en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 18:25:49 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 56076679 The sea dragons are returning, and Joron Twiner's dreams of freedom lie shattered. His Shipwife is gone and all he has left is revenge.

Leading the black fleet from the deck of Tide Child Joron takes every opportunity to strike at his enemies, but he knows his time is limited. His fleet is shrinking and the Keyshan's Rot is running through his body. He runs from a prophecy that says he and the avian sorcerer, the Windseer, will end the entire world.

But the sea dragons have begun to return, and if you can have one miracle, who is to say that there cannot be another?]]> 493 R.J. Barker 0356511871 Jen 0 wishlist, md 4.46 2021
author: R.J. Barker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: wishlist, md
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]]> 217536270
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

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

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.]]> 624 Callie Hart 1538774194 Jen 0 wishlist 4.29 2024
author: Callie Hart
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: wishlist
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]]> 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 Jen 0 4.23 2025
author: Emily Henry
name: Jen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: 2025-release, currently-reading
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]]> 219301746 A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.]]> 384 Ashley Poston 0593641000 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.24 2025
author: Ashley Poston
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> 220308372 From British Fantasy Award-winning author RJ Barker comes the epic conclusion to the Forsaken trilogy, set in a forest straight out of darkest folklore with outlaws fighting an evil empire and warring deities.

"That thing in Tiltspire, it keeps Cahan like a trophy. It says to us, here is your strongest and I have killed him."

Cahan Du Nahare is lost, taken by a dark god whose tendrils reach throughout the world, intent on its destruction. Those who followed Cahan are spread across the land, desperate and lost now fate has turned against them. The Reborn warriors are toys for the enemy, the warrior Dassit, forestal Ania and monk Ont are drawn to the dangerous north but do not know why. Udinny is forced into the company of a woman who desires nothing more than her death and the Rai, Sorha, leads a dwindling band on a mission even she believes is doomed to failure. Only the trion Venn remains hopeful, slowly growing in power and trusting in the path of their god.

But maybe all is not lost. The great Wyrdwoods of Crua may be ancient and slow to act, but something in them is waking.

Wyrdwood is coming.]]> 576 R.J. Barker 0316402087 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.75 2025
author: R.J. Barker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.75
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]]> 220999068 From the bestselling author of I Am Still Alive comes a new nail-biter that's part survival story, part murder mystery, and all thriller—perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson!

Two years ago Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that incident: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.

When billionaire-turned-TV-host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college—but when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. Then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dying. With time and resources running low, surviving this show takes on a new meaning.]]> 336 Kate Alice Marshall 0593691830 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.03 2025
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 217387953 Lucky Day is the newest novel of terror from Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, where one woman must go up against the most horrifying concept of all: nothing.

Vera is a survivor of a global catastrophe known as the Low Probability Event, but she definitely isn't thriving. Once a passionate professor of statistics, she no longer finds meaning in anything at all.

But when problematic government agent Layne knocks on her door, she's the only one who can help him uncover the connection between deadly spates of absurdity and an improbably lucky casino. What's happening in Vegas isn't staying there, and the world is at risk of another disaster.

When it comes to Chuck Tingle, the only thing more terrifying than a serious horror novel is an absurd one...]]> 240 Chuck Tingle 1250398657 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.49 2025
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Jen
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 222419303 A woman must confront the demons of her past when she attempts to fix up her childhood home in this devilishly clever take on the haunted house novel from the USA Today bestselling author.

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parent’s messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped Alex of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, the presence in the house becomes more real, and more sinister, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.]]> 336 Rachel Harrison 0593642570 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.44 2025
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Jen
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 61256902 The highly-anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black's stunning adult debut, Book of Night.

There'd always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart?]]> Holly Black 1529159296 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.53 2025
author: Holly Black
name: Jen
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 222615926 The next novella in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America

Alex Easton does not want to visit America.

They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.

But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> T. Kingfisher 1250354935 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.67 2025
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Jen
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 220909040
Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow:

He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron's charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie.

That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him.

But when Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family's vast wealth. There’s just one caveat: He must choose a new guardian from amongst Laurie's scheming, backstabbing relatives to help manage the estate until he turns eighteen.

Except Evander's sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next. Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.]]> 368 C.G. Drews 1250376297 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.74 2025
author: C.G. Drews
name: Jen
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 226943506 In an isolated desert town, a young woman seeking a fresh start is confronted by ancient gods, malevolent supernatural forces, and eccentric neighbours. A witty horror-tinged fantasy, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Chuck Tingle, and Rachel Harrison.

When Selena travels to the remote desert town of Quartz Creek in search of her estranged Aunt Amelia, she is desperate and short of options. Fleeing an unhappy marriage, she has exactly twenty-seven dollars to her name, and her only friend in the world is her dog, Copper.

On arrival, Selena learns Amelia is dead. But the inhabitants of Quartz Creek are only too happy to have a new resident. Out of money and ideas, Selena sees no harm staying in her aunt's lovely house for a few weeks, tending to her garden and enjoying the strange, desolate beauty of the desert. The people are odd, but friendly, and eager to help Selena settle into her new home.

But Quartz Creek's inhabitants share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbours. Selena finds herself pursued by disturbing apparitions, visitations that come in the night and seem to want something from her.

Aunt Amelia owed a debt. Now her god has come to collect.]]> T. Kingfisher 1662525095 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 5.00 2025
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Jen
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 231126846 A relentless, horror-inducing psychological suspense for fans of The Push and Baby Teeth by New York Times bestselling author CG Drews.

Single mother Elodie’s life has become a fairy tale. She’s met Bren, equal parts golden-retriever devoted and sinfully handsome. He’s whisked her and her autistic son, Jude, to the crumbling family house he’s renovating. She has a new husband, a new house, and a new baby on the way. Everything is perfect.

Then Jude claims he can hear voices in the walls. He says their renovations are “hurting�� the house. Even Elodie can’t ignore it–something strange is going on. The question is, is it with the house, or with her son?

Then the one secret Elodie has been hiding is revealed, and no one is safe anymore.

A pulse-pounding, clever take on the haunted house novel, You Did Nothing Wrong examines the complexities of motherhood and the twisted bonds of family as it races to its shocking ending.]]> 304 C.G. Drews 1250369991 Jen 0 wishlist, 2026-release 0.0 2026
author: C.G. Drews
name: Jen
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2026
rating: 0
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]]> 231847258 Simone St. James, the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel, returns with her scariest, most shocking novel yet in this pulse-pounding story about siblings who return to the house they fled 18 years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request: Come home.

Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother—he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years.

And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.

A Box Full of Darkness is another propulsive thriller from the author of The Broken Girls and The Book of Cold Cases, a surprising horror story from a writer who is “particularly gifted at doling out twists�� (The New York Times).]]> Simone St. James 0593200438 Jen 0 wishlist, 2026-release 0.0
author: Simone St. James
name: Jen
average rating: 0.0
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]]> 43232967
It’s like I keep stumbling into a dark room, searching for the switch to make things bright again...

Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school, this time at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school, after being home-schooled all her life. Misfortune has clung to her seemingly since birth, but even she doesn’t expect her new roommate, Elizabeth, to disappear after Sade’s first night. Or for people to think Sade had something to do with it.

With rumors swirling around her, Sade catches the attention of the girls collectively known as the ‘Unholy Trinity�� and they bring her into their fold. Between learning more about them—especially Persephone, who Sade is inexplicably drawn to—and playing catchup in class, Sade already has so much on her plate. But when it seems people don't care enough about what happened to Elizabeth, it's up to she and Elizabeth's best friend, Baz, to investigate.

And then a student is found dead.

The more Sade and Baz dig into Elizabeth's disappearance, the more she realizes there’s more to Alfred Nobel Academy and its students than she thought. Secrets lurk around every corner and beneath every surface…secrets that rival even her own.]]> 416 Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Jen 0 25, horror, young-adult 3.98 2024
author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: 25, horror, young-adult
review:

]]> 55399 Vast legions of gods, mages, humans, dragons and all manner of creatures play out the fate of the Malazan Empire in this first book in a major epic fantasy series from Steven Erikson.

