EP's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:14:40 -0700 60 EP's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Voyage of the Damned 218554737
Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

Except Ganymedes Piscero - class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?]]>
464 Frances White 0778387909 EP 0 to-read 3.20 2024 Voyage of the Damned
author: Frances White
name: EP
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Story of My Life (Story Lake, #1)]]> 224908111
Hazel is given a one-two punch when she's forced to move out of her Upper East Side apartment and is given a final warning from her publisher.

If she doesn't turn in a book by her next deadline, they're cutting her loose.

Hazel rashly decides to leave what's left of her city life behind and impulse buys a house in rural Pennsylvania, sight unseen. How better to entertain the loyal readers she still has and rediscover her writing mojo than by immersing herself in small-town life?

Too bad this town looks to be on its last legs. At least she's finding swoon-worthy inspiration from her hot, grumpy contractor Cam and his animal-rescuing, community-involved family. It's all just research. What could go wrong?

A note from Lucy Score: This series is my love letter to every reader who said they wanted to move to a fictional town . . .]]>
17 Lucy Score EP 0 currently-reading 4.17 2025 Story of My Life (Story Lake, #1)
author: Lucy Score
name: EP
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man (Girl Friday #1)]]> 60394499
New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy M.I.A. and a lifeless body on the floor.

The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s life and loves—and discovers that the body in the office is none other than Tallulah’s betrothed. Meanwhile, Lawson is itching to solve his murder case, and continues harassing Viviana for answers—until she’s the victim of an attack by a group of goons hooked up with a gangster named Santino Napolitano, a.k.a. Tino the Conderoga. Tino’s connected to the death of Tommy’s brother, and now he’s trying to get to Tommy through Viviana.

But Tommy’s still missing, and Tino is still out for blood. As Viviana digs into the dirty history of the Blackstone empire, she suddenly realizes the true danger at hand. Now, it’s up to her to find her missing boss and make sure she doesn’t turn up D.O.A.]]>
288 Emily J. Edwards 1639101837 EP 0 to-read 3.81 2022 Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man (Girl Friday #1)
author: Emily J. Edwards
name: EP
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[He's Not My Type (The Vancouver Agitators, #4)]]> 196226291 This steamy, one bed romantic comedy will bring all the laughs while making your cheeks blush at the same time. Sometimes the quietest are the most . . . vocal . . .

Word to the wise, never become roommates with a girl you’ve been pining over for the better part of a year.

You’re probably wondering why I would do such a thing? Well, I didn’t.

It was my teammates.

The moment they found out Blakely White was single, they took it upon themselves to play cupid and instruct me on how I should win her over.

Don't wear a shirt around her.
Make her dinner.
Lightly touch her shoulder when you say goodbye.

I'm so flustered, so overwhelmed, so madly in love with this woman who barely notices me, that I lose control of the situation and make one huge mistake: I offer to be her fake date for a wedding so she can make her ex jealous.

That means, for one whole night I get a free pass with her. I get to hold her, dance with her, kiss her…stare at her from across the room like she’s my entire world because she has been for months now.

But when the night comes to an end, I’m faced with two options: bring her back to my bedroom and show her how I really feel, or let her walk away, succumbing to the fact that I very well might not be her type.]]>
394 Meghan Quinn 1959442147 EP 0 to-read 4.26 2023 He's Not My Type (The Vancouver Agitators, #4)
author: Meghan Quinn
name: EP
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]>
665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 EP 0 currently-reading 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: EP
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Society of Lies 223641038 How far would you go to belong?

Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion - it's been a decade since she graduated, and this visit is special because she will also be attending the graduation of her little sister, Naomi.

But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya's worst nightmare when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The police are calling it an accident, but Maya suspects that there is more to the story than they are letting on.

As Maya pieces together what happened in the months leading up to her sister's death, she begins to realise how much Naomi hid from her. Despite Maya's warnings, Naomi had joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus - the same one Maya belonged to. And if she had to guess, Naomi was likely tapped for the secret society within it.

Maya knows that her sister isn't the first person in the society to turn up dead. Now every clue is leading Maya back to the past . . . and to the secret she's been keeping all these years.]]>
400 Lauren Ling Brown 0593723376 EP 0 to-read 3.60 2024 Society of Lies
author: Lauren Ling Brown
name: EP
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, #2)]]> 59849819 Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance!

Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago.

What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can’t help but desire: a magician, an actress, and a magnet for scandal.

Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of suspects, Maud and Violet must first drop the masks that they’ve both learned to wear before they can unmask a murderer and somehow get their hands on a magical object worth killing for—without ending up dead in the water themselves.]]>
400 Freya Marske EP 0 currently-reading 4.08 2022 A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, #2)
author: Freya Marske
name: EP
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Something Wild & Wonderful (Nashville Love Book 2)]]> 62058091 not go well. That’s how he ended up onĚýthe rugged Pacific Crest Trail, hoping he canĚýfigure out a new life plan in the thousands of miles it'll take to walk the famed hike. He’s prepared for rattlesnakes, blisters, and months ofĚýsolitude. What he’s not prepared for is the ray of sunshine named Ben Caravalho.

Charismatic and outgoing, Ben's personality and infectious laughter is a stark opposite to Alexei'sĚýquiet, reservedĚýdemeanor. But no matter how determined Alexei is to hike the trail alone, it seems he and Ben can't avoid being drawn to each other. Through snow crossings and close calls with coyotes, Alexei inches closer to letting Ben in. As Alexei learns of Ben’s loving family and supportive friends, he begins to get a taste of what found family and belonging could truly feel like. But just as Alexei starts to let down his defenses, a sudden change in plans reawakens his fears—and he must discover if he has the courage to face something even scarier than the trail less traveled: letting himself fall.]]>
385 Anita Kelly EP 5 4.35 2023 Something Wild & Wonderful (Nashville Love Book 2)
author: Anita Kelly
name: EP
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Scarlet Veil (The Scarlet Veil, #1)]]> 60386889 A new darkness is rising in Belterra. This dark and thrilling vampire romance—set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Serpent & Dove series—is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.

Six months have passed since Célie took her sacred vows and joined the ranks of the Chasseurs as their first huntswoman. With her fiancé Jean Luc as captain, she is determined to find her foothold in her new role and help protect Belterra. But whispers from her past still haunt her, and a new evil is rising—one that Célie herself must vanquish, unless she falls prey to the darkness.]]>
630 Shelby Mahurin EP 3 BUT, second half really grew on me. Totally 4-4.5 stars. Pretty slow burn sexy and C is a total badass in the most normal of ways. I’d also be totally fine if she just went off by herself and hung out with ghosts. ]]> 4.21 2023 The Scarlet Veil (The Scarlet Veil, #1)
author: Shelby Mahurin
name: EP
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: vampires, history, paranormal, young-adult, fantasy, romance
review:
Ok. I was super weirded out about how the love interest was a 1000 year old dude (I really hate that) who abducted C and basically tortured her to get her to use her magic, I struggled with the idea of Cand M getting together. I’ll admit the first half I was hovering around 2 stars. (Btw, I was NOT thrilled with Jean Luc (besides his name! How dare he tarnish such a beautiful name!?) and his “I’m lying to you to protect you bullshit� so good riddance to him.)
BUT, second half really grew on me. Totally 4-4.5 stars. Pretty slow burn sexy and C is a total badass in the most normal of ways. I’d also be totally fine if she just went off by herself and hung out with ghosts.
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<![CDATA[Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)]]> 211165143 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance set in Rome, Kentucky—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rule Book and Practice Makes Perfect.

Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.

Jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]>
368 Sarah Adams 0593723708 EP 4 4.19 2025 Beg, Borrow, or Steal (When in Rome, #3)
author: Sarah Adams
name: EP
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Ever since a read a Dramione fanfic with Draco in spectacles, I’ve never gotten over a hot guy in glasses. So sign me up. And role playing a steamy scene from a book with almost no touching. Sign me up twice.
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<![CDATA[Earl of Weston (Make Mine an Earl, #1)]]> 178596353 Can a reluctant earl avenge his brother’s murder and save an adorably sweet spinster in the process?

A reluctant earl�
Confirmed bachelor, Edward Hunter returns home after being away for a year on a secret mission for the Crown to find his brother killed, and his father dead from grief. He is now the Earl of Weston, a title he never wanted. While searching for leads in his brother’s murder, he’s forced to attend ton entertainments he normally would have avoided.

A spirited spinster�
Hattie Longbottom is a sheltered spinster who spent her bloom caring for her invalid parent. With the death of her mother, she is forced to leave her home. Because she refuses to separate from her beloved parrot, Archie, her only option is to travel to Eynsham and live with her brother and his family. The journey to his estate shocks Hattie with the harsh realities of life outside her little village. Along the way, and with the help of her vociferous bird, a series of unfortunate mishaps threaten to ruin Hattie and place her on a dangerous path, until Edward Hunter rides into her life.

