Emily's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 04:31:28 -0700 60 Emily's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Ne'er Duke Well 195790787 In this steamy Regency romp, Lady Selina is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife―the only problem is she's starting to think that might be her.

Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.

Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)

But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.]]> 352 Alexandra Vasti 1250910943 Emily 0 to-read 3.82 2024 Ne'er Duke Well
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: Emily
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Gulls Nest (Nora Breen Investigates #1)]]> 214151311 A cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears

1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests—but when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.]]> 325 Jess Kidd 1668034034 Emily 0 to-read 3.88 2025 Murder at Gulls Nest (Nora Breen Investigates #1)
author: Jess Kidd
name: Emily
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The Reckoning (Maeve Kerrigan, #2)]]> 10590390
To the public, a killer who targets paedophiles is a hero. And even the police don't regard the murders as a priority. Maeve Kerrigan is shocked by the violence inflicted during these kills � the victims were made to suffer. She believes no-one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. However, as this serial killer's violence begins to escalate, she is forced to decide how far she's prepared to go to ensure justice is served ...]]> 483 Jane Casey 0091941202 Emily 0 currently-reading 3.99 2011 The Reckoning (Maeve Kerrigan, #2)
author: Jane Casey
name: Emily
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/21
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burning (Maeve Kerrigan, #1)]]> 10769683

A determined young police constable goes it alone against an enigmatic killer and her bosses in a series debut for fans of Sophie Hannah and Tana French

The Burning Man. It's the name the media has given a brutal murderer who has beaten four young women to death before setting their bodies ablaze in secluded areas of London's parks. And now there's a fifth.

Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable, keen to make her mark on the murder task force. Her male colleagues believe Maeve's empathy makes her weak, but the more she learns about the latest victim, Rebecca Haworth, from her grieving friends and family, the more determined Maeve becomes to bring her murderer to justice. But how do you catch a killer no one has seen when so much of the evidence has gone up in smoke?

Maeve's frenetic hunt for a killer in Jane Casey's gripping series debut will entrance even the most jaded suspense readers.

]]> 368 Jane Casey 0312614179 Emily 4
Reading the series again! 2025]]> 3.83 2010 The Burning (Maeve Kerrigan, #1)
author: Jane Casey
name: Emily
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
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I love finding a new crime series!

Reading the series again! 2025
]]> The Secret Room 209283946
For DS Maeve Kerrigan the case is a welcome distraction from her worries about DI Josh Derwent, who is struggling with a difficult situation � but then disaster strikes. The only person who can help Josh now is Maeve. It's no longer will-they-won’t-they � this is a matter of life and death.]]> 405 Jane Casey 0008702276 Emily 5 4.66 2025 The Secret Room
author: Jane Casey
name: Emily
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
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]]> <![CDATA[I Know a Secret (Rizzoli & Isles, #12)]]> 33153725 In the twelfth gripping novel featuring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the crime-solving duo—featured in the smash-hit TNT series Rizzoli & Isles—are faced with the gruesomely staged murder of a horror film producer.

The crime scene is unlike any that Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have ever before encountered. The woman lies in apparently peaceful repose on her bed, and Maura finds no apparent cause of death, but there is no doubt the woman is indeed dead. The victim’s eyes have been removed and placed in the palm of her hand, a gesture that echoes the terrifying films she produces. Is a crazed movie fan reenacting scenes from those disturbing films?

When another victim is found, again with no apparent cause of death, again with a grotesquely staged crime scene, Jane and Maura realize the killer has widened his circle of targets. He’s chosen one particular woman for his next victim, and she knows he’s coming for her next. She’s the only one who can help Jane and Maura catch the killer.

But she knows a secret. And it’s a secret she’ll never tell.]]> 319 Tess Gerritsen 0345543882 Emily 0 4.12 2017 I Know a Secret (Rizzoli & Isles, #12)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles, #11)]]> 21489683
Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment, alone with the body of a beautiful white snow leopard he had recently been commissioned to procure and stuff for a high-profile museum in the area.

Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down, the hallmark of a leopard's kill.

Rizzoli follows the puzzling trail of clues all the way to Botswana, where she uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari six years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who - or what - is behind these gruesome deaths.

Story Locale: Boston, MA]]> 330 Tess Gerritsen 0345543858 Emily 2 4.13 2014 Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles, #11)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Last to Die (Rizzoli & Isles, #10)]]> 13272498
Jane spirits Teddy to the exclusive Evensong boarding school, a sanctuary where young victims of violent crime learn the secrets and skills of survival in a dangerous world. But even behind locked gates, and surrounded by acres of sheltering Maine wilderness, Jane fears that Evensong’s mysterious benefactors aren’t the only ones watching. When strange blood-splattered dolls are found dangling from a tree, Jane knows that her instincts are dead on. And when she meets Will Yablonski and Claire Ward, students whose tragic pasts bear a shocking resemblance to Teddy’s, it becomes chillingly clear that a circling predator has more than one victim in mind.

Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate—unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.]]> 338 Tess Gerritsen 0345515633 Emily 3 4.11 2012 Last to Die (Rizzoli & Isles, #10)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Silent Girl (Rizzoli & Isles, #9)]]> 9578677
In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.

Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.

Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning—and a swift, avenging blade.]]> 315 Tess Gerritsen 0345515501 Emily 0 4.12 2011 The Silent Girl (Rizzoli & Isles, #9)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Ice Cold (Rizzoli & Isles, #8)]]> 7202831 As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town's previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness--someone who is watching Maura and her friends.
Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura's charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless--and the chilling truth about Maura's fate.

Published in the UK as THE KILLING PLACE.]]> 322 Tess Gerritsen 034551548X Emily 3 4.16 2010 Ice Cold (Rizzoli & Isles, #8)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Keepsake (Rizzoli & Isles, #7)]]> 2653622
For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Now its sudden rediscovery by museum staff is both a major coup and an attention-grabbing mystery. Dubbed “Madam X,� the mummy–to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact� seems a ghoulish godsend for the financially struggling institution. But medical examiner Maura Isles soon discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old� relic is instead a modern-day murder victim.

To Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, the forensic evidence is unmistakable, its implications terrifying. And when the grisly remains of yet another woman are found in the hidden recesses of the museum, it becomes chillingly clear that a maniac is at large–and is now taunting them.
Archaeologist Josephine Pulcillo’s blood runs cold when the killer’s cryptic missives are discovered, and her darkest dread becomes real when the carefully preserved corpse of yet a third victim is left in her car like a gruesome offering–or perhaps a ghastly promise of what’s to come.

The twisted killer’s familiarity with post-mortem rituals suggests to Maura and Jane that he may have scientific expertise in common with Josephine. Only Josephine knows that her stalker shares a knowledge even more personally terrifying: details of a dark secret she had thought forever buried.

Now Maura must summon her own dusty knowledge of ancient death traditions to unravel his twisted endgame. And when Josephine vanishes, Maura and Jane have precious little time to derail the Archaeology Killer before he adds another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.]]> 349 Tess Gerritsen 0345497627 Emily 0 4.10 2008 The Keepsake (Rizzoli & Isles, #7)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> The Mephisto Club 32254
PECCAVI
The Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman’s brutal I HAVE SINNED. It’s a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O’Donnell–Jane’s professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.

On top of Beacon Hill, the club’s acolytes devote themselves to the analysis of Can it be explained by science? Does it have a physical presence? Do demons walk the earth? Drawing on a wealth of dark historical data and mysterious religious symbolism, the Mephisto scholars aim to prove a startling that Satan himself exists among us.

With the grisly appearance of a corpse on their doorstep, it’s clear that someone–or something–is indeed prowling the city. The members of the club begin to fear the very subject of their study. Could this maniacal killer be one of their own–or have they inadvertently summoned an evil entity from the darkness?

Delving deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of evil, where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have ever faced . . . one whose work is only just beginning.]]> 368 Tess Gerritsen 0345476999 Emily 3 4.02 2006 The Mephisto Club
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective]]> 210129411 A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account—and how they became a cultural sensation

From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves.

Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women’s lives. She also reveals the sensational role played by the fantasy female detective in Victorian melodrama and popular fiction, enthralling a public who relished the spectacle of a cross-dressing, fist-swinging heroine who got the better of love rats, burglars, and murderers alike.

How did the morally ambiguous work of real women detectives, sometimes paid to betray their fellow women, compare with the exploits of their fictional counterparts, who always save the day? Lodge’s book takes us into the murky underworld of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the female detective as both an unacknowledged labourer and a feminist icon.]]> 384 Sara Lodge 0300277881 Emily 3 3.70 2024 The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective
author: Sara Lodge
name: Emily
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Body Double (Rizzoli & Isles, #4)]]> 32258
Dr. Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in a major metropolitan city, she has seen more than her share of corpses every day–many of them victims of violent murder. But never before has her blood run cold, and never has the grim expression “dead ringer� rung so terrifyingly true. Because never before has the lifeless body on the medical examiner’s table been her own.

Yet there can be no denying the mind-reeling evidence before her shocked eyes and those of her colleagues, including Detective Jane the woman found shot to death outside Maura’s home is the mirror image of Maura, down to the most intimate physical nuances. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. For the stunned Maura, an only child, there can be just one explanation. And when a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious doppelgänger is in fact her twin sister, an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing and dangerous excursion into a past full of dark secrets.

