Tracett's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 17:24:11 -0700 60 Tracett's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Last Bookstore on Earth 214490415 This searing YA debut follows two teen girls as they fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore, just weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us!

The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.]]> 320 Lily Braun-Arnold 0593899482 Tracett 3 3.42 2025 The Last Bookstore on Earth
author: Lily Braun-Arnold
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife]]> 204158999 For readers of Remarkably Bright Creatures and A Man Called Ove, a warm, life-affirming debut about a zany case of mistaken identity that allows a lonely old man one last chance to be part of a family.

‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.'

Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.

Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again.

As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition.

Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a hilarious, feel-good, clever novel about grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family.]]> 336 Anna Johnston 0063397293 Tracett 5 4.28 2024 The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
author: Anna Johnston
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Frankie 210085071
Always just on the periphery, looking on, young Frankie is never quite sure enough of herself to take centre stage. But the outsider holds certain advantages, sees things others don't, can influence without drawing attention. And when the map has been lost, it's anyone's guess where you may end up, or the accidental choices you find you have made. Frankie discovers that life is not always the one we hope for, or the one others expect of us.

Travelling from post-war Ireland to the dazzling art scene of 1960s New York by way of London, Frankie is an immersive, decade-sweeping novel about love, bravery and what it means to live a significant life.]]> 291 Graham Norton Tracett 5 4.30 2024 Frankie
author: Graham Norton
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> All the Water in the World 211003759 In the tradition of Station Eleven, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York’s Museum of Natural History in a flooded future.

All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they've saved.

Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story—with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most � love and work, community and knowledge � will survive.]]> 304 Eiren Caffall 1250353521 Tracett 5 3.56 2025 All the Water in the World
author: Eiren Caffall
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:
A totally believable hellscape. I loved it.
]]> <![CDATA[Comic Fringes: 21 Short Stories by Top Comedians]]> 219451817
Recorded in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this fantastic anthology features a host of diverse short stories, composed and performed by a veritable Who's Who of stand-up comedians. By turns hilarious and irreverent, poignant and bittersweet, together they make up a superb selection box of tasty treats.

Among the all-star line-up, Romesh Ranganathan tells a comic tale of unrequited love among the orangutans; Susan Calman takes a wry look at office politics; Jon Richardson explores the perils of internet dating; and Sarah Millican takes us into the worlds of a compassionate undertaker's assistant and an elderly woman who fears she's becoming invisible.

Russell Kane recalls his tempestuous ex; Aisling Bea recounts the dark, funny tale of a pensioner with murder in mind; Robert Florence reveals the shady doings of the Scottish branch of the Illuminati; and satirist John O'Farrell asks, 'what if Judas had written the Gospels'?

Also sharing their fantastic fiction are a wealth of other literary comics, including Sanjeev Kohli, Joe Lycett, Bridget Christie, James Acaster, Jenny Eclair, Shazia Mirza and Mark Watson. Short story fans, rejoice: here are five hours of some of the most charming, absurd, dark, thoughtful and funny tales you'll ever find in one place.

Contents:

1. May Contain Nuts by Janey Godley

2. The Hair of the Dead by Sarah Millican

3. Gone Phishing by Jon Richardson

4. The Woman Who Sniffed by Susan Calman

5. Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Be in the Green by Patrick Monahan

6. On the Dot by Shazia Mirza

7. Stairlift Us Up Where We Belong by Sarah Millican

8. Spooky and the Van by Joe Lycett

9. A Difference of Opinion by Bridget Christie

10. The Three Times I Dumped Eleanor, and the Manner of Her Death by Russell Kane

11. Sorry For Your Loss by James Acaster

12. Club Sandwich by Mark Watson

13. The Understudy by Jenny Eclair

14. Kill Dilly by Aisling Bea

15. I Bought a Monkey To Stand Out in the New York Art Scene by Sanjeev Kohli

16. Love and Orangutans by Romesh Ranganathan

17. Bad Fairytale by Grainne Maguire

18. The Gospel According to Judas by John O'Farrell

19. Pick Me Up by Angela Barnes

20. Apocalypse Soon by Dane Baptiste

21. Cats Who Walk Like Gentlemen by Robert Florence

Production credits:

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 August 2009-6 September 2015]]> 5 Various Tracett 4 3.75 Comic Fringes: 21 Short Stories by Top Comedians
author: Various
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Tilt 214151301 Set over the course of one day, a heart-racing story about a woman facing the unimaginable, determined to find safety

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, she realizes there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. She’s determined to change her life if she can just make it home.]]> 229 Emma Pattee 1668055473 Tracett 4 3.71 2025 Tilt
author: Emma Pattee
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Tracett 5 4.46 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Last Night in Montreal 40605629
Last Night in Montreal is a story of love, amnesia, compulsive travel, the depths and the limits of family bonds, and the nature of obsession. In this extraordinary debut, Emily St. John Mandel casts a powerful spell that captures the reader in a gritty, youthful world charged with an atmosphere of mystery, promise and foreboding where small revelations continuously change our understanding of the truth and lead to desperate consequences. Mandel's characters will resonate with you long after the final page is turned.]]> 230 Emily St. John Mandel 1936071452 Tracett 3 3.77 2009 Last Night in Montreal
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
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 Tracett 4 4.00 2025 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> That's Not My Name 123429195
Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.

When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.]]> 297 Megan Lally 1728270111 Tracett 3 4.04 2023 That's Not My Name
author: Megan Lally
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> There Are Rivers in the Sky 202468422 From the Booker Prize finalist author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two rivers, all under the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time.

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.�]]> 464 Elif Shafak 0593801717 Tracett 5 4.38 2024 There Are Rivers in the Sky
author: Elif Shafak
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> When the World Tips Over 203820262 An explosive new novel brimming with love, secrets, and enchantment

The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head.

Years ago, the Fall kids� father mysteriously disappeared, cracking the family into pieces. Now Dizzy Fall, age twelve, bakes cakes, sees spirits, and wishes she were a heroine of a romance novel. Miles Fall, seventeen, brainiac, athlete, and dog-whisperer, is a raving beauty, but also lost, and desperate to meet the kind of guy he dreams of. And Wynton Fall, nineteen, who raises the temperature of a room just by entering it, is a virtuoso violinist set on a crash course for fame . . . or self-destruction.

Then an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls� world over. She might be an angel. Or a saint. Or an ordinary girl. Somehow, she is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. And more desperate to be whole.

With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.]]> 528 Jandy Nelson 0525429093 Tracett 3 4.20 2024 When the World Tips Over
author: Jandy Nelson
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:
The storyline is interesting and some of the characters are great. But. This is too looong. The pacing is janky. If you are willing to put up with the timing, this could be a good read for you.
]]> The Magnificent Ruins 209456186 Vikram Seth and Thrity Umrigar meet Rebecca in this sweeping multi-generational debut novel by accomplished television executive Nayantara Roy, about a young Indian American book editor from Brooklyn who returns to Kolkata when she learns that she has inherited her family’s enormous ancestral home, and the secrets that lie within it.


It’s the summer of 2015, and Lila De is on the verge of a breakthrough in her career as an editor at a prestigious New York publishing house. But when she gets a call from her mother in India, informing her that she’s inherited her family’s sprawling estate, she must confront the legacy of an extended family she thought she left behind sixteen years ago. Returning to Kolkata reunites Lila with her mother after a decade of estrangement, and then there are her grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom still live in the house, all of whom resent her sudden inheritance. To make matters more complicated, her first boyfriend seeks her out when she arrives, and her star author� and occasional lover� is suddenly determined to make things more serious.


As Lila tries to come to terms with both past and present, long-suppressed secrets from her family emerge, culminating in an act of shocking violence, and she must finally reckon with her inherited custom of keeping everything under the surface. For fans of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews, The Magnificent Ruins is an utterly addictive read.]]> 448 Nayantara Roy 1643755846 Tracett 3 3.82 2024 The Magnificent Ruins
author: Nayantara Roy
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)]]> 199531757
Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd�

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.]]> 384 Karen Marie Moning 0063249219 Tracett 3 3.72 2024 The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)
author: Karen Marie Moning
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Briar Club 181110045 A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 Tracett 3 4.26 2024 The Briar Club
author: Kate Quinn
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age]]> 213395468 'Brilliantly written ... evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation.' Tom Holland, author of Pax and co-host of The Rest is History

'Splendid - an intimate portrait of the Viking Age. Highly recommended.' Neil Price, author of The Children of Ash and A History of the Vikings

'Takes us beyond the familiar into a real, visceral, far more satisfying Viking world.' Dan Snow

Imagine a Viking, and a certain image springs to a nameless, faceless warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorise the hapless local population of a northern European country.

Yet while such characters define the Viking Age today, they were in the minority. This is the history of all the other people - children, enslaved people, seers, artisans, travellers, writers - who inhabited the medieval Nordic world. Encompassing not just Norway, Denmark and Sweden, but also Iceland, Greenland, parts of the British Isles, Continental Europe and Russia, this is a history of a Viking Age filled with real people of different ages, genders and ethnicities, as told through the traces that they left behind, from hairstyles to place names, love-notes to gravestones.

For the first time, you can immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of extraordinary culture which spanned centuries and spread from the edge of the North American continent to the Russian steppes, from the Arctic wastelands to the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphate.]]> 384 Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough 1324089237 Tracett 4 3.98 2024 Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age
author: Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) 199798868 New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.