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.]]> 666 Steven Erikson 0765348780 Jen 0 3.91 1999
author: Steven Erikson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: own-audible, currently-reading
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]]> 43521682 A saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the launch of a new fantasy from R.J. Barker.

Two nations at war. A prize beyond compare.

For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.

The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.

Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.]]> 512 R.J. Barker 0316487961 Jen 5 pirates, fantasy 3.98 2019
author: R.J. Barker
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: pirates, fantasy
review:
2019 Jen had no idea what she was talking about. This time around I loved this. The world building is incredible. I love these characters, I love this crew, and I'm looking forward to spending more time in this world.
]]> 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 cliché, 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 clichés 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 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.63 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Jen
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> 219301720 On a trip to the tropical paradise where her fiancée died, a young woman begins to suspect the death was no accident—and the killer’s still on the island—in this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Reese's Book Club pick We Were Never Here.

When Abby decided to come to Isla Colel, she wasn't sure what—if anything—she'd find. She only knew that she needed to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died, to try and make sense of everything that happened.��

The island is nothing like Abby expected; though it was once a bustling tourist hub, a hurricane a few years earlier left it a shell of its former self, with only a few locals and expats remaining. Even the once-daily ferry to the mainland now only runs every week or so.

There, Abby befriends an alluring group of expats, but her sense of unease surges when one of them says he knows the truth about Eszter's last days.�� Before she can see him, though, he vanishes from the island. Hours turn to days with no sign of him, and the other expats are chillingly cavalier about his disappearance.

As her quest for the truth unearths dark secrets, shady pasts, and a web of lies, Abby grows more determined than ever to find out what happened to the love of her life. And the deeper she gets in the close-knit expat community, the more she suspects one of them is Eszter's killer—and will do anything to keep the truth buried. But will she discover who it is��before she becomes the island’s next victim?]]> 320 Andrea Bartz 0593597974 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.47 2025
author: Andrea Bartz
name: Jen
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> 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 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.06 2025
author: B.K. Borison
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/21
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]]> 208430658 Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

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

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

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

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

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 430 M.L. Wang 0593873351 Jen 0 wishlist, md 4.40 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: Jen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: wishlist, md
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.��

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 Jen 0 4.46 2019
author: M.L. Wang
name: Jen
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: 2025-tbr-jar, to-read, own-audible, own-kindle, md
review:

]]> 50637119
Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship, Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child find themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives.]]> 512 R.J. Barker 0356511855 Jen 0 wishlist, md 4.36 2020
author: R.J. Barker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: wishlist, md
review:

]]> 212987930 From the bestselling author M. R. Carey comes an utterly unique and enchantingly dark epic fantasy fable like no other.

This is the tale of Once Was Willem, who - eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England - rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham.

Pennick for all its beauty was ever a place with a dark reputation. The forests of the Chase were said to be home to nixies and boggarts, and there was a common belief, passed down through many generations, that the castle housed an unquiet ghost of terrible and malign power. These rumours I can attest were all true; indeed they fell short of the truth by a long way . . .]]> 310 M.R. Carey 0316505129 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release, md 4.10 2025
author: M.R. Carey
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release, md
review:

]]> 214151202 “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.��

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> 320 Clare Leslie Hall 166807818X Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.42 2025
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: Jen
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 207611566 There’s power in a book��

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

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

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

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master�� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release, md 4.00 2025
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release, md
review:

]]> 210300489 Brandon Sanderson Jen 0 to-read, 2026-release 4.62 2025
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read, 2026-release
review:

]]> 216815055 �� Raeve and Kaan will return in the highly anticipated sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling phenomenon, When The Moon Hatched. Prepare for more danger, magic, romance and dragons!��]]> Sarah A. Parker 000871035X Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.37 2026
author: Sarah A. Parker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 225653560
It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree �� a girl not yet a knight, and a boy without a story.

It is where she pulls a sword from the heartwood and becomes a legend.

And it is where, more than a thousand years later, he will find her �� and lose her �� and find her �� and lose her again.

It is where a new story will be written �� but whose will it be?]]> 400 Alix E. Harrow 1529061172 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.86 2025
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Jen
average rating: 4.86
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 220395156 Award-winning broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough and longtime collaborator Colin Butfield present a powerful call to action focused on our planet's oceans, exploring how critical this habitat is for the survival of humanity and the future of Earth.

Through personal stories, history and cutting-edge science, Ocean uncovers the mystery, the wonder and the frailty of the most unexplored habitat on our planet �� and the one which shapes the land we live on, regulates our climate and creates the air we breathe. The book showcase the oceans' remarkable resilience: they are the part of our world that can, and in some cases has, recovered the fastest, if we only give them the chance.

Drawing a course across David Attenborough's own lifetime, Ocean takes readers on an adventure-laden voyage through eight unique ocean habitats, through countless intriguing species, and through the most astounding discoveries of the last 100 years, to a future vision of a fully restored marine world, even richer and more spectacular than we could possibly hope. Ocean reveals the past, present and potential future of our blue planet. It is a book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed.]]> 400 David Attenborough 1538772299 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.78 2025
author: David Attenborough
name: Jen
average rating: 4.78
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 210395729 They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one.

Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers.

The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:

1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.]]> 352 Laura Steven 1250333881 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.77 2025
author: Laura Steven
name: Jen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 216968938 Get ready for THE (creepy) beach read of the summer! Mega bestselling and award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson (The Weight of Blood; White Smoke) makes her thrilling middle-grade debut with this can't-put-it-down murder mystery set on Martha's Vineyard. Think JAWS for a whole new generation!



This summer, there's blood in the water...watch out for sharks!

Kaylani is a born-and-bred Brooklyn girl. She expects to feel like a fish out of water spending the hot and sticky summer on Martha's Vineyard with family friends, the Watsons. But her mother insists, especially since Kaylani still spends long hours on the phone with her imprisoned father.

The Watsons live in the town of Oak Bluffs, a place with a rich Black history that fascinates Kaylani. Though the Watsons' daughter, London, is snobby and unfriendly, Kaylani ends up connecting with some other kids in the town, who show her around. The beach IS really nice, and there's good ice cream to be had. Maybe there's something to Martha's Vineyard...

But then a shocking murder--or was it a drowning? A shark attack?--rocks the community to its core.

Kaylani is determined to solve the mystery but in order to do so, she will come face-to-face with sinister truths and shocking secrets that promise to forever change her life as she knows it.

Tiffany D. Jackon's acclaimed and bestselling YA thriller have made her one of today's biggest authors. Now she brings her dazzling talents to a slightly younger audience, and lucky us--we get to be the publisher!]]> 272 Tiffany D. Jackson 1338849913 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.15 2025
author: Tiffany D. Jackson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 59571699 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project - a literal dream come true - Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school - archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas... devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?]]> 368 Ali Hazelwood 1408725789 Jen 5 feb-tbr 3.88 2022
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: feb-tbr
review:
In an unexpected chain of events, I'm giving this 5 stars. I loved the big things, and I loved the small things. A STEM romance is probably a great fit for me in general, but there were so many things beyond that that I could relate to and be entertained by. I almost removed a star because the ending took such a dumb turn, but the author brought it back around and brought me back around. I just loved this, and I wish I had read it sooner.
]]> 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 Jen 0 romance 3.94 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Jen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: romance
review:
I'm marking this as read so I can record my thoughts. This is technically a dnf, but it's a "it's me, not you" situation. I didn't catch in all of the praise for this that the relationship is BDSM. I read ~9-10 chapters, and I thought the discussions were wonderful. I've never heard BDSM discussed in relation to mental health the way it was represented here, and I feel comfortable recommending this even though I'm not reading the rest myself. Me, personally, I'm bored. I'm making assumptions here, but I'm assuming the rest of the book is delivering on the discussions that have been had. Great for some, but I'm not a widely read romance reader. I like the kind of romance written by Emily Henry and Abbie Jimenez where there are a lot of layers beyond the romance and the spice. Deep End just isn't catching my interest beyond what I've mentioned. I am going to read Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood to see if she's an author for me or not.
]]> 212421066
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?

