en-US Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:38:10 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 208430658 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)]]> 430 M.L. Wang 0593873351 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 4.40 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: Bella
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 55868456 Two warriors shepherd an ancient god across a broken land to end the tyrannical reign of a royal family in this new epic fantasy from the author of The Vanished Birds.

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.

But that god cannot be contained forever.

With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.

Both a sweeping adventure story and an intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.
]]> 525 Simon Jimenez 0593156595 Bella 3 patreon-buddy-read 4.17 2022
author: Simon Jimenez
name: Bella
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 44033470
Born into Kusanagi's legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always know his purpose: to master his family's fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen's alleged age of peace, Mamoru ralizes that he might not have much time before he has to become the fighter he was bred to be. Even worse, the empire he was born to defend might stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of invasion looming on the horizon, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies ever reach their shores?]]> 631 M.L. Wang 172019386X Bella 5 best book i read in 2025 4.51 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: Bella
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, i-am-looking-respectfully, gifted
review:
best book i read in 2025
]]> 204593511 From acclaimed Japanese authorĚýSanaka Hiigari comes aĚýheartwarming, life-affirming novel about aĚýmagical photo studio, where people go after they die to view key moments from their life—and relive one precious memory before they pass into the afterlife.

The hands and pendulum of the old wooden clock on the wall were motionless. HirasakaĚýcocked his head to listen, but the silence inside the photo studio was almost deafening. HisĚýleather shoes sank softly into the aging red carpet as he strode over to the arrangement ofĚýflowers on the counter and carefully adjusted the angle of the petals...

This is the story of the peculiar and magical photo studio owned by Mr. Hirasaki, a collector of antique cameras. In the dimly lit interior, a paper background is pulled down in front of a wall, and in front of it stands a single, luxurious chair with an armrest on one side. On a stand is a large bellows camera. On the left is the main studio; photos can also be taken in the courtyard.

Beyond its straightforward interior, however, is a secret. The studio is, in fact, the door to the afterlife, the place between life and deathĚýwhere those who have departed have a chance—one last time—to see their entire life flash before their eyes viaĚýMr. Hirasaki's "spinning lantern ofĚýmemories."

We meetĚýHatsue, a ninety-two year old woman who worked as a nursery teacher,Ěýthe rowdy Waniguchi, a yakuza overseer in his life who is also capable of great compassion, and finallyĚýMitsuru, a young girl who has died tragically young at the hands of abusive parents.Ěý

Sorting through the many photos of their lives,ĚýMr. Hirasaki also offers guests one guests a second aĚýchance to travel back in time to take a photo of oneĚýparticular moment in their lives that they wish to cherish in a special way.

Full of charm and whimsy, The Lantern of Lost Memories will sweep you away to a world of nostalgia,Ěýlaughter, and love.]]> 208 Sanaka Hiiragi 1538757435 Bella 0 4.12 2019
author: Sanaka Hiiragi
name: Bella
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: read-in-1-sitting, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 60811826 Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.


As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.


Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.]]> 184 Jacqueline Harpman 1945492600 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 3.5 stars]]> 4.11 1995
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: Bella
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:
actual rating: 3.5 stars
]]> 203578770 Author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio’s inimitable style.]]> 144 M.L. Rio 1250356792 Bella 1 3.18 2024
author: M.L. Rio
name: Bella
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves: read-in-1-sitting, um-childe-anyways-so, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 202102084 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.Ěý

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.ĚýĚý

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.Ěý

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.Ěý

She does not know this yet. But she will.]]> 295 Ava Reid 0593722566 Bella 4 3.46 2024
author: Ava Reid
name: Bella
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, read-in-1-sitting
review:

]]> 57696231
When Laura takes her own life, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph in very different Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is terrorized by a force intent on destroying everything she loves. To make matters worse, Mrs. Bondy’s daughter is threatening to move Mrs. Bondy from the home, leaving Abby totally alone. With everything on the line, Abby comes up with a chilling plan that will allow her to keep Mrs. Bondy, rescue Ralph from his tortured mind, and break Laura’s hold on the family for good. All it requires is a little ingenuity, a lot of determination, and a unique recipe for chicken à la king�






]]> 288 Ainslie Hogarth 0593467035 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 3.5 stars]]> 3.60 2022
author: Ainslie Hogarth
name: Bella
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:
actual rating: 3.5 stars
]]> 196745285 The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.
Ěý
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
Ěý
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.]]> 359 Sydney J. Shields 0316568880 Bella 3 patreon-buddy-read 3.62 2024
author: Sydney J. Shields
name: Bella
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Bella 0 4.21 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: Bella
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, read-in-1-sitting
review:

]]> 59406549 Why save the world when you can have tea?

