�Ჹ��☕️'s bookshelf: all

�Ჹ��☕️'s bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:59:19 -0700 60 �Ჹ��☕️'s bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Christine 40795462
“This is the story of a lover’s triangle…It was bad from the start. And it got worse in a hurry.��

It’s love at first sight for high school student Arnie Cunningham when he and his best friend Dennis Guilder spot the dilapidated 1958 red-and-white Plymouth Fury for sale—dubbed “Christine�� by its original cantankerous owner—rusting away on a front lawn of their suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood. Dennis knows that Arnie’s never had much luck in the looks or popularity department, or really taken an interest in owning a car . . . but Christine quickly changes all that. Arnie suddenly has the newfound confidence to stick up for himself, going as far as dating the most beautiful girl at Libertyville High—transfer student Leigh Cabot—even as a mysteriously restored Christine systematically and terrifyingly consumes every aspect of Arnie’s life. Dennis and Leigh soon realize that they must uncover the awful truth behind a car with a horrifying and murderous history. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and heaven help anyone who gets in Christine’s way…]]> 656 Stephen King �Ჹ��☕️ 0 currently-reading 4.06 1983

author: Stephen King
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Dare 174146809
As senior year comes to an end, senior pranks are just beginning. It all starts innocently enough. Marley and her friends—Atlas, Lucia, and Jesse—egg houses, set chickens free on the quad, and fill the principal’s office with glitter-filled balloons.

But when Jesse accepts a dare to drive danger alley, a ten-mile stretch of winding road that’s notorious for car wrecks, with no headlights, things take a turn for the worst.

Now, the four friends are bound by a tragic accident—and a dark secret that threatens their bright futures.]]> 368 Natasha Preston 0593704061 �Ჹ��☕️ 2
There were so many sentences that made no sense, so many things were pointless and unbelievable (in a bad way), and there was also a point where Arthur was referred to as George’s uncle when it’s his Grandad?

Overall not for me sadly ]]> 3.79 2024 The Dare

author: Natasha Preston
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
The ending was quite interesting and the start showed potential but the middle felt like it was both dragged out and rushed all at once.

There were so many sentences that made no sense, so many things were pointless and unbelievable (in a bad way), and there was also a point where Arthur was referred to as George’s uncle when it’s his Grandad?

Overall not for me sadly
]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 61991328 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781538742570.

Every day I clean the Winchesters�� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out�� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…]]> 329 Freida McFadden �Ჹ��☕️ 4 4.27 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)

author: Freida McFadden
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
I read this super fast, it was gripping and easy to read! I did find it a bit predictable in places but I still enjoyed it!
]]> The One We Fell in Love With 29283036
Eliza is in love with someone who is no longer hers. In fact, he probably never was�� And her dream of becoming a successful musician seems to be vanishing before her eyes.

Rose is out of a job and out of a boyfriend. To make matters worse, she’s been forced to move back in with her mother��

But these very different girls have one thing in common. Angus. The one they fell in love with…]]> 388 Paige Toon 1471138437 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.04 2016 The One We Fell in Love With

author: Paige Toon
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)]]> 25877135
But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what's really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more��Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.]]> 602 Amie Kaufman 178074837X �Ჹ��☕️ 3
I loved the mixed media format! It was so creative and fun and it helped drive the story (perfect kind of book for it too!). I did however find myself getting confused in some places and forgot who different people were. I feel that you really need to pay attention to dates and names of things otherwise it’s hard to remember what’s happening and when. Overall it’s such a fun read but slightly overwhelming trying to take it all in properly!]]> 4.32 2015 Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)

author: Amie Kaufman
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
review:
3.5��

I loved the mixed media format! It was so creative and fun and it helped drive the story (perfect kind of book for it too!). I did however find myself getting confused in some places and forgot who different people were. I feel that you really need to pay attention to dates and names of things otherwise it’s hard to remember what’s happening and when. Overall it’s such a fun read but slightly overwhelming trying to take it all in properly!
]]> <![CDATA[The Princess Protection Program (The Princess Protection Program, 1)]]> 212025855 224 Alex London 0063303884 �Ჹ��☕️ 2 2.00 2024

The Princess Protection Program (The Princess Protection Program, 1)

author: Alex London
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Bellwoods Game 62919131
Everyone knows Fall Hollow is haunted. It has been ever since Abigail Snook went into the woods many years ago, never to be seen again. Since then, it’s tradition for the sixth graders at Beckett Elementary to play the Bellwoods Game on Halloween night. Three kids are chosen to go into the woods. Whoever rings the bell there wins the game and saves the town for another year, but if Abigail’s ghost captures the players first, the spirit is let loose to wreak havoc on Fall Hollow—or so the story goes.

Now that it’s Bailee’s year to play, she can finally find out what really happens. And legend has it the game’s winner gets a wish. Maybe, just maybe, if Bailee wins, she can go back to the way things used to be before her grandma got sick and everyone at school started hating her. But when the night begins, everything the kids thought they knew about the game—and each other—is challenged. One thing’s for something sinister is at play…waiting for them all in the woods.]]> 320 Celia Krampien 1665912502 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.99 2023 The Bellwoods Game

author: Celia Krampien
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 4.5�� 4.62 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)

Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)

author: Suzanne Collins
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:
4.5��
]]> <![CDATA[The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)]]> 212174157 From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.]]> 656 Antonia Hodgson 152933988X �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.47 2025 The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)

The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)

author: Antonia Hodgson
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel, #1)]]> 50702014 Stephen's god died on the longest day of the year��

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind��

From the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of Swordheart and The Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair.]]> 366 T. Kingfisher �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.08 2020 Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel, #1)

Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel, #1)

author: T. Kingfisher
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories]]> 54427135 Two worlds, four stories, infinite possibilities��

In this mind-expanding work of speculative fiction, available in English for the first time, one of South Korea’s most treasured writers explores the driving forces of humanity—love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence—in two pairs of thematically interconnected stories.

In “I’m Waiting for You�� and “On My Way,�� an engaged couple coordinate their separate missions to distant corners of the galaxy to ensure—through relativity—they can arrive back on Earth simultaneously to make it down the aisle. But small incidents wreak havoc on space and time, driving their wedding date further away. As centuries on Earth pass and the land and climate change, one thing is constant: the desire of the lovers to be together. In two separate yet linked stories, Kim Bo-Young cleverly demonstrate the idea love that is timeless and hope springs eternal, despite seemingly insurmountable challenges and the deepest despair.

In “The Prophet of Corruption�� and “That One Life,�� humanity is viewed through the eyes of its creators: godlike beings for which everything on Earth—from the richest woman to a speck of dirt—is an extension of their will. When one of the creations questions the righteousness of this arrangement, it is deemed a perversion—a disease—that must be excised and cured. Yet the Prophet Naban, whose “child�� is rebelling, isn’t sure the rebellion is bad. What if that which is considered criminal is instead the natural order—and those who condemn it corrupt? Exploring the dichotomy between the philosophical and the corporeal, Kim ponders the fate of free-will, as she considers the most basic of questions: who am I?]]> 321 Kim Bo-young 0062951467 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.73 2021 I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories

author: Kim Bo-young
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Six (Lore Olympus, #6)]]> 210169723
“We have to make an example of her.��

Chaos reigns in Olympus as Zeus publicly declares Persephone a traitor and issues a warrant for her arrest. But Hades defies his brother’s decree, sheltering Persephone in the Underworld—and as the pair spend more time together, they are able to speak openly about their pasts. The goddess of spring admits the truth behind the bloody secret that led to Zeus’s ire, and the king of the Underworld shares the trauma he suffered at the hands of his power-hungry father, Kronos.

But as Hades and Persephone’s relationship grows stronger, others begin to fall apart. The bond between Hades and Zeus is stretched to its limit, threatening to fracture the peace between their realms. Persephone and Artemis’s friendship hangs by a thread as the goddess of the hunt slowly uncovers the vile truth about her twin, Apollo. A line is being drawn in the heavens, putting everyone’s loyalties into question as all the gods are forced to choose sides.

