en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:22:54 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 56269278 309 Percival Everett 164445064X Kyle 0 to-read 4.06 2021
author: Percival Everett
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> 31451186
At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.

Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.

Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.

Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,�� a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?]]> 323 Jeff VanderMeer 0374115249 Kyle 0 to-read 3.93 2017
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> 195790870 From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

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

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.]]> 295 Chuck Tingle 1250874653 Kyle 0 to-read 4.13 2024
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> 59366246 Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.

Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over.]]> 457 Stephen Graham Jones 1982186593 Kyle 0 currently-reading 4.04 2023
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 216601229 Intimate and spellbinding, The Unmapping is a character-driven, literary speculative exploration of a city’s descent into chaos and confusion, perfect for fans of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid.��

4 a.m., New York City. A silent disaster.��

There is no flash of light, no crumbling, no quaking. Each person in New York wakes up on an unfamiliar block when the buildings all switch locations overnight. The power grid has snapped, thousands of residents are missing, and the Empire State Building is on Coney Island—for now. The next night, it happens again.��

Esme Green and Arjun Varma work for the City of New York’s Emergency Management team and are tasked with disaster response for the Unmapping. As Esme tries to wade through the bureaucratic nightmare of an endlessly shuffling city, she’s distracted by the ongoing search for her missing fiancé. Meanwhile, Arjun focuses on the ground-level rescue of disoriented New Yorkers, hoping to become the hero the city needs.����


While scientists scramble to find a solution—or at least a means to cope—and mysterious “red cloak�� cults crop up in the disaster’s wake, New York begins to reckon with a new reality no one recognizes. For Esme and Arjun, the fight to hold the city together will mean tackling questions about themselves that they were too afraid to ask—and facing answers they never expected. With themes of climate change, political unrest, and life in a state of emergency, The Unmapping is a timely and captivating debut.��]]> 408 Denise S. Robbins 1964721067 Kyle 0 to-read 3.70 2025
author: Denise S. Robbins
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> 179780170 “Violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original, this novel pulls readers into a horrific world of murder and cannibalism while also critiquing misogyny, exploring Asian fetishization and stereotypes, sharing what it’s like to navigate two cultures and telling a touching story of a family in turmoil.�� ��New York Times Book Review

Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.

Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying�� yet enticing.

In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.

For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.

A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.]]> 284 Monika Kim 1645661253 Kyle 2
I think there was a lot of interesting ideas and some of the satirical parts of the book did genuinely make me laugh out loud, but I found the prose to feel a bit too YA for the content. The story itself began to feel extremely underwhelming even as the blood started flowing. I really do think there is a great book in the bones of this one, but with the wrong execution.

I also have never been someone who is anti-dream sequence in books/movies, but this was simply far too many. The first was effective enough, but quickly had diminishing returns.

[spoilers removed]]]> 3.91 2024
author: Monika Kim
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
This was unfortunately a disappointment for me. I was really looking forward to reading this one, but I found it somewhat of a struggle to stay engaged with.

I think there was a lot of interesting ideas and some of the satirical parts of the book did genuinely make me laugh out loud, but I found the prose to feel a bit too YA for the content. The story itself began to feel extremely underwhelming even as the blood started flowing. I really do think there is a great book in the bones of this one, but with the wrong execution.

I also have never been someone who is anti-dream sequence in books/movies, but this was simply far too many. The first was effective enough, but quickly had diminishing returns.

[spoilers removed]
]]> 61111034
A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,�� says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.”]]> 588 Mariana Enríquez 0451495144 Kyle 0 to-read 4.07 2019
author: Mariana Enríquez
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50892366
From the New York Times bestselling author of Texts From Jane Eyre and Merry Spinster , writer of Slate ’s “Dear Prudence�� column, and cofounder of The Toast comes a hilarious and stirring collection of essays and cultural observations spanning pop culture—from the endearingly popular to the staggeringly obscure.

Daniel M. Lavery is known for blending genres, forms, and sources to develop fascinating new hybrids—from lyric rants to horror recipes to pornographic scripture. In his most personal work to date, he turns his attention to the essay, offering vigorous and laugh-out-loud funny accounts of both popular and highbrow culture while mixing in meditations on gender transition, family dynamics, and the many meanings of faith.

From a thoughtful analysis of the beauty of William Shatner to a sinister reimagining of HGTV’s House Hunters , and featuring figures as varied as Anne of Green Gables, Columbo, Nora Ephron, Apollo, and the cast of Mean Girls , Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a hilarious and emotionally exhilarating compendium that combines personal history with cultural history to make you see yourself and those around you entirely anew. It further establishes Lavery as one of the most innovative and engaging voices of his generation—and it may just change the way you think about Lord Byron forever.]]> 238 Daniel M. Lavery 1982105224 Kyle 2
I read this for a book club I’m a part of, but otherwise I’m not sure I could have forced myself to finish. I did quite enjoy the more essay/memoir portions of the book, but almost everything deviating from that was simply not for me. I can’t say I understood even a fraction of those sections.

Daniel Lavery is not someone I’m familiar with, although my understanding is he’s had a career for a while now as a columnist. I’m not sure if being more familiar with his previous work would have enhanced the reading experience, but the style of this novel unfortunately puts me off from picking up any more long-form work by him.

I’d be open to reading something shorter and less experimental since I did enjoy his insights, and hopefully that may click more for me.]]> 3.78 2020
author: Daniel M. Lavery
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:
I think I’m probably too stupid for this book.

I read this for a book club I’m a part of, but otherwise I’m not sure I could have forced myself to finish. I did quite enjoy the more essay/memoir portions of the book, but almost everything deviating from that was simply not for me. I can’t say I understood even a fraction of those sections.

Daniel Lavery is not someone I’m familiar with, although my understanding is he’s had a career for a while now as a columnist. I’m not sure if being more familiar with his previous work would have enhanced the reading experience, but the style of this novel unfortunately puts me off from picking up any more long-form work by him.

I’d be open to reading something shorter and less experimental since I did enjoy his insights, and hopefully that may click more for me.
]]> 221473247 Four friends became three. Only murder will set things right.

An emotional "what would you do?" thriller debut about revenge, the bonds of friendship, the reverberations of a small-town crime, the limits of justice.

Peter Miles has to die. And Dylan Darcy, Priyanka Shah, and Isabel Guerrero—a bartender, a nurse, and a student—have to be the ones to kill him. As they see it, this local cop deserves death for murdering their best friend and getting away with it. All they need to do to pull off the perfect crime is stick to their carefully prepared plan.

So that's exactly what they do. Murder, it turns out, is surprisingly easy when you're fueled by revenge. What comes after is the hard part.

As the dry Texas heat gives way to cooler weather, their blazing rage is replaced by a chill fear. Because there’s a fallout that comes from settling the score against someone like Peter, and it could cost them more than they’ve bargained for. When the lead investigator on the case starts sniffing around for a cop-killer,��the three friends��are not feeling as confident as they did on that fateful night. And when they start receiving death threats, it weakens their resolve even further . . . but it’s too little too late.

What they don’t realize is that this detective has her own reasons for wanting to get to the bottom of Peter's murder. Reasons that don’t involve them at all.��The investigation ramps up, and so does the pressure, leaving Dylan, Priya, and Isabel to wonder if ending his life may end up costing them theirs.��

As the��guilt of what they've done settles��in their bones, they realize there's no going back.��Someone is going to have to take the fall.]]> 320 Katie Collom 0593974611 Kyle 0 to-read 4.00
author: Katie Collom
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> 205098644 In a dark thriller from USA Today bestselling author Samantha M. Bailey, a TV reunion brings costars back for the drama and betrayals their viewers once craved—and this time, the stakes are deadly.

Ivy Westcott fled LA as her acting career imploded. In a flash, she lost her first love and chosen family—her Hello, Juliet castmates. But she never discovered who turned her closest friends against her. Now the whole world knows her as #PoisonIvy.

A decade later, Ivy is horrified when a celebrity exposé thrusts the Hello, Juliet cast back into the limelight, dredging up the old scandals she hoped to escape. Desperate for a fresh start and some financial stability for her mother and manager, Ivy agrees to participate in a top-secret reunion episode.

Ivy’s poised for a comeback, but past betrayals become a present danger when she and the man who once broke her heart find their costar dead.

Determined to find justice and clear her name, Ivy must tear down the facades of cast and crew to uncover chilling secrets that have plagued the Hollywood set from day one. Or she could be the next to die.]]> 301 Samantha M. Bailey 1662513577 Kyle 0 to-read 4.16 2025
author: Samantha M. Bailey
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> 217213002 Two women haunted by their sisters' unsolved disappearances band together in this captivating mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Good People Here and host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie.

Nicole “Nic�� Monroe is in a rut. At twenty-four, she lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school, a job she only has because her boss is a family friend and feels sorry for her. Everyone has felt sorry for her for��the��last seven years—since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace.

On the��night Kasey went missing, her car was found over��a��hundred miles from home. The��driver’s door was open and her purse was untouched in��the��seat next to it. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared in��the��same way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both their cases eventually went cold.

Nic wants nothing more than to move on—from her sister’s disappearance and��the��state it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into her life and offers Nic something she hasn’t felt in��a��long hope. What follows is��a��gripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find their��missing��halves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.]]> 272 Ashley Flowers 0593726987 Kyle 0 to-read 4.03 2025
author: Ashley Flowers
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> 220239038 From the bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant comes a propulsive new thriller: Fifteen years ago, Frida and her brother escaped a cult. Now her brother is the prime suspect in a murder investigation—and it isn’t the first time.
Innocence doesn't bail you out; it just makes you easier to trap.

Frida and Gabriel arrive seeking a fresh start at the stunning Ara Hotel in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. Once so close they were able to finish each other’s sentences, they’ve grown apart in recent years after a sudden, unspeakable tragedy. Now, at the luxe resort, they are ready to reconnect between dips in the pool and hikes on spectacular desert trails. It all feels like paradise—until the dead body of a beautiful young woman who was vacationing at the Ara with her powerful, much older husband is discovered.