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

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

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

Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.�� (Emily Henry)]]> 336 Gillian McAllister 0063338424 Jen 0 2025-release, thriller Didn't finish. Didn't care. 3.71 2025
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Jen
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: 2025-release, thriller
review:
Didn't finish. Didn't care.
]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

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

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

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Jen 4 4.62 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Jen
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: 2025-release, fantasy, dystopian, young-adult
review:
A perfect installment of The Hunger Games.
]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Jen 3 fantasy, young-adult 3.99 2020
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: fantasy, young-adult
review:

]]> 220999061 The beloved author of Holes presents his first adult novel, a modern fantasy classic of forbidden love, a crumbling kingdom, and the unexpected magic all around us.

Long ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs to forge an alliance, and to that end, Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the "wedding of the century," Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe.

The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. Seventeen years earlier, when Anatole first came to the castle, he was regarded as something of a prodigy. But after a long series of failures—the latest being an attempt to transform sand into gold—he has become the object of contempt and ridicule. The only one who still believes in him is the princess.

When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation, will he betray the princess—or risk ruin?]]> 320 Louis Sachar 0593952308 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.08 2025
author: Louis Sachar
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 211004838 John Lennon and Paul McCartney knew each other for twenty-three years, from 1957 to 1980. This book is the myth-shattering biography of a relationship that changed the cultural history of the world.

The Beatles shook the world to its core in the 1960’s and, to this day, remain an active ingredient in our cultural bloodstream, as new generations fall in love with their songs and their story. At the heart of this phenomenon lies the dynamic between John and Paul. Few other musical partnerships have been rooted in such a deep, intense and complicated personal relationship.

John and Paul’s relationship was defined by its complexity: compulsive, tender and tempestuous; full of longing, riven by jealousy. Like the band, their relationship was always in motion, never in equilibrium for long. John and Paul traces its twists and turns and reveals how these shifts manifested themselves in the music. Yoko Ono remarked on the resemblance of their friendship to a romantic relationship and suggested that at some point that’s what John wanted it to be. The two of them shared a private language, rooted in the stories, comedy and songs they both loved as teenagers, and later, in the lyrics of Beatles songs.

In John and Paul, acclaimed writer on human psychology and creativity Ian Leslie traces the shared journey of these men before, during and after The Beatles, offering us both a new look at two of the greatest icons in music history, and rich insights into the nature of creativity, collaboration, and human intimacy.]]> 424 Ian Leslie 1250869544 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.53 2025
author: Ian Leslie
name: Jen
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 222376601
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.

When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.

One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....]]> 208 Sarah Gailey 1250387337 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.33 2025
author: Sarah Gailey
name: Jen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 212294435 A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce.

Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own��a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flowerbed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she always thought.

Then the girls arrive.

Lily and Violet are her nieces,��recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents' will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who just so happens to be Clara.��Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls' assets—not just to bolster her dwindling fortune, but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry.

There's only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara's ghosts…and��call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims��and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and know far more than they should…]]> 368 Camilla Bruce 059372495X Jen 0 to-read 3.49 2025
author: Camilla Bruce
name: Jen
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209047305
When her stepfather is arrested, aspiring artist Ceci moves back to her mother’s hometown of Santa Aguas, an eccentric small town steeped in the legend of La Cegua, the specter of a wronged witch who appears on lonely roads at night, luring untrustworthy men to their deaths.

Ceci and her mother take up residence in the abandoned manor of the Sevilla family, rumored to have been cursed by La Cegua, where she begins to uncover a past that seems to be connected to her mother. The more she learns of the Sevillas, the more Ceci finds herself forming a strange affinity with the feared Cegua, who she suspects is the one inspiring her paintings of a mysterious door in the forest.

When the very door Ceci has been painting appears in the woods, she decides to venture through it with her new friend, Jamie. Together, they discover a well, guarded by the statue of a veiled woman. A well for granting wishes. The well of La Cegua.

What starts off as harmless fun quickly escalates into something sinister when Ceci realizes that the wishes are putting the people she loves in danger and testing her own penchant for vengeance. After learning others are also searching for the well, Ceci must confront the truth of her mother’s past and prevent La Cegua’s wishes from being used for the wrong reasons. Ceci knows too well how much people will sacrifice for power. Every wish has its price, and La Cegua never forgets the ones who have wronged her.]]> 304 Vanessa Montalban 1638930287 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.07 2025
author: Vanessa Montalban
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 212808336 A captivating and profoundly moving novel with hints of supernatural intrigue, blending We Were Liars and Your Name into a can’t-miss read for fans of You’ve Reached Sam.

Thirty years ago, Grace’s mom left her hometown of Hermitage, Florida and never looked back—which is exactly why Grace thinks it’s the safest place to spend her summer now. Since her mom died in a car crash, Grace has been desperate to get away from the memories and reminders of her loss. Spending the summer transcribing cassette tapes for the Hermitage Historical Society might be boring, but boring is just what Grace needs.

Until she hears the voice of Jake Underwood—the boy who first recorded the cassette tapes back in 1992. When Grace realizes he can hear anything she records, despite thirty years of time between them, she strikes up an impossible conversation with Jake through the tapes.

But the past isn’t any simpler than the present, and a mystery has haunted Hermitage through the generations. In the 1970’s, a hurricane made landfall and resulted in the tragic death of Jake’s uncle Charley. In a town as suffocatingly small as Hermitage, it’s impossible not to notice how no one talks about that storm, or Charley, and as the mystery unfurls, Grace can’t help but realize a worse truth: No one talks about Jake either.

A beautifully written exploration of grief and what happens when untreated wounds bleed into future generations, The Underwood Tapes is the perfect read for anyone in need of a good, cathartic cry.]]> 320 Amanda DeWitt 1682635996 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.10 2025
author: Amanda DeWitt
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.24 2025
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 61237044
The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds - except that they're really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.

Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth's environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel. It could save everyone on her dying planet, but now she's walked into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of.

And she needs to choose a side before it kills her.]]> 499 M.R. Carey 0316504386 Jen 5 scifi-fav, science-fiction �� complex concepts but highly accessible
�� reminds me of my favorite portal fantasies
�� man vs machine
�� M.R. Carey > Adrian Tchaikovsky??
�� new fav scifi
]]> 4.06 2023
author: M.R. Carey
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: scifi-fav, science-fiction
review:
�� complex characters
�� complex concepts but highly accessible
�� reminds me of my favorite portal fantasies
�� man vs machine
�� M.R. Carey > Adrian Tchaikovsky??
�� new fav scifi

]]> 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 Jen 5 mystery, mystery-fav 4.15 2024
author: Liz Moore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: mystery, mystery-fav
review:

]]> 54786049 A haunting ghost story about navigating grief, growing up, and growing into a new gender identity

It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.]]> 192 Kyle Lukoff Jen 5 middle-grade
I loved, loved, loved this book.

In the author's note at the end of Too Bright to See, the author helps readers describe the book by providing the description he uses:

It's about a kid being haunted by the ghost of their dead uncle into figuring out something important!

That's perfect.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age book that I highly, highly recommend.

All of the stars.]]> 4.10 2021
author: Kyle Lukoff
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/11
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: middle-grade
review:
I haven't managed to keep up with reviews this year, and Too Bright to See is the book to definitely pull me out of my reviewing funk.

I loved, loved, loved this book.

In the author's note at the end of Too Bright to See, the author helps readers describe the book by providing the description he uses:

It's about a kid being haunted by the ghost of their dead uncle into figuring out something important!

That's perfect.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age book that I highly, highly recommend.

All of the stars.
]]> 49049458 One of our most iconic childhood games receives a creepy twist as it becomes the gateway to a nightmare world.

I went up the hill, the hill was muddy, stomped my toe and made it bloody, should I wash it?

