en-US Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:12:15 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 211003835 Something has to give... Could it be her heart?

Connie has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—editor extraordinaire, lover of bow ties, sweet and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.

Until Henry Samuel Beckett—or Beck, as he’s known to most—tells her the secret underneath his sunny surface: He’s been single all his life. But in a moment of panic, he’s told everyone at his publishing house that he’s married. And when Connie, an aspiring writer herself, can’t help defending him, she ends up being the fake wife he doesn’t actually have.

When they head off on a writing retreat, surrounded by people convinced this must be a ruse, both of them can't help but agree. Until they share their first kiss, their first touch, their first time in only one bed. Side by side, every night, as the simmering tension builds
Connie starts to wonder if this might be real after all.]]> 304 Charlotte Stein 1250867975 chan � 0 2025, contemporary-romance 3.58
author: Charlotte Stein
name: chan �
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 chan â˜� 0 2025, adult-fantasy 3.77 2023
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: chan �
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:

]]> 228691356 What is wrong meets what feels right in this romance set in Italy by the New York Times bestselling author of Deep End.

Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life.

Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him.

It’s such a clichĂ©, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother’s best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life.

But not everything is as it seems—and clichĂ©s sometimes become plot twists.

When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs—even if it’s a problematic one.]]> 416 Ali Hazelwood chan â˜� 0 to-read if fucking old men is wrong i don't want to be right!

(i've never fucked an old man, but i'm sure ready to read about it)]]> 4.62 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: chan �
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:
if fucking old men is wrong i don't want to be right!

(i've never fucked an old man, but i'm sure ready to read about it)
]]> 61294937 Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power
and the price might be your very soul.]]> 483 Shannon Chakraborty chan â˜� 0 currently-reading 4.25 2023
author: Shannon Chakraborty
name: chan �
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 52694527 Set in a brand-new, Norse-inspired world, and packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance, The Shadow of the Gods begins an epic new fantasy saga from bestselling author John Gwynne.

After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of VigriĂ°.

Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power for those brave - or desperate - enough to seek them out.

Now, as whispers of war echo across the mountains and fjords, fate follows in the footsteps of three people: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman who has rejected privilege in pursuit of battle fame, and a thrall who seeks vengeance among the famed mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn.

All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods . . .]]> 480 John Gwynne 0356514188 chan � 0 2025, dnf dnf @ 20% 4.19 2021
author: John Gwynne
name: chan �
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: 2025, dnf
review:
dnf @ 20%
]]> 36679274
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.

As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?]]> 624 Cassandra Clare 0525619992 chan â˜� 0 2025, adult-fantasy yeah this FUCKED and fucked hard.

i'm surprised that nearly all of the top reviews for this book are middling. i thought this was a huge step up from clare's shadowhunter books. and i love her shadowhunter books.

but the world here was intriguing. characters pretty immediately likable and interesting. magic that hasn't been fully explored but that is promising. court politics. murder. and forbidden romance??? yup.

i am immediately picking up the next book so. make of that what you will :)]]> 3.79 2023
author: Cassandra Clare
name: chan �
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:
yeah this FUCKED and fucked hard.

i'm surprised that nearly all of the top reviews for this book are middling. i thought this was a huge step up from clare's shadowhunter books. and i love her shadowhunter books.

but the world here was intriguing. characters pretty immediately likable and interesting. magic that hasn't been fully explored but that is promising. court politics. murder. and forbidden romance??? yup.

i am immediately picking up the next book so. make of that what you will :)
]]> 36692308
Kel Saren, body double to Conor, crown prince of the dazzling city of Castellane, is caught between two worlds. In order to protect his beloved prince, Kel must find the culprits responsible for a massacre at the royal palace—and the only clues are held by the Ragpicker King, the notorious criminal who rules Castellane’s underworld. The trail Kel follows leads back to the Hill, where among decadent nobles and glittering parties a dark conspiracy to destroy the royal family has taken hold—a conspiracy headed up by the monstrous Artal Gremont, the man engaged to marry the woman Kel adores.

Meanwhile, Lin Caster must face the aftermath of the greatest risk she’s ever taken. To save the life of a dying friend, Lin has falsely claimed to be the Goddess Reborn, the legendary heroine destined to save her people. Now the terrifying—but strangely magnetic—leader of her people has arrived to test her powers. The price of failure is exile, and only through her alliance with the Ragpicker King can she continue to access the magic that may save her.

Then Prince Conor reappears in her life, demanding that she use her healing powers to cure the madness of his father, the King. Lin soon realizes the King is gripped by an ancient and terrible magic, one whose lure she cannot deny any more than she can deny her growing passion for Conor.

As the simmering tensions in Castellane reach a fever pitch, Lin and Kel must decide who to trust when any false move means death—or worse.]]> 557 Cassandra Clare 1529001447 chan â˜� 0 currently-reading 4.44 2025
author: Cassandra Clare
name: chan �
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 43795562
After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.

If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.]]> 427 Olivie Blake chan â˜� 0 2025, adult-fantasy 3.70 2019
author: Olivie Blake
name: chan �
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:

]]> 214152028 The highly anticipated follow-up to Peyton Corinne’s “unputdownable and unforgettableâ€� (Bal Khabra, author of Collide) TikTok sensation Unsteady follows hopeless romantic Ro and player—on and off the ice—Freddy as their feelings for each other grow from strictly friendly to so much more.

Matt “Freddyâ€� Fedderic is all smiles—at least on the surface. On the ice, he’s the star left winger for the Waterfell Wolves with a stellar reputation in bed and a potential future in the NHL. But in the classroom, he’s barely scraping by on a 2.0 GPA, retaking dropped classes and struggling with a rough mix of dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. Freddy had plans to enter the NHL draft at eighteen, but then his estranged father added a “graduationâ€� clause to his inheritance, and now, he needs help to pass Biology with a professor who’s already betrayed him before.

Ro Shariff is a hopeless romantic with terrible luck in love—and now, Freddy’s new tutor. She keeps telling herself that she’s very happy with her on again/off again boyfriend, but Ro is desperate for real affection. As her tutoring sessions with Freddy lead to friendship and late-night phone calls, an undeniable heat begins to simmer between them, which they’re both trying desperately to ignore.

Although they are too protective of their newfound friendship to cross that line, Ro can’t stop thinking about how Freddy was her first kiss her freshman year at Waterfell, a spine-tingling moment seared into Ro’s memory that Freddy doesn’t seem to remember, and Freddy is determined to protect Ro from his reputation at all costs. Meanwhile, Ro wants to prove to him that despite what others have led him to believe, he’s worth more than his body. But maybe, just maybe, together they can learn how easily the right person can love every part of you, even your flaws.]]> 449 Peyton Corinne 1668068486 chan â˜� 0 4.11 2025
author: Peyton Corinne
name: chan �
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, damaged-heroes, sports
review:

]]> 214151222 Paedyn and Kai are reunited but face a terrible decision in this thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling romantic fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and The Red Queen.

Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer return to the Kingdom of Ilya�

And Paedyn has a life-altering choice to make. Whatever she decides will determine her fate—and the fate of those around her—forever.

In the ultimate battle of love and loyalty, who wins?]]> 608 Lauren Roberts 1665955465 chan � 0 2025, ya-fantasy 4.32 2025
author: Lauren Roberts
name: chan �
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: 2025, ya-fantasy
review:

]]> 101673373
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.Ìę

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so theyÌęcan’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. ButÌęhow can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.]]> 384 Josie Silver 0593724933 chan â˜� 0 2025, contemporary-romance
TOTALLY cool having women healing from abuse in stories. but why are we re-traumatizing the characters AND readers who might have been through trauma?? hate that.]]> 3.64 2023
author: Josie Silver
name: chan �
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
lord... i really think josie silver is a capable author but i don't appreciate being anxious the ENTIRE time i'm reading a romance. the heroine lied to the hero repeatedly & we also have the return of an abusive ex. the latter of which i'm finding i cannot fucking stand.

TOTALLY cool having women healing from abuse in stories. but why are we re-traumatizing the characters AND readers who might have been through trauma?? hate that.
]]> 127305892
Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.

The more Emma learns, the more riddles emerge. And Emma begins to wonder just what her siblings will do to keep the past buried, and whether she did the right thing staying quiet about what was whispered that night: “No one can know.”]]> 325 Kate Alice Marshall 1250859913 chan â˜� 0 2025, mystery-thriller 3.65 2024
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: chan �
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, mystery-thriller
review:

]]> 191754348
When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn’t sure she can trust him. All she knows is sheÌęwon’tÌęfall for another royal fae’s promises again.

With the Sun King determined to reclaim her, Lor must keep on the move, but nowhere is safe. Not until she destroys him and the Aurora King. But she soon learns that the future of Ouranos depends on much more than avenging her shattered legacy. Ìę]]> 512 Nisha J. Tuli 1538767651 chan â˜� 0 2025, on-pause on pause 3.89 2023
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: chan �
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, on-pause
review:
on pause
]]> 212806677 An R&B singer and a corporate executive find love that hits the right notes in this romance by Kristina Forest, USA Today bestselling author of The Partner Plot.

