Alexa's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 01:59:57 -0700 60 Alexa's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests]]> 221490938 Three courses. Seven guests. One card. It's a deadly evening they'll never forget.Ěý

Seven strangers meet for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening winds down, seven cards appear, one in front of each of the guests. On each card is a number - the age at which the guest will die. Spooked but skeptical, the guests disperse into the rainy night with the hope of forgetting the morbid turn of events.Ěý

Two weeks later, one guest is dead. At exactly the age the card predicted.Ěý

More guests begin to die as the years go on, each one dead at the same age as their card. It soon becomes clear that something much more sinister is abound. Now, it's up to the quickly dwindling group of dinner guests to figure out who (or what) was behind that fateful dinner party all those years ago, before their numbers catch up with them too.Ěý

Told from the perspectives of each of the seven guests, which span from hilarious to hateful, Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a spellbinding and mysterious exploration of mortality, begging the how would you live your life if you knew your number was up?]]> 352 K.J. Whittle 1464242402 Alexa 0 to-read 3.90 2025 Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests
author: K.J. Whittle
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic]]> 216748497 From Fairy Tales to Your Garden, Enchanted Plants is a illustrated treasure trove to the lore and magic of the kingdom of plants.

Take a walk through mystical, magical, and historical gardens to discover cultivars and edible plants that have captured our hearts and minds for centuries. Will you dare to pick a golden apple or seize the perfect rose? Sneak through the iron gates of the poison garden where the lascivious and life-saving plants intertwine. Gallop through meadow grass, skirt the boggy glen, amble through woodlands where magical plants beckon from the forest floor.
Ěý
Plant lover and lover of the bizarre Varla Ventura brings together forgotten lore with the magic and medicine of plants for the ultimate romp through a botanical wonderland. Includes excerpts from fairy tales and a lively discussion of each plant’s magical and medicinal properties. Enchanted Plants is arranged by general environment, such as cultivated plants and edibles; toxic plants; meadowlands; the woods; marshes and swamps; and tropical plants. Each chapter contains a cultivated selection of plants, arranged alphabetically by popular common name, with additional information including botanical name, additional “common� names, folklore, ethnobotanical properties, magical and occult properties, and modern usage, if applicable.]]> 288 Varla A. Ventura 1578638607 Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic
author: Varla A. Ventura
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
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]]> Happy Wife 217927640 A young woman must find her missing husband and prove her innocence in this twisty, unputdownable novel set in an ultrawealthy Florida community where looks can kill.

Nora Davies doesn’t exactly fit in to Winter Park, Florida, where old-guard Floridians mix with the tax-fleeing coastal elite. Twenty-eight and barely making ends meet working at a country club, Nora feels like she’s going nowhere fast. Enter Will a prominent forty-six-year-old lawyer, father to a teenage daughter and recently divorced. The two set Winter Park’s socialĚýsceneĚýagogĚýwhen they fall in love and marry after a whirlwind Cinderella-style courtship.

But Winter Park is fully upended when Will disappears the morning after a birthday bash Nora throws for him. Going back and forth between Nora and Will’s romance and the search in the wake of Will’s mysterious disappearance, Nora must answer the question from all Where. Is. Will?

Combining breathless suspense, glittering and juicy social dynamics, and an unforgettable cast of characters, Happy Wife is a clever and subversive novel that explores marriage, wealth, and the secrets that lurk behind closed doors.]]> 320 Meredith Lavender 0593974379 Alexa 0 to-read 4.21 Happy Wife
author: Meredith Lavender
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.21
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]]> <![CDATA[Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty]]> 221754280 A deeply personal memoir-in-essays, reckoning with being an object of Asian fetish and how media, pop culture, and colonialism contributed to the oversexualization of Asian women—from Kaila Yu, former pinup model and lead singer of Nylon Pink.

No one fetishized Kaila Yu more than she fetishized herself. As a young girl, she dreamt of beauty. But none of the beautiful women on television looked like her. Growing up as a teenager in the late '90s and early 2000s, Asian representation was scarce, and where it existed, the women were often reduced to overtly sexual and submissive caricatures—the geishas of the book-turned-film Memoirs of a Geisha; the lewd twins, Fook Mi and Fook Yu, in Austin Powers films; Papillon Soo Soo’s sex worker character in the cult Vietnam War movie Full Metal Jacket; and pin-up goddess Sung-Hi Lee. Meanwhile, the "girls next door" were always white. Within that narrow framework, Kaila internalized a painful conclusion: The only way someone who looked like her could have value or be considered beautiful and desirable was to sexualize herself.

Blending vulnerable stories from Yu’s life with incisive cultural critique and history, Fetishized is a memoir-in-essays exploring feminism, beauty, yellow fever, and the roles pop culture and colonialism played in shaping pervasive and destructive stereotypes about Asian women and their bodies. Yu revisits the formative moments that shaped her identity. She reflects on the women in media who influenced her, the legacy of U.S. occupation in shaping Western perceptions of Asian women, her own experiences in the pinup and import modeling industry, auditioning for TV and film roles that perpetuated dehumanizing stereotypes, and touring the world with her band in revealing outfits. She recounts altering her body to conform to Western beauty standards, allowing men to treat her like a sex object, and the emotional toll and trauma of losing her sense of self in the pursuit of the image she thought the world wanted.

Raw and intimate, Fetishized is a personal journey of self-love and healing. It’s both a searing indictment of the violence of objectification and a tender exploration of the broken relationship so many of us have with beauty, desire, and our own bodies.]]> 256 Kaila Yu 0593728017 Alexa 0 to-read 4.86 Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty
author: Kaila Yu
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.86
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]]> <![CDATA[Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection]]> 220487339 Instant #1 New York Times bestseller! � #1 Washington Post bestseller! � #1 Indie Bestseller! � USA Today Bestseller!

John Green, acclaimed author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Signed edition

“The real magic of Green’s writing is the deeply considerate, human touch that goes into every word.� �The Associated Press

″Told with the intelligence, wit, and tragedy that have become hallmarks of the author’s work.... This is the story of us.� –Slate

“Earnest and empathetic.� –The New York Times

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.]]> 206 John Green 1101592419 Alexa 4 4.45 2025 Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
author: John Green
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Bad Friend: How Women Revolutionized Modern Friendship]]> 217872609 A smart and thought-provoking memoir, history, and cultural critique about the turmoil and complexity of female friendship

Our culture today is inundated with narratives about the strength of female friendship, whether through images of girl power, BFFs, or work wives. Yet cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith has always found her own life much messier. She has had dramatic friend breakups, friendships that felt like too much or not enough, friendships that drifted into silence, and friendships built on convenience rather than a meeting of minds. And there are older cultural scripts to contend the competitive rival, the jealous backstabber, the underminer, the fair-weather friend.

We have all been bad friends. It’s impossible to be a perfect one; as Watt Smith points out, women’s friendships have long been magnified, scrutinized, praised, and admonished, creating a legacy of impossible ideals. In Bad Friend, Watt Smith reflects on her own experience and thoroughly mines the rich cultural history of female friendship to look for a new paradigm that might encompass the struggles along with the joy.]]> 288 Tiffany Watt Smith 1250870232 Alexa 0 to-read 3.00 Bad Friend: How Women Revolutionized Modern Friendship
author: Tiffany Watt Smith
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.00
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]]> The Prophet of Central Park 225978249
In the prologue Caleb Ellison’s departure from a conservative Christian community becomes a desperate escape from his fanatical father. Jumping forward 9 months to a life in New York, the protagonist discovers a deceased uncle, a successful NYC Asian Arts dealer, whom the Ellison family erased from its history because of the man’s homosexuality. Soon after, the street preacher/performer Tawana Johnson enters Caleb’s life on a subway platform when she senses his upset over this lie, an uncanny insight which early on unsettles him. Several pages later, driven by guilt over a past betrayal, Caleb thwarts an organized assault on a Midtown Manhattan abortion rights event. The viral videos of the intervention thrust him into the center of the country’s bitter culture wars. When scrutiny from both media and government officials grows increasingly hostile, Tawana’s profound decency persuades Caleb to trust her and through this, he begins to appreciate her message that doubt is essential to faith; without it, faith becomes zealotry. Despite the increasing danger he faces from the notoriety, Caleb helps Tawana prepare for her role in an evangelical “conversation� aimed at healing the national divide which focuses the country’s attention upon Central Park’s great lawn.

Though Caleb’s Bible background informs his daily life, his is a story of a young man exorcising the ghosts of his upbringing, played out against the influence of religion on the country’s national dialogue.]]> 273 P.C. Burhenne Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 The Prophet of Central Park
author: P.C. Burhenne
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
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]]> Clown in a Cornfield 221544396
Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half.

On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.

Don't miss this Bram Stoker Award-winning novel from rising star Adam Cesare.]]> 368 Adam Cesare 0063454432 Alexa 0 to-read 3.89 2020 Clown in a Cornfield
author: Adam Cesare
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/28
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]]> The Break-In 220160111 After killing an intruder in self-defense, a wealthy London mother must unravel a terrifying mystery filled with twists and turns, from the author of the “deliciously twisted thriller� (People) The Other Mothers.

Alice, a professional mother of one, is hosting a playdate with friends at her upscale London home when a disturbed man breaks in. With her child in the next room, Alice panics and kills him—an act later ruled to have been in self-defense.

Everyone tries to encourage Alice to move on with her life—but with strange comments appearing online, a mysterious phone call telling her all is not as it seems, and her husband, nanny, and friends behaving strangely, Alice finds herself drawn to the mystery of who her intruder really was. As she digs deeper, she discovers a trail of dark secrets that spiral closer to home than she ever could have imagined.]]> 400 Katherine Faulkner 1668024810 Alexa 0 to-read 4.06 The Break-In
author: Katherine Faulkner
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.06
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]]> The Deading 219522028 Stephen King’s Under the Dome meets The Last of Us in this harrowing dystopian novel about the downward spiral of a seaside town that becomes infected by a mysterious ocean-borne contagion.

If you want to stay, you have to die.

In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.

Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading�: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.

Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.

At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in nature and between humans.]]> 320 Nicholas Belardes 164566130X Alexa 0 to-read 3.00 2024 The Deading
author: Nicholas Belardes
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Upstanding Young Man 221473784
Meg Hart has taken great pains to create her perfect All-American family. It looks effortless, but that’s because she’s been smart about it.

However, on a brisk spring morning weeks before his graduation, her son McClane goes missing. And as the investigation deepens, the police zero in on her as their perfect suspect. Tragedy has struck this family before, and all signs suggest that she is the source. Add in her elusive husband’s strange behavior and inconsistencies in her story, it becomes clear that she has plenty to hide.

Before he disappears, it turns out McClane has secrets of his own: a pregnant girlfriend, a shocking truth about his wrestling career, and a chilling discovery—the person he trusts most has betrayed him in the worst way.

Alternating between Meg’s perspective in the initial days of the investigation and McClane’s in the hours leading up to his disappearance, Upstanding Young Man is packed with relentless tension and short, fast-paced chapters that will keep readers up all night.]]> 432 Sharon Doering 136811380X Alexa 0 to-read 4.06 Upstanding Young Man
author: Sharon Doering
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.06
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date added: 2025/04/28
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]]> Listen for the Lie 217387923 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. 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. 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 that did it.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880335 Alexa 0 to-read 4.35 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Finding Sophie 221216647
For the last seventeen years, Harry and Zara King’s lives have revolved around their only daughter, Sophie. One day, Sophie leaves the house and doesn’t come home. Six weeks later, the police are no closer to finding her than when they started. Harry and Zara have questioned everyone who has ever had any connection to Sophie, to no avail. Except there’s one house on their block—number 210, across the street—whose occupant refuses to break his silence.

Someone knows what happened.

As the question mark over number 210 devolves into obsession, Harry and Zara are forced to examine their own lives. They realize they have grown apart, suffering in separate spheres of grief. And as they try to find their way back to each other, they must face the truth about their daughter: who she was, how she changed, and why she disappeared.