When the local police arrive and suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, their dramatic escape, and the scandal that followed. Frida’s belief in Gabriel’s innocence never wavered at the time, but now even she can’t ignore the evidence mounting against him.

Alternating between past and present timelines, Our Last Resort builds toward a shattering climax that uncovers the fate of the murdered Ara guest and poses the question: how well do we ever really know those we love? Taut, gripping, and intense, Clémence Michallon’s latest suspense novel is a nail-biter until the last page, cementing her status as a major new talent in the genre.]]> 320 Clémence Michallon 0593802764 Kyle 0 to-read 3.66 2025
author: Clémence Michallon
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216775113 When a reality show about former child stars overcoming addiction culminates in murder, their therapist must take a closer look into their lives—and her own, from USA Today bestselling author Lucinda Berry.

Dr. Laurel Harlow can’t believe she’s agreed to do a reality TV show. But her years as a chemical dependency counselor and personal history with the show’s director make her the obvious choice. Treating a mansion full of former child stars on the road to recovery is the tallest order of her career—especially when one of them turns up dead while the cameras are still rolling.

In a house full of narcissists vying for the spotlight, everyone’s hiding something…including Laurel. An investigation could expose a past she’d rather keep buried. But among the attention-starved patients, only one of them is a predator. And Laurel is skilled at spotting a predator when she sees one.

As she hunts a killer in her present, the unsettling truths of Laurel’s past are forced into the light. But this time, she’ll face her demons head on. She’ll stop at nothing to expose a murderer, even if it means risking everything she holds dear.]]> 247 Lucinda Berry 1662526032 Kyle 0 to-read 3.63 2025
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 221115923 A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.��

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her…]]> 400 Samantha Downing 0593101030 Kyle 0 to-read 4.44 2025
author: Samantha Downing
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44767257
A short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends

"Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer."

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead.

Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening.]]> 226 Oyinkan Braithwaite Kyle 3 3.5 stars

Compulsively readable and an interesting storyline.

I do wish the book was a bit longer and was able to explore some of its themes a bit more in depth, but I did really enjoy what was on the page and found the character dynamics intriguing.

I’m sure there are also aspects of the story I didn’t understand the full weight or context of not being Nigerian, but it was fascinating to read about this type of story being set in Lagos, as I initially thought it was going to be set in America when I started. It added more nuance and depth to our main character from what I expected to be more of a pulpy airport thriller.

Would definitely read more from this author, but would prefer to try something longer. ]]> 3.66 2018
author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars

Compulsively readable and an interesting storyline.

I do wish the book was a bit longer and was able to explore some of its themes a bit more in depth, but I did really enjoy what was on the page and found the character dynamics intriguing.

I’m sure there are also aspects of the story I didn’t understand the full weight or context of not being Nigerian, but it was fascinating to read about this type of story being set in Lagos, as I initially thought it was going to be set in America when I started. It added more nuance and depth to our main character from what I expected to be more of a pulpy airport thriller.

Would definitely read more from this author, but would prefer to try something longer.
]]> 41886271 A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.��

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.]]> 651 M.L. Wang Kyle 0 to-read 4.46 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55711617
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though �� this, Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedic recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but�� will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening? Does she even want to?

Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?

This new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, called “one of our most talented living writers�� by Tommy Orange, explores the changing landscape of the West through his distinct voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence.

Go up the mountain to Proofrock. See if you’ve got what it takes �� see if your heart, too, might be a chainsaw.]]> 405 Stephen Graham Jones 1982137630 Kyle 4
Stephen Graham Jones�� prose can be a little jarring with its flow and stream-of-consciousness style, but it helps create a book that feels very singular. Jade is a rather off-putting narrator but who has an arc that helps complete the story, with so much room to explore in the later two books.

While at first I felt a little mixed on this one while reading, this book has one incredible third act, although it maybe got a bit too chaotic with too many reveals and revelations happening towards the end.

The very last scene will really stick with me. I have no idea where the next two books will go, but I’m officially locked in for the ride. ]]> 3.52 2021
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves:
review:
This is a blood-soaked character study with some serious payoff for those willing to stick it out through a frustrating main character.

Stephen Graham Jones�� prose can be a little jarring with its flow and stream-of-consciousness style, but it helps create a book that feels very singular. Jade is a rather off-putting narrator but who has an arc that helps complete the story, with so much room to explore in the later two books.

While at first I felt a little mixed on this one while reading, this book has one incredible third act, although it maybe got a bit too chaotic with too many reveals and revelations happening towards the end.

The very last scene will really stick with me. I have no idea where the next two books will go, but I’m officially locked in for the ride.
]]> 201102398 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593544372

A dark comedy about second acts, creative appropriation, and the racial identity–industrial complex

Jane has high hopes her life is about to turn around. After years of living precariously, she; her painter husband, Lenny; and their two kids have landed a stint as house sitters in a friend’s luxurious home in the hills above Los Angeles, a gig that coincides magically with Jane’s sabbatical. If she can just finish her latest novel, Nusu Nusu, the centuries-spanning epic Lenny refers to as her “mulatto War and Peace,�� she’ll have tenure and some semblance of stability and success within her grasp.

But things don’t work out quite as hoped. In search of a plan B, like countless writers before her, Jane turns her desperate gaze to Hollywood. After she meets with a hot young producer to create “diverse content�� for a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer.�� She can create what he envisions as the greatest biracial comedy to ever hit the small screen. Things finally seem to be going right for Jane—until they go terribly wrong.]]> 277 Danzy Senna Kyle 0 to-read 3.53 2024
author: Danzy Senna
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61884842 Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew.

They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first.

It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.

With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again.

---

Content warnings are available at the author's website (see author bio).]]> 399 Yume Kitasei 1250875331 Kyle 0 to-read 3.66 2023
author: Yume Kitasei
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 221733722 There’s no place like home��

Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone that he shares with his fiancee, he's desperate to make ends meet.

Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden knocks at your door with a gripping story of revenge, privilege, and secrets turned sour��]]> 368 Freida McFadden 1464227314 Kyle 0 to-read 4.44 2025
author: Freida McFadden
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 Kyle 5
This book almost unfolds as some sort of dark fairy tale, in many ways reminding me of a slightly more restrained Stephen King, with a simultaneously intimate yet epic scale and scope. I'm not sure I've ever read anything quite like this, or not for a very long time at least.

Despite the book running for far too long, I closed it so satisfied that I didn't regret a single page.

I loved the melodrama, the ridiculous and overly sentimental dialogue, the seemingly impossible story, the moral unflappability of the characters. This one just really blew me away, even if I could totally understand someone giving this 1 star. ]]> 4.23 2024
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
I can't pretend this is anything other than a very flawed book, almost at every conceivable level, but I don't think anything new I have read this year has moved me or kept me as emotionally engaged as this one.

This book almost unfolds as some sort of dark fairy tale, in many ways reminding me of a slightly more restrained Stephen King, with a simultaneously intimate yet epic scale and scope. I'm not sure I've ever read anything quite like this, or not for a very long time at least.

Despite the book running for far too long, I closed it so satisfied that I didn't regret a single page.

I loved the melodrama, the ridiculous and overly sentimental dialogue, the seemingly impossible story, the moral unflappability of the characters. This one just really blew me away, even if I could totally understand someone giving this 1 star.
]]> 195790999 Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy becomes too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by re-forging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue that turn an entire region on its head.]]> 352 O.O. Sangoyomi 1250904293 Kyle 0 to-read 3.94 2024
author: O.O. Sangoyomi
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 198137722 Two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in a fractured America in this sparkling novel of love, friendship and chosen family, by the award-winning author of The Third Rainbow Girl.

What does it feel like, standing in the moments that will mark your life?


When Bernie replies to Leah's ad for a new housemate in Philadelphia, the two begin an intense and defiantly uncategorizable friendship based on a mutual belief in their art, and one another. Both aspire to capture the world around them: Leah through her writing; Bernie through her photography.

After Bernie's former photography professor, the renowned yet tarnished Daniel Dunn, dies and leaves her a complicated inheritance, Leah volunteers to accompany Bernie to his home in rural Pennsylvania, turning the jaunt into a road trip with an ambitious mission: to document America through words and photographs.

What ensues is a three-week journey into the heart of the nation, bringing the aritsts into conversation with people from all walks of life—“the absurd dreamers and failures of this wide, wide country”—as they try to make sense of the times they are living in. Along the way, Leah and Bernie discover what it means to to pursue their own ideas and dreams, and to embrace what they are capable of both romantically and artistically.

Housemates is a warm and insightful coming-of-age story of youth and freedom, a glorious celebration of queer life, and how art and love might save us all.]]> 352 Emma Copley Eisenberg 0593242238 Kyle 0 to-read 3.52 2024
author: Emma Copley Eisenberg
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58724723 A fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story following the personal and political awakening of a young gay Black man in 1980s New York City, from the television drama writer and producer of The Chi, Narcos, and Bel-Air.

Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, Earl “Trey�� Singleton III leaves his overbearing parents and their expectations behind by running away to New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. In the city, Trey meets up with a cast of characters that changes his life forever. He volunteers at a renegade home hospice for AIDS patients, and after being put to the test by gay rights activists, becomes a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Along the way Trey attempts to navigate past traumas and searches for ways to maintain familial relationships—all while seeking the meaning of life amid so much death.

Vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements, Rasheed Newson’s My Government Means to Kill Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced coming-of-age story that lends itself to a larger discussion about what it means for a young gay Black man in the mid-1980s to come to terms with his role in the midst of a political and social reckoning.]]> 276 Rasheed Newson 1250833523 Kyle 0 to-read 4.23 2022
author: Rasheed Newson
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 219848315 Ocean Vuong returns with a big-hearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Vuong’s writing �� formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness �� are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.]]> 416 Ocean Vuong 059383187X Kyle 0 to-read 4.34 2025
author: Ocean Vuong
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211003802 A brand new suspense novel from "the master of the suburban scandal" (Samantha M. Bailey), Aggie Blum Thompson.