And as the cracks in the foundation of the pantheon spread, something darker and more earth-shattering might soon be released. . . .

This edition of Smythe’s original Eisner Award–winning webcomic Lore Olympus features exclusive behind-the-scenes content and brings the Greek pantheon into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 127��152 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus .]]> 432 Rachel Smythe 1529937000 �Ჹ��☕️ 5 4.67 2024 Lore Olympus: Volume Six (Lore Olympus, #6)

Lore Olympus: Volume Six (Lore Olympus, #6)

author: Rachel Smythe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Five (Lore Olympus, #5)]]> 210169691 Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love--the Greek tale of Hades and Persephone gets a romantic modern update in the gorgeously illustrated, Eisner Award-winning Lore Olympus, including behind-the-scenes content!

An ingenious take on the Greek Pantheon, Lore Olympus is a modern update on the story of Hades and Persephone. Follow the propulsive love story of two Greek gods, told with lavish artwork and contemporary sensibilities.

This full-color edition of Smythe's original Eisner Award-winning webcomic Lore Olympus features exclusive behind-the-scenes content and brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 103-126 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus.]]> 400 Rachel Smythe 1529924006 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 4.35 2023 Lore Olympus: Volume Five (Lore Olympus, #5)

Lore Olympus: Volume Five (Lore Olympus, #5)

author: Rachel Smythe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Overgrowth 217387964 Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?]]> 480 Mira Grant 1250768233 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.08 2025 Overgrowth

author: Mira Grant
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sister, Butcher, Sister 217476763 The chilling prose of Karin Slaughter meets the high-stakes plotting of The Butcher and the Wren in a dark debut following three normal sisters, their own forgotten traumas, and the serial killer that lives within one, begging the question can you ever truly recognize the evil around you?

Three sisters. One killer. Which one is SHE?

The Rowling sisters have always been people you can understand �� with partners and children, homes and dreams. And secrets, the sisters have those too. But when Kate, the eldest, finally returns to buy her late grandfather's home, the dark things each sister has kept buried soon rise to the surface.

Is Kate having unexplained visions tied to a past she can hardly recall? Is Aurora, the married mother of two, finally acting out in the face of her sisters' indiscretions? Is Peggy, the youngest and a recovering addict, able to move on from the memories that haunt her?

And then there's SHE.

SHE is one of them, but SHE is not like them at all. SHE is defined only by the carnage she lets the world see, the murders that have swept through their coastal community. And as the police close in on their newest serial killer, scrutiny lands on the Rowlings, forcing them to face their demons and reveal all they have kept hidden.]]> 368 K.D. Aldyn 1464236631 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.67 Sister, Butcher, Sister

author: K.D. Aldyn
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bakery Dragon (The Bakery Dragon, #1)]]> 205307705 The heroic tale��of a tiny dragon with a heart of gold and a taste for baked treats! A scrumptious picture book for fans of funny fairytales and fantastic beasts.

Ember has always been different from the other dragons. His fearsome roar sounds more like a polite sneeze, and when he breathes fire, the villagers just pat his head and say awwww.

Ember fears he’ll never collect a respectable hoard of gold until a chance encounter with a baker causes his fortunes to turn (and his stomach to grumble). As the little dragon soon discovers, the gold you make is way better than the gold you steal—and gold that is shared? That’s best of all.

Magic shimmers on every page of author-illustrator Devin Elle Kurtz's��feel-good story that celebrates baked goods, dragons, and generosity in equal measure. Filled with adorable illustrations, this is a perfect read aloud for bedtime or brunchtime!]]> 42 Devin Elle Kurtz 0593710967 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.51 2024 The Bakery Dragon (The Bakery Dragon, #1)

The Bakery Dragon (The Bakery Dragon, #1)

author: Devin Elle Kurtz
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fable for the End of the World]]> 209594872 The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this standalone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything.

By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society.

Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they scrape by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt—enough to qualify one of her children for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet.

Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, known for her cold brutality and deadly beauty. She has never failed to assassinate one of her marks.

When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice, at first she despairs—the Gauntlet is always a bloodbath for the impoverished debtors. But she’s had years of practice surviving in the apocalyptic wastes, and with the help of her hunter brother, she might stand a chance of staying alive.

For Melinoë, this is a game she can’t afford to lose. Despite her reputation for mercilessness, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on livestream, she desperately needs redemption.

As Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, both girls begin to question everything: Inesa wonders if there’s more to life than survival, while Mel wonders if she’s capable of more than killing.

And both wonder if, against all odds, they might be falling in love.]]> 384 Ava Reid 0063211556 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.83 2025 Fable for the End of the World

author: Ava Reid
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wretched Divine 219797247 Adalyn Grace �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 5.00 2026

author: Adalyn Grace
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princess (Picture Book)]]> 777042 Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses! Barbie and her princess sisters love to dance and sing, but thier evil Aunt Rowena doesn't believe it's proper princess behavior. The princesses escape to a secret, magical palace--but when Barbie discovers that her aunt is plotting to rule the kingdom, she must return to save her father, the king! Girls will love to read all about the Barbie princesses in this beautifully illustrated hardcover storybook based on Barbie's 7th direct to DVD movie.]]> 32 Mary Man-Kong 0375837485 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.24 2006 Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princess (Picture Book)

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princess (Picture Book)

author: Mary Man-Kong
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wicked: I Am Elphaba 218319954 Get ready to defy gravity in I Am Elphaba, a celebration of everything special about Elphaba, the star of Universal Pictures' Wicked film.

From her childhood in Munchkinland to her time at Shiz University, learn all about the life of Elphaba as she learns how to use her magic. But will she use it... for good? Featuring retro-illustrations of Elphaba and your other favourite characters from the film, including Glinda, Fiyero and the Wizard. This gorgeous, collectable book will delight children ages 6+ and fans of the Universal Pictures' Wicked alike.

Make sure you check out I Am Glinda, the perfect companion title to I Am Elphaba.

Universal Pictures' Wicked flies into cinemas on the 22nd of November 2024!]]> Mary Man-Kong 1408375311 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 4.29 Wicked: I Am Elphaba

author: Mary Man-Kong
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1)]]> 25526296 Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.]]> 176 Seanan McGuire 0765385503 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 currently-reading 3.81 2016 Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1)

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1)

author: Seanan McGuire
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Woman in Me 63216349 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]> 288 Britney Spears 139852252X �Ჹ��☕️ 5
Britney is so strong and incredible for getting through this. I had my jaw dropped for so much of this book. I thought I knew what she had gone through but I was wrong; it was so much worse. I’m so glad she’s finally free]]> 3.97 2023 The Woman in Me

author: Britney Spears
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
review:
All I’m going to say is this:

Britney is so strong and incredible for getting through this. I had my jaw dropped for so much of this book. I thought I knew what she had gone through but I was wrong; it was so much worse. I’m so glad she’s finally free
]]> <![CDATA[Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces]]> 198509138 Chiri is a fun-loving super cook looking for fresh adventures and ingredients, but her love of exploration has landed her in some serious magical trouble and she’s going to need all the help she can get to find home again.

Chiri and best friend Dai live in an orphanage right next to the deepest, darkest forest. On a scavenging mission to find some amazing new ingredients for her many culinary experiments, Chiri plunges both her and her best friend into the secret kingdom of Puddin��, a secret place plagued by the Thousand Faces Monster and inhabited by all sorts of magical people and critters. Befriending witches, bards, ogres and sorcerers, can our two protagonists make it home and more importantly, can they evade the darkness that has awoken on their arrival?]]> 144 Carlos Sánchez 1838741216 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.20 2024 Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces

author: Carlos Sánchez
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Snow Drowned 205519745
Gracie Hutchinson has lived on Fall Island her whole life and knows there's some truth to those words. Fall's snowstorms have a spooky way of claiming people, making them disappear without a trace or driving them mad. Now, with a hundred-year-storm approaching, most of Fall's residents have fled to the mainland. But not Gracie. Left behind her with physician father, she braces for landfall.