One day, when Tony is at his job and Eilis is in her home office doing her accounting, an Irishman comes to the door asking for her by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting.

Long Island is about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis� life are thunderous and dangerous, and there’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost.]]> 294 Colm Tóibín 1476785112 Tracett 3 3.68 2024 Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2)
author: Colm Tóibín
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Outwalkers 36248089 424 Fiona Shaw 1788450000 Tracett 3
Merged review:

Starts out with a boy’s tense midnight escape from an orphanage and danger fraught trip to reunite with his beloved dog, and then plot twists and turns continue apace after that. Are all the plot machinations realistic? No but who cares, it is a fantastic wild ride through the English countryside and into the deep underbelly of London. Even with the crazy race course of a plot, the many characters are individualistic and have growth throughout the story. I can’t tell you how many times tears came to my eyes from the poignancy of the writing. Oh Jet, I love you so, ya big hairy lug. While the immediate story is tied up at the end, there are still story lines that must be developed in a further book please.]]> 3.90 2018 Outwalkers
author: Fiona Shaw
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2019/04/25
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
Starts out with a boy’s tense midnight escape from an orphanage and danger fraught trip to reunite with his beloved dog, and then plot twists and turns continue apace after that. Are all the plot machinations realistic? No but who cares, it is a fantastic wild ride through the English countryside and into the deep underbelly of London. Even with the crazy race course of a plot, the many characters are individualistic and have growth throughout the story. I can’t tell you how many times tears came to my eyes from the poignancy of the writing. Oh Jet, I love you so, ya big hairy lug. While the immediate story is tied up at the end, there are still story lines that must be developed in a further book please.

Merged review:

Starts out with a boy’s tense midnight escape from an orphanage and danger fraught trip to reunite with his beloved dog, and then plot twists and turns continue apace after that. Are all the plot machinations realistic? No but who cares, it is a fantastic wild ride through the English countryside and into the deep underbelly of London. Even with the crazy race course of a plot, the many characters are individualistic and have growth throughout the story. I can’t tell you how many times tears came to my eyes from the poignancy of the writing. Oh Jet, I love you so, ya big hairy lug. While the immediate story is tied up at the end, there are still story lines that must be developed in a further book please.
]]> <![CDATA[The World's Largest Man: A Memoir]]> 25465607 Winner of the 2016 Thurber Prize

Harrison Scott Key was born in Memphis, but he grew up in Mississippi, among pious Bible-reading women and men who either shot things or got women pregnant. At the center of his world was his larger-than-life father—a hunter, a fighter, a football coach, "a man better suited to living in a remote frontier wilderness of the nineteenth century than contemporary America, with all its progressive ideas and paved roads and lack of armed duels. He was a great man, and he taught me many how to fight and work and cheat and how to pray to Jesus about it, how to kill things with guns and knives and, if necessary, with hammers."

Harrison, with his love of books and excessive interest in hugging, couldn't have been less like Pop, and when it became clear that he was not able to kill anything very well, or otherwise make his father happy, he resolved to become everything his father was an actor, a Presbyterian, and a doctor of philosophy. But when it was time to settle down and start a family of his own, Harrison began to view his father in a new light and realized—for better and for worse—how much like his old man he'd become.

Sly, heartfelt, and tirelessly hilarious, The World's Largest Man is an unforgettable memoir—the story of a boy's struggle to reconcile himself with an impossibly outsize role model, and a grown man's reckoning with the father it took him a lifetime to understand.]]> 357 Harrison Scott Key 0062351524 Tracett 2 4.34 2015 The World's Largest Man: A Memoir
author: Harrison Scott Key
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2015/02/06
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Symphony of Echoes (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #2)]]> 25876967
In the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary's series, Max and the team visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper, witness the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and discover that dodos make a grockling noise when eating cucumber sandwiches.

But they must also confront an enemy intent on destroying St Mary's - an enemy willing, if necessary, to destroy History itself to do it.]]> 235 Jodi Taylor 1910939501 Tracett 3 4.07 2013 A Symphony of Echoes (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #2)
author: Jodi Taylor
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Midnight Feast 199743738 Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin...

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests� healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule� cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

THE FOUNDER * THE HUSBAND * THE MYSTERY GUEST * THE KITCHEN HELP

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at� The Midnight Feast.]]> 354 Lucy Foley 0063003104 Tracett 0 never-read-it 3.55 2024 The Midnight Feast
author: Lucy Foley
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: never-read-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wilds (Detective Elin Warner, #3)]]> 200555227
Elin Warner is on vacation with her brother Isaac in a rugged national park in Portugal—the last place Kier was seen. It’s supposed to be a time for the siblings to reconnect, but when Elin discovers Kier’s disturbing final map, it seems the park—especially the inhabitants of a camp buried deep in the forest—holds clues to what happened to Kier, and a lot more besides.

After a sinister discovery, Elin is shocked to learn Kier's disappearance is more personal to her than she’d ever imagined. And as she seeks the truth, Elin soon finds the wilderness hides something far darker than shifting shadows…]]> 386 Sarah Pearse 0593654048 Tracett 3 3.67 2024 The Wilds (Detective Elin Warner, #3)
author: Sarah Pearse
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Booklover's Library 195458052
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job to provide for herself and her beloved daughter, Olivia. But with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots� Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her.

When the threat of war becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In her daughter’s absence, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, as well as the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing, and her work forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.]]> 432 Madeline Martin 1335000399 Tracett 4 3.96 2024 The Booklover's Library
author: Madeline Martin
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2) 174156145
Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

A nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.]]> 467 Tana French 0593493435 Tracett 3 3.95 2024 The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2)
author: Tana French
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves:
review:
Loved The Searcher. I just couldn’t work up much interest in this follow-up novel.
]]> The Sky on Fire 195790718
There’s only one in the cloud cities, dragons rule, and the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas―and she wants Anahrod dead.

Enjoy this page-turning adventure with conniving dragons, high-stakes intrigue, a daring heist, and a little bit of heat.]]> 435 Jenn Lyons Tracett 3 3.62 2024 The Sky on Fire
author: Jenn Lyons
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this pirate dragon heist book for the most part. Planning the heist bored me and I speed read through that. The MC played a little flat but I could ignore it as other players were more fully devoted. I was happy with ending.
]]> Bitterroot: A Novel 203106169 A forensic artist confronts a crime against her own family, while MAGA politics, racism and violence rage in a small town in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho.Ìý

Set in the fictional town of Steeplejack, nestled in the Bitterroot Mountains, Hazel Mackenzie provides law enforcement with sketch art and victim reconstruction following suspected crimes. Trouble strikes twice when her husband dies in an accident and then soon after, her gay twin brother Kento is shot by a member of Steeplejack’s growing anti-LBGTQ community during a gender reveal party for his child.Ìý

Secrets boil up. First an ugly secret about her late husband. Then Hazel finds letters written by her great-grandfather during the second world war when as a first-generation Japanese-American serving in the US military, the rest of the family was interned in a prison-like camp. Now, some eighty years later, the same racism and prejudice threaten to strip Kento and his husband of their basic rights to their baby. Hazel must now confront her own intergenerational trauma as she battles for herself, her brother, and a town that has been torn apart by hate.]]> 260 Suzy Vitello 1960573101 Tracett 5 4.04 Bitterroot: A Novel
author: Suzy Vitello
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Raven Tower 39395857 Gods meddle in the fates of men, men play with the fates of gods, and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this breathtaking first fantasy novel from Ann Leckie, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes.

But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.

It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo--aide to Mawat, the true Lease--arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself...and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.]]> 416 Ann Leckie 0356506991 Tracett 4 3.89 2019 The Raven Tower
author: Ann Leckie
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Spellshop 199269577 The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst Tracett 3 4.05 2024 The Spellshop
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Havoc 209594864 In the vein of The Bad Seed comes a twisty, atmospheric psychological suspense about a meddlesome elderly guest at a decadent luxury hotel who believes she has left her problematic past behind, until she decides to interfere in the lives of a young mother and her eight-year-old son, and finally meets her wicked match.

The war between age and youth has never been so vicious.

Eighty-one-year-old widow Maggie Burkhardt came to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are relaxing at this threadbare luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile. Maggie, a compulsive fixer of other people’s lives, may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and just might have needed to get out of there fast... But here at the Royal Karnak, under the hot Saharan sun, she has a comfortable suite, a loyal confidante in the hotel manager, Ahmed, and a handful of sympathetic friends, similar “long-termers� who understand her still-vivid grief for her late husband, Peter. Here, she is merely the sweet old lady in Room 309.