Justin knows that something is wrong with his best friend. Zee went missing for a year. And when he came back, he was . . . different. Nobody knows what happened to him. At Zee's welcome home party, Justin and the neighborhood crew play Hide and Seek. But it goes wrong. Very wrong.

One by one, everyone who plays the game disappears, pulled into a world of nightmares come to life. Justin and his friends realize this horrible place is where Zee had been trapped. All they can do now is hide from the Seeker.]]> 320 Daka Hermon 133858362X Jen 5
5/5 stars]]> 4.09 2020
author: Daka Hermon
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/30
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror, middle-grade, favorite-mg-horror
review:
Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon absolutely blew me away. Not only is it a scary middle grade novel - this is a straight up MG horror - it has a lot of heart. Friendship, family, terror. You guys have seen me praise a lot of middle grade horror lately, and this is one I highly, highly recommend. Put it in your classrooms, put it in your libraries, buy it for your kids, buy it for yourself. I was an absolute mess reading this book. Books like Hide and Seeker are exactly why I read - and will continue to read - middle grade. I haven't found an adult book with this kind of heart in a long time.

5/5 stars
]]> 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Jen 5 horror Review to come. 4.17 2019
author: Stephen King
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/03
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:
Review to come.
]]> 41806986 “Mother knows best�� takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms�� Fairy Tales.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.]]> 312 Melanie Golding 1683319974 Jen 5 horror Review soon! 3.62 2019
author: Melanie Golding
name: Jen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/03/28
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:
Review soon!
]]> 36124936
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.]]> 561 Stephen King 1501180983 Jen 5 horror 3.98 2018
author: Stephen King
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/04
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:
I've been struggling all this time with what to rate The Outsider. In the end, I'm going with a subjective, still in love with King after all these years 4.5 stars.
]]> 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs�� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Jen 5 horror
There's a lot going on in Ninth House, and it should appeal to a wide range of readers. There's horror, fantasy, dark academia, ghosts, mystery... This is a huge plus for me, but I can see why this is a negative for some people. It's a lot, and there's a lot to take in. Ninth House definitely builds up over the course of the book, but I enjoyed all of it.

Do seek out trigger warnings, though.

Ninth House is still the only book I've read by Leigh Bardugo. I have a copy of Hell Bent that I will be reading in the very near future.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Why Did I Read Ninth House?

Ninth House was a preorder based on it being an adult horror from Leigh Bardugo. I tried to stay pretty blind about the plot since I was already sold based on genre/author.

The Strengths

At the apex of fantasy and horror sits Ninth House. Let's face it, any time scifi, fantasy, thrillers, etc. intersect with horror, I'm at my happiest, but combining magic and horror is awesome and I'm here for it!

Ghosts are my favorite horror element, and Ninth House deals with ghosts in a way that really hits the mark for me in a way that I never see portrayed in literature. There's a lot going on in Ninth House, and the aspects involving the grays (ghosts!) were my favorite.

The Weaknesses

The timeline was a little bit of a struggle for me. Having finished Ninth House, I think the timeline structure was necessary, but there were times I had to think about where we were and what was happening. It took me a while to settle into the timeline changes, and I'd be lying if I said that struggle didn't continue to creep back up.

After reading reviews of Ninth House, I was worried about the pacing. I was so happy to be buddy reading this with Tracy because I expected Ninth House to be a really slow burn or possibly even a slog through the first half. I didn't find this to be the case at all! As I mentioned there is a lot going in Ninth House. There are so many elements being introduced and built upon, I do think there is a big progression that happens. I love when a book continues to build and reveal until it turns into something awesome. This may not be a preference for everyone, but my advice if your tastes are similar to mine is "keep with it!" In the end, I loved it all.

Final Thoughts

I loved Ninth House. It was my first book to read by Leigh Bardugo. I have a couple of books from her other series that I'm really looking forward to getting started on. Tracy tells me Ninth House is going to have a sequel so I will be anxiously awaiting that one!

content warning: [spoilers removed]]]> 4.00 2019
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/23
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:
Reread review! I'm so glad I reread Ninth House. It's been a couple of years since I read it, and with the release of Hell Bent, I wanted to remember why I was so anxious for the next book in the series. It was definitely a successful reread.

There's a lot going on in Ninth House, and it should appeal to a wide range of readers. There's horror, fantasy, dark academia, ghosts, mystery... This is a huge plus for me, but I can see why this is a negative for some people. It's a lot, and there's a lot to take in. Ninth House definitely builds up over the course of the book, but I enjoyed all of it.

Do seek out trigger warnings, though.

Ninth House is still the only book I've read by Leigh Bardugo. I have a copy of Hell Bent that I will be reading in the very near future.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Why Did I Read Ninth House?

Ninth House was a preorder based on it being an adult horror from Leigh Bardugo. I tried to stay pretty blind about the plot since I was already sold based on genre/author.

The Strengths

At the apex of fantasy and horror sits Ninth House. Let's face it, any time scifi, fantasy, thrillers, etc. intersect with horror, I'm at my happiest, but combining magic and horror is awesome and I'm here for it!

Ghosts are my favorite horror element, and Ninth House deals with ghosts in a way that really hits the mark for me in a way that I never see portrayed in literature. There's a lot going on in Ninth House, and the aspects involving the grays (ghosts!) were my favorite.

The Weaknesses

The timeline was a little bit of a struggle for me. Having finished Ninth House, I think the timeline structure was necessary, but there were times I had to think about where we were and what was happening. It took me a while to settle into the timeline changes, and I'd be lying if I said that struggle didn't continue to creep back up.

After reading reviews of Ninth House, I was worried about the pacing. I was so happy to be buddy reading this with Tracy because I expected Ninth House to be a really slow burn or possibly even a slog through the first half. I didn't find this to be the case at all! As I mentioned there is a lot going in Ninth House. There are so many elements being introduced and built upon, I do think there is a big progression that happens. I love when a book continues to build and reveal until it turns into something awesome. This may not be a preference for everyone, but my advice if your tastes are similar to mine is "keep with it!" In the end, I loved it all.

Final Thoughts

I loved Ninth House. It was my first book to read by Leigh Bardugo. I have a couple of books from her other series that I'm really looking forward to getting started on. Tracy tells me Ninth House is going to have a sequel so I will be anxiously awaiting that one!

content warning: [spoilers removed]
]]> 16053521
His parents try to protect him by moving the family to a dead-end road out of town, but their plan is short-lived when a mysterious old man who seems to have a history with Red's mother comes knocking at their door.

Red is quickly thrust into a crossroads between worlds, where he will soon learn from a broken god how to harness his true power...]]> Lee Thompson Jen 5 horror 4.29 2012
author: Lee Thompson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/17
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:

]]> 18770398
For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova's dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.

Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova's eerie, hypnotic world. The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.]]> 640 Marisha Pessl 0812979788 Jen 5 horror Review to come. 3.78 2013
author: Marisha Pessl
name: Jen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2017/12/30
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: horror
review:
Review to come.
]]> 9460858 119 Lee Thompson Jen 5 young-adult, horror 4.26 2010
author: Lee Thompson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/03
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: young-adult, horror
review:
Loved it! Before Leonora Wakes is a very imaginative, dark, coming of age story. Highly recommended.
]]> 16280156 The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden.

Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs or the joy of watching pages consumed by flames, never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do...

--back cover]]> 190 Ray Bradbury 0345342968 Jen 5 4.06 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/26
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: science-fiction, scifi-fav, dystopian, classics
review:

]]> 594139 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780380730407.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. . ."

With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

This special edition of Rebecca includes excerpts from Daphne du Maurier's The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories, an essay on the real Manderley, du Maurier's original epilogue to the book, and more.]]> 410 Daphne du Maurier Jen 5
It was really great to revisit Rebecca all over again (even though it had only been a year!) I really love Daphne du Maurier's writing. I enjoyed the characters even more this time around since I already knew who was a nitwit and what decisions everyone would make. Their transformations were easier to see this time around, and I just really enjoyed it.