Gracie's not the only one left behind. Her classmate Joseph Wescott, descendant of the legendary pioneer who founded Fall Island, has stayed, too. After a chance encounter, the two stumble across something more unsettling than the snow: a ritually mutilated corpse. By night, as the snow begins to fall, it becomes clear that whoever (or whatever) murdered the man they found has their sights set on Gracie.

Seeking refuge at Wescott Manor, Gracie feels safe surrounded by dozens of locals hunkered down in the huge house. But as the storm assaults the island, Gracie discovers secrets that have been kept since Fall was settled. If she can't uncover the hidden history and terrifying truth about Fall Island before the storm's end, she'll be the next to disappear into the snow.]]> 304 Jennifer D. Lyle 1728270944 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.34 2024 Snow Drowned

author: Jennifer D. Lyle
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Haunting 75495009 #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Natasha Preston is back with another pulse-pounding, twisty read!

Haunted by the past . . .

Penny's trying to forget about her ex, Nash. His father was arrested for the brutal murder of four teenagers on Devil's Night last year. Penny's parents have forbidden her to have anything to do with Nash or his family. It's hard not to think of what happened as spooky season gets underway--but she's trying.

That stops when she goes to the Halloween store with her friends to find a costume. What she finds instead is ripped from a horror movie: a girl from school bleeding out on the floor of a dressing room. Stabbed.

Is a copycat killer on the loose? The adults are saying no. But Penny knows better.]]> 354 Natasha Preston 0593481518 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.60 2023 The Haunting

author: Natasha Preston
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)]]> 209741142 A spellbinding gothic dark fantasy about a shunned woman who is forced beyond the mortal realm's forbidden boundary, into a terrifying world of cursed souls and grotesque creatures.

Only the banished know what lies beyond the woods ...

There are whispers about what lurks in Witch Knell—the forest where sinners go to die. The villagers call it The Eating Woods because what’s taken is never given back. Only those who’ve lost their senses would dare to go near it.

Or the banished.

Maevyth Bronwick knows better than to breach the misty labyrinth of trees, but a tragic turn of events compels her beyond the archway of bones, to a boundary no mortal has crossed before. One that cloaks a dark and fantastical world that’s as dangerous as it is alluring.

It’s there that he dwells, the cursed lord of Eidolon. The one tasked to keep her hidden from the magehood that seeks to crucify her in the name of an arcane prophesy. Zevander Rydainn, known to his prey as The Scorpion, is the coldest, most calculated assassin in all of Aethyria and he’d sooner toss his feisty ward to a pack of vicious fyredrakes than keep her safe.

If only he could.

Maevyth’s blood is the key to breaking his despised curse and vanquishing the slumbering evil in Witch Knell. Unfortunately for Lord Rydainn, fate has other plans for the irresistible little enchantress. And his growing obsession with her threatens to destroy everything.

Including himself.

Anathema is a full-length, gothic dark fantasy, the first book in The Eating Woods duology. Perfect for readers who enjoy a plot-heavy and atmospheric story with a unique magic system, a slow-burn romance and a touch of horror.]]> 688 Keri Lake �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.14 2024 Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)

author: Keri Lake
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Listen to Your Sister 211004179 For fans of Jordan Peele’s films, Stranger Things, and The Other Black Girl, Listen To Your Sister is a laugh-out-loud, deeply terrifying, and big-hearted speculative horror novel from electrifying debut talent Neena Viel.

Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie–but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than an AirBNB, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives–and reality–hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.]]> 352 Neena Viel 1250906326 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.26 2025 Listen to Your Sister

author: Neena Viel
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)]]> 204593711
It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.]]> 432 Tigest Girma �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.66 2024 Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)

Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)

author: Tigest Girma
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Four (Lore Olympus, #4)]]> 151927245 Witness what the gods do after dark in the fourth volume of a stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of the best-known stories in Greek mythology, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes content from creator Rachel Smythe.

"I don't always get to do as I please."

The rumor mill of Olympus is constantly churning, but Persephone and Hades are all anyone can talk about. With the constant gossip creating intense pressure on the pair, they decide to slow down their budding romance and focus on sorting out their own issues first.

But that's easier said than done.

Hades struggles to find support in his personal life, with Zeus trivializing his feelings and Minthe resorting to abusive patterns in their relationship. And while Hades tries to create healthier boundaries where he can--like finally putting a stop to his sporadic, revenge-fueled hookups with Hera--he still feels lonely and adrift.

Persephone feels equally ostracized as her classmates shun her for her connection to Hades, and she can find no refuge at home, with Apollo constantly dropping by unannounced and pushing his unwelcome advances. And on top of it all, the wrathful god of war, Ares, has returned to Olympus to dredge up his sordid history with the goddess of spring, threatening to surface Persephone's dark and mysterious past and ruin her tenuous position in the land of the gods.

Despite agreeing to take it slow, Persephone and Hades find themselves inextricably drawn toward each other once more amid the chaos. The pull of fate cannot be denied.

This edition of Rachel Smythe's original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features exclusive behind-the-scenes content and brings the Greek pantheon into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 76-102 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus. ]]> 416 Rachel Smythe 1529914825 �Ჹ��☕️ 5 4.42 2023 Lore Olympus: Volume Four (Lore Olympus, #4)

Lore Olympus: Volume Four (Lore Olympus, #4)

author: Rachel Smythe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Home 221583320
In the early '60s, in a seemingly more "innocent" time, a group of teenagers were lured into a supposedly haunted house. The place on Sycamore Lane has a morbid history, but that's just hearsay and rumor, isn't it?

THE HOME

His name was Robbie Miller, and he was a killer. Driven mad by the THING that lived in The Home, he now exists to serve. He'll do whatever the creature that calls itself Mr. Friendlyman asks . . . He'll even become a ghost . . .

THE HOME

Now, decades later and much older, they are returning to The Home. A retired fantasy writer, A doting grandfather, and a mysterious old woman who seems to know things she should not . . .

THE HOME

A dark storm is brewing over this wicked house. A storm that will break down the very fabric of reality. A storm that demands blood and sacrifice, and feeds on the ghosts of anyone who dies within it's premises.]]> 275 Judith Sonnet 1955745919 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.89 The Home

author: Judith Sonnet
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cinderella and the Beast (or, Beauty and the Glass Slipper) (The Princess Swap #1)]]> 214390835 What would happen if Cinderella found herself in the beast's castle, and Beauty woke up in some evil stepmother's home? Fairy tales meet Freaky Friday in this series, where there’s a magical mix-up for every princess!

Ella’s spent her life dreaming about adventure, but it’s hard to have adventures when you’re stuck with a stepfamily who treat you like a servant. When she unexpectedly wakes up in a land far, far away, she’s thrilled at the chance to embark on an epic quest. That is, until she finds herself trapped once more—this time in the castle of a dangerous beast.

Belle, meanwhile, has plans. Her family’s trading company is on the brink of ruin, and to save it, she’s going to enter—and win—a royal competition in the prince’s honor. But when she unexpectedly winds up in a cellar with a wicked stepfamily who have their own plans to keep her from the competition . . . things get complicated.

Happily-ever-after couldn’t feel farther away. Can Ella escape the beast’s clutches? And can Belle get rid of this stepfamily in time for the competition?

For other Princess Swaps, don't miss Snow White and the Dragon (or, Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs)!]]> 304 Kim Bussing 0593708024 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 3.75�� 4.21 Cinderella and the Beast (or, Beauty and the Glass Slipper) (The Princess Swap #1)

Cinderella and the Beast (or, Beauty and the Glass Slipper) (The Princess Swap #1)

author: Kim Bussing
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
3.75��
]]> Deep End 219400991 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...]]> 454 Ali Hazelwood 1408728885 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.95 2025 Deep End

author: Ali Hazelwood
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Undrowned Child (The Undrowned Child, #1)]]> 6574115
Teo is quickly subsumed into a secret world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets, statues speak, rats read and librarians turn fluidly into cats. And where a book, The Key to the Secret City, leads Teo straight into the heart of the danger that threatens to destroy the city to which she feels she belongs.