Dear Reader: Earl of Weston was originally part of the multi-authored Wicked Earls Club Series.]]>
Anna St. Claire EP 1 3.98 2018 Earl of Weston (Make Mine an Earl, #1)
author: Anna St. Claire
name: EP
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
“She’s All That� but over 4 days set in regency England with a super uptight and minimal backbone FMC who suddenly is not so uptight and finds her backbone once someone gives her a better dress that shows her tits and does her hair. Oh and she calls Edward’s dick a snake and I about lost it.
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Death at Morning House 199793628 From the bestselling author of the Truly Devious books, Maureen Johnson, comes a new stand-alone YA about a teen who uncovers a mystery while working as a tour guide on an island and must solve it before history repeats itself.

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

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

Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?]]>
384 Maureen Johnson 0063255952 EP 4 3.71 2024 Death at Morning House
author: Maureen Johnson
name: EP
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation (Halifax Hellions, #1)]]> 201595894
Henry Mortimer has precisely one secret in his otherwise buttoned-up life: he’s been in love with Margo for seven wonderful, agonizing years. When she turns up at his doorstep, soaked to the skin and desperate for his help, he cannot turn her down. A week alone in a carriage with the object of his desires an arm’s length away? Surely he can survive that. He hopes.

But the road to Scotland is paved with disasters—caves and crashes and the bloody rain that keeps forcing Henry to hold a damp, shivering, dreadfully tempting Margo in his arms. Only an unstoppable force could drag the truth of Henry’s affection from his lips. Unfortunately for him, Margo Halifax has yet to be stopped.]]>
131 Alexandra Vasti 1250360129 EP 4 3.61 2022 In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation (Halifax Hellions, #1)
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: EP
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)]]> 211809571 The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

Book Three of the Emily Wilde Series]]>
368 Heather Fawcett 0593500237 EP 0 to-read 4.27 2025 Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: EP
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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Not Quite Dead Yet 220223963 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder—now a hit Netflix series—returns with her first novel for adults: a twisty thriller about a young woman trying to solve her own murder.

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.]]>
400 Holly Jackson 059397705X EP 0 to-read 4.43 2025 Not Quite Dead Yet
author: Holly Jackson
name: EP
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed, #1)]]> 219848373 A slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance featuring a scholarly healer and a gentleman assassin, set in an exquisite fantasy world.

Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, finds himself in dire need of an expert healer. As fate would have it, that very healer is Aurienne Fairhrim, a member of his enemy Order, the Haelen.

Aurienne is desperate for funding to heal the sick, so desperate that when Osric breaks into her office to offer her a bribe for her healing services, she must accept. Even if she loathes him.

A forced collaboration ensues: the brilliant Woman in STEM is coerced into working with the PhD in Murders - much to Aurienne's disgust. Despite being enemies thrown together, as Osric and Aurienne work together to solve not only his illness, but the mysterious reoccurrence of a deadly Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction which seems to only fuel the heat between them.

Romance tropes include:
Enemies to lovers
High interaction slow burn
Hypercompetent idiots
He falls first and harder
Evisceration as a love language]]>
384 Brigitte Knightley 0593819454 EP 0 to-read 4.51 2025 The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed, #1)
author: Brigitte Knightley
name: EP
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #4)]]> 216522630 She’s the one that got away. He’s the one that never let her go.

From the bestselling author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance in which past lovers get a second chance to rediscover what they lost.

Camille Ashwood had always loved a plan. Her latest was her best yet. She was going to get married so she could secure her daughter’s future, get her overbearing parents off her back, and finally start building her own life in small town Meadowlark, Wyoming. Easy, right?

But when her groom doesn’t show up to the wedding, Cam’s life is turned upside down—she doesn’t even have a place to live. That is, until she finds out the house she’s loved since high school is available to rent. There’s only one problem: the neighbor.

Dusty Tucker has spent nearly all of his adult life running. Running from what, though? More like who: Cam Ashwood. But ever since he returned home last year, the girl who was his first, well, everything has become a woman seemingly determined to keep him at arm’s length. And he was okay with that—at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. She was getting married, after all. But now she’s single and living next door. Dusty wants to show her that they can be friends, and that he can stay put.

Despite her best attempts to stay far away from Dusty Tucker, Cam realizes that being close to him is like slipping on her favorite jeans. Easy. Comfortable. That is until past wounds start to open and feelings—both old and new—wreak havoc. Nearly ten years after they first met, Dusty and Cam begin to wonder if their first love can also be their last. And this time, will it be forever?]]>
368 Lyla Sage 0593732472 EP 0 to-read 4.33 2025 Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #4)
author: Lyla Sage
name: EP
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping]]> 123029113 A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power�

Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just know how to unlock the spell’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone...and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.]]>
336 Sangu Mandanna EP 0 to-read 4.36 2025 A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: EP
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Dollmakers 202219616
In the country called One, dollmakers are vital members of the community. An artisan’s doll is the height of society’s accomplishments, while a guard’s doll is the only thing standing between the people of One and the vicious, cobbled monstrosities that will tear apart any structure—living or dead, inanimate or otherwise—to add to their horde.

Apprentice Shean of Pearl is a brilliant dollmaker. With her clever dolls, she intends to outsmart and destroy the Shod, once and for all—a destiny she’s worked her whole life toward accomplishing. But when the time comes for her dolls to be licensed, she’s told her work is too beautiful and delicate to fight. A statement that wounds and infuriates her; the Shod killed everyone she loved. How could her fate be anything but fighting them?

In an attempt to help her see a new path for herself, Shean’s mentor sends her on a journey to the remote village called Web, urging her to glean some wisdom from Ikiisa, a reclusive and well-respected guard dollmaker. But Shean has another if she can convince the village of Web of her talents, the Licensor Guild will have to reconsider and grant her a guard’s license. And what better way to convince them than challenging Ikiisa and instating herself as the official dollmaker of Web? Once she’s done that, proving her dolls� worth in the fight against the Shod will be simple.

As simple, that is, as calling the Shod to Web...]]>
400 Lynn Buchanan EP 0 to-read 3.94 2024 The Dollmakers
author: Lynn Buchanan
name: EP
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock, #8)]]> 199212571 Charlotte Holmes is accustomed to solving crimes, not being accused of them, but she finds herself in a dreadfully precarious position as the bestselling Lady Sherlock series continues.

Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip.

Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive.

But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?]]>
368 Sherry Thomas 0593640446 EP 0 to-read 4.31 2024 A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock, #8)
author: Sherry Thomas
name: EP
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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Earl Crush 211653407 In Alexandra Vasti’s newest Regency rom-com, a reclusive earl’s life is turned upside down when a stranger shows up on his doorstep with an astonishing proposal—and an inconvenient connection to espionage.

For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets. And for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the Earl of Strathrannoch, whose political ambition is matched only by his charm. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of—a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself.

Unfortunately, the Earl of Strathrannoch has no idea who she is.

When a bewitching redheaded stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned—but when he learns that his traitorous brother has been writing to her under Arthur’s name, he’s bloody furious. He’s content to live alone in his moldering castle, and he has no desire for a provocative, radical wife. (Or at least, he shouldn’t.)

But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe—even his heart.]]>
342 Alexandra Vasti 1250910978 EP 0 to-read 4.13 2025 Earl Crush
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: EP
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
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Under Loch and Key 209455891 A woman discovers that not all monsters are her enemy—the opposite, in fact—in this new paranormal romance by Lana Ferguson, author of The Fake Mate.

Keyanna “Key� MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman—who thinks she’s an idiot—is definitely the last thing she expects.

Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore—a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.

When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after—and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.]]>
415 Lana Ferguson 0593816862 EP 0 to-read 3.71 2024 Under Loch and Key
author: Lana Ferguson
name: EP
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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<![CDATA[The Bone Season (The Bone Season, #1)]]> 63132313 Welcome to Scion. No safer place.

The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe.

In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal � and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.]]>
560 Samantha Shannon 1639732233 EP 0 to-read 4.25 2013 The Bone Season (The Bone Season, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: EP
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
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Digging Dr Jones 220062186 A laugh-out-loud spicy adventure romcom. Perfect for fans of The Lost City, Lyla Sage and Christina Lauren.

A surprise gift is exactly what Adriana Jones needs to improve her vacation, and a bracelet with gems will do the trick.

Except once it’s on, she’s faced with two problems:

1. The bracelet is actually meant for Andrew Jones � the renowned and utterly gorgeous archaeologist
2. It will not come off, no matter how hard she tries�

Andrew Jones needs this bracelet if he wants to find an ancient lost treasure deep in the jungles of Colombia. And there’s no way he’s letting Adriana’s mistake cost him his career.

There’s only one solution: Adriana must accompany him on his quest. Trekking through jungles and crawling through crypts wasn’t on Adriana’s vacation agenda, but an adventure with the very sexy Dr Jones might just be the treasure she’s been seeking�

Tropes:

Forced Proximity
Opposites Attract
Fish out of Water
Destination romcom
Spicy]]>
384 Olivia Jackson 0008729646 EP 0 currently-reading, arc 3.71 Digging Dr Jones
author: Olivia Jackson
name: EP
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: currently-reading, arc
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<![CDATA[The One That Got Away with Murder]]> 210585806 Be careful who you fall for...

