�ұ�ٱ��'s bookshelf: all

�ұ�ٱ��'s bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 12 Apr 2025 09:35:40 -0700 60 �ұ�ٱ��'s bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Jackal 58756502 A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white Rust Belt town. But she’s not the first—and she may not be the last. . . .

It’s watching.

Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the bride’s daughter, Caroline, goes missing—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood.

It’s taking.

As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: a summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She’s seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart missing. Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can’t be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town’s history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls.

It’s your turn.

With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness.]]> 336 Erin E. Adams 0593499301 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, prg 3.65 2022 Jackal

author: Erin E. Adams
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/12
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 62897700 This is an alternate cover edition for 9781529115543

This is not a romance, but it is about love

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

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

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

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.]]> 482 Gabrielle Zevin �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 4.10 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)]]> 19161852
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]> 468 N.K. Jemisin �ұ�ٱ�� 0 currently-reading 4.29 2015 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

author: N.K. Jemisin
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Such Sharp Teeth 60097467 A young woman in need of a transformation finds herself in touch with the animal inside in this gripping, incisive novel from the author of Cackle and The Return.

Rory Morris isn't thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby's father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she'd put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she's attacked.

Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She's unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver--and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She's changing into someone else--something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she's putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?

This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability.]]> 336 Rachel Harrison 0593545826 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 currently-reading 3.82 2022 Such Sharp Teeth

author: Rachel Harrison
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #6)]]> 60909286
I thought that the death of the man who tortured me, broke me, and then hunted me to the ends of the Earth would be the end of our fight; but it’s only the beginning.

After thousands of years of being apart, our god bonds are reunited once again; and they’re not ready to go down without a fight.

They’ve woken up hungry.

All of the research in the world couldn’t have prepared us for what’s to come, enemies and wars fought over millennia. Now we’re being forced to act, but this time, we have the advantage.

This time, we’re Bonded.

Are we strong enough to survive the gods and their plans? Will we ever live in the peaceful world we’ve fought so hard for, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

*Unbroken Bonds is a full-length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book is the final installment and will not end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations. Book 6 in the 6 book series.]]> 542 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 5 read-fan 4.01 2022 Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #6)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> Dead of Winter 63264519 From bestselling author Darcy Coates comes Dead of Winter, a remote cabin in the snowy wilderness thriller that will teach you to trust no one. There are eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run.

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.]]> 352 Darcy Coates 1728270251 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 3.79 2023 Dead of Winter

author: Darcy Coates
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> Hunted 41118520 She only went off the trail for a moment...

22-year-old Eileen goes missing while hiking in the remote Ashlough Forest. Five days later, her camera is discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken after her disappearance.

Chris wants to believe Eileen is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends create their own search party to scour the mountain range. As they stray further from the hiking trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to believe they’re not alone in the forest�� and that Eileen’s disappearance wasn’t an accident.

By that point, it’s too late to escape.]]> 450 Darcy Coates �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, prg 4.03 2018 Hunted

author: Darcy Coates
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> Delicious Monsters 61273084 The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls��

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion�� allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.]]> 512 Liselle Sambury 166590349X �ұ�ٱ�� 0 4.03 2023 Delicious Monsters

author: Liselle Sambury
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> Tell No One 43933
Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.

But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret- and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.]]> 370 Harlan Coben 0440236703 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 4.06 2001 Tell No One

author: Harlan Coben
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> A Familiar Stranger 59964527
Lillian Smith leads an unexceptional life, writing obituaries and killing time with her inattentive husband and disconnected son. Then she meets David, a handsome stranger, in a coffee shop. Lured into an affair, she invents a new persona, one without strings, deadlines, or brooding husbands.

Lillian has never felt so reckless, unpredictable, or wanted. But as her affair with David intensifies, she withdraws from everything that’s real, even her closest friend. When evidence of her life as a secret lover finds its way onto her son’s social media, she risks ruining much more than her marriage or reputation.

As lies beget lies, Lillian’s two worlds spiral dangerously out of control. And betrayals run deeper than she imagines. Because Lillian isn’t the only one leading a double life.]]> 275 A.R. Torre 1662500130 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.69 2022 A Familiar Stranger

author: A.R. Torre
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: read-thr
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]]> Chasing the Boogeyman 55711747 The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Gwendy’s Button Box brings his signature prose to this story of small-town evil that combines the storytelling of Stephen King with the true-crime suspense of Michelle McNamara.

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.

Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. In the midst of preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into the real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come.

A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime. Chizmar’s writing is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.]]> 322 Richard Chizmar 1982175168 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.91 2021 Chasing the Boogeyman

author: Richard Chizmar
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> Keep Your Friends Close 80924632
Accusations fly, and three mothers find themselves at the center of the investigation. Whitney, Brooke, and Jade all have heavy secrets to bear…and possible motives for their friend’s murder. But as the police look closer, more secrets, betrayals, and sinister plots are revealed than the women could ever imagine.

With everything at stake, deceit threatens to shatter their illusions of the perfect life. West Hollywood will never be the same.]]> 287 Lucinda Berry 1662512597 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.77 2023 Keep Your Friends Close

author: Lucinda Berry
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Such Quiet Girls 222668031 Ten children, abducted in broad daylight—and buried alive.

Sage and her sister won’t make it home from school today. Neither will the other children on Bus 315. But that’s only the beginning of the nightmare.

New bus driver Jessa blames herself for what happened. She couldn’t protect the kids she was supposed to deliver to daycare, just like she couldn’t protect her own daughter three years ago. But this time, everything will be different. It has to be.

Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground, Jessa and the children do their best to stay calm. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.

With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.

Such Quiet Girls was inspired by actual events.

]]> Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 4.46

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
review:

]]> After the Dark 211074312
Fair warning: This short story contains spoilers!

Link to story can be found on Noelle's Instagram linktree @noelleihliauthor]]> 15 Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 3.90 After the Dark

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> The Thicket 219539959
Norah can’t stop thinking about the night her brother died.

She was supposed to stay with him at the Halloween carnival. He’d begged her to stay. But they’d fought, and Norah left him alone in the woods. That was before she realized there was a real killer lurking among the costumes and macabre props.

When the carnival reopens just weeks later amid a media controversy, Norah decides to retrace her brother’s last steps in a desperate attempt to unravel what really happened that night. But the woods hold more than just traumatic memories.

Before long, Norah begins to suspect that the killer's choice of hunting ground was no coincidence. And that this nightmare is far from over.]]> 332 Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.49 The Thicket

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> Room for Rent 219539889 Nya can’t remember the last time she felt safe.

The rundown rental house didn’t seem so bad at first. But now, someone is stealing her food. Rattling her bedroom doorknob. Digging through her belongings.

Each night brings more disturbing incidents. And each night, Nya is more convinced that it’s not an intruder. She suspects the culprit is hiding in plain sight: her peculiar roommate-of-necessity, Sidney.

Nya can’t afford to live anywhere else. The horrible rental is her only option. In a few months, she’ll finish her final semester of college—and get the hell out of dodge. But to her horror, the sinister mind games are just the beginning. Before long, she’s forced to face the possibility that her physical safety may be at risk. Maybe even her life.

The truth is more terrifying than Nya could have guessed. And as the situation spirals out of control, it’s suddenly clear that surviving the night may no longer be an option.]]> 298 Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.59 2023 Room for Rent

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
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]]> Red X 123892935 Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli. Learn what happened to Ava Robles.

Fair warning: This short story contains spoilers for Run on Red.

Link to story can be found on Noelle's Instagram @noelleihliauthor]]> Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.58 Red X

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: read-thr
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]]> Gray After Dark 204787816 A merciless wilderness. A harrowing attack. A desperate escape.