Neighbors Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa share more than playdates and coffee mornings on their tranquil street in East Bethesda. They confide their deepest secrets, navigate the challenges of motherhood together, and provide a support system that seems unbreakable.

But when Gwen's husband is found murdered after one of their weekly Friday night dinners, the peaceful quiet of their cul-de-sac shatters. The seemingly idyllic world of the three close-knit mom friends becomes a web of deception, betrayal, and revenge.

As the police investigate, the veneer of friendship begins to crack, revealing hidden tensions, clandestine affairs, and long-buried jealousies among the three women. With suspicions mounting and the neighborhood gripped by fear, Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa must confront the chilling truth about their husbands, and the sinister undercurrents in their own friendship.]]> 336 Aggie Blum Thompson 1250892031 Kyle 0 to-read 3.85 2025
author: Aggie Blum Thompson
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44424442 Every Wednesday, like clockwork, the terror returns.

It seems like an ordinary Wednesday, until the phone rings. A mysterious caller with a chilling threat. Journalist Alice Henderson hangs up, ready to dismiss it as a hoax against the newspaper. But the next Wednesday, the stalker makes another move—and it becomes clear that this is all about Alice.

Someone wants her to suffer, but for what? Her articles have made her a popular local champion—could it be her past rather than her work that’s put her life in danger? Alice is determined not to give in to fear, but with the police investigation at a dead end, her boyfriend insists on hiring private investigator Matthew Hill.

With every passing Wednesday the warnings escalate, until it’s not only Alice but also her family in the stalker’s sights. As her tormentor closes in, can Alice uncover what she’s being punished for before the terrifying threats become an unthinkable reality?]]> 321 Teresa Driscoll Kyle 0 to-read 4.13 2019
author: Teresa Driscoll
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216223609 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 1464227322 Kyle 1 1.5 stars

Very standard Frida McFadden, while surprisingly straightforward and relatively predictable. One of the twists was too offensively lame and out of left field (still saw it coming, but the explanation itself was just laughable), so I knocked it down from a 2.

I do have a hard time putting these down, and I can’t explain why I keep reading when I know what the quality will be. Just too addictive. ]]> 3.71 2025
author: Freida McFadden
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
1.5 stars

Very standard Frida McFadden, while surprisingly straightforward and relatively predictable. One of the twists was too offensively lame and out of left field (still saw it coming, but the explanation itself was just laughable), so I knocked it down from a 2.

I do have a hard time putting these down, and I can’t explain why I keep reading when I know what the quality will be. Just too addictive.
]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Kyle 4
I think this shares some of the weaknesses of Ballad but does overall have a more emotionally engaging core shifting the series back to District 12, but I would like to visit a new setting if this isn't the final book. While it does make sense to tie in certain character appearances given the proximity to the start of the original trilogy, having so many introduced in that first chapter certainly threw me off and I was afraid of what the remainder of the book would look like.

The pacing of this one feels a little off in places, but the reduction in page count compared to Ballad definitely brings the series closer to the near-perfection of pacing in the original books. I disagree with this book not having anything new to say that hasn't already been covered in the original books, although I wouldn't say the perspective itself is as powerful as especially Mockingjay.

I did feel that some of the characterizations and development of the new side characters were lacking a bit of depth than I would've liked, but I think we get what we need from our central cast (and of course, Haymitch).

The epilogue was chef's kiss- no notes.

I actually think my opinion on this one will improve with time, but for now I'm sticking with a 4.25 while I wait to see how much staying power this one has in my memory. ]]> 4.61 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
This one started out a little rough for me, but has a really strong ending (although I could've done without another reprisal of The Raven).

I think this shares some of the weaknesses of Ballad but does overall have a more emotionally engaging core shifting the series back to District 12, but I would like to visit a new setting if this isn't the final book. While it does make sense to tie in certain character appearances given the proximity to the start of the original trilogy, having so many introduced in that first chapter certainly threw me off and I was afraid of what the remainder of the book would look like.

The pacing of this one feels a little off in places, but the reduction in page count compared to Ballad definitely brings the series closer to the near-perfection of pacing in the original books. I disagree with this book not having anything new to say that hasn't already been covered in the original books, although I wouldn't say the perspective itself is as powerful as especially Mockingjay.

I did feel that some of the characterizations and development of the new side characters were lacking a bit of depth than I would've liked, but I think we get what we need from our central cast (and of course, Haymitch).

The epilogue was chef's kiss- no notes.

I actually think my opinion on this one will improve with time, but for now I'm sticking with a 4.25 while I wait to see how much staying power this one has in my memory.
]]> 48635408
Men Who Hate Women examines the rise of secretive extremist communities who despise women and traces the roots of misogyny across a complex spider web of groups. It includes eye-opening interviews with former members of these communities, the academics studying this movement, and the men fighting back.

Women's rights activist Laura Bates wrote this book as someone who has been the target of many hate-fueled misogynistic attacks online. At first, the vitriol seemed to be the work of a small handful of individual men... but over time, the volume and consistency of the attacks hinted at something bigger and more ominous. As Bates went undercover into the corners of the internet, she found an unseen, organized movement of thousands of anonymous men wishing violence (and worse) upon women.
In the book, Bates explores:

Extreme communities like incels, pick-up artists, MGTOW, Men's Rights Activists and more
The hateful, toxic rhetoric used by these groups
How this movement connects to other extremist movements like white supremacy
How young boys are targeted and slowly drawn in
Where this ideology shows up in our everyday lives in mainstream media, our playgrounds, and our government

By turns fascinating and horrifying, Men Who Hate Women is a broad, unflinching account of the deep current of loathing toward women and anti-feminism that underpins our society and is a must-read for parents, educators, and anyone who believes in equality for women.]]> 366 Laura Bates Kyle 0 to-read 4.34 2020
author: Laura Bates
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 48915089
But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future - outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.]]> 355 Rivers Solomon 0374266778 Kyle 0 to-read 3.82 2021
author: Rivers Solomon
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205363963
The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors acted nice enough, but right away bad things, scary things—the strange and the unexplainable—began to happen in their house. Maybe it was some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-middle class. Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned.

As adults, the siblings could finally get away from the horrors of home, leaving their parents all alone in the house. But when news of their parents' death arrives, Ezri is forced to return to Texas with their sisters, Eve and Emanuelle, to reckon with their family’s past and present, and to find out what happened while they were away. It was not a “natural�� death for their parents . . . but was it supernatural?

Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life.]]> 304 Rivers Solomon 0374607133 Kyle 4
Was a little let down by the resolution of one of the particular subplots, and kind of wanted a little more exploration of the implications left by the answers to the overarching mystery, but was overall satisfied with the direction of the story.

A horror novel definitely, but more psychological than blood and guts for anyone expecting a straightforward ghost/haunted house story.

Would read more by Solomon. ]]> 3.72 2024
author: Rivers Solomon
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
A really unique exploration of familiar themes. The prose sometimes frustrated me, but I appreciated how distinct the voice truly was.

Was a little let down by the resolution of one of the particular subplots, and kind of wanted a little more exploration of the implications left by the answers to the overarching mystery, but was overall satisfied with the direction of the story.

A horror novel definitely, but more psychological than blood and guts for anyone expecting a straightforward ghost/haunted house story.

Would read more by Solomon.
]]> 57693472
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting�� but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.]]> 344 Sarah Gailey 1250174724 Kyle 0 to-read 3.32 2022
author: Sarah Gailey
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62919847 A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.]]> 576 Tananarive Due 1982188340 Kyle 0 to-read 4.44 2023
author: Tananarive Due
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58724622
But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.

Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.

Then the killings begin again.

Mary’s definitely going to find herself.]]> 405 Nat Cassidy 1250265231 Kyle 0 to-read 3.78 2022
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 212342605 Hungerstone��is a thrillingly seductive sapphic romance for fans of S.T. Gibson’s��A Dowry of Blood��and Emilia Hart’s��Weyward.

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage, the relationship has soured and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them out of London and to the imposing Nethershaw manor in the countryside, where Henry aims to host a hunt with society’s finest. Lenore keeps a terrible secret from the last time her husband hunted, and though they never speak of it, it haunts their marriage to this day.

The preparations for the event take a turn when a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night; Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a bloody hunger.

Torn between regaining her husband's affection and Carmilla's ever-growing presence, Lenore begins to unravel her past and in doing so, uncovers a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the moors and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution,��Hungerstone��is a compulsive feminist reworking of��Carmilla, the book that inspired��Dracula: a captivating story of appetite and desire.]]> 336 Kat Dunn 1638932166 Kyle 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Kat Dunn
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55077657 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250236210.

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?]]> 147 Becky Chambers Kyle 2 2.5 stars

A perfectly fine, sweet book. Just too low-stakes for me. I’m not surprised it’s found its audience though.]]> 4.25 2021
author: Becky Chambers
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars

A perfectly fine, sweet book. Just too low-stakes for me. I’m not surprised it’s found its audience though.
]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Kyle 5 favorites
Even after 15 years, this book is genuinely harrowing, with moments of beauty and horror that feel unexpected even after reading the first two books. It so powerfully captures the horror and devastation of war, grief, PTSD, the fragility of revolutions, while imbuing such a strong sense of hope and resilience and, above all, love.

The plot twists keep the story engaging and the additional characters in the cast all feel worthwhile, injecting us into a completely new setting in a final book. One of the strongest moments in the book that nearly moved me to tears despite being my third read was the reunion between Katniss and Buttercup in the final chapter. Even a moment as small as that is so packed with pain and guilt it was hard to stomach. Being in Katniss' mind during those final chapters was such a dark space to inhabit, but the repurposing of the Everdeen family plant book as a memorial for all those lost somehow stitched my heart back together before the simple but resonant epilogue.

