Jen's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 19 Apr 2025 05:02:55 -0700 60 Jen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg All the Colors of the Dark 203019740 From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

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

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

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

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Jen 0 currently-reading 4.23 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Pirate Girls (Hellbent, #2) 44552126
Brothers. Twins.

My cousins.

In a way, they’re my family. Protective. Indulgent. My best friends. But there was something else there, too. That ever-present whisper that reminded me more as I got older that we didn’t actually share any blood.

They used to be inseparable. We all were, but not anymore. I don’t know why Hunter left or why he joined a rival team in Weston—that Rebel town across the river—to stand on the opposite side of the field from his brother, but Kade is out for blood now and Hunter has finally decided to engage.

Rivalry Week.

Parades. Parties. Pranks.

And the Prisoner Exchange.

Weston will send a hostage to our school, and they’re taking me. I’m Hunter’s for two weeks. In a dilapidated brownstone on a nearly abandoned street with almost no supervision.

Ten days in an enemy school. Fourteen nights in a town full of bullies with no curfews and no rules.

And Hunter has no intention of protecting his little cousin anymore.

The Pirates will come for me. How can they not? A Pirate never sits out on the fun.

But I never needed protection or rescue, because a Pirate never runs, either.

*Pirate Girls is a new adult romance suitable for ages 18+.]]> 596 Penelope Douglas Jen 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Pirate Girls (Hellbent, #2)
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> Never Lie 211639060 New 0 Freida McFadden 0143464523 Jen 0 to-read 4.37 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: Jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Let Them Theory 216351768
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words�Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins�New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control Stop comparing yourself to other peopleBreak free from fear and self-doubtRelease the grip of people's expectationsBuild the best friendships of your lifeCreate the love you deservePursue what truly matters to you with confidenceBuild resilience against everyday stressors and distractionsDefine your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory now and discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words.]]> 311 Mel Robbins 1401971377 Jen 0 currently-reading 4.17 2024 The Let Them Theory
author: Mel Robbins
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)]]> 28187230 341 Ruth Ware 1501132938 Jen 2 3.73 2016 The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Jen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
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]]> Confess 22609310
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?]]> 306 Colleen Hoover 1476791457 Jen 0 to-read 4.14 2015 Confess
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Jen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)]]> 27276318 Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up � she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating� rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan � her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.]]> 367 Colleen Hoover Jen 5 4.21 2016 It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Jen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Toxic 199249727
Marrying an abusive man was the first... but falling for a dangerous inmate where I’m a nurse may be the worst.

He’s brutal, heartless, and twisted.

But he’s also the only one to notice the bruises on my skin.

His forbidden touch becomes my addiction.
His drugging kisses my obsession.

After I learn the truth about why he’s in prison, I try to escape, but but he finds me.

Now I'm his prisoner.]]> 268 Nicole Blanchard Jen 0 to-read 3.49 Toxic
author: Nicole Blanchard
name: Jen
average rating: 3.49
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Disgraced Playboy (The Notorious Wolfes, #2)]]> 11798383
No one denies Lucas anything. Women fall at his feet and into his bed at the click of his fingers. His life is charmed, reckless and carefree--he is definitely a bad boy.

Grace Carter knows uncontrollable Lucas could ruin her career, and she won't tolerate his wayward behavior, despite their chemistry. But working with Lucas is thrilling, and after just a small dose of his magic, even Grace's prim-and-proper shell begins to splinter...]]> 188 Caitlin Crews 145920915X Jen 3 gave-up-on, to-read 3.61 2011 The Disgraced Playboy (The Notorious Wolfes, #2)
author: Caitlin Crews
name: Jen
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: gave-up-on, to-read
review:

]]> The Women 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 Jen 5 4.58 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Jen
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
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]]> Husbands & Lovers 199223201 Two women—separated by decades and continents, and united by a mysterious family heirloom—discover second chances at love in this sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives.

New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams� one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal.

Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.

Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues—of privilege, class, and the female experience—inside worlds brought shimmeringly to life.]]> 384 Beatriz Williams 0593724224 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 2024 Husbands & Lovers
author: Beatriz Williams
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> Meet Me at the Lake 61797464
At thirty-two, Fern's life doesn't look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern's back home, running her mother's Muskoka lakeside resort—something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend's the manager, and Fern doesn't know where to begin.

She needs a plan—a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern's going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern's not sure she wants to know what it is.

But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?]]> 336 Carley Fortune 0735243786 Jen 0 to-read 3.66 2023 Meet Me at the Lake
author: Carley Fortune
name: Jen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> I Have to Save Them 200653620
Surrounded by thick fog from the nearby forest, Orli stumbles from the cattle truck onto the frostbitten grounds of Auschwitz. Betrayed by her own husband for being a German resistance fighter, she has no one left in the world, and this is now her home.

Orli breathes a sign of relief when her nursing skills mean she’s assigned to work in the infirmary. Even in this hell on earth, she can still try to save some lives. But when she’s instructed to assist Dr Josef Mengele, she soon learns that he is known as The Angel of Death, and is the most feared man in Auschwitz. At his evil hands, thousands of inmates are cruelly killed and experimented on. And if Orli is to survive, she will have to help him. But how can she live with herself if she sentences her fellow inmates to death?

