en-US Wed, 02 Apr 2025 05:59:34 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 10054335 335 Amor Towles nam 4 fav-contemporary, oh-my-world 4.06 2011
author: Amor Towles
name: nam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: fav-contemporary, oh-my-world
review:

]]> 211003787 From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.

Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there's not a body in her backyard.

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go . . . except Finlay’s house, right across the street.

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.]]> 320 Elle Cosimano 1250337348 nam 4 serotonin-booster 4.16 2025
author: Elle Cosimano
name: nam
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: serotonin-booster
review:

]]> 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up� it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]> 416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 nam 4 3.95 2022
author: Gillian McAllister
name: nam
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: fav-mystery-thrillers, good-plot
review:

]]> 211480848 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 372 Samantha Sotto Yambao 059372500X nam 4 3.97 2025
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: nam
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: good-romance, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster
review:

]]> 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X nam 3 oh-my-world 4.22 2020
author: Susanna Clarke
name: nam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: oh-my-world
review:

]]> 35967101 A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror.

'Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.'

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden � one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party � can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

Also titled as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.]]> 505 Stuart Turton nam 5 3.87 2018
author: Stuart Turton
name: nam
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, good-plot, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:

]]> 23395680
The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra � who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents � including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more � Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.]]> 608 Amie Kaufman 0553499114 nam 5 4.23 2015
author: Amie Kaufman
name: nam
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-scifi
review:

]]> 29236299
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.]]> 659 Amie Kaufman 0553499165 nam 5 4.41 2016
author: Amie Kaufman
name: nam
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-scifi
review:

]]> 68428 What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.]]> 541 Brandon Sanderson nam 5 4.48 2006
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: nam
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/26
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, good-plot, good-romance, serotonin-booster, oh-my-world, character-love, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 nam 5 4.16 2018
author: R.F. Kuang
name: nam
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/03
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, good-plot, oh-my-world, character-love, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 36642458 513 Brandon Sanderson 1473217857 nam 5 4.45 2018
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: nam
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/13
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, ults, serotonin-booster, oh-my-world, character-love, best-of-2019, fav-scifi
review:
possibly my favorite sci fi book ever??? literally it has it all, amazing world building + plot, complex + flawed characters, beautiful character development, AND a potential slowburn romance?? Brandon sanderson is a god wbk
]]> 22299763
Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.]]> 561 Leigh Bardugo nam 5 4.58 2016
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: nam
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, good-plot, good-romance, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 1268479
Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.]]> 688 Brandon Sanderson nam 5
many of the characters faced some of the best and most arduous development i've ever seen. im especially proud of vivenna bc of far she's come!! and even tho the plot of this bookw as sometimes too IQ 9000 for my 1 brain cell to handle, i still loved every bit of this book!

definitely will need to reread it to fully understand the plot, magic system, the history, bc it's just so multifaceted, and honestly i can't wait!
]]> 4.29 2009
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: nam
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, ults, serotonin-booster, oh-my-world, character-love, best-of-2019, fav-fantasy
review:
the world building was beautiful and rich; tbh unlike most books, i wasn't getting a brief glimpse into the world the book is set in. somehow it felt like i got to experience the whole world and its history, but in the same amt of pages as other books

many of the characters faced some of the best and most arduous development i've ever seen. im especially proud of vivenna bc of far she's come!! and even tho the plot of this bookw as sometimes too IQ 9000 for my 1 brain cell to handle, i still loved every bit of this book!

definitely will need to reread it to fully understand the plot, magic system, the history, bc it's just so multifaceted, and honestly i can't wait!

]]> 30319086
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.]]> 354 M.L. Rio 125009528X nam 5 4.11 2017
author: M.L. Rio
name: nam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/09
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, best-of-2019, fav-contemporary
review:
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD? IT WAS NOTHING I EXPECTED AND I LOVED IT SM. i suggest reading this if u can tolerate shakespeare plays. an amazing read overall tho!
]]> 41886271 A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.�

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.]]> 651 M.L. Wang nam 5
i hate everybody that recommended this book bc now im obsessed and i cant stop.

this book was 90% Pain and 10% everything else, yet for some reason im still rating this a 4/5...much to think about. it's just everything was done so WELL. theres just so much to gush about and i dont even know where to begin and if i start i won't stop so. im only talking about two things.

the character complexities & development were so flawlessly done (even the side characters had nuance to them) misaki especially, is one of the best written main characters i have ever read, she's literally godtier. i loved reading about the different stages of her life- from a fiery teenager, to a new bride, and now a mother of four. also, something really unique that i loved was all the strong female friendships!! it was so refreshing to read. [spoilers removed]

i ATE up the politics and history in this book, it was just so rich and complex which made it feel all the more realistic. but, i felt like there are so many loose ends by the end of the book. tbh, i felt like the book ended suddenly, not sure if the YA series after this covers those open ends but it sucks that it was d/ced.]]> 4.46 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: nam
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/25
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, best-of-2021, fav-fantasy
review:
4.5

i hate everybody that recommended this book bc now im obsessed and i cant stop.

this book was 90% Pain and 10% everything else, yet for some reason im still rating this a 4/5...much to think about. it's just everything was done so WELL. theres just so much to gush about and i dont even know where to begin and if i start i won't stop so. im only talking about two things.

the character complexities & development were so flawlessly done (even the side characters had nuance to them) misaki especially, is one of the best written main characters i have ever read, she's literally godtier. i loved reading about the different stages of her life- from a fiery teenager, to a new bride, and now a mother of four. also, something really unique that i loved was all the strong female friendships!! it was so refreshing to read. [spoilers removed]

i ATE up the politics and history in this book, it was just so rich and complex which made it feel all the more realistic. but, i felt like there are so many loose ends by the end of the book. tbh, i felt like the book ended suddenly, not sure if the YA series after this covers those open ends but it sucks that it was d/ced.
]]> 15993203
On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?]]> 485 Alison Goodman 0670785474 nam 4 3.78 2015
author: Alison Goodman
name: nam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/24
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-romance, fav-historical-fiction
review:
this was such a great read! i absolutely loved the 1800s British high society setting, & the supernatural plot was woven in so nicely. i really liked how clever + mature the mc was, and I LOVED the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slowburn romance
]]> 42769202
Spensa is sure there's more to the story. And she's sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars--and it was terrifying. Everything Spensa has been taught about her world is a lie.

But Spensa also discovered a few other things about herself--and she'll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to.]]> 461 Brandon Sanderson 1473217903 nam 4
still amazing, but not as plot heavy as i remembered?

5/5 (dec 2019 read)
brandon s rly out here not giving other authors a CHANCE Loudly crying face this bk is GODTIER i literally read every paragraph 10x bc I didn’t want to miss a word,, OFFICIALLY MY ULT SERIES FOLKS!! i have so much love for this series I ³¦²¹²Ô’t describe it in words]]> 4.33 2019
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: nam
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/07
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, serotonin-booster, oh-my-world, best-of-2019, fav-scifi
review:
4/5 (feb 2023 reread)

still amazing, but not as plot heavy as i remembered?