Robbie and Trevor Cresmont have a body count—the killer kind. Handsome and popular, the Crestmont brothers' have enough wealth and privilege 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. ]]>
384 Trish Lundy 1250362687 EP 0 to-read 4.00 2024 The One That Got Away with Murder
author: Trish Lundy
name: EP
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)]]> 218014044 An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!
The global phenomenon by Callie Hart--a highly addicting enemies-to-lovers Romantasy with razor-sharp banter, heart-stopping action, and blistering hot romance.Ěý

DoĚýnotĚýtouch the sword. DoĚýnotĚýturn the key. DoĚýnotĚýopen the gate.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.ĚýIn the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water. But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it isĚýboundĚýto come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares…but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him…Ěýor her. Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s theĚýonlyĚýway Saeris is going to make it home.

Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details...

N.B. Quicksilver contains depictions of graphic violence/adult situations and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author's website.]]>
615 Callie Hart EP 1 Kingfisher (objectively, a terrible name) has a sister and a friend, who spend their time apologizing and an excusing his shitty behavior. Listen, trauma is real. His "daddy" issues are real. The magic system that tortured him is real. But go find out outlet (and a therapist), and stop being an asshole to everyone (even the people you apparently do like) and sexually harassing people. It's gross.
And Saeris, who is amazing at sneaking around, stealing things, grasping how her magic works (insta-magic, anyone?), pulling swords out of stones, looking good in dresses and pants, making a fox her pet, and tasting floral notes in wine. Seriously, that last one may have been what broke me.
Could I just have a book about Ren?]]>
4.50 2024 Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)
author: Callie Hart
name: EP
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:
A 27 year old woman who acts like almost every female protagonist in every romantasy (so more like 16), is apparently battle hardened (does being taught to fight when you were a kid count?) and super strong (though she frequently talked about how little food she had, had never bathed, and basically surviving each day on like a cup of water). She's a big baby about some things, completely dumb about others, spends alot of time NOT asking good questions (internally or externally), and loathes a "male" who saved her after her inside were outside. He happens to be about 2000 years old. Cool, except she if really despised him, she wouldn't also be constantly thinking about this "male" parts. And he is one of the biggest assholes I have read in a while, and no side smirking can save him.
Kingfisher (objectively, a terrible name) has a sister and a friend, who spend their time apologizing and an excusing his shitty behavior. Listen, trauma is real. His "daddy" issues are real. The magic system that tortured him is real. But go find out outlet (and a therapist), and stop being an asshole to everyone (even the people you apparently do like) and sexually harassing people. It's gross.
And Saeris, who is amazing at sneaking around, stealing things, grasping how her magic works (insta-magic, anyone?), pulling swords out of stones, looking good in dresses and pants, making a fox her pet, and tasting floral notes in wine. Seriously, that last one may have been what broke me.
Could I just have a book about Ren?
]]>
<![CDATA[Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A LOVE Story]]> 207595568 “Jason Reynolds has done it again!...Fresh from start to finish…This is what it could be, should be, if only we were all as lucky as Aria. Girls (and everyone) wait for your Neon!� �Judy Blume, New York Times bestselling author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Forever...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds tackles it—you know�it—from the guy’s perspective in this unfiltered and undeniably sweet stream of consciousness story of a teen boy about to experience a huge first.

Twenty-four months Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine.

Twenty-four weeks Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that.

Twenty-four days Neon’s mom finds her�gulp—bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he’d figured he’d better practice, what with the big day only a month away.

Twenty-four minutes Neon leaves his shift at work at his dad’s bingo hall, making sure to bring some chicken tenders for Aria. They’re not candlelight and they definitely aren’t caviar, but they are her favorite.

And right this second? Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom, completely freaking out because twenty-four seconds from now he and Aria are about to…about to� Well, they won’t do anything if he can’t get out of his own head (all the advice, insecurities, and what ifs) and out of this bathroom!]]>
253 Jason Reynolds 1665961295 EP 5 4.24 2024 Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A LOVE Story
author: Jason Reynolds
name: EP
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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<![CDATA[The Rushworth Family Plot (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #4)]]> 219446044 The fourth book in the Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series, which finds the amateur sleuths caught up in the whirlwind of the London Season—and in a murderous scheme involving the family of Edmund and Fanny Bertram.

Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other perfectly; it's a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, has led their parents to deem the pair unsuited to wed. Now, with the Season approaching, Juliet has been sent to London with a new wardrobe and orders to prove herself worthy of someone better than the snobby Darcys.

Meanwhile, Jonathan has been forced to accept an invitation to stay with old friends Edmund and Fanny Bertram at the house of Edmund's brother, Sir Thomas. Oblivious to and undesiring of female attention other than Juliet's, Jonathan is in danger of being ensnared by Caroline Bingley's plans to make herself—or her daughter—mistress of Pemberley.

But when the former husband of Edmund's sister Maria, Mr. Rushworth, is discovered dead, Jonathan and Juliet find themselves with problems far weightier than the marriage market.

In one of the greatest scandals of its day, Maria abandoned her husband for the notorious rake Henry Crawford and, when he wouldn't marry her, was forced to flee to the continent in disgrace. Now Maria is back, with a daughter she claims Mr. Rushworth fathered after their divorce—and who he wrote into his will just before his death.

Now Jonathan and Juliet must unmask a killer before the drama surrounding the Rushworth family fortune claims another victim.]]>
Claudia Gray 0735247870 EP 0 to-read 4.46 The Rushworth Family Plot (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #4)
author: Claudia Gray
name: EP
average rating: 4.46
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/09
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<![CDATA[The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #3)]]> 199605682
Someone is trying to kill Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Esteemed aunt of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, generous patroness of Mr. William Collins, a woman of rank who rules over the estate of Rosings Park with anĚýunimpeachable sense of propriety—who would dare ? Lady Catherine summons her grand-nephew, Mr. Jonathan Darcy, and his investigative companion, Miss Juliet Tilney, to find out.

After a year apart, Jonathan and Juliet are thrilled to be reunited, even if the circumstances—finding whoever has thus far sabotaged Lady Catherine's carriage, shot at her, and nearly pushed her down the stairs—are less than ideal. Also less than their respective fathers, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Henry Tilney, have accompanied the young detectives to Rosings, and the two men do not interact with the same felicity enjoyed by their children.

With attempts against Lady Catherine escalating, and no one among the list of prime suspects seemingly capable of committing all of the attacks, the pressure on Jonathan and Juliet mounts—even as more gentle feelings between the two of them begin to bloom. The race is now on to provoke two one from the attempted murderer before it is too late—and one, perhaps, of love.]]>
400 Claudia Gray 0593686594 EP 5 4.16 2024 The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #3)
author: Claudia Gray
name: EP
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
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We Could Be So Good 60630848
Andy Fleming's newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He's barely able to run his life--he's never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he'll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.

Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can't deny. But what feels possible in secret--this fragile, tender thing between them--seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they're willing to fight.]]>
383 Cat Sebastian 0063272776 EP 5 4.40 2023 We Could Be So Good
author: Cat Sebastian
name: EP
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
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The Memory Collectors 219401075 Four strangers time travel to the past and find themselves stuck on the day all their lives were changed in this stunning speculative mystery from award-winning film and television producer Dete Meserve, perfect for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Wrong Place Wrong Time and The Paradox Hotel.

What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California are about to find out.Ěý

Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstepĚýlanded him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.

Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travelĚýinvention of Mark Saunders—which allowsĚýsome lucky clientsĚý the chanceĚýto spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients,Ěýincluding Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth,Ěýyearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever.Ěý

But when their “hour� extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared All their lives were shattered the same night on a secluded highway by the beach. As they delve into the hidden truths of that pivotal hour, a startling revelation emerges. They were not alone. Someone else was present, harboring deadly intentions.

The Memory Collectors is a heart-wrenching, genre-bending novel brimming with hope, grief and second chances.

]]>
336 Dete Meserve EP 0 to-read 4.22 2025 The Memory Collectors
author: Dete Meserve
name: EP
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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<![CDATA[The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel (Raven Cycle Graphic Novels, #1)]]> 221473209 The first book in Maggie Stiefvater'sĚý#1 NYT bestselling series The Raven Cycle, now gorgeously illustrated as a graphic novel!

Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics. Only, she has never had the same clairvoyant abilities they had and has always felt too ordinary within the magic that surrounded her. Enter Gansey, a rich student from Aglionby, the town’s all-boys private school teeming with wealth, privilege, and trouble. Blue's always made it a point to stay away from its students, the Raven Boys.

But when Gansey asks her to join him and three other Raven Boys on his quest to find a long-forgotten Welsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of their quiet Virginia town, Blue doesn’t hesitate. She jumps at the chance to finally be a part of something real and full of magic, a world she was born into yet one that always stood just out of reach. Soon enough, she’s swept into a strange and shifting world woven into theirs, one far more dangerous than anything they could have dreamt up.

