Kara's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:49:51 -0700 60 Kara's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Rooted to Rise: The Redwood Legacies of Life-Anchoring People]]> 62691522 Sherri Coale Kara 0 currently-reading, 3000-books 4.37 Rooted to Rise: The Redwood Legacies of Life-Anchoring People
author: Sherri Coale
name: Kara
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: currently-reading, 3000-books
review:

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The Fall Risk 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]>
82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 Kara 4 3000-books 4.12 2025 The Fall Risk
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Kara
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Abby Jimenez knocks it out of the park with everything she rights. She makes sure her characters are real and face complex issues. Sure there is always a HEAP but I can read plenty of other sad books where things don’t always work out. I have read everything now and will have to wait until she releases another new novel again.
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Such Kindness 62585977
In constant pain, addicted to painkillers at the cost of his relationships with his wife and son, Tom slowly comes to realize that he can never work again. If he is not a working man, who is he? He is not, he believes, the kind of person who lives in subsidized housing, though that is where he has ended up. He is not the kind of person who hatches a scheme to commit convenience-check fraud, together with neighbors he considers lowlifes, until he finds himself stealing his banker’s trash.

Who is Tom Lowe, and who will he become? Can he find a way to reunite hands and heart, mind and spirit, to be once again a giver and not just a taker, to forge a self-acceptance deeper than pride? To one man’s painful moral journey, Dubus brings compassion with an edge of dark absurdity, forging a novel as absorbing as it is profound.]]>
336 Andre Dubus III 1324000465 Kara 0 currently-reading, 3000-books 3.94 2023 Such Kindness
author: Andre Dubus III
name: Kara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: currently-reading, 3000-books
review:

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We Speak in Storms 43289180 A powerful and haunting debut novel about friendship, acceptance, and learning to let go as the balance between the living and the dead is upended, perfect for fans of We Were Liars.

It's been more than 50 years since a tornado tore through a drive-in movie theater in tiny Mercer, Illinois, leaving dozens of teens -- a whole generation of Mercerites -- dead in its wake. So when another tornado touches down in the exact same spot on the anniversary of this small-town tragedy, the town is shaken. For Brenna Ortiz, Joshua Calloway, and Callie Keller, the apprehension is more than just a feeling. Though they seem to share nothing more than a struggle to belong, the teens' paths continue to intersect, bringing them together when they least expect it, and perhaps, when they need it most. Both the living and the dead have secrets and unresolved problems, but they may be able to find peace and move forward--if only they work together.

A beautifully told, haunting yet hopeful novel about pushing past the pain, facing the world, and finding yourself.]]>
464 Natalie Lund 0525518002 Kara 3 3000-books 3.72 2019 We Speak in Storms
author: Natalie Lund
name: Kara
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I found this book through a book club selection. It is decent for a YA book. I look at a coming of age tale with a paranormal twist. If you grew up feeling slightly odd, I think this book could speak to you.
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The Other Side of Night 60321515 The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story.

Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea: Help me, he’s trying to kill me. Who wrote this note? Who is “he�?

This note leads Harri to David Asha, who was last seen stepping off a cliff. Police suspect he couldn’t cope after his wife’s sudden death. Still, why would this man jump and leave behind his young son? Quickly, Harri’s attention zeroes in on a person she knows all too well.

Ben Elmys: once the love of her life. A surrogate father to Elliot Asha and trusted friend to the Ashas.

Ben may also be a murderer.�

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304 Adam Hamdy 1982196181 Kara 3 3000-books 3.50 2022 The Other Side of Night
author: Adam Hamdy
name: Kara
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I spent most of this book “Umm what? That sentence doesn’t make any sense.� All is explained in the end but it came very late in the story and it all felt like it wrapped up too quickly after that. If you’re able to just hold the parts of the story rather than attempting to figure it out, I think you’d enjoy it even more.
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Count My Lies 214151565 A read-in-one-night suspense thriller narrated by a compulsive liar whose little white lies allow her to enter into the life and comfort of a wealthy married couple who are harboring much darker secrets themselves. For the millions of us still chasing those gone girls, this is perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Lucy Foley, and Laura Dave.

Sloane Caraway is a liar.

Harmless lies, mostly, to make her self-proclaimed sad, little life a bit more interesting.

So when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she can't help herself—she tells the girl's (very attractive) dad she's a nurse and helps him pull a bee stinger from the girl's foot.

With this lie, and chance encounter, Sloane becomes the nanny for the wealthy, and privileged Jay and Violet Lockhart. The perfect New York couple, with a brownstone, a daughter in private school, and summers on Block Island.

But maybe Sloane isn't the only one lying, and all that's picture-perfect harbors a much more dangerous truth. To say anything more is to spoil the most exciting, twisty, and bitingly smart suspense novel to come out in years.

The thing about lies is that they add up, form their own truth and a twisted prison of a world. And in Count My Lies, Sophie Stava spins a breakneck, unputdownable thriller about the secrets we keep, and the terrifying dangers that lurk just under the images we spend so much time trying to maintain.

Careful what you lie for.]]>
336 Sophie Stava 1668079348 Kara 3 3000-books 3.74 2025 Count My Lies
author: Sophie Stava
name: Kara
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A fun thriller but it kind of feels like it’s been done before. I like that it was told with three perspectives but not really overlapping each other for many moments. If you like thrillers, I am sure you’ll enjoy this too.
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Say You'll Remember Me 216437557 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer comes a new playful yet deeply emotional contemporary romance.

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong�

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.]]>
416 Abby Jimenez 0349442827 Kara 5 3000-books 4.22 2025 Say You'll Remember Me
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Kara
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Oh I love Xavier. I select him for my book husband. There is a lot of great banter in this book but it hits hard with emotional stuff that life throws out to you.
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All Fours 197798168
A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.]]>
336 Miranda July 0593190262 Kara 2 3000-books 3.54 2024 All Fours
author: Miranda July
name: Kara
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Umm, this is a hard pass from me. I kept thinking it couldn’t get any weirder and then it went there. This also confirmed that I think I’ll generally stay away from books like make a lot of list. This book was way too “out there� for me to find it in the least bit enjoyable. I could imagine someone maybe identifying with, at least parts of, it. So that’s what managed to get the extra star.
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Thirteen (Eddie Flynn, #4) 36543419 THE SERIAL KILLER ISN'T ON TRIAL.

HE'S ON THE JURY ...

*

'To your knowledge, is there anything that would preclude you from serving on this jury?'

Murder wasn't the hard part. It was just the start of the game.

Joshua Kane has been preparing for this moment his whole life. He's done it before. But this is the big one.

This is the murder trial of the century. And Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house.

But there's someone on his tail. Someone who suspects that the killer isn't the man on trial.

Kane knows time is running out - he just needs to get to the conviction without being discovered.

*

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY ... YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK:

'An oh so clever hook for an oh so clever, gripping book. THIRTEEN is courtroom drama at its finest, blended with page-turning twists and characters you can't get enough of. Steve Cavanagh is the John Grisham for a new generation. Slick, thrilling and unique, THIRTEEN is my favourite read of the year.'
Sarah Pinborough

'Outstanding - an intriguing premise, a tense, gripping build-up, and a spectacular climax. This guy is the real deal. Trust me.'
Lee Child

'Smart and original. This is a belter of a book.'
Clare Mackintosh

'Great hook. Great plot. Great book. Thirteen is a real page turner and one you won't want to put down.'
Simon Kernick

'A brilliant, twisty, ingeniously constructed puzzle of a book. Steve Cavanagh pulls off an enviable premise with panache.'
Ruth Ware

'I've been tracking Steve Cavanagh for a few years now and Thirteen is his best, a dead bang beast of a book that expertly combining his authority on the law with an absolutely great thrill ride. Books this ingenious don't come along very often.'
Michael Connelly

'Quite simply deserves to be HUGE. If you read a thriller as good this year, it's only because you've read this one twice.'
Mark Billingham

'Tore through this between dusk and dawn. Absolute 5-star cracker from Steve Cavanagh, who's gotta be among top legal thriller writers out there nowadays. A powerhouse of a book that's much more than its high-concept hook.'
Craig Sisterson

'Wow! This book is friggin' awesome! Utterly immersive.'
Emma Kavanagh

'Fantastically gripping? Guilty as charged!'
Angela Clarke

'An absolute cracker.'
Susi Holliday

'Guilty of thrills, twists, and expertly manipulating the reader.'
Mason Cross

'An absolute rollercoaster of a read. Thrilling.'
Cass Green]]>
336 Steve Cavanagh Kara 3 3000-books 4.21 2018 Thirteen (Eddie Flynn, #4)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Kara
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I loved the premise behind this story but it just had too much violence to be the book that I was hoping it was. I definitely wanted more of the psychological stuff. I think it’s a great concept and have a few readers who I’ll recommend it to for sure. I do feel like you would be better served by reading the first novels in the series because you’d better understand some of the side stories.
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Dopefiend 292365 320 Donald Goines 0870679384 Kara 5 3000-books 4.34 1971 Dopefiend
author: Donald Goines
name: Kara
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book is so disturbing. It will stick with me. I found it when the theme of drug use was suggested for our book club. If you want a glimpse into a very seedy and depraved side of drug addiction, this is for you.
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Sankofa 56994001 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781646220830.

Masterful in its examination of freedom, prejudice, and personal and public inheritance, Sankofa is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home, and found something more complex in its place.

Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead.

Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president—some would say dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive...