An ancient proverb seems to unite Teo with a Venetian boy, Renzo, and with the Traitor who has returned from the dark past to wreak revenge��. But who is the undrowned child destined to save Venice?
]]> 424 Michelle Lovric 1842557025 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.84 2009 The Undrowned Child (The Undrowned Child, #1)

The Undrowned Child (The Undrowned Child, #1)

author: Michelle Lovric
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cryptid Club 60320162
Do you hate��social��gatherings? Dodge��cameras? Enjoy staying up just��a��little��too late��at night? You might��have��more in common with your��local cryptid than you think! Enter��the world��of��Cryptid Club,��a��look inside��the��adventures��of elusive��creatures ranging��from��Mothman��to��the��Loch Ness Monster. This humorous new series celebrates��the��unique qualities that make��cryptids��so desperately sought��after��by��mankind (to��no��avail).��After��all, it's��what��makes us different that��also makes us beautiful.
��ձ�> 112 Sarah Andersen 1524875546 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.29 2021 Cryptid Club

author: Sarah Andersen
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Three (Lore Olympus, #3)]]> 151923151 Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love--the Greek tale of Hades and Persephone gets a romantic modern update in the gorgeously illustrated, Eisner-nominated Lore Olympus, including a brand new, exclusive short story!

An ingenious take on the Greek Pantheon, Lore Olympus is a modern update on the story of Hades and Persephone. Follow the propulsive love story of two Greek gods, told with lavish artwork and contemporary sensibilities.

This full-color edition of Smythe's original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features a brand-new, exclusive short story, and brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 50-75 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus.]]> 368 Rachel Smythe 1529903963 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 4.43 2022 Lore Olympus: Volume Three (Lore Olympus, #3)

Lore Olympus: Volume Three (Lore Olympus, #3)

author: Rachel Smythe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Crash 216223604 The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.

But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself—and her unborn child.

A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.
]]> 384 Freida McFadden 1464232989 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.58 2025 The Crash

author: Freida McFadden
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hollow Nights 220418308 Have you ever wondered about the monster under your bed?

LIBRA
Sleep is a curse that refuses to release me from its tight grasp. Every night, I am held hostage by sleep paralysis, unable to escape the demon that haunts my dreams. I thought it was just a figment of my imagination, a shadowy figure under my bed. But as I confront it, I realize it is much more than that. It’s real—he is real.

AXELLE
Trapped in a never-ending cycle, I am bound by chains to an endless stream of human souls. Each one a mere pawn in my eternal game of torment until their time runs out, and I am shackled to the next. But she was different. For years, I have been fixated on her, deriving twisted entertainment from her mundane existence, until one night, my dark desires took over and I crossed a line. Now, she is about to discover who, or rather what, I really am.

Hollow Nights is a dark novella. Please check all triggers prior to reading. ]]> 117 Ab. Cynthe �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.29

author: Ab. Cynthe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Snow White and the Dragon (or, Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs) (The Princess Swap #2)]]> 214390836 What would happen if Sleeping Beauty had to create a poisoned apple, and Snow White faced off against a dragon? Fairy tales meet Freaky Friday in this series, where there’s a magical mix-up for every princess!

As a baby, Rose was cursed to meet a mysterious fate on her thirteenth birthday . . . but no one bothered to tell Rose that until a week before she turns thirteen. And a week’s not nearly enough time to figure out what to do when she’s suddenly whisked from her Dreamwood cottage to a strange palace—trapped with an evil queen who hands her an apple . . .

Princess Snow is preparing for the ceremony that will prove she’s fit to rule her kingdom. The problem? Her wicked stepmother. The other problem? Without warning, she finds herself in the middle of the Dreamwood, where, on top of all her other problems, she has to worry about . . . a sleeping curse.

Happily-ever-after couldn’t feel farther away. Can Rose escape the curse that’s followed her since birth? And can Snow save her kingdom from her stepmother?

For other Princess Swaps, don't miss Cinderella and the Beast (or, Beauty and the Glass Slipper)!]]> 320 Kim Bussing 0593708067 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.90 Snow White and the Dragon (or, Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs) (The Princess Swap #2)

Snow White and the Dragon (or, Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs) (The Princess Swap #2)

author: Kim Bussing
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Strange Pictures 219579130 A Japanese mystery bestseller, revolving around a series of creepy drawings, in which the reader is the detective - from the Youtube sensation Uketsu.

A series of drawings made by a young woman before her death.

A child's disturbing picture of his home.

A desperate sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments.

Each contains a chilling warning.

Each reveals a terrible secret, hidden in plain sight.

Uketsu's eerie mysteries have captivated millions of readers. Can you find the clues in these strange pictures and uncover the sinister truth that connects them all?]]> 240 Uketsu 1805335391 �Ჹ��☕️ 3 4.05 2022

author: Uketsu
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:

]]> My Best Friend's Exorcism 41015038 337 Grady Hendrix �Ჹ��☕️ 4
This felt like Mean Girls mixed with Stranger Things and the Exorcist. It was fun, gross, happy and sad all over. The friendship between Gretchen and Abby was really admirable and the final chapter was so bittersweet. It truly felt like an 80s film in novel format.

I wasn’t too keen on some of the additions (without giving to much away - wasn’t happy about the Max situation in the end) and I feel that the ending wrapped up a bit too suddenly and without enough explanation in places. The owls while subtly mentioned weren’t mentioned enough, and the same with the old stories/ place in the woods. It would’ve been nice to have a bit more context in the ending to tie everything together but generally I feel Hendrix did a great job! ]]> 3.94 2016 My Best Friend's Exorcism

author: Grady Hendrix
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
3.5��

This felt like Mean Girls mixed with Stranger Things and the Exorcist. It was fun, gross, happy and sad all over. The friendship between Gretchen and Abby was really admirable and the final chapter was so bittersweet. It truly felt like an 80s film in novel format.

I wasn’t too keen on some of the additions (without giving to much away - wasn’t happy about the Max situation in the end) and I feel that the ending wrapped up a bit too suddenly and without enough explanation in places. The owls while subtly mentioned weren’t mentioned enough, and the same with the old stories/ place in the woods. It would’ve been nice to have a bit more context in the ending to tie everything together but generally I feel Hendrix did a great job!
]]> Incidents Around the House 199757490 A chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy,�� from the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box
��
To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s��Mommy,��Daddo,��and Grandma Ruth.��But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”��
��
When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the same question, over and over . . . Bela understands that unless she says yes, soon her family must pay.��
��
Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage. The safety Bela relies on is on the brink of unraveling.��
��
But Other Mommy needs an answer.��
��
Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror told by the child Bela. A story about a family as haunted as their home.]]> 367 Josh Malerman 0593723120 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.61 2024

author: Josh Malerman
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Atmosphere 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.45 2025 Atmosphere

author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Maybe in Another Life 23492661
From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.]]> 342 Taylor Jenkins Reid �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.77 2015 Maybe in Another Life

author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)]]> 214011215
“You know the most dangerous kind of villain? A woman with nothing left to lose.��

In a world ruled by the cruel and merciless Stars, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy promises she will fall for a Star, but that it will kill them both.

So when Ariete, Star of Wrath, War and Chaos, descends to wreak havoc on Elara’s kingdom, she flees her home—the Kingdom of Night—for the neighbouring Helios, Kingdom of Light.

And strides straight into the arms of an enemy prince.

Fearing that Ariete might turn his sights to Helios next, Prince Lorenzo is forced to train Elara as a weapon—one worthy of battling against the tyrannical reign of the Stars. But there are shadows even within the Kingdom of Light—and they threaten to reveal the darkness in Lorenzo’s past and the ancient magic that slumbers in Elara’s veins.