Rebecca is a beautiful book. There's mystery and suspense and surprises, and I highly recommend it.]]> 4.25 1938
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Jen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1938
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/09
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: favorites, fiction, classics, horror
review:
I read Rebecca last year as part of the first readalong. It was so good and so fun to read it along with the community. I joined a brand new (in person) book club a couple of months ago, and the first book they voted on to read last month was Rebecca! I'm taking that as a very good sign.

It was really great to revisit Rebecca all over again (even though it had only been a year!) I really love Daphne du Maurier's writing. I enjoyed the characters even more this time around since I already knew who was a nitwit and what decisions everyone would make. Their transformations were easier to see this time around, and I just really enjoyed it.

Rebecca is a beautiful book. There's mystery and suspense and surprises, and I highly recommend it.
]]> 201103135 As alluring as it is unsettling, award-winning author CG Drews' debut YA psychological horror will leave readers breathless and hesitant to venture deeper into the woods.

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...]]> 352 C.G. Drews Jen 3 horror, young-adult
Probably 3.5 stars.]]> 4.13 2024
author: C.G. Drews
name: Jen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: horror, young-adult
review:
I loved the dark, metaphorical writing. I enjoyed the characters and the relationships along with all of the angst and yearning. I haven't processed my feelings on the way the book wrapped up.

Probably 3.5 stars.
]]> 211003690 An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.]]> 368 Ed Crocker 1250287731 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.55 2025
author: Ed Crocker
name: Jen
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 214283593 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391147 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 4.10 2025
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 214490415 This searing YA debut follows two teen girls as they fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore, just weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us!

The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.]]> 320 Lily Braun-Arnold 0593899482 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.43 2025
author: Lily Braun-Arnold
name: Jen
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 211003924 The first novel in a sweeping YA fantasy duology based on characters and teachings created by Bruce Lee!

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Earth to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s honor—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.

But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. There is no future in honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.

As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself.]]> 341 Shannon Lee 1250902673 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 3.98 2025
author: Shannon Lee
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

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

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

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

But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn’t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was keeping secrets, and he’s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny’s death, but in the end, she’ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.]]> 288 Adrienne Young 0593598709 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 3.70 2025
author: Adrienne Young
name: Jen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 414999
But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?]]> 224 Arthur C. Clarke Jen 0 wishlist 4.12 1953
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Jen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: wishlist
review:

]]> 215217589 Darkly funny and provocative, this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride follows two unlikely fugitives—an SAT tutor who finds her rich employers brutally murdered and the bound woman she frees from their mansion—an irresistible debut novel perfect for fans of��The Guest�����Ի���My Sister, the Serial Killer

A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.

Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at the Victors�� Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted—and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.

Suddenly at the heart of a manhunt and accompanied by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak, Evie knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer. But first she’ll have to break down the barriers of her companion, who is quickly becoming the most important person in Evie’s upside-down life. Their breathless spree takes them across the U.S. as developments in the case shock the nation and the press runs wild with Evie’s a gifted kid turned killer. She's now on the cover of every magazine and newspaper—anointed the new Charles Manson, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is finally��someone.

By turns cuttingly hilarious and deeply insightful,��Killer Potential��is a strikingly original debut. A literary novel with the page-turning intensity of a thriller that asks timely questions about our belief in the romance of social mobility, and how the stories we’re sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.]]> 320 Hannah Deitch 0063356481 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.47 2025
author: Hannah Deitch
name: Jen
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]> 303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.28 2025
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Jen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 24019186
The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metal minds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set.]]> 447 Brandon Sanderson 0765378574 Jen 0 currently-reading 4.43 2016
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 19161852
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]> 468 N.K. Jemisin Jen 5 4.29 2015
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: own-audible, 25, science-fiction
review:
6 stars. Maybe someday soon I'll remember how to write a review.
]]> 222376577 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six , Girl Dinner is a darkly-fun novel about power, lust, and eating your fill, as wealthy moms and sorority girls practice a sinister new wellness trend . . .

Good girls deserve a treat.

Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.

After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she's taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.

Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner's new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane's clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she's apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.

As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 368 Olivie Blake 1250883458 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.91 2025
author: Olivie Blake
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 223262140 From the no. 1 international bestselling author of Better than the Movies, childhood sweethearts reunite in a hockey-loving town where romance is about to heat up the ice. For fans of Hannah Grace. *Pre-order now!*

From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theatres, Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids. Until Dani moved away. Years later, Dani is back in Minnesota, and exited to reconnect with the nerdy and comforting Alec. But teenage Alec is NOTHING like the boy she remembers. He's the hockey STAR in a town where hockey players are worshipped as gods �� and he loves it.��

When��one thing leads to another and Dani and Alec find themselves thrown together and playing the role of boyfriend and girlfriend, “complicated�� becomes an understatement. In this Minnesota town, hockey may rule, but romance is about to take its place.

A swoony, boy-next-door fake dating romance from the��New York Times��bestseller, Lynn Painter.

���ձ�> Lynn Painter 1398537888 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.80 2025
author: Lynn Painter
name: Jen
average rating: 4.80
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 220175461 An utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.

They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .

New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists �� and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.

Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .

If they escape Shroud, they’ll face a crew only interested in profiteering from this extraordinary world. They’ll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all.]]> 464 Adrian Tchaikovsky 0316579025 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 0.0 2025
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Jen
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 78627220 A sweet sapphic romance takes a deadly dark turn in this sharp-as-a-knife novella from the New York Times bestselling author.

Rosemary meets Ash at the farmers�� market. Ash—precise, pretty, and practically perfect—sells bars of soap in delicate pastel colors, sprinkle-spackled cupcakes stacked on scalloped stands, beeswax candles, jelly jars of honey, and glossy green plants. Ro has never felt this way about another woman; with Ash, she wants to be her and have her in equal measure. But as her obsession with Ash consumes her, she may find she’s not the one doing the devouring…]]> 203 Delilah S. Dawson Jen 4 horror That was unexpected. 3.82 2023
author: Delilah S. Dawson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: horror
review:
That was unexpected.
]]> 210412039 A novel about sisters separated by centuries, but bound together by the sea.


2019: Lucy awakens from a dream to find her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. Horrified, she flees to her older sister’s house on the Australian coast, hoping she can help explain the strangely vivid nightmare that preceded the attack—but Jess is nowhere to be found.

As Lucy awaits her return, the rumors surrounding Jess’s strange small town start to emerge. Numerous men have gone missing at sea, spread over decades. A tiny baby was found hidden in a cave. And sailors tell of hearing women’s voices on the waves. Desperate for answers, Lucy finds and begins to read her sister’s adolescent diary.

1999: Jess is a lonely sixteen-year-old in a rural town in the middle of the continent. Diagnosed with a rare allergy to water, she has always felt different, until her young, charming art teacher takes an interest in her drawings, seeing a power and maturity in them—and in her—that no one else has.

1800: Twin sisters Mary and Eliza have been torn from their loving father in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia. For their entire lives, they’ve feared the ocean, as their mother tragically drowned when they were just girls. Yet as the boat bears them further and further from all they know, they begin to notice changes in their bodies that they can’t explain, and they feel the sea beginning to call to them��

A breathtaking tale of female resilience and the bonds of sisterhood across time and space, The Sirens captures the power of dreams, and the mystery and magic of the sea.]]> 339 Emilia Hart 1250280834 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.04 2025
author: Emilia Hart
name: Jen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

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

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

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

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

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.]]> 384 Samantha Sotto Yambao 0593724992 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 3.79 2025
author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
name: Jen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 214466890 The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this standalone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything.

By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society.

Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they scrape by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt—enough to qualify one of her children for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet.

Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, known for her cold brutality and deadly beauty. She has never failed to assassinate one of her marks.

When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice, at first she despairs—the Gauntlet is always a bloodbath for the impoverished debtors. But she’s had years of practice surviving in the apocalyptic wastes, and with the help of her hunter brother, she might stand a chance of staying alive.

