Betsy's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:41:01 -0700 60 Betsy's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Adam & Eve 8045070
The New York Times bestselling author of Ahab's Wife, Four Spirits, and Abundance returns with a daring and provocative novel that envisions a world where science and faith contend for the allegiance of a new Adam & Eve.

Hours before his untimely—and highly suspicious—death, world-renowned astrophysicist Thom Bergmann shares his discovery of extraterrestrial life with his wife, Lucy. Feeling that the warring world is not ready to learn of—or accept—proof of life elsewhere in the universe, Thom entrusts Lucy with his computer flash drive, which holds the keys to his secret work.

Devastated by Thom's death, Lucy keeps the secret, but Thom's friend, anthropologist Pierre Saad, contacts Lucy with an unusual and dangerous request about another sensitive matter. Pierre needs Lucy to help him smuggle a newly discovered artifact out of Egypt: an ancient codex concerning the human authorship of the Book of Genesis. Offering a reinterpretation of the creation story, the document is sure to threaten the foundation of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions . . . and there are those who will stop at nothing to suppress it.

Midway through the daring journey, Lucy's small plane goes down on a slip of verdant land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. Burned in the crash landing, she is rescued by Adam, a delusional American soldier whose search for both spiritual and carnal knowledge has led to madness. Blessed with youth, beauty, and an unsettling innocence, Adam gently tends to Lucy's wounds, and in this quiet, solitary paradise, a bond between the unlikely pair grows. Ultimately, Lucy and Adam forsake their half-mythical Eden and make their way back toward civilization, where members of an ultraconservative religious cult are determined to deprive the world of the knowledge Lucy carries.]]> 335 Sena Jeter Naslund 0061579270 Betsy 0 to-read 2.80 2010 Adam & Eve
author: Sena Jeter Naslund
name: Betsy
average rating: 2.80
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Death by Candlelight (Adam and Eve Mystery #1)]]> 60792204
In the manor house of her pretty little Shropshire village, Francesca is nervous aboutcatering her first ever murder mystery party. But it’s clear from the clink of champagne flutes that the evening is a roaring success. Until the murder suddenly stops being a game, when beautiful young teacher Becky drops dead in the dining room, and the coroner rules poisoning. Which of the guests has a deadly way with mushrooms? And why?

The local police are fixated on Francesca’s canapés, but her cooking never killed a soul, and she realises she must do some sleuthing of her own to save her reputation. From the woman having an affair, to the guest hiding her true identity, everyone in the party has a secret � and it turns out that Becky knew them all. But which secret was dangerous enough to kill for?

When Francesca’s prime suspect, the light-fingered heiress, is found murdered with another case of death by overdose, it becomes clear that a deranged killer is going off-script. And anyone who was involved in the game is in their sights, even Francesca. Can she unmask the murderer before it’s too late, or has she cooked her last supper?]]> 326 Emma Davies 1803140623 Betsy 0 to-read 4.19 2022 Death by Candlelight (Adam and Eve Mystery #1)
author: Emma Davies
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> The Diaries of Adam and Eve 108202 Adam has a lot to learn about Eve, and even more from her, as she names the animals, discovers fire, and introduces all manner of innovations to their garden home. Mark Twain's "translation" of the diaries of the first man and woman offers a humorous "he said/she said" narrative of biblical events. The great American storyteller found comfort and inspiration in the company of women, and his irreverent look at conventional religion is also a thoughtful -- and humorous -- argument for gender equality.]]> 95 Mark Twain Betsy 0 to-read 3.98 1906 The Diaries of Adam and Eve
author: Mark Twain
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1906
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)]]> 203578881 The nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache series

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.]]> 421 Louise Penny 1250328136 Betsy 0 currently-reading 3.95 2024 The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)
author: Louise Penny
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Little Coffee Shop of Terrors]]> 210998092 Will True Love Brew in this Killer Coffee Shop?One new owner. One hot waiter. And one seriously weird coffee shop�

Adele is used to being down on her luck. She’s just been kicked out of her latest musical theatre gig, and it now looks like the bright lights of Broadway are behind her for good. So, when the opportunity comes up to take over a Brooklyn coffee shop, it feels like at last things are going her way.

The only issue is the coffee shop comes with strings attached in the form of one very grumpy (but roasting hot) waiter, Ben. He’s worked there for years and he’s not about to move on just because there’s a new owner in town.

But soon it’s not just Ben who’s smouldering, because strange things are happening with the old coffee roasting machine in the back of the shop, with roaring flames and weird noises that seem to come from nowhere. She’d ask Ben for help if she could, but he never seems to be around when there’s a problem to fix. And to add to it all, now some of the regular customers are nowhere to be seen�

Trouble is brewing for Adele and, before she knows it, she’s in a whole latte trouble�]]> 344 Hazel Graves 0008718946 Betsy 2 2.89 The Little Coffee Shop of Terrors
author: Hazel Graves
name: Betsy
average rating: 2.89
book published:
rating: 2
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]]> <![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-Time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]> 293 Ally Carter 0063276682 Betsy 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)]]> 56905097 The finale to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. By the end of this mystery series, you'll never think of good girls the same way again...

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle... and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears...]]> 500 Holly Jackson 0593379853 Betsy 1 4.20 2021 As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Betsy 0 to-read 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Metamorphosis and Other Stories]]> 7723 The Metamorphosis,� a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.

Bringing together some of Kafka’s finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author’s artistry. �The Judgment,� which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and �The Stoker,� which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika, are here included. These two, along with �The Metamorphosis,� form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as “The Sons,� and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.

Also included are �In the Penal Colony,� a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and �A Hunger Artist,� about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka’s lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life.]]> 224 Franz Kafka 1593080298 Betsy 4 4.08 1915 The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
author: Franz Kafka
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1915
rating: 4
read at: 2013/01/18
date added: 2024/11/18
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I'm lovin' me some Kafka. How did I not discover his magnificence earlier?
]]> <![CDATA[Half Wild (The Half Bad Trilogy, #2)]]> 20814989 "You will have a powerful Gift, but it’s how you use it that will show you to be good or bad."

In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, seventeen-year-old Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most powerful and violent witch. Nathan is hunted from all sides: nowhere is safe and no one can be trusted. Now, Nathan has come into his own unique magical Gift, and he's on the run--but the Hunters are close behind, and they will stop at nothing until they have captured Nathan and destroyed his father.]]> 432 Sally Green 0670017132 Betsy 0 to-read 3.98 2015 Half Wild (The Half Bad Trilogy, #2)
author: Sally Green
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> The Haunting 75495009 #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Natasha Preston is back with another pulse-pounding, twisty read!

Haunted by the past . . .

Penny's trying to forget about her ex, Nash. His father was arrested for the brutal murder of four teenagers on Devil's Night last year. Penny's parents have forbidden her to have anything to do with Nash or his family. It's hard not to think of what happened as spooky season gets underway--but she's trying.

That stops when she goes to the Halloween store with her friends to find a costume. What she finds instead is ripped from a horror movie: a girl from school bleeding out on the floor of a dressing room. Stabbed.

