Tara's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:19:37 -0700 60 Tara's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Boyfriend 208503280 She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.

Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She’s seen it men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.

Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.

Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.

Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can’t shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn’t get to the truth, she’ll be the killer’s next victim...

A dark story about obsession and the things we’ll do for love, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden proves that crimes of passion are often the bloodiest…]]> 368 Freida McFadden 1728296226 Tara 4 books-read-in-2025 3.95 2024 The Boyfriend
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> By Any Other Name 203164368 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 544 Jodi Picoult 059349721X Tara 3 4.09 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Tara
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: audiobooks, books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> Broken Country 214151202 “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.�

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> 320 Clare Leslie Hall 166807818X Tara 0 to-read 4.45 2025 Broken Country
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: Tara
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
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 Tara 0 to-read 3.74 2022 Run on Red
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Tara
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wild Dark Shore 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]> 303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 Tara 0 to-read 4.33 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Tara
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Favorites 211399784 A love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating about a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and rollercoaster relationship. Then a shocking incident at the Olympic Games suddenly ends their partnership.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the "real story" through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy either. So after a decade of silence she's telling her story, from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 Tara 0 to-read 4.20 2025 The Favorites
author: Layne Fargo
name: Tara
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)]]> 51335759
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

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

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> 413 Holly Jackson 1405297751 Tara 3 books-read-in-2025 4.27 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Tara
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: books-read-in-2025
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 Tara 0 to-read 4.01 2025 You Killed Me First
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)]]> 50659468
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

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

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.]]> 626 Sarah J. Maas 1635575583 Tara 4 books-read-in-2025 4.65 2016 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Tara
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 16096824
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1619634449 Tara 3 4.17 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Tara
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> Pieces of Her 39735246 The #1 internationally bestselling author returns with a new novel in the vein of the New York Times bestsellers Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter—a story even more electrifying, provocative, and suspenseful than anything she’s written before.

What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?

Andrea Cooper knows everything about her mother Laura. She’s knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Gullaway Island; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a Saturday afternoon trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one will ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

Twenty-four hours later Laura is in the hospital, shot by an intruder who’s spent thirty years trying to track her down and discover what she knows. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumbs of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

]]> 480 Karin Slaughter Tara 3 3.96 2018 Pieces of Her
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Tara
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
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 Tara 0 to-read 4.14 2015 Confess
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Tara
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Evidence of the Affair 41715227 The repercussions of an illicit affair unfold in this short story by bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Dear stranger�

A desperate young woman in Southern California sits down to write a letter to a man she’s never met—a choice that will forever change both their lives.

My heart goes out to you, David. Even though I do not know you�

The correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their souls. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Told entirely through the letters of two comforting strangers and those of two illicit lovers, Evidence of the Affair explores the complex nature of the heart. And ultimately, for one woman, how liberating it can be when it’s broken.]]> 88 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1542044510 Tara 3 3.86 2018 Evidence of the Affair
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Tara
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: audiobooks, books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> Malibu Rising 55404546 Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them... and what they will leave behind.]]> 369 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798657 Tara 0 to-read 4.02 2021 Malibu Rising
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Tara
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Tara 4 3.77 2023 Keep Your Friends Close
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> The Perfect Child 40789006
Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.

But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways, directing all her rage at Hannah. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah is drowning under the pressure, and Christopher refuses to see Janie’s true nature.

Hannah knows that Janie is manipulating Christopher and isolating him from her, despite Hannah’s attempts to bring them all together. But as Janie’s behavior threatens to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind Janie’s past may be enough to push them all over the edge.]]> 370 Lucinda Berry 154204054X Tara 3 3.89 2019 The Perfect Child
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> Do Not Disturb 58778536
To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

Do Not Disturb is a Hitchcock-style psychological thriller that will keep you tearing through the pages until you reach the shocking conclusion!]]> 325 Freida McFadden Tara 3 3.94 2021 Do Not Disturb
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> A Welcome Reunion 174670409 From the bestselling author of The Perfect Child comes a short thriller about a couple faced with the terrifying return of a girl they once called their own who threatens everything they hold dear.

Janie is the last person Hannah and Christopher Bauer want to see again.

But Janie’s moved back to Clarksville. She’s no longer the frail child Hannah and Christopher adopted over eleven years ago. The child who destroyed their lives. Now Janie is out of juvenile detention—a beautiful, confident young adult—and publicly promoting her new tell-all memoir.

At just eighteen, Janie has a violent and tragic story to share, brimming with grisly details. Details the public can’t get enough of…and that the Bauers can’t bear to relive. Janie has taken a new name and claims to have reformed her sociopathic ways. She’s ready to make amends. But when the Bauers refuse to meet with her, she takes matters into her own hands.

After the social worker formerly assigned to the case makes disturbing revelations about Janie’s calculated behavior, the Bauers brace for Janie’s next move, determined to protect their family—at any cost.]]> 82 Lucinda Berry 1662516681 Tara 3 3.54 2023 A Welcome Reunion
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last House on Needless Street]]> 54621094
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies...