5/5 (dec 2019 read)
brandon s rly out here not giving other authors a CHANCE Loudly crying face this bk is GODTIER i literally read every paragraph 10x bc I didn’t want to miss a word,, OFFICIALLY MY ULT SERIES FOLKS!! i have so much love for this series I ³¦²¹²Ô’t describe it in words
]]> 24807186 Her story begins on a train.

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo.

Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin’s brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move.

But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

From the author of The Walled City comes a fast-paced and innovative novel that will leave you breathless.]]> 388 Ryan Graudin 0316405124 nam 5 4.20 2015
author: Ryan Graudin
name: nam
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, ults, oh-my-world, best-of-2019, fav-historical-fiction
review:
never thought id be obsessed abt a book set in hitler europe abt a shapeshifting revolutionary in a cross continental motorcycle race with a sort-of-kind-of love triangle but here we are ! im never into love triangles but this one hit different
]]> 27774758 Alternative Cover Edition #1

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Ìý
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
Ìý
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
Ìý
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
Ìý
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

From the Hardcover edition.]]> 446 Sabaa Tahir nam 5 4.23 2015
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: nam
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/17
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, good-romance, ults, character-love, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 41952489
Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.]]> 535 Evan Winter 031648976X nam 5
probably the best book ive read so far this year! until the sequel comes out in november at least. idk where to start because it was amazing and so addicting to read! i could probably write an essay about each component, so i'll summarize my fav parts.

the way that the author intertwined the sheer amount of history in this world to the plot without it sounding info dump-y at all was actually flawless, not to mention the world was so much fun to read and the writing style really increased the immersion for me. the plot??? godtier. elite. who's doing it like her??? im ngl the first 25% was rather slow (i was pretty close to dnf-ing) but im glad i stuck it out. the plot was multifaceted, intense, and definitely stress-inducing lol but im obsessed!

tau is probs one of the best characters ive ever read?? his character is fully fleshed out and so unique , something i haven't really read before all too much. i also loved the characters from scale jayyed, kellen, zuri, and tsiora! idk if it counts as a found family trope but they are a FIGHTING SQUAD and i am HERE for it. i was especially impressed by tsiora, bc even though she didnt get that much limelight, i loved her unrelenting confidence and ability to stay calm and clear-headed under pressure (such as during times when even tau wasn't!). i think it speaks to her characterization of a true leader and i love that for her. maybe it's just me but im hoping for a dual pov with tsiora and tau bc i cant get enough of her!

im rambling but TLDR i will be counting down the days until november 10! ]]> 4.30 2017
author: Evan Winter
name: nam
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/02
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster, best-of-2020, fav-fantasy
review:
pack it up 2020 i think we're done here.

probably the best book ive read so far this year! until the sequel comes out in november at least. idk where to start because it was amazing and so addicting to read! i could probably write an essay about each component, so i'll summarize my fav parts.

the way that the author intertwined the sheer amount of history in this world to the plot without it sounding info dump-y at all was actually flawless, not to mention the world was so much fun to read and the writing style really increased the immersion for me. the plot??? godtier. elite. who's doing it like her??? im ngl the first 25% was rather slow (i was pretty close to dnf-ing) but im glad i stuck it out. the plot was multifaceted, intense, and definitely stress-inducing lol but im obsessed!

tau is probs one of the best characters ive ever read?? his character is fully fleshed out and so unique , something i haven't really read before all too much. i also loved the characters from scale jayyed, kellen, zuri, and tsiora! idk if it counts as a found family trope but they are a FIGHTING SQUAD and i am HERE for it. i was especially impressed by tsiora, bc even though she didnt get that much limelight, i loved her unrelenting confidence and ability to stay calm and clear-headed under pressure (such as during times when even tau wasn't!). i think it speaks to her characterization of a true leader and i love that for her. maybe it's just me but im hoping for a dual pov with tsiora and tau bc i cant get enough of her!

im rambling but TLDR i will be counting down the days until november 10!
]]> 41118857
With no other options, Rin joins forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who has a plan to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new Republic. Rin throws herself into his war. After all, making war is all she knows how to do.

But the Empress is a more powerful foe than she appears, and the Dragon Warlord’s motivations are not as democratic as they seem. The more Rin learns, the more she fears her love for Nikan will drive her away from every ally and lead her to rely more and more on the Phoenix’s deadly power. Because there is nothing she won’t sacrifice for her country and her vengeance.

The sequel to R.F. Kuang’s acclaimed debut THE POPPY WAR, THE DRAGON REPUBLIC combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating effect.]]> 658 R.F. Kuang nam 4 4.36 2019
author: R.F. Kuang
name: nam
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/31
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, oh-my-world, best-of-2020, fav-fantasy
review:
idk how a character can do a full 360 but nezha pulled it off. basically the whole book i was stressed and in love with the plot/writing/characters!! a reason why it’s 4 not 5 is bc imo rin didn’t do that much for a large chunk of the book
]]> 51854625 A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.

It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

The breathtaking new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.]]> 463 Stuart Turton nam 5
not me accidentally saving the best book of 2020 till the very end ]]> 3.82 2020
author: Stuart Turton
name: nam
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster, ults, best-of-2020, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:
actual rating: 4.5/5

not me accidentally saving the best book of 2020 till the very end
]]> 29588376 ASIN B000JMKNJ2 moved to the more recent edition

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.]]> 752 Scott Lynch nam 4 4.32 2006
author: Scott Lynch
name: nam
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: best-of-2020, good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-fantasy
review:
this soo good omfg, besides mistborn, it puts every heist book ive ever read to shame! the plot wasnt predictable at all, and it had me STRESSED. i loved the banter & the characters, and the worldbuilding was absolutely breathtaking!
]]> 39988431 Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS.

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.

Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her familyand one misstep will doom her tribe.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid, the unpredictable water spirits, have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.]]> 625 S.A. Chakraborty 0008239444 nam 4
also nahri is so strong, clever, and confident! i love how she takes matters into her own hands constantly. also Ali so steadfast and his views, and while he does have his flaws, it makes him more realistic, esp when he figures out how to overcome them.

the plot was constantly moving, but it accelerated even more in the last 20%. i did have a few qualms abt the worldbuilding bc there was a lot going on. potentially it could have been seen as creating some plot points for purely shock factor and then doing nothing with them (ex: shafit experiments in the nahid hospital, like it was never mentioned again)]]> 4.37 2019
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: nam
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/07
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: character-love, best-of-2020, fav-fantasy
review:
this book blew city of brass out of the water. i couldn't put it down! still found the worldbuilding not as clear as id like it to be, mainly due to the sheer amount of lore, but god was it amazing. i loved the complexities of the characters, there are a few characters in this book that aren't morally gray. the character development, while subtle, was a pleasure to read! (i want to note Dara, bc as much as i found his pov frustratinng, it amazed me how realistic & relatable he was, to the point where i had to remind myself that he was the villain and not another protag)

also nahri is so strong, clever, and confident! i love how she takes matters into her own hands constantly. also Ali so steadfast and his views, and while he does have his flaws, it makes him more realistic, esp when he figures out how to overcome them.

the plot was constantly moving, but it accelerated even more in the last 20%. i did have a few qualms abt the worldbuilding bc there was a lot going on. potentially it could have been seen as creating some plot points for purely shock factor and then doing nothing with them (ex: shafit experiments in the nahid hospital, like it was never mentioned again)
]]> 36681361 Librarian note: an older cover for this edition can be found here.