Another highlight from my overall reread of the trilogy that I hadn't anticipated in the 10 years since I last reread the trilogy was how strong Katniss' father presence lingers in each book, particularly this final installment. It's so many of those small ways Katniss still finds him in her life that add so much humanity and texture to her character and remind us that she is still just a teenage girl who is thrust into situations she has no business being expected to participate in.

I do think the frenetic nature towards the end of the invasion of the Capitol can be overwhelming and at times difficult to follow, with deaths like Castor and even Finnick seeming to happen at random and quickly moved past, which I think is a valid criticism, but I do attribute that ultimately to the first person present POV of Katniss and how she is experiencing the chaos around her. While many have disparaged the pacing over the years compared to the first two installments, I reject this as I feel there is plenty happening throughout the story prior to the final battle, although the plot and setting are noticeably different, which can be jarring depending on your expectations previously set. Katniss' character arc is another common source of frustration, however, this book feels like a pretty natural progression after rereading all of the books back-to-back and tracking this arc from the first book to Mockingjay.

Amazing, amazing book. Will probably always be one of my favorites, no matter how many times it breaks my heart.]]> 4.10 2010
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: favorites
review:
After 2025 reread: I totally understand where the disappointment typically comes from with this finale, but this will always stand as the strongest book overall in the series for me (I do feel the first is also on par with this, but it's hard to compare the scope of both).

Even after 15 years, this book is genuinely harrowing, with moments of beauty and horror that feel unexpected even after reading the first two books. It so powerfully captures the horror and devastation of war, grief, PTSD, the fragility of revolutions, while imbuing such a strong sense of hope and resilience and, above all, love.

The plot twists keep the story engaging and the additional characters in the cast all feel worthwhile, injecting us into a completely new setting in a final book. One of the strongest moments in the book that nearly moved me to tears despite being my third read was the reunion between Katniss and Buttercup in the final chapter. Even a moment as small as that is so packed with pain and guilt it was hard to stomach. Being in Katniss' mind during those final chapters was such a dark space to inhabit, but the repurposing of the Everdeen family plant book as a memorial for all those lost somehow stitched my heart back together before the simple but resonant epilogue.

Another highlight from my overall reread of the trilogy that I hadn't anticipated in the 10 years since I last reread the trilogy was how strong Katniss' father presence lingers in each book, particularly this final installment. It's so many of those small ways Katniss still finds him in her life that add so much humanity and texture to her character and remind us that she is still just a teenage girl who is thrust into situations she has no business being expected to participate in.

I do think the frenetic nature towards the end of the invasion of the Capitol can be overwhelming and at times difficult to follow, with deaths like Castor and even Finnick seeming to happen at random and quickly moved past, which I think is a valid criticism, but I do attribute that ultimately to the first person present POV of Katniss and how she is experiencing the chaos around her. While many have disparaged the pacing over the years compared to the first two installments, I reject this as I feel there is plenty happening throughout the story prior to the final battle, although the plot and setting are noticeably different, which can be jarring depending on your expectations previously set. Katniss' character arc is another common source of frustration, however, this book feels like a pretty natural progression after rereading all of the books back-to-back and tracking this arc from the first book to Mockingjay.

Amazing, amazing book. Will probably always be one of my favorites, no matter how many times it breaks my heart.
]]> 211004079 A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

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

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

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.]]> 291 Kate Alice Marshall 1250343054 Kyle 0 to-read 3.78 2025
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6148028 Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.]]> 391 Suzanne Collins 0439023491 Kyle 5
I still find the structure jarring, although I appreciate how Collins manages to write a sequel that creates and completes a satisfying narrative arc and avoiding Middle Book Syndrome. Knowing the foreshadowing of what’s to come makes the payoff all the better.

Katniss�� character arc across this trilogy is always a highlight of my rereads. Catching Fire sets the stage for her controversial (at least at the time in 2010) arc in Mockingjay perfectly. Very excited to move on to Mockingjay, which has always been, and I expect will still be, my favorite of the 4 books.]]> 4.34 2009
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: favorites, re-read, phenominal, series-great, violence-galore
review:
After my 2025 reread: Amazing book, but still stands as my least favorite of the trilogy.

I still find the structure jarring, although I appreciate how Collins manages to write a sequel that creates and completes a satisfying narrative arc and avoiding Middle Book Syndrome. Knowing the foreshadowing of what’s to come makes the payoff all the better.

Katniss�� character arc across this trilogy is always a highlight of my rereads. Catching Fire sets the stage for her controversial (at least at the time in 2010) arc in Mockingjay perfectly. Very excited to move on to Mockingjay, which has always been, and I expect will still be, my favorite of the 4 books.
]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

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

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Kyle 5 favorites
Katniss Everdeen will always be the most iconic protagonist of the YA dystopian craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. The world feels believable and so well-crafted in the violence, hope, and desperation that we experience through Katniss' eyes.

There is so much that I picked up on at a younger age that only grows more horrifying reading at 25 vs. 10. Collins walks a tightrope between an engaging story for a teen audience that still is thought-provoking for an adult audience.

I'm sure we will have a series that will meet the quality put out in The Hunger Games original trilogy, but this still stands in a league with few others in its genre. ]]> 4.34 2008
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: favorites
review:
After my 2025 re-read: Still holds up incredibly well. The prose is a little sparse, but it's obviously geared to be accessible to a younger demographic.

Katniss Everdeen will always be the most iconic protagonist of the YA dystopian craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. The world feels believable and so well-crafted in the violence, hope, and desperation that we experience through Katniss' eyes.

There is so much that I picked up on at a younger age that only grows more horrifying reading at 25 vs. 10. Collins walks a tightrope between an engaging story for a teen audience that still is thought-provoking for an adult audience.

I'm sure we will have a series that will meet the quality put out in The Hunger Games original trilogy, but this still stands in a league with few others in its genre.
]]> 217506549 368 Julie Clark 1464221286 Kyle 0 to-read 4.24 2025
author: Julie Clark
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 28111713
Against the wishes of his mother, sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to compete in the annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as the Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour without ever stopping...with the winner being awarded “The Prize”—anything he wants for the rest of his life. But, as part of this national tournament that sweeps through a dystopian America year after year, there are some harsh rules that Garraty and ninety-nine others must adhere to in order to beat out the rest. There is no finish line—the winner is the last man standing. Contestants cannot receive any outside aid whatsoever. Slow down under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out of the game—permanently...]]> 320 Richard Bachman 150114426X Kyle 3 3.5 stars

This one really took me by surprise in the second half after a rocky start. The emotional catharsis towards the end was so strong.

At first I thought the characters and world were a bit too shallow for me, but Stephen King really had some interesting psychological landscapes for many of them. The Vietnam War allegory is biting as well, reminds me so much of why I love dystopian novels and want to dive back into them this year.

If the movie adaptation is faithful, this one will be a tearjerker. ]]> 3.90 1978
author: Richard Bachman
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1978
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars

This one really took me by surprise in the second half after a rocky start. The emotional catharsis towards the end was so strong.

At first I thought the characters and world were a bit too shallow for me, but Stephen King really had some interesting psychological landscapes for many of them. The Vietnam War allegory is biting as well, reminds me so much of why I love dystopian novels and want to dive back into them this year.

If the movie adaptation is faithful, this one will be a tearjerker.
]]> 60784349

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.

On a routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, his fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and, if caught, they face being recycled into protein to feed a hungry colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse, and the native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, which has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.

That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.]]> 320 Edward Ashton 1250875285 Kyle 2 2.5 stars

Curious what the film adaptation of this will be like. It’s not the most eventful story.

I struggled with the comedic tone of this one. It has some interesting ideas, but I really couldn’t bring myself to get attached to any of the characters. A few laughs here and there, but I’m not sure it really worked for me.

Not bad, but not something I’ll think back to much.]]> 3.69 2022
author: Edward Ashton
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars

Curious what the film adaptation of this will be like. It’s not the most eventful story.

I struggled with the comedic tone of this one. It has some interesting ideas, but I really couldn’t bring myself to get attached to any of the characters. A few laughs here and there, but I’m not sure it really worked for me.

Not bad, but not something I’ll think back to much.
]]> 8705784 Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams, Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen��

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.�� Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin�� hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…]]> 398 C.C. Hunter 0312624670 Kyle 1 4.11 2011
author: C.C. Hunter
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at: 2012/04/24
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 1217100 You can’t stop the future.
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.]]> 288 Jay Asher 1595141715 Kyle 1 4.00 2007
author: Jay Asher
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 57423632 Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend's belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart.

Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won't want to miss.]]> 416 Hazel Hayes 0593184521 Kyle 4 <b>4.5 stars</b> 3.77 2020
author: Hazel Hayes
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars
]]> 12987134
Alexander didn’t believe in love at first sight until he met Patti. She’s the kind of girl you hear about in gorgeous, feisty, and dangerous. Being with Patti is better than any high, and he can’t live without her.
But Alexander’s not the only one who wants to be with Patti. Burke ruthlessly takes what he wants and will kill to protect what is his. And he won’t let Patti go without a fight. If Patti and Alexander are going to be together, their love will come at a steep price. Because some promises are meant to be broken, and not all debts can be paid in cash��.]]> 544 Jason Myers 1442446277 Kyle 2 3.78 2012
author: Jason Myers
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2012/07/21
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: awesome-cover, give-me-a-break, lust-not-love, massive-dissapointment, really-excited, so-so-reviews, where-for-art-thou-plot, 2012
review:

]]> 199700434 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet, The God of the Woods is a story of inheritance and second chances, the tensions between a family and a community, and a history that will not let any of them go.]]> 478 Liz Moore 0593418913 Kyle 5
Really satisfied by the story and conclusion to the mystery. Kept me engaged the entire way. I can definitely see why some may have issue with the pacing and number of POV characters, but I really enjoyed how thorough the narrative was and found myself intrigued by most of the characters, although of course there were POVs I found myself much more engaged by.

