Mridu aka Storypals's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:40:11 -0800 60 Mridu aka Storypals's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)]]> 37442 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

]]> 406 Gregory Maguire 0060987103 Mridu aka Storypals 0 currently-reading 3.52 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)
author: Gregory Maguire
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)]]> 196241667 From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller and viral TikTok phenomenon, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes a brand new spicy romance set in Dream Harbor!

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues� she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells�

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store is a cozy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:
� opposites attract
� small town
� forced proximity
� he falls first]]> 384 Laurie Gilmore Mridu aka Storypals 2 3.67 2024 The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
review:
This was quick, but it was mostly smut :| I wish there were a lot more to the scavenger hunt.
]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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

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

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

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Mridu aka Storypals 4 ]]> 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
I did really enjoy this one! It was different than the ones Emily generally writes!

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55655125 A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green, adapted from his critically acclaimed podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed.

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet--from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu--on a five-star scale. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection that includes both beloved essays and all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 432 John Green 0593412427 Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.31 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/03
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
I give The Anthropocene Reviewed Five Stars.
]]> <![CDATA[Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)]]> 207293948
Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com-worthy grand gestures she loves. Only . . . Liz will have none of it! Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend . . . a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.]]> 442 Lynn Painter 1665947136 Mridu aka Storypals 2
The only thing that comes out of this book is Clark. Do not ruin the first book for yourself.
]]> 3.99 2024 Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:
This was such a letdown, honestly. I didn’t think it could be this bad. If you were hoping for something that lived up to the original, skip this one—extra content doesn’t even make it worth it.

The only thing that comes out of this book is Clark. Do not ruin the first book for yourself.

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

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

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.]]> 282 Peter Brown 0316381993 Mridu aka Storypals 5 loved every bit of it 4.19 2016 The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)
author: Peter Brown
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves:
review:
loved every bit of it
]]> Sorrow and Bliss 49110165
Martha told Patrick before they got married that she didn't want to have children. He said he didn't mind either way because he has loved her since he was fourteen and making her happy is all that matters, although he does not seem able to do it.

By the time Martha finds out what is wrong, it doesn't really matter anymore. It is too late to get the only thing she has ever wanted. Or maybe it will turn out that you can stop loving someone and start again from nothing - if you can find something else to want.]]> 352 Meg Mason Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.08 2020 Sorrow and Bliss
author: Meg Mason
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
I dont think any book has got me this invested in the last two years. This was perfect!
]]> <![CDATA[Salvation of a Saint (Detective Galileo #2)]]> 41456957
While Tokyo police detective Kusanagi tries to unpick a seemingly unrelated sequence of events he finds himself falling for Ayane. As his judgement becomes dangerously clouded his assistant must call on an old friend for help; it will take a genius to unravel the most spectacular web of deceit they have ever faced...]]> 337 Keigo Higashino 1405518529 Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.21 2008 Salvation of a Saint (Detective Galileo #2)
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/02
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
I loved this book more than I thought I would. It wasn't the best work I have read by Higashino but well the best I have read in this year :P That's saying something.
]]> The Lost Daughter 1058564
But she soon finds herself intrigued by Nina, a young mother on the beach, eventually striking up a conversation with her. After Nina confides a dark secret, one seemingly trivial occurrence leads to events that could destroy Nina’s family.]]> 140 Elena Ferrante 1933372427 Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.70 2006 The Lost Daughter
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/17
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)]]> 31076583 229 Sarah J. Maas 168119631X Mridu aka Storypals 1 I got bored. I don't care. eesh.
I kind of want to put off with the word MATE. GO AWAY. ]]> 3.77 2019 A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2018/09/09
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
review:
Okay I can't do this.
I got bored. I don't care. eesh.
I kind of want to put off with the word MATE. GO AWAY.
]]> A Little Life 29408433 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship� (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST � MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST � WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE �

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.]]> 723 Hanya Yanagihara 1447294831 Mridu aka Storypals 0
I would rather want for people to maybe not casually recommend this book to anyone or rather say it will make you very sad.

It might not make you sad but might leave you traumatised or take something from you.

I would like for people to be first made fully aware of what the contents of this book are and only then to go through it... and also know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Please do not lose hope. ]]> 4.36 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/12
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
review:
I don't think I have any right to rate this book or comment.

I would rather want for people to maybe not casually recommend this book to anyone or rather say it will make you very sad.

It might not make you sad but might leave you traumatised or take something from you.

I would like for people to be first made fully aware of what the contents of this book are and only then to go through it... and also know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Please do not lose hope.
]]> Bunny (Bunny, #1) 53285047 We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other Bunny, and seem to move and speak as one.

But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled Smut Salon, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus Workshop where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.

The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.

Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library]]> 305 Mona Awad 0525559752 Mridu aka Storypals 0 currently-reading 3.43 2019 Bunny (Bunny, #1)
author: Mona Awad
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Big Swiss 60701439
One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…]]> 336 Jen Beagin 1982153083 Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.69 2023 Big Swiss
author: Jen Beagin
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/12
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves:
review:
I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did!
]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.99 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves:
review:
I want to go back to Hunger Games Era
]]> The Golden Gate 128382702 Berkeley, California 1944 : A former presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms at the opulent Claremont Hotel. A rich industrialist, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of adversaries. But Detective Al Sullivan's investigation brings up the spectre of another tragedy at the Claremont ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the wealthy and influential Bainbridge family. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris's sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth - not the powerful influence of Bainbridges' grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley's district attorney, or the interest of Chinese first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek - Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua's page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and ground-breaking forensic advances, when access to power, and therefore justice, hinged on gender, race and class.]]> 385 Amy Chua 1838959505 Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.82 2023 The Golden Gate
author: Amy Chua
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2024/02/28
shelves:
review:
There was just random information that was thrown at me …and no mystery.
]]> <![CDATA[When in Rome (When in Rome, #1)]]> 60092579 Opposites certainly attract for the stranded pop star and small-town baker in this charming slice of romance from the author of the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet.

Amelia Rose, known as Rae Rose to her adoring fans, is burned-out from years of maintaining her "princess of pop" image. Inspired by her favorite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is.

When Noah Walker finds Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he makes it clear he doesn't have the time or patience for celebrity problems. He's too busy running the pie shop his grandmother left him and reminding his nosy but lovable neighbors to mind their own damn business. Despite his better judgment, he lets her stay in his guest room—but only until her car is fixed—then she's on her own.

Then Noah starts to see a different side of Rae Rose—she's Amelia: kindhearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. He can't help but get close to her. Soon she'll have to return to her glamorous life on tour, but until then, Noah will show Amelia all the charming small-town experiences she's been missing, and she'll help him open his heart to more.

Amelia can't resist falling for the cozy town and her grumpy tour guide, but even Audrey had to leave Rome eventually.]]> 320 Sarah Adams 0593500784 Mridu aka Storypals 2 3.88 2022 When in Rome (When in Rome, #1)
author: Sarah Adams
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/22
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves:
review:
It was alright. Nothing new about it. Perhaps one could have thrown in christmas and it would have become a Hallmark Christmas film.
]]> How to Fall Out of Love Madly 58885789 Three women confront the compromises they've made to appease the men they love.

Joy and Annie are friends and roommates whose thirty-something lives aren't exactly what they'd imagined. To make ends meet, they decide to rent their extra bedroom to Theo, who charms Joy with his salt-and-pepper hair and adoration of their one-eyed cat. When Annie goes to live with her boyfriend, Theo and Joy settle into a comfortable domesticity. Then Theo brings home Celine, the girlfriend he's never mentioned, who is possibly the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen. Joy resolves to do whatever it takes to hold on to him, falling ever deeper into an emotional hellscape of her own making. She is too obsessed to realize that Celine's beauty doesn't protect her from pain. Haunted by an event from her past, Celine can't escape her shame and finds herself in an endless cycle of self-sabotage.

Annie is baffled by Joy's senseless devotion to Theo, but she's consumed by her own obsessions: she can't stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend's texts in an exhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she's willing to stand up for.

Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly examines women's many relationships--with one another, their mothers, their work, men, and themselves--to reveal their underlying power and complexity. It asks, why do so many smart, compassionate, otherwise empowered women tolerate egregious behavior from the men they love? And what will it take for them to reclaim control?]]> 352 Jana Casale 0593447727 Mridu aka Storypals 1 3.46 2022 How to Fall Out of Love Madly
author: Jana Casale
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2024/02/18
shelves:
review:
Nothing happened in the book, we just followed three women who could have done something, but they just sat there and did what they did and I read about them doing nothing till the very end. I think it's the last chapter when the author decided to change things a little, but that's about it.
]]> <![CDATA[As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)]]> 56905097 The finale to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. By the end of this mystery series, you'll never think of good girls the same way again...

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

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

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle... and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears...]]> 500 Holly Jackson 0593379853 Mridu aka Storypals 5 I am screaming and everything. ]]> 4.20 2021 As Good As Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:
A RIDE.
I am screaming and everything.
]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/04
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:
This was a surprise and SO SO GOOD!
]]> The Fury 141310660 Totally original and utterly compelling, with a voice all of its own, this is the outstanding new thriller from the no.1 internationally bestselling author of The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides.

This is a tale of murder.
Or maybe that's not quite true. At its heart, it's a love story, isn't it?

One spring morning, reclusive ex-movie star Lana Farrar invites a small group of her closest friends for a weekend away, on her small private island, just off the coast of Mykonos.

Beneath the surface, old friendships conceal violent passions and resentments. And in forty-eight hours, one of them will be dead.

But that was just the beginning...

You may think you know this story. Think again.]]> 357 Alex Michaelides 0241575540 Mridu aka Storypals 3 3.32 2024 The Fury
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves:
review:
It was nothing new but it still kept me going.
]]> Reminders of Him 58341222 A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover. After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them. The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.]]> 335 Colleen Hoover 1542025605 Mridu aka Storypals 1 4.33 2022 Reminders of Him
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/01/26
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves:
review:
I am not sure why kept going when I was legit hating every second of it :|
]]> The Burnout 123659663
Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).

When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?]]> 383 Sophie Kinsella 1787636550 Mridu aka Storypals 3
But I do feel it dragged in the middle somewhere and I did lose my interest, however, I managed to finish the book with a big smile.

I consider it a win!]]> 3.70 2023 The Burnout
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves:
review:
I loved how it started, and I loved the occasional chuckles!

But I do feel it dragged in the middle somewhere and I did lose my interest, however, I managed to finish the book with a big smile.

I consider it a win!
]]> <![CDATA[A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak (Girl’s Guide)]]> 101138653 In this highly anticipated companion to the New York Times bestseller A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, Flora Maxwell heads to Miami to find a path for her future� and finds her heart along the way.

Winchester, England, has always been home for Flora, but when her mother dies after a long illness, Flora feels untethered. Her family expects her to apply to university and take a larger role in their tea-shop business, but Flora isn’t so sure. More than ever, she’s the chaotic “hurricane� in her household, and she doesn’t always know how to manage her stormy emotions.

So she decides to escape to Miami without telling anyone—especially her longtime friend Gordon Wallace.

But Flora’s tropical change of scenery doesn’t cast away her self-doubt. When it comes to university, she has no idea which passions she should follow. That’s also true in romance. Flora’s summer abroad lands her in the flashbulb world of teen influencer Baz Marín, a Miami Cuban who shares her love for photography. But Flora’s more conflicted than ever when she begins to see future architect Gordon in a new light.

Laura Taylor Namey’s newest novel navigates heartbreak that feels like a hurricane in a city that is famous for them.]]> 320 Laura Taylor Namey 1665915331 Mridu aka Storypals 2 3.56 2023 A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak (Girl’s Guide)
author: Laura Taylor Namey
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/17
date added: 2023/12/17
shelves:
review:
Didn't love it as much as I wanted to!
]]> <![CDATA[Exes and O's (The Influencer, #2)]]> 60880795 A romance novel–obsessed social media influencer revisits her exes on her hunt for true love in this romantic comedy from the author of Set On You.

Romance-novel connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men--all of whom dumped her because of her "stage-five clinger" tendencies. Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One. The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead thanks to modern dating apps. So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance.

Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship. Love just isn't his thing. When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But Tara's journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter.

The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily-ever-after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?]]> 361 Amy Lea 0593336593 Mridu aka Storypals 3
I really - really enjoyed it. It's been a while since i have been hooked and I am glad this book made me want to pick up books again! :)

Truly book-influencer work done well. ]]> 3.70 2023 Exes and O's (The Influencer, #2)
author: Amy Lea
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/05
date added: 2023/11/05
shelves:
review:
3.5

I really - really enjoyed it. It's been a while since i have been hooked and I am glad this book made me want to pick up books again! :)

Truly book-influencer work done well.
]]> I Kissed Shara Wheeler 58756420 From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need...

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston's I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.]]> 356 Casey McQuiston 1250244455 Mridu aka Storypals 0 It was alright 3.87 2022 I Kissed Shara Wheeler
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/04
date added: 2023/11/04
shelves:
review:
It was alright
]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 41807223 How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed--again. She's been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden's only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle's murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend--but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Deeply atmospheric and ingeniously plotted, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a highly original debut that will appeal to fans of Kate Atkinson and Agatha Christie.]]> 528 Stuart Turton Mridu aka Storypals 4
To be honest I was disappointed at first but then started getting recurring dreams of reading this book. You read that right, I get dreams to read books. I have a very happening life and a lot of friends. :D

Anyway.
I read the synopsis and I was down with my groundhog day alike story.

THIS WAS FAR TOO BETTER AND FAR TOO COMPLEX THAN THAT.

The plot of the story sucks you in and you just want to keep reading and know where the story takes you!

The thing that I enjoyed the most while reading this book was--

Reading this book from 8 different perspectives with the same narrator but a very different narrative.
Do I make sense?
If not pick this book up.

If yes, you probably want to pick this book up and read it already.
I loved all the characters, the complex murder mystery and all the layers the story had and the kind of idea it wanted to put out.

THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT. Would recommend it a 3000!]]> 3.92 2018 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/05
date added: 2023/09/30
shelves:
review:
I confused this book with The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and bought it.

To be honest I was disappointed at first but then started getting recurring dreams of reading this book. You read that right, I get dreams to read books. I have a very happening life and a lot of friends. :D

Anyway.
I read the synopsis and I was down with my groundhog day alike story.

THIS WAS FAR TOO BETTER AND FAR TOO COMPLEX THAN THAT.

The plot of the story sucks you in and you just want to keep reading and know where the story takes you!

The thing that I enjoyed the most while reading this book was--

Reading this book from 8 different perspectives with the same narrator but a very different narrative.
Do I make sense?
If not pick this book up.

If yes, you probably want to pick this book up and read it already.
I loved all the characters, the complex murder mystery and all the layers the story had and the kind of idea it wanted to put out.

THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT. Would recommend it a 3000!
]]> <![CDATA[Walk the Edge (Thunder Road, #2)]]> 17928147 426 Katie McGarry 0373211627 Mridu aka Storypals 0 to-read 4.23 2016 Walk the Edge (Thunder Road, #2)
author: Katie McGarry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Vanishing Half 55298625 366 Brit Bennett 0349701474 Mridu aka Storypals 0 ..was not my cup of tea. 4.04 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves:
review:
..was not my cup of tea.
]]> <![CDATA[The Miniaturist (The Miniaturist, #1)]]> 24424963 ISBN has been moved to a newer edition. Another edition can be found here

On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Though curiously distant, he presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift; a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations ring eerily true.

As Nella uncovers the secrets of her new household, she realises the escalating dangers they face. The miniaturist seems to hold their fate in her hands - but does she plan to save or destroy them?]]> 424 Jessie Burton Mridu aka Storypals 0 just letting this go 3.60 2014 The Miniaturist (The Miniaturist, #1)
author: Jessie Burton
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves:
review:
just letting this go
]]> Cleopatra and Frankenstein 60122469
Cleo and Frank run head-first into a romance that neither of them can quite keep up with. It reshapes their lives and the lives of those around them, whether that’s Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender identity in the wake of her marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates after being cut off. Ultimately, this chance meeting between two strangers outside of a New Year’s Eve party changes everything, for better or worse.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is an astounding and painfully relatable debut novel about the spontaneous decisions that shape our entire lives and those imperfect relationships born of unexpectedly perfect evenings.