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.]]> 612 Fonda Lee nam 4
i found the worldbuilding to be strong and a lot of fun to read! i loved the atmosphere fonda lee created, the prose was just *chefs kiss* can i live there PLEASE

the plot to me was kind of slow, which is a main reason why im giving it a 4/5 rn, it takes a lot of time to get into the book. additionally, at the end of the book, i felt as though it was still the beginning. im not sure if i would count this as a weakness, though. but it's new and refreshing, there were a few elements that i havent read before and i loved them.

im obsesseddd w the characters! i felt like the purpose of this book was to establish the mcs' character, and their development arcs, and to establish worldbuilding, and it succeeded! loved reading about each character's inner dilemmas and how they reacted to different things they faced. and it wasn't even just the mcs that had refreshing personalities, the side characters were also so enjoyable to read as well (see: ayt) i did feel like hilo wasn't as developed as the others, but imo in any a lot of other book he wouldve been one of the strongest characters there so. ]]> 4.13 2017
author: Fonda Lee
name: nam
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/16
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: oh-my-world, character-love, fav-fantasy
review:
4 stars for now, might reduce to 3? idk?

i found the worldbuilding to be strong and a lot of fun to read! i loved the atmosphere fonda lee created, the prose was just *chefs kiss* can i live there PLEASE

the plot to me was kind of slow, which is a main reason why im giving it a 4/5 rn, it takes a lot of time to get into the book. additionally, at the end of the book, i felt as though it was still the beginning. im not sure if i would count this as a weakness, though. but it's new and refreshing, there were a few elements that i havent read before and i loved them.

im obsesseddd w the characters! i felt like the purpose of this book was to establish the mcs' character, and their development arcs, and to establish worldbuilding, and it succeeded! loved reading about each character's inner dilemmas and how they reacted to different things they faced. and it wasn't even just the mcs that had refreshing personalities, the side characters were also so enjoyable to read as well (see: ayt) i did feel like hilo wasn't as developed as the others, but imo in any a lot of other book he wouldve been one of the strongest characters there so.
]]> 43174603 If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne and reunite her people, then the Omehi might have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.

]]> 529 Evan Winter nam 5
was trying to find things to downgrade my rating to a 4/5 but i truly could only think of minor things, which can't really justify a whole star downgrade so a 5/5 it is!]]> 4.37 2020
author: Evan Winter
name: nam
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/05
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: character-love, good-plot, good-romance, oh-my-world, best-of-2020, fav-fantasy
review:
evan winter back at it again w a stellar sequel to the rage of dragons! i like how the plot/world/history built on that of the first book- meaning, i like how the complexity of this world and its history only increased in this one. the plot had me STRESSEDD 25/8, and the romance was just *chefs kiss* the slowburn was so real. i love all the characters in the squad, and im so happy that the found-family trope is prevalent. i wanna shout out tsiora!! love her and i really hope we get more of her POVs in the books to come. also kellan??? i hope he gets more presence as well.

was trying to find things to downgrade my rating to a 4/5 but i truly could only think of minor things, which can't really justify a whole star downgrade so a 5/5 it is!
]]> 53007917 Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.

Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own�

Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.]]> 368 Alka Joshi 1488055440 nam 4 4.38 2020
author: Alka Joshi
name: nam
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: serotonin-booster, ults, fav-historical-fiction
review:
ugh i finished this book in the beginning of jan so i kinda forgot my thoughts except that i loved everything about it- from the messages, the setting, the characters, the overall theme !
]]> 41806382 The Kaul siblings' battle with rival clans reaches new heights in the heart-pounding continuation of the Green Bone Saga, anÌýepic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.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.Praise for the Green Bone "A beautifully realized setting, a great cast of characters, and dramatic action scenes. What a fun, gripping read!" —Ann Leckie, Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author"Lee has upped her game in this novel, with deeper, more nail-biting intrigue and stunning, heart-pumping action scenes. Her character development is pitch-perfect."―Booklist"An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family, and magic, spiced with unexpectedly tender character beats." —NPRThe Green Bone SagaJade CityJade WarJade Legacy]]> 608 Fonda Lee 0316440930 nam 4
while it took me a minute to read, i loved the domestic and international politics that was done so tastefully in this book. intertwined with complex and imperfect characters, the plot of the book felt so realistic and the characters felt so interesting to read. and as much as i hate slow paces, i especially loved the pacing of this book- to me, just like jade city, it felt unique as it didn't fall into a traditional pacing format for SFF books, and i felt that it complemented the plot very well (despite it taking me like a month to finish lol). while hilo's arc was mainly him getting accustomed to his duties, i especially loved shae's and wen's arc. anden's arc was well done, but the outcome felt sudden. speaking of characters, fonda lee makes it known, yet again, that none of our favs are safe from death, and that it's only a matter of time before one of them dies.
]]> 4.42 2019
author: Fonda Lee
name: nam
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/30
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-fantasy
review:
just as i expected, perfection

while it took me a minute to read, i loved the domestic and international politics that was done so tastefully in this book. intertwined with complex and imperfect characters, the plot of the book felt so realistic and the characters felt so interesting to read. and as much as i hate slow paces, i especially loved the pacing of this book- to me, just like jade city, it felt unique as it didn't fall into a traditional pacing format for SFF books, and i felt that it complemented the plot very well (despite it taking me like a month to finish lol). while hilo's arc was mainly him getting accustomed to his duties, i especially loved shae's and wen's arc. anden's arc was well done, but the outcome felt sudden. speaking of characters, fonda lee makes it known, yet again, that none of our favs are safe from death, and that it's only a matter of time before one of them dies.

]]> 45163258
But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone "family," the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

]]> 320 Kiley Reid 0525541926 nam 4 ]]> 3.89 2019
author: Kiley Reid
name: nam
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/04
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: serotonin-booster, fav-contemporary
review:
an entertaining satire on white privilege! loved it, it was super fun and easy to read. did have a few problems with the pacing and the ending seemed pretty anti-climactic, though. while the characters weren't super developed, i really dont think it's that necessary since the important points of each character was brought out well. kinda found the 2016 references cringy, but that's just the high internet trend turnover rate talking.

]]> 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 nam 4 fav-mystery-thrillers i think i was spoiled, but it was a nice quick read. kind of hated all the problematic words that were said, it really did take away from my generally positive experience reading this book. although it was kinda slow in the beginning it picked up near the middle/end and was a fun read. loved the nuances with each character as well, to make them seem suspicious!
]]> 4.28 1939
author: Agatha Christie
name: nam
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: fav-mystery-thrillers
review:
3.5/5
i think i was spoiled, but it was a nice quick read. kind of hated all the problematic words that were said, it really did take away from my generally positive experience reading this book. although it was kinda slow in the beginning it picked up near the middle/end and was a fun read. loved the nuances with each character as well, to make them seem suspicious!