My only complaints are the resolution of Alice's POV, of which I wanted more from at the end, and some of the repetitiveness of the prose, especially given how long the book is. Far from a perfect book, but one I closed content upon finishing.]]> 4.09 2024
author: Liz Moore
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:
I expected to enjoy this one going in, but it really surpassed my expectations.

Really satisfied by the story and conclusion to the mystery. Kept me engaged the entire way. I can definitely see why some may have issue with the pacing and number of POV characters, but I really enjoyed how thorough the narrative was and found myself intrigued by most of the characters, although of course there were POVs I found myself much more engaged by.

My only complaints are the resolution of Alice's POV, of which I wanted more from at the end, and some of the repetitiveness of the prose, especially given how long the book is. Far from a perfect book, but one I closed content upon finishing.
]]> 214152057 When a beloved actress is cast in a feminist adaptation of a Fitzgerald classic, she finds herself the victim in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone, on screen and off, is playing a part.

Lila Crayne is America’s sweetheart: she’s generous and kind, gorgeous and magnetic. She and her fiancé, visionary filmmaker Kurt Royall, have settled into a stunning new West Village apartment and are set to begin filming their feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night.

To prepare for the leading role, Lila begins working with charming and accomplished therapist Jonah Gabriel to dig into the trauma of her past. Soon, Lila’s impeccably manicured life begins to unravel on the therapy couch—and Jonah is just the man to pick up the pieces. But everyone has a secret, and no one is quite who they seem.

A twisty, thought-provoking novel of construction and deconstruction in conversation with the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and told through the lens of the film industry, Sweet Fury is an incisive and bold critique of America’s deep-rooted misogyny. With this novel, Bischoff examines the narratives we tell ourselves, and what happens when we co-opt others into those stories; and she probes the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator and the true meaning of justice.]]> 288 Sash Bischoff 1668043254 Kyle 0 to-read 3.39
author: Sash Bischoff
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.39
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 207252770
Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

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

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

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, and cements Hawkins’s place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.]]> 320 Paula Hawkins 0063396521 Kyle 3 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this one, but not nearly as much as The Girl on the Train and A Slow Fire Burning. I think the story is just a little too slow, meandering, with too many threads that just don't have sufficient pay-off.

I do always love the way Hawkins writes, and her characters, but I just don't feel this is her strongest work. Still look forward to whatever she publishes next.]]> 3.27 2024
author: Paula Hawkins
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars

I enjoyed this one, but not nearly as much as The Girl on the Train and A Slow Fire Burning. I think the story is just a little too slow, meandering, with too many threads that just don't have sufficient pay-off.

I do always love the way Hawkins writes, and her characters, but I just don't feel this is her strongest work. Still look forward to whatever she publishes next.
]]> 210906882 From Eric LaRocca—Bram Stoker Award–nominated and Splatterpunk Award–winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke—c�dz���� At Dark, I Become Loathsome, a grim yet gentle, horrifying yet hopeful, intense tale of death, trauma, and love.

“If you’re reading this, you’ve likely thought that the world would be a better place without you.��

A single line of text, glowing in the darkness of the internet. Written by Ashley Lutin, who has often thought the same—and worse—in the years since his wife died and his young son disappeared. But the peace of the grave is not for him—it’s for those he can help. Ashley has constructed a peculiar ritual for those whose desire to die is at war with their yearning to live a better life.

Struggling to overcome his own endless grief, one night Ashley finds connection with Jinx—a potential candidate for Ashley’s next ritual—who spins a tale both revolting and fascinating. Thus begins a relationship that traps the two men in an ever-tightening spiral of painful revelations, where long-hidden secrets are dragged, kicking and screaming, into the light.

Only through pain can we find healing. Only through death can we find new life.]]> 178 Eric LaRocca Kyle 0 to-read 3.32 2025
author: Eric LaRocca
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205436018 Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter in Korean history.

One winter morning, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama. A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn’t yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into the darkness that awaits her at her friend’s house.

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully illuminates a forgotten chapter in Korean history, buried for decades—bringing to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable violence—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.]]> 256 Han Kang 0593595459 Kyle 0 to-read 3.87 2021
author: Han Kang
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205363938 A medical crisis brings one man close to death—and to love, art, and beauty—in a profound and luminous novel by award-winning author Garth Greenwell.

A poet's life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees, and eventually to the ICU. Confined to bed, plunged into the dysfunctional American healthcare system, he struggles to understand what is happening to his body, as someone who has lived for many years in his mind.

This is a searching, sweeping novel set at the furthest edges of human experience, where the forces that give life value—art, memory, poetry, music, care—are thrown into sharp relief. Time expands and contracts. Sudden intimacies bloom. Small Rain surges beyond the hospital to encompass a radiant vision of human life: our shared vulnerability, the limits and possibilities of sympathy, the ideal of art and the fragile dream of America. Above all, this is a love story of the most unexpected kind.]]> 306 Garth Greenwell 0374279543 Kyle 4 book-club
A huge part of reading about Iowa City felt so nostalgic, even reading about some of the beauty of the area during such a strange and daunting time. There were so many truly beautiful passages in this book ("I have the germs of every human infirmity in me" will stick in my head for a long time), although I do think some of the stream-of-consciousness elements could have been trimmed down.

A lot of this book reads like the Iowa Writers' Workshop, in the best and worst ways. I did overall love the writing, but this and Nightbitch do read similar in many stylistic ways, choices that I don't particularly care for and vary in effectiveness, in my opinion.

The fear and claustrophobia of the medical crisis was very harrowing and overwhelming, especially listening to the audiobook with all of the run-on sentences and anxiety. The ending is satisfying and feels so beautiful and bittersweet. I'll be thinking about this one for a while. ]]> 4.06 2024
author: Garth Greenwell
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: book-club
review:
This was my first read for a book club I'm joining and it was such a strange experience to read a book set right down the street from where I lived for multiple years, at a time I lived there, by someone who lived there at the same time I did.

A huge part of reading about Iowa City felt so nostalgic, even reading about some of the beauty of the area during such a strange and daunting time. There were so many truly beautiful passages in this book ("I have the germs of every human infirmity in me" will stick in my head for a long time), although I do think some of the stream-of-consciousness elements could have been trimmed down.

A lot of this book reads like the Iowa Writers' Workshop, in the best and worst ways. I did overall love the writing, but this and Nightbitch do read similar in many stylistic ways, choices that I don't particularly care for and vary in effectiveness, in my opinion.

The fear and claustrophobia of the medical crisis was very harrowing and overwhelming, especially listening to the audiobook with all of the run-on sentences and anxiety. The ending is satisfying and feels so beautiful and bittersweet. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
]]> 52459864
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.��

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia��. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.]]> 394 Xiran Jay Zhao 0735269939 Kyle 0 to-read 4.03 2021
author: Xiran Jay Zhao
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 30269102
“[Han Kang writes in] intense poetic prose that . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—from the Nobel Prize citation

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE �� “Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly]]> 188 Han Kang 1101906111 Kyle 4
I think the first and last part are the strongest, but the second part also kept me engaged. Really glad I heard of this one out of the blue and I’m curious to see what else by Kang has been translated.]]> 3.59 2007
author: Han Kang
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:
This was a wild ride. Han Kang says so much in so little, and I’m not sure I know what it all means, but I enjoyed the ride.

I think the first and last part are the strongest, but the second part also kept me engaged. Really glad I heard of this one out of the blue and I’m curious to see what else by Kang has been translated.
]]> 29875935
Andre Aciman, who has been called “the most exciting new fiction writer of the twenty-first century�� (New York Magazine), has written a novel in Enigma Variations that charts the life of Paul whose loves remain as consuming and covetous throughout adulthood as they were in adolescence. Whether in southern Italy, where as a boy he has a crush on his parents�� cabinet maker, or on a snowbound campus in New England, where his enduring passion for a girl he’ll meet again and again over the years is punctuated by anonymous encounters with men; on a tennis court in Central Park, or a sidewalk in early spring New York, his attachments are ungraspable, transient and forever underwritten by raw desire—not for just one person’s body but, inevitably, for someone else’s as well.

In mapping the most inscrutable corners of desire, Aciman proves to be an unsparing reader of the human psyche and a master stylist of contemporary literature. With language at once lyrical, bare-knuckled, and unabashedly candid, he casts a sensuous, shimmering light over each facet of desire to probe how we ache, want, and waver, and ultimately how we sometimes falter and let go of those who may want only to offer what we crave from them. Behind every step the hero takes, his hopes, denials, fears, and regrets are always ready to lay their traps. Yet the dream of love always casts its luminous halo. We may not always know what we want. We may remain enigmas to ourselves and others. But sooner or later we discover who we’ve always known we were.]]> 266 André Aciman 0374148430 Kyle 0 to-read 3.68 2017
author: André Aciman
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52541369 From the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie comes a haunting tale of love and mystery, as the date of a lifetime becomes a maddening exploration of the depths of the heart.

"Malerman expertly conjures a fairy tale nostalgia of first love, and we follow along, all too willingly, ignoring the warning signs even as the fear takes hold."-- Lit Reactor

The story begins: young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box.

At seventeen years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary.

But they didn't expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake.

The house is cold and dark, but it's also their own.

Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: swim deeper into the house--all the while falling deeper in love?

Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned:

Just because a house is empty, doesn't mean nobody's home.]]> 188 Josh Malerman 0593237773 Kyle 1
I really enjoyed Incidents Around the House by Malerman last year, but this is clearly geared towards a much younger audience. I was aware it wasn’t truly going to fall into the horror category going in, but I hoped the fairy tale nature of it would be able to hold my interest. The writing felt too juvenile, too much telling vs. showing, with characters that had no real depth or intrigue and completely murky motivations.

