Zahra's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:40:50 -0800 60 Zahra's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Garden Party 25167837 'They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it.' A windless, warm day greets the Sheridan family on the day of their garden party. As daughter Laura takes the reins on party preparations the news of a neighbour's demise casts a cloud over the host and threatens the entire celebration.]]> Katherine Mansfield Zahra 4 classics 3.70 1922 The Garden Party
author: Katherine Mansfield
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1922
rating: 4
read at: 2021/03/07
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: classics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 6 of 6)]]> 42264630 6 Brandon Sanderson 1628517522 Zahra 5 4.61 Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 6 of 6)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: fantasy, adult, great-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 5 of 6)]]> 41595788 6 Brandon Sanderson 1628517395 Zahra 0 4.48 Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 5 of 6)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Zahra 0 adult, nonfiction 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/03
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: adult, nonfiction
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 54547507
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

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

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 314 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 1529402670 Zahra 4 3.68 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/13
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: adult, mystery-thriller-crime, historical-fiction
review:
This was a wild and weird ride and I was living for it
]]> <![CDATA[The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1)]]> 15810910
Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire’s colonial garrisons, was resigned to serving out his days in a sleepy, remote outpost. But that was before a rebellion upended his life. And once the powder smoke settled, he was left in charge of a demoralized force clinging tenuously to a small fortress at the edge of the desert.

To flee from her past, Winter Ihernglass masqueraded as a man and enlisted as a ranker in the Vordanai Colonials, hoping only to avoid notice. But when chance sees her promoted to command, she must win the hearts of her men and lead them into battle against impossible odds.

The fates of both these soldiers and all the men they lead depend on the newly arrived Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich, who has been sent by the ailing king to restore order. His military genius seems to know no bounds, and under his command, Marcus and Winter can feel the tide turning. But their allegiance will be tested as they begin to suspect that the enigmatic Janus’s ambitions extend beyond the battlefield and into the realm of the supernatural—a realm with the power to ignite a meteoric rise, reshape the known world, and change the lives of everyone in its path.]]> 513 Django Wexler 0451465105 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 4.03 2013 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1)
author: Django Wexler
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories]]> 99300
Written from a feminist perspective, often focusing on the inferior status accorded to women by society, the tales include "turned," an ironic story with a startling twist, in which a husband seduces and impregnates a naĂŻve servant; "Cottagette," concerning the romance of a young artist and a man who's apparently too good to be true; "Mr. Peebles' Heart," a liberating tale of a fiftyish shopkeeper whose sister-in-law, a doctor, persuades him to take a solo trip to Europe, with revivifying results; "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and three other outstanding stories.

These charming tales are not only highly readable and full of humor and invention, but also offer ample food for thought about the social, economic, and personal relationship of men and women � and how they might be improved.

Collects:
—The Yellow Wallpaper
—Three Thanksgivings
—The Cottagette
—TłÜ°ů˛Ô±đ»ĺ
—Making a Change
—If I Were a Man
—Mr. Peebles' Heart]]> 129 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 0486298574 Zahra 4 4.05 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1892
rating: 4
read at: 2020/02/25
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: adult, mystery-thriller-crime, read-for-school, classics
review:

]]> A Little Life 25852828 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship� (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST � MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST � WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE �

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.]]> 816 Hanya Yanagihara 0804172706 Zahra 3 adult, contemporary 4.36 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2018/01/01
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves: adult, contemporary
review:

]]> <![CDATA[His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)]]> 754713 242 Arthur Conan Doyle 0755334434 Zahra 4 4.26 1917 His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1917
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: adult, classics, mystery-thriller-crime
review:

]]> Unbound 26876901
Like Unfettered before it, the contributing writers of Unbound were allowed to submit the tales they wished fans of genre to read—without the constraints of a shackling theme.

The result is magical. Twenty-three all-original stories are sure to captivate you—some will move you to tears while others will keep you turning the pages long into the night. The power of Unbound lies in its variety of tales and the voices behind them. If you are a fan of discovering new writers or reading the works of beloved authors, Unbound is for you.

Return to Landover with Terry Brooks. Go to trial with Harry Dresden and Jim Butcher. Enter the Citadel and become remade with Rachel Caine. Survive a plague with John Marco and his robot companion Echo. Be painted among the stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. These tales and the others that comprise the anthology are only bound by how enchanting and enthralling they are.

Unbound is filled with spectacularly wonderful stories, each one as diverse as its creator.

You will be changed upon finishing it.

And that is the point.


Edited Shawn Speakman
Narrated Dick Hill , Tim Gerard Reynolds , Nick Podehl , Allyson Johnson , Christian Rodska , Emily Bauer
20 hrs and 59 mins
Unabridged Audiobook]]> 421 Shawn Speakman 194414501X Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 3.99 2015 Unbound
author: Shawn Speakman
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)]]> 31076583 229 Sarah J. Maas 168119631X Zahra 0 dnf 3.77 2019 A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)]]> 478927
In this thrilling chapter in the epic story of the Malazan Empire, war and betrayal, intrigue and roiling magic collide, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends...]]> 960 Steven Erikson 0553813110 Zahra 3 adult, fantasy 4.29 2000 Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/01
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: adult, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)]]> 50027 Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Realms—Drizzt Do’Urden—in this thrilling first installment of the Dark Elf Trilogy

Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With Homeland, Salvatore pulls back the curtain to reveal the startling tale of how this hero came to be—how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark; how he left behind an evil society and a family that wanted him dead.

As the third son of Mother Malice and weaponmaster Zaknafein, Drizzt Do’Urden is meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the evil Spider Queen, per drow tradition. But with the unexpected death of his older brother, young Drizzt is spared—and, as a result, further ostracized by his family. As Drizzt grows older, developing his swordsmanship skills and studying at the Academy, he begins to realize that his idea of good and evil does not match up with those of his fellow drow. Can Drizzt stay true to himself in a such an unforgiving, unprincipled world?

Homeland is the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Legend of Drizzt series.]]> 343 R.A. Salvatore Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 4.26 1990 Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[American Gods (American Gods, #1)]]> 18161930 Alternate cover edition of American Gods

Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

This is the author's preferred text, never before published in the UK, and is about 12,000 words longer than the previous UK edition.

]]> 722 Neil Gaiman Zahra 3 adult, fantasy 4.07 2001 American Gods (American Gods, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2021/09/03
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves: adult, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Onyx and Ivory (Rime Chronicles, #1)]]> 36039613
The high king’s second son, Corwin Tormane, never asked to lead. Even as he waits for the uror—the once-in-a-generation ritual to decide which of the king’s children will succeed him—he knows it’s always been his brother who will assume the throne. And that’s fine by him. He’d rather spend his days away from the palace, away from the sight of his father, broken with sickness from the attempt on his life. But the peacekeeping tour Corwin is on has given him too much time to reflect upon the night he saved his father’s life—the night he condemned the would-be killer to death and lost the girl he loved. Which is why he takes it on himself to investigate rumors of unrest in one of the remote city-states, only for his caravan to be attacked—and for him to be saved by Kate.