]]> 53310061 What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business�"Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!"—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?]]> 299 Jesse Q. Sutanto 0593336739 nam 4
with such an interesting premise, i had high expectations, and this book didn't disappoint. super fun, fast-paced, and hilarious. at times it was just so absurd that there's no logical base to the events that occurred, but that's what i loved about it. also loved all the characters, and despite the fact that comedy was a central aspect to the story, it also touched on themes that really hit home for diaspora POC.]]> 3.68 2021
author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
name: nam
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/11
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: serotonin-booster, best-of-2021, fav-contemporary
review:
someone turn this book into a movie asap!!!

with such an interesting premise, i had high expectations, and this book didn't disappoint. super fun, fast-paced, and hilarious. at times it was just so absurd that there's no logical base to the events that occurred, but that's what i loved about it. also loved all the characters, and despite the fact that comedy was a central aspect to the story, it also touched on themes that really hit home for diaspora POC.
]]> 16328
The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells� before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126278 nam 4
i had high hopes for this book, mainly due to the fact that i've heard it's one of her best & most controversial books. unfortunately, these statements basically had me guessing the correct person before i had even started the book! despite knowing the killer, it will still so much fun to read the book and follow along, seeing if i'd be proved right. i felt like the first third of the book was extremely sluggish and dry, so i think that definitely hampered how much i enjoyed the story.]]> 4.26 1926
author: Agatha Christie
name: nam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-plot, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:
actual rating: 3.5/5

i had high hopes for this book, mainly due to the fact that i've heard it's one of her best & most controversial books. unfortunately, these statements basically had me guessing the correct person before i had even started the book! despite knowing the killer, it will still so much fun to read the book and follow along, seeing if i'd be proved right. i felt like the first third of the book was extremely sluggish and dry, so i think that definitely hampered how much i enjoyed the story.
]]> 853510
One of the passengers is none other than detective Hercule Poirot. On vacation.

Isolated and with a killer on board, Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again.]]> 274 Agatha Christie 0007119313 nam 5
i loved the mystery sm! definitely a classic for a reason, i think it was super fun & definitely had me on the edge of my seat. like the way i was INVESTED, creating timelines and taking notes on my phone, highlighting tf out of my book trying to solve the crime. hands down one of my favorites from this year! ]]> 4.22 1934
author: Agatha Christie
name: nam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/09
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, good-plot, best-of-2021, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:
ok where can i drop out of school and become hercule poirot's apprentice

i loved the mystery sm! definitely a classic for a reason, i think it was super fun & definitely had me on the edge of my seat. like the way i was INVESTED, creating timelines and taking notes on my phone, highlighting tf out of my book trying to solve the crime. hands down one of my favorites from this year!
]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 nam 4 everything about this book is perfection, definitely a must-read in my opinion and i have no idea why it took me so long to get to it! ]]> 4.39 2017
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: nam
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/17
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, best-of-2021, character-love, fav-contemporary
review:
no i don’t think you understand, im � obsessed �
everything about this book is perfection, definitely a must-read in my opinion and i have no idea why it took me so long to get to it!
]]> 43923951 Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone family, and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.]]> 310 Kiley Reid 052554190X nam 4 3.76 2019
author: Kiley Reid
name: nam
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: ults, best-of-2021, serotonin-booster, fav-contemporary
review:

]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He ³¦²¹²Ô’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 nam 5 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: nam
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: best-of-2021, ults, character-love, fav-scifi
review:

]]> 28962996
It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.

At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently...]]> 361 Mur Lafferty 0316389684 nam 4 3.80 2017
author: Mur Lafferty
name: nam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: best-of-2020, fav-mystery-thrillers, fav-scifi
review:

]]> 34273236
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned � from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren � an enigmatic artist and single mother � who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just 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 rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends 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 an unexpected and devastating cost . . .]]> 338 Celeste Ng 0735224293 nam 5 4.05 2017
author: Celeste Ng
name: nam
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/11
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: oh-my-world, ults, fav-contemporary
review:

]]> 58690308 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 377 Emily Henry 0593334833 nam 5
the cover and blurb are so misleading- you think youre in for a light, cute yet surface-level romcom but youre actually given a contemporary novel filled with honest and realistic life problems for ppl in their 20s-30s, with a perfectly written romance. for once, i felt like the two love interests were made for each other. speaking characters, i loved how developed the MCs and side characters were, they genuinely felt so realistic and i felt like i was learning life lessons alongside them.

also the banter???? literally one of the best ive ever read.
one of my only qualms was that [spoilers removed] ]]> 4.09 2022
author: Emily Henry
name: nam
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: good-romance, character-love, ults
review:
4,5/5

the cover and blurb are so misleading- you think youre in for a light, cute yet surface-level romcom but youre actually given a contemporary novel filled with honest and realistic life problems for ppl in their 20s-30s, with a perfectly written romance. for once, i felt like the two love interests were made for each other. speaking characters, i loved how developed the MCs and side characters were, they genuinely felt so realistic and i felt like i was learning life lessons alongside them.

also the banter???? literally one of the best ive ever read.
one of my only qualms was that [spoilers removed]
]]> 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 nam 4
just immaculate character development, worldbuilding, pacing, and plot. something i liked a lot was how unique the lore was to the book- a lot of times for SFF books, the things at stake are massive, like the end of humanity, revolution, etc etc but the ninth house didn't need to do more (probably bc this is book #1) because it didn't have to. that's probably super vague but yeah.

alex stern is a great main character, and everyone saying darlington was the best part of the book has to get their eyes checked. like he's also a great character, but he was not nearly as present in the book as alex! you genuinely felt like you wanted to root for her not because she's the main character, but because of everything she went through, + her tough as nails personality.

there were a couple things i wasn't too keen on, but they were pretty minor- one of them was how similar the house names were lol, maybe it was just me but i had a real hard time differentiating them and what magic they specialized in.]]> 4.00 2019
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: nam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/26
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, best-of-2023, fav-fantasy
review:
yes yes yes leigh bardugo has done it again raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly !

just immaculate character development, worldbuilding, pacing, and plot. something i liked a lot was how unique the lore was to the book- a lot of times for SFF books, the things at stake are massive, like the end of humanity, revolution, etc etc but the ninth house didn't need to do more (probably bc this is book #1) because it didn't have to. that's probably super vague but yeah.

alex stern is a great main character, and everyone saying darlington was the best part of the book has to get their eyes checked. like he's also a great character, but he was not nearly as present in the book as alex! you genuinely felt like you wanted to root for her not because she's the main character, but because of everything she went through, + her tough as nails personality.

there were a couple things i wasn't too keen on, but they were pretty minor- one of them was how similar the house names were lol, maybe it was just me but i had a real hard time differentiating them and what magic they specialized in.
]]> 62588481
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.

Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the "Big Apple Bomber." They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.

As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.]]> 357 Fiona Davis 0593184041 nam 4 4.05 2023
author: Fiona Davis
name: nam
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: serotonin-booster, fav-historical-fiction
review:

]]> 58490567 The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper--a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC--until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila's past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.]]> 435 Kate Quinn 0062943510 nam 4 4.26 2022
author: Kate Quinn
name: nam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/23
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2023, fav-historical-fiction
review:

]]> 60435878 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 384 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158687 nam 5
just everything done flawlessly, i really felt like i could relate to carrie from a poc immigrant family pov, and growing up in a family/community that loves tennis i genuinely enjoyed reading more about it, and learning a lot about tennis along the way. i loved bowe, javier, and her relationships with them, and i found myself even liking nicki chan as well. the matches were hair-raising and full of anticipation, and i actually really appreciated the ending. all in all great book and i feel like i'll be recommending it a lot in the future. ]]> 4.19 2022
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: nam
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: ults, best-of-2023, character-love, fav-contemporary
review:
another banger from TJR, this is probably my favorite book from her yet

just everything done flawlessly, i really felt like i could relate to carrie from a poc immigrant family pov, and growing up in a family/community that loves tennis i genuinely enjoyed reading more about it, and learning a lot about tennis along the way. i loved bowe, javier, and her relationships with them, and i found myself even liking nicki chan as well. the matches were hair-raising and full of anticipation, and i actually really appreciated the ending. all in all great book and i feel like i'll be recommending it a lot in the future.
]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 nam 4 ]]> 4.30 2019
author: Holly Jackson
name: nam
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: good-plot, good-romance, serotonin-booster, best-of-2021, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:
the best ya murder mystery that i’ve read! i was hanging onto every word, and the plot had twists and turns as well. a lot of the characters had shades of gray to them, and i adored the budding romance between ravi and pip! the diversity in the book with the singhs as a central aspect and victor didn’t seem forced at all, and i found the significance of their roles to be refreshing as poc characters are often sidelined to minor roles in books not written by poc. i did NOT expect the ending! everything was done very well and i ³¦²¹²Ô’t wait to follow pip & ravi in their next adventure.

]]> 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 nam 5 4.17 2022
author: R.F. Kuang
name: nam
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, ults, fav-fantasy, fav-historical-fiction
review:

]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 nam 5 4.28 2024
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: nam
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: good-plot, oh-my-world, ults, best-of-2025, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 57915993 Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 527 M.L. Wang nam 5 4.45 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: nam
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: ults, best-of-2024, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic � the Hierarchy � may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus � what they call Will � to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 639 James Islington 1982141190 nam 5
absolutely crushed that i’ll have to wait until next May for the sequel :( ]]> 4.61 2023
author: James Islington
name: nam
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, ults, fav-fantasy
review:
one of the best fantasy books i’ve read in a while. i loved how it had a little bit of everything- unique magic system, good world building, academy setting, mystery, and somewhat of a found family. the only thing i wasn’t a huge fan of was how Vis seemed to be good at literally everything, but if it’s meant to advance the plot so be it.

absolutely crushed that i’ll have to wait until next May for the sequel :(
]]> 53914938 The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy...]]> 624 Kate Quinn 0062943472 nam 4 fav-historical-fiction 4.42 2021
author: Kate Quinn
name: nam
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: fav-historical-fiction
review:

]]> 60531416 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings us a gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different worlds must compromise and work together to save their worlds from ruin.

Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each other’s communities from certain disaster?]]> 480 Brandon Sanderson 1938570375 nam 4 4.46 2023
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: nam
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, good-romance, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster, ults, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

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

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

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

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 nam 4 4.24 2024
author: Chris Whitaker
name: nam
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, ults, fav-historical-fiction, fav-mystery-thrillers
review:

]]> 200174139 White Lotus meets Kevin Wilson in this whip-smart social satire about a man who finds himself trapped on an island resort after the sun literally explodes, and suddenly must choose whether to save himself from the chaos, or help fellow guests make it off the island alive�

Vacation Checklist: Ìý
Pack swim trunks.Ìý
Apply sunscreen.Ìý
Survive the apocalypse?

Professional underachiever Dan Foster is finally taking a vacation. Sure, his life has been average at best, and yeah, he’s never quite lived up to his potential. But after a few Miller Lites in paradise with his girlfriend, Mara, things are starting to look up.

Then the sun explodes.

With the island resort suddenly plunged into darkness (he really should’ve sprung for the travel insurance), Dan’s holiday goes from bad to worse when elite guests stage a coup and commandeer supplies. As temperatures drop and class tensions rise, revolution begins to brew on the island, and Dan accidentally becomes a beacon of hope for the surviving vacationers. But when one six-person plane is discovered that could get them back to the mainland, Dan realizes he has a choice to make.

Does he escape the island with Mara? Or does he stay and fight to become the most unlikely hero of the end of the world?

]]> 384 M.J. Wassmer 1464218021 nam 4 3.70 2024
author: M.J. Wassmer
name: nam
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, good-plot, good-romance, serotonin-booster, fav-contemporary
review:

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

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

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 nam 4 4.26 2024
author: Kate Quinn
name: nam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: best-of-2024, ults, character-love, fav-historical-fiction
review:

]]> 20174424
Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched � along with her terrifying “secretary�, Sigrud � to solve a murder.

But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem, and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

A tale of vast conspiracies, dead gods, and buried histories, City of Stairs is at once a gripping spy novel and a stunningly original work of fantasy.

]]> 452 Robert Jackson Bennett 080413717X nam 4 4.07 2014
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: nam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: character-love, good-plot, oh-my-world, fav-fantasy
review:

]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women ³¦²¹²Ô’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach nam 5 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: nam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: character-love, serotonin-booster, best-of-2025, fav-contemporary
review:

]]> 215990557
But when the red thread of fate leads Seokga to a cruise down the river of the dead, the woman he finds isn't Hani . . . she's Yoo Kisa, and she has no memory of him whatsoever - with seemingly no interest in regaining it either.

But when the Heavenly Emperor of Okhwang is murdered, Seokga and Kisa must solve the crime before the cruise ends. And as the mystery draws them closer, they will have to decide what they truly mean to each other.

There's something bigger at play aboard the ship, something that holds the key to their fated connection - and the very fate of the world.]]> Sophie Kim 1399717057 nam 0 to-read 4.45 2025
author: Sophie Kim
name: nam
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 198563688 416 Sophie Kim 0593599667 nam 4 4.05 2024
author: Sophie Kim
name: nam
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: character-love, good-plot, good-romance, oh-my-world, serotonin-booster
review:

]]> 210395729 The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.

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

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

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

1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.]]> 352 Laura Steven 1250333881 nam 0 to-read 3.80 2025
author: Laura Steven
name: nam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29780253
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents� indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.]]> 289 Trevor Noah 0385689225 nam 5 best-of-2024, ults 4.48 2016
author: Trevor Noah
name: nam
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: best-of-2024, ults
review:

]]> 33224061 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781524740955.