NYU MFA graduate Coco Mellors's CLEOPATRA AND FRANKENSTEIN, a portrait of a brief marriage between a painter and an advertising executive, dealing with themes of mental health, addiction, maturity, and the joys and challenges of marriage, to Grace McNamee at Bloomsbury, for publication in winter 2022.]]> 384 Coco Mellors Mridu aka Storypals 3
However, it was a well-written traumatic experience. ]]> 3.72 2022 Cleopatra and Frankenstein
author: Coco Mellors
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves:
review:
I wish for the characters to not pop up in every chapter, kind of made me lose interest.

However, it was a well-written traumatic experience.
]]> Happy Place 61460743
They broke up six months ago. And they still haven't told anyone.

Which is how they end up sharing a bedroom at the cottage that has been their yearly getaway with their best friends for the past decade. For one glorious week they leave behind their lives, drink far too much wine and soak up the sea air with their favourite people.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth. The cottage is for sale so this is the last time they'll all be together here and they can't bear to break their friends' hearts. So, they'll fake it for one more week.

It's a flawless plan (if you look at it through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses).

But how can you pretend to be in love with someone - and get away with it - in front of the people who know you best?

Brimming with characters you can't help but fall for and off-the-charts chemistry, HAPPY PLACE is Emily Henry's best novel yet.]]> 388 Emily Henry 0241609461 Mridu aka Storypals 2 It was frustrating 4.06 2023 Happy Place
author: Emily Henry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/06/14
date added: 2023/06/14
shelves:
review:
It was frustrating
]]> <![CDATA[The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)]]> 42074525
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.]]> 437 N.K. Jemisin Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.83 2020 The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/24
date added: 2023/05/24
shelves:
review:

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

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

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?]]> 413 Holly Jackson 1405297751 Mridu aka Storypals 4
Loved it but not more than the first one ]]> 4.27 2020 Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/18
date added: 2023/05/18
shelves:
review:
I love how captivating the series is!

Loved it but not more than the first one
]]> Tiny Beautiful Things 70313302 387 Cheryl Strayed 1838959076 Mridu aka Storypals 5 Loved every single word. 3.86 2012 Tiny Beautiful Things
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/15
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves:
review:
Loved every single word.
]]> <![CDATA[Secretly Yours (A Vine Mess, #1)]]> 61109599 A steamy new rom-com about a starchy professor and the bubbly neighbor he clashes with at every turn...

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family's winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she'll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn't the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls' night later, Hallie can't shake the sense that she did something reckless--and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

On sabbatical from his Ivy League job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She's eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt--and so unbelievably beautiful, he can't focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he's sucked further into Hallie's orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian's gray-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there's something so familiar about her... and her very presence is turning his world upside down.]]> 384 Tessa Bailey 0063238985 Mridu aka Storypals 1 No. 3.26 2023 Secretly Yours (A Vine Mess, #1)
author: Tessa Bailey
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2023/05/10
shelves:
review:
No.
]]> Demon Copperhead 61835832 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It's the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.

"Kingsolver is a writer who can help us understand and navigate the chaos of these times." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the New York Times bestselling author of Unsheltered and Flight Behavior, a brilliant novel which enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity.]]> 546 Barbara Kingsolver 0571376479 Mridu aka Storypals 3 Liked it, didn’t love it 4.48 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/07
date added: 2023/05/07
shelves:
review:
Liked it, didn’t love it
]]> Maybe Next Time 61281769 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780063239920.

One Day meets Groundhog Day, in this heartwarming and emotionally poignant novel about a stressed woman who must relive the same day over and over, keeping her family and work life from imploding as she attempts to spare her husband from an unfortunate fate.

It is an ordinary Monday and harried London literary agent Emma is flying out of the door as usual. Preoccupied with work and her ever growing to-do list, she fails to notice her lovely husband Dan seems bereft, her son can barely meet her eye, and her daughter won’t go near her. Even the dog seems sad.

She is far too busy, buried deep in her phone; social media alerts pinging; clients messaging with “emergencies�; keeping track of a dozen WhatsApp groups about the kids� sports, school, playdates, all of it. Her whole day is frantic—what else is new—and as she rushes back through the door for dinner, Dan is still upset. They fight, and he walks out, desolate, dragging their poor dog around the block. Just as she realizes it is their anniversary and she has forgotten, again, she hears the screech of brakes.

Dan is dead.

The next day Emma wakes up� and Dan is alive. And it’s Monday again.

And again.

And again.

Emma tries desperately to change the course of fate by doing different things each time she wakes up: leaving WhatsApp, telling her boss where to get off, writing to Dan, listening to her kids, reaching out to forgotten friends, getting drunk and buying out Prada. But will Emma have the chance to find herself again, remember what she likes about her job, reconnect with her children, love her husband? Will this be enough to change the fate they seem destined for?

A moving “What if� story of what it is to be a woman in the modern world—never feeling we’re getting it quite right—about learning to slow down and appreciate life that is sure to resonate with women’s fiction fans.]]> 384 Cesca Major Mridu aka Storypals 3 3.63 2023 Maybe Next Time
author: Cesca Major
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves:
review:
This was alright with bittersweet ending.
]]> Icebreaker (UCMH, #1) 61767292
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.

Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.

But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.

Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried . . . because she could never like a hockey player, right?]]> 447 Hannah Grace Mridu aka Storypals 0 I just didnt like it. 3.76 2022 Icebreaker (UCMH, #1)
author: Hannah Grace
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2023/04/02
shelves:
review:
I just didnt like it.
]]> <![CDATA[Eternally Single, Rosa Ãlvarez: The new romance on the block to make your toes curl!]]> 103224652
Rosa Ãlvarez leads two lives.

One is deceptively normal. A respectable physiotherapist living in Los Angeles: the city of fish tacos and famous bigwigs. She works hard at her job, loves living the single life, and has a trip home to Mexico at the very top of her priority list.

The other is her mother’s worst nightmare.

For one, the first is a lie. She does love her job, but its uniqueness would put any good chick flick to shame. She hasn’t been on a date in five years, at least, not any good ones. And she will do anything to avoid a trip to her sleepy hometown.

But when a notorious man from her past shows up in LA, Rosa’s secret life starts unravelling. There’s also the matter of the really annoying actor (who just so happens to be annoyingly good-looking) she keeps bumping into whom she cannot seem to shake off.

As her lies pile up, will Rosa be able to keep her two worlds separate? Or will her mother’s flying chancla find her first?]]> 172 Neerja Pawar Mridu aka Storypals 4
I got you another rom-com rec (do you think I need another genre check? -- eh, this is more fun!)

Eternally Single, Rosa Ãlvarez by @writosaurusrex â¤ï¸

Scroll through for the aesthetics, for the feel of the book, for understanding what it is about, and a playlist! (What else does one need to convince you to check it out ALREADY!? )

This story will make you forget your reality and you will immerse in the story, you might actually feel like you are there with the characters, because of how the book is written.

Please don't confuse rom-com with just something to do with a boy and a girl falling in love, this one (specifically) talks about confidence, unconventional professions, and society's difficulty to accept the unknown. The story has a lot of dimensions to it.

Okay now go listen to the playlist and buy the book!

Review here: ]]> 4.17 Eternally Single, Rosa Ãlvarez: The new romance on the block to make your toes curl!
author: Neerja Pawar
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/08
date added: 2023/03/08
shelves:
review:
Would you rather call it a book review or I am a simp for this book, so please read because we can talk!

I got you another rom-com rec (do you think I need another genre check? -- eh, this is more fun!)

Eternally Single, Rosa Ãlvarez by @writosaurusrex â¤ï¸

Scroll through for the aesthetics, for the feel of the book, for understanding what it is about, and a playlist! (What else does one need to convince you to check it out ALREADY!? )

This story will make you forget your reality and you will immerse in the story, you might actually feel like you are there with the characters, because of how the book is written.

Please don't confuse rom-com with just something to do with a boy and a girl falling in love, this one (specifically) talks about confidence, unconventional professions, and society's difficulty to accept the unknown. The story has a lot of dimensions to it.

Okay now go listen to the playlist and buy the book!