When a tragic accident sidelines Miley's dreams of Olympic gold, she takes a summer job at a mountain guest lodge.

The Frank Church Wilderness is remote, but it’s the perfect place to train and recover. Local lore about a staffer who died years ago doesn’t scare her. But it should.

Miley’s plans take a terrifying detour when she’s abducted during a morning run. Held captive in a desolate off-grid cabin, she’ll have to use her athletic prowess, cunning mind, and courage to survive. But as the nightmare at the cabin escalates, Miley is forced to form an unlikely alliance and attempt a risky escape.

Can she outwit her captors and survive the wilderness before it’s too late?

Inspired by true events, Gray After Dark is a pulse-pounding psychological thriller with a finale that will leave you breathless.]]> 370 Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 4.23 2024

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> Run on Red 61381555
By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills, it’s too late. What seems, at first, like a case of road rage quickly unfolds into a heart-pounding chase—and a battle for survival.

Who are the men in the truck? What do they want? And can Laura and Olivia outrun—and outsmart—them long enough to call for help, even if it means taking their chances in the hills on foot?

As their situation grows more perilous, the girls realize that the real terror has only just begun. But flight won’t save them from their pursuers. If they’re going to make it home alive, they'll have to fight.]]> 291 Noelle W. Ihli �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.74 2022 Run on Red

author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: read-thr
review:

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

Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And then��one day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear. It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was.]]> 336 Robyn Harding 1538726769 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.99 2023 The Drowning Woman

author: Robyn Harding
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #5)]]> 60654360
Our Bonded Group has been torn apart, and the monsters are now the prey.
But we’re not going to just wait around for our enemy to strike; the blood on his hands is unforgivable, and the god living inside of me wants her revenge paid in blood.

And a thousand souls.

We have been pushed to the limit, tested in ways that have devastating outcomes, and paid the ultimate price. Can we recover from such losses? Is the promise of a world without our enemy worth the sacrifices we’ve made?

Can we prove to everyone, and ourselves, that together our bonds are unbroken?

*Tragic Bonds is a full-length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.]]> 542 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-fan 4.20 2022 Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #5)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hollow (A Gothic Shade of Romance, #1)]]> 198628110
Ever since she was a child, Kat Van Tassel knew that her parents had arranged for her to marry her best friend, Brom Bones, when she became of age. That was until Brom mysteriously vanished from the secretive village of Sleepy Hollow when he was just a teenager.

Now, at nineteen, Kat is fulfilling the tradition of attending Sleepy Hollow Institute, a shadowy and prestigious school that is run by her powerful family. There she starts to fall for her new teacher, the enigmatic, smart, and much older Ichabod Crane, whose fascination with dark magic and the occult brings out a new side of Kat—in more ways than one.

Until Brom Bones suddenly appears in her class. Her childhood friend doesn’t remember what happened to him in the four years that he’s been gone, all he knows is that he’s back in Sleepy Hollow for good. The only problem is, he’s not the same man that Kat knew. Cocky and brash as a youth, this Brom is violent and prone to bouts of madness. It doesn’t help that his reappearance coincides with gruesome decapitations that are plaguing the town, with rumors swirling about a vengeful ghost called The Headless Horseman.

Determined to get to the bottom of the murders and Brom’s volatility, Crane takes Brom under his wing to study him, and they begin to grow close, just as they do with Kat. But the more that the threesome submits to their sexual desires on the path to the truth, the more dangerous Sleepy Hollow becomes. The Headless Horseman might claim them as his next victims�� if something even more terrifying doesn’t get to them first.]]> 332 Karina Halle �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.94 Hollow (A Gothic Shade of Romance, #1)

author: Karina Halle
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1)]]> 53138099 Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moment, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.]]> 355 Elle Cosimano 1250241707 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, prg 3.99 2021 Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1)

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1)

author: Elle Cosimano
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read, prg
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)]]> 59819111
What if they’re one and the same?

The stable foundation I thought I’d built in the Sanctuary has been ripped away, and I find myself on the front lines of the war against the Resistance. I might have my Bonds on my side, but there are darker schemes in motion.

Can I prove myself and turn the tide to protect our most vulnerable, or am I nothing more than the monster they’ve always claimed I am?

Will we make it out of this without tragic consequences?

*Forced Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.]]> 541 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-fan 4.20 2022 Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> Love, Mom 220838350 A best-selling author. A mother. A murderer��

Mackenzie Casper is a brilliant student. But she is best known for her mother, a best-selling author whose dark, twisted thrillers have a dedicated worldwide fanbase.

When her mother dies in an accident, fans across the world are left grieving, and the investigators are asking: Was that really an accident?

The day of the memorial service, Mackenzie gets the first mysterious envelope, signed,
From #1 fan. XOXO

Inside are the pages of her mother’s diary that start with the lines:
Want to know a secret?
Love, Mom.

What Mackenzie reads leaves her in shock.
But then comes the second letter.
And the third...

Mackenzie starts her own investigation and stumbles upon secrets that her family has lived with for years.
Quickly, she realizes that her mother's path to stardom was etched with sinister lies that might have caught up with her.

Sometimes fame is worth a murder. Or worse.
Soon, Mackenzie will come to find out that there are worse things than murder��]]> 348 Iliana Xander �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.30 2024 Love, Mom

author: Iliana Xander
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> The Shadows 55169043 "This is absorbing, headlong reading, a play on classic horror with an inventiveness of its own... As with all the best illusions, you are left feeling not tricked, but full of wonder."�� The New York Times

The Shadows is the haunting new thriller from Alex North, author of the New York Times bestseller The Whisper Man.

You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile--always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat.

Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree--and his victim--were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and suffering from dementia, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home.

It's not long before things start to go wrong. Paul learns that Detective Amanda Beck is investigating another copycat that has struck in the nearby town of Featherbank. His mother is distressed, insistent that there's something in the house. And someone is following him. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.

It wasn't just the murder.

It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again...]]> 352 Alex North 1250318041 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.72 2020 The Shadows

author: Alex North
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is Where We Talk Things Out]]> 61179496 This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau, author of Palimpsest: A Collection of Contemporary Horror, follows the gut-wrenching journey of Miller and her estranged mother, Sylvie, who have always had a tense relationship.

After Miller's father dies, she agrees to a girls' vacation away from the city to reconnect with the only family she has left. Although she’s eager to make things work, Miller can’t help but worry that her mother is seeing their countryside retreat as a fun weekend getaway instead of what it really is: a last-ditch effort to repair their relationship.

Unfortunately, that quickly becomes the least of Miller’s problems.