When Anna decides to track her father down, a journey begins that is disarmingly moving, funny, and fascinating. Like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name, Sankofa expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present to address universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for a family's hidden roots.]]>
304 Chibundu Onuzo Kara 4 3000-books 3.78 2021 Sankofa
author: Chibundu Onuzo
name: Kara
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Often I’m not quite sure how books find their way onto my TBR, but I finally selected this one and I’m glad I did. It discusses a lot of race struggles and issues that the character had with her mixed racial identity. It does leave off a bit more abruptly than I liked but overall I found it a compelling read.
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<![CDATA[First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]>
448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 Kara 4 3000-books 4.08 2025 First-Time Caller (Heartstrings, #1)
author: B.K. Borison
name: Kara
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I’m excited for this series. It has some great banter and constantly had me laughing. The steam level is what k would consider medium and doesn’t really happen much before the logical conclusion in the book. If you like Rom-Coms like Ali Hazelwood and Rachel Solomon then I think you’ll enjoy this series.
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The Dollhouse Academy 211004158 From the national bestselling author of Oona Out of Order, a novel about two best friends and aspiring actresses who join The Dollhouse Academy, where stars are made and dangerous secrets are hidden

Ivy Gordon is living a borrowed life on borrowed time. For the past eighteen years, she has been the most famous star at the Dollhouse Academy, the ultra-secretive, elite boarding school and talent incubator that every aspiring performer dreams of attending. But now, at age thirty-four, she is tired of pretending everything is fine. In secret diary entries, Ivy begins to reveal the sordid truth of her life at the strange medical exams, mysterious supplements, and something unspeakable that’s left Ivy terrified and feeling like a prisoner. As she forces herself to confront the most painful parts of her past, she begins to realize that something truly sinister might be powering the Dollhouse’s success.

Ramona Halloway and her best friend, Grace Ludlow, grew up idolizing Ivy. Now both twenty-two, neither has made much headway in showbiz, until a lucky break grants them entry to the Dollhouse. They’re enchanted by the picturesque campus and the chance to perform alongside their idols—though nothing prepares them for the fiercely competitive training bootcamp. When Ramona begins to receive anonymous, threatening messages, it’s easy to dismiss them as a prank from a rival. Her bigger concern is Grace’s skyrocketing success, while Ramona falls ever further behind. But the messages grow more unsettling, as does life at the Dollhouse. Can Ramona overcome her jealousy and resentment to figure out what’s really going on? And can Ivy finally find her voice, before another young performer follows her catastrophic path to stardom?

With dark academia twists and enormous heart, The Dollhouse Academy is a novel about the complexities of friendship, our desire to be seen and understood, and the true cost of making our dreams a reality.]]>
320 Margarita Montimore 1250320658 Kara 4 3000-books 3.59 2025 The Dollhouse Academy
author: Margarita Montimore
name: Kara
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I found this book totally binge worthy. It is an addictive read about what happens when a love of power, control, fame and a good bit of medical science goes wrong. I picked this up because I loved Oona Out of Order. It’s nothing like that but it still a great story.
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The Bones Beneath My Skin 211004023 A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary little girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]>
416 T.J. Klune 1250890438 Kara 3 3000-books 4.12 2018 The Bones Beneath My Skin
author: T.J. Klune
name: Kara
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I can see why this didn’t get a lot of traction on its initial release despite his other work receiving such acclaim. I’m pretty surprised that BOTM chose a reprint for their book but it is hard to deny the author’s popularity, which is why I selected it. It definitely gives off queer Stranger Things vibe. I was surprised at the amount of spiciness in this book as that isn’t present in his other writings. It’s not a bad book, but it just didn’t hit the spot in the same way that his other writings have for me.
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Icy Sparks 3476
Narrated by a grown up Icy, the book chronicles a difficult, but ultimately hilarious and heartwarming journey, from her first spasms to her self-acceptance as a young woman. Curious about life beyond the hills, talented, and energetic, Icy learns to cut through all barriers—physical, mental, and spiritual—in order to find community and acceptance.]]>
320 Gwyn Hyman Rubio 0142000205 Kara 4 3.69 1998 Icy Sparks
author: Gwyn Hyman Rubio
name: Kara
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: housekeeping-2019-challenge, housekeeping-2020-challenge, 3000-books
review:
This was very much in the vein of the 90s historical fiction that just tells you the story about a person different from you. Not a lot of action, not a strong conclusion but I still enjoyed it. If you enjoy 90s historical fiction, I think you should definitely add this to your TBR.
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<![CDATA[The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You]]> 60841708 This book is drawn from the universe of Severance, the globally acclaimed hit Apple Original series from director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson.

Are you ready to meet the person who truly makes you “You�: You?

In his quinquennial tome, Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD guides You on a brave journey of self-learnedness. Fertile with mind-engorging insights, The You You Are is an invitation to merge with your true “You,� and expel from your essence the dead-eyed conventionalism that has defined your life since infancy.

For the first time ever, Dr. Ricken’s luminous writings are available in digital format, only on Apple Books. Though librarians strongly urge reading his complete oeuvre, this ebook � featuring the inaugural eight chapters from The You You Are � is sure to tickle both the completist and the layman. In addition, enjoy an exclusive letter of apology from the author himself, addressed to none other than YOU.

In Severance, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance� is called into question as Mark - a widower who happens to be Dr. Ricken Hale’s brother in law - finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work � and of himself.

Watch Severance, now streaming on Apple TV+.]]>
39 Ricken Lazlo Hale Kara 4 4.45 2022 The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You
author: Ricken Lazlo Hale
name: Kara
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:
So funny. I hope that as the season progresses they release more chapters. I couldn’t find anything too insightful related to the show but I would say it’s still worth reading for Severance fans.
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The Girl in the Plane 50841812
This audio edition is read by the author.]]>
Katherine Center 1250753325 Kara 3 4.11 2019 The Girl in the Plane
author: Katherine Center
name: Kara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:
Umm, I guess it was nice to have a bit of a story with other characters but it was bit too short for me to recommend it to many readers. I know I got this free from Apple Books ages ago and just now finally made the time to read it.
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The Light of the Fireflies 28802599 A haunting and hopeful tale of discovering light in even the darkest of places.

For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns.

He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone’s been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why they’re shut away.

A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know the outside world. Problem is, all the doors are locked. And he doesn’t know how to get out.…]]>
338 Paul Pen 1503988562 Kara 4
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3.70 2013 The Light of the Fireflies
author: Paul Pen
name: Kara
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: housekeeping-2019-challenge, housekeeping-2020-challenge, 3000-books
review:
What a book. I’m not sure why I bought this on Audible over 5 years ago but I’m glad to have read it. I don’t read a lot of books that have been translated but this one was done well. It kept you being like “What the fuck?� almost the entire story. If you have a chance to read it, I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot. Good for people who enjoy family relationships books along with mysteries too.


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Love Story (Love Story, #1) 73968
Opposites in nearly every way, Oliver and Jenny are kindred spirits from vastly different worlds. Falling deeply and powerfully, their attraction to one another defies everything they have ever believed—as they share a passion far greater than anything they dreamed possible . . . and explore the wonder of a love that must end too soon.

One of the most adored novels of our time, this is the book that defined a generation—a story of uncompromising devotion, of life as it really is . . . and love that changes everything.]]>
224 Erich Segal 0380017601 Kara 2 3000-books 3.64 1969 Love Story (Love Story, #1)
author: Erich Segal
name: Kara
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1969
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I’m not sure how this ended up on my shelf but it was there. In my quest to read the books I already own, I pulled out this novel(la?). I don’t think it aged well. It wasn’t really long enough to flush out the characters to make you care about them.
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Finding Margaret Fuller 171680310 An epic reimagining of the life of Margaret Fuller—America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of a movement that defined a nation—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post.

Massachusetts, 1836. Young, brazen, beautiful, and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated “Sage of Concord,� to meet his coterie of enlightened friends shaping a nation in the throes of its own self-discovery. By the end of her stay, she will become “the radiant genius and fiery heart� of the Transcendentalists, a role model to young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures into the woods of Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson himself. But Margaret craves more than poetry and interpersonal drama, and she finds her restless soul in need of new challenges and adventure.

And so she charts a singular course against a backdrop of dizzying historical drama: From Boston, where she hosts a women-only literary salon for students like Elizabeth Cady Stanton; to the editorial meetings of The Dial magazine, where she hones her pen as its co-founder; to Harvard’s library, where she is the first woman to study within its walls; to the gritty New York streets where she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on the writings of Frederick Douglass. Margaret defies conventions time and again as an activist for women and an advocate for humanity, earning admirers and scathing critics alike.

When the legendary Horace Greeley offers an assignment in Europe, Margaret again makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frederic Chopin, Walt Whitman, George Sand, and more. But it is in Rome where she finds a world of passion, romance, and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover—and sparking an international scandal. Evolving yet again into the roles of mother and countess, Margaret enters a new fight for Italy’s unification.

With a star-studded cast and epic sweep of historical events, this is a story of an inspiring trailblazer, a woman who loved big and lived even bigger—a fierce adventurer who transcended the rigid roles ascribed to women, and changed history for millions, all on her own terms.]]>
416 Allison Pataki 0593600231 Kara 4 3000-books 4.03 2024 Finding Margaret Fuller
author: Allison Pataki
name: Kara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I love learning about historical figures that I have never heard of and getting to take on new things that I fought I knew. Also, I appreciate the author’s note at the end so that you know things that have been altered to fit the narrative. As a bonus, I got to hear a quote that sums me up well “The much that always wants more�.
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Nightbitch 55835474
At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. She had imagined - what was it she had imagined? Her husband, always travelling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind.