For Melinoë, this is a game she can’t afford to lose. Despite her reputation for mercilessness, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on livestream, she desperately needs redemption.

As Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, both girls begin to question everything: Inesa wonders if there’s more to life than survival, while Mel wonders if she’s capable of more than killing.

And both wonder if, against all odds, they might be falling in love.]]> 448 Ava Reid 0063430010 Jen 0 to-read, 2025-release 3.90 2025
author: Ava Reid
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read, 2025-release
review:

]]> 215362497 A deeply moving middle grade novel in verse about a girl struggling with depression when she starts fifth grade amidst a sea of changes.

Pearl loves watching the majestic loggerhead turtles and octopuses glide through the water at the aquarium. Pearl finds it especially easy to identify with the octopuses, who have millions of touch receptors all over their bodies. They feel everything. Sometimes, Pearl wishes she was more like a turtle, with a hard outer shell—it hurts too much to feel everything.

And the changes at the start of fifth grade don’t feel good to Pearl at all. New teachers, lockers, and being in different classes than her friends is unsettling. Pearl tries her best to pretend she’s fine, but she starts to struggle with things that used to come easy, like schoolwork, laughing and skateboarding with her best friend, Rosie, running and even sleeping.

After a disastrous parent-teacher conference, her parents decide to bring Pearl to Dr. Jill, who diagnoses her with depression. At first Pearl is resistant to Dr. Jill’s help; she doesn’t like feeling different, but she also doesn’t want to continue feeling so bad all the time. When Dr. Jill asks Pearl to try one Impossible Thing each day, like running, skateboarding, or walking her dog Tuck, she decides to try. For each impossible thing she attempts, Pearl puts a bead on a string. Bead by bead, and with the support of family and friends, Pearl finds her way back to herself. She discovers just like the moon is always there in the sky, even if it isn’t full, she’ll always be herself even when she doesn’t feel whole.

In this tender novel-in-verse, critically acclaimed author Bobbie Pyron draws from her own experiences to tell the story of a brave girl learning to take care of and love herself.]]> 336 Bobbie Pyron 0593616294 Jen 0 wishlist, 2025-release 4.46 2025
author: Bobbie Pyron
name: Jen
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: wishlist, 2025-release
review:

]]> 51035594 In this riotous young adult romp for fans of Recommended for You and A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, a teen girl has the worst Valentine’s Day ever—only to relive it over and over again.

After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day.

Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways.

How many days can one girl passively watch her life go up in flames? And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?]]> 304 Lynn Painter Jen 0 to-read, 2025-tbr-jar 3.93 2022
author: Lynn Painter
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read, 2025-tbr-jar
review:

]]> 211004079 A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.]]> 291 Kate Alice Marshall 1250343054 Jen 4 3.79 2025
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Jen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: 2025-release, feb-tbr, thriller
review:

]]> 40381927 For fans of high-concept thrillers such as Annihilation and The Girl with All the Gifts, this breathtaking dystopian psychological thriller follows an American academic stranded at a Swiss hotel as the world descends into nuclear war—along with twenty other survivors—who becomes obsessed with identifying a murderer in their midst after the body of a young girl is discovered in one of the hotel’s water tanks.

Jon thought he had all the time in the world to respond to his wife’s text message: I miss you so much. I feel bad about how we left it. Love you. But as he’s waiting in the lobby of the L’Hotel Sixieme in Switzerland after an academic conference, still mulling over how to respond to his wife, he receives a string of horrifying push notifications. Washington, DC has been hit with a nuclear bomb, then New York, then London, and finally Berlin. That’s all he knows before news outlets and social media goes black—and before the clouds on the horizon turn orange.

Now, two months later, there are twenty survivors holed up at the hotel, a place already tainted by its strange history of suicides and murders. Those who can’t bear to stay commit suicide or wander off into the woods. Jon and the others try to maintain some semblance of civilization. But when the water pressure disappears, and Jon and a crew of survivors investigate the hotel’s water tanks, they are shocked to discover the body of a young girl.

As supplies dwindle and tensions rise, Jon becomes obsessed with investigating the death of the little girl as a way to cling to his own humanity. Yet the real question remains: can he afford to lose his mind in this hotel, or should he take his chances in the outside world?]]> 340 Hanna Jameson 1501198823 Jen 4
What intrigued me the most before reading The Last was the "Agatha Christie meets Stephen King" quote. There was just no way I was going to pass that up. First of all, I didn't find Agatha Christie or Stephen King in the pages, but it's a cool quote. The Last is a mishmash of mystery and apocalyptic fiction, though.

I want to be clear - I loved this book. I do feel like it wasn't sure what it wanted to be most of the time. I know what I wanted it to be - a pure post-apocalypse. I loved the world of The Last, and I could have stayed there much, much longer. There were so many aspects that could have been expanded and explored. The framework of the novel was a mystery, though, and the apocalypse was one hell of a setting!

This was my first experience with Hanna Jameson's work, and it definitely won't be my last. She crafted something really great not just with the setting but with the characters as well. More than anything, The Last was about the characters and the relationships they built while the world was ending.

In the end, I'm giving The Last four stars instead of five simply due to the unexplored/unexplained aspects, but I still highly recommend reading this one.

Review copy provided by publisher]]> 3.49 2019
author: Hanna Jameson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/09
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, post-apocalyptic, mystery-fav
review:
I was not expecting such a post-apocalyptic novel!

What intrigued me the most before reading The Last was the "Agatha Christie meets Stephen King" quote. There was just no way I was going to pass that up. First of all, I didn't find Agatha Christie or Stephen King in the pages, but it's a cool quote. The Last is a mishmash of mystery and apocalyptic fiction, though.

I want to be clear - I loved this book. I do feel like it wasn't sure what it wanted to be most of the time. I know what I wanted it to be - a pure post-apocalypse. I loved the world of The Last, and I could have stayed there much, much longer. There were so many aspects that could have been expanded and explored. The framework of the novel was a mystery, though, and the apocalypse was one hell of a setting!

This was my first experience with Hanna Jameson's work, and it definitely won't be my last. She crafted something really great not just with the setting but with the characters as well. More than anything, The Last was about the characters and the relationships they built while the world was ending.

In the end, I'm giving The Last four stars instead of five simply due to the unexplored/unexplained aspects, but I still highly recommend reading this one.

Review copy provided by publisher
]]> 28962996
It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.

At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently...]]> 361 Mur Lafferty 0316389684 Jen 4 3.80 2017
author: Mur Lafferty
name: Jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/02/12
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, science-fiction, mystery-fav
review:
I was expecting a science fiction thriller. I was not expecting to feel like I was in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel. Six Wakes was a very pleasant surprise. If an Agatha Christie style mystery set in space with clones and AI isn't fun, I don't know what is.
]]> 13596166
A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing old - and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time. It is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.]]> 285 Stephen King 1781162646 Jen 4 mystery, mystery-fav
The cover is a bit misleading with the "Who Dares Enter the Funhouse of Fear?". Joyland has a suspenseful climax, but there's not a whole lot of fear going on in Joyland. If you've been too afraid to pick up a Stephen King novel, this is a great one to try especially if you like mysteries or coming of age stories.

This wasn't a spectacular novel. I'm not clamoring to get this book into everyone's hands, but I really loved reading it. If you are a fan of Stephen King, it's a must read, but I also recommend it to anyone looking for a great summer read.]]> 3.90 2013
author: Stephen King
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/16
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, mystery-fav
review:
Devin Jones is the main character and narrator of Joyland. He is now in his 60s, and he's looking back on the end of his first love and the summer he spent working for the Joyland amusement park in North Carolina. That is also the summer he encountered the ghost of a young girl and helped solve her murder. I loved the beach-side setting and the relationships between the characters. Stephen King excels at nostalgia. I love how he can evoke that feeling of longing. He also enjoys breaking my heart. I'm not always a fan of that, but I am a fan of Joyland.

