Zainab's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 22 Apr 2025 22:05:02 -0700 60 Zainab's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 1408 36411953
إن غرف الفنادق أماكن مخيفة بطبيعتها حقًا، ألا ترى ذلك؟ أعني، كم شخصًا سبقك إلى النوم في هذا الفراش؟ كم منهم كان مريضًا؟ كم منهم كان يشعر بأنه يفقد عقله؟ كم منهم كان يفكر ربما في قراءة بضع آيات أخيرة من الكتاب المقدس الموضوع في درج الكومود المجاوز للفراش، قبل أن يشنق نفسه في الخزانة القريبة من التليفزيون؟ على كل حال دعونا ندخل. ها هو مفتاحك... ولربما كنت ترغب في استغراق بعض الوقت لتلاحظ مجموع تلك الأرقام الأربعة البريئة. إن الغرفة 1408 تنتظرنا في نهاية الرواق.]]> Stephen King Zainab 3 The funny thing is that I watched the movie when I was ten. This 'short-story' would've been better if it was a bit more elaborate, you know? A bit more detailed.]]> 3.73 2014 1408
author: Stephen King
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/05
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
A Stephen King movie that is actually better than the book?
The funny thing is that I watched the movie when I was ten. This 'short-story' would've been better if it was a bit more elaborate, you know? A bit more detailed.
]]> Rumpelstiltsken 6726629 32 Jacob Grimm 0735822794 Zainab 5 3.92 Rumpelstiltsken
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Nightingale 21853621 In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.]]> 564 Kristin Hannah 0312577222 Zainab 0 to-read 4.63 2015 The Nightingale
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Report 12462422 Book by Jessica Francis Kane 240 Jessica Francis Kane 1846272807 Zainab 5 This is such a gripping novel about a horrific incident that took place in 1943 in Bethnal Green tube station. 173 people were crushed to death but nobody knew who or what caused it.
Although the characters in this novel are fictionalised the story is real.
I literally finished it in two hours because I could not put it down as it's so interesting and really beautifully written.]]> 3.58 2010 The Report
author: Jessica Francis Kane
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2017/09/30
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: underrated, read-in-one-sitting
review:
After putting off this book for almost a year I finally decided to give this one a go.
This is such a gripping novel about a horrific incident that took place in 1943 in Bethnal Green tube station. 173 people were crushed to death but nobody knew who or what caused it.
Although the characters in this novel are fictionalised the story is real.
I literally finished it in two hours because I could not put it down as it's so interesting and really beautifully written.
]]> 1Q84 (1Q84 #1) 45023893 Віра і релігія, кохання й секс, зброя і домашнє насилля, вбивство за переконанням і суїцид, втрата себе й духовна прірва між поколіннями батьків і дітей - усе це майстерно переплетено у детективному сюжеті роману, де події відбуваються у двох паралельних реальностях: Токіо 1984-го і Токіо, за висловлюванням головної героїні Аомаме, "незрозуміло якого (1Q84)" року.
До видання увійшла перша книга роману Харукі Муракамі "1Q84".]]> 450 Haruki Murakami Zainab 5 3.76 2009 1Q84 (1Q84 #1)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/07
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Cinderella 1366730 32 Jacob Grimm 0060851600 Zainab 5 3.89 1812 Cinderella
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1812
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Daughter of No Worlds (The War of Lost Hearts, #1)]]> 49826643
Ripped from a forgotten homeland as a child, Tisaanah learned how to survive with nothing but a sharp wit and a touch of magic. But the night she tries to buy her freedom, she barely escapes with her life.

Desperate to save the best friend she left behind, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organizations of magic Wielders in the world. But to join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders.

The Orders� intentions are cryptic, and Tisaanah must prove herself under the threat of looming war. But even more dangerous are her growing feelings for Maxantarius. The bloody past he wants to forget may be the key to her future� or the downfall of them both.

But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means gambling in the Orders� deadly games. Even if it means sacrificing her heart.

Even if it means wielding death itself.

Fans of epic romantic fantasy like Sarah J. Maas and Raven Kennedy will devour this tale of dark magic, passionate romance, vengeance, and redemption.]]> 520 Carissa Broadbent Zainab 3 4.03 2020 Daughter of No Worlds (The War of Lost Hearts, #1)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)]]> 216595852
I'm just a girl. And it turns out, I'm Hercules.

I'm struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from twelve royal families who have god-like powers and obscene wealth, rule over all. A shy-stammering foster child with nothing, I keep my head down, cover my scars, and focus on excelling in school. At least, I try to. Then it happens.

My blood test reveals I'm part of the powerful elite. I'm one of them. A Spartan.

Forced to attend the Spartan War Academy, I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal. There's just a few problems. Achilles and Patro are my scary mentors. Kharon, the ferryman of death, and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors. Also, I'm pretty sure either someone's stalking me everywhere I go, or my sanity's slipping––I have a bad feeling both are true.

I'm surrounded by Villains and they're smothering me with their hate, obsession, and dark possessiveness. Too bad for them, they have no clue just who they're messing with.




]]> 496 Jasmine Mas Zainab 0 to-read 3.84 2024 Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Us Dark Few (Us Dark Few, #1) 174057601 Khalani is a Prisoner.
Takeshi is a Guard.
Both are slaves to the Underground.

Khalani Kanes has never stood on the surface of the earth. In the underground city of Apollo, faith and dreams are as absent as the sun. She longed to visit Genesis, the infamous Domed City and the final place where humanity lives aboveground. But when Khalani is given a life sentence and thrown into prison for a theft she didn't commit, those wishes shatter into oblivion.

In Braderhelm Prison, murderers are neighbors, ruthless and cold-blooded guards live to punish, and every second is a battle to survive. She thought the danger lay in befriending criminals and avoiding Takeshi Steele, the nefarious Captain who runs her cell block. But darker traps and secrets await her within the shadows of imprisonment. Khalani's blood will coat the walls in flaming silk before her enemies let her escape to the surface, a feat no one has successfully achieved. If the reclusive and callous Takeshi Steele won't kill Khalani, then the merciless prisoners and her fractured mind will.

Enter Braderhelm Prison, where only the Wicked remain.]]> 321 Alexis Patton Zainab 4 3.86 Us Dark Few (Us Dark Few, #1)
author: Alexis Patton
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:

]]> A Little Life 25852828 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.]]> 816 Hanya Yanagihara 0804172706 Zainab 0 to-read 4.36 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:
This book was soo expensive but I cant seem to get into it
]]> <![CDATA[World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)]]> 17849112 Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

]]> 320 Susan Ee 1477867287 Zainab 3 4.09 2013 World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)
author: Susan Ee
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2019/07/07
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Swear on This Life 23492533
Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.