Instead, quite suddenly, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. Sharper canines. Strange new patches of hair. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice...

With its clear eyes on contemporary womanhood and sharp take on structures of power, Nightbitch is an outrageously original, joyfully subversive read that will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. Addictive enough to be devoured in one sitting, this is an unforgettable novel from a blazing new talent.]]>
256 Rachel Yoder 0385546815 Kara 3 3000-books 3.47 2021 Nightbitch
author: Rachel Yoder
name: Kara
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Strange but kind of compelling. I have definitely met these women who are conflicted by motherhood and what they feel are society’s expectations of them so I don’t want to really give it a low rating even though it wasn’t a book I enjoyed very much. So four for concept for those ladies that need it and one for my enjoyment level. I’m quite curious how it got made into a TV show.
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<![CDATA[Christa Comes Out of Her Shell]]> 192723842 Just when she thought she’d gotten far enough away . . . a life-changing phone call throws an antisocial scientist back into her least favorite place—the spotlight. A hilarious and insightful new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Liddle has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father—long thought dead after a plane crash—turns out to be alive, well, and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on . . . if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and—most importantly—any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.]]>
379 Abbi Waxman 0593198786 Kara 4 3000-books 3.53 2024 Christa Comes Out of Her Shell
author: Abbi Waxman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Another solid Abbi Waxman book. This one has more “steamy� stuff than her previous novels but still much tamer than the current average rom-com. If you have enjoyed her previous novels, I think this will be no different. If you are new to her, I think she has better books to start with.
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The Favorites 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER � An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“P˛ą°ůłŮ Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story� through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]>
448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 Kara 4 3000-books 4.19 2025 The Favorites
author: Layne Fargo
name: Kara
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I’m not sure why I found this book so addictive but I definitely did. For those who have read Daisy Jones and the Six, it reminds of me of that book but for ice dancing.
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Famous Last Words 212421066
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?

It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.

Then it starts. Breaking news: there's a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.

What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says...

Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.� (Emily Henry)]]>
336 Gillian McAllister 0063338424 Kara 3 3000-books 3.73 2025 Famous Last Words
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Kara
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A fun thriller but just a little too predictable to be considered great. I would say if you enjoy domestic thrillers, there is plenty in here that you could enjoy.
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<![CDATA[Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance]]> 58672976
Set over the course of fifteen years, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is narrated by Sally as she addresses Kathy before, during, and after her death. We watch as Kathy’s absence creates a gaping hole that only Billy—now firmly off-limits to Sally—understands and might possibly begin to fill. Charting years of their shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming-of-age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone.]]>
352 Alison Espach 1250823145 Kara 3 3000-books 3.75 2022 Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance
author: Alison Espach
name: Kara
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A decade spanning novel written from the perspective of shy, teen girl who sister suddenly disappears from her life. Not sure that I found the ending to be believable and kind of wanted an afterword where nothing worked out like she had thought it was going to.
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<![CDATA[The Sequel (The Book Series, #2)]]> 203578763 The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?

But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should no longer exist. Something has gone wrong, and someone out there knows far too much about her late brother, her late husband, and possibly about Anna herself. What does this person want, and what are they prepared to do? She has come too far and worked too hard to lose what she values most: the sole and uncontested right to her own story—and she is, by any standard, a master storyteller.]]>
304 Jean Hanff Korelitz 1250875471 Kara 4 3000-books 3.60 2024 The Sequel (The Book Series, #2)
author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
name: Kara
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Another fun book by this author. The books are so trashy and the main character so manipulative and selfish that you can’t kind of help but rooting for the villain. I’ll be looking forward to the next book in the series.
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Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]>
527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Kara 4 3000-books 4.18 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Kara
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Definitely the best of the series in my opinion. Not nearly as much focus on the dragons or intense sex scenes. It pretty much just jumps right in where the last one left off which was nice because there was no build up. I’ll definitely finish up the series (if only because of my completionist tendencies).
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Good Dirt 213618132 The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that's exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family's history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.]]>
368 Charmaine Wilkerson 0593358368 Kara 4 3000-books 4.06 2025 Good Dirt
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Kara
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: 3000-books
review:
So powerful. A story told from multiple viewpoints over a centuries. The jumping between time and place did take me a little while to adjust too but it’s so well done. It’s a story about race, pride, expectations, experiences, trauma, love, loss and so much more. If you enjoyed Black Cake, you’re sure to love this one as much.
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Deep End 212808709 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]>
464 Ali Hazelwood Kara 3 3000-books 3.95 2025 Deep End
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Kara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Another good one by Ali Hazelwood. She warns you going right in that there is power exchange kink. I knew that didn’t really do it for me, but I like her work well enough to want to keep reading. I enjoyed their backstories and banter but the sex was not for me. I’m wondering if she’ll branch this series out so we can follow along with some of the side characters that were developed out in this book.
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We All Live Here 213243915 The #1 New York Times bestselling author, whose books so many love, brings us a fresh, contemporary story of a woman and her unruly blended family

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.]]>
450 Jojo Moyes 1984879324 Kara 3 3000-books 3.88 2025 We All Live Here
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Kara
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I think, while I’m the same age as the main character, I just couldn’t relate to her struggles and so this book was a bit slower for me. If you’ve went through a divorce or had complex family dynamics with your parents, I think you’d probably buy in a lot more than I did. I also think having kids is a big part of the story too. Not one that I would I say you need to rush out and read.
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The Power of Self-Compassion 50031244
Over the last decade, there has been an international explosion of research on mindfulness and self-compassion. Contemplative practices are being integrated with science and psychology. Researchers are sharing information on the power of inner-directed compassion and its beneficial effects on mental well-being, growth, motivation, relationships, and physical health.

Join expert Laurie Cameron to discover tools—including meditations, exercises, journaling, and in-the-moment practices—that will help you evoke mindfulness and self-compassion in your everyday life, in a way that it becomes your natural response—your new set of habits. As you adopt these practices, you’ll start to see a shift in how you work with stressful life events, as well as how you connect with the shared human experience of loss, challenge, disappointment, failure, and setbacks.]]>
Laurie J. Cameron Kara 4 3000-books 3.14 The Power of Self-Compassion
author: Laurie J. Cameron
name: Kara
average rating: 3.14
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I’m not sure why this book gets such a bad rap. I found it to be practical guided meditations that would be helpful when you are dogging on yourself. Not sure I needed to hear all 10 classes at once but it was fine. I’d recommend it to other people who have problems with self-compassion.
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The Situationship 217885191 Find out how Maddy and Doug met in this sweet and hilarious short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

Travel nurse Maddy doesn't have time for a relationship, not even with the ruggedly handsome farmer who she feels a spark of attraction to.

Doug is a walking green flag. After a run in with Maddy thanks to the Wakan townĚýmascot, Kevin Bacon the pig, he can't help but feel the spark too.

Even though she doesn't plan on staying in Minnesota forever, Maddy believes she and Doug can still have a flingâ€� or maybe they’ll just find themselves in a situationship.Ěý

“The Situationship�was originally published as a bonus chapter in the Target exclusive edition of Just for the Summer. This ebook original also includes a first look at Abby’s new release, Say You’ll Remember Me.]]>
37 Abby Jimenez 1538773724 Kara 4 3.96 2024 The Situationship
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Kara
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
Ahh, c’mon. That was so cute and such good banter and it just ended. Nope, nope, nope. I need more.
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<![CDATA[A Good Place To Stop, 60 Seasons with Max and the Jayhawks]]> 2180227 256 Max Falkenstien 0976733021 Kara 4 3000-books 4.31 2007 A Good Place To Stop, 60 Seasons with Max and the Jayhawks
author: Max Falkenstien
name: Kara
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I loved hearing Max’s stories. When I first became a Jayhawks fan in 2001, not all of the games were televised so my hubby and I would pull up the radio and listen to the broadcast and it also had such a wonderfully rich tone. Reading these stories took me back to his moments of color and I feel so glad that I got to listen to him for the years that I did. If you like men’s basketball or football at KU, you would definitely appreciate the stories and the history share in this book.
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How to Save a Life 52034448 In this heartfelt love story, three friends find out what it really means to save someone.

Kerry Smith is going to save lives--and so is her best friend, Tim Palmer. After years of working towards medical school, they are about to sit for their entrance exams. But on the eve of the new millennium, a classmate goes into cardiac arrest, changing everything.

For nearly eighteen minutes, rising soccer star Joel Greenaway is dead. For nearly eighteen minutes, Kerry performs CPR on her long-time crush. And for nearly eighteen minutes, Tim is too shocked to help. And though they don't yet know it, those eighteen minutes will change the next eighteen years of their lives.

Because as it turns out, saving a life doesn't always guarantee a happy ending.

With his soccer career cut short, Joel lashes out and breaks Kerry's heart by ending their burgeoning relationship with a cruelty that derails her future, while Tim struggles to reconcile his dream of becoming a doctor with the reality of failing to act. As each struggles to move on from the events of that fateful New Year's Eve, their lives can't seem to stop colliding year after year. Pulled by their shared histories and her big heart, Kerry soon finds herself picking up the pieces after both broken men. But when Kerry is the one who needs saving, will anyone be there for her?

