The Goddess of Warsaw 197448167
Los Angeles, 2005. Sienna Hayes, Hollywood’s latest It Girl, has ambitions to work behind the camera. When she meets Lena Browning, the enormously mysterious and famous Golden Age movie star, Sienna sees her big break. She wants to direct a picture about Lena’s life—but the legendary actor’s murky past turns out to be even darker than Sienna dreamed. Before she was a Living Legend, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a Polish Jew whose life and family were destroyed by the Nazis.

Warsaw, 1943. A member of the city’s Jewish elite, Bina Blonski and her husband, Jakub, are imprisoned in the ghastly, cramped ghetto along with the rest of Warsaw’s surviving Jews. Determined to fight back against the brutal Nazis, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the ghetto to protect her fellow Jews. But her dangerous circumstances grow complicated when she falls in love with Aleksander, an ally in resistance—and Jakub’s brother. While Lena accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process.

Over a decade after escaping the horrors of the ghetto, Bina, now known as Lena, rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but be reminded of her old life and hungers for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Her power and fame as a movie star offer Lena the chance to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even find the happy ending she never had.

A gripping page-turner of one of history’s most heroic uprisings and an actress whose personal war never ends, The Goddess Of Warsaw is filled with secrets, lies, twists and turns, and a burning pursuit of justice no matter the cost.]]> 416 Lisa Barr 0063296616 Michaela 4
**a few mildly steamy scenes and� sensual thoughts ]]> 4.57 2024 The Goddess of Warsaw
author: Lisa Barr
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
My goodness this book! Such a unique look into our history. I knew nothing about the ghettos in Poland, uprising, and more that we delved into with this story. Well written and developed, I could not put this book down! Fantastic read. So so good.

**a few mildly steamy scenes and� sensual thoughts
]]> <![CDATA[Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)]]> 63910262 In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

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

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

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.]]> 437 Rachel Gillig 0356519503 Michaela 3 4.39 2023 Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Michaela
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Szum (Wayward Pines, #1) 22052758 344 Blake Crouch 8375153060 Michaela 0 to-read 3.76 2012 Szum (Wayward Pines, #1)
author: Blake Crouch
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Most Agreeable Murder 58080835 When a wealthy bachelor drops dead at a ball, a young lady takes on the decidedly improper role of detective in this action-packed debut comedy of manners and murder.

Feisty, passionate Beatrice Steele has never fit the definition of a true lady, according to the strict code of conduct that reigns in Swampshire, her small English township--she is terrible at needlework, has absolutely no musical ability, and her artwork is so bad it frightens people. Nevertheless, she lives a perfectly agreeable life with her marriage-scheming mother, prankster father, and two younger sisters-- beautiful Louisa and forgettable Mary. But she harbors a dark secret: She is obsessed with the true crime cases she reads about in the newspaper. If anyone in her etiquette-obsessed community found out, she'd be deemed a morbid creep and banished from respectable society forever.

For her family's sake, she's vowed to put her obsession behind her. Because eligible bachelor Edmund Croaksworth is set to attend the approaching autumnal ball, and the Steele family hopes that Louisa will steal his heart. If not, Martin Grub, their disgusting cousin, will inherit the family's estate, and they will be ruined or, even worse, forced to move to France. So Beatrice must be on her best behavior . . . which is made difficult when a disgraced yet alluring detective inexplicably shows up to the ball.

Beatrice is just holding things together when Croaksworth drops dead in the middle of a minuet. As a storm rages outside, the evening descends into a frenzy of panic, fear, and betrayal as it becomes clear they are trapped with a killer. Contending with competitive card games, tricky tonics, and Swampshire's infamous squelch holes, Beatrice must rise above decorum and decency to pursue justice and her own desires--before anyone else is murdered.]]> 336 Julia Seales 0593449991 Michaela 4 3.79 2023 A Most Agreeable Murder
author: Julia Seales
name: Michaela
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves:
review:
What a quirky and clever book. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading it!
]]>