That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby� must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.

The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,� but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?]]> 303 Renee Carlino 1501105795 Zainab 5 I read this book in one sitting, for two continuous hours. I did not move. I couldn't move. Y'all cannot understand what I'm feeling right now. Maybe you can but I can't understand what I'm feeling.
I think I want to cry? There were so many parts where I wanted to cry but there were also so many parts that made my heart so full.
Jase and Em ffs I love them. So so much.]]> 4.09 2016 Swear on This Life
author: Renee Carlino
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/25
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: all-time-favourites, sad-stuff, read-in-one-sitting
review:
I am a mess. A big freaking mess. An emotional, sad mess.
I read this book in one sitting, for two continuous hours. I did not move. I couldn't move. Y'all cannot understand what I'm feeling right now. Maybe you can but I can't understand what I'm feeling.
I think I want to cry? There were so many parts where I wanted to cry but there were also so many parts that made my heart so full.
Jase and Em ffs I love them. So so much.
]]> Educated 40060637
She hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn’t exist.

As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d travelled too far. If there was still a way home.

EDUCATED is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, from her singular experience Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it.]]> 384 Tara Westover 0099511029 Zainab 1


Alright, who said it was a survival story? Sure the brother parts I'd say she 'survived' but what was the rest ? First off she says she grew up on the mountains and her whole family were cut off from the outer world/ didn't trust the government blah blah blah. Okay, but they had a TV? A phone, a computer, and internet too? She also had her own cell phone? Her mama used to write emails and stuff and the dad had a favorite TV show too? Am I dumb or is that the opposite of 'we don't trust the government'? And sure I get her father was strict and he was but except for the initial time she said she wanted to go to college he never really said no to anything? And almost all his children went to college and he did help with the money (well as much as he could)
They were apparently 'poor' but she lived in a good house, managed to go to singing and dancing and piano lessons? And at one point her mama's essential oils were such a hit a company offered to buy them for THREE MILLION DOLLARS?
And I'm really really sorry but I just don't understand how a person who has never gone to a school (never studied at home either) lands herself to a local University then to Cambridge then another University in Paris and then to Harvard? I mean I'm not doubting her intellectual ability she could be the next Einstein or whatever but that I mean..???

And the family was so sloppy I thought I'd lose my mind if I read 'This might be __'s last time/they might not make it ' They had so many fatal accidents yet never went to the hospital and were apparently 'cured' by good ol' salve and essential oils? How do you treat a brain injury with salve and essential oil?

And oh my goodness tf was this guy Shawn? He brings a blade covered with a dog's blood and gives it to his sister and the family says he 'didn't mean it'?

]]> 4.46 2018 Educated
author: Tara Westover
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2020/09/23
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves:
review:
Spoilers ahead!!



Alright, who said it was a survival story? Sure the brother parts I'd say she 'survived' but what was the rest ? First off she says she grew up on the mountains and her whole family were cut off from the outer world/ didn't trust the government blah blah blah. Okay, but they had a TV? A phone, a computer, and internet too? She also had her own cell phone? Her mama used to write emails and stuff and the dad had a favorite TV show too? Am I dumb or is that the opposite of 'we don't trust the government'? And sure I get her father was strict and he was but except for the initial time she said she wanted to go to college he never really said no to anything? And almost all his children went to college and he did help with the money (well as much as he could)
They were apparently 'poor' but she lived in a good house, managed to go to singing and dancing and piano lessons? And at one point her mama's essential oils were such a hit a company offered to buy them for THREE MILLION DOLLARS?
And I'm really really sorry but I just don't understand how a person who has never gone to a school (never studied at home either) lands herself to a local University then to Cambridge then another University in Paris and then to Harvard? I mean I'm not doubting her intellectual ability she could be the next Einstein or whatever but that I mean..???

And the family was so sloppy I thought I'd lose my mind if I read 'This might be __'s last time/they might not make it ' They had so many fatal accidents yet never went to the hospital and were apparently 'cured' by good ol' salve and essential oils? How do you treat a brain injury with salve and essential oil?

And oh my goodness tf was this guy Shawn? He brings a blade covered with a dog's blood and gives it to his sister and the family says he 'didn't mean it'?


]]> Much Ado about Nada 62802747 A sparkling second-chance romance inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion...

Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend Haleema is determined to pry her from her shell...and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn. And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?]]> 320 Uzma Jalaluddin 0593336380 Zainab 3 3.81 2023 Much Ado about Nada
author: Uzma Jalaluddin
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Ayesha at Last 36099237 Pride and Prejudice with a modern twist 

AYESHA SHAMSI has a lot going on.  Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and dresses like he belongs in the seventh century. 

When a surprise engagement between Khalid and Hafsa is announced, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and his family; and the truth she realizes about herself. But Khalid is also wrestling with what he believes and what he wants. And he just can’t get this beautiful, outspoken woman out of his mind. 

ձ> 343 Uzma Jalaluddin 1443455857 Zainab 4 3.96 2018 Ayesha at Last
author: Uzma Jalaluddin
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Midnight 10198145 400 Josephine Cox 0007301472 Zainab 3 3.15 2011 Midnight
author: Josephine Cox
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2017/08/21
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
The writing style could've been a bit better but other than that the story was pretty good.
]]> 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 Zainab 2 "funny" 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/27
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves:
review:
"funny"
]]> I Want to Eat Your Pancreas 39940127 Also known as Let Me Eat Your Pancreas, the coming-of-age tearjerker that inspired two films!

A high school boy finds the diary of his classmate—only to discover that she’s dying. Yamauchi Sakura has been silently suffering from a pancreatic disease, and now exactly one person outside her family knows. He swears to her that he won’t tell anyone what he learned, and the shared secret brings them closer together in this deeply moving, first-person story that traces their developing relationship in Sakura’s final months of life.]]> 286 Yoru Sumino 1642750336 Zainab 0 to-read 4.35 2015 I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
author: Yoru Sumino
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Never Let Me Go 6334 288 Kazuo Ishiguro 1400078776 Zainab 5 favourites ☹️ 3.85 2005 Never Let Me Go
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: favourites
review:
☹️
]]> <![CDATA[A Fire Endless (Elements of Cadence, #2)]]> 54326657
In the West, Adaira struggles to adjust to the more brutal, bitter ways of life among the Breccans. Striving to find her place in the clan, she swiftly realizes that it just might be the last role she desires to hold. And while magic blooms effortlessly for the Breccans in the west, the spirits continue to suffer beneath Bane’s harsh power, felt in every gust of wind.