Sylvie's trapped in the past and if Miller's not careful, she will be too. A cross between Stephen King's Misery and Stephanie Wrobel's Darling Rose Gold, This Is Where We Talk Things Out explores the horror of familial trauma, mother-daughter relationships, and what happens when we don't let go.]]> 93 Caitlin Marceau �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.67 2022 This Is Where We Talk Things Out

author: Caitlin Marceau
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Milo's Story (The Gateway Trilogy #3.5)]]> 24918231 36 E.E. Holmes 0989508056 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-fan 4.44 2015

author: E.E. Holmes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spirit Ascendancy (The Gateway Trilogy, #3)]]> 27831417 A power too terrible to control... In the wake of their terrifying escape from Fairhaven Hall, sisters Jess and Hannah Ballard find themselves on the run, pursued by the two most powerful groups in the history of the spirit world. On one side, the Durupinen, determined to capture the girls and prevent their role in an ancient prophecy that promises to destroy them and unleash the spirit hordes on the earth. On the other side, the Necromancers, ancient enemies of the Durupinen, hellbent on bringing the same prophecy to fruition. When the girls are betrayed and one of them falls into the Necromancers�� hands, both face decisions with cataclysmic consequences. Will the lure of power prove too great to resist, or will the bond between the sisters survive this last, most crucial of tests? Spirit Book 3 of the Gateway Trilogy is the third of ten thrilling paranormal page-turners in "The World of the Gateway" series by E.E. Holmes. What Amazon readers are ★★★★�� 'One of THE BEST ghost themed paranormal books I've ever read!' ★★★★�� 'Hauntingly thrilling.' ★★★★�� 'A must-read for those interested in the paranormal.' ★★★★�� 'Twilight combined with Harry Potter and then some!' ★★★★�� 'Every turn of the page is like a new discovery.' ★★★★�� 'A masterfully woven story.' ★★★★�� 'Holmes has written a lovely series with something for everyone; humor, self reflection, loyalty, mystery, intrigue, action and so much more.' ★★★★�� 'If you're into the paranormal, like ghosts, ghost hunting, ghost stories, crossing over, Gaelic folklore, dark secrets, plot twists that I didn't even see coming (and I am a writer myself!) and even a little magic, you should definitely read this book.' Experience the captivating paranormal series that obsessed readers have described as “unputdownable�� and “spellbinding��. If you love ghost stories, with plenty of action and suspense, along with a tough and independent heroine you’ll want to stand up and cheer for, you will fall in love with this best-selling series�� but proceed with you’ll be up all night reading!]]> 369 E.E. Holmes �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-fan 4.48 Spirit Ascendancy (The Gateway Trilogy, #3)

Spirit Ascendancy (The Gateway Trilogy, #3)

author: E.E. Holmes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-fan 4.22 2018 Circe

author: Madeline Miller
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> I'm Glad My Mom Died 59364173
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,�� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?�� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!��), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy �ұ�ٱ�� 0 currently-reading 4.45 2022 I'm Glad My Mom Died

author: Jennette McCurdy
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> You Can’t Be Serious 56898257
You Can’t Be Serious is a series of funny, consequential, awkward, and ridiculous stories from Kal’s idiosyncratic life. It’s about being the grandson of Gandhian freedom fighters, and the son of immigrant parents: people who came to this country with very little and went very far—and whose vision of the American dream probably never included their son sliding off an oiled-up naked woman in a raunchy Ryan Reynolds movie…or getting a phone call from Air Force One as Kal flew with the country’s first Black president.

With intelligence, humor, and charm on every page, Kal reflects on the most exasperating and rewarding moments from his journey so far. He pulls back the curtain on the nuances of opportunity and racism in the entertainment industry and recounts how he built allies, found encouragement, and dealt with early reminders that he might never fit in. And of course, he reveals how, after a decade and a half of fighting for and enjoying successes in Hollywood, he made the terrifying but rewarding decision to take a sabbatical from a fulfilling acting career for an opportunity to serve his country as a White House aide.

Above all, You Can’t Be Serious shows that everyone can have more than one life story. Kal demonstrates by example that no matter who you are and where you come from, you have many more choices than those presented to you. It’s a story about struggle, triumph, and learning how to keep your head up. And okay, yes, it’s also about how he accidentally (and very stupidly) accepted an invitation to take the entire White House Office of Public Engagement to a strip club—because, let’s be honest, that’s the kind of stuff you really want to hear about.]]> 368 Kal Penn 1982171383 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-nonfic 4.20 2021 You Can’t Be Serious

author: Kal Penn
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: read-nonfic
review:

]]> That's Not My Name 123429195
Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.

When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.]]> 297 Megan Lally 1728270111 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.05 2023 That's Not My Name

author: Megan Lally
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

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

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

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

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 �ұ�ٱ�� 5 read-nonfic 4.20 2019

author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: read-nonfic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Come Home, Katie (Dear Celeste #1)]]> 209020778
A terrible hit and run accident took Celeste Cleary's life until doctors managed to bring her back. But now she's... different. Once a respected scientist, she walks the thin veil between the living and the dead.

As she struggles to return to her former life, Celeste receives an email-a heart-wrenching letter from a stranger, a woman begging for help locating her seventeen-year-old sister, Katie, who vanished a year before. Celeste's first impulse is to say no-what does she know about finding a missing person? But late one snowy night Celeste is drawn into the forest where the spectral form of Katie awaits her and, though the girl does not speak, the message is clear. Katie wants Celeste to uncover the truth behind her disappearance.

As Celeste delves into the mystery surrounding Katie's vanishing, she is ensnared in a sinister labyrinth of secrets and lies. Someone doesn't want her to find out the truth and there's nothing they won't do to stop her.

Get lost in a dark paranormal mystery that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare.]]> 360 J.R. Erickson �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.47 Come Home, Katie (Dear Celeste #1)

author: J.R. Erickson
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spirit Prophecy (The Gateway Trilogy, #2)]]> 22919557 Two sisters, haunted by more than their past... Just weeks after discovering each other’s existence, Jess and Hannah Ballard arrive at Fairhaven Hall, where they will learn the clandestine ways of the Durupinen, an ancient sect of women who control the Gateways between the worlds of the living and the dead. Though they are considered outcasts by most of their classmates, Jess and Hannah are determined to learn what they can to fulfill their responsibility to the many ghosts that haunt them. But danger, it seems, has followed them as closely as a shadow to their new home, and they have more questions than ever. Who is the desperate child spirit pursuing Jess, and what do her terrifying visions mean? What has happened to Dr. David Pierce, Jess�� friend and mentor, who has suddenly and mysteriously vanished? And just what is it about Hannah’s unique abilities that has the other Durupinen frightened of her? The Ballard sisters are about to find out, and the answers could destroy their newfound life before it has even begun. Spirit Book 2 of the Gateway Trilogy is the second of 10 thrilling paranormal page-turners in "The World of the Gateway" series by E.E. Holmes. What Amazon readers are ★★★★�� 'One of THE BEST ghost themed paranormal books I've ever read!' ★★★★�� 'Hauntingly thrilling.' ★★★★�� 'A must-read for those interested in the paranormal.' ★★★★�� 'Twilight combined with Harry Potter and then some!' ★★★★�� 'Every turn of the page is like a new discovery.' ★★★★�� 'A masterfully woven story.' ★★★★�� 'Holmes has written a lovely series with something for everyone; humor, self reflection, loyalty, mystery, intrigue, action and so much more.' ★★★★�� 'If you're into the paranormal, like ghosts, ghost hunting, ghost stories, crossing over, Gaelic folklore, dark secrets, plot twists that I didn't even see coming (and I am a writer myself!) and even a little magic, you should definitely read this book.' Experience the captivating paranormal series that obsessed readers have described as “unputdownable�� and “spellbinding��. If you love ghost stories, with plenty of action and suspense, along with a tough and independent heroine you’ll want to stand up and cheer for, you will fall in love with this best-selling series�� but proceed with you’ll be up all night reading!]]> 371 E.E. Holmes �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-fan 4.51 2014 Spirit Prophecy (The Gateway Trilogy, #2)

Spirit Prophecy (The Gateway Trilogy, #2)

author: E.E. Holmes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> Annie Bot 156023123
She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman, but the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she behaves. As Annie's relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder whether Doug truly desires what he says he does. In such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?]]> 231 Sierra Greer 0063312697 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.81 2024 Annie Bot

author: Sierra Greer
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> You Killed Me First 212375021 Three women. Three smouldering secrets. Who will make it out alive?

It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in �� she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?

Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret �� and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.