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city's most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times—bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]> 338 Hafsah Faizal 0374389403 Bella 0 patreon-buddy-read 3.49 2024
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Bella
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/23
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 61761938 A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends.

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week� in front of those who know you best?]]> 395 Emily Henry 0593441206 Bella 5 patreon-buddy-read, gifted 3.5 stars

2nd read:
4.5 stars]]> 4.06 2023
author: Emily Henry
name: Bella
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/03
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, gifted
review:
1st read:
3.5 stars

2nd read:
4.5 stars
]]> 64414866 An Education in Malice is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from Sunday Times bestselling author S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit A Dowry of Blood.

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.]]> 352 S.T. Gibson 0356519325 Bella 0 patreon-buddy-read 3.51 2024
author: S.T. Gibson
name: Bella
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/03/24
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 54770099
The man is quite unlike any secretary - or any man, for that matter - that Henry has ever met.

---

'Heart of Stone' is a slowly unfolding period romance between a vampire and his inimitably devoted clerk: lushly depicted in flowing, lovingly appended prose, we follow the slow understanding these two men grasp of one another, and the cross of their two worlds into each other's.

Henry Coffey, immortal and ever-oscillating between periods of delighted focus upon his current passion project, is charming, witty, and seems utterly incapable of closing his mouth for more than a few moments; in contrast, Theophilus Essex is quiet and keenly focused, adopting an ever-flat affect, but as time goes on, he relaxes in his employer's presence.

Craving resounding intimacy but with an ever aware of the polite boundaries for their situation, Coffey and Essex perform a slow dance as they grow closer to one another, and find themselves entangled.]]> 296 Johannes T. Evans Bella 0 patreon-buddy-read 4.16 2020
author: Johannes T. Evans
name: Bella
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read actual rating: 3.5 stars]]> 4.18 2023
author: Ashley Poston
name: Bella
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/09
date added: 2024/01/29
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:
actual rating: 3.5 stars
]]> 29044 559 Donna Tartt 1400031702 Bella 5 gifted, patreon-buddy-read 4.5 4.17 1992
author: Donna Tartt
name: Bella
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/27
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: gifted, patreon-buddy-read
review:
4.5
]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

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

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 3.99 2023
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Bella
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/26
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 61884928 From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.]]> 384 Olivie Blake 1250892465 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read actual rating: 3.75 3.77 2018
author: Olivie Blake
name: Bella
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/27
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:
actual rating: 3.75
]]> 63892214 Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

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

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

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

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

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.]]> 371 Isabel Cañas 0593436725 Bella 2 actual rating: 2.5 stars 3.87 2023
author: Isabel Cañas
name: Bella
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/10/20
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, um-childe-anyways-so
review:
actual rating: 2.5 stars
]]> 60784546 After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again�

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands � that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper � an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 357 Rebecca Ross 1250857430 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 4.14 2023
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Bella
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/31
date added: 2023/09/04
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 33413128
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.]]> 432 Fredrik Backman Bella 3 gifted, patreon-buddy-read 4.27 2016
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Bella
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/02
date added: 2023/08/03
shelves: gifted, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 63219094 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

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

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

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

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

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

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros Bella 4 4.74 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Bella
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/20
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: read-in-1-sitting, patreon-buddy-read, i-am-looking-respectfully
review:

]]> 57789637
“Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

“An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense."—BookPage, starred review

A captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.]]> 503 Sue Lynn Tan 0063031302 Bella 4 4.08 2022
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Bella
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/22
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: i-am-looking-respectfully, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 49127718 A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined

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

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

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

Includes short story - The Last Round of Golf]]> 336 Fredrik Backman 198216963X Bella 5 4.17 2019
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Bella
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/25
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: cried-like-a-baby, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 60369943 Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn't exactly conducive to modern dating - and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she's used to suspecting the worst.

PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analysing the genre in her dissertation - if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years.

It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbour, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). But it's not long before Phoebe realises that Sam might be something much scarier - a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armour to reach her vulnerable heart.]]> 348 Alicia Thompson Bella 1 3.49 2022
author: Alicia Thompson
name: Bella
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2023/02/24
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: now-thats-what-i-call-yikes, patreon-buddy-read, um-childe-anyways-so
review:

]]> 57684325
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride�) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.]]> 400 Bonnie Garmus Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read 4.47 2022
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Bella
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/25
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 5328 A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. It was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions together with the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.]]> 112 Charles Dickens 1580495796 Bella 4 4.03 1843
author: Charles Dickens
name: Bella
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1843
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/20
date added: 2022/12/24
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, read-in-1-sitting, classics
review:

