Kassandra's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 22:43:47 -0700 60 Kassandra's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration]]> 8171378
Wilkerson tells this interwoven story through the lives of three unforgettable protagonists: Ida Mae Gladney, a sharecropper’s wife, who in 1937 fled Mississippi for Chicago; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, and Robert Foster, a surgeon who left Louisiana in 1953 in hopes of making it in California.

Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous cross-country journeys by car and train and their new lives in colonies in the New World. The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration� within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is a modern classic.]]> 622 Isabel Wilkerson 0679444327 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.45 2010 The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Handmaid's Tale 34454589 320 Margaret Atwood 1328879941 Kassandra 0 4.30 1985 The Handmaid's Tale
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: speculative-fiction, women, dystopian, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Say You'll Remember Me (Say You'll Remember Me, #1)]]> 216437557 disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong�

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 0349442827 Kassandra 0 4.12 2025 Say You'll Remember Me (Say You'll Remember Me, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Great Big Beautiful Life 218559595 Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years--or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.]]> 432 Emily Henry Kassandra 4 Julia Whelan narration, which is always bomb!

I BINGED this in one listen! Stayed up super late to finish it!

This was so different from her other books. Definitely giving TJR vibes. This book reads more as contemporary fiction with a subplot of romance. Loved Alice and Hayden.

Forced proximity
Grumpy � Sunshine
Competitors turned lovers
Mystery plot
Fate vs Agency
Living under the public eye
Complex parent-child relationships
Sibling dynamics
Effects of generational secrets and trauma]]> 4.21 2025 Great Big Beautiful Life
author: Emily Henry
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
4.5 ⭐️ overall
Julia Whelan narration, which is always bomb!

I BINGED this in one listen! Stayed up super late to finish it!

This was so different from her other books. Definitely giving TJR vibes. This book reads more as contemporary fiction with a subplot of romance. Loved Alice and Hayden.

Forced proximity
Grumpy � Sunshine
Competitors turned lovers
Mystery plot
Fate vs Agency
Living under the public eye
Complex parent-child relationships
Sibling dynamics
Effects of generational secrets and trauma
]]> <![CDATA[Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane, #1)]]> 1472878 New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novelof love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . .

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world� moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.]]> 479 Kristin Hannah 0312364083 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.16 2008 Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane, #1)
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Tribute of Fire (The Eye of the Goddess, #1)]]> 208920886 The fate of a cursed nation depends on a princess who must outwit a mortal enemy and outlast the trials of a death-defying ritual in a thrilling adventure by USA Today bestselling author Sariah Wilson.

Lia is the princess of Locris, a dying desert nation cursed centuries ago by an earth goddess—one still worshipped by the thriving and adversarial nation of Ilion. Every year, Ilion offers the goddess a sacrifice: two Locrian maidens forced to compete in a life-and-death race to reach her temple. In a millennium, no maiden has made it out of Ilion alive. This year, Lia is one of the hunted.

An education in battle gives her a fighting chance, but the challenges are greater than she feared: Lia’s beloved but untrained sister Quynh has been put in the path of danger. The winding streets of Ilion itself have been transformed into a labyrinthine maze of countless choices and dead ends. And if the risks weren’t significant enough, Lia is reluctantly drawn to the commandingly attractive Jason, an Ilionian sailor she loathes to trust and desires like no man before.

The tribute game is on. It’s up to Lia to lift the goddess’s curse, restore Locris to its former glory, and change the fate of every young woman destined to follow in her path.]]> 524 Sariah Wilson 1662525133 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.12 2024 A Tribute of Fire (The Eye of the Goddess, #1)
author: Sariah Wilson
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Don’t Forget to Write 75349380 334 Sara Goodman Confino 1662512236 Kassandra 4
This was a really enjoyable fiction from mid 20th century, with a subplot of romance. The main feature is the relationship between our FMC and her aunt, and highlights the way society has judged women over the decades.]]> 4.49 2023 Don’t Forget to Write
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/26
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves:
review:
3.5

This was a really enjoyable fiction from mid 20th century, with a subplot of romance. The main feature is the relationship between our FMC and her aunt, and highlights the way society has judged women over the decades.
]]> Sounds Like Love 219301810 A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston.

Joni Lark is living the dream. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA…and she can’t seem to write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it.

When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark her inspiration. But when she gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is avoiding her, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing.

How can she think about writing her next song when everything is changing without her?

Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with hangups of his own.

Surely, he’s a figment of her overworked imagination.

But then the very real man attached to the voice shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s aggravating and gruff on the outside—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan:

They’ll finish the song haunting them both, break their connection, and hope they don’t risk their hearts in the process.

Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.]]> Ashley Poston 0593641019 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.27 2025 Sounds Like Love
author: Ashley Poston
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pack Up the Moon 55445159 Every month, a letter. That's what Lauren decides to leave her husband when she finds out she's dying. Each month, she gives Josh a letter containing a task to help him face this first year without her, leading him on a heartrending, beautiful, often humorous journey to find happiness again in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins.

Joshua and Lauren are the perfect couple. Newly married, they're wildly in love, each on a successful and rewarding career path. Then Lauren is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

As Lauren's disease progresses, Joshua struggles to make the most of the time he has left with his wife and to come to terms with his future--a future without the only woman he's ever loved. He's so consumed with finding a way to avoid the inevitable ending that he never imagines his life after Lauren.

But Lauren has a plan to keep her husband moving forward. A plan hidden in the letters she leaves him. In those letters, one for every month in the year after her death, Lauren leads Joshua on a journey through pain, anger, and denial. It's a journey that will take Joshua from his attempt at a dinner party for family and friends to getting rid of their bed...from a visit with a psychic medium to a kiss with a woman who isn't Lauren. As his grief makes room for laughter and new relationships, Joshua learns Lauren's most valuable lesson: The path to happiness doesn't follow a straight line.

Sometimes heartbreaking, often funny, and always uplifting, this novel from New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins illuminates how life's greatest joys are often hiding in plain sight.]]> 480 Kristan Higgins 0451489489 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.12 2021 Pack Up the Moon
author: Kristan Higgins
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

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

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Kassandra 5
This book is very sobering. I wouldn't consider it a thriller--more of a literary fiction character study with a mystery plot.

The characters felt like real people to me. Throughout the book, I kept thinking about the moral dilemma of intent vs impact... this book could easily be discussed thru that lens.

Ultimately, what I gleaned from this story was:
•Hope is powerful.
•Life isn't fair. And justice isn't always what we think it is.
•Having people in our lives who see the good in us and love us freely can be transformative.
•Trauma fundamentally changes us. AND there's not near enough support in our system for the poor, the sick, or the traumatized.

Demon Copperhead vibes.]]> 4.23 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves:
review:
4.75

This book is very sobering. I wouldn't consider it a thriller--more of a literary fiction character study with a mystery plot.

The characters felt like real people to me. Throughout the book, I kept thinking about the moral dilemma of intent vs impact... this book could easily be discussed thru that lens.

Ultimately, what I gleaned from this story was:
•Hope is powerful.
•Life isn't fair. And justice isn't always what we think it is.
•Having people in our lives who see the good in us and love us freely can be transformative.
•Trauma fundamentally changes us. AND there's not near enough support in our system for the poor, the sick, or the traumatized.

Demon Copperhead vibes.
]]> The Night Circus 9361589
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 506 Erin Morgenstern Kassandra 0 to-read 4.00 2011 The Night Circus
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Sea of Unspoken Things 207677131 A woman investigates her brother's mysterious death while coming to terms with her own haunting past in this atmospheric novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unmaking of June Farrow

The only thing James and Johnny Golden have ever had is each other. For as long as she can remember, James’sdeep connection with her twin brother,Johnny,has gone beyond intuition—she can feel what he feels.So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life.

When James arrives in the rural town of Hawthorne, California to settleher brother’saffairs,she’sforced to rehash the ominous past she and Johnny shared and finally face Micah, the only person who knows about it. He’s also the only man she’s ever loved.

But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn’t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was keeping secrets, and he’s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny’s death, but in the end, she’ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.]]> 288 Adrienne Young 0593598709 Kassandra 4 3.75-4 3.70 2025 A Sea of Unspoken Things
author: Adrienne Young
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
3.75-4
]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)]]> 1232 487 Carlos Ruiz Zafón Kassandra 5 4.75⭐️ <br /><br /> 4.26 2001 The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)
author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
4.75⭐️


]]> Witchcraft for Wayward Girls 207611566 There’s power in a book�

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 Kassandra 4 4.00 2025 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sorcery and Small Magics (The Wildersongs Trilogy, #1)]]> 199826249 Desperate to undo the curse binding them to each other, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.

Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them.]]> 416 Maiga Doocy 0356523993 Kassandra 3
I'm really struggling to figure out why I adore *some* cozy fantasies and not others. It's very hit and miss for me. There's nothing objectively wrong with this book. It's well written, and the sentiment is appreciated. But I just wasn't that invested, and therefore became a bit bored.

If cozy fantasy with a mild subplot of romance is your thing, you may love it!

Loved the queer representation.]]> 4.31 2024 Sorcery and Small Magics (The Wildersongs Trilogy, #1)
author: Maiga Doocy
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
3.5* with caveat:

I'm really struggling to figure out why I adore *some* cozy fantasies and not others. It's very hit and miss for me. There's nothing objectively wrong with this book. It's well written, and the sentiment is appreciated. But I just wasn't that invested, and therefore became a bit bored.

If cozy fantasy with a mild subplot of romance is your thing, you may love it!

Loved the queer representation.
]]> <![CDATA[Iron & Embers (The Ashes of Thezmarr, #1)]]> 214539406 Wren Embervale, alchemist-turned-assassin, finds solace in only one thing: seeking vengeance for the death of her friends. The wars of the past may be over, but her thirst for revenge is far from quenched.