As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?]]> 399 John Marrs 166250649X �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.00 2025 You Killed Me First

author: John Marrs
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #3)]]> 59056313 Everything I ran from, all of the villains of my past, they’re all here to take another bite out of me. But this time, I’m not alone.
With my Bonds desperately trying to reach me and new friendships I never expected, I start to believe that maybe I won't become the weapon they want me to be. Maybe I’ll be a monster of my own creation.
When loyalties are questioned and Bonds are tested, everything I thought I knew gets turned upside down. Who are my friends, and who are my enemies?
Are Bond ties stronger than blood?

*Blood Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.]]> 541 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-fan 4.20 2021 Blood Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #3)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spirit Legacy (The Gateway Trilogy, #1)]]> 40940669
These cryptic words wake college student Jess Ballard from a terrifying dream into an even more terrifying reality. Jess' life has never been what anyone would call easy; doing damage control in the wake of your nomadic, alcoholic mother doesn't exactly make for a storybook childhood. But now her world has fallen apart just when it should be coming together: her mother gone—dead under mysterious circumstances; her life uprooted to stay with estranged relatives she’s never met; and there’s something odd about some of the people she’s been meeting at school:

They’re dead.

Aided by Tia, her neurotic roommate, and Dr. David Pierce, a ghost-hunting professor, Jess must unravel the mystery behind her hauntings. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger shadows her every move. An ancient secret, long-buried, is about to claw its way to the surface, and nothing can prepare Jess for one terrifying truth...

...her encounters with the world of the dead are only just beginning.

Spirit Legacy is the first of three thrilling novels in The Gateway Trilogy by E.E. Holmes.]]> 271 E.E. Holmes 0989508013 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-fan 4.27 2013 Spirit Legacy (The Gateway Trilogy, #1)

author: E.E. Holmes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> Confess 22609310
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?]]> 306 Colleen Hoover 1476791457 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-evr 4.14 2015 Confess

author: Colleen Hoover
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-evr
review:

]]> What Lies in the Woods 60784373
For decades afterward, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods―no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.]]> 336 Kate Alice Marshall 1250859883 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.93 2023 What Lies in the Woods

author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Saviors: Part Two (Forest Grove #2)]]> 158876501
We pride ourselves on saving people. But what happens when we can’t save the ones we hold closest to us?

A vendetta that brought us back to Forest Grove has put all our lives on the line. The woman we love is thrust back into the arms of the monster that hurt her. Lives are hanging in the balance as we go up against the original founder of the Saviors—the one person who can beat us at our own game.

And he might win this time.

**This part two of a duet. It’s a #whychoose/polyamorous romance, meaning the female main character has multiple love interests and does not choose at the end. This book also contains male/male content and relationships. It's intended for audiences 18+. It is a spin-off of the Abbs Valley series and can be read as a stand-alone. Be sure to check the content/trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.]]> 381 Ames Mills �ұ�ٱ�� 0 4.36 The Saviors: Part Two (Forest Grove #2)

author: Ames Mills
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Savage Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #2)]]> 58410164
I’m no longer the Giftless reject, no longer the girl who’s fair game to the other students for daring to run away from my Bonds.

But there are bigger problems heading my way.

With destiny pushing me closer and closer to each of my Bonds, I’m fighting tooth and nail against nature to keep my distance.

But they’re fighting harder to keep me in their grasp.

When it becomes clear that the Resistance is closer than we ever thought, I don’t know who I can trust.

Can I finally take control of my gift, or will it take control of me?

*Savage Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.]]> 500 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-smut, read-fan 4.25 2021 Savage Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #2)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: read-smut, read-fan
review:

]]> The Bug Collector 218530309

From the twisted imagination of Wrath James White comes a tale of extreme horror, extreme violence, and revenge taken well beyond the extreme.]]> 73 Wrath James White �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.84 The Bug Collector

author: Wrath James White
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[MAGICK: an extreme horror novella]]> 62972322 Today, a crew of pornographic artists have come to Magick manor to make a film...
...only, the Manor has a different, more abhorrent design for their day.

THIS BOOK FEATURES X-RATED DEPRAVITY AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR SENSITIVE READERS!]]> 106 Judith Sonnet �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.45 2022 MAGICK: an extreme horror novella

author: Judith Sonnet
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> Allegedly 30037870
Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.

Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home.

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary?]]> 390 Tiffany D. Jackson 0062422642 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.06 2017 Allegedly

author: Tiffany D. Jackson
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Saviors: Part One (Forest Grove #1)]]> 123410397
There isn’t one.

**The Saviors part one is part of a duet and will end on a cliffhanger. It’s a #whychoose/polyamorous romance, meaning the female main character has multiple love interests and does not choose at the end. This book also contains male/male content and relationships. It's intended for audiences 18+. It is a spin-off of the Abbs Valley series and can be read as a stand-alone. Be sure to check the content/trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.]]> 392 Ames Mills �ұ�ٱ�� 5 read-smut 4.32 The Saviors: Part One (Forest Grove #1)

author: Ames Mills
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: read-smut
review:

]]> Irreversible 222432376 I know that better than anybody��
Because I’m one of them.

I spend my days locked in a black-market nightmare, held captive by a twisted mastermind who considers me his prized possession. My only form of human contact are the victims in the next room, each of whom disappears faster than the last.

Everyone leaves…except me.

Then I hear him—Isaac. Brash, elusive, and haunted, he isn’t anyone’s idea of a hero. Separated by a wall, our faces hidden, his voice cuts through the darkness, becoming my only hope. He’s driven by vengeance, bearing scars as dark as my own. Despite his rough edges, a fragile bond forms between us—a lifeline.

Isaac might be my best chance of escape, but time is slipping away. Breaking free will mean outrunning both our pasts, and in this twisted game, the cost of freedom may be more than we can afford to pay.

Appearances deceive. Choices have consequences.

And some consequences?
They are irreversible.]]> 582 Jennifer Hartmann �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.16 2025

author: Jennifer Hartmann
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)]]> 211164792 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance.

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

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

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, Jack agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]> 384 Sarah Adams 0593723694 �ұ�ٱ�� 5 read-rom RTC 4.08 2025 Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)

Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)

author: Sarah Adams
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: read-rom
review:
RTC
]]> Kindred 60931 The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.

Dana, a modern Black woman, is celebrating her 26th birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.]]> 288 Octavia E. Butler 0807083690 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 4.30 1979 Kindred

author: Octavia E. Butler
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> Victorian Psycho 213395480 From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance.

Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery . . . and creeping across the moonlit lawns. . . .

Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.]]> 208 Virginia Feito 1631498630 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.63 2025

author: Virginia Feito
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> The Other Side of Now 217388211 A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood's latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a small breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving—a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago.

When Meg arrives, the people in town are so nice, treating her not as a stranger, but a friend. Except for the (extremely hot) bartender giving her the cold shoulder. Meg writes it all off as jetlag until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is no longer bleached within an inch of its life, her skin has a few natural fine lines, and her nose looks like�� well, her old nose. Her real nose.

Her phone reveals hundreds of pictures of her life in this little town: with an adorable dog she doesn’t know; with the bartender who might be her (ex?) boyfriend; and at a retail job unrelated to acting. Eventually, she comes to accept that she somehow made a quantum slide into an alternate version of her life. But the most shocking realization of all? In this life, her best friend Aimee is alive and well…but wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke. She finagles an opportunity to act in the play Aimee is writing and directing and as the project unfolds, Meg realizes that events as she remembers them may not be the only truth, and that an impossible choice looms before her.]]> 320 Paige Harbison 1250358078 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-evr, shelf 4.46 2025 The Other Side of Now

author: Paige Harbison
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read, shelf-evr, shelf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Butcher and the Wren (Dr. Wren Muller, #1)]]> 60672388
From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads

Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner's office, she's never encountered a case she couldn't solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren's examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.

