Kat's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 11 Apr 2025 23:05:34 -0700 60 Kat's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Book Censor's Library 175678711
The new book censor hasn’t slept soundly in weeks. By day he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish―allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams, and pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture.

Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell’s 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Book Censor’s Library is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.]]> 272 Bothayna Al-Essa 1632063344 Kat 4 3.93 2019 The Book Censor's Library
author: Bothayna Al-Essa
name: Kat
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death]]> 1226104 336 Barry Meier 1579546382 Kat 5 2019-reads, non-fiction 3.96 2003 Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death
author: Barry Meier
name: Kat
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/27
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 2019-reads, non-fiction
review:
A really great book about the history of the opioid crisis. I’ve read a lot about this topic so some of the information in this book was not new to me but it was presented really well and there was also stuff that was new to me that was very interesting. I thought this book was very well written and very accessible to everyone. I would definitely recommend it.
]]> <![CDATA[The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces]]> 552476 Project for Public Spaces, which grew out of Holly's Street Life Project and continues his work around the world, has acquired the reprint rights to Social Life, with the intent of making it available to the widest possible audience and ensuring that the Whyte family receive their fair share of Holly's legacy.
From the forward:
For more than 30 years, Project for Public Spaces has been using observations, surveys, interviews and workshops to study and transform public spaces around the world into community places. Every week we give presentations about why some public spaces work and why others don't, using the techniques, ideas, and memorable phrases from William H. "Holly" Whyte's The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.
Holly Whyte was both our mentor and our friend. Perhaps his most important gift was the ability to show us how to discover for ourselves why some public spaces work and others don't. With the publication of The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces and its companion film in 1980, the world could see that through the basic tools of observation and interviews, we can learn an immense amount about how to make our cities more livable. In doing so, Holly Whyte laid the groundwork for a major movement to change the way public spaces are built and planned. It is our pleasure to offer this important book back to the world it is helping to transform.]]> 125 William H. Whyte 097063241X Kat 0 to-read 4.33 1980 The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
author: William H. Whyte
name: Kat
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Chain 42779092
"You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last." Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals—and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you'd have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago.

But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning.]]> 357 Adrian McKinty 031653126X Kat 0 currently-reading, 2025 3.77 2019 The Chain
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Kat
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: currently-reading, 2025
review:

]]> V13: Chronicle of a Trial 207375697
Nearly every day for ten months, from September 2021 to June 2022, life on the Île de la Cité in central Paris came to a standstill. The most expensive and complex trial in French history—featuring twenty men accused of involvement in the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan and other sites across Paris—was underway. More than three hundred lawyers represented thousands of victims and the accused, all of whom were given the chance to testify. The case ran to more than a million pages. And, nearly every day for ten months, Emmanuel Carrère showed his press pass, walked through a metal detector, and took a seat in a windowless courtroom to bear witness.

V13 isn’t so much the story of a trial but of the community that formed around it—a city within the city, home to the innocent and the accused, the forgiving and the vengeful, the outspoken and the silent. Carrère introduces us to lawyers, survivors, family members, and above all the defendants, assembling in painstaking detail a human portrait of the crime. What emerges from these pages is a study of good and evil—and a philosophical journey through the borderlands between the two. Not since Eichmann in Jerusalem has there been a book of this scope and ambition.]]> 320 Emmanuel Carrère 0374615705 Kat 5 4.40 2022 V13: Chronicle of a Trial
author: Emmanuel Carrère
name: Kat
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Chateau (The Original Sinners, #8.4)]]> 35497678
The cult’s holy book is Story of O, the infamous French novel of extreme sado-masochism. Their château is a looking-glass world where women reign and men are their willing slaves. Or are they willing? It’s Kingsley’s mission to find out.

Once inside the château, however, Kingsley quickly falls under the erotic spell cast by the enigmatic Madame, a woman of wisdom, power, and beauty. She offers Kingsley the one thing he’s always wanted. But the price? Giving up forever the only person he’s ever loved.


The Chateau is a new standalone Original Sinners novel from international bestseller Tiffany Reisz, author of The Siren and The Lucky Ones.]]> 268 Tiffany Reisz 1548681954 Kat 0 to-read 4.06 2018 The Chateau (The Original Sinners, #8.4)
author: Tiffany Reisz
name: Kat
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway]]> 22237163
On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb outside government buildings in central Oslo, killing eight people. He then proceeded to a youth camp on the island of Utøya, where he killed sixty-nine more, most of them teenage members of Norway’s governing Labour Party. In The Island, the journalist Åsne Seierstad tells the story of this terrible day and what led up to it. What made Breivik, a gifted child from an affluent neighborhood in Oslo, become a terrorist?    

As in her bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, Seierstad excels at the vivid portraiture of lives under stress. She delves deep into Breivik’s troubled childhood, showing how a hip-hop and graffiti aficionado became a right-wing activist and Internet game addict, and then an entrepreneur, Freemason, and self-styled master warrior who sought to “save Norway� from the threat of Islam and multiculturalism. She writes with equal intimacy about Breivik’s victims, tracing their political awakenings, aspirations to improve their country, and ill-fated journeys to the island. By the time Seierstad reaches Utøya, we know both the killer and those he will kill. We have also gotten to know an entire country—famously peaceful and prosperous, and utterly incapable of protecting its youth.]]> 530 Åsne Seierstad 0374277893 Kat 5 4.38 2013 One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway
author: Ă…sne Seierstad
name: Kat
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hate: The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in France (and What It Means for Us)]]> 41860080 Hate, proposes that both the small-scale and large-scale acts of violence have their roots in not one, but two very specific forms of populism: an extreme and violent ethos of hate spread among the Muslim post-colonial suburban developments on the one hand, and the deeply-rooted French ultra-conservatism of the far right. Weitzmann's shrewd on-the-ground reporting is woven throughout with the history surrounding the legacies of the French Revolution, the Holocaust, and Gaulist "Arab-French policy."

Hate is a chilling and important account that shows how the rebirth of French Anti-Semitism relates to the new global terror wave, revealing France to be a veritable localized laboratory for a global phenomenon.]]> 323 Marc Weitzmann 0544791347 Kat 0 to-read 4.00 2019 Hate: The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in France (and What It Means for Us)
author: Marc Weitzmann
name: Kat
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Enron 7169488
One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a theatrical epic. At once a case study and an allegory, the play charts the notorious rise and fall of Enron and its founding partners Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who became 'the most vilified figure from the financial scandal of the century.'


Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, Enron follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss which reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.


The play is Lucy Prebble's first work for the stage since her debut work The Sugar Syndrome, winner of the George Devine and Critic's Circle Awards for Most Promising New Playwright. Produced by Headlong, Enron premiered at Chichester's Minerva Theatre on 11 July 2009 and opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September, before transferring to London's West End Jan - May 2010 and to Broadway April 2010.]]> 128 Lucy Prebble 140812467X Kat 0 3.74 2009 Enron
author: Lucy Prebble
name: Kat
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World]]> 138505710
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.]]> 416 Naomi Klein 0374610320 Kat 4 4.21 2023 Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
author: Naomi Klein
name: Kat
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace]]> 60281667
“Engaging and profound, this deeply searching book explains the true origins of warfare, and it illustrates the ways that, despite some contrary appearances, human beings are capable of great goodness.”—Nicholas A. Christakis author of The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Will China invade Taiwan and launch WWIII? Why has the number of civil wars reached their highest level in decades? Why are so many cities in the Americas plagued with violence? And finally, what can any of us do about it?

It feels like we’re surrounded by violence. Each conflict seems unique and insoluble. With a reason for every war and a war for every reason, what hope is there for peace? Fortunately, it’s simpler than that. Why We Fight boils down decades of economics, political science, psychology, and real-world interventions, giving us some counterintuitive answers to the question of war. 

The first is that most of the time we don’t fight. Around the world, there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a fraction erupt into violence. Most enemies loathe one another in peace. The reason is war is too costly to fight. It’s the worst way to settle our differences.
In those rare instances when fighting ensues, that means we have to ask What kept rivals from the normal, grudging compromise? The answer is always the It’s because a society or its leaders ignored those costs of war, or were willing to pay them.

Why We Fight shows that there are just five ways this happens. From warring states to street gangs, ethnic groups and religious sects to political factions, Christopher Blattman shows that there are five reasons why violent conflict occasionally wins over compromise.
Through Blattman’s time studying Medellín, Chicago, Liberia, Northern Ireland, and more, we learn the common logics driving vainglorious monarchs, dictators, mobs, pilots, football hooligans, ancient peoples, and fanatics. Why We Fight shows that war isn’t a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. There are underlying strategic, ideological, and institutional forces that are too often overlooked.
So how to get to peace?

Blattman shows that societies are surprisingly good at interrupting and ending violence when they want to—even gangs do it. The best peacemakers tackle the five reasons, shifting incentives away from violence and getting rivals back to dealmaking. And they do so through tinkering, not transformation.

Realistic and optimistic, this is a book that lends new meaning to the adage “Give peace a chance.”]]> 400 Christopher Blattman 1984881574 Kat 4 3.89 Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace
author: Christopher Blattman
name: Kat
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:

]]> The Mountain in the Sea 59808603 Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses� advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.]]> 456 Ray Nayler 0374605955 Kat 0 to-read 3.87 2022 The Mountain in the Sea
author: Ray Nayler
name: Kat
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point]]> 122769171
America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is this happening here, and not in other diversifying nations? And what can we do to save our democracy?

With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. They draw on a wealth of examples—from 1930s France to present-day Thailand—to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy: When political leaders realize they can no longer win at the ballot box, they begin to attack the system from within, condoning violent extremists and using the law as a weapon. Unfortunately, our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable. It is a pernicious enabler of minority rule, allowing partisan minorities to consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities. Most modern democracies—from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand—have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges. The United States lags dangerously behind.

In this revelatory book, Levitsky and Ziblatt issue an urgent call to perfect our national experiment. It’s a daunting task, but we have remade our country before—most notably, after the Civil War and during the Progressive Era. And now we are at a crossroads: America will either become a multiracial democracy or it will cease to be a democracy at all.]]> 368 Steven Levitsky 0593443071 Kat 4 4.37 2023 Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
author: Steven Levitsky
name: Kat
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Autocracy, Inc. 183932735 224 Anne Applebaum 0241627893 Kat 4 4.21 2024 Autocracy, Inc.
author: Anne Applebaum
name: Kat
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Turnglass 67658761
And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver’s brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver’s library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver’s tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other.

1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn’t believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum.

But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a tête-bêche novel—which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee...

Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction.]]> 512 Gareth Rubin 1398514497 Kat 0 to-read 3.49 2023 The Turnglass
author: Gareth Rubin
name: Kat
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)]]> 218537468
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to know: Who killed J. D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?

As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past, as long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery posthaste. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.]]> 336 Nita Prose 0593356209 Kat 3 3.82 2023 The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)
author: Nita Prose
name: Kat
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Not as good as the first one. I found it predictable and I really don’t enjoy mysteries with split timelines.
]]> <![CDATA[Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers, #1)]]> 199238869
Someone is stalking Audrey Young. And she has no idea why.

It’s bad enough that she’s back in Tilikum. But Audrey’s good at making the best of things and her new job at the small-town newspaper is just a way to get back on her feet.

Complicating matters is her landlord and new neighbor, Josiah Haven.

She doesn’t usually go for the big, surly lumberjack type. But there’s something about that broody man. He intimidates her a little, but she kind of likes it.

She could totally handle the mess that is her life, except the strange feeling of being watched is just the beginning. Next thing Audrey knows, she’s a target, and she doesn’t know who’s behind it, or why.

For Josiah Haven, none of that makes her his problem.

She’s just the girl next door. Fine, the frustratingly hot girl next door. But Audrey is all sunshine and her goofy dog isn’t any better. Josiah is too stoic. Too solitary. Too guarded. He doesn’t need a woman in his life, especially one who threatens to crack his heart wide open.