Review here:
]]> The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller Mridu aka Storypals 3
I don't have strong feelings of love or dislike for it. ]]> 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/28
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves:
review:
I am okay about this :|

I don't have strong feelings of love or dislike for it.
]]> One by One 50892433
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.]]> 372 Ruth Ware Mridu aka Storypals 1
a huge cast with only one developed character and motive... and the social media app was ... not quite intriguing. :| ]]> 3.70 2020 One by One
author: Ruth Ware
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2023/02/13
date added: 2023/02/13
shelves:
review:
this was so basic.

a huge cast with only one developed character and motive... and the social media app was ... not quite intriguing. :|
]]> Upgrade 60487746 An ordinary man undergoes a startling transformation—and fears that all of humanity may be next—in the mind-blowing new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion

“You are the next step in human evolution.�

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.]]> 337 Blake Crouch 1529045363 Mridu aka Storypals 2
This book is quite heavy on information and moves slow, has interesting plot and good writing. If you are into it, you'll love the book if you are not... it will fall flat.

]]> 3.67 2022 Upgrade
author: Blake Crouch
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/12
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves:
review:
I wish I had read Dark Matter before I read this one.

This book is quite heavy on information and moves slow, has interesting plot and good writing. If you are into it, you'll love the book if you are not... it will fall flat.


]]> Twisted Love (Twisted, #1) 60832996
Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.

But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world� including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.

Her brother’s best friend.
Her neighbor.
Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both� and everything they hold dear.

Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.

WARNING: This book contains a possessive alpha/antihero, explicit sexual content, and profanity. No cheating or menage, but if you're looking for a traditionally sweet, loveable hero, this is not the book for you. Recommended for 18+. ]]> 359 Ana Huang 0349434271 Mridu aka Storypals 0
what is the need?

no.]]> 3.63 2021 Twisted Love (Twisted, #1)
author: Ana Huang
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/12
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves:
review:
why?

what is the need?

no.
]]> THE AGE OF LIGHT 42109043 375 SCHARER WHITNEY 1509889132 Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.48 2019 THE AGE OF LIGHT
author: SCHARER WHITNEY
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/01/28
shelves:
review:
DNF. I got really bored.. I would rather watch the film/ a better biography on Lee Miller.
]]> Fresh 58837773
Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot's mind when she's too busy experiencing all that college has to offer--from dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Rose's patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she's having isn't that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate's boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she's honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe.]]> Margot Wood Mridu aka Storypals 3
I enjoyed my time with the book and love how i could read Margot's personality in the book :)

Would love to read more by Margot. ]]> 3.69 2021 Fresh
author: Margot Wood
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/24
date added: 2023/01/24
shelves:
review:
3.5/5

I enjoyed my time with the book and love how i could read Margot's personality in the book :)

Would love to read more by Margot.
]]> You Deserve Each Other 50027029 When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.

Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They're preparing for their lavish wedding that's three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there's a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they're finally being themselves--and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.]]> 368 Sarah Hogle Mridu aka Storypals 3
In the middle it did drag but... worth the journey!]]> 3.90 2020 You Deserve Each Other
author: Sarah Hogle
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/21
date added: 2023/01/21
shelves:
review:
This was refreshing and new, the concept, chef's kiss!

In the middle it did drag but... worth the journey!
]]> Beartown (Beartown, #1) 35997474 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9781405930208.

In a large Swedish forest, Beartown hides a dark secret . . .

Cut-off from everywhere else it experiences the kind of isolation that tears people apart.

And each year more and more of the town is swallowed by the forest.

Then the town is offered a bright new future.

But it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act.

It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who'll risk the future to see justice done.

Who will speak up?

Could you stand by and stay silent?

Or would you risk everything for justice?

Which side would you be on?]]> 489 Fredrik Backman Mridu aka Storypals 3
However, it is called Beartown, so we had to meet the town in order to feel the ambiance. ]]> 4.35 2016 Beartown (Beartown, #1)
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/10
date added: 2023/01/10
shelves:
review:
i wish it was revolving around 4-5 characters, the story could have still been meaty and talk about all the issues.

However, it is called Beartown, so we had to meet the town in order to feel the ambiance.
]]> The Two Lives of Lydia Bird 43159645 THE CAPTIVATING NEW NOVEL FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ONE DAY IN DECEMBER

What if you could live your great love story again?

Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They've been together for almost a decade, and Lydia thinks their love is indestructible.

But she's wrong. Because on her 27th birthday, Freddie dies in a tragic accident.

So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob 'til her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to live her life well. So, enlisting the help of his best friend and her sister Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world and starts to live - perhaps even to love - again.

Then something unbelievable happens, and Lydia gets another chance at her old life with Freddie. But what if there's someone in her new life who wants her to stay?

A heart-breaking, uplifting story for fans of PS I Love You and Me Before You, this gorgeously romantic novel will make you laugh, cry and remind you of what a wonderful gift it is to love and to be loved.]]> 432 Josie Silver 0241986168 Mridu aka Storypals 1 I was so bored :} 3.85 2020 The Two Lives of Lydia Bird
author: Josie Silver
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2023/01/05
date added: 2023/01/05
shelves:
review:
I was so bored :}
]]> You and Me on Vacation 55275757 Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?]]> 364 Emily Henry 0241992230 Mridu aka Storypals 1 3.71 2021 You and Me on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2022/12/27
date added: 2022/12/27
shelves:
review:
i got so bored, i cant even with how bored i was while reading this one... which was weird for me because i loved Emily Henry's other books.
]]> Ocean State 61686724 256 Stewart O'Nan 0802162339 Mridu aka Storypals 2 i mean it was alright. 3.27 2022 Ocean State
author: Stewart O'Nan
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/25
date added: 2022/12/25
shelves:
review:
i mean it was alright.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 2]]> 18909783 The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Looper, 500 Days of Summer) made a big splash with The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories—so now he’s back with volume 2! One of the most ingenious and successful projects to come out of Gordon-Levitt's online creative coalition hitRECord—an international collaboration of artists and writers�The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 2 offers more quirky, delightfully small, ingeniously illustrated haiku-like tales, proving once more that the universe isn’t made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories. The best things do come in small packages.
]]> 110 Joseph Gordon-Levitt Mridu aka Storypals 5 3.81 2012 The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 2
author: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/17
date added: 2022/12/17
shelves:
review:
Always the best pick me up :)
]]> Glimpsed 54304071 Perfect for fans of Geekerella and Jenn Bennett, this charming, sparkly rom-com follows a wish-granting teen forced to question if she’s really doing good—and if she has the power to make her own dreams come true.

Charity is a fairy godmother. She doesn’t wear a poofy dress or go around waving a wand, but she does make sure the deepest desires of the student population at Jack London High School come true. And she knows what they want even better than they do because she can glimpse their perfect futures.

But when Charity fulfills a glimpse that gets Vibha crowned homecoming queen, it ends in disaster. Suddenly, every wish Charity has ever granted is called into question. Has she really been helping people? Where do these glimpses come from, anyway? What if she’s not getting the whole picture?

Making this existential crisis way worse is Noah—the adorkable and (in Charity’s opinion) diabolical ex of one of her past clients—who blames her for sabotaging his prom plans and claims her interventions are doing more harm than good. He demands that she stop granting wishes and help him get his girl back. At first, Charity has no choice but to play along. But soon, Noah becomes an unexpected ally in getting to the bottom of the glimpses. Before long, Charity dares to call him her friend…and even starts to wish he were something more. But can the fairy godmother ever get the happily ever after?]]> 374 G. F. Miller 1534471359 Mridu aka Storypals 3
However, i felt it dragged in the middle a bit. ]]> 4.11 2021 Glimpsed
author: G. F. Miller
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/16
date added: 2022/12/16
shelves:
review:
This was refreshing, fun and new.

However, i felt it dragged in the middle a bit.
]]> <![CDATA[Be a Triangle: How I Went from Being Lost to Getting My Life into Shape]]> 58840558
“I love Lilly’s honest and helpful advice about achieving happiness.â€â€”Mindy Kaling, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Why Not Me?