An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.]]> 242 Alaina Urquhart 1638930147 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 3.72 2022 The Butcher and the Wren (Dr. Wren Muller, #1)

The Butcher and the Wren (Dr. Wren Muller, #1)

author: Alaina Urquhart
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
review:

]]> The Coworker 161380710
Dawn Schiff is strange.

At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m.

So when Dawn doesn't show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell―beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running―is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything...

It turns out Dawn wasn't just an awkward outsider�� she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her who's the real victim?

But one thing is incredibly somebody hated Dawn Schiff.

Enough to kill.

The Coworker is a tense, unputdownable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden that explores the dark ways the past can echo through the present―with deadly consequences.]]> 370 Freida McFadden �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.97 2023 The Coworker

author: Freida McFadden
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> The Ex 43531101
Joel is sweet, handsome, romantic, and best of all, he’s crazy about Cassie. She thinks she’s found the guy she’ll spend the rest of her life with. Have children with. Grow old with.

Yes, she knows about his perfect ex-girlfriend, Francesca. The beautiful, brilliant chef, beloved by all his friends. But she thinks Francesca is out of the picture. She thinks Francesca is gone for good.

Think again, Cassie.]]> 347 Freida McFadden �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 3.91 2019 The Ex

author: Freida McFadden
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)]]> 50892338
A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn�� students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin�� and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.]]> 502 Tracy Deonn 1534441603 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 4.32 2020 Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)

author: Tracy Deonn
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life]]> 44600621 Ali Wong's heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero), covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.

In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so heavily that she became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mom comics on stage but you sure see plenty of new dads.

The sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she's learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal singles life in New York (i.e. the inevitable confrontation with erectile dysfunction), reconnecting with her roots (and drinking snake blood) in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong's letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and disgusting) for all.]]> 240 Ali Wong 052550883X �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, coming 3.83 2019 Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life

author: Ali Wong
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read, coming
review:

]]> The Lies We Told 37905907 Watching Edie returns with a new novel of dark psychological suspense that explores how those closest to us have the most to hide...

When Clara's boyfriend, Luke, disappears, everyone believes that he's left her, but Clara thinks she knows the truth. Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.

Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.]]> 336 Camilla Way 1101989548 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.98 2018 The Lies We Told

author: Camilla Way
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> A Killing Cold 211004079 A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.]]> 291 Kate Alice Marshall 1250343054 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.80 2025 A Killing Cold

author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> Promise Boys 61144954
The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students―J.B., Ramón, and Trey―emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive . . . and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?

Find out who killed Principal Moore in Nick Brooks's murder mystery, Promise Boys �� The Hate U Give meets One of Us Is Lying.]]> 304 Nick Brooks 1250866979 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.95 2023

author: Nick Brooks
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trapper Road (Stillhouse Lake, #6)]]> 61366665 Sometimes danger comes from the most unexpected places.

Gwen Proctor has always been willing to do anything it takes to protect her kids. But there are some things even she can’t protect them from. When a violent incident at Connor’s school brings the press to Gwen’s doorstep, she agrees to take a case out of town hoping to keep her family out of the crushing media spotlight.

The case is that of a missing girl, last seen getting into a truck with a stranger before disappearing. Gwen has a reputation for finding those who are lost, but this time something is wrong. Her instincts are off, and every clue she uncovers only raises more doubts, not just about the missing girl and the circumstances of her disappearance, but also about the fragile safety Gwen’s created for her family.

The closer she comes to uncovering the truth, the more she unwittingly puts those she loves at risk. Someone from Gwen’s past doesn’t appreciate the new life she’s built for herself and is willing to do anything it takes to tear it apart. Except this time it isn’t Gwen in the crosshairs, but her partner Sam. Without her instincts to rely on, how can Gwen protect those she loves against an enemy she never sees coming?]]> 428 Rachel Caine �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 4.34 2022 Trapper Road (Stillhouse Lake, #6)

author: Rachel Caine
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie, #1)]]> 58081613 I was sure everything would be okay if I had them.
It wasn’t.
The fate of our people is in my hands and I know we’re better off if I’m alone.
After five years on the run, I’m caught and dragged back to face the men I ran away from.
I thought I was doing the right thing.
Now, I’m not so sure.
North, Nox, Gryphon, Atlas, and Gabe may never forgive me but one thing is for sure.
I won’t ever forgive myself.

*Broken Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It's recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.]]> 289 J. Bree �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-fan 4.13 2021 Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie, #1)

author: J. Bree
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: read-fan
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Body Language (Cassie Raven, #1)]]> 54440134
Camden mortuary assistant Cassie Raven has pretty much seen it all. But this is the first time she's come face to face with someone she knows on the slab. Someone she cared about. Her friend and mentor, Mrs E.

Deeply intuitive and convinced that she can pick up the last thoughts of the dead, Cassie senses that there must be more to the ruling of an accidental death. Is her grief making her see things that aren't there, or is her intuition right, and there's something more sinister to her friend's death than the ME thinks? Harbouring an innate distrust of the police, Cassie sets out to investigate and deliver justice to the woman who saved her life.

For fans of Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series and Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan, Cassie Raven is the edgy new forensic sleuth on the block.]]> 384 A.K. Turner 1838770046 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.93 2020 Body Language (Cassie Raven, #1)

author: A.K. Turner
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death]]> 32920307
Marin County, California is a study in contradictions. Its natural beauty attracts thousands of visitors every year, yet the county also is home to San Quentin Prison, one of the oldest and largest penitentiaries in the country. Marin ranks in the top one percent of counties nationwide in terms of affluence and overall health, yet it is far above the norm in drug overdoses and alcoholism, and comprises a large percentage of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ken Holmes worked in the Marin County Coroner’s Office for thirty-six years, starting as a death investigator and ending as the three-term, elected coroner. As he grew into the job—which is different from what is depicted on television—Holmes learned a variety of skills, from finding hidden clues at death scenes, interviewing witnesses effectively, managing bystanders and reporters, preparing testimony for court to notifying families of a death with sensitivity and compassion. He also learned about different kinds of firearms, all types of drugs—prescription and illegal—and about certain unexpected and potentially fatal phenomena such as autoeroticism.

Complete with poignant anecdotes, The Education of a Coroner provides a firsthand and fascinating glimpse into the daily life of a public servant whose work is dark and mysterious yet necessary for society to function.]]> 368 John Bateson 1501168223 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-nonfic 4.08 2017 The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death

The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death

author: John Bateson
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read, shelf-nonfic
review:

]]> The Night Shift 58848686
It's New Year's Eve of 1999 when four teenagers working late are attacked at a Blockbuster video store in New Jersey. Only one inexplicably survives. Police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again.

Fifteen years later, four more teenagers are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive.

In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who is forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy; the brother of the fugitive accused, who is convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller, who must delve into the secrets of both nights to uncover the truth about the night shift murders.]]> 240 Alex Finlay 1800245327 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr "The sheep spends its life worried about the wolf, only to be eaten by the farmer."

3.5]]> 3.99 2022

author: Alex Finlay
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: read-thr
review:
"The sheep spends its life worried about the wolf, only to be eaten by the farmer."

3.5
]]> <![CDATA[The Body Reader (Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, #1)]]> 27918419 For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues�� doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

]]> 304 Anne Frasier �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.34 2016 The Body Reader (Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, #1)

author: Anne Frasier
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> The Gone World 33413556 Inception meets True Detective in this science fiction thriller of spellbinding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind...

Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In western Pennsylvania, 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family--and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can't share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra—a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL's experience with the future has triggered this violence.

Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work, for what she witnesses rising over time's horizon and hurtling toward the present is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself.