And with it all comes an undeniable, star-crossed pull between Elara and Lorenzo that neither can seem to resist...]]> 496 Imani Erriu 1039012590 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.10 2022 Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)

author: Imani Erriu
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe �� a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution �� who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch�� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)

author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)]]> 60217777 The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology.

A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.

A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.

In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.]]> 464 Kristen Ciccarelli �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.23 2025 Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)

author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Our Infinite Fates (Proof) 216935016 The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.

They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one.

Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers.

The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:

1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.]]> 395 Laura/L.K. Steven �Ჹ��☕️ 4 Review coming 4.21 2025 Our Infinite Fates (Proof)

author: Laura/L.K. Steven
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
Review coming
]]> The Murder Hypothesis 211032088
Grace and her dad have just moved to a tiny, sleepy Devon village, desperate to put tragic events from their old life in London behind them. But their fresh start is derailed when the second-hand Echo in their new house comes alive at midnight, and tells I'm going to murder you.

Grace works out it’s an old recorded message, and the Echo has previously been used by four people in their village �� all of whom are now dead. And Grace’s passion for science and statistics comes alive. She knows within these accidental deaths, there must lie a murder �� and she’s going to work it out, using the methodology of a chemistry experiment. Observation; hypothesis; experimentation; results.

No one believes her �� except for her best friend, Maddy, who’s desperate for Grace to face up to an agonising truth. And soon it’s clear that whoever the murderer is, they’ve noticed Grace, and will do anything to keep her quiet…]]> 464 Sarah Wishart 0008641994 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.59 2024 The Murder Hypothesis

author: Sarah Wishart
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The List of Suspicious Things 157591205
'What on earth are you on about?' she said. 'How are we going to catch the Yorkshire Ripper, when the police haven't even managed to?'

I sighed. Her questioning my ideas was a recent and unwelcome element to our friendship. But it was a valid point. How would we catch him? We needed some sort of plan, a way of gathering clues and putting them into order.

I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do.

'We'll make a list,' I said. 'A list of the people and things we see that are suspicious.

And then . . . And then we'll investigate them.'

The List of Suspicious Things is a tender and moving coming of age story about family, friendship and community. Sometimes the strongest connections are found in the most unlikely of places.]]> 464 Jennie Godfrey 1529153298 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.19 2024 The List of Suspicious Things

author: Jennie Godfrey
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wild Reverence 222361609
Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life―begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. When his request went unanswered, Vincent moved on, becoming the hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda. That is, until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him.

As Fate would have it, Matilda and Vincent were destined to find each other beyond dreams. There may be a chance for Matilda to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, but at immense sacrifice. She will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: to be vulnerable, and to allow herself to finally be loved.]]> Rebecca Ross 1250373360 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.71 2025 Wild Reverence

author: Rebecca Ross
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Man Called Ove 25409228
Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.]]> 294 Fredrik Backman 1473616344 �Ჹ��☕️ 3 4.36 2012 A Man Called Ove

author: Fredrik Backman
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:
This book was a bit slow going for me but it was such a cute story and the ending was perfect!
]]> What Lies in the Woods 197797520
For decades afterward, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods―no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.]]> 322 Kate Alice Marshall �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.88 2023 What Lies in the Woods

author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Until the Stars Fall (Immortal Reveries, #1)]]> 62916249 This time it could prevent one.

I have been a loyal servant to the fae crown my whole life–an arrangement that has kept me safe from the violence between our two races…until I kill a fae noble.

Sentenced to death I beg the king for mercy and am shocked when it comes from the eldest prince who hates me.

But there’s a catch��

Now thrust into the role of my growly protector’s bride-to-be, I have to choose between playing along with this fake engagement or following my own heart to protect my people.

Until the Stars Fall is the first in a new fantasy romance collection of interconnected stand-alones set in a magical war-torn world, where love is weakness and danger lurks around every corner. Loosely inspired by the classic movie, Sabrina, this slow-burn fated mates tale with a fake engagement brings you a growly, yet noble fae prince and the sunshine human who just might be the death of him…if he doesn’t fall for her first.]]> Vanessa Rasanen �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.52 Until the Stars Fall (Immortal Reveries, #1)

Until the Stars Fall (Immortal Reveries, #1)

author: Vanessa Rasanen
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.]]> 384 Karen Marie Moning 0063249219 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.72 2024 The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)

The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)

author: Karen Marie Moning
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hide 58890948
The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.

It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.]]> 240 Kiersten White 0593359232 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.30 2022 Hide

author: Kiersten White
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Heads Will Roll 201102396 Willow’s worst nightmare was being cancelled. But the woods of Camp Castaway might destroy more than her reputation.After sitcom star Willow tweeted herself into infamy and had to be dragged blind-drunk out of a swimming pool, her agent shipped her off to the woodsy and wonderfully anonymous confines of Camp Castaway. Tucked away in the trees of upstate New York, Castaway is a summer camp for adults in desperate need of leaving behind their mistakes, their social media accounts, their lives. No real names, no phones…no way to call for help.Willow is relieved to find that her fellow campers seem okay. To her shock, her own favorite actress is here, sitting by the campfire and roasting a s’more. And did that jaded writer, Dani, just wink at her? But the peaceful vibe is shattered when a terrifying woman pops shrieking from the wardrobe in Willow’s room. Soon after, one of the campers vanishes.��Is Willow about to get cancelled all over again, this time for good?Soon, terror grips the group, campers begin to lose their heads—literally!—and Willow and her new friends are on the run.��As paranoia grows and disturbing past deeds come to light, this escape from their shallow lifestyles might just lead to a set of shallow graves.]]> 314 Josh Winning 0593544692 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.51 2024 Heads Will Roll

author: Josh Winning
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bonded by Thorns (Beasts of the Briar, #1)]]> 75712384 Four beastly princes. One awkward bookworm. An enchanted world of fae, magic, and danger.

I’ve always loved fairytales. I never imagined I'd actually be in one.

When my father wanders into the enchanted realm of the fae, I know I have to go after him. And when he gets imprisoned, I'll do anything to save him... Even trade my freedom for his. I had no idea I'd end up imprisoned by four sexy fae who turn into beasts at night.

I have to win my freedom, and that means making a bargain with them. They must find their mates in order to break the curse. If I can help them do that, they'll set me free. Sounds simple, right?

It's not. Because against my better judgment, I'm starting to fall for these beastly princes. One is smart and sweet, the other mysterious and deadly, another flirty and confident, and the last prince... He's handsome, strong, has a wicked temper, and is dead-set against breaking the curse. Why does he want to keep me here forever?

But it's not just my freedom on the line. If I don't break the princes' curse soon, all the magic in the Enchanted Vale will be stolen by the evil—and stupidly hot—Prince of Thorns. And I'm not letting my princes stay cursed.

Not after I've fallen in love with them.

BONDED BY THORNS is a steamy adult Beauty and the Beast retelling set in a fantasy fae realm. In this version, our beautiful bookworm doesn't have to choose between the four sexy fae princes. It is a full-length novel that ends on a cliffhanger. It includes MF and MM content. It is intended for mature readers only.]]> 352 Elizabeth Helen 1738827909 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.94 2023 Bonded by Thorns (Beasts of the Briar, #1)

Bonded by Thorns (Beasts of the Briar, #1)

author: Elizabeth Helen
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wings of Starlight (Disney Fairies)]]> 212808316 Brimming with magic and romance, a young fairy queen must form an unlikely alliance or risk an unspeakable danger destroying all she holds dear in this standalone YA novel from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft.

It’s been centuries since a warm-season fairy in Pixie Hollow has crossed into the Winter Woods, and while most fear the legends of monsters lurking in the frozen lands, Clarion, can’t help being intrigued by Winter’s stoic beauty. But under the watchful eyes of the current monarch and the court's seasonal ministers, Clarion has little time to dwell on daydreams while the days to her coronation dwindle away.

That is, until reports of a monster crossing from Winter into Spring make their way to the palace. Clarion sees defeating this threat as an opportunity to prove that she is worthy of her new role. But instead of finding a monster at the edge of Winter, she finds Milori, a young guardian of the Winter Woods. Together, they form an unlikely bond as they race to save their lands.