You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. That's where you're wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it's not what you think...]]> 337 Catriona Ward 1788166167 Tara 3 3.83 2021 The Last House on Needless Street
author: Catriona Ward
name: Tara
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2025, audiobooks
review:

]]> The Lake of Lost Girls 207571151 Told in alternating timelines, The Lake of Lost Girls is a haunting novel that will thrill fans of All Good People Here and We Are All the Same in the Dark.

Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers, The Lake of Lost Girls is perfect for fans of I Have Some Questions for You.

It's 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. But freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.

Twenty-four years later, Jessica's sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast, Ten Seconds to Vanish, that focuses on the cold cases, to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.

In the present, one sister seeks to untangle a complicated web of lies.
In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.

This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime.]]> 320 Katherine Greene 1639109080 Tara 3 3.83 2024 The Lake of Lost Girls
author: Katherine Greene
name: Tara
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024, audiobooks
review:

]]> Saving Noah 36121086 We forgive murderers, not pedophiles.

Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.

Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.

His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?

Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you've read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.]]> 259 Lucinda Berry Tara 4 3.89 2017 Saving Noah
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2025, audiobooks
review:

]]> What Lies Between Us 53142315
Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.]]> 363 John Marrs 1542017025 Tara 5 3.97 2020 What Lies Between Us
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: books-read-in-2025, audiobooks
review:

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

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

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

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

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Tara 0 to-read 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Tara
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Notes on an Execution 57773248
Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he’s done, and now awaits execution, the same chilling fate he forced on those girls, years ago. But Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. He hoped it wouldn’t end like this, not for him.

Through a kaleidoscope of women—a mother, a sister, a homicide detective—we learn the story of Ansel’s life. We meet his mother, Lavender, a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation; Hazel, twin sister to Ansel’s wife, inseparable since birth, forced to watch helplessly as her sister’s relationship threatens to devour them all; and finally, Saffy, the homicide detective hot on his trail, who has devoted herself to bringing bad men to justice but struggles to see her own life clearly. As the clock ticks down, these three women sift through the choices that culminate in tragedy, exploring the rippling fissures that such destruction inevitably leaves in its wake.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes on an Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our system of justice and our cultural obsession with crime stories, asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men.]]> 306 Danya Kukafka 0063052733 Tara 0 to-read 4.05 2022 Notes on an Execution
author: Danya Kukafka
name: Tara
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)]]> 63121123 For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom--but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.



Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

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

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

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him]]> 394 Rachel Gillig 035652017X Tara 0 to-read 4.27 2022 One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Tara
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Tara 4 books-read-in-2025 4.19 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Tara
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1)]]> 40944965 His first, last, and only true love has always been rugby.
Until now.

He wants to save her.
She wants to hide.

She's damaged.
He's determined.

Fate brought them together.
Love binds them.

Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he's heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right?
Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has.
Plagued with a hidden injury and desperate to impress the scouts watching his every move, Johnny has been placed on a pedestal so high, he has no room to make mistakes.
Striving to maintain balance, and on the crest of the International Summer Campaign, Johnny needs to keep his head in the game. He needs to stay focused, and cannot afford to let distractions get in the way of the bigger picture.
But what happens when a lonely girl with sad eyes becomes the only picture?

Life has never been easy for Shannon Lynch. Bullied and tortured, she arrives at Tommen College mid-way through the school year praying for a fresh start and desperate to shake off the demons that plague her.
On her very first day at the prestigious private school, she comes into contact with the notorious Johnny Kavanagh.
Thrown through a hoop over her feelings for him, and desperate to keep a low-profile, Shannon finds herself once again the target of bullies as she forms a fragile alliance with rugby's rising star.

Falling into a complicated friendship and grappling with their undeniable chemistry, Johnny and Shannon must face obstacles that threaten their relationship.

Two teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks collide.

Friendship, first love, rising fame, horrifying secrets, and pain all fuel together in Binding 13.

Hearts are binding and lives are entwining in Binding 13.

Binding 13 is the explosive first installment of a brand-new series from Chloe Walsh. Based in Ireland, the Boys Of Tommen series is bound to captivate and lure you into the world of rugby, love, and teenage heartbreak.]]> 626 Chloe Walsh Tara 0 to-read 4.43 2018 Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1)
author: Chloe Walsh
name: Tara
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Butcher 18775334
Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him� Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.]]> 352 Jennifer Hillier 1476734216 Tara 0 to-read 4.02 2014 The Butcher
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Tara
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beautiful Ugly 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible � a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 125033778X Tara 0 to-read 3.65 2025 Beautiful Ugly
author: Alice Feeney
name: Tara
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> The Family Inside 219625899 It takes a special family to turn a home into a nightmare. Since her husband’s unsolved murder three years ago, Iris Blodgett’s life has unraveled. Awash in grief and buried in debt, she can’t pay her mortgage—and now that she’s lost her job, she has no idea how she’ll provide for her unruly teenage daughter, Ellory.

Facing eviction, Iris turns to her new beau, prominent architect Hugh Smoll, for a shoulder to cry on. But the seemingly perfect Hugh offers her something more in an invitation to move into his mother’s centuries-old mansion while he renovates the property.

It seems like the perfect solution, but when Iris and Ellory arrive at Ravencliff, the family inside isn’t quite what they expected. Iris didn’t even know Hugh had siblings, much less that they’d all be living together.