For years, she has been content with her poisons and potions for company, but when an unknown form of alchemy is used to attack a king of the midrealms, Wren’s time in the shadows comes to an end.

She’s offered a place at the ancient alchemy academy of Drevenor to find a cure to the dark magic threatening the kingdoms. To win her spot, she must conquer the Gauntlet, a grueling series of deadly trials that could cost her sanity, or her life.

More is at play than sabotage from fellow competitors. Magic wielders are being targeted and Wren becomes tangled in a dangerous web of deception and bloodshed that puts the entire realm at risk.

But the biggest threat of all might come from the man assigned to protect her—Torj Elderbrock, the silver-haired war hero who has hated her since she assassinated his last charge.

Their shared history ignites a simmering tension that threatens to consume them both.

Peace is fragile, trust is scarce and enemies lurk around every corner� Will love heal all wounds—or will it be the most lethal poison of all?

Iron & Embers is the breathtaking first installment in the epic fantasy romance series, The Ashes of Thezmarr. With its lush world-building, sizzling chemistry, and heart-pounding action it’s perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, From Blood & Ash, and The Bridge Kingdom.]]> 586 Helen Scheuerer 1922903213 Kassandra 4 4.23 2025 Iron & Embers (The Ashes of Thezmarr, #1)
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow & Storms (The Legends of Thezmarr, #4)]]> 208301504
The time has come to make one last stand against the forces of cursed men and monsters. But Thea’s enemies are only getting stronger. With allies divided and an outnumbered army, she must race against her own fate to secure the future of the midrealms � or die trying.

A prophecy is looming, and Thea’s life is in the balance. Does she have the power to cheat death itself?

Love and loyalty will be tested. Bonds will fracture forever. But all must fight for a better world.

In the final war for survival, will Thea and Wilder emerge victorious? Or will the shadows consume them at last?

Fans of Fourth Wing, The Witcher and The Bridge Kingdom, brace yourselves for sizzling romance, found family and heart-pounding battles in Shadow & Storms, the epic finale to The Legends of Thezmarr.]]> 420 Helen Scheuerer 1922903183 Kassandra 4 4.21 2024 Shadow & Storms (The Legends of Thezmarr, #4)
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

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

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 527 M.L. Wang Kassandra 5 5⭐️<br />Absolute perfection 4.44 2023 Blood Over Bright Haven
author: M.L. Wang
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
5⭐️
Absolute perfection
]]> Goddess of the River 181865600
A mother and a son. A goddess and a prince. A curse and an oath. A river whose course will change the fate of the world.

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

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

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

As the years unfold, Ganga and Devavrata are drawn together again and again, each confluence another step on a path that has been written in the stars, in this deeply moving and masterful tale of duty, destiny, and the unwavering bond between mother and son.]]> 496 Vaishnavi Patel 035652020X Kassandra 5
I loved this! Again, right book, right time!

I know this won't be for everyone, but if you love ancient mythology, cultural exploration, and existential query... with commentary on mortal flaws, war, sexism, forgiveness, and the role of worship and gods on humanity... and if you loved Circe, or Patel's other book, Kaikeyi, then this is probably for you!!!]]> 3.77 2024 Goddess of the River
author: Vaishnavi Patel
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:
5⭐️

I loved this! Again, right book, right time!

I know this won't be for everyone, but if you love ancient mythology, cultural exploration, and existential query... with commentary on mortal flaws, war, sexism, forgiveness, and the role of worship and gods on humanity... and if you loved Circe, or Patel's other book, Kaikeyi, then this is probably for you!!!
]]> <![CDATA[The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control]]> 43261495
Over the past two years, Trump’s behavior has become both more disturbing and yet increasingly familiar. He relies on phrases like, “fake news,� “build the wall,� and continues to spread the divisive mentality of us-vs.-them. He lies constantly, has no conscience, never admits when he is wrong, and projects all of his shortcomings on to others. He has become more authoritarian, more outrageous, and yet many of his followers remain blindly devoted. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert and a major Trump supporter, calls him one of the most persuasive people living. His need to squash alternate information and his insistence of constant ego stroking are all characteristics of other famous leaders� cult leaders.

In The Cult of Trump, mind-control and licensed mental health expert Steven Hassan draws parallels between our current president and people like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Ron Hubbard and Sun Myung Moon, arguing that this presidency is in many ways like a destructive cult. He specifically details the ways in which people are influenced through an array of social psychology methods and how they become fiercely loyal and obedient. Hassan was a former “Moonie� himself, and he draws on his forty years of personal and professional experience studying hypnosis and destructive cults, working as a deprogrammer, and a strategic communications interventionist. He emphasizes why it’s crucial that we recognize ways to identify and protect ourselves and our loved ones.

The Cult of Trump is an accessible and in-depth analysis of the president, showing that under the right circumstances, even sane, rational, well-adjusted people can be persuaded to believe the most outrageous ideas. Hassan’s book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the Trump phenomenon and looking for a way forward.]]> 320 Steven Hassan 1982127333 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.07 2019 The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
author: Steven Hassan
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Monsoon Rising (The Hurricane Wars, #2)]]> 199793372 Two hearts circle each other in the eye of the storm in this highly-anticipated follow-up to The Hurricane Wars—prepare for more enemies-to-lovers romance, magical adventures, and political schemes in this Southeast Asian-inspired world.

After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting; however, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. When the time comes to act, can she trust him, or must she ignore her heart for the sake of so many others?

As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat—the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it, with a powerful merging of light and shadow that they alone can create together. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes, and his wife is a burning flame in the darkness, tempting both his loyalties and his desires.

The Hurricane Wars aren’t over. It’s time to choose what—and who—to fight for. The world holds its breath amidst a whirlwind of new magic and old secrets that could change everything.]]> 400 Thea Guanzon 0063277301 Kassandra 0 Just not buying in right now. May try again later.]]> 4.14 2024 A Monsoon Rising (The Hurricane Wars, #2)
author: Thea Guanzon
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
DNF at about 35%
Just not buying in right now. May try again later.
]]> <![CDATA[Deconstructing Dogma: A Rational Inquiry into Faith and Belief]]> 221072937
The purpose of this book is not to provide an exhaustive deep dive into every theological or philosophical debate. Instead, it aims to spark curiosity, encouraging readers to question, explore, and embark on their own journey toward intellectual freedom. Keeping the topics direct and to the point, Deconstructing Dogma invites readers to take the first step toward reexamining inherited beliefs, with the hope that this initial exploration will ignite a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.

Discover these thought-provoking

Religious Influence and Control � Explore how fear, tradition, and authority keep people within religious boundaries, often stifling independent thought and personal growth.

Free Will vs. Suffering � Examine the paradox of earthly suffering versus the idea of a perfect, painless afterlife, challenging the narrative of divine justice.

Interpretation and Textual Power � Learn how small shifts in punctuation and translation have reshaped entire doctrines and influenced religious narratives throughout history.

Human Reproduction and the Soul � Delve into the biological realities that challenge religious claims on the soul, such as twinning, chimerism, and the complexities of human development.

The Problem of Evil � Confront the contradictions that arise when considering a benevolent God in a world filled with suffering, and the philosophical implications of these contradictions.

Sacred Text Contradictions � Discover inconsistencies within sacred texts that challenge their claimed infallibility, leading to a reevaluation of their authority.

Influence of Pagan Myths � Uncover striking parallels between ancient myths and modern religious narratives, questioning the originality and authenticity of certain belief systems.

Historicity of Key Religious Figures � Scrutinize historical claims about religious figures, revealing how narratives may have evolved over time, often influenced by political or cultural agendas.

Morality Without Religion � Consider whether ethical principles can exist independently of religious doctrine, and explore the foundations of secular morality.

Conflicts Between Science and Faith � Investigate science-religion clashes, such as evolution versus creationism, and their impact on belief systems and societal progress.

Religion in Politics � Examine the often-problematic relationship between religious ideologies and political power, impacting societal norms, laws, and individual freedoms.

Deconstructing Dogma is perfect for readers who want to begin questioning inherited beliefs and start thinking critically about the influence of religion on human thought and behavior. While this book doesn’t answer every question or exhaust every topic, it offers a solid foundation for readers to continue their exploration.

For those seeking to embrace reason, empathy, and autonomy, Deconstructing Dogma is the ideal starting point for a worldview grounded in critical thinking and intellectual independence.]]> Reasoned Reality Kassandra 0 might-want-to-read 3.75 Deconstructing Dogma: A Rational Inquiry into Faith and Belief
author: Reasoned Reality
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: might-want-to-read
review:

]]> Six Days in Bombay 212378278
When renouned painter Mira Novak arrives at Wadia hospital in Bombay after a miscarriage, she's expected to make a quick recovery, and Sona is excited to spend time with the worldly woman who shares her half-Indian identity, even if that's where their similarities end. Sona is enraptured by Mira's stories of her travels, and shocked by accounts of the many lovers she's left scattered through Europe. Over the course of a week, Mira befriends Sona, seeing in her something bigger than the small life she's living with her mother. Mira is released from the hospital just in time to attend a lavish engagement party where all of Bombay society. But the next day, Mira is readmitted to the hospital in worse condition than before, and when she dies under mysterious circumstances, Sona immediately falls under suspicion.

Before leaving the hospital in disgrace, Sona is given a note Mira left for her, along with her four favorite paintings. But how could she have known to leave a note if she didn't know she was going to die? The note sends Sona on a mission to deliver three of the paintings—the first to Petra, Mira's childhood friend and first love in Prague; the second to her art dealer Josephine in Paris; the third to her first painting tutor, Paolo, with whom both Mira and her mother had affairs. As Sona uncovers Mira's history, she learns that the charming facade she'd come to know was only one part of a complicated and sometimes cruel woman. But can she discover what really happened to Mira and exonerate herself?