Someone will pay.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Harry and Zara, and in a dual timeline between the weeks after Sophie’s disappearance and a year later in the middle of a murder trial, Imran Mahmood’s taut yet profoundly moving novel explores how differently grief can be experienced even when shared by parents—and how hope triumphs when it springs from the kind of love that knows no bounds.]]> 368 Imran Mahmood 0593723600 Alexa 0 to-read 4.50 2024 Finding Sophie
author: Imran Mahmood
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/26
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]]> The Sirens 210412039 A novel about sisters separated by centuries, but bound together by the sea.


2019: Lucy awakens from a dream to find her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. Horrified, she flees to her older sister’s house on the Australian coast, hoping she can help explain the strangely vivid nightmare that preceded the attack—but Jess is nowhere to be found.

As Lucy awaits her return, the rumors surrounding Jess’s strange small town start to emerge. Numerous men have gone missing at sea, spread over decades. A tiny baby was found hidden in a cave. And sailors tell of hearing women’s voices on the waves. Desperate for answers, Lucy finds and begins to read her sister’s adolescent diary.

1999: Jess is a lonely sixteen-year-old in a rural town in the middle of the continent. Diagnosed with a rare allergy to water, she has always felt different, until her young, charming art teacher takes an interest in her drawings, seeing a power and maturity in them—and in her—that no one else has.

1800: Twin sisters Mary and Eliza have been torn from their loving father in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia. For their entire lives, they’ve feared the ocean, as their mother tragically drowned when they were just girls. Yet as the boat bears them further and further from all they know, they begin to notice changes in their bodies that they can’t explain, and they feel the sea beginning to call to them�

A breathtaking tale of female resilience and the bonds of sisterhood across time and space, The Sirens captures the power of dreams, and the mystery and magic of the sea.]]> 339 Emilia Hart 1250280834 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.04 2025 The Sirens
author: Emilia Hart
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Manic Pixie Dream Earl (Earls Trip, #2)]]> 218155534 Ted Lasso meets Bridgerton for a 19th century spin on The Hangover in USA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday’s laugh-out-loud bromantic comedy featuring three Regency-era Earls on their annual trip�ride-or-die buddies offering one another unconditional support in everything from Lady problems to family woes�especially when this trip is crashed by one earl’s pen pal. The complicated fallout from his alter ego being exposed may just be the most challenging problem the boys have to solve yet!

From the author of CANADIAN BOYFRIEND,Ěýthe perfect romp for fans of Evie Dunmore, India Holton, Virginia Heath, Manda Collins, and Suzanne Allain!

An annual earls� trip should provide an escape from a gentleman’s cares, but in this refreshingly modern Regency-era series, three handsome BFFs find that wherever they go, romantic complications follow . . .

When not writing, poet Edward Astley, Viscount Featherfinch, spends his time fending off the young ladies of the ton—and some of its young men—and avoiding his cruel father. As heir to the earldom, Edward knows he must marry someday. Alas, he is already hopelessly in love with someone. Hopeless because not only is Miss Julianna Evans not a member of the aristocracy, she is employed. She is a magazine editor—the only one to publish his work. Also, in all their years of increasingly personal correspondence, they’ve never met.
Ěý
Also, she thinks he’s a woman. Named Euphemia.
Ěý
Julianna is baffled. How can her soul mate not want to meet? Could it be that Euphemia is not the simple country girl she claims to be? Perhaps she’s wealthy. After all, she’s never cashed any of the bank drafts Julianna has sent. Perhaps Euphemia simply doesn’t want rank to come between them. Well, no more. Having extracted the details of a trip Euphemia is planning, Julianna squanders her meager savings and surprises her at the scene.
Ěý
He is very, very surprised. As is she.
Ěý
Now the two will have to decide what is true, what is not, and whether the truest thing of all—love—just might be worth an earldom . . .
Ěý]]> 352 Jenny Holiday 1496745094 Alexa 0 to-read 4.25 2025 Manic Pixie Dream Earl (Earls Trip, #2)
author: Jenny Holiday
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Queen Esther 225642083 After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.

Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her.

When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows. In the final chapter, set in Jerusalem in 1981, Esther Nacht is seventy-six.

John Irving’s sixteenth novel is a testament to his enduring ability to weave complex characters and intricate narratives that challenge and captivate. Queen Esther is not just a story of survival but a profound exploration of identity, belonging, and the enduring impact of history on our personal lives showcasing why Irving remains one of the world’s most beloved, provocative, and entertaining authors—a storyteller of our time and for all time.]]> 432 John Irving 1501189441 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 2025 Queen Esther
author: John Irving
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Joy Moody Is Out of Time 217387839 From the author of the beloved novel Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder comes another quirky and irresistible new crime novel

Strange things are happening behind the bright pink facade of Bayside’s premier laundromat, Joyful Suds; home to Joy Moody and her twin daughters.

For much of their lives, Joy has been lying to Cassie and Andie. What started as a colorful tale to explain how the twins came to live with her grew over the years and was always something she meant to set straight. Joy really did think she had more time. Worse still, Joy is struggling to define the truth from the lies.

The girls have long believed they are vital to the future and must stay hidden to stay safe. Joy has told them that their impending 21st birthday is significant; they will step into their roles as daughters of the future revolution and life as they know it will change. Joy was right - everything will change, just not in the way the expected. On Andie and Cassie’s birthday, Joy Moody is found dead and her girls face a world they are not prepared for without their mother. Joy Moody is out of time� in more ways than one.]]> 352 Kerryn Mayne 1250340500 Alexa 0 to-read 3.75 2024 Joy Moody Is Out of Time
author: Kerryn Mayne
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/24
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]]> A Beautiful Family 219520685 Over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil.

At ten years old, she catches more than her parents and older sister suspect. Over their summer break, her mother plans to finish her novel, her father wants to grill and watch cricket, and her fifteen-year-old sister hopes to catch the eye of a local lifeguard. With everyone around her distracted, she teams up with a new friend to solve a mystery that haunts this vacation they'll close the case of what happened to Charlotte, a child who was presumed drowned two years earlier.

But things aren't quite as they seem, and as the children look for clues, they inadvertently dislodge information they wish they'd never uncovered. Are her parents happy together? Is her sister putting her trust in the wrong people? Is their vacation rental as safe as it seems? And when someone else goes missing, the family find themselves at the center of an urgent police investigation.Ěý

Debut novelist Jennifer Trevelyan viscerally captures the confusion and frustration of childhood, the fraught but unshakeable bond between sisters, and the dangers that lurk in the white lies we tell--especially about the people we love most.]]> 320 Jennifer Trevelyan 0385551355 Alexa 0 to-read 2.67 A Beautiful Family
author: Jennifer Trevelyan
name: Alexa
average rating: 2.67
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]]> <![CDATA[The Vengeful Dead (Gravekeeper, #5)]]> 214189327 How far will she go to save the damned?

Keira is caught in a deadly battle. Her ability to help ghosts move on from the mortal world has made her a threat to Artec, a powerful corporation intent on trapping the tortured dead for profit. They've been tracking her for years and now, finally, there's nowhere left for her to run.

Artec fears Keira and everything she's capable of. They will stop at nothing to eliminate her―including sending armed men after everyone she holds dear.

Desperate and quickly running out of time, Keira races to hone her abilities as she searches for a way to destroy the twisted organization for good. But at least now she's no longer alone. Her friends have offered to follow wherever she leads, even if that means a direct strike deep into the heart of Artec's central base...and to the certain death waiting for them there.]]> 358 Darcy Coates Alexa 3 4.56 2025 The Vengeful Dead (Gravekeeper, #5)
author: Darcy Coates
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tenant (Korner and Werner, #1)]]> 53108596 An electrifying work of literary suspense from international bestselling author Katrine Engberg, this stunning debut introduces two police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge.

When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.

But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.]]> 368 Katrine Engberg 1982127597 Alexa 0 currently-reading 3.84 2016 The Tenant (Korner and Werner, #1)
author: Katrine Engberg
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/22
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us]]> 222376732
The Tragedy of True Crime is a first-person journalistic account of the lives of four men who have killed, written by a man who has killed. Lennon entered the New York prison system with a sentence of 28 years to life but after he stepped into a writing workshop at Attica Correctional Facility, his whole life changed. Reporting from the cell block and the prison yard, Lennon challenges our obsession with true crime by telling the full life stories of men now serving time for the lives they took.

These men have completely different backgrounds � Robert Chambers, a preppy Manhattanite turned true crime celebrity; Milton E. Jones, a seventeen-year-old coaxed from burglary into something far darker; and Michael Shane Hale, a gay man caught in a crime of passion � and all are searching to find meaning and redemption behind bars. Lennon’s reporting is intertwined with his own story, from a young man seduced by the infamous gangster culture of New York City to a celebrated prison journalist. The same desire echoes throughout the lives of these four to become more than murderers.

A first-of-its-kind book of immersive prison journalism, The Tragedy of True Crime poses fundamental questions about the stories we tell and who gets to tell them. What essential truth do we lose when we don’t consider all that comes before an act of unthinkable violence? And what happens to the convicted after the cell gate locks?]]> 368 John J. Lennon 1250858240 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us
author: John J. Lennon
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
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]]> Girl 229153531
A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner set in the 1980s, Marky Watson’s GIRL is a wild adventure full of unforgettable characters. Harrowing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and relentlessly romantic, this is a story for everyone who's ever made a bad decision because of love.]]> 331 Marky Watson Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 2025 Girl
author: Marky Watson
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Ecstasy 219301781
Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Naxos with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's, pet project--the luxurious Agape Villas.

Years of marriage amongst the wealthy elite has whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. On Naxos she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel, demanding that she fall in line.

Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether Lena will join them, and what it will cost her.

Ecstasy is a riveting, darkly poetic, one-sitting read about empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them.]]> 224 Ivy Pochoda 059385117X Alexa 0 to-read 3.76 2025 Ecstasy
author: Ivy Pochoda
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/22
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]]> All the Silent Bones 231523813
Forty years after the incident on the ice, Ray, a retired college professor, has moved back into his childhood home. Eddie is a retired homicide detective, and Matthew is a successful investment banker. Bobby, who is on disability from his job as a corrections officer at a juvenile detention center, has a secret: the darkness that found him under the ice when he was a kid has made him do terrible things.

Following a reunion at Ray’s house, Matthew is found murdered in his car beside the old pond. The killer includes a chilling message that only the three remaining friends would recognize. Could one of their own be a murderer?

All the Silent Bones, a tense and disturbing thriller told from alternating perspectives of morally complex characters, explores the lasting impact of childhood trauma and its influence on adult relationships.]]> Gregory Funaro 1958231754 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 All the Silent Bones
author: Gregory Funaro
name: Alexa
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story]]> 217387932 A nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and the aftershocks that shook a wealthy suburb.

Rich Cohen’s Murder in the Dollhouse is the chilling, unputdownable story of Jennifer Dulos, a beautiful, rich suburban mother who dropped her kids off at the New Canaan Country School one morning and vanished. Her body has never been found.

Dulos was in the midst of an ugly divorce—one of the most contentious in Connecticut state history. The couple, a beautiful, highly connected pair, met at Brown University, had five children, and led what appeared to be a charmed life. In the wake of her disappearance, Dulos’s husband and his girlfriend were arrested. He killed himself on the day he was supposed to report to court; she was tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. A gripping story of status, wealth, love, and hate, Murder in the Dollhouse peers beneath the sparkling veneer of propriety that surrounded the Duloses to uncover the origins and motivations of a crime that has become a national obsession.]]> 352 Rich Cohen 0374608067 Alexa 0 to-read 3.96 2025 Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story
author: Rich Cohen
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
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]]> The House That Held Her 230588686
As Margot digs deeper into the manor's history, she finds herself tangled in the chilling legacy of George and Cecilia Hawthorn, a once-beloved couple whose presence still lingers in ways no one dares to explain. Nightmares bleed into reality. Puzzles stretch throughout the sleepy city. And the deeper she searches, the more she realizes the truth—no one is safe here.