In the East, Jack is adrift without Adaira until he sings to the ember-weak fire spirits, acquiring a dangerous mission he never expected. One that is destined to lead him westward. Likewise, Torin and Sidra are consumed by a new mystery as sickness spreads first amongst the crops, and then to the people of the Tamerlaine clan. While Sidra desperately searches for a cure, Torin dares to strike a bargain with the spirits—a precarious folly anytime, but especially now as the days grow darker.

With the island falling further out of balance, humans and spirits alike will need to join together to face Bane, and Jack’s gift with the harp will be called upon once more. Yet no one can challenge the North Wind without paying a terrible price, and the sacrifice required this time may be more than Jack, Adaira, Torin, and Sidra can bear to pay.

In the stunning conclusion to the Elements of Cadence duology, A Fire Endless finds the delicate balance between the human and faerie realm threatened by Bane, the spirit of the North Wind, whose defeat can only come through fire, song, and heart-rending sacrifice.]]> 512 Rebecca Ross 0008514704 Zainab 3 4.33 2022 A Fire Endless (Elements of Cadence, #2)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:

]]> You Deserve Each Other 49758747 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 0593085434 Zainab 5 all-time-favourites I don't think I've ever liked a book of this genre this much. It's been a week since I read this and I still keep thinking about it. So beautiful. Nicholas has my whole entire heart!]]> 3.81 2020 You Deserve Each Other
author: Sarah Hogle
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/14
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: all-time-favourites
review:
oof my HEART!!!!
I don't think I've ever liked a book of this genre this much. It's been a week since I read this and I still keep thinking about it. So beautiful. Nicholas has my whole entire heart!
]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)]]> 60714999 Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always � always � guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown� and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone � but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first book in a new series of heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue, perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 504 Carissa Broadbent Zainab 4 good. It hooked me in right from the start. The initial chapters without a doubt felt like reading the hunger games but things changed quickly. I've never actually been a fan of vampire books but this book has now changed my mind.

Thrill: 10/10
Romance: 9/10
Story: 11/10

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Edit: I got it!! will be starving for the next few days but hey at least I got it
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why do I start wanting to read every single book when I'm broke (⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠)]]> 4.30 2022 The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/03
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves:
review:
I finished it like two weeks ago and totally delayed writing a review. This was good. It hooked me in right from the start. The initial chapters without a doubt felt like reading the hunger games but things changed quickly. I've never actually been a fan of vampire books but this book has now changed my mind.

Thrill: 10/10
Romance: 9/10
Story: 11/10

----------------------------------------
Edit: I got it!! will be starving for the next few days but hey at least I got it
----------------------------------------
why do I start wanting to read every single book when I'm broke (⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠)
]]> <![CDATA[Under One Roof (The STEMinist Novellas, #1)]]> 59651557 A scientist should never cohabitate with her annoyingly hot nemesis � it leads to combustion.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn�.

As an environmental engineer, Mara knows all about the delicate nature of ecosystems. They require balance. And leaving the thermostat alone. And not stealing someone else’s food. And other rules Liam, her detestable big-oil lawyer of a roommate, knows nothing about. Okay, sure, technically she’s the interloper. Liam was already entrenched in his aunt’s house like some glowering grumpy giant when Mara moved in, with his big muscles and kissable mouth just sitting there on the couch tempting respectable scientists to the dark side…but Helena was her mentor and Mara’s not about to move out and give up her inheritance without a fight.

The problem is, living with someone means getting to know them. And the more Mara finds out about Liam, the harder it is to loathe him…and the easier it is to love him.]]> 112 Ali Hazelwood 0593437810 Zainab 2 *side-eye* 3.65 2022 Under One Roof (The STEMinist Novellas, #1)
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/09
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves:
review:
*side-eye*
]]> <![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)]]> 62796217
After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross's Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 368 Rebecca Ross 0008588155 Zainab 5 all-time-favourites 4.34 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: all-time-favourites
review:
Ahhh Roman my sweet beautiful baby boy. I don't think I can like any other fantasy male lead anymore. They pale in comparison to him!
]]> <![CDATA[A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)]]> 60091369
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.]]> 496 Rebecca Ross 0063055996 Zainab 5

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7.02.24
Having the classic case of 'I've read/loooved one book by this author so I have to read every single thing they've ever written']]> 4.15 2022 A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/10
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves:
review:
Rebecca Ross is one hell of a storyteller I'll tell you that


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7.02.24
Having the classic case of 'I've read/loooved one book by this author so I have to read every single thing they've ever written'
]]> <![CDATA[Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmarr, #1)]]> 63905241
Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.

All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr � or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?]]> 550 Helen Scheuerer 1922903027 Zainab 0 to-read 4.20 2023 Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmarr, #1)
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X Zainab 0 dnf
--------------
I think I'm either too dumb or this is too overly written because damnn]]> 3.98 2023 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/02
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves: dnf
review:
Dnf-ed at idk what page idc

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I think I'm either too dumb or this is too overly written because damnn
]]> Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) 39970636
As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 542 Dan Brown 0552174165 Zainab 4 It was SO good! 3.82 2017 Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)
author: Dan Brown
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/01
date added: 2024/03/13
shelves:
review:
It was SO good!
]]> A Fragile Enchantment 127305900 In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.]]> 373 Allison Saft 125089283X Zainab 0 to-read 3.49 2024 A Fragile Enchantment
author: Allison Saft
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Don't You Forget About Me 34109621
Reeling from the indignity of a double dumping on the same day, Georgina snatches at the next job that she’s offered—barmaid in a newly opened pub, which just so happens to run by the boy she fell in love with at school: Lucas McCarthy. And whereas Georgina (voted Most Likely to Succeed in her school yearbook) has done nothing but dead-end jobs in the last twelve years, Lucas has not only grown into a broodingly handsome man, but also has turned into an actual grown-up along the way, with a business and a dog.

Meeting Lucas again not only throws Georgina’s rackety present into sharp relief, but also brings a dark secret from her past bubbling to the surface. Only she knows the truth about what happened on the last day of school, and why she’s allowed it to chase her all these years…]]> 433 Mhairi McFarlane 0008169322 Zainab 2 3.82 2019 Don't You Forget About Me
author: Mhairi McFarlane
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)]]> 58340706
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.]]> 399 Rachel Gillig 0316312487 Zainab 0 to-read 4.25 2022 One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pachinko 35099568
Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.]]> 484 Min Jin Lee 1455563927 Zainab 5 all-time-favourites My arms hurt like crazy from carrying this heavy-ass book for three days but I don't regret it.]]> 4.34 2017 Pachinko
author: Min Jin Lee
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/18
date added: 2024/02/13
shelves: all-time-favourites
review:
God this was good. Absolutely beautiful and so very well-written.
My arms hurt like crazy from carrying this heavy-ass book for three days but I don't regret it.
]]> <![CDATA[Fool Me Once (Fool Me Once, #1)]]> 58343462
That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust love. After four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school—who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind.

Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated—and competitive as Lee and Ben are forced to work together. Tension builds just as old sparks reignite, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.]]> 368 Ashley Winstead 1525899740 Zainab 0 to-read 3.47 2022 Fool Me Once (Fool Me Once, #1)
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I Hope This Doesn't Find You 124932739 I Hope This Doesn't Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.

Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a "pleasure to have in class." It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She'd never send them of course -- she'd rather die than hurt anyone's feelings -- but it's a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie's work.

All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. "You're attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you've been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft..."

Sadie doesn't have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them... that is, until they're accidentally sent out.

Overnight, Sadie’s carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It's her worst nightmare -- now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they're not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there's one person growing to appreciate the "real" Sadie -- Julius, the only boy she's sworn to hate...]]> 320 Ann Liang 1338827154 Zainab 5 4.17 2024 I Hope This Doesn't Find You
author: Ann Liang
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 125168721 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 498 Rebecca Yarros 0349437009 Zainab 0 currently-reading 4.54 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:
Everyone's apparently read this big ass book but me so about time I do too
]]> <![CDATA[Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)]]> 127280062 Torn apart by war. Reunited by love?

Two weeks have passed since Iris returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over.

Roman is missing, lost behind enemy lines, with no memory of his past, or Iris. Hoping his memories return, he begins to write again � but this time for the enemy.

When a strange letter arrives through his wardrobe door, he strikes up a correspondence with a penpal who seems at once mysterious� and strangely familiar.

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.]]> 420 Rebecca Ross 1250857457 Zainab 5 all-time-favourites 3.99 2023 Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2024/01/24
shelves: all-time-favourites
review:
lord help me move on from this......
]]> <![CDATA[Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life]]> 33357041 ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy)—the happiness of always being busy—as revealed by the daily habits of the world’s longest-living people.

What’s your ikigai?

“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.� —Japanese proverb

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy.

In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?]]> 208 Héctor García 0143130722 Zainab 3
I might as well throw my psychology degrees out the window when there are self-help books with just advices like these.]]> 3.69 2016 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
author: Héctor García
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves:
review:
Ahh look, another self help book that told me to 'not worry' and 'have a healthy lifestyle'.

I might as well throw my psychology degrees out the window when there are self-help books with just advices like these.
]]> Love, Theoretically 61326735
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?]]> 389 Ali Hazelwood 1408725797 Zainab 3 4.07 2023 Love, Theoretically
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/17
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
review:
I'm gonna get some shit for this buttttttt even though I loved the characters as individuals, there's something about every-miserable-woman-neeeeeeds-a-man-to-come-save-her-ass that gets on my nerve every time.
]]> The Great Alone 34912895 Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents� passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights� lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.]]> 435 Kristin Hannah Zainab 2 4.44 2018 The Great Alone
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/08
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
review:
My head hurts after reading this
]]> Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) 22328546 This is a world divided by blood—red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance—Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.]]> 388 Victoria Aveyard 0062310631 Zainab 4 .
.
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A little too late to the party but oh well....here I
go.]]> 3.98 2015 Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
review:
I think my teenage self would've enjoyed it more
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A little too late to the party but oh well....here I
go.
]]> In Love And War 182125785
But, in all fairness, you could maybe, potentially, most definitely, say that I was just a little bit... distracted.

It was the dimple. I think.

Or it may have been his eyes.

God, those eyes.

...

Alright, fine. It was the whole damn thing, okay? Head to stupid toe.

The guy was gorgeous.

Like, the type of gorgeous that knocks the breath right out of your lungs and makes you forget how to string together even simple, semi-coherent sentences.

So, no, of course I didn't see it coming.

I didn't even know the arrogant, pompous, uptight jerk could fire me without my father putting a stop to it, let alone predict that he would do it to promote his own personal agenda.

But the second I figured it out was the second I started to plot my revenge.

Seven years later, I’m back. And I’m not the same infatuated teenager he thought he could so easily dispose of.

I’m here to fight. To take back what’s mine.

This is war, and Zackary Evans is going down.]]> 233 Kyra Parsi Zainab 2 3.68 In Love And War
author: Kyra Parsi
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Meet Me in the Margins 58429255 The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance imprint in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah's been secretly writing while working as an editor herself—except at her publishing house, the philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and commercial fiction, particularly romance, should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante's inferno. But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company—including William Pennington, new publisher and son of the romance-despising CEO herself—she races to hide her manuscript in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office.

When she returns, she's dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins—quite critical ones. But when Claire's own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.

As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There's no doubt about it. She's falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.]]> 309 Melissa Ferguson 0785231072 Zainab 0 to-read 3.59 2022 Meet Me in the Margins
author: Melissa Ferguson
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> To Sir, with Love 55711665 Romantic comedy following two thirty-somethings who meet on a blind dating app—only to realize that their online chemistry is nothing compared to their offline rivalry.

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just five months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout to turn the store into a parking garage. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir�, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.]]> 288 Lauren Layne 1982152818 Zainab 0 to-read 3.78 2021 To Sir, with Love
author: Lauren Layne
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Passion on Park Avenue (Central Park Pact, #1)]]> 42202094 From the author of the New York Times bestselling Stiletto and Oxford series, the first in a sizzling new series following the unlikely friendship of three Upper East Side women as they struggle to achieve their dreams and find true love and happiness in the city that never sleeps.

For as long as she can remember, Bronx-born Naomi Powell has had one goal: to prove her worth among the Upper East Side elite—the same people for which her mom worked as a housekeeper. Now, as the strongminded, sassy CEO of one of the biggest jewelry empires in the country, Naomi finally has exactly what she wants—but it’s going to take more than just the right address to make Manhattan’s upper class stop treating her like an outsider.