But Josiah is a protector and he can’t let Audrey’s troubles go unanswered, even if he has to risk everything—his life and his heart—to keep her safe.

Author’s Note : a grumpy loner meets his match in a sunshiney dog lover who’s a little down on her luck. And once he falls, he falls HARD. It’s small-town romantic suspense with CK’s signature humor, endearing characters, and heartwarming happily ever after.

Obsession Falls can be read as a stand-alone.]]> 432 Claire Kingsley Kat 3 2025
Never felt like the stakes were super high until almost the very end. I like a bit more drama and intrigue in my romantic suspense. The reveal of who the bad guy was was also extremely lackluster.]]> 4.07 2023 Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers, #1)
author: Claire Kingsley
name: Kat
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: 2025
review:
2.5 Stars.

Never felt like the stakes were super high until almost the very end. I like a bit more drama and intrigue in my romantic suspense. The reveal of who the bad guy was was also extremely lackluster.
]]> Don't Let Him In 220160814 Three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

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

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

But Nick and Al may not be who they say they are, leading these three women on a shocking collision course, wishing they had heeded a warning: Don’t let him in.]]> 368 Lisa Jewell 1668033879 Kat 0 to-read 4.00 2025 Don't Let Him In
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Kat
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hans (Alliance, #4) 199901720
How to make the handsome, brooding man across the street notice me.

Step one: Deliver baked goods to his front porch, even though he never answers his door and always returns the containers when I'm not home.

Step two: Slowly lose my mind as a whole year passes without ever running into him, no matter how hard I try.

Step three: Have my boudoir photos accidentally delivered to his mailbox instead of mine. Have him open the package. Then have him storm into my home for the most panty-melting scolding of my life.

Step four: Still figuring out step four.

HANS

I'm a dangerous man.

A man who has spent the last two decades removing so many souls from this earth that it's a miracle my hands aren't permanently stained red.

I'm a man who belongs in the shadows.

I certainly don't belong in my pretty little neighbor's bedroom when she's not home, touching her things and inhaling her scent.

I shouldn't follow her. Shouldn't watch her. Because no number of cookies on my doorstep will change the fact that love isn't an option for me.

The only option left for me is violence.]]> 432 S.J. Tilly Kat 3 2025 4.28 Hans (Alliance, #4)
author: S.J. Tilly
name: Kat
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2025
review:
Not as much danger and drama as I would have liked. A bit too silly for me at times but enjoyable enough at others.
]]> <![CDATA[The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family]]> 194803883 The riveting story of five families shattered by pernicious, pervasive conspiracy theories, and how we might set ourselves free from a crisis that could haunt American life for generations.

“SHED MY DNA�: three excruciating words uttered by a QAnon-obsessed mother, once a highly respected lawyer, to her only son, once the closest person in her life. QAnon beliefs and adjacent conspiracy theories have had devastating political consequences as they’ve exploded in popularity. What’s often overlooked is the lasting havoc they wreak on our society at its most basic and intimate level—the family.

In The Quiet Damage, celebrated reporter Jesselyn Cook paints a harrowing portrait of the vulnerabilities that have left so many of us susceptible to outrageous falsehoods promising order, purpose, and control. Braided throughout are the stories of five American families: an elderly couple whose fifty-year romance takes a heartbreaking turn; millennial sisters of color who grew up in dire poverty—one to become a BLM activist, the other, a hardcore conspiracy theorist pulling her little boy down the rabbit hole with her; a Bay Area hippie-type and her business-executive fiancé, who must decide whether to stay with her as she turns into a stranger before his eyes; evangelical parents whose simple life in a sleepy suburb spirals into delusion-fueled chaos; and a rural mother-son duo who, after carrying each other through unspeakable tragedy, stop speaking at all as ludicrous untruths shatter a bond long thought unbreakable.

Charting the arc of each believer’s path from their first intersection with conspiracy theories to the depths of their cultish conviction, to—in some cases—their rejection of disinformation and the mending of fractured relationships, Cook offers a rare, intimate look into the psychology of how and why ordinary people come to believe the unbelievable. Profound, brilliantly researched, and beautifully written, The Quiet Damage lays bare how we have been taken hostage by grifters peddling lies built on false hope—and how we might release our loved ones, and ourselves, from their grasp.]]> 250 Jesselyn Cook 059344325X Kat 0 to-read 4.46 2024 The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
author: Jesselyn Cook
name: Kat
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s]]> 195790601
With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.� Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today.

In When the Clock Broke , the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents. Ranging from upheavals in Crown Heights and Los Angeles to the advent of David Duke and the heartland survivalists, the broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh, and the bitter disputes between neoconservatives and the “paleo-con� right, Ganz immerses us in a time when what Philip Roth called the “indigenous American berserk� took new and ever-wilder forms. In the 1992 campaign, Pat Buchanan's and Ross Perot’s insurgent populist bids upended the political establishment, all while Americans struggled through recession, alarm about racial and social change, the specter of a new power in Asia, and the end of Cold War–era political norms. Conspiracy theories surged, and intellectuals and activists strove to understand the “Middle American Radicals� whose alienation fueled new causes. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton appeared to forge a new, vital center, though it would not hold for long.

In a rollicking, eye-opening book, Ganz narrates the fall of the Reagan order and the rise of a new and more turbulent America.]]> 432 John Ganz 0374605440 Kat 0 to-read 4.08 2024 When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
author: John Ganz
name: Kat
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Protecting Piper (Wilde Ways, #1)]]> 42975794 She was off limits.

Eric Wilde has always known that Piper Lane isn’t for him. She is his younger brother’s best friend…and probably more. But that hasn’t stopped Eric from wanting her. For longing for the one woman that he can’t have. Sure, he’s rich, successful—he’s built a security empire, and he’s got the world at his feet. Only he doesn’t have her.

He is the one man she needs the most.

Free-spirited Piper Lane has always considered Eric to be the enemy. He’s seemed to resent her, and the guy just flat-out makes her nervous. Every time she’s around him, she winds up doing something horribly embarrassing. But, this time…everything has changed. This time, he’s the one man she needs the most.

Something is stalking Piper.

A stranger has broken into Piper’s home twice, and she feels like someone is following her. Watching her every move. She needs a professional to help her—so enter Eric Wilde. He promises her protection, he promises to put his best investigators on her case, and he even moves her into his house. Suddenly, the guy who has always been the villain in her life…he’s now playing the role of hero.

Everything will change as the danger mounts.

And maybe Eric isn’t so bad, after all. The more time that Piper spends with him, the more she realizes that her feelings for Eric are far more complicated that she ever imagined. Desire explodes between them even as the danger deepens around her. Someone in the dark is targeting Piper, and he is determined that if he can’t possess her…then he will destroy her.

PROTECTING PIPER…a sizzling new romantic suspense from New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cynthia Eden. ]]> 308 Cynthia Eden 1942840535 Kat 3 2025 4.02 2019 Protecting Piper (Wilde Ways, #1)
author: Cynthia Eden
name: Kat
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2025
review:
The inability of these characters to communicate was infuriating at times but not an awful way to spend three hours on a plane.
]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Obsession (Saint View Rebels, #2)]]> 178622337 418 Elle Thorpe 1922760366 Kat 3 2025 4.30 2023 Rebel Obsession (Saint View Rebels, #2)
author: Elle Thorpe
name: Kat
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2025
review:

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

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

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Kat 0 to-read 3.67 2024 We Used to Live Here
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Kat
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/02
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]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1)]]> 52717097 My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a city and a country undergoing momentous change.]]> 331 Elena Ferrante Kat 0 to-read 4.11 2011 My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Kat
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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

Doug says he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman, but the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she behaves. As Annie's relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder whether Doug truly desires what he says he does. In such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?]]> 231 Sierra Greer 0063312697 Kat 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Annie Bot
author: Sierra Greer
name: Kat
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Since She's Been Gone 150065076 An emotionally charged, dual-timeline suspense set between L. A. and NYC, this debut novel is perfect for fans of The Last Thing He Told Me and Luckiest Girl Alive.

A clinical psychologist is thrown into her dark past as she races to uncover the truth about her mother's death while struggling with her own mental health.

Can we ever truly know the people we love?

Losing her mother to a hit-and-run at age 15 threw Beatrice “Beans� Bennett’s life into turmoil. Bereft, she developed a life-threatening eating disorder, and went through a challenging recovery process which paved the way for her work as a clinical psychologist decades later. 

When a new patient arrives at her office and insists that Beans’s mother is still alive—and in danger—Beans is forced to revisit her past in order to uncover the truth. She learns the “patient� is a member of a notorious family that owns a drug company largely responsible for the national opioid epidemic, and that her mother was once tangled in their web. In a race against time—and her mother’s assailants—while once again facing the disorder she thought she’d put behind her, Beans discovers that, like herself, her mother had a devastating secret. 

With its fast-moving, edge-of-your-seat action and intimate look at mental health, Since She’s Been Gone will keep readers in its grasp long after the last page.]]> 320 Sagit Schwartz 1639106278 Kat 2 2025 3.61 2024 Since She's Been Gone
author: Sagit Schwartz
name: Kat
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: 2025
review:
The bad guys in this book are quite clearly based on the Sacklers, but the Sacklers are evil in the normal way very wealthy drug manufacturers are. The family in this book is cartoonishly evil and I could not suspend my disbelief enough for that. The two timelines are not well integrated and so neither is the ED storyline. I'm not one to get too fussy about "show, don't tell," but the amount of telling is pretty egregious. I found the ending silly. There's the bones of something good her, but this author needs a stronger editor for her second novel.
]]> <![CDATA[Reforged (The World of Reforged Book 1)]]> 61436183
Now with their nation threatened by enemies both within and outside the kingdom, Balen must fight hidden traitors and unnatural assassins, while also contending with the biting wit and dangerous charm of young King Zavrius. To save themselves and their nation they will have to put aside their past and reforge that trust they lost so long ago.

113,780]]> 388 Seth Haddon 1956422005 Kat 0 to-read 3.72 2022 Reforged (The World of Reforged Book 1)
author: Seth Haddon
name: Kat
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism]]> 66623295
Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement.

Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed that killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. He cited the Declaration of Independence: “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.� He had obsessively followed the siege of Waco and seethed at the imposition of President Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban. A self-proclaimed white separatist, he abhorred immigration and wanted women to return to traditional roles. As he watched the industrial decline of his native Buffalo, McVeigh longed for when America was great.

New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.� But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol. Based on nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton, Homegrown reveals how the story of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing is not only a powerful retelling of one of the great outrages of our time, but a warning for our future.]]> 426 Jeffrey Toobin 1668013592 Kat 4 2025 4.32 2023 Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
author: Jeffrey Toobin
name: Kat
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Century of Anarchy: Neutral Moresnet through the Revisionist Lens]]> 22738150 32 Peter C. Earle Kat 0 3.85 2014 A Century of Anarchy: Neutral Moresnet through the Revisionist Lens
author: Peter C. Earle
name: Kat
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:
Read for school so no rating but I didn’t like this
]]> <![CDATA[The Murders of Moisés Ville: The Rise and Fall of the Jerusalem of South America]]> 60375264 Award-winning journalist Javier Sinay investigates a series of murders from the nineteenth century, unearthing the complex history and legacy of Moisés Ville, the “Jerusalem of South America,� and his personal connection to a defining period of Jewish history in Argentina.

When Argentine journalist Javier Sinay discovers an article from 1947 by his great-grandfather detailing twenty-two murders that had occurred in Moisés Ville at the end of the nineteenth century, he launches his own investigation that soon turns into something deeper: an exploration of the history of Moisés Ville, one of the first Jewish agricultural communities in Argentina, and Sinay’s own connection to this historically thriving Jewish epicenter.