“It’s time to flip right side up. It’s time for this book title to make sense. It’s time to be a triangle.�

Everyone—even world-famous actress, author, and creator Lilly Singh—knows that sometimes life just sucks. In this book, Singh provides a safe space where readers can learn how to create a sense of peace within themselves. Without sugarcoating what it’s like to face adversity—including acknowledging her own intensely personal struggles with identity, success, and self-doubt—Singh teaches readers to “unsubscribe� from cookie-cutter ideals.

With her signature blend of vulnerability, insight, and humor, Singh instructs readers to “be a triangle,� creating a solid foundation for your life, one that can be built upon, but never fundamentally changed or destroyed. As she puts it, we must always find a way to come home to “we must create a place, a system of beliefs, a simple set of priorities to come back to should life lead us astray, which it definitely will.�

Like a wise, empathetic friend who always keeps you honest, Singh pushes you to adjust your mindset and change your internal dialogue. The result is a deeply humane, entertaining, and uplifting guide to befriending yourself and becoming a true “miracle for the world.â€]]> 112 Lilly Singh 0593357817 Mridu aka Storypals 3 3.58 2022 Be a Triangle: How I Went from Being Lost to Getting My Life into Shape
author: Lilly Singh
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/14
date added: 2022/12/14
shelves:
review:
Lily and my dad have very similar thinking.
]]> <![CDATA[Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout, #1)]]> 60060431 Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon.
Knox doesn’t tolerate drama, even when it comes in the form of a stranded runaway bride.

Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way…with fists and beer. Usually in that order.

Too bad for Naomi her evil twin hasn’t changed at all. After helping herself to Naomi’s car and cash, Tina leaves her with something unexpected. The niece Naomi didn’t know she had. Now she’s stuck in town with no car, no job, no plan, and no home with an 11-year-old going on thirty to take care of.

There’s a reason Knox doesn’t do complications or high-maintenance women, especially not the romantic ones. But since Naomi’s life imploded right in front of him, the least he can do is help her out of her jam. And just as soon as she stops getting into new trouble he can leave her alone and get back to his peaceful, solitary life.

At least, that’s the plan until the trouble turns to real danger.]]> 572 Lucy Score 1945631848 Mridu aka Storypals 0 why? <br /><br />just why? 4.15 2022 Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout, #1)
author: Lucy Score
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/12/12
date added: 2022/12/12
shelves:
review:
why?

just why?
]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Mridu aka Storypals 5 This was heartwarming.. &lt;3 3.67 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/12
date added: 2022/12/12
shelves:
review:
This was heartwarming.. <3
]]> <![CDATA[You've Reached Sam (You've Reached Sam #1)]]> 53086843
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.

And Sam picks up the phone.

In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.]]> 296 Dustin Thao 1250762030 Mridu aka Storypals 2
i wanted to see real growth, how to deal with the grief, and how it is to have a second chance, it just felt forced, for me.

]]> 3.64 2021 You've Reached Sam (You've Reached Sam #1)
author: Dustin Thao
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/03
date added: 2022/12/03
shelves:
review:
i found this repetitive, with no real character growth, what we started with is what we ended with just some minor changes, and those minor changes also came in towards the end.

i wanted to see real growth, how to deal with the grief, and how it is to have a second chance, it just felt forced, for me.


]]> <![CDATA[To Love Jason Thorn (Love & Hate, #1)]]> 62195640 400 Ella Maise 1398521582 Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.67 2015 To Love Jason Thorn (Love & Hate, #1)
author: Ella Maise
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/01
date added: 2022/12/01
shelves:
review:
Didn't realise this was so much fun, the ending was abrupt, otherwise it was quite entertaining, fluffy and wonderful!
]]> <![CDATA[Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World]]> 45320545
One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a park where people “could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow White in a world still powered by steam and fire for a day or a week or (if the visitor is slightly mad) forever.� Despite his wealth and fame, exactly no one wanted Disney to build such a park. Not his brother Roy, who ran the company’s finances; not the bankers; and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, were a generally despised business, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial ruin.

But Walt persevered, initially financing the park against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Disney assembled a talented team of engineers, architects, artists, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring yet soothing wonderland of a park. The catch was that they had only a year and a day in which to build it.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its gates…and the first day was a disaster. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. But the curious masses kept coming, and the rest is entertainment history. Eight hundred million visitors have flocked to the park since then. In Disney’s Land , Richard Snow brilliantly presents the entire spectacular story, a wild ride from vision to realization, and an epic of innovation and error that reflects the uniqueness of the man determined to build “the happiest place on earth� with a watchmaker’s precision, an artist’s conviction, and the desperate, high-hearted recklessness of a riverboat gambler.]]> 408 Richard Snow 1501190806 Mridu aka Storypals 5 Not sure if it's Disney, Disney's story, or the book!

But worth it!]]> 3.96 2019 Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World
author: Richard Snow
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/29
date added: 2022/11/29
shelves:
review:
Insightful, felt the magic, got inspired and motivated :)
Not sure if it's Disney, Disney's story, or the book!

But worth it!
]]> <![CDATA[One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)]]> 58679358 On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.]]> 416 Karen M. McManus 0593565371 Mridu aka Storypals 3
o.O ]]> 3.87 2017 One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/19
date added: 2022/11/19
shelves:
review:
This was alright, the twist made me roll my eyes. :|

o.O
]]> <![CDATA[One of Us Is Lying (One of Us Is Lying, #1)]]> 32887579 One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.]]> 360 Karen M. McManus 0141375639 Mridu aka Storypals 0 to-read 3.86 2017 One of Us Is Lying (One of Us Is Lying, #1)
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2)]]> 60393672 Before It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’s side of the story and shares what comes next in this long-anticipated sequel to the “glorious and touching� (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller It Ends with Us.

Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding� (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover� (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).]]> 323 Colleen Hoover 1668001225 Mridu aka Storypals 4 ]]> 3.80 2022 It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/31
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves:
review:
This was Colleen's love letter to her fans.

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 40186151 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, these irresistible House Editions celebrate the noble character of the four Hogwarts houses. Featuring gorgeous house-themed cover art and interior line illustrations by Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold, each book will also have vibrant sprayed edges in the house livery. Entertaining bonus features exclusive to each house accompany the novel. All seven books in the series will be issued in these highly collectable House Editions.

A must-have for anyone who has ever imagined sitting under the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts waiting to hear the words, ‘Better be SLYTHERIN!’]]> 384 J.K. Rowling Mridu aka Storypals 5 The best part of these books are the endings, they are not as long they are not as short but just so satisfactory. You are always and always smiling by the end of it. ]]> 4.51 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/30
date added: 2022/10/30
shelves:
review:
and again do I really have to?
The best part of these books are the endings, they are not as long they are not as short but just so satisfactory. You are always and always smiling by the end of it.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 22841994 Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.

HARRY POTTER has never even heard of Hogwarts when the LETTERS start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in GREEN INK on yellowish parchment with a PURPLE SEAL, they are swiftly confiscated by his GRISLY aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called RUBEUS HAGRID bursts in with some ASTONISHING news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!]]> 332 J.K. Rowling 1408855658 Mridu aka Storypals 5
---
Reread-- Again, do i even need to?]]> 4.56 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/16
date added: 2022/10/16
shelves:
review:
Do I even need to?

---
Reread-- Again, do i even need to?
]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Mridu aka Storypals 5 i cant...]]> 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/13
date added: 2022/10/13
shelves:
review:
I loved this book so much!
i cant...
]]> <![CDATA[The American Roommate Experiment (Love Deception, #2)]]> 60114057 From the author of the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Award winner The Spanish Love Deception, the eagerly anticipated follow-up featuring Rosie Graham and Lucas Martín, who are forced to share a New York apartment.

Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.]]> 400 Elena Armas 1668002779 Mridu aka Storypals 3 3.78 2022 The American Roommate Experiment (Love Deception, #2)
author: Elena Armas
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/30
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Paris Library 50333182 Paris, 1939. Odile Souchet is obsessed with books and the Dewey Decimal System, which makes order out of chaos. She soon has it all � a handsome police officer beau, an English best friend, a beloved twin, and a job at the American Library in Paris, a thriving community of students, writers, diplomats, and book lovers. Yet when war is declared, there's also a war on words.