Searching for answers, Maura is drawn to a seaside town in Maine where other horrifying surprises await. But perhaps more frightening, an unknown murderer is at large on a cross-country killing spree. To stop the massacre and uncover the twisted truth about her own roots, Maura must probe her first living the mother that she never knew . . . an icy and cunning woman who could be responsible for giving Maura life–and who just may have a plan to take it away.]]> 432 Tess Gerritsen 034545894X Emily 4 4.17 2004 Body Double (Rizzoli & Isles, #4)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
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]]> Vanish (Rizzoli & Isles, #5) 32255 A blessed event becomes a nightmare for pregnant homicide detective Jane Rizzoli when she finds herself on the wrong side of a hostage crisis in this timely and relentless thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Body Double.

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.

Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages . . . one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane's husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer's identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.

Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it if she survives the night. From the Hardcover edition.]]> 401 Tess Gerritsen 0345476980 Emily 0 4.12 2005 Vanish (Rizzoli & Isles, #5)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sinner (Rizzoli & Isles, #3)]]> 32257 419 Tess Gerritsen Emily 0 4.13 2003 The Sinner (Rizzoli & Isles, #3)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles, #2)]]> 715834 The bestselling author of The Surgeon returns, and so does that chilling novel's diabolical villain. Though held behind bars, Warren Hoyt still haunts a helpless city, seeming to bequeath his evil legacy to a student all-too-diligent . . . and all-too-deadly.

THE APPRENTICE

It is a boiling hot Boston summer. Adding to the city's woes is a series of shocking crimes, in which wealthy men are made to watch while their wives are brutalized. A sadistic demand that ends in abduction and death.

The pattern suggests one man: serial killer Warren Hoyt, recently removed from the city's streets. Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires. At least that's what Detective Jane Rizzoli thinks. Forced again to confront the killer who scarred her - literally and figuratively - she is determined to finally end Hoyt's awful influence . . . even if it means receiving more resistance from her all-male homicide squad.

But Rizzoli isn't counting on the U.S. government's sudden interest. Or on meeting Special Agent Gabriel Dean, who knows more than he will tell. Most of all, she isn't counting on becoming a target herself, once Hoyt is suddenly free, joining his mysterious blood brother in a vicious vendetta. . . .

Filled with superbly created characters and the medical and police procedural details that are her trademark,The Apprentice is Tess Gerritsen at her brilliant best. Set in a stunning world where evil is easy to learn and hard to end, this is a thriller by a master who could teach other authors a thing or two.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 376 Tess Gerritsen 0345447867 Emily 0 4.13 2002 The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles, #2)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Surgeon (Rizzoli & Isles, #1)]]> 32263 IN BOSTON, THERE'S A KILLER ON THE LOOSE...

A killer who targets lone women, who breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on them before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician - a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.

But as homicide detective Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli begin their investigation, they make a startling discovery. Closely linked to these killings is Catherine Cordell, a beautiful doctor with a mysterious past. Two years ago she was subjected to a horrifying rape and shot her attacker dead.

Now the man she believes she killed seems to be stalking her once again, and this time he knows exactly where to find her...]]> 416 Tess Gerritsen Emily 0 4.09 2001 The Surgeon (Rizzoli & Isles, #1)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Emily
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> The Mystery Writer 157020090
There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory—until it turns out to be true

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?

What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die.]]> 368 Sulari Gentill 1728285186 Emily 0 3.39 2024 The Mystery Writer
author: Sulari Gentill
name: Emily
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
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]]> What Have You Done? 201102399 The new binge-worthy novel from the “queen of the one-sit read,� and New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done?

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.

How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.

Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.]]> 307 Shari Lapena 0593489969 Emily 2 3.72 2024 What Have You Done?
author: Shari Lapena
name: Emily
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Absence of Alice (Sarah Winston Garage Sale #9)]]> 52832539
Sarah's latest client, Alice Krandle, is sure she has a fortune in antiques on her hands. She's already gotten a generous offer for the whole lot before her garage sale has even begun, but she thinks she can earn more with Sarah's expert help. The problem is that while Sarah's sorting through items from decades past, her landlady, Stella, faces a clear and present danger.

Stella's kidnapper has contacted Sarah with a set of instructions, and "Don't call the police" is at the top of the list. But they didn't say anything about Sarah's friend Harriet--who happens to be a former F.B.I. hostage negotiator...]]> 279 Sherry Harris 1496722531 Emily 3 4.25 Absence of Alice (Sarah Winston Garage Sale #9)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2025/04/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Let's Fake a Deal (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #7)]]> 42641985 SHE’S GOT THE GOODS . . .
As a former military spouse, Sarah Winston’s learned a little about organizing, packing, and moving. Her latest project sounds promising: a couple of tech-industry hipsters, newly arrived in her Massachusetts town, who need to downsize. Unfortunately,when Sarah tries to sell their stuff, she discovers it’s all stolen—and she’s the unwitting fence.

BUT SARAH’S PROBLEMS ARE JUST BEGINNING
Michelle, an old friend of Sarah’s from the Air Force base, is in line for a promotion—but not everyone is happy about it, and she’s been hit with an anonymous discrimination complaint. When one of the men she suspects is behind the accusations turns up dead in Michelle’s car, Sarah needs to clear Michelle’s name—as well as her own for selling hot merchandise. And she’ll have to do it while also organizing a cat lady’s gigantic collection of feline memorabilia, or they’ll be making room for Sarah in a jail cell . . .

]]> 196 Sherry Harris 149671699X Emily 0 4.23 2019 Let's Fake a Deal (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #7)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Gun Also Rises (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #6)]]> 40057323 TO RECOVER A PRICELESS MANUSCRIPT . . .

A wealthy widow has asked Sarah Winston to sell her massive collection of mysteries through her garage sale business. While sorting through piles of books stashed in the woman's attic, Sarah is amazed to discover a case of lost Hemingway stories, stolen from a train in Paris back in 1922. How did they end up in Belle Winthrop Granville's attic in Ellington, Massachusetts, almost one hundred years later?

WILL SARAH HAVE TO PAY WITH HER LIFE?

Before Sarah can get any answers, Belle is assaulted, the case is stolen, a maid is killed, and Sarah herself is dodging bullets. And when rumors spread that Belle has a limited edition of The Sun Also Rises in her house, Sarah is soon mixed up with a mobster, the fanatical League of Literary Treasure Hunters, and a hard-to-read rare book dealer. With someone willing to kill for the Hemingway, Sarah has to race to catch the culprit--or the bell may toll for her . . .]]> 265 Sherry Harris 1496716965 Emily 0 4.07 The Gun Also Rises (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #6)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[I Know What You Bid Last Summer (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #5)]]> 35266995 Sherry Harris presents the fifth installment of this charming, bestselling cozy mystery series! One man's junk is another man's treasure. But finding that treasure can be murder. As Sarah Winston discovers, someone is always ready to kill someone else for seemingly worthless pieces of junk.

FOUL PLAY IN THE GYM
When it comes to running a successful garage sale, Sarah Winston believes in doing her homework. She also believes in giving back. But when she agrees to manage an athletic equipment swap, she doesn't bargain on an uncharitable killer. The day of the event, the school superintendent is found dead in the gymnasium.

HAS SARAH PLAYING DEFENSE
Suddenly the murder suspects are the school board members--including the husband of a very difficult client who's hired Sarah to run a high-end sale and demands she do her bidding. In between tagging and haggling, Sarah studies the clues to see who wanted to teach the superintendent a lesson. But as she closes in on the truth, the killer intends to give her a crash course on minding her own business . . .]]> 310 Sherry Harris 1496707532 Emily 0 4.09 2018 I Know What You Bid Last Summer (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #5)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)]]> 7896345
Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel...different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.]]> 359 Kelley Armstrong 0061797022 Emily 0 4.02 2011 The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Emily
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, #3)]]> 6468666
As if that's not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf...

Definitely not normal.]]> 391 Kelley Armstrong 1841497126 Emily 3 4.18 2010 The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, #3)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Emily
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1) 518848
With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.]]> 491 Garth Nix 0064471837 Emily 0 4.17 1995 Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)
author: Garth Nix
name: Emily
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)]]> 43587154 JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.

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

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

When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.]]> 540 Fonda Lee 0316440884 Emily 0 to-read 4.06 2017 Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)
author: Fonda Lee
name: Emily
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Murders Final! (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #3)]]> 26025658 Her Next Sale

When Sarah Winston started the virtual garage sale, it seemed like a keystroke of genius and the next logical step in her business. No more collapsing card tables and rainy-day washouts. But what began as a fun way to run garage sales during the long New England winter has become a nightmare of managing people and putting out fires. Online, she can avoid the crowds--but not the crazies.

May Be Her Last

She certainly never bargained on dealing with frightening threats. And when a client is murdered, it's time for Sarah to swallow her pride and seek the help of her ex--C.J. Hooker, chief of police. Forging a tense alliance, they search--online and off--for the killer. But solving this crime before someone else gets tagged seems virtually impossible�

Praise for Tagged for Death

"Full of garage-sale tips…amusing. A solid choice for fans of Jane K. Cleland's Josie Prescott Antique Mystery series." --Library Journal

"Skillfully rendered…Sarah is the type of intelligent, resourceful, and appealing person we would all like to get to know better." --Mystery Scene]]> 338 Sherry Harris 1617730211 Emily 0 4.11 2016 All Murders Final! (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #3)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Longest Yard Sale (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #2)]]> 22891484 ONE MAN’S CLUTTER

When Sarah Winston turns Ellington, Massachusetts, into New England’s largest garage sale for a day, it’s the small town’s biggest event since the start of the Revolutionary War—but without the bloodshed. That is, until a valuable painting goes missing…and the lifeless body of an Air Force officer is found in Carol Carson’s painting studio, his face perfectly framed with the murder weapon—a metal picture frame.