With repairs underway, the house gives up its dark secrets one by one. Before long, Iris unearths a chilling family history—and the terrifying reason she and Ellory were invited in the first place…]]> 384 Katie Garner 0778334465 Tara 0 to-read 3.68 2025 The Family Inside
author: Katie Garner
name: Tara
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> 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 Tara 0 to-read 4.30 2024 Love, Mom
author: Iliana Xander
name: Tara
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> Before We Were Strangers 23309634
We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.

You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.

We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.

Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding�

I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.

After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?

M

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection� post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.]]> 310 Renee Carlino 1501105779 Tara 0 to-read 4.02 2015 Before We Were Strangers
author: Renee Carlino
name: Tara
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 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 Tara 0 to-read 4.08 2022 Keep It in the Family
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kill for Me, Kill for You 176451879
One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.

In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?

Intricate, heart-racing, and from an author who “is the real deal� (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Kill for Me, Kill for You will keep you breathless until the final page.]]> 340 Steve Cavanagh 1668049341 Tara 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Kill for Me, Kill for You
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Tara
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Blame Lies (Where, #1)]]> 52320637 Abducted.
Terrorized.
Imprisoned.

At nineteen-years-old, college student Josie Stratton was kidnapped by a madman and held shackled for ten months in an abandoned warehouse before she finally escaped her hellish prison.

Eight years later, when the body of a young woman is found chained in the basement of a vacant house, Cincinnati Police Detective Zach Copeland is instantly reminded of the crime committed against Josie Stratton. Zach was just a rookie on the perimeter of that case, but he’s never forgotten the traumatized woman with the haunted eyes.

As more information emerges, the crimes take on an even more sinister similarity. But Josie’s attacker died by suicide. Does the city have a copycat on its hands? A killer who picked up where the original perpetrator left off? Or are they facing something far more insidious?

Josie has spent the last eight years attempting to get her life back on track, but now there’s a very real chance she could be the unknown suspect’s next target. As Zach vows to keep her safe, and Josie finds herself responding to him in a way she hasn’t responded to any man in almost a decade, the investigation takes on an even more complex edge of danger.

As past and present collide, Josie and Zach are thrust toward a shocking and chilling truth. A revelation that threatens not only Josie’s life, but everything she’s been fighting so desperately to reclaim.]]> 426 Mia Sheridan 1689781491 Tara 0 to-read 4.24 2019 Where the Blame Lies (Where, #1)
author: Mia Sheridan
name: Tara
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> These Silent Woods 56268973
The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper's old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn't show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.]]> 288 Kimi Cunningham Grant 1250793394 Tara 0 to-read 4.01 2021 These Silent Woods
author: Kimi Cunningham Grant
name: Tara
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> The Secrets of Us 55967647 Dangerously addictive, The Secrets of Us is a pulse-pounding exploration of a disturbed psyche and the bond between two sisters desperate to escape a troubled past.

Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her.

Scarred by a hard upbringing, Nichole and Krystal managed to construct comfortable lives for themselves. Krystal became a respected lawyer, and Nichole was happily married to an architect—until Nichole starts raving that her husband isn’t her husband, believing that he’s an imposter.

Driven by fierce loyalty, Krystal starts asking questions, but she’s not sure she can bear the answers. Her investigation leads to the sisters� dark shared past…to a horrible tragedy and a well-guarded lie that cemented their sisterly bond.

But that lie can’t kill the truth—the battered, gasping, clawing truth that’s coming for them both. Now Krystal and Nichole must both fight for the lives they’ve built before they’re consumed by the one they left behind.]]> 271 Lucinda Berry 1542027977 Tara 0 to-read 3.88 2021 The Secrets of Us
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Good Samaritan 37422823 She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?

The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.

Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.

But now someone’s on to her—Ryan, whose world falls apart when his pregnant wife ends her life, hand in hand with a stranger. Who was this man, and why did they choose to die together?

The sinister truth is within Ryan’s grasp, but he has no idea of the desperate lengths Laura will go to�

Because the best thing about being a Good Samaritan is that you can get away with murder.]]> 399 John Marrs 1503958345 Tara 0 to-read 4.11 2017 The Good Samaritan
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tress of the Emerald Sea 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Tara 0 to-read 4.35 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tara
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Love Note 123087802 You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again.

Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball—and yet clinging to her sense of humor.

Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who's determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor.

When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time?

When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free?

The Last Love Note will make listeners laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart—and in love itself.]]> 384 Emma Grey 1958506281 Tara 0 to-read 4.04 2023 The Last Love Note
author: Emma Grey
name: Tara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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

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

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

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Tara 0 to-read 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Tara
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/25
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review:

]]> The Unmaking of June Farrow 66087062 A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.]]> 320 Adrienne Young 0593598679 Tara 0 to-read 4.13 2023 The Unmaking of June Farrow
author: Adrienne Young
name: Tara
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Tara 0 to-read 4.16 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Tara
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)]]> 53450790 Would you defend your husband if he was accused of killing his mistress?

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working.

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home.

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?]]> 337 Jeneva Rose 1913419657 Tara 0 to-read 3.90 2020 The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Tara
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Win a Slime War 56905018 Two kids face off in an epic battle to see who can sell the most slime, while navigating sticky situations with friends and family.