Someone is watching—always. As the house's walls close in, Margot must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice to answer one "What is the cost of keeping the dead quiet?"

Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a haunting twist, The House That Held Her is a gripping tale of obsession, guilt, and the weight of secrets buried just beneath the surface.]]> 312 Ellis Hart Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 The House That Held Her
author: Ellis Hart
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
book published:
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]]> The Unseen 220160578 A terrifying new novel from bestselling #HorrorBookTok sensation Ania Ahlborn—the acclaimed author of the modern classic Brother.

Hailed as a writer of “some of the most promising horror I’ve encountered in years� (Seanan McGuire, author of the Ghost Roads series), Ania Ahlborn delivers a novel that pushes the boundaries of horror into a new realm.

Isla Hansen, a mother reeling from a devastating loss, is beside herself when a mysteriously orphaned child appears on the outskirts of the Hansens� secluded Colorado property. Although strange and unexplainable, the child’s presence breathes new life into Isla. But as the child settles in, Isla’s husband, Luke, and their five children notice peculiarities that hint at something far beyond the ordinary—anomalies that challenge the very fabric of reality itself. The tension within the Hansen household grows, and with it, the sense that there is something very wrong with the new kid in the house.

The Unseen is a haunting tale that walks the line between the familiar and the unknown, drawing us into a chilling narrative where reality itself feels just out of reach.]]> 384 Ania Ahlborn 1668057662 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 The Unseen
author: Ania Ahlborn
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
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]]> Smile for the Cameras 219520689 An actress desperate to reclaim her fame must survive the real-life plot of the horror movie that made her famous in this psychologically twisted locked-room thriller influenced by '90s slasher films.

Twenty years ago, Ella Winters was the it girl. She made a name for herself in Hollywood and throughout America as the final survivor in the cult-classic slasher Grad Night. But the real horror is what happened when the cameras weren’t rolling—something terrible that Ella and her co-stars agreed never to speak of again. Shortly after the movie's premiere, Ella disappeared from the acting scene under the pretense of caring for her ailing mother, hoping for a quiet life out of the spotlight to ease her guilty mind.

Now, after her mother’s passing, Ella has decided to return to the silver screen. And with the cast and crew of Grad Night in the process of filming a reunion documentary, Ella has the perfect ticket back into Hollywood's good graces.ĚýWeighed down by the secret she’s been keeping all these years, Ella apprehensively makes the trip to the original set—a cabin in rural Tennessee—to reunite with her castmates for the first time in over a decade.ĚýBut when the actors begin to meet the exact gruesome fates of the characters they originally played, falling victim to someone dressed as the Grad Night villain, it's clear their secret is out.

Now, the question Can the final girl survive one last nightmare?]]> 320 Miranda Smith 0593983165 Alexa 0 to-read 3.70 Smile for the Cameras
author: Miranda Smith
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> Slashtag 124490399
Arthur built and operated the Propitius Hotel from 1905 until 1928 when dozens of bodies were found in his hotel, along with countless hidden torture rooms throughout the hotel. Arthur disappeared, seemingly never to be caught. He then returned - nearly 40 years later - under the guise of a priest leading a congregation of 100 people back to his hotel, where he once again committed mass murder.

Enter Tawny Howlett-- a top-tier lifestyle influencer who is in the midst of the crappiest week of her life. Her brand new health drink turned out to be tainted, and now thousands of her followers want nothing more than to see her social media empire crumble. In order to rehabilitate her image, she's agreed to take part in "Slashtag: The Ultimate Horror Experience".

At first it's all fun and games, until the team of seven celebs discover that the ghost is very real, and out for blood. In order to survive the three-day live-streamed event, Tawny and her fellow contestants must band together to try and send the spirit of Arthur Wilson straight to hell.

"I suddenly wish that I were just crazy. A hallucination would mean my brain is broken, which is something I’ve spent my entire adult life attempting to accept. If we’re both seeing this, it means the world is broken in a way my brain is not prepared to confront."

While Tawny has her hands full trying to survive a weekend at the Propitius Hotel, it's up to her younger sister April to work from the outside to try and find a way to save her sister, and uncover the dark truth behind the TV network that continues to air the deaths of some of America's top talent.

Together these seven doomed souls must solve the puzzles hidden within the hotel in order to vanquish the spirit of Arthur Wilson.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From best-selling author Jon Cohn, comes the tale of a social media influencer's attempt to salvage what's left of her dwindling empire, save her sister, and survive the unimaginable in Slashtag, a gripping horror novel with IRL vibes and unexpected twists and turns in the age of social media.

Jon Cohn's best-selling debut novel, "The Island Mother" won Publisher's Weekly's Booklife Prize for Best Indie Horror Novel of 2022.]]> 418 Jon Cohn Alexa 0 to-read 4.24 Slashtag
author: Jon Cohn
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.24
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]]> The Memory Watcher 220667164 Lies, secrets, and obsessive motherly love collide in a chilling novel of psychological suspense by a Washington Post bestselling author.

Press, tap, refresh�

When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence. From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace’s every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination soon spirals into an addictive obsession that comes to a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning.

Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace’s life under false pretenses. It’s only then that Autumn discovers that pictures lie, the perfect family doesn’t exist—and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.

Revised This edition of The Memory Watcher includes editorial revisions.]]> 329 Minka Kent 1662531583 Alexa 0 to-read 3.00 2016 The Memory Watcher
author: Minka Kent
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> One in Four 216775113 When a reality show about former child stars overcoming addiction culminates in murder, their therapist must take a closer look into their lives—and her own, from USA Today bestselling author Lucinda Berry.

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

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

As she hunts a killer in her present, the unsettling truths of Laurel’s past are forced into the light. But this time, she’ll face her demons head on. She’ll stop at nothing to expose a murderer, even if it means risking everything she holds dear.]]> 247 Lucinda Berry 1662526032 Alexa 0 to-read 3.62 2025 One in Four
author: Lucinda Berry
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2025
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]]> Dead of Night 216541865 A crime writer. A cold case. Will she survive to tell the story?

Since the sudden and tragic death of her partner, bestselling crime author Serena Winters hasn’t written a word. With deadlines looming, she packs up her grief and escapes from New York City to a secluded clifftop house in small-town California, hoping the change of scenery will cure her writer’s block.

But as news of her arrival spreads, Serena finds herself facing strange accusations that she’s here to cash in on the house’s history. When she uncovers the chilling story of a young family who mysteriously vanished from the very same house thirty years earlier, she can’t help asking more questions�

Someone in the local community doesn’t want the past dug up, though. Someone willing to push Serena to the limits of her sanity to keep the truth buried. Caught in a spiraling campaign of intimidation, and harboring a dark secret of her own, Serena soon finds herself in the kind of danger she usually only writes about…]]> 264 Lisa Gray 1662519168 Alexa 0 to-read 4.67 Dead of Night
author: Lisa Gray
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.67
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]]> Going Home in the Dark 212130028 When hometown horrors come back to haunt, friendship is salvation in a novel about childhood fears and buried secrets by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.

As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams―and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they?

After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,� as they once called themselves, back in its grasp.]]> 399 Dean Koontz 1662500521 Alexa 0 to-read 4.67 2025 Going Home in the Dark
author: Dean Koontz
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.67
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]]> Soulkeeper (The Keepers, #1) 41885689 In the first book of USA Today bestseller David Dalglish's epic fantasy trilogy, a warrior priest must answer the call and protect his world from monsters, when ancient magic suddenly returns to his land.

Devin Eveson is a Soulkeeper, travelling through remote villages as a preacher and healer. But when a dragon awakens - the size of a mountain and leaving great chasms in its wake - the veil is torn, flooding the land with ancient magic and forgotten races. Now Devin must set aside his words of peace and accept his new role: slayer of monsters and protector of the human race.

But not all the creatures that have re-awakened mean humanity harm. And as Devin slowly befriends people of these new races, his discomfort in his role grows. But Soulkeepers must slay without mercy. And even sympathisers risk their wrath.


For more from David Dalglish, check out:

Shadowdance
A Dance of Cloaks
A Dance of Blades
A Dance of Mirrors
A Dance of Shadows
A Dance of Ghosts
A Dance of Chaos

Seraphim
Skyborn
Fireborn
Shadowborn

]]> 706 David Dalglish 035651157X Alexa 4 3.87 2019 Soulkeeper (The Keepers, #1)
author: David Dalglish
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
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]]> Tell Them You Lied 218155619
Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Worse: Willow’s true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.

So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It’s supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this â€artistâ€� can finally see the monster she’s become. It’s supposed to give Anna her power back.

But this morning isn’t just any Tuesday. It’s September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she’s to blame for Willow’s disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she’s the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.

Alternating between the friends' art school tenure and their lives in 2001 New York, Tell Them You Lied reveals how difficult the search for answers is when you'd rather have anything but the truth.]]> 384 Laura Leffler 1368103766 Alexa 0 to-read 3.83 2025 Tell Them You Lied
author: Laura Leffler
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2025
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]]> Witch You Would 222237146 When a young witch gets a life-changing chance to compete in a magical reality show, sparks fly as she’s partnered with a man she can’t stand.

In a Miami where enchantment is just another college major, the magic of television could change two lives.

Penelope Delmar, a broke salesgirl, has been chosen to compete on Cast Judgment, a spellcasting reality show. The winner gets a big cash prize, and for extra hype, this season is the Spellebrity every contestant will be paired with a celebrity teammate.ĚýUnfortunately, her partner, Leandro Presto, is best known for his goofy viral spell videos, not his skills.

Gil Contreras, alias Leandro Presto, has been crushing on his pen pal Penelope for months. Now they’re working together to win a contest thatĚýcould save his grandfather’s charity—except he has to stay in character the whole time, so his dream girl thinks he’s a total loser.

Can they beat snobby rivals, fix spells gone wrong, and survive increasingly dangerous sabotage attempts to win theĚýgrand prize—and each other’s hearts? Or will Gil’s secret make both their magic and romance fizzle out?Ěý]]> 368 Lia Amador 0063377543 Alexa 0 to-read 4.38 Witch You Would
author: Lia Amador
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.38
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]]> The Surf House 222291255 WISH YOU WERE HERE? THINK AGAIN�

High on the wave-pounded cliffs, far from the bustling souks of Marrakech, sits The Surf House.

A hidden gem on Morocco’s shores, the house is a sanctuary for the surfers, travellers and dreamers who wash in.

But the idyll is built on something rotten.

And when Bea arrives, relieved to find refuge after a dangerous encounter in a Marrakech alleyway, she soon gets caught in the swell of a deep, dark mystery.

Because another young woman went missing one year ago � and the last place she was sighted was The Surf House.]]> Lucy Clarke 0802166458 Alexa 0 to-read 3.93 The Surf House
author: Lucy Clarke
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.93
book published:
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]]> Spitting Gold 214151323 A deliciously haunting debut for fans of Sarah Waters and Sarah Penner set in 19th-century Paris, blending gothic mystery with a captivating sapphic romance as two estranged sisters—celebrated (and fraudulent) spirit mediums—come back together for one last con.

Paris, 1866. When Baroness Sylvie Devereux receives a house call from Charlotte Mothe, the sister she disowned, she fears her shady past as a spirit medium has caught up with her. But with their father ill and Charlotte unable to pay his bills, Sylvie is persuaded into one last con.

Their marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution.

The scheme underway, the sisters deploy every trick to terrify the family out of their gold. But when inexplicable horrors start to happen to them too, the duo question whether they really are at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. And what other deep, dark secrets may come to light?]]> 304 Carmella Lowkis 1668024969 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 2024 Spitting Gold
author: Carmella Lowkis
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Tourist Season (The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy, #1)]]> 231299870
Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colorful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. But with tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won’t let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary at any cost—especially for her aging mentor with a fading memory.