I think this is something I might have somewhat enjoyed 10 years ago when I would’ve fallen closer to the intended demographic, but I can’t pinpoint any aspect of the book I enjoyed, so I’m going to have to settle for 1 star. I’m honestly pretty baffled this was marketed in the adult horror section of Barnes & Noble other than it would be able to be shelved with Malerman’s other books.

I probably won’t remember much of this in a couple weeks, which is a real disappointment.]]> 3.40 2016
author: Josh Malerman
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2016
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
I wouldn’t say this was a particularly bad book, but just completely not for me.

I really enjoyed Incidents Around the House by Malerman last year, but this is clearly geared towards a much younger audience. I was aware it wasn’t truly going to fall into the horror category going in, but I hoped the fairy tale nature of it would be able to hold my interest. The writing felt too juvenile, too much telling vs. showing, with characters that had no real depth or intrigue and completely murky motivations.

I think this is something I might have somewhat enjoyed 10 years ago when I would’ve fallen closer to the intended demographic, but I can’t pinpoint any aspect of the book I enjoyed, so I’m going to have to settle for 1 star. I’m honestly pretty baffled this was marketed in the adult horror section of Barnes & Noble other than it would be able to be shelved with Malerman’s other books.

I probably won’t remember much of this in a couple weeks, which is a real disappointment.
]]> 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 Kyle 4
Still some unanswered questions at the end, which is fine, but the final confrontation also felt a little jarring and rushed. The children also drove me insane, but obviously some grace there.

Some may find the pacing and background chapters a little jarring, but I appreciated how much we got to know the narrator.

Looking forward to reading more from this author and seeing how she grows.]]> 3.79 2024
author: Tracy Sierra
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
Liked a lot about this one, the story went in a lot of completely unexpected directions. Reading this with my roommate out of town also added to the creep factor.

Still some unanswered questions at the end, which is fine, but the final confrontation also felt a little jarring and rushed. The children also drove me insane, but obviously some grace there.

Some may find the pacing and background chapters a little jarring, but I appreciated how much we got to know the narrator.

Looking forward to reading more from this author and seeing how she grows.
]]> 194746 No Longer Human, this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title).

Donald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, The Setting Sun, has said of the author's work: "His world �� suggests Chekhov or possibly postwar France, �� but there is a Japanese sensibility in the choice and presentation of the material. A Dazai novel is at once immediately intelligible in Western terms and quite unlike any Western book." His writing is in some ways reminiscent of Rimbaud, while he himself has often been called a forerunner of Yukio Mishima.

Cover painting by Noe Nojechowiz, from the collection of John and Barbara Duncan; design by Gertrude Huston]]> 176 Osamu Dazai Kyle 0 to-read 3.99 1948
author: Osamu Dazai
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52476830 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.]]> 307 Ashley Audrain 1984881663 Kyle 0 to-read 4.03 2021
author: Ashley Audrain
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18883319 Creep, as one of 2011’s best novels, while #1 bestselling author Jeffery Deaver cautioned “you better call in sick—you’re not going anywhere until you finish reading.�� Now, Hillier returns to the Pacific Northwest college town where one killer’s stranglehold has ebbed . . . but another sick mind has waited for the perfect moment to pick up where the terror left off.

Sitting alone in a maximum-security prison cell, Abby Maddox is a celebrity. Her claim to fame is the envy of every freak on the outside: she’s the former lover of Ethan Wolfe, the killer who left more than a dozen dead women in his wake and nearly added Puget Sound State professor Sheila Tao to the tally. Now Abby, serving a nine-year sentence for slashing a police officer’s throat in a moment of rage, has little human contact—save for the letters that pour in from demented fans, lunatics, and creeps. But a new wave of murders has given Abby a possible chance for a plea bargain—because this killer has been sending her love letters, and carving a message on the bodies of the victims: Free Abby Maddox.

Jerry Isaac will never forget the attack—or his attacker. The hideous scarring and tortured speech are daily reminders that the one-time Seattle PD officer, now a private investigator, is just lucky to be alive. Abby Maddox deserves to rot in jail—forever, as far as Jerry’s concerned. But she alone may possess crucial evidence—letters from this newest killer—that could crack open the disturbing case. With the help of Professor Sheila Tao, seasoned police detective Mike Torrance, and intuitive criminology student Danny Mercy, Jerry must coax the shattering truth from isolated, dangerous Abby Maddox. Can he put the pieces together before Abby’s number one fan takes another life in the name of a killer’s perverted idea of justice?]]> 354 Jennifer Hillier Kyle 3
I’m really, really surprised that this is the end of the series. I’m usually okay with an ambiguous ending, but it’s such a frustrating place to be left with these characters that I’ve come to know over two books. I was also frustrated by the sidelining of many of the ensemble from the first book, as I never felt connected to the new group that took center stage. It was also surprisingly predictable, which is disappointing but not the end-all-be-all.

I did appreciate getting to know Jerry more intimately, and there were absolutely moments I was glued to the page, but I’m going to need some time to let this one sink in. I’m going with a 3-star because I did enjoy the read, but my immediate reaction is definitely the things I didn’t enjoy.]]> 4.06 2012
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:
I felt like this was overall weaker than the first book, much less gripping and tense, but that ending really solidified it for me.

I’m really, really surprised that this is the end of the series. I’m usually okay with an ambiguous ending, but it’s such a frustrating place to be left with these characters that I’ve come to know over two books. I was also frustrated by the sidelining of many of the ensemble from the first book, as I never felt connected to the new group that took center stage. It was also surprisingly predictable, which is disappointing but not the end-all-be-all.

I did appreciate getting to know Jerry more intimately, and there were absolutely moments I was glued to the page, but I’m going to need some time to let this one sink in. I’m going with a 3-star because I did enjoy the read, but my immediate reaction is definitely the things I didn’t enjoy.
]]> 214571279 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones Kyle 0 currently-reading 4.59 2025
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Kyle 3 4.14 2012
author: Hugh Howey
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/12/26
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
Very low 3 stars. Quite unimpressed if I do say so myself. Just never connected to the characters, so I didn't care much for the story.
]]> 42279228 This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood's only salvation is his friendship with fellow "delinquent" Turner, which deepens despite Turner's conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead 0385537077 Kyle 4
The ending is such a gut wrench that I didn’t see coming, although I’d picked up some peculiarities that made so much more sense once I reached the epilogue.

Looking forward to seeing the film adaptation and seeing the approach they take towards the source material. Have heard nothing but good things so far, but heard the style is very distinct and unique.]]> 4.28 2019
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
Devastating novel, but such an important story. The real life basis for this is even more sickening, especially reading that it was still open until 2011- proving even more how timely this book truly is.

The ending is such a gut wrench that I didn’t see coming, although I’d picked up some peculiarities that made so much more sense once I reached the epilogue.

Looking forward to seeing the film adaptation and seeing the approach they take towards the source material. Have heard nothing but good things so far, but heard the style is very distinct and unique.
]]> 204640265 From Vulture's "master of horror" Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless and emotionally charged social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media, for fans of The Last of Us and When Evil Lurks

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening�� is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn��-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from "one of horror's modern masters" holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.]]> 384 Clay McLeod Chapman Kyle 0 to-read 3.38 2025
author: Clay McLeod Chapman
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25225913 Five teens victimized by sex trafficking try to find their way to a new life in this riveting companion to the New York Times bestselling Tricks from Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank.

In her bestselling novel, Tricks, Ellen Hopkins introduced us to five memorable characters tackling these enormous questions: Eden, the preacher’s daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue; Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body; Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined in a heroin haze; Ginger, who runs away from home with her girlfriend and is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop; and Cody, whose gambling habit forces him into the life, but who is shot and left for dead.

And now, in Traffick, these five are faced with the toughest question of all: Is there a way out? How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade. Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home.]]> 528 Ellen Hopkins Kyle 2 4.37 2015
author: Ellen Hopkins
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2016/02/21
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: 2016, awesome-cover, boring, contemporary, e-book, library, love-story-annoying, lust-not-love, massive-dissapointment, really-excited, sequel-not-as-good, verse, where-for-art-thou-plot
review:

]]> 211119902
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.

They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.

Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.]]> 286 Robert Harris 0593689585 Kyle 0 on-hold 4.12 2016
author: Robert Harris
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: on-hold
review:

]]> 8490112
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?]]> 418 Laini Taylor 0316134023 Kyle 5 Second Reading: April 13th-ish, 2013-April 20th, 2013]]> 3.98 2011
author: Laini Taylor
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/04/20
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: favorites, best-books-of-all-time, better-than-expected, evil-cliffhanger, favorite-characters, phenominal, will-definitely-re-read, love-story-good, what-did-i-just-read, mind-blowing, awesome-cover, unique-setting, awesome-writing-style, need-the-sequel-to-live
review:
Second Reading: April 13th-ish, 2013-April 20th, 2013
]]> 13764475 448 Jennifer Hillier 0751549010 Kyle 4
A few things here and there that probably haven’t aged well in the 14 years since publication, and a few elements I wish had been explored more thoroughly, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this wraps up in the sequel.]]> 3.88 2011
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Kept me on the edge of my seat and nothing like what I was expecting.

A few things here and there that probably haven’t aged well in the 14 years since publication, and a few elements I wish had been explored more thoroughly, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this wraps up in the sequel.
]]> 62898932 Do you know what happened already?
Did you know her?
Did you see it on the internet?
Did you listen to a podcast?
Did the hosts make jokes?

Did you see the pictures of the body?

Did you look for them?

It's been nearly a decade since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked Crow-on-Sea, and the events of that terrible night are now being published for the first time.

That story is Penance, a dizzying feat of masterful storytelling, where Eliza Clark manoeuvres us through accounts from the inhabitants of this small seaside town. Placing us in the capable hands of journalist Alec Z. Carelli, Clark allows him to construct what he claims is the 'definitive account' of the murder - and what led up to it. Built on hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves, the result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.