Now reimagined as a stunning full-color graphic novel adapted by Stephanie Williams and illustrated by Sas Milledge, The Raven Boys unravels a thrilling plot around a cast of characters impossible to forget.]]>
256 Stephanie Williams 0593621182 EP 0 to-read 4.41 2025 The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel (Raven Cycle Graphic Novels, #1)
author: Stephanie Williams
name: EP
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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The Swan's Daughter 228393488 Howl's Moving Castle meets Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries in this enchanting and nostalgic YA fairytale from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi in which a young prince destined to die by the hand of his bride, and a veritas swan who has escaped her treacherous father, seek protection in one another and discover that the only thing more formidable than a curse...is love.]]> 352 Roshani Chokshi 125087310X EP 0 to-read 0.0 The Swan's Daughter
author: Roshani Chokshi
name: EP
average rating: 0.0
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date added: 2025/02/28
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Poverty, by America 74852010 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER â€� The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making aĚý“provocative and compellingâ€� (NPR)Ěýargument about why it persists in because the rest of us benefit from it.

A BEST BOOK OF THE The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Oprah Daily, Time, The Star Tribune, Vulture, The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Public Library, Esquire, California Review of Books, She Reads, Library Journal

“Urgent and accessible . . . Its moral force is a gut punch.”�The New Yorker

Longlisted for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award � Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?Ěý
Ěý
In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor.ĚýThose of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.
Ěý
Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom.]]>
287 Matthew Desmond 059323992X EP 5 4.29 2023 Poverty, by America
author: Matthew Desmond
name: EP
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
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The Lies We Conjure 203924608
Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings.

So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand―each―for a single night� Wren insists it’s a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed.

But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.]]>
386 Sarah Henning 1250841070 EP 3 3.82 2024 The Lies We Conjure
author: Sarah Henning
name: EP
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
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Lady’s Knight 217432802 An undeniably fierce, unforgettably funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend. Bestselling and acclaimed authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner bring readers along on an epic quest for valor, freedom, and, above all, love. A Knight’s Tale meets the Lady Jane series, with a dash of The Great!

Gwen is sick of hiding—hiding the fact that she’s taken over her father’s blacksmithing duties, hiding her attraction to girls, hiding her yearning for glory as a knight.

Meanwhile, Lady Isobelle of Avington, queen bee of the castle, has never once considered hiding who she is—until now. She’s been chosen as the grand prize in the Tournament of Dragonslayers, to be given to whichever knight can claim her hand. And for the first time in her life, she can’t talk her way out of trouble.

When Isobelle discovers Gwen’s knightly ambitions, they hatch a scheme together—Gwen will joust in the tournament, disguised as Sir Gawain. Winning means freedom for Isobelle, and glory for Gwen. Losing means� well, let’s not go there.

One thing’s for sure: falling in love was never the plan.

But the best laid plans…are often trampled all over by dragons.

"A sapphic delight, full of jousts, jaunts, and courtly love.ĚýLady's KnightĚýsparkles with wit and charm and has lady knights to swoon over. Kaufman and Spooner will leave you breathless." —C. S. Pacat,ĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling author ofĚýDark Rise]]>
432 Amie Kaufman 0062893394 EP 0 to-read 4.12 2025 Lady’s Knight
author: Amie Kaufman
name: EP
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/24
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<![CDATA[Wings of Starlight (Disney Fairies)]]> 212808316 Brimming with magic and romance, a young fairy queen must form an unlikely alliance or risk an unspeakable danger destroying all she holds dear in this standalone YA novel from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft.

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

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

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

Discover the origin of the sweeping, star-crossed romance between the queen of Pixie Hollow and the lord of the Winter Woods.]]>
400 Allison Saft 1368098452 EP 2 4.27 2025 Wings of Starlight (Disney Fairies)
author: Allison Saft
name: EP
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
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I don’t know why Disney thinks they can throw out HEA’s. That’s their schtick and the audacity of them to not is unacceptable. I was willing to forgive plot holes and general martyrdom but I put my foot down at those in love not getting to be together.
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You Should Be So Lucky 196774809 We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.]]>
360 Cat Sebastian EP 5 So stinking sweet.]]> 4.45 2024 You Should Be So Lucky
author: Cat Sebastian
name: EP
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:
Pretty much this is book is just a picture of me collapsing into a puddle on the floor. With the occasional raging (first 40% of the book) at anyone being mean to Eddie. (But why? He’s a giant sweet potato.) Anyway, I am basically mush at this point and if you too want to have your face melt off your face (hmmm, that feels repetitive), then read this deliciously swoony book about a sweet potato baseball player and a grumpy grieving writer. And twoo wuv.
So stinking sweet.
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The Phoenix Pencil Company 220652184
Monica Tsai spends most days on her computer, journaling the details of her ordinary life and coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers online. A self-proclaimed recluse, she's always struggled to make friends and, as a college freshman, finds herself escaping into a digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her beloved grandparents. They are now in their nineties, and Monica worries about them constantly—especially her grandmother, Yun, who survived two wars in China before coming to the States, and whose memory has begun to fade.

Though Yun rarely speaks of her past, Monica is determined to find the long-lost cousin she was separated from years ago. One day, the very program Monica is helping to build connects her to a young woman, whose gift of a single pencil holds a surprising clue. Monica’s discovery of a hidden family history is exquisitely braided with Yun’s own memories as she writes of her years in Shanghai, working at the Phoenix Pencil Company. As WWII rages outside their door, Yun and her cousin, Meng, learn of a special power the women in their family possess: the ability to Reforge a pencil’s words. But when the government uncovers their secret, they are forced into a life of espionage, betraying other people’s stories to survive.

Combining the cross-generational family saga and epistolary form of A Tale for the Time Being with the uplifting, emotional magic of The Midnight Library, Allison King’s stunning debut novel asks: who owns and inherits our stories? The answers and secrets that surface on the page may have the unerasable power to reconnect a family and restore a legacy.]]>
368 Allison King 0063446235 EP 0 to-read 4.00 2025 The Phoenix Pencil Company
author: Allison King
name: EP
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Otherwhere Post 214268980 The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique returns with another glittering dark fantasy about a deadly mystery that spans worlds and a teenage girl who must risk everything to uncover the truth.

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.

Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent.

To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.

Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation�or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.]]>
400 Emily J. Taylor 0593404548 EP 0 to-read 4.11 2025 The Otherwhere Post
author: Emily J. Taylor
name: EP
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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Bring Me Your Midnight 200174277 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild is the Witch comes a lush romantic fantasy about forbidden love, the choices we make, and the pull between duty and desire.

Tana Fairchild’s fate has never been in question. Her life has been planned out since the moment she was born: she is to marry the governor’s son, Landon, and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches of her island home and the mainlanders who see her very existence as a threat.

Tana’s coven has appeased those who fear their power for years by releasing most of their magic into the ocean during the full moon. But when Tana misses the midnight ritual—a fatal mistake—there is no one she can turn to for help…until she meets Wolfe.

Wolfe claims he is from a coven that practices dark magic, making him one of the only people who can help her. But he refuses to let Tana’s power rush into the sea, and instead teaches her his forbidden magic. A magic that makes her feel powerful. Alive.

As the sea grows more violent, her coven loses control of the currents, a danger that could destroy the alliance as well as her island. Tana will have to choose between love and duty, between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her heart. Marrying Landon would secure peace for her coven but losing Wolfe and his wild magic could cost her everything else.]]>
432 Rachel Griffin 1728298415 EP 0 to-read 3.89 2023 Bring Me Your Midnight
author: Rachel Griffin
name: EP
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Gods Time Forgot 209948349 Irish mythology collides with Gilded Age New York in this sweeping debut enemies-to-lovers historical romantasy, perfect for fans of Outlander and A Fate Inked in Blood.

Manhattan, 1870. Rua knows only two things: her name, and that she has no memories. So when the wealthy Harrington family mistakes Rua for their missing daughter, Emma, Rua goes along with the charade, hoping for answers about who she really is. As she tries to blend into a society she doesn’t remember, she’s drawn to a firmly off-limits the Lord of Donore, a newcomer to Manhattan society who is somehow familiar to Rua.

Finn is new to this side of the Atlantic and knows that the best way to fit in as Lord of Donore is to make friends in high places and play by the rules of society. He knows he shouldn’t become involved with a mysterious, recently missing debutante, but he’s intrigued by Emma Harrington, and Finn has an uncanny feeling that this isn’t the first time they’ve met.Ěý

With societal pressures mounting on both sides, Rua is determined to discover the truth about the missing Harrington daughter and her own past. But when her memories begin to return, they’re of a world far stranger than New York and traced in dark magic.

As ancient secrets unfurl in Rua’s memory, Rua and Finn are forced to uncover the mystery of their past and try to save their future. In this gritty and glittering romantasy, nothing and no one is as they seem.]]>
320 Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez EP 0 to-read 3.58 2025 The Gods Time Forgot
author: Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez
name: EP
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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Overruled 219848320 Two divorce lawyers determined to share only beds but not hearts discover that love is something that can’t be overruled in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson, USA Today bestselling author of The Game Changer.

Danica Pierce has one great love in her life: work. As one of the top divorce lawyers in Austin, Danica lets her caseload keep her warm at night and has no problem being married to her job, not when love only ends in hurt. When the biggest case of her career gives her a shot at making partner, it seems like nothing could possibly stand in her way...except for her infuriating secret: she's sleeping with the enemy.

Ezra Hart is known for charming his way in and out of a courtroom. In the matter of winning Danica Pierce's heart, however, he's been far less successful. With her verdict to keep things purely physical with no chance of appeal, Ezra struggles to show Danica he's more than the insufferable playboy she's pegged him to be--especially since they find themselves on opposing sides of Danica's most important case to date.