Iris Greene used to be a woman with a plan. But all of that changed after she met the love of her life at twenty-four, got pregnant and married
and then became a widow and a single mother all within the span of a year and a half. Now, after years of hustling, Iris is the director of partnerships at a beauty company and raising spunky six-year-old Calla by herself. Despite her busy life, she still can’t help but feel lonely. She just needs to catch her breath—and one night, at her sister’s wedding, when she steps outside to do just that, she sees a certain singer who takes her breath away. . . .

By all accounts, pop R&B singer Angel Harrison has it made. He’s a successful musician and has just scored a brand ambassador deal with an emerging beauty company. But he’s still not fulfilled; he’s not producing songs he’s passionate about, and there’s a gaping hole in his love life. When he visits the Save Face Beauty office to kickstart his campaign, he’s delighted to see Iris, his stylist’s sister—the beautiful woman he’s secretly had a crush on for years.

Despite their obvious attraction to each other, they must stay professional throughout the campaign tour—which doesn’t quite pan out. But when it becomes clear their lives aren’t in sync, can they fall back in step to the same rhythm and beat?]]> 400 Kristina Forest 0593817109 chan â˜� 3 2025, contemporary-romance 4.01 2025
author: Kristina Forest
name: chan �
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
this was sweet. which is how i feel about all of the books in this series. they're all comforting, relatively low angst, and great to listen to on audio. i wasn't blown away by the connection of the couple, but i also didn't think they were incompatible.
]]> 183086339
After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King, and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.

Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.

Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts â€� and the battle between duty and desire is deadly.

Be swept away by this kiss-or-kill romantasy trilogy taking the world by storm.]]> 396 Lauren Roberts chan � 0 2025, ya-fantasy 4.07 2024
author: Lauren Roberts
name: chan �
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: 2025, ya-fantasy
review:

]]> 198853583
During last year’s Frozen Four, the Waterfell University hockey captain, and NHL legacy, took a brutal hit that left him with a concussion and a new discomfort on the ice. Plagued by nightmares and panic attacks every time he attempt to skate, Rhys wonders if he’ll ever play again â€� if he’ll ever want to.

Sadie Brown is staying focused this semester � no matter what.

Currently drowning in debt, custody hearings for her younger brothers and skating practices, she's just trying to make it to the next day. A spitfire figure skater known for her bad attitude and frequent disappearing acts, she has a reputation on campus. And it’s not a pretty one.

When she accidentally witnesses one of the golden boy hockey captain’s panic attacks and attempts to help him, a strange sort of understanding strikes up between them.

No questions asked. Just comfort.

But Rhys finds himself drawn to Sadie. Where he feels empty, a shell of the man and player he was before, Sadie is so full of everything it bursts from her; every emotion she feels seems like it’s blasted at max. Rhys is desperate to feel anything, Sadie wants to stop feeling so much.

But healing doesn’t mix with secrets, and they’re both skating a thin line, unsteady .]]> 384 Peyton Corinne chan â˜� 0 3.82 2023
author: Peyton Corinne
name: chan �
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, damaged-heroes, sports
review:

]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

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

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

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

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elitesâ€� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts chan â˜� 0 2024, 2025, ya-fantasy 4.17 2023
author: Lauren Roberts
name: chan �
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: 2024, 2025, ya-fantasy
review:

]]> 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 wrongâ€�

. . . 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 chan â˜� 4 2025, contemporary-romance 4.14 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: chan �
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 211025397 Her mission: find the Lost City of the Moon in the Amazon rainforest.
His mission: protect the holy temple . . . and his heart.

While her mentor may be the world’s most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to her colleagues that she’s capable—and hopefully prove it to herself, too.

Journalist Rafael Monfils has joined the archaeological team to chronicle their search for the lost city. Or at least, that’s what they think he’s doing. Rafa’s real goal? Make sure the team does not reach the Cidade da Lua, stopping the desecration of the holy city and protecting his mother’s legacy. All he needs to do is keep them on the wrong path.

If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn’t so damn tenacious—each of Rafa’s tricks and purposeful wrong turns only seem to fuel her determination. Even worse, he’s charmed by her goofy attempts to channel Lara Croft as they traverse the dangerous Brazilian rainforest. But they’re not the only crew hunting for the lost city, and soon the untamed jungle—and their untamed hearts—might be the least of their worries...]]> 355 Jo Segura 0593547489 chan â˜� 2 2025, contemporary-romance 3.47 2025
author: Jo Segura
name: chan �
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]> 82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 chan â˜� 3 2025, contemporary-romance 4.11 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: chan �
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 203237161
If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.

When Bennet runs into Henry Adams just hours after standing him up for a first date, she makes an alcohol-fueled confession: She’s not ready to date. In fact, it’s been years since she felt passion for something. Not even pottery, or organized sports—not anything. Rather than leaving her to ruminate, Henry jumps at the opportunity for adventure: Bennet needs to find a passion for life, and Henry will help her find it. Every Saturday, they’ll try something new in New York City. As friends, of course.

As their “passion projectâ€� continues, the pair tackle everything from carpentry to tattooing to rappelling off skyscrapers, and Bennet feels her guarded exterior ebbing away. But as secrets surface, Bennet has to decide what she wants, and if she’s truly ready to move on. With emotional resonance and sparkling banter, Passion Project is a fun, flirty, thoughtful story of finding a spark—and igniting happiness.]]> 368 London Sperry 0143138561 chan â˜� 2 2025, contemporary-romance 3.98 2025
author: London Sperry
name: chan �
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
i tried... really really really hard to enjoy this one. conceptually very cool. the writing was nice and didn't read like a debut. but the heroine is absolutely insufferable and didn't just make mistakes but seemed to intentionally do things that would make the people around her hurt. was really hard to sympathize with her as the book continued :(
]]> 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 chan â˜� 1 2025, literary-fiction 4.22 2025
author: Emily Henry
name: chan �
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: 2025, literary-fiction
review:
jesus this was not my cup of tea. not romantic AT ALL and the story within a story was so so boring. it had TJR vibes but again, the interview bits were dull
]]> 20706754
Each secret moment with Walsh Bennett serves to remind Kerris of what she's missing. And every stolen hour makes it harder to see her future without him. But being with Walsh would betray a sacred promise and upend her perfect life. When tragedy strikes, the razor's edge between love and loyalty grows sharper than ever. And Kerris must decide where her heart will fall . . .

Don't miss the first installment in The Bennett's Series...When You Are Mine. Available now!

Approx: 65,000 words.]]> 256 Kennedy Ryan 145555684X chan � 3 2025, contemporary-romance
i don't think you need to rush out and pick this one up, i think kennedy's more recent releases are much better. but this was not bad!]]> 3.89 2014
author: Kennedy Ryan
name: chan �
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
feels very 2014 but compared to a lot of shit i've read that was written around a decade ago, this was pretty decent. i love a good forbidden romance with some drama. this had that but also some hints of kennedy ryan brilliance. healing from trauma especially.

i don't think you need to rush out and pick this one up, i think kennedy's more recent releases are much better. but this was not bad!
]]> 55052300
But there was nothing harmless about that kiss.
I felt something between us that I shouldn’t have.

Truth or Dare can be risky when you’re twenty.
But when you’re thirty, it can be reckless.]]> 168 Danielle Allen chan â˜� 3 4.16 2020
author: Danielle Allen
name: chan �
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, smut-central
review:

]]> 75384035 They stole his crown, so he stole their daughter�

For years Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making him a prisoner in his own realm.

Until his enemy’s daughter unintentionally breaks the chains on the Ever, and Erik makes her the unwitting pawn in his vicious game of revenge.

She’s innocent. He’s vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.

Unless she steals his heart first.

Welcome to the passionate world of the Ever Kingdom where pirates, sirens, and fae collide with Vikings in a dark fantasy romance between a villain and the innocent princess who holds his heart.

*Please note: This series is set in the same world as the bestselling Broken Kingdoms series, but can be read independently, and readers are encouraged to read the list of triggers inside*]]> 408 L.J. Andrews chan � 2 2025, fantasy-romance 4.14 2023
author: L.J. Andrews
name: chan �
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, fantasy-romance
review:

]]> 213618276 A hilarious and sexy romance about a woman who gets dropped on a strange planet only to fall for not one, but two, aliens, from the author of I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf.

Dorothy Valentine is close to getting her PhD in wildlife biology when she’s attacked by a lion. On the bright side, she’s saved! On the not-so-bright side, it’s because they’re abducted by aliens. In her scramble to escape, Dory and the lion commandeer an escape pod and crash-land on an alien planet that has...dinosaurs?

Dory and her new lion bestie, Toto, are saved in the nick of time by a mysterious and sexy alien, Sol. On their new adventure, they team up with the equally hot, equally dangerous Lok, who may or may not be a war criminal. Whether it be trauma, fate, or intrigue, Dory can’t resist the attraction that’s developing in their trio....