Along the way, Sona also comes to terms with her own complex history and the English father who deserted her and her mother in India so many years ago. In the end, she'll discover that we are all made up of pieces, and only by seeing the world do we learn to see ourselves.]]> 352 Alka Joshi 077836853X Kassandra 0 to-read 3.72 2025 Six Days in Bombay
author: Alka Joshi
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Crane Among Wolves 180633984 June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul's and Daehyun's fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

Also by June
The Silence of Bones
The Forest of Stolen Girls
The Red Palace]]> 364 June Hur 1250858100 Kassandra 5 Great audio
YA 13+

I didn't get that 5 star feeling, but it was excellent and I highly highly recommend!!

I annotated SO many fabulous and poignant quotes! This mixes historical fiction with a serial murder mystery... and while this covers the tyrannical reign of a king in 1500s, it feels all too relevant to the current political state....

The romance is a subplot done exactly how I like it: secondary, realistic, and slow burning.

****This is YA but does not feel super YA. No spice at all. Wholesome and lovely romance. HOWEVER, check the trigger warnings as this does discuss violence against women and portrays war violence within the plot.]]> 3.97 2024 A Crane Among Wolves
author: June Hur
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:
4.75 ⭐️
Great audio
YA 13+

I didn't get that 5 star feeling, but it was excellent and I highly highly recommend!!

I annotated SO many fabulous and poignant quotes! This mixes historical fiction with a serial murder mystery... and while this covers the tyrannical reign of a king in 1500s, it feels all too relevant to the current political state....

The romance is a subplot done exactly how I like it: secondary, realistic, and slow burning.

****This is YA but does not feel super YA. No spice at all. Wholesome and lovely romance. HOWEVER, check the trigger warnings as this does discuss violence against women and portrays war violence within the plot.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)]]> 75668288 The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire's shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor's only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire's rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion--one that could save their world...or destroy it.

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters, sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, and richly drawn worlds, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.]]> 472 Thea Guanzon 0063277271 Kassandra 4
I tandem read this-switching between the audio and physical book. I wasn't crazy about the narration and preferred the book.

What works for me:
The world
The war
The politics
The sprinkles of SE Asian culture
Enemies to Lovers and Marriage of Convenience tropes

What didn't work for me:
The romance felt like constant whiplash-they flipped back and forth between enemies to lovers so quickly and so often that there was never enough build-up. It was a like a light switch turning on and off. I wish their off/on was less frequent and more developed.

Sometimes, the way the two MCs interacted was so immature, that if there wasn't so much spice, I would have assumed it was a YA.

All in all, I still enjoyed it and am intrigued enough to pick up the next.]]> 3.65 2023 The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)
author: Thea Guanzon
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
This was like a 3.75 for me, but I did find myself wanting to come back to it constantly, and was never bored.

I tandem read this-switching between the audio and physical book. I wasn't crazy about the narration and preferred the book.

What works for me:
The world
The war
The politics
The sprinkles of SE Asian culture
Enemies to Lovers and Marriage of Convenience tropes

What didn't work for me:
The romance felt like constant whiplash-they flipped back and forth between enemies to lovers so quickly and so often that there was never enough build-up. It was a like a light switch turning on and off. I wish their off/on was less frequent and more developed.

Sometimes, the way the two MCs interacted was so immature, that if there wasn't so much spice, I would have assumed it was a YA.

All in all, I still enjoyed it and am intrigued enough to pick up the next.
]]> A Language of Dragons 211096516 EVERY ACT OF TRANSLATION REQUIRES SACRIFICE

Welcome to Bletchley Park� with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job�, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort � if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.]]> 432 S.F. Williamson 0063353849 Kassandra 4
Our FMC Vivian, is a morally gray female character that i don't think we see enough of. I love the premise of the series and am looking fwd to book 2.

Viv is a human girl with an academic degree in dragon languages, living in Edwardian London, with dragons a part of their distinct class system, on the brink of a civil war. After discovering her parents are working for the rebel cause and are captured, she is charged with the care of her younger sister and warned to flee.

But Viv believes she can save her parents and sister and, in the process, becomes indentured by the Prime Minister to provide her services in dragon languages in exchange for her family's freedom. But as war with the dragons breaks out, Viv learns secrets about both the dragons and the state that leave her caught between 2 impossible choices.

This book examines the class system, political corruption, colonialism, importance of culture and language, the strengths and weaknesses of love and family, and the age-old question: when confronted with the choice to save someone you love, or to save a larger population of people... which do you choose??]]> 3.83 2025 A Language of Dragons
author: S.F. Williamson
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
4.25

Our FMC Vivian, is a morally gray female character that i don't think we see enough of. I love the premise of the series and am looking fwd to book 2.

Viv is a human girl with an academic degree in dragon languages, living in Edwardian London, with dragons a part of their distinct class system, on the brink of a civil war. After discovering her parents are working for the rebel cause and are captured, she is charged with the care of her younger sister and warned to flee.

But Viv believes she can save her parents and sister and, in the process, becomes indentured by the Prime Minister to provide her services in dragon languages in exchange for her family's freedom. But as war with the dragons breaks out, Viv learns secrets about both the dragons and the state that leave her caught between 2 impossible choices.

This book examines the class system, political corruption, colonialism, importance of culture and language, the strengths and weaknesses of love and family, and the age-old question: when confronted with the choice to save someone you love, or to save a larger population of people... which do you choose??
]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)]]> 60217777 The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology.

A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.

A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.

In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.]]> 464 Kristen Ciccarelli Kassandra 5
The pacing felt a little off the first half of the book, but she made up for it in the second half!!

Could not have read this book at a better time with everything going on in my country right now.

Love love loved it!!]]> 4.23 2025 Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Ummm, 5 star duology ❤️

The pacing felt a little off the first half of the book, but she made up for it in the second half!!

Could not have read this book at a better time with everything going on in my country right now.

Love love loved it!!
]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe � a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution � who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Kassandra 5 Reread: 4.75⭐️ 4.16 2024 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Reread: 4.75⭐️
]]> <![CDATA[Oathbound (The Legendborn Cycle, #3)]]> 214151316
Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.

But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.

Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war with their Round Table fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick is detained by the Order’s Merlins, he invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to convene at the Northern Keep and grant him an audience. No one knows what he will demand of them...or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.

As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.]]> 656 Tracy Deonn 1665951907 Kassandra 4 4.5 4.39 2025 Oathbound (The Legendborn Cycle, #3)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
4.5
]]> The Bane Witch 211004908 Practical Magic meets Gone Girl in Ava Morgyn's next dark, spellbinding novel about a woman who is more than a witch - she's a hunter. Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things - plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become� concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story. But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger - it’s a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters - Bane Witches � women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men. Piers sets out to earn her place in her family’s gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle’s cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she’s been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing - it’s time to feed. In Ava Morgyn’s dark, thrilling novel, The Bane Witch, a very little poison can do a world of good.]]> 384 Ava Morgyn 1250835453 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.04 2025 The Bane Witch
author: Ava Morgyn
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hall of Smoke (The Four Pillars, #1)]]> 53759101
While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa - the last Eangi - must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess' favour.

Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa's trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.

Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up.]]> 432 H.M. Long 1789094984 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.75 2021 Hall of Smoke (The Four Pillars, #1)
author: H.M. Long
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)]]> 6101718
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 402 Lev Grossman 0670020559 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.53 2009 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)
author: Lev Grossman
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives, #1)]]> 182761345
Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn, and she's determined to enjoy herself at this party no matter what. But when the guests start dropping dead, Kem has no choice but to get to work. She is a Hound, after all, and she can't help picking up the scent of trouble.

She’s not the only one. Her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is on the prowl. They quickly identify what’s causing the a mysterious grandfather clock that sends them down an Echo every time it chimes. In each strange new layer of reality, time resets and a sinister figure appears to perform a blood-soaked ritual.

As Kem and Rika fall into increasingly macabre versions of their city, they’ll need to rely on their wits—and each other—to unravel the secret of the clock and save their home.]]> 432 Melissa Caruso 031630347X Kassandra 0 to-read 3.78 2024 The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives, #1)
author: Melissa Caruso
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blackouts 65215321 From the bestselling author of We the Animals, Blackouts mines lost histories--personal and collective.

Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly, but who has haunted the edges of his life. Juan Gay--playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized--has a project to pass along to this new narrator. It is inspired by a true artifact of a book, Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns, which contains stories collected in the early twentieth century from queer subjects by a queer researcher, Jan Gay, whose groundbreaking work was then co-opted by a committee, her name buried. As Juan waits for his end, he and the narrator trade stories--moments of joy and oblivion--and resurrect lost loves, lives, mothers, fathers, minor heroes. The past is with us, beside us, ahead of us; what are we to create from its gaps and erasures?

Inspired by Kiss of the Spider Woman, Pedro Páramo, Voodoo Macbeth, the book at its own center and the woman who created it, oral histories, and many more texts, images, and influences, Justin Torres's Blackouts is a work of fiction that sees through the inventions of history and narrative. An extraordinary work of creative imagination, it insists that we look long and steady at the world we have inherited and the world we have made--a world full of ghostly shadows and flashing moments of truth.]]> 306 Justin Torres 0374293570 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.76 2023 Blackouts
author: Justin Torres
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> The King's Messenger 213570828
1613: King James � sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots - has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumours rise the prince was poisoned.