As she stares into his eyes, she soon realises her resistance work is not over. She has to stay and find a way to stop this monster—even if that means she will pay the ultimate price.

Inspired by the incredible true story of Orli Reichert, this unforgettable World War Two novel brings to life the powerful tale of a woman who risked everything to fight against evil. Fans of The Choice and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will be utterly gripped by this unputdownable page-turner.]]> 262 Ellie Midwood 183790961X Jen 0 to-read 4.41 2024 I Have to Save Them
author: Ellie Midwood
name: Jen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Pretty Girls 25574782
Now another girl has disappeared, with chilling echoes of the past. And it seems that she might not be the only one.

Claire is convinced Julia's disappearance is linked.

But when she begins to learn the truth about her sister, she is confronted with a shocking discovery, and nothing will ever be the same...]]> 432 Karin Slaughter 0062430874 Jen 0 to-read 3.99 2015 Pretty Girls
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Five Brothers 201102380 One woman learns the secrets of the five Jaeger brothers.

On the other side of town, in the dark glades, under the rain�

Macon is the oldest. Thirty-one. Ex-Marine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile.

Army is twenty-eight. A single dad with the most beautiful green eyes. He has no idea who he is, if not a Jaeger brother.

Iron will be in prison soon. You’d never think it to meet him. He’s a nice guy, actually. But he can’t stop reacting to everything.

Dallas is the one I hate. Twenty-one, cruel, and selfish. He takes and then throws away whatever’s left.

And Trace is mine. Or he was for about two seconds. No one can tame him for long.

Not that I ever wanted to. It was fun, but now I need to go home. Back to my side of the tracks. Away from the swamps and these men. To my parents� big house. On my clean street. Where I’m never dirty or messy or hot. And I will. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. I just want to crash on the couch tonight.

Their house is dark and quiet, everyone else is asleep. Except for one. He sees me crying and comes at me from behind. I let him wrap his arms around my body and hold me tightly. His breath is on my neck, his fingers are in my hair, and he doesn’t stop there.

I don’t think it was Trace.]]> 560 Penelope Douglas 0593816579 Jen 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Five Brothers
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Friends with Secrets 203288914 In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.

What you see isn’t always what you get.

Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben—aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune—in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley has no idea what she’s doing and is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.

Nikki’s fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She’s a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation—and the paycheck—of the television news career she left behind.

When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past becomes a coach at her kids� school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.

Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives—and their new friendship—in the process?]]> 392 Christine Gunderson 1662517661 Jen 0 to-read 4.10 2024 Friends with Secrets
author: Christine Gunderson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

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

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

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

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Jen 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Jen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)]]> 62873996
Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258776 Jen 0 to-read 3.95 2023 The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Jen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Falls Boys (Hellbent, #1) 37906154 The HELLBENT Series—a spin-off to the Fall Away series—is coming!

“The kids are growing up—different from their parents but the same in so many ways…�

ARO
Hawken Trent. So polite. So sweet. Such an upstanding young man.
A virgin, too, I hear. He never gets naughty with a girl. Probably because Jesus told him not to. And now here he is, trying to be the hero by protecting another girl from me.

He calls me a bully. Irrational. Unreasonable. A criminal. He can call me anything he wants, I’ve heard worse.

And he can try to stand between me and my money, but he’s never had to fight for food. That rich, clean, school boy doesn’t have what it takes.

HAWKE
I surprised her. You should’ve seen her face.

Just because I don’t have a record, honey, doesn’t mean I’m clean. It just means I’m better at not getting caught.

That is until I realize I might’ve actually gone too far this time.

She’s there. I’m there. The scene of the crime.

It’s dark. The police show up.

We have no choice. We run. Down High Street, into Quinn’s bake shop, and I pull her through the entrance to the old speakeasy that everyone forgot was here decades ago.

The door locks, the cops circle the building, never knowing we’re right here, and I’m hidden in plain sight, indefinitely, with someone’s who’s awful.

Mean. Rough. Dirty.

A thief. A delinquent.

Until one night, lost in all of these rooms together, I don’t see any of those things anymore.

She’s smart. Daring. Soft.

Hot...

Everything’s changing. It’s this place. It does something to people.

We have a silly urban legend in Shelburne Falls about mirrors. They’re a gateway.

Don’t lean back into them.

But we came through front first.

I don’t care what the county records say. This was never a speakeasy.

It’s Carnival Tower.

*FALLS BOYS is a standalone New Adult romance suitable for readers 18+. Reading the Falls Away series first is helpful but not necessary.]]> 501 Penelope Douglas Jen 4 3.90 2022 Falls Boys (Hellbent, #1)
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
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review:

]]> The Great Alone 34912895 Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents� passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights� lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.]]> 435 Kristin Hannah Jen 0 to-read 4.44 2018 The Great Alone
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Jen
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Jen 4 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/03/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[They Both Die at the End (Death-Cast, #1)]]> 33385229
Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.]]> 389 Adam Silvera 0062457799 Jen 0 to-read 3.76 2017 They Both Die at the End (Death-Cast, #1)
author: Adam Silvera
name: Jen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Forgiving What You Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That's Beautiful Again]]> 52645353 *#1 New York Times Bestseller*

You deserve to stop suffering because of what other people have done to you.

Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can't go on like this, but you don't know what to do next. Lysa TerKeurst has wrestled through this journey. But in surprising ways, she's discovered how to let go of bound-up resentment and overcome the resistance to forgiving people who aren't willing to make things right.

With deep empathy, therapeutic insight, and rich Bible teaching coming out of more than 1,000 hours of theological study, Lysa will help you:


Learn how to move on when the other person refuses to change and never says they're sorry.
Walk through a step-by-step process to free yourself from the hurt of your past and feel less offended today.
Discover what the Bible really says about forgiveness and the peace that comes from living it out right now.
Identify what's stealing trust and vulnerability from your relationships so you can believe there is still good ahead.
Disempower the triggers hijacking your emotions by embracing the two necessary parts of forgiveness.]]> 288 Lysa TerKeurst 0718039882 Jen 0 gave-up-on 4.10 Forgiving What You Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That's Beautiful Again
author: Lysa TerKeurst
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves: gave-up-on
review:

]]> One True Loves 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 Jen 0 to-read 4.03 2016 One True Loves
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/25
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]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

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

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X Jen 0 to-read 4.03 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> The Woman in Me 63133205 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

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

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]> 288 Britney Spears 1668009048 Jen 0 to-read 3.83 2023 The Woman in Me
author: Britney Spears
name: Jen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> The Paris Daughter 62327255 From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.

More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.]]> 384 Kristin Harmel 1982191708 Jen 0 to-read 4.18 2023 The Paris Daughter
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Jen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> Everyone Here Is Lying 63139946 Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery's family declare her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth. ]]> 336 Shari Lapena 0593489934 Jen 0 to-read 3.75 2023 Everyone Here Is Lying
author: Shari Lapena
name: Jen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Room on Rue Amelie 35297316
When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, her marriage begins to splinter, too.

Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans roll into the French capital, their sinister swastika flags snapping in the breeze. After the Jewish restrictions take effect and Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, Charlotte can’t imagine things getting much worse. But then the mass deportations begin, and her life is ripped forever apart.

Thomas Clarke joins the British Royal Air Force to protect his country, but when his beloved mother dies in a German bombing during the waning days of the Blitz, he wonders if he’s really making a difference. Then he finds himself in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and he discovers a new reason to keep fighting—and an unexpected road home.

When fate brings them together, Ruby, Charlotte, and Thomas must summon the courage to defy the Nazis—and to open their own broken hearts—as they fight to survive. Rich with historical drama and emotional depth, this is an unforgettable story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.]]> 400 Kristin Harmel 1501171402 Jen 0 to-read 4.16 2018 The Room on Rue Amelie
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> Never Lie 62080187
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate� with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]> 286 Freida McFadden Jen 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> After I Do 18775359 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781476712840.

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid Jen 0 to-read 3.91 2014 After I Do
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Child Called "It" (Dave Pelzer, #1)]]> 60748 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games—games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive—dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.]]> 184 Dave Pelzer Jen 0 to-read 4.14 1995 A Child Called "It" (Dave Pelzer, #1)
author: Dave Pelzer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/06/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 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 Jen 3 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/22
date added: 2023/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge]]> 4372

A Finalist for the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.]]> 336 Chanrithy Him 0393322106 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 2000 When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge
author: Chanrithy Him
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Paris Apartment 58468990 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide�

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up � to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? � he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite � The nice guy � The alcoholic � The girl on the verge � The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 Jen 0 to-read 3.63 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Jen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> The Wife Upstairs 53137893 A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates� most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?]]> 290 Rachel Hawkins 1250245494 Jen 0 to-read 3.71 2021 The Wife Upstairs
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Jen
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> Not a Happy Family 56366617
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you'd know.

Wouldn't you?]]> 349 Shari Lapena 1984880551 Jen 0 to-read 3.74 2021 Not a Happy Family
author: Shari Lapena
name: Jen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> I'm Glad My Mom Died 59364173
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!�), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy Jen 0 to-read 4.45 2022 I'm Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Jen
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> Lessons in Chemistry 58065033 390 Bonnie Garmus Jen 0 to-read 4.23 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Jen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> Punk 57 41021967
Misha

I can’t help but smile at the words in her letter. She misses me.

In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.

It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever�

And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.

Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.

We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?

Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?

F*ck it. I need to meet her.

I just don’t expect to hate what I find.

Ryen

He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.

Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should've gotten his number or picture or something.

He could be gone forever.

Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.]]> 343 Penelope Douglas 1952646049 Jen 5 3.76 2016 Punk 57
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2017/01/10
date added: 2023/02/07
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]]> In My Dreams I Hold a Knife 50485649 Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.

A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent—not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year. Ten years ago, everything fell apart, including the dreams she worked for her whole life—and her relationship with the one person she wasn’t supposed to love.

But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years� worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.

Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won’t be able to put down.]]> 345 Ashley Winstead 172822988X Jen 0 to-read 3.79 2021 In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Jen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

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

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Jen 0 to-read 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Jen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/23
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]]> We Were Never Here 56084054 An annual backpacking trip has deadly consequences in a chilling new novel from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.