Troublesome tourists don’t check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper’s award-winning flowerbeds. But Nolan Rhodes isn’t your average tourist. Devilishly handsome, disarmingly charming, and skilled with a blade, Nolan is relentless in the pursuit of revenge. On every anniversary of the hit-and-run accident that fractured his life, Nolan slays another target. And he’s saved the best for last: the undeniably beautiful Harper Starling.

The problem? Harper isn’t the monster he expected. And she won’t go down without a fight. When an amateur true crime investigator comes to Cape Carnage on the trail of a long-lost serial killer, Harper and Nolan strike an uneasy truce. If Nolan helps Harper protect her town, she’ll keep quiet about his hunting habits . . . for now. But their alliance soon spirals into obsession, one that threatens to shatter every secret in Carnage—including their fragile love.

Tourist Season is a darkly funny, slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance where destruction and desire are balanced on the edge of a blade—and where love is the most dangerous battleground of all.]]> 368 Brynne Weaver 1638932107 Alexa 0 to-read 4.43 Tourist Season (The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.43
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]]> The Impossible Fortress 30893019 The Impossible Fortress will make you remember what it feels like to love someone—or something—for the first time.

Billy Marvin’s first love was his computer.

Then he met Mary Zelinsky.

Do you remember your first love?

It’s May 1987. Fourteen-year-old Billy Marvin of Wetbridge, New Jersey, is a nerd, but a decidedly happy nerd. Afternoons are spent with his buddies, watching copious amounts of television, gorging on Pop-Tarts, debating who would win in a brawl (Rocky Balboa or Freddy Krueger? Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel? Magnum P.I. or T.J. Hooker?), and programming video games on his Commodore 64 late into the night. Then Playboy magazine publishes photos of their idol, Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White, Billy meets expert computer programmer Mary Zelinsky, and everything changes.
]]> 320 Jason Rekulak 1501144421 Alexa 0 to-read 3.82 2017 The Impossible Fortress
author: Jason Rekulak
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/19
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]]> There Are Reasons for This 220517405
Lucy’s brother, Mikey, is dead. Two years ago, when he left their small Eastern Colorado town and moved west to Denver, he’d intended to bring Lucy along. But Lucy has only just arrived, and too late. She arrives in search of Helen, a woman Mikey loved. But when Lucy moves in across the hall, she finds nothing is as she expected: the city is crumbling; the weather is tempestuous; a predator is on the loose; the old woman in the attic needs company; desire is being compressed into pills and distributed like candy; and, most distressing of all, she finds herself becoming obsessed with Helen, who is nothing like she expected―and who has no idea who Lucy really is.

As Helen’s and Lucy’s lives become more entwined, Lucy begins to realize the real reasons she came to Denver are deeper and stranger than a simple desire to understand what happened to her brother. As a storm builds and the city falls apart, Lucy finds herself drawn further to Helen, and farther from her brother, questioning what makes a family and if love can ever really be found.

There Are Reasons for This is a modern love song about the fallibility of love―in all its iterations―about the denial and tethering of desire, about the family we are given and the one we find for ourselves, and to what comes next, whatever that may be.]]> 240 Nini Berndt 1963108264 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 There Are Reasons for This
author: Nini Berndt
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
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]]> <![CDATA[Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld, #1)]]> 223296200 A propulsive, electrifying and enraging retelling of the life ofĚýGreek goddess Hekate, child of war turned all-powerful goddess of witchcraft and necromancy, by internationally bestselling poet Nikita Gill.

Born into a world on fire, Godling Hekate has never known safety. After her parents are on the losing side of the war between the ruling Titans and new Olympian Gods, Hekate is taken by her mother Asteria to the Underworld, where Styx and Hades agree to raise her. Meanwhile, Asteria is pursued across the world by Zeus and Poseidon and, to escape their clutches, transforms herself into an island in a stormy sea.

Orphaned and alone, Hekate grows up amongst the horrors and beauties of the Underworld, desperate to find her divine purpose and a sense of belonging in the land of the dead.Ěý

When Hekate finally uncovers her powers and ascends to Goddess status, she realises that even the most powerful Olympians are terrified of her. But when immortal war breaks out again, threatening to destroy everything from Mount Olympus to the Underworld itself, the Goddess of witchcraft and necromancy is the only one who can bring the deadly conflict to an end. . .
Ěý
ADVANCE PRAISE FORĚýHEKATE
â€InĚýHekate, we are plunged into a vivid and imaginatively wrought divine world that is monstrous, magical and beautiful through the perspective of a bewildered child of war who grows up to understand and embrace her power. It's a timely and achingly resonant reflection on conflict, fear and the unbreakable bonds of family conveyed in exquisite, evocative poetry.’Ě�â€� Jennifer Saint, author ofĚýAriadne
Ěý
â€In aĚýwholly original, incandescent take on the myth of Hekate, Nikita Gill captures the beauty, brutality and otherworldly strangeness of the ancient world like no other writer. This beautifully imagined tale of a Refugee Goddess's. . . quest to find her destiny among a kingdom of outcasts is both deeply moving and absolutely captivating. . . This poem is pure magic.’ĚýĚ�â€� Elodie Harper, bestselling author ofĚýThe Wolf DenĚýtrilogy
Ěý]]> 384 Nikita Gill 0316581828 Alexa 0 to-read 3.80 2025 Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld, #1)
author: Nikita Gill
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About]]> 215493611 She’s a little edgy. He’s a lot of sunshine.

Love’s about to catch them completely off gourd�

Textile artist Sadie Fox didĚýnotĚýsign up for this. When she agreed to come home to Pea Blossom, Indiana, it was to care for her father’s beloved pumpkin patch. The deal was that—just for the summer—she would grow a ginormous pumpkin, win the Indiana State Fair's pumpkin contest and finally win back her father’s (grudging) respect.

Instead, a horde of wild hogs destroyedĚýthe. entire. patch. Which is precisely when the annoyingly sexy, sunshiny next-door neighbor shows up.

Josh Thatcher is a tech millionaire who traded in the office for growing gourds, including experimental squash hybrids. And for the life of her, Sadie can’t understand what he sees in her sweary, tattooed, prickly self—or why he’s offering to help his biggest competitor. But a storm-fueled kiss proves there’sĚýdefinitelyĚýsomething growing between them.

Maybe it’s just attraction. Maybe it’s more. Whatever it is, it’s already bigger than Sadie’s fast-growing pumpkin…or the secret that Josh has been hiding.

From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles�

A Tough Act to Fall For by Cynthia St. Aubin

Not So Fast by Karen Booth

Destination Weddings and Other Disasters by M.C. Vaughan]]> 288 Isabelle Popp 133550723X Alexa 0 to-read 4.07 Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About
author: Isabelle Popp
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/18
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]]> The Lamplighter’s Bookshop 216349300 Every book tells a story. Every heart hides a secret.

The Lost Bookshop meets the Lost Apothecary in a beguiling novel full of secrets�When Evelyn Seaton and her mother are ejected by the bailiffs from their Yorkshire manor house, the blame lies squarely with Evelyn’s father, a gambler and chancer who has left them destitute. Seeking refuge with an elderly aunt in an unfashionable corner of York, their predicament is intensified by the spiteful Lady Violet who gloats in their disgrace.

Realising that only an income will save them, Evelyn secretly answers an advertisement for a bookshop assistant at the dusty and shambling Lamplighter’s Bookshop. But she is not the only candidate � competition comes in the person of William, a charming yet enigmatic writer hiding secrets of his own.

Evelyn and William are too scared to trust each other, but every heart is a doorway, and all stories are waiting to be told. Can Evelyn and William turn the page on theirs and find the courage to write the next chapter?]]> 368 Sophie Austin 0008664129 Alexa 0 to-read 3.73 2025 The Lamplighter’s Bookshop
author: Sophie Austin
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> Witches of Honeysuckle House 223856287 Haunted by a curse that kills someone close to their family every 13 years, two sisters must come together to break the spell and save that which they hold most dear.

This enchanting novel explores the fraught lines between family and the secrets they keep, perfect for fans of Ava Morgyn and Heather Webber.

Florence and Evie Caldwell have long disagreed on how to break their family’s curse, and tension has been high since their mother’s death thirteen years ago. Honeysuckle House, the family estate where every Caldwell has lived, now only houses one of the sisters. Evie has crafted it into an enchanted bed and breakfast, while Florence runs a magical bookstore in town, refusing to even set foot inside Honeysuckle House.Ěý

But when the house starts behaving dangerously and catches fire, Florence and Evie must set aside their differences and dig into past generations of their family and the town’s history before the curse claims someone they love.Ěý

Honeysuckle House is an exploration of sisterhood, family, and the places we call home perfect for readers of The Crescent Moon Tearoom.]]> 320 Liz Parker Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Witches of Honeysuckle House
author: Liz Parker
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
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]]> The Ghost Woods 216970608 A young woman sent to stay in a crumbling gothic manor will find haunting secrets creeping out of the surrounding dark woods in this new, chilling novel from the acclaimed author of The Lighthouse Witches.

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds—and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.]]> 380 C.J. Cooke 0593550234 Alexa 0 to-read 3.00 2022 The Ghost Woods
author: C.J. Cooke
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> The Thorns 217905294 In this hauntingly twisted tale, an author reconnects with an old boarding school friend, forcing her to reckon with their shared past and the imaginary creature she thought they left behind.

Touch a line, you break your spine.

Stacey is the dusty air, the cracked soil, the drought. To thirteen-year-old Bethany Sloane, she’s everything.

Abandoned by her mother at a remote African boarding school, Bethany will do anything to stay in Stacey’s good graces. And that means learning the rules of each twisted game.

Touch a crack, you break your back.

Years later, Bethany is a bestselling author. Disabled now, she can’t remember what happened back in the bush. But there’s no mistaking Stacey Preston’s name in her inbox.

Glassy, glassy, cut my arsey.

That email brings Bethany’s childhood rushing back. The Glass Man was just a story the Thorns invented, a game of wits. But every game has its rules—and consequences for breaking them. To stay alive this round, Bethany needs to play right into Stacey’s hands.

Dark and disturbing, The Thorns explores the horrifying world of adolescent abuse, controlling friendships, and blinding obsession.]]> 392 Dawn Kurtagich 1662526962 Alexa 0 to-read 3.53 2025 The Thorns
author: Dawn Kurtagich
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> Unfinished Business 231397455
Recovering from a traumatic divorce, Angela yearns for a fresh start in life. She escapes to her estranged mother's home on the North Shore of Lake Superior where she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of her grandmother's disappearance - despite her mother's inexplicable fears and objections.

A strange force leads her to a cabin on Gunflint Trail in Minnesota's Northwoods where she uncovers clues about her grandmother's life. She also reconnects with Thomas, her long lost soulmate from a past lifetime. Together they embark upon a journey that leads them to Isle Royale and Voyageur's National Parks where they make startling discoveries that shatter all they thought they knew about the mysterious Angelique.

Finally, they are able to help Angelique complete her unfinished business upon this earth and move on into the spirit world.]]> Janet Kay Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Unfinished Business
author: Janet Kay
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> Strangers in Time 217182446 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes David Baldacci’s newest novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,� Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.

As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.]]> 448 David Baldacci 1538742055 Alexa 0 to-read 4.10 2025 Strangers in Time
author: David Baldacci
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Cold Eternity 211003824 Cold Eternity is the newest action-packed space horror from S.A. Barnes perfect for fans of Severance, where desperation for eternal life leads to a fate worse than death...

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth’s most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago�

The cryo program, created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld, is long defunct, and the AI hologram "hosts," ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld’s three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there’s a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It’s not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from�.]]> 293 S.A. Barnes 1250884950 Alexa 4 3.82 2025 Cold Eternity
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> House of Monstrous Women 221473234 A young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.