With their paths once more entangled, Kate and Corwin have to put the past behind them. The threat of drakes who attack in the daylight is only the beginning of a darker menace stirring in the kingdom—one whose origins have dire implications for Kate’s father’s attack upon the king and will thrust them into the middle of a brewing civil war in the kingdom of Rime.]]> 497 Mindee Arnett 0062652664 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.86 2018 Onyx and Ivory (Rime Chronicles, #1)
author: Mindee Arnett
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> Poems of William Blake 18299542 45 William Blake Zahra 4 3.97 1893 Poems of William Blake
author: William Blake
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1893
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/02
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves: poetry, read-for-school, classics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace, #1)]]> 46249012 From #1Ěý New York Times Ěýbestselling author Kathryn Purdie comes a high-stakes fantasy duology flush with doomed romance and macabre magic, perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber and Roshani Chokshi.

Bone Criers are the last descendants of an ancient famille charged with using the magic they draw from animal bones to shepherd the dead into the afterlife—lest they drain the light from the living.


Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become their matriarch, but first she must complete her rite of passage: to kill the boy she’s destined to love.

Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Now his vengeance must wait, as Ailesse’s ritual has begun and their fates are entwined—in life and in death.]]> 480 Kathryn Purdie 0062798774 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.63 2020 Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace, #1)
author: Kathryn Purdie
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/13
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> Something Close to Magic 62919216 A baker’s apprentice reluctantly embarks on an adventure full of magic, new friendships, and a prince in distress in this deliciously romantic young adult fantasy.

It’s not all sugar and spice at Basil’s Bakery, where seventeen-year-old Aurelie is an overworked, underappreciated apprentice. Still, the job offers stability, which no-nonsense Aurelie values highly, so she keeps her head down and doesn’t dare to dream big—until a stranger walks in and hands her a set of Seeking stones. In a country where Seeking was old-fashioned even before magic went out of style, it’s a rare skill, but Aurelie has it.

The stranger, who turns out to be a remarkably bothersome bounty hunter named Iliana, asks for Aurelie’s help rescuing someone from the dangerous Underwood—which sounds suspiciously like an adventure. When the someone turns out to be Prince Hapless, the charming-but-aptly-named prince, Aurelie’s careful life is upended. Suddenly, she finds herself on a quest filled with magic portals, a troll older than many trees (and a few rocks), and dangerous palace intrigue.

Even more dangerous are the feelings she’s starting to have for Hapless. The more time Aurelie spends with him, the less she can stand the thought of going back to her solitary but dependable life at the bakery. Must she choose between losing her apprenticeship—or her heart?]]> 384 Emma Mills 1665926910 Zahra 0 to-read, not-yet-released 3.85 2023 Something Close to Magic
author: Emma Mills
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Witchlight (The Witchlands, #5)]]> 195790628
But when Safi and Iseult reach the Air Well with the Bloodwitch Aeduan at their side, they discover too late that Eridysi's Lament is not the prophecy they thought it was―and their journeys are only just beginning.]]> 464 Susan Dennard 1250194172 Zahra 0 to-read, not-yet-released 4.55 2025 Witchlight (The Witchlands, #5)
author: Susan Dennard
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released
review:

]]> Flowers for Algernon 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.
Ěý
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence � a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X Zahra 5 4.19 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 5
read at: 2018/01/01
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves: contemporary, you-should-read-this, young-adult, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 4 of 6)]]> 41577661 6 Brandon Sanderson 1628517336 Zahra 0 4.53 Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 4 of 6)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (3 of 6) (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 3 of 6)]]> 42654844 The eagerly awaited sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Words of Radiance, from epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson at the top of his game.

In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.

Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together--and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past--even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.]]> 7 Brandon Sanderson 1628517255 Zahra 0 4.57 Oathbringer (3 of 6) (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 3 of 6)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.57
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (2 of 6) (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 2 of 6)]]> 40618371
Dalinar Kholin’s Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together—and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past—even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.]]> 6 Brandon Sanderson 1628517166 Zahra 0 4.52 Oathbringer (2 of 6) (Stormlight Archive #3, Part 2 of 6)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Zahra 3 fantasy, not-for-me 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2018/01/01
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: fantasy, not-for-me
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 30333227
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6]]> 208 Marjorie M. Liu Zahra 3 3.92 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]> The Guest List 52656911
The bride � The plus one � The best man � The wedding planner � The bridesmaid � The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley Zahra 4
The audiobook narrators (full cast) breathed life into this story. They were brilliant and I wouldn’t have enjoyed the book as much without them. Highly recommend the audiobook!

The ending felt pretty rushed and I saw the Big Reveal coming, and none of the other twists left my jaw dropping like a cartoon character either, and it wasn’t //scary// at all, but the immersive atmosphere is really where this book thrives. And it was a page turner except i listened to the audiobook and just a really good time.

Trigger warning: [spoilers removed]]]> 3.82 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves:
review:
I’m easy to please. Just give me a group of dysfunctional people trapped on an eerie remote island with a murderer on the loose and I’ll be happy.

The audiobook narrators (full cast) breathed life into this story. They were brilliant and I wouldn’t have enjoyed the book as much without them. Highly recommend the audiobook!

The ending felt pretty rushed and I saw the Big Reveal coming, and none of the other twists left my jaw dropping like a cartoon character either, and it wasn’t //scary// at all, but the immersive atmosphere is really where this book thrives. And it was a page turner except i listened to the audiobook and just a really good time.

Trigger warning: [spoilers removed]
]]> You and Me on Vacation 55275757 Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?]]> 364 Emily Henry 0241992230 Zahra 1
----------

Can we please stop giving media different UK and US titles already?]]> 3.71 2021 You and Me on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2022/02/17
date added: 2022/08/09
shelves: miscommunication-use-your-words, dumpsterfire, contemporary, adult
review:
Y'all this book...is the most annoying thing I've read in a long time. The characters do. not. use. their. words.

----------

Can we please stop giving media different UK and US titles already?
]]> City of Girls 51918871
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.

Now ninety-five years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.]]> 470 Elizabeth Gilbert 1594634742 Zahra 0 4.01 2019 City of Girls
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/20
shelves: tbr-adult-contemporary-and-litfic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Border Keeper (Mkalis Cycle #1)]]> 42403547 She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline. In the old days, when people still talked about her, she was known as the end-of-the-line woman.

Vasethe, a man with a troubled past, comes to seek a favor from a woman who is not what she seems, and must enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war.

The Border Keeper spins wonders both epic—the Byzantine bureaucracy of hundreds of demon realms, impossible oceans, hidden fortresses—and devastatingly personal—a spear flung straight, the profound terror and power of motherhood. What Vasethe discovers in Mkalis threatens to bring his own secrets into light and throw both worlds into chaos.]]> 208 Kerstin Hall Zahra 0 3.68 2019 The Border Keeper (Mkalis Cycle #1)
author: Kerstin Hall
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/12
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> The Humans 21265230
Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race. . . ?]]> 294 Matt Haig Zahra 4 sci-fi, adult “You don’t have to be an academic. You don’t have to be anything. Don’t force it. Feel your way, and don’t stop feeling your way until something fits. Maybe nothing will. Maybe you are a road, not a destination. That is fine. Be a road. But make sure it’s one with something to look at out of the window.�

Every time I read a Matt Haig book I feel like I’ve been through a therapy session and it’s great


Here’s more because Matt Haig’s words are superior:

“Knowledge is finite. Wonder is infinite.�

“The single biggest act of bravery or madness anyone can do is the act of change.�

“Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happen through mistakes.�

“You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being.�

“If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.�

“Make sure, as often as possible, you are doing something you’d be happy to die doing.�

“Humans, as a rule, don't like mad people unless they are good at painting, and only then once they are dead.� ]]> 4.04 2013 The Humans
author: Matt Haig
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/05
date added: 2022/03/21
shelves: sci-fi, adult
review:
“You don’t have to be an academic. You don’t have to be anything. Don’t force it. Feel your way, and don’t stop feeling your way until something fits. Maybe nothing will. Maybe you are a road, not a destination. That is fine. Be a road. But make sure it’s one with something to look at out of the window.�

Every time I read a Matt Haig book I feel like I’ve been through a therapy session and it’s great


Here’s more because Matt Haig’s words are superior:

“Knowledge is finite. Wonder is infinite.�

“The single biggest act of bravery or madness anyone can do is the act of change.�

“Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happen through mistakes.�

“You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being.�

“If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.�

“Make sure, as often as possible, you are doing something you’d be happy to die doing.�

“Humans, as a rule, don't like mad people unless they are good at painting, and only then once they are dead.�
]]> <![CDATA[Engines of Empire (The Age of Uprising, #1)]]> 57941229 This epic fantasy tells the tales of clashing Guilds, magic-fueled machines, intrigue and revolution—and the one family that stands between an empire's salvation or destruction.