Emily is having the time of her life--she's in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of their trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she'd been flirting with attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year's trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can't believe it's happened again--can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving head-first into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her friend's motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their coverups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can she outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom--even her life?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781984820464.]]> 304 Andrea Bartz Jen 0 to-read 3.46 2021 We Were Never Here
author: Andrea Bartz
name: Jen
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> Anxious People 49127718 A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.

Includes short story - The Last Round of Golf]]> 336 Fredrik Backman 198216963X Jen 0 to-read 4.17 2019 Anxious People
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/05
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review:

]]> The Woman with the Blue Star 54737067
1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents in the KrakĂłw Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous tunnels beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.

Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.

Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by incredible true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an unforgettable testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.]]> 336 Pam Jenoff 0778389383 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 2021 The Woman with the Blue Star
author: Pam Jenoff
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga, #5)]]> 53287484 When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella’s side of the story. At last, readers can experience Edward’s version in the long-awaited companion novel, Midnight Sun.

This unforgettable tale as told through Edward’s eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting beautiful, mysterious Bella is both the most intriguing and unnerving event he has experienced in his long life as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward’s past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he let himself fall in love with Bella when he knows that he is endangering her life?

In Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer transports us back to a world that has captivated millions of readers and, drawing on the classic myth of Hades and Persephone, brings us an epic novel about the profound pleasures and devastating consequences of immortal love.]]> 662 Stephenie Meyer 031670704X Jen 0 to-read 3.72 2020 Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga, #5)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Jen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> Bring Me Back 36448554
Twelve years later, Finn has built a new life with Ellen, Layla’s sister, when he receives a phone call. Someone has seen Layla. But is it her � or someone pretending to be her? If it is her, what does she want? And what does she know about the night she disappeared?]]> 291 B.A. Paris 1250151333 Jen 0 to-read 3.45 2018 Bring Me Back
author: B.A. Paris
name: Jen
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Therapist 54860390 A gripping psychological suspense and a powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive�

As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.

Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…]]> 298 B.A. Paris 1250274125 Jen 0 to-read 3.72 2021 The Therapist
author: B.A. Paris
name: Jen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Whole30's Food Freedom Forever: Letting Go of Bad Habits, Guilt, and Anxiety Around Food]]> 41454980 The New York Times best-selling book, available in paperback for the first time. End the yo-yo dieting cycle . . . forever.�

Millions of people have successfully completed the groundbreaking Whole30 program and radically transformed their energy, sleep, cravings, waistline, and health. But after your Whole30, how do you make sure those new, healthy habits actually stick? In this New York Times best-selling book, available in paperback for the first time, Melissa Hartwig defines "food freedom" as being in control of the food you eat, instead of food controlling you. The Whole30 helps you jump-start the process, but as anyone who's dieted knows, holding on to that freedom and creating healthy habits that last is the hard part. The Whole30's Food Freedom Forever offers real solutions for breaking the cycle of yo-yo dieting and the resulting stress, weight gain, uncontrollable cravings, and health complaints.

In her detailed 3-part plan, Melissa shows you how to discover food freedom for yourself, no matter how out of control you feel; walk a self-directed path that keeps you in control for months on end; gracefully recover when you slip back into old habits; and create the kind of food freedom that stays with you for the rest of your life. The Whole30's Food Freedom Forever walks you through the Whole30 program and teaches you how customize your reset for improving and stabilizing energy, getting a handle on stubborn sugar cravings, reducing systemic inflammation, and fine-tuning your vegan diet. You’ll learn how to spot your specific triggers before they’re pulled and new strategies for dealing with temptation, strengthening your new healthy habits, and boosting your willpower. Melissa also shares advice for retaining your food freedom during holidays, vacations, periods of life stress, social pressure, and skepticism from friends and family. By the last page, you’ll have a detailed plan for creating the perfect diet for you, finding your own healthy balance, and maintaining the kind of control that brings you real food freedom every day.]]> 272 Melissa Urban 0358097428 Jen 4 4.11 The Whole30's Food Freedom Forever: Letting Go of Bad Habits, Guilt, and Anxiety Around Food
author: Melissa Urban
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/07
date added: 2021/06/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Jen 5 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Jen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/18
date added: 2021/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Because You Are Mine (Because You Are Mine, #1)]]> 16072999 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling Author Beth Kery presents Because You Are Mine, an exciting tale of erotic obsession.

When they met, the instant attraction was unmistakable…a purely, exquisitely physical charge. Succumbing to their desires is the easy part. But when passion opens the door to an intimacy neither has known, can a man known for being unbendable learn to love?]]> 368 Beth Kery 0425266451 Jen 0 to-read 3.88 2013 Because You Are Mine (Because You Are Mine, #1)
author: Beth Kery
name: Jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> White Rose, Black Forest 35889209 In the shadows of World War II, trust becomes the greatest risk of all for two strangers.

December 1943. In the years before the rise of Hitler, the Gerber family’s summer cottage was filled with laughter. Now, as deep drifts of snow blanket the Black Forest, German dissenter Franka Gerber is alone and hopeless. Fervor and brutality have swept through her homeland, taking away both her father and her brother and leaving her with no reason to live.