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

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

A story of treachery, betrayal and love�


Praise for The Vanished

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

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

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

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

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

]]> 352 Susanna Kearsley 149268905X Kassandra 0 to-read 4.17 2024 The King's Messenger
author: Susanna Kearsley
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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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 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.94 2021 A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)
author: Freya Marske
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> Steelstriker (Skyhunter, #2) 43851082 Explosive action and swoon-worthy suspense collide in this riveting conclusion to the Skyhunter duet from #1 New York Times–bestselling author Marie Lu

As a Striker, Talin was taught loyalty is life. Loyalty to the Shield who watches your back, to the Strikers who risk their lives on the battlefield, and most of all, to Mara, which was once the last nation free from the Karensa Federation’s tyranny.

But Mara has fallen. And its destruction has unleashed Talin’s worst nightmare.

With her friends scattered by combat and her mother held captive by the Premier, Talin is forced to betray her fellow Strikers and her adopted homeland. She has no choice but to become the Federation’s most deadly war machine as their newest Skyhunter.

Red is no stranger to the cruelty of the Federation or the torture within its Skyhunter labs, but he knows this isn’t the end for Mara � or Talin. The link between them may be weak, but it could be Talin and Red's only hope to salvage their past and safeguard their future.

While the fate of a broken world hangs in the balance, Talin and Red must reunite the Strikers and find their way back to each other in this smoldering sequel to Marie Lu’s Skyhunter.]]> 384 Marie Lu 1250221730 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.93 2021 Steelstriker (Skyhunter, #2)
author: Marie Lu
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> Skyhunter (Skyhunter, #1) 53174067 In a world broken by war, a team of young warriors is willing to sacrifice everything to save what they love.

The Karensa Federation has conquered a dozen countries, leaving Mara as one of the last free nations in the world. Refugees flee to its borders to escape a fate worse than death—transformation into mutant war beasts known as Ghosts, creatures the Federation then sends to attack Mara.

The legendary Strikers, Mara's elite fighting force, are trained to stop them. But as the number of Ghosts grows and Karensa closes in, defeat seems inevitable.

Still, one Striker refuses to give up hope.

Robbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows firsthand the brutality of the Federation. Their cruelty forced her and her mother to seek asylum in a country that considers their people repugnant. She finds comfort only with a handful of fellow Strikers who have pledged their lives to one another and who are determined to push Karensa back at all costs.

When a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? Or could he be the weapon that will save them all?]]> 371 Marie Lu 1250221684 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.03 2020 Skyhunter (Skyhunter, #1)
author: Marie Lu
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1)]]> 113436 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780375826696 can be found here.

One boy...
One dragon...
A world of adventure.

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.

Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.

Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands.]]> 503 Christopher Paolini 0375826696 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.96 2002 Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Bane and Blood (Order and Chaos, #1)]]> 195138739
An heiress in the most notorious family in Lynchaven, Camilla Marchese is doing all she can to keep her family’s syndicate, the Iron Saint Railway, from slipping into bankruptcy. When the gorgeous and depraved Nicolai Attano, the leader of a rival family, offers to pay off the Inspector in exchange for her hand, she has no choice but to give up not only her throne—but her name.

Nico has his own motivations for their union beyond maintaining peace with her family. A serial kidnapper known as The Collector has been ravaging the streets of Remnant Row, stirring up mistrust between natives and descendants. If Milla can help restore safety to his streets, he’ll have no need for her or her family’s company. Find the Collector, prevent a war between their sides of the city, and pay off the family debt before she turns twenty-one. If Milla can fulfill her end of the bargain, she’ll walk away with more freedom than she’s ever had before.

But this deal plunges Milla into the city’s dark underbelly where remnant magic and arcane science compete in a deadly game of depravity. When forbidden feelings rise for her new husband and dark family secrets come to light, Milla must discover the truth about her past before it gets them both killed or worse—collected.

Set in a post-industrial age setting on a magical Isle, Peaky Blinders meets the magic system of the Grishaverse in this rivals-to-lovers adult fantasy romance.]]> 432 Alexis L. Menard Kassandra 0 to-read 3.98 2023 House of Bane and Blood (Order and Chaos, #1)
author: Alexis L. Menard
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Dragon's Kiss (Blood & Flame Saga #1)]]> 61725684
Every month, a child is snatched.

That's all the village of Kalma knows.

But Semra was one of those children, and she knows the truth: there is a dragonlord in the mountain, raising the children into his own personal syndicate of assassins.

When seventeen-year-old Semra learns they aren’t fighting evil but are in fact evil themselves, she risks everything to expose the dragonlord. As one young, nobody assassin against the king's security and an army of her former colleagues bent on her destruction, Semra must uncover the truth and save the royal family before the dragonlord rips them apart and plunges the kingdom into war.]]> 335 E.A. Winters Kassandra 0 to-read 4.07 2022 Dragon's Kiss (Blood & Flame Saga #1)
author: E.A. Winters
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World]]> 56587381
The Ruin of All Witches tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting in a remote Massachusetts plantation. These were the turbulent beginnings of colonial America, when English settlers' dreams of love and liberty, of founding a 'city on a hill', gave way to paranoia and terror, enmity and rage. Drawing on uniquely rich, previously neglected source material, Malcolm Gaskill brings to life a New World existence steeped in the divine and the diabolic, in curses and enchantments, and precariously balanced between life and death.

Through the gripping micro-history of a family tragedy, we glimpse an entire society caught in agonized transition between supernatural obsessions and the age of enlightenment. We see, in short, the birth of the modern world.]]> 336 Malcolm Gaskill 0241413389 Kassandra 0 might-want-to-read 3.68 2021 The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
author: Malcolm Gaskill
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mad Girls of New York (A Nellie Bly Novel, #1)]]> 58669448 Fearless reporter Nellie Bly will stop at nothing to chase down stories that expose injustices against women—even if it comes at the risk of her own life and freedom—in this exciting novel inspired by the true story of one remarkable woman.

In 1887 New York City, Nellie Bly has ambitions beyond writing for the ladies pages, but all the editors on Newspaper Row think women are too emotional, respectable and delicate to do the job. But then the New York World challenges her to an assignment she'd be mad to accept and mad to refuse: go undercover as a patient at Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum for Women.

For months, rumors have been swirling about deplorable conditions at Blackwell’s, but no reporter can get in—that is, until Nellie feigns insanity, gets committed and attempts to survive ten days in the madhouse. Inside, she discovers horrors beyond comprehension. It's an investigation that could make her career—if she can get out to tell it before two rival reporters scoop her story.

From USA Today bestselling author Maya Rodale comes a rollicking historical adventure series about the outrageous intrigues and bold flirtations of the most famous female reporter—and a groundbreaking rebel—of New York City’s Gilded Age.

]]> 324 Maya Rodale 059343675X Kassandra 0 to-read 3.93 2022 The Mad Girls of New York (A Nellie Bly Novel, #1)
author: Maya Rodale
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders]]> 203040700
Timed for a trial that will capture national attention, When the Night Comes Falling examines the mysterious murders of the four University of Idaho students. Having covered this case from its start, Edgar award winning investigative reporter Howard Blum takes readers behind the scenes of the police manhunt that eventually led to suspected killer, Bryan Christopher Kohberger, and uncovered larger, lurid questions within this unthinkable tragedy.

Reminiscent of the panoramic portraiture of In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song, When the Night Comes Falling offers a suspenseful, richly detailed narrative that will have readers transfixed.]]> 240 Howard Blum 0063349280 Kassandra 4 3.75 3.43 When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders
author: Howard Blum
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
3.75
]]> The Favorites 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER � An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“P Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story� through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 Kassandra 4 4.17 2025 The Favorites
author: Layne Fargo
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)]]> 59365195
All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

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

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.]]> 576 Tracy Deonn 1534441638 Kassandra 5 4.31 2022 Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) 54659771 He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell... he was, quite simply, mine.

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth... a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close�

A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.]]> 380 Katee Robert 1728231736 Kassandra 3 3.75<br /> 3.68 2021 Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1)
author: Katee Robert
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
3.75

]]> The Lost Bookshop 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,� she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.�

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found�

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 Kassandra 4 4.03 2023 The Lost Bookshop
author: Evie Woods
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/17
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]]> <![CDATA[City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils, #1)]]> 59820919 Welcome to the city of Angelthene. We hope you survive.

Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.

Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren's life in exchange for her friend's safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back—even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.

Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human—and couldn't hurt a fly if her life depended on it—he decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward. As much as Loren doesn't want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him—and not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.

When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien's search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene's corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world. And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.

From the author of Dreams of Ice and Iron comes a new fantasy romance perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Ilona Andrews, and Cassandra Clare.

Please note: This book contains darker content that might be triggering for some readers, including violence, mature language, sexual content, drug abuse, death of an animal (with a HEA), sexual harassment, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and suicide. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.]]> 760 Kayla Edwards 1777880734 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.68 2022 City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils, #1)
author: Kayla Edwards
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America]]> 36217163 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of On Tyranny comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.

"A brilliant analysis of our time."--Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker

With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. This faith was misplaced. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States.

Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself. The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies.

In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. By revealing the stark choices before us--between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood--Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.]]> 359 Timothy Snyder 0525574468 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.33 2018 The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
author: Timothy Snyder
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> How Propaganda Works 23528852
Focusing on the shortcomings of liberal democratic states, Stanley provides a historically grounded introduction to democratic political theory as a window into the misuse of democratic vocabulary for propaganda's selfish purposes. He lays out historical examples, such as the restructuring of the US public school system at the turn of the twentieth century, to explore how the language of democracy is sometimes used to mask an undemocratic reality. Drawing from a range of sources, including feminist theory, critical race theory, epistemology, formal semantics, educational theory, and social and cognitive psychology, he explains how the manipulative and hypocritical declaration of flawed beliefs and ideologies arises from and perpetuates inequalities in society, such as the racial injustices that commonly occur in the United States.