While Dani and Ezra battle it out in the courtroom, the real trial is the one happening between them. When Dani realizes that everything she knows of Ezra might be hearsay--and that she's not the only one with emotional baggage--she must choose between her fear of trusting again and the feelings blossoming between her and the man she thought was her worst enemy.]]>
432 Lana Ferguson 0593549392 EP 0 to-read 4.28 2025 Overruled
author: Lana Ferguson
name: EP
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)]]> 56163940
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]>
340 Hafsah Faizal EP 5 not-released-to-read 3.66 2024 A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: EP
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: not-released-to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 217313011
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

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

By an “endlessly inventive� (Vulture) author with a “wicked sense of humor� (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that’s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new.]]>
432 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820710 EP 0 to-read 4.43 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: EP
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

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Grand Theft AI 217470801 378 James Cox EP 0 to-read 3.94 2024 Grand Theft AI
author: James Cox
name: EP
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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A Calamity of Souls 214175102 Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially-charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama from #1�New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.�

Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.
�
Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era. �
�
Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair. But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.

Over a decade in the writing, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.]]>
512 David Baldacci 1538765047 EP 0 to-read 4.60 2024 A Calamity of Souls
author: David Baldacci
name: EP
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Stars Undying (Empire Without End, #1)]]> 62874004 A sweeping tale of empire and betrayal set among the stars, perfect for readers of Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine,ĚýThe Stars Undying is a queer, spectacular space opera debut inspired by the rise and fall of ancient Rome and Egypt—and the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed both the crown of their planet, Szayet, and the Pearl of its prophecy: a computer that contains the immortal soul of Szayet’s god.

So when the interstellar Empire of Ceiao turns its conquering eye toward Szayet, Gracia sees an opportunity. To regain her planet, Gracia places herself in the hands of the empire and its dangerous commander, Matheus Ceirran.

But winning over Matheus, to say nothing of his mercurial and compelling captain Anita, is no easy feat. And in trying to secure her planet’s sovereignty and future, Gracia will find herself torn between Matheus’s ambitions, Anita’s unpredictable desires, and the demands of the Pearl that whispers in her ear.

For Szayet’s sake and her own, she will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before.]]>
560 Emery Robin 0316391492 EP 0 to-read 3.75 2022 The Stars Undying (Empire Without End, #1)
author: Emery Robin
name: EP
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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Her Radiant Curse 199298843 From the New York Times bestselling author of SIX CRIMSON CRANES comes a tale of two sisters—one as beautiful as the other is monstrous� who must fight to save each other when a betrothal contest gone wrong unleashes an evil that could sever their bond forever.

One sister must fall for the other to rise.

Channi was not born a monster. But when her own father offered her in sacrifice to the tiger witch, she was forever changed. Cursed with a serpent's face, Channi is the exact opposite of her beautiful sister Vanna—the only person in the village who looks at Channi and doesn’t see a monster. The only person she trusts.

Now seventeen, Vanna is to be auctioned off in a vulgar betrothal contest that will enrich the coffers of the village leaders. Only Channi, who’s had to rely on her strength and cunning all these years, can defend her sister against the cruelest of the suitors. But in doing so, she becomes the target of his wrath—launching a series of vicious gladiatorial fights, a quest over land and sea, romance between sworn enemies, and a choice that will strain Channi's heart to its breaking point.

Weaving together elements of The Selection and Ember in the Ashes with classic tales like Beauty and the Beast and Helen of Troy, Elizabeth Lim is at the absolute top of her game in this thrilling yet heart-wrenching fantasy that explores the dark side of beauty and the deepest bonds of sisterhood.]]>
Elizabeth Lim 0593746236 EP 4 netgalley, arc 3.69 2023 Her Radiant Curse
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: EP
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: netgalley, arc
review:

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Ne'er Duke Well 198112130 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.]]>
345 Alexandra Vasti 1250910951 EP 5 3.92 2024 Ne'er Duke Well
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: EP
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
Is it possible to want to marry a book? Because I do. I am 1000% obsessed with this book.
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Antiracist Baby 52535437 Antiracist Baby introduces the youngest readers and the grown-ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism. Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, Antiracist Baby is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society.]]> 24 Ibram X. Kendi 0593110412 EP 5 kid-book, abar 4.04 2020 Antiracist Baby
author: Ibram X. Kendi
name: EP
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/17
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: kid-book, abar
review:

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<![CDATA[The Demon King (Seven Realms, #1)]]> 6342491
One day, Han and his clan friend, Dancer, confront three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to keep him from using it against them. Soon Han learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of freedom in the mountains—riding, hunting, and working the famous clan markets. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has other plans for her...

The Seven Realms tremble when the lives of Hans and Raisa collide, fanning the flames of the smoldering war between clans and wizards.]]>
506 Cinda Williams Chima 1423118235 EP 4
2nd time: Decided to listen, but really didn't like the narrator, so moved to reading it after about 25%.]]>
4.16 2009 The Demon King (Seven Realms, #1)
author: Cinda Williams Chima
name: EP
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: fantasy, magic, series, young-adult
review:
Love it the first time.

2nd time: Decided to listen, but really didn't like the narrator, so moved to reading it after about 25%.
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<![CDATA[The Rosie Project (Don Tillman, #1)]]> 45287327
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful� husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.]]>
316 Graeme Simsion EP 4 4.23 2013 The Rosie Project (Don Tillman, #1)
author: Graeme Simsion
name: EP
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:

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The Shadows Between Us 44670142
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?]]>
333 Tricia Levenseller 1250189977 EP 2
Alessandra, despite being super flawed, can literally do no wrong and is good at like, everything. She in mere minutes comes up with plans to 1) get rid of a blackmailer, 2) root out a bandit, 3) make peasants stop being, like mean to the dude that took over their kingdom, 4) get rid of a man who just happens to like her (spoiler, not the king), 5) get rid of a friend's fiancée that he just doesn't like (? friend is questionable, since she says she doesn't have friends, but manages to make them in like 2 minutes at the first ball she attends, but I feel 1000% confident she is just using them all, and would throw them all to the wolves if it suited her purposes), 6) figure out who the assassin/killer is (well, besides herself). AND, she's the best designer, seamstress, wine connoisseur, seductress, able to spot things that don't look right...the list goes on and on and on.

But seriously, the last few chapters were the most unbelievable, because HOW DOES AN ENTIRE CASTLE NOT RECOGNIZE THE DEAD PRINCE??!?!?!? He's has hair dye and a broken nose, and wa-la, abracadabra, superman, no one will know him?!? What is this? But shockingly, guess who figures it out? Yup, the only person who has NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN THE DEAD PRINCE...because...well, hair dye, and she's just so much better than everyone else.

And although I haven't even discussed how lame the king is (or his stupid magic is), they are perfect for each other with their terribleness.]]>
3.92 2020 The Shadows Between Us
author: Tricia Levenseller
name: EP
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:
Alessandra, kinda of whiny bitch, is tired of being overlooked, and instead of just making friends and being as independent as she can, decides to sleep with a bunch of men and dumps them after they are have used up their worth (i.e., given her as many gifts as she can get out of them), then use the cash to make a killer wardrobe (have I said she designs her own clothes, and makes her own clothes, and is a trendsetter?? Well she does like 1000 times), go to the castle, be very cool and special, and make the king love her, in order to be queen and then kill him. (And listen, no judgement here on the sexcapades, but for someone who looked down on "whores" later in the book...kettle black, anyone?)

Alessandra, despite being super flawed, can literally do no wrong and is good at like, everything. She in mere minutes comes up with plans to 1) get rid of a blackmailer, 2) root out a bandit, 3) make peasants stop being, like mean to the dude that took over their kingdom, 4) get rid of a man who just happens to like her (spoiler, not the king), 5) get rid of a friend's fiancée that he just doesn't like (? friend is questionable, since she says she doesn't have friends, but manages to make them in like 2 minutes at the first ball she attends, but I feel 1000% confident she is just using them all, and would throw them all to the wolves if it suited her purposes), 6) figure out who the assassin/killer is (well, besides herself). AND, she's the best designer, seamstress, wine connoisseur, seductress, able to spot things that don't look right...the list goes on and on and on.

But seriously, the last few chapters were the most unbelievable, because HOW DOES AN ENTIRE CASTLE NOT RECOGNIZE THE DEAD PRINCE??!?!?!? He's has hair dye and a broken nose, and wa-la, abracadabra, superman, no one will know him?!? What is this? But shockingly, guess who figures it out? Yup, the only person who has NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN THE DEAD PRINCE...because...well, hair dye, and she's just so much better than everyone else.

And although I haven't even discussed how lame the king is (or his stupid magic is), they are perfect for each other with their terribleness.
]]>
<![CDATA[Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation]]> 57693654 Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them. In her groundbreaking and essential debut The Three Mothers, scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes.

Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little were all born at the beginning of the 20th century and forced to contend with the prejudices of Jim Crow as Black women. These three extraordinary women passed their knowledge to their children with the hope of helping them to survive in a society that would deny their humanity from the very beginning―from Louise teaching her children about their activist roots, to Berdis encouraging James to express himself through writing, to Alberta basing all of her lessons in faith and social justice. These women used their strength and motherhood to push their children toward greatness, all with a conviction that every human being deserves dignity and respect despite the rampant discrimination they faced.