The nation of Torwyn is run on the power of industry, and industry is run by the Guilds. Chief among them are the Hawkspurs, and their responsibility is to keep the gears of the empire turning. It’s exactly why matriarch Rosomon Hawkspur sends each of her heirs to the far reaches of the nation.Ěý

Conall, the eldest son, is sent to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could have never seen coming: the first rumblings of revolution.

Tyreta’s sorcerous connection to the magical resource of pyrstone that fuels the empire’s machines makes her a perfect heir–in theory. While Tyreta hopes that she might shirk her responsibilities during her journey one of Torwyn’s most important pyrestone mines, she instead finds the dark horrors of industry that the empire would prefer to keep hidden.Ěý

The youngest, Fulren, is a talented artificer, and finds himself acting as consort to a foreign emissary. Soon after, he is framed for a crime he never committed. A crime that could start a war.Ěý

As each of the Hawkspurs grapple with the many threats that face the nation within and without, they must finally prove themselves worthy–or their empire will fall apart.Ěý]]> 607 Richard S. Ford 0316629561 Zahra 0 3.72 2022 Engines of Empire (The Age of Uprising, #1)
author: Richard S. Ford
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/05
shelves: currently-reading, 2022-releases-tbr
review:

]]> Guns of the Dawn 23524779 The first casualty of war is truth . . .

First, Denland's revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war-machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict.

Genteel Emily Marshwic watched as the hostilities stole her family's young men. But then came the call for yet more Lascanne soldiers in a ravaged kingdom with none left to give. Emily must join the ranks of conscripted women and march toward the front lines.

With barely enough training to hold a musket, Emily braves the savage reality of warfare.
But she begins to doubt her country's cause, and those doubts become critical. For her choices will determine her own future and that of two nations locked in battle.]]> 658 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1447272676 Zahra 5
This has been described as what Pride & Prejudice would be if it were a historical flintlock military fantasy (light on the fantasy, also pretty light on the romance) and it's very accurate!

Premise:
In this book there are two warring nations: Denland and Lascanne. We follow what are essentially Lascanne's redcoats.
There was a first military draft, then a second, and it still wasn't enough. Then surprise, there was a final draft that entailed enlisting one woman from every household. Our main character is one of these women.

� It uses framing, perspective bias and wartime propaganda in very very clever and not-commonly-seen ways.
� There's a ton of military tactics and wartime too.
� There are drawing room politics
� It's also a fiercely feminist tale that shouldn’t feel so organic and realistic for the time period but IS.
� And of course the Lizzy-Bennett-Mr-Darcy-style romance.

My main criticism would be tHAT....
The very very end intertwined all the romance drama with big huge political turnabouts, and the main character was acting so out of character. It was BONKERS. It threw all the carefully constructed logic out the window. This was jarring because the rest of this book felt overwhelmingly immersive and atmospheric.

Another very smol minor criticism is that the main character's little sister was whiny and oblivious in a way that felt super cartoonish.

So what I'm going to do is to rewrite the ending in my head and round this book 5 stars because the other 95% of it was phenomenal and will leave me thinking about it for a long long time.

Rating: 4.75 stars ]]> 4.11 2015 Guns of the Dawn
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/04
date added: 2022/03/05
shelves: adult, fantasy, historical-fiction
review:
This book was SO good.

This has been described as what Pride & Prejudice would be if it were a historical flintlock military fantasy (light on the fantasy, also pretty light on the romance) and it's very accurate!

Premise:
In this book there are two warring nations: Denland and Lascanne. We follow what are essentially Lascanne's redcoats.
There was a first military draft, then a second, and it still wasn't enough. Then surprise, there was a final draft that entailed enlisting one woman from every household. Our main character is one of these women.

� It uses framing, perspective bias and wartime propaganda in very very clever and not-commonly-seen ways.
� There's a ton of military tactics and wartime too.
� There are drawing room politics
� It's also a fiercely feminist tale that shouldn’t feel so organic and realistic for the time period but IS.
� And of course the Lizzy-Bennett-Mr-Darcy-style romance.

My main criticism would be tHAT....
The very very end intertwined all the romance drama with big huge political turnabouts, and the main character was acting so out of character. It was BONKERS. It threw all the carefully constructed logic out the window. This was jarring because the rest of this book felt overwhelmingly immersive and atmospheric.

Another very smol minor criticism is that the main character's little sister was whiny and oblivious in a way that felt super cartoonish.

So what I'm going to do is to rewrite the ending in my head and round this book 5 stars because the other 95% of it was phenomenal and will leave me thinking about it for a long long time.

Rating: 4.75 stars
]]> Evershore (Skyward, #2.3) 58465495
With the government of Detritus in disarray because of Superiority treachery, and with Spensa still away on her mission in the Nowhere, Jorgen must work together with the alien Alanik to pick up the pieces. They intercept a strange transmission from the planet Evershore and its Kitsen inhabitants, who say they have some of Jorgen’s people and want to return them—but can the Kitsen be trusted? And can Jorgen learn to master his increasingly erratic cytonic powers before they spiral out of control and destroy all hope of forming an alliance against the Superiority?]]> 234 Brandon Sanderson Zahra 4 sci-fi, fantasy, young-adult 4.31 2021 Evershore (Skyward, #2.3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/01
date added: 2022/03/01
shelves: sci-fi, fantasy, young-adult
review:
Another really good novella! In my opinion these novellas are better than the full-length novels in this series.
]]> He Must Like You 52882079 An authentic, angry, and surprisingly funny and romantic novel about sexual harassment, from award-winning author Danielle Younge-Ullman.

Libby's having a rough senior year. Her older brother absconded with his college money and is bartending on a Greek island. Her dad just told her she's got to pay for college herself, and he's evicting her when she graduates so he can Airbnb her room. A drunken hook-up with her coworker Kyle has left her upset and confused. So when Perry Ackerman, serial harasser and the most handsy customer at The Goat where she waitresses, pushes her over the edge, she can hardly be blamed for dumping a pitcher of sangria on his head. Unfortunately, Perry is a local industry hero, the restaurant's most important customer, and Libby's mom's boss. Now Libby has to navigate the fallout of her outburst, find an apartment, and deal with her increasing rage at the guys who've screwed up her life--and her increasing crush on the one guy who truly gets her. As timely as it is timeless, He Must Like You is a story about consent, rage, and revenge, and the potential we all have to be better people.]]> 325 Danielle Younge-Ullman 1984835718 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-contemporary 3.94 2020 He Must Like You
author: Danielle Younge-Ullman
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/22
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-contemporary
review:

]]> Little Fires Everywhere 34331079
Enter Mia Warren—an enigmatic artist and single mother—who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town—and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood—and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more...