The worst offender is her new neighbor, Oliver Cunningham—the grown son of the very family Naomi’s mother used to work for. Oliver used to torment Naomi when they were children, and as a ridiculously attractive adult, he’s tormenting her in entirely different ways. Now they find themselves engaged in a battle-of-wills that will either consume or destroy them�

Filled with charm and heart and plenty of sex and snark, this entertaining series will hook you from the very first page.]]> 279 Lauren Layne 1501191578 Zainab 0 to-read 3.71 2019 Passion on Park Avenue (Central Park Pact, #1)
author: Lauren Layne
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Evvie Drake Starts Over 40514431
Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips�: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.]]> 289 Linda Holmes 0525619240 Zainab 0 to-read 3.80 2019 Evvie Drake Starts Over
author: Linda Holmes
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mr. Wrong Number (Mr. Wrong Number, #1)]]> 58419108
Bad luck has always followed Olivia Marshall…or maybe she’s just the screw-up her family thinks she is. But when a “What are you wearing?� text from a random wrong number turns into the hottest, most entertaining—albeit anonymous—relationship of her life, she thinks things might be on the upswing�.

Colin Beck has always considered Olivia his best friend’s annoying little sister, but when she moves in with them after one of her worst runs of luck, he realizes she’s turned into an altogether different and sexier distraction. He’s sure he can keep his distance, until the moment he discovers she’s the irresistible Miss Misdial he’s been sort of sexting for weeks—and now he has to decide whether to turn the heat up or ghost her before things get messy.]]> 350 Lynn Painter Zainab 2 3.67 2022 Mr. Wrong Number (Mr. Wrong Number, #1)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/16
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves:
review:
It started off strong but man did it go downhill fast
]]> Oona Out of Order 45046893 A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.]]> 339 Margarita Montimore 1250236606 Zainab 3 3.84 2020 Oona Out of Order
author: Margarita Montimore
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Foul Lady Fortune (Foul Lady Fortune, #1)]]> 57190453
It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption from her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.]]> 528 Chloe Gong Zainab 4 4.22 2022 Foul Lady Fortune (Foul Lady Fortune, #1)
author: Chloe Gong
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August]]> 35066358 417 Claire North Zainab 0 to-read 4.03 2014 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
author: Claire North
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Contortionist (Harrow Faire, #1)]]> 54995584

Cora Glass’s humdrum existence as a bank teller flips upside down when a long-abandoned circus mysteriously returns to life. But the entry fee to this big top show is far more than Cora bargained for.

A deal struck.
A soul...stuck.

As Harrow Faire shines a spotlight on Cora, she discovers there are far more secrets in that three-ring nightmare than she could possibly imagine. Trapped in the world of the fiendish and alluring man known as the Puppeteer, Cora finds herself caught in a war between him and the reclusive Mr. Harrow. Both parties will stop at nothing—even murder—to get what they want.

And what they want…is her.]]> 280 Kathryn Ann Kingsley Zainab 4 3.95 2020 The Contortionist (Harrow Faire, #1)
author: Kathryn Ann Kingsley
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/21
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Archer's Voice 32822135
Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.]]> 377 Mia Sheridan 1538727374 Zainab 2 4.14 2014 Archer's Voice
author: Mia Sheridan
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/19
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Things We Leave Unfinished]]> 53137938
Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn’t much the “golden boy� of modern fiction hasn’t accomplished. But he can’t walk away from what might be the best book of the century—the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another.

But as they read Scarlett’s words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book—it’s based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn’t a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she’s as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother’s mistakes—even if it means destroying Noah’s career.]]> 400 Rebecca Yarros 1682815668 Zainab 0 to-read 4.26 2021 The Things We Leave Unfinished
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #3)]]> 62816044 Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A Curse for True Love, the breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy.]]> 386 Stephanie Garber 1250851203 Zainab 4

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Y'ALL-
I GOT IT
I GOT THE BOOK
now excuse me while I read this the whole day.]]> 4.14 2023 A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #3)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/31
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves:
review:
I meaaaaan it was good but I reallllly wanted more of jacks and evangline.


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Y'ALL-
I GOT IT
I GOT THE BOOK
now excuse me while I read this the whole day.
]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Zainab 2 read-in-one-sitting 4.17 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/10/03
date added: 2023/10/04
shelves: read-in-one-sitting
review:

]]> My Boo (투명� 동거) 36686792 투명� 동거. 2 � 312�
투명� 동거. 3 � 424� (완결)

『투명한 동거』는 온라인에 프로모션 영상� 공개되면� 단기간에 조회� 10만을 뛰어넘으� � 화제� 일으켰다. 유령� 보는 남다� 능력� 지� 소여리와 스무 살에 급작스러� 사고� 유령� � 고준� 한집� 사는 설정으로 전개되는 『투명한 동거』는 남녀 � 주인공이 과거� 아픈 기억들을 서로 보듬으며 감성� 자극하는 순정만화� 독자들의 사랑� � 몸에 받았� 작품이다. 특히 잘생기고 멋진 미남 유령 고준� 프리랜서� 혼자 일하� 아름다운 주인� 소여리와 함께 오붓� 시간� 보내� 장면들을 통해 � 주인공의 동거가 실제 연인 관계처� 분위기를 자아내며 애틋함을 선사하고 있다.]]> 1024 Jeongseo 8960863432 Zainab 3 4.16 2016 My Boo (투명한 동거)
author: Jeongseo
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves:
review:

]]> The Paris Apartment 58468990 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide�

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up � to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? � he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite � The nice guy � The alcoholic � The girl on the verge � The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 Zainab 0 currently-reading 3.63 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane]]> 25150798
Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.

As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.]]> 384 Lisa See Zainab 0 to-read 4.29 2017 The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
author: Lisa See
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]> 389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 Zainab 2 4.26 2022 Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/26
date added: 2023/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> A Flicker in the Dark 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]> 357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 Zainab 4 read-in-one-sitting 3.96 2022 A Flicker in the Dark
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/22
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves: read-in-one-sitting
review:

]]> Happy Place 61718053
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week� in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.]]> 400 Emily Henry 0593441273 Zainab 0 dnf Y'all I can't do this anymore. Maybe I'm getting old but I no longer have the stamina to read something I don't enjoy. toodles.




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I was excited for this book but why is it making me sleepy ]]> 3.95 2023 Happy Place
author: Emily Henry
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/21
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves: dnf
review:
DNF at whatever page idk man i don't remember.
Y'all I can't do this anymore. Maybe I'm getting old but I no longer have the stamina to read something I don't enjoy. toodles.




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I was excited for this book but why is it making me sleepy
]]> The Two of Us 123160766
If there’s no place like home, that’s more than okay for Mara Makinen. In fact, she prefers it that way. Going back to the place where she made the worst mistake of her life? Not ideal.

So when a family emergency forces Mara to return home to her small lake town in Maine after seven years, she knows there’s only one way she’ll get through it unscathed: Avoid Ambrose King at all costs.