Is a copycat killer on the loose? The adults are saying no. But Penny knows better.]]> 354 Natasha Preston 0593481518 Betsy 0 to-read 3.60 2023 The Haunting
author: Natasha Preston
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Betsy 4 finally-read-2023 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/13
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: finally-read-2023
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]]> <![CDATA[The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serrailler, #1)]]> 37040 438 Susan Hill 1585678767 Betsy 0 to-read 3.80 2004 The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serrailler, #1)
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> The Woman in Black 37034
Alas, we cannot give you Austen, but Susan Hill's remarkable Woman In Black comes as close as our era can provide. Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and most dreadfully--and for Kipps most tragically--The Woman In Black.

The Woman In Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine-tingler--proof positive that this neglected genre, the ghost story, isn't dead after all.]]> 138 Susan Hill 1567921892 Betsy 0 to-read 3.76 1983 The Woman in Black
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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]]> Hunger 18078613
Then some small and oddly silent children start showing up -- in the woods, the garden, and eventually inside the house itself. Their presence proves disturbing to Adrian, who is having second thoughts about the move they've made. It's Paula now who seems more at home with country life, and Paula who starts to take a peculiar comfort from the mysterious new arrivals.

Hunger is a haunting account of a marriage unsettled by a move -- from a master of psychological suspense.]]> 33 Susan Hill Betsy 0 to-read 3.30 2013 Hunger
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> The Small Hand and Dolly 17288633 Two chilling ghost stories from the author of The Woman in Black, both set in crumbling English houses that are haunted by the spirits of thwarted children. A VINTAGE TRADE PAPER ORIGINAL.

In The Small Hand, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn and stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house with a lush, overgrown garden. Approaching the door, he is startled to feel the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own, almost as though a child had taken hold of it. Plagued by nightmares, he returns with the intention of figuring out its mysteries, only to be troubled by further, increasingly sinister visits. In Dolly, orphan Edward Cayley is sent to spend the summer with his forbidding Aunt Kestrel at Iyot House, her decaying home in the damp, lonely fens. With him is his spoiled, spiteful cousin, Leonora. And when Leonora's birthday wish for a beautiful doll is denied, she unleashes a furious rage which will haunt Edward for years afterward.]]> 280 Susan Hill 0345806654 Betsy 0 to-read 3.56 2013 The Small Hand and Dolly
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> Mrs de Winter 94135
But the de Winters still have to reckon with two hate-consumed figures they once knew—both of whom have very long memories...

Rebecca was Daphne du Maurier's most famous and best-loved novel. Countless readers wondered: what happened next? Out of fire-wracked ruins of Manderley, would love and renewal rise phoenix-like from the ashes of the embittered past?]]> 290 Susan Hill 0099284782 Betsy 0 to-read 3.13 1993 Mrs de Winter
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.13
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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]]> I'm the King of the Castle 951371 Discover a chilling twentieth century classic, delving into the dark and complex heart of childhood

'Some people are coming here today, now you will have a companion.'

But young Edmund Hooper doesn't want anyone else in Warings, the rambling Victorian house he shares with his widowed father. Nevertheless Charles Kingshaw and his mother are soon installed and Edmund sets about persecuting his fearful new playmate.

From the dusty back rooms of Warings through the gloomy labyrinth of Hang Wood to the very top of Leydell Castle, Edmund pursues Charles, the balance of power slipping back and forth between bully and victim. With their parents oblivious, the situation speeds towards a crisis...

Darkly claustrophobic and morally ambiguous, Susan Hill weaves a classic tale of cruelty, power, and the dangerous games we play as children.

'A brilliant tour de force' Guardian

'Equalled for poignancy and horror only in Lord of the Flies' Sunday Telegraph

'Delves beneath the surface of complex young minds, exposing not only their vulnerabilty and tenderness, their cruelty and malevolence, but also how parents end up turning a blind eye to their pain' Anita Sethi]]> 224 Susan Hill 0140034919 Betsy 0 to-read 3.49 1970 I'm the King of the Castle
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.49
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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]]> Dolly 16069121 153 Susan Hill 1846685745 Betsy 0 to-read 3.19 2012 Dolly
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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]]> The Man in the Picture 1854160
By the renowned storyteller Susan Hill--whose first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London's West End--here is a new take on a form that is fully classical and, in Hill's able hands, newly vital. The Man in the Picture is a haunting tale of loss, love, and the very basest fear of our beings.]]> 145 Susan Hill 1846680751 Betsy 0 to-read 3.63 2007 The Man in the Picture
author: Susan Hill
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> The Haunting of Moscow House 203164400 In this elegant gothic horror tale set in post-revolutionary Russia, two formerly aristocratic sisters race to uncover their family’s long-buried secrets in a house haunted by a past dangerous—and deadly—to remember.

It is the summer of 1921, and a group of Bolsheviks have taken over Irina and Lili Goliteva’s ancestral home in Moscow, a stately mansion falling into disrepair and decay. The remaining members of their family are ordered to move into the cramped attic, while the officials take over an entire wing of grand rooms downstairs. The sisters understand it is the way of things and know they must forget their noble upbringing to make their way in this new Soviet Russia. But the house begins to whisper of a traumatic past not as dead as they thought.

Eager to escape it and their unwelcome new landlords, Irina and Lili find jobs with the recently arrived American Relief Administration, meant to ease the post-revolutionary famine in Russia. For the sisters, the ARA provides much-needed food and employment, as well as a chance for sensible Irina to help those less fortunate and artistic Lili to express herself for a good cause. It might just lead them to love, too.

But at home, the spirits of their deceased family awaken, desperate to impart what really happened to them during the Revolution. Soon one of the officials living in the house is found dead. Was his death caused by something supernatural, or by someone all too human? And are Irina and Lili and their family next? Only unearthing the frightening secrets of Moscow House will reveal all. But this means the sisters must dig deep into a past no one in Russia except the dead are allowed to remember.]]> 384 Olesya Salnikova Gilmore 0593547004 Betsy 0 to-read 3.37 2024 The Haunting of Moscow House
author: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/23
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]]> The Bog Wife 205673392 In this atmospheric Appalachian gothic, the Haddesley siblings of West Virginia must unearth long-buried secrets to carve out a future when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured

Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.� Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.

Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.

Brimming with aching loss and the universal struggle between honoring family commitments and the drive to strike out on one’s own, The Bog Wife is a haunting invocation of the arcane power of the habits and habitats that bound us.]]> 336 Kay Chronister 1640096620 Betsy 0 to-read 3.59 2024 The Bog Wife
author: Kay Chronister
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> An Academy for Liars 203956639 A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.

Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.

Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.

After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.

As Lennon continues in her studies her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College, and the way her mentor’s tragic and violent past intertwines with it. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns. For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.]]> 464 Alexis Henderson 0593638301 Betsy 0 to-read 3.44 2024 An Academy for Liars
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> The Blue Hour 207252770
Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, and cements Hawkins’s place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.]]> 320 Paula Hawkins 0063396521 Betsy 0 to-read 3.27 2024 The Blue Hour
author: Paula Hawkins
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 203956647 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 059365322X.]]> 400 Richard Osman Betsy 0 to-read 4.06 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> <![CDATA[If the Shoe Fits (Meant to Be, #1)]]> 55660420 Before Midnight. When a spot on the show needs filling ASAP, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her fashion career, or at least give her something to do while her peers land jobs in the world of high fashion.