As this ragtag group of misfits explore their new planet, Dory learns more about how and why they’ve all ended up together, battles more prehistoric creatures than she imagined (she imagined...zero), and questions if she even wants to go back home to Earth in this hilarious and steamy alien romance adventure comedy romp.]]> 287 Kimberly Lemming 0593818636 chan â˜� 2 2025, smut-central 3.67 2025
author: Kimberly Lemming
name: chan �
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, smut-central
review:

]]> 63028654
Mickey Chambers is an expert at analyzing modern literature. But when it comes to figuring out her own story, she’s feeling a little lost. At thirty-three, she’s an adjunct instructor with a meager summer class schedule and too many medical bills, courtesy of her chronic illness. Picking up a bartending gig seems perfect. Sure, Mickey’s never done this before, but the gorgeous, grumpy bar owner, Diego Acosta, might be the perfect man to teach the teacher
if he wasn’t so stressed.

Diego is worried he’s running his late wife’s bar into the ground. Add the pressures of returning to college part-time at forty-two, and it’s no wonder he’s making rash decisions. Like hiring the sunny, sexy woman who looks more at home in a library than slinging beers to rowdy barflies, and who turns out to be teaching his online writing course, a complication neither was expectingâ€�

It’s not long before Mickey starts reenergizing The Saloon with cocktails, karaoke and an optimism even Diego can’t ignore. They need to fight their feelings if they want to keep things professional, but all it takes is one sip, one kiss, to shake both their worlds forever
]]> 320 Charish Reid 1335453555 chan â˜� 3 2025, contemporary-romance 3.87 2023
author: Charish Reid
name: chan �
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 53344030
Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They've finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick's house ... But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?

By Alice Oseman, winner of the YA Book Prize, Heartstopper encompasses all the small moments of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

Contains discussions around mental health and eating disorders, and sexual references.]]> 336 Alice Oseman 1444957651 chan � 5 4.47 2023
author: Alice Oseman
name: chan �
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, ya-contemporary, sequential-art
review:

]]> 311178 376 Georgette Heyer 0099468042 chan � 2 2025, historical-romance 3.92 1944
author: Georgette Heyer
name: chan �
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1944
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, historical-romance
review:
this one starts so fun but is painfully repetitive. and i get that this was written in the 40s but the nickname kitten is unforgivable lmao
]]> 127280062 Torn apart by war. Reunited by love?

Two weeks have passed since Iris returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over.

Roman is missing, lost behind enemy lines, with no memory of his past, or Iris. Hoping his memories return, he begins to write again � but this time for the enemy.

When a strange letter arrives through his wardrobe door, he strikes up a correspondence with a penpal who seems at once mysterious� and strangely familiar.

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.]]> 420 Rebecca Ross 1250857457 chan � 2 2025, ya-fantasy 3.99 2023
author: Rebecca Ross
name: chan �
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, ya-fantasy
review:
dnf @ 50% because i just genuinely do not care :(
]]> 182506390 Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.

However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.

Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk.

And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.]]> 310 John Wiswell 0756418852 chan � 3 2025, horror, lgbtq 3.97 2024
author: John Wiswell
name: chan �
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, horror, lgbtq
review:

]]> 41886271 A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

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 even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.â€�

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known 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 realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may 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 growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.]]> 651 M.L. Wang chan � 4 2025, adult-fantasy 4.46 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: chan �
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:

]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

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

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 chan � 3 4.28 2024
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: chan �
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy, mystery-thriller
review:

]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach chan â˜� 5 2025, literary-fiction shockingly good 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: chan �
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, literary-fiction
review:
shockingly good
]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic � the Hierarchy � may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus � what they call Will � to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 639 James Islington 1982141190 chan � 4 2025, adult-fantasy 4.60 2023
author: James Islington
name: chan �
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:

]]> 145624872
Straddling the worlds of the ton and the working class, as an ex-solider turned railroad magnate, ZachÌęhunts killers for the Metropolitan Police by day and dutifully attends balls at night. In neither world has he met a woman with the brazenness to mock him. So when a saucy governess blows him a kiss he is determined to catch her, never expecting that when he does he will find an intelligent, quirky woman hiding more than her true name.ÌęAs Zach peels back the layers of Emily’s lies, he falls for the street-wise woman who handles a dagger like a pro and kisses like a mistress. But when his affair with Emily intertwines with his hunt for a killer, he discovers Emily is hiding an explosive secret—one that could destroy them both.]]> 352 Lindsay Lovise 1538740524 chan â˜� 2 2025, historical-romance 3.86 2024
author: Lindsay Lovise
name: chan �
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, historical-romance
review:

]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 125088120X chan � 3 2025, adult-fantasy 4.17 2024
author: T.J. Klune
name: chan �
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, adult-fantasy
review:

]]> 207298106 Brought to you by Penguin.

Beloved award-winning actress Kelly Bishop, famous for playing the iconic Emily Gilmore in Gilmore Girls , finally tells the whole story of her six decades in show business.

Kelly Bishop’s storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing, but it is probably her role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.
Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future, sharing some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.
Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and powerful memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades.

]]> 256 Kelly Bishop 1668023776 chan � 3 2025, nonfiction 4.35 2024
author: Kelly Bishop
name: chan �
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, nonfiction
review:

]]> 60305888 I, Maggie Banks, solemnly swear to uphold the rules of Cobblestone Books.

If only, I, Maggie Banks, believed in following the rules.

When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.

And in Maggie's world, book rules are made to be broken.

To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.

Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.]]> 336 Shauna Robinson chan � 2 2025, contemporary-romance 3.74 2022
author: Shauna Robinson
name: chan �
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
i really did not enjoy this. the plot was irritating and the romance was... not it. the "hero" was so so so unlikeable and the sex scene was crazy (like the only memorable part was that his grandma could hear???)
]]> 201242757 From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best EVER.

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,â€� writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,â€� and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastidsâ€� explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,â€� a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,â€� a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,â€� a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Manâ€� asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.]]> 512 Stephen King 1668037718 chan â˜� 2 2025, horror 4.16 2024
author: Stephen King
name: chan �
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, horror
review:
i don't think a single one of these short stories had a decent ending. i don't understand how one can be considered the king of a genre if they can't write endings.
]]> 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore chan â˜� 3 2025, mystery-thriller 4.15 2024
author: Liz Moore
name: chan �
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, mystery-thriller
review:

]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]> 448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 chan � 3 2025, contemporary-romance 4.06 2025
author: B.K. Borison
name: chan �
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 209220944
But Sarah has begun to wonder... Who is she without her other half?

When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memoriam of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter, after all. Independent and capable.

That is until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.

The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances between them and doubts begin to grow. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?

In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is near breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.

What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.]]> 336 Hannah Bonam-Young 0593871863 chan � 3 3.99 2025
author: Hannah Bonam-Young
name: chan �
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, on-pause
review:

]]> 25894026 From Amanda Flower—who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan—comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...]]> 345 Amanda Flower 0451477448 chan â˜� 3 2025, cozy-mystery 3.92 2016
author: Amanda Flower
name: chan �
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, cozy-mystery
review:
kind of wacky & supernatural but also pretty fun! though i wish the ending was a little bit more monumental.
]]> 211003731 With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen―from murder to a second chance at love―in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.]]> 336 Jenny Elder Moke 125035496X chan â˜� 4 3.46 2025
author: Jenny Elder Moke
name: chan �
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, mystery-thriller
review:

]]> 29496490 Ìę
In Cascade Springs, New York, Violet Waverly and her grandma, Daisy, are the proprietors of Charming Books, where the power of the written word is positively enchanting...
Ìę
October in Cascade Springs means tourists are pouring in for the annual Food and Wine Festival, and Daisy hopes to draw those crowds to the store. She asks Violet and the local writing group, the Red Inkers, to give a reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the shop’s back garden to entertain the revelers. Everyone eagerly agrees.
Ìę
Yet their enthusiasm is soon extinguished when Violet discovers one of the writers dead during the event. After the shop magically tells Violet she’ll need to rely on Poe’s works to solve the murder, she enlists the help of her trusty tuxedo cat, Emerson, and the shop’s crow, Faulkner. But they must act fast before someone else’s heart beats nevermore...]]> 323 Amanda Flower 0451477456 chan â˜� 3 2025, cozy-mystery 4.03 2016
author: Amanda Flower
name: chan �
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, cozy-mystery
review:

]]> 217465190
But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy.

Rhys Dupris.

A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all.

Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent.

The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation.

I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who’s fierce and protective. The one who’s gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most.

He’s not at all who I thought he was.

And that makes hating my husband so much harder� and loving him just a little too easy.]]> 466 Elsie Silver chan � 4 4.27 2025
author: Elsie Silver
name: chan �
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, small-town
review:

]]> 216522680 A mesmerizing debut novel set in a tightly knit Pakistani American community where a young doctor gets an unexpected second chance with the first love she never got over when he becomes one of the most eligible bachelors in town.

The Ibrahim family is facing a crucial moment: Their patriarch just lost his fortune as the result of a Ponzi scheme, and the family is picking up the pieces. At the family’s core is Asma—successful doctor and the long-suffering middle daughter who stepped into the family center after the death of her beloved mother years ago. Despite what the prying aunties think, Asma is living the life she has always wanted, fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a doctor . . . or so she thinks.