The only question is: how much of it is true?]]> 336 Eliza Clark 0571371795 Kyle 0 to-read 3.87 2023
author: Eliza Clark
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214329001 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391155 Kyle 0 to-read 4.04 2025
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220160814 Three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

Restauranteur Paddy Swann was the life of the party until the day a man pushed him in the path of an oncoming train, leaving his twenty-something daughter Ash and wife Nina devastated. Shortly after Paddy’s funeral, the two women receive a surprise in the mail: a note and package from Nick Ratcliffe, an old friend of Paddy’s, and a nondescript lighter that once belonged to him decades ago. This unexpected gift draws Nick and Nina closer together—much to Ash’s dismay.

Martha is a small-town florist with dreams of expansion. She lives with her second husband Al, her baby, and two sons from her prior marriage. But they never seem to have any money, and with his constant traveling for work, she feels like a single parent—especially when an emergency makes her realize something needs to change.

But Nick and Al may not be who they say they are, leading these three women on a shocking collision course, wishing they had heeded a warning: Don’t let him in.]]> 368 Lisa Jewell 1668033879 Kyle 0 to-read 4.00 2025
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

And wish she'd stayed in the dark.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Wronged Sons, this edition of When You Disappeared includes editorial revisions.]]> 349 John Marrs 1477828834 Kyle 0 to-read 3.94 2013
author: John Marrs
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59016923 "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." --Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 70 Claire Keegan 0802158757 Kyle 3 4.22 2021
author: Claire Keegan
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 214208266 The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos.

From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.

But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.]]> 188 Agustina Bazterrica Kyle 2
I’m very curious to see what the response to this book is when it releases in March. I’m not sure of what my own thoughts are. It was meandering for a significant portion of it, but with grotesque and somewhat captivating imagery.

In parts I found the writing beautiful, others repetitive and meaningless. The cross out technique really didn’t add too much to this one either, although I understand the approach and why it was attempted.

The main character and the world that she inhabits feels so unknown and opaque in many ways, despite the details we’re given and that this story rests so heavily on her own internal thoughts and observations.

I didn’t enjoy the novel very much, but it felt wrong giving it 1 star, since I believe there is so much in theory that is good, but falls flat on execution. I wish this same story had been told in a completely different manner.

A huge step down from Tender Is the Flesh, but I will probably continue to give Bazterrica more chances despite not enjoying both of her two follow-ups so far.]]> 3.76 2023
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:
I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m very curious to see what the response to this book is when it releases in March. I’m not sure of what my own thoughts are. It was meandering for a significant portion of it, but with grotesque and somewhat captivating imagery.

In parts I found the writing beautiful, others repetitive and meaningless. The cross out technique really didn’t add too much to this one either, although I understand the approach and why it was attempted.

The main character and the world that she inhabits feels so unknown and opaque in many ways, despite the details we’re given and that this story rests so heavily on her own internal thoughts and observations.

I didn’t enjoy the novel very much, but it felt wrong giving it 1 star, since I believe there is so much in theory that is good, but falls flat on execution. I wish this same story had been told in a completely different manner.

A huge step down from Tender Is the Flesh, but I will probably continue to give Bazterrica more chances despite not enjoying both of her two follow-ups so far.
]]> 231786 --back cover]]> 683 Stephen King 0743424425 Kyle 4 4.19 1977
author: Stephen King
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 13450398
When thirteen-year-old Angela Gracie Chapman looks in the mirror, someone else looks back--a thin, pale stranger, a sixteen-year-old with haunted eyes. Angie has no memory of the past three years, years in which she was lost to the authorities, lost to her family and friends, lost even to herself. Where has she been, who has been living her life, and what is hiding behind the terrible blankness? There are secrets you can’t even tell yourself.

With a tremendous amount of courage and support from unexpected friends, Angie embarks on a journey into the darkest corners of her mind. As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: when you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the people responsible, or is there another way to feel whole again?

Liz Coley’s alarming and fascinating psychological mystery is a disturbing—and ultimately empowering—page turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.]]> 344 Liz Coley 0062127373 Kyle 1 1.5 stars

I don’t necessarily think this is a bad book, but I believe I’ve phased out of YA enough to where this just did not work for me on any level really.

The writing feels too immature and juvenile to tackle all of the mature topics in the story, with a plot built off too many conveniences for my taste. Dialogue is awkward and unrealistic, and has plenty of outdated sayings (that may have already been outdated when it was published).

I think there’s an interesting story here that would have been better suited for an adult novel. I picked this one up to knock off an older book from my physical TBR that I’d owned for far too long, but the moment where I would’ve enjoyed this book was far past.

Probably better suited for its target audience, although I think some of my criticisms still stand.]]> 4.02 2013
author: Liz Coley
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
1.5 stars

I don’t necessarily think this is a bad book, but I believe I’ve phased out of YA enough to where this just did not work for me on any level really.

The writing feels too immature and juvenile to tackle all of the mature topics in the story, with a plot built off too many conveniences for my taste. Dialogue is awkward and unrealistic, and has plenty of outdated sayings (that may have already been outdated when it was published).

I think there’s an interesting story here that would have been better suited for an adult novel. I picked this one up to knock off an older book from my physical TBR that I’d owned for far too long, but the moment where I would’ve enjoyed this book was far past.

Probably better suited for its target audience, although I think some of my criticisms still stand.
]]> 52028992 364 B.R. Yeager 1733569456 Kyle 0 to-read 3.71 2020
author: B.R. Yeager
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 200101541 A chilling twist on the “cursed film�� genre from the bestselling author of��The Pallbearers Club and��The Cabin at the End of the World.

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

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

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

But at what cost?��

Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful twist on the “cursed film�� that breathlessly builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.]]> 277 Paul Tremblay 0063070014 Kyle 2
Disappointing, but am interested in reading more from the author, as Knock at the Cabin does intrigue me. I think this premise just was not fully fleshed out or utilized to its full potential.]]> 3.31 2024
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves:
review:
Something about this one just did not work for me. I flew through it, but did not connect to a single character, found the "twist" just kind of strange - mainly because I didn't feel any connection to the main character - and ultimately found myself not really caring all that much where the story went.

Disappointing, but am interested in reading more from the author, as Knock at the Cabin does intrigue me. I think this premise just was not fully fleshed out or utilized to its full potential.
]]> 60537565 One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else...

In this blazingly smart and voracious debut, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog.

An ambitious mother puts her career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. As she studies herself in the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms.

As the mother's symptoms intensify, and her temptation to give in to her new dog impulses peak, she struggles to keep her alter-canine-identity secret. Seeking a cure at the library, she discovers the mysterious academic tome which becomes her bible, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnograph, and meets a group of mommies who are involved in a multilevel-marketing scheme and may also be more than what they seem.

An outrageously original novel of ideas about art, power and womanhood wrapped in a satirical fairy tale, Nightbitch will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. And you should. You should howl as much as you want.]]> 238 Rachel Yoder 0385547765 Kyle 3
It's not a particularly lengthy novel to begin with (although I'd say the text size does make it deceptively shorter), but it does begin to feel repetitive towards the middle sections of the novel. This becomes apparent with how often we are given the same themes and lessons over and over again, whether through example or monologue.

That doesn't mean a lot of the points and observations are uninteresting, but it did create a reading experience that made this feel like a novella may have sufficed.

Rachel Yoder creates a really immersive third person narration that experiments a lot with structure and style, which mostly lands for me. I don't know exactly how to feel about the lack of quotation marks (this is always a creative choice I question- Cormac McCarthy's reasoning stands out as a pretty terrible explanation), but it does remain fairly easy to follow.

The mother/Nightbitch is provided a lot of interiority, but many of the other characters do feel a bit lifeless and one-note. Some are given more of a chance for nuance towards the end, but this is a novel that rests solely on your interest in reading from our main character's perspective. It's loose in plot and focuses on day-to-day struggles and how they are indicative of societal attitudes towards women, motherhood, and the intersecting value of those things.

I would definitely be interested in more books by Yoder, but maybe not a must-read. I'd probably struggle to recommending this to the right person that this will work for, but I highly encourage anyone who finds the premise interesting to give it a try. Very curious how the adaptation will work. ]]> 3.49 2021
author: Rachel Yoder
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
A really interesting book with a distinct voice and a lot to say, but I'm not sure there was enough in this premise to warrant the length.

It's not a particularly lengthy novel to begin with (although I'd say the text size does make it deceptively shorter), but it does begin to feel repetitive towards the middle sections of the novel. This becomes apparent with how often we are given the same themes and lessons over and over again, whether through example or monologue.

That doesn't mean a lot of the points and observations are uninteresting, but it did create a reading experience that made this feel like a novella may have sufficed.

Rachel Yoder creates a really immersive third person narration that experiments a lot with structure and style, which mostly lands for me. I don't know exactly how to feel about the lack of quotation marks (this is always a creative choice I question- Cormac McCarthy's reasoning stands out as a pretty terrible explanation), but it does remain fairly easy to follow.

The mother/Nightbitch is provided a lot of interiority, but many of the other characters do feel a bit lifeless and one-note. Some are given more of a chance for nuance towards the end, but this is a novel that rests solely on your interest in reading from our main character's perspective. It's loose in plot and focuses on day-to-day struggles and how they are indicative of societal attitudes towards women, motherhood, and the intersecting value of those things.

I would definitely be interested in more books by Yoder, but maybe not a must-read. I'd probably struggle to recommending this to the right person that this will work for, but I highly encourage anyone who finds the premise interesting to give it a try. Very curious how the adaptation will work.
]]> 59316367 448 David Ellis 0399170928 Kyle 0 to-read 4.17 2022
author: David Ellis
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 156023123
She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman, but the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she behaves. As Annie's relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder whether Doug truly desires what he says he does. In such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?]]> 231 Sierra Greer 0063312697 Kyle 0 to-read 3.81 2024
author: Sierra Greer
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45418341 A handsome psychotherapist. His lonely wife. And in his home office ceiling, a vent
You’d listen too, wouldn’t you? (You know you would.)

Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York City and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after.