The cover is a bit misleading with the "Who Dares Enter the Funhouse of Fear?". Joyland has a suspenseful climax, but there's not a whole lot of fear going on in Joyland. If you've been too afraid to pick up a Stephen King novel, this is a great one to try especially if you like mysteries or coming of age stories.

This wasn't a spectacular novel. I'm not clamoring to get this book into everyone's hands, but I really loved reading it. If you are a fan of Stephen King, it's a must read, but I also recommend it to anyone looking for a great summer read.
]]> 50279680
Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother.

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families—the ones we are born into and the ones we create.]]> 384 Chris Whitaker 1250759668 Jen 5 mystery, mystery-fav
We Begin at the End was beautifully written. The characters were so well developed, flawed, and unforgettable. As much as I loved the characters, I also loved that there was a balance between plot and character. It was so well done.

I listened to the audio for much of this, and the prose and the narrator were a great fit.

It did take time for me to get sucked in, but it was such a well developed novel I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

If you love mysteries and crime novels, I highly recommend We Begin at the End, but I also recommend it for those wanting to explore other genres.

Source: Preordered purchase. This is a review of my personal reading experience.]]> 4.10 2020
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/28
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, mystery-fav
review:
This was my first time to read Chris Whitaker. I look forward to reading more from him.

We Begin at the End was beautifully written. The characters were so well developed, flawed, and unforgettable. As much as I loved the characters, I also loved that there was a balance between plot and character. It was so well done.

I listened to the audio for much of this, and the prose and the narrator were a great fit.

It did take time for me to get sucked in, but it was such a well developed novel I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

If you love mysteries and crime novels, I highly recommend We Begin at the End, but I also recommend it for those wanting to explore other genres.

Source: Preordered purchase. This is a review of my personal reading experience.
]]> 203019740
Amerika, 1975. In het dorpje Monta Clare, Missouri, wordt tiener Joseph 'Patch' Macauley ontvoerd. Saint Brown, zet alles op het spel om haar beste vriend te vinden.

Patch ligt alleen in een pikdonkere kamer totdat hij een hand in de zijne voelt. Ze heet Grace en in het donker is haar stem zijn redding. Als Patch ontsnapt, is er echter geen bewijs dat ze ooit heeft bestaan, dus begint hij een grootse zoektocht om haar te vinden.

Terwijl jaren decennia worden en hoop een obsessie, jaagt Patch's jeugdvriendin Saint op de man die de twee ontvoerde en daarmee de enige jongen van wie ze ooit heeft gehouden een doel in het leven gaf.]]> 608 Chris Whitaker 0593798872 Jen 5 mystery, mystery-fav 4.23 2024
author: Chris Whitaker
name: Jen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, mystery-fav
review:

]]> 43834909 Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then, one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.]]> 482 Liz Moore 0525540679 Jen 5 4.5 stars. Review soon! 4.03 2020
author: Liz Moore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/21
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, thriller, thriller-fav, mystery-fav
review:
4.5 stars. Review soon!
]]> 9723667 The World's Bestselling Mystery

"Ten . . ."
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U.N. Owen."

"Nine . . ."
At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead.

"Eight . . ."
Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one . . . one by one they begin to die.

"Seven . . ."
Who among them is the killer and will any of them survive?

]]> 300 Agatha Christie Jen 5
I had so much fun reading this book. Have you seen the movie Clue? I now know it's a blatant rip off of And Then There Were None, but I love that movie. If you love that movie, too, you really need to read And Then There Were None.

Basically ten folks are brought to an island and each one is picked off one by one. Who is the murderer? You won't know until the end, and you'll be thrown for a loop a time or two.

I can't think of a mystery I would recommend more than And Then There Were None. It was pure entertainment and expertly done.]]> 4.26 1939
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2014/08/22
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, favorites, mystery-fav
review:
There is a reason And Then There Were None is the #1 mystery novel of all time. It is bloody brilliant.

I had so much fun reading this book. Have you seen the movie Clue? I now know it's a blatant rip off of And Then There Were None, but I love that movie. If you love that movie, too, you really need to read And Then There Were None.

Basically ten folks are brought to an island and each one is picked off one by one. Who is the murderer? You won't know until the end, and you'll be thrown for a loop a time or two.

I can't think of a mystery I would recommend more than And Then There Were None. It was pure entertainment and expertly done.
]]> 42845404
For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it, but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife across his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was left alive, infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter.

Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can’t remember, so when her childhood home goes up for sale, Dixie sets aside all reason and moves in, re-creating a macabre decor with her family’s salvaged furniture. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly begin to take up residence in the home that was once theirs, Dixie starts to question her own sanity and wonders if the evil force menacing her is that of her father, or a demon of her own making.

In order to make sense of her present, Dixie becomes determined to unravel the truth of her past and seeks out the detective who originally investigated the murders. But the more she learns, the more she opens up the uncomfortable possibility that the sins of her father may belong to another, and, perhaps most tragically, to Dixie herself. As bodies begin to pile up around her, Dixie must find a way to expose the lunacy behind her family’s massacre and redeem what little remains of her soul.]]> 387 T. Marie Vandelly 1524744700 Jen 5
Theme Music is a perfect example of the power of the bookish community. I never would have picked it up on my own, but it was highly recommended by Emily (book.happy). Now I'm highly recommending it to you!

Review copy provided by publisher]]> 3.73 2019
author: T. Marie Vandelly
name: Jen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/03
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: horror, thriller, thriller-fav
review:
Fans of thrillers and horror pay attention! Theme Music is awesome. It's brutal and it's unreliable, and it's so much fun.

Theme Music is a perfect example of the power of the bookish community. I never would have picked it up on my own, but it was highly recommended by Emily (book.happy). Now I'm highly recommending it to you!

Review copy provided by publisher
]]> 60784373
For decades afterward, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods―no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.]]> 336 Kate Alice Marshall 1250859883 Jen 5 thriller, thriller-fav 3.93 2023
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, thriller-fav
review:
What is this magic?! Full review to come.
]]> 10189558
The narrative that follows is a riveting account of violence, terror, and pursuit set against a credible, immensely detailed rock and roll backdrop. It is also a moving meditation on loyalty and friendship, on the nature and importance of families—those we are born into and those we create for ourselves—and on the redemptive power of the creative spirit. Written with wit, elegance, and passionate conviction, The Five lays claim to new imaginative territory, and reaffirms McCammon’s position as one of the finest, most unpredictable storytellers of our time.]]> 518 Robert McCammon 1596063416 Jen 4 thriller, thriller-fav 3.70 2011
author: Robert McCammon
name: Jen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/28
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, thriller-fav
review:
The Five is a story of good versus evil, light versus dark, family, sacrifice, and the power of music. Great read.
]]> 15844683 Librarian's Note: An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here

Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels?off. As the days pass, Ethan's investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can't he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn't anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact? He may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Intense and gripping, Pines is another masterful thriller from the mind of bestselling novelist Blake Crouch.]]> 320 Blake Crouch Jen 4 thriller, thriller-fav
The beginning of Pines is normal enough. A guy has amnesia after a crash. You get pulled in wondering "Who is he? What's going on?". You know you are in for a bit of a mystery surrounding a strange town, but then Pines quickly becomes a mishmash of a book. It's all over the place, really, but it's intriguing and it's entertaining so you just hang on for the ride.

The most astounding thing to me is the way the ending manages to pull the entire mishmash of a Twilight Zome experience back together into a really solid read.

I was already excited about the TV series (due to M. Night Shyamalan's involvement), but now I can hardly contain myself. I'm a Lostie, and I'm hoping this series is going to fill some of the void.

It's rare that I finish the first book in a series and immediately start reading the next one, but that's exactly what happened when I finished reading Pines. I shouldn't have taken so long to start the series in the first place.]]> 3.93 2012
author: Blake Crouch
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/09
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, thriller-fav
review:
Well, that was a quick and fun read.

The beginning of Pines is normal enough. A guy has amnesia after a crash. You get pulled in wondering "Who is he? What's going on?". You know you are in for a bit of a mystery surrounding a strange town, but then Pines quickly becomes a mishmash of a book. It's all over the place, really, but it's intriguing and it's entertaining so you just hang on for the ride.