Seeking refuge from the pogroms of Czarist Russia, a group of Jewish immigrants founded Moisés Ville in the late 1880s. Like their town’s prophetic namesake, these immigrants fled one form of persecution only to encounter a different set of hardships: exploitative land prices, starvation, illness, language barriers, and a series of murders perpetrated by roving gauchos who preyed upon their vulnerability. Sinay, though a descendant of these immigrants, is unfamiliar with this turbulent history, and his research into the spate of violence plunges him into his family’s past and their link to Moisés Ville. He combs through libraries and archives in search of documents about the murders and hires a book detective to track down issues of Der Viderkol, the first Yiddish newspaper in Argentina started by his great-grandfather. He even enrolls in Yiddish classes so he can read the newspaper and other contemporaneous records for himself. Through interviews with his family members, current residents of Moisés Ville, historians, and archivists, Sinay compiles moving portraits of the victims of these heinous murders and reveals the fascinating and complex history of the town once known as the “Jerusalem of South America.”]]> 288 Javier Sinay 1632062984 Kat 0 to-read 3.38 2013 The Murders of Moisés Ville: The Rise and Fall of the Jerusalem of South America
author: Javier Sinay
name: Kat
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial]]> 57693411
Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?

Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct descendants to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions.

With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who live their lives on their own terms.]]> 320 Mona Chollet 125027141X Kat 0 to-read 3.86 2018 In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial
author: Mona Chollet
name: Kat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> The Ascent 60388586 A dazzling new novel by Stefan Hertmans, author of the modern classic War and Turpentine.

In the first year of the new millennium, a book came into my hands from which I learned that for twenty years I had lived in the house of a former SS man.

In 1979, Stefan Hertmans fell in love with a beautiful dilapidated old house in Ghent in Belgium, which he lovingly rescued from decay, as it became his peaceful sanctuary. Now, all these years later, he learns that a bust of Hitler once sat on the mantelpiece, and a war criminal relaxed in its rooms with his family.

This shocking discovery sends Hertmans off to the archives and to interview next of kin, to uncover the secrets of the house and reimagine this man's life and expose the atrocities he's responsible for. We see Willem Verhulst as a weak, narcissistic man who climbed high in the ranks of the SS; a fascinating and chilling case study for the cruel and perverse mentality of the Nazis.

A story of war, family, and individual fate, The Ascent portrays the deep tragedy of Flemish collaboration during World War Two. Hertmans masterfully brings history and the house to life, as he appears in the novel as a trusted guide, and imagines individual lives to tell the greater European story.

Translated from the Dutch by David McKay]]> 416 Stefan Hertmans 1787303071 Kat 0 to-read 3.56 2020 The Ascent
author: Stefan Hertmans
name: Kat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> Foucault in Warsaw 57117243
In 1958, Michel Foucault arrived in Poland to work on his thesis—a work that eventually came to be published as The History of Madness. While he was there, he became involved with a number of members of the gay community, including a certain “Jurek,� who eventually lead the secret police directly to Foucault’s hotel room, causing his subsequent exit from Poland. That boy’s motivations and true identity were hidden among secret police documents for decades, until Remigiusz Ryziński stumbled upon the right report and uncovered the truth about the whole situation.

Nominated for the Nike Literary Award, Foucault in Warsaw reconstructs a vibrant, engaging picture of gay life in Poland under communism—from the joys found in secret nightclubs, to the fears of not knowing who was a secret informant.]]> 220 Remigiusz Ryziński 1948830361 Kat 0 to-read 3.49 2017 Foucault in Warsaw
author: Remigiusz Ryziński
name: Kat
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold]]> 59617268
Choosing as her subject four iconic homicides perpetrated by Chilean women in the twentieth century, she spent years researching this brilliant work of narrative nonfiction detailing not only the troubling tales of the murders themselves, but the story of how society, the media and men in power reacted to these killings, painting their perpetrators as witches, hysterics, or femmes fatales . . . That is, either evil or out of control.

Corina Rojas, Rosa Faúndez, Carolina Geel and Teresa Alfaro all committed murder. Their crimes not only led to substantial court decisions, but gave rise to multiple novels, poems, short stories, paintings, plays, songs and films, produced and reproduced throughout the last century. In When Women Kill, we are provided with timelines of events leading up to and following their killings, their apprehension by the authorities, their trials and their representation in the media throughout and following the judicial process. Running in parallel with this often horrifying testimony are the diaries kept by Trabucco Zerán while she worked on her research, addressing the obstacles and dilemmas she encountered as she tackled this discomfiting yet necessary project.]]> 242 Alia Trabucco Zerán 191350526X Kat 0 to-read 3.79 2022 When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold
author: Alia Trabucco Zerán
name: Kat
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Impostor: A True Story 37511063 From the award-winning author of Soldiers of Salamis, a propulsive and riveting narrative investigation into an infamous fraud: a man who has been lying his entire life.

Who is Enric Marco? An elderly man in his nineties, living in Barcelona, a Holocaust survivor who gave hundreds of speeches, granted dozens of interviews, received important national honors, and even moved government officials to tears. But in May 2005, Marco was exposed as a fraud: he was never in a Nazi concentration camp. The story was reported around the world, transforming him from hero to villain in the blink of an eye. Now, more than a decade later--in a hypnotic narrative that combines fiction and nonfiction, detective story and war story, biography and autobiography--Javier Cercas sets out to unravel Marco's enigma. With both profound compassion and lacerating honesty, Cercas takes the reader on a journey not only into one man's gigantic lie, but also--through its exploration of our infinite capacity for self-deception, our opposing needs for fantasy and reality, our appetite for affection--into the deepest, most flawed parts of our humanity.]]> 384 Javier Cercas 1524732818 Kat 0 to-read 3.56 2014 The Impostor: A True Story
author: Javier Cercas
name: Kat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> Dead Girls 49008146
Almada narrates the case of three small-town teenage girls murdered in the 1980’s; three unpunished deaths that occurred before the word â€femicideâ€� was even coined. In this brutal but necessary novel, Almada brings to the fore these crimes committed in the interior of the country, while Argentina was celebrating the return of democracy. Three deaths without culprits: 19-year old Andrea Danne, stabbed in her own bed; 15-year old MarĂ­a Luisa Quevedo, raped, strangled, and dumped in wasteland; and 20-year old Sarita MundĂ­n, whose disfigured body was found on a river bank. Selva Almada takes these and other tales of abused women to weave together a dry, straightforward portrait of gender violence that surpasses national borders and speaks to readersâ€� consciousness all over the world.

This is not a police chronicle, although there is an investigation. This is not a thriller, although there is mystery and suspense. The real noir element of Dead Girls lies in the heart of the women described here and of the men that have abused them. With her unique style of prose that captures the invisible, and with lyrical brutality, Almada manages to blaze new trails in this kind of journalistic fiction.]]> 170 Selva Almada 1916277845 Kat 0 to-read 3.86 2014 Dead Girls
author: Selva Almada
name: Kat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> Did This Hand Kill? 91359781 Ĺ»eby Nie ByĹ‚o ĹšladĂłw (Leave No Trace) depicting the case of the political murder of Grzegorz Przemyk—which earned Ĺazarewicz the Nike Literary Award in 2017â€�Did This Hand Kill? focuses on the case of Rita Gorgonowa, a cause cĂ©lèbre of the interwar period in Poland. 

Gorgonowa, a governess having an affair with her employer, was accused of brutally murdering his daughter, the 17-year-old Lusia on New Year’s Eve in 1931. Despite her claims of innocence, Gorgonowa was declared Poland’s ultimate villain, and eventually convicted.

But questions remain about this case—the most notorious murder trial of the Second Polish Republic—along with questions about what exactly happened to Gorgonowa post-World War II. Ĺazarewicz revisits the crime with a contemporary lens and recreates the furor and celebrity revolving around this murder.]]> 232 Cezary Ĺazarewicz 1948830795 Kat 0 to-read 3.80 2018 Did This Hand Kill?
author: Cezary Ĺazarewicz
name: Kat
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> To Rob a Bank Is an Honor 205481851 312 Lucio Urtubia 1849355789 Kat 0 to-read 3.75 To Rob a Bank Is an Honor
author: Lucio Urtubia
name: Kat
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Napoli 1343 28234757 res publica non sia di tutti ma solo «cosa nostra».]]> 288 Amedeo Feniello 8804658622 Kat 0 to-read 2.67 2015 Napoli 1343
author: Amedeo Feniello
name: Kat
average rating: 2.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story]]> 204316857 The Nobelist's latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.

In September 1913, Mieczysław, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz's Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in Görbersdorf, what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the surrounding highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone—or something—seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore, and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.]]> 320 Olga Tokarczuk 0593712943 Kat 0 to-read 3.66 2022 The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Kat
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Girl, 11 56172290 "Propulsive... Not only is the book difficult to put down, it’s also an adroit exploration of the ethical quandaries of true-crime storytelling, particularly in podcasts."—The New York Times Book Review   Elle Castillo once trained as a social worker, supporting young victims of violent crime. Now she hosts a popular true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases of missing and abducted children.   After four seasons of successfully solving these cases in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Elle decides to tackle her white The Countdown Killer. Twenty years ago, TCK was terrorizing the community, kidnapping and ritualistically murdering three girls over seven days, each a year younger than the last. Then, after he took his eleven-year-old victim, the pattern—and the murders—abruptly stopped. No one has ever known why.   When Elle follows up on a listener tip only to discover the man’s dead body, she feels at fault. Then, within days, a child is abducted—a young girl who seems to fit suspiciously into the TCK sequence halted decades before. While media and law enforcement long ago concluded that TCK had suicided, Elle has never believed TCK was dead. She had hoped her investigation would lay that suspicion to rest, but her podcast seems instead to be inciting new victims.  “A masterful, heart-pounding suspense that ushers in an astonishing new voice in crime fiction." —Samantha M. Bailey, internationally bestselling author of Woman on the Edge “A tale of obsession, dark histories, and one woman’s quest to bring a terrifying killer to justice, GIRL, 11 is delivered with poise, style, and cunning - making it impossible to put down.� —Alex Segura, acclaimed author of Miami Midnight and Blackout]]> 352 Amy Suiter Clarke 0358494931 Kat 0 to-read 3.85 2021 Girl, 11
author: Amy Suiter Clarke
name: Kat
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> Leave the Girls Behind 207294181 The acclaimed author of the “tour de force� (The New York Times Book Review) Before You Knew My Name returns with a fresh suspense novel about a woman haunted by a serial killer and the ghosts he left behind.

Ruth-Ann Baker is a college dropout, a bartender—and an amateur detective who just can’t stay away from true crime. Nineteen years ago, her childhood friend was murdered by suspected serial killer Ethan Oswald. Still tormented by the case, Ruth can’t help but think of the long-dead Oswald when another young girl goes missing from the same town. And when she uncovers startling new evidence that suggests Oswald did not act alone, she is determined to find his deadly partner in crime.

Embarking on a global investigation, Ruth becomes close to three very different women—one of whom might just hold the key to what happened to the missing girl. And her childhood friend, all those years ago.

From an author who “pushes the boundaries of crime fiction in all the right ways� (Alex Finlay, author of The Night Shift), Leave the Girls Behind is another spine-chilling thriller that will linger long after you finish the last page.]]> 368 Jacqueline Bublitz 1982199059 Kat 0 to-read 3.21 2024 Leave the Girls Behind
author: Jacqueline Bublitz
name: Kat
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> Nightwatching 150246179 The Fallon Spring Reads Book Club Pick

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

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

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

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.]]> 368 Tracy Sierra 0593654765 Kat 0 to-read 3.79 2024 Nightwatching
author: Tracy Sierra
name: Kat
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> youthjuice 198509203
A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE (hee-bee), a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood and named after the Greek goddess of youth, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.]]> 288 E.K. Sathue 1641295929 Kat 0 to-read 3.14 2024 youthjuice
author: E.K. Sathue
name: Kat
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cabin at the End of the World]]> 36381091
One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."]]> 272 Paul Tremblay 0062679104 Kat 0 to-read 3.31 2018 The Cabin at the End of the World
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Kat
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Eyes Are the Best Part 195703882 Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.