"How Propaganda Works" shows that an understanding of propaganda and its mechanisms is essential for the preservation and protection of liberal democracies everywhere.]]> 376 Jason F. Stanley 0691164428 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.56 2015 How Propaganda Works
author: Jason F. Stanley
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future]]> 207294076 From Yale professor and bestselling author of How Fascism Works, a searing confrontation with the authoritarian right’s efforts to annihilate public education, silence teachers, and use taxpayer money to undo a century of work to advance social justice action on race, gender, sexuality, and class.Combining historical research with an in-depth analysis of our modern political landscape, Erasing History issues a dire warning for America and the the worst fascist movements of humanity’s past began in schools; the same place so many of today’s right-wing political parties have trained their most vicious attacks. Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recip Erdogan, and Argentina’s Javier Milei have all reached the same if you want to roll back the clock on civil rights, equity, and inclusion, a great place to start is in our schools. Yale professor Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the right’s tactics and traces their inspirations and funding back to some of the most dangerous ideas of human history. He shows that hearts and minds are won in our elementary schools, high schools, and universities—and that governments are currently ill-prepared to do the work of uprooting fascist policies being foisted upon our children through school boards, in courtrooms, and in the boardrooms of the companies trusted to train our teachers and create the materials they’ll share with their students. Deeply informed and urgently needed, this book is a vibrant call to action for lovers of democracy worldwide.]]> 256 Jason F. Stanley 1668056917 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.31 2024 Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
author: Jason F. Stanley
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them]]> 38255329
“No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS� CHOICE � With a new preface � A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history.

As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States long before Donald Trump.

Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics—the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us� and a “them.� He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include

� exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past
� propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves
� anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts
� law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals
� fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare

These mechanisms all build on one another, creating and reinforcing divisions and shaping a society vulnerable to the appeals of authoritarian leadership.

By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—charged by rhetoric and myth—can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.]]> 240 Jason F. Stanley 0525511830 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.21 2018 How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them
author: Jason F. Stanley
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[A Constellation of Vital Phenomena]]> 18428067
In the final days of December 2004, in a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa hides in the woods when her father is abducted by Russian forces. Fearing for her life, she flees with their neighbor Akhmed—a failed physician—to the bombed-out hospital, where Sonja, the one remaining doctor, treats a steady stream of wounded rebels and refugees and mourns her missing sister. Over the course of five dramatic days, Akhmed and Sonja reach back into their pasts to unravel the intricate mystery of coincidence, betrayal, and forgiveness that unexpectedly binds them and decides their fate.

With The English Patient's dramatic sweep and The Tiger's Wife's expert sense of place, Marra gives us a searing debut about the transcendent power of love in wartime, and how it can cause us to become greater than we ever thought possible.]]> 416 Anthony Marra 0770436420 Kassandra 5
Added this to my list of GOATs!
Loved this book so much and will reread at some point.

This was brilliant!!
Beautifully written story of the devastating effects of wartime on families, friendships, partnerships, culture, politics, art, community... I learned a lot about the Chechnyan culture, religion, and wars from 1994-2004.

The comedic relief was so well done, and though I definitely sobbed thru parts of the story, it was balanced enough that I did not feel broken and drained by it. There's an element of mystery throughout that expertly weaves the characters together and keeps you engaged and invested till the end.

All of the characters in this book were completely flawed and realistic. The book illustrates how war can bring out the best and worst of us--how most people involved are not all good or all bad. But also how war can foster that 'mob mentality,' where morals are bent until they become unrecognizable, and basic survival threats, can lead to dishonorable and regrettable decisions.

The child was the only purely good character, which I felt was symbolic. She represents the purity and innocence of children, of future generations, of the reason we fight for our beliefs and for a better world. And the ones who suffer the most from war.

The book examines
� love of every kind: parental love, sibling love, romantic love, friendship love, neighborly love, collegial love, godly love
� the importance of language, art, history, science, knowledge, books, customs, beliefs, religion, medicine, healers
� the dangers and devastations of war, violence, drugs, trafficking, dictatorship]]> 4.10 2013 A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
author: Anthony Marra
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
6⭐️!!! Great audio.

Added this to my list of GOATs!
Loved this book so much and will reread at some point.

This was brilliant!!
Beautifully written story of the devastating effects of wartime on families, friendships, partnerships, culture, politics, art, community... I learned a lot about the Chechnyan culture, religion, and wars from 1994-2004.

The comedic relief was so well done, and though I definitely sobbed thru parts of the story, it was balanced enough that I did not feel broken and drained by it. There's an element of mystery throughout that expertly weaves the characters together and keeps you engaged and invested till the end.

All of the characters in this book were completely flawed and realistic. The book illustrates how war can bring out the best and worst of us--how most people involved are not all good or all bad. But also how war can foster that 'mob mentality,' where morals are bent until they become unrecognizable, and basic survival threats, can lead to dishonorable and regrettable decisions.

The child was the only purely good character, which I felt was symbolic. She represents the purity and innocence of children, of future generations, of the reason we fight for our beliefs and for a better world. And the ones who suffer the most from war.

The book examines
� love of every kind: parental love, sibling love, romantic love, friendship love, neighborly love, collegial love, godly love
� the importance of language, art, history, science, knowledge, books, customs, beliefs, religion, medicine, healers
� the dangers and devastations of war, violence, drugs, trafficking, dictatorship
]]> Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) 13453029
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Alternate cover for B0071XO8RA]]> 509 Hugh Howey Kassandra 0 to-read 4.22 2012 Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)]]> 50892338
A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn� students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin� and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.]]> 502 Tracy Deonn 1534441603 Kassandra 5 4.32 2020 Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Black Butterflies 60102361
When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England. Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over and over. Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope.]]> 256 Priscilla Morris Kassandra 5
Review pending*]]> 4.21 2022 Black Butterflies
author: Priscilla Morris
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:
4.5

Review pending*
]]> Water Moon 211479192 A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

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

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

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

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 384 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0593724992 Kassandra 5
Right book. Right time. Beautiful prose. Lots of wisdom.

This is a stand-alone fantasy with a sweet romance, portal travel, Japanese lore, gorgeous writing and poignant quotes.

Major themes: freedom of choice and living without regrets; the gift of life and love!!]]> 3.79 2025 Water Moon
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:
5 stars for me

Right book. Right time. Beautiful prose. Lots of wisdom.

This is a stand-alone fantasy with a sweet romance, portal travel, Japanese lore, gorgeous writing and poignant quotes.

Major themes: freedom of choice and living without regrets; the gift of life and love!!
]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae, #1)]]> 63342028 A cast-off princess�

Born into a life of duty and sacrifice, Morgan Pendragon’s destiny has never been her own. Rumored to carry the tainted blood of the fae in her veins, her birthright is stolen from her when she is a mere child. Growing up in the shadow of her brother the king, she has been promised to the goddesses when she comes of age. So, when her brother commands that she seek out a fae weapon of legendary power, Morgan seizes the chance to break free from the chains of her fate.

A dangerous temptation�

As she travels, Morgan finds herself drawn into a strange group of outcasts, led by a dark and enigmatic warrior whose sharp wit and fierce beauty set her heart ablaze. But while Morgan struggles to reconcile her desires with her duty, she and her new comrades discover dangers that await them beyond anything in their wildest nightmares.

A slumbering kingdom awoken by blood�

Believed to have vanished generations ago, a fae kingdom dreaded by mortals is ascending once more, bound to reclaim what was lost by violence and bloodshed. As the fae world, with its intricate web of lies and mysteries, is slowly revealed to Morgan, she is led to the terrible realization that the secrets she carries in her blood make her a greater threat than she could ever have imagined.

The first in an action-packed new series brimming with magic, danger, and spellbinding slow-burn romance, Queen of Roses is perfect for fans of Holly Black, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Sarah J. Maas.]]> 361 Briar Boleyn Kassandra 0 to-read 3.85 2023 Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae, #1)
author: Briar Boleyn
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mirror of Beasts (Silver in the Bone, #2)]]> 57982343
Legend tells of a “Mirror of Beasts,� powerful enough to trap even Lord Death in its accursed glass, but the mirror is not all that it seems. Tamsin must confront her own darkest secrets if she hopes to tap the mirror's strength to defeat her enemies.

Arthurian legend bleeds into contemporary action, and scars of the past are torn open anew by a starcrossed love that refuses to go quietly. This riveting conclusion to the Silver in the Bone duology will hold you in its thrall until the very last page.]]> 576 Alexandra Bracken 1786542161 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The Mirror of Beasts (Silver in the Bone, #2)
author: Alexandra Bracken
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone, #1)]]> 62031346
" Simmering with magic, peril, romance, and heartbreak ." —Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shadow and Bone

Born without a trace of magic, Tamsin Lark is no match for the sorceresses and Hollowers who populate the magical underground of Boston. But when the only parent she’s ever known disappears without so much as a goodbye, she has no choice but to join in their cutthroat pursuit of enchanted relics to keep herself—and her brother, Cabell—alive.

Ten years later, rumors are swirling that her guardian found a powerful ring from Arthurian legend just before he vanished. A run-in with her rival Emrys ignites Tamsin’s hope that the ring could free Cabell from a curse that threatens both of them. But they aren’t the only ones who covet the ring.

As word spreads, greedy Hollowers start circling, and many would kill to have it for themselves. While Emrys is the last person Tamsin would choose to partner with, she needs all the help she can get to edge out her competitorsin the race for the ring. Together, they dive headfirst into a vipers� nest of dark magic, exposing a deadly secret with the power to awaken ghosts of the past and shatter her last hope of saving her brother. . . .]]> 467 Alexandra Bracken 0593481658 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.88 2023 Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone, #1)
author: Alexandra Bracken
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms, #1)]]> 210234399 In a world at war with demons, one girl will face the ultimate test when she is forced to enter into an ancient, deadly competition for the chance to save her mother's soul� before she loses her forever. From the New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night comes the beginning of a dark and opulent fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Throne of Glass.

Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.

Àn’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.

Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.

The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.]]> 400 Amélie Wen Zhao Kassandra 0 to-read 3.79 2025 The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms, #1)
author: Amélie Wen Zhao
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Amid Clouds and Bones 215813693 A princess determined to survive an arranged marriage to a heartless faerie prince is saved by a twist of fate that could destroy their world in this all-new standalone fantasy romance.

As the half faerie daughter of a human king, my days were spent tucked out of sight�until the Seelie Fae sought an alliance with our kingdom. In exchange for my father’s help in defeating their Unseelie enemies, I would wed Atakan the heartless.

The Seelie prince loathed everyone, but none more than me. Throughout the years leading to our nuptials, each encounter grew more terrifying than the last as he demonstrated how he’d earned his infamous reputation.

Fear would only doom me faster. So I learned to hide it with games I soon became happy to play. I wasn’t supposed to crave a monster. But just when I’d thought I might tame the untameable, fate intervened.

And delivered me straight to his enemy.


This fast-paced standalone features true enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, high heat, and a cast of morally grey and villainous characters. ]]> 403 Ella Fields Kassandra 0 to-read 3.80 2024 Amid Clouds and Bones
author: Ella Fields
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Used to Be Us 199347400 There are two sides to every love story—and every breakup. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster of family, marriage, and divorce that will have you both laughing and crying, from the bestselling author of Before We Were Strangers.

After twenty-two years together, Danielle and Alex are getting a divorce. Once fiercely in love, they can barely stand the sound of each other’s voice. Instead of shuttling the kids between two broken homes, Alex and Dani decide to share a nesting apartment while swapping days with their two teenage boys at the family home.

In the apartment, Dani and Alex, on their own, begin to reflect on the last two decades—why they fell in love and why the marriage fell, spectacularly, apart. With the newfound space and time, they are given a chance to rediscover their autonomous selves again. They both get back in the dating pool. Dani finds major success at work as a showrunner on her own TV project, while Alex faces the challenges of a new relationship.

Still, they find that they just can’t stay away from each other, and somehow, the distance allows them to remember (for the first time in years) what each used to love about the other. When a family crisis draws them back into each other’s orbit, Dani and Alex are once again put to the test, which leads to a dramatic conclusion that will have listeners weeping.]]> 384 Renee Carlino 0593729285 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.00 This Used to Be Us
author: Renee Carlino
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1) 204593914 Welcome to Phantasma. There are only two rules to the game: Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart . . .]]> 497 Kaylie Smith 1538769255 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.05 2024 Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)
author: Kaylie Smith
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Love Letter to Whiskey: Fifth Anniversary Edition]]> 59417433 This is not your typical love story.

It’s a story of almosts and could-have-beens.
Of friendship that teeters on the edge of something more.
Of passion so intoxicating, it burns.

Jamie and B are two hearts caught in the tangle of bad timing and unspoken words. Their connection defies labels—too deep for friendship, too tangled for love. Over a decade of moments, choices, and missed opportunities, they find themselves drawn together like a moth to a flame, even when the world—and their own mistakes—keep pulling them apart.

Is it obsession? Destiny? Or just self-destruction with a pretty face?

Sometimes, love isn’t about finding the right person—it’s about the moment when everything aligns.
But what if that moment never comes?

This special edition features:
* A Love Letter to Whiskey (the full, heart-wrenching story)
* Love, Whiskey (Jamie’s side, plus an extended epilogue)
* Bonus content, including behind-the-scenes stories, fun facts, and letters from the author and audiobook narrator]]> 608 Kandi Steiner Kassandra 4
I would not have liked this book as much without the 2nd POV. Def recommend the 5th anniversary edition!

The writing is wonderful and the characters felt very real to me. I'm not a huge contemporary romance reader but I would pick up another of her books!

This is an example of miscommunication/lack of communication done right. The realistic way people hurt people they love and sabotage relationships when they don't heal their traumas.]]> 4.23 A Love Letter to Whiskey: Fifth Anniversary Edition
author: Kandi Steiner
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves:
review:
4.5

I would not have liked this book as much without the 2nd POV. Def recommend the 5th anniversary edition!

The writing is wonderful and the characters felt very real to me. I'm not a huge contemporary romance reader but I would pick up another of her books!

This is an example of miscommunication/lack of communication done right. The realistic way people hurt people they love and sabotage relationships when they don't heal their traumas.
]]> If You Could See the Sun 60099660 actually invisible.

When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.

But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience—or even her life.

In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates� most scandalous secrets.]]> 346 Ann Liang 1335915842 Kassandra 4
This was good but definitely very YA vibes. Still enjoyable and worth the read. Easily could have been a 5 star when I was a teen.

Loved the themes: value of education, disparity in access to quality education between income classes, attaching worth to production, balancing ambition with other values, what makes a good human...

The writing is great, and I will definitely cont. to pick up Ann Liang's adult books!]]> 4.01 2022 If You Could See the Sun
author: Ann Liang
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:
3.75

This was good but definitely very YA vibes. Still enjoyable and worth the read. Easily could have been a 5 star when I was a teen.

Loved the themes: value of education, disparity in access to quality education between income classes, attaching worth to production, balancing ambition with other values, what makes a good human...

The writing is great, and I will definitely cont. to pick up Ann Liang's adult books!
]]> <![CDATA[Shadowstitch (The Language of Magic, #2)]]> 123118959
Haunted by her aunt’s death, living in fear of her curse, and fated to love the one man she can never have, the last thing Anna needs is a witch hunt. Now she must conceal her magic once more or risk losing everything.

But when deadly hysteria strikes across the capital, and in her own school, the coven are left dangerously exposed. Delving deeper into the magical underworld of London, Anna and Effie must find a way to work together to protect the coven.

But as the witch hunt intensifies and the hysteria spirals out of control, can Effie and Anna truly trust each other?]]> 400 Cari Thomas 0008407053 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.04 2024 Shadowstitch (The Language of Magic, #2)
author: Cari Thomas
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Threadneedle (The Language of Magic, #1)]]> 51867529
Anna’s Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.

Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.

Until she meets Effie and Attis.

They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose themselves in a haze of spells.

But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her Aunt was right all along.

Is her magic a gift � or a curse?]]> 576 Cari Thomas 0008407002 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.92 2021 Threadneedle (The Language of Magic, #1)
author: Cari Thomas
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)]]> 60717747 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 304 Olivia Atwater Kassandra 4
Such a sweet regency romance with simple fantasy elements. Cozy magical elements. Loved the neurodivergent representation as well as the social commentary on the social elite, aristocracy vs poverty, and the perversion of "virtue."

My favorite scene takes place at a ball!✨️ But my favorite parts of the book included the banter between Dora and Elias, as well as the quotes about power and virtue.

Could see myself re-reading this in the future as a comfort read!]]> 4.04 2020 Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:
4.0

Such a sweet regency romance with simple fantasy elements. Cozy magical elements. Loved the neurodivergent representation as well as the social commentary on the social elite, aristocracy vs poverty, and the perversion of "virtue."

My favorite scene takes place at a ball!✨️ But my favorite parts of the book included the banter between Dora and Elias, as well as the quotes about power and virtue.

Could see myself re-reading this in the future as a comfort read!
]]> A Song to Drown Rivers 203578730 Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.]]> 325 Ann Liang 1250289467 Kassandra 4
Highly highly recommend! My main critique is that the climax till the end, felt very rushed.

Overall, great Asian mythology retelling. Contains some of my fave quotes about political power and war. And the power of beauty.]]> 3.84 2024 A Song to Drown Rivers
author: Ann Liang
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:
4.25

Highly highly recommend! My main critique is that the climax till the end, felt very rushed.

Overall, great Asian mythology retelling. Contains some of my fave quotes about political power and war. And the power of beauty.
]]> <![CDATA[A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales, #1)]]> 58785677 A spicy new twist on an old classic - a deliciously dark Beauty and the Beast reimagining.

I could save him, but he would ruin me.

The beast.
The creature that stalks the forbidden wood.
The dragon prince.

He has suffered a fate worse than death. We all have. A curse put upon us by the mad king.

We are a kingdom locked in time. Shifters unable to feel our animals. Stuck here by a deal between the late king and a demon who seeks our destruction.

The only one keeping this kingdom alive is Nyfain, the golden prince to a stolen throne. The last dragon shifter.

He’s our hope.
He’s my nightmare.

When he catches me trespassing in the forbidden wood, he doesn’t punish me with death, as he’s entitled.

He takes me, instead. Forces me back to the castle as his prisoner. Seeks to use me.

Apparently, I can save him. I can save the whole forgotten kingdom, locked away by the demon king’s power.

But it would mean taming the monster beneath his skin. It would mean giving myself to him.

It would mean my ruin.

_ _ _ _ _ _

This is a dark and sexy Beauty and the Beast retelling, featuring a strong heroine, a dangerous anti-hero, and a humorous supporting cast. It is a full-length novel at 80k words and suitable for 18+. This is the beginning of a trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. Buckle up. The author was let off her leash.]]> 386 K.F. Breene Kassandra 0 to-read 3.83 2021 A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales, #1)
author: K.F. Breene
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern]]> 203579107 It's never too late for new beginnings.

On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs—an active senior community in southern Florida—she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy—and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier.

As a teenager growing up in 1920’s Brooklyn, Augusta’s role model was her father, Solomon Stern, the trusted owner of the local pharmacy and the neighborhood expert on every ailment. But when Augusta’s mother dies and Great Aunt Esther moves in, Augusta can’t help but be drawn to Esther’s curious methods. As a healer herself, Esther offers Solomon’s customers her own advice—unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to a mysterious array of powders and potions.