In walks Farooq Waheed, Asma’s college sweetheart whose proposal was cruelly rejected by Asma’s aunt and father. Now, eight years later, Farooq has made his fortune by selling his Silicon Valley startup and is widely considered one of the most eligible bachelors in California. As he enters Asma’s social orbit, she finds herself navigating a tricky landscape—her pushy sisters, gossiping aunties, and her father’s expectations—on her path to reconciling the past and winning Farooq back in the present. If there is still time.

Yours, Eventually is a story about a young woman finding the courage to follow her heart and coming to the realization that living your life according to what other people think is no life at all.]]> 400 Nura Maznavi 059347581X chan � 2 2025, contemporary-romance
i REALLY love when contemporary romances are diverse, honestly it's what i'm looking for these days. i like learning about different cultures/religions especially as it relates to romance. but the family in this book was so exhausting and frankly shitty. i was initially so into the idea of second chance romance but sooooo little emphasis is placed on the hero/heroine connection. it's mostly about this heroine trying to balance respecting her family and gaining her independence. which is valuable certainly. but as a romance, i think this falls a little flat :(]]> 3.59 2025
author: Nura Maznavi
name: chan �
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
this was tough...

i REALLY love when contemporary romances are diverse, honestly it's what i'm looking for these days. i like learning about different cultures/religions especially as it relates to romance. but the family in this book was so exhausting and frankly shitty. i was initially so into the idea of second chance romance but sooooo little emphasis is placed on the hero/heroine connection. it's mostly about this heroine trying to balance respecting her family and gaining her independence. which is valuable certainly. but as a romance, i think this falls a little flat :(
]]> 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 cornerâ€� 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 chan â˜� 3 2025, fantasy-romance 4.23 2025
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: chan �
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, fantasy-romance
review:

]]> 59986018 Er ist ihr Erzfeind � und der einzige, der ihr helfen kann, ihre Welt zu retten.

Um ihre sterbende Schwester zu retten, schließt die verzweifelte Dianna einen lebenslang bindenden als erste Offizierin des gefĂŒrchteten und gefĂ€hrlichen Unterweltboss Kaden befehligt sie seine Armee aus grausamen Monstern, Gestaltwandlern, Vampiren und Hexen. Als Kaden die Herrschaft des gesamten Reiches an sich reißen will, muss Dianna fĂŒr ihn eine uralte Reliquie beschaffen. Diese soll sich ausgerechnet im Besitz des Gottes Samkiel befinden, Diannas Erzfeind, der das Reich seit tausenden Jahren besetzt hĂ€lt. Doch als sie Samkiel begegnet, muss sie eine Wahl treffen, die alles verĂ€ndern wird â€�Die fesselnd-dĂŒstere, spicy Dark Fantasy mit Slow-Burn-Liebesgeschichte sowie den Tropes Enemies-to-Lovers und Forced Proximity endlich auf Deutsch!]]> 572 Amber V. Nicole chan â˜� 3 2025, fantasy-romance 4.07 2022
author: Amber V. Nicole
name: chan �
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, fantasy-romance
review:
thoughts on book content will be in a video but as for the audiobook i reallllly wish there had been a male narrator for the male POV chapters. i know it's an added expense but in this case i think would have really made a substantive difference in my enjoyment of the story.
]]> 199246937
He’s on edge while she’s en pointe in this fake-dating sports romance from the author of the smash hit Collide.

Elias Westbrook, a newly drafted hockey player for the Toronto Thunder, is facing the challenges of fame and media scrutiny. With a growing fan base and too many expectations on his shoulders, he’s struggling to make his first career goal. The tabloids are reporting on his every move, including which woman he was last seen with, but all he wants to do is escape the spotlight.

Enter from stage left Sage Beaumont, an aspiring ballerina with dreams of joining the Aurora Ballet Theatre, but her lack of popularity online leaves her at a major disadvantage for securing the lead role. When Sage finds herself with the perfect opportunity to make her dreams come true by fake dating Elias, she takes her shot.

Soon enough, the flimsy fake-dating rules they set in place fall away in the face of their sizzling connection. But before things spiral out of control, Sage and Elias will have to decide if they’re willing to take the leap together or if they'll call it quits.]]> Bal Khabra chan â˜� 4 3.85 2025
author: Bal Khabra
name: chan �
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, fake-dating, sports
review:
not a super unique/original plot but i did appreciate the characters! both had flaws but weren't irritating. not sure that the hero's cock being pierced really fit his personality but other than that, no complaints really.
]]> 199531989 Knives Out gets a rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers Christmas romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter

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

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

She hates his guts.

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

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

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

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

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

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.]]> 293 Ally Carter 0063276682 chan â˜� 4 3.92 2024
author: Ally Carter
name: chan �
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, mystery-thriller
review:
very similar to another book i read recently but i still really enjoyed this. nice and short with a pretty charming romance. the mystery wasn't that well developed imo, would have appreciated more clue seeking from hero/heroine but again... short book. so, not mad.
]]> 65213515 One girl murdered. Another one missing. And a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

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

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

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.]]> 320 Hannah Morrissey 1250872340 chan � 3 2025, mystery-thriller 3.57 2023
author: Hannah Morrissey
name: chan �
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, mystery-thriller
review:

]]> 211004123 The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible â€� a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 125033778X chan â˜� 3 2025, mystery-thriller 3.64 2025
author: Alice Feeney
name: chan �
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, mystery-thriller
review:
most importantly, i support women's wrongs
]]> 127616032 Discover the serial killer romance series everyone is talking about!From the no.1 New York Times bestselling author of the genre-breaking international TikTok sensation Butcher & Blackbird and Leather & Lark comes the final book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy - a friends-with-benefits dark romantic comedy.

Murder.

Mayhem.

And spice.

Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart, one he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska, far away from his almost-fiance and his derailed surgical career. It's a simpler head down, hard work, and absolutely no romantic relationships. He wants none of the circus he left behind in Boston.

But then the real circus finds him.

Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with the Silveria Circus, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder when she's not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with an injured leg, Rose finds herself stuck in Nebraska, at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor.

The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together.

. . . And the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts are to catch up.

***


Friends with benefits
Small town romance
Fish out of water
Forced proximity
Hurt/care
Touch her and die]]> 416 Brynne Weaver chan � 2
]]> 4.10 2025
author: Brynne Weaver
name: chan �
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, dark-romance
review:
well good news folks: if you enjoyed the other books in this series you'll eat this up


]]> 218372325 “Kennedy Ryan pours her whole soul into everything she writes, and it makes for books that are heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.”―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry's rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.

She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward.ÌęAnd in the midst of everything, she's facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent.

Who has time for romance? From her experience, there's a low ROI on relationships. She hasn't met the man who canÌękeep up with her anyway. Until...him.

Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer's hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired and appreciated, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.

But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her,ÌęunderstandingÌęher—is it time to let herself have something more?


A deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.â€� â€�Entertainment Weekly]]> 448 Kennedy Ryan 1538772809 chan â˜� 0 to-read 4.51 2025
author: Kennedy Ryan
name: chan �
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215805849 A PR relationship between a pop superstar and a pro-athlete bad boy turns into so much more in this swoony romance from the acclaimed author of When I Think of You.

Ella Simone’s popstar life is what dreams are made of. Her eight year marriage to renowned music producer, Elliot Majors, has helped garner the hits, awards, and adoring fans to prove it. But when Ella tires of Elliot's many infidelities, she decides to fight for her independence despite the ironclad prenup that threatens her career.Ìę

To help her case, Ella is under strict orders to stick to The no headlines, no rumors, no rocking the boat. But this strategy is thrown a curveball after an awards show wardrobe snafu and quick rescue byÌęMilesÌęWestbrook, MLB’s most eligible player, sends the tabloids into a frenzy. Amid tricky divorce proceedings, Ella’s magnetic connection with the charismatic pitcher might just be her downfall.

Now the pressure is on to turn a scandal into an opportunity and give their teams what they a picture-perfect performance that will shore up both Ella andÌęMiles' reputations. But as the lines between reality and PR begin to blur, Ella will either stick to the choreographed life she knows so well, or surrender to a love that could set her free.]]> 320 Myah Ariel 0593640616 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.98 2025
author: Myah Ariel
name: chan �
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6582637 New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh returns to her world of angelic rulers, vampiric servants, and the woman thrust into their darkly seductive world�

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authorityâ€�

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena
]]> 323 Nalini Singh 0425233367 chan â˜� 3 decent continuation

this wasn't as good as the first book, for obvious reasons. when you make a book primarily focused on training it's not going to be as exciting. and having the culmination of the vague mystery occur in the last 30 or so pages also doesn't help.

i'm also not completely enamored with raphael and elena's relationship, primarily because despite the declarations of admiration and mutual respect raphael still kind of seems like a dick. and their relationship is still pretty insta-lovey. but apparently this gets better in subsequent books so i can mostly overlook it.

pretty curious to see where things go in the next book. the audiobook was great as always.]]> 4.20 2010
author: Nalini Singh
name: chan �
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: 2019, paranormal-romance, audiobook, 2025
review:
decent continuation

this wasn't as good as the first book, for obvious reasons. when you make a book primarily focused on training it's not going to be as exciting. and having the culmination of the vague mystery occur in the last 30 or so pages also doesn't help.

i'm also not completely enamored with raphael and elena's relationship, primarily because despite the declarations of admiration and mutual respect raphael still kind of seems like a dick. and their relationship is still pretty insta-lovey. but apparently this gets better in subsequent books so i can mostly overlook it.

pretty curious to see where things go in the next book. the audiobook was great as always.
]]> 212808709 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

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

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

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]> 464 Ali Hazelwood chan � 5 2025, contemporary-romance ready to get soaking whet

post read thoughts: clean up on aisle meeeeeee. this one was a real moist maker. grab a bucket & a mop. set up the wet floor sign.]]> 3.94 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: chan �
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
ready to get soaking whet

post read thoughts: clean up on aisle meeeeeee. this one was a real moist maker. grab a bucket & a mop. set up the wet floor sign.
]]> 23594461
Befriending the Foxes was inadvisable. Kissing one is unthinkable. Neil should know better than to get involved with anyone this close to the end, but Andrew's never been the easiest person to walk away from. If they both say it doesn't mean anything, maybe Neil won't regret losing it, but the one person Neil can't lie to is himself.