]]> 48806694 A mesmerising retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Perfect for fans of CIRCE, A SONG OF ACHILLES, and THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel]]> 389 Jennifer Saint 1472273869 Bella 4 3.82 2021
author: Jennifer Saint
name: Bella
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/13
date added: 2022/11/13
shelves: gifted, i-am-looking-respectfully, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 55754225
There is more at stake than money. For as long as she can remember, Harrow has haunted Helen's dreams—and now those dreams have become a waking nightmare. Helen knows that if she is going to survive the year, she needs to uncover the secrets of Harrow. Why is the house built like a labyrinth? What is digging the holes that appear in the woods each night? And why does the house itself seem to be making her sick?

With each twisted revelation, Helen questions what she knows about Harrow, her family, and even herself. She no longer wonders if she wants to leave…but if she can.]]> 368 Kate Alice Marshall 0593405110 Bella 3 patreon-buddy-read 3.58 2022
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Bella
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/29
date added: 2022/10/01
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 60122469
Cleo and Frank run head-first into a romance that neither of them can quite keep up with. It reshapes their lives and the lives of those around them, whether that’s Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender identity in the wake of her marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates after being cut off. Ultimately, this chance meeting between two strangers outside of a New Year’s Eve party changes everything, for better or worse.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is an astounding and painfully relatable debut novel about the spontaneous decisions that shape our entire lives and those imperfect relationships born of unexpectedly perfect evenings.

NYU MFA graduate Coco Mellors's CLEOPATRA AND FRANKENSTEIN, a portrait of a brief marriage between a painter and an advertising executive, dealing with themes of mental health, addiction, maturity, and the joys and challenges of marriage, to Grace McNamee at Bloomsbury, for publication in winter 2022.]]> 384 Coco Mellors Bella 3 3.71 2022
author: Coco Mellors
name: Bella
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/20
date added: 2022/08/23
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, i-am-looking-respectfully
review:

]]> 36342017
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find--aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge--but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.]]> 371 Victoria E. Schwab 125016026X Bella 5 patreon-buddy-read 4.36 2013
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Bella
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/28
date added: 2022/07/28
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:
victor vale is my husband and sydney is our adopted child
]]> 56817365
But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children � among them Petra and her family � have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet � and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard � or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?]]> 320 Donna Barba Higuera 1646140893 Bella 3 actual rating: 2.75 stars ]]> 4.05 2021
author: Donna Barba Higuera
name: Bella
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/28
date added: 2022/06/28
shelves: gifted, i-am-looking-respectfully, patreon-buddy-read
review:
actual rating: 2.75 stars
]]> 56978100
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…]]> 325 Axie Oh 1250780861 Bella 0 4.10 2022
author: Axie Oh
name: Bella
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/07
shelves: did-not-finish, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 58064046 Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?]]> 338 Victoria E. Schwab 0062835777 Bella 3 3.70 2022
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Bella
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/02
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves: i-am-looking-respectfully, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 53285047 We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other Bunny, and seem to move and speak as one.

But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled Smut Salon, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus Workshop where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.

The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.

Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library]]> 305 Mona Awad 0525559752 Bella 3 3.43 2019
author: Mona Awad
name: Bella
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/29
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, um-childe-anyways-so
review:

]]> 37683751
After seventeen years—and countless broken bones and broken promises—she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.

But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she’s spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.

Including Ivan Lukov.]]> 493 Mariana Zapata Bella 5 patreon-buddy-read 4.19 2018
author: Mariana Zapata
name: Bella
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/31
date added: 2022/04/13
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 52735921 Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself...
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin...desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems...]]> 372 Kerri Maniscalco 0316428469 Bella 4 patreon-buddy-read, gifted 3.87 2020
author: Kerri Maniscalco
name: Bella
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/26
date added: 2022/02/26
shelves: patreon-buddy-read, gifted
review:
i feel like i'm back in 2015 and i'm straight up vibing
]]> 56732449
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding... six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.]]> 356 Ali Hazelwood 0593336828 Bella 1 patreon-buddy-read 4.11 2021
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Bella
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2021/11/16
date added: 2022/02/17
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 52459864
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.�

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia�. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.]]> 394 Xiran Jay Zhao 0735269939 Bella 0 4.03 2021
author: Xiran Jay Zhao
name: Bella
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/28
date added: 2022/01/28
shelves: i-am-looking-respectfully, patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]> 53424496 383 Olivie Blake 167991099X Bella 0 patreon-buddy-read 3.76 2020
author: Olivie Blake
name: Bella
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/31
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: patreon-buddy-read
review:

]]>