One morning, however, Maggie notices a new arrival at a mournful-looking young mother named Tess and her impish eight-year-old, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. But it isn’t long before Maggie realizes that in her longing to be a part of their family, she has let in an enemy much stronger than she bargained for. In scrawny, homely Otto, Maggie Burkhardt has finally met her match.]]> 256 Christopher Bollen 0063378892 Tracett 4 3.58 2024 Havoc
author: Christopher Bollen
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves:
review:
I don’t want to give much away. This is one crazy story. Real whackadoo. Batty do-gooder old lady slams her way through covid socked in Europe. Then she meets her match in an eight year old kid. Massively unreliable narrator.
]]> Jamaica Inn 18869967 From her first glimpse on that raw November eve, she could sense the inn's dark power. But never did Mary dream that she would become hopelessly ensnared in the vile, villainous schemes being hatched within its crumbling walls—or that a handsome, mysterious stranger would so incite her passions... tempting her to love a man whom she dares not trust.]]> 307 Daphne du Maurier 0316252905 Tracett 4 Juicy and gothic 3.92 1936 Jamaica Inn
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1936
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves:
review:
Juicy and gothic
]]> <![CDATA[A Dead and Stormy Night (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #1)]]> 43594238 Book boyfriends may do it better, but they're more trouble than they're worth.

After being fired from my dream fashion job, I return home to my village under a cloud of failure and take a job at the quaint Nevermore Bookshop. I'm hoping for an easy few months while I get my life together.

But this is no ordinary bookshop.

A mysterious curse on Nevermore brings infamous fictional villains from classic literature to life in the real world.

My "easy" job involves rescuing customers from a 6foot4, grumpy, tattooed Heathcliff, drinking tea and evading the authorities with sophisticated villain Moriarty, and making art with Edgar Allen Poe’s shy, cheeky, raven shifter, Quoth.

As if that isn’t crazy enough, my ex-best friend shows up dead with a knife in her back, and I’m the chief suspect. I’m going to have to Agatha Christie this shiz if I want to clear my name.

Oh, and those three fictional villains?

They like to share�

The Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries are what you get when all your book boyfriends come to life. Join a brooding antihero, a master criminal, a cheeky raven, and a heroine with a big heart (and an even bigger book collection) in this spicy cozy fantasy series by USA Today bestselling author Steffanie Holmes.

Love interests are famous villains from classic literatureMagical bookshopDisabled rep from a blind authorGrumpy/sunshine, they fall firstRaven shifterMysteries to solveMorally grey book boyfriendsKooky, spooky humor]]> 302 Steffanie Holmes 1991160461 Tracett 3 3.93 2019 A Dead and Stormy Night (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #1)
author: Steffanie Holmes
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves:
review:
Well written characters and a fascinating combination of people filling the bookstore. I guessed the killer the moment the deed was done so I followed the unraveling of the mystery for the enjoyment of the characters. 3.75 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)]]> 202468425 Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it’s never too late to follow our stars.

In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives.

It’s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course—because every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them…]]> 240 Mai Mochizuki 0593726820 Tracett 3 3.60 2020 The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)
author: Mai Mochizuki
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
review:
Magical cats teach broken human astrology.
]]> The Horse 199532033 Award-winning author Willy Vlautin explores loneliness, art, addiction, regret, love, and hard-won empathy in this poignant novel—his most personal to date—that captures the life of a journeyman musician unable to escape the tragedies of his past.

Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on—until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless.

Al hopes the horse will vanish as mysteriously as he appeared. Yet the animal remains, leaving him in a conundrum. Is the animal real, or a phantom conjured from imagination? As Al contemplates the horse’s existence—and what, if anything, he can do—his thoughts are interspersed with memories of his life as a musician, from the moment his mother’s part-time boyfriend gifts him a 1959 butterscotch blonde Telecaster, to the day his life as a traveling musician begins. He joins various bands—all who perform his songs once they discover his talent–playing casinos, truck stops, clubs, and bars. He falls in love, and finds pockets of companionship and minor success along the way. Never close to stardom or financial success, he continues as a journeyman for decades until alcoholism and a heartbreaking tragedy lead him to the isolation of the barren Nevada desert.

A poignant meditation on art, addiction, loneliness, heartbreak, and the reality of life on the road in smalltime bands, The Horse is a beautiful, haunting tale from an author working at the height of his powers.]]> 194 Willy Vlautin 0063346575 Tracett 4 4.12 2024 The Horse
author: Willy Vlautin
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
Beautifully written. As stark as craggy bewhiskered face. It was a tough read for me, being on the bleak and depressing side. But so well done.
]]> <![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-Time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]> 293 Ally Carter 0063276682 Tracett 3 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves:
review:
Jolly good rom com set ala locked room in a snowed in manse. I got a little weary of the romance but it was tolerable.
]]> The Witches of El Paso 207294178 A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.

If you call to the witches, they will come.

1943, El Paso, teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters, while longing for a life of freedom and adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.

In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.]]> 288 Luis Jaramillo 1668033216 Tracett 3 3.48 2024 The Witches of El Paso
author: Luis Jaramillo
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves:
review:
Story line is fine. My problem with this tale was the hopping around in time, I couldn’t always tell when the time had changed. I listened to the audiobook, maybe the time changes were more obvious when reading rather than listening. Still, a welcome entry into Bruja folklore.
]]> The Life Impossible 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]> 324 Matt Haig 0593489276 Tracett 3 3.45 2024 The Life Impossible
author: Matt Haig
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Library at the Edge of the World (Finfarran Peninsula, #1)]]> 30700110
Local librarian Hanna Casey is wondering where it all went wrong ... Driving her mobile library van through Finfarran's farms and villages, she tries not to think of the sophisticated London life she abandoned when she left her cheating husband. Or that she's now stuck in her crotchety mum's spare bedroom.

With her daughter Jazz travelling the world and her relationship with her mother growing increasingly fraught, Hanna decides to reclaim her independence. Then, when the threatened closure of her library puts her plans in jeopardy, she finds herself leading a battle to restore the heart and soul of the fragmented community. Will she also find the new life she's been searching for?]]> 339 Felicity Hayes-McCoy Tracett 3 3.37 2016 The Library at the Edge of the World (Finfarran Peninsula, #1)
author: Felicity Hayes-McCoy
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2017/09/19
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves:
review:
A pleasant read, but not without some bite. Do you like reading about books, about Irish towns, about slightly broken people and picking up the pieces after life has clobbered you over the head? Maybe you like a little bit of romance as well? How about adding in nice and savvy old nun? If you like your gentle reads a little messy with humanity, this book is for you. If you aren’t Irish, you might want to look up some of the colloquialisms. I find this charming. I love to learn new words and phrases, and the very Irish-ness of the terminology made this feel a bit of an armchair travel read. I finished LatEotW just before I went to sleep last night, and I woke up sad that my time in the fictional Finfarran is over.
]]> <![CDATA[The Watchers (The Watchers, #1)]]> 58321103
Mina finds herself in a room with a wall of glass, and an electric light that activates at nightfall, when the Watchers come above ground. These creatures emerge to observe their captive humans—and terrible things happen to anyone who doesn't reach the bunker in time.

Afraid and trapped among strangers, Mina is desperate for answers. Who are the Watchers? Why are these creatures keeping them imprisoned? And, most importantly, how can she escape?]]> 310 A.M. Shine 1801102120 Tracett 3 3.83 2021 The Watchers (The Watchers, #1)
author: A.M. Shine
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fire and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #23)]]> 199798883 It’s never easy working fire scenes.
Ìý
Called to Washington, DC to analyse the victims of a mysterious arson attack, Tempe quickly finds her misgivings justified. The fire site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighbourhood with a colourful history, and as the pieces start falling into place, the property’s ownership becomes more and more suspicious.
Ìý
Sensing a good story, Tempe teams up with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Delving into the past, the duo learns that back in the Thirties and Forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant � until the son of one of the gang members is shot dead at his farm in Virginia.
Ìý
When another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim, what might have been coincidence starts to look more like targeted attacks. As she and Ivy dig deeper, Tempe’s instincts point towards the somehow, her every move since coming to Washington has been anticipated in advance. And every path forward brings with it a lethal threat.]]> 288 Kathy Reichs 1668050927 Tracett 3 3.85 2024 Fire and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #23)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/27
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> The Future Library 58578776
Inspired by the real-life “Future Library,� a long-term environmental and literary public art project currently underway in the Norwegian wilderness.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 32 Peng Shepherd 1250828678 Tracett 3 4.10 2021 The Future Library
author: Peng Shepherd
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> All Her Loved Ones, Encoded 205150896 256 Michael Keefe Tracett 5 This is a really wonderful debut for the author. ]]> 4.91 All Her Loved Ones, Encoded
author: Michael Keefe
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.91
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:
Great world building and all the characters are fully realized.
This is a really wonderful debut for the author.
]]> Dodgers 29470048 Dodgers is a dark, unforgettable coming-of-age journey that recalls the very best of Richard Price, Denis Johnson, and J.D. Salinger. It is the story of a young LA gang member named East, who is sent by his uncle along with some other teenage boys—including East's hothead younger brother—to kill a key witness hiding out in Wisconsin. The journey takes East out of a city he's never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, ultimately forcing him to grapple with his place in the world and decide what kind of man he wants to become.
Ìý
Written in stark and unforgettable prose and featuring an array of surprising and memorable characters rendered with empathy and wit, Dodgers heralds the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 294 Bill Beverly 1101903740 Tracett 4 4.08 2016 Dodgers
author: Bill Beverly
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2015/10/04
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Girls of Flight City: Inspired by True Events, a Novel of WWII, the RAF, and Texas]]> 58559515 Inspired by true events, a breathtaking WWII historical novel about the brave American women who trained the British Royal Air Force, by New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath.