He's got promises to keep and a team to get to championships if he can just outrun Riko a little longer, but Riko's not the only monster in Neil's life. The truth might get them all killed—or be Neil's one shot at getting out of this alive.]]> 556 Nora Sakavic chan â˜� 5
“except youâ€�

YEP IM TOTALLY FINE FOLKS NOTHING TO SEE HERE. NO EMOTIONAL DEVASTATION PRESENT WHEN IVE GOT MY ANDREIL ]]> 4.57 2014
author: Nora Sakavic
name: chan �
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: 2017, ya-contemporary, sports, lgbtq, 2025
review:
“no one likes a smart mouthâ€�

“except youâ€�

YEP IM TOTALLY FINE FOLKS NOTHING TO SEE HERE. NO EMOTIONAL DEVASTATION PRESENT WHEN IVE GOT MY ANDREIL
]]> 228575510
As the only scholarship kids of their elite group at Columbia University, their heated dynamic was scorched forever by one fateful, awful night just before graduation. And in the ten years since, Alex and Danial have been on radically different paths: she crafts social media campaigns for an ultra-progressive political party; he’s a rising star at a notoriously savage private equity firm. But when two of their college friends decide to tie the knot in the Mediterranean â€� and to host their old crew on a ten-day chartered yacht trip beforehand â€� Alex must finally face Danial, and the sobering reality that she’s now the only middle class outcast in this ultra wealthy club.

When her ideals start to clash with her most intimate desires, Alex must learn to swim in emotional waters that are as unfamiliar as they are undeniable.]]> 368 Chelsea Fagan 1662961189 chan � 0 to-read 4.24
author: Chelsea Fagan
name: chan �
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18187013
Except Andrew doesn't give up anything for free and Neil is terrible at trusting anyone but himself. The two don't have much time to come to terms with their situation before outside forces start tearing them apart. Riko is intent on destroying Neil's fragile new life, and the Foxes have just become collateral damage.

Neil's days are numbered, but he's learning the hard way to go down fighting for what he believes in, and Neil believes in Andrew even if Andrew won't believe in himself.]]> 423 Nora Sakavic 1301824291 chan � 5 4.37 2013
author: Nora Sakavic
name: chan �
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: 2017, ya-contemporary, sports, lgbtq, 2025
review:
being tortured in place of your not-boyfriend is crazy work
]]> 2679633 In a place where ecstasy can cost you your life . . .

She's a demon-slayer who hungers for sensual pleasure-but fears it will always be denied her. Until Tayla Mancuso lands in a hospital run by demons in disguise, and the head doctor, Eidolon, makes her body burn with unslakable desire. But to prove her ultimate loyalty to her peers, she must betray the surgeon who saved her life.

Two lovers will dare to risk all.

Eidolon cannot resist this fiery, dangerous woman who fills him with both rage and passion. Not only is she his avowed enemy, but she could very well be the hunter who has been preying upon his people. Torn between his need for the truth and his quest to find his perfect mate before a horrific transformation claims him forever, Eidolon will dare the unthinkable-and let Tayla possess him, body and soul . . .]]> 389 Larissa Ione 044640103X chan � 0 4.05 2008
author: Larissa Ione
name: chan �
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: 2015, paranormal-romance, 2025
review:

]]> 17675462 “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,â€� Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.â€�

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.]]> 409 Maggie Stiefvater 0545424925 chan â˜� 4 2015, ya-fantasy, 2025, 2019
2019: 4 years later, and my rating hasn't changed :)

vlog (reading booksandlala's faves): ]]> 4.05 2012
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: chan �
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: 2015, ya-fantasy, 2025, 2019
review:
2025: still great

2019: 4 years later, and my rating hasn't changed :)

vlog (reading booksandlala's faves):
]]> 219542918 THIS BOOK IS NOT SAFE TO READ AT WORK. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Twenty year old Temperance Verus has never been kissed. But that's what the basilisk is for.

Along with thirteen other contestants, Tem must train with a basilisk to learn the power of seduction and win the prince's hand in marriage. When Tem is matched with Caspen, the Serpent King, she realizes she might actually stand a chance. But with tensions rising between the basilisks and the humans, Tem is suddenly torn in two directions. As her bond with Caspen deepens, so does her connection with the prince. And when she uncovers a terrible secret about the royal family, Tem finds herself caught between two neither of which she can survive without.

Guaranteed to make you blush (and then some), Split or Swallow is like if fanfic Draco Malfoy went on the Bachelor and had to compete with a snake. Sounds fun, doesn't it? That's because it is!!]]> 528 Lindsay Straube 1464247579 chan � 5 2025, fantasy-romance
black goo aside, this book was both hilarious and also kind of hot. which i'm ashamed to say.. but when am i not being a nasty little freak on goodreads. this isn't truly a 5 star read but it's been a second since i've had one and this book at least kept me entertained.]]> 3.42
author: Lindsay Straube
name: chan �
average rating: 3.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: 2025, fantasy-romance
review:
if a man told me to close my eyes and accept a pint of black goo into my gob.... well i'm not sure what i'd do but i certainly wouldn't swallow it no questions asked.

black goo aside, this book was both hilarious and also kind of hot. which i'm ashamed to say.. but when am i not being a nasty little freak on goodreads. this isn't truly a 5 star read but it's been a second since i've had one and this book at least kept me entertained.
]]> 6944032
Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be immortal? To journey through the night stalking the evil that preys on humans? To have unlimited wealth, unlimited power?

That is my existence, and it is dark and dangerous. I play hero to thousands, but am known to none. And I love every minute of it.

Or so I thought until one night when I woke up handcuffed to my worst nightmare: an accountant. She’s smart, sexy, witty, and wants nothing to do with the paranormal.

My attraction to Amanda Devereaux goes against everything I stand for. Not to mention the last time I fell in love it cost me not only my human life, but also my very soul. Now I find myself wanting to believe that love and loyalty do exist.

Even more disturbing, I find myself wondering if there’s any way a woman can love a man whose battle scars run deep, and whose heart was damaged by a betrayal so savage that he’s not sure it will ever beat again.

Kyrian of Thrace]]> 320 Sherrilyn Kenyon 0312593554 chan � 0 4.18 2002
author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
name: chan �
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: 2015, paranormal-romance, 2025
review:
goofy, sure. horny, absolutely. but fun? yeah
]]> 211004124 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?]]> 512 Olivie Blake 1250883407 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.85 2025
author: Olivie Blake
name: chan �
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 212294418 Star-crossed lovers learn that practicing romance leads to the perfect happy ending in this steamy reimagining of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Since heartbreak entered the scene, Juliet Wilmot, once a hopeless romantic, has sworn off love. But when she's presented with the chance to revisit romance-purely for practice-with the gorgeous, off-limits guy she keeps serendipitously running into, it feels like a sign from the universe.

Quiet, shy Will Orsino knows happily-ever-after isn't on his horizon. Problem is, for the sake of the family business, marriage is. Resigned to the inevitable, but with no confidence he can woo a wife, he can hardly say no when fate hands him the alluring, unattainable woman he keeps crossing paths with, offering to help him learn the ropes of romance.

Neither of them looking for love, Jules and Will agree they're the perfect pair to practice romance. Except that practicing to perfection leads to an irresistible attraction. Their once smitten hearts, though still twice shy, might have happily-ever-after written in the stars for them, after all.]]> 384 Chloe Liese 0593441540 chan � 3 3.78 2025
author: Chloe Liese
name: chan �
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: 2025, fake-dating, contemporary-romance
review:
still not sure this author's books are for me. i ADORE how she includes mental illness/neurodiversity/chronic illness/disability into her books, but the romances always fall a little flat. the hero was such a sweetie and the heroine was great too. i just prefer a little more angst and tension in my romances. this felt too low stakes because they were both SO sweet and so willing to fall for each other idk.
]]> 9627755 Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.]]> 339 Stephanie Perkins 0525425632 chan â˜� 5 2015, 2024, ya-contemporary 3.99 2014
author: Stephanie Perkins
name: chan �
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: 2015, 2024, ya-contemporary
review:

]]> 218372272 Rival engineers dabble in personal chemistry while at a tropical company retreat in this smart, zippy romcom.