That is, until she discovers an unconscious airman lying in the snow wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, his parachute flapping in the wind. Unwilling to let him die, Franka takes him to her family’s isolated cabin despite her hatred for the regime he represents. But when it turns out that he is not who he seems, Franka begins a race against time to unravel the mystery of the airman’s true identity. Their tenuous bond becomes as inseparable as it is dangerous. Hunted by the Gestapo, can they trust each other enough to join forces on a mission that could change the face of the war and their own lives forever?]]> 259 Eoin Dempsey 1503954056 Jen 0 to-read 3.88 2018 White Rose, Black Forest
author: Eoin Dempsey
name: Jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/11
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]]> <![CDATA[If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood]]> 45299992
After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

]]> 431 Gregg Olsen 1542005248 Jen 0 to-read 3.99 2019 If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Finding Rebecca 22485178
After Christopher and his family are deported back to their native Germany, he volunteers for the Nazi SS, desperate to save the woman he loves. He is posted to Auschwitz and finds himself put in control of the money stolen from the victims of the gas chambers. As Christopher searches for Rebecca, he struggles to not only maintain his cover, but also the grip on his soul. Managing the river of tainted money flowing through the horrific world of Auschwitz may give him unexpected opportunities. But will it give him the strength to accept a brave new fate that could change his life—and others� lives—forever?]]> 310 Eoin Dempsey 1477826106 Jen 0 to-read 3.91 2012 Finding Rebecca
author: Eoin Dempsey
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/25
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]]> A Fall of Marigolds 18114142 A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries …and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her? 

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers …the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?
]]> 370 Susan Meissner Jen 0 to-read 4.06 2014 A Fall of Marigolds
author: Susan Meissner
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/25
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]]> My Dark Vanessa 44890081
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.]]> 373 Kate Elizabeth Russell 006294150X Jen 0 to-read 4.09 2020 My Dark Vanessa
author: Kate Elizabeth Russell
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/24
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]]> The Alice Network 32051912
1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the "queen of spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.]]> 503 Kate Quinn 0062654195 Jen 0 to-read 4.30 2017 The Alice Network
author: Kate Quinn
name: Jen
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/22
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]]> Greenlights 52838315 From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.�

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights - and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.]]> 289 Matthew McConaughey 0593139135 Jen 0 to-read 4.21 2020 Greenlights
author: Matthew McConaughey
name: Jen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/21
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]]> The Four Winds 53138081 Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250178602]]> 464 Kristin Hannah 1250178606 Jen 0 to-read 4.27 2021 The Four Winds
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Jen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/16
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]]> The Last Flight 52652923 Two women. Two Flights. One last chance to disappear.

Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.

A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets � Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.

The Last Flight is the story of two women � both alone, both scared � and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.]]> 320 Julie Clark 1728215722 Jen 0 to-read 4.02 2020 The Last Flight
author: Julie Clark
name: Jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Fire Night (Devil's Night, 4.5)]]> 56143170 "Nothing, not even Devil's Night, was more magical, because tonight was the longest night of the year. It was special."

The clock at St. Killian’s chimes as whispers float in the dark staircase above.

Snow falls from the black sky beyond the windows, and candles glow, the flames lighting up the longest night of the year.â�
â�
Devil’s Night isn’t the only holiday we celebrate. Tonight, we’re pulling on a different mask.â�
â�
Some call it Midwinter.â�
â�
Others call it Yule.â�
â�
We call it Fire Night.â�
â�
***
â�
FIRE NIGHT is a 28K word holiday novella.]]> 98 Penelope Douglas 1952646111 Jen 3 4.05 2020 Fire Night (Devil's Night, 4.5)
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/10
date added: 2021/02/10
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]]> <![CDATA[It’s Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life]]> 52610702 224 Kathie Lee Gifford 0785236643 Jen 0 to-read 3.97 It’s Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life
author: Kathie Lee Gifford
name: Jen
average rating: 3.97
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rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts]]> 52780142 You can choose hope in the midst of chaos. The visionary behind the million-strong IF:Gathering challenges you to exercise your God-given power to shift negative thinking patterns and take back control of your thoughts and emotions.

Are your thoughts holding you captive? I’ll never be good enough. Other people have better lives than I do. God couldn’t really love me. Jennie Allen knows what it’s like to swirl in a spiral of destructive thoughts, but she also knows we don’t have to stay stuck in toxic thinking patterns.

As she discovered in her own life, God built a way for us to escape that downward spiral. Freedom comes when we refuse to be victims to our thoughts and realize we have already been equipped with power from God to fight and win the war for our minds.

In Get Out of Your Head, Jennie inspires and equips us to transform our emotions, our outlook, and even our circumstances by taking control of our thoughts. Our enemy is determined to get in our heads to make us feel helpless, overwhelmed, and incapable of making a difference for the kingdom of God. But when we submit our minds to Christ, the promises and goodness of God flood our lives in remarkable ways.

It starts in your head. And from there, the possibilities are endless.]]> 223 Jennie Allen 1601429649 Jen 0 to-read 4.06 2020 Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts
author: Jennie Allen
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/07
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]]> In a Holidaze 50892287 Alternate cover edition can be found here

One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners..

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.
]]> 307 Christina Lauren 198212394X Jen 0 to-read 3.65 2020 In a Holidaze
author: Christina Lauren
name: Jen
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/28
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]]> The Book of Lost Names 52762903 The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named RĂ©my, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and RĂ©my disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.]]> 388 Kristin Harmel 1982131896 Jen 0 to-read 4.41 2020 The Book of Lost Names
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Jen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/17
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]]> The Things We Cannot Say 40899464
Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents� farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.

Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer creates an emotional and finely wrought narrative that weaves together two women’s stories into a tapestry of perseverance, loyalty, love and honor. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced…and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it.]]> 448 Kelly Rimmer 1525831518 Jen 0 to-read 4.51 2019 The Things We Cannot Say
author: Kelly Rimmer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society]]> 39832183 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE ON NETFLIX - A remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb...

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.]]> 291 Mary Ann Shaffer 1984801813 Jen 0 to-read 4.27 2008 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
author: Mary Ann Shaffer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/16
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]]> Pretty Little Wife 53441185 Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead?

Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth�.

With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.]]> 403 Darby Kane 0063016400 Jen 0 to-read 3.89 2020 Pretty Little Wife
author: Darby Kane
name: Jen
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/15
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]]> Ask Again, Yes 42201996
Ask Again, Yes is a moving novel about two families, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.]]> 388 Mary Beth Keane 1982106980 Jen 0 to-read 3.92 2019 Ask Again, Yes
author: Mary Beth Keane
name: Jen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/15
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Didn't See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart]]> 54710894 Fear. Grief. Loss. Betrayal. Rachel Hollis has felt all those things, and she knows you have too. Now, she takes you to the other side.

With her signature humor, heartfelt honesty, and intimate true-life stories, #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hollis shows readers how to seize difficult moments for the learning experiences they are and the value and growth they provide.

Rachel Hollis sees you. As the millions who read her #1 New York Times bestsellers Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing, attend her RISE conferences and follow her on social media know, she also wants to see you transform.

When it comes to the “hard seasons� of life—the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job—transformation seems impossible when grief and uncertainty dominate your days. Especially when, as Didn’t See that Coming reveals, no one asks to have their future completely rearranged for them. But, as Rachel writes, it is up to you how you come through your pain—you can come through changed for the better, having learned and grown, or stuck in place where your identity becomes rooted in what hurt you.

To Rachel, a life well-lived is one of purpose, focused only on the essentials. This is a small book about big feelings: inspirational, aspirational, and an anchor that shows that darkness can co-exist with the beautiful.]]> 227 Rachel Hollis 0063010542 Jen 3 3.62 2020 Didn't See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart
author: Rachel Hollis
name: Jen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2020/12/08
date added: 2020/12/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mindset: The New Psychology of Success]]> 40745 A newer edition of this book can be found here.

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset � those who believe that abilities are fixed � are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset � those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love � to transform their lives and your own.]]> 276 Carol S. Dweck Jen 0 to-read 4.09 2006 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
author: Carol S. Dweck
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Wolf at the Table 2145681

When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl.  Something dark and secretive that could not be named. 

Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten’s childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn’t exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested�

And then the “games� began.

With "A Wolf at the Table", Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent. Though harrowing and brutal, "A Wolf at the Table" will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It’s a memoir of stunning psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 242 Augusten Burroughs 0312342020 Jen 0 to-read 3.75 2008 A Wolf at the Table
author: Augusten Burroughs
name: Jen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Someone We Know 43982433
"This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out."

In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too.

Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets?

In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . .

You never really know what people are capable of.]]> 292 Shari Lapena 0525557652 Jen 5 3.88 2019 Someone We Know
author: Shari Lapena
name: Jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/05
date added: 2020/11/20
shelves:
review:
I could not put this book down. I love Shari Lapena as an author. She doesn’t add unnecessary fluff into her books. I was so into all the characters and was shocked at the ending. This is a cannot put down thriller.
]]> Open Book 41571753 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Jessica tells of growing up in 1980s Texas where she was sexually abused by the daughter of a family friend, and of unsuccessfully auditioning for the Mickey Mouse Club at age 13 with Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling before going on to sign a record deal with Columbia and marrying 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey.

Along the way, she details the struggles in her life, such as the pressure to support her family as a teenager, divorcing Lachey, enduring what she describes as an emotionally abusive relationship with musician John Mayer, being body-shamed in an overly appearance-centered industry, and going through bouts of heavy drinking. But Simpson ends on a positive note, discussing her billion-dollar apparel line and marriage with professional football star Eric Johnson, with whom she has three children.]]> 416 Jessica Simpson Jen 5 4.08 2020 Open Book
author: Jessica Simpson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/20
date added: 2020/11/20
shelves:
review:
I’m not really big on memoirs but this one was worth the read. From her vulnerability to the way she can laugh at her mistakes and own responsibility for her actions. I just loved this memoir. I could relate to her on so many levels. Even if you aren’t a fan of hers I suggest giving this one a read!
]]> White Lies 38317916 When you have everything, you have everything to lose�

Alexandra Inglis is a respected family doctor, trusted by her patients to keep their most intimate secrets. And if sometimes the boundaries between duty and desire blur� well, she's only human.

But when Alex oversteps a line with Jonathan, one of her patients, she knows she's gone too far. Jonathan is obsessive, and to get what he wants he will tear Alex's world apart - threatening not only her career but her marriage and family too.