In this game, there’s one rule: survive.

Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape....

Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?

If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.

Except Ranoco house is strange—labyrinthine and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.

To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.

A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.]]> 336 Daphne Fama 0593817583 Alexa 0 to-read 4.45 House of Monstrous Women
author: Daphne Fama
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.45
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/16
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]]> Before Dorothy 219301734 Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own grand adventure, leaving gritty Chicago behind for Kansas and a life that will utterly change her, in this transporting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.

Chicago, 1924: Emily Gale and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago behind for the promise of their own American dream. But leaving the city means leaving Emily’s beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world.

Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have made a life in the warmth of the community of Liberal, Kansas, and among the harsh beauty of the prairie. Their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.

The wide-eyed child isn’t the only thing to disrupt Emily’s world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and their much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of Dorothy.

Bursting with courage and heart, Before Dorothy tells the story of the woman who raised a beloved heroine, and ponders the what is the true meaning of home?]]> 368 Hazel Gaynor 0593440331 Alexa 0 to-read 4.60 Before Dorothy
author: Hazel Gaynor
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.60
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/16
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]]> <![CDATA[A Crown of Echoes (The Crown Saga, #1)]]> 230437201 “I want you, and I would give up everything to have you. So…think about that and let me know, lion queen.�

Queen Merrin might just be the least queenly queen in all the realms. After all, proper queens don’t sneak out at night to drink with their guards.

Her vibrant northern kingdom is famed for magical curatives—remedies for everything from headaches to fairy pox. Spirited, compassionate, and fiercely loyal, Merrin is utterly unprepared when her closest friend, the elegant Queen Beau, vanishes after confessing a secret that could shatter their reigns.

Determined to rescue Beau, Merrin disguises herself in a guard’s cloak and ventures into forbidden territory alongside three knights—including Windley, the North’s most notorious flirt. With hair that betrays his moods by changing color and a dangerously seductive touch that leaves victims enthralled, Windley’s hidden past and guarded heart conceal secrets that could alter Merrin’s destiny forever.

As Merrin navigates enchanted forests and ancient lore, she becomes bound by dark magic to shadowy echoes only she can command. To save Beau—and her kingdom—she’ll risk everything, including her heart, on a dangerously irresistible guard whose secrets are too tempting to ignore.

Prepare for forbidden romance, vengeful goddesses, and a thrilling journey deep into the heart of magic itself—because even the least queenly queen must fight to keep her crown.

A sweeping new adult romantasy filled with courtly intrigue, dark magic, and pulse-racing emotional stakes. Immerse yourself in a lush, vivid world where love is rebellion, alliances are treacherous, and destiny waits for no one. With swoon-worthy romance, captivating characters, and richly layered mythology, The Crown Saga delivers an epic journey of power, devotion, and the perilous secrets that bind hearts and realms.]]> 287 Brindi Quinn Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 A Crown of Echoes (The Crown Saga, #1)
author: Brindi Quinn
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Crimson Crown (The Crimson Crown Duology, #1)]]> 222683985 Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the wickedest of them all? Snow White’s dark queen tells her side of the story in the first book of a queer, witchy duology that reimagines the classic fairy tale—from the author of Malice.

“An alluring, vengeful origin story that brings tremendous dimension to a classic fairytale.”—Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of Immortal Longings

Legends tell of a witch who became a queen—the heartless villain in the story of Snow White.

But now the wicked queen is stepping out of Snow White’s shadow to become the heroine of her own legend.

Her real “once upon a time� begins when she is just Ayleth, a young witch who lives in the forest with her coven. The witches practice their magic in secret, hiding from the White King and his brutal war against witchcraft.

Ayleth, however, faces a war of her own. Her magical gifts have yet to reveal themselves, and as the threat of the Royal Huntsmen intensifies, Ayleth fears she will never become the witch her coven needs.

To prove herself, Ayleth sets out on a perilous quest that sends her to the White Palace, a decadent world of drama and deceit. There, Ayleth encounters an unlikely figure from her past: Jacquetta, a witch who once held Ayleth’s heart—and betrayed her.

As events at the palace escalate, Ayleth finds herself caught in the web of the White King, whose dark charisma is as dangerous as the sinister force that seems to be haunting the palace—and perhaps even Ayleth herself. With the threat of discovery looming, Ayleth and Jacquetta must set aside the wounds of their past and work together to survive.

As she uncovers the secrets of the White Court—and those of her own heart—Ayleth must find the strength to transform into someone she never imagined she could be.

A powerful witch, the very wickedest of them all.

Book One in The Crimson Crown series.]]> 544 Heather Walter 0593598385 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 2024 The Crimson Crown (The Crimson Crown Duology, #1)
author: Heather Walter
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> A Resistance of Witches 219848293 A historical fantasy debut set against the backdrop of World War II, where a witch journeys to find a book of unspeakable power before it lands in Nazi hands

Stubborn, plain-spoken and from an unimpressive family, Lydia Polk never expected to be accepted into the Royal Academy of Witches. Eight years later, with Hitler’s army rampaging across Europe, the witches of Britain have joined the war effort, and Lydia is key to the she must use her magic to track down magical relics before Hitler—known to be obsessively seeking the artifacts himself—and his sycophants can. Then a Nazi witch infiltrates the Academy with heart-breaking consequences, leaving the coven shaken, exposed and the elder British witches have no interest in further loss of coven life in service of a government that has forced them into hiding for decades, no matter the consequences to the world. But with the discovery of the Grimorium Bellum, an ancient book that leaves a trail of death and destruction wherever it goes—one the Nazi coven is desperate to get their hands on—Lydia’s mission has never been more urgent.

Alone and woefully outnumbered, Lydia makes her way to the heart of occupied France, where she finds allies in Rebecca Gagne—a fierce French resistance fighter chockful of secrets—and Henry Boudreaux—a handsome Haitian-American art historian with a little magic of his own. Together, they traverse the country, stalked by the natural and supernatural alike, in search of the grimoire. But, as Lydia soon discovers, finding the Grimorium Bellum is only half the the book has a dark agenda of its own. Lydia must subdue it before the witches of the Third Reich can use it—but she’ll have to survive the book herself, first.]]> 416 Morgan Ryan 0593831969 Alexa 0 to-read 4.30 A Resistance of Witches
author: Morgan Ryan
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> The Compound 218460337
All of you are young, all beautiful, all keen to escape the grinding poverty, political unrest and environmental catastrophe of the outside world.

You realise that cameras are tracking your every move, broadcasting to millions of reality TV fans.

Soon, ten men will arrive on foot � if they all survive the journey.

What will you have to do to win?

And what happens to the losers?

LORD OF THE FLIES meets LOVE ISLAND in this explosive, addictive debut novel, as bingeable as the best reality TV, with dark undercurrents of literary dystopia and consumerist satire. ]]> 304 Aisling Rawle 0593977270 Alexa 0 to-read 3.94 2025 The Compound
author: Aisling Rawle
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Bog Queen 222376503 “An absolute astonishment.� -Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of The Immortal King Rao

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Outlawed, the gripping story of an anthropologist's monumental discovery and the clash of civilizations it sets off over the fate of the land that holds us.

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she's ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.

The mystery of the Iron Age body draws the attention of numerous groups with competing the archaeologists who want to study the surrounding bog, the peat-cutters who want to profit from the land's resources, and a group of environmental activists and neo-pagans who demand the body be returned to its resting place and that the moss-layered bog-a marvel of carbon capture on a warming planet-be left undisturbed. Then there's the moss a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.

As Agnes is drawn into the controversy stirred by the body and its habitat, she must face not only the deep history of what she has unearthed, but also the relationships she has forsworn in her bid for independence. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with climate urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.]]> 288 Anna North 163557966X Alexa 0 to-read 4.67 Bog Queen
author: Anna North
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng]]> 218185743
These days nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt, who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival; not her weird colleagues; and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her door frame. After all, it can't be real—can it? After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.]]> 304 Kylie Lee Baker 0778368459 Alexa 0 to-read 4.26 2025 Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
author: Kylie Lee Baker
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Hot Wax 224103430 The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift—a vivid and immersive tale of one woman’s reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is

Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father’s forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills� wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning—one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.

The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father’s sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil’s beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she’d lost desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country—and drives her to a desperation all her own.

Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back—where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.]]> 400 M.L. Rio 1668070022 Alexa 0 to-read 4.13 2025 Hot Wax
author: M.L. Rio
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> We Are Watching 213429267 FromĚýUSA TodayĚýbestselling and Edgar and Shamus Award–winning author Alison Gaylin comes a slick, riveting, and all-too-plausible tale of psychological suspense where a mother is desperate to protect her family as they become targets of a group of violent conspiracy theorists.

Sometimes the world is out to get you.

Meg Russo was behind the wheel when it happened. She and her husband Justin were driving their daughter Lily to Ithaca College, the family celebrating the eighteen-year-old music prodigy’s future. Then a car swerved up beside them, the young men inside it behaving bizarrely—and Meg lost control of her own vehicle. The family road trip turned into a tragedy. Justin didn’t survive the accident.

Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief and guilt, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after she returns to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and Lily in increasingly terrifying ways. They are obsessed with a young adult novel titledĚýThe Prophesy, which was published thirty years earlier. An online group of believers are convinced that it heralds the apocalypse, and social media posts link the book—and Meg’s reclusive musician father—to Satanism. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on The Prophesy’s author...Meg.

As the threats turn violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin’s death may not have been an accident. To find answers and save her daughter, her father, and herself, Meg must get to the root of these dangerous lies—and find a way to face the believers head-on � before it’s too late.]]> 333 Alison Gaylin Alexa 1 3.67 2025 We Are Watching
author: Alison Gaylin
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2025
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> The Orphanage by the Lake 221460330 A MISSING GIRL. AN ORPHANAGE FILLED WITH SECRETS.

Hazel wants a new life.

She's thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding.

Her luck takes a turn when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, pays Hazel a visit with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children's home—The Orphanage By The Lake, as the locals call it—and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.

At first glance, it appears to be a standard runaway case, but as Hazel plunges into the investigation, she finds signs of something unexplained blood stains, cryptic symbols, sinister figures shadowing her every move. The more she digs, the more she realizes that The Orphanage By The Lake holds terrifying secrets, and even worse�

…so does Madeline.

Fans of Freida McFadden's The Housemaid, Charlie Donlea's The Girl Who Was Taken, and Karin Slaughter's Pretty Girls will love this twisty, suspenseful thill-ride.]]> 332 Daniel G. Miller 1464246378 Alexa 3 4.03 2024 The Orphanage by the Lake
author: Daniel G. Miller
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> Ruth 221754279 In this mesmerizing and profound novel, the arc of a woman's life in a devout, insular community challenges our deepest assumptions about what infuses life with meaning.
Ěý
Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian communism, a world without private property, television, or tolerance for idle questions. Every morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume, sings the same breakfast song in a family room identical to every other family room in the community; every one of these moments is meant to be a prayer, but to Ruth they remain puzzles. Her life is seen in glimpses through childhood, marriage, and motherhood, as she tries to manage her own perilous curiosity in a community built on holy mystery. Is she happy? Might this in fact be happiness? Ruth immerses us in an experience that challenges our most fervent beliefs.]]> 256 Kate Riley 0593715942 Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 2025 Ruth
author: Kate Riley
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> The Ruins (Soul Cursed, #1) 216236810
Unfamiliar with their surroundings they quickly exhaust their options, but just when all seems lost a twist of fate leads them to their destination. The ruins of Ayar Kachi have lain dormant for centuries, a foreboding palace of crumbling stone and strange symbols that has never been filmed by a living being.