Montana, 1983. Widowed and alone, Odile suffers the solitary confinement of small-town life. Though most adults are cowed by her, the neighbor girl will not let her be. Lily, a lonely teenager yearning to break free of Froid is obsessed by the older French woman who lives next door and wants to know her secrets.

As the two become friends, Odile sees herself in Lily � the same love of language, the same longings, the same lethal jealousy. The Paris Library’s dual narratives explore the relationships that make us who we are � family and friends, first loves and favorite authors � in the fairy tale setting of the City of Light. It also explores the geography of resentment, the consequences of unspeakable betrayal, and what happens when the people we count on for understanding and protection fail us.

The wit, empathy, and deep research that brings The Paris Library to life also brings to light a cast of lively historical characters and a little-known chapter of World War II history: the story of the American librarian, Miss Reeder, who created the Soldiers� Service to deliver books to servicemen, and who later faced the Nazi ‘Book Protector� in order to keep her library open. She and her colleagues defied the Bibliotheksschutz by delivering books to Jewish readers after they were forbidden from entering the library.]]> 351 Janet Skeslien Charles 1982134917 Mridu aka Storypals 3 4.05 2021 The Paris Library
author: Janet Skeslien Charles
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/24
date added: 2022/09/24
shelves:
review:
It was alright, i read it for Paris.
]]> A Certain Hunger 59461416
There is something inside Dorothy that she's finally ready to confess. But beware: her story just might make you wonder how your lover would taste sautéed with shallots and mushrooms and deglazed with a little red wine.]]> 321 Chelsea G. Summers 0571372325 Mridu aka Storypals 2
nice idea but ... cannibalism and feminism... works when it's more of a metaphor?
]]> 3.51 2019 A Certain Hunger
author: Chelsea G. Summers
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/20
date added: 2022/09/20
shelves:
review:
the feminine urge to eat men...

nice idea but ... cannibalism and feminism... works when it's more of a metaphor?

]]> Love on the Brain 59571699 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project - a literal dream come true - Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school - archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas... devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?]]> 368 Ali Hazelwood 1408725789 Mridu aka Storypals 4
tho when our cutie cinnamon roll turned spicy, I was a bit uncomfortable.

There were some issues which were addressed only through one dialogue and supposedly the character resolved it all after a couple of days (in real life, that doesn't happen?)

great otherwise, kept me engaged, entertained and made me fall in love with Levi, hard :)

CUTE, I NEED MORE FROM ALI HAZELWOOD!!]]> 3.88 2022 Love on the Brain
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/14
date added: 2022/09/14
shelves:
review:
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

tho when our cutie cinnamon roll turned spicy, I was a bit uncomfortable.

There were some issues which were addressed only through one dialogue and supposedly the character resolved it all after a couple of days (in real life, that doesn't happen?)

great otherwise, kept me engaged, entertained and made me fall in love with Levi, hard :)

CUTE, I NEED MORE FROM ALI HAZELWOOD!!
]]> The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) 59220273 The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake is the runaway TikTok must-read fantasy novel of the year. If you loved Ninth House and A Deadly Education, you'll love this.

The world's best young magicians accept the opportunity of a lifetime.
Six are chosen. Only five will walk away.

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world's six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation - and here are the chosen few . . .

- Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
- Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
- Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
- Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
- Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society's archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.]]> 384 Olivie Blake 1529095247 Mridu aka Storypals 1 3.58 2020 The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2022/09/09
date added: 2022/09/09
shelves:
review:
This book was essentially about them reading books in the library while we read them read.
]]> My Mechanical Romance 58857822 Opposites attract in this nerdy YA romance from the NYT best-selling author of The Atlas Six!

A Mathical Book Prize Honor Book

"It’s rom-com perfection."—Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars

Bel doesn't want to think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. Joining a robotics club filled with boys who ignore her or--even worse--constantly ask if she needs help? Please, anything but that. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering in class, she has no choice. Enter Mateo Luna, the handsome captain of the club.

Teo instantly recognizes Bel's talent. He needs her on the team. And not just because he can't stop thinking about the tiny dusting of freckles around her eyes, or how she got him hooked on Taylor Swift--it's because Bel sees him. She challenges him. But when they seriously start butting heads, Bel wonders: Is there really room for a girl like her in STEM?

In her YA debut, Alexene Farol Follmuth, author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake), explores both the challenges girls of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty. Told from dual points of view, My Mechanical Romance is not only swoonworthy--it's downright empowering.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Nominee
A Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award Nominee]]> 272 Alexene Farol Follmuth 0823450104 Mridu aka Storypals 2 Why was the pacing so off?
It's not like it didn't have the time but for 3/4 of the book we are just making robots and then suddenly, they are in love, breaking up, everything gets fixed and happy ever after?

WHAT?]]> 3.85 2022 My Mechanical Romance
author: Alexene Farol Follmuth
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/09
date added: 2022/09/09
shelves:
review:
Where was the romance?
Why was the pacing so off?
It's not like it didn't have the time but for 3/4 of the book we are just making robots and then suddenly, they are in love, breaking up, everything gets fixed and happy ever after?

WHAT?
]]> The Wife Upstairs 52510958 A girl looking for love�
When Jane, a broke dog-walker newly arrived in town, meets Eddie Rochester, she can’t believe her luck. Eddie is handsome, rich and lives alone in a beautiful mansion since the tragic death of his beloved wife a year ago.

A man who seems perfect�
Eddie can give Jane everything she’s always wanted: stability, acceptance, and a picture-perfect life.

A wife who just won’t stay buried�
But what Jane doesn’t know is that Eddie is keeping a secret � a big secret. And when the truth comes out, the consequences are far more deadly than anyone could ever have imagined…]]> 290 Rachel Hawkins 0008377510 Mridu aka Storypals 1 why? 3.62 2021 The Wife Upstairs
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2022/09/09
date added: 2022/09/09
shelves:
review:
why?
]]> <![CDATA[The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1]]> 11904233 The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1.

The universe is not made of atoms; it's made of tiny stories.

To create The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known within the hitRECord community as RegularJOE—directed thousands of collaborators to tell tiny stories through words and art. With the help of the entire creative collective, Gordon-Levitt culled, edited and curated over 8,500 contributions into this finely tuned collection of original art from 67 contributors. Reminiscent of the 6-Word Memoir series, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 brings together art and voices from around the world to unite and tell stories that defy size.]]> 87 Joseph Gordon-Levitt 0062121669 Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.09 2011 The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1
author: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/02
date added: 2022/09/02
shelves:
review:
This book was wonderful and just what I needed. Thank you hitrecord for making it!
]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 43323704
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 370 Delia Owens 1472154665 Mridu aka Storypals 5
The story, the way it is written... what it made me feel, how engrossed I was with it..

maybe something I needed to distract myself with. ]]> 4.27 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/28
date added: 2022/08/28
shelves:
review:
Love love love!

The story, the way it is written... what it made me feel, how engrossed I was with it..

maybe something I needed to distract myself with.
]]> <![CDATA[You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty]]> 61269202
Feyi is about to be given the chance to escape the city's blistering heat for a dream island holiday: poolside cocktails, beach sunsets and elaborate meals. And as the sun goes down on her old life our heroine also might just be ready to open her heart to someone new...

The only problem is, she's falling for the one man she absolutely can't have.]]> 312 Akwaeke Emezi 0571372678 Mridu aka Storypals 3
Too dramatic for my taste, felt like a Bollywood movie unfolding after a point with the characters the author wanted for you to empathize fleshed out while others were just one-dimensional with no feelings at all.

Don't get me wrong, all love for Feyi but how a certain situation was handled just took away the entire story/ book from me.

P.S. Hated all the time Feyi was called 'SWEETNESS']]> 3.41 2022 You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/26
date added: 2022/08/26
shelves:
review:
It was fun in the beginning, a miss towards the end.

Too dramatic for my taste, felt like a Bollywood movie unfolding after a point with the characters the author wanted for you to empathize fleshed out while others were just one-dimensional with no feelings at all.

Don't get me wrong, all love for Feyi but how a certain situation was handled just took away the entire story/ book from me.