Turns out being the only plus size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body positivity icon for women everywhere. What she doesn't expect? That she may just find inspiration-and love-in the process. Ultimately, Cindy learns that if the shoe doesn't fit, maybe it's time to design your own.]]> 304 Julie Murphy 1368050387 Betsy 0 to-read 3.88 2021 If the Shoe Fits (Meant to Be, #1)
author: Julie Murphy
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/30
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]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Betsy 0 to-read 4.46 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Merchant of Death (Pendragon, #1)]]> 833710 Librarian Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here


DENDURON

BOBBY PENDRAGON is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. But there is something very special about Bobby.

He is going to save the world.

And not just Earth as we know it. Bobby is slowly starting to realize that life in the cosmos isn't quite what he thought it was. And before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution.

If Bobby wants to see his family again, he's going to have to accept his role as savior, and accept it wholeheartedly. Because, as he is about to discover, Denduron is only the beginning....


Cover illustration by Victor Lee]]> 375 D.J. MacHale 0743437314 Betsy 0 currently-reading 3.97 2002 The Merchant of Death (Pendragon, #1)
author: D.J. MacHale
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2002
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]]> A Novel Love Story 199261152 A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction� literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel�

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet� she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.]]> 368 Ashley Poston 0593640977 Betsy 0 to-read 3.62 2024 A Novel Love Story
author: Ashley Poston
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
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]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

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

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

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

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Betsy 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> The Briar Club 181110045 A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

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

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 Betsy 0 to-read 4.26 2024 The Briar Club
author: Kate Quinn
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.26
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]]> Home Is Where the Bodies Are 194020321
While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.]]> 256 Jeneva Rose Betsy 0 to-read 3.77 2024 Home Is Where the Bodies Are
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.77
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]]> Horror Movie 200101541 A chilling twist on the “cursed filmâ€� genre from the bestselling author ofĚýThe Pallbearers Club ˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚýThe Cabin at the End of the World.

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.

The weird part?ĚýOnly three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.

The man who played “The Thin Kid� is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions � demons of the past be damned.

But at what cost?Ěý

Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful twist on the “cursed film� that breathlessly builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.]]> 277 Paul Tremblay 0063070014 Betsy 0 to-read 3.30 2024 Horror Movie
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.30
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]]> 12 Men for Christmas 49181794
Emma Tremayne leaves her high-powered PR job after discovering her boyfriend is having an affair with her boss, and moves to the Lake District looking for peace, quiet—and celibacy. So perhaps it's not the best idea when, in the spirit of "community-mindedness," she agrees to help the local mountain rescue team put together a "tasteful" nude calendar in order to fundraise for their new headquarters. Especially since quite a lot of the community seems to mind what she's up to—including the tall, dark and handsome Mr. July, Will Tennant, who appears to have got completely the wrong impression about Emma's intentions. So how does she convince him that he's more than just the flavor of the month?

Set in England's Lakeland district, home to the country's highest mountains and deepest lake, and as unpredictable as the region's ever-changing weather, this funny, fast-paced romantic women's fiction is full of twists and turns that are as dramatic as its setting.]]> 208 Phillipa Ashley 1728212502 Betsy 1 2.68 2006 12 Men for Christmas
author: Phillipa Ashley
name: Betsy
average rating: 2.68
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 2022/07/05
date added: 2024/06/20
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]]> The Old Dark House 13382736
On the house's top floor are two locked doors; behind one of them lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night?]]> 185 J.B. Priestley Betsy 0 to-read 4.04 1927 The Old Dark House
author: J.B. Priestley
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1927
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Naturals (The Naturals, #1)]]> 13597723
What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.]]> 308 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1423168232 Betsy 0 to-read 4.22 2013 The Naturals (The Naturals, #1)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/15
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]]> Five Survive 61313902 Eight hours.
Six friends.
One sniper . . .

Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.

A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.]]> 391 Holly Jackson 0755504402 Betsy 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Five Survive
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Kill Joy (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #0.5)]]> 55761476
Pippa Fitz-Amobi is not in the mood for her friend's murder mystery party. Especially one that involves 1920's fancy dress and pretending that their town, Little Kilton, is an island called Joy. But when the game begins, Pip finds herself drawn into the make-believe world of intrigue, deception and murder. But as Pip plays detective, teasing out the identity of the killer clue-by-clue, the murder of the fictional Reginald Remy isn't the only case on her mind ... Contains mature content, for older readers.]]> 130 Holly Jackson Betsy 0 to-read 3.74 2021 Kill Joy (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #0.5)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)]]> 51335759
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

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

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> 413 Holly Jackson 1405297751 Betsy 5 4.26 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Angel (Soul Collector Saga #2)]]> 203953597 A treacherous heart.
A Soul Collector thrown into the events of a coming war.

After the tragedy in Cordovia, Esme is determined to avenge her family. To do this, she must venture into the Realm of Souls � the demon world ruled by the God of Death � to kill the wicked prince. And Aiden intends to take her there. With their souls bound together, Esme discovers even more harsh truths. No one can be trusted. Because the longer Esme resides in the demon realm, the clearer it becomes that nothing is what it seems. Even Aiden, her one time ally, is still keeping secrets. And soon Esme finds herself trapped between Aiden, the cruel God of Death, and a force possibly even more dangerous—Ephraim, the Angel of Life.

Faced with the desire for vengeance, a desperation to rid herself of this dark power, and conflicting riddles about her future, Esme’s fight continues amid deadly plots and unthinkable betrayals that will test her strength � and her heart.]]> Audrey Steves Betsy 0 to-read 4.57 The Dark Angel (Soul Collector Saga #2)
author: Audrey Steves
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.57
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]]> <![CDATA[The Reappearance of Rachel Price]]> 182484360
Lights. Camera. Lies.

18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And � could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.]]> 438 Holly Jackson 0593374207 Betsy 0 to-read 4.09 2024 The Reappearance of Rachel Price
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.09
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]]> <![CDATA[Confessions of a Murder Suspect (Confessions, #1)]]> 13521399 James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a #1 New York Times bestselling teen detective novel about the mysterious Angel family . . . and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another.

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: 1) She was the last person to see her parents alive. 2) The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. 3) She can't trust anyone-maybe not even herself.

As Tandy sets out to clear the family name, she begins to recall flashes of experiences long buried in her vulnerable psyche. These memories shed light on her family's dark secrets, and digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs proves to be a disturbing and dangerous game. Who knows what any of the Angels are truly capable of?]]> 372 James Patterson 0316224189 Betsy 4 3.88 2012 Confessions of a Murder Suspect (Confessions, #1)
author: James Patterson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/09
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]]> The House of Lincoln 63331186 Nancy Horan, author of the million-copy New York Times bestseller Loving Frank, returns with The House of Lincoln, which tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's ascendance from rumpled lawyer to U.S. President to Great Emancipator and presents Lincoln's Midwestern home as a complex third home front of the Civil War.

Rich with historical detail, The House of Lincoln is an insightful account of Lincoln's transformative vision for democracy as observed through the eyes of a young immigrant who arrives in Lincoln's home of Springfield, Illinois from Madeira, Portugal.

Showing intelligence beyond society's expectations, fourteen-year-old Ana Ferreira is offered a job in the Lincoln household assisting Mary Lincoln with their boys and with the hosting duties borne by the wife of a rising political star. Ana bears witness to the evolution of Lincoln's views on equality and the Union and observes in full complexity the psyche and pain of his bold, polarizing wife, Mary. Yet, alongside her dearest friend in the Black community, Ana confronts the racial prejudice her friend encounters daily as she watches the inner workings of the Underground Railroad, and directly experiences how slavery contradicts the promise of freedom in her adopted country.