Engineer Trishara Malik once dreamed of being the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell, but after years of dealing with white male privilege and blatant nepotism, she watches her hard-earned promotion go to her nemesis, Rafe Gallagher—the boss’s son. Teetering on the edge of burnout, Tris is stunned when she’s picked to attend WMC's corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. It’s a chance to revive her stalled career and compete for a coveted spot in an executive training program—plus, three weeks in paradise! The only downside? Rafe is her co-attendee.

Tris plans to avoid Rafe entirely, but when she arrives in Maui, a booking error has them stuck sharing the honeymoon suite. Sure, it’s not all torture. Rafe is a smoldering ten—okay fine, an eleven—but after years of competition, they can barely stand being in the same time zone. As they vie against each other during aptitude tests and team-building exercises, Tris begins to realize Rafe might not be the villain after all. With her dreams at stake, can she learn to trust the man who might have been standing in her corner all along?]]> 352 Nisha J. Tuli 1538759268 chan â˜� 0 to-read 4.24 2025
author: Nisha J. Tuli
name: chan �
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214268995 A passionate vice principal and a guarded science teacher compete for a grand prize, only to realize their budding relationship might be the real jackpot.

Brianna Rogers has been told a time (or six) she needs to stop jumping into things head first. But when the principal rescinds his approval for a library upgrade, deciding to spend the money on a football field instead, she sees red. Literally. Brianna throws her hat in the ring and joins a team of teachers who will spend their summer in a Mars simulation. As the sister of an astronaut, this should be easy, right? What she didn’t count on was the last-minute addition to the team—Roman: science teacher, son of the principal, and too handsome for his own good.


Roman and Brianna have been hot and cold all year, and living in close quarters intensifies their animosity and attraction. Brianna is sure he’s been sent by his father to sabotage them, foiling their chance at prize money that will cover all of the school’s actual needs. But each day, Roman proves himself to be a dedicated teammate—and Brianna finds herself falling harder and harder. While it’s clear the feeling is mutual, she can’t shake the sense that he’s hiding something. As the simulation nears its end, Brianna realizes she may have to make an impossible choice, between the school she’s dedicated herself to, and the man who has won his way into her heart.]]> 320 Etta Easton 0593640241 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.45 2025
author: Etta Easton
name: chan �
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214537762 The truth is stranger than fan fiction in this sexy paranormal rom-com.

The only place small-town outcast Alex Lawson fits in is the online fan forum she built for The Arcane Files, a long-running werewolf detective show. Her dedication to archiving fictional supernatural lore made her Internet-famous, even if she harbors a secret disdain for the show’s star, Devin Ashwood. (Never meet your heroes—sometimes they turn out to be The Worst.)

Ever since his show went off the air, Devin and his career have spiraled, but waking up naked in the woods outside his LA home with no memory of the night before is a new low. It must have been a coincidence that the once-in-a-century Wolf Blood Moon crested last night. The claws, fangs, and howling are a little more difficult to explain away. Desperate for answers, Devin finds Alex—the closest thing to an expert that exists. If only he could convince her to stop hating his guts long enough to help....

Once he makes her an offer she can’t refuse, these reluctant allies lower their guards trying to wrangle his inner beast. Unfortunately, getting up close and personal quickly comes back to bite them.]]> 415 Rosie Danan 0593437160 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.84 2025
author: Rosie Danan
name: chan �
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 3819326 USA Today bestselling author Nalini Singh introduces a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires�

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she’s the best—but she doesn’t know if she’s good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, only one thing is clear—failure is not an option
even if the task is impossible.

Because this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other
and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break
]]> 339 Nalini Singh 0425226921 chan â˜� 4 it is done, i have finally conquered the beast

for reference, i've been reading this book off and off for like half a year. and i'm kind of kicking myself because it turned out to be a very solid start to what i'm sure is a fantastic paranormal series.

i think the biggest issue that i had with this book was the lore and the way in which the world was set up. being such a big lover of paranormal romance, specifically ones involving vampires (i mean i have a fcking twilight podcast) i was more than a little surprised at how singh created her society. angels create vampires, and the people who want to be turned to vampire have to like formally petition and then enter into a contract of servitude post-turn.

weird as fuck.

but once i got past that initial weirdness in the first 30% of the book or so and became adjusted i genuinely enjoyed the story. elena was a compelling character and was just enough of a vulnerable bad ass to keep me interested as she tracked a rogue archangel. and raphael while a little prickly at first, was someone who i actually sort of fell for near the end... despite my friends' warnings that he's sort of unbearable for the first couple of books.

oh! and i should probably mention that the audiobook is what got me thru this and forced me to continue. strangely, the narrator's voice grated on me at first but about 2 hours in i could not stop listening. i'm really excited to continue with this series and to continue with the audios. definitely recommend.

----------------------------------------------------

adding to my TBR because of certain bad influences who won't be named

annnnnd now i'm reading it thanks to edward, bella & jacob]]> 4.07 2009
author: Nalini Singh
name: chan �
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: 2018, paranormal-romance, 2025
review:
it is done, i have finally conquered the beast

for reference, i've been reading this book off and off for like half a year. and i'm kind of kicking myself because it turned out to be a very solid start to what i'm sure is a fantastic paranormal series.

i think the biggest issue that i had with this book was the lore and the way in which the world was set up. being such a big lover of paranormal romance, specifically ones involving vampires (i mean i have a fcking twilight podcast) i was more than a little surprised at how singh created her society. angels create vampires, and the people who want to be turned to vampire have to like formally petition and then enter into a contract of servitude post-turn.

weird as fuck.

but once i got past that initial weirdness in the first 30% of the book or so and became adjusted i genuinely enjoyed the story. elena was a compelling character and was just enough of a vulnerable bad ass to keep me interested as she tracked a rogue archangel. and raphael while a little prickly at first, was someone who i actually sort of fell for near the end... despite my friends' warnings that he's sort of unbearable for the first couple of books.

oh! and i should probably mention that the audiobook is what got me thru this and forced me to continue. strangely, the narrator's voice grated on me at first but about 2 hours in i could not stop listening. i'm really excited to continue with this series and to continue with the audios. definitely recommend.

----------------------------------------------------

adding to my TBR because of certain bad influences who won't be named

annnnnd now i'm reading it thanks to edward, bella & jacob
]]> 347336 384 Beverly Jenkins 0060540664 chan � 0 to-read 4.46
author: Beverly Jenkins
name: chan �
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228256271 A Human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate in the highly anticipated companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Bride.

Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.

As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.

But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation
]]> 432 Ali Hazelwood 0593955013 chan â˜� 0 to-read 4.43 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: chan �
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:
me, howling at the moon hornily
]]> 17259690
Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil's not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil's new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can't walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he's finally found someone and something worth fighting for.]]> 237 Nora Sakavic 1301529044 chan � 4 "Welcome home, Neil."



I'll start by saying I absolutely fell in love with this book and this series and finished all of them in 3 days. This series is about a fictional sport, relationships, and INTRIGUE. Honestly I'm horrible at plot descriptions but I think this book works better if you go into it knowing as little as possible. Because non-sports fans will still probably love this even though that's a component of it.

The most special thing about this book for me was the complicated characterization. If you've read any of my reviews you know that characterization is the #1 thing that can make or break a book for me (world building can choke idc). And this book truly stands apart from anything else I've read.



None of the characters introduced are flat and that SHOCKED me since there was so damn many of them (blame the sports aspect I guess). I also appreciated that characters with trauma actually exhibited those signs and didn't automatically become chipper and cured when someone was nice to them?

There was nothing about this book that I didn't love. However, I will say that the writing style might bother others. The language is NOT at all flowery, and I've heard some describe it as "telling not showing." I personally think that the writing worked really well given the subject matter and the main character and it didn't distract from the story itself. But that being said having read reviews before reading this I was able to see how some could be bothered.

2025 edit: still love this book and this series but i'd be remiss if i didn't mention the use of some slurs & also incorrect/inaccurate mental health rep.]]> 4.03 2013
author: Nora Sakavic
name: chan �
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: 2017, damaged-heroes, ya-contemporary, sports, lgbtq, 2025
review:
"Welcome home, Neil."



I'll start by saying I absolutely fell in love with this book and this series and finished all of them in 3 days. This series is about a fictional sport, relationships, and INTRIGUE. Honestly I'm horrible at plot descriptions but I think this book works better if you go into it knowing as little as possible. Because non-sports fans will still probably love this even though that's a component of it.

The most special thing about this book for me was the complicated characterization. If you've read any of my reviews you know that characterization is the #1 thing that can make or break a book for me (world building can choke idc). And this book truly stands apart from anything else I've read.



None of the characters introduced are flat and that SHOCKED me since there was so damn many of them (blame the sports aspect I guess). I also appreciated that characters with trauma actually exhibited those signs and didn't automatically become chipper and cured when someone was nice to them?

There was nothing about this book that I didn't love. However, I will say that the writing style might bother others. The language is NOT at all flowery, and I've heard some describe it as "telling not showing." I personally think that the writing worked really well given the subject matter and the main character and it didn't distract from the story itself. But that being said having read reviews before reading this I was able to see how some could be bothered.