P.S. Hated all the time Feyi was called 'SWEETNESS'
]]> <![CDATA[The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1)]]> 43797203
Unavailable, aloof Conrad - who she's been in love with forever - and friendly Jeremiah, the only one who's ever really paid her any attention. But this year something is different.]]> 276 Jenny Han 0141330538 Mridu aka Storypals 1 3.60 2009 The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1)
author: Jenny Han
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2009
rating: 1
read at: 2022/08/20
date added: 2022/08/20
shelves:
review:
not sure why and how i survived this.
]]> Carrie Soto Is Back 60126556 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1529152135 Mridu aka Storypals 4 I am used to more complicated storylines from TJR. I could predict what will happen and how it will go down.

It was good but I am not completely satisfied. I wanted more from Carrie Soto.]]> 4.29 2022 Carrie Soto Is Back
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/16
date added: 2022/08/16
shelves:
review:
I really dont think TJR can go wrong... having said that... and loving this book to bits.
I am used to more complicated storylines from TJR. I could predict what will happen and how it will go down.

It was good but I am not completely satisfied. I wanted more from Carrie Soto.
]]> Writers & Lovers 55810331 Funny and heartbreaking, Writers & Lovers by Lily King is the bitingly clever story of Casey, a young writer who has lost her direction in life, until two men step into her world and offer her two very different futures.

Recently out of a devastating love affair and mourning the loss of her beloved mum, Casey is lost. The novel she has been writing for six years isn’t going anywhere, her debt is soaring, and at thirty-one, with all her friends getting married and having kids, she feels too old for things to be this way.

Then she meets Silas. He is kind, handsome, interested. But only a few weeks later, Oscar � older, fascinating, troubled � walks into her life, his two boys in tow. Suddenly Casey finds herself at the point of a love triangle, torn between two very different relationships that promise two very different futures. And she’s still got to write that book . . .]]> 324 Lily King 1529033136 Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.80 2020 Writers & Lovers
author: Lily King
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/07
date added: 2022/08/07
shelves:
review:
I flew through it AND LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!
]]> She Gets the Girl 59729053 She’s All That meets What If It’s Us in this swoon-worthy hate-to-love YA romantic comedy from #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart Rachael Lippincott and debut writer Alyson Derrick.

Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand…not so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just…hasn’t actually talked to her yet.

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Molly’s hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex volunteers to help Molly learn how to get her dream girl to fall for her, she can prove to her ex that she’s not a selfish flirt. That she’s ready for an actual commitment. And while Alex is the last person Molly would ever think she could trust, she can’t deny Alex knows what she’s doing with girls, unlike her.

As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling…for each other.]]> 368 Rachael Lippincott 1398502634 Mridu aka Storypals 4 I want to have what Molly and Alex have. ]]> 4.08 2022 She Gets the Girl
author: Rachael Lippincott
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/04
date added: 2022/08/04
shelves:
review:
This was so cute!
I want to have what Molly and Alex have.
]]> <![CDATA[Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare Was an Auntie, #1)]]> 57007401 Dating Dr. Dil features a love-phobic TV doctor who must convince a love-obsessed homebody they are destined to be together. 

Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.

Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic.  

Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate. ]]> 364 Nisha Sharma 0063001101 Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.58 2022 Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare Was an Auntie, #1)
author: Nisha Sharma
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/07/26
date added: 2022/07/26
shelves:
review:
It was not funny, it was annoying.
]]> Book Lovers 58713391 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

Nora is a cut-throat literary agent at the top of her game. Her whole life is books.

Charlie is an editor with a gift for creating bestsellers. And he's Nora's work nemesis.

Nora has been through enough break-ups to know she's the woman men date before they find their happy-ever-after. That's why Nora's sister has persuaded her to swap her desk in the city for a month's holiday in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. It's a small town straight out of a romance novel, but instead of meeting sexy lumberjacks, handsome doctors or cute bartenders, Nora keeps bumping into...Charlie.

She's no heroine. He's no hero. So can they take a page out of an entirely different book?]]> 377 Emily Henry 0241995345 Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.05 2022 Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/23
date added: 2022/07/23
shelves:
review:
I laughed. I giggled. I was red as a tomato. I cried my eyes out. I smirked. I lived. I loved. This was just FANTASTIC.
]]> <![CDATA[Silent Parade (Detective Galileo, #4)]]> 56269004 Detective Galileo, Keigo Higashino’s best loved character from The Devotion of Suspect X, returns in a complex and challenging mystery—several murders, decades apart, with no solid evidence.

A popular young girl disappears without a trace, her skeletal remains discovered three years later in the ashes of a burned out house. There’s a suspect and compelling circumstantial evidence of his guilt, but no concrete proof. When he isn’t indicted, he returns to mock the girl’s family. And this isn’t the first time he’s been suspected of the murder of a young girl, nearly twenty years ago he was tried and released due to lack of evidence. Chief Inspector Kusanagi of the Homicide Division of the Tokyo Police worked both cases.

The neighborhood in which the murdered girl lived is famous for an annual street festival, featuring a parade with entries from around Tokyo and Japan. During the parade, the suspected killer dies unexpectedly. His death is suspiciously convenient but the people with all the best motives have rock solid alibis. CI Kusanagi turns once again to his college friend, Physics professor and occasional police consultant Manabu Yukawa, known as Detective Galileo, to help solve the string of impossible to prove murders.]]> 344 Keigo Higashino 1250624819 Mridu aka Storypals 0 ]]> 3.82 2018 Silent Parade (Detective Galileo, #4)
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2022/07/20
date added: 2022/07/20
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed it but was not gripped as i am with Higashino's work :|

]]> Vladimir 60172988 A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students—a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own...

“When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.�

And so we are introduced to our deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose charismatic husband at the same small liberal arts college is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extra-marital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus, their tinder box world comes dangerously close to exploding.

With this bold, edgy, and uncommonly assured debut, author Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the boundaries of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Propulsive, darkly funny, and wildly entertaining, Vladimir perfectly captures the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the nuances and the grey area between power and desire.]]> 256 Julia May Jonas Mridu aka Storypals 4
It Irked, intrigued, and made me wonder. All good things.]]> 3.51 2022 Vladimir
author: Julia May Jonas
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/12
date added: 2022/07/12
shelves:
review:
This was not what I was expecting, but it was better.

It Irked, intrigued, and made me wonder. All good things.
]]> Maybe in Another Life 23492661
From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.]]> 342 Taylor Jenkins Reid Mridu aka Storypals 5
Till the end, i was kind of at edge� wondering what if?

BRILLIANT. ]]> 3.77 2015 Maybe in Another Life
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/24
date added: 2022/06/24
shelves:
review:
I dont think there is a book by Taylor that i dont love.

Till the end, i was kind of at edge� wondering what if?

BRILLIANT.
]]> The Family Chao 59629566
The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant’s reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James.]]> 320 Lan Samantha Chang 1911590634 Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.23 2022 The Family Chao
author: Lan Samantha Chang
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/06/08
date added: 2022/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Heartsick 60680246
Heartbreak does not seem to be a brand of grief we respect. And so we are left in the middle of the ocean, floating in a dinghy with no anchor, while the world waits for us to be okay again.

‘Jessie Stephens� journalistic skill shines as she weaves together true stories with a narrative as compelling as any novel� � Jane Harper

Claire is excited to bring her partner Maggie back home, but even as they build a new life together, she fears a distance is growing between them.

Patrick is a lonely university student, until he meets Caitlin � but does she feel as connected as he does?

Ana is happily married with three children. Then, one night, she falls in love with someone else.

Based on three true stories, Heartsick by Jessie Stephens is a compelling narrative non-fiction account of the many lows and occasional surprising highs of heartbreak. Bruising, beautiful, achingly specific but wholeheartedly universal, it reminds us that emotional pain can make us as it breaks us, and that storytelling has the ultimate healing power.]]> 336 Jessie Stephens 1529084199 Mridu aka Storypals 5 3.70 2021 Heartsick
author: Jessie Stephens
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/10
date added: 2022/05/10
shelves:
review:
nothing helps but to be understood for a bit.
]]> Lessons in Chemistry 58556597 Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.]]> 386 Bonnie Garmus 0857528130 Mridu aka Storypals 0 Will list them down soon...]]> 4.19 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/05/04
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
review:
Abandoned this book for a number of reasons.
Will list them down soon...
]]> Violeta 59523580 The epic story of Violeta del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.

Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life will be marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.

Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses all and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling. . . .