Culminating in an account of the little-known Springfield race riot of 1908, The House of Lincoln takes readers on a journey through the historic changes that reshaped America and continue to reverberate today.]]> 352 Nancy Horan 172826054X Betsy 0 currently-reading 3.65 2023 The House of Lincoln
author: Nancy Horan
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Betsy 5 friends-recommendations 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/15
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: friends-recommendations
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]]> <![CDATA[One in Vermillion (Liz Danger #3)]]> 175578969
Liz Danger is stuck in her hometown of Burney, Ohio, because her insane employer has rented a house there for the summer, which means she has three more months of trying to get a copy edit done, babysitting a seven-year-old, and figuring out what to do with three hundred and ninety-two teddy bears. And then there’s her mother. Even the good news that she’s living with a hot cop is tempered by the knowledge that sooner or later, she’s going to have to figure out her future, and she still not sure what she wants that to be.

Vince Cooper is stuck in a town that keeps asking him when he’s going to make an honest woman of Liz Danger and in a job that’s just sunk into anarchy because of local and state politics that are kneecapping the police department, not to mention a biker gang and Liz’s ex-boyfriend who still hasn’t figured out that the ex part is permanent. Good thing he has Liz to come home to . . . until he doesn’t.

As Liz and Vince try to navigate their increasingly complicated relationship, they’re finding out startling new things about themselves and the town they’re trying to protect, and that means dealing with greedy politicians, arson, broken hearts (not theirs), vandalism, questionable real estate, murder, and a lot of soggy bears.
One in That red in the ledger isn’t just the ink.]]> 426 Jennifer Crusie 162125402X Betsy 0 to-read 4.49 2023 One in Vermillion (Liz Danger #3)
author: Jennifer Crusie
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.49
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rating: 0
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]]> Rest in Pink (Liz Danger #2) 175578431
Liz Danger is a ghostwriter, trapped in her old hometown for the summer. Good thing she has Vince Cooper, her recurring one-night stand living down by the river in his old diner car, making her feel happy and safe and normal until September when she’ll be leaving again, although she’s starting to wonder if she really wants to.

Vince Cooper is a cop in a town with a shady new housing development that’s bringing a lot of armed strangers, a corrupt mayor, a police chief boss under fire, and an idiot blogger stirring up trouble. Good thing his recurring one-night stand is sticking around for the summer. The only drawback? He’s not looking forward to the empty space Liz Danger will leave behind her when she goes in September.

Treacherous small-town politics, a rust belt biker gang, a widowed ex who doesn’t understand the word “no,� a seven-year-old in need of a temporary mom, a flamboyant blonde boss who needs watched at all times, exploding family secrets, arson, murder, and three hundred and ninety-two soaking wet teddy bears later, Liz and Vince will come face to face with the madman burning down their town, and even worse, with their imploding relationship.

“A comic caper and raucous romance. . . laugh out loud funny.� Kirkus Reviews on Agnes and the Hitman

“A sex, sassy, and smart combination of romance and suspense that is simply irresistible.� Booklist on Don’t Look Down

Rest in There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.]]> 401 Jennifer Crusie 1621253996 Betsy 0 to-read 4.41 2023 Rest in Pink (Liz Danger #2)
author: Jennifer Crusie
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Lavender's Blue (Liz Danger #1)]]> 175578165
Liz Danger has returned home after fifteen years to deliver a giant teddy bear for her mother’s birthday (Guilt Red) when a cop with a great ass picks her up for speeding, fixes the missing lug nuts on her back wheel, pulls her out of a ditch, doesn’t give her a ticket, and helps her avoid her family. This is a man with real potential. The rest of the day goes downhill, starting with her finding out that the only man she’s ever loved is getting married to Lavender Blue, the most beautiful woman in southern Ohio. Really, the best thing in her day is that cop with the lug nuts.

Vince Cooper still isn't sure about being a cop in Burney, Ohio, a place he just moved to six months ago, since Burney is full of some fairly odd people spaced between long stretches of boredom. Still, considering the dangerous, difficult life he had before Burney as an Army Ranger and New York City cop, boredom is good. Then he picks up Liz Danger for speeding and life gets a lot more interesting. And when he picks her up again in the local bar the next night, he starts to realize that “interesting� doesn’t begin to describe what’s going to happen to him if he pulls Liz into his arms and his life

As Liz navigates her dysfunctional family, her flamboyant boss phoning in from Chicago, her still-interested ex, her bridesmaid dress from hell, a dachshund with issues, a disaster of a wedding, assault, murder, and three hundred and ninety-three teddy bears, Vince shows up to get her through, even though he knows that the real peril for him in Burney is the one who came with her own warning label, Liz Danger.]]> 448 Jennifer Crusie 1621253953 Betsy 0 to-read 4.34 2023 Lavender's Blue (Liz Danger #1)
author: Jennifer Crusie
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Other Side of Mrs. Wood 62573330
Mrs. Violet Wood is London’s premier medium. Her ambition and work ethic are relentless, and her unique abilities have earned her quite the reputation among London’s elite. Mrs. Wood knows just how to read her wealthy patrons and deliver them exactly the messages they long to hear from their loved ones visiting from beyond the grave.

However, one London newspaperman is on a quest to expose the false mediums among them, just as the pressure increases to outperform the upstart Americans—who, to Mrs. Wood’s horror, are promising their audiences more and more fantastical visions. When Mrs. Wood learns her own finances are in crisis, she realizes she must raise her own profile to secure her career and her place in society, or risk being quickly replaced by the next big thing.

Her solution? Accepting as an apprentice the sweet young girl who appears at her door, who carries an uncanny talent for the craft. But is Miss Bird everything she appears to be? And will she be Mrs. Wood’s salvation, or her downfall?]]> 272 Lucy Barker 0063317311 Betsy 0 to-read 3.46 2023 The Other Side of Mrs. Wood
author: Lucy Barker
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/06
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]]> One Puzzling Afternoon 86103927
I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years . . .

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .

Then Lucy goes missing.

2018. Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .]]> 350 Emily Critchley 1728287162 Betsy 0 to-read 3.79 2023 One Puzzling Afternoon
author: Emily Critchley
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl 61827506 It’s 1938, and a young woman selling face cream out of a New York City beauty parlor is determined to prove she can have it all. Her name is Estée Lauder, and she’s about to take the world by storm, in this dazzling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Social Graces and Park Avenue Summer.

In New York City, you can disappear into the crowd. At least that’s what Gloria Downing desperately hopes as she tries to reinvent herself after a devastating family scandal. She’s ready for a total life makeover and a friend she can lean on—and into her path walks a young, idealistic woman named Estée. Their chance encounter will change Gloria’s life forever.

Estée dreams of success and becoming a household name like Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Revlon. Before Gloria knows it, she is swept up in her new friend’s mission and while Estée rolls up her sleeves, Gloria begins to discover her own talents. After landing a job at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York’s finest luxury department store, Gloria finds her voice, which proves instrumental in opening doors for Estée’s insatiable ambitions.