Alex Manalo and his dad have just moved back to Sacramento to help out with their extended family's struggling Filipino market. While Alex likes helping in the store, his true passion is making slime! He comes up with his own recipes and plays with ingredients, colors, and different bumpy or sparkly bits, which make his slime truly special. A new friend encourages Alex to sell his creations at school, which leads to a sell-off battle with a girl who previously had a slime-opoly. Winner gets bragging rights and the right to be the only slime game in town.

But Alex's dad thinks Alex should be focused more on traditional boy pastimes and less on slime. As the new soccer coach, Dad gets Alex to join the team. Even though he hates sports, Alex gives in.

Alex is battling on multiple fronts--with his new friends at school, and with his dad at home. It will be a sticky race to the finish to see who oozes out on top.]]> 288 Mae Respicio 0593302680 Tara 0 books-read-in-2025 3.85 2021 How to Win a Slime War
author: Mae Respicio
name: Tara
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> The Frozen River 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 Tara 4 books-read-in-2025 4.38 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Tara
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> The Girl Who Was Taken 39657755 Ěý
The night they go missing, high school seniors Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are at a beach party in their small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. Police launch a massive search, but hope is almost lost—until Megan escapes from a bunker deep in the woods. . . . A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has made Megan a celebrity. It’s a triumphant story, except for one inconvenient Nicole is still missing.
Ěý
Nicole’s older sister, Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole’s body will be found and her sister’s fate determined. Instead, the first clue comes from another body—that of a young man connected to Nicole’s past. Livia reaches out to Megan to learn more about that fateful night. Other girls have disappeared, and she’s increasingly sure the cases are connected.
Ěý
Megan knows more than she revealed in her book. Flashes of memory are pointing to something more monstrous than she described. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you’ve been looking for . . .]]> 449 Charlie Donlea 0786041455 Tara 0 to-read 4.22 2017 The Girl Who Was Taken
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Tara
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Passengers 40718386
When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?]]> 400 John Marrs 1473558522 Tara 0 to-read 4.04 2019 The Passengers
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Mirror House Girls 221272469 An isolated compound. A so-called family. A collision course with unthinkable violence.

When Winona rents a room at the eccentric Mirror House, she hopes to make new friends. What she gets instead is a “family� led by the charismatic psychologist Simon Spellmeyer.

But if she wants to stay at Mirror House, Winona must join in following Simon’s strange protocols for self-improvement. Warning bells chime inside her, but she ignores them. Yes, his methods are disturbing, but the results are undeniable.

Soon, Simon’s vision for their future spirals in a darker direction. The group relocates, expands, and Winona’s once-close bond with her housemates grows fractured by mistrust until she’s trapped among people she hardly recognizes. Including herself.

Can Winona wake up to the true cost of Simon’s vision in time to get out alive? Or will the utopian dream turn into a tragic nightmare?]]> 374 Faith Gardner Tara 0 to-read 4.00 The Mirror House Girls
author: Faith Gardner
name: Tara
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/20
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]]> The Crash 216223604 The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.

But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself—and her unborn child.

A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.
]]> 384 Freida McFadden 1464232989 Tara 0 to-read 3.59 2025 The Crash
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> Dogtown (Dogtown, #1) 63291995
Chance, a real dog, has been in Dogtown since her owners unwittingly left her with irresponsible dog-sitters who skipped town.

Metal Head is a robot dog who dreams of being back in a real home.

And Mouse is a mouse who has the run of Dogtown, pilfering kibble, and performing clever feats to protect the dogs he loves.

When Chance and Metal Head embark on an adventure to find their forever homes, there is danger, cheese sandwiches, a charging station, and some unexpected kindnesses along the way.]]> 352 Katherine Applegate 1250811600 Tara 0 books-read-in-2025 4.19 2023 Dogtown (Dogtown, #1)
author: Katherine Applegate
name: Tara
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> This Used to Be Us 199347400 There are two sides to every love story—and every breakup. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster of family, marriage, and divorce that will have you both laughing and crying, from the bestselling author of Before We Were Strangers.

After twenty-two years together, Danielle and Alex are getting a divorce. Once fiercely in love, they can barely stand the sound of each other’s voice. Instead of shuttling the kids between two broken homes, Alex and Dani decide to share a nesting apartment while swapping days with their two teenage boys at the family home.

In the apartment, Dani and Alex, on their own, begin to reflect on the last two decades—why they fell in love and why the marriage fell, spectacularly, apart. With the newfound space and time, they are given a chance to rediscover their autonomous selves again. They both get back in the dating pool. Dani finds major success at work as a showrunner on her own TV project, while Alex faces the challenges of a new relationship.