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

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

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

A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.]]> 278 Monika Kim 1645661237 Kat 0 to-read 3.82 2024 The Eyes Are the Best Part
author: Monika Kim
name: Kat
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> American Rapture 203579244 370 C.J. Leede 1250857929 Kat 0 to-read 4.06 2024 American Rapture
author: C.J. Leede
name: Kat
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tiny Threads 202775007 A young woman gets her dream job working for a famous designer—and discovers the dark side of the glamorous world of fashion—in this gorgeously sinister novel of supernatural suspense.

Fashion-obsessed Samara finally has the life she’s always dreamed of: a high-powered job with legendary designer Antonio Mota. A new home in sunny California, far away from those drab Jersey winters. And an intriguing love interest, Brandon, a wealthy investor in Mota’s fashion line.

But it’s not long before Samara’s dream life begins to turn into a living nightmare, as Mota’s big fashion show approaches and the pressure on Samara turns crushing. Perhaps that’s why Samara begins hearing voices in the dark in her room at night—and seeing strange things that can’t be explained away by stress and anxiety, or by the number of drinks she consumes every night.

And it may not only be Samara’s unraveling psyche, because she soon discovers hints that her new city—and the house of Mota—may have been built on a foundation of secrets and lies. Now Samara must uncover what hideous truths lurk in the shadows of this illusory world of glamor and beauty, before those shadows claim her…]]> 240 Lilliam Rivera 0593600479 Kat 0 to-read 3.18 2024 Tiny Threads
author: Lilliam Rivera
name: Kat
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Feast While You Can 207567782 For readers of Nightbitch and We Ride Upon Sticks, this strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town is an unsettling reminder that the horrors of modern life are monsters ready to possess us all.

In the valley at the intersection of three towering mountains sits Cadenze, an ugly, remote town with little to its name. It's filled with tourists in the summer and dead the rest of the year, when most of its residents surrender to a sleepier existence. Except, that is, for whatever is lurking in the caves...

Angelina Sicco was born and raised in Cadenze, and for many generations, so was every member of her family. Determined to be content with her lot in life, she walks her mongrel dog, attends her brother's heavy metal concerts, holds court in the local dive bar, and does everything she can to bait hot, queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown. But on the night of a family party much like every other, Angelina runs into Patrick's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, who's back in town for a spell. Perhaps enticed by Jagvi’s arrival, an ancient evil lying dormant in those caves is awakened, and soon Angelina’s small, contained world begins to shatter.

As the monstrous force grows bolder, it infiltrates Angelina’s life. It talks with her dog’s mouth; it guzzles on her memories; it controls Angelina from the inside. Only Jagvi’s touch repels it � the final trigger for a secret, passionate romance. But this monster feasts on all the passion, heartbreak, and mess that makes up a life, and Angelina Sicco’s life has never looked tastier. What will Angelina do to protect her future? And what will it cost her?]]> 304 Mikaella Clements 153874225X Kat 0 to-read 3.89 2024 Feast While You Can
author: Mikaella Clements
name: Kat
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Woodworm 195607710 The house breathes.

The house contains bodies and secrets.

The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes.

It was built by a small-time hustler as a means of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter can’t leave.

They may be witches or they may just be angry, but when the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two isolated women, already subjects of public scorn, combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.

Layla Martínez’s eerie debut novel Woodworm is class-conscious horror that drags generations of monsters into the sun.]]> 124 Layla Martínez Kat 0 to-read 3.86 2021 Woodworm
author: Layla MartĂ­nez
name: Kat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever]]> 59644256
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers. Money launderers. Hitmen. A sprawling global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover. But, as the FBI started to lose control of Anom, did the agency go too far?

A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.]]> Joseph Cox Kat 0 to-read 3.97 2024 Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
author: Joseph Cox
name: Kat
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow Men: The Tangled Story of Murder, Media, and Privilege That Scandalized Jazz Age America]]> 198919204
On the morning of May 16, 1922, a young man’s body was found on a desolate road in Westchester County. The victim was penniless ex-sailor Clarence Peters. Walter Ward, the handsome scion of the family that owned the largest chain of bread factories in the country, confessed to the crime as an act of self-defense against a violent gang of “shadow men,� blackmailers who extorted their victims� moral weaknesses. From the start, one question defined the What scandalous secret could lead Ward to murder?

For sixteen months, the media fueled a firestorm of speculation. Unscrupulous criminal attorneys, fame-seeking chorus girls, con artists, and misogynistic millionaires harnessed the power of the press to shape public perception. New York governor and future presidential candidate Al Smith and editor of the Daily News Joseph Medill Patterson leveraged the investigation to further professional ambitions. Famous figures like Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, and F. Scott Fitzgerald weighed in. As the bereaved working-class Peters family sought to bring the callous Ward to justice, America watched enraptured.

Capturing the extraordinary twists and turns of the case, Shadow Men conjures the excess and contradictions of the Jazz Age and reveals the true-crime origins of the media-led voyeurism that reverberates through contemporary life. It’s a story of privilege and power that lays bare the social inequity that continues to influence our system of justice.]]> 368 James Polchin 1640096000 Kat 0 to-read 3.55 2024 Shadow Men: The Tangled Story of Murder, Media, and Privilege That Scandalized Jazz Age America
author: James Polchin
name: Kat
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Under the Same Stars 200982339
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Age Range: 12-18]]> 480 Libba Bray 0374388946 Kat 0 to-read 4.22 2025 Under the Same Stars
author: Libba Bray
name: Kat
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Witchcraft for Wayward Girls 207611566 There’s power in a book�

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 Kat 0 to-read 4.01 2025 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Kat
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Maid's Secret (Molly the Maid, #3)]]> 216351856 When a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand, Molly’s life is threatened. The question is who’s out to get her, and why? Long-buried secrets will be revealed in this intriguing and heartwarming novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest

A wedding. A heist. A secret.

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away. 

But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone's surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.

The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well�.

Together with her friends, Molly combs the past and the present to catch the thief before looming threats against her become real.

A spirited heist caper and an epic love story, The Maid’s Secret is a spellbinding whodunnit that will capture and warm your heart.]]> 336 Nita Prose 0593875419 Kat 0 to-read 4.01 2025 The Maid's Secret (Molly the Maid, #3)
author: Nita Prose
name: Kat
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Friends 217163697 #1ĚýNew York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.]]> 448 Fredrik Backman 1982112824 Kat 0 to-read 4.59 2025 My Friends
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Kat
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cold Hearted (Tooth & Claw, #1)]]> 60376842 A woman on the run�

I came to Longtooth, Alaska looking for a safe place to hide. All I wanted was to keep my head down, do my job, and enjoy the peace and quiet. But there’s no peace to be found once I meet Longtooth’s cantankerous bush pilot. Caleb Kinoyit is surly and rude and mean. He’s also, unfortunately, the most attractive man I’ve ever met. And as the long, Alaskan winter nights stretch on, I find myself warming to his rough charm just as much as I’m falling for the beauty of my new home.

A town with a secret�

There’s something different about Longtooth—something the locals won’t talk about with outsiders. And I am definitely an outsider. But when my dangerous past finally tracks me down, Longtooth can’t keep its secrets from me any longer, and the revelation upends the world as I know it. The only truth I can be sure of anymore are my feelings for Caleb. But will love be enough to save me? Or will I have to sacrifice myself to save the ones I love?]]> 304 Heather Guerre Kat 4
This was really good. I was smiling my way through the second half of this. There's so much good community-building stuff, and I really liked both the leads. The MMC is a mysterious brooder for a bit too long, in my opinion, and I would have liked the ending to have been extended a bit, but overall, I really liked this.

Because I liked the community so much, I'm very excited to see where this story goes in future books. I will definitely read book 2 and eagerly await book three. I'm very excited to check out more from this author and hopefully I will enjoy those as well!]]> 3.96 2020 Cold Hearted (Tooth & Claw, #1)
author: Heather Guerre
name: Kat
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/10
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: 2022-reads, kindle-unlimited, paranormal-romance, read-on-kindle, read-but-dont-own, romance
review:
Every time I read a werewolf romance, I'm like, "I need to read more werewolf romances!"

This was really good. I was smiling my way through the second half of this. There's so much good community-building stuff, and I really liked both the leads. The MMC is a mysterious brooder for a bit too long, in my opinion, and I would have liked the ending to have been extended a bit, but overall, I really liked this.

Because I liked the community so much, I'm very excited to see where this story goes in future books. I will definitely read book 2 and eagerly await book three. I'm very excited to check out more from this author and hopefully I will enjoy those as well!
]]> Just Another Missing Person 62295505
Every day is one more day missing. What will she do...?]]> 368 Gillian McAllister 0063252406 Kat 4 3.81 2023 Just Another Missing Person
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Kat
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death by Dumpling (Noodle Shop Mystery, #1)]]> 34964916
The last place Lana Lee thought she would ever end up is back at her family’s restaurant. But after a brutal break-up and a dramatic workplace walk-out, she figures that a return to the Cleveland area to help wait tables is her best option for putting her life back together. Even if that means having to put up with her mother, who is dead-set on finding her a husband.

Lana’s love life soon becomes yesterday’s news once the restaurant’s property manager, Mr. Feng, turns up dead―after a delivery of shrimp dumplings from Ho-Lee. But how could this have happened when everyone on staff knew about Mr. Feng’s severe, life-threatening shellfish allergy? Now, with the whole restaurant under suspicion for murder and the local media in a feeding frenzy―to say nothing of the gorgeous police detective who keeps turning up for take-out―it’s up to Lana to find out who is behind Feng’s killer order. . . before her own number is up.]]> 328 Vivien Chien 125012915X Kat 3 3.62 2018 Death by Dumpling (Noodle Shop Mystery, #1)
author: Vivien Chien
name: Kat
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Your Favorite Band is Killing Me]]> 26245024
Beatles vs. Stones. Biggie vs. Tupac. Kanye vs. Taylor. Who do you choose? And what does that say about you? Actually -- what do these endlessly argued-about pop music rivalries say about us?

Music opinions bring out passionate debate in people, and Steven Hyden knows that firsthand. Each chapter in Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me focuses on a pop music rivalry, from the classic to the very recent, and draws connections to the larger forces surrounding the pairing.

Through Jimi Hendrix vs. Eric Clapton, Hyden explores burning out and fading away, while his take on Miley vs. Sinead gives readers a glimpse into the perennial battle between old and young. Funny and accessible, Hyden's writing combines cultural criticism, personal anecdotes, and music history -- and just may prompt you to give your least favorite band another chance.]]> 304 Steven Hyden 0316259152 Kat 3 3.79 2016 Your Favorite Band is Killing Me
author: Steven Hyden
name: Kat
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
I feel like the content of this book isn’t as interesting as the title. Not bad, just nothing that interesting either and I didn’t buy some of the more pop psychological elements. This author also seems to have more in depth analysis of male artists vs female artists and I didn’t love that.
]]> Hydra (Six Stories, #2) 35960886 Elusive online investigative journalist Scott King investigates the case of Arla Macleod, who bludgeoned her family to death, in another episode of the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series.

________________

A family massacre
A deluded murderess
Five witnesses
Six stories
Which one is true?

One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the north west of England, 21-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and younger sister to death with a hammer, in an unprovoked attack known as the Macleod Massacre.

Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation.

King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla’s responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out.