IS ANOTHER MAN’S CLOVER

Sarah is mad as heck that someone used her town-wide garage sale to commit a crime—and frame her good friend Carol. She is definitely on this case…but it’s not easy rummaging through increasingly strange clues that point to cheating spouses, downright dirty investment schemes—even the mob. And Sarah will have to be very careful if she wants to live to bargain another day…]]> 344 Sherry Harris 161773019X Emily 0 3.96 2015 The Longest Yard Sale (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #2)
author: Sherry Harris
name: Emily
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Awakening (Darkest Powers, #2)]]> 5391115
Now I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.]]> 360 Kelley Armstrong 0061662763 Emily 0 4.14 2009 The Awakening (Darkest Powers, #2)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Emily
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Summoning (Darkest Powers, #1)]]> 2800905 Chloe Saunders used to have a relatively normal life.

But now she finds herself in the middle of some really strange situations because:
~She suddenly starts seeing dead people.
~She gets locked up in a group home for unstable teens.
~The group home isn't what it seems.

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House... before its skeletons come back to haunt me.]]> 390 Kelley Armstrong 0061662690 Emily 4 4.03 2008 The Summoning (Darkest Powers, #1)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Emily
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
Yes it’s a ya novel, obviously, but I enjoyed the story. I liked the innocence and spin on mental health having super powers. Every supposed weakness can actually be our super strength
]]> <![CDATA[Guide Me Home (Highway 59, #3)]]> 59229378
Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn’t sure he’s been a good cop, but believes he’s got a shot at being a good man—if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It’s a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation. He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn’t hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who’s always been bent of tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if his can trust his mother is telling the truth—and what her ulterior motive may be, and what if that motive has to do with a grand jury deciding his fate.

Darren gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again—his mother.

In this emotionally stirring conclusion to the singular Highway 59 series, set three years after the events of Heaven, My Home, Darren reckons with his life’s purpose as he’s forced to choose between his own peace and the higher call to do good.]]> 320 Attica Locke 1788163982 Emily 4 3.93 2024 Guide Me Home (Highway 59, #3)
author: Attica Locke
name: Emily
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan, #4)]]> 150072956
Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all―he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

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

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?]]> 320 Elle Cosimano 1250846005 Emily 0 3.88 2024 Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan, #4)
author: Elle Cosimano
name: Emily
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Bluebird, Bluebird (Highway 59, #1)]]> 40605488 A powerful thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire.

When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules--a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.

When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders--a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman--have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes--and save himself in the process--before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.

A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America.]]> 320 Attica Locke Emily 4 3.84 2017 Bluebird, Bluebird (Highway 59, #1)
author: Attica Locke
name: Emily
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> The Mayor of Maxwell Street 133206574 When a rich Black debutante enlists the help of a low-level speakeasy manager to identify the head of an underground crime syndicate, the two are thrust into the dangerous world of Prohibition-era Chicago.

The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore with Chicago at its beating heart.

Twenty-year-old Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of the alleged “wealthiest Negro in America,� a Kentucky horse breeder whose wealth and prestige catapults his family to the heights of the exclusive, elite Black society. After the unexpected death of her brother—the family’s presumed heir—Nelly goes from being virtually unknown to a premier debutante overnight. But Nelly has aspirations beyond society influence and marriage. For the past year, she has worked undercover as an investigative journalist for the Chicago Defender , sharing the achievements and tribulations of everyday Black people living in the shadow of Jim Crow. Now, her latest assignment thrusts her into the den of a dangerous vice the so-called Mayor of Maxwell Street.

Charming and mysterious, Jay Shorey strives to balance his connection to the Chicago underworld with his desperate yearning for the refinement and protection of high society. Born to a murdered bi-racial couple in rural Alabama, he knows firsthand what it means to be denied a chance at the American dream. When a tragic turn of fate gave Jay a rare path out, he took it without question. He washed up on Chicago’s storied shores and never looked back, until now.

When Nelly’s and Jay’s paths cross, she recruits him to help expose the Mayor and bring about a lasting change in a corrupted city. Trapped between the monolith of Jim Crow, the inflexible world of the Black upper class, and the violence of Prohibition-era Chicago, Jay and Nelly work together and stoke the flames of a love worth fighting for. And yet, as with all things in America, there is a price to be paid. What risk is Nelly willing to take for a young man willing to risk it all?

Debut author Avery Cunningham’s stunning novel is at once an epic love story, a riveting historical drama, and a brilliant exploration of Black society and perseverance when the �20s first began to roar.]]> 528 Avery Cunningham 1368093000 Emily 0 3.52 2024 The Mayor of Maxwell Street
author: Avery Cunningham
name: Emily
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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]]> One of Us Knows 56197501 From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity.

Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect.

Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island—and their own past—or they risk losing not only their future, but their life.]]> 352 Alyssa Cole 006311495X Emily 3 3.10 2024 One of Us Knows
author: Alyssa Cole
name: Emily
average rating: 3.10
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/12
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]]> Missing White Woman 195820717 The truth is never skin deep.

It was supposed to be a romantic getaway weekend in New York City. Breanna’s new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything—the train tickets, the dinner reservations, the rented four-story luxury rowhouse in Jersey City with a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline.

But when Bree comes downstairs their final morning, Ty is nowhere to be found and there’s a stranger dead in the foyer—the missing woman the entire Internet has become obsessed Janelle Beckett. Soon, both the police and an army of Internet sleuths are asking questions Bree doesn't know how to answer. Desperate to find Ty and to keep her own secrets buried, Bree realizes there’s only one person she can turn her ex-best friend, a lawyer with whom she shares a very complicated past.

Fierce, smart, and thrilling to the end, Missing White Woman not only explores “Missing White Woman� syndrome and traveling while Black, but deftly inverts the hallmarks of the domestic suspense genre to How well can we truly know the people we love? And what happens to these stories when seen through the eyes of a Black woman?]]> 336 Kellye Garrett 0316256978 Emily 2 3.48 2024 Missing White Woman
author: Kellye Garrett
name: Emily
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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I skipped a large portion .. I really wanted to like it but it dragged on and on
]]> Homecoming 61683285
Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

Nora has always been a vibrant and strong presence: decisive, encouraging, young despite her years. When Jess visits her in the hospital, she is alarmed to find her grandmother frail and confused. It’s even more alarming to hear from Nora's housekeeper that Nora had been distracted in the weeks before her accident and had fallen on the steps to the attic—the one place Jess was forbidden from playing in when she was small.

At loose ends in Nora's house, Jess does some digging of her own. In Nora's bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime—a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find�

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth. Above all, it is a beguiling and immensely satisfying novel from one of the finest writers working today.]]> 547 Kate Morton 0063020890 Emily 2 Dragged on 4.00 2023 Homecoming
author: Kate Morton
name: Emily
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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Dragged on
]]> Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay 30629571 A Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller

MEET ME AT BEACHCOMBER BAY is a romantic, funny and unputdownable new novel about love and friendship from Jill Mansell, bestselling author of THE ONE YOU REALLY WANT and YOU AND ME, ALWAYS - 'A glorious, heartwarming romantic read' Woman & Home. Perfect for anyone who loves Milly Johnson, Lucy Diamond and Jenny Colgan.

Love is in the air in St Carys, but you'd never know it - the people of this seaside town are very good at keeping secrets...

The man Clemency loves belongs to someone else. She has to hide her true feelings - but when she ropes in an unsuspecting friend to help, wires start to get crossed.

For the first time in Ronan's life his charm has failed him in winning over the woman he wants. Loving her from afar appears to be his only option.

Belle seems to have the perfect boyfriend, but something isn't quite right. And now a long-buried secret is slowly rising to the surface.

The truth has a funny way of revealing itself, and when it does St Carys will be a very different place indeed...]]> 416 Jill Mansell 1472208943 Emily 3 3.85 2017 Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay
author: Jill Mansell
name: Emily
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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]]> Such Sharp Teeth 60097467 A young woman in need of a transformation finds herself in touch with the animal inside in this gripping, incisive novel from the author of Cackle and The Return.

Rory Morris isn't thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby's father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she'd put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she's attacked.

Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She's unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver--and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She's changing into someone else--something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she's putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?

This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability.]]> 336 Rachel Harrison 0593545826 Emily 2 3.82 2022 Such Sharp Teeth
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Emily
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 13356706 THE LORD OF THE RINGS

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

--back cover]]> 407 J.R.R. Tolkien 0547928211 Emily 0 4.44 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Emily
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> Invisible Man 16981 Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.