But that might prove difficult considering he lives right across the street.]]> 349 Taylor Torres Zainab 3 4.03 The Two of Us
author: Taylor Torres
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/17
date added: 2023/08/17
shelves:
review:

]]> That Was Then, This Is Now 33569
Since childhood, Bryon and Mark have been as close as brothers. Now things are changing. Bryon's growing up, spending a lot of time with girls, and thinking seriously about who he wants to be. Mark still just lives for the thrill of the moment. The two are growing apart - until Bryon makes a shocking discovery about Mark. Then Bryon faces a terrible decision - one that will change both of their lives forever.]]> 159 S.E. Hinton 0140389660 Zainab 4 classic The Outsiders is one of my all time favorite book and I wanted to read something similar so I picked this one up. This one's set around the time as The Outsiders and also has Ponyboy's cameo ( I cannot express how happy I got when I read about him!)
The story's great, the book's great but [spoilers removed]
Do yourself a favour and read this book. It's short, sweet and heartwrenching.]]> 3.94 1971 That Was Then, This Is Now
author: S.E. Hinton
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2018/11/29
date added: 2023/07/15
shelves: classic
review:
I had aimed to read 40 books this year and this is my 140th so please believe me when I say I am PROUD of myself!
The Outsiders is one of my all time favorite book and I wanted to read something similar so I picked this one up. This one's set around the time as The Outsiders and also has Ponyboy's cameo ( I cannot express how happy I got when I read about him!)
The story's great, the book's great but [spoilers removed]
Do yourself a favour and read this book. It's short, sweet and heartwrenching.
]]> <![CDATA[What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma]]> 58214328 A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life.

"Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, of migration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bones know."

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.]]> 352 Stephanie Foo 0593238109 Zainab 0 to-read 4.50 2022 What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
author: Stephanie Foo
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![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 Zainab 0 to-read 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:
im not gonna lie, the only reason I've put off reading this book is because of the cover...
]]> <![CDATA[A Husband's Regret (Unwanted, #2)]]> 18663248
It was in that house, two years ago, that Bryce Palmer learned Bronwyn was pregnant with their first child. But Bryce's rage over his impending fatherhood touched off a chain reaction of emotional and physical traumas that wounded them both. For Bronwyn, it meant fleeing the perfect marriage to start over with nothing but a precocious daughter named Kayla to care for. For Bryce, it meant a tortuous two years spent blaming his wife for deserting him, and living with the pain of not knowing his child. Now a chance encounter has brought Bronwyn back into Bryce's life, both bearing scars?and neither knowing the whole truth of that fateful night that drove them apart.]]> 337 Natasha Anders 1477818375 Zainab 1 nope 3.45 2014 A Husband's Regret (Unwanted, #2)
author: Natasha Anders
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2014
rating: 1
read at: 2017/12/31
date added: 2023/03/30
shelves: nope
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)]]> 123027751
Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood–the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire� and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Six Scorched Roses is a standalone fantasy romance novella set in the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, perfect for those who love dark, romantic tales with bite and fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout.]]> 187 Carissa Broadbent Zainab 0 to-read 4.25 2023 Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1.5)
author: Carissa Broadbent
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Guest List 52656911
The bride � The plus one � The best man � The wedding planner � The bridesmaid � The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley Zainab 4
Hadn't read shit since September and wasn't planning on reading anything either but it happened.
Anyways about the book- it's clearly fictional so I can't complain. I mean I'd guess things pretty quickly but I like to think of myself as a dumbass so I didn't think they'd actually happen but they did.
It wasn't bad though. I thoroughly enjoyed it]]> 3.82 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves:
review:
My 600th book! First of all, I'd like to thank myself, my- okay but still I'm proud of myself.

Hadn't read shit since September and wasn't planning on reading anything either but it happened.
Anyways about the book- it's clearly fictional so I can't complain. I mean I'd guess things pretty quickly but I like to think of myself as a dumbass so I didn't think they'd actually happen but they did.
It wasn't bad though. I thoroughly enjoyed it
]]> <![CDATA[If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood]]> 45299992
After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

]]> 431 Gregg Olsen 1542005248 Zainab 0 to-read 3.99 2019 If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom, #1)]]> 58303740
Once, Lan had a different name. Now she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and her days scavenging for what she can find of the past. Anything to understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died.

The mark is mysterious—an untranslatable Hin character—and no one but Lan can see it. Until the night a boy appears at her teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. Their magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Now it must be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

When Zen comes across Lan, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He’s never seen anything like it—but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within—secrets they must hide from others, and secrets that they themselves have yet to discover. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.

Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.]]> 512 Amélie Wen Zhao 059365028X Zainab 0 to-read 3.76 2023 Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom, #1)
author: Amélie Wen Zhao
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir Duology, #1)]]> 61198133 A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.

Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

#1New York Times bestselling author Holly Black returns to the opulent world of Elfhame in the first book in a thrilling new duology, following Jude's brother Oak, and the changeling queen, Suren.]]> 356 Holly Black 0316592706 Zainab 0 currently-reading know I'll end up comparing it to The Cruel Prince
-------
Does this also end with a cliffhanger? ]]> 3.92 2023 The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir Duology, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:
genuinely feel bad for this book because I just know I'll end up comparing it to The Cruel Prince
-------
Does this also end with a cliffhanger?
]]> From Lukov with Love 37683751
After seventeen years—and countless broken bones and broken promises—she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.

But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she’s spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.

Including Ivan Lukov.]]> 493 Mariana Zapata Zainab 2 4.19 2018 From Lukov with Love
author: Mariana Zapata
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Orphan Master's Son 11529868
Considering himself "a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world," Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress "so pure, she didn't know what starving people looked like."

Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master's Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master's Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today's greatest writers.

An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.]]> 443 Adam Johnson 0812992792 Zainab 0 on-hold dark dark, wow ⊙﹏⊙]]> 4.05 2012 The Orphan Master's Son
author: Adam Johnson
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves: on-hold
review:
this is dark dark, wow ⊙﹏�
]]> 1Q84 15772884 Alternate cover edition here.

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that.

But in this world, there are two moons in the sky.

In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both.

Something extraordinary is starting.]]> 1318 Haruki Murakami 0099578077 Zainab 4 Book 2: ⭐⭐ (Good GAWD things got nasty)]]> 3.91 2009 1Q84
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves:
review:
Book 1: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book 2: ⭐⭐ (Good GAWD things got nasty)
]]> 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 Zainab 0 to-read 3.75 2022 Icebreaker (UCMH, #1)
author: Hannah Grace
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Woven Kingdom (This Woven Kingdom, #1)]]> 57992931
The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.

Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.]]> 512 Tahereh Mafi 0062972448 Zainab 5 read-in-one-sitting It was no delusion I can tell you that.
Taherah is such a brilliant writer man. The worldbuilding, the story telling, the characters - everything is just so brilliantly done]]> 3.96 2022 This Woven Kingdom (This Woven Kingdom, #1)
author: Tahereh Mafi
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/03/05
shelves: read-in-one-sitting
review:
the last time I read a T.M book was when I was a teenager (ages ago, basically) so I was kind of worried that my teenage brain had deluded myself into thinking that every T.M book will be good.
It was no delusion I can tell you that.
Taherah is such a brilliant writer man. The worldbuilding, the story telling, the characters - everything is just so brilliantly done
]]> <![CDATA[From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)]]> 52831200 A Maiden�

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty�

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom�

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.]]> 622 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457017 Zainab 3 4.19 2020 From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/08
date added: 2023/03/02
shelves:
review:
The first half of the book was SO good but what fresh hell was the other half?! Ew
]]> The Love Hypothesis 56791359 This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN B08T6XN4FP.

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.]]> 384 Ali Hazelwood Zainab 5 favourites
--------------------------
y'all I saw some cute lil fanarts of this on Pinterest and let me tell you, something shifted.]]> 4.27 2021 The Love Hypothesis
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/10
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves: favourites
review:
butterflies- this gave me butterflies.

--------------------------
y'all I saw some cute lil fanarts of this on Pinterest and let me tell you, something shifted.
]]> Love and Other Words 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 Zainab 4 extra like the way they speak or think, you just know it's a fictional book. I mean this is fiction too, but I like it when there is a touch of reality. It was written beautifully and I absolutely loved the 'before' and 'after' style.

-------------------
I am yet to find one (1) good romance book that I actually enjoy. Fingers, hands, knees, toes-everything crossed for this one.]]> 4.23 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/17
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
review:
Okay out of all the romance books I've read, this one was relatively better. The main characters were so good and realistic and I loved how they were written. You know how when you read a book-especially romance- something about the characters is just so extra like the way they speak or think, you just know it's a fictional book. I mean this is fiction too, but I like it when there is a touch of reality. It was written beautifully and I absolutely loved the 'before' and 'after' style.

-------------------
I am yet to find one (1) good romance book that I actually enjoy. Fingers, hands, knees, toes-everything crossed for this one.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)]]> 43383182
But as she infiltrates her new home - a lush paradise surrounded by tempest seas - and comes to know her new husband, Aren, Lara begins to question where the true evil resides. Around her, she sees a kingdom fighting for survival, and in Aren, a man fiercely protective of his people. As her mission drives her to deeper understanding of the fight to possess the bridge, Lara finds the simmering attraction between her and Aren impossible to ignore. Her goal nearly within reach, Lara will have to decide her own fate: Will she be the destroyer of a king or the savior of her people?]]> 354 Danielle L. Jensen 1733090320 Zainab 3 4.08 2018 The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/23
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
review:
no because enemies-to-lovers will forever be the best trope and no one can convince me otherwise
]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Zainab 5 all-time-favourites No words can describe how much I adored this book. It felt like a nice warm hug that I did not want to end. So friking beautiful.
Will probably reread it and then re-reread it.]]> 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/19
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves: all-time-favourites
review:
Read this because I saw the BTS members reading it and well why the hell not?
No words can describe how much I adored this book. It felt like a nice warm hug that I did not want to end. So friking beautiful.
Will probably reread it and then re-reread it.
]]> Stolen (Stolen, #1) 6408862 It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist—almost.]]> 304 Lucy Christopher 1906427135 Zainab 5 favourites I loved loved loved it!
This story is of a girl who writes to her captor and narrates everything that happened to her,where she was taken to etc etc.
I have to say I kinda felt for Ty,the captor... I mean he was clearly psychotic but still...I felt bad for him...]]> 3.90 2009 Stolen (Stolen, #1)
author: Lucy Christopher
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2017/06/04
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: favourites
review:
Oooooohhh it was so different but sooo good!!!
I loved loved loved it!
This story is of a girl who writes to her captor and narrates everything that happened to her,where she was taken to etc etc.
I have to say I kinda felt for Ty,the captor... I mean he was clearly psychotic but still...I felt bad for him...
]]> Catch Me When I Fall 320196
Cover Artist: Tom Hallman]]> 368 Nicci French 0446618160 Zainab 4 3.58 2005 Catch Me When I Fall
author: Nicci French
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: underrated, what-the-what, mystery-thriller-yada-yada, favourites
review:

]]> Of Mice and Men 186521 121 John Steinbeck 0141023570 Zainab 5 classic, favourites 3.90 1937 Of Mice and Men
author: John Steinbeck
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/06
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: classic, favourites
review:
Guess who'll be reading it again and again and again
]]> To the Women I Once Loved 26850255 150 Pierre Alex Jeanty Zainab 1
"You don’t need to be more of a bad girl, you have to embrace being a good woman and understand what’s popular is usually corruption. Bad is fun, but good is quality and it lasts."

you best believe hands will be thrown cringey boy.]]> 3.87 2015 To the Women I Once Loved
author: Pierre Alex Jeanty
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2021/11/01
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves:
review:
ugh if a guy ever told me

"You don’t need to be more of a bad girl, you have to embrace being a good woman and understand what’s popular is usually corruption. Bad is fun, but good is quality and it lasts."

you best believe hands will be thrown cringey boy.
]]> A Far Wilder Magic 48909025
Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist--yet. Fired from every apprenticeship he's landed, his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret and her bloodhound Trouble. Margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her.

Although they make an unlikely team, Wes is in awe of the girl who has endured alone on the outskirts of a town that doesn’t want her, in this creaking house of ghosts and sorrow. And even though Wes disrupts every aspect of her life, Margaret is drawn to him. He, too, knows what it's like to be an outsider. As the hunt looms closer and tensions rise, Margaret and Wes uncover dark magic that could be the key to winning the hunt - if they survive that long.]]> 384 Allison Saft 1250623650 Zainab 4 It's not very heavy fantasy either so if you're looking for something light and not much time-consuming, I 100% recommend this.]]> 3.84 2022 A Far Wilder Magic
author: Allison Saft
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/22
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves:
review:
if you're looking for a stand-alone fantasy book, I've got you covered. This BOOK. I was not expecting to like it this much. The characters are phenomenal, especially our beloved Wes. I love him so much.
It's not very heavy fantasy either so if you're looking for something light and not much time-consuming, I 100% recommend this.
]]> The Bodyguard 58724801 Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with her bare hands. But the truth is, she's an elite bodyguard and she's just been hired to protect a superstar actor from his stalker.