1941. A talented flier, Jessie Lovelace yearns for a career in aviation. When the civilian flight school in her small Texas town begins to clandestinely train British pilots for the RAF, she fights to become an instructor. But the task isn’t without its perils of near-misses and death. Faced with the weight of her responsibilities, she finds solace with a British officer who knows firsthand the heavy price paid in war... until he returns to the battles he never truly left behind.

Rhonda Monroe might not be skilled in the air but can give a trainee a wild ride in a flight simulator. Fearing little, she dares to jeopardize everything for a forbidden relationship with a charismatic airman...

Innocent and fun-loving Kitty Lovelace, Jessie's younger sister, adores dancing with these charming newcomers, realizing too late the risks they pose to her heart.

As the war intensifies and America becomes involved, the Girls of Flight City do their part to bring a victorious end to the conflict, pouring all their energy into preparing the young cadets to take to the skies and defeat the dangers that await. And lives from both sides of the Atlantic will be forever changed by love and loss...

]]> 373 Lorraine Heath 0063078570 Tracett 3 4.36 2022 Girls of Flight City: Inspired by True Events, a Novel of WWII, the RAF, and Texas
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/10
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
Thanks for introducing me to a part of American history I never knew existed: American women training RAF fliers how fly and prepare for air battles. This seemed to capture preWW2 America well. Accurately depicted historical fiction always makes me happy! I did a bit of speed reading here and there when the story hit some pacing hitches. All in all, a satisfying read. If the full title sparks any interest - you should pick this book up!
]]> Don't Eat the Pie 206166247 It seems perfect until it’s not.

The house next to her mother-in-law’s is creepy—not only that, it’s where Ben’s first wife died.

Sam’s teen daughter Emma isn’t interested in spending the summer in Camilia. It gets even worse when Emma starts to see things—knowing that there are ghosts trying to warn her of something, but what?

Despite Emma’s pleas, Sam doesn’t want to rock the boat with her new family. Emma won’t pretend nothing is happening, especially as the messages become more grim and frequent. What secrets are buried on Camilia Island? And why are all the residents keen on keeping them quiet?

For fans of Hide by Kiersten White and How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix, Don’t Eat The Pie will haunt you long after you’ve turned the last page.]]> 368 Monique Asher Tracett 3 you. This is straight up gothic horror. ]]> 3.74 2024 Don't Eat the Pie
author: Monique Asher
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves:
review:
Mostly YA oriented. The title had me expecting something a little humorous but don't let that mislead
you. This is straight up gothic horror.
]]> <![CDATA[A Traitor in Whitehall (Evelyne Redfern, #1)]]> 65214072 From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante, comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Parisian Orphan series, A Traitor in Whitehall.

1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan� as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.

However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.

With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David?]]> 304 Julia Kelly 1250865484 Tracett 3 3.86 2023 A Traitor in Whitehall (Evelyne Redfern, #1)
author: Julia Kelly
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder]]> 195790841 Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail—and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life—but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who's simply unforgettable.]]> 352 Kerryn Mayne 1250340101 Tracett 4 3.92 2023 Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder
author: Kerryn Mayne
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/07
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Ashton Hall 59575980
“How many lives can you imagine yourself living?�

So Hannah Larson wonders. When a close relative falls ill, Hannah and her young son, Nicky, decide to join him for the summer at Ashton Hall, a historic manor house outside Cambridge, England. Hannah gave up her academic career to raise her beloved child, who is neurodivergent and experiences the world differently from others, and she’s grateful to escape her life in New York City, where her marriage has been upended by a devastating betrayal.

Soon after their arrival, ever-curious Nicky discovers the skeletal remains of a woman in a forgotten, walled-off wing of the manor, and Hannah is pulled into an all-consuming quest for answers. Working from clues in centuries-old ledgers and the personal papers of the long-departed family, Hannah begins to re-create the Ashton Hall of the Elizabethan era in all its color and conflict. As the secrets of her own life begin to unravel, and the rewards and complications of being Nicky’s mother come into focus, Hannah realizes that Ashton Hall’s women before her had lives not so different from her own. She confronts what women throughout history have had to do to control their own destinies and protect their children.

Rich with passion, strength, and ferocity across the ages, Ashton Hall is a novel that reveals how the most profound hauntings are within ourselves.]]> 416 Lauren Belfer 0593359496 Tracett 4 3.63 2022 Ashton Hall
author: Lauren Belfer
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]> I Need You to Read This 199798497 The author of the “clever, atmospheric, and creepy� (Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon returns with a sly and addictive new mystery about an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor’s murder.

Alex Marks’s move to New York City is supposed to be a fresh start. She plans to lay low with her mundane copywriting job but the news of the murder of her childhood hero, Francis Keen, throws her for a loop. Beloved staff writer and the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance , Keen’s death is a shock to her countless fans and readers.

When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. But almost immediately, she begins to receive strange letters at the office and soon, Alex wonders why the murderer has never been found. Worse, she can’t help but question if her new boss and editor-in-chief, Howard Dimitri, was involved with Keen’s death.

As she starts her own investigation, the dark secrets of her own past rise to the surface and soon, Alex finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly mystery. Will she solve the murder and save her own skin? Or will Alex face a similar fate?]]> 304 Jessa Maxwell 1668008033 Tracett 4 3.41 2024 I Need You to Read This
author: Jessa Maxwell
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Thousand Stitches (Regency Faerie Tales, #2)]]> 60420293 Regency housemaid Euphemia Reeves has acquired a faerie godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing.

Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There's only one problem; Effie is a housemaid, and a housemaid cannot marry a gentleman. It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke's heart. All he asks in return is that Effie sew ten thousand stitches onto his favourite jacket.

Effie has heard rumours about what happens to those who accept help from faeries, but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, she has one hundred days - and ten thousand stitches - to make Mr Ashbrooke fall in love and propose. . . if Lord Blackthorn doesn't wreck things by accident, that is. For Effie's greatest obstacle might well prove to be Lord Blackthorn's overwhelmingly good intentions.

From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a whimsical fantasy romance with a Cinderella twist. Pick up TEN THOUSAND STITCHES, and dive into another enchanting faerie tale set in Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 288 Olivia Atwater 031646290X Tracett 4 3.91 2020 Ten Thousand Stitches (Regency Faerie Tales, #2)
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:
This is a fairy tale with a surprise Union-friendly twist. This is the second book I have read by this author and i appreciate how their mind works.
]]> The House on Biscayne Bay 186872399 As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s atmospheric new novel.

With the Great War finally behind them, thousands of civilians and business moguls alike flock to South Florida with their sights set on making a fortune. When wealthy industrialist Robert Barnes and his wife, Anna, build Marbrisa, a glamorous estate on Biscayne Bay, they become the toast of the newly burgeoning society. Anna and Robert appear to have it all, but in a town like Miami, appearances can be deceiving, and one scandal can change everything.

Years later following the tragic death of her parents in Havana, Carmen Acosta journeys to Marbrisa, the grand home of her estranged older sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher Wyatt. On the surface, the gilded estate looks like paradise, but Carmen quickly learns that nothing at Marbrisa is as it seems. The house has a treacherous legacy, and Carmen’s own life is soon in jeopardy . . . unless she can unravel the secrets buried beneath the mansion’s facade and stop history from repeating itself.]]> 336 Chanel Cleeton 059344051X Tracett 3 3.63 2024 The House on Biscayne Bay
author: Chanel Cleeton
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Devils Kill Devils 203579239 Devils Kill Devils is perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things and Southern gothic horror. Johnny Compton brings his trademark terror and dread that readers fell in love with in The Spite House to a new roster of monsters—angels, devils, vampires—and a heart-pounding race to save the world.

When all hell breaks loose, you need a devil on your side

Sarita has been watched over by a guardian angel her entire life. She calls him Angelo, and keeps him a secret. But secrets can’t stay buried forever� When Angelo murders someone she loves, Sarita begins to see what's really been lurking in the shadows surrounding her. And she will have to embrace the evil within if she hopes to make it out alive.

Johnny Compton, critically acclaimed author of The Spite House and master of dread, takes you on a terrifying race of one woman against the hordes of hell. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 281 Johnny Compton 1250841682 Tracett 3 3.15 2024 Devils Kill Devils
author: Johnny Compton
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/16
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)]]> 154488299 The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives�. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories � dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.]]> 201 Hisashi Kashiwai 0593717716 Tracett 3 3.70 2013 The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)
author: Hisashi Kashiwai
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves:
review:
It’s an interesting story line but I wanted more. Maybe if it was a more intricate novel length tale rather than a series of repetitive stories.
]]> Burn 202102018 From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, a novel about two men—friends since boyhood—who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country racked by bewildering violence

Every year, Jess and Storey have made an annual pilgrimage to the most remote corners of the country, where they camp, hunt, and hike, leaving much from their long friendship unspoken. Although the state of Maine has convulsed all summer with secession mania—a mania that has simultaneously spread across other states—Jess and Storey figure it’s a fight reserved for legislators or, worst-case scenario, folks in the capital.

But after weeks hunting off the grid, the men reach a small town and are shocked by what they find: a bridge blown apart, buildings burned to the ground, and bombed-out cars abandoned on the road. Trying to make sense of the sudden destruction all around them, they set their sights on finding their way home, dragging a wagon across bumpy dirt roads, scavenging from boats left in lakes, and dodging armed men—secessionists or U.S. military, they cannot tell—as they seek a path to safety. Then, a startling discovery drastically alters their path and the stakes of their escape.