As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.]]> 581 Ralph Ellison Emily 0 3.91 1952 Invisible Man
author: Ralph Ellison
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> Native Son 15622 Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.]]> 504 Richard Wright Emily 0 4.03 1940 Native Son
author: Richard Wright
name: Emily
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> Solo 41994 421 Jill Mansell 0747267456 Emily 1 3.62 1991 Solo
author: Jill Mansell
name: Emily
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1991
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:
I used to love her books, were they always this dramatic? I feel like the lesson is to fall for the most ineligible men, keep liking them regardless of how silly and poorly they treat you� and they all live happily ever after. Another suspension of reality.
]]> <![CDATA[Headliners (London Celebrities, #5)]]> 52069082 Sparks fly when two feuding TV presenters are thrown together to host a live morning show in Lucy Parker’s latest enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance.

He might be the sexiest man in London, according to his fan site (which he definitely writes himself), but he’s also the most arrogant man she’s ever met.

She might have the longest legs he’s ever seen, but she also has the sharpest tongue.

For years, rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have traded barbs on their respective shows. The public can’t get enough of their feud, but after Nick airs Sabrina’s family scandals to all of Britain, the gloves are off. They can barely be in the same room together—but these longtime enemies are about to become the unlikeliest of cohosts.

With their reputations on the rocks, Sabrina and Nick have one last chance to save their careers. If they can resurrect a sinking morning show, they’ll still have a future in television. But with ratings at an all-time low and a Christmas Eve deadline to win back the nation’s favor, the clock is ticking—and someone on their staff doesn’t want them to succeed.

Small mishaps on set start adding up, and Sabrina and Nick find themselves�quelle horreur—working together to hunt down the saboteur…and discovering they might have more in common than they thought. When a fiery encounter is caught on camera, the public is convinced that the reluctant cohosts are secretly lusting after one another.

The public might not be wrong.

Their chemistry has always been explosive, but with hate turning to love, the stakes are rising and everything is on the line. Neither is sure if they can trust these new feelings…or if they’ll still have a job in the New Year.]]> 400 Lucy Parker 1488036292 Emily 0 3.95 2020 Headliners (London Celebrities, #5)
author: Lucy Parker
name: Emily
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unlucky Ones (Black Harbor, #4)]]> 211003793 A police transcriber-turned-novelist returns to Black Harbor to help solve the case of her ex-husband’s murder in the newest riveting Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

Black Harbor is a tinderbox. Temperatures and violent crime have both risen to all-time highs, a new drug razes the city, and the scene to which Sergeant Nikolai Kole responds is anything but a rote homicide. In the back of a clubhouse lies a body wrapped in garbage bags and doused in bleach.

It isn’t just any body. Tommy Greenlee, the ex-husband of Kole’s former lover, Hazel, has been shot several times and left for dead. What’s more…the killer left what appears to be a calling card.

Elsewhere, Hazel is haunted by her memories of Black Harbor. Lured there after eight years, she returns to find out who killed Tommy and why. Now back in Kole’s orbit, their love affair can hardly pick up where it left off. They both used each other to their own ends before, which begs the question: would they do it again?

With the atmosphere growing more volatile by the second, Hazel and Kole call a truce, and as they work together to solve this murder, they will not only unearth Black Harbor’s deepest, darkest secrets—they’ll each have to face their own.]]> 304 Hannah Morrissey 1250369746 Emily 3 4.00 The Unlucky Ones (Black Harbor, #4)
author: Hannah Morrissey
name: Emily
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
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I remember really liking the first book in this series. However each subsequent entry is a little too much.. entertaining enough to finish, but with massive leaps of disbelief.
]]> <![CDATA[When I'm Dead (Black Harbor, #3)]]> 65213515 One girl murdered. Another one missing. And a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery—her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace.

A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions…details that threaten to tear them apart.

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.]]> 320 Hannah Morrissey 1250872340 Emily 3 3.57 2023 When I'm Dead (Black Harbor, #3)
author: Hannah Morrissey
name: Emily
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Codename Charming (Palace Insiders, #2)]]> 63391920 Following Battle Royal, beloved author Lucy Parker pens another delicious romantic comedy about a fake relationship between a grumpy royal bodyguard and the charming, sunny assistant who melts his cold, hard exterior.

Petunia De Vere enjoys being the personal assistant to lovable, bumbling Johnny Marchmont. But the job has its share of challenges, including the royal's giant, intimidating bodyguard, Matthias. Pet and Matthias are polar opposites--she's spontaneous and enthusiastic, he's rigid and stoic--but she can sense there's something softer underneath that tough exterior...

For Matthias Vaughn, protecting others is the name of the game. But keeping his royal charge out of trouble is more difficult than he imagined because everywhere Johnny goes, calamity ensues, and his petite, bubbly assistant is often caught in the fray. Matthias hates the idea of Pet getting hurt and he's determined to keep everyone safe, even if it means clashing with his adorable new coworker.

When a clumsy moment leads to a questionable tabloid photo, the press begins to speculate that Pet is romantically involved with Johnny. To put an end to the rumors, the royal PR team asks Pet and Matthias to stage a fake relationship and the two reluctantly agree. But as they spend more time together outside of work, they begin to wonder what real emotions this pretend connection might uncover. Especially when a passionate kiss leaves both of their heads spinning...]]> 378 Lucy Parker 0063040107 Emily 3 3.71 2023 Codename Charming (Palace Insiders, #2)
author: Lucy Parker
name: Emily
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at the Seven Dials (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #1)]]> 62671218
But Audrey Sinclair, the Duchess of Fournier, is certain her husband is wrongly accused, and she’s determined to prove it to the arrogant Bow Street officer, even if she must employ her most peculiar ability—or perhaps curse—to guide her investigation. After all, a duchess can do as she pleases.

Exasperated with the meddling duchess, Hugh is convinced she is protecting her own secrets, and the duke’s. But when Audrey’s discoveries persuade him to believe the true killer is still at large, he has no choice but to join her in the hunt—if only to keep her from becoming the next victim.]]> 304 Cara Devlin Emily 3 4.33 2023 Murder at the Seven Dials (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #1)
author: Cara Devlin
name: Emily
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Widowmaker (Black Harbor, #2)]]> 59808186
A wealthy family shrouded in scandal; a detective tasked with solving an impossible cold case; and a woman with a dark past collide in Hannah Morrissey's stunning new Black Harbor mystery, The Widowmaker.

Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name "Reynolds" has become synonymous with "murder" and "mystery." And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue.

This could finally be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. If only he could stop letting his need to solve his partner's recent murder distract him. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery?]]> 304 Hannah Morrissey 1250795974 Emily 3 3.63 2022 The Widowmaker (Black Harbor, #2)
author: Hannah Morrissey
name: Emily
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Misdirected 222207397
Hattie tries to look on the positive side of all situations, but four seasons of brutal press, overly invested fans, and a cutthroat industry that’s never quite felt like the right fit would give even Pollyanna an edge of cynicism. And high on the ‘con� list when it comes to her current and unintended career is having to share a set and some horrendously early starts with Anthony Rafe. Leicester Square villain. A-lister. Absolute prat.

In the new season’s scripts, it appears that her previously sane, rational character is about to lose her mind and begin an unexpected and unsettlingly graphic affair with the series villain. Forced into close—very close and very…intimate—proximity with the man everyone loves to hate, Hattie’s horror is matched only by Anthony’s drawling disdain. But when very real chemistry sparks during their scripted love scenes, Hattie begins to think the industry’s legendarily heartless Bad Guy might just have a pulse after all. And Anthony, for his part, is caught off-guard by the way his heart races when he’s around his aggravating onscreen lover.

As reality starts to imitate art a little too close for comfort, the world’s most unlikely couple might just have more in common than they thought…]]> Lucy Parker Emily 0 3.49 2025 Misdirected
author: Lucy Parker
name: Emily
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Battle Royal (Palace Insiders, #1)]]> 55921509 Beloved author Lucy Parker pens a delicious new romantic comedy that is a battle of whisks and wits.

𲹻�

Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild charmed the world as a contestant on the hit baking show, Operation Cake. Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers…and a princess.

�

Dominic is His Majesty the King’s favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He’s brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can’t stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.

Ѳٳ�

When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they’re both determined to come out on top.

The bride adores Sylvie’s quirky style. The palace wants Dominic’s classic perfection.

In this royal battle, can there be room for two?]]> 397 Lucy Parker 0063040069 Emily 0 3.71 2021 Battle Royal (Palace Insiders, #1)
author: Lucy Parker
name: Emily
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Told You So 197552845
Lucie Redway knows one thing for certain: her best friend will have the most perfect destination wedding. She may not know if she’ll still have her agony aunt column next month, or if her love life will ever be more exciting than a midnight swipe right, but Lucie would rather exhaust herself than let Stacey down on her Big Day. Not even Charlie, the insufferably attractive and hateful best man, can get in her way.

Before the flight touches down in Spain, Lucie is hit with a curveball. Sat next to world-famous psychic Miranda Bloom, she’s told she’ll leave the wedding with the love of her life. Lucie’s not sure she believes in fate, but Miranda seems to know every little detail about her. Is The One really somewhere on the seating chart?

If Miranda is right then that narrows down Lucie’s options (ruling out new bachelor Grandad Bob for obvious reasons) to Drew and Ethan. Drew: the one that got away, the bad boy turned international fashion photographer. Ethan: the dependable childhood best friend, now a Saville Row tailor, who says he has something important to tell her� But there’s no way it’s her worst enemy Charlie, of course. Even if their friction is turning into a confusing kind of chemistry.