As Augusta prepares for pharmacy college, she is torn between loyalty to her father and fascination with her great aunt, all while navigating a budding but complicated relationship with Irving. Desperate for clarity, she impulsively uses Esther’s most potent elixir with disastrous consequences. Disillusioned and alone, Augusta vows to reject Esther’s enchantments forever.

Sixty years later, confronted with Irving, Augusta is still haunted by the mistakes of her past. What happened all those years ago and how did her plan go so spectacularly wrong? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing a part? And can Augusta reclaim the magic of her youth before it’s too late?]]> 320 Lynda Cohen Loigman 1250278104 Kassandra 4
An endearing story with very loveable characters. Heartwarming and funny. A reflection on aging and regrets. A gentle reminder that magic still exists, it's never too late to start living your best life, and that true love isn't always sparkly, but it endures.]]> 4.07 2024 The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
Great narration!

An endearing story with very loveable characters. Heartwarming and funny. A reflection on aging and regrets. A gentle reminder that magic still exists, it's never too late to start living your best life, and that true love isn't always sparkly, but it endures.
]]> <![CDATA[Heat of the Everflame (The Kindred’s Curse, #3)]]> 221399262
The war has begun. Both sides demand Diem’s allegiance—or her death.

After her disastrous coronation, Diem finds herself at the center of the conflict between the Descended and the Guardians. With her newfound friends and the man she’s falling for on one side, and the mortals she has vowed to protect on the other, Diem must walk a careful line to save the people she loves…even from one another.

When the mystery of her unusual heritage begins to unravel, it sends Diem and Luther on an unexpected journey across the realms. The answers they seek may hold the key to winning the war, but finding them will require Diem to face painful truths about her mother, her bloodline, and her fate.

Meanwhile, the Crowns have set Diem in their sights. Some could be her greatest allies—while others want her dead. To end their oppressive reign, Diem must sort friend from foe and risk it all to build an army of her own.

But a powerful figure in the north has plans that could change everything…]]> 848 Penn Cole 1668098261 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.39 2023 Heat of the Everflame (The Kindred’s Curse, #3)
author: Penn Cole
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When the Stars Go Dark 54895727
As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.

Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives--and our faith in one another.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife comes a novel of intertwined destinies and heart-wrenching suspense: A detective hiding away from the world. A series of disappearances that reach into her past. Can solving them help her heal?]]> 370 Paula McLain 0593237897 Kassandra 5
This is personal for me.]]> 3.81 2021 When the Stars Go Dark
author: Paula McLain
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:
4.5

This is personal for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Fallen Stars (Heavenly Bodies, #2)]]> 61145488
Elara is vengeful.

Her love is in a deep sleep, trapped between the realms of life and death.
Her enemy has vanished, Enzo’s only connection to the waking world with him.
And a life that Elara has never wanted has been thrust upon her, along with a new power she can not control.

Now a disgraced queen, Elara must go on a quest to find a way to wake Enzo, while also seeking help from the Titans, a league of gods who ruled the world long before the Stars.
But there is a darker power at play, one that even Ariete, King of the Stars, is afraid of. With enemies at every turn, Elara must tread carefully if she has any hope of waking her soulmate, and keeping the promise she made - that every Star will fall.]]> 773 Imani Erriu Kassandra 0 to-read 3.85 Fallen Stars (Heavenly Bodies, #2)
author: Imani Erriu
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)]]> 58650445
In a world where no entities exist but the Stars, cruel and merciless gods that watch over the world, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy that promises she will fall for a Star, and it will kill them both.

But when one descends to wreak havoc on Elara's Kingdom, she is forced to flee into the arms of her enemy in the neighbouring country.

As she learns more about her own magic, and the depth of the Stars' deceit, she also finds herself learning more about the country she is forced to take refuge in, and the enemy prince forced to train her into a weapon.

Something dark brews within her, a power made of night and shadows that begs to be broken free.]]> 619 Imani Erriu Kassandra 4 {republished}<br />4.25-4.5 3.97 2022 Heavenly Bodies (Heavenly Bodies, #1)
author: Imani Erriu
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:
{republished}
4.25-4.5
]]> <![CDATA[Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods]]> 51107151 Monarchs of the Sea is a history about these bizarre but beautiful creatures that ruled the seas—and still captivate us today.]]> 256 Danna Staaf 1615197400 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.12 2017 Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods
author: Danna Staaf
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Perilous Times 62192516
Legends don’t always live up to reality.

Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully tiring over the years—or at least that’s what Sir Kay’s thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth yet again.

Kay once rode alongside his brother, King Arthur, as a Knight of the Round Table. Since then, he has fought at Hastings and at Waterloo and in both World Wars. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, the army’s been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to foreign powers. The dragon that’s running amok—that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure.

Mariam’s spent her life fighting what’s wrong with her country. But she’s just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, she dares to hope that the world has finally found the savior it needs.

Yet as the two travel through this bizarre and dangerous land, they discover that a magical plot of apocalyptic proportions is underway. And Kay’s too busy hunting dragons—and exchanging blows with his old enemy Lancelot—to figure out what to do about it.

In perilous times like these, the realm doesn’t just need a knight. It needs a true leader.

Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach.

But who will be fit to wield it?

With a cast that includes Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and King Arthur himself—all reimagined in joyous, wickedly subversive fashion� Perilous Times is an Arthurian retelling that looks forward as much as it looks back . . . and a rollicking, deadpan-funny, surprisingly touching fantasy adventure.]]> 496 Thomas D. Lee 0593499018 Kassandra 0 might-want-to-read 3.83 2023 Perilous Times
author: Thomas D. Lee
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: might-want-to-read
review:

]]> The Bones Beneath My Skin 211004023 A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary little girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 1250890438 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.11 2018 The Bones Beneath My Skin
author: T.J. Klune
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus]]> 216247502
Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents� secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time . . .

As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life. A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.]]> 384 Emma Knight 0593830458 Kassandra 0 might-want-to-read 3.40 The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus
author: Emma Knight
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.40
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: might-want-to-read
review:

]]> The Girls in the Attic 57526838
Max Wolff is a committed soldier of the Reich. So when he is sent home wounded, only to discover that his mother is sheltering two young Jewish women in their home, he is outraged.

His mother’s act of mercy is a gross betrayal of everything Max stands for. He has dedicated his life to Nazism, fighting to atone for the shame of his anti-Hitler father’s imprisonment. It’s his duty to turn the sisters over to the Gestapo. But he hesitates, and the longer Max fails to do his duty, the harder it becomes.

When Allied bombers fill the skies of Germany, Max is forced to abandon all dogma and face the brutality of war in order to defend precious lives. But what will it cost him?]]> 351 Marius Gabriel 1542028043 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.40 2021 The Girls in the Attic
author: Marius Gabriel
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Stolen Marriage 33574127 Steeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of her talent.

One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello’s life is changed forever.

It is 1944. Pregnant, alone, and riddled with guilt, twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly gives up her budding career as a nurse and ends her engagement to the love of her life, unable to live a lie. Instead, she turns to the baby’s father for help and agrees to marry him, moving to the small, rural town of Hickory, North Carolina. Tess’s new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows her no affection. Tess quickly realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.

The people of Hickory love and respect Henry but see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain. When one of the town’s golden girls dies in a terrible accident, everyone holds Tess responsible. But Henry keeps his secrets even closer now, though it seems that everyone knows something about him that Tess does not.

When a sudden polio epidemic strikes Hickory, the townspeople band together to build a polio hospital. Tess knows she is needed and defies Henry’s wishes to begin working at there. Through this work, she begins to find purpose and meaning. Yet at home, Henry’s actions grow more alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients, can she untangle the truth behind her husband’s mysterious behavior and find the love—and the life—she was meant to have?]]> 376 Diane Chamberlain 1250087279 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.24 2017 The Stolen Marriage
author: Diane Chamberlain
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Living Mountain 25773742 This is an alternate Cover Edition for ISBN10: 0857861832/ ISBN13: 9780857861832.

The Living Mountain is a lyrical testament in praise of the Cairngorms. It is a work deeply rooted in Nan Shepherd's knowledge of the natural world, and a poetic and philosophical meditation on our longing for high and holy places. Drawing on different perspectives of the mountain environment, Shepherd makes the familiar strange and the strange awe-inspiring. Her sensitivity and powers of observation put her into the front rank of nature writing.]]> 157 Nan Shepherd Kassandra 0 to-read 4.29 1977 The Living Mountain
author: Nan Shepherd
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters]]> 157981712
A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember , pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future.

Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness.

Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power-- and its quirks--we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future.]]> 304 Charan Ranganath 038554863X Kassandra 0 to-read 3.90 2024 Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters
author: Charan Ranganath
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II]]> 18249406
* Chosen as one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century by a jury of writers including Harold Kushner, Thomas Moore, Huston Smith, and Natalie Goldberg
* This fourth edition includes a new insert of photographs

“One of the most powerful memoirs I’ve ever encountered...[Lusseyran’s] experience is thrilling, horrible, honest, spiritually profound, and utterly full of joy.�
� Ethan Hawke, in the Village Voice]]> 304 Jacques Lusseyran 1608682692 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.17 1963 And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
author: Jacques Lusseyran
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lady of Embers (Lady of Darkness, #4)]]> 62987151
Wrath.

When they met her, she was a whirlwind of shadows and darkness. Standing among the ashes of betrayal and grief, now she is a tempest of rage and malice. Queen Scarlett Aditya will hunt them all down, one by one, and make them pay. Starting with the one who took her brightest star from her.

Acceptance.

She knows she will come for her. Her betrayal was too great. She deserves the storm of fury that will end her, but until then Queen Talwyn Semiria will protect a secret that could turn the tides in the coming war. But when the time comes to pay for her sins, will she be able to give up everything? And will it even be enough?

Hope.