Luminous and unsettling, The Gone World bristles with world-shattering ideas yet remains at its heart an intensely human story.]]> 400 Tom Sweterlitsch 0399167501 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.90 2018

author: Tom Sweterlitsch
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> The Book of Cold Cases 58371432
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.

They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.]]> 344 Simone St. James 0440000211 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.76 2022 The Book of Cold Cases

author: Simone St. James
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Awakening (Zodiac Academy, #1)]]> 46261182 This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN B07SV21LFY

You have been selected to attend Zodiac Academy, where your star sign defines your destiny.

If you're one of the Fae, elemental magic is in your blood. And apparently it's in ours. As twins born in the month of Gemini, we're a rare breed even in this academy of supernatural a-holes.

Changelings were outlawed hundreds of years ago but I guess our birth parents didn't get the memo. Which means we're totally unprepared for the ruthless world of Fae.

Air. Fire. Water. Earth.

No one has ever harnessed all four of them, until we arrived. And it hasn't made us any friends so far.

As the rarest Elementals ever known, we're already a threat to the four celestial heirs; the popular, vindictive bullies who happen to be some of the hottest guys we've ever seen. It doesn't help that they're the most dangerous beasts in the Academy. And probably on earth too.

Our fates are intertwined, but they want us gone. They've only got until the lunar eclipse to force us out and they'll stop at nothing to succeed.

We never knew we had a birthright to live up to but now that we do, we intend to claim our throne.

We can't expect any help from the faculty when it comes to defending ourselves. So if the dragon shifters want some target practice, the werewolves want someone to hunt or the vampires fancy a snack then we have to be ready. But we've been looking after each other for a long time and fighting back is in our blood.

Today's horoscope: totally screwed.]]> 436 Caroline Peckham �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.81 2019 The Awakening (Zodiac Academy, #1)

author: Caroline Peckham
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thieves' Gambit (Thieve's Gambit, #1)]]> 75591720
Rosalyn Quest was raised by a legendary family of thieves with one rule: trust no one. Trapped in a glamorous world of riches and double-crosses, she is about to escape the family business when her parents are kidnapped.�� Her only chance to save them is to win the Thieves�� Gambit �� a deadly competition for the world’s up-and-coming thieves, where the victor is granted one wish.�� To win, she must outwit all of her backstabbing competitors, including her archnemesis. But can she take victory from the handsome, charming boy who makes a play for her heart? The one who might be hiding the most dangerous secret of all?

The most highly-anticipated YA launch of the year from Kayvion Lewis��and soon to be a major movie, are you ready to join the Thieves' Gambit?]]> 368 Kayvion Lewis 1398522120 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.83 2023 Thieves' Gambit (Thieve's Gambit, #1)

author: Kayvion Lewis
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Bury Your Gays 195790870 From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale��"for the algorithm"―Misha discovers that it's not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.]]> 295 Chuck Tingle 1250874653 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-hor 4.14 2024 Bury Your Gays

author: Chuck Tingle
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: read-hor
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartbreak Bay (Stillhouse Lake, #5)]]> 48763358
A car submerged in a remote pond. The bodies of two girls strapped into their seats. The mystery of their mother, vanished without a trace, leads Gwen Proctor and Kezia Claremont into dangerous territory.

On the surface, Gwen’s life is good—two children approaching adulthood, a committed partner, and a harrowing past dead and gone. But that past is attracting the attention of someone invisible…and unstoppable. Trouble’s just beginning. So is the body count in this backwoods Tennessee town.

As threats mount and Gwen’s hunted by an enemy who pulls all the strings, Kezia has her back. But working to solve these vicious and unreasonable crimes will expose them both to a killer they can’t for the life of them see coming.]]> 335 Rachel Caine 154209366X �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 4.29 2021 Heartbreak Bay (Stillhouse Lake, #5)

author: Rachel Caine
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> A Girl Like Us 197717646
It's 2004 and former reality TV star and party girl Maya Miller has just married the most eligible bachelor on the planet: Colin Sterling, of the globally famous Sterling family whose history of aristocratic titles and land holdings rival a British royal and whose media empire is comparable to the Murdochs. To some, Maya represents the American dream. To others, a gold digger. But when Colin's cousin Arianna, the heiress to the family's immense fortune, is found murdered, Maya is thrust into the spotlight: first as she is revealed to be the next heiress to the fortune, and then as the prime suspect.

Swiftly, the entire Sterling family goes into lockdown at Silver House, the family's ancestral estate in the English countryside. They're told it's for their own safety—but Maya becomes convinced that it's not to keep threats out, but to keep secrets in. Now, she has no choice but to find and expose the truth hidden within the Sterling family, and why Arianna, a girl she had never met, chose her to take her place. But Maya has secrets of her own. And she knows that in order to survive the Sterlings, she'll have to beat them at their own game.]]> 432 Anna Sophia McLoughlin 1728296137 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 3.56 2025 A Girl Like Us

author: Anna Sophia McLoughlin
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
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 �ұ�ٱ�� 5 read-hor “Needs must when the devil drives.��

“To be honest, I wasn’t particularly sure why I was on the floor. I had simply found myself there. My best guess was that I couldn’t have been bothered to walk to a chair when it was time to sit down.��

“Worrying takes effort, and one must be selective about where one expends effort these days.��

I haven't read such a good horror a long while (if at all), this was absolutely brilliant!! Big haunted houses have always been interesting and terrifying for me and this book hooked me in from the very first page. I immensely enjoyed this from the beginning to the end, it had me creeped out, eye-bulging and gasping through most of the book. I was really eager to see how it would all turn and and the ending was amazing as well. Definitely worth the read if you're looking for some chills, are a horror fan and don't faint too easily!]]> 3.87 2023 The September House

author: Carissa Orlando
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: read-hor
review:
“Needs must when the devil drives.��

“To be honest, I wasn’t particularly sure why I was on the floor. I had simply found myself there. My best guess was that I couldn’t have been bothered to walk to a chair when it was time to sit down.��

“Worrying takes effort, and one must be selective about where one expends effort these days.��

I haven't read such a good horror a long while (if at all), this was absolutely brilliant!! Big haunted houses have always been interesting and terrifying for me and this book hooked me in from the very first page. I immensely enjoyed this from the beginning to the end, it had me creeped out, eye-bulging and gasping through most of the book. I was really eager to see how it would all turn and and the ending was amazing as well. Definitely worth the read if you're looking for some chills, are a horror fan and don't faint too easily!
]]> Sin Eater 52185082
Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.

The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.

The Handmaid’s Tale meets Alice in Wonderland in this gripping and imaginative historical novel about a shunned orphan girl in 16th-century England who is ensnared in a deadly royal plot and must turn her subjugation into her power.]]> 284 Megan Campisi 1982124105 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.62 2020 Sin Eater

author: Megan Campisi
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> Appetite for Innocence 59338335 Be careful what you post online. Your next check-in might lead him right to you...

A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he’s not interested in just any teenage girls—only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he’s captured them, they’re locked away in his sound-proof basement until they’re groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he’s stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive.

Until Ella.

Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah—the girl whose been captive the longest—gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah’s hiding something and it isn’t long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over.

Fans of The Butterfly Garden and The Girl Before will devour Appetite for Innocence.

Warning: Contains sexual violence which may be a trigger for some readers.]]> 359 Lucinda Berry �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 4.18 2017

author: Lucinda Berry
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cats and Catnapping (Mira Michaels Mystery #1)]]> 56132834 82 Julia Koty 1939309204 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 4.03 2021

Cats and Catnapping (Mira Michaels Mystery #1)

author: Julia Koty
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> Superbia (Shades of Sin, #2) 210403338
Lethal. Focused. Ambidextrous.

In contrast to her disgraced sister, Astrid has done everything right. And now, she’s coming to realize that everything she’s ever known is wrong.