Jack Stapleton's a Hollywood heartthrob - captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, rising out of the waves in clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity.

When Jack's mom gets sick, he comes home to the family's Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn't want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah - against her will and her better judgment - finds herself pretending to be Jack's girlfriend as a cover.

Protecting Jack should be easy. But protecting her own heart? That's the hardest thing she's ever done...]]> 302 Katherine Center 1250219396 Zainab 1
description

---------------------
This plot reminds me of that one Korean drama lol]]> 3.94 2022 The Bodyguard
author: Katherine Center
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2023/02/27
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves:
review:
what did i just read....?

description

---------------------
This plot reminds me of that one Korean drama lol
]]> Heartless 18584855 Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.]]> 453 Marissa Meyer 1250044650 Zainab 0 currently-reading 4.10 2016 Heartless
author: Marissa Meyer
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:
my sadistic ass picked it up *just* because people said it emotionally wrecked them
]]> Every Summer After 58784776 Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.

A magazine writer has to make a choice when she returns to the lake she grew up on, and to the man she thought she'd never have to live without, in this achingly nostalgic debut.

They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser that has felt too true for the last decade, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until the day she gets a call that sends her racing back to Barry's Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek.

For five summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family restaurant and curling up together with books--medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her--Percy and Sam had been inseparable. And slowly that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake to attend Sam's mother's funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. Percy must confront the decisions she's made and the years she's spent punishing herself for them, in order to determine, once and for all, whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Told over the course of five years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.]]> 320 Carley Fortune Zainab 2 4.22 2022 Every Summer After
author: Carley Fortune
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/13
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves:
review:
God the ending was awful. Hated the direction it took at the near end. The first half was so good but they just had to ruin it
]]> People We Meet on Vacation 54985743 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?]]> 400 Emily Henry 1984806750 Zainab 4 My 700th book yay! 3.85 2021 People We Meet on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/13
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves:
review:
My 700th book yay!
]]> Bright Side (Bright Side, #1) 22669832 Everyone has one.
Some are bigger than others.
And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you ...
And some will end you.

Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.

They both feel it.
But they each have a reason to fight it.
They each have a secret.

And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you �
And some will end you.
]]> 423 Kim Holden 0991140222 Zainab 0 to-read 4.27 2014 Bright Side (Bright Side, #1)
author: Kim Holden
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Infinity Between Us 59652222
But before the two even had a chance to claim the love they’d spent their entire lives creating, disaster struck, tearing the two lovers—and their families—apart.

Heartbroken and haunted by the memories of that fateful summer, Violet struggles to move on from the past. Still, she promises herself to never contact Will again. But five years later, when Violet arrives to finalize the sale of the property, she finds Will right where she left him: sun-kissed, loving, and so incredibly sorry.

At first, she wants nothing to do with him, but Violet soon realizes that it’s inevitable and that the past she was running away from might actually hold the key to the love and the happiness she believed was stolen away from her five summers ago.]]> 311 N.S. Perkins Zainab 0 to-read 3.77 2021 The Infinity Between Us
author: N.S. Perkins
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Deserve Valentine's Day Brunch]]> 61153459 15 Sarah Hogle Zainab 5 4.44 You Deserve Valentine's Day Brunch
author: Sarah Hogle
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/25
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1)]]> 55987278 How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy...]]> 408 Stephanie Garber 1250268397 Zainab 4 4.06 2021 Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/18
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves:
review:
WHY DID IT END THERE OH MY GODD
]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked, #1)]]> 52735921 Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself...
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin...desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems...]]> 372 Kerri Maniscalco 0316428469 Zainab 3 3.87 2020 Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked, #1)
author: Kerri Maniscalco
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/21
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves:
review:
I'm kinda disappointed tbh....
]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2)]]> 59808071 Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can...]]> 416 Stephanie Garber 1250268427 Zainab 5 it's currently 6am and I don't know what to do?! Do I go to sleep or do I read every single review just to feel something because I don't think what I'm feeling right now is good for me mentally.
I WANT THE THIRD PART NOW GOOD GOD!]]> 4.49 2022 The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves: read-in-one-sitting, favourites, all-time-favourites
review:
OH MY GAWD YOU GUYS WHAT THE WHAT
it's currently 6am and I don't know what to do?! Do I go to sleep or do I read every single review just to feel something because I don't think what I'm feeling right now is good for me mentally.
I WANT THE THIRD PART NOW GOOD GOD!
]]> <![CDATA[The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)]]> 37772713 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 1471407039 Zainab 5 favourites But I loved it and I'm really surprised by that.]]> 4.05 2018 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/05
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves: favourites
review:
There's plenty of reasons why I thought I wouldn't like this one; a- (almost) everyone loves it, b- Sarah J Maas kind of ruined the whole faerie stuff for me when I read ACOTAR (spoiler alert: it was awful) and c- the word faerie makes me cringe.
But I loved it and I'm really surprised by that.
]]> <![CDATA[The American Roommate Experiment (Love Deception, #2)]]> 60114057 From the author of the ŷ 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 Zainab 0
Good God it could not get any tropier
Hard no ❌❌]]> 3.78 2022 The American Roommate Experiment (Love Deception, #2)
author: Elena Armas
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves:
review:
Dnf

Good God it could not get any tropier
Hard no ❌❌
]]> <![CDATA[The Spanish Love Deception (Love Deception, #1)]]> 54189398
She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.]]> 487 Elena Armas 1668002531 Zainab 4 Cuteee 3.80 2021 The Spanish Love Deception (Love Deception, #1)
author: Elena Armas
name: Zainab
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/23
date added: 2023/02/23
shelves:
review:
Cuteee
]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy, #1)]]> 20640755
This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.

Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…]]> 282 Amy Engel Zainab 0 to-read 4.13 2014 The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy, #1)
author: Amy Engel
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Memoirs of a Geisha 930
In "Memoirs of a Geisha," we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.]]> 434 Arthur Golden 0739326228 Zainab 3 Apparently, the author made a lot of things up? well ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯]]> 4.07 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha
author: Arthur Golden
name: Zainab
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/08
date added: 2023/02/22
shelves:
review:
I don't know what to make of this one. I liked the writing, I found the story okay but it was hard to get through. Not that it was bad but just the sexualization of everything had gotten a bit too much.
Apparently, the author made a lot of things up? well ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯
]]>