As Kerry, Tim, and Joel discover what it means to love, to forgive, and to find your calling, this sweeping novel shows us that there is more than one way to save a life--and more than one path to finding meaning in your own.]]>
448 Eva Carter 0593158873 Kara 3 3000-books 3.65 2021 How to Save a Life
author: Eva Carter
name: Kara
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A book about three people who lives keep intersecting after a life saving CPR when they are teenagers. I liked the longer time frame to let the characters develop but was frustrated when they didn’t show growth but kept repeating the same behaviors.
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What My Sister Knew 36342495
It turns out that Eli kept many secrets. And he told many lies. So although he was once seen as the golden child-while I stood by as the silent sister-his web of deception led to a guilty verdict for the arson that killed our parents.

Now his thirteen-year sentence has been served, and Eli is free. But we are still bound by a secret. Which is dangerous because he has nothing left to lose, and I have everything.]]>
Nina Laurin 1549168347 Kara 3 3000-books 3.47 2018 What My Sister Knew
author: Nina Laurin
name: Kara
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A fun read, especially for people who enjoy unreliable narrators and family drama. I enjoyed the excerpts from the true crime novel as a way to advance the storyline. It’s nothing that will knock your socks off but I think you.’d enjoy the time you spent with it.
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<![CDATA[American Queen (New Camelot Trilogy, #1)]]> 30314992
My name is Greer Galloway, and I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.

This is the story of an American Queen.]]>
393 Sierra Simone 153344367X Kara 3 3000-books 3.76 2016 American Queen (New Camelot Trilogy, #1)
author: Sierra Simone
name: Kara
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book was written by Sierra Simone. I should have known what I was getting myself into but somehow she manages to surprise me again. As you should expect, the kink and steam levels are high with this one. In addition to the sex, she writes characters that have depth to them. Not sure when I’ll pick up the next in the series.
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The Ways We Hide 60631344 From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British Intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path

Raised amid the hardships of Michigan's Copper Country, Fenna Vos has learned to focus on her own survival-even now, with the Second World War raging in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she's the mastermind of their act. After all, her honed ability to control her surroundings and elude entrapments, physical or otherwise, reliably suppresses the traumas of her youth.

For all her planning, however, Fenna fails to predict being called upon by British Intelligence. Tasked with creating escape tools to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one's past.

Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a riveting story of love and loss, the wars we fight—on the battlefields and within ourselves—and the courage found in unexpected places.]]>
536 Kristina McMorris 1728249783 Kara 3 3000-books 3.98 2022 The Ways We Hide
author: Kristina McMorris
name: Kara
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This is a good historical fiction novel focused around an illusionist who runs from her own past and uses her talents to help others. If you like WWII fiction it would be superb. If you’re like me and have had read what sometimes feel like too much, I think you’ll still find it a well done story with a slightly different take.
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Looking for Alaska 99561 Before. Miles “Pudge� Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps� even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.]]>
221 John Green 1435249151 Kara 3 3000-books 3.97 2005 Looking for Alaska
author: John Green
name: Kara
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Read this a banned book selection for my book club. I didn’t feel like there was anything in there that a teen audience couldn’t handle. I probably wouldn’t want my middle grade child reading it. I think if the theme presented in the book bother you for your teen to read, you probably need to get a better grasp on things that are going on around them and start having some serious conversations with them!
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My Oxford Year 35068830
American Ella Durran has had the same plan for her life since she was thirteen: Study at Oxford. At 24, she’s finally made it to England on a Rhodes Scholarship when she’s offered an unbelievable position in a rising political star’s presidential campaign. With the promise that she’ll work remotely and return to DC at the end of her Oxford year, she’s free to enjoy her Once in a Lifetime Experience. That is until a smart-mouthed local who is too quick with his tongue and his car ruins her shirt and her first day.

When Ella discovers that her English literature course will be taught by none other than that same local, Jamie Davenport, she thinks for the first time that Oxford might not be all she’s envisioned. But a late-night drink reveals a connection she wasn’t anticipating finding and what begins as a casual fling soon develops into something much more when Ella learns Jamie has a life-changing secret.

Immediately, Ella is faced with a seemingly impossible decision: turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with to follow her political dreams or be there for him during a trial neither are truly prepared for. As the end of her year in Oxford rapidly approaches, Ella must decide if the dreams she’s always wanted are the same ones she’s now yearning for.]]>
352 Julia Whelan 0062740652 Kara 4 3000-books 3.85 2018 My Oxford Year
author: Julia Whelan
name: Kara
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A sweet, sad story about love and opening yourself to possibilities. I love Julia Whelan as a narrator and she is quickly becoming a must read author for me. Hoping she puts out book 3 closer together than books 1 and 2.
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The Love Haters 217387810 It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch� Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.]]>
320 Katherine Center 1250283825 Kara 0 to-read 4.03 2025 The Love Haters
author: Katherine Center
name: Kara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Mothers 28815371
"All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."

It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.]]>
288 Brit Bennett 0399184511 Kara 2 3000-books 3.88 2016 The Mothers
author: Brit Bennett
name: Kara
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book is not for me. I found all the characters generally irksome. The main climatic event between the two best friends should have resulted in a bitch slap, knockout kind of punch. After reading this, I’ll be leery to read another Brit Bennett book (as I didn’t love the Vanishing Half either) but I know there will be enough hype surrounding her next release to have me read it.
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The Three Lives of Cate Kay 214152244 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781668076217.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.]]>
304 Kate Fagan Kara 3 3000-books 3.76 2025 The Three Lives of Cate Kay
author: Kate Fagan
name: Kara
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 3000-books
review:
The book is sold as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (which I get) and First Lie Wins (which I don’t see at all). This book took me a good chunk to be used to the story format and to be at all invested in the story. That said, by the end I was curious to know how it was all going to turn out. The Jayhawk in me loved the small nod to our fan base.
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Beautiful Ugly 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible � a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.
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306 Alice Feeney 125033778X Kara 3 3000-books 3.64 2025 Beautiful Ugly
author: Alice Feeney
name: Kara
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book would have been good to suggest for our female revenge theme for book club lately. There is definitely a heavily unreliable narrator within all characters in the story. I have only read a few other Alice Feeney books and this one is definitely the one that I have had to suspend the most belief for. If you are okay just reading the story and not needing it to follow reason, I think this would be good for you.
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The River Is Waiting 219319489 480 Wally Lamb 1668006391 Kara 0 to-read 4.42 2025 The River Is Waiting
author: Wally Lamb
name: Kara
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

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What Happened to the McCrays? 195391623 From New York Times bestselling author Tracey Lange, a poignant story about the resilience of family, the importance of community, and the magic of middle school hockey

When Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York, where he doesn’t expect a warm welcome. Kyle left suddenly two and a half years ago, abandoning people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his friends—not to mention Casey, his wife of sixteen years and a beloved teacher in town. He plans to lie low and help his dad recuperate until he can leave again, especially after Casey makes it clear she wants him gone.

The longer he’s home, the more Kyle understands the impact his departure has had on the people he left behind. When he’s presented with an opportunity for redemption as the coach of the floundering middle school hockey team, he begins to find compassion in unexpected places. Kyle even considers staying in Potsdam, but that’s only possible if he and Casey can come to some kind of peace with each other.

Full of love and hope, What Happened to the McCrays? takes an intimate look at both sides of a failed marriage and two people who must finally confront the awful pain of their past or risk being consumed by it.]]>
352 Tracey Lange 1250328438 Kara 3 3000-books 4.10 2025 What Happened to the McCrays?
author: Tracey Lange
name: Kara
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I’m not sure what was missing for me but it just felt flat. I never really connected with any of the characters which makes it harder in a character driven novel.
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<![CDATA[Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories]]> 2282 162 Truman Capote 067960085X Kara 3 3.87 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories
author: Truman Capote
name: Kara
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1958
rating: 3
read at: 2013/01/24
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
I first set out to read this book after reading Sam Wasson's 5am, Fifth Avenue book regarding the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. I can only imagine the horror that he must have felt at his morse short story being turned into a romantic comedy! This book would have been better suited for my early 20s when I wanted everything to have a sharp, sad ending. I think Capote's place in history would have faded into the background if not for his genius writing of In Cold Blood.
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<![CDATA[Be Ready When the Luck Happens]]> 209192698 In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.Ěý

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.]]>
320 Ina Garten 0593799895 Kara 3 3000-books 4.25 2024 Be Ready When the Luck Happens
author: Ina Garten
name: Kara
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Read this for a book club. I had never really watched any of her show or read her cookbooks. I do wish I had followed her during the pandemic. It sounds like she was a breath of fresh air during a stressful time. If you like memoirs, books about chefs or tv personalities, I’m sure you’d like this book.
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The Female of the Species 25812109
Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.]]>
368 Mindy McGinnis Kara 3 3000-books 4.14 2016 The Female of the Species
author: Mindy McGinnis
name: Kara
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Picked this up for my book club. The theme was feminine rage and while this book did have that, it had too much of a love story focus for me. If the part of the description about rape culture deters you from reading it, note that there aren’t any horrific descriptions but there is a lot of trauma and some milder scenes discussed. Definitely would avoid it if sexual assault is a trigger for you.
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<![CDATA[Seas and Greetings (Christmas Notch in July, #2.5)]]> 200436860 The Rules:

No roaming off alone.
No secrets.
No bodyguard/client fraternization.
No olives.

This is Krysta Morton’s last job. She’s done with being a bodyguard and is ready for a real nine to five where work stays at work. But when Addison Hayes’s manager offers Krysta a ridiculous amount of money to keep the high-maintenance singer-turned-influencer safe on a cruise, Krysta can’t make herself say no. Not when the money means that she’ll be able to set her grandma up at the nicest senior living community in town. (It has a brand new pickleball court! And a juice bar!)