But in a world unaccustomed to women with power, they’ll each have to pay the price that comes with daring to live life on their own terms and refusing to back down.]]> 432 Renée Rosen 059333566X Betsy 0 to-read 3.92 2023 Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl
author: Renée Rosen
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Murder in the Family 63241097 A shocking thriller about a cold case, a fictional true crime series, and the family caught in the middle.

SIX EPISODES. ONE KILLER.

It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

Luke Ryder's murder has never been solved. Everyone present around the time of the murder swears they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

But some murder cases are simply too big to forget...

Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating--and perhaps cracking--this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited--on camera. The truth will come out.

Are you ready to see it?]]> 466 Cara Hunter 0063272075 Betsy 0 to-read 3.70 2023 Murder in the Family
author: Cara Hunter
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25)]]> 38325516 Stephanie Plum faces the toughest puzzle of her career in the twenty-fifth entry in Janet Evanovich's #1 New York Times bestselling series.

There's nothing like a good deli and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World famous for its pastrami, cole slaw and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.]]> 311 Janet Evanovich 0399179224 Betsy 3 finally-read-2023 3.75 2018 Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25)
author: Janet Evanovich
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: finally-read-2023
review:

]]> The Christmas Café 128130388
Clumsy, earnest baker Sylvie West has worked at the Christmas Café in Silver Bells, Wyoming, ever since her boozy eggnog fruitcake won the town’s annual holiday bake-off. Her forever happy place, the café complements her sweet, well-ordered life with her recently widowed Gramps and her yappy chihuahua-pug, Crumpet.

So, when Sylvie learns the café might be sold, she’s determined to save it the only way she by getting the Holiday Channel crew to set a scene at the café. She’s even met the film’s charming lead actor, Royce, thanks to Crumpet’s meddling. Between an unexpected acting gig, a booth at the Christmas festival, an appearance at the Christmas parade, and a budding romance with Royce, Sylvie has a lot on her plate. Good thing her old friend, gruff yet reliable Abe, has just come home to manage his parents� goat farm—until she catches herself feeling a little too merry and bright in his presence. With some help from family, friends, Crumpet, and the goat farmer down the way, Sylvie’s plate might just be full of the sweetest treats she’s ever had . . .]]> 320 Eliza Evans 0593544560 Betsy 0 to-read 3.44 2023 The Christmas Café
author: Eliza Evans
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Winter in New York 101673373
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.Ěý

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so theyĚýcan’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. ButĚýhow can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.]]> 384 Josie Silver 0593724933 Betsy 0 to-read 3.64 2023 A Winter in New York
author: Josie Silver
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder On the Christmas Express]]> 60538170 Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.

Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?

All aboard for . . .Ěý Murder on the Christmas Express ]]> 351 Alexandra Benedict 1398519839 Betsy 0 to-read 3.27 2022 Murder On the Christmas Express
author: Alexandra Benedict
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pink Lemonade Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #29)]]> 61193069 In this irresistible mystery from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joanne Fluke, Hannah Swensen is at the center of a lively summer fest with fun for everyone in Lake Eden, Minnesota--including a cold-blooded murderer . . .

The Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration has come to town, and even among local artisans, athletes, and marching bands, Hannah attracts fans of her own while serving lip-smacking pink lemonade desserts. But the mood sours when a body turns up, leading revelers to wonder if the festivities mark both the longest day of the year and the deadliest . . .

A retired professional MLB player has met a terrifying end--and, considering the rumors swirling about his past, the list of suspects could fill a small stadium. Among them could soon be Delores, Hannah's mother, who publicly held a grudge against the victim after he infamously dunked her in the tank at a previous county fair . . .

Now, with her mother's innocence on the line, a life-changing announcement at The Cookie Jar, and a plethora of desserts to bake, Hannah can't afford to strike out as she begins a dangerous investigation into the ruthless killer who's truly in a league of their own . . .]]> 290 Joanne Fluke 1496736117 Betsy 4 3.09 2023 Pink Lemonade Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #29)
author: Joanne Fluke
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/21
date added: 2023/11/21
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]]> <![CDATA[A Most Agreeable Murder (Beatrice Steele, #1)]]> 62794526 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.]]> 352 Julia Seales 0593449983 Betsy 0 to-read 3.67 2023 A Most Agreeable Murder (Beatrice Steele, #1)
author: Julia Seales
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Lady Cavendish’s Christmas Caper]]> 152939505

Charlie has until next Christmas to find a priceless missing art piece that’s the only thing standing between her and her inheritance. The cozy British town is hiding more than just the location of the noteworthy artwork. Charlie’s late grandmother wrote that she would only receive the castle and all its treasures after successfully finding the tactfully hidden artwork. As the clock moves closer to the deadline, it will take a Christmas miracle to help Charlie earn her inheritance and keep her wonderful new home.


Eager to explore Haversham, Charlie heads out sightseeing. It isn’t long until a flat tire leaves her stranded outside of the local tavern where a tall brooding stranger lends her a helping hand. Intrigued, Charlie proposes an innocent little wager. One harmless bet leads to another and soon she’s agreed to host a Christmas Eve party at the castle. Unwilling to admit defeat, she takes the challenge in stride, but will the town’s sleepy secrets come to light just in time to foil the holiday spirit?]]> 262 Camille Cabrera Betsy 0 to-read 3.98 Lady Cavendish’s Christmas Caper
author: Camille Cabrera
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Confessions of a Christmasholic]]> 178630547 284 Joss Wood 0008655561 Betsy 0 to-read 3.58 2023 Confessions of a Christmasholic
author: Joss Wood
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)]]> 60899502 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators� lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt these children beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered, and are they now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long-dead stonemason is discovered. In it, the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir, and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.]]> 390 Louise Penny 1250145295 Betsy 0 to-read 4.33 2022 A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)
author: Louise Penny
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Year of Wonders 4965
Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition.

As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.

As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. ]]> 304 Geraldine Brooks 0142001430 Betsy 0 to-read 4.00 2001 Year of Wonders
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Night Raven (The Moonwind Mysteries #1)]]> 75697602 Mika is not your average orphan—and she’s about to prove it.

It’s 1880, and in the frigid city of Stockholm, death lurks around every corner. Twelve-year-old Mika knows that everyone in her orphanage will struggle to survive this winter. But at least the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he?

Mika is shocked when a newborn baby is left at the orphanage in the middle of the night, by a boy with a cryptic message. Who is he? And who is this “Dark Angel� he speaks of? When a detective shows up, Mika senses something even more sinister is going on.

Drawn in by Mika’s unique ability to notice small details—a skill Mika has always used to survive—the gruff Detective Hoff unwittingly recruits her to help him with his investigation into a gruesome murder. Mika knows she should stay far, far away, and yet…with such little hope for her future, could this be an opportunity? Maybe, just maybe, this is Mika’s chance to be someone who matters.