A kingdom wrapped in mystery, locked away behind wards to protect its secrets. That is where the last hope of King Callan Solgard lies to get his throne back. But does he even want it any more? Will it cost him more than what he’s already lost? Or will new nightmares draw him from the light and into the darkness?

It’s time to start a fire and let it burn.

Lady of Embers is book 4 of 5 in the Lady of Darkness series. It is a new adult dark fantasy and romance novel. It may have triggers of love-hate themes, sexual scenes, graphic violence/gore, and jealous/possessive themes. It will end on a cliffhanger.]]> 648 Melissa K. Roehrich Kassandra 5
Plot continues. Lots of character development.]]> 4.38 2024 Lady of Embers (Lady of Darkness, #4)
author: Melissa K. Roehrich
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
5

Plot continues. Lots of character development.
]]> <![CDATA[Lady of Ashes (Lady of Darkness, #3)]]> 62987140 She will not be the same as when she left.

Fire and Shadows.

Scarlett Semiria knew the cost of her actions the day she sacrificed everything to keep her family, her Courts, and her twin flame safe. At least she thought she did. When she discovers the cost was more than she could have ever anticipated, she finds herself once again forced to choose between saving innocents or saving the ones she loves. But this choice might just leave her so broken, even the stars won’t be able to bring her back.

Light and Dark.

Crown Prince Callan is more than happy to leave the Fire Court behind, along with the woman who chose someone else. But when he arrives home, he finds there is no escaping the world of darkness he has been dragged into. To protect his people and his kingdom, he is forced to enter into a dangerous deception that quickly turns into a game of cleverness and strategy, and he finds that he has allies in the most unexpected places.

Beginnings and Endings.

Fae Queen Talwyn Semiria has been waiting for decades for her cousin to return home. She had expected to find a kindred spirit. What she got was a brash assassin who does things her own way and flouts all traditional decorum. But she refuses to let Scarlett stand between her and what is best for her Courts. She will play nice for now, but when it comes down to going after the true evil that resides across the sea and threatens their lands, she’ll take it all and sacrifice everything.

*Everything hangs in the balance.

*One wrong move, and the scales will tip.

*Only ashes will remain.]]> 660 Melissa K. Roehrich Kassandra 5
Reading vlog coming for this series!

Best book in the series so far! Plot is packed! New romantic duo introduced, which is my fave!! {C+T}

Ends on major cliffhanger!!]]> 4.29 Lady of Ashes (Lady of Darkness, #3)
author: Melissa K. Roehrich
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
5

Reading vlog coming for this series!

Best book in the series so far! Plot is packed! New romantic duo introduced, which is my fave!! {C+T}

Ends on major cliffhanger!!
]]> A Train to Moscow 58262242
In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is her own dream of becoming an actress. When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.

Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.]]> 316 Elena Gorokhova Kassandra 0 to-read 3.99 2022 A Train to Moscow
author: Elena Gorokhova
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Place for Us: A Memoir 70106142 From one of the most vital and passionate LGBTQ+ activists comes a powerful memoir about self-discovery, community, love, and resilience in the face of adversity.

You never forget your first. First kiss. First love. First heartache. They all burrow their way into your subconscious, destined to reshape how you see the world forever.

Growing up in rural Oregon, Brandon Wolf grappled with the devastating loss of his supportive mother and with the embedded racism and homophobia of a community that made him feel like an unwelcome stranger. After the lack of connection and role models led him down a spiral of risky behavior, Wolf escaped to survive. In Orlando, he found what he’d been searching for: belonging—in a community that was a safe space with people he’d come to call his chosen family. They taught Wolf how to love, and be loved, unconditionally. Then, on June 12, 2016, in an exhilarating refuge where Wolf and hundreds of others had discovered a liberating new normal, they were suddenly challenged with fighting for a way out—in order to survive. Overnight, everything was ripped away by chaos, panic, and fear. But the unimaginable tragedy also gave Wolf a new power: purpose.

In this unforgettable coming-of-age memoir, Wolf shares his transformative journey from young outsider to galvanizing activist. Marshaling the compassion and strength of a community, Wolf explores how to get through the darkest times with healing, hope, and resistance. “With our backs against the wall,� he writes, “we find a way out together.”]]> 222 Brandon J. Wolf 1542036453 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.32 2023 A Place for Us: A Memoir
author: Brandon J. Wolf
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Schall und Schein (Die Wortweberin, #1)]]> 200500023 Als Barbarenhorden plötzlich die Grenzen des Reichs bedrohen, fordert ihr Anführer Isidas Hand als Preis für den Frieden. Stattdessen schickt der König Chiara und gibt sie für die Prinzessin aus. Sie soll den Feind täuschen und ausspionieren. Chiara bleibt keine Wahl. Obwohl es ihr vor einem Schicksal an der Seite des gnadenlosen Barbarenfürsten graut, macht sie sich auf den Weg. Doch die gefahrvolle Reise verläuft anders als gedacht.
Nach und nach beginnt Chiara zu erkennen, welche Stärke tatsächlich in ihr schlummert und dass das Leben mehr zu bieten hat, als Gehorsam und Pflicht …]]> 391 Elvira Zeißler Kassandra 0 to-read 4.08 Schall und Schein (Die Wortweberin, #1)
author: Elvira Zeißler
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pictures of You 197156017 If you knew then what you know now, would you make the same choices? Imagine having a second chance with the one you never forgot.

From the author of the global breakout bestseller The Last Love Note comes the story of a young woman struggling to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragic accident, and the man who gives up everything to help her.

When Evie Hudson wakes in an unfamiliar hospital room, she thinks she’s fresh out of a teenage party with her best friend, Bree. Except, Bree isn’t around anymore and high school was years ago. Evie had just survived the crash that killed her husband, Oliver—whom she can't remember either. After suffering a traumatic loss of memory, she’s left to connect the dots. But how?

Drew, a promising photographer whose chance encounter with Evie unravels the elusive details of her marriage and her husband’s death. As Drew watches Evie stitch the story of her life together, secrets emerge that might shatter both of their worlds.

This tangled second-chance romance leads Evie to question every decision she ever made. This time around, she’s seeing all the things she missed–and the life she gets to choose...again.]]> 416 Emma Grey 195850646X Kassandra 4 4.25<br /> 4.00 2024 Pictures of You
author: Emma Grey
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves:
review:
4.25

]]> <![CDATA[The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (Love's Academic, #1)]]> 200555182
Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, capturing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that's beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.

For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She's so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they're professional rivals.

When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning.Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can't trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.]]> 384 India Holton Kassandra 0 to-read 3.90 2024 The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (Love's Academic, #1)
author: India Holton
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Language of Threads (Women of the Silk #2)]]> 51108 288 Gail Tsukiyama Kassandra 0 to-read 4.10 1999 The Language of Threads (Women of the Silk #2)
author: Gail Tsukiyama
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)]]> 51114
In "Women of the Silk" Gail Tsukiyama takes her readers back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's graceful prose weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of courage and strength.]]> 278 Gail Tsukiyama 0312099436 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.95 1991 Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
author: Gail Tsukiyama
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Samurai's Garden 51113 ]]> 211 Gail Tsukiyama 0312144075 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.15 1995 The Samurai's Garden
author: Gail Tsukiyama
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2)]]> 4912857
The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that when I opened those windows � my new windows � each evening its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets in my ear, that I could catch on paper and narrate to whomever cared to listen�

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed � a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

Once again, Zafon takes us into a dark, gothic universe first seen in The Shadow of the Wind and creates a breathtaking adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy. Through a dizzyingly constructed labyrinth of secrets, the magic of books, passion, and friendship blend into a masterful story.
(jacket)]]> 531 Carlos Ruiz Zafón 0385528701 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.94 2008 The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2)
author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Street of a Thousand Blossoms]]> 294084
"Just remember," Yoshio said quietly to his grandsons. "Every day of your lives, you must always be sure what you're fighting for."

It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents, who inspire them to dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows unusual skill at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of creating hard-carved masks for actors in the Noh theater.
Across town, a renowned sumo master, Sho Tanaka, lives with his wife and their two young daughters: the delicate, daydreaming Aki and her independent sister, Haru. Life seems full of promise as Kenji begins an informal apprenticeship with the most famous mask-maker in Japan and Hiroshi receives a coveted invitation to train with Tanaka. But then Pearl Harbor changes everything. As the ripples of war spread to both families' quiet neighborhoods, all of the generations must put their dreams on hold---and then find their way in a new Japan.
In an exquisitely moving story that spans almost thirty years, Gail Tsukiyama draws us irresistibly into the world of the brothers and the women who love them. It is a world of tradition and change, of heartbreaking loss and surprising hope, and of the impact of events beyond their control on ordinary, decent men and women. Above all, The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a masterpiece about love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.
]]> 422 Gail Tsukiyama 0312274823 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.97 2007 The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
author: Gail Tsukiyama
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> Tin Man 31117613
Ellis and Michael are twelve when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of an overbearing father. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more.

But then we fast forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between?

This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that.]]> 213 Sarah Winman 0755390962 Kassandra 0 to-read 3.94 2017 Tin Man
author: Sarah Winman
name: Kassandra
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> Still Life 57001545
As Ulysses returns home to London, reimmersing himself in his crew at The Stoat and Parrot -- a motley mix of pub crawlers and eccentrics -- he carries his time in Italy with him. And when an unexpected inheritance brings him back to where it all began, Ulysses knows better than to tempt fate, and returns to the Tuscan hills.

With beautiful prose, extraordinary tenderness, and bursts of humor and light, Still Life is a sweeping portrait of unforgettable individuals who come together to make a family, and a richly drawn celebration of beauty and love in all its forms.]]> 464 Sarah Winman 0593330757 Kassandra 0 to-read 4.08 2021 Still Life
author: Sarah Winman
name: Kassandra
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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