Soren wants to be the kind of Shade that all Shades aspire to be.

Brave. Decisive. Powerful.

But his disgraced sister is determined to ruin him, and now there’s a deadly Hunter in his realm, smelling like the most delicious thing he’d ever taste.

And the king wants them to work together.

Can they hold the enemy line with each other? Or will the thin line between love and hate be their undoing?

Superbia is the second book in the Shades of Sin series, featuring humans and their not-quite-so-human partners. For readers 18+

Author’s note: Each book is a standalone, but I recommend you read them in order of release for the best experience. Book one is Luxuria.]]> Colette Rhodes �ұ�ٱ�� 0 dnf 3.82 2023 Superbia (Shades of Sin, #2)

author: Colette Rhodes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Stay Awake 58724748
Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

In the vein of SJ Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep and Christopher Nolan’s cult classic Memento, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.]]> 340 Megan Goldin 1250280664 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 3.80 2022

author: Megan Goldin
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
review:

]]> Night Sweats 216908387 A remote lake house. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. A terrifying fight for survival.

Three years after losing her teenage daughter, with her marriage on the brink of unraveling, Barbara needs a break—time away, time alone, time to process. The lake house is perfect. It’s quiet, remote, picturesque, and best of all, she has the whole place to herself.

Or so she thinks��

Barbara’s weekend getaway takes a terrifying detour when a young woman emerges from the woods, screaming for help. She’s been abducted. Her deranged captor is in close pursuit. Barbara will need all her courage and cunning if they’re both to survive the nightmare headed their way.

But can she muster the strength to fight a natural-born killer?]]> 282 Beau Savage �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.26 Night Sweats

author: Beau Savage
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The 11th Hour Motel: A Thriller]]> 222596471 Five stranded guests. One lonesome motel. The blizzard outside isn’t the only storm brewing.

Missy watches the blizzard approach her quaint roadside motel with a mix of emotions �� dread for the dangerous conditions it brings, and an intense longing for the warmth her late husband used to provide on cold nights like this. But for better or worse, Missy won’t be alone much longer.

Five unexpected guests are headed her way, desperately seeking shelter from the a mortally wounded young man transporting stolen money, two hired guns hot on his trail with orders to bring the money back, and a young woman and her grandmother on a road trip to put the past behind them, totally unprepared for the perilous detour they’re about to take.

The icy roads are treacherous. The neon-red sign is a beacon of safety. But no amount of snow can extinguish this fuse once it’s lit �� or bury the secrets unearthed in the blast.]]> 273 Beau Savage �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 3.93 The 11th Hour Motel: A Thriller

author: Beau Savage
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake, #4)]]> 44066986
In spite of a harrowing past still haunting her, Gwen Proctor is trying to move forward. Until a new assignment gives her purpose: the cold-case disappearance of a young man in Tennessee. Three years missing, no clues. Just Ruth Landry, a tortured mother in limbo. Gwen understands what it’s like to worry about your children.

Gwen’s investigation unearths new suspects…and victims. As she follows each sinister lead, the implications of the mystery grow more disturbing. Because the closer Gwen gets, the closer she is to a threat that looms back home.

In a town that’s closed its ranks against Gwen; her partner, Sam; and her kids, there’s no bolder enemy than the Belldene family—paramilitary, criminal, powerful, and vengeful. As personal vendettas collide with Gwen’s investigation, she’s prepared to fight both battles. But is she prepared for the toll it could take on everyone she loves?]]> 332 Rachel Caine 1542042348 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr 4.29 2020 Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake, #4)

author: Rachel Caine
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> Keep It in the Family 60109530
Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors.

In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Haunted by the terrible things she saw and desperate to find answers, her obsession pulls her ever further from her husband.

Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family—but is it already too late?]]> 380 John Marrs 1542017289 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-thr ��...we're only ever our true selves when we think we are alone."

“I’ve grown to realise that when I don’t have blood on my hands, they are uncomfortably dry.��

Ohoho this one was so twisted!! ]]> 4.08 2022 Keep It in the Family

author: John Marrs
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: read-thr
review:
��...we're only ever our true selves when we think we are alone."

“I’ve grown to realise that when I don’t have blood on my hands, they are uncomfortably dry.��

Ohoho this one was so twisted!!
]]> In the Barren Ground 29243822
Rookie cop Tana Larsson doesn’t mind the dark and quiet. Five months pregnant and hoping to escape the mistakes of her past, she takes a post in Twin Rivers, population 320. Maybe here she can find peace and community for her child.

But with her superior out of commission, Tana becomes the sole police officer in 17,500 square miles. One bitter night, she gets a call about the fatal wolf mauling of two students, and the only way to reach the remote scene is to enlist the help of the arrogant, irritatingly handsome Cameron “Crash�� O’Halloran, a local bush pilot with a shady reputation for smuggling and a past cloaked in shadow.

When the macabre scene they uncover suggests violence much more sinister than animal, Tana must trust Crash if she wants to protect the town—and herself—from the evil that lurks in the frozen dark.

IN THE BARREN GROUND, a dark, atmospheric romance and police procedural with gothic/horror overtones set in a remote fly-in community just south of the arctic circle ...]]> 396 Loreth Anne White 1503991210 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.28 2016 In the Barren Ground

author: Loreth Anne White
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner]]> 18775327
Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation, performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines flight 587.

Lively, action-packed, and loaded with mordant wit, Working Stiff offers a firsthand account of daily life in one of America's most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies, and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on shows like CSI and Law and Order to reveal the secret story of the real morgue.]]> 258 Judy Melinek 1476727252 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, on-side 4.23 2014 Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

author: Judy Melinek
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read, on-side
review:

]]> The Wrong Drive 216447780 Welcome to a holiday from hell.

Emersyn
All I want is a secluded getaway.
Instead, I get a wrong turn, a fortnight blizzard, and...
A malevolent, enticing, and unstable stranger.
Merry Christmas to me.
Here's to unwrapping his insanity...
And trying not to lose mine.

Turner
I come here when I lose my grip.
I come here so I can wreak havoc alone.
Instead, I get an unplanned and unwanted gift.
How dare she show up.
She doesn't belong here...
But now, I'm not sure I can let her go.

**The Wrong Drive is a standalone dark holiday romance with themes that some readers may find disturbing. It does have an HEA. ]]> 190 Annie Wild �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, christmas 4.00 2024

author: Annie Wild
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read, christmas
review:

]]> Her Last Move 39926632 “Whatever you do, don’t read this in the dark…�� —Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home

He hides in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment. Each kill is calculated, planned and executed like clockwork.

Struggling to balance her personal and professional life, young DS Becca Vincent has landed the biggest case of her career �� and she knows that it will make or break her. But how can she identify one face in a sea of thousands? With the help of Police Super Recogniser Joe Russell, she strives to catch a glimpse of the elusive murderer, but he’s watching her every move.

Time is not on their side. The body count is rising, and the attacks are striking closer and closer to home. Can Becca and Joe uncover the connection between the murders before the killer strikes the last name from his list?

From the bestselling author of When You Disappeared and The Good Samaritan comes his most thrilling novel yet.]]> 385 John Marrs �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.09 2018 Her Last Move

author: John Marrs
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> When You Disappeared 34884315
Catherine knows Simon must be in trouble. He wouldn't just leave her. He wouldn't leave the children.

But Simon knows the truth - about why he left and what he's done. He knows things about his marriage that it would kill Catherine to find out. The memories she holds onto are lies.

While Catherine faces a dark new reality at home, Simon's halfway around the world, alive and thriving. He's doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the truth.

But he can't hide forever, and when he reappears twenty-five years later, Catherine will finally learn who he is.