]]> 187 Johan Rundberg 166250960X Betsy 0 to-read 4.15 2021 The Night Raven (The Moonwind Mysteries #1)
author: Johan Rundberg
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Witch Way to Murder (Ophelia & Abby, #1)]]> 229132 Bewitched meets Murder She Wrote in this delightful new cozy mystery series featuring Ophelia Jensen, small town librarian and reluctant psychic, and her grandmother Abby, a benevolent witch.Ěý

Thirty something Ophelia Jensen wants to live a quiet life as a small town librarian. She's created a comfortable existence with her kooky, colorful grandmother Abby, and if it were up to her, they could live out their days—along with Ophelia's dog Lady and cat Queenie—in peace and quiet. But, to Ophelia's dismay, she and Abby aren't a typical grandmother/granddaughter duo. She possesses psychic powers, and Abby is a kindly witch. And while Ophelia would do anything to dismiss her gift—harboring terrible guilt after her best friend was killed and she was unable to stop it—threatening events keep popping up, forcing her to tap into her powers of intuition. To make matters worse, a strange—yet devastatingly attractive—man is hanging around Ophelia's library, and no matter how many times she tells him she's sworn off men forever, he persists. Soon this handsome newcomer reveals he's following a lead on a local drug ring, and then a dead body shows up right in Abby's backyard. And much as Ophelia would like to put away her spells forever, she and Abby must use their special powers to keep themselves, and others, out of harm's way.

]]> 292 Shirley Damsgaard 0060793481 Betsy 3 3.72 2005 Witch Way to Murder (Ophelia & Abby, #1)
author: Shirley Damsgaard
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/04
date added: 2023/11/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)]]> 75302266 Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.]]> 378 Ava Reid 0063211505 Betsy 0 to-read 3.73 2023 A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)
author: Ava Reid
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Alaric Thain's History of the 21st Century]]> 50783767 The “History of the 21st Century" is divided into three sections. The first section summarizes the history of humanity from the emergence of the species through to the dawn of the information age. By laying the foundations of primitive human thought, 29th-century readers can better appreciate the often perplexing motivations and reasoning of their ancestors. The second section looks at the history of the information age in detail, from its start, in 1998, to the closing of the last fossil fuel power plant in 2070, encompassing the “singularity�, the American culture wars and the advent of fusion power. The third section explains three key archaic concepts that are typically difficult to understand for 29th-century readers: politics, economics and religion.
The History of the 21st Century tells a tale of drama and resolve, of trial and error, from the nearly disastrous experiments in populism typified by the presidency of Donald Trump to the heroism and nobility of people like Destiny Holt and Mukantagara Mporera. It was the vision and courage of leaders such as these that allowed us to weather the catastrophes that threatened us and achieve the “second enlightenment� by the end of the era.
The book has been brought to 2019 so as to provide an example to contemporary people of what might be the most favorable outcome imaginable, the one in which Alaric Thain had the opportunity to look back and write his history. Painfully aware of the extremely fortuitous events in his own timeline, he collaborated with Artie, the web-based artificial intelligence of his time, to bring about the publishing of his book over eight hundred years earlier, in August of 2019, with the intention of inspiring as many favorable futures as he could across the branching timelines of existence.]]> 396 Alaric Thain 173338961X Betsy 5 4.29 2019 Alaric Thain's History of the 21st Century
author: Alaric Thain
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> Mexican Gothic 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

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

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Betsy 0 to-read 3.66 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Starling House 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

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

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

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

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Betsy 0 to-read 3.77 2023 Starling House
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Haunting on the Hill 102188677 Ěý
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on aĚýweekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Ěý
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, Ěýdisturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, ˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚýtime itself seems to shift. ĚýAll too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, butĚýwith the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and itĚýno longer intendsĚýtoĚýwalk alone . . .Ěý
Ěý]]> 326 Elizabeth Hand 0316527327 Betsy 0 to-read 3.27 2023 A Haunting on the Hill
author: Elizabeth Hand
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)]]> 157062582
Alors que l’affaire menace la réputation du Regency Grand, et que tous les employés sont des suspects, Molly se rend compte qu’elle a un lien important avec la victime. La clé de cette énigme se trouve nichée dans son passé, à l’époque où, enfant, elle accompagnait sa grand-mère dans le mystérieux manoir des Grimthorpe�

Afin d’aider ses amis, de sauver l’hôtel et d’empêcher un nouveau drame, Molly va se lancer corps et âme dans cette nouvelle enquête haute en couleur !]]> 293 Nita Prose 0593356187 Betsy 0 to-read 3.75 2023 The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)
author: Nita Prose
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Christmas Appeal (The Appeal, #1.5)]]> 124949815 Run Time = 3hr 36min

A charmingly festive novella from the “modern Agatha Christie� (The Sunday Times, London): In Lower Lockwood, a Christmas theater production takes a dark turn when a body is discovered onstage. As rivalries flare and secrets unravel, lawyers Femi and Charlotte race to uncover the killer before the final curtain falls � for good. Read by a full cast of narrators!


This immersive holiday caper follows the hilarious Fairway Players theater group as they put on a Christmas play—and solve a murder that threatens their production.

The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good.]]> 208 Janice Hallett 166803588X Betsy 0 to-read 3.53 2023 The Christmas Appeal (The Appeal, #1.5)
author: Janice Hallett
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Christmas Guest 83814905 An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family's Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village's grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.]]> 96 Peter Swanson 0063297450 Betsy 0 to-read 3.58 2023 The Christmas Guest
author: Peter Swanson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Library 63005200 A little free library guarded by a cat and a boy who takes on the mystery it keeps.

When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change.

Evan and his best friend Rafe quickly discover a link between one of the old books and a long-ago event that none of the grown-ups want to talk about. The two boys start asking questions whose answers will transform not only their own futures, but the town itself.

Told in turn by a ghost librarian named Al, an aging (but beautiful) cat named Mortimer, and Evan himself, The Lost Library is a timeless story from award-winning authors Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass. It's about owning your truth, choosing the life you want, and the power of a good book (and, of course, the librarian who gave it to you).]]> 215 Rebecca Stead 1250838819 Betsy 0 to-read 4.09 2023 The Lost Library
author: Rebecca Stead
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Burnout 131120162
Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).

When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?]]> 416 Sophie Kinsella 0593730399 Betsy 0 to-read 3.61 2023 The Burnout
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Betsy 0 to-read 3.86 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death and the Sisters (A Mary Shelley Mystery, #1)]]> 88839412 The tangled relationships between Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary’s stepsister Jane Clairmont form the backdrop for an intriguing historical mystery, set in London in 1814, that explores the complex dynamic between sisters and the birth of teenaged Mary’s creative genius.

London, 1814: Mary Godwin and her stepsister Jane Clairmont, both sixteen, possess quick minds bolstered by an unconventional upbringing, and have little regard for the rules that other young ladies follow. Mary, whose mother famously advocated for women’s rights, rejects the two paths that seem open to her—that of an assistant in her father’s bookshop, or an ordinary wife. Though quieter and more reserved than the boisterous Jane, Mary’s imagination is keen, and she longs for real-world adventures.

One evening, an opportunity arrives in the form of a dinner guest, Percy Bysshe Shelley. At twenty-one, Shelley is already a renowned poet and radical. Mary finds their visitor handsome and compelling, but it is later that evening, after the party has broken up, that events take a truly intriguing turn. When Mary comes downstairs in search of a book, she finds instead a man face down on the floor—with a knife in his back.