As he unpicks the stories, he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden â€gamesâ€�, online trolls, and the mysterious black-eyed kids, whose presence seems to extend far beyond the delusions of a murderessâ€�

Dark, chilling and gripping, Hydra is both a classic murder mystery and an up-to-the-minute, startling thriller, that shines light in places you may never, ever want to see again.
]]> 258 Matt Wesolowski 1910633976 Kat 4 3.89 2017 Hydra (Six Stories, #2)
author: Matt Wesolowski
name: Kat
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Six Stories (Six Stories, #1) 32188043
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivaled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries� mysterious death. As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth.]]> 225 Matt Wesolowski Kat 4 3.74 2016 Six Stories (Six Stories, #1)
author: Matt Wesolowski
name: Kat
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 52873094
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 304 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Kat 0 to-read 3.76 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Kat
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Delicate Escape (Sparrow Falls, #2)]]> 212469885
Shepard Colson is all golden-boy charm and devastating good looks. But I know what it’s like to be taken in by easy smiles and the promise of forever—I have the scars to prove it.

Only the handsome contractor won’t stop coming by the bakery and prying little truths from my lips. Those amber eyes of his seeing far too much. And when all the secrets come crashing down, he’s determined to keep me safe. Even if it means moving into my rundown cabin to do it.

Now, Shep isn’t just rebuilding the walls of my home, he’s working his way into my heart. Suddenly, he’s everywhere: shirtless in my garden or in a towel coming out of my bathroom. And my resolve is no match.

Only it’s more than his golden looks. It’s him. The way he watches for my wounds but tells me I’m stronger than anyone he’s ever known. And I can’t help but fall.

But I should’ve known better than to think I could be happy. Not when a ghost from my past still has me in his sights. And when he finds me, he’ll do anything to tear my life apart, even if it means ending it for good…]]> 380 Catherine Cowles 1951936604 Kat 0 4.25 2024 Delicate Escape (Sparrow Falls, #2)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Kat
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Killer Question 219542052 Get ready for the sudden-death round...

Mal and Sue Eastwood were once the kindly landlords of a local village pub, The Case is Altered. They ran a weekly pub quiz and were well liked by their customers and colleagues alike, always happy to lend a helping hand. But now The Case stands empty, its windows boarded up. What could have happened to Mal and Sue?

Did The Case close because it was failing? Was it because of the body pulled from the nearby river? Or perhaps it had something to do with the quiz? It had always been a quiet affair, five teams of locals battling it out for a small prize pot. Until one day a mysterious new team of outsiders arrived, and started winning every round...

Only by sifting through the quiz sheets, the WhatsApps, and Mal and Sue's hidden past may the truth be revealed. Someone's not playing fair, so get the drinks in and see if you can get a perfect score.]]> Janice Hallett Kat 0 to-read 5.00 2025 The Killer Question
author: Janice Hallett
name: Kat
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Scarlet (Scarlet, #1) 15793632 292 A.C. Gaughen 0802734243 Kat 4
Growing up, I loved Robin Hood. I had a children's edition of the stories and I read it over and over again. I have great memories of putting on Robin Hood as a play in middle school. That made me very excited for this retelling and I mostly enjoyed it.

I definitely liked this more as it went on. This book is not very long and the font is really big. I wasn't expecting so much of this to be about a love triangle. I found those parts to be a bit dry even though I like romance. I didn't really like John as a love interest at all but Robin was so angsty and also quite mean to Scarlet. I liked Scarlet as a character for the most part but I definitely found her frustrating at times. I also wish we had heard more from Much in this book. He felt very much like a background character.

Probably my biggest complaint with this book is that it felt a bit underdeveloped in some parts. I never really felt like I understood any of the main characters beyond Scarlet. The world was familiar to me but I think that was mostly because I was familiar with Robin Hood before this book. I just wanted a little more focus on the adventure part and on the world-building rather than the love triangle.

This book definitely intrigued me and I may end up reading the sequels. I liked the authors writing style and I hope the world and characters may be developed in later books. I thought this was a fun retelling. I always wanted to see more Robin Hood retellings so maybe I'll read more in the future. ]]> 3.86 2012 Scarlet (Scarlet, #1)
author: A.C. Gaughen
name: Kat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/27
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: 2020-reads, ya-books, historical, fantasy
review:
3.5 stars but I'm rounding up.

Growing up, I loved Robin Hood. I had a children's edition of the stories and I read it over and over again. I have great memories of putting on Robin Hood as a play in middle school. That made me very excited for this retelling and I mostly enjoyed it.

I definitely liked this more as it went on. This book is not very long and the font is really big. I wasn't expecting so much of this to be about a love triangle. I found those parts to be a bit dry even though I like romance. I didn't really like John as a love interest at all but Robin was so angsty and also quite mean to Scarlet. I liked Scarlet as a character for the most part but I definitely found her frustrating at times. I also wish we had heard more from Much in this book. He felt very much like a background character.

Probably my biggest complaint with this book is that it felt a bit underdeveloped in some parts. I never really felt like I understood any of the main characters beyond Scarlet. The world was familiar to me but I think that was mostly because I was familiar with Robin Hood before this book. I just wanted a little more focus on the adventure part and on the world-building rather than the love triangle.

This book definitely intrigued me and I may end up reading the sequels. I liked the authors writing style and I hope the world and characters may be developed in later books. I thought this was a fun retelling. I always wanted to see more Robin Hood retellings so maybe I'll read more in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[The Blueprint (Rules of Possession, #1)]]> 38504190
NFL standout Britton “Blue� Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. From his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career. From his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again. From the fans. From his agent. And from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.

When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay.

It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint—it’s time to draft a new set of plans.]]> 302 S.E. Harmon Kat 2
My overwhelming feeling while reading this was boredom. The summary talked about there being some drama with Blue's family but that barely played a part in the majority of the plot. I think the specific plot line of "guy thinks he's straight but is crushing on his friend and can't figure out his feelings" might not be for me. I find that it's usually not super compelling to me and I always end up just getting annoyed with the characters. There was so much will they, won't they in this book but it wasn't entertaining to me at all.

As far as the relationship went, I could barely see Blue and Kelly as friends, let alone boyfriends. I just didn't feel any connection between them at all and it didn't feel like they treated each other very well. I didn't really care for the sex scenes either. The first few times they got together Blue was pretty drunk and that's just not something I love. There are other ways to show a character letting their guard down and giving into their feelings beyond making them have sex while drunk.

I know there is a direct sequel to this book but I have no interest in it. The ending didn't leave me wanting more and I didn't really like these characters. I don't know what's going to happen with the next book but it seems like it might be Kelly dealing with dating an NFL player and I don't think I'll enjoy that plot any more than I enjoyed this one.

Merged review:

Unfortunately, this one was just really boring to me. I was excited going in because I liked best friends to lovers books but I hadn't read one in a while. However, I just didn't really enjoy this one.

My overwhelming feeling while reading this was boredom. The summary talked about there being some drama with Blue's family but that barely played a part in the majority of the plot. I think the specific plot line of "guy thinks he's straight but is crushing on his friend and can't figure out his feelings" might not be for me. I find that it's usually not super compelling to me and I always end up just getting annoyed with the characters. There was so much will they, won't they in this book but it wasn't entertaining to me at all.

As far as the relationship went, I could barely see Blue and Kelly as friends, let alone boyfriends. I just didn't feel any connection between them at all and it didn't feel like they treated each other very well. I didn't really care for the sex scenes either. The first few times they got together Blue was pretty drunk and that's just not something I love. There are other ways to show a character letting their guard down and giving into their feelings beyond making them have sex while drunk.

I know there is a direct sequel to this book but I have no interest in it. The ending didn't leave me wanting more and I didn't really like these characters. I don't know what's going to happen with the next book but it seems like it might be Kelly dealing with dating an NFL player and I don't think I'll enjoy that plot any more than I enjoyed this one.]]> 3.78 2018 The Blueprint (Rules of Possession, #1)
author: S.E. Harmon
name: Kat
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2021/02/27
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: 2021-reads, kindle-unlimited, mm-romance, romance, sports-romance
review:
Unfortunately, this one was just really boring to me. I was excited going in because I liked best friends to lovers books but I hadn't read one in a while. However, I just didn't really enjoy this one.

My overwhelming feeling while reading this was boredom. The summary talked about there being some drama with Blue's family but that barely played a part in the majority of the plot. I think the specific plot line of "guy thinks he's straight but is crushing on his friend and can't figure out his feelings" might not be for me. I find that it's usually not super compelling to me and I always end up just getting annoyed with the characters. There was so much will they, won't they in this book but it wasn't entertaining to me at all.

As far as the relationship went, I could barely see Blue and Kelly as friends, let alone boyfriends. I just didn't feel any connection between them at all and it didn't feel like they treated each other very well. I didn't really care for the sex scenes either. The first few times they got together Blue was pretty drunk and that's just not something I love. There are other ways to show a character letting their guard down and giving into their feelings beyond making them have sex while drunk.

I know there is a direct sequel to this book but I have no interest in it. The ending didn't leave me wanting more and I didn't really like these characters. I don't know what's going to happen with the next book but it seems like it might be Kelly dealing with dating an NFL player and I don't think I'll enjoy that plot any more than I enjoyed this one.

Merged review:

Unfortunately, this one was just really boring to me. I was excited going in because I liked best friends to lovers books but I hadn't read one in a while. However, I just didn't really enjoy this one.

My overwhelming feeling while reading this was boredom. The summary talked about there being some drama with Blue's family but that barely played a part in the majority of the plot. I think the specific plot line of "guy thinks he's straight but is crushing on his friend and can't figure out his feelings" might not be for me. I find that it's usually not super compelling to me and I always end up just getting annoyed with the characters. There was so much will they, won't they in this book but it wasn't entertaining to me at all.

As far as the relationship went, I could barely see Blue and Kelly as friends, let alone boyfriends. I just didn't feel any connection between them at all and it didn't feel like they treated each other very well. I didn't really care for the sex scenes either. The first few times they got together Blue was pretty drunk and that's just not something I love. There are other ways to show a character letting their guard down and giving into their feelings beyond making them have sex while drunk.

I know there is a direct sequel to this book but I have no interest in it. The ending didn't leave me wanting more and I didn't really like these characters. I don't know what's going to happen with the next book but it seems like it might be Kelly dealing with dating an NFL player and I don't think I'll enjoy that plot any more than I enjoyed this one.
]]> <![CDATA[Gifting Me To His Best Friend (A Touch of Taboo, #2)]]> 53408227
Me.

It’s only supposed to be for one night� But one night becomes two, becomes our entire vacation. There are no rules except the ones we make, and sharing me brings both Derek and Grayson closer than any of us could have imagined.

This year, what happens in our bedroom will put all three of us on Santa’s Naughty List.

*Sword-cross guarantee*]]> 114 Katee Robert 1951329082 Kat 4
Merged review:

As I said in my update, I liked the setup for this story more than I liked it in book one. This was very steamy once again and I definitely do think this is the Katee Robert's series with the most smut. Really enjoying these and how fun and fast they are to read. Don't go into any of these expecting much plot but I did like the emotional aspect of this story.]]> 3.73 2020 Gifting Me To His Best Friend (A Touch of Taboo, #2)
author: Katee Robert
name: Kat
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/08
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: 2021-reads, contemporary, mmf-romance, novella, read-on-kindle, poly-romance, romance
review:
As I said in my update, I liked the setup for this story more than I liked it in book one. This was very steamy once again and I definitely do think this is the Katee Robert's series with the most smut. Really enjoying these and how fun and fast they are to read. Don't go into any of these expecting much plot but I did like the emotional aspect of this story.

Merged review:

As I said in my update, I liked the setup for this story more than I liked it in book one. This was very steamy once again and I definitely do think this is the Katee Robert's series with the most smut. Really enjoying these and how fun and fast they are to read. Don't go into any of these expecting much plot but I did like the emotional aspect of this story.
]]> <![CDATA[Glow (The Plated Prisoner, #4)]]> 61118513 'It scares me - what I did that night. Because I don't know my own power . . . But that's been the problem all along, hasn't it?'