Still, they find that they just can’t stay away from each other, and somehow, the distance allows them to remember (for the first time in years) what each used to love about the other. When a family crisis draws them back into each other’s orbit, Dani and Alex are once again put to the test, which leads to a dramatic conclusion that will have listeners weeping.]]> 384 Renee Carlino 0593729285 Tara 0 to-read 4.00 This Used to Be Us
author: Renee Carlino
name: Tara
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)]]> 58684524
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]> 389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 Tara 0 to-read 4.26 2022 Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Tara
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child]]> 34962308
When facing contentious issues such as screen time, food choices, and bedtime, children often act out or shut down, responding with reactivity instead of receptivity. This is what New York Times bestselling authors Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson call a No Brain response. But our kids can be taught to approach life with openness and curiosity. When kids work from a Yes Brain, they’re more willing to take chances and explore. They’re more curious and imaginative. They’re better at relationships and handling adversity. In The Yes Brain, the authors give parents skills, scripts, and activities to bring kids of all ages into the beneficial “yes� state. You’ll learn

� the four fundamentals of the Yes Brain—balance, resilience, insight, and empathy—and how to strengthen them
� the key to knowing when kids need a gentle push out of a comfort zone vs. needing the “cushion� of safety and familiarity
� strategies for navigating away from negative behavioral and emotional states (aggression and withdrawal) and expanding your child’s capacity for positivity

The Yes Brain is an essential tool for nurturing positive potential and keeping your child’s inner spark glowing and growing strong.

Praise for The Yes Brain

“This unique and exciting book shows us how to help children embrace life with all of its challenges and thrive in the modern world. Integrating research from social development, clinical psychology, and neuroscience, it’s a veritable treasure chest of parenting insights and techniques.â€� —Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., author ofĚý Mindset Ěý

“I have never read a better, clearer explanation of the impact parenting can have on a child’s brain and personality.� —Michael Thompson, Ph.D.

“Easily assimilated and informative, the book will help adults enable children to lead physically and emotionally satisfying and well-rounded lives filled with purpose and meaningful relationships. Edifying, easy-to-understand scientific research that shows the benefits that accrue when a child is encouraged to be inquisitive, spirited, and intrepid.� —Kirkus Reviews]]> 208 Daniel J. Siegel 0399594663 Tara 0 to-read 4.17 2018 The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child
author: Daniel J. Siegel
name: Tara
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Whole-Brain Child: Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind]]> 10353369
In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,� which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can seem—and feel—so out of control. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Raise calmer, happier children using twelve key strategies, including
Ěý
� Name It to Tame It: Corral raging right-brain behavior through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left brain’s affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension.
� Engage, Don’t Enrage: Keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting.
� Move It or Lose It: Use physical activities to shift your child’s emotional state.
� Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go.
� SIFT: Help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they can make better decisions and be more flexible.
� Connect Through Conflict: Use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success.
Ěý
Complete with clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives.]]> 192 Daniel J. Siegel 0553807919 Tara 0 to-read 4.26 2011 The Whole-Brain Child: Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
author: Daniel J. Siegel
name: Tara
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> November 9 25111004 Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?]]> 310 Colleen Hoover 1501110349 Tara 3 books-read-in-2025 4.10 2015 November 9
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Tara
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: books-read-in-2025
review:

]]> Creep (Creep, #1) 10088219
If he can’t have her . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

. . . no one else can.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.]]> 357 Jennifer Hillier 1451625847 Tara 0 to-read 3.88 2011 Creep (Creep, #1)
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Tara
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Appetite for Innocence 34655417 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.]]> 358 Lucinda Berry Tara 0 to-read 4.04 2017 Appetite for Innocence
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
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 Tara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.89 After the Dark
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Tara
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> 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 Tara 5 books-read-in-2024 4.23 2024 Gray After Dark
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Tara
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Butterfly Garden (The Collector, #1)]]> 29981261
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.

As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding...]]> 288 Dot Hutchison 1503989712 Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.09 2016 The Butterfly Garden (The Collector, #1)
author: Dot Hutchison
name: Tara
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> Nightwatching 150246179 The Fallon Spring Reads Book Club Pick

A mother is forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.]]> 368 Tracy Sierra 0593654765 Tara 0 to-read 3.79 2024 Nightwatching
author: Tracy Sierra
name: Tara
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1) 33131867 Left too little.
I had nothing to lose...until him.

**

~Lana~

I didn't expect him.
I didn't want to fall in love.
But I can't let him go.

Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He's brilliant.
He's a hero.
He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.

Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.
They should have made sure I stayed dead.

Now I'm taking from them.
One name at a time.

I've trained for too long.
I've been patient.
I can't stop now.

Revenge is best served cold...

They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.

Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.

He just knows people are dying.
He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.

No one suspects a dead girl.
And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.

They're looking for a monster.
Not a girl who loves red.
Not a girl in love.

I'm a faceless nightmare.

At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.

But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?

**Graphic
**Adult language
**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader
**Sexual content
**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.]]> 132 S.T. Abby Tara 0 to-read 4.21 2016 The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1)
author: S.T. Abby
name: Tara
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> False Witness 55809780
Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised - her life is just as unremarkable as she'd always hoped it would be.

HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST

But Leigh's ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average... a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP

Then a case lands on her desk - defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It's the highest profile case she's ever been given - a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it's no coincidence that he's chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT

If she can't get him acquitted, she'll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice...]]> 440 Karin Slaughter 0062858092 Tara 0 to-read 4.05 2021 False Witness
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Tara
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Sea of Unspoken Things 207677131 A woman investigates her brother's mysterious death while coming to terms with her own haunting past in this atmospheric novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unmaking of June Farrow

The only thing James and Johnny Golden have ever had is each other. For as long as she can remember, James’sĚýdeep connection with her twin brother,ĚýJohnny,Ěýhas gone beyond intuition—she can feel what he feels.ĚýSo, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life.Ěý

When James arrives in the rural town of Hawthorne, California to settleĚýher brother’sĚýaffairs,Ěýshe’sĚýforced to rehash the ominous past she and Johnny shared and finally face Micah, the only person who knows about it. He’s also the only man she’s ever loved.Ěý

But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn’t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was keeping secrets, and he’s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny’s death, but in the end, she’ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.]]> 288 Adrienne Young 0593598709 Tara 0 to-read 3.72 2025 A Sea of Unspoken Things
author: Adrienne Young
name: Tara
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
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 Tara 0 to-read 4.05 2023 That's Not My Name
author: Megan Lally
name: Tara
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Twenty Years Later 57645345
Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will.]]> 357 Charlie Donlea 1496727169 Tara 0 to-read 4.07 2021 Twenty Years Later
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Tara
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How My Neighbor Stole Christmas]]> 211148021 A new holiday enemies-to-lovers romance from USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn.

Every Kringle in Kringletown celebrated Christmas a lot.

But Cole Black on Whistler Lane, unfortunately, did not.

As his fellow citizens decorate their quaint town, brimming with carols and glad tidings, Cole wants nothing more than to hibernate the winter away. But his dreary plans are thwarted when his Christmas nemesis, Storee Taylor, moves in next door to care for her Aunt Cindy. Immediately, the new neighbor turns his life into a real nightmare before Christmas, especially when she decides to enter the town Christmas Kringle contest in honor of Cindy. And better yet, Storee is determined to win.

Over Cole's dead body, she will. With help from his friend Max, Cole decides to enter the competition as well, to beat Storee at her own game by pretending that this hometown grump's heart has grown three sizes this season and he's fallen for the girl next door. And unfortunately for Storee, she has to follow his lead to have a chance at the Christmas Kringle title.

But the competition isn't the only thing that heats up. Cole and Storee's fake relationship becomes very real, and before they know it, they're attempting to hide it from Aunt Cindy. Things get complicated, the competition gets tough, and all it takes is one single night for someone to steal it all…]]> 480 Meghan Quinn 1464230153 Tara 0 to-read 3.64 2024 How My Neighbor Stole Christmas
author: Meghan Quinn
name: Tara
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Used to Live Here 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Tara 3 books-read-in-2024
I never write reviews, but this book has me so confused. ]]> 3.68 2024 We Used to Live Here
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Tara
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Excuse me, but can someone tell me what the f***?

I never write reviews, but this book has me so confused.
]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 Tara 0 to-read 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Tara
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Tara
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> The Ghost Writer 54144628
I wasn't surprised. Telling stories is what made me famous. Fifteen bestsellers. Millions of fans. Fame and fortune.

Now, I have one last story to write. It'll be my best one yet, with a jaw-dropping twist that will leave them stunned and gasping for breath.

They say that sticks and stones will break your bones, but this story? It will be the one that kills me.


This book is not a romance. It is contemporary fiction, but very suspenseful in nature. It is about a famous romance author and a dark secret she keeps. ]]> 10 A.R. Torre Tara 0 to-read 4.03 2017 The Ghost Writer
author: A.R. Torre
name: Tara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beneath Devil's Bridge 55542167
True crime podcaster Trinity Scott is chasing breakout success, and her brand-new serial may get her there. Her subject is Clayton Jay Pelley. More than two decades ago, the respected family man and guidance counselor confessed to the brutal murder of teenage student Leena Rai. But why he killed her has always been a mystery.

In a series of exclusive interviews from prison, Clayton discloses to Trinity the truth about what happened that night beneath Devil’s Bridge. It’s not what anyone in the Pacific Northwest town of Twin Falls expects. Clayton says he didn’t do it. Was he lying then? Or now?

As her listeners increase and ratings skyrocket, Trinity is missing a key player in the story: Rachel Walczak, the retired detective who exposed Pelley’s twisted urges and put him behind bars. She’s not interested in playing Clayton’s game - until Trinity digs deeper and the podcast’s reverb widens. Then Rachel begins to question everything she thinks she knows about the past.

With each of Clayton’s teasing reveals, one thing is clear: he’s not the only one in Twin Falls with a secret.]]> 344 Loreth Anne White 1542021308 Tara 0 to-read 4.28 2021 Beneath Devil's Bridge
author: Loreth Anne White
name: Tara
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> Everything Sad Is Untrue 45916267
But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment he, his mother, and sister fled Iran in the middle of the night, stretching all the way back to family tales set in the jasmine-scented city of Isfahan, the palaces of semi-ancient kings, and even the land of stories.

We bounce between a school bus of kids armed with paper clip missiles and spitballs, to the heroines and heroes of Kosrou's family's past, who ate pastries that made them weep, and touched carpets woven with precious gems.

Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, author Daniel Nayeri weaves a tale of Khosrou trying to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. And it is (a true story).