2025 edit: still love this book and this series but i'd be remiss if i didn't mention the use of some slurs & also incorrect/inaccurate mental health rep.
]]> 217387757
Forced to confront Rylie on a live episode of Sausage Talk, he offers Eva a deal: allow him to take her on a series of dates to make up for his toxic behavior, then debrief them on his channel to show he’s changed. Eva refuses to play nice, but agrees to the scheme to advance her own career and continue defaming Rylie’s good name. When these manufactured dates start to feel real, Eva has to wonder if the boy that broke her heart has become the man that might heal it.]]> 384 Mazey Eddings 1250333318 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.99 2025
author: Mazey Eddings
name: chan �
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58648147
After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people.

I mean, I get it, don't get me wrong. But he's dragging me along for the ride, and I'm kind of peeved about it. On the bright side, he keeps burning off his shirt.]]> 260 Kimberly Lemming chan � 0 3.88 2021
author: Kimberly Lemming
name: chan �
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 213726350 I do not care what they think of me. I can’t. It only matters that I play.

Jeremy Knox is no stranger to damage control, but his last season on an Exy court is off to a disastrous start. The relentless crusade against his newest teammate threatens the haven he and his friends have worked so hard to build. He promised Jean a fun senior year, but tragedy and ugly truths make every step forward an uphill fight.

Jean Moreau promised the USC Trojans a championship trophy, and he intends to deliver. Granted, it would be significantly easier if they’d slide off their high horses and throw a few elbows on the court. Their steadfast refusal to do things his way is nearly as aggravating as their unwanted affection, but maybe they’re not the ones that need to change.

With so many ready to drag him down, how can he learn to fly?]]> 484 Nora Sakavic chan � 5 2025, lgbtq, sports
the ending was cute as fuck tho.

don't mind me, gonna hibernate until book 3]]> 4.60 2025
author: Nora Sakavic
name: chan �
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: 2025, lgbtq, sports
review:
god damn nora, why oh WHY can you not give us any smooches? i'm suffering over here.

the ending was cute as fuck tho.

don't mind me, gonna hibernate until book 3
]]> 58007262
At thirty-five, with a stable job as an accountant, Mira Chaudhary wants nothing more than to find a boring man to spend the rest of her life with. Having had enough excitement in her younger days and desperately trying to escape her dysfunctional past, she turns to a matching app specializing in Indian American singles to help her find someone to settle down with.

Enter Naveen Desai. An English professor with an uneventful, normal, and—dare she say it, boring—life, Naveen is perfect.

But just when things are going well, Mira receives news that her aunt has died. Suddenly a trip to Las Vegas to settle her aunt’s affairs turns into a mad dash to escape kidnappers, evade art thieves, and consorting with hackers who can decipher just what it was Mira’s aunt was involved with. Mira just hopes that Naveen isn’t chased away by the very same life of “excitementâ€� that she’s been trying to get away from. But maybe, over the course of one wild night, Mira and Naveen will find the love connection that neither expected.]]> 400 Alisha Rai 0063119463 chan â˜� 0 2025, contemporary-romance 3.65 2022
author: Alisha Rai
name: chan �
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 205846802 Is love on the small screen better than the real thing?

A young divorcĂ©e finds herself in the ideal world of her favorite 2000s teen soap in this “gleefully nostalgic and completely freshâ€�* romance from the author of This Spells Love.

Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted (but has failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after.

The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson’s Cove might not be as perfect as seen on television . . . especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist no one has expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?]]> 336 Kate Robb 0593596552 chan â˜� 0 2025, contemporary-romance 3.53 2024
author: Kate Robb
name: chan �
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expatsâ€� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridgeâ€�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as â€�1847â€� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,â€� “Spotify,â€� and “the collapse of the British Empire.â€� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 chan â˜� 0 2025, sci-fi 3.54 2024
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: chan �
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: 2025, sci-fi
review:

]]> 203608442 In the gorgeous first installment of the hit Webtoon series Castle Swimmer, two young mermen reject their destinies and embark on an epic adventure full of romance and danger, featuring exclusive bonus material.

From the moment Kappa tumbles into existence on the ocean floor, his life’s purpose is already decided for him: He is the Beacon, a light to all sea creatures, and destined to fulfill their many prophesies. In high demand and under immense pressure, Kappa quickly realizes that fame and glory are small compensation for a life of predetermined self-sacrifice.

Unable to resist the call of destiny due to a magical yellow cord that appears from his chest and pulls him inexorably to any sea creatures he swims by, Kappa ultimately finds himself drawn to the Shark kingdom, where he is immediately imprisoned. The Sharksâ€� prophecy states that the curse maiming their people will only be lifted once their prince, Siren, kills the Beacon. But when Prince Siren decides to defy fate and help Kappa escape, Kappa realizes that there might be more to life than fulfilling endless prophesies, leading to a raucous adventure as big and unpredictable as the ocean itself—and a romance that nobody could have predicted.

Episodes 1-19 of Webtoon's Castle Swimmer Season 1 is collected in this stunning graphic novel, which also includes a never-before-seen bonus chapter featuring Kappa and Siren.]]> 272 Wendy Martin 0593835816 chan � 0 to-read 4.48 2024
author: Wendy Martin
name: chan �
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 201751300 An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see those stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.

Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including The Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who appeared to sign books at Marshall Field’s in 1944.

The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them.]]> 416 Evan Friss 0593299922 chan â˜� 0 2025, nonfiction 3.93 2024
author: Evan Friss
name: chan �
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: 2025, nonfiction
review:

]]> 165938562
To Violet Greene, fashion is everything. As a successful celebrity stylist, she travels all over the world, living out her dreams. Professionally, she’s thriving, but her personal life is in shambles. After surviving a very public breakup with her ex-fiancĂ© six months ago, Violet is now determined to focus on her career. But life hands her something—or rather, someone—that might derail everythingâ€�

Xavier Wright did not expect to run into his high school girlfriend Violet—the girl he once thought he’d marry—on a birthday trip to Vegas. As a high school teacher and basketball coach, he rarely leaves his New Jersey hometown, so what were the chances? But when the initial shock wears off, they decide to celebrate together. They feel young and reckless as they party the night away—and reckless they clearly were when the following morning, they wake up beside each other with rings on their fingers.

Their impulsive nuptials might be a blessing in disguise, though, when they realize that both of their careers could benefit from the marriage. So they play the part of a blissfully wedded couple. Yet when their passion comes hurling back, they realize their feelings are just as real as they were back when they were teens. But are their lives too different to stick it through or will they finally get a happy ending?]]> 416 Kristina Forest 0593546458 chan � 3 2025, contemporary-romance 3.76 2024
author: Kristina Forest
name: chan �
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.â€� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhoodâ€� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhoodâ€� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhoodâ€� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problemsâ€� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 chan â˜� 0 2025, nonfiction 4.36 2024
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: chan �
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: 2025, nonfiction
review:

]]> 211399750 She needs a divorce from her husband—but a hurricane threatens to dredge up their stormy, passionate past in this sizzling reimagining of Sweet Home Alabama from the bestselling author of Say You'll Be Mine.

It's been years since Meena has seen her husband, Nikhil . . . years since they first laid eyes on each other back home in Texas, years since they eloped in Las Vegas and she felt true happiness. A high-powered lawyer on Capitol Hill, ready to move on (or at least, she thinks so) with another successful lawyer, Shake, Meena has returned home. This time, finally, to obtain a divorce.

But there's one thing Meena couldn't have accounted for: a hurricane forming in the Gulf, veering right toward them, giving them no choice but to hunker down in the home they had built together. Suddenly, she finds herself trapped amid gale-force winds and pelting rain with the man she once loved.

As they spend more time together, Meena begins to remember everything that drew her to Nikhil: His small-town charm, his thoughtful nature. . . his absurdly good looks. But things make sense with Shake. He’s steady and ambitious and wants exactly what she wants. She’ll stick to her plan, come hell or high water. But will her windswept heart make the right choice, when the storm settles and the eye passes over?

With sharp observations about second chances at love, ambition and Indian American identity, and with characters who share an undeniable chemistry, Flirting with Disaster is a modern romance with the sensibility of a classic.]]> 320 Naina Kumar 0593723902 chan � 4 2025, contemporary-romance
edit: this was in fact DELIGHTFUL]]> 3.58 2025
author: Naina Kumar
name: chan �
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
Sweet Home Alabama... but make it Indian and set in Houston? sign me the fuuuuuck up

edit: this was in fact DELIGHTFUL
]]> 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 chan â˜� 0 2025, dnf, fantasy-romance 4.18 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: chan �
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: 2025, dnf, fantasy-romance
review:
i think unless someone peels back my eyelids with clothes pins, there's no way i'm going to finish this book. but i'm guessing the dragons fuck, the violet/xaden fuck, and people we don't care about die.
]]> 213651279 A steamy chance encounter between a professional hockey player and the manic pixie dream girl he just can’t seem to forget takes a turn when the pair realize that their parents are engaged—in an all-new rom-com by #1ÌęNew York TimesÌębestselling author Tessa Bailey.