My life has been shaped and controlled by the greed of others, but that ends now.

I have burned down the court of King Midas and from those flames, I will rise and wield my own power.

The problem is, when you turn against a King, everyone turns against you.

But with Slade by my side we will fight the monarchs that come for us.

And if we need to become the villains, then so be it . . .]]> 688 Raven Kennedy 1405955074 Kat 3 2022-reads 4.18 2022 Glow (The Plated Prisoner, #4)
author: Raven Kennedy
name: Kat
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/31
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: 2022-reads
review:
Three stars because I cared way less compared to the last two, the ending left me a bit underwhelmed, and it took me forever to read. I still enjoyed a good bit of this. I’m still curious about how things will end. I still like this series. This one just didn’t quite hook me the way I was hoping it would.
]]> <![CDATA[Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls #1)]]> 204413950
He’s everything I’m not: grumpy, rude, and more than a little attached to his solitude. It doesn’t matter how many times I try to kill him with kindness; the man simply won’t crack.

Until he sees me shatter.

Because when my world comes crashing down around me, Anson is the one catching me as I fall. And as so-called accidents start plaguing every part of my life, it’s Anson who steps in to keep me safe.

As he does, I can’t help but feel a flicker of heat. And it only takes a single moment for that spark to ignite into flames, engulfing us both.

But Anson’s a man with secrets, and they have a price. When they’re revealed, neither of us will make it out unscathed…]]> 368 Catherine Cowles Kat 0 4.36 2024 Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls #1)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Kat
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Highlander's Substitute Wife (Highland Alliances #1)]]> 58670834 USA TODAY bestselling author

She’s the best wife�

…he never wanted!

Ross MacMillan lifts his bride’s veil…and discovers it’s not the woman he’d agreed to marry but her beautiful younger sister, Ilysa MacDonnell! The new MacMillan chieftain must accept Ilysa as his wife, for retaining his clan’s lands depends on her father’s support. But why is she there? Are her aims to help him or her father? Drawing out Ilysa’s secrets will kindle an alliance more powerful—and passionate!—than Ross ever imagined�

From Harlequin  Your romantic escape to the past.

Highland Alliances Convenient marriages to save their clan!

Book 1: The Highlander's Substitute Wife]]> 288 Terri Brisbin 036971153X Kat 0 to-read 4.07 2022 The Highlander's Substitute Wife (Highland Alliances #1)
author: Terri Brisbin
name: Kat
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together (One World Essentials)]]> 53928578 A powerful new exploration about the self-destructive bargain of white supremacy and its rising cost to all of us--including white people--from one of today's most insightful and influential thinkers.

Heather C. McGhee's specialty is the American economy--and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. As she dug into subject after subject, from the financial crisis to declining wages to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common problem at the bottom of them racism--but not just in the obvious ways that hurt people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It's the common denominator in our most vexing public problems, even beyond our economy. It is at the core of the dysfunction of our democracy and even the spiritual and moral crises that grip us. Racism is a toxin in the American body and it weakens us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out?

To find the way, McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Mississippi to Maine, tallying up what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm--the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she collects the stories of white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams and their shot at a better job to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country--from parks and pools to functioning schools--have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world's advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. It's why we fail to prevent environmental and public health crises that require collective action. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee also finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity gains that come when people come together across race, to the benefit of all involved.

The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived divided and self-destructing, still the richest country in the world, but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. At the heart of the book are the humble stories of Americans yearning to be a part of a better America, including white supremacy's collateral white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a vision for the future of our country--one whose population has ties to every place on the globe--where we finally realize that life can be so much more than zero-sum.]]> 394 Heather McGhee 0525509577 Kat 0 to-read 4.63 2021 The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together (One World Essentials)
author: Heather McGhee
name: Kat
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2)]]> 32161804 In the sordid streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies brought together by a deadly secret.

Crusading journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the first time in years.

Justin feels no remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.

But Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing obsession with one another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.]]> 238 K.J. Charles 0399593977 Kat 4
I read book one a while ago so I didn't remember all of the details but this book picks back up with the mystery of that book. That was interesting and I liked the spiritualism elements that were included as part of Justin's character. I don't have too much to say about the mystery plot but I did enjoy it for the most part.

The relationship dynamic was really good. There's some great conflict and communication between Justin and Nathaniel. Charles does a great job of writing conflict without falling into the trap of miscommunication and non-communication. There's some great back and forth between them and negotiation of what the relationship is going to look like. There are some great lines that really demonstrate the feelings they have for each other and really made me believe in their relationship. I think I did like this relationship a bit more than the one in book one.

I really like this follow up in this series and I'm interested in book three given how this book ended. Hopefully that book will be a good wrap up to the series.

Merged review:

This was a really good follow up to book one! Definitely felt like there was less action in this one, at least to me. It felt very introspective to me but I liked it because I thought the relationship was very well done.

I read book one a while ago so I didn't remember all of the details but this book picks back up with the mystery of that book. That was interesting and I liked the spiritualism elements that were included as part of Justin's character. I don't have too much to say about the mystery plot but I did enjoy it for the most part.

The relationship dynamic was really good. There's some great conflict and communication between Justin and Nathaniel. Charles does a great job of writing conflict without falling into the trap of miscommunication and non-communication. There's some great back and forth between them and negotiation of what the relationship is going to look like. There are some great lines that really demonstrate the feelings they have for each other and really made me believe in their relationship. I think I did like this relationship a bit more than the one in book one.

I really like this follow up in this series and I'm interested in book three given how this book ended. Hopefully that book will be a good wrap up to the series.]]> 4.21 2017 An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2)
author: K.J. Charles
name: Kat
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/22
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: 2021-reads, historical, mm-romance, read-on-kindle, romance
review:
This was a really good follow up to book one! Definitely felt like there was less action in this one, at least to me. It felt very introspective to me but I liked it because I thought the relationship was very well done.

I read book one a while ago so I didn't remember all of the details but this book picks back up with the mystery of that book. That was interesting and I liked the spiritualism elements that were included as part of Justin's character. I don't have too much to say about the mystery plot but I did enjoy it for the most part.

The relationship dynamic was really good. There's some great conflict and communication between Justin and Nathaniel. Charles does a great job of writing conflict without falling into the trap of miscommunication and non-communication. There's some great back and forth between them and negotiation of what the relationship is going to look like. There are some great lines that really demonstrate the feelings they have for each other and really made me believe in their relationship. I think I did like this relationship a bit more than the one in book one.

I really like this follow up in this series and I'm interested in book three given how this book ended. Hopefully that book will be a good wrap up to the series.

Merged review:

This was a really good follow up to book one! Definitely felt like there was less action in this one, at least to me. It felt very introspective to me but I liked it because I thought the relationship was very well done.

I read book one a while ago so I didn't remember all of the details but this book picks back up with the mystery of that book. That was interesting and I liked the spiritualism elements that were included as part of Justin's character. I don't have too much to say about the mystery plot but I did enjoy it for the most part.

The relationship dynamic was really good. There's some great conflict and communication between Justin and Nathaniel. Charles does a great job of writing conflict without falling into the trap of miscommunication and non-communication. There's some great back and forth between them and negotiation of what the relationship is going to look like. There are some great lines that really demonstrate the feelings they have for each other and really made me believe in their relationship. I think I did like this relationship a bit more than the one in book one.

I really like this follow up in this series and I'm interested in book three given how this book ended. Hopefully that book will be a good wrap up to the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Rare Vigilance (Whitethorn Agency #1)]]> 55764840 Everything has a price. Especially the truth.

From the author of Prince of Air and Darkness comes the first in a thrilling new paranormal series.

Former marine Atlas Kinkaid knows not to ask questions about the clients he protects at the behest of the elite Whitethorn security agency. Just like he doesn’t like anyone asking about his scars—scars left by a mysterious attack that haunts his every waking moment.

Consumed by the need to find out what happened to him, Atlas takes a job providing security to Cristian Slava, the indolent—and gorgeous—son of a notorious businessman. Cristian seems to be just another entitled client, but when nights at the club turn into secret meetings and people start going missing, Atlas realizes there’s more to Cristian—and to protecting him—than meets the eye.

But the same people who are after Cristian have something Atlas desperately craves: they know exactly what happened the fateful night he was attacked—and are willing to tell him everything�

For a price.]]> 331 M.A. Grant 0369701828 Kat 4
I didn't know anything about this going in. I just saw this and requested it because I really liked M.A. Grant's other series and wanted to read this. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to her other series and it was, but with a different sort of paranormal element. There's definitely a bit less world building. There were parts of this where I honestly couldn't tell if vampires were a know entity in this world or not. Hopefully some of that will be fleshed out a bit more in subsequent books but I do think we got a good introduction in this book, especially as the story progressed.

I liked the characters. Christian and Atlas are both interesting. I still feel like I don't know them super well because they both spend a lot of this book being pretty guarded, especially Atlas. This is understandable for their characters but I am hoping that we'll learn more about them as the relationship progresses. There's still so much we don't know about their backgrounds so hopefully that will get fleshed out. There is an instant attraction between them but I do think the attraction developed naturally after that point and I'm excited to see where it goes.

This does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger. This book does have some interesting plot. Some points were frustrating for me as far as communication issues and Atlas trusting some people faster than I think his character would suggest but ultimately, I think this is a really good set up to a series and I'm excited to see where this goes.

Merged review:

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I enjoyed this!

I didn't know anything about this going in. I just saw this and requested it because I really liked M.A. Grant's other series and wanted to read this. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to her other series and it was, but with a different sort of paranormal element. There's definitely a bit less world building. There were parts of this where I honestly couldn't tell if vampires were a know entity in this world or not. Hopefully some of that will be fleshed out a bit more in subsequent books but I do think we got a good introduction in this book, especially as the story progressed.

I liked the characters. Christian and Atlas are both interesting. I still feel like I don't know them super well because they both spend a lot of this book being pretty guarded, especially Atlas. This is understandable for their characters but I am hoping that we'll learn more about them as the relationship progresses. There's still so much we don't know about their backgrounds so hopefully that will get fleshed out. There is an instant attraction between them but I do think the attraction developed naturally after that point and I'm excited to see where it goes.

This does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger. This book does have some interesting plot. Some points were frustrating for me as far as communication issues and Atlas trusting some people faster than I think his character would suggest but ultimately, I think this is a really good set up to a series and I'm excited to see where this goes.]]> 3.87 2021 Rare Vigilance (Whitethorn Agency #1)
author: M.A. Grant
name: Kat
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/28
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: 2021-reads, fantasy, mm-romance, netgalley, paranormal-romance, read-on-kindle, romance
review:
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I enjoyed this!

I didn't know anything about this going in. I just saw this and requested it because I really liked M.A. Grant's other series and wanted to read this. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to her other series and it was, but with a different sort of paranormal element. There's definitely a bit less world building. There were parts of this where I honestly couldn't tell if vampires were a know entity in this world or not. Hopefully some of that will be fleshed out a bit more in subsequent books but I do think we got a good introduction in this book, especially as the story progressed.

I liked the characters. Christian and Atlas are both interesting. I still feel like I don't know them super well because they both spend a lot of this book being pretty guarded, especially Atlas. This is understandable for their characters but I am hoping that we'll learn more about them as the relationship progresses. There's still so much we don't know about their backgrounds so hopefully that will get fleshed out. There is an instant attraction between them but I do think the attraction developed naturally after that point and I'm excited to see where it goes.

This does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger. This book does have some interesting plot. Some points were frustrating for me as far as communication issues and Atlas trusting some people faster than I think his character would suggest but ultimately, I think this is a really good set up to a series and I'm excited to see where this goes.

Merged review:

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I enjoyed this!