Addison Hayes is at the top of her game. After a long and healthy career as a B-list celebrity, she’s successfully made the transition to lifestyle brands and her dream of expanding her empire into hotels and cruises is within reach. With her first branded cruise about to disembark, she’s in dire need of hired security while she curates the passenger experience and oversees the debut run of The Lion and the Lamb, her first attempt at producing a musical (and her ode to all things Twilight).

With Krysta’s no-nonsense attitude, Addison is certain her newly hired bodyguard loathes her. Then a steamy shore excursion reveals that Krysta’s icy shell is hiding a simmering hunger. And if this bodyguard isn’t careful, she might start breaking her own rules…]]>
144 Julie Murphy 0063264897 Kara 3 3000-books 3.25 Seas and Greetings (Christmas Notch in July, #2.5)
author: Julie Murphy
name: Kara
average rating: 3.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I enjoy all books by this duo but this one is my least favorite so far. While I enjoyed the banter between the two main characters and even really identified with Addison’s love a good schedule, there was just too much sex and not enough story for me.
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<![CDATA[Long Shot Beating the Odds to Live a Jayhawk Dream]]> 1044923 Book by Boschee, Jeff 189 Jeff Boschee 0972542507 Kara 3 3000-books 4.13 Long Shot Beating the Odds to Live a Jayhawk Dream
author: Jeff Boschee
name: Kara
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I came onto the KU scene just as Boschee was leaving but I was instantly attracted to his playing style. When this book was released decades ago, we bought it and put it on our shelf where it has since just sat. I made it my goal to read more of books that I had bought but never read and since it’s KU basketball season, I pulled it down and gave it a read. It was interesting to reflect on how different the recruiting process is now with high speed internet and the NIL. I’m kind of surprised he chose to write a book with how reserved he comes off in the novel. I am now more curious to go see his coaching style but not sure I’ll make that happen.
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<![CDATA[Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers (Riley Mack #1)]]> 11775156
1 middle-school bully2 bank robbers57 dogs in peril4,000 missing dollarsand5 daring troublemakersled by the one and onlyRiley Mack?

1 crazy caper!

In this merry, mischievous romp, master storyteller Chris Grabenstein introduces Riley Mack a twelve-year-old hometown hero you'll never forget."]]>
320 Chris Grabenstein 0062026208 Kara 3 3.67 2012 Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers (Riley Mack #1)
author: Chris Grabenstein
name: Kara
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: housekeeping-2020-challenge, 3000-books
review:
This book was just so clearly written for middle grade who don’t have a sense of things. I suppose I could see them enjoy the kookiness of it. If you have a third or fourth grade who is interested in trying out a mystery novel, you might give this a shot. Adult readers would be not interested.
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The Answer Is No 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]>
68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Kara 4 3000-books 3.94 2024 The Answer Is No
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Why did I read this??? Now I just need more Backman and I have to wait until May. I am such a fan of his writing. He writes emotion better than anyone I can recall. It’s a very short story that I wish he had time to flush out more but I still think adds depth to his collection of work.
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<![CDATA[The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna]]> 38192874 In this stunning debut novel, a young woman tells the story behind two elderly sisters� estrangement, unraveling family secrets stretching back a century and across the Atlantic to early 20th century Italy
For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents—moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted.
In her rugged Italian village, Stella is considered an oddity—beautiful and smart, insolent and cold. Stella uses her peculiar toughness to protect her slower, plainer baby sister Tina from life’s harshest realities. But she also provokes the ire of her father Antonio: a man who demands subservience from women and whose greatest gift to his family is his absence.
When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and Tina must come of age side-by-side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them. Soon Stella learns that her survival is worthless without the one thing her family will deny her at any cost: her independence.
In present-day Connecticut, one family member tells this heartrending story, determined to understand the persisting rift between the now-elderly Stella and Tina. A richly told debut, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a tale of family transgressions as ancient and twisted as the olive branch that could heal them.]]>
464 Juliet Grames Kara 4 3000-books 3.92 2019 The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
author: Juliet Grames
name: Kara
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A unique take on a family history story. It was fascinating to see the way the world has evolved through both time and place. I enjoyed hearing the story of Stella’s lives and of the many people connected to her. I would say this would be good for fans of historical fiction who don’t mind a bit of mysticism in their stories.
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The Friend 40164365
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.]]>
212 Sigrid Nunez 0735219451 Kara 3 3000-books 3.73 2018 The Friend
author: Sigrid Nunez
name: Kara
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: 3000-books
review:
I found this book in my little free library and the cover and description appealed to me. I then saw that it also made the top 100 of the 2000’s for NYT readers and reviewers. So I thought why not. Sadly, I found this book wasn’t for me. I think if you’ve lost someone to suicide it would be much more impactful for you. I did somewhat enjoy her relationship with the dog which is what bumped it up to 3 stars.
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Dear Martin (Dear Martin, #1) 24974996 Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.]]>
224 Nic Stone Kara 4 3000-books 4.33 2017 Dear Martin (Dear Martin, #1)
author: Nic Stone
name: Kara
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A short but powerful YA read about people’s experiences with race.
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Julia 86508927
But Julia becomes intrigued by a colleague from the Records Department—a mid-level worker of the Outer Party called Winston Smith—when she sees him locking eyes with a superior from the Inner Party at the Two Minutes Hate. And when one day, finding herself walking toward Winston, she impulsively hands him a note—a potentially suicidal gesture—she comes to realise that she's losing her grip and can no longer safely navigate her world.

Seventy-five years after Orwell finished writing his iconic novel, Sandra Newman has tackled the world of Big Brother in a truly convincing way, offering a dramatically different, feminist narrative that is true to and stands alongside the original. For the millions of readers who have been brought up with Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, here, finally, is a provocative, vital and utterly satisfying companion novel.]]>
400 Sandra Newman 0063265338 Kara 3 3000-books 3.72 2023 Julia
author: Sandra Newman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book is so hard to rate. I am definitely glad that I read 1984 first. There are heavy tones of misogyny and lots of undertones of women’s sexuality being repressed. It definitely expands upon the ideas presented in 1984 in a more dystopian view, if that’s possible. I did like the conclusion of this more than 1984. If you’re a 1984 fan, I feel you would appreciate this novel as well.
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1984 5470 328 George Orwell Kara 4 3000-books 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Kara
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Wow! It’s been a long time since I read this book and I realize that I had forgotten a lot of things. What’s disturbing is how real it is seems at times but then I think that if Orwell prophesied this happening by 1984 that I should hold out hope that there will always be enough common sense to ever stop it from fully becoming our truth. I’m very glad that I reread it before starting by next book which features Winston’s love interest.
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Madwoman 204593567 A gripping story of motherhood and motherloss and the brutal, mighty things women do to keep themselves and each other alive, MADWOMAN marks the arrival of a major fiction talent.

The world is not made for mothers.
Yet mothers made the world�

Clove hasĚýgone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she’s landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation.Ěý

But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As weĚýraceĚýbetween her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced toĚýfinally unravel the defining day of her life. How did she survive that day, and what will it take to end the cycle of violence? Will the truth undo her, or could it ultimately save her?]]>
336 Chelsea Bieker 0316573299 Kara 3 3000-books 3.71 2024 Madwoman
author: Chelsea Bieker
name: Kara
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: 3000-books
review:
This book is quick reading and, like a dumpster fire, you don’t want look away from it. That being said, I had the “twists� pegged from quite a ways out but was surprised with how the author chose to wrap it up. Overall, I think this would be good for fans who like domestic thrillers.
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The Fountains of Silence 43220998 A portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.

� Madrid, 1957 �

Under the oppressive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography—and fate—introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War, as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel's photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.

Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys once again shines light into one of history's darkest corners in this epic, heart-wrenching novel about identity, unforgettable love, repercussions of war, and the hidden violence of silence—inspired by the true postwar struggles of Spain.

Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more.]]>
495 Ruta Sepetys 0399160310 Kara 4 3000-books 4.30 2019 The Fountains of Silence
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Kara
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Another amazing booking by Sepetys. She does such a good job at exposing hidden history and making her readers curious about areas that have been hidden to make things “better�. A must read for all historical fiction fans.
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Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]>
512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Kara 4 3000-books 3.99 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Kara
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Lots of characters to keep in your head but lots to keep you interested in and compulsively reading the story. I kept thinking about how I would feel if the death lady gave me a prediction and I know it would cause some serious consequences because I don’t like the “See me after you’re done� feeling so knowing when it was likely I would die would feel horrendous. I would say if you loved The Measure by Nikki Erlick then you’d like this one too. They gave me similar vibes.
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<![CDATA[The Plot (The Book Series, #1)]]> 55315487 Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a psychologically suspenseful novel about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing� of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?]]>
320 Jean Hanff Korelitz 125079076X Kara 4 3000-books 3.75 2021 The Plot (The Book Series, #1)
author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
name: Kara
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: 3000-books
review:
Widely entertaining but I did figure out the big twist well before the end. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. Great for fans of domestic thrillers, especially those that take an interest in writers and their craft.
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Two Can Play 217108838
An enemies-to-lovers spicy romance set in the world of video gaming from the bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis—available only in audio!

Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her co-lead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, a.k.a. her arch-nemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her–and Viola has no idea why.

When their bosses insist a wintery retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can’t think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you.

But as the snow piles on, Viola discovers there’s more to Jesse than she knew, and heat builds in more ways than one.]]>
5 Ali Hazelwood Kara 3 3000-books 3.55 2024 Two Can Play
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Kara
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A quick novella from Ali Hazelwood. Kind of hoping it is a setup for a longer novel with the same main characters. Decent steam level towards the end of the story. Not as much as her usual banter in this one but I still enjoyed it.
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The Book of Doors 156480764
In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It's a book - an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .

What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.

But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals - individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons - a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .

Because some doors should never be opened.]]>
408 Gareth Brown 1787637247 Kara 4 3000-books 4.04 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Kara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: 3000-books
review:
A unique time travel book that is different from the books generally found in the genre. Not a light and fluffy read as things get pretty heavy with grief and loneliness. I would recommend for all speculative fiction fans.
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<![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

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

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

She hates his guts.

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

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

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

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

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

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]>
293 Ally Carter 0063276682 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: Kara
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Such a fun way to end my Christmas books. A mix between a bit of mystery and a rom-com with an enemies to lovers trope. I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for a fun Christmas read.
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<![CDATA[Frosted Christmas: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (Home for the Holidays)]]> 201425721 â€Tis the season to be joyous—or is it?

Lemon Frost never imagined she would be facing the holidays alone, much less jobless. However, that is precisely what happens when her boyfriend decides to upgrade this holiday season. Now Lemon is heading home to Harper, Colorado, where a dash of family is just what she needs to refresh her Christmas spirit.
The family bakery, Frosted, is a town staple known for gooey cinnamon rolls and delicious sticky buns. When she agrees to help her mother run the bakery, Lemon notices that not all customers are as enthusiastic about her mother’s baking as they used to be.

Yet a dip in Frosted sales isn’t the only thing threatening to ruin Lemon’s Christmas.

Jace Torte is back in town, and much to her surprise, he doesn’t look like he did in high school. Lemon isn’t sure if it’s the magic of the season or the heat of the kitchen that is transforming Jace into a temptation almost too strong to resist.

Lemon isn’t planning on staying past New Year’s, but life in Harper has a way of sucking her in. As her old life begins to blur with her new one, Lemon is no longer sure what she truly desires.

Is Lemon destined for the naughty list, or will she finally get the one thing on her Christmas list?]]>
336 Alane Middleton Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.68 Frosted Christmas: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (Home for the Holidays)
author: Alane Middleton
name: Kara
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This is a cute little Christmas story. I am surprised that more people haven’t heard of it. It combines baking with Christmas with missed chances. Definitely worth the read. I also listened to it and was surprised at how well the AI narrator did.
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Meet Me Under the Mistletoe 61486279 A city bookshop owner heads to the English countryside for a holiday reunion—only to face her childhood enemy.

Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates� extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.

The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the "snobby prep school kids," the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the riskĚý.Ěý.Ěý.]]>
429 Jenny Bayliss 0593422236 Kara 2 books-read-in-2024 3.47 2022 Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
author: Jenny Bayliss
name: Kara
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Not enough Christmas. Too much sadness and strife. I did appreciate one of the side stories but not a Christmas book that I’d recommend to others.
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Holiday Hideaway 219754771 From New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews comes a charming holiday romance about a newly single thirtysomething whose unauthorized vacation rental turns into a hilarious game of hide-and-seek when the new owner unexpectedly shows up.

Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.

George Holloway is here to sell his granduncle’s house—and to reconsider whether he and his fiancée are right for each other. Amid home repairs, George notices strange noises and missing food, but as much as he gets his rental agent on the phone, Tilly dodges every invitation to meet. He’s sure that someone’s here with him, and it’s certainly not the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future.

As Tilly and George circle each other, they both wonder where their lives are headed and if, maybe, meeting each other is just the Christmas miracle they need.]]>
72 Mary Kay Andrews 1662527004 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.62 2024 Holiday Hideaway
author: Mary Kay Andrews
name: Kara
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I enjoy Mary Kay Andrew’s Christmas stories and this novella was another nice treat. I wish it had been slightly longer because I wanted to get to know the characters and settings more. If you are looking for a quick holiday read, give this one a try.
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<![CDATA[Under the Mistletoe (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #1-5)]]> 220788159
Curl up by the fire with some of today’s hottest authors as they serve up enough holiday joy and magic to melt the frostiest heart. As the temperature drops, friends and neighbors might need to turn up the heat, and even old enemies just might get a second chance. Let it snow!

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories in a delightful short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one in this smoking-hot short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Secret crushes, spicy Christmas treats, heinous holiday traffic, and a fateful snowstorm bring good friends together in a funny, heartfelt short story by bestselling author Olivia Dade.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
This Christmas, a hot fireman makes a holiday rescue and sparks fly in this funny, sexy holiday short story by bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially for a comic book illustrator whose late-night fantasies become real in a festive and flirty short story by bestselling author Alexis Daria.]]>
Ali Hazelwood Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.25 2024 Under the Mistletoe (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #1-5)
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Kara
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I really liked the Ali Hazelwood and the rest were okay outside of the Tessa Bailey one. That novella was just sex with almost no other plot line. If you want to read your porn, it’s perfect for that because it has about as much substance as your average porn “movie�.
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The Christmas Guest 83814905 An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family's Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village's grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.]]>
96 Peter Swanson 0063297450 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.58 2023 The Christmas Guest
author: Peter Swanson
name: Kara
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
A nice change up from all the rom-com that I read during the holiday season. If you’re looking for a palate cleanser at this time of year, I think this novella is the perfect way to do that. It is definitely dark!
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<![CDATA[The December Market (Shelter Springs #2)]]> 204906171
Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option. To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble. Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he's just as fiery as his grandfather—and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.

As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does. Even if she is great with his young son. Even if she does help the burden of his own painful past feel a little lighter� But when their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.]]>
304 RaeAnne Thayne 1335929355 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.69 2024 The December Market (Shelter Springs #2)
author: RaeAnne Thayne
name: Kara
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
A fun read about second chance love. There are some serious issues as it also addresses dealing with loving someone with addiction issues, depression, and aging family members. While I won’t rush out to buy any of the authors backlist, I won’t hesitate should they come to me.
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PS: I Hate You 209455843
Sure, Dom was Josh’s life-long best friend. He’s also the infuriating man who broke Maddie’s heart back when she was naïve enough to give it to him. But since Dom insists on following the rules and Josh didn’t leave much room for Maddie to argue the matter, they embark together on a farewell trip that spans thousands of miles, exploring new places and revisiting their complicated history along the way.

After a snowstorm leads to a shared bed, Maddie starts to wonder if her brother might be matchmaking from the grave. But when grief also reopens old wounds between them, Maddie will need more than Josh’s ghostly guidance to trust Dom again.]]>
432 Lauren Connolly Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.07 2024 PS: I Hate You
author: Lauren Connolly
name: Kara
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This book started out so sweet while being a little sad. There felt like unnecessary smut in the middle that didn’t match the tone of the rest of the book. Overall I enjoyed the book but think it will be forgettable fairly quickly so just a three star review from me.
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Faking Christmas 75665923 Laurel Grant is playing house for the holidays--complete with a fake husband and kids--in this delightful, cozy rom-com by Kerry Winfrey.

Laurel Grant works as the social media manager for Buckeye State of Mind, an Ohio tourism magazine and website. She is most definitely not an owner of a farm...but one tiny misunderstanding leads her boss, Gilbert, to think she owns her twin sister Holly's farm just outside of Columbus. Laurel only handles the social media for the farm, but she's happy to keep her little white lie going if it means not getting fired.

And keep it going she must when Gilbert, recently dumped by his wife, invites himself over for the farm's big holiday dinner (as advertised on Meadow Rise Farm's Instagram, thanks to Laurel herself). Laurel immediately goes into panic mode to figure out how she can trick Gilbert into thinking she's basically the Martha Stewart of rural Ohio and keep her job in the process.

Laurel and Holly come up with a plan--all Laurel has to do is pretend to own the farm for one dinner. But when Laurel shows up at the farm, an unwelcome guest is there: Max Beckett, her nemesis since Holly's wedding. The annoyingly attractive man she hates will be posing as Laurel's husband just for the evening, but when a snowstorm traps them all for the entire weekend, Laurel is going to have to figure out how to survive with her job and dignity intact. Whatever the case, this promises to be the most eventful Christmas in ages...]]>
286 Kerry Winfrey Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.63 2023 Faking Christmas
author: Kerry Winfrey
name: Kara
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
A quick fake-dating rom-com combined with the Christmas trope. No spice. Lots of sweetness. I’ve enjoyed all this author’s stories and this was no exception.
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The Christmas Orphans Club 75492257
Hannah and Finn have spent every Christmas together since college. Neither has anywhere else to go—Hannah’s parents died, and Finn’s disowned him when he came out. Their tradition of offbeat holiday adventures only grows more outrageous with time. When the pair starts their adult lives in New York City, they add stylish Priya and mysterious Theo to the group, solidifying a found family and sense of belonging they’ve always craved.

But now, when Finn announces a move to L.A., this Christmas may be their last. Hannah is terrified of losing the family she’s built for herself, even as her boyfriend nudges her toward commitment. Meanwhile, Finn struggles with the things he’s about to leave behind—namely, his unexpressed feelings for Theo. Does growing up mean growing apart? This Christmas the changes these friends fear may be exactly what they need. . . .]]>
368 Becca Freeman 0143138030 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.75 2023 The Christmas Orphans Club
author: Becca Freeman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
What a darling Christmas book with a bit more substance and diversity than found in your average rom-com of this style. I didn’t necessarily love the ending up I think it worked okay for the way that the rest of the book had played out. Would definitely recommend to others, especially those wanting something that doesn’t quite fit perfectly into the traditional Hallmark style of the genre.
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<![CDATA[Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village]]> 58706987 45 Viola Shipman 0369718739 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.94 Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village
author: Viola Shipman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I think if I read this closer to the end of Covid pandemic, I would have been more effected and therefore have rated it higher. It was just a bit too much for me in such a small package. If you happen to be looking for a Christmas novella that has heavy undertones of grief or memories of the fog of exiting Covid, this would be a great pick up for you.
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The Secret of Snow 58503739 As comforting and familiar as a favorite sweater, Viola Shipman's first holiday novel is a promise of heartfelt family traditions, humorously real experience, and the enduringĚýpower of love and friendship.