Drenched in the beauty of the natural world and attuned to the specific cadences of male friendship, even here at the edge of doom, Burn is both a blistering warning about a divided country’s political strife and an ode to the salvation found in our chosen families.]]> 291 Peter Heller 0593801628 Tracett 3 3.51 2024 Burn
author: Peter Heller
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves:
review:
I would perhaps have liked the story as presented: two guys come out of the woods to find the world woefully changed. There were things I could have done without such as the dreams. Bleh. Don’t waste my time with dreams, just get back to the story. A certain amount of background to the characters is welcome. But a grown man constantly thinking about his Teenage days is boringly stunted. So, this had an interesting premise that was largely unfulfilled.
]]> After Oz 200719362 Gripping and emotionally riveting, this whimsical tale is an empowering and timely retelling of The Wizard of Oz where one little girl is forced to face head-on the prejudices of the Midwest in the late 19th century.

Kansas, 1896. After a tornado destroys the Gale family farm, 11-year-old Dorothy goes missing. As the days pass by, the Gales are increasingly terrified the worst has happened. But when the girl turns up unharmed four days later, the townsfolk breathe in a sigh of relief. That is, until Dorothy herself relates her account of the events that took place after her disappearance.Ìý

In vivid detail, Dorothy describes a fantastical land and its magical inhabitants, from the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion to the wizard and the witch. Her recollections are not only regarded as delusional, but also as pagan and diabolical in nature, especially when the body of a local spinster is found.

Making connections between the evil witch Dorothy claims to have defeated and the ill-tempered old crone, authorities find what they believe to be incriminating evidence, sentencing Dorothy to the Topeka Insane Asylum.

When 28-year-old psychologist Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford arrives at the asylum to interview Dorothy, she begins to wonder if Dorothy truly committed the crime or if something unfathomable has really occurred.Ìý

In a small town full of insidious secrets, will Evelyn be able to save Dorothy from her terrible circumstances? Or is something menacing lurking just out of sight?]]> 240 Gordon McAlpine 1639107851 Tracett 4 3.53 2024 After Oz
author: Gordon McAlpine
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Demon Copperhead 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

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

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Tracett 0 almost-read-but-quit 4.46 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: almost-read-but-quit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)]]> 60717747 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 304 Olivia Atwater Tracett 3 4.04 2020 Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Voyage of the Damned 210298804 The TikTok sensation from the UK has come to North America! This special first edition hardcover will include a gorgeous, shimmering jacket with effects, beautifully illustrated endpapers and detailed-stained edges.

A mind-blowing murder mystery on a ship full of magical passengers. If Agatha Christie wrote fantasy, this would be it!

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. Aboard are the twelve heirs of the provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

All except one: Ganymedes Piscero—class clown, slacker and all-around disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people and without a Blessing to protect him, Ganymedes’s odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their secret Blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?]]> 464 Frances White 0778387429 Tracett 3 ]]> 3.80 2024 Voyage of the Damned
author: Frances White
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
shelves:
review:
I mostly enjoyed this. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great. Thrills and chills make up most of the book but when they were absent there was likely some laborious explanation going on.

]]> <![CDATA[Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary]]> 59354529
When Henri discovers a stash of American letters in his father’s drawer, he learns he's not the firstborn son of Georges Blanchard at all: Henri has an older half-brother born to one of Georges's American customers. When he crosses the ocean to encounter his half-brother at last, Henri discovers that there's an entire world beyond Mireville—and there may be a perfect place for him yet.]]> 352 Laura Stanfill 1941360610 Tracett 5 3.90 2022 Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary
author: Laura Stanfill
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/08
shelves:
review:
An immersive visit to an odd town dedicated to only two arts. This book is strangely surreal in its earthiness. Charming and offbeat.
]]> <![CDATA[The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish (Hecate Cavendish #1)]]> 195790668 New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston returns with a new, magic-infused series about Hecate Cavendish, an eccentric and feisty young woman who can see ghostsEngland, 1881. Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. But this is no ordinary collection of books. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves. The most prized artifact, however, is the medieval world map which hangs next to Hecate’s desk. Little does she know how much the curious people and mythical creatures depicted on it will come to mean to her. Nor does she suspect that there are lost souls waiting for her in the haunted cathedral. Some will become her dearest friends. Some will seek her help in finding peace. Others will put her in great peril, and, as she quickly learns, threaten the lives of everyone she loves.]]> 356 Paula Brackston 1250284023 Tracett 3
I may continue to read the series, due mostly to enjoying other books by Paula Brackston. It has to be that The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish just stopped, as if the ending of the book was chopped off and thrown away. Very annoying and a felt a little disrespectful to the readers.]]> 3.65 2024 The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish (Hecate Cavendish #1)
author: Paula Brackston
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed reading this but I didn't love it. I had moments of boredom. It hard to relate to a sheltered young women living with, and mostly deferring to, her parents. Maybe this meant for a young audience?

I may continue to read the series, due mostly to enjoying other books by Paula Brackston. It has to be that The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish just stopped, as if the ending of the book was chopped off and thrown away. Very annoying and a felt a little disrespectful to the readers.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon]]> 198970297
When Lyn Slater started her fashion blog, Accidental Icon, at age sixty-one, she discovered that followers were flocking to her account for more than just her A-list style. As Lyn flaunted gray hair, wrinkles, and a megadose of self-acceptance, they found in her an alternative model of older someone who defied the stereotypes, refused to become invisible, and showed that all women have the opportunity to be relevant and take major risks at any stage of their life. Youth is not the only time we can be experimental.

How to Be Old tells the ten-year story of Lyn’s sixties, the sometimes-glamorous, sometimes-turbulent decade of Accidental Icon. This memoir is about the hopeful and future-oriented process of reinvention. It shows readers that while you can’t control everything, what you can control is the way you think about your age and the creative ways you respond to the changes in your mind and body as they happen. Rather than trying to meet standards of youth and beauty as a measure of successful aging, Lyn promotes a more inclusive and empowering standard to judge our older selves by.

In this paradigm-shifting memoir, Lyn exemplifies that even with its unique challenges, being old is just like any new beginning in your life and can be the best and most invigorating of all of life’s phases, full of rebellion and reinvention, connection and creativity.]]> 272 Lyn Slater 0593471792 Tracett 3 3.34 How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon
author: Lyn Slater
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.34
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves:
review:
Sorry. I found this underwhelming. Lots of fashion descriptions that would have been better illustrated by photos. If you read this for aging advice you can just read the chapter titles as they are rather good.
]]> The Author's Guide to Murder 199531723 🎧Run Time = 11 hours and 46 minutes

“A pure delight from start to finish� (Lisa Unger) from three New York Times bestselling authors: When a famous author is found dead in his Scottish castle, three novelists become prime suspects. Secrets, rivalries, and tangled pasts converge as Detective Chief Inspector McIntosh delves behind the glamorous facade of Castle Kinloch� An “entertaining romp� (AudioFile) that garnered an Earphones Award!

Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.
Three beloved New York Times bestselling novelists, one marvelously entertaining locked-room whodunit! When a famous writer is found dead in the book-lined study of a remote Scottish castle, three very different American novelists become prime suspects!

There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for literary Americans, finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists.

The prime suspects are Kat de Noir, a slinky erotica writer; Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series; and Emma Endicott, a New England blue blood and author of critically acclaimed historical fiction. The women claim to be best friends writing a book together, but the authors� stories about how they know Brett Saffron Presley don’t quite line up, and the detective is getting increasingly suspicious.

Why did the authors really come to Castle Kinloch? And what really happened the night of the great Kinloch ceilidh, when Brett Saffron Presley skipped the folk dancing for a rendezvous with death?

A crafty locked-room mystery, a pointed satire about the literary world, and a tale of unexpected friendship and romance—this novel has it all, as only three bestselling authors can tell it!]]> 404 Beatriz Williams 0063259869 Tracett 3 3.28 2024 The Author's Guide to Murder
author: Beatriz Williams
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Last One to Die 55579526
16-year-old, Irish-born Niamh has just arrived in London for the summer, and quickly discovers that girls who look frighteningly like her are being attacked.

Determined to make it through her Drama Course, Niamh is placed at the Victorian Museum to put her drama skills to the test, and there she meets he’s kind, fun, attentive, and really hot! Nonetheless, there's something eerie about the museum...

As present-day serial attacker and sinister Victorian history start to collide, Niamh realizes that things are not as they seem. Will she be next?]]> 294 Cynthia Murphy 070230493X Tracett 3 3.36 2021 Last One to Die
author: Cynthia Murphy
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Middletide 199798457
One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.]]> 288 Sarah Crouch 166803509X Tracett 3 3.48 2024 Middletide
author: Sarah Crouch
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Shelterwood 198563674 A sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth.

Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.

Oklahoma, 1990. Law Enforcement Ranger Valerie Boren O’dell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the wild and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.]]> 368 Lisa Wingate 0593726502 Tracett 5 3.82 2024 Shelterwood
author: Lisa Wingate
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/09
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:
This story is told in two time periods. I loved both parts. The characters were phenomenal. The setting is brutal and lush. My heart was broken and put back together again.
]]> The Seamstress of New Orleans 58912592 Set against the backdrop of the first all-female Mardi Gras krewe at the turn-of-the-century, the acclaimed author’s mesmerizing historical novel tells of two strangers separated by background but bound by an unexpected secret—and of the strength and courage women draw from and inspire in each other.