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more. ]]> 348 Celeste Ng Zahra 4 4.23 2017 Little Fires Everywhere
author: Celeste Ng
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/02/19
date added: 2022/02/09
shelves: adult, contemporary, mystery-thriller-crime, great-audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking]]> 54369251
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…]]> 306 T. Kingfisher 1614505241 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 4.02 2020 A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)]]> 43587154 JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.

The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.

The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion--but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.

When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.]]> 540 Fonda Lee 0316440884 Zahra 4
Buddy read with Salma!]]> 4.06 2017 Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)
author: Fonda Lee
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/28
date added: 2022/01/29
shelves: adult, fantasy, diverse-voices, grey-morality
review:
This book didn't disappoint. Who knows, I might even shockingly decide to write a review for once.

Buddy read with Salma!
]]> <![CDATA[Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)]]> 41716919 Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.

Beyond Kekon's borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon's most prized resource, could make them rich - or give them the edge they'd need to topple their rivals.

Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival - and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.

Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.]]> 587 Fonda Lee 0316440922 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 4.39 2019 Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)
author: Fonda Lee
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/29
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wings of Shadow (Crown of Feathers, #3)]]> 52123569 In the heart-stopping finale to the Crown of Feathers trilogy, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake calls “absolutely unforgettable,� Veronyka must face her most devastating enemy yet: her own sister.

I had a sister, once�

Veronyka is no longer an orphaned stable boy or a nameless Phoenix Rider apprentice: she is the daughter of Pheronia Ashfire, the last queen of the Golden Empire…and the niece of Avalkyra Ashfire, the resurrected rebel queen who tore the empire apart.

We shone brightly, burned fiercely.

Now that the secret is out, everyone at the Eyrie treats Veronyka differently, and with Tristan still a hostage of the scheming Lord Rolan—and Sev with him as a spy—Veronyka feels very much alone. Except for her beloved phoenix, Xephyra, of course, and her new friend, Kade, who has his own reasons for wanting to save Tristan.

Was it always going to come down to this? Sister against sister? Darkness against light?

Veronyka is determined to do whatever it takes to get Tristan back, even if that means revealing her identity to the world and inheriting a throne she’s not sure she wants. But when she discovers that Avalkyra has bonded with a strix—a legendary creature of darkness that feeds off the life force of others—Veronyka realizes she has more to deal with than an encroaching war with the empire. Val is willing to destroy everything to get her revenge on a world that rejected her, and if Veronyka wants to bring peace to the empire and Pyra alike, she must face down her sister once and for all.

The world began with Ashfire queens…perhaps they will also be its destruction.]]> 704 Nicki Pau Preto 1534466045 Zahra 0 to-read 4.35 2021 Wings of Shadow (Crown of Feathers, #3)
author: Nicki Pau Preto
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers, #2)]]> 52016138 Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev must stop the advancing empire from destroying the Phoenix Riders in this fiery sequel to Crown of Feathers, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake calls “absolutely unforgettable!�

You are a daughter of queens.

The world is balanced on the edge of a knife, and war is almost certain between the empire and the Phoenix Riders.

Like Nefyra before you, your life will be a trial by fire.

Veronyka finally got her wish to join the Riders, but while she’s supposed to be in training, all she really wants to do is fly out to defend the villages of Pyra from the advancing empire. Tristan has been promoted to Master Rider, but he has very different ideas about the best way to protect their people than his father, the commander. Sev has been sent to spy on the empire, but maintaining his cover may force him to fight on the wrong side of the war. And Veronyka’s sister, Val, is determined to regain the empire she lost—even if it means inciting the war herself.

Such is your inheritance. A name. A legacy. An empire in ruin.

As tensions reach a boiling point, the characters all find themselves drawn together into a fight that will shape the course of the empire—and determine the future of the Phoenix Riders. Each must decide how far they’re willing to go—and what they’re willing to lose in the process.

I pray you are able to pass through the flames.]]> 640 Nicki Pau Preto 1534424652 Zahra 3 But looking forward to book 3!]]> 4.23 2020 Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers, #2)
author: Nicki Pau Preto
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/27
date added: 2022/01/29
shelves: fantasy, slow-yawn, young-adult
review:
3.5 stars because middle book syndrome
But looking forward to book 3!
]]> <![CDATA[Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined]]> 25752154 368 Danielle Younge-Ullman 0425288099 Zahra 5 Loved it]]> 4.20 2017 Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined
author: Danielle Younge-Ullman
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2020/02/02
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: young-adult, contemporary, you-should-read-this, great-audiobooks, underrated
review:
This book was beautiful and sad and messy
Loved it
]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Dearest Josephine 54287721 Caroline George sweeps readers up into two different time periods with an unexpected love story that prompts us to reimagine what it means to be present with the people we love.

2020: Chocolate and Earl Grey tea can’t fix Josie De Clare’s horrible year. She mourned the death of her father and suffered a teen-life crisis, which delayed her university plans. But when her father’s will reveals a family-owned property in Northern England, Josie leaves London to find clarity at the secluded manor house. While exploring the estate, she discovers two-hundred-year-old love letters written by an elusive novelist, all addressed to someone named Josephine. And then she discovers a novel in which it seems like she’s the heroine�

1820: Novelist Elias Roch loves a woman he can never be with. Born the bastard son to a nobleman and cast out from society, Elias seeks refuge in his mind with the quirky heroine who draws him into a fantasy world of scandal, betrayal, and unconditional love. Convinced she’s his soulmate, Elias writes letters to her, all of which divulge the tragedy and trials of his personal life.

As fiction blurs into reality, Josie and Elias must decide: How does one live if love can’t wait? Separated by two hundred years, they fight against time to find each other in a story of her, him, and the novel written by the man who loves her.]]> 384 Caroline George 078523618X Zahra 0 3.78 2021 Dearest Josephine
author: Caroline George
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-historical-fiction, tbr-ya-contemporary
review:

]]> The Hunting Party 37642030 Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?]]> 406 Lucy Foley 0008297126 Zahra 0 3.59 2018 The Hunting Party
author: Lucy Foley
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror
review:

]]> Elsewhere, Home 38681904 Elsewhere, Home offers us a rich tableau of life as an immigrant abroad, attempting to navigate the conflicts of assimilation and difference in an unfamiliar world.

A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity.

Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.]]> 256 Leila Aboulela 1846592119 Zahra 0 3.65 2018 Elsewhere, Home
author: Leila Aboulela
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-contemporary-and-litfic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Inheritance of OrquĂ­dea Divina]]> 56898076
Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, the four descendants travel to Ecuador—to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked back.]]> 336 Zoraida Córdova 1982102543 Zahra 0 3.91 2021 The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
author: Zoraida CĂłrdova
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Hood (King Raven, #1) 73931
The Legend Begins Anew

For centuries, the legend of Robin Hood and his band of thieves has captivated the imagination. Now the familiar tale takes on new life, fresh meaning, and an unexpected setting.