But as their alliance warms to something more, they will discover there is a reason a warm-season fairy and a winter fairy must not be together. And the cost could be just as deadly as the monsters that prowl the Winter Woods.

Discover the origin of the sweeping, star-crossed romance between the queen of Pixie Hollow and the lord of the Winter Woods.]]> 400 Allison Saft 1368098452 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.25 2025 Wings of Starlight (Disney Fairies)

author: Allison Saft
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![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 �Ჹ��☕️ 3 3.66 2024 The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, #3)

The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, #3)

author: Laurie Gilmore
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Christmas Presents 74950582
In Idaho, Tait and Henry make a last minute change of plans for the holiday, and scramble to get into the spirit. In LA, Meyer and Farley watch Hazel perform in the Nutcracker, and reflect on some of the meaning behind one of the season's traditions. Over in Santa Cruz, Deacon and LaRynn are finally slowing down after a year of new beginnings.

These small stories were written as a humble thank you to everyone who has supported these books in the last year, and who has fallen in love with these characters as much as I have. I hope your holidays are all filled with reflection on the past, hope for the future, and most of all; joy for the present.]]> 41 Tarah DeWitt �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.92 2022 Christmas Presents

author: Tarah DeWitt
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Darling Dreadful Thing 193544852
Spirits are drawn to salt, be it blood or tears.

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos' life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos' backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.

Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.

Then, someone is murdered.

Poor, alone, and with a history of 'hysterics', Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she'll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.

"A Sapphic seance of preternatural proportions, My Darling Dreadful Thing summons a stunning new literary voice to be reckoned with. Johanna van Veen reaches beyond the veil to conjure up a gothic shocker like no other."—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

©2024 Johanna van Veen (P)2024 Tantor]]> 375 Johanna van Veen 1728281547 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.85 2024 My Darling Dreadful Thing

author: Johanna van Veen
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Very Woodsy Murder 200488161 “Recovering TV sitcom writer Dee Stern leaves behind punchlines for peril in a delightful whodunnit set at a remote motel in rural California that mixes a perfect cocktail of gut-busting one-liners with heart-stopping suspense!�� —Lee Hollis, Author of Death of a Clam Digger

New motel owner Dee Stern has checked out of the familiar comforts in the Studio City and checked in to the quaint village of Foundgold. Running a rustic getaway in the woods sure beats LA traffic—until murder ruins the peace and quiet . . .

Down-on-her-luck sitcom writer Dee Stern is flipping the script. Twice divorced and wasting her talents on an obnoxious kids�� show, the lifelong Angeleno embraces the urge to jump in her car and keep driving. It's a road trip with no destination—until she pulls into a mid-century motel filled with cobwebs and retro charm. Nestled in the shadow of a national park, it’s a time capsule of a place that, like her, could use some work. So, in the most impulsive move of her life, Dee teams up with best friend, Jeff Cornetta—who happens to be her first ex-husband—to transform the aging ranch into the Golden Motel-of-the-Mountains, a hiker’s oasis on the edge of the wilderness . . .

But Dee and Jeff soon realize there couldn’t be two people more unprepared for the hospitality business. There’s also the panic-inducing reality of prowling bears and a general store as the only shopping spot for miles. Living and working in the middle of nowhere takes some getting used to—especially when a disrespectful guest ends up murdered! Now, with the motel duo topping the suspect list, Dee must steer clear of a meddling park ranger, face her past in show biz, and determine if the killer is a local or tourist. Because as she quickly finds out, there are many things worse than a one-star review.

“Ellen Byron combines a witty and resourceful heroine��with a dream, a shabby motel in a spectacular setting, a host of interesting characters, and a puzzling murder that hits a little too close to home in this delightfully quirky, clever, and laugh-out-loud mystery that delivers a hefty dose of nostalgic charm. Byron's A Very Woodsy Murder will leave readers clamoring for another visit to the Golden Motel.�� —Darci Hannah, Author of Murder at the Blarney Bash]]> 288 Ellen Byron 1496745353 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.37 2024

author: Ellen Byron
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Death at Morning House 203643471 From the bestselling author of the Truly Devious books, Maureen Johnson, comes a new stand-alone YA about a teen who uncovers a mystery while working as a tour guide on an island and must solve it before history repeats itself.

The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.

With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.

Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?]]> 372 Maureen Johnson 0063399164 �Ჹ��☕️ 2 3.80 2024 Death at Morning House

author: Maureen Johnson
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
Sadly this didn’t do it for me. The concept sounded really interesting but I think there were too many plot points that didn’t really add up to anything, the past and present didn’t link up enough as I expected, and it just felt a bit random by the end? I also predicted the present day killer and the reveal to the original murders just felt flat :/
]]> A Steep and Savage Path 195340459 From the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE THORNS REMAIN comes an enemies-to-lovers journey to the underworld unlike any other, for fans of THE CRIMSON MOTH and THE CRUEL PRINCE

An immortal vampire. A mortal bride. A vow that even death can’t break.

Irina is about to be married to a dead man. She is the willing village sacrifice for the Wedding of the a desperate ritual designed to lay the hungry vampire that has been terrorising her Transylvanian village to rest. Irina’s beloved sister’s soul is trapped in the land of the dead. If Irina can retrieve it, she could bring her back �� but Irina would need a guide, one who can walk between the living and the dead.

Irina strikes up a deal with her new husband �� if he agrees to get her safely there and back again, then he can drink her blood as much as he wants.

They begin a perilous journey through the afterlife together, in which Irina realises Stefan isn’t the cruel and terrifying monster that she thought. In a land of three-headed beasts, winged creatures and walking corpses, the last thing Irina would have expected was to fall in love.

Only, Irina learns that by bringing Stefan to the land of the dead she has put him in grave danger, and will be faced with an impossible choice. Will they be able to make it out, undead or alive?]]> 384 J.J.A. Harwood 0008517983 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.98 2025 A Steep and Savage Path

author: J.J.A. Harwood
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 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 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.71 2025 Famous Last Words

author: Gillian McAllister
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Only One Left 62703226 At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer��I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,�� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]> 383 Riley Sager 0593183223 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.12 2023 The Only One Left

author: Riley Sager
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Thrashers 217387802 Either you're in or you're out.

Welcome to the Thrashers, the elite friend group at New Helvetia High.

They’re everything everyone wants to be.

Jodi Dillon was never meant to be one of them. Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. Jodi feels out of place, but Zack’s her childhood best friend, so she’s in.

Then Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—and the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her friends or protect herself.

But as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet.

A twisty thrill-ride of unforgettable drama and suspense that "encapsulates the vulnerability of adolescents playing adult games" (Ali Hazelwood) from USA Today bestselling author Julie Soto, The Thrashers will keep you up at night desperate to read just one more page.

"A tour-de-force YA debut from Julie Soto." - Alexa Donne

"For fans of Karen McManus and Kara Thomas, The Thrashers had me holding my breath, sweaty-palming my e-reader, and dying to flip each page to see what would happen next." - Susan Lee

"Expertly plotted and full of flawed, morally gray characters you still can't help rooting for, The Thrashers is one of the best books I've read this year." - Evelyn Skye]]> 352 Julie Soto 125037717X �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.35 2025

author: Julie Soto
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bat Eater 212078047
But the killer was never caught, and Cora is still haunted by his last words: bat eater .

These days, nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, not her weird colleagues, and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her doorframe. After all, it can’t be real �� can it?

After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes that someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.

Soon, she will learn . . . you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.]]> 301 Kylie Lee Baker �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.32 2025 Bat Eater

author: Kylie Lee Baker
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brielle and Bear: Once Upon a Time (Brielle and Bear, #1)]]> 201597909
First-year student Brielle, a daydreamy book lover, knows everything there is to know about fairytales. Returning to the city of Rosebridge four years after moving away, she attends Once Upon a Time University, with the intention of living her fairytale dream. And when she meets Bear, shy vice-captain of the Princes rugby team, at the bookshop where she works, Brielle’s dream is off to a good start.