It is Daniel's.]]> 368 Daniel Nayeri Tara 0 to-read 4.30 2020 Everything Sad Is Untrue
author: Daniel Nayeri
name: Tara
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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

Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And thenĚýone day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear. It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was.]]> 336 Robyn Harding 1538726769 Tara 0 to-read 3.99 2023 The Drowning Woman
author: Robyn Harding
name: Tara
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

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

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X Tara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.03 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Tara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> None Left to Tell 217074544 Three women, connected by one of the most brutal mass slayings in US history.

Lucy is sick of turning the other cheek. Ten years ago, an anti-Mormon mob drove her family and friends from their homes in Illinois. But now, the tables have turned. Rumor has it, some of those same men are traveling through Utah on their way to California. And this time, Lucy won’t run.

Katrina knew the trek west would be difficult. But she had no idea she’d be walking straight into hell. The young mother of four is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her family from the violence closing in, but the battle to survive will be more harrowing than anything she can imagine.

Sally has just been “gifted� to a man she barely knows—as his fourth wife. Trapped and lonely, she tries to make the best of her new life. But when her husband insists on joining a group of religious zealots� plans for revenge, she’s forced to reconsider her loyalties. Even if it means putting her own life on the line.

Based on true events, None Left to Tell is the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.]]> 383 Noelle W. Ihli Tara 0 to-read 4.22 2024 None Left to Tell
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Tara
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Locked Door 57795665
While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.]]> 313 Freida McFadden Tara 0 to-read 4.00 2021 The Locked Door
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> If You Tell a Lie 200033983 Bestselling author Lucinda Berry serves up a haunting thriller about four friends sworn to secrecy over the events of one fateful summer—and the dark truths that threaten to erupt years later.

They never considered how his wife might react, or that by the end of the summer a man would be dead. But Blakely always got her way, and the others followed her lead—even when they knew it was dead wrong.

The girls had been friends from day one at Camp Pendleton, a haven for gifted children. But their senior summer was different. When Mr. Crosby, the handsome tennis coach, wound up murdered after a reckless lie, Blakely, Grace, Meg, and Thera swore themselves to secrecy. And never spoke to each other again.

Until now. Twenty years later a sinister note claiming to know what they did brings them back together. And once again Blakely is pulling the strings.

Unfolding in a dual timeline, If You Tell a Lie is a disturbing journey into the dangerous, sometimes deadly consequences of peer pressure—with a bone-chilling twist you’ll never see coming.]]> 255 Lucinda Berry Tara 0 to-read 3.49 2024 If You Tell a Lie
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Tara
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> The One 40670312 How far would you go to find The One?

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner the one you are genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.� They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after� isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others�

A word-of-mouth hit in the United Kingdom, The One is a fascinating novel that shows how even the simplest discoveries can have complicated consequences.]]> 418 John Marrs Tara 0 to-read 4.10 2016 The One
author: John Marrs
name: Tara
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Grace Year 43263520
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.]]> 416 Kim Liggett 1250145449 Tara 0 to-read 4.11 2019 The Grace Year
author: Kim Liggett
name: Tara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 125088120X Tara 0 to-read 4.18 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Tara
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)]]> 26030734
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

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

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.]]> 282 Peter Brown 0316381993 Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.19 2016 The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)
author: Peter Brown
name: Tara
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Tara 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Tara
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> Those Girls 23014603 Librarian’s note: This is a previously-published edition of
Kindle ASIN: B00R1AWE1A.

Chevy Stevens is back with her most powerful, emotional thriller yet� a story of survival…and revenge.

Life has never been easy for the three Campbell sisters. Jess, Courtney, and Dani live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father’s fists. One night, a fight gets out of hand and the sisters are forced to go on the run, only to get caught in an even worse nightmare when their truck breaks down in a small town. Events spiral out of control and a chance encounter with the wrong people leaves them in a horrific and desperate situation. They are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives.

Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer when one of the sisters goes missing and they are pulled back into their past.

This time there’s nowhere left to run.

As much of a thriller as it is a deep exploration of the bonds among sisters, THOSE GIRLS is an unforgettable portrait of desperation, loyalty, and evil.]]> 384 Chevy Stevens 1250034582 Tara 0 to-read 3.95 2015 Those Girls
author: Chevy Stevens
name: Tara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Tara
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy, #1)]]> 57091457 Leon I earned my reputation among magicians for a reason: one wrong move and you're dead. Killer, they called me, and killing is what I'm best at. Except her. The one I was supposed to take, the one I should have killed - I didn't. The cult that once controlled me wants her, and I'm not about to lose my new toy to them.

Rae I've always believed in the supernatural. Hunting for ghosts is my passion, but summoning a demon was never part of the plan. Monsters are roaming the woods, and something ancient - something evil - is waking up and calling my name. I don't know who I can trust, or how deep this darkness goes. All I know is my one shot at survival is the demon stalking me, and he doesn't just want my body - he wants my soul.

Her Soul to Take is book 1 in the Souls Trilogy. Each book within the Souls Trilogy is interconnected, following a different couple through a similar timeline in the fictional world of Abelaum.]]> 493 Harley Laroux Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.06 2021 Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy, #1)
author: Harley Laroux
name: Tara
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: books-read-in-2024
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 Tara 0 to-read 3.93 2023 What Lies in the Woods
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Tara
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When I Come Home Again 50897166 How can you know who you are, when you choose to forget who you’ve been?