The dead man, it seems, was a former classmate of Shelley’s, and had lately become a personal and professional rival. What was he doing in the Godwins� home? Mary, Jane, and Shelley are all drawn to learn the truth behind the tragedy, especially as each discovery seems to hint at a tangled web that includes many in Shelley’s closest circle. But as the attraction between Mary and the married poet intensifies, it sparks a rivalry between the sisters, even as it kindles the creative fire within . . .]]> 320 Heather Redmond 1496737997 Betsy 0 to-read 3.32 2023 Death and the Sisters (A Mary Shelley Mystery, #1)
author: Heather Redmond
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spirit Bares Its Teeth 89144437 Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.]]> 399 Andrew Joseph White 1682636186 Betsy 0 to-read 4.48 2023 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hex and the City 78296210 Things you should know about Poppy:

1. She’s a witch

2. She has magical hair like Rapunzel from Tangled

3. She lives with Iris, the head of her coven, in a beautiful, ramshackle house next to Highgate cemetery

4. She works at Hubble Bubble, a magic shop in Covent Garden. Though none of it is real magic as that would be highly irresponsible. Until�

…Poppy accidentally sells gorgeous celebrity magician Axl Storm, all six-foot-four of him, a cursed pendant.

When all hell breaks loose can the guy with fake magic and the girl with real magic fix the chaos they’ve caused? Or will sparks fly both in and out of the cauldron?]]> 385 Kate Johnson 0008551146 Betsy 0 to-read 3.53 2023 Hex and the City
author: Kate Johnson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Scarlet Veil (The Scarlet Veil, #1)]]> 60386342 This dark and thrilling vampire romance—set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Serpent & Dove series—is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas!

Célie Tremblay has always been a good girl: kind and beautiful, a daughter of whom every parent would be proud. She surprises the entire kingdom when she defies tradition to become the first huntswoman—including her new captain and fiancé, Jean Luc, who rules the huntsmen with an iron fist. He isn’t the only one concerned for Célie’s safety, however. Though her friends try to protect her from the horrors of her past, mysterious whispers still haunt her, and a new evil is rising in Belterra—leaving bodies in its wake, each one drained of blood.

Determined to prove herself in her new role, Célie tracks the killer to the lair of Les Éternels—ancient creatures only spoken about in nursery rhymes—and catches the attention of their king, a monster who hides his plans for her behind beautiful words and sharp smiles. Now Célie has new reason to fear the dark because the closer he gets, the more tempted she feels to give in to his dark hunger—and her own.]]> 640 Shelby Mahurin 0063258757 Betsy 0 to-read 4.10 2023 The Scarlet Veil (The Scarlet Veil, #1)
author: Shelby Mahurin
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Betsy 0 to-read 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor, #1)]]> 139391940 A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie's aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor's gossip at all costs. But Jeanie's arrival disrupts Logan's routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie's happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won't fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes�

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

� grumpy x sunshine
� small town
� found family
� spicy]]> 373 Laurie Gilmore 0008610665 Betsy 0 to-read 3.36 2023 The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor, #1)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The List of Suspicious Things 157591205
'What on earth are you on about?' she said. 'How are we going to catch the Yorkshire Ripper, when the police haven't even managed to?'

I sighed. Her questioning my ideas was a recent and unwelcome element to our friendship. But it was a valid point. How would we catch him? We needed some sort of plan, a way of gathering clues and putting them into order.

I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do.

'We'll make a list,' I said. 'A list of the people and things we see that are suspicious.

And then . . . And then we'll investigate them.'

The List of Suspicious Things is a tender and moving coming of age story about family, friendship and community. Sometimes the strongest connections are found in the most unlikely of places.]]> 464 Jennie Godfrey 1529153298 Betsy 0 to-read 4.19 2024 The List of Suspicious Things
author: Jennie Godfrey
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 148600670
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
Ěý
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
Ěý
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 370 Kristen Perrin 1529430089 Betsy 0 to-read 3.92 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Only One Left 62703226 At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer�I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]> 383 Riley Sager 0593183223 Betsy 0 to-read 4.12 2023 The Only One Left
author: Riley Sager
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Out of the Cauldron: A Fall Fantasy Collection]]> 193770068
With stories from many notable authors including MK Ahearn, Benjamin Luke, J.N. Kindig, Neena Laskowski, Caleb Robertson, Nikkita Bell, Paige A. Cook, Yvanka Maria Guia Rebelo, Ashley Earley, Kelsey McCullar, S. Frasher, Belinda Kroll, E.F. Watson, Amber Toro, Kate Korsak, Audrey Steves, B.L. Talley, Emma Steinbrecher, Danni Grace, Valerie Aethra, Rhia Stewart, Ky Venn, Emily Blackwood, and Effie Joe Stock.]]> 798 M.K. Ahearn Betsy 0 to-read 4.64 Out of the Cauldron: A Fall Fantasy Collection
author: M.K. Ahearn
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mistletoe and Murder (Murder Most Unladylike, #5)]]> 30739291 Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas hols in snowy Cambridge. Hazel has high hopes of its beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tea-rooms - but there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College.

Three nights before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident - until the Detective Society look a little closer, and realise a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course).

The fabulously festive fifth mystery from the bestselling, award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike.

]]> 352 Robin Stevens Betsy 0 to-read 4.66 2016 Mistletoe and Murder (Murder Most Unladylike, #5)
author: Robin Stevens
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Peril at Owl Park 49155322 For young detective Aggie Morton and her friend Hector, Christmas becomes a lot more exciting when a dead body is found.

Aspiring writer Aggie Morton is looking forward to Christmas. Having just solved a murder and survived her own brush with death in her small town of Torquay on the coast of England, Aggie can't wait to spend the holidays with her sister Marjorie, the new Lady Greyson of Owl Park, an enormous manor house in the country; Grannie Jane and her fellow sleuth and partner in crime, Hector Perot. Owl Park holds many delights including Aggie's almost cousin Lucy, exciting and glamorous visitors from Ceylon and disguises aplenty in the form of a group of traveling actors, not to mention a secret passageway AND an enormous, cursed emerald. Not even glowering old Lady Greyson (the Senior) can interfere with Aggie's festive cheer. But when Aggie and her friends discover a body instead of presents on Christmas morning, things take a deadly serious turn. With the help of a certain nosy reporter, Aggie and Hector will once again have to put their deductive skills and imaginations to work to find the murderer on the loose.]]> 389 Marthe Jocelyn 0735265496 Betsy 0 to-read 4.38 2020 Peril at Owl Park
author: Marthe Jocelyn
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Side of Sabotage (Quinnie Boyd Mysteries, #3)]]> 35804763
The new restaurant takes fancy dining to the extreme. Still, that's not a crime . . . but when things start to go wrong at Gusty's, Quinnie suspects foul play. Are the people behind Restaurant Hubert trying to squash the Boyds' family café? Quinnie is about to find out if it is a coincidence—or sabotage.]]> 280 C.M. Surrisi 1512448362 Betsy 0 to-read 4.31 2018 A Side of Sabotage (Quinnie Boyd Mysteries, #3)
author: C.M. Surrisi
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hotel Magnifique 55812605 For fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, this decadent and darkly enchanting YA fantasy, set against the backdrop of a Belle Époque-inspired hotel, follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique.

All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.

The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.