And wish she'd stayed in the dark.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Wronged Sons, this edition of When You Disappeared includes editorial revisions.]]> 349 John Marrs 1477828834 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.94 2013

author: John Marrs
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read, shelf, shelf-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies]]> 52672113 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers the most intriguing questions she’s ever received about what happens to our bodies when we die. In a brisk, informative, and morbidly funny style, Doughty explores everything from ancient Egyptian death rituals and the science of skeletons to flesh-eating insects and the proper depth at which to bury your pet if you want Fluffy to become a mummy. Now featuring an interview with a clinical expert on discussing these issues with young people—the source of some of our most revealing questions about death��Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? confronts our common fear of dying with candid, honest, and hilarious facts about what awaits the body we leave behind.]]> 232 Caitlin Doughty 0393358496 �ұ�ٱ�� 4 read-nonfic 4.15 2019 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies

author: Caitlin Doughty
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: read-nonfic
review:

]]> The Last Girl Left 197600319 When a woman returns to the scene of the horrific mass murder that shattered her life, the nightmare begins again in a chilling novel of psychological suspense.

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead—and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears.

Renting the same beach house where she almost died, Tessa returns to lonely Cassadaga Island off the coast of Maine long after the tourists and summer residents have departed for the winter. But as the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake. There are footsteps on the porch, creaks from the second floor, and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

If only someone believed her. Because the terrors Tessa thought were long behind her are starting again. And this time, trapped and alone, she might not be lucky enough to survive them.]]> 331 A.M. Strong 1662518277 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf-thr, shelf 4.00 2024 The Last Girl Left

author: A.M. Strong
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read, shelf-thr, shelf
review:

]]> Black Sheep 60791833
That’s not the first thing you’d think when you meet Bria Brooks.

She’s reserved. Polite. Charming, when she wants to be. But delve a little deeper. She’s cunning. Brilliant. Ruthless. Bria Brooks is not just a black sheep. She’s a wolf. And she has her heart set on a very elusive prize.

Caron Berger.

Trouble is, she’s not the only one.

Dr. Elijah Kaplan is also on the hunt for the enigmatic leader of the Legio Agni cult. Caron Berger is a phantom, and Eli is keen on catching the ghost. What he doesn’t need is a beautiful and brutal doctoral student haunting his steps. Especially not one who seems so breakable, or who tempts him to bend every rule until it snaps, or who calls to each of his darkest desires. No. He does not need that. At all.

When the pursuit of their elusive prey pulls these two hunters together, they find that their demons might not be so different after all. But just like bodies in a bog, secrets have a way of surfacing, and the ones that Bria and Eli keep are the deadliest kind.

As they draw closer to capturing their prize, can Bria and Eli harness their beasts before they destroy one another? Or will they learn that it’s not what you’ll do to win that matters, it’s what you’re willing to leave behind?

TWs: physical and emotional abuse, graphic violence, torture, swearing; explicit sexual content (consensual), BDSM, breath play.]]> 412 Alexa Harlowe �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, magic-to-discover 3.96 2022 Black Sheep

author: Alexa Harlowe
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, magic-to-discover
review:

]]> Luxuria (Shades of Sin, #1) 210295655 A Monster Romance

Ophelia has a dirty secret.

Well, it’s not really a secret anymore.

Ophelia was born into a family of Hunters, tasked with protecting the humans from the creatures of the night who feast on their fear.

Except Ophelia always found the idea of monsters kind of intriguing. She even made the grave sin of committing some X-rated monster thoughts to paper—which in hindsight may not have been the best idea because her parents were mortified—but you live and learn. Well, everyone finds out your secret, you get banished from society, and then you learn.

But the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Ophelia has been waiting for to make good on some of those fantasies has arrived. The King of Shades requires a hunter bride, and Ophelia is the best fit for the job.

Now she just needs to convince her surly monster husband, Allerick, that she’s the best fit for him.

Luxuria: A Monster Romance is an MF standalone arranged marriage romance between a human and her not-quite-human husband suitable for readers 18+]]> 310 Colette Rhodes �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-smut 3.85 2022 Luxuria (Shades of Sin, #1)

author: Colette Rhodes
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: read-smut
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]]> Strange Sally Diamond 62322008
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .]]> 384 Liz Nugent 1844885968 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.14 2023 Strange Sally Diamond

author: Liz Nugent
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> The Collective 55100588 The USA Today bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author of Never Look Back and If I Die Tonight plumbs the dark side of justice and the depths of diabolical revenge in this propulsive novel of psychological suspense that melds the driving narrative of Then She Was Gone with the breathtaking twists of The Chain and the violent fury of Kill Bill.

Just how far will a grieving mother go to right a tragic wrong?

Camille Gardner is a grieving—and angry—mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible.

When her rash actions attract the attention of a secret group of women—the collective—Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability and perpetrators emerge unscathed. Fueled by mutual rage, these women orchestrate their own brand of justice through precise, anonymous, complexly plotted and perfectly executed revenge killings, with individual members completing a specific and integral task in each plan.

As Camille struggles to comprehend whether this is a role-playing exercise or terrifying reality, she must decide if these women are truly avenging angels or monsters. Becoming more deeply enmeshed in the group, Camille learns truths about the collective—and about herself—that she may not be able to survive.
]]> 338 Alison Gaylin 0063083159 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.89 2021

author: Alison Gaylin
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Echo Man (Major Crimes, #1)]]> 58656109
Detectives Cara Elliott and Noah Deakin are on the case of a series of seemingly unconnected murders, each different in method, but each shocking and brutal. As the body count increases, they can’t ignore the details that echo famous cases of the past—Manson, Kemper, Dahmer, and more. As Elliott and Deakin get closer to unmasking the killer, the murders are moving closer to home.

Meanwhile, Jessica Ambrose is on the run. She’s been implicated as the arsonist who killed her neglectful husband and injured her young daughter. With the help of disgraced and suspended detective Nate Griffin, Jess discovers a shocking link between her case and that of the ultimate copycat killer working on his horrifying masterpiece.]]> 400 Sam Holland 1643859927 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.09 2022 The Echo Man (Major Crimes, #1)

author: Sam Holland
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> Here To Stay 42249612 A beautiful home. A loving wife. And in-laws to die for.

Gemma Robinson comes into Elliot’s life like a whirlwind, and they marry and settle into his home. When she asks him if her parents can come to stay for a couple of weeks, he is keen to oblige �� he just doesn’t quite know what he’s signing up for.

The Robinsons arrive with Gemma’s sister, Chloe, a mysterious young woman who refuses to speak or leave her room. Elliot starts to suspect that the Robinsons are hiding a dark secret. And then there are the scars on his wife’s body that she won’t talk about . . .

As Elliot’s in-laws become more comfortable in his home, encroaching on all aspects of his life, it becomes clear that they have no intention of moving out. To protect Gemma, and their marriage, Elliot delves into the Robinsons�� past. But is he prepared for the truth?]]> 370 Mark Edwards 1542044898 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 4.04 2019 Here To Stay

author: Mark Edwards
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> Reckless Girls 57693168 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.]]> 320 Rachel Hawkins 1250274257 �ұ�ٱ�� 3 read-thr 3.53 2022 Reckless Girls

author: Rachel Hawkins
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: read-thr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins 0439023483 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-evr 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

author: Suzanne Collins
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> The Way Up is Death 205015141 When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND.

As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone�� is up.

And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent �� and death stalks their every move.]]> 368 Dan Hanks 1915202949 �ұ�ٱ�� 0 to-read, shelf, shelf-thr 3.68 2025 The Way Up is Death

author: Dan Hanks
name: �ұ�ٱ��
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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