Steeped in Celtic mythology and the political intrigue of medieval Britain, Stephen R. Lawhead's latest work conjures up an ancient past and holds a mirror to contemporary realities. Prepare yourself for an epic tale that dares to shatter everything you thought you knew about Robin Hood.]]> 490 Stephen R. Lawhead 1595540857 Zahra 0 3.89 2006 Hood (King Raven, #1)
author: Stephen R. Lawhead
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff, tbr-historical-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dawn of Wonder (The Wakening, #1)]]> 25451852 Winner 2016 Readers' Favourite Award for Epic Fantasy
Winner 2015 LYRA Award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Winner 2015 CIPA EVVY Award for Fiction/Fantasy
Winner 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award for Fantasy
Winner 2016 Audible Best Fantasy Audiobook
Runner-up 2016 IPPY Awards and 2015 Great Midwest Book Festival for Sci-Fi/Fantasy
#1 Bestseller in Epic, Historical and Coming of Age Fantasy.

When a high-ranking officer gallops into the quiet Mistyvales, he brings a warning that shakes the countryfolk to their roots. But for Aedan, a scruffy young adventurer with veins full of fire and a head full of ideas, this officer is not what he seems.

The events that follow propel Aedan on a journey that only the foolhardy or desperate would risk, leading him to the gates of the nation’s royal academy � a whole world of secrets in itself.

But this is only the beginning of his discoveries. Something is stirring in the land, something more ominous than the rising threat of hostile nations. Fearful travellers whisper of an ancient power breathing over Thirna, changing it, waking it. In the very heart of these stirrings, Aedan encounters that which defies belief, leaving him speechless with terror � and wonder.]]> 715 Jonathan Renshaw Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 4.35 2015 Dawn of Wonder (The Wakening, #1)
author: Jonathan Renshaw
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)]]> 53457092
Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear--no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.]]> 454 Elizabeth Lim 0593300939 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 4.19 2021 Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)]]> 50706646
Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.]]> 435 Andrea Stewart 0316541427 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.97 2020 The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)
author: Andrea Stewart
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> House of Hollow 54613751
Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous � and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.]]> 292 Krystal Sutherland 059311034X Zahra 0 4.03 2021 House of Hollow
author: Krystal Sutherland
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror
review:

]]> Fable (Fable, #1) 55498382
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him, and Fable soon finds that West isn't who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they're going to stay alive.

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. Fable takes you on a spectacular journey filled with romance, intrigue, and adventure.

A newer edition of ISBN 9781250254368 can be found here.]]> 341 Adrienne Young Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.95 2020 Fable (Fable, #1)
author: Adrienne Young
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin, #1)]]> 8752885
Marcus' hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody's death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps.

Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation's wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords.

Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path-the path to war.
]]> 555 Daniel Abraham 1841498874 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 3.79 2011 The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin, #1)
author: Daniel Abraham
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Shadow in Summer (Long Price Quartet, #1)]]> 208
Saraykeht is poised on the knife-edge of disaster.

At the heart of the city's influence are the poet-sorcerer Heshai and the captive spirit, Seedless, whom he controls. For all his power, Heshai is weak, haunted by memories of shame and humiliation. A man faced with constant reminders of his responsibilities and his failures, he is the linchpin and the most vulnerable point in Saraykeht's greatness.

Far to the west, the armies of Galt have conquered many lands. To take Saraykeht, they must first destroy the trade upon which its prosperity is based. Marchat Wilsin, head of Galt's trading house in the city, is planning a terrible crime against Heshai and Seedless. If he succeeds, Saraykeht will fall.

Amat, House Wilsin's business manager, is a woman who rose from the slums to wield the power that Marchat Wilsin would use to destroy her city. Through accidents of fate and circumstance Amat, her apprentice Liat, and two young men from the farthest reaches of their society stand alone against the dangers that threaten the city.]]> 336 Daniel Abraham 0765313405 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 3.62 2006 A Shadow in Summer (Long Price Quartet, #1)
author: Daniel Abraham
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers, #1)]]> 35715518 I had a sister, once�

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

I promised her the throne would not come between us.

Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.

But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled.

Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders� return and intends to destroy them once and for all.

Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken. ]]> 496 Nicki Pau Preto 1534424628 Zahra 4 young-adult, fantasy 4.10 2019 Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers, #1)
author: Nicki Pau Preto
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/06
date added: 2022/01/07
shelves: young-adult, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tethered Mage (Swords and Fire, #1)]]> 34219880 In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled � taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army.

Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire empire.

Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations. But fate has bound the heir and the mage.

War looms on the horizon. A single spark could turn their city into a pyre.

The Tethered Mage is the first novel in a spellbinding new fantasy series.]]> 438 Melissa Caruso 0316466875 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.76 2017 The Tethered Mage (Swords and Fire, #1)
author: Melissa Caruso
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/07
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> Babel 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Zahra 0 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/07
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released, tbr-historical-fiction, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Age of Ash (Kithamar, #1) 58340712 Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold. This is Alys’s.

When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives.

Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything.

From critically acclaimed, New York Times–bestselling author Daniel Abraham, co-author of The Expanse, comes a monumental epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city, over the course of one tumultuous year, where every story matters, and the fate of the city is woven from them all.]]> 448 Daniel Abraham 0316421847 Zahra 0 3.57 2022 Age of Ash (Kithamar, #1)
author: Daniel Abraham
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/03
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff, not-yet-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)]]> 17910164 You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.]]> 334 Marie Brennan 0765375079 Zahra 0 3.88 2013 A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)
author: Marie Brennan
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/03
shelves: tbr-adult-sff, currently-reading
review:

]]> The Monster of Elendhaven 43263515
These monsters of Elendhaven will have their revenge on everyone who wronged the city, even if they have to burn the world to do it.]]> 160 Jennifer Giesbrecht 125022568X Zahra 3 3.54 2019 The Monster of Elendhaven
author: Jennifer Giesbrecht
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/19
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: tbr-adult-sff, adult, fantasy, mystery-thriller-crime
review:

]]> Beach Read 52867387 A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.]]> 371 Emily Henry 1984806734 Zahra 2 3.99 2020 Beach Read
author: Emily Henry
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/20
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: adult, contemporary, not-for-me
review:

]]> Remote Control 34215764 The new book by Nebula and Hugo Award-winner, Nnedi Okorafor.

"She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own."

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­--a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks--alone, except for her fox companion--searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?]]> 156 Nnedi Okorafor Zahra 3 3.5 stars 3.86 2021 Remote Control
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/18
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: sci-fi, novellas-and-short-stories, adult
review:
3.5 stars
]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Zahra 4 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/16
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: adult, contemporary, historical-fiction
review:

]]> You Have a Match 53138158 A new love, a secret sister, and a summer she'll never forget.

When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie � although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.

But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.

When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents—especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.

The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby's growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.

But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones.]]> 320 Emma Lord 1250237300 Zahra 4 young-adult, contemporary 3.55 2021 You Have a Match
author: Emma Lord
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/16
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: young-adult, contemporary
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires]]> 55687716
Now in paperback, Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.

Bonus features:
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýReading group guide for book clubs
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýHand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýAnnotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýAnd more!

Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.

One evening after book club, Patricia isĚýviciouslyĚýattacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing theĚýneighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. ButĚýwhen children on the other side of town goĚýmissing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in.Ěý
Ěý
Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.]]> 424 Grady Hendrix 1683692519 Zahra 4 3.88 2020 The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/17
date added: 2021/12/20
shelves: tbr-adult-sff, adult, mystery-thriller-crime, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lore Olympus: Volume One (Lore Olympus, #1)]]> 58169318 Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love - witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology's best-known stories.