The year 1900 ushers in a new century and the promise of social change, and women rise together toward equality. Yet rules and restrictions remain, especially for women like Alice Butterworth, whose husband has abruptly disappeared. Desperate to make a living for herself and the child she carries, Alice leaves the bitter cold of Chicago far behind, offering sewing lessons at a New Orleans orphanage.

Constance Halstead, a young widow reeling with shock under the threat of her late husband’s gambling debts, has thrown herself into charitable work. Meeting Alice at the orphanage, she offers lodging in exchange for Alice’s help creating a gown for the Leap Year ball of Les Mysterieuses, the first all female krewe of Mardi Gras. During Leap Years, women have the rare opportunity to take control in their interactions with men, and upend social convention. Piece by piece, the breathtaking gown takes shape, becoming a symbol of strength for both women, reflecting their progress toward greater independence.

But Constance carries a burden that makes it impossible to feel truly free. Her husband, Benton, whose death remains a dangerous mystery, was deep in debt to the Black Hand, the vicious gangsters who controlled New Orleans� notorious Storyville district. Benton’s death has not satisfied them. And as the Mardi Gras festivities reach their fruition, a secret emerges that will cement the bond between Alice and Constance even as it threatens the lives they’re building . . .

Story Locale: 1900, New Orleans]]> 304 Diane C. McPhail 1496738152 Tracett 3 Meh. 3.39 2022 The Seamstress of New Orleans
author: Diane C. McPhail
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:
Meh.
]]> Demon's Bluff (Hollows, #18) 205804793
What’s a witch to do when the coven of moral and ethical standards demands she untwist a curse—but an essential spell component no longer exists? There’s only one choice: go back in time.

Caught between self-exile and an Alcatraz cell, Rachel must find an Atlantean mirror to reverse the curse and prove to Cincinnati’s brand-new witch coven that, no, she does not practice illicit magic. Unfortunately, the only mirror of its kind in existence belonged to the insane demon Newt, forcing Rachel to go to the past to bargain with her for it.

But the time-travel spell goes awry, dragging Elyse, the young leader of the coven, into the past with Rachel. They expect to land five years in the past but instead arrive two days before Rachel’s long-lost love, Kisten, dies. Heartbroken and torn, Rachel knows she can't change the past.

Even with no allies, Rachel still has one thing going for her: Cincinnati is her city, now and forever. If she can find a way to work with Newt and prevent Elyse from becoming the demon’s next familiar, they might all get home.]]> 451 Kim Harrison 0593639987 Tracett 3 4.29 2024 Demon's Bluff (Hollows, #18)
author: Kim Harrison
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves:
review:
I was very happy to go back into the world of Rachel Morgan! But I soon realized this story was missing something important: Rachel’s friends. Conniving witch Elyse was an annoying substitution for her pals.
]]> <![CDATA[The Medici Manuscript (Glass Library, #2)]]> 61392396
Finding an old manuscript in the attic has always been a fantasy of Sylvia’s. She just never expected the fantasy to come true, or for it to lead her to answers about her mysterious family.

The silver clasps binding the pages contain rare magic � the same magic that might run through Sylvia’s veins. To discover a link to her ancestors means understanding the book itself, but it’s written in a code that proves difficult to crack. The only thing she knows for certain is that it was once owned by the Medicis, the powerful family that controlled Renaissance Florence.

With the help of Gabe and his friends, Sylvia investigates the book’s origins. But following the clues throws up more questions � questions they need help answering. Trusting others is not Sylvia’s strong suit, but with Gabe at her side, she becomes capable and confident. Until their trust is shattered when the book is stolen.

Uncovering the thief proves dangerous, particularly when someone is also trying to kidnap Gabe. With his own mysteries to unravel, Gabe’s private life becomes more complicated. Sylvia tries to keep her distance but staying away from someone as magnetic as Gabe is impossible.

With so many distractions, can they find the thief before the book is lost forever? Or will the secrets contained within its pages remain unsolved and will Sylvia’s past continue to be a mystery?]]> 280 C.J. Archer 1922554308 Tracett 3 4.02 2023 The Medici Manuscript (Glass Library, #2)
author: C.J. Archer
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Eleanor Rising: A BBC 4 Full-Cast Drama]]> 60133290
Wife and mother to a dynasty of kings, crusader, prisoner and formidable political operator, Eleanor of Aquitaine is a thoroughly modern woman, despite living almost 900 years ago. Intelligent, witty and independent, she is tough enough to forge her own destiny - and subtle enough to shape the world to her will.

We first meet her at 15, when she has one ambition: to become duchess and ruler of the Aquitaine, the richest province in France. But the men around her have other ideas. A young woman with so much power is too great a threat, so she is quickly married off to the heir to the throne, the devout, sexually repressed Dauphin Louis.

The wedding feast is barely over before she finds herself facing an imminent attack, a kidnap attempt and a midnight escape on horseback. Surviving to become queen of France, she moulds her young husband into a fit king - but in wielding her influence, she makes powerful enemies who are determined to bring her down.

Yet somehow she manages to stay one step ahead, even as she embarks on a scandalous crusade and risks everything to try and secure her future....

Written by award-winning dramatist Shaun McKenna, this epic drama stars Rose Basista as Eleanor, Cecilia Appiah and Elinor Coleman as Petronilla, Joel McCormack as Louis and Tony Turner as Raymond of Antioch.

Written by Shaun McKenna

Directed and produced by Marc Beeby and Gemma Jenkins

Cast

Eleanor - Rose Basista

Petronilla - Cecilia Appiah/Elinor Coleman

Duke William - John Lightbody

Archbishop Laroux/Theobald - Roger Ringrose

Pierre - Luke Nunn

The Dauphin, Louis - Joel McCormack

Abbot Suger - Carl Prekopp/Nicholas Murchie

Cardinal Yves - Carl Prekopp

Geoffrey of Anjou - David Sturzaker

Papal Legate - Tony Turner

Geoffrey de Rançon - Stewart Campbell

Empress Irene - Jane Slavin

German soldier/Ralph de Vermandois - Nicholas Murchie

Raymond of Antioch - Tony Turner

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9-13 November 2020 (Series 1), 5-9 April 2021 (Series 2)]]> 200 Shaun McKenna Tracett 4 4.04 Eleanor Rising: A BBC 4 Full-Cast Drama
author: Shaun McKenna
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Librarian of Crooked Lane (Glass Library, #1)]]> 60054210
Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she’s descended from magicians, she’s skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she’s just an ordinary girl who loves books. She seeks the truth from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won’t be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.

War hero Gabe is gifted with wealth, a loving family, and an incredible amount of luck that saw him survive four harrowing years of a brutal war without injury. But not all injuries are visible. Burying himself in his work as a consultant for Scotland Yard, Gabe is going through the motions as he investigates the theft of a magician-made painting. But his life changes when he unwittingly gets Sylvia dismissed from her job and places her in danger.

After securing her new employment in a library housing the world’s greatest collection of books about magic, Gabe and Sylvia’s lives become intwined as they work together to find both the painting and the truth about Sylvia’s past before powerful people can stop them.

But sometimes the past is better left buried…]]> 284 C.J. Archer 1922554200 Tracett 4 3.84 2022 The Librarian of Crooked Lane (Glass Library, #1)
author: C.J. Archer
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/30
date added: 2024/06/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Forgotten Seamstress 22113223 0 Liz Trenow 1494552167 Tracett 3 3.78 2013 The Forgotten Seamstress
author: Liz Trenow
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emergence (Eclipsed Evolution, #3)]]> 203165138 For better or worse, a solar eclipse brought humans and paranormal beings together, sparking one woman’s battle to master magic or lose our world, in this riveting serialized adventure from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Hollows series.

As time has passed, Dr. Renee Caisson has begun to see the demonic, alien August as more than a research subject or an unlikely colleague—they’ve become friends. And together she and August have helped the two societies of Nextdoor and Earth through the confusion of first contact, the danger of misunderstandings, and the anger of mistreatment.

But when a popular blogger and conspiracy theorist twists August’s words, an uproar ensues, turning a powerful section of human society against the Neighbors—and resulting in Renee’s house arrest. Her could-be boyfriend, Major Jackson, says it’s to protect her, though that’s not how Renee sees it.

Torn between duty and friendship, August jumps Renee to freedom, fully aware that the journey might reveal more to her than she should know. The wily Neighbor has pieced together that Renee has been unconsciously using their magic, a fact that, if revealed, will cause more, not less, conflict between the humans and Neighbors.

For if the people of Earth can master magic and exile August’s people again, the Neighbors will not survive. . . .]]> 192 Kim Harrison 0593816250 Tracett 4 4.15 2024 Emergence (Eclipsed Evolution, #3)
author: Kim Harrison
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/23
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Totality (Eclipsed Evolution #2)]]> 199690843 Listening Length: 5 hours and 30 minutes

After a solar eclipse opens a way between our world and a paranormal realm, and the dark side of first contact emerges, one woman’s loyalties will be tested in this gripping serialized adventure from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Hollows series.