When professional hockey player Sig Gauthier’s car breaks down and his phone dies, he treks into a posh private country club to call a tow truck, where he encounters the alluring Chloe Clifford, the manic pixie dream girl who captivates him immediately with her sense of adventure and penchant for stealing champagne.

Sparks fly during a moonlight kiss and the enamored pair can’t wait to see each other again, but when Sig finally arrives to meet his dad’s new girlfriend over dinner, Chloe is confusingly also there. Turns out the girlfriend is Chloe’s mother. Oh, and they’re engaged.

Sig’s dream girl is his future stepsister.

Though the pair is now wary of being involved romantically, Chloe, a sheltered harp prodigy, yearns to escape her controlling mother. Sig promises to teach her the ins and outs of independence in Boston—but not inside his bedroom. They both know there can never be more than friendship between a famous hockey player and his high-society, soon-to-be stepsister. But keeping their relationship platonic grows harder amid the developing family drama, especially knowing they were meant for so much moreâ€�


]]> 320 Tessa Bailey 0063424797 chan � 2 2025, contemporary-romance
(edit: i am complaining. i'm glad i didn't buy this. thank you for the ALC libro.fm)]]> 3.57 2025
author: Tessa Bailey
name: chan �
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:
no because this is gonna be hot and i won’t even complain if he slobbers on her tits like all of TB’s heroes

(edit: i am complaining. i'm glad i didn't buy this. thank you for the ALC libro.fm)
]]> 211164792 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance.

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

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

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, Jack agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]> 384 Sarah Adams 0593723694 chan â˜� 5 4.07 2025
author: Sarah Adams
name: chan �
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, enemies-to-lovers, small-town
review:

]]> 211003729 In Alexandra Vasti’s newest Regency rom-com, a reclusive earl’s life is turned upside down when a stranger shows up on his doorstep with an astonishing proposal—and an inconvenient connection to espionage.

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

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

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

But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe—even his heart.]]> 329 Alexandra Vasti 125091096X chan â˜� 0 2025, historical-romance 4.09 2025
author: Alexandra Vasti
name: chan �
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: 2025, historical-romance
review:

]]> 196774347 We Could Be So Good.

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

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

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.]]> 400 Cat Sebastian 0063272806 chan â˜� 0 2025, historical-romance 4.27 2024
author: Cat Sebastian
name: chan �
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: 2025, historical-romance
review:
i really appreciate historical romances that touch on periods of time i don't know quite as much about. but the romance wasn't all that romantic if i'm being honest. there were elements i appreciated, but mark was soooo withholding it wasn't a fun read for me.
]]> 217387810 It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutchâ€� Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.]]> 320 Katherine Center 1250283825 chan â˜� 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Katherine Center
name: chan �
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199532113 Talia Hibbert meets Carley Fortune in this swoon-worthy story of love and friendship in the age of social media—where what you see might not be all you get.

To her countless Instagram followers Josephine Boateng is the dazzling Dr. Jojo—and her opinions on health, growth, and self-love matter. Her message: be smart (she has a medical degree after all), be significant, and do not put up with foolish men.

But behind the camera, Jo’s story is more complicated—she finds her influencer career underwhelming; her potential career in medicine overwhelming, and she’s hung up on her best friend, nepo-baby and romcom heartthrob Ezra Adelman. When Ezra shows up to his thirtieth birthday party with her childhood bully on his arm, however, Josephine realizes that it’s time to take her own advice and prioritize herself for once.

No one is more shocked than Malcolm Waters when his debut novel turns him into a critic’s darling. When he’s invited to a swanky penthouse party to discuss turning his book into a film, he knows rubbing elbows with the elites of entertainment will be great for his career. The only problem: he’s not good with people, and even worse at networking.

Just when he’s about to throw in the towel, he’s rescued by none other than Dr. Jojo. He’s been following her on social media for years, and she’s even more impressive in real life. And to his bewilderment, the feeling is mutual.

But in a world where the lines between private and public are as blurred as those between friendship and love, can they risk it all for something real?]]> 368 Shirlene Obuobi 0063307316 chan � 0 2025, contemporary-romance 3.82 2024
author: Shirlene Obuobi
name: chan �
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 62792284 A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom's prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous in this delightful debut fantasy.

Domhnall and Clía are an ideal match—or so everyone says. They are prince and princess of neighboring kingdoms. An alliance the gods will smile on. Until Domhnall ruins everything by refusing to propose.

Heartbroken but determined, Clía makes the perfect plan: Follow Domhnall to Caisleán Cósta, the military academy he’s attending. Show she can protect her kingdom. Secure the betrothal. Sure, the castle has a brutal reputation. But how hard can dueling really be?

Warrior Ronan promised himself he’d never lose his focus. He fought and sacrificed for his place at Caisleán Cósta, and he has no time for blonde princesses who waltz intro arenas like they’re attending a ball. Even if she and her otter-like pet are
well, cute.

He doesn’t want to be intrigued by Clía. But her hunger to prove herself is something he understands. He tells himself there’s no harm training her. Even if his heart does race around her. Even if Domhnall is his best friend.

But as they say, love is a battlefield—and unfortunately for them all, a very real war is looming on the horizon. It’s a fight that will threaten all their kingdoms
and test all their hearts.Ìę]]> 400 Cait Jacobs 0063321157 chan â˜� 0 to-read 3.95 2025
author: Cait Jacobs
name: chan �
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 123211121 Rival archaeologists must team up on a secret Aztec expedition, or it could leave their careers—and hearts—in ruins.

Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrieâ€� MejĂ­a has a bone to pick. Literally.Ìę

It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true...and she’s right.

As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But Dr. Ford Matthews has been finding new ways to best her since they were in grad school. Ford certainly isn’t thrilled either—with his life in shambles, the last thing he needs is a reminder of their rocky past.

But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries—and lingering attraction—under wraps. With money-hungry artifact smugglers, the Mexican authorities, and the lies between them closing in, there’s only one way this all ends—explosively.
]]> 357 Jo Segura 0593547462 chan � 0 to-read 3.41 2023
author: Jo Segura
name: chan �
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 201914164 My name is Jean Moreau. My place is at Evermore. I belong to the Moriyamas.

It is a truth Jean has built his life around, a reminder this is the best he can hope for and all he deserves. But when he is stolen from Edgar Allan University and sold to a more dangerous master, Jean is forced to contend with a life outside of the Nest for the first time in five years. The Foxes call his transfer to California a fresh start; Jean knows it is little more than a golden cage.

Captain Jeremy Knox is facing his final year with the USC Trojans and fifth straight year falling short of the championships trophy he desperately craves. Taking in the nation’s best defenseman is a no-brainer, even if that man is a Raven. But Jean is no monster, just a man with no hope or desire for a future, and when Evermore's collapse starts dragging Jean's hideous secrets to light, Jeremy is forced to contend with the cost of victory.]]> Nora Sakavic chan â˜� 5
i haven't done a reread of the all for the game series in... at least 3 or 4 years. so i didn't know if i'd be able to pick up where i left off in terms of understanding content or caring about characters. but i was sucked ALL the way back in. need a reread like i need my next breath.

desperate for another book about jean.]]> 4.53 2024
author: Nora Sakavic
name: chan �
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: 2025, damaged-heroes, mafia, sports
review:
nora sakavic... the author that you are <3

i haven't done a reread of the all for the game series in... at least 3 or 4 years. so i didn't know if i'd be able to pick up where i left off in terms of understanding content or caring about characters. but i was sucked ALL the way back in. need a reread like i need my next breath.

desperate for another book about jean.
]]> 63139958
Raine Hart is used to the challenges of living with ADHD. It’s why she ditched her life in Boston to busk around Europe as a traveling musician. No boss. No schedule. No one to disappoint but herself. But when a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, she sees no other option but to give up her nomadic life.

Since inheriting the Local, Jack Dunne has wanted to make the pub his own. But the baggage of running a family business and the intrusive thoughts that stem from his OCD make changing things a challenge.

Over a pint with handsome, tattooed Jack, Raine accidentally insults him and the pub. Instead of taking offense, Jack,Ìęimpressed by her vision of what the pub could be, offers her a job bringing it to life.

But when Raine and Jack develop feelings for one another their opposite lifestyles won’t accommodate, it becomes clear the pub isn’t the only thing that needs reinventing. As the end of their business collaboration draws near, they’ll have to find a way past the limits they’ve placed on themselves or let go of a love that could last a lifetime.]]> 368 Sarah Grunder Ruiz 0593549066 chan â˜� 2 2025, contemporary-romance 3.81 2024
author: Sarah Grunder Ruiz
name: chan �
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance
review:

]]> 154462768
Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , she’s hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expect
until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve's loyalÌęfriendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And it’s Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and isâ€� suddenly kinda hot? Then there’s the baby's father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.

Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.]]> 400 Cara Bastone 0593595718 chan � 3 3.96 2024
author: Cara Bastone
name: chan �
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: 2025, contemporary-romance, women-s-fic, pregnancy
review:

]]> 199269577 The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst chan � 3 2024, fantasy-romance basically a bedtime story 4.05 2024
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: chan �
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: 2024, fantasy-romance
review:
basically a bedtime story
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