These three mothers taught resistance and a fundamental belief in the worth of Black people to their sons, even when these beliefs flew in the face of America’s racist practices and led to ramifications for all three families� safety. The fight for equal justice and dignity came above all else for the three mothers.

These women, their similarities and differences, as individuals and as mothers, represent a piece of history left untold and a celebration of Black motherhood long overdue.]]>
288 Anna Malaika Tubbs 1250756138 EP 0 to-read 4.04 2021 Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
author: Anna Malaika Tubbs
name: EP
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil]]> 213263148 London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

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

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

And all of them grow teeth.]]>
544 Victoria E. Schwab 1250320526 EP 0 to-read 4.56 2025 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: EP
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)]]> 53217284
For fans of Georgette Heyer or Julia Quinn's Bridgerton, who'd like to welcome magic into their lives...

Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he's actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.

Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor � but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.]]>
377 Freya Marske 1250788897 EP 5 3.94 2021 A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)
author: Freya Marske
name: EP
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Wizard of Most Wicked Ways (Whimbrel House, #4)]]> 208283672 When dead enemies rise, grave matters of the heart, mind, and body clash in the fantastical fourth Whimbrel House novel by Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

Whimbrel House is changing. Merritt and Hulda are raising a family. Owein has signed a marriage contract with the magically compatible Lady Cora, a heavyweight of British nobility who’s an ocean away. And the lovely shape-shifting druid Fallon makes a distractingly fetching friend for Owein. But another change is in the air, and this time it’s something wicked.

The greatest wizard of the millennium, Silas Hogwood, is back—after five years dead. New body, same foul scent, and driven by madness and revenge. Owein, fearing he isn’t strong enough to fend him off, seeks Cora’s help and influence in England. Alarms ringing, Queen Victoria dispatches her League of Magicians, including her personal necromancer, to aid in Owein’s defense.

As magic, both good and evil, converges on Blaugdone Island, Owein realizes how harrowing the forces against them are. Combating them will require some digging—literally—for half-formed secrets of magic Hulda doesn’t want him to have. But no promise, lock, or government red tape will keep Owein from doing what’s necessary to protect those he loves; one way or another, Silas will only take Whimbrel House over Owein’s third dead body.]]>
Charlie N. Holmberg EP 0 to-read, not-released-to-read 4.06 2025 Wizard of Most Wicked Ways (Whimbrel House, #4)
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: EP
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read, not-released-to-read
review:

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Deep End 212806981 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]>
447 Ali Hazelwood 0593550447 EP 0 to-read, not-released-to-read 4.12 2025 Deep End
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: EP
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read, not-released-to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil]]> 215020997 London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

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

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

And all of them grow teeth.]]>
560 Victoria E. Schwab 1035064642 EP 0 to-read, not-released-to-read 4.38 2025 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: EP
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read, not-released-to-read
review:

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Vita Nostra (Vita Nostra, #1) 39090430
Our life is brief . . .

Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies.

Or, more precisely, she’s been chosen.

Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.

A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.]]>
417 Marina Dyachenko EP 0 to-read 3.98 2007 Vita Nostra (Vita Nostra, #1)
author: Marina Dyachenko
name: EP
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Shattered King 220664579 A captive healer and a mysterious prince are drawn to each other in the midst of war and magic in a beguiling dark fantasy by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

The kingdom of Cansere is on the brink of war. Young men are conscripted from their homes, and a royal decree from the queen has made healing the only legal form of craftlock. Nym, a healer and beekeeper, is the sole provider for her family of seven now that her younger brother has been sent to the warfront. But when a letter comes from the queen, summoning Nym to the palace to heal Prince Renn, the kingdom’s ailing shut-in, Nym finds herself making the tumultuous journey from her family’s apiary to the capital city. Nym is determined to fail the queen’s mission and return to her younger siblings as soon as she can.

But escaping the castle’s hold isn’t as easy as failing a simple test. Prince Renn is cold and distant, and his illness is nothing like Nym has ever seen before, nothing she could ever imagine treating. In a moment of connection with Prince Renn, Nym manages to remedy the faintest symptom of his ailment―only to discover that no healer before has made such progress. Forced to become the prince’s official healer and a ward of the castle, and with her only hope of returning to her family hinging on the prince’s recovery, Nym must navigate the castle’s cruel and twisted court and uncover the haunting truth behind Prince Renn’s illness―even as she finds herself irrevocably drawn to him.]]>
333 Charlie N. Holmberg 1662530587 EP 0 to-read 0.0 The Shattered King
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: EP
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom, #4)]]> 139818919
Imprisoned on the dreaded Devil’s Island, Zarrah faces two choices: prove her loyalty to the Empress who condemned her or die a traitor. Yet as she struggles to survive among violent prisoners, Zarrah uncovers a third path: a rebellion to overthrow tyranny entwined with a destiny she must fight to claim.

While the Empress plots a war with devastating consequences, Keris and Zarrah must find their way back to each other. Yet their greatest adversary is the fiery passion between them. Unless they overcome the bitterness of betrayal, their love will not be the bringer of peace but rather the fuel that turns the Endless War into an inferno.]]>
Danielle L. Jensen EP 4 4.08 2023 The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom, #4)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: EP
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)]]> 202408844
Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.

Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts…]]>
517 T. Kingfisher EP 5 4.48 2023 Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: EP
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
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Fourteen Days 213344068
One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants - some of whom have barely spoken to each other - become real neighbours. In this Decameron-like serial novel, general editor Margaret Atwood, Authors Guild president Douglas Preston, and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn't get away from the city when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger.

Includes writing from:
Margaret Atwood, Douglas Preston, Celeste Ng, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, John Grisham, Diana Gabaldon, Ishmael Reed, Meg Wolitzer, Luis Alberto Urrea, James Shapiro, Sylvia Day, Mary Pope Osborne, Monique Truong, Hampton Sides, R. L. Stine, Scott Turow, Tommy Orange, and more!]]>
384 Margaret Atwood 0063280183 EP 0 to-read 3.55 2024 Fourteen Days
author: Margaret Atwood
name: EP
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
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Strangers in Time 217182446 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes David Baldacci’s newest novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,� Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.

As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.]]>
448 David Baldacci 1538742055 EP 0 to-read 4.16 2025 Strangers in Time
author: David Baldacci
name: EP
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
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We Could Be Magic 215149189 A swoon-worthy young adult graphic novel about a girl's summer job at a theme park from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer.


When Tabitha Laurie was growing up, a visit to Sommerland saved her belief in true love, even as her parents� marriage was falling apart. Now she’s landed her dream job at the theme park’s prestigious summer program, where she can make magical memories for other kids, guests, and superfans just like her. All she has to do is audition for one of the coveted princess roles, and soon her dreams will come true.

There’s just one problem. The heroes and heroines at Sommerland are all, well� thin. And no matter how much Tabi lives for the magic, she simply doesn't fit the park's idea of a princess.

Given a not-so-regal position at a nacho food stand instead, Tabi is going to need the support of new friends, a new crush, and a whole lot of magic if she’s going to devise her own happily ever after. . . without getting herself fired in the process.

With art by Joelle Murray, the wonder of Sommerland comes to life with charming characters and whimsical backdrops. We Could Be Magic is a perfect read for anyone looking to get swept away by a sparkly summer romance.]]>
256 Marissa Meyer 1250379393 EP 0 to-read 4.49 2025 We Could Be Magic
author: Marissa Meyer
name: EP
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Courting of Bristol Keats (The Courting of Bristol Keats, #1)]]> 203924645 From New York Times bestselling author Mary E. Pearson comes a thrilling romantic fantasy full of dangerous fae, dark secrets, and addictive romance

After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt� she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet—and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm—the one he is from.

Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae leader, Tyghan. But what she doesn't know is that he's the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father—dead or alive.]]>
550 Mary E. Pearson 1250331986 EP 3 3.78 2024 The Courting of Bristol Keats (The Courting of Bristol Keats, #1)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: EP
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:
I’m so conflicted about the ending. And I do believe fae just aren’t my jam.
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Educated 35133922
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.]]>
352 Tara Westover 0399590501 EP 0 to-read 4.46 2018 Educated
author: Tara Westover
name: EP
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.]]>
523 Lauren Roberts EP 0 to-read 4.17 2023 Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: EP
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
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First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]>
340 Ashley Elston EP 0 to-read 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: EP
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
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Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]>
56 Hugh Howey EP 5 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: EP
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/02
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts]]> 197514374 Filling a gaping hole in menopause care, everything a woman needs to know to thrive during her hormonal transition and beyond, as well as the tools to help her take charge of her health at this pivotal life stage--by the bestselling author of The Galveston Diet.