I didn't know anything about this going in. I just saw this and requested it because I really liked M.A. Grant's other series and wanted to read this. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to her other series and it was, but with a different sort of paranormal element. There's definitely a bit less world building. There were parts of this where I honestly couldn't tell if vampires were a know entity in this world or not. Hopefully some of that will be fleshed out a bit more in subsequent books but I do think we got a good introduction in this book, especially as the story progressed.

I liked the characters. Christian and Atlas are both interesting. I still feel like I don't know them super well because they both spend a lot of this book being pretty guarded, especially Atlas. This is understandable for their characters but I am hoping that we'll learn more about them as the relationship progresses. There's still so much we don't know about their backgrounds so hopefully that will get fleshed out. There is an instant attraction between them but I do think the attraction developed naturally after that point and I'm excited to see where it goes.

This does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger. This book does have some interesting plot. Some points were frustrating for me as far as communication issues and Atlas trusting some people faster than I think his character would suggest but ultimately, I think this is a really good set up to a series and I'm excited to see where this goes.
]]> The Examiner 62713408 Six Students. One Murder. Your Time Starts Now...

The students of Royal Hastings University's new Multimedia Art course have been trouble from day one. Acclaimed artist Alyson wants the department to revolve around her. Ludya struggles to balance her family and the workload. Jonathan has management experience but zero talent for art. Lovely Patrick can barely operate his mobile phone, let alone professional design software. Meanwhile blustering Cameron tries to juggle the course with his job in the City and does neither very well. Then there's Jem. A gifted young sculptor, she's a promising student... but cross her at your peril.

The year-long course is blighted by accusations of theft, students setting fire to one another's artwork, a rumoured extra-marital affair and a disastrous road trip. But finally they are given their last assignment: to build an interactive art installation for a local manufacturer. With six students who have nothing in common except their clashing personal agendas, what could possibly go wrong?

The answer is: murder. When the external examiner arrives to assess the students' essays and coursework, he becomes convinced that a student was killed on the course and that the others covered it up. But is he right? And if so, who is dead, why were they killed, and who is the murderer? Only a close examination of the evidence will reveal the truth. Your time starts now...]]> 480 Janice Hallett 1800810458 Kat 3
I thought that this one was a bit silly. I like Hallett’s writing a lot and that was still true for this book. However, I felt like this one dragged on far beyond what was necessary. I think this book would have benefited from an additional stricter edit, especially in the first ~75% or so.

The ending was unexpected, but not necessarily in a good way. It felt a bit out of left field to me. I didn’t really feel that a reader would have been able to predict the twists at all. It also got a bit convoluted. There was a lot going on at the end and not all of it felt earned or necessary.

I will definitely read whatever Hallett puts out next, but this was a bit of a miss for me. ]]> 3.99 2024 The Examiner
author: Janice Hallett
name: Kat
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy to review.

I thought that this one was a bit silly. I like Hallett’s writing a lot and that was still true for this book. However, I felt like this one dragged on far beyond what was necessary. I think this book would have benefited from an additional stricter edit, especially in the first ~75% or so.

The ending was unexpected, but not necessarily in a good way. It felt a bit out of left field to me. I didn’t really feel that a reader would have been able to predict the twists at all. It also got a bit convoluted. There was a lot going on at the end and not all of it felt earned or necessary.

I will definitely read whatever Hallett puts out next, but this was a bit of a miss for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Learn My Lesson (Wicked Villains, #2)]]> 52641926
A bargain with the devil himself seems a small price to pay in order for Meg to go free� Until I learn that she’s exactly where she wants to be.

She’s Queen to Hades’s King.

And I’m the fool that walked right into their trap.

The same fool who desires them both as much as I hate them. I can’t resist Meg’s touch—or stop from being drawn to Hades’s dark desires. By the time I realize just how deep a game he’s playing, it may be too late�

For all of us.]]> 268 Katee Robert 1532398093 Kat 4
Once again, I didn't find this book to be super dark. It's definitely steamy and erotic but my threshold for dark romance is a little higher than this. This is also plot-light, just like book one. There is a thread of plot running through all of it but it only ends up mattering at the very end and it's resolved very quickly. I don't mind this but if your expecting a lot of plot drama, you won't get that with this book. [spoilers removed]

I liked the dynamics between Hades, Meg, and Hercules. There was some relationship stuff that I would have liked to see developed more but overall, it was good. There's a rift between Hades and Meg and it's never suggested that Hercules will fix the rift by joining the relationship, which I liked. I thought this book did a good job showing Meg and Hades healing their relationship while showing the way Hercules fit into the relationship.

The next book is the Tink and Hook book, which I'll admit, I'm less intrigued about because so far, I haven't enjoyed Tink's character as much and we have only briefly met Hook. However, based on the fact that I've liked these first two books, I hope I will like the next one.

Merged review:

Y'all know I like MMF romances so obviously, I enjoyed this. I liked this more than Desperate Measures, but not that much more. This was about the same level of steam as book one so if you've read that, you'll know what to expect.

Once again, I didn't find this book to be super dark. It's definitely steamy and erotic but my threshold for dark romance is a little higher than this. This is also plot-light, just like book one. There is a thread of plot running through all of it but it only ends up mattering at the very end and it's resolved very quickly. I don't mind this but if your expecting a lot of plot drama, you won't get that with this book. [spoilers removed]

I liked the dynamics between Hades, Meg, and Hercules. There was some relationship stuff that I would have liked to see developed more but overall, it was good. There's a rift between Hades and Meg and it's never suggested that Hercules will fix the rift by joining the relationship, which I liked. I thought this book did a good job showing Meg and Hades healing their relationship while showing the way Hercules fit into the relationship.

The next book is the Tink and Hook book, which I'll admit, I'm less intrigued about because so far, I haven't enjoyed Tink's character as much and we have only briefly met Hook. However, based on the fact that I've liked these first two books, I hope I will like the next one.]]> 3.69 2019 Learn My Lesson (Wicked Villains, #2)
author: Katee Robert
name: Kat
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/14
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: 2021-reads, bdsm, mmf-romance, read-on-kindle, romance
review:
Y'all know I like MMF romances so obviously, I enjoyed this. I liked this more than Desperate Measures, but not that much more. This was about the same level of steam as book one so if you've read that, you'll know what to expect.

Once again, I didn't find this book to be super dark. It's definitely steamy and erotic but my threshold for dark romance is a little higher than this. This is also plot-light, just like book one. There is a thread of plot running through all of it but it only ends up mattering at the very end and it's resolved very quickly. I don't mind this but if your expecting a lot of plot drama, you won't get that with this book. [spoilers removed]

I liked the dynamics between Hades, Meg, and Hercules. There was some relationship stuff that I would have liked to see developed more but overall, it was good. There's a rift between Hades and Meg and it's never suggested that Hercules will fix the rift by joining the relationship, which I liked. I thought this book did a good job showing Meg and Hades healing their relationship while showing the way Hercules fit into the relationship.

The next book is the Tink and Hook book, which I'll admit, I'm less intrigued about because so far, I haven't enjoyed Tink's character as much and we have only briefly met Hook. However, based on the fact that I've liked these first two books, I hope I will like the next one.

Merged review:

Y'all know I like MMF romances so obviously, I enjoyed this. I liked this more than Desperate Measures, but not that much more. This was about the same level of steam as book one so if you've read that, you'll know what to expect.

Once again, I didn't find this book to be super dark. It's definitely steamy and erotic but my threshold for dark romance is a little higher than this. This is also plot-light, just like book one. There is a thread of plot running through all of it but it only ends up mattering at the very end and it's resolved very quickly. I don't mind this but if your expecting a lot of plot drama, you won't get that with this book. [spoilers removed]

I liked the dynamics between Hades, Meg, and Hercules. There was some relationship stuff that I would have liked to see developed more but overall, it was good. There's a rift between Hades and Meg and it's never suggested that Hercules will fix the rift by joining the relationship, which I liked. I thought this book did a good job showing Meg and Hades healing their relationship while showing the way Hercules fit into the relationship.

The next book is the Tink and Hook book, which I'll admit, I'm less intrigued about because so far, I haven't enjoyed Tink's character as much and we have only briefly met Hook. However, based on the fact that I've liked these first two books, I hope I will like the next one.
]]> <![CDATA["What Do You Mean, Murder?" Clue and the Making of a Cult Classic]]> 122758199 254 John Hatch 1949024601 Kat 0 to-read 4.16 2023 "What Do You Mean, Murder?" Clue and the Making of a Cult Classic
author: John Hatch
name: Kat
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World]]> 3071535
At 3:58 p.m. on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca. The ball sailed over the left field wall and into history. The Giants won the pennant. That moment—the Shot Heard Round the World—reverberated from the West Wing of the White House to the Sing Sing death house to the Polo Grounds clubhouse, where hitter and pitcher forever turned into hero and goat. It was also in that centerfield block of concrete that, after the home run, a Giant coach tucked away a Wollensak telescope. The Echoing Green places that revelation at the heart of a larger story, re-creating in extravagant detail and illuminating as never before the impact of both a moment and a long-guarded secret on the lives of Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.]]> 544 Joshua Prager 0375713077 Kat 0 to-read 3.75 2006 The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World
author: Joshua Prager
name: Kat
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Plain Bad Heroines 50496875
Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed� Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period illustrations.]]> 640 Emily M. Danforth 0062942859 Kat 0 currently-reading 3.64 2020 Plain Bad Heroines
author: Emily M. Danforth
name: Kat
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Kids Run the Show 122928388 The first time that Mélanie met Clara, she was stunned by Clara’s sense of authority, and for her part, Clara was struck by Mélanie’s pink, glittery nails, which shimmered in the dark. “She looks like a child,� thought the first. “She looks like a doll,� pondered the second.
These two women, both of the same generation and exposed to the same forms of media throughout their lives, could not be more different in adulthood. Mélanie is a social media superstar, broadcasting her children's daily lives on a family YouTube channel. Clara is a young police officer, assigned to the case after Mélanie’s daughter Kimmy is abducted. 
Traversing the Big Brother generation, the social media influencer generation, and right up to the 2030s, Delphine de Vigan offers a bone-chilling exposé of a world where everything is broadcasted and monetized, even family happiness.]]> 285 Delphine de Vigan 1609459857 Kat 5 3.74 2021 Kids Run the Show
author: Delphine de Vigan
name: Kat
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Almost Surely Dead 180320288
Dunia Ahmed lives an ordinary life—or she definitely used to. Now she’s the subject of a true crime podcast. She’s been missing for over a year, and no one knows if she’s dead or alive. But her story has listeners obsessed, and people everywhere are sporting merch that demands “Find Dunia!� In the days before her disappearance, Dunia is a successful pharmacist living in New York. The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she’s coping with a broken engagement and the death of her mother. But then something happens that really shakes up her someone tries to murder her. When her would-be killer winds up dead, Dunia figures the worst is over. But then there’s another attempt on her life…and another. And police suspect someone close to her may be the culprit. Dunia struggles to make sense of what’s happening. And as childhood superstitions seep into her reality, she becomes convinced that someone—or some thing —is truly after her.]]> 298 Amina Akhtar 1662507593 Kat 4 3.69 2024 Almost Surely Dead
author: Amina Akhtar
name: Kat
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Painted Scars (Perfectly Imperfect, #1)]]> 60881793 Nina

Charming, captivating, and seductive,
And a cold-blooded killer.
But I married the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva anyway.
I had to. It was part of the deal.

Now, I’m faking marital bliss,
As I tremble with fear,
And I cannot wait to be out of the clutches of this ruthless man.


Roman

I get anything I desire.
And I want this perfectly imperfect little manipulator.

The way she can deceive anyone into believing she’s crazy in love with me,
Just makes me want her even more.

She doesn't know it yet,
But I am not letting her go.
The deal - is off.


*Painted Scars is a full-length novel with several open-door steamy scenes, no cheating and a guaranteed HEA.