Determined to forget the past, and with an unexpected new relationship blossoming, Brielle feels she’s finally living the dream. That is, until she discovers that she’s not the only one hiding something . . .]]> 178 Salomey Doku 0008617570 �Ჹ��☕️ 2 3.74 2025 Brielle and Bear: Once Upon a Time (Brielle and Bear, #1)

Brielle and Bear: Once Upon a Time (Brielle and Bear, #1)

author: Salomey Doku
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:
I loved the illustrations and the designs, along with the little hints to fairytales and Disney, however the general story was difficult to follow and I kept getting confused and lost.
]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume Two (Lore Olympus, #2)]]> 57717405 368 Rachel Smythe 1529150469 �Ჹ��☕️ 3 4.44 2022

Lore Olympus: Volume Two (Lore Olympus, #2)

author: Rachel Smythe
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Shutter Island 21686 369 Dennis Lehane 038073186X �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.12 2003

author: Dennis Lehane
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rosemary's Baby (Rosemary's Baby, #1)]]> 11282000
As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavet's circle is not what it seems.]]> 229 Ira Levin 1849015880 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.11 1967 Rosemary's Baby (Rosemary's Baby, #1)

author: Ira Levin
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 'Til Death 203510154
Save the date . . . for a killer wedding!

True-crime-obsessed Lara Oyinlola is heading to Lagos for her favourite cousin, Dérin’s, wedding. It’s going to be a holiday filled with glitzy dress-fittings, glamorous parties and, of course, the star-studded event of the year.

But everything isn’t perfect in Dérin’s world. She’s been receiving anonymous threats telling her to cancel the wedding . . . or face dire consequences.

This is the moment Lara’s been waiting for: put her sleuthing knowledge to work and solve a real-life mystery. As Lara investigates, what she doesn’t expect to uncover is a web of secrets, malicious crimes, and near‑death encounters which promise to tear the family apart for good . . .

With sinister secrets, bitchy bridesmaids, annoying exes, and a gossip-loving amateur detective, this gripping mystery thriller from a standout debut author and award-nominated BookTokker will have readers hooked.]]> 416 Busayo Matuluko 1398536547 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.76 2025 'Til Death

author: Busayo Matuluko
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![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 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

author: Ally Carter
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My December Darling 218137764 A small-town Christmas novella by the New York Times bestselling author of LAKEFRONT BILLIONAIRES series that will make you want to pack your bags and spend the holiday in Lake Wisteria.

Catalina
Playing the part of my sister’s maid of honor is easy even if she’s marrying my ex.
But playing nice with the best man? An impossible task given our history.
Sure, Luke Darling may be suspiciously kind, incredibly handsome, and stubborn to a fault, but regardless of how hard he tries to make me see otherwise, I’m not interested.
It’s on me to remind him that he’s my ex-boyfriend’s best friend.
And the one I’m secretly starting to wish I met first.

Luke
My job as the best man is a simple one, except for one minor issue.
I’ve spent so much time avoiding my best friend’s ex that I didn’t consider what could happen if I started craving Catalina Martinez’s company instead.
She is only in Lake Wisteria for the winter wedding, but her January departure date won’t stop me from pursuing her.
Getting her to date me would be nothing short of a Christmas miracle, but I’m determined to make her mine.
‘Tis the season to fall in love…even if I’m the only one taking the risk.

My December Darling is a 50,000 word, Christmas-themed romance between a grumpy maid of honor and an outgoing best man who chases after what he wants. ]]> 252 Lauren Asher 1964990025 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.72 2024

author: Lauren Asher
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Winter in New York 101673373
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.��

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they��can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But��how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.]]> 384 Josie Silver 0593724933 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.64 2023 A Winter in New York

author: Josie Silver
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Merry Little Meet Cute (A Christmas Notch, #1)]]> 60121411 Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.

Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.

Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.

But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.

And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.]]> 418 Julie Murphy 0063222574 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.31 2022 A Merry Little Meet Cute (A Christmas Notch, #1)

A Merry Little Meet Cute (A Christmas Notch, #1)

author: Julie Murphy
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Collide (Off the Ice #1) 197306586 She’s an honors student with ambitious graduate school plans and he’s a jock with only hockey on his mind, but once their worlds collide, their connection is hot enough to melt an ice rink.

An ultimatum from Summer Preston’s thesis advisor thrusts her into an unexpected collision with the hockey team’s captain, Aiden Crawford. She’s caught between conflicting desires of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the god-awful sport. And once she meets Aiden—well, let’s just say he confirms all her worst assumptions about hockey players.

Being the captain of the college hockey team has its perks, except when a reckless mistake by Aiden’s team threatens to jeopardize their entire season. As punishment, Aiden’s coach nominates him as the subject of a student research project. Participating is the last thing he wants to do, especially since the girl leading the project looks like she could wield his skates as a weapon.

Summer can’t stand Aiden’s blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn’t understand why she’s twenty years old with a twenty-five-year plan. But their bickering soon turns to bantering—and once they let their guards down, there’s nothing to check their feelings.]]> 395 Bal Khabra �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.78 2023 Collide (Off the Ice #1)

author: Bal Khabra
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Girl from the Sea 54776523 From the author of The Witch Boy trilogy comes a graphic novel about family, romance, and first love.

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends...who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.

Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore.

But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.]]> 256 Molly Knox Ostertag 1338540580 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 3.5�� 4.13 2021 The Girl from the Sea

author: Molly Knox Ostertag
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:
3.5��
]]> Fairy Shopping 1609393 32 Sally Gardner 1842551949 �Ჹ��☕️ 3 3.97 2003

author: Sally Gardner
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves:
review:
Love the illustrations but I think the way the text is displayed could be difficult for younger readers! Otherwise it’s such a lovely and cute book with a unique concept
]]> Butter 190840472 The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer", Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.]]> 448 Asako Yuzuki 0008511691 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.62 2017 Butter

author: Asako Yuzuki
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Road of Bones (The Ashen, #1)]]> 205044632 A woman on the run. A crew of Viking mercenaries. A forbidden romance. And the secret which threatens them all.

Silla Nordvig is running for her life.

The queen of Íseldur has sent warriors to bring Silla to Sunnavík, where death awaits her. When her father is killed, his last words set Silla on a perilous quest: travel the treacherous Road of Bones–a thousand-mile stretch haunted by warbands, creatures of darkness, and a mysterious murderer–and go to Kopa, where a shield-house awaits her.

After barely surviving the first stretch of road, a desperate Silla sneaks into a supply wagon belonging to the notorious Bloodaxe Crew. To make it to Kopa, she must win over Axe Eyes, the brooding leader of the Crew, while avoiding the Wolf, his distractingly handsome right-hand man. But the queen’s ruthless assassin has other plans and hunts Silla obsessively.

Will Silla make it safely to Kopa? Or will she fall prey to the perils of the Road of Bones?

Featuring an immersive world blending fairy tale with Vikings, The Road of Bones leads you on an adrenaline-fueled chase with fun banter and a slow-building enemies to lovers romance. The first book in the Ashen Series, you are one click away from reading it!]]> 500 Demi Winters 173899600X �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.21 2023 The Road of Bones (The Ashen, #1)

author: Demi Winters
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Home Is Where the Bodies Are 194020321
While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.]]> 256 Jeneva Rose �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.77 2024 Home Is Where the Bodies Are

author: Jeneva Rose
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

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

When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.]]> 297 Megan Lally 1728270111 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.04 2023 That's Not My Name

author: Megan Lally
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Haunted House Ghost (Braxton Campus Mysteries #5)]]> 51803082 It’s Halloween, and excitement is brewing in Braxton to carve jack-o��-lanterns, go on haunted hayrides, and race through the spooky corn maze at the Fall Festival.