Eager to make their aspirations of success a reality, Tyler and Gabe descend into the depths, unknowing of the peril they have placed themselves in. For within the ancient grounds lies a great evil, one that threatens the lives of anyone who enters and will stop at nothing until its hunger for the living is sated.]]> 242 Jonathan Pongratz Alexa 0 to-read 4.23 The Ruins (Soul Cursed, #1)
author: Jonathan Pongratz
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)]]> 218515947 The gorgeous collector’s hardcover edition of Blood of Hercules contains full color customized artwork, exclusive bonus content, and gold foil sprayed edges, foil casing, and metallic cover treatment.

I’m just a girl. And it turns out, I’m Hercules.

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

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

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

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

Perfect for readers who love:
� "Who did this to you?"
� Extreme Enemies to Lovers
� Morally Gray Alpha Heros
� Stories where the Villains get the girl
� Greek Myths and War Academies]]> 512 Jasmine Mas 1335474730 Alexa 0 to-read 4.08 2024 Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)
author: Jasmine Mas
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories]]> 221452818 A spiky, edgy collection of five wickedly funny stories spotlighting clear-eyed and “difficult� women who are navigating their identities as workers and women in contemporary Japan—a feminist, anti-capitalist modern classic published outside Asia and in English for the first time.

The Dilemmas of Working Women is Fumio Yamamoto’s darkly witty look at modern Japanese women who are ambivalent about their lives and jobs. In “Naked,� a woman who’s simultaneously lost her business and her husband finds that it is surprisingly comfortable to stay at home sewing stuffed animals, even if it makes her a “loser� in the eyes of society. In “Planarian,� a young woman recovering from breast cancer tells her friends and boyfriend that she would prefer to be the titular worm to organically regenerate her body. Each of these spiky women—as well as the three other protagonists in this groundbreaking work—chafes against social expectations that equate work with worth and demand women squeeze into the confining and sometimes dehumanizing role of employee in a world built by and for men.

First published in Japan in 2000, The Dilemmas of Working Women struck a nerve with Japanese readers and became a bestselling literary sensation, selling nearly half a million copies and winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in Literature. A quarter of a century later, this brilliant modern classic—available for the first time outside Asia and in English—remains deliciously funny and astonishingly relevant.]]> 288 Fumio Yamamoto 0063423588 Alexa 0 to-read 3.75 2000 The Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories
author: Fumio Yamamoto
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> Hollow 222850696 "Brilliant new vampire lore.... Spine-tingling!"
—L.J. Smith, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vampire Diaries

Preorder now to get a deluxe limited edition of Hollow! This special-edition hardcover will include beautifully designed endpapers and sprayed edges, a gorgeous foiled cover, and a brand-new author’s note.

From TikTok sensation Celina Myers comes a fresh, intriguing novel about a woman who finds her destiny and her family after being turned into a vampire.

Mia Adair isn’t even twenty-five yet, but she’s starting to wonder if her peak has already passed. She’s spent years working at her local bookstore, a job that was supposed to be temporary. As a kid, she experienced a strange sort of fame within the paranormal community thanks to her inclusion in a book that revealed Mia’s ability to talk with the dead. But that was then, and Mia’s “gift� dried up once adolescence set in. These days, she feels like she’s nobody special.

Until she dies in a tragic car crash and reawakens as a vampire�

Forced to leave behind everything she knew, Mia must choose to live with one of two rival vampire families. The Bellamy and Sutton clans share a dark, complicated history that spans centuries. As Mia learns about their age-old traditions and extraordinary powers, along with their forbidden romances and betrayals, she’s drawn toward two very different loves. And as she feels her gift returning, more potent than ever before, Mia realizes she’ll need it to protect innocent lives—and save the only family she has left.]]> 304 Celina Myers 0778387852 Alexa 0 to-read 4.41 Hollow
author: Celina Myers
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.41
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]]> When Shadows Grow Tall 197914183 When truth becomes a weapon, who shall wield it?

In the Grasp, a realm on the threshold of enlightenment, the dactyli guard the fading embers of their ancient brotherhood, dedicated to the pursuit of absolute truth. Lovelace and Gunnar are rangers, two of the orders' last who find themselves on the precipice of a changing world. When the order faces a fatal threat from within, Lovelace and Gunnar embark on a dangerous ranging, whereon they discover that more than the welfare of the order is at stake: a rogue dactyli named Alev amasses an army of those he calls the Burned Ones, mercenaries wielding elemental forces. Lovelace and Gunnar are forced to grapple with the unimaginable implications.

Meanwhile, the Grasp languishes under the oppressive rule of Osbert, who exploits the recent advent of the printing press to smoor the fires of budding enlightenment. A young woman named Kylene undertakes a journey to find her missing father, a prominent printer wanted for sedition. Her path leads her to the kapnobatai, a mysterious group of outcasts with whom Kylene takes up refuge and the mantle of her father’s fight for freedom.

In the mountains of Droch Fhortan, Lovelace and Gunnar encounter a feral young woman, Cora. Her mere existence uproots an age-old belief and puts to ground a new truth: magic can be awakened, magic can be taught. As their paths intertwine, a shared purpose emerges - to expose Osbert's tyranny, thwart Alev's dangerous plot, and rekindle the flame of enlightenment.

So begins the battle for the minds of the Graspish people, and a quest for the heart of magic itself.]]> 344 Maressa Voss 1803415177 Alexa 0 to-read 3.85 When Shadows Grow Tall
author: Maressa Voss
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.85
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rating: 0
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]]> Bless Your Heart 221473732 Motherhood and murder link five very different women when a working-class detective clashes with wealthy moms in this upmarket thriller in the vein of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose.

Anderson Tupper, a member of one of Atlanta’s richest families, has been murdered in the dugout of the Little League field where he was a volunteer coach, and it’s up to Detective Shay Claypool, a single mother from the other side of town, to find his killer.

With the exclusive area of Buckhead threatening to secede from the city of Atlanta and take its tax revenue with it, Shay is under pressure to solve the murder of one of Buckhead’s own. Accustomed to handling drug dealers and prostitutes, she must now contend with an even more sinister the Buckhead Betties, the insufferably entitled women of Georgia’s most affluent zip code. One of them might be a murderer, but who? Is it the old-money queen of Buckhead? The mysterious new girl in town? The drug dealing trophy wife?

It seems secrets and lies are as plentiful as luxury handbags in Atlanta and everyone’s guilty of something. Shay’s investigation will make her examine her own prejudices and discover that, as women and mothers, she might not be that different from the Betties after all. And if she isn’t careful, they just might take her down with them.]]> 336 Leigh Dunlap Alexa 0 to-read 3.89 2025 Bless Your Heart
author: Leigh Dunlap
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> The Macabre 222399120 From award-winning andĚýUSA TodayĚýbestselling author Kosoko Jackson comes his adult fantasy debut, a stand-alone novel blending of art history, time- and globe-hopping adventure, and dark horror and fantasy about ten cursed paintings and the lengths people will go to collect them, destroy them…or be destroyed.

?A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.

A struggling painter, Lewis Dixon is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. While he’s always felt there’s something powerful about what he puts on canvas, he also felt there was something disturbing just under the surface—especially as he was compelled to make a painting of a painting—one that he has a connection the object of his art is one of the ten paintings his great-grandfather created over a hundred years ago. Only Lewis’s version is surreal…and maybe just a touch horrific.

Still, he accepts the invitation, only to find not a curated show, but a to see if he not only has the magic necessary to enter the paintings, but also the strength to escape them. Because unbeknownst to Lewis, there is power in his art, just as the ten paintings carry with them both immense eldritch abilities and a terrible curse—making them, perhaps, the most valuable works of art in the world.

And Lewis has been asked to destroy them all.

With orders from a mysterious museum official, Evangeline, and partnered with an alluring agent in her employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must plunge into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and unspeakable terror to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own, and to hopefully locate the tenth painting in the series, long missing, the powers of which are suspected to be most devastating of all…]]> 400 Kosoko Jackson 0063394464 Alexa 0 to-read 4.45 The Macabre
author: Kosoko Jackson
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Boleyn Traitor (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #11)]]> 220235413 From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl, legendary historical novelist Philippa Gregory returns to the court of Henry VIII with this dazzling and provocative tour de force about the high cost of loyalty, love, and betrayal.

Sister. Liar. Spy. Traitor.

Her secrets shaped a kingdom.

Her loyalty was deadly.

Jane Boleyn watches from the shadows of the Tudor court, where nothing is more powerful than a secret. And power rests on the edge of a tyrant King’s sword.

She wears many masks � loving wife, devoted sister, and obedient spy. It’s what a woman must do to survive.

The only weapon she has is her voice.

They say Jane’s whispers sealed the fate of two queens. They called her a liar and a traitor.

But the truth is far more dangerous�

Philippa Gregory brings the Boleyn traitor out of the shadows in an explosive story of one woman’s survival in the deadly dance of the Tudor Court.]]> 640 Philippa Gregory 0063439689 Alexa 0 to-read 4.80 Boleyn Traitor (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #11)
author: Philippa Gregory
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.80
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]]> A Good House for Children 209070805 Kate Collins 178816931X Alexa 3 3.35 2023 A Good House for Children
author: Kate Collins
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> Secrets of the Blue Moon 217484042 all her ghosts.

Marnie Putnam is devastated by her husband’s seeming indifference over her recent miscarriages and job loss. Trying to avoid the inevitable, she makes a temporary move to quaint Lake Gardner, Georgia, to record some local oral histories and find some space. But when noises and visions plague her at night, Marnie grapples to know if it’s her own past regrets that haunt her—or something more sinister here in the house where two women died under the blue moon years earlier.

Deciding to confront her fears, Marnie stays, embracing the town’s quirky stories and characters. She even begins to face ghosts of her own—psychological and real—that she thought she’d buried long ago. But when another blue moon rises and yet another heinous death takes place, Marnie knows her life is in danger.

If she returns home to her husband, she’ll be safe, but without the answers she desperately seeks. But if she stays, will she survive?]]> 303 Jan Heidrich-Rice Alexa 0 to-read 4.38 Secrets of the Blue Moon
author: Jan Heidrich-Rice
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> The Resort 61459522
But when their directions send them down a narrow, steep road, Mila begins to think something is wrong.

Then the car engine stops and won’t start again.

Stranded in the snowy mountains and with night closing in, they make their way back down the road to where they saw a sign to turn off to an abandoned ski resort, with windows boarded up and the eerie sense they shouldn’t be there.

With few choices left, they break into an old cabin to spend the night out of the cold.

In the morning when Mila wakes, Ethan is gone.

She is all alone. Or is she?]]> 384 Sarah Goodwin 0008591555 Alexa 3 3.73 2023 The Resort
author: Sarah Goodwin
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> Swipe 230529700 Sonya's fed up with bad internet dates—but she never meant to kill anyone.

After a stressful day at work and a creepy first meetup, Sonya Romano goes on a mission: teach a lesson to the smarmy guys she's meeting on her dating app. But when one of them falls to his death as a result of her confrontation she realizes she's gone too far.

Meanwhile, Jake Parker, former Pulitzer nominee, has hit rock bottom. His boss gives him an assignment: go under cover and produce a click-bait story about dating apps. Things start to look up when another married man on the app is murdered, and Jake suspects that there may be a serial killer targeting cheaters.

With Jake hot on her trail, Sonya races to cover her tracks, until they finally meet. Fighting a powerful mutual attraction but suspicious of each other, neither of them knows a deranged psychopath is closer than they think, and much more of a danger than either of them realizes.]]> 278 R.G. Belsky Alexa 0 to-read 3.86 2025 Swipe
author: R.G. Belsky
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> Ferry Tails 228142211 Wilkie knows the chilling truth, but capturing these elusive and cunning killers is an almost insurmountable challenge. With the help of the island's colorful residents—including a physically intimidating former inmate who always seems to be in the thick of things—and two German Shepherds with uncanny detection skills, Wilkie navigates a world of tongue-in-cheek dialogue and razor-sharp sarcasm. This pulse-pounding thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.]]> 278 Ted Mulcahey Alexa 0 to-read 4.33 Ferry Tails
author: Ted Mulcahey
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)]]> 223640997 They stole his crown, so he stole their daughter�

For years Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making Erik a prisoner in his own realm.