'Steamy, often laugh-out-loud funny and emotional' Jennifer L. Armentrout, # 1 New York Times bestselling author of From Blood and Ash
 ____________________________________
Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olympus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she's allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods.

When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld.

Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place - and her own power.

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

This volume collects episodes 1-25 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus.]]> 368 Rachel Smythe 1529150450 Zahra 3 4.17 2021 Lore Olympus: Volume One (Lore Olympus, #1)
author: Rachel Smythe
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/14
date added: 2021/12/15
shelves: adult, fantasy, graphic-novels, not-for-me
review:

]]> The Fountains of Silence 51704118
Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography--and fate--introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War--as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel's photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.

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

Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more.

Praise forĚý The Fountains of Silence

"Spain under Francisco Franco is as dystopian a setting as Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in Ruta Sepetys’s suspenseful, romantic and timely new work of historical fiction . . .ĚýLike [Shakespeare's family romances], 'The Fountains of Silence' speaks truth to power, persuading future rulers to avoid repeating the crimes of the past." -- The New York Times Book Review

“Full of twists and revelations…an excellent story, and timely, too.� -- The Wall Street Journal

"AĚýstaggering tale of love, loss, and national shame."Ěý --Entertainment Weekly

*Ěý"[Sepetys] tells a moving story made even more powerful by its placement in a lesser-known historical moment. Captivating, deft, and illuminating historical fiction."Ěý -- Booklist ,Ěý*STARRED REVIEW*

*Ěý "This gripping, often haunting historical novel offers a memorable portrait of fascist Spain." Ěý-- Publishers Weekly , *STARRED REVIEW*

* Ěý"This richly woven historical fiction . . . will keep young adults as well as adults interested from the first page to the last." -- SLC , *STARRED REVIEW*

* Ěý"Riveting . . . An exemplary work of historical fiction."Ěý -- The Horn Book ,Ěý*STARRED REVIEW*]]> 528 Ruta Sepetys 0142423637 Zahra 4 4.34 2019 The Fountains of Silence
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/11
date added: 2021/12/13
shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, you-should-read-this
review:

]]> Velvet Was the Night 54746205
Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ’n� roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman—and his soul.

Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir where life is cheap and the price of truth is high.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a simmering historical noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman they’re both desperate to find.]]> 289 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593356829 Zahra 0 3.49 2021 Velvet Was the Night
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror, tbr-historical-fiction
review:

]]> Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1) 52459864
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.�

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia�. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.]]> 394 Xiran Jay Zhao 0735269939 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 4.03 2021 Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)
author: Xiran Jay Zhao
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Iron Raven (The Iron Fey: Evenfall, #1)]]> 52515514
“YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF ME…�

Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Prankster, joker, raven, fool� King Oberon’s right-hand jester from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The legends are many, but the truth will now be known, as Puck finally tells his own story and faces a threat from a time before Faery began. A threat that brings him face-to-face with a new enemy…himself.

With the Iron Queen Meghan Chase and her prince consort, Puck’s longtime rival Ash, and allies old and new by his side, Puck begins a fantastical and dangerous adventure not to be missed or forgotten. Evenfall is coming, and with it a reckoning that even their combined powers and wits may not vanquish, as a shadow falls over the lands of Faery and the world slips into chaos.]]> 336 Julie Kagawa 1335091769 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-ya-sff 3.80 2021 The Iron Raven (The Iron Fey: Evenfall, #1)
author: Julie Kagawa
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> Deacon King Kong 51045613 The funny, sharp, and surprising story of the shooting of a Brooklyn drug dealer and the people who witnessed it—from James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known in the neighborhood as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Causeway Housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local NYPD cops assigned to investigate what happened, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of New York in the late 1960s—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth finally emerges, McBride shows us that not all secrets can be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in compassion and hope.]]> 370 James McBride 073521672X Zahra 0 4.11 2020 Deacon King Kong
author: James McBride
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-historical-fiction, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Age of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom, #1)]]> 33296298 To catch an assassin, use an assassin...

Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land's best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder.

In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire kingdom.]]> 408 R.J. Barker 0316466492 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 3.89 2017 Age of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom, #1)
author: R.J. Barker
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Firekeeper’s Daughter 52346471
After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?]]> 496 Angeline Boulley Zahra 0 4.32 2021 Firekeeper’s Daughter
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-ya-contemporary, tbr-mystery-crime-thriller-horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Forgetting Moon (The Five Warrior Angels, #1)]]> 27206615
Welcome to the Five Isles, where war has come in the name of the invading army of Sør Sevier, a merciless host driven by the prophetic fervor of the Angel Prince, Aeros, toward the last unconquered kingdom of Gul Kana. Yet Gault, one of the elite Knights Archaic of Sør Sevier, is growing disillusioned by the crusade he is at the vanguard of just as it embarks on his Lord Aeros� greatest triumph.

While the eldest son of the fallen king of Gul Kana now reigns in ever increasing paranoid isolationism, his two sisters seek their own paths. Jondralyn, the older sister, renowned for her beauty, only desires to prove her worth as a warrior, while Tala, the younger sister, has uncovered a secret that may not only destroy her family but the entire kingdom. Then there’s Hawkwood, the assassin sent to kill Jondralyn who has instead fallen in love with her and trains her in his deadly art. All are led further into dangerous conspiracies within the court.

And hidden at the edge of Gul Kana is Nail, the orphan taken by the enigmatic Shawcroft to the remote whaling village of Gallows Haven, a young man who may hold the link to the salvation of the entire Five Isles.

You may think you know this story, but everyone is not who they seem, nor do they fit the roles you expect. Durfee has created an epic fantasy full of hope in a world based on lies.]]> 800 Brian Lee Durfee 1481465228 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 3.93 2016 The Forgetting Moon (The Five Warrior Angels, #1)
author: Brian Lee Durfee
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Blackwing (Raven's Mark #1) 36402955 The republic faces annihilation, despite the vigilance of Galharrow's Blackwings. When a raven tattoo rips itself from his arm to deliver a desperate message, Galharrow and a mysterious noblewoman must investigate a long dead sorcerer's legacy. But there is a conspiracy within the citadel: traitors, flesh-eaters and the ghosts of the wastelands seek to destroy them, but if they cannot solve the ancient wizard's paradox, the Deep Kings will walk the earth again, and all will be lost.

The war with the Eastern Empire ended in stalemate some eighty years ago, thanks to Nall's 'Engine', a wizard-crafted weapon so powerful even the Deep Kings feared it. The strike of the Engine created the Misery - a wasteland full of ghosts and corrupted magic that now forms a No Mans Land along the frontier. But when Galharrow investigates a frontier fortress, he discovers complacency bordering on treason: then the walls are stormed, and the Engine fails to launch. Galharrow only escapes because of the preternatural magical power of the noblewoman he was supposed to be protecting. Together, they race to the capital to unmask the traitors and restore the republic's defences. Far across the Misery a vast army is on the move, as the Empire prepares to call the republic's bluff.