Soon Alex finds she's capable of doing almost anything to keep hold of her perfect life, as it begins to spin dangerously out of her control�

]]> 329 Lucy Dawson 1786814501 Jen 0 to-read 3.90 2018 White Lies
author: Lucy Dawson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Between 10397655

Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

]]> 454 Jessica Warman 0802721826 Jen 0 to-read 3.97 2011 Between
author: Jessica Warman
name: Jen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secrets He Kept 53042422 Don’t you?

He loves you. He loves your children. He’d never put his family in danger.

One of these is a lie.

It started like any other day at the hairdressers where Sally works as a stylist� until her first client innocently shows her a family photograph; a photograph that causes Sally to collapse in shock.

In one moment, Sally discovers that Tom has been hiding an explosive secret � one that could tear apart the life they’ve built together. Faced with an impossible dilemma - search for the truth, or keep her contented life? � Sally is about to discover that even those closest to us have secrets� and that sometimes the truth is the last thing we want to hear.

review

�Fantastic read! Great plot that grabs you from the very beginning.

]]> 263 Jackie Walsh 1912973200 Jen 0 to-read 3.84 2019 The Secrets He Kept
author: Jackie Walsh
name: Jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl with a Clock for a Heart]]> 17841564
When George first met her, she was an eighteen-year-old college freshman from Sweetgum, Florida. She and George became inseparable in their first fall semester, so George was devastated when he got the news that she had committed suicide over Christmas break. But, as he stood in the living room of the girl's grieving parents, he realized the girl in the photo on their mantelpiece - the one who had committed suicide - was not his girlfriend. Later, he discovered the true identity of the girl he had loved - and of the things she may have done to escape her past.

Now, twenty years later, she's back, and she's telling George that he's the only one who can help her...]]> 289 Peter Swanson 0062267493 Jen 0 to-read 3.30 2014 The Girl with a Clock for a Heart
author: Peter Swanson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Before She Knew Him 40390756
But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either...]]> 309 Peter Swanson Jen 0 to-read 3.85 2019 Before She Knew Him
author: Peter Swanson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1)]]> 21936809 The Girl on the Train will love this modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train from the author of the acclaimed The Girl with a Clock for a Heart—which the Washington Post said “should be a contender for crime fiction’s best first novel of 2014.�

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.� After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.

Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062267523 Jen 4 favorites 3.98 2015 The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/27
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: favorites
review:
If I could give this book 4.5 stars I would. loved this book from the beginning. It kept me engaged and I was constantly wanting to read it to find out what happens. The ending was a little bit slow but definitely unexpected. If you like thrillers I definitely recommend this book!
]]> <![CDATA[Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail]]> 12262741 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State � and she would do it alone.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.]]> 336 Cheryl Strayed 0307592731 Jen 4 favorites 4.06 2012 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/03
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> The Couple Next Door 28815474 You never know what's happening on the other side of the wall.

Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying.

Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour.

Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone.

You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.

What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?]]> 308 Shari Lapena 0735221081 Jen 4 favorites 3.80 2016 The Couple Next Door
author: Shari Lapena
name: Jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2017/12/20
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: favorites
review:
This book was full of twists and turns! I admit the beginning was a bit slow but once I got past the first 50 pages I couldn’t put it down! It kept me wanting more. I was a bit disappointed in the ending but overall the boom was well written and kept me guessing!
]]> The Tattooist of Auschwitz 35523006
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.]]> 277 Heather Morris 1760403172 Jen 5 favorites 4.20 2018 The Tattooist of Auschwitz
author: Heather Morris
name: Jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/12
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: favorites
review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?]]> 406 Lucy Foley 0008297126 Jen 4 3.59 2018 The Hunting Party
author: Lucy Foley
name: Jen
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/29
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book. Even though there were many characters, they were easy to follow and the book flowed nicely. It was easy to relate to the characters and even the ones I wanted to hate I still liked. It was twisty and the ending was not at all what I expected but all the loose ends came together. All in all a very good thriller!
]]> We Were Liars 16143347 A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.]]> 242 E. Lockhart 0385741278 Jen 0 to-read 3.66 2014 We Were Liars
author: E. Lockhart
name: Jen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/20
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]]> The Turn of the Key 42080142
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.

It was everything.

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.]]> 337 Ruth Ware 1501188771 Jen 0 to-read 3.91 2019 The Turn of the Key
author: Ruth Ware
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Sun Down Motel 45885644
Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…]]> 327 Simone St. James 0440000173 Jen 0 to-read 3.99 2020 The Sun Down Motel
author: Simone St. James
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Goodnight Beautiful 50175311
Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after.]]> 289 Aimee Molloy 0062881922 Jen 0 to-read 3.70 2020 Goodnight Beautiful
author: Aimee Molloy
name: Jen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I'm Thinking of Ending Things 27276256 Now a Netflix original movie, this deeply scary and intensely unnerving novel follows a couple in the midst of a twisted unraveling of the darkest unease. You will be scared. But you won’t know why�

I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.�

And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here.

In this smart and intense literary suspense novel, Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, I’m Thinking of Ending Things pulls you in from the very first page…and never lets you go.]]> 211 Iain Reid 150112692X Jen 0 to-read 3.51 2016 I'm Thinking of Ending Things
author: Iain Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Home Before Dark 50833559 What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?]]> 389 Riley Sager 1524745170 Jen 0 to-read 4.05 2020 Home Before Dark
author: Riley Sager
name: Jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2)]]> 45033931 The Tattooist of Auschwitz, the author tells the story, based on a true one, of a woman who survives Auschwitz, only to find herself locked away again.

Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.]]> 352 Heather Morris 1250265703 Jen 0 to-read 4.38 2019 Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2)
author: Heather Morris
name: Jen
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Guest List 51933429
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

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

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 330 Lucy Foley Jen 0 to-read 3.64 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: Jen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Two Ways 50265329
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice.

But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.

After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways--the first known map of the afterlife.

As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she's never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices...or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now?]]> 416 Jodi Picoult 198481835X Jen 0 to-read 3.61 2020 The Book of Two Ways
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Jen
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nightfall (Devil's Night, #4) 53750794
What happens when it's five against one and nowhere to run?

EMORY

They call it Blackchurch. A secluded mansion in a remote, undisclosed location where the wealthy and powerful send their misbehaving sons to cool off away from prying eyes.

Will Grayson has always been an animal, though. Reckless, wild, and someone who was never bound by a single rule other than to do exactly what he wanted. There was no way his grandfather was going risk him humiliating the family again.

Not that the last time was entirely his fault. He might’ve enjoyed backing me into corners in high school when no one was looking, so they wouldn’t catch on that Mr. Popular actually wanted a piece of that quiet, little nerd he loved to torture so much, but�

He could also be warm. And fierce in keeping me safe.

The truth is� He has a right to hate me.

It’s all my fault. Everything.

Devils Night. The videos. The arrests.

I’m to blame for all of it.

And I regret nothing.

WILL

I never minded being locked up. I learned a long time ago that being treated like an animal gives you permission to act like one. No one has ever looked at me any other way.

Their only mistake is believing anything I do is an accident. I can sit in this house with no Internet, television, liquor, or girls, but I’ll come out of here with something far more frightening to my enemies.

A plan.

And a new pack of wolves.

I just didn’t expect one of my enemies to come to me.

I don’t know who smuggled her in or if they meant to leave her here, but I can smell her hiding in the house. She’s here.

And as the security detail leaves the supplies, the gates close, and the door to my gilded cage opens, giving me free reign of the house and grounds for another unsupervised month, I remember with a smile�

Blackchurch houses five prisoners. I’m only one of her problems.

*Nightfall is a full-length, romantic suspense suitable for readers 18+. It’s necessary to read the prior installments in the series before starting this story.]]> 621 Penelope Douglas Jen 5 4.16 2020 Nightfall (Devil's Night, #4)
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/09/10
date added: 2020/09/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Girl in the Blue Coat 40726583
On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman's frantic plea to find a person - a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, gripping novel from a bright new voice.]]> 310 Monica Hesse 0316260649 Jen 0 to-read 4.02 2016 Girl in the Blue Coat
author: Monica Hesse
name: Jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Before The Fall 20877483
1916. Across the channel, the Great War rages; in London's East End, with her husband away fighting, Hannah Loxwood struggles to hold everything together. But when Hannah takes a job in a cafe, she discovers a glimpse of freedom away from her needy young children, her spiteful sister and desperately ill father.

While the conflict drags on, Hannah battles with the overwhelming burden of 'duty'. She has sacrificed so much for a husband who left her behind, a husband who may never come home. Then, when she meets Daniel - thoughtful, intelligent, quietly captivating - Hannah finds herself faced with the most dangerous of temptations.

As the war grips tighter and bombs fall down upon the streets, the stakes for the couple are raised ever higher. Soon Hannah and Daniel will realize just how precarious their happiness is, as their destiny rushes towards them . . .

Beautifully wrought, utterly compelling and with a twist that will leave you breathless, Before The Fall, inspired by a true story, hurls you into a London torn apart by the First World War and paints a vivid and haunting portrait of one woman's struggle.]]> 256 Juliet West 144725905X Jen 0 to-read 3.58 2014 Before The Fall
author: Juliet West
name: Jen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The End of Her 51317891 The new domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and Someone We Know

In upstate New York, Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin babies. The girls are a handful, but Stephanie doesn't mind being a stay-at-home mom, taking care of them while Patrick does the nine to five to pay the bills.

When a woman from Patrick's past drops in on them unexpectedly, raising questions about his late first wife, Stephanie supports her husband wholeheartedly. She knows the car accident all those many years ago was just that--an accident. But Erica is persistent, and now she's threatening to go to the police.

Patrick is afraid his job--and his reputation--will be at risk if he doesn't put an end to Erica's questioning immediately. And when the police start digging, Stephanie's trust in her husband begins to falter and Patrick is primed to lose everything he loves. As their marriage crumbles, Stephanie feels herself coming unglued, and soon she isn't sure what--or who--to believe. Now the most important thing is to protect her girls, but at what cost?]]> 352 Shari Lapena 1984880527 Jen 0 to-read 3.84 2020 The End of Her
author: Shari Lapena
name: Jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tear Me Apart 36839879 One moment will change their lives forever�

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.

Who knows the answers?

The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart� and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.

With vivid movement through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.]]> 489 J.T. Ellison 0778330001 Jen 0 to-read 4.11 2018 Tear Me Apart
author: J.T. Ellison
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Alchemist 6071573 192 Paulo Coelho Jen 4 4.16 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/28
date added: 2020/07/28
shelves:
review:

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