Dr. Renee Caisson never expected that her scientific expertise would lead to a role playing interpreter between humans and the demonic-looking Neighbors. When the door between their worlds opened, she was drafted by the government to study the otherworldly beings and was able to prove her theory: the Neighbors had been to Earth before—and now they simply wanted to save their dying planet.

At least, that’s the story, and everyone—both human and Neighbor—is sticking to it. The Neighbor in charge of the new portal’s operation, Noel, isn’t that sure anymore. Having succeeded in finding a new planet to inhabit, the leaders of her world have made the dark truth of their existence clear to her: the Neighbors forcibly tried to make a foothold on Earth in the past—and they can’t afford to fail again.

But the Neighbors� ability to magically teleport from place to place has convinced Major Jackson that the only way to keep control of the situation is to embrace it and tell the world of the Neighbors� existence.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees.]]> 6 Kim Harrison 0593870239 Tracett 4 3.91 2024 Totality (Eclipsed Evolution #2)
author: Kim Harrison
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Beyond Summerland 198385464 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lecoat has crafted a spellbinding story about secrets and lies in a small community recovering from war, and the two young women at the center of a volatile mystery.

The German occupation is over. The Channel Islands, the only captured territory within the British Isles, are finally liberated. But the people of Jersey are left as scarred as the landscape. No longer a “summerland� holiday paradise, the island now boils with tension as locals seek revenge on anyone suspected of collaborating with the enemy during the war.

Nineteen-year-old Jean Parris, still adjusting to this fractious peace, is shocked to learn that Hazel, a teacher who lives over her dad’s shop, may be responsible for her father’s wartime arrest and subsequent death in custody. Hazel denies all accusations but has reasons to conceal what really happened.

As rumors of Hazel’s guilt swell to a fury, Jean discovers new clues that suggest there were other, more sinister factors at play. When Hazel learns of Jean’s own ruinous secret, the women form an unexpected bond that sets them apart from the rest of Jean’s family and the frenzied demands for retribution. But in the end, Jean’s need to know the truth about her father may consume everything she once believed about her home, her family and herself.]]> 304 Jenny Lecoat 1525831542 Tracett 3 3.57 2024 Beyond Summerland
author: Jenny Lecoat
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:
I found it very hard to connect with this story. While I usually find it easy to enjoy a story about the Channel Islands and the unique time they had during WWII, I just couldn’t with this one.
]]> <![CDATA[Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key, #1)]]> 202102032 It's love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.

Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG� and “MY HOUSE� when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she's catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don't get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie's worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing� and Nick's afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.]]> 325 Jen DeLuca 0593641213 Tracett 3 3.66 2024 Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key, #1)
author: Jen DeLuca
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/17
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves:
review:
Banana bread. Banana bread is mentioned 52 times. That comes to an average of banana bread being brought up every seven pages. Good grief.
]]> <![CDATA[First Contact (Eclipsed Evolution, #1)]]> 203085891 In the wake of the solar eclipse, a portal between our world and a paranormal realm opens—and a scientist’s life will never be the same, in this thrilling serialized adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hollows.

Dr. Renee Caisson knows there are worse things than an attractive man in uniform drafting her into a secret government project—especially when Major Jackson makes it clear that he isn’t bothered by her questionable past. But when her labs come back with decidedly odd results, the Major is forced to come clean over who the government is actually studying. Renee is shocked to learn her subjects are demonic-looking beings who call themselves “Neighborsâ€â€”refugees from a dying world, who arrived during the nation-wide solar eclipse.

The Neighbors� technology is unlike anything Renee’s ever encountered. At first, she dismisses an injury that inexplicably heals as “just one of those things�. And surely August, the most gregarious Neighbor, begins to speak English overnight because of the team linguist’s skills?

Not until August begins evolving in real time to withstand Earth’s brighter, dryer atmosphere does she admit that the Neighbors� “tech� feels less like science and more like magic—the same magic that brought them here in the first place, and the same they’re trying to rekindle with a mysterious labyrinth in order to return home and save their world.

At least, that’s what August claims they came for…]]> 168 Kim Harrison 0593816234 Tracett 4 4.17 2024 First Contact (Eclipsed Evolution, #1)
author: Kim Harrison
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/16
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books]]> 200987258
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic� books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.

But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome� dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.

That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.]]> 298 Kirsten Miller 0063348691 Tracett 3 4.06 2024 Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
author: Kirsten Miller
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/15
date added: 2024/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Cinderwich 195854358
CINDERWICH is a return, in some ways, to the thematic concerns of Cherie's early work set in the American South such as FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS and NOT FLESH NOR FEATHERS.]]> 164 Cherie Priest 1955765189 Tracett 3 3.52 2024 Cinderwich
author: Cherie Priest
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:
Southern Gothic with plenty of horror, yet kind of horror-light. Still, scary enough to make me creeped out late at night before going to bed. Lots of loose ends though. (And I can't say that I really understand the very last sentence of the book that may or may not explain the ending.)
]]> Bury Your Gays 195790870 From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

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

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.]]> 295 Chuck Tingle 1250874653 Tracett 4 4.13 2024 Bury Your Gays
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Glassmaker 202167720
It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers in Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.

Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.

Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.]]> 416 Tracy Chevalier 0525558276 Tracett 4 3.86 2024 The Glassmaker
author: Tracy Chevalier
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves:
review:
A beautiful, haunting and sometimes heartbreaking historical (and a little bit contemporary) story of a family of glassmakers. We already know the author is a master of storytelling as well as being an avid researcher. She gave a twist to the storyline by having her people bound forward in time. I’m not sure that added much to the story but was an interesting detail.
]]> The Ministry of Time 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 Tracett 4 3.54 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves:
review:
Time travel: enigmatic, red tape thwarted, scary, sad, and charming. Characters all felt fully fleshed out and true to their origins in time. This is a worthy addition to the genre.
]]> A Sorceress Comes to Call 195790847 A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.]]> 327 T. Kingfisher 1250244072 Tracett 0 to-read 4.06 2024 A Sorceress Comes to Call
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The English Understand Wool 59468833 Maman was exigeante—there is no English word–and I had the benefit of her training. Others may not be so fortunate. If some other young girl, with two million dollars at stake, finds this of use I shall count myself justified.

Raised in Marrakech by a French mother and English father, a 17-year-old girl has learned above all to avoid mauvais ton ("bad taste" loses something in the translation). One should not ask servants to wait on one during Ramadan: they must have paid leave while one spends the holy month abroad. One must play the piano; if staying at Claridge’s, one must regrettably install a Clavinova in the suite, so that the necessary hours of practice will not be inflicted on fellow guests. One should cultivate weavers of tweed in the Outer Hebrides but have the cloth made up in London; one should buy linen in Ireland but have it made up by a Thai seamstress in Paris (whose genius has been supported by purchase of suitable premises). All this and much more she has learned, governed by a parent of ferociously lofty standards. But at 17, during the annual Ramadan travels, she finds all assumptions overturned. Will she be able to fend for herself? Will the dictates of good taste suffice when she must deal, singlehanded, with the sharks of New York?]]> 69 Helen DeWitt 0811230074 Tracett 3 4.06 2022 The English Understand Wool
author: Helen DeWitt
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:
Interesting. Take that as you may.
]]> <![CDATA[Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens]]> 152034931 A rollicking historyÌýof England's earliest kings and queens, a story ofÌýnarcissists, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars,Ìýand more, fromÌýaward-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.

In Unruly , David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects� destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur ( he didn’t exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I ( she dies), as the monarchy began to lose its power. It’s a tale of bizarre and curious ascensions, inadequate self-control, and at least one total Cnut, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed King.

How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history—and is damned if he’ll let it off the hook for the mess it’s made of everything.Ìý

A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the monarchy came to be—and who is to blame.]]> 433 David Mitchell 0593728491 Tracett 5 4.13 2023 Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens
author: David Mitchell
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:
Fantastic! I listened to the audio book as read by David Mitchell to get the full snark magic of his words.
]]> Good Night, Irene 63023640 In the tradition of The Nightingale and Transcription, an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman's heroic frontline service in the Red Cross

In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military buses called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.

After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a gallant American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact.

Taking as inspiration his mother's own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women's heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea's "gifts as a storyteller are prodigious" (NPR).]]> 407 Luis Alberto Urrea 0316265853 Tracett 4 4.04 2023 Good Night, Irene
author: Luis Alberto Urrea
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Starter Villain 61885029
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Tracett 4 4.09 2023 Starter Villain
author: John Scalzi
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves:
review:
Fun read with much social commentary, volcanic energy, and typing cats. Bits of it got a uber explanatory of the world building (I had to speed read a few paragraphs) but the world finally got built and Scalzi got back to telling the story. And that tale was quite exiting. You always know you will get some amazing storytelling from John Scalzi.
]]> <![CDATA[Disturbing the Dead (A Rip Through Time, #3)]]> 195790745 Disturbing the Dead is the latest in a unique series with one foot in the 1890s and the other in the present day. The A Rip Through Time crime novels are a genre-blending, atmospheric romp from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends―and feelings―in this century.