November 1918. On the cusp of the end of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. It quickly becomes clear that he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there.
Ěý
The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home where his doctorĚýJames tries everything he can to help Adam remember who he once was. There’s just one problem. Adam doesn’t want to remember.
Ěý
Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his mind away, seemingly for good. But when a newspaper publishes Adam’s photograph, three women come forward, each just as certain that Adam is their relative and that he should go home with them.
Ěý
But does Adam really belong with any of these women? Or is there another family waiting for him to come home?

Based on true events, When I Come Home Again is a deeply moving and powerful story of a nation’s outpouring of grief, and the search for hope in the aftermath of the First World War.

Praise for The Photographer of the Lost:]]> 493 Caroline Scott 1471183785 Tara 0 to-read 3.93 2020 When I Come Home Again
author: Caroline Scott
name: Tara
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X Tara 0 to-read 4.05 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Tara
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Behind Every Lie 50809258 From the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Night Olivia Fell—an “emotionally charged mystery� (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author)�comes a thrilling new suspense novel about the insidious nature of family secrets…and their deadly potential.

If you can’t remember it, how do you prove you didn’t do it?

Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her.

Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.

Told in alternating perspectives from Eva’s search for answers and Kat’s mysterious past, Christina McDonald has crafted another “complex, emotionally intense� (Publishers Weekly) domestic thriller. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell’s I Found You and Karin Slaughter’s Pieces of Her, Behind Every Lie explores the complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships, family trauma, and the danger behind long-held secrets.]]> 336 Christina McDonald 1501184040 Tara 0 to-read 3.83 2020 Behind Every Lie
author: Christina McDonald
name: Tara
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Tara
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> Summer Island 297135 448 Kristin Hannah Tara 0 to-read 3.96 2004 Summer Island
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Tara
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Tara 0 to-read 4.24 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Tara
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid Is Watching (The Housemaid, #3)]]> 199235727
I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes.

But her cold stare gives me chills�

The Lowells� maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?

I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?]]> 364 Freida McFadden 1464223319 Tara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.79 2024 The Housemaid Is Watching (The Housemaid, #3)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> Archer's Voice 32822135
Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.]]> 377 Mia Sheridan 1538727374 Tara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.14 2014 Archer's Voice
author: Mia Sheridan
name: Tara
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]> On a Quiet Street 58977601 A New York Times Book Review Summer Read andĚýEdgar Award nominee!ĚýDon’t miss this unputdownable psychological thriller! Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware!

When you really start to look beyond the airy open floor plans and marble counters, Brighton Hills is filled with secrets. Some big, some little, some deadly. And one by one, they’re about to be revealed� “A writer to watch.� �Publishers Weekly

The perfect neighborhood can be the perfect place to hide�

Who wouldn’t want to live in Brighton Hills? This exclusive community on the Oregon coast is the perfect mix of luxury and natural beauty. Stunning houses nestle beneath mighty Douglas firs, and lush backyards roll down to the lakefront. It’s the kind of place where neighbors look out for one another. Sometimes a little too closely�

Cora thinks her husband, Finn, is cheating—she just needs to catch him in the act. That’s where Paige comes in. Paige lost her son to a hit-and-run last year, and she’s drowning in the kind of grief that makes people do reckless things like spying on the locals, searching for proof that her son’s death was no accident…and agreeing to Cora’s plan to reveal what kind of man Finn really is. All the while, their reclusive new neighbor, Georgia, is acting more strangely every day. But what could such a lovely young mother possibly be hiding?

Don't miss Seraphina's upcoming novel, The Vanishing Hour. You won't be able to put it down!Ěý

Other thrillers from Seraphina to keep you up all
The Vanishing Hour Such a Good Wife Someone’s Listening

]]> 302 Seraphina Nova Glass 0369717058 Tara 0 to-read 4.13 2022 On a Quiet Street
author: Seraphina Nova Glass
name: Tara
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

But Shane knows. And he will never forget.]]> 388 Freida McFadden Tara 0 to-read 4.03 2022 The Inmate
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Love Letter to Whiskey 31549837 This is not your typical love story.


It’s a story of almosts and could-have-beens.
Of friendship that teeters on the edge of something more.
Of passion so intoxicating, it burns.

Jamie and B are two hearts caught in the tangle of bad timing and unspoken words. Their connection defies labels—too deep for friendship, too tangled for love. Over a decade of moments, choices, and missed opportunities, they find themselves drawn together like a moth to a flame, even when the world—and their own mistakes—keep pulling them apart.

Is it obsession? Destiny? Or just self-destruction with a pretty face?

Sometimes, love isn’t about finding the right person—it’s about the moment when everything aligns. �
But what if that moment never comes?]]> 378 Kandi Steiner 1539082423 Tara 0 to-read 4.06 2016 A Love Letter to Whiskey
author: Kandi Steiner
name: Tara
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Never Lie 62080187
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate� with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]> 286 Freida McFadden Tara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.09 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tara
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:

]]>