Despite the former occupant’s warnings, Kellan renovates and moves into a mysterious old house. When a ruthless ghost promises retribution, our fearless professor turns to the eccentric town historian and an eerie psychic to communicate with the apparition. Meanwhile, construction workers discover a fifty-year-old skeleton after breaking ground on the new Memorial Library wing.��

While Kellan and April dance around the chemistry sparking between them, a suspicious accident occurs at the Fall Festival. Soon,��Kellan discovers the true history and dastardly connections of the Grey family. But can he capture the elusive killer - and placate the revenge-seeking ghost.

]]> 275 James J. Cudney 1690871415 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.23 2019 Haunted House Ghost (Braxton Campus Mysteries #5)

author: James J. Cudney
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Candy Corn Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #22)]]> 22750015 248 Leslie Meier 0758277075 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.49 2015

Candy Corn Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #22)

author: Leslie Meier
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Halloween Homicide (Holiday Cozy Mystery, #3)]]> 61491399
CELEBRATE GOOD CRIMES��

In book 2, Violet Rhinehammer is busy trying to keep the Junctional Journal afloat and that includes the participating in all the Halloween activities planned. One problem, Violet is not a fan of Halloween or anything that comes with it. Including a haunted ghost walk.

Town folks believe Violet has woken an angry spirit due to the nature of her snooping around into the past history of Holiday Junction.

Darren Strickland, a life long resident, thinks Violet is letting her imagination run away.

Violet begins to dig deeper when local law enforcement seems to be dragging their feet, after all, she's got a hot story to uncover, but really uncovers a buried secret along with some old skeletal bones that gives Violet the fright of her life.

Meanwhile, Mille Kay is adjusting to spending time with new friends and making sure she puts the southern in her new tradition even if it includes her coming face to face with the ghost!]]> 170 Tonya Kappes �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.74 A Halloween Homicide (Holiday Cozy Mystery, #3)

A Halloween Homicide (Holiday Cozy Mystery, #3)

author: Tonya Kappes
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.03 2023 Weyward

author: Emilia Hart
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)]]> 55594990 Alternate covers can be found here and here

The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman.

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape.

One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic...
]]> 286 Alice Hoffman 0425190374 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.71 1995 Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)

author: Alice Hoffman
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Is a Haunting (International Edition)]]> 109022540 Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.

Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.]]> 337 Trang Thanh Tran 1526657082 �Ჹ��☕️ 1
I honestly was lost for most of this, I’ve realised botanical horrors just don’t interest me at all, and ended up skim reading the second half of the book just so I wouldn’t completely DNF it.]]> 3.39 2023 She Is a Haunting (International Edition)

She Is a Haunting (International Edition)

author: Trang Thanh Tran
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves:
review:
1.5

I honestly was lost for most of this, I’ve realised botanical horrors just don’t interest me at all, and ended up skim reading the second half of the book just so I wouldn’t completely DNF it.
]]> <![CDATA[Woven in Moonlight (Woven in Moonlight, #1)]]> 40877706 A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history.

Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.

When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.

She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.]]> 384 Isabel Ibañez 1624148026 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.84 2020 Woven in Moonlight (Woven in Moonlight, #1)

Woven in Moonlight (Woven in Moonlight, #1)

author: Isabel Ibañez
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)]]> 65213381
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.]]> 416 Isabel Ibañez 1250803373 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.82 2023 What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)

What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)

author: Isabel Ibañez
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile, #2)]]> 203578814 Where the Library Hides is Isabel Ibañez's stunning conclusion to the story that started in What the River Knows. A lush immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, and a rivals-to-lovers romance like no other!

"Ana Osorio and Ahmed Hamad are consistently excellent as they deliver this audiobook."��AudioFile

Inez Olivera traveled across the world to Egypt, seeking answers into her parents' recent and mysterious deaths. But all her searching led her down a perilous road, filled with heartache, betrayal, and a dangerous magic that pulled her deep into the past.

When Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider.

Marriage to Whitford Hayes.

Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her.

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books.]]> 400 Isabel Ibañez 1250822998 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.84 2024 Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile, #2)

Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile, #2)

author: Isabel Ibañez
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Battle For Pumpkin King]]> 219224050 How did Jack Skellington become the Pumpkin King?

Explore Jack and Oogie Boogie’s early days in Halloween Town and learn how their inseparable friendship turns sour as they battle to become the next Pumpkin King. Discover the mastermind who’s pulling the strings, and relive the fantastic world of The Nightmare Before Christmas in this all-new manga adaptation!]]> Dan Conner 1800788002 �Ჹ��☕️ 4 3.96 Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Battle For Pumpkin King

Disney Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Battle For Pumpkin King

author: Dan Conner
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves:
review:
Really cute and I loved the illustrations! This is one of my favourite films so it was a really fun read. My only criticism was that the ending felt a little sudden and Edgar just gave up a bit? Like “oh okay well never mind��. Otherwise I really enjoyed it!
]]> <![CDATA[Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted, #1)]]> 218038285 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

This beloved Newbery Honor-winning story about a feisty heroine is sure to enchant readers new and old.

At her birth, Ella of Frell receives a foolish fairy's gift—the “gift�� of obedience. Ella must obey any order, whether it's to hop on one foot for a day and a half, or to chop off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not accept her fate...

Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse forever.

A tween favorite for 25 years—now shared with today's young readers by moms, teachers, and other adults who remember the pleasure of discovering this fun fairy-tale retelling themselves!]]> Gail Carson Levine 0064407055 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.30 1997 Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted, #1)

author: Gail Carson Levine
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fairy Tale 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.�� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.05 2022

author: Stephen King
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)]]> 824444 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch?

Long before Dorothy drops in, a girl is born in Oz with emerald-green skin. Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous witch, is a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived ideas about the nature of good and evil.

Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world, Gregory Maguire's novel is a rich and triumphant feat of imagination and allegory.]]> 512 Gregory Maguire 0755331605 �Ჹ��☕️ 1 3.32 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)

author: Gregory Maguire
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.32
book published: 1995
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
review:
DNF - it takes a lot for me to DNF a book but the first part was just weird, the descriptions were unnecessary, and nothing really made sense. I skipped ahead to try and read more of the Glinda and Elphaba part but I honestly lost interest. Sad because the musical is so amazing.
]]> The October Boys 202713649 A gang of twelve-year-old boys are trick-or-treating in London. Off in the distance, they hear the discordant chimes of an ice-cream truck. It seems strange to hear on a cold autumnal night, but their thoughts of maximizing their candy haul soon dismissed its incongruous melody�� until they saw the rusting hulk idling in the shadows at the end of the street, its driver a faceless shadow.
That was the night he took one of them.

OCTOBER, 2016
Years later, Halloween is fast approaching and Tom Craven is still haunted by the events of that dark night, especially the fact that their friend was never found. Increasingly plagued by horrific visions, Tom returns to the place where it all began, only to discover he's not the only one who can feel it. His friends have already arrived and are preparing for a battle which could get them all killed.
The Ice Cream Man is back�� and he’s come for the ones that got away.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.]]> 291 Adam Millard �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.80 2019 The October Boys

author: Adam Millard
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Starling House 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 3.77 2023 Starling House

author: Alix E. Harrow
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> One Little Chance 219548606
Sophia Rogers moves back to town the day before Christmas, after eight years away. And, of course, runs into her childhood sweetheart, Jordan Silk, minutes after her suitcase hits the pavement.
And again, on New Years Eve. And again, when they both find themselves at their favorite old spots. And again, and again.

Over the year that follows, Sophia starts to realize, it's not that life keeps throwing them back together-- it's that she never wants it to pull them apart again. Getting a second chance with your first love is rare as snow in December in their small town in Texas, but that doesn't stop Sophia's heart from hoping, it doesn’t seem to stop Jordan from reaching back for her either.

A Sweet River holiday novella.]]> 163 Rebecca Jo Jackson �Ჹ��☕️ 0 to-read 4.25 One Little Chance

author: Rebecca Jo Jackson
name: �Ჹ��☕️
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>