So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.]]> 337 Kelley Armstrong 125032128X Tracett 3 4.20 2024 Disturbing the Dead (A Rip Through Time, #3)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Aunt Dimity: Detective (Aunt Dimity Mystery, #7)]]> 511257 230 Nancy Atherton 0142001546 Tracett 3 3.94 2001 Aunt Dimity: Detective (Aunt Dimity Mystery, #7)
author: Nancy Atherton
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/27
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Mrs. Nash's Ashes 62296523
Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.

She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion.

After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he can’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone.

But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.]]> 352 Sarah Adler 0593547799 Tracett 3 3.99 2023 Mrs. Nash's Ashes
author: Sarah Adler
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves:
review:
I’m giving the a generous 3 stars. Mr grumpy and Ms sunshine were both yuck.
]]> Bloomsbury Girls 58428207
Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare book store that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans:

Vivien Lowry: Single since her aristocratic fiance was killed in action during World War II, the brilliant and stylish Vivien has a long list of grievances - most of them well justified and the biggest of which is Alec McDonough, the Head of Fiction.

Grace Perkins: Married with two sons, she's been working to support the family following her husband's breakdown in the aftermath of the war. Torn between duty to her family and dreams of her own.

Evie Stone: In the first class of female students from Cambridge permitted to earn a degree, Evie was denied an academic position in favor of her less accomplished male rival. Now she's working at Bloomsbury Books while she plans to remake her own future.

As they interact with various literary figures of the time - Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (widow of George Orwell), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim, and others - these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.]]> 353 Natalie Jenner 1250276691 Tracett 4 3.79 2022 Bloomsbury Girls
author: Natalie Jenner
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/09
date added: 2024/04/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Sisters Under the Rising Sun 83667937 A phenomenal novel of resilience and survival from bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris.

In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again.

Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed.

After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.

Sisters under the Rising Sun is a story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and friendship in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and Three Sisters.]]> 400 Heather Morris 1250320550 Tracett 5 3.82 2023 Sisters Under the Rising Sun
author: Heather Morris
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Warm Hands of Ghosts 154462576 New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.]]> 325 Katherine Arden 0593128257 Tracett 4 3.96 2024 The Warm Hands of Ghosts
author: Katherine Arden
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/31
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Forever Home 60431085
When Declan becomes ill, their relationship falters. His children are untrusting and cruel, and Carol is forced to leave their beloved home, with its worn oak floors and elegant features, and move back with her parents. Carol’s mother is determined to get to the bottom of things—she won't see her daughter suffer this way. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumors that were never confronted, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance that affects them all.]]> 336 Graham Norton 1529391393 Tracett 4 3.71 2022 Forever Home
author: Graham Norton
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Come Rain or Shine (Juniper Meadows #3)]]> 199349290
Juniper Meadows is home to much of his extended family, not to mention the many local businesses that operate on the estate, so there’s no time to sit back and enjoy the view. Juniper Meadows is a full-time job, and that doesn’t leave much time for romance�

Tasha Blake’s career leaves no time for romance either � much to her mother’s chagrin. Tasha’s sister Danni has kindly provided two grandchildren, but Victoria Blake is keen for more! When her job takes her to Juniper Meadows for an extended project, the slower pace of life, the beauty of the countryside and the warmth of the Travers family, soon has Tasha in its thrall, and the future Lord of the Manor Rhys Travers is rather easy on the eye too.

As the busyness of life on the estate sweeps Tasha and Rhys along, they are both able to ignore the secrets and silences that are growing between them. But when the future of Juniper Meadows hangs in the balance, loyalties and love are tested to breaking point. When the chips are down, can Rhys and Tasha see a future together, come rain or shine�

Sarah Bennett is back with her signature blend of warmth and joy, plot and pace. A Sarah Bennett book is a ray of sunshine and a huge hug, guaranteed to brighten any day, perfect for all fans of Cathy Bramley, Katie Fforde and Phillipa Ashley.

Praise for the Juniper Meadows

'A perfect read to cosy up with at this time of year. Complex family relationships are explored with love and sensitivity and in a way that keeps you turning the pages. Full of friends and family and the meaning of love in all its different forms' Katie Ginger

‘I inhaled this book in two days. Absolutely gorgeous. Sarah Bennett is back, and better than ever!� Rachel Burton

'A perfect heartwarming read full of family, romance and intrigue, set in a stunning location - what’s not to love?' Bella Osborne

'In From The Cold** is a cleverly woven tale of family in all its many meanings; emotional, heart-breaking but ultimately uplifting, I can’t wait to see where Sarah Bennett takes us next' *Alexandra Walsh

'In From the Cold is a joyful, intriguing story of intertwining relationships whose ripples spread throughout a community... Moving, witty and atmospheric, the story bowls along at a cracking pace, delivering a generous supply of romance along with the gin. I loved it! More, please.' Celia Anderson

Readers love Sarah

‘In From the Cold is a beautiful story about love, lies, betrayal and healing. Sarah Bennett's writing is gorgeous and she creates characters that I feel I know in real life. In From the Cold is another heartwarming story from this talented author. Grab your copy now and treat yourself to this hug in a book! 5 stars!�

‘Absolutely loved this book from start to finish the storyline covered everything I didn't want it to finish, I do hope there is going to be a third instalment 🎉�

‘I think this could well be some of Sarah Bennett’s best writing to date. She has a captivating way with words, and also gets some lovely humour in there too. What Sarah Bennett excels at, is creating settings.]]> 281 Sarah Bennett 1804833282 Tracett 3 4.44 Come Rain or Shine (Juniper Meadows #3)
author: Sarah Bennett
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/19
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves:
review:
A bit cheesy and entirely predictable, I nevertheless shed a tear toward the end.
]]> Piglet 127282554 A New York Times Book Review Editors� Choice
A Belletrist Book Club Pick

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.]]> 320 Lottie Hazell 125028984X Tracett 3 3.39 2024 Piglet
author: Lottie Hazell
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bless Your Heart (Bless Your Heart, #1)]]> 127280459
It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That’s how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny―Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore’s soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.

But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi―the original vampire―are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.

As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi’s return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.

A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish.]]> 304 Lindy Ryan 1250888883 Tracett 4 3.58 2024 Bless Your Heart (Bless Your Heart, #1)
author: Lindy Ryan
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/14
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder #1)]]> 176450518 In this irresistible and thrilling debut novel, a former antique hunter investigates a suspicious death at an isolated English manor, embroiling her back in the dangerous world of tracking stolen artifacts.

What antique would you kill for?

Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate—sent just days before his death—Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?]]> 287 C.L. Miller 1668032007 Tracett 3 3.32 2024 The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder #1)
author: C.L. Miller
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/04
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Denison Avenue 64995552 A moving story told in visual art and fiction about gentrification, aging in place, grief, and vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders

Bringing together ink artwork and fiction, Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes (illustrations) and Christina Wong (text) follows the elderly Wong Cho Sum, who, living in Toronto’s gentrifying Chinatown–Kensington Market, begins to collect bottles and cans after the sudden loss of her husband as a way to fill her days and keep grief and loneliness at bay. In her long walks around the city, Cho Sum meets new friends, confronts classism and racism, and learns how to build a life as a widow in a neighborhood that is being destroyed and rebuilt, leaving elders like her behind.

A poignant meditation on loss, aging, gentrification, and the barriers that Chinese Canadian seniors experience in big cities, Denison Avenue beautifully combines visual art, fiction, and the endangered Toisan dialect to create a book that is truly unforgettable.]]> 328 Christina Wong 177041715X Tracett 2 4.16 Denison Avenue
author: Christina Wong
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/26
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:
No. This isn’t linear enough for me. The narrative is made up out prose, poetry, and some sort of stylistic writing. Nope. The illustrations are amazing! But this is by no means a graphic novel. I appreciate the attempt to tell the story of these Canadians but I couldn’t enjoy the story.
]]> Murder Road 196614815 A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.]]> 341 Simone St. James 0593200381 Tracett 3 3.67 2024 Murder Road
author: Simone St. James
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/20
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves:
review:
I love Simone T. James but not this one. This seemed to drag on a bit. I’ll look forward to her next novel in with the hopes that this was just a dip in her usual excellent writing.
]]> <![CDATA[The Other Half (DI Caius Beauchamp, #1)]]> 123025972
Rupert's 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's—catered with cocaine and expensive champagne. The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush.

Who killed Clemmie? Was it the blithe, sociopathic boyfriend? His impossibly wealthy godmother? The gallery owner with whom Clemmie was having an affair? Or was it the result of something else entirely?

All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally. This investigation is going to be about aristocrats and Classics degrees, Instagram influencers and whose father knows who.

Or is it 'whom'? Detective Caius Beauchamp isn't sure. He's sharply dressed, smart, and thoroughly modern—he discovers Clemmie's body on his early morning jog. As he searches for the dark truth beneath the luxurious life of these London socialites, a wall of staggering wealth and privilege threatens to shut down his investigation before it's even begun. Can Caius peer through the tangled mess of connections in which the other half live—and die—before the case is wrenched from his hands? Bitingly funny, full of shocking twists, and all too familiar.]]> 368 Charlotte Vassell 0593685946 Tracett 3 3.26 2023 The Other Half (DI Caius Beauchamp, #1)
author: Charlotte Vassell
name: Tracett
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

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

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

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 Tracett 4 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Tracett
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]>