Sonny Dunes, aĚýSoCal meteorologist who knows only sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is being replaced by an AI meteorologist, which the youthful station manager reasons "will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract." The only station willing to give the fifty-year-oldĚýanother shot is one in a famously nontropical place—her northern Michigan hometown.

Unearthing her carefully laid California roots, Sonny returns home and reacclimates to the painfullyĚýlong, dark winters dominated by a Michigan phenomenon known as lake-effect snow. But beyond the complete physical shock to her system, she's also forced to confront her past: her new boss, a former journalism classmate and mortalĚýfrenemy; more keenly,Ěýthe death of a younger sister who loved the snow; and the mother who caused Sonny to leave.

To distract herself from the unwelcome memories, Sonny decides to throw herself headfirst into all things winter to woo viewers and reclaim her success. From sledding and ice fishing to skiing and winter festivals, the merrymaking culminates with the town’s famed Winter Ice Sculpture Contest. Running the events is a widowed father and chamber of commerce director, whose genuine love of Michigan, winter and Sonny just might thaw her heart and restart her life in a way she never could have predicted.

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320 Viola Shipman 1525899813 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.77 2021 The Secret of Snow
author: Viola Shipman
name: Kara
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This book is a little different than your typical Christmas book as it has deeper themes for you to explore with grief, societal expectations, and aging. If you want to stay with Christmas books but want something with a bit more “meat� you might try this one. I would recommend it for the 35+ crowd as the main characters are all 50+ and I think you’d identify with them more.
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<![CDATA[The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, #3)]]> 206318178 From the author of the viral TikTok sensation, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes the only spicy grumpy x sunshine Christmas romcom you need this year!

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.

Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates.

After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing.

Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it.

But somehow fate finds Ben at Kira’s farm once more, and as Kira watches him swing an ax at the first tree, she finds herself appreciating his strength and questionning why she refused help in the first place..

The Christmas Tree Farm is a spicy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls with a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

� grumpy x sunshine
� small town
� forced proximity
� one bed]]>
369 Laurie Gilmore 0008610738 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.66 2024 The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, #3)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Kara
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I’m always a sucker for Christmas books and was glad to see the story continue from the first two books. I think you probably would appreciate it more if you have read the first two books in the series.
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The Wish 56625098
By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.

As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.]]>
387 Nicholas Sparks 1538728621 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.25 2021 The Wish
author: Nicholas Sparks
name: Kara
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Holy heck this book was sooooo predictable. I mean I generally know where books like this are going to take me but there is usually a little something I wasn’t expecting. This didn’t have one. As soon as one line was mentioned, you know how it would end. If you are looking for something very predictable, a bit about Christmas and a bit about missed opportunities then maybe this would be just what you are looking for.
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<![CDATA[A Jingle Bell Mingle (A Christmas Notch, #3)]]> 199531900
Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?

But after their best friends� wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?]]>
400 Julie Murphy 0063338211 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.60 2024 A Jingle Bell Mingle (A Christmas Notch, #3)
author: Julie Murphy
name: Kara
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Another cute collab from Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy. I really enjoy this fun series and hope I have a Christmas book to look forward to every year.
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The Story Catcher 1319186 175 Mari Sandoz 0803291639 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.80 1963 The Story Catcher
author: Mari Sandoz
name: Kara
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This book was really interesting as it looked at some issues and lifestyles between the different bands of Sioux, Pawnee, Crow, and Ree tribes. It also discussed many of the troubles that the immigrant Europeans brought with them like measles and whiskey. My main drawback is that it felt very disjointed. It often jumped forward and I was left going back to see what I had missed. I would have like a more developed book like her novel I read, Old Jules. I have one more on her shelf that I’ll try to read next November.
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Punished! 678537 96 David Lubar 1581960425 Kara 4 3.58 2006 Punished!
author: David Lubar
name: Kara
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves:
review:
I think this was written for every teacher who loves puns and words! At just over an hour, it would make a great car listen for a family trip.
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The Edge of Winter 73669
Captivated by a fragile wildlife sanctuary, Mickey will move toward womanhood in the company of a lonely boy who shares her instinctive way with the creatures of the coast. And Neve will find herself drawn to a man who has devoted his life to the sanctuary, but who is unable to share the pain of a recent loss—or reconnect with the father who still bears the scars of World War II.

As winter gives way to spring, and spring to summer, a secret will emerge that has lain buried in the depths just offshore for decades, a secret that will galvanize the small seaside community. For the waters bear their own vestige of the past—and their ceaseless rhythms may point the way to hope and new beginnings.

Lyrical, luminous, and utterly captivating, The Edge of Winter is Luanne Rice at her most penetrating and insightful, in a moving exploration of the bonds that shape us and set us free.]]>
339 Luanne Rice 0553805274 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.79 2007 The Edge of Winter
author: Luanne Rice
name: Kara
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I got this from a friend who got it from a grab bag sale at a local library. It was okay. I wasn’t sure what I thought I was getting but it wasn’t what I got. It took me a little bit of time to get into it, but then I enjoyed the story and the various angles it was told from. I thought throwing in a couple of the viewpoints for such a short time was a bit extraneous. If you are looking to read it at the correct edge of winter, do it as winter ends not as it’s beginning.
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All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]>
608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.24 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Kara
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I think some books get too much hype and then they fail to live up to them for me. I’m a generally a fan of short chapters but I think this one may have taken it a bit too far and it left the book feeling a bit jerky for me. I thought Patch’s life was just a bit too fantastical for my liking. Not one I’d recommend people put on their short list.
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<![CDATA[Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow]]> 31138556 Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo DeusĚýexplores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This isĚýHomo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

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450 Yuval Noah Harari Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.19 2015 Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Kara
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I read this for nonfiction November after having enjoyed his original one in the series. It was interesting reading it so long after publication because there was a bit of look to see what predictions were coming true vs which ones seem to have missed the mark. I’ll definitely pick up more books by this author because I enjoy the way he challenges me to think about the world and my perceptions of it.
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<![CDATA[Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)]]> 207293948
Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

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

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.]]>
442 Lynn Painter 1665947136 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.99 2024 Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #2)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Kara
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I think you need to reread the first book in the series or have a better recall of books than I do because I felt not nearly as connected to the characters. She doesn’t do as much relationship building in this one because she relies on the information we gained in the first one. I think this would really hit home for me if I read them short in order rather than so far apart. I’ll be more aware before starting a second book in the series.
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<![CDATA[Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas]]> 48896281
JACKIE
When her first marriage ends in tragedy, Jackie Kennedy fears she’ll never love again. But all that changes when she encounters�

ARI
Successful and charming, Ari Onassis is a man who promises her the world. Yet soon after they marry, Jackie learns that his heart also belongs to another�

MARIA
A beautiful, famed singer, Maria Callas is in love with Jackie’s new husband � and she isn’t going to give up.

Little by little, Jackie and Maria’s lives begin to tangle in a dangerous web of secrets, scandal and lies. But with both women determined to make Ari theirs alone, the stakes are high. How far will they go for true love?

Readers love The Second Marriage:

â€Glamorous and highly seductive, this compelling story explores the lives of two complex, powerful women complete with all their talents and flaws.â€� Dinah Jefferies, author of The Tuscan Contessa

â€Heart-breaking. Brilliant. Powerful. Its intensity and perception knocked me out; I guarantee that this fascinating love-triangle story will have you enthralled.â€� Kate Furnivall, author of The Guardian of Lies

â€I was completely enthralled, wholly swept up in the characters, the glamour, and the fascinating story of these iconic women. An utter treat from beginning to end â€� readers far and wide will fall under its spell.â€� Jenny Ashcroft, author of Beneath a Burning Sky

â€I can't rave highly enough about this book â€� it's my favourite Gill Paul novel to date. A dazzling yet moving portrait of two very different iconic women, it's brilliantly researched, compellingly told and completely fascinating. I just loved it.â€� Tracy Rees, author of Amy Snow

â€A compelling and fascinating story about powerful personalities.â€� Rosanna Ley, author of The Lemon Tree Hotel

â€Addictive and so well-researched. I read it in a day.â€� Kate Riordan, author of The Heatwave

â€A truly compelling storyâ€� This is the best of historical fiction â€� leaving you wanting to learn more.â€� Liz Trenow, author of The Forgotten Seamstress]]>
480 Gill Paul 0062952498 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.08 2020 Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas
author: Gill Paul
name: Kara
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I throughly enjoy Gill Paul’s novel and this was no different. I found myself googling so many things as the story went along. I am amazed at the amount of PTSD the First Lady had to have struggled with and how no one really talked much about that. She had so much tossed at her that I can’t believe she didn’t make worse choices than she did. She did have horrible taste in men, but at least she got the financial stability that she craved.
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The Berry Pickers 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]>
307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.04 2023 The Berry Pickers
author: Amanda Peters
name: Kara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Probably closer to a 3.5 star because it has different perspectives than I would have never thought through. Looking forward to book club discussions as my book twin and I had a lot of say about it so I’m looking forward to hearing other opinions. I was pretty unhappy with the abrupt ending which definitely led to me rounding down.
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<![CDATA[A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them]]> 61423989
The Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age--has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.

Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he’d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows � their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman � Madge Oberholtzer � who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.

A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.]]>
432 Timothy Egan 0735225265 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.33 2023 A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
author: Timothy Egan
name: Kara
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I read this book at the wrong time to not have it gut punch me. You know what Winston Churchill said “Those that fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it�. It’s us�. We are “those�. It’s 100 years later and Trump is using DC Stephenson’s playbook pretty well. Ugh. The bright side is that there were finally enough people to change the tide. It took a long time then but praying it doesn’t take so long this go round.
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Warrior Girl Unearthed 61675933
Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl�, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors� remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right � for the ancestors and for their community.]]>
396 Angeline Boulley 1250766583 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.31 2023 Warrior Girl Unearthed
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Kara
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Wow! What a powerful story. I was so angry on behalf of the native people in this story. I didn’t really think about how it would be seeing my ancestors on display. I wouldn’t be bothered but I don’t have the strong burial traditions that are present in other cultures. You don’t need to have read the first one but if it is fresh for you, you would have a richer understanding of some of the characters.
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The Life Impossible 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

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

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

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]>
324 Matt Haig 0593489276 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.45 2024 The Life Impossible
author: Matt Haig
name: Kara
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I am glad that I have a read a few other Matt Haig books before picking this one up. I felt I was better prepared for his story and writing style than if I had only read Midnight Library. The story is pretty fantastical but I think it does a good job discussing the human condition. It’s definitely more like 3.5 stars but I rounded up because I think the Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ rating is a little low.
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The Good Left Undone 58065358 From Adriana Trigiani, "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns.

Matelda, the Cabrelli family's matriarch, has always been brusque and opinionated. Now, as she faces the end of her life, she is determined to share a long-held secret with her family about her own mother's great love story: with her childhood friend, Silvio, and with dashing Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never knew. . . .

In the halcyon past, Domenica Cabrelli thrives in the coastal town of Viareggio until her beloved home becomes unsafe when Italy teeters on the brink of World War II. Her journey takes her from the rocky shores of Marseille to the mystical beauty of Scotland to the dangers of wartime Liverpool--where Italian Scots are imprisoned without cause--as Domenica experiences love, loss, and grief while she longs for home. A hundred years later, her daughter, Matelda, and her granddaughter, Anina, face the same big questions about life and their family's legacy, while Matelda contemplates what is worth fighting for. But Matelda is running out of time, and the two timelines intersect and weave together in unexpected and heartbreaking ways that lead the family to shocking revelations and, ultimately, redemption.]]>
439 Adriana Trigiani 0593183320 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.90 2022 The Good Left Undone
author: Adriana Trigiani
name: Kara
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I like a good family saga but this felt maybe like a bit too much family for me. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and they didn’t all quite tie together as much as I would have enjoyed. I think you really have to love family sagas to enjoy this one.
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Blue Sisters 195430687 Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.

The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.]]>
342 Coco Mellors 0593723767 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.94 2024 Blue Sisters
author: Coco Mellors
name: Kara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I think maybe I just had too high of expectations and I didn’t care for any of the characters in the story. It felt a lot like little women with one dead sister and three left to grapple with it as they face the demons brought on by their toxic childhood. I was glad that it was mostly wrapped up in the end up but overall think I’ll forget most of the details pretty quickly.
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<![CDATA[The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)]]> 196241667 From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller and viral TikTok phenomenon, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes a brand new spicy romance set in Dream Harbor!

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

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

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

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

Tropes:
� opposites attract
� small town
� forced proximity
� he falls first]]>
384 Laurie Gilmore Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.67 2024 The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Kara
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This one added quite a bit more spice to the story but it was generally the same. It kept you in the world of Dream Harbor so you got to keep up with characters you’d already met. However this could be definitely read as a standalone. If you want a fall themed romance and don’t mind a lot of “oh I wish s/he felt differently about me� from both sides of the aisle than this one would be a fun choice. I’ll definitely be reading the Christmas one.
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The Night We Lost Him 207299448
Though the authorities rule Liam's death accidental, Nora and her estranged brother, Sam, believe otherwise. As they form an uneasy alliance to unpack the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

With Laura Dave’s “signature blend of pulse-pounding suspense� (PEOPLE) and “trademark emotional heft� (The New York Post), The Night We Lost Him is a “propulsive� (Oprah Daily) must-read, with a heartbreaking final twist you’ll never see coming.]]>
298 Laura Dave 1668002930 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.56 2024 The Night We Lost Him
author: Laura Dave
name: Kara
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This is less thriller and more family saga. I mean I thought I knew some things early on and they didn’t quite pan out like I thought but I still don’t think these qualifies on the domestic thriller genre. Decent and quick family saga if you are looking for one of those.
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Inside the O'Briens 22716194
Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk� or learn their fate.]]>
343 Lisa Genova 147671777X Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 3.99 2015 Inside the O'Briens
author: Lisa Genova
name: Kara
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I love how Lisa Genova combines family dramas with a unique medical condition that can affect people. I am always surprised to learn about the intricacies of a life filled with experiences that I am grateful to not know anything. I’m always more appreciative of the simple things after reading one her novels.
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<![CDATA[The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor, #1)]]> 139391940 A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie's aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor's gossip at all costs. But Jeanie's arrival disrupts Logan's routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie's happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won't fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes�

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

� grumpy x sunshine
� small town
� found family
� spicy]]>
373 Laurie Gilmore 0008610665 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 3.36 2023 The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor, #1)
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: Kara
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
An easy to read rom-com that is set in the fall making it a nice themed story. I think it will be forgettable but I still enjoyed it. Spice level is pretty low but it kind of feels like it was written by a horny woman who finally gets some.
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<![CDATA[The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)]]> 56269078 You’re a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.

He’s asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.

And the madness of crowds.]]>
436 Louise Penny 1250145260 Kara 3 books-read-in-2024 4.05 2021 The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)
author: Louise Penny
name: Kara
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
I picked up this book because I read a nonfiction book by the same title and I thought the cover was beautiful. I think I was really hindered by not knowing some of the backstory and side characters since it is so far into the series.
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<![CDATA[Hum If You Don't Know the Words]]> 28264701 Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy.

Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin’s parents are left dead and Beauty’s daughter goes missing.

After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection.

Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family.]]>
432 Bianca Marais 0399575073 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.24 2017 Hum If You Don't Know the Words
author: Bianca Marais
name: Kara
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
A powerful look in at South Africa in the mid 60’s and it really examines some of the ridiculousness that apartheid brought about and how the bigotry was spread to many groups of people not just black people.
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How to Read a Book 62365896 A charming, deeply moving novel about second chances, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.

Our Reasons meet us in the morning and whisper to us at night. Mine is an innocent, unsuspecting, eternally sixty-one-year-old woman named Lorraine Daigle�

Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

How to Read a Book Ěýis an unsparingly honest and profoundly hopeful story about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives. With the heart, wit, grace, and depth of understanding that has characterized her work, Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living.Ěý .Ěý]]>
288 Monica Wood 0063243679 Kara 5 books-read-in-2024 4.21 2024 How to Read a Book
author: Monica Wood
name: Kara
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
This is going to be a book that sticks with me for a long while. I loved her piece about the story and the meanwhile. If you are looking for a book club pick, I think this could lead to some great discussions if the people in your group are willing to be open. I went in blind and I think everyone should.
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<![CDATA[The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern]]> 203579107 It's never too late for new beginnings.

On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs—an active senior community in southern Florida—she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy—and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier.

As a teenager growing up in 1920’s Brooklyn, Augusta’s role model was her father, Solomon Stern, the trusted owner of the local pharmacy and the neighborhood expert on every ailment. But when Augusta’s mother dies and Great Aunt Esther moves in, Augusta can’t help but be drawn to Esther’s curious methods. As a healer herself, Esther offers Solomon’s customers her own advice—unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to a mysterious array of powders and potions.

As Augusta prepares for pharmacy college, she is torn between loyalty to her father and fascination with her great aunt, all while navigating a budding but complicated relationship with Irving. Desperate for clarity, she impulsively uses Esther’s most potent elixir with disastrous consequences. Disillusioned and alone, Augusta vows to reject Esther’s enchantments forever.

Sixty years later, confronted with Irving, Augusta is still haunted by the mistakes of her past. What happened all those years ago and how did her plan go so spectacularly wrong? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing a part? And can Augusta reclaim the magic of her youth before it’s too late?]]>
320 Lynda Cohen Loigman 1250278104 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.07 2024 The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
name: Kara
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
Ahh Goldie! Such a sweet book about how much damage we can do just making assumptions instead of talking to teach other. I enjoyed the author’s note a lot hearing about how she developed her two settings. I am kind of curious as to why she chose 1987. I suppose it has to do with the digital age coming to the forefront to make her forced retirement more likely. Great for those times when you just need a hug from a book.
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The Lion Women of Tehran 199798217 A heartfelt novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.�

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls� high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.]]>
327 Marjan Kamali 1668036584 Kara 4 books-read-in-2024 4.48 2024 The Lion Women of Tehran
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Kara
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: books-read-in-2024
review:
An excellent look at the revolutions that happened in Iran and how it might have affected the every day people living their lives there. I’ve never really studied the varied differences and didn’t realize when their women started becoming even more repressed. Great read for all historical fiction fans or anyone wanting to learn more about the Middle East from a different perspective than covered in news stories.
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