​As Lucie deals with drunken aunties, finds a missing wedding dress and survives the chaotic hen party, the days are counting down to ‘I do�. Will she recognise The One before time runs out?]]> 334 Leeanne Slade Emily 3 3.87 Told You So
author: Leeanne Slade
name: Emily
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> Always a Bridesmaid 226362785 A sunny bridesmaid-for-hire and a grumpy best man put love to the test in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy.

Meet Randi Burnett—she’s brilliant, she’s beautiful, and she works for the bride. Missing groom? Intoxicated in-laws? Crying ring-bearer? You name it, she wrangles it. Too bad her personal life isn’t thriving like her side gig as a bridesmaid for hire. Recently dumped, Randi throws herself into her biggest challenge yet when she’s hired as a maid of honor and pretend best friend for an ice queen bride. There’s just one problem—the best man is infuriating, overprotective, and anti-marriage.

High school principal Will Valentine doesn’t believe in love. But his best friend is getting married after a whirlwind romance and has asked him to be the best man. So here he is, a man named for the patron saint of lovers, who doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage yet is somehow color coordinating for the event. No one is more surprised than Will when he starts falling for the bubbly and vivacious maid of honor who loves all things love, but strangely doesn’t seem to know the bride all that well.

But what happens when he discovers Randi’s undercover identity? What begins as a battle of wills between the two soon turns into a flirtatious game. Between cake tastings and dress fittings, will these two opposites find their own once-in-a-lifetime love?]]> 8 Erin Clark Emily 2 2.96 Always a Bridesmaid
author: Erin Clark
name: Emily
average rating: 2.96
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 50794839 Ambition will fuel him.
Competition will drive him.
But power has its price.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined—every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute . . . and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 528 Suzanne Collins 1338635174 Emily 5 3.88 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Emily
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Emily 4 4.62 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Emily
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Once Upon a Crime 228445818 She’s a librarian. He’s a movie star. Someone wants them dead.

Lana Fleming’s sister has vanished from the set of TV’s hottest show, and no one seems to care. Desperate for answers, Lana sneaks in as an extra, only to get stranded with Griffin Hart, an A-list action star with a reputation for good abs and bad decisions.

Though Griffin didn’t expect to be cast as a librarian’s sidekick in a real-life thriller, he’s weirdly into it—and into her. Even more unsettling—she sees right through his playboy persona. But their meet-cute soon turns deadly when they uncover a Hollywood scandal for the ages.

Caught in a high-stakes cliffhanger, it’s up to the leading man and his unlikely love interest to save the day, defeat the bad guys and maybe—just maybe—earn their own happy ending.

Lights. Camera. Run for your life.]]> Brynn Kelly Emily 3 3.74 Once Upon a Crime
author: Brynn Kelly
name: Emily
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> Girl Overboard 57698922
Izzy is reaching peak boredom on a cruise with her parents until she meets daring new friend Jade, with whom Izzy can barely keep up. But a shock wave runs through the cruise ship when Jade goes missing in the middle of the night, leaving behind a cryptic note.

Izzy digs deeper into Jade’s disappearance, but someone doesn’t want to find the truth. And if she’s not careful, Izzy might not get off this ship alive . . .

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.]]> 288 Sandra Block 0593483472 Emily 3 3.45 2022 Girl Overboard
author: Sandra Block
name: Emily
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder]]> 214152272 A spoiled heiress must investigate her grandmother’s death in order to gain back her trust fund, all while discovering how to be her own person and maybe even in falling in love in this rom-com meets murder mystery.

When Pomona Afton, Upper East Side hotel heiress, stumbles out of a gala and upon the scene of her grandmother’s murder, her first thought is that the society queen won’t be missed for her kind, cookie-baking ways. In fact, she was mean, greedy, and paranoid—so paranoid that she secretly slipped a clause into her will mandating that, should she die an unnatural death, all the family assets get frozen. And if the “unnatural death� isn’t explained? Those accounts stay frozen.

Practically overnight, Pomona is locked out of her penthouse with no other option than to move in with a Gabe, the irritable (yet handsome) son of her former nanny. Not only is his apartment cramped, but it doesn’t even have a doorman. Or a chef! Pom needs someone to solve this murder, like, yesterday, so she can get her trust fund back.

And Gabe? He needs this murder solved because that’s the only way his mother, who toiled for the Afton family for years, will ever get the retirement money she deserves. As Pom’s family clams up, blocking the police at every turn, Pom quickly realizes that if she wants her glamorous life back, she’s going to have to put on her big-girl Manolos and do it herself…with the help of Gabe, who she’s falling for more and more by the day.

Can Pomona Afton (who previously couldn’t solve a crossword in the bath on a hungover Sunday) actually solve this murder? And if she does return to her former life of luxury, will it be worth the possibility of losing Gabe?]]> 256 Bellamy Rose 1668075652 Emily 3 3.76 2025 Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder
author: Bellamy Rose
name: Emily
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
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]]> All That Life Can Afford 216970859 A taut and lyrical coming-of-age debut about a young American woman navigating class, lies, and love amid London’s jet-set elite.

I would arrive, blank like a sheet of notebook paper, and write myself new.

Anna first fell in love with London at her hometown library—its Jane Austen balls a far cry from her life of food stamps and hand-me-downs. But when she finally arrives after college, the real London is a moldy flat and the same paycheck-to-paycheck grind—that fairy-tale life still out of reach.

Then Anna meets the Wilders, who fly her to Saint-Tropez to tutor their teenage daughter. Swept up by the sphinxlike elder sister, Anna soon finds herself plunged into a heady whirlpool of parties and excess, a place where confidence is a birthright. There she meets two handsome young men—one who wants to whisk her into his world in a chauffeured car, the other who sees through Anna’s struggle to outrun her past. It’s like she’s stepped into the pages of a glittering new novel, but what will it cost her to play the part?

Sparkling with intelligence and insight, All That Life Can Afford peels back the glossy layers of class and privilege, exploring what it means to create a new life for yourself that still honors the one you’ve left behind.]]> 384 Emily Everett 0593545141 Emily 3 3.70 2025 All That Life Can Afford
author: Emily Everett
name: Emily
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The One That Got Away with Murder]]> 122765706 Be careful who you fall for...

Robbie and Trevor Cresmont have a body count—the killer kind. Handsome and privileged, the Crestmont brothers' have enough wealth to ensure they’ll never be found guilty of any wrongdoing, even if all of Happy Valley believes they're behind the deaths of their ex-girlfriends. First there was soccer star Victoria Moreno, Robbie’s ex, who mysteriously drowned at the family lake house. Then, a year later, Trevor’s girlfriend died of a suspicious overdose.

But the Crestmonts aren’t the only ones with secrets. Lauren O'Brian might be the new girl at school, but she's never been a good girl. With a dark past of her own, she's desperate for a fresh start. Except when she starts a no-strings-attached relationship with Robbie, her chance is put in jeopardy. During what’s meant to be their last weekend together, Lauren stumbles across shocking evidence that just might implicate Robbie.

With danger closing in, Lauren doesn't know who to trust. And after a third death rocks the town, she must decide whether to end things with Robbie or risk becoming another cautionary tale.

This is an edge-of-your-seat debut YA thriller about a teen who is forced to confront her past in order to catch a murderer before she ends up the next victim. Perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.]]> 382 Trish Lundy 1250292158 Emily 3 3.76 2024 The One That Got Away with Murder
author: Trish Lundy
name: Emily
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> You Will Never Be Me 202468441 When cracks start forming in an influencer’s curated life, she finds out that jealousy is just as viral as a video in this riveting suspense novel by bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto.

Influencer Meredith Leedidn't teachAspenPalmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon asAspenbecame big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite.

Then Mer gets lucky; she finds one ofAspen's kids' iPads and swipes it. Now she has access to the family calendar and Aspen's social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up inAspen's place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer's only taking back what she deserves—what should have been hers.

Meanwhile,Aspendoesn't understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn't find out who's behind everything, she might just lose it all. But what everyone seems to forget is thatAspendidn't become one of TikTok'sbiggest momfluencersby being naive.

WhenMeredith suddenlygoes missing,Aspen's world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive—but she won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.]]> 336 Jesse Q. Sutanto 0593546946 Emily 3 3.61 2024 You Will Never Be Me
author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
name: Emily
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
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]]> The Disappearing Act 55421402 But did she ever really exist?

Mia Eliot has travelled from London to LA for pilot season. This is her big chance to make it as an actor in Hollywood, and she is ready to do whatever it takes. At an audition she meets Emily, and what starts as a simple favour takes a dark turn when Emily goes missing and Mia is the last person to see her.

Then a woman turns up, claiming to be Emily, but she is nothing like Mia remembers. Why would someone pretend to be Emily? Starting to question her own sanity, she goes on a desperate and dangerous search for answers, knowing something is very, very wrong.

In an industry where everything is about creating illusions, how do you know what is real? And how much would you risk to find out?]]> 320 Catherine Steadman 0593158032 Emily 3 3.60 2021 The Disappearing Act
author: Catherine Steadman
name: Emily
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping [On a Dead Man] (Vera Wong, #2)]]> 215805924 Vera Wong is back and as meddling as ever in this follow-up to the hit Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.�

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer SelenaGray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly...bored.

Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena's, Vera finds a treasure Selena's briefcase.Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.

Online, Xander had it a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can't seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.

Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, andthere is nothing she wouldn't do for her future daughter-in-law.]]> 325 Jesse Q. Sutanto 0593546253 Emily 3 4.28 2025 Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping [On a Dead Man] (Vera Wong, #2)
author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
name: Emily
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Geek Girl's Guide to Murder (Geek Girl Mysteries, #1)]]> 25537151 IT manager Mia Connors is up to her tortoiseshell glasses in technical drama when a glitch in the Horseshoe Falls email system disrupts security and sends errant messages to residents of the gated community. The snafu's timing couldn't be worse—Renaissance Faire season is in full swing and Mia's family's business relies on her presence.

Mia doesn't have time to hunt down a computer hacker. Her best friend has disappeared, and she finds another of her friends murdered—in her office. When the hunky new head of Horseshoe Falls security identifies Mia as the prime suspect, her anxiety level registers on the Richter scale.

Eager to clear her name, Mia moves into action to locate her missing buddy and find out who killed their friend. But her quick tongue gets her into trouble with more than the new head of security. When Mia begins receiving threats, the killer makes it clear that he's closer than she'd ever imagined.

82,750 words

]]> 352 Julie Anne Lindsey 1459290089 Emily 1 3.71 2015 A Geek Girl's Guide to Murder (Geek Girl Mysteries, #1)
author: Julie Anne Lindsey
name: Emily
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Stranger in the Mirror 54798460
In a posh home in the Boston suburbs, Julian tries to figure out what happened to his loving, caring wife, Cassandra, who disappeared without a trace two years ago. She would never have left him and their seven-year-old daughter Valentina of her own free will—or would she?

As these two lives intersect, The Stranger in the Mirror hooks readers with riveting drama, told with Liv Constantine’s hallmark blend of glamour, tense psychological thrills, and jaw-dropping twists.]]> 336 Liv Constantine Emily 3 3.70 2021 The Stranger in the Mirror
author: Liv Constantine
name: Emily
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Call for Kelp (Seaside Café Mystery, #4)]]> 49811834 It's sink or swim for Everly with her most bizarre case yet!

Everly Swan is busy as a bee running her beachside iced tea shop, and the small island of Charm, North Carolina is abuzz-Mitzi Calgon, an iconic Hollywood actress, is in town! Everly's great-aunts are making a documentary about beekeeping and Mira has agreed to help. But when the actress turns up dead, reporters and fans swarm the island, muddying the water and disrupting the peaceful lives of the townspeople.

Everly's never been good at minding her own beeswax, so she starts following her own leads and combing through the evidence. Then there's the mystery of Detective Hays-ever since their kiss under the mistletoe, he's been acting distant. And he's annoyingly determined to keep Everly away from the case. But when she receives a cryptic warning to "Bee Careful", Everly realizes that she's gotten herself into a really sticky situation...

The fourth book in Bree Baker's Seaside Café Mystery series, readers of Joanne Fluke and Kate Carlisle will love A Call for Kelp!

]]> 352 Bree Baker 1728205727 Emily 0 4.04 2020 A Call for Kelp (Seaside Café Mystery, #4)
author: Bree Baker
name: Emily
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Live and Let Chai (Seaside Café Mystery, #1)]]> 36348876 The first book in a delightful new beachside cozy mystery series!

Trouble is brewing in Everly's new café. Can she bag the culprit?

Life hasn't been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now that she is back in her seaside hometown and the proud owner of a little iced tea shop and café right on the beach, things are finally starting to look up--until a curmudgeonly customer turns up dead on the boardwalk. With one of her hallmark glass tea jars lying right next to him and an autopsy that reports poison in his system, it doesn't look good for Everly or her brand new business.

As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With a maddeningly handsome detective discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her business, it will take everything she's got to keep this mystery from boiling over.]]> 346 Bree Baker 1492664758 Emily 0 3.85 2018 Live and Let Chai (Seaside Café Mystery, #1)
author: Bree Baker
name: Emily
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Accidentally Amy 61922953
Isabella Shay is usually a very honest person.

But when she’s running late for her first day at a dream job and the barista yells for “Amy� 3x with no answer, she does the unthinkable.

Izzy takes that PSL.

It’s the exact drink she ordered and paid for, only waaaay further ahead in the line, so she mutters “I’m Amy� and grabs the cup.

But when she turns around and runs directly into the most attractive man she’s ever seen, spilling the drink all over his GQ shirt and tie, she ends up having the ultimate meet-cute. Sparks fly and things feel beyond promising until he says the words, “See you tomorrow, Amy.�

Uh, oh � she’ll definitely have to straighten him out the following day.

Only when she gets to her new office and meets the VP of her department, it is none other than Blake Phillips - the hottie from Starbucks. And the man might’ve been charming to “Amy,� but he is an arrogant grump to Izzy, an arrogant grump who dos not find her explanation funny at all.

MEET CUTE + GRUMPY/SUNSHINE + FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS = ACCIDENTALLY AMY]]> 320 Lynn Painter Emily 0 3.43 2022 Accidentally Amy
author: Lynn Painter
name: Emily
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
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]]> Mr. Nobody 44891403 348 Catherine Steadman 1524797685 Emily 3 3.57 2020 Mr. Nobody
author: Catherine Steadman
name: Emily
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Emily 0 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Emily
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)]]> 6148028 Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.]]> 391 Suzanne Collins 0439023491 Emily 0 4.34 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Emily
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> One Night Gone 42867786 A Finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, Agatha Award, and Lefty Award

It was the perfect place to disappear...

One sultry summer, Maureen Haddaway arrives in the wealthy town of Opal Beach to start her life anew—to achieve her destiny. There, she finds herself lured by the promise of friendship, love, starry skies, and wild parties. But Maureen’s new life just might be too good to be true, and before the summer is up, she vanishes.

Decades later, when Allison Simpson is offered the opportunity to house-sit in Opal Beach during the off-season, it seems like the perfect chance to begin fresh after a messy divorce. But when she becomes drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a girl thirty years before, Allison realizes the gorgeous homes of Opal Beach hide dark secrets. And the truth of that long-ago summer is not even the most shocking part of all...]]> 337 Tara Laskowski 1525832190 Emily 4 Implausible but entertaining 3.52 2019 One Night Gone
author: Tara Laskowski
name: Emily
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
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Implausible but entertaining
]]> <![CDATA[Blackmail and Bibingka (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery, #3)]]> 60046855 When her long lost cousin comes back to town just in time for the holidays, Lila Macapagal knows that big trouble can't be far behind in this new mystery by Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo.

It's Christmastime in Shady Palms, but things are far from jolly for Lila Macapagal. Sure, her new business, The Brew-ha Cafe, is looking to turn a profit in its first year. And yes, she's taken the first step in a new romance with her good friend, Jae Park. But her cousin Ronnie is back in town after ghosting the family fifteen years ago, claiming that his recent purchase of a local winery shows that he's back on his feet and ready to give back to the Shady Palms community. Tita Rosie is thrilled with the return of her prodigal son, but Lila knows that wherever Ronnie goes, trouble follows.

She's soon proven right when Ronnie is accused of murder, and secrets and rumors surrounding her shady cousin and those involved with the winery start piling up. Now Lila has to put away years of resentment and distrust to prove her cousin's innocence. He may be a jerk, but he's still family. And there's no way her flesh and blood could actually be a murderer...right?]]> 270 Mia P. Manansala 059320171X Emily 0 3.70 2022 Blackmail and Bibingka (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery, #3)
author: Mia P. Manansala
name: Emily
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life]]> 26114304
Because most nutrition products and training plans are designed for men, it’s no wonder that so many female athletes struggle to reach their full potential. ROAR is a comprehensive, physiology-based nutrition and training guide specifically designed for active women. This book teaches you everything you need to know to adapt your nutrition, hydration, and training to your unique physiology so you can work with, rather than against, your female physiology. Exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist Stacy T. Sims, PhD, shows you how to be your own biohacker to achieve optimum athletic performance.

Complete with goal-specific meal plans and nutrient-packed recipes to optimize body composition, ROAR contains personalized nutrition advice for all stages of training and recovery. Customizable meal plans and strengthening exercises come together in a comprehensive plan to build a rock-solid fitness foundation as you build lean muscle where you need it most, strengthen bone, and boost power and endurance. Because women’s physiology changes over time, entire chapters are devoted to staying strong and active through pregnancy and menopause. No matter what your sport is—running, cycling, field sports, triathlons—this book will empower you with the nutrition and fitness knowledge you need to be in the healthiest, fittest, strongest shape of your life.]]> 304 Stacy T. Sims 1623366860 Emily 3 4.02 2016 Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life
author: Stacy T. Sims
name: Emily
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves:
review:
I was excited to read this� the author was quoted in a recent podcast I was listening to. I think overall some helpful information, definitely can look at it for reference. I would rent the book, don’t pay for it like I did.
]]> Memory Man (Amos Decker, #1) 23153154
When Amos Decker returned home to find the bodies of his wife and only daughter, he didn't think he could carry on living.

Overwhelmed with grief, Decker saw his life fall apart, losing his job as a detective, his house, and his self-respect. But when his former partner visits to tell him that someone has confessed to the murder of his family, he knows he must seek justice for them.

Then tragedy strikes at the local school: teenagers are gunned down and the killer is at large. Following the serious brain injury Amos suffered as a professional footballer, he gained a remarkable gift - and the police believe that this unusual skill will assist in the hunt for the killer.