From the founding member of We Need Diverse Books comes a powerful novel about identity, betrayal, and the meaning of family.

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.]]> 374 Stacey Lee nam 4
(honestly ³¦²¹²Ô’t remember the last time I wrote a review this long or a review at all...jo’s impact!)]]> 3.92 2019
author: Stacey Lee
name: nam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/29
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: good-plot, good-romance, serotonin-booster, oh-my-world, character-love, best-of-2019
review:
this book is a rare gem, I honestly had no idea it would be this amazing. jo is clever but also brave, AND she contains so much character development. I love Old Gin, and so many other side characters in this book. I love how the author varies how she talks about the historical issues that existed at that time. at some times she was subtle in how she lightly weaves in historical/societal issues, and in other heavier instances her writing was so powerful that it’s all you can think about. i was also pleasantly surprised by how much I adored the romance! it was light in that it didn’t take away from the mc’s own development. i could go on and on abt this book I love it sm im glad I picked it up

(honestly ³¦²¹²Ô’t remember the last time I wrote a review this long or a review at all...jo’s impact!)
]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X nam 3 3.99 2023
author: Heather Fawcett
name: nam
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 63892214 Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.]]> 371 Isabel Cañas 0593436725 nam 3 good-romance 3.87 2023
author: Isabel Cañas
name: nam
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
shelves: good-romance
review:

]]> 58510253
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.

After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend�. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.

If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most � Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares � each other?]]> 449 Megan Bannen 0356518655 nam 0 to-read 4.04 2022
author: Megan Bannen
name: nam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50607309 “All magic is beautiful,� she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.�

She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy.

She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people.

His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war.

Now, a new war is coming. Science and machines to replace magic and old religion.

They must find a way to save their people from annihilation and balance the sacred Wheel—but first, they will have to balance their own forbidden passion. His peace for her tempest, his restlessness for her calm�

Night and day, dusk and dawn, the end, and the beginning. ]]> 420 J.D. Evans 1951607015 nam 0 to-read 4.17 2020
author: J.D. Evans
name: nam
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216014781 Varun Gauri's debut novel is a funny, surprising book that brings an unexpected and clever twist to immigration-and-assimilation stories. You'll miss it long after you've finished reading. - Neel Mukherjee, Author of The Lives of Others (2014), finalist for the Man Booker Prize


Disillusioned with modern romance, globe-trotting Meena tries an arranged marriage with Avi, an aspiring politician in Ohio. But when Avi's political opponent launches racist attacks, Meena and Avi are forced to defend their immigrant community, which narrowly understands its own traditions, and protect their increasingly shaky relationship. This is an intimate, funny, and heartbreaking novel about small-town America and the politics of marriage. Winner of the 2024 Carol Trawick Fiction Award from the Washington Writers' Publishing House.




Varun Gauri captures the travails of a modern young Indian couple who find love the old-fashioned way, to the surprise of their families. The couple struggles with scheming relatives. Small-town politics. Real estate deals. Nationalist agendas. What could possibly go wrong?- Susan Coll, author of Real Life and Other Fictions and former president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation




An exuberant debut that is as bitingly funny as it is wise. - Tania James, author of Loot. ]]> 236 Varun Gauri 1941551424 nam 0 to-read, dnf 3.94
author: Varun Gauri
name: nam
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: to-read, dnf
review:

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

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

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy ³¦²¹²Ô’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 nam 0 to-read 4.07 2024
author: Amy Tintera
name: nam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 123036004 A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

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

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

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.]]> 307 Amanda Peters 1646221958 nam 0 to-read 4.04 2023
author: Amanda Peters
name: nam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220756054 When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust� from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.

In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.

Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he ³¦²¹²Ô’t help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between themâ€� and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood grows stronger.]]> Isabel Cañas nam 0 to-read 4.52 2025
author: Isabel Cañas
name: nam
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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

Raised in Marrakech by a French mother and English father, a 17-year-old girl has learned above all to avoid mauvais ton ("bad taste" loses something in the translation). One should not ask servants to wait on one during Ramadan: they must have paid leave while one spends the holy month abroad. One must play the piano; if staying at Claridge’s, one must regrettably install a Clavinova in the suite, so that the necessary hours of practice will not be inflicted on fellow guests. One should cultivate weavers of tweed in the Outer Hebrides but have the cloth made up in London; one should buy linen in Ireland but have it made up by a Thai seamstress in Paris (whose genius has been supported by purchase of suitable premises). All this and much more she has learned, governed by a parent of ferociously lofty standards. But at 17, during the annual Ramadan travels, she finds all assumptions overturned. Will she be able to fend for herself? Will the dictates of good taste suffice when she must deal, singlehanded, with the sharks of New York?]]> 69 Helen DeWitt 0811230074 nam 3 serotonin-booster 4.06 2022
author: Helen DeWitt
name: nam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: serotonin-booster
review:

]]> 59366223 �The Great Displacement is closely observed, compassionate, and far-sighted.� —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Under a White Sky

The untold story of climate migration in the United States—the personal stories of those experiencing displacement, the portraits of communities being torn apart by disaster, and the implications for all of us as we confront a changing future.

Even as climate change dominates the headlines, many of us still think about it in the future tense—we imagine that as global warming gets worse over the coming decades, millions of people will scatter around the world fleeing famine and rising seas. What we often don’t realize is that the consequences of climate change are already visible, right here in the United States. In communities across the country, climate disasters are pushing thousands of people away from their homes.

A human-centered narrative with national scope, The Great Displacement is “a vivid tour of the new human geography just coming into view� (David Wallace-Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Uninhabitable Earth). From half-drowned Louisiana to fire-scorched California, from the dried-up cotton fields of Arizona to the soaked watersheds of inland North Carolina, people are moving. In the last few decades, the federal government has moved tens of thousands of families away from flood zones, and tens of thousands more have moved of their own accord in the aftermath of natural disasters. Insurance and mortgage markets are already shifting to reflect mounting climate risk, pricing people out of risky areas.

Over the next fifty years, millions of Americans will be caught up in this churn of displacement, forced inland and northward in what will be the largest migration in our country’s history. The Great Displacement compassionately tells the stories of those who are already experiencing life on the move, while detailing just how radically climate change will transform our lives—erasing historic towns and villages, pushing people toward new areas, and reshaping the geography of the United States.]]> 368 Jake Bittle 1982178256 nam 0 to-read 4.27 2023
author: Jake Bittle
name: nam
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215020997 London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.]]> 560 Victoria E. Schwab 1035064642 nam 0 to-read 4.38 2025
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: nam
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

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

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 nam 0 to-read 4.44 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: nam
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213395439 A beautiful reclamation of a pioneering South Asian actress captures her glittering, complicated life and lasting impact on Hollywood.