But on a dare gone wrong, his enemy’s daughter recklessly breaks the chains on the Ever. She soon becomes the unwitting pawn in Erik's vicious game of revenge.

She’s innocent. He’s vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.

Unless she steals his heart first.

Welcome to the passionate world of the Ever Kingdom where pirates, sirens, and fae collide with Vikings in a spicy, dark fantasy romance between a made villain and the innocent princess who holds his heart.

*This series is a spinoff series from the bestselling Broken Kingdoms series, but can be read independently*]]> 480 L.J. Andrews 0593955021 Alexa 0 to-read 4.38 2023 The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)
author: L.J. Andrews
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> Of Flesh and Tears 230269445 Of Flesh And Tears is a genre-bending psychological novel about a woman whose fragile mental health is thrown into turmoil by the aggression of man and beast.Ěý

Following a painful divorce and a stint in a psychiatric hospital, Claire leaves Paris to take over the family farm. With neither support nor experience, she realizes that her fresh start won't be as easy as she'd anticipated.

She searches for meager comfort in Lucien, a vegan activist, who entrusts her with chickens seized from an animal testing research center for her to hide. He even persuades her to participate in his militant group's radical and dangerous activities. Claire's already fragile equilibrium is thrown into turmoil by the aggression of man and of beast. She soon discovers these chickens might be dangerous, threatening any animal and human who gets too close...]]> L.M. Rapp Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Of Flesh and Tears
author: L.M. Rapp
name: Alexa
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> Fool's Fate (Tawny Man, #3) 23019001
The thrilling conclusion to Robin Hobb’s Tawny Man trilogy.

Kingdoms will stand or fall on the beat of a dragon’s wings, or a Fool’s heart.

Prince Dutiful has been charged with a quest to the Outisland to take the head of the black dragon Icefyre. Only then will his betrothed marry him and cement the alliance between their warring kingdoms.

But is Icefyre just a legend? Or does he truly slumber beneath the glaciers? Fitz has prevented his friend the Fool from accompanying them the Fool has foreseen his own death if he ever sets foot on the isle of the black dragon. But as their ship draws in towards Aslevjal a lone figure awaits them…]]> 805 Robin Hobb 0007588976 Alexa 5 4.72 2003 Fool's Fate (Tawny Man, #3)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)]]> 218014044 This #1 New York Times bestseller is a highly addicting enemies-to-lovers Romantasy with razor-sharp banter, heart-stopping action, and blistering hot romance.

Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember. In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water. But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares…but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him� or her. Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.

Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details... Now with an embossed cover, silver foiling, and an updated interior design. Ěý

N.B. Quicksilver contains depictions of graphic violence/adult situations and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author's website.Ěý]]> 615 Callie Hart Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.50 2024 Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)
author: Callie Hart
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vinyl Resting Place (Record Shop Mystery #1)]]> 61067980 First in a new series by Olivia Blacke, Vinyl Resting Place follows three sisters who discover that opening a family business can be murder.

"A charming cozy for a new generation of mystery readers . . . Vinyl Resting Place is a delight!" –Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It

"Vinyl Resting Place is bolstered by the sisters' genuine bond, colorful personalities, and not-so-gentle conflicts. It's a winning combination." -New York Times Book Review

When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet.

Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail—and the coffee—goes cold.

Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin' On Heaven's Door,� but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.]]> 304 Olivia Blacke 1250860091 Alexa 0 currently-reading 3.82 2022 Vinyl Resting Place (Record Shop Mystery #1)
author: Olivia Blacke
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> This Book Will Bury Me 217125987 From the acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour comes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.

It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story.

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory...

So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions. Something's not adding up, and they begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap...

Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans...


]]> 475 Ashley Winstead 1728270022 Alexa 3 3.81 2025 This Book Will Bury Me
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> This Stays Between Us 219542907 You can never escape a summer abroad�

Ten years ago, six college students meet in an Australian summer study abroad, ready to enjoy the break from their studies and travel the country. Their program is meant to introduce them to the beauty of Australia and immerse them in an unforgettable cultural experience. In reality, it's a thrill-fueled summer of outdoor excursions, adrenaline rushes, alcohol, lust, and friendship turned wrong. When Phoebe, a troubled girl with jealousies and fractures spreading like wildfire between them all, suddenly disappears, presumed to have run away in a small outback town, the group decides to pack up and leave the past behind. All their secrets hidden for good. Or at least, that's what they tell themselves�

Ten years later, they each receive a call. They've found Phoebe's body. And now it's time to return.

Each of the friends is summoned back to Australia, confronted with their past selves and the brutal heat and sting of that summer. The police have questions, and the secrets they've been keeping buried deep in the outback start to slowly unearth. It soon becomes clear that everyone knows something about Phoebe's murder, and once again one of them might not make it out alive.


]]> 416 Sara Ochs 1728279593 Alexa 0 to-read 3.73 2025 This Stays Between Us
author: Sara Ochs
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> <![CDATA[An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating]]> 220254936 An ancient witch explores the thrills—and perils—of online dating with hilarity and heart in a charming rom-com perfect for fans of cozy fantasy and witchy romance.

Meet Thorn Scarhart, a thirty-nine-year-old witch who’s having trouble finding love in the 17th century. Despite the local matchmaker’s efforts and Thorn’s arsenal of powerful love potions, she has yet to fall in love. After the disappearance of her sister and the loss of her mother, Thorn was too caught up in…well, life, to focus on dating. Now, she fears she may have missed her chance.

But, when one of her potion brews backfires spectacularly, Thorn is hurled 350 years into the future, landing in a bustling city where her once-isolated cottage is now a historical museum. While this unexpected leap through time may seem daunting, modern life does have its indoor plumbing, electric kettles, and the world of online dating. At thirty-nine, the odds may not be perfect, but at least they’re not impossible.

With the help of the museum’s new curator—and her charming veterinarian brother—Thorn dives headfirst into the 21st-century dating scene. And as she searches for romance, she might also find herself along the way.

An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating is a delightful mix of humor, heart, and a sprinkle of magic. Cozy fantasy lovers will adore this enchanting rom-com, which is a must-read for fans of Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and Erin Sterling’s The Ex Hex.]]> 291 Cecilia Edward Alexa 0 to-read 4.42 2025 An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating
author: Cecilia Edward
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Deathless One (The Gravesinger, #1)]]> 220160831 A princess murdered at the altar makes a deal with the god of death for vengeance and to save her people in this first in a unique romantasy trilogy from USA TODAY bestselling author Emma Hamm.

Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding altar and seizes the throne.

But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal—her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection. But the Deathless One is a known trickster, and a deal with him is one made in blood.

Jessamine knows the Deathless One is a dangerous ally, but the longer they work together, the more she wants him and the less she can stay away. As their connection deepens, soon she wonders if she even wants this contract to end. Perhaps the more appealing throne is the one by his side, but she’d have to turn her back on her people to get it.]]> 336 Emma Hamm 1668063123 Alexa 0 to-read 3.82 The Deathless One (The Gravesinger, #1)
author: Emma Hamm
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Arcana Academy (Arcana Academy, #1)]]> 219551319 A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling romantasy series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.

Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards-a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy.

Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy's enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape-for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.

Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world-and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?]]> 576 Elise Kova 0593726340 Alexa 0 to-read 4.36 2025 Arcana Academy (Arcana Academy, #1)
author: Elise Kova
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> A Treachery of Swans 220160823 From the New York Times bestselling author of Where the Dark Stands Still comes an atmospheric fantasy based on Swan Lake, following Odile as her plan to restore magic to her kingdom gets disrupted by a murder—forcing her to beg for help from the young woman whose identity she stole.

Can two girls—one enchanted, one the enchantress—save their kingdom and each other?

Two hundred years ago, a slighted deity stole the magic from Auréal and vanished without a trace. But seventeen-year-old Odile has a plan. All her life, her father, a vengeful sorcerer, has raised her for one singular task: infiltrate the royal palace and steal the king’s crown, an artefact with enough power to restore magic. But to enter the palace, she must assume the identity of a noblewoman. She chooses Marie d’Odette: famed for her beauty, a rumored candidate for future queen…and Odile’s childhood-friend-turned-sworn-enemy.

With her father’s help, Odile transforms Marie into a swan and takes her place at court. But when the king is brutally murdered and her own brother is accused, her plans are thrown into chaos. Desperate to free her brother, Odile is forced to team up with none other than elegant, infuriating Marie, the girl she has cursed…and the girl she can’t seem to stop thinking about despite her best efforts.

To make matters worse, there are whispers that the king’s murder was not at the hands of man, but beast. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing feelings for Marie, Odile becomes tangled in a web of treachery and deceit. To save her kingdom, she must find the true path to magic…and find the real killer before they—or it—strikes again.]]> 368 A.B. Poranek 1665936509 Alexa 0 to-read 4.22 2025 A Treachery of Swans
author: A.B. Poranek
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
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]]> Ladies in Hating 222376849 A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.

But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.

Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.]]> 352 Alexandra Vasti 1250910986 Alexa 0 to-read 4.22 2025 Ladies in Hating
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.22
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]]> Shroud 230237860 On a planet shrouded in darkness, a stranded crew must fight for survival. But, the darkness may have plans of its own in this wildly original story from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning author of Children of Time.

They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .

New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists � and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.

Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .

Ěý]]> 448 Adrian Tchaikovsky Alexa 0 to-read 3.57 2025 Shroud
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.57
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]]> One of Us 222376809 A playfully macabre and utterly thrilling tale about orphaned twins on the run from their murderous uncle who find refuge in a bizarre travelling carnival, from one of the masters of literary horror

It’s 1915 and the world is transforming, but for thirteen-year-old Bolt and Eleanor—twins so close they can literally read each other’s minds—life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims he’s their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. When, during a late-night poker game, one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee.

Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders, and father to its many members. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, and the twins travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. There’s Minnie the three-legged lady, and Dr. Chui who stands over seven feet tall; Thistle Britches, the clown with no nose, and Rosalie, who can foretell the death of anyone she meets.

After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.

An ode to the misfits and the marginalized, One of Us is a riotous and singularly creepy celebration of the strange and the spectacular and of family in its many forms.]]> 288 Dan Chaon 1250175232 Alexa 0 to-read 4.67 One of Us
author: Dan Chaon
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average rating: 4.67
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]]> Cheddar Luck Next Time 216189353 A cozy cheese-scented mystery with delightful characters, a dash of murder and tons ofĚýintrigue, perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and The Maid.

Cheese-obsessed Bird Eakles has just inherited her grandmother’s estate in a quiet, quirky Californian town. But when a body is found on her property,Ěýher life begins to get rather loudâ€�
Bird Nichols is ready to make a fresh start in a familiar place. Last year, her parents died together in a car crash and her beloved grandmother is presumed dead from an ocean drowning. Bird is now moving onto her grandmother's California coastal property, and finally living out her dream. Bird loves cheese like nothing else. It's her autistic special interest, and she designs her boards along her sensory needs, and other people love them, too.Ěý

But just when everything seems to be going right, the local troublemaker ends up dead on her rural road. Grizz, the closest thing Bird has to family, is the sheriff department's favourite suspect, but sheĚýis determined to prove Grizz’s innocence.ĚýSo now, Bird needs to unpack her possessions, assemble her pretty cheese boards, and find the true murderer before they strike again.]]> 272 Beth Cato 1915523478 Alexa 0 to-read 4.15 Cheddar Luck Next Time
author: Beth Cato
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.15
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]]> <![CDATA[Vincent & Sivan: Rum-Soaked Awakenings (Vincent & Sivan, #1)]]> 230117456 Vincent & Sivan is an explicit, best-friends-to-lovers, dual gay awakening, adult MM romance novel.