Amos Decker must endure the memories he would rather forget, and when new evidence links the murders, he is left with only one option...]]> 416 David Baldacci 1455559822 Emily 2 4.04 2015 Memory Man (Amos Decker, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Emily
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
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What nonsense is this? No really..
]]> The Fix (Amos Decker, #3) 31562247
Even with Decker's extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, the killing is baffling. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter--a family man with a successful consulting business--and his victim, a schoolteacher. Nor is there a hint of any possible motive for the attack.

Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren't cleared for it.

But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government--or worse, an international terrorist group--and an attack may be imminent.]]> 434 David Baldacci Emily 4 4.21 2017 The Fix (Amos Decker, #3)
author: David Baldacci
name: Emily
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
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I liked this so I thought the first in the series would be good, but nooooo. Now I wonder if I was hallucinating
]]> <![CDATA[The Investigator (Letty Davenport, #1)]]> 58577488
"Sandford fans rejoice! Davenport next generation has arrived and Letty is exactly the kind of cool-eyed, smart-mouthed, lethally dangerous heroine we’ve been waiting for.� --Lisa Gardner, author of 'One Step Too Far.'

By age twenty-four, Letty has seen more action and uncovered more secrets than many law enforcement professionals. Now a recent Stanford grad with a master’s in economics, she’s restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles in Washington. Letty’s ready to quit, but her skills have impressed Colles and he offers her a feet-on-the-ground investigative job in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.

Colles tells her that several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude. He isn’t so much concerned with the oil loss as he is with who is selling it, and what are they doing with the profits? Rumor has it that an ugly militia group might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them and if so, what they’re planning.Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas.When the case soon turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger.The militia group has set in motion an explosiveplan .. and the clock is ticking.]]> 400 John Sandford 0593328698 Emily 3 4.29 2022 The Investigator (Letty Davenport, #1)
author: John Sandford
name: Emily
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> Evil Eye (Audible Original) 56471636 Madhuri Shakur Emily 0 4.18 Evil Eye (Audible Original)
author: Madhuri Shakur
name: Emily
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Call Me Maybe (Love Lines, #1)]]> 55423823
True love is on the line in this charming, laugh-out-loud rom-com—created specifically for the audio format!

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth� when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Cal. He’s surprisingly helpful and really knows his stuff, even if he’s a little awkward�. in an adorable way.

And suddenly I’m flirting with him? And I think he’s flirting back.
And suddenly it’s been hours, and we’re still on the phone talking and ordering each other takeout while he trouble shoots my website.
And suddenly we’re exchanging numbers and sending texts and DMs every day, leaving voice mails (who even does that anymore?!).
And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s possible for two people fall in love at first talk.

Because I’m falling� hard.]]> 6 Cara Bastone Emily 0 3.96 2020 Call Me Maybe (Love Lines, #1)
author: Cara Bastone
name: Emily
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> Famous Last Words 212421066
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?

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

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

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

Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.� (Emily Henry)]]> 336 Gillian McAllister 0063338424 Emily 4 3.71 2025 Famous Last Words
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Emily
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> Evil Eye 45361832
In Madhuri Shekar’s ingenious Evil Eye, hilarious back-and-forth via phone and social media takes a shocking, supernatural twist when Pallavi meets the perfect man - leading to a climactic showdown that will leave listeners on the edges of their seats.]]> 2 Madhuri Shekar Emily 0 4.00 2019 Evil Eye
author: Madhuri Shekar
name: Emily
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (Finlay Donovan, #5)]]> 211003787 From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.

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

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

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.]]> 320 Elle Cosimano 1250337348 Emily 0 4.13 2025 Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (Finlay Donovan, #5)
author: Elle Cosimano
name: Emily
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[O' Artful Death (A Sweeney St. George Mystery #1)]]> 8610764 288 Sarah Stewart Taylor 1429909412 Emily 0 3.45 2003 O' Artful Death (A Sweeney St. George Mystery #1)
author: Sarah Stewart Taylor
name: Emily
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)]]> 18663492
CIA Assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever--in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a leak at the CIA and a price on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small, bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.

Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.

Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.]]> 246 Jana Deleon Emily 0 4.25 2012 Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)
author: Jana Deleon
name: Emily
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Anatomist's Wife (Lady Darby Mystery, #1)]]> 13542496 “A riveting debut…an original premise, an enigmatic heroine, and a compelling Highland setting…a book you won’t want to put down.”—New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn

Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes.

Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.

When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…]]> 368 Anna Lee Huber 0425253287 Emily 4 3.91 2012 The Anatomist's Wife (Lady Darby Mystery, #1)
author: Anna Lee Huber
name: Emily
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> The King's Messenger 213570828
1613: King James � sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots - has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumours rise the prince was poisoned.

Andrew Logan’s heard the rumours, but he’s paid them little heed. As one of the King’s Messengers he has enough secrets to guard, including his own. In these perilous times, when the merest suggestion of witchcraft can see someone tortured and hanged, men like Andrew must hide well the fact they were born with the Sight.

He’ll need all his gifts, though, when the king sends Andrew north to find and arrest Sir David Murray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and bring him a prisoner to London to stand trial before the dreaded Star Chamber.

A story of treachery, betrayal and love�


Praise for The Vanished

‘Fascinating and immersive� I love a novel that deals with the many ways in which people keep their secrets’� DIANA GABALDON

‘A hugely engrossing book and a complete world created’� IAN RANKIN

‘The Vanished Days is an absolute tour de force of historical storytelling, tender and dramatic, gripping and authentic. Kearsley manages effortlessly to balance the epic sweep of the drama with telling moments of gentle characterization, all delivered in pitch-perfect style. I thoroughly enjoyed a perfect escape in these dark days’� JANE JOHNSON , author of The Salt Road and The Tenth Gift

‘An engrossing and deeply romantic novel of Scotland’s Jacobite rebellion’� RACHEL HORE

‘This novel tells of a tender love story set amid the Jacobite rebellion. For readers unfamiliar with the twists and turns of this period of Scottish history, author Kearsley provides a helpful map, along with rich details of the protagonists. Courage in this era lies not in acts of heroic daring, but in steadfast pursuit of truth and justice. Perfect for fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlande r� WOMAN & HOME

]]> 352 Susanna Kearsley 149268905X Emily 0 to-read 4.17 2024 The King's Messenger
author: Susanna Kearsley
name: Emily
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[I Only Read Murder (Miranda Abbott, #1)]]> 149269372 An amateur theater production
An onstage murder
A town full of suspects�

Miranda Abbott, once known for the crime-solving, karate-chopping church pastor she played on network television, has hit hard times. Turned down for a role on a cable reality show, Miranda is facing ruin when a mysterious postcard arrives, summoning her to Happy Rock, a small town in the Pacific Northwest. But when she gets there, nothing is what she expected.

In dire straits, Miranda signs up for an amateur production at the Happy Rock Little Theater, competing against the local real estate agent for the lead role. In front of a packed house, one of the actors is murdered, live, onstage. But out of one hundred witnesses, no one actually saw what happened. Now everyone is under a cloud of suspicion, including the sardonic town doctor, the local high school drama teacher, an oil-stained car mechanic, an older gentleman who may or may not have been in the CIA—and Miranda herself. Clearly, the only way to solve this mystery is for Miranda to summon her skills as television’s Pastor Fran and draw on the help of her new sidekick, Susan, a shy bookstore clerk who seems to know everyone’s secrets. Because the show must go on!]]> 304 Ian Ferguson 0778369633 Emily 2 3.21 2023 I Only Read Murder (Miranda Abbott, #1)
author: Ian Ferguson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> Still Life 57001545
As Ulysses returns home to London, reimmersing himself in his crew at The Stoat and Parrot -- a motley mix of pub crawlers and eccentrics -- he carries his time in Italy with him. And when an unexpected inheritance brings him back to where it all began, Ulysses knows better than to tempt fate, and returns to the Tuscan hills.

With beautiful prose, extraordinary tenderness, and bursts of humor and light, Still Life is a sweeping portrait of unforgettable individuals who come together to make a family, and a richly drawn celebration of beauty and love in all its forms.]]> 464 Sarah Winman 0593330757 Emily 0 to-read 4.08 2021 Still Life
author: Sarah Winman
name: Emily
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wrench in the Works (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #6)]]> 38521269 Contractor Shannon Hammer has to dig through murder suspects in the latest Fixer-Upper Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Eaves of Destruction and Once Upon a Spine.

Don't miss the Hallmark Movies & Mystery Originals starring Jewel, based on the Fixer-Upper Mystery series!

Shannon Hammer's younger sister Chloe left Lighthouse Cove after high school to make it big in Hollywood. And she did it! For several years now, Chloe has been the co-host of a popular home repair show on the Do-It-Yourself Network. Now, after ten years, Chloe returns to Lighthouse Cove with her crew and co-host to film several shows featuring her sister Shannon, along with some special mini-segments on Victorian style and design.

But Shannon realizes quickly that things are not exactly blissful in TV land. Her sister's handsome co-host is being stalked by someone who turns out to be his estranged wife, Erica--who also happens to be the executive producer of the show. Erica's got a knack for stirring up sticky situations and when she's found dead, Chloe and the entire crew are under suspicion.