]]> 384 Ed McDonald 1473222028 Zahra 0 to-read, tbr-adult-sff 4.15 2017 Blackwing (Raven's Mark #1)
author: Ed McDonald
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff
review:

]]> Middlemarch 15994588 'She did not know then that it was Love who had come to her briefly as in a dream before awaking, with the hues of morning on his wings - that it was Love to whom she was sobbing her farewell as his image was banished by the blameless rigour of irresistible day'

George Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama, hailed by Virginia Woolf as 'one of the few English novels written for adult people'.]]> 923 George Eliot 0141199792 Zahra 0 currently-reading 4.19 1872 Middlemarch
author: George Eliot
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1872
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> When You Get the Chance 54306966
There’s Steph, a still-aspiring stage actress and receptionist at a talent agency. There’s Farrah, ethereal dance teacher who clearly doesn’t have the two left feet Millie has. And Beth, the chipper and sweet stage enthusiast with an equally exuberant fifteen-year-old daughter (A possible sister?! This is getting out of hand). But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one, without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along?]]> 308 Emma Lord 1250783348 Zahra 0 to-read, not-yet-released 3.88 2022 When You Get the Chance
author: Emma Lord
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released
review:

]]> Caraval (Caraval #1) 35674677 Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or a performance. It's the closest you'll ever find to magic in this world . . .

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett's father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

But this year, Scarlett's long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval's mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season's Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.]]> 418 Stephanie Garber 1250095263 Zahra 2 2.5 stars 4.06 2016 Caraval (Caraval #1)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: young-adult, fantasy, not-for-me
review:
2.5 stars
]]> The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Zahra 3 3.5 stars 4.01 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: classics, fantasy, contemporary
review:
3.5 stars
]]> The Woman in Black 584843 An alternate cover edition can be found here and here.

Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor in London, is summoned to Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, and to sort through her papers before returning to London. It is here that Kipps first sees the woman in black and begins to gain an impression of the mystery surrounding her. From the funeral he travels to Eel Marsh House and sees the woman again; he also hears the terrifying sounds on the marsh.

Despite Kipps’s experiences he resolves to spend the night at the house and fulfil his professional duty. It is this night at Eel Marsh House that contains the greatest horror for Kipps. Kipps later discovers the reasons behind the hauntings at Eel Marsh House. The book ends with the woman in black exacting a final, terrible revenge.]]> 160 Susan Hill 0099288478 Zahra 4 3.75 stars 3.74 1983 The Woman in Black
author: Susan Hill
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/06
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: adult, mystery-thriller-crime, fantasy
review:
3.75 stars
]]> For the Wolf (Wilderwood, #1) 53418394 The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose—to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood—and her world—whole.

The author has provided a list of content warnings here.]]> 437 Hannah F. Whitten 0316592781 Zahra 0 DNF at 60% 3.58 2021 For the Wolf (Wilderwood, #1)
author: Hannah F. Whitten
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/06
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: fantasy, not-for-me, young-adult, dnf
review:
DNF at 60%
]]> <![CDATA[10 Truths and a Dare: CANCELED]]> 58950852
Volunteering to help at a local golf tournament should do it, but since Olivia's mom equipped her phone with a tracking app, there'll be no hiding the fact that she's at the golf course instead of all the graduation parties happening at the same time. Unless, that is, she can convince the Fab Four--her ride-or-die cousins and best friends Sophie, Charlie, and Wes--to trade phones with her as they go through the motions of playing Olivia for the week. Sure, Olivia's sudden "passion" for golf is met with some suspicion. And sure, her grasp of the rules is a little shaky. And yes, okay, a very cute, very off-limits boy keeps popping up in her orbit. But she is focused! She has a schedule and a plan! Nothing can possibly go wrong . . . right?]]> 304 Ashley Elston 1368076882 Zahra 2 3.50 2021 10 Truths and a Dare: CANCELED
author: Ashley Elston
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/05
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: young-adult, dumpsterfire, contemporary
review:

]]> 10 Blind Dates 44166874 337 Ashley Elston 1368044271 Zahra 3 young-adult, contemporary 4.06 2019 10 Blind Dates
author: Ashley Elston
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/04
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: young-adult, contemporary
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 22844196 'You are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The Headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord.'

DARK TIMES have come to Hogwarts. After the Dementors' ATTACK on his cousin Dudley, Harry Potter knows that Voldemort will stop at NOTHING to find him. There are many who deny the Dark Lord's return, but Harry is not alone: a SECRET ORDER gathers at Grimmauld Place to fight against the Dark forces. Harry must allow Professor Snape to teach him how to PROTECT himself from Voldemort's savage assaults on his mind. But they are growing STRONGER by the day and Harry is running out of time ...]]> 800 J.K. Rowling 1408855690 Zahra 5 4.56 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/03
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: young-adult, childrens-and-middle-grade, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe]]> 45046619 Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Cafe.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the cafe and settle her grandmother's estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father's side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can't stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.]]> 336 Heather Webber 1250198615 Zahra 4 adult, contemporary, fantasy 4.14 2019 Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe
author: Heather Webber
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/01
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: adult, contemporary, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)]]> 58437698 There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart. —Teek saying

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?

As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.

And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?]]> 388 Rebecca Roanhorse 1534437738 Zahra 0 4.07 2022 Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)
author: Rebecca Roanhorse
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: to-read, tbr-adult-sff, not-yet-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)]]> 55878896
A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial even proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created a “brilliant world that shows the full panoply of human grace and depravity� (Ken Liu, award-winning author of The Grace of Kings ). This epic adventure explores the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in this “absolutely tremendous� (S.A. Chakraborty, nationally bestselling author of The City of Brass ) and most original series debut of the decade.]]> 496 Rebecca Roanhorse 1534437681 Zahra 4 adult, fantasy WOW
i need the next book]]> 4.24 2020 Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)
author: Rebecca Roanhorse
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/29
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: adult, fantasy
review:
4.5 stars
WOW
i need the next book
]]> Cytonic (Skyward, #3) 43606157
She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell � the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she travelled light-years from home as a spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home. Now, the Superiority � the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life � has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant.

Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy. The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.]]> 432 Brandon Sanderson 1473217938 Zahra 3 young-adult, sci-fi, fantasy 4.01 2021 Cytonic (Skyward, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/29
date added: 2021/12/09
shelves: young-adult, sci-fi, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is How You Lose the Time War]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Zahra 4 4.5 stars 3.86 2019 This Is How You Lose the Time War
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/24
date added: 2021/11/25
shelves: adult, sci-fi, novellas-and-short-stories
review:
4.5 stars
]]> ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2) 57903879
“Don’t trust their lies. Don’t trust their false peace.� That is the warning that Alanik of the planet ReDawn gave the human pilot Spensa after Alanik’s ship crash-landed on Detritus. While accepting an invitation to meet with her people’s enemy, the Galactic Superiority, Alanik heard Spensa’s cry for help across the vastness of space, and she used her cytonic powers to hyperjump her ship to the source of that cry. What she found there was a shock—a whole planet of free humans fighting against the Superiority. Were they the allies her people desperately needed?

When she recovered from her injuries and met the friendly humans Jorgen and FM of Skyward Flight, she found that her warning to Spensa had gone unheeded by the government of Detritus, and they were considering a peace overture from the Superiority. Now having returned to ReDawn, Alanik is dismayed to learn that her own people are falling into the exact same trap.