Merle Oberon attained Hollywood immortality with a nomination for a Best Leading Actress Oscar for her role in the 1936 film The Dark Angel. It was the first time a performer of color had received an acting nomination at the Academy Awards, but because Oberon concealed her South Asian identity throughout her lifetime and “passed� for white, very few people knew it. In Love, Queenie, the first biography in more than forty years of the India-born actress, Mayukh Sen draws on family interviews and previously untapped archival research to animate the Wuthering Heights star’s hard-won journey to fame. From an upbringing in poverty, she rose to the highest echelons of the film-world elite during Hollywood’s racially exclusionary Golden Age. A major biography of an often-overlooked talent, Love, Queenie empathetically captures one woman’s story while illuminating truths on race, gender, and power that still resonate today.]]> 320 Mayukh Sen 1324050810 nam 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Mayukh Sen
name: nam
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 139400713 Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 331 Kaveh Akbar 0593537610 nam 0 to-read 4.22 2024
author: Kaveh Akbar
name: nam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213309864
Neither is the encounter with an enemy soldier.

Returning home to Alaha, she’s confronted with the aftermath of the day’s events. The future is uncertain as the threat of hunger looms over the people. With rumors of a growing rebellion, Brynn and her closest friends promise to stick together.

When an unexpected visitor arrives, Brynn’s loyalty will be tested as she learns of a world of magic and treachery. Once her enemy, always her enemy, right? But the dark, knowing eyes of a stranger make her question everything�

…including her heart.]]> 497 Rachel Schneider nam 0 to-read 4.29
author: Rachel Schneider
name: nam
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36454667 Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy.

It was not his war.
On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. The galaxy remembers him as a the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.
But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.
Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.]]> 753 Christopher Ruocchio 0756413028 nam 0 to-read 4.01 2018
author: Christopher Ruocchio
name: nam
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 157205597 A woman’s ambitions clash with familial expectations in a captivating novel about generational secrets and self-discovery by the bestselling author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave.

Raised by her mother and grandmother and tutored in the healing wonders of spices, Tulsi Gupta is expected to carry on the ancestral tradition from her family’s Salem spice shop. Restless and reluctant, Tulsi yearns to follow her own path—destiny has other plans.

When Tulsi finds a letter written by her grandmother, addressed and never sent, that speaks of a long-ago betrayal, she decides to unravel the mystery as a distraction. But Tulsi stumbles into much more than she bargained for. With each new discovery, she learns there’s much more to her mother and grandmother than their expertise in the remedial aromas of coriander and cloves. When an attractive neighbor begins renovating the shuttered deli next door, Tulsi finds the courage to break her routine and chase the unexpected.

As Tulsi digs into the past and secrets come to light, she’s determined to heal old family wounds and find her true purpose—and maybe even love—every step of the way.]]> 281 Namrata Patel nam 2 4.00
author: Namrata Patel
name: nam
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 57143893 The highly anticipated, edge-of-your-seat conclusion to the addictive A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series that reads like your favorite true crime podcast or show. By the end, you'll never think the same of good girls again.

Pip's good girl days are long behind her. After solving two murder cases and garnering internet fame from her crime podcast, she's seen a lot.

But she's still blindsided when it starts to feel like someone is watching her. It's small things at first. A USB stick with footage recording her and the same anonymous source always asking her: who will look for you when you're the one who disappears? It could be a harmless fan, but her gut is telling her danger is lurking.

When Pip starts to find connections between her possible stalker and a local serial killer, Pip knows that there is only one choice: find the person threatening her town including herself--or be as good as dead. Because maybe someone has been watching her all along...]]> 458 Holly Jackson 059337987X nam 4 good-plot 3.99 2021
author: Holly Jackson
name: nam
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: good-plot
review:

]]> 37794149
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.]]> 448 Arkady Martine 1529001587 nam 3 oh-my-world 4.08 2019
author: Arkady Martine
name: nam
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: oh-my-world
review:
one of the most unique SFFs i've ever read, just incredibly slow moving. will definitely pick up the sequel at some point
]]> 57187860
A monster stalks the gaslit streets of Edwardian London, draining the blood of the city’s mediums. Lily Albright knows who’s next.

Lily is plagued by visions of the future she can never change. When a mysterious fiend threatens someone she loves, she’s determined this time will be different.

But she ³¦²¹²Ô’t do it alone. To save a life, Lily must reveal her darkest secrets to someone she has little reason to trust—the reclusive Lord Strangford, a man haunted by his own unusual powers.

From the glittering galleries of Bond Street to the rookeries of Southwark, Lily and Strangford plunge into a dark conspiracy that lies at the heart of England’s rising eugenics movement. To thwart it, Lily must face a past rife with betrayal—and embrace the power she has spent her entire life trying to escape.]]> 498 Jacquelyn Benson 1734559918 nam 0 to-read 4.06 2020
author: Jacquelyn Benson
name: nam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63241097 A shocking thriller about a cold case, a fictional true crime series, and the family caught in the middle.

SIX EPISODES. ONE KILLER.

It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

Luke Ryder's murder has never been solved. Everyone present around the time of the murder swears they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

But some murder cases are simply too big to forget...

Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating--and perhaps cracking--this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited--on camera. The truth will come out.

Are you ready to see it?]]> 466 Cara Hunter 0063272075 nam 3 3.70 2023
author: Cara Hunter
name: nam
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X nam 4 4.05 2022
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: nam
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: good-romance, serotonin-booster
review:

]]> 63910262 In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.]]> 437 Rachel Gillig 0356519503 nam 3 good-romance 4.39 2023
author: Rachel Gillig
name: nam
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: good-romance
review:

]]> 58340706
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.]]> 399 Rachel Gillig 0316312487 nam 4 character-love, good-plot 4.26 2022
author: Rachel Gillig
name: nam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: character-love, good-plot
review:

]]> 7896527 Meet Celaena Sardothien.

Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, Celaena, an assassin, is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas nam 3 i-hate-it-here 4.19 2012
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: nam
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: i-hate-it-here
review:

]]> 54985743 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?]]> 400 Emily Henry 1984806750 nam 3
i did feel like the book's structure of talking about each of their vacations in depth slightly hindered the overall pacing, and it did feel like we were circling the same topics/dialogues over and over again throughout the middle chunk of the book and tbh just needed them to move forward. i also had a hard time with [spoilers removed].

i think so far out of all the emily henry books, book lovers is still the best one i've read so far lol

book lovers > PWMOV > happy place > beach read]]> 3.85 2021
author: Emily Henry
name: nam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:
one of the best friends to lovers ive ever read! loved reading about the various summer vacations they went on, overall was just a fun lighthearted beach read tbh.

i did feel like the book's structure of talking about each of their vacations in depth slightly hindered the overall pacing, and it did feel like we were circling the same topics/dialogues over and over again throughout the middle chunk of the book and tbh just needed them to move forward. i also had a hard time with [spoilers removed].

i think so far out of all the emily henry books, book lovers is still the best one i've read so far lol

book lovers > PWMOV > happy place > beach read
]]> 50659468
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.]]> 626 Sarah J. Maas 1635575583 nam 2 4.65 2016
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: nam
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 nam 2 4.16 2015
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: nam
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 195430687 Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.

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

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.]]> 342 Coco Mellors 0593723767 nam 4 3.94 2024
author: Coco Mellors
name: nam
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 127464148 A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous

Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansions dark corridors.

Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil’s long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion’s unsettling qualities—the strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at night—she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades.

Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time, with faded photographs of a couple in love and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, the original owner’s second wife, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who once loved Meena and has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, awakening the memories of the house itself—and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.

Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.]]> 320 Shubnum Khan 0593653459 nam 0 to-read 3.80 2024
author: Shubnum Khan
name: nam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 181865600
A mother and a son. A goddess and a prince. A curse and an oath. A river whose course will change the fate of the world.

Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse.

Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind.

Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga’s curse. And when he makes an oath that he will never claim his father’s throne, he sets in motion a chain of events that will end in a terrible and tragic war.

As the years unfold, Ganga and Devavrata are drawn together again and again, each confluence another step on a path that has been written in the stars, in this deeply moving and masterful tale of duty, destiny, and the unwavering bond between mother and son.]]> 496 Vaishnavi Patel 035652020X nam 0 to-read 3.78 2024
author: Vaishnavi Patel
name: nam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209456186 Vikram Seth and Thrity Umrigar meet Rebecca in this sweeping multi-generational debut novel by accomplished television executive Nayantara Roy, about a young Indian American book editor from Brooklyn who returns to Kolkata when she learns that she has inherited her family’s enormous ancestral home, and the secrets that lie within it.


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


As Lila tries to come to terms with both past and present, long-suppressed secrets from her family emerge, culminating in an act of shocking violence, and she must finally reckon with her inherited custom of keeping everything under the surface. For fans of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews, The Magnificent Ruins is an utterly addictive read.]]> 448 Nayantara Roy 1643755846 nam 0 to-read 3.83 2024
author: Nayantara Roy
name: nam
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197144545 A forbidden affair erupts dramatically amid a decadent Hawaiian wedding in this hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex—and the lies we tell about them all.
Ìý
Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel, has a problem: his family fortune, the legendary Gresham Trust, has been depleted by decades of profligate spending. While magazine covers and Instagram stories display impeccably designed manors and shiny new yachts, the secret reality holds nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus’s scheming mother, is for Rufus to seduce a woman with money, thereby securing the family's precarious financial future.

Should he marry Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress with honey-blond tresses and a royal bloodline? Should he pursue Martha Dung, the tattooed venture capital genius who passes out billions like lollipops? Or should he follow his heart, betray his family, squander his legacy, and finally confess his love to the literal girl next door, the humble daughter of a doctor, Eden Tong?

When the Gresham family descends on the Big Island of Hawaii to host a veritable who's who of sultans, barons, and oligarchs for the wedding of the decade, Rufus must merely flex his famous abs to bewitch the heiress of his choice. But instead a hot mic exposes a secret tryst, a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials, and the Gresham family's plans—and their reputation—go up in flames.

Can the once-great earldom rise from the ashes? Or will a secret tragedy, hidden for two decades, reveal a shocking twist? Spanning the black sand beaches of Hawaii, the red city of Marrakech, the Los Angeles bachelor pad of a billionaire playboy, and the inner sanctum of England’s oldest family estate, Lies and Weddings reveals an enthralling family saga that is as scandalous and satirical as it is full of heart.]]> 437 Kevin Kwan 0385546297 nam 0 to-read 3.69 2024
author: Kevin Kwan
name: nam
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 nam 0 to-read 4.59 2024
author: Kristin Hannah
name: nam
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 150072956
Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all―he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for―Marco's already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike―and after Finlay's night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?]]> 320 Elle Cosimano 1250846005 nam 4
love them, love the plot, love their relationships and the side characters, love their growth, and absolutely love this book can't wait for the next one]]> 3.88 2024
author: Elle Cosimano
name: nam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/20
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: best-of-2024, character-love, serotonin-booster, good-plot
review:
one thing about finlay and vero theyre gonna serve every time!

love them, love the plot, love their relationships and the side characters, love their growth, and absolutely love this book can't wait for the next one
]]> 60784612
Mob boss Feliks is still running the show from behind bars, and he has a task for Finlay: find and identify a contract killer before the cops do. The problem is, the killer might be an officer themself.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has just been tasked with starting up a citizen's police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay's looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with a tempting detective), Finlay and Vero use their time in police academy to sleuth out the real contract killer to free themselves from the mob's clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero's past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.

From USA Today bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun—the highly anticipated, hilarious, and heart-pounding next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan ²õ±ð°ù¾±±ð²õâ€�]]> 304 Elle Cosimano 125084603X nam 4
just as much as a page-turner as the last two books, and i thought the police academy setting was such a unique touch! it's actually a crime against humanity having to wait till next year but im excited to see what's next in store for finlay and vero!]]> 3.80 2023
author: Elle Cosimano
name: nam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/14
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: serotonin-booster, best-of-2023
review:
the way i finished this book the same day it was released...

just as much as a page-turner as the last two books, and i thought the police academy setting was such a unique touch! it's actually a crime against humanity having to wait till next year but im excited to see what's next in store for finlay and vero!
]]> 27189194
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid nam 3 4.03 2016
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: nam
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves:
review:
not bad kinda mid, absolutely criminal we didn't get survivor era jesse povs
]]> 54981009
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]> 307 Laura Dave 1501171348 nam 3
not a bad book to start 2024 with to be fair, was it the best thriller i've ever read? no, but it's nothing if not a pageturner. maybe it's bc im used to books with higher stakes, but i was generally expecting more significant/intense plot points than what the MC's clickbait-esque thoughts constantly alluded to.
i'm also not a huge fan of using an unexplainable "dark and shadowy evil" trope to explain away why certain events/motives/actions take place ([spoilers removed]). i think it's a solid book if you dont look too much into it. ]]> 3.78 2021
author: Laura Dave
name: nam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/06
date added: 2024/01/06
shelves:
review:
the one good thing that came out of reading this book was that it passed time

not a bad book to start 2024 with to be fair, was it the best thriller i've ever read? no, but it's nothing if not a pageturner. maybe it's bc im used to books with higher stakes, but i was generally expecting more significant/intense plot points than what the MC's clickbait-esque thoughts constantly alluded to.
i'm also not a huge fan of using an unexplainable "dark and shadowy evil" trope to explain away why certain events/motives/actions take place ([spoilers removed]). i think it's a solid book if you dont look too much into it.
]]> 50056075 A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.

When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, a hurt and angry Anna decides that if he wants an open relationship, then she does, too. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better.

That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. Their first attempt at a one-night stand fails, as does their second, and their third, because being with Quan is more than sex—he accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she herself has just started to understand. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family she takes on a role that she is ill-suited for, until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.]]> 339 Helen Hoang 0451490843 nam 4 character-love, good-romance 3.91 2021
author: Helen Hoang
name: nam
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/01
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: character-love, good-romance
review:

]]> 61918816 A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin�-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass� scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,â€� and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she ³¦²¹²Ô’t refuse.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 1538704390 nam 2 4.29 2023
author: Abby Jimenez
name: nam
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2023/12/31
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