Shannon soon discovers the real reason why Chloe was so eager to move away from Lighthouse Cove all those years ago. Can Shannon figure out if that ten-year-old secret is connected to Erica's death? And can she track down the real killer before her beloved sister becomes the next victim?]]> 213 Kate Carlisle 0399586490 Emily 0 4.01 2018 A Wrench in the Works (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #6)
author: Kate Carlisle
name: Emily
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Eaves of Destruction (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #5)]]> 34306241
Shannon is in high demand among rival homeowners, who will do anything to win Best in Show. One-upmanship and even espionage break out among neighbors, construction crews, decorators, and landscapers. Thanks to several new hires, Shannon is sure she can handle the extra load--until murder throws a wrench in the works.

The small town's corrupt building inspector is found dead on one of Shannon's jobsites, and soon plenty of suspects are coming out of the woodwork. When another body is discovered, Shannon calls on her team of close friends and devilishly astute thriller writer Mac to help her nail down the details and build a case against the killer before the door shuts on someone else--for good.]]> 285 Kate Carlisle 0399586466 Emily 0 4.02 2017 Eaves of Destruction (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #5)
author: Kate Carlisle
name: Emily
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Deck the Hallways (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #4)]]> 29498616 In the fourth novel in the New York Timesbestselling Fixer-Upper Mystery series, contractor Shannon Hammer must restore the Christmas spirit by clearing her father's name...Don't misstheHallmark Movies & Mystery Originals starring Jewel, based on the Fixer-Upper Mystery series! Even during the holidays, Shannon is more spackle than sparkle, which is why she leaps at the chance to transform a grand old Victorian mansion into ten charming apartments for homeless families. Filled with the spirit of the season, all of Lighthouse Cove turns out to help—including her best friends, a troupe of far-from-angelic Santa Claus impersonators, and her father, Jack. But their merriment is soon dashed by a heated scuffle between Jack and the miserly president of the bank who’s backing the project. When the man is murdered, all eyes are on Jack, and visions of prison time dance in Shannon's head. Now, she needs to pull off a crime-solving miracle, before her father’s Christmas goose is cooked...]]> 293 Kate Carlisle 0451488237 Emily 0 3.99 2016 Deck the Hallways (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #4)
author: Kate Carlisle
name: Emily
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
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]]> The Same Bright Stars 199797895
Meanwhile, the DelDine group has been snapping up beloved eateries along this stretch of coast, and it is pursuing Jack with a very generous offer to take Schmidt’s off his hands. Jack craves companionship and maybe even a family. He wonders whether closing the door on the restaurant might open a window for him—but who would he be without Schmidt’s, and can he trust DelDine’s claims that it will continue to employ his staff and honor his family’s legacy?]]> 287 Ethan Joella 1668024608 Emily 0 to-read 3.71 2024 The Same Bright Stars
author: Ethan Joella
name: Emily
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nosy Neighbors 182484343 Two neighbors-at-war band together to stop a dangerous criminal in their midst in this enthralling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Ticket.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, and especially not in crumbling Shelley House. According to her neighbors, she’s prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat is plagued by guilt from her past.

Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling is Shelley House’s longest resident, and if you believe the other tenants, she’s as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Except there’s a good reason Dorothy spends her days spying on her neighbors—a closely guarded secret that no else knows and the reason Dorothy barely leaves her beloved home.

When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home. But when someone starts to play dirty and viciously targets one of the residents, Dorothy and Kat suspect foul play in their community. After the police close the investigation, it's up to this improbable pair to bring a criminal to justice.]]> 384 Freya Sampson 0593550528 Emily 3 3.76 2024 Nosy Neighbors
author: Freya Sampson
name: Emily
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
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]]> Universality 214269374 Remember—words are your weapons, they’re your tools, your currency: a twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power from a "powerful new voice in British Literature� (The Sunday Times).

Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, in the midst of an illegal rave, a young man is nearly bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar.

An ambitious young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement that has taken up residence on the farm. She solves the mystery, but her viral exposé raises more questions than it answers, Who wrote it? Why? And how much of it is true? Through a voyeuristic lens, and with a simmering power, the book focuses in on what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean.

The thrilling novel from one of the most acclaimed and incisive young novelists working today, Universality is a compelling, unsettling celebration of the spectacular, appalling force of language. It dares you to look away.]]> 176 Natasha Brown 0593977300 Emily 0 to-read 3.43 2025 Universality
author: Natasha Brown
name: Emily
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead]]> 182761607
The notion of “housewife� evokes strong reactions. For some, it’s nostalgia for a bygone era, simpler and better times when men were breadwinners and women remained home with the kids. For others, it’s a sexist, oppressive stereotype of women’s work. Either way, housewife is a long outdated concept—or is it?

Lisa Selin Davis, known for her smart, viral, feminist, cultural takes, argues that the “breadwinner vs. homemaker� divide is a myth. She charts examples from prehistoric female hunters to working class housewives in the 1930s, from First Ladies to 21st century stay-at-home moms, on a search for answers to the problems of what is referred to as women’s work and motherhood. Davis discovers that women have been sold a lie about what families should be. Housewife unveils a interdependence, rather than independence, is the American way.

The book is a clarion call for all women—married or single, mothers or childless—and for men, too, to push for liberation. In Housewife , Davis builds a case for systemic, cultural, and personal change, to encourage women to have the power to choose the best path for themselves.
]]> 320 Lisa Selin Davis 1538722887 Emily 0 to-read 3.79 2024 Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead
author: Lisa Selin Davis
name: Emily
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> <![CDATA[On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good]]> 63876551 A groundbreaking exploration of the ancient rules women unwittingly follow in order to be considered "good," revealing how the Seven Deadly Sins still control and distort their lives and illuminating a path toward a more balanced, spiritually complete way to live

Women congratulate themselves when they resist the doughnut in the office break-room. They celebrate their restraint when they hold back from sending an e-mail in anger. They feel virtuous when they wake up at dawn to get a jump on the day. They put others' needs ahead of their own and believe this makes them exemplary. In On Our Best Behavior, journalist Elise Loehnen explains that these impulses--often lauded as unselfish, distinctly feminine instincts--are actually ingrained in women by a culture that reaps the benefits, via an extraordinarily effective collection of mores known as the Seven Deadly Sins.

Since being codified by the Christian church in the fourth century, the Seven Deadly Sins--pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth--have exerted insidious power. Even today, in our largely secular, patriarchal society, they continue to circumscribe women's behavior. For example, seeing sloth as sinful leads women to deny themselves rest; a fear of gluttony drives them to ignore their appetites; and an aversion to greed prevents them from negotiating for themselves and contributes to the 55 percent gender wealth gap. Loehnen reveals how women have been programmed to obey the rules represented by these sins and how doing so qualifies them as "good."

This probing analysis of contemporary culture and thoroughly researched history explains how women have internalized the patriarchy, and how they unwittingly reinforce it. By sharing her own story and the spiritual wisdom of other traditions, Loehnen shows how women can break free and discover the integrity and wholeness they seek.]]> 384 Elise Loehnen 059324303X Emily 0 to-read 3.77 2023 On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good
author: Elise Loehnen
name: Emily
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom]]> 211003829 Timely and thought-provoking, Nancy Reddy unpacks and debunks the bad ideas that have for too long defined what it means to be a "good" mom.

When Nancy Reddy had her first child she found herself suddenly confronted with the ideal of a perfect mother—a woman who was constantly available, endlessly patient, and immediately invested in her child to the exclusion of all else. Reddy had been raised by a single working mother, considered herself a feminist, and was well on her way to a PhD. Why did doing motherhood "right" feel so wrong?

For answers Reddy turned to the mid-20th century social scientists and psychologists whose work still forms the basis of so much of what we believe about parenting. It seems ludicrous to imagine modern moms taking advice from mid-century researchers, yet their bad ideas about so-called “good� motherhood have seeped pervasively into our cultural norms. In The Good Mother Myth, Reddy debunks the flawed lab studies, sloppy research, and straightforward misogyny of researchers from Harry Harlow, who claimed to have discovered love by observing monkeys in his lab, to the famous Dr. Spock, whose bestselling parenting guide included just one illustration of a father interacting with his child. Blending history of science, cultural criticism, and memoir, The Good Mother Myth pulls back the curtain on the flawed social science behind our contemporary understanding of what makes a good mom.]]> 256 Nancy Reddy 1250336643 Emily 0 to-read 3.66 2025 The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom
author: Nancy Reddy
name: Emily
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Crowned and Moldering (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #3)]]> 24453005
When Mac Sullivan—famous thriller writer and Shannon’s new beau—first moved to Lighthouse Cove, California, he bought the historic lighthouse mansion that the town is named after. Mac needs help cleaning up the place, and Shannon is more than happy to get her handywoman hands on the run-down Victorian.

But during demolition, a grisly discovery is made among the debris—the bones of a teenage girl who went missing fifteen years ago. Locals had always assumed Lily Brogan ran away from her difficult life, but it seems her troubles followed her to the grave. If Shannon has any chance of getting her renovation back on track, she’ll need to tackle the cold case. But with new suspects coming out of the woodwork every day, she’ll have to be careful to pry the right secrets and clues from the poor girl’s problematic past...]]> 320 Kate Carlisle 0451469216 Emily 0 4.04 2015 Crowned and Moldering (Fixer-Upper Mystery, #3)
author: Kate Carlisle
name: Emily
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
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