She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, times of both poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life will be shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women's rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and, ultimately, not one but two pandemics.

Told through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor will carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.]]> 336 Isabel Allende 1526648350 Mridu aka Storypals 0 DNF 3.87 2022 Violeta
author: Isabel Allende
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/04/30
date added: 2022/04/30
shelves:
review:
DNF
]]> Project Hail Mary 54869217 An impossible mission.
An ally he never imagined.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

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

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

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

Or does he?]]> 478 Andy Weir 1529100623 Mridu aka Storypals 3
However, just very long!]]> 4.45 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/24
date added: 2022/04/24
shelves:
review:
Loved the premise, it was fun, so much fun!

However, just very long!
]]> <![CDATA[I am thinking of ending things]]> 57194256 224 Iain Reid Mridu aka Storypals 4 3.45 2016 I am thinking of ending things
author: Iain Reid
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/28
date added: 2022/03/28
shelves:
review:
Confused. Scared. Intrigued. Not sure what I just read but I do know I liked what I read.
]]> Verity 59112754 Whose truth is the lie? Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.]]> 314 Colleen Hoover 1538724731 Mridu aka Storypals 1 4.37 2018 Verity
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2022/03/20
date added: 2022/03/20
shelves:
review:
As bad as it could get. Still wondering why is it so hyped?
]]> The Graveyard Book 5499874
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard. But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.]]> 289 Neil Gaiman 0747598843 Mridu aka Storypals 3 It was like I wanted to go home and read this book but after just 5 sentences I wanted to put it down and do something else. Does that happen with you?
I loved the premise of the story, the whole concept, and BOD. Loved him.
Not sure though if I loved the book enough. ]]> 4.13 2008 The Graveyard Book
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2019/03/16
date added: 2022/03/15
shelves:
review:
You know when you enjoy the space, the aura, the idea of the book BUT then not as much as reading it? I don't know if I make sense?
It was like I wanted to go home and read this book but after just 5 sentences I wanted to put it down and do something else. Does that happen with you?
I loved the premise of the story, the whole concept, and BOD. Loved him.
Not sure though if I loved the book enough.
]]> One True Loves 36258028
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a "Best Book of the Summer" by Glamour and USA TODAY—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.
]]> 331 Taylor Jenkins Reid Mridu aka Storypals 5 4.11 2016 One True Loves
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/27
date added: 2022/02/27
shelves:
review:
This was like, I was walking in a desert thirsty... and it offered me cold water.
]]> The Maid 58484331
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black--but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different--and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 352 Nita Prose Mridu aka Storypals 3
Molly, however, was such a wonderfully annoying main character. Her mannerism were at par, cute if i may add. ]]> 3.42 2022 The Maid
author: Nita Prose
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/19
date added: 2022/02/19
shelves:
review:
It was kind of predictable with a nice twist, which was good enough but did not blow me over.

Molly, however, was such a wonderfully annoying main character. Her mannerism were at par, cute if i may add.
]]> <![CDATA[Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2)]]> 57014357 They Both Die at the End), The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Call me by your Name.

A love story like no other.

In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys fell in love. Now they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.

Ari has spent all of high school hiding who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can't go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante - dreamy, witty Dante - who can get on Ari's nerves and fill him with desire all at once.

The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn't understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he'll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.]]> 520 Benjamin Alire Sáenz 1398505277 Mridu aka Storypals 3
It picks up, goes straight for my heart, grabs it, and rips it apart. I was a sobbing mess!

However, we get a beautiful ending with me wanting to go to PARIS right now.
]]> 4.08 2021 Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2)
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/19
date added: 2022/02/19
shelves:
review:
It started out strong, dipped in the middle to an extent where I lost interest but then it picks up.

It picks up, goes straight for my heart, grabs it, and rips it apart. I was a sobbing mess!

However, we get a beautiful ending with me wanting to go to PARIS right now.

]]> <![CDATA[The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner, #1)]]> 52856154 EVERYONE'S IN DANGER. ANYONE COULD BE NEXT.

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother's recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it's beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous - as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin's unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they're all in . . .]]> 383 Sarah Pearse 1787633314 Mridu aka Storypals 0
Didnt vibe with it and SO MANY characters:/]]> 3.43 2020 The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner, #1)
author: Sarah Pearse
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/17
date added: 2022/02/17
shelves:
review:
¶Ù²Ô´Úâ€�

Didnt vibe with it and SO MANY characters:/
]]> Beach Read 48722416 He doesn't believe in happy endings.
She's lost her faith that they exist.
But could they find one together?

January is a hopeless romantic who likes narrating her life as if she's the heroine in a blockbuster movie.
Augustus is a serious literary type who thinks true love is a fairy-tale.
January and Augustus are not going to get on.

But they actually have more in common than you'd think:

They're both broke.
They've got crippling writer's block.
They need to write bestsellers before the end of the summer.

The result? A bet to see who can get their book published first.
The catch? They have to swap genres.
The risk? In telling each other's stories, their worlds might be changed entirely...]]> 361 Emily Henry 0241989523 Mridu aka Storypals 4
Romance but a lot more, but the ROMANCE :) ]]> 3.92 2020 Beach Read
author: Emily Henry
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/15
date added: 2022/02/15
shelves:
review:
I loved it SO MUCH!

Romance but a lot more, but the ROMANCE :)
]]> The Christie Affair 57693165 Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?

In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie. In every way, she became a part of their life––first, both Christies. Then, just Archie. Soon, Nan became Archie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him. Nan’s plot didn’t begin the day she met Archie and Agatha.

It began decades before, in Ireland, when Nan was a young girl. She and the man she loved were a star-crossed couple who were destined to be together––until the Great War, a pandemic, and shameful secrets tore them apart. Then acts of unspeakable cruelty kept them separated.

What drives someone to murder? What will someone do in the name of love? What kind of crime can someone never forgive? Nina de Gramont’s brilliant, unforgettable novel explores these questions and more.]]> 320 Nina de Gramont 1250274613 Mridu aka Storypals 4
It gets frustrating as you get to read of someone else's story more than that but soon enough you'll start empathizing and maybe even love them as a character... and from then on there is a GREAT mystery, a lot of gasps, heartbreaks and just wonderful writing!]]> 3.65 2022 The Christie Affair
author: Nina de Gramont
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/09
date added: 2022/02/09
shelves:
review:
First thing first... dont go in this book thinking you'll only read about Mrs Christie.

It gets frustrating as you get to read of someone else's story more than that but soon enough you'll start empathizing and maybe even love them as a character... and from then on there is a GREAT mystery, a lot of gasps, heartbreaks and just wonderful writing!
]]> Weather Girl 57968219 One of... Amazon's Best Romances of JanuaryApple Books' Best Books of JanuaryÅ·±¦ÓéÀÖ' Hottest Romances of JanuaryBuzzfeed's Most Anticipated Books of 2022Popsugar, Parade.com, The Nerd Daily, and Fangirlish's Most Anticipated Books of 2022A TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with unforecasted results in this electrifying romance from the author of The Ex Talk. Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her witsâ€� end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer. In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bossesâ€� relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell. Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies?]]> 348 Rachel Lynn Solomon 0593200152 Mridu aka Storypals 3 3.74 2022 Weather Girl
author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/05
date added: 2022/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> To Paradise 57739876 From the author of the classic A Little Life, a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him—and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.

These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.

To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvellous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love � partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens � and the pain that ensues when we cannot.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385547935 Mridu aka Storypals 2
Sighs!]]> 3.74 2022 To Paradise
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/01
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves:
review:
Excuse me while I write A BIG RANT review about why it DIDN'T work for me?

Sighs!
]]> <![CDATA[Ready Player Two (Ready Player One #2)]]> 54459123
AN UNEXPECTED QUEST. TWO WORLDS AT STAKE. ARE YOU READY? Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find it, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous - and addictive - than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest: a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.

And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants.

Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.]]> 366 Ernest Cline 1780897448 Mridu aka Storypals 0 3.24 2020 Ready Player Two (Ready Player One #2)
author: Ernest Cline
name: Mridu aka Storypals
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/27
date added: 2022/01/27
shelves:
review:
I am not sure why I spent money on this. I ruined the first book as well for me. SIGHS.
]]>