With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.]]> 400 Emily J. Taylor 0593404513 Betsy 2 3.76 2022 Hotel Magnifique
author: Emily J. Taylor
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/27
date added: 2023/07/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body Under the Piano (Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen, #1)]]> 45865916 and discovers a dead body on the floor of the Mermaid Dance Room! As the number of suspects grows and the murder threatens to tear the town apart, Aggie and her new friend will need every tool at their disposal -- including their insatiable curiosity, deductive skills and not a little help from their friends -- to solve the case before Aggie's beloved dance instructor is charged with a crime Aggie is sure she didn't commit.]]> 325 Marthe Jocelyn 0735265461 Betsy 4 3.91 2020 The Body Under the Piano (Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen, #1)
author: Marthe Jocelyn
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/26
date added: 2023/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cheddar Off Dead (Cheese Shop Mystery, #1)]]> 57693592 In this fun cozy series debut, cheesemonger Willa Bauer discovers that her new home in a small Sonoma Valley town is ripe for murder...something here stinks to high heaven, and Willa knows it's not the cheese.

Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is proving that sweet dreams are made of cheese. She’s opened her very own French-inspired cheese shop, Curds & Whey, in the heart of the Sonoma Valley. The small town of Yarrow Glen is Willa's fresh start, and she's determined to make it a success—starting with a visit from the local food critic. What Willa doesn't know is that this guy never gives a good review, and when he shows up, nothing goes according to plan. She doesn’t think the night can get any worse...until she finds the critic’s dead body, stabbed with one of her shop’s cheese knives. Now a prime suspect, Willa has always believed life’s problems can be solved with cheese, but she’s never tried to apply it to murder…]]> 296 Korina Moss 1250795192 Betsy 0 to-read 3.74 2022 Cheddar Off Dead (Cheese Shop Mystery, #1)
author: Korina Moss
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Sell a Haunted House 59414094 Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else.

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…]]> 419 Grady Hendrix 0593201264 Betsy 2 3.65 2023 How to Sell a Haunted House
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 50523477 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]> 533 Tasha Suri 0356515648 Betsy 0 to-read 4.12 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Girl in the Castle 60420291 Beloved #1 bestselling authors James Patterson and Emily Raymond deliver a thrilling novel about a teen caught between two worlds and the truths that could set her free—or trap her forever.

My name is Hannah Dory and I need you to believe me

NOW: Hannah is brought to Belman Psych, told she is suffering from hallucinations and delusions. Hannah knows the truth: she must return to the past and save her sister. Could Jordan, the abnormal psych student who seems to truly care, be the answer she’s looking for?

1347: Hannah and her village are starving to death in a brutal winter. Hannah seeks out food and salvation in the baron’s castle. If she is caught stealing, she will surely hang. But if she and her friends succeed, she’ll save everyone she holds dear.

NOW: Jordan isn’t sure what to believe, and Hannah has even bigger problems: if she doesn’t make it back, her sister will die, but if she keeps going back, she might never escape.]]> 368 James Patterson 0316411728 Betsy 0 to-read 3.78 2022 The Girl in the Castle
author: James Patterson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nooks & Crannies 23309600
Then, on the heels of a rather devastating announcement made by her mother and father, Tabitha receives a mysterious invitation to the country estate of the wealthy but reclusive Countess of Windermere, whose mansion is rumored to be haunted. There, she finds herself among five other children, none of them sure why they've been summoned. But soon, a very big secret will be revealed� a secret that will change their lives forever and put Tabitha’s investigative skills to the test.]]> 320 Jessica Lawson 1481419218 Betsy 0 to-read 3.99 2015 Nooks & Crannies
author: Jessica Lawson
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Premeditated Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries, #1)]]> 50926334 Winner of the Edgar Award!
Finalist for the Agatha Award and Anthony Award!

Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle has a passion for justice and a Highly Unconventional obsession with criminal science. Armed with her father’s law books and her mum’s microscope, Myrtle studies toxicology, keeps abreast of the latest developments in crime scene analysis, and Observes her neighbors in the quiet village of Swinburne, England.

When her next-door neighbor, a wealthy spinster and eccentric breeder of rare flowers, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtle seizes her chance. With her unflappable governess, Miss Ada Judson, by her side, Myrtle takes it upon herself to prove Miss Wodehouse was murdered and find the killer, even if nobody else believes her � not even her father, the town prosecutor.]]> 368 Elizabeth C. Bunce 1616209186 Betsy 0 to-read 4.08 2020 Premeditated Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries, #1)
author: Elizabeth C. Bunce
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Maypop Kidnapping (Quinnie Boyd Mysteries, #1)]]> 22453785 The Maypop Kidnapping is set in a small coastal Maine village filled with eccentric locals. When 13-year-old Quinnie's beloved teacher goes missing, Quinnie leads a relentless, sometimes misguided search � against her mother's orders.]]> 296 C.M. Surrisi Betsy 4 3.95 2016 The Maypop Kidnapping (Quinnie Boyd Mysteries, #1)
author: C.M. Surrisi
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> When You Wish Upon a Star 61769942 What if the Blue Fairy wasn’t supposed to help Pinocchio?

“Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight . . . � so begins the wish that changes everything—for Geppetto, for the Blue Fairy, and for a little puppet named Pinocchio. The Blue Fairy isn’t supposed to grant wishes in the small village of Pariva, but something about this one awakens some long-buried flicker within. Perhaps it’s the hope she senses beneath the old man’s loneliness.

Or maybe it’s the fact that long ago, before she was the Blue Fairy, she was a young woman named Chiara from this very village, one with a simple wish: to help others find happiness. Her sister Ilaria always teased her for this, for she had big dreams to leave their sleepy village and become a world-renowned opera singer. The two were close, despite their differences. While Ilaria would give anything to have a fairy grant her wish, Chiara didn’t believe in the lore for which their village was famous.

Forty years later, Chiara, now the Blue Fairy, defies the rules of magic to help an old friend. But she’s discovered by the Scarlet Fairy, formerly Ilaria, who, amid a decades-long grudge, holds the transgression against her sister. They decide to settle things through a good old-fashioned bet, with Pinocchio and Geppetto’s fate hanging in the balance.

Will the sisters find a way back to one another? Or is this, like many matters of the heart, a gamble that comes with strings?]]> 480 Elizabeth Lim 1368077544 Betsy 2 4.01 2023 When You Wish Upon a Star
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Alcatraz Escape (Book Scavenger, #3)]]> 36294983 264 Jennifer Chambliss Bertman 162779963X Betsy 4 4.26 2018 The Alcatraz Escape (Book Scavenger, #3)
author: Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jolly Foul Play (Murder Most Unladylike, #4)]]> 27030027 336 Robin Stevens 0141369698 Betsy 2 4.25 2016 Jolly Foul Play (Murder Most Unladylike, #4)
author: Robin Stevens
name: Betsy
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/04
date added: 2023/07/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Such a Quiet Place 55711642
Hollow’s Edge use to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.

With her conviction overturned, Ruby waltzes right back to Hollow’s Edge, and into the home she shared with Harper Nash. Harper, five years older, has always treated Ruby like a wayward younger sister. But now she’s terrified. What possible good could come of Ruby returning to the scene of the crime? And how can she possibly turn her away, when she knows Ruby has nowhere to go?

Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow’s Edge. It’s increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night of the Truetts� murders. And when Harper begins receiving threatening notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else becomes the killer’s next victim.
]]> 337 Megan Miranda 1982147288 Betsy 2 3.43 2021 Such a Quiet Place
author: Megan Miranda
name: Betsy
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/07/02
date added: 2023/07/02
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review:

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