Menopause is inevitable, but suffering through it is not! This is the empowering approach to self-advocacy that pioneering women's health advocate Dr. Mary Claire Haver takes for women in the midst of hormonal change in The New Menopause. A comprehensive, authoritative book of science-backed information and lived experience, it covers every woman's needs:
- From changes in your appearance and sleep patterns to neurological, musculoskeletal, psychological, and sexual issues, a comprehensive A to Z toolkit of science-backed options for coping with symptoms.
- What to do to mediate the risks associated with your body's natural drop in estrogen production, including for diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain.
- How to advocate and prepare for annual midlife wellness visits, including questions for your doctor and how to insist on whole life care.
- The very latest research on the benefits and side effects of hormone replacement therapy.
Arming women with the power to secure vibrant health and well-being for the rest of their lives, The New Menopause is sure to become the bible of midlife wellness for present and future generations.]]>
311 Mary Claire Haver 0593796268 EP 5 4.41 The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts
author: Mary Claire Haver
name: EP
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
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<![CDATA[Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)]]> 203578847 The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.

Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.

Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.

At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.]]>
1344 Brandon Sanderson 1250319188 EP 0 to-read 4.37 2024 Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: EP
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
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A Thief in the Night 62586915
Miles, Lord Arvon, is not impressed. But he’s faced with a tumbledown home and lost family fortune, and desperate times call for desperate measures. Toby—shameless, practical, and definitely desperate—may be just the man he needs.

To steal back a priceless bracelet, that is. What else were you thinking?]]>
3 K.J. Charles EP 4 3.76 2022 A Thief in the Night
author: K.J. Charles
name: EP
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: lgbtq, romance, adult, audible, historical-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[Blade of Secrets (Bladesmith, #1)]]> 58772789
Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord’s intentions to use the weapon to enslave all the world under her rule, she takes her sister and flees.

Joined by a distractingly handsome mercenary and a young scholar with extensive knowledge of the world’s known magics, Ziva and her sister set out on a quest to keep the sword safe until they can find a worthy wielder or a way to destroy it entirely.]]>
352 Tricia Levenseller 1250756782 EP 0 to-read 3.96 2021 Blade of Secrets (Bladesmith, #1)
author: Tricia Levenseller
name: EP
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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Lenny Among Ghosts 201155959 What happens when you’re the only human student in a school for ghosts?

Lenny has no idea of the adventure he’s in for when his parents decide to take an extended research trip and sign him up for a boarding school in an old German castle. But even before leaving for the school, it seems like something is trying to prevent Lenny from going�

Once he arrives at Shadowsnout Castle Academy, a couple more things become clear: (1) this is not your average school, and (2) Lenny is probably in some serious danger. Lenny needs an escape plan—and fast.

As Lenny makes his way through the school (and some most unusual classes), he’s plunged into a world of turning heads, rhyming radio ghosts, invisible pirates, and floating maidens, each with their own creepiness factor—and, surprisingly, charm. And when the school comes under attack by outside forces, Lenny finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew. What if, maybe, being here, right now, was his destiny all along?]]>
207 Frank Maria Reifenberg 1662517505 EP 3 3.72 2024 Lenny Among Ghosts
author: Frank Maria Reifenberg
name: EP
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
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Icebreaker (Maple Hills, #1) 210718115
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.

Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.

But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.

Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried . . . because she could never like a hockey player, right?

This deluxe hardcover edition features
•ĚýĚýNew bonus material
•ĚýĚýPearlized and foiled jacket
•ĚýĚýStunning sprayed edges
•ĚýĚýDesigned endpapers
•ĚýĚýFoil stamped case]]>
464 Hannah Grace 1668080397 EP 1 3.78 2022 Icebreaker (Maple Hills, #1)
author: Hannah Grace
name: EP
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:
I hate these characters, the lack of plot, and how useless all "adults" are in this book.
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<![CDATA[The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future]]> 52640230 Veronica Roth EP 4 3.45 2019 The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future
author: Veronica Roth
name: EP
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

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Such Charming Liars 201102258 The newest mystery from the author One of Us Is Lying, the Queen of thrillers, Karen M. McManus! When mother-daughter grifters set out on their final job, the heist gets deadly and dangerously personal.

For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.

Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.

Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.

Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.]]>
389 Karen M. McManus 059348505X EP 4 3.77 2024 Such Charming Liars
author: Karen M. McManus
name: EP
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 221516867 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

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

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you’ll never expect.]]>
389 Holly Jackson 1984896385 EP 4 4.23 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: EP
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-Time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]>
293 Ally Carter 0063276682 EP 5 3.92 2024 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
author: Ally Carter
name: EP
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
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<![CDATA[Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1)]]> 37650176 New York Times bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think--she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.

Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN.

Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small."

And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.]]>
218 Katherine Arden EP 4 4.08 2018 Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1)
author: Katherine Arden
name: EP
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
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<![CDATA[All by My Elf (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #3)]]> 220389455
Nina and William are underpaid adjunct professors at the same university, where winter break is no break at all: ’tis the season to make extra money. When their holiday side hustle has them stranded by a blinding blizzard in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing to do but cuddle up for warmth and play a game of Never Have I Ever to pass the time. But in the game of love, secrets never stay secret for long�

Olivia Dade’s All by My Elf is part of Under the Mistletoe, a stirring collection of December romances that thrill and tingle all the way. They can be read or listened to in one swoony sitting.]]>
55 Olivia Dade 166252823X EP 3 2.58 2024 All by My Elf (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #3)
author: Olivia Dade
name: EP
average rating: 2.58
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
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<![CDATA[Merry Ever After (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #2)]]> 220389465 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

Evie Crowe is starting over in a strange town with her newborn, and men are the furthest thing from her mind. If only the quiet, hulking farmer, Luke Ward, would stop coming into the thrift shop and piquing her reluctant interest. Evie wants to stay single all the way—she can’t trust anything more than friends-with-holiday-benefits. But Luke is in it for the long haul. He’s fixed on making this a Christmas Evie will remember forever. If she gives him a chance.

Tessa Bailey’s Merry Ever After is part of Under the Mistletoe, a stirring collection of December romances that thrill and tingle all the way. They can be read or listened to in one swoony sitting.]]>
59 Tessa Bailey 1662528736 EP 3 2.79 2024 Merry Ever After (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #2)
author: Tessa Bailey
name: EP
average rating: 2.79
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
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Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga 55627166 New York Journal of Books

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can't let go. Now that they’re in college, Cath must decide if she’s ready to start living her own life. But does she even want to if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Cath doesn’t need friends IRL. She has her twin sister, Wren, and she’s a popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow community with thousands of fans online.Ěý But now that she’s in college, Cath is completely outside of her comfort zone. There are suddenly all these new people in her life. She's got a surly roommate with a charming boyfriend, a writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome new writing partner ... And she's barely heard from Wren all semester!]]>
216 Sam Maggs EP 4 4.17 2020 Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga
author: Sam Maggs
name: EP
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
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<![CDATA[Cruel Winter with You (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #1)]]> 220389458 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.

All newly minted pediatrician Jamie Malek wants is to borrow a roasting pan for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, that requires her to interact with Marc—her best friend’s troublemaking brother, who’s now a tech billionaire. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Outside, a howling blizzard. Inside, a crackling fire. Suddenly, being snowbound with the man she never expected to see again might not be such a bad way to spend a winter’s night.

Ali Hazelwood’s Cruel Winter with You is part of Under the Mistletoe, a stirring collection of December romances that thrill and tingle all the way. They can be read or listened to in one swoony sitting.]]>
73 Ali Hazelwood 1662528396 EP 4 3.68 2024 Cruel Winter with You (Under the Mistletoe Collection, #1)
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: EP
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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The Midnight Feast 199791337 Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin...

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests� healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule� cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

THE FOUNDER * THE HUSBAND * THE MYSTERY GUEST * THE KITCHEN HELP

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at� The Midnight Feast.]]>
320 Lucy Foley 0063003120 EP 4 3.79 2024 The Midnight Feast
author: Lucy Foley
name: EP
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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<![CDATA[The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)]]> 776407 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 EP 5 4.37 1928 The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)
author: A.A. Milne
name: EP
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
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Asunder 195791081 We choose our own gods here.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch entity—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.

And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.]]>
432 Kerstin Hall 1250625432 EP 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Asunder
author: Kerstin Hall
name: EP
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)]]> 59110287
Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…]]>
305 T. Kingfisher EP 4 4.40 2021 Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: EP
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
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<![CDATA[An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas]]> 59516212 One little lie can spin so wildly out of control...and yet turn out so well.

Scarlet’s grandmother wants her to bring her boyfriend home for what may be her grandmother’s last Christmas. Which wouldn’t be a problem…if Scarlet actually had a boyfriend. Scarlet’s sister came up with a bit of fiction to make Grandma happy in that regard.

We all have boyfriends, Grams. Really, we're not going to waste our lives and die alone in a trailer full of cats.

Scarlet would totally skip the fake boyfriend performance, but her cousin Jane is bringing her boyfriend to Grandma's too—and he’s Scarlet’s ex.

Yeah. Her rich, arrogant, all too sure of his own charms, ex-boyfriend. That guy. There’s no way she’s showing up solo to face him. Scarlet is stuck, last-minute, with Liam, a man she’s never met and knows nothing about.

Maybe it’s Liam’s extreme hotness that muddles Scarlet’s mind, but she has a hard time keeping certain facts straight—like his profession, and the fact that he’s not really her boyfriend…so she’s not supposed to kiss him.