Vincent and Sivan, sons of the world’s most powerful pirates, are to be named captains this year, an honor for when they turn twenty-one. Under their fathers, they will rule in the modern age of pirates where the seas are at peace and long gone are the days of pillaging and plundering.

Best friends since childhood, they couldn’t have more opposite views on love. Vincent wants to settle down with the right person, despite pressure from his father to marry once he’s named captain. Sivan, however, finds the idea of love and marriage laughable.

Reunited after months apart as their fathers� ships patrolled opposite ends of the seas, Vincent and Sivan share a bottle of rum in the ship’s storage room. A moment of curiosity steeped in hidden desire, filthy with lust, leads to a very hot and heavy night of rum-soaked awakenings�

But no one can know about this, no one can find out, or their promotions as captains, and the trust of their fathers, may be altogether shattered.

Vincent and Sivan are thrust into a world of secrets and betrayal, as their crews now face a long-buried threat when those determined to bring back the old ways of pirates emerge from the shadows.]]> 327 Cali Kitsu 199805585X Alexa 0 to-read 4.50 Vincent & Sivan: Rum-Soaked Awakenings (Vincent & Sivan, #1)
author: Cali Kitsu
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.50
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]]> Of Monsters and Mainframes 216881365 Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.

Demeter just wants to do her shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.

To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.

The queer love child of pulp horror and ​classic ​sci-fi, Of Monsters and ​Mainframes ​is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.]]> 416 Barbara Truelove 196472113X Alexa 0 to-read 4.30 Of Monsters and Mainframes
author: Barbara Truelove
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average rating: 4.30
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]]> The Dead Husband Cookbook 220481352 She has the recipe for the perfect murder...

Maria Capello is a celebrity chef like no other. A household name, an inspiration, an icon. Her dozens of cookbooks and weekly television show, broadcast from her beautiful Italian-style kitchen, not to mention her line of bestselling supermarket sauces. And of course there's her history. Once just the timid wife of famous chef Damien Capello, she stepped into the spotlight after Damien's mysterious disappearance twenty years before. An event she's never spoken about publicly until now, when it is announced that she is looking for a publisher for her memoirs.

Why is Maria willing to finally break her silence? Why does she turn down seven-figure offers from large publishing houses and sign up with a small press? And why does she do so on the condition that it is edited by Thea Woods? Thea is a lifelong fan but has never met Maria and can't figure it out, plus she had been planning to hand in her notice that very day. But when she is invited to Maria's remote farm to work on the manuscript, she can't resist. After all, she may finally learn whether the rumours are that Maria killed Damien for his recipes and the legendary 'secret ingredient'...

A deliciously rich thriller, perfect for readers of Bella Mackie's How To Kill Your Family and Alexia Casale's The Best Way to Bury Your Husband]]> 352 Danielle Valentine 1728276918 Alexa 0 to-read 4.01 2025 The Dead Husband Cookbook
author: Danielle Valentine
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey]]> 220999791 As spiritualism reaches its fevered pitch at the dawn of the 20th century, a Scottish girl crosses the veil to unlock a powerful connection within an infamous asylum in this thrillingly atmospheric, exquisitely evocative exploration of feminine rage and agency for readers of Sarah Penner, Alice Hoffman, and Hester Fox.

Leaving behind a quiet life of simple comforts, Nairna Liath traverses the Scottish countryside with her charlatan father, Tavish. From remote cottages to rural fairs, the duo scrapes by on paltry coins as Tavish orchestrates “encounters� with the departed, while Nairna interprets tarot cards for those willing to pay for what they wish to hear.

But beyond her father’s trickery, Nairna possesses a genuine gift for communicating with the spirit world, one that could get an impoverished country girl branded a witch. A talent inherited from her grandmother, Lottie Liath, widow of a Welsh coalminer, whose story of imprisonment and exploitation in a notorious asylum is calling out to Nairna from four decades past—a warning to break free from the manipulations, greed, and betrayals of others.

What do the cards hold for Nairna’s future?

Rescued from homelessness by a well-connected stranger, Nairna is whisked into a new life among Edinburgh’s elite Spiritualist circle, including visiting American star Dorothy Kellings. Researchers, doctors, psychics, and thrill-seekers clamor for the rising young medium.ĚýBut after a sĂ©ance with blood-chilling results, a shocking scandal ensues, and Nairna flees to a secluded community near Boston, where she assumes a new ĚýNora Grey.

But Nora can’t stay hidden when Dorothy Kellings offers her the chance to face all comers and silence skeptics at a spectacular séance at Boston’s Old South Meeting Hall, where Nora will come face to face at last with her spiritual the courageous Lottie Liath, whose heart-wrenching story and profound messages are indelibly tied to Nora’s destiny.]]> 448 Kathleen Kaufman 1496753909 Alexa 0 to-read 4.18 The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey
author: Kathleen Kaufman
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.18
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]]> Whispers of the Lake 219521987 A marriage on the rocks, a missing friend, an investigative journalist, a tangle of shocking lies, and a peaceful North Carolina lakefront cottage converge in this irresistibly twisty new psychological thriller fromĚýNew York TimesĚýandĚýUSA TodayĚýbestselling author—perfect for readers of Liv Constantine, Tarryn Fisher, Kellye Garrett, and Caroline Kepnes.

At the peak of her career, investigative reporter Rose Howard is exhausted from trying to manage her seemingly perfect life. With her marriage to her one true love collapsing, she desperately needs to rest, regroup, and decide which way to go next. The direction becomes clear when she discovers that her former best friend, Eve Castillo, isn't responding to attempts to contact her at the North Carolina cottage where she's vacationing. Rose knows Eve can be flaky and irresponsible—that’s why they fell out. Still, Rose heads to the tranquil small town of Sage Hill . . .

Rose soon discovers that Eve has vanished without her purse and passport—even after booking a trip abroad. The personable cabin owners� accounts of Eve's stay just don’t to add up . . . and most of the town's initially hospitable inhabitants becoming increasingly less helpful . . .

Rose's instincts tell her the solution lies somewhere in Eve's—and Sage Hill's—past. To get answers, she’ll have to ask inconvenient questions, rattle long-buried skeletons . . . and face vicious attempts on her life. But some truths are best left alone. And secrets Rose never saw coming could easily sink her and her future without a trace . . .]]> 272 Shanora Williams 1496745841 Alexa 0 to-read 3.84 Whispers of the Lake
author: Shanora Williams
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.84
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]]> The No-End House 219522027
Nine rooms. Nine tests. One chance to get out alive.

Bestselling author Jeremy Bates invites you to spend the night in The No-End House. Where the nightmares begin as soon as you enter—and the terror never ends . . .

It’s the ultimate haunted house challenge. A crumbling stone mansion nestled in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, it may be the best-kept secret in Europe—a little-known attraction featuring nine escape rooms to explore, nine puzzles to solve, and a large cash prize for anyone who makes it to the end. There’s just one catch: no one makes it to the end of The No-End House. . . .

When Joe Hadfield hears about the house from a pair of backpackers, he’s intrigued but not interested. He’s trying to escape a nightmare of his own: the trauma of witnessing his wife’s grisly death. Traveling the world to ease his pain and grief, he meets a beautiful stranger named Helen who convinces him to try The No-End challenge together. Joe reluctantly agrees. But as soon as they enter its walls, meet its mysterious host—and sign an ominous contract—Joe begins to understand the seductive power of The No-End House . . .

It knows his darkest secrets. It feeds his greatest fears. It makes him do things he would never do. And there is no end to what he will do . . . to make it out alive.]]> 320 Jeremy Bates 1496755510 Alexa 0 to-read 3.52 The No-End House
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average rating: 3.52
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]]> It Happened on the Lake 219522073 In an intense, twisty, Hitchcockian standalone spin onĚýRear WindowĚýfrom #1ĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling author Lisa Jackson, a woman returns to the Oregon town where a nightmare unfolded 20 years ago—and is waiting to engulf her again. For fans of J.T. Ellison, Paula Hawkins, Karin Slaughter, and Riley Sager.

The huge Victorian house on Lake Twilight belongs to Harper Reed Prescott, as does the private island on which it sits. Harper wants little to do with either. Twenty years ago, Harper’s grandmother died suspiciously while in her care, on the same night that Harper’s boyfriend disappeared. His body was never found, and no charges were filed. But the rumors haven’t faded. There have been other deaths, other accidents. All revolving around Harper and her family.

Now Harper’s marriage is over, her college-age daughter is estranged, and Harper just wants to sell the property and make a fresh start. Except returning to the lake has stirred everything up again. Whispers. Memories. And the persistent feeling that, as she gazes out at the houses across the water, she’s being watched in turn.

The whole town has always thought Harper has something to hide, and they’re right. But she might have even more to fear . . .]]> 592 Lisa Jackson 1496737032 Alexa 0 to-read 3.73 It Happened on the Lake
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]]> <![CDATA[Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told]]> 212923976 Gay Bar comes a rule-breaking, sweat-soaked, genre-busting story of outlaw love.


It’s 1996, and Jeremy Atherton Lin has met the boy of his dreams � a mumbling, starry-eyed Brit � just as, amid a media frenzy, US Congress prepares the Defense of Marriage Act, denying same-sex couples federal rights including immigration. The pair steals away to remote forests and vast deserts, London fashion shows and Berlin sex clubs, dinner parties, back alleys, East Village hotel rooms, and San Francisco dives. Finding no other way to stay together, they shack up illicitly among unlikely allies in a “city of refuge.�


With Atherton Lin’s inimitable blend of tenderness and wicked humor, Deep House moves through the couple’s string of rented apartments while unlocking doors to a lineage of gay men who have come before � smuggling a foreign partner through national checkpoints or going public to stand up for the right to get down in the privacy of their own homes. They include hapless criminals, sexpot bartenders, friars, pirates, government workers who subverted the system, activists who went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the celebrated artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres.


Following Gay Bar � called “a rich tapestry� by Vanity Fair and “an absolute tour de force� by Maggie Nelson � Deep House juxtaposes whispered disclosures of undocumented domesticity with courtroom drama and political stunts to explore myriad forms of intimacy while questioning the mechanisms that legitimize love. Deep House is at once a historical kaleidoscope and the innermost tale of two boyfriends who made a home in the shadows of a turbulent civil rights battle.]]> 416 Jeremy Atherton Lin 0316545791 Alexa 0 to-read 4.30 Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told
author: Jeremy Atherton Lin
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.30
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]]> A Novel Murder: A Mystery 220552362 Welcome to the Killer Lines Crime Fiction Festival, the place for stars of the genre to meet their adoring fans . . . but be careful, this year the murders aren't just on the page.

Author Jane Hepburn is determined to make her time at the Killer Lines festival worthwhile. This is her chance to change her fortunes and make her fictional Detective Baker a household name. And if she has to resort to sneaking into the book tent after hours to rearrange some books so hers are front and center, so be it.Ěý

But when Jane encounters the dead body of renowned (and reviled) literary agent Carrie Marks, the festival takes on a decidedly different tone. Joined by Carrie's newest client, debut novelist Natasha Martez, and the agency's hapless intern, Daniel Thurston, Jane decides to put her fictional sleuthing skills to use in the real world—she's going to solve the murder. But the list of suspects is seemingly everyone at the festival has a motive to kill Carrie, and the more Jane and her new friendsĚýinvestigate, the closer they come to a dangerous truth—one that’s stranger than fiction.]]> 352 E.C. Nevin 0593803000 Alexa 0 to-read 3.67 A Novel Murder: A Mystery
author: E.C. Nevin
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.67
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]]> Where the Dark Stands Still 125201142 A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this young adult fantasy perfect for fans of An Enchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows.

Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.

Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.]]> 368 A.B. Poranek 1665936479 Alexa 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Where the Dark Stands Still
author: A.B. Poranek
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]>