The faction in ReDawn’s government that wants to appease the Superiority has gained the upper hand. With Alanik’s mentor, Renakin captured, she has no one to turn to but Jorgen, FM, and their friend Rig. An ancient technology may have the power to save both of their planets from disaster, but can they discover its secrets before it’s too late?]]> 229 Brandon Sanderson 0593566629 Zahra 3 4.12 2021 ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/23
date added: 2021/11/25
shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, novellas-and-short-stories, young-adult
review:
3.5 stars for that wild ending
]]> Sunreach (Skyward, #2.1) 57903876
When a planet-destroying Delver suddenly appears in the sky of Detritus and vanishes just as suddenly, FM knows that the last free human society got lucky. Her Skyward Flight companion, Spensa, figured out how to draw this Delver away, but it won’t be so easy next time.

The forces of the Galactic Superiority will be back—and if the Defiant Defense Force can’t figure out a way to escape the planet, humanity’s destruction is only a matter of time. Spensa’s mission to infiltrate the Superiority unveiled the secret to their hyperdrives—a cytonic slug species called the Taynix. Now FM’s flightleader, Jorgen, has found a large group of Taynix hiding in the caverns far below Detritus’s surface.

FM and Jorgen must work together with the engineer Rig to awaken the mysterious alien Alanik and unlock the powers of the Taynix, or humanity will be trapped. With Spensa’s friend Minister Cuna of the Superiority stranded at the outpost of Sunreach, they need to figure out how to rescue her—or the Superiority government will be in the sole clutches of those who want to wipe out Detritus once and for all.]]> 208 Brandon Sanderson 0593566610 Zahra 3 4.11 2021 Sunreach (Skyward, #2.1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/21
date added: 2021/11/25
shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, young-adult, novellas-and-short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)]]> 59365195
All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.]]> 576 Tracy Deonn 1534441638 Zahra 0 4.31 2022 Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/23
shelves: to-read, not-yet-released, tbr-ya-sff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fall of the House of Usher]]> 175516
"The Fall .. " recounts the terrible events that befall the last remaining members of the once-illustrious Usher clan before it is -- quite literally -- rent asunder. With amazing economy, Poe plunges the reader into a state of deliciously agonizing suspense. It's a must-read for fans of the golden era of horror writing. "The Fall .." is one of Poe's best known short stories - if not the best.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." Collections of short stories by the author, such as "The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales," can be found elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.]]> 36 Edgar Allan Poe 1594561796 Zahra 3 novellas-and-short-stories 3.90 1839 The Fall of the House of Usher
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1839
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/20
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: novellas-and-short-stories
review:

]]> North and South 14800526
North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together.]]> 544 Elizabeth Gaskell 0141198923 Zahra 0 4.23 1855 North and South
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1855
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: read-for-school, classics, adult
review:

]]> Midnight's Children 3115956 647 Salman Rushdie Zahra 0 classics, read-for-school 3.84 1981 Midnight's Children
author: Salman Rushdie
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: classics, read-for-school
review:

]]> Heart of Darkness 4901 Heart of Darkness remains an indisputably classic text and arguably Conrad's finest work.

This extensively revised Norton Critical Edition includes new materials that convey nineteenth-century attitudes toward imperialism as well as the concerns of Conrad's contemporaries about King Leopold's exploitation of his African domain. New to the Fourth Edition are excerpts from Adam Hochschild's recent book, King Leopold's Ghost, and from Sir Roger Casement's influential "Congo Report" on Leopold's atrocities. "Backgrounds and Contexts" also provides readers with a collection of photographs and a map that bring the Congo Free State to life.

A new section, "Nineteenth-Century Attitudes toward Race," includes writings by, among others, Hegel, Darwin, and Sir Francis Galton. New essays by Patrick Brantlinger, Marianna Torgovnik, Edward W. Said, Hunt Hawkins, Anthony Fothergill, and Paul Armstrong debate Chinua Achebe's controversial indictment of the novel's depiction of Africans and offer differing views about whether Conrad's beliefs about race were progressive or retrograde.

A rich selection of writings by Conrad on his life in the Congo is accompanied by extensive excerpts from his essays about art and literature. "Criticism" presents a wealth of new materials on Heart of Darkness, including contemporary responses by Henry James, E.M. Forster, Ford Madox Ford, and Virginia Woolf. Recent critical assessments by Peter Brooks, Jeremy Hawthorn, Daphna Erdinast-Vulcan, Andrew Michael Roberts, J. Hillis Miller, and Lissa Schneider cover a ranger of topics, from narrative theory to philosophy and sexuality. Also new to the Fourth Edition is a selection of writings on the connections between the novel and the film Apocalypse Now.

This Norton Critical Edition is again based on Robert Kimbrough's meticulously re-edited text of the novel. An expanded Textual Appendix allows the reader to follow Conrad's revisions at different stages of the creative process. A Chronology has been added, and the Selected Bibliography has been revised and updated.]]> 528 Joseph Conrad Zahra 0 read-for-school, classics 3.41 1899 Heart of Darkness
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1899
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: read-for-school, classics
review:

]]> Half a Life 5853
"A masterpiece." � Los Angeles Times Book Review

The son of a Brahmin ascetic and his lower-caste wife, Willie Chandran grows up sensing the hollowness at the core of his father's self-denial and vowing to live more authentically. That search takes him to the immigrant and literary bohemias of 1950s London, to a facile and unsatisfying career as a writer, and at last to a decaying Portugese colony in East Africa, where he finds a happiness he will then be compelled to betray. Brilliantly orchestrated, at once elegiac and devastating in its portraits of colonial grandeur and pretension, Half a Life represents the pinnacle of Naipaul's career.]]> 224 V.S. Naipaul 037570728X Zahra 0 adult, read-for-school 3.25 2001 Half a Life
author: V.S. Naipaul
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: adult, read-for-school
review:

]]> A Small Place 69711 A Small Place magnifies our vision of one small place with Swiftian wit and precision. Jamaica Kincaid's expansive essay candidly appraises the ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up, and makes palpable the impact of European colonization and tourism. The book is a missive to the traveler, whether American or European, who wants to escape the banality and corruption of some large place. Kincaid, eloquent and resolute, reminds us that the Antiguan people, formerly British subjects, are unable to escape the same drawbacks of their own tiny realm—that behind the benevolent Caribbean scenery are human lives, always complex and often fraught with injustice.]]> 81 Jamaica Kincaid 0374527075 Zahra 0 nonfiction, read-for-school 4.06 1988 A Small Place
author: Jamaica Kincaid
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: nonfiction, read-for-school
review:

]]> Lotusland 24311467 400 David Joiner 1550719300 Zahra 0 adult, read-for-school 4.25 2015 Lotusland
author: David Joiner
name: Zahra
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves: adult, read-for-school
review:

]]> Summertime 6337163
A young English biographer is researching a book about the late South African writer John Coetzee, focusing on Coetzee in his thirties, at a time when he was living in a rundown cottage in the Cape Town suburbs with his widowed father - a time, the biographer is convinced, when Coetzee was finding himself as a writer. Never having met the man himself, the biographer interviews five people who knew Coetzee well, including a married woman with whom he had an affair, his cousin Margot, and a Brazilian dancer whose daughter took English lessons with him. These accounts add up to an image of an awkward, reserved, and bookish young man who finds it hard to make meaningful connections with the people around him.

Summertime is an inventive and inspired work of fiction that allows J.M. Coetzee to imagine his own life with a critical and unsparing eye, revealing painful moral struggles and attempts to come to grips with what it means to care for another human being. Incisive, elegant, and often surprisingly funny, Summertime is a compelling work by one of today's most esteemed writers.]]> 266 J.M. Coetzee 1846553180 Zahra 0 3.78 2009 Summertime
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: Zahra
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:

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