She needs to stay on her toes because not keeping her story straight will land her and Liam in all sorts of trouble.

If you love a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy with all the warm fuzzy feelings of Christmas trees, gingerbread, and hot guys, snatch up this page-turner today!]]>
267 Janette Rallison EP 0 3.61 2021 An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas
author: Janette Rallison
name: EP
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
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<![CDATA[Minority Report and Other Stories]]> 534004 Viewed by many as the greatest science fiction writer on any planet, Philip K. Dick has written some of the most intriguing, original and thought-provoking fiction of our time. This collection includes stories that will make you laugh, cringe...and stop and think.

The Minority Report: a special unit that employs those with the power of precognition to prevent crimes proves itself less than reliable...
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: an everyguy's yearning for more exciting "memories" places him in a danger he never could have imagined (basis of the feature film Total Recall)...
Paycheck: a mechanic who has no memory of the previous two years of his life finds that a bag of seemingly worthless and unrelated objects can actually unlock the secret of his recent past � and insure that he has a future...
Second Variety: the UN's technological advances to win a global war veer out of control, threatening to destroy all of humankind (basis of the movie Screamers)...
The Eyes Have It: a whimsical, laugh-out-loud play on the words of the title.

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6 Philip K. Dick 0060095261 EP 4 3.94 1987 Minority Report and Other Stories
author: Philip K. Dick
name: EP
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1987
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Prisoner’s Throne (The Stolen Heir Duology, #2)]]> 61250159 An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame.
Ěý
Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal. Imprisoned in the icy north and bound to the will of a monstrous new queen, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude willing to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, Oak will have to decide whether to attempt regaining the trust of the girl he’s always loved or to remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too.
�
Ěý
With a new war looming on the horizon and treachery lurking in every corner, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. It’s just a question of whom he will doom.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning blood-soaked conclusion to the Stolen Heir duology.
Ěý]]>
359 Holly Black 0316592730 EP 3 not-released-to-read 3.89 2024 The Prisoner’s Throne (The Stolen Heir Duology, #2)
author: Holly Black
name: EP
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: not-released-to-read
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<![CDATA[The Heart of the World (The Isles of the Gods, #2)]]> 199465196 Magic and sacrifice will collide as lovers and gods, enemies and allies vie for the fate of the world in this heart-pounding sequel to The Isles of the Gods, which Stephanie Garber called deliciously diabolical and full of heart.

When Selly and Leander began their treacherous voyage to the Isles of the Gods, the captain’s daughter and the playboy prince were strangers. But amid talk of war and a deadly attack on their ship, the unthinkable happened.

They fell in love.

Leander’s ritual at the island temple was meant to prevent a war between the gods. Instead, it nearly cost him his life, and drew the goddess Barrica back from exile. Now, as her Messenger, Leander is imbued with her deadly magic, and only Selly’s presence can stop it from consuming him.

But Barrica wasn’t the only immortal roused from sleep. The God of Risk, Macean, was awakened by an enemy all thought dead, and across the sea he’s calling for war.

The fight to save their world will take Selly and Leander from the gilded ballroom of the royal palace to the hallowed halls of an ancient library. Battle lines will be drawn, and bonds will break.

With the wrath of gods and the machinations of power-hungry rulers straining their loyalties, can their love withstand the trials that await them?]]>
406 Amie Kaufman 0593479343 EP 3 3.88 2024 The Heart of the World (The Isles of the Gods, #2)
author: Amie Kaufman
name: EP
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: not-released-to-read, audiobook, library
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<![CDATA[Bane of Asgard (Runestone Saga, #2)]]> 206685160
Reunited in New Jotunheim, Reginn, Eiric and Liv discover that they are game pieces being played on a hidden board. Eiric’s slaughter of the old council has opened Tyra’s path to power—she now has the perfect excuse to launch a war against the Archipelago. Tyra is also using her dottir, Liv, as a vehicle to raise a dangerous goddess. And Reginn is tasked with crossing the boundary between the living and the dead to gain access to powerful magical secrets.

With Reginn’s help, Eiric escapes prison and returns home to find his brodir and warn the Archipelago of the impending attack. Meanwhile, she remains at the Grove to try to prevent the outbreak of war. Soon, though, Reginn learns her true role in this use her power to raise the dead to ensure victory for New Jotunheim. The demon Asger Eldr tells her that she alone can prevent another Ragnarok. But how?

Back in the Archipelago, Eiric agrees to join the king’s forces, though that means taking up arms against his systir, Liv, and Reginn, the spinner who has ensnared his heart. For perhaps the first time in his life, he dreads the coming fight.Ěý

As the two sides prepare for an apocalyptic battle, Eiric, Reginn, and Liv find allies and enemies in unexpected places and draw on new strengths as they seek to prevent the destruction of the last of the Nine Worlds.]]>
636 Cinda Williams Chima 0063018756 EP 3 4.07 2024 Bane of Asgard (Runestone Saga, #2)
author: Cinda Williams Chima
name: EP
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
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Earls Trip (Earls Trip #1) 171833509
Even an earl needs his ride-or-dies, and Archibald Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, counts himself lucky to have two. Archie (the jock), Simon (the nerd), and Effie (the goth) have been BFFs since their school days, and their annual trip holds a sacred spot in their calendars. This year, Archie is especially eager to get away—until an urgent letter arrives from an old family friend, begging him to help prevent a ruinous scandal. Archie’s childhood pal Olive Morgan must be rescued from an ill-fated elopement—and her sister Clementine must be rescued from rescuing Olive. Suddenly the trip has become earls-plus-girls.

This . . . complicates matters. The fully grown Clementine, while as frank and refreshing as Archie remembers, is also different to the wild, windswept girl he knew. This Clem is complex and surprising—and adamantly opposed to marriage. Which, for reasons Archie dare not examine too closely, he finds increasingly vexing.

Then Clem makes him an indecent and quite delightful proposal, asking him to show her the pleasures of the marriage bed before she settles into spinsterhood. And what kind of gentleman would he be to refuse a lady?]]>
320 Jenny Holiday 1496745078 EP 4 3.55 2024 Earls Trip (Earls Trip #1)
author: Jenny Holiday
name: EP
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
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<![CDATA[The Fate of Magic (Witch and Hunter, #2)]]> 205790148
Fritzi is a champion. After escaping the clutches of Dieter Kirch, the sadistic leader of the witch hunters, Fritzi and Otto have taken refuge among the witches of the Black Forest. Fritzi is finally ready to assume her place on the council as the coven's goddess-chosen champion. Plagued by distrust and self-doubt, Fritzi throws herself into her duty to serve the goddesses . . . until she uncovers a powerful secret that could mean the very undoing of magic itself.

Otto is a warrior. He swears himself to Fritzi as her bonded protector, certain the peaceful unity of a witch and hunter will heal the wounds he helped make. But as the horrifying plot that threatens the Black Forest's magic comes to light, Otto will have to face his both his past and what it means to bind himself to a magic he does not fully understand.

Shadows loom. Truths are revealed. And as dangers new and old arise, Fritzi and Otto must stand together against everything that threatens magic—even if the biggest threat might be the very bond they share.

Praise for Night of the

"Set against the backdrop of the Medieval German Witch Trials, Raasch and Revis weave a fantasy and heart-pounding tale full of history, love, witchcraft, and war that will have you gripping your book, waiting for the next shocking twist." � #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout

"Night of the Witch is an irresistibly compelling page-turner, distinguished by vivid descriptions, a fascinating magic system, and crackling chemistry between the two leads. Best of all? When I finished reading, I wanted more. Bring on the next book!" � Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn

"A breathtaking adventure from beginning to end. Full of wild magic, stunning twists, and a romance that burns on the page,Night of the Witch is an addictive read that will leave readers desperate for more." � Rachel Griffin, New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Bring Me Your Midnight

"Raasch and Revis have brewed a brilliant novel that combines history and fantasy in the best of ways. Be prepared to stay up late reading this one. If it isn't the action keeping you on the edge of your seat, then it'll be the sizzling romance." � Tricia Levenseller, New York Times bestselling author of Blade of Secrets]]>
313 Sara Raasch 1728277566 EP 3 3.81 2024 The Fate of Magic (Witch and Hunter, #2)
author: Sara Raasch
name: EP
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
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<![CDATA[The Undermining of Twyla and Frank (Hart and Mercy, #2)]]> 201893407 From the author of The Undertaking of Hart and MercyĚýcomes a heartwarmingĚýfantasy with a best friends-to-loversĚýrom com twist set in the delightful demigod and donut-filled world of Tanria.

The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla’s rewarding career patrolling the strange land of Tanria remains a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank's job a lotĚýsafer ... and a lot less exciting.ĚýSo when theyĚýdiscover the body of one of their fellow marshals near an enormous footprint—and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon—they are grateful to be back in action.
Ěý
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as danger closes in andĚýTwyla and Frank's investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might be the person who has lived next door all along...]]>
407 Megan Bannen EP 3 4.17 2024 The Undermining of Twyla and Frank (Hart and Mercy, #2)
author: Megan Bannen
name: EP
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/14
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The Familiar 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]>
387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X EP 5 3.74 2024 The Familiar
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: EP
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
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