Showcasing Molloy’s deft ability to subvert norms and culminating in the kind of stunning twist that is becoming her trademark, Goodnight Beautiful is a thrilling tale of domestic suspense that not only questions assumptions but defies expectations.]]> 293 Aimee Molloy Kyle 4
It even had a satisfying narrative arc, and although the prose sometimes left me a little confused at moments, I would definitely pick up another book by this author. It’s not a perfect book, but definitely what I needed to read at this time.]]> 3.87 2020
author: Aimee Molloy
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
I was really unsure about this one when I first started, but I found myself totally pulled in by Part II. This was surprisingly clever in the execution of the twists and I don’t think I properly predicted a single one.

It even had a satisfying narrative arc, and although the prose sometimes left me a little confused at moments, I would definitely pick up another book by this author. It’s not a perfect book, but definitely what I needed to read at this time.
]]> 219833252 Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.

When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.

Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.

Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.

Because everything burns.]]> 352 S.A. Cosby 1250832063 Kyle 0 to-read 4.54 2025
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58438576 What if you didn't have to live with your worst memories?

Across the world, thousands of people are shocked by a notification that they once chose to have a memory removed. Now they are being given an opportunity to get that memory back. Four individuals are filled with new doubts, grappling with the unexpected question of whether to remember unknown events, or to leave them buried forever.

Finn, an Irish architect living in the Arizona desert, begins to suspect his charming wife of having an affair. Mei, a troubled grad school dropout in Kuala Lumpur, wonders why she remembers a city she has never visited. William, a former police inspector in England, struggles with PTSD, the breakdown of his marriage, and his own secret family history. Oscar, a handsome young man with almost no memories at all, travels the world in a constant state of fear.

Into these characters�� lives comes Noor, a psychologist working at the Nepenthe memory removal clinic in London. The process of reinstating patients�� memories begins to shake the moral foundations of her world. As she delves deeper into how the program works, she will have to risk everything to uncover the cost of this miraculous technology.

A provocative exploration of secrets, grief, and identity—of the stories we tell ourselves��Tell Me an Ending is a sharp, dark, and devastating novel about the power of memory.

Never Let Me Go meets Black Mirror in this thrilling speculative debut about a tech company that deletes unwanted memories, the consequences for those forced to contend with what they tried to forget, and the dissenting doctor who seeks to protect her patients from further harm.]]> 448 Jo Harkin 1982164328 Kyle 0 to-read 3.61 2022
author: Jo Harkin
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 37004370
When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.]]> 274 Yōko Ogawa 1101870605 Kyle 0 to-read 3.72 1994
author: Yōko Ogawa
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 33230889
Instant��New York Times��Bestseller

theSkimm Book Club Pick!

The stunning new novel from the international #1 bestselling author��—��a searing, spellbinding blend of cold-case thriller and psychological suspense.

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind��

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father �� Pikeville's notorious defense attorney �� devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself �� the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again �� and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized �� Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it's a case��that unleashes��the terrible memories she's spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won't stay buried forever��

Packed with twists and turns, brimming with emotion and heart,��The Good Daughter��is fiction at its most thrilling.]]> 519 Karin Slaughter 0062430262 Kyle 0 to-read 4.10 2017
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36204070 Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.]]> 485 Peng Shepherd 0062669605 Kyle 0 to-read 3.67 2018
author: Peng Shepherd
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13079982 Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.�� But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 194 Ray Bradbury Kyle 4 Unfortunately still timely. 3.97 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves:
review:
Unfortunately still timely.
]]> 199793431
Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed Goth who can't read her future but seems to resolve his.

Hugo, a gentle red-haired, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker.

Kismet's mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary's family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future, her daughter’s and her own.

Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths, is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the sudden economic meltdown of 2008-2009. How much does a dress cost? A used car? A package of cinnamon rolls? Can you see the shape of your soul in the everchanging clouds? Your personal salvation in the giant expanse of sky? These are the questions the people of the Red River Valley of the North wrestle with every day.

The Mighty Red is a novel of tender humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning. It is about on-the-job pains and immeasurable satisfactions, a turbulent landscape, and eating the native weeds growing in your backyard. It is about ordinary people who dream, grow up, fall in love, struggle, endure tragedy, carry bitter secrets; men and women both complicated and contradictory, flawed and decent, lonely and hopeful. It is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them. As with every book this great modern master writes, The Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earth, and about love in all of its absurdity and splendor.

A new novel by Louise Erdrich is a major literary event; gorgeous and heartrending, The Mighty Red is a triumph.]]> 384 Louise Erdrich 0063277050 Kyle 0 to-read 3.78 2024
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 27877138
The adults, knowing better, knew nothing. Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of It was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until the grown-up children were called back, once more to confront It as It stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.]]> 1156 Stephen King 1501142976 Kyle 4
There's really no justification for this book to be as long as it is while still having characters (namely Stan), who feel so thinly sketched out despite being a part of the core ensemble. This could have easily been solved by cutting down on repetition (whether an intentional literary device or not, I'm not sure I've read a book quite this repetitive before). There is also a degree of the unrealistic depictions of children and how they talk/interact (to me personally), that can mainly be excused away with the fairytale-esque nature the book has. A part of me is also curious to know what It looks like if the narrative was centered more around Mike than Bill, as the Derry Interludes had the parts of the book that felt the most profound and hit the hardest emotionally.

There's also of course parts of the book that have just aged like spoiled milk- I actually was surprised at how long THAT scene was, I had assumed it was a brief scene that isn't gone into with much detail but its reputation precedes itself. And the narrative explanation for why it's necessary is very thin and kind of ridiculous, making it all the more uncomfortable to read. The rest was fairly standard for some of the older King novels that I've read, which were obviously written 40-50 years ago; in this novel it felt particularly excessive, but that can also be attributed to length as well.

The story is incredibly imaginative and epic in scope, and does truly feel like a landmark in genre, with some really hard-hitting emotional beats and some truly scary sequences (all rooted in reality, never directly involving It). I feel like I've spent more time critiquing what I didn't care for, but I'm settling on a 4-star rating for a reason, because I truly enjoyed and am glad I finally read this book. ]]> 4.18 1986
author: Stephen King
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves:
review:
I think this book is incredibly ambitious, which I appreciate, but often feels weighed down by that very same ambition.

There's really no justification for this book to be as long as it is while still having characters (namely Stan), who feel so thinly sketched out despite being a part of the core ensemble. This could have easily been solved by cutting down on repetition (whether an intentional literary device or not, I'm not sure I've read a book quite this repetitive before). There is also a degree of the unrealistic depictions of children and how they talk/interact (to me personally), that can mainly be excused away with the fairytale-esque nature the book has. A part of me is also curious to know what It looks like if the narrative was centered more around Mike than Bill, as the Derry Interludes had the parts of the book that felt the most profound and hit the hardest emotionally.

There's also of course parts of the book that have just aged like spoiled milk- I actually was surprised at how long THAT scene was, I had assumed it was a brief scene that isn't gone into with much detail but its reputation precedes itself. And the narrative explanation for why it's necessary is very thin and kind of ridiculous, making it all the more uncomfortable to read. The rest was fairly standard for some of the older King novels that I've read, which were obviously written 40-50 years ago; in this novel it felt particularly excessive, but that can also be attributed to length as well.

The story is incredibly imaginative and epic in scope, and does truly feel like a landmark in genre, with some really hard-hitting emotional beats and some truly scary sequences (all rooted in reality, never directly involving It). I feel like I've spent more time critiquing what I didn't care for, but I'm settling on a 4-star rating for a reason, because I truly enjoyed and am glad I finally read this book.
]]> 211004893
As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they're up against, but she's about to learn there's more to these surreal and grisly events than she could've ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.]]> 304 Nat Cassidy 125035434X Kyle 0 to-read 4.43 2025
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 65212029 Nat Cassidy is at his razor-sharp best again with his horror novel Nestlings, which harnesses the creeping paranoia of Rosemary's Baby and the urban horror of 'Salem's Lot, set in an exclusive New York City residential building.

Ana and Reid need a break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling―with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia, but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on their baby.]]> 293 Nat Cassidy 1250265258 Kyle 0 to-read 3.81 2023
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic �� the Hierarchy �� may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus �� what they call Will �� to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 639 James Islington 1982141190 Kyle 0 to-read 4.60 2023
author: James Islington
name: Kyle
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197491143
A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician for the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.

Tully must convince the world to face the truth and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world, forcing readers to grapple with hard hitting questions about the climate crisis, our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we'd be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved. Perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Harlan Coben, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.]]> 433 Thomas R. Weaver 1739434307 Kyle 0 to-read 3.96 2023
author: Thomas R. Weaver
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18211208 From an acclaimed horror writer, a chilling tale of blood-hungry children who rise from the dead in this innovative spin on apocalyptic vampire fiction.

Suffer the Children presents a terrifying tale of apocalyptic fiction, as readers are introduced to Herod's Syndrome, a devastating illness that suddenly and swiftly kills all young children across the globe. Soon, they return from the grave…and ask for blood. And with blood, they stop being dead. They continue to remain the children they once were...but only for a short time, as they need more blood to live. The average human body holds ten pints of blood, so the inevitable question for parents everywhere becomes: How far would you go to bring your child back?]]> 343 Craig DiLouie 1476739633 Kyle 0 to-read 3.97 2014
author: Craig DiLouie
name: Kyle
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220572122
Something is coming. From an inconceivable interstellar distance away, something is coming that is about to commit an unspeakable crime. Who can stop them? What chance does our narrator and his friends have against an enemy so vast?

Fortunately, his family knows something about saving the world against impossible odds.

His parents are named Todd and Viola.

This unputdownable, compelling trilogy follows a group of young people as they’re thrust into a war they don’t even understand, and asks how much can you forgive your enemy, if at all…]]> Patrick Ness Kyle 0 to-read 0.0
author: Patrick Ness
name: Kyle
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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