This is the first book in Perfectly Imperfect dark mafia series. Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order.]]> 240 Neva Altaj 1961423030 Kat 3 3.76 2022 Painted Scars (Perfectly Imperfect, #1)
author: Neva Altaj
name: Kat
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Writing Retreat 61273863
Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she must discover the truth—or suffer the same fate.]]> 313 Julia Bartz 1982199458 Kat 3 3.41 2023 The Writing Retreat
author: Julia Bartz
name: Kat
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Penance 62898932 Do you know what happened already?
Did you know her?
Did you see it on the internet?
Did you listen to a podcast?
Did the hosts make jokes?

Did you see the pictures of the body?

Did you look for them?

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

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

The only question is: how much of it is true?]]> 336 Eliza Clark 0571371795 Kat 4 3.87 2023 Penance
author: Eliza Clark
name: Kat
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Whispers of You (Lost & Found, #1)]]> 61045446
My body, broken beyond repair. The boy I’d thought was my forever. The life I’d always dreamt of.

Now, Holt’s back. And he’s no longer a boy, but a man with shadows in his eyes and demons haunting him.

He says he’s here to make things right. To get back a little bit of all we’ve lost. And he doesn’t show any signs of leaving the small town that has been my refuge.

As stolen moments turn to days, Holt’s around every corner. With his burning stare and lingering touches. Before long, my walls come crashing down and I’m just hoping that taking this second chance isn’t as reckless as it feels.

But not everyone is happy that Holt has returned. As tragedy strikes again, I’m the one left in the crosshairs. And Holt might not be able to save me this time…]]> 334 Catherine Cowles 1951936337 Kat 4 4.00 2023 Whispers of You (Lost & Found, #1)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Kat
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Anna O 134221476 ANNA O WILL WAKE UP THE WORLD

What if your nightmares weren’t really nightmares at all?

We spend an average of 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens, and what are we capable of, when we sleep?

Anna Ogilvy was a budding twenty-five-year-old writer with a bright future. Then, one night, she stabbed two people to death with no apparent motive—and hasn’t woken up since. Dubbed “Sleeping Beauty� by the tabloids, Anna’s condition is a rare psychosomatic disorder known to neurologists as “resignation syndrome.�

Dr. Benedict Prince is a forensic psychologist and an expert in the field of sleep-related homicides. His methods are the last hope of solving the infamous “Anna O’”case and waking Anna up so she can stand trial. But he must be careful treating such a high-profile suspect—he’s got career secrets and a complicated personal life of his own.

As Anna shows the first signs of stirring, Benedict must determine what really happened and whether Anna should be held responsible for her crimes.

Only Anna knows the truth about that night, but only Benedict knows how to discover it. And they’re both in danger from what they find out.

Joining the ranks of Gillian Flynn, A. J. Finn, and Alex Michaelides, Matthew Blake delivers the thriller of the year: a dark, twisty, and shocking mystery about a young woman who commits a double murder while sleepwalking, and then never opens her eyes again.]]> 421 Matthew Blake 0063314150 Kat 2 3.36 2024 Anna O
author: Matthew Blake
name: Kat
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Someone Is Always Watching 60747134
The strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened.

Cracks in their friendship, as well as in their own memories, start appearing, threatening to expose long-forgotten secrets which could change the group’s lives forever. How can Blythe and her friends trust each other when they can’t even trust their own memories?]]> 368 Kelley Armstrong 0735270929 Kat 3 3.56 2023 Someone Is Always Watching
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Kat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Bright Young Women 101124639
The survivors, including key witness Pamela Schumacher, will be forever changed by this night. They have all become victims. But they tell their perspectives here, they remain masters of their stories. And they hunt the perpetrator on their own - against resistance from the justice system and the police; against public opinion, which idolizes the serial killer.]]> 384 Jessica Knoll 1501153226 Kat 4 3.99 2023 Bright Young Women
author: Jessica Knoll
name: Kat
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> We Need to Talk About Kevin 80660 The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry.

Eva never really wanted to be a mother - and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

]]> 400 Lionel Shriver 006112429X Kat 4 4.07 2003 We Need to Talk About Kevin
author: Lionel Shriver
name: Kat
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Babysitter 59687975 From one of America's most renowned storytellers comes a novel about love and deceit, and lust and redemption, against a background of child abductions in the affluent suburbs of Detroit.

In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together, with tragic consequences. There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on an unexpected mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.

Suspenseful, brilliantly orchestrated and engrossing, Babysitter is a starkly narrated exploration of the riskiness of pursuing alternate lives, calling into question how far we are willing to go to protect those whom we cherish most. In its scathing indictment of corrupt politics, unexamined racism, and the enabling of sexual predation in America, Babysitter is a thrilling work of contemporary fiction.]]> 448 Joyce Carol Oates Kat 3 3.14 2022 Babysitter
author: Joyce Carol Oates
name: Kat
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties]]> 43015073
In 1999, when Tom O'Neill was assigned a magazine piece about the thirtieth anniversary of the Manson murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Weren't the facts indisputable? Charles Manson had ordered his teenage followers to commit seven brutal murders, and in his thrall, they'd gladly complied. But when O'Neill began reporting the story, he kept finding holes in the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's narrative, long enshrined in the best-selling Helter Skelter. Before long, O'Neill had questions about everything from the motive to the manhunt. Though he'd never considered himself a conspiracy theorist, the Manson murders swallowed the next two decades of his career. He was obsessed.

Searching but never speculative, CHAOS follows O'Neill's twenty-year effort to rebut the "official" story behind Manson. Who were his real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties? Why didn't law enforcement act on their many chances to stop him? And how did he turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers? O'Neill's hunt for answers leads him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from the Summer of Love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with cover-ups and coincidences.

Featuring hundreds of new interviews and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, CHAOS mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. In those two dark nights in Los Angeles, O'Neill finds the story of California in the sixties: when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia-or dystopia-was just an acid trip away.



]]> 504 Tom O'Neill 0316477575 Kat 2 4.04 2019 Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
author: Tom O'Neill
name: Kat
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Siren in Bloom (Texas Sirens, #6)]]> 13618439
Wolf Meyer has been restless since an injury ended his career in the Navy SEALs. Hoping to reconnect with his brother Leo, Wolf accepted a job with Julian Lodge. His first assignment is to train Shelley McNamara, a gorgeous sub with a troubled past.

Shelley came to The Club to forge a new life and heal her wounded heart. She never dreamed that exploring her dark fantasies with her new Master would leave her caught between two brothers.

When Shelley’s life is threatened, the Meyer brothers will have to work together and use all their training to save her life and claim her heart.]]> 292 Sophie Oak 1619267659 Kat 5 4.36 2012 Siren in Bloom (Texas Sirens, #6)
author: Sophie Oak
name: Kat
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Siren Unleashed (Texas Sirens, #7)]]> 16082364 296 Sophie Oak 1622419847 Kat 5 4.37 2012 Siren Unleashed (Texas Sirens, #7)
author: Sophie Oak
name: Kat
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Politics and the English Language]]> 6324725 20 George Orwell Kat 5 4.31 1946 Politics and the English Language
author: George Orwell
name: Kat
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1946
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Frozen Dead (Commandant Martin Servaz, #1)]]> 18404315
On the same day as the gruesome discovery, a young psychiatrist starts her first job at a secure asylum for the criminally insane, just a few miles away.

Commandant Servaz, a Toulouse city cop, can't believe he has been called out over the death of an animal. But there is something disturbing about this crime that he cannot ignore.

Then DNA from one of the most notorious inmates of the asylum is found on the corpse... and a few days later the first murder takes place. 

In this snowbound valley, deep in the Pyrenees, a dark story of madness and revenge is unfolding. It will take all of Servaz's skill to solve it.]]> 482 Bernard Minier 1250045533 Kat 4 3.90 2011 The Frozen Dead (Commandant Martin Servaz, #1)
author: Bernard Minier
name: Kat
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy]]> 199798167
All the admirals in the US Navy knew Leonard Glenn Francis—either personally or by his legendary reputation. He was the larger-than-life defense contractor who greeted them on the pier whenever they visited ports in Asia, ready to show them a good time after weeks at sea while his company resupplied their ships and submarines. He was famed throughout the fleet for the gluttonous parties he hosted for Navy; $1,000-per-person dinners at Asia’s swankiest restaurants, featuring unlimited Dom Perignon, Cuban cigars, and sexy young women.

On the surface, with his flawless American accent, he seemed like a true friend of the Navy. What the admirals didn't realize, until far too late, was that Francis had seduced them by exploiting their entitlement and hubris. While he was bribing them with gifts, lavish meals, and booze-fueled orgies, he was making himself obscenely wealthy by bilking American taxpayers. Worse, he was stealing military secrets from under the admirals' noses and compromising national security.

Based on reams of confidential documents—including the blackmail files that Francis kept on scores of Navy officers� Fat Leonard is the full, unvarnished story of a world-class con man and a captivating, jaw-dropping testament to the corrosive influence of greed within the most hallowed corridors of the American military.]]> 480 Craig Whitlock 1982131632 Kat 4 4.27 2024 Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy
author: Craig Whitlock
name: Kat
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis]]> 8834784 all the devils are here."
-Shakespeare, The Tempest

As soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger-pointing began. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, or clueless home buyers?

According to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, the real answer is all of the above-and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy. And the full story, in all of its complexity and detail, is like the legend of the blind men and the elephant. Almost everyone has missed the big picture. Almost no one has put all the pieces together.

All the Devils Are Here goes back several decades to weave the hidden history of the financial crisis in a way no previous book has done. It explores the motivations of everyone from famous CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and politicians to anonymous lenders, borrowers, analysts, and Wall Street traders. It delves into the powerful American mythology of homeownership. And it proves that the crisis ultimately wasn't about finance at all; it was about human nature.

Among the devils you'll meet in vivid detail:

� Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide, who dreamed of spreading homeownership to the masses, only to succumb to the peer pressure-and the outsized profits-of the sleaziest subprime lending.

� Roland Arnall, a respected philanthropist and diplomat, who made his fortune building Ameriquest, a subprime lending empire that relied on blatantly deceptive lending practices.

� Hank Greenberg, who built AIG into a Rube Goldberg contraption with an undeserved triple-A rating, and who ran it so tightly that he was the only one who knew where all the bodies were buried.

� Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, aloof and suspicious, who suffered from "Goldman envy" and drove a proud old firm into the ground by promoting cronies and pushing out his smartest lieutenants.

� Lloyd Blankfein, who helped turn Goldman Sachs from a culture that famously put clients first to one that made clients secondary to its own bottom line.

� Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae, who (like his predecessors) bullied regulators into submission and let his firm drift away from its original, noble mission.

� Brian Clarkson of Moody's, who aggressively pushed to increase his rating agency's market share and stock price, at the cost of its integrity.

� Alan Greenspan, the legendary maestro of the Federal Reserve, who ignored the evidence of a growing housing bubble and turned a blind eye to the lending practices that ultimately brought down Wall Street-and inflicted enormous pain on the country.

Just as McLean's The Smartest Guys in the Room was hailed as the best Enron book on a crowded shelf, so will All the Devils Are Here be remembered for finally making sense of the meltdown and its consequences.]]> 380 Bethany McLean 1591843634 Kat 4 4.03 2010 All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
author: Bethany McLean
name: Kat
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wrong Bride (The Windsors, #1)]]> 62316382 She’s his fiancée’s younger sister. He’s the man she’s always loved.

When her sister doesn’t show up on her wedding day, Raven has no choice but to take her place � but marriage to Ares Windsor is nothing short of torture.

The elusive billionaire media mogul is the man she’s always loved� yet he’s only ever had eyes for her sister.

Married to him at last, Raven is determined to win him over.

After all, everything is fair in love and war.

And this?

This is war.]]> 382 Catharina Maura Kat 2 3.88 2022 The Wrong Bride (The Windsors, #1)
author: Catharina Maura
name: Kat
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
review:

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