The most astounding thing to me is the way the ending manages to pull the entire mishmash of a Twilight Zome experience back together into a really solid read.

I was already excited about the TV series (due to M. Night Shyamalan's involvement), but now I can hardly contain myself. I'm a Lostie, and I'm hoping this series is going to fill some of the void.

It's rare that I finish the first book in a series and immediately start reading the next one, but that's exactly what happened when I finished reading Pines. I shouldn't have taken so long to start the series in the first place.
]]> 42368604
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid's disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building's hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.]]> 368 Riley Sager 1524745146 Jen 4 Thoughts soon 3.94 2019
author: Riley Sager
name: Jen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/21
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, own-audible, thriller-fav
review:
Thoughts soon
]]> 51169341
The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation—but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered—and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases—and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?]]> 341 Megan Goldin 125021968X Jen 4 Trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault.

Oof. This book is a tough one. A tough one to read, a tough one to rate.

The Night Swim is my first book by Megan Goldin and it's expertly crafted. You are following a true crime podcaster who heads to a small town to cover a rape trial. In her podcasting life, she is careful to hide her identity and her face, but someone in this small town knows who she is and needs her help.

The main plot, the subplots, the narrative - they all deal with rape and sexual assault. At one point it literally broke me.

In the beginning of the book, I honestly thought I would give it 2 stars. It's just not subject matter that I want in my entertainment, but as the book went on I got further hooked into Goldin's writing and the way she pieced together the multiple timelines of the rape trial, what happened in the case, and the cold case she's looking into on the side.

I wound up really liking The Night Swim in the end. I give you strong warnings going into this. The rape victims are teenagers and there's a lot of narrative surrounding women, sexual assault, and our legal system.

Review copy provided by publisher]]> 4.02 2020
author: Megan Goldin
name: Jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/24
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: mystery, thriller, review-copy, thriller-fav
review:

Trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault.

Oof. This book is a tough one. A tough one to read, a tough one to rate.

The Night Swim is my first book by Megan Goldin and it's expertly crafted. You are following a true crime podcaster who heads to a small town to cover a rape trial. In her podcasting life, she is careful to hide her identity and her face, but someone in this small town knows who she is and needs her help.

The main plot, the subplots, the narrative - they all deal with rape and sexual assault. At one point it literally broke me.

In the beginning of the book, I honestly thought I would give it 2 stars. It's just not subject matter that I want in my entertainment, but as the book went on I got further hooked into Goldin's writing and the way she pieced together the multiple timelines of the rape trial, what happened in the case, and the cold case she's looking into on the side.

I wound up really liking The Night Swim in the end. I give you strong warnings going into this. The rape victims are teenagers and there's a lot of narrative surrounding women, sexual assault, and our legal system.

Review copy provided by publisher
]]> 57660923 here.

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Provocative and fast-paced, S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.]]> 322 S.A. Cosby 1250252709 Jen 4 4.10 2021
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/16
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, own-audible, thriller-fav
review:

]]> 58371432
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.

They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.]]> 344 Simone St. James 0440000211 Jen 4 3.76 2022
author: Simone St. James
name: Jen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/16
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, horror, thriller-fav
review:

]]> 59808050 The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows��

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.]]> 352 Alice Feeney 1250843936 Jen 4
Daisy Darker is a story like And Then There Were None and Clue where the characters get picked off one by one. This is all in the synopsis so I guess it's okay to also say this in my review. I absolutely loved And Then There Were None, and I enjoyed Daisy Darker, too. In Daisy Darker, the Darker family is reuniting at their family home Seaglass. They are on an island where when the tide comes in there's no way to leave the island for eight hours until the tide goes back out. It's the perfect setting for one of these trapped thriller novels.

I saw someone on Booktube the other day say when a reviewer says they can't really talk about a book because it would be spoilers that means the reviewer didn't actually read the book (lol). That's a weird hot take, and you are just going to have to believe that I read Daisy Darker because this is one of those books that you can't really talk about without spoiling something. Maybe that Booktuber needs to read more thrillers?

If you enjoy messed up family secrets that slowly get revealed over the course of a book, I recommend you give Daisy Darker a try.

I read my first Alice Feeney last year when I read Rock Paper Scissors. I was anxious to read more books by Feeney and was really excited that Daisy Darker was a Book-of-the-Month selection this year and that it was getting such great reviews from readers that I trust. I love Feeney's characters and her twists and her suspense. I find her books impossible to believe, but I have a great time reading them and I don't want to put them down.

Daisy Darker is a thriller, but it's also horror–adjacent. I recommend it to readers like me who love horror and love thrillers and love reading those books that straddle the line as horror-adjacent.

Source: personal purchase. This is a review of my reading experience.]]> 3.75 2022
author: Alice Feeney
name: Jen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/27
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, mystery, thriller-fav
review:
Daisy Darker is a messed up book.

Daisy Darker is a story like And Then There Were None and Clue where the characters get picked off one by one. This is all in the synopsis so I guess it's okay to also say this in my review. I absolutely loved And Then There Were None, and I enjoyed Daisy Darker, too. In Daisy Darker, the Darker family is reuniting at their family home Seaglass. They are on an island where when the tide comes in there's no way to leave the island for eight hours until the tide goes back out. It's the perfect setting for one of these trapped thriller novels.

I saw someone on Booktube the other day say when a reviewer says they can't really talk about a book because it would be spoilers that means the reviewer didn't actually read the book (lol). That's a weird hot take, and you are just going to have to believe that I read Daisy Darker because this is one of those books that you can't really talk about without spoiling something. Maybe that Booktuber needs to read more thrillers?

If you enjoy messed up family secrets that slowly get revealed over the course of a book, I recommend you give Daisy Darker a try.

I read my first Alice Feeney last year when I read Rock Paper Scissors. I was anxious to read more books by Feeney and was really excited that Daisy Darker was a Book-of-the-Month selection this year and that it was getting such great reviews from readers that I trust. I love Feeney's characters and her twists and her suspense. I find her books impossible to believe, but I have a great time reading them and I don't want to put them down.

Daisy Darker is a thriller, but it's also horror–adjacent. I recommend it to readers like me who love horror and love thrillers and love reading those books that straddle the line as horror-adjacent.

Source: personal purchase. This is a review of my reading experience.
]]> 42046112 Memory makes reality.

That's what NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning, as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It's why she's dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

At once a relentless pageturner and an intricate science-fiction puzzlebox about time, identity, and memory, Recursion is a thriller as only Blake Crouch could imagine it—and his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.]]> 326 Blake Crouch 1524759783 Jen 5
I'll be honest - Recursion broke my brain a little, but it sure was fun. If you loved Dark Matter, Recursion is a must read.]]> 4.15 2019
author: Blake Crouch
name: Jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/07/28
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: thriller, science-fiction, scifi-fav
review:
I wasn't sure what I would get with Recursion, but I hoped I would get something similar to Dark Matter. Thankfully my wish was granted! I hope Blake Crouch is able to give us a few more releases in this realm of Quantum Physics. I love it!

I'll be honest - Recursion broke my brain a little, but it sure was fun. If you loved Dark Matter, Recursion is a must read.
]]> 40537082
Who will inherit this new Earth?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age -- a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth? Span]]> 600 Adrian Tchaikovsky 0316452505 Jen 4 hate spiders. But what I do love is reading about alien life forms. That is a favorite thing. There are uplifted (intelligent) spiders in Children of Time, and they are honestly the best story line of the book.

Children of Time also follows a dual timeline of a ship crewed by the last humans.

I originally gave this book 3 stars when I read it back in 2019, but I can't remember why my rating wasn't higher. It has remained with me and I've been wanting to reread it ever since. As per usual when I reread something, I'm upping my rating. Children of Ruin (the sequel to Children of Time) came out a few years ago, but I haven't read it yet. It's been hard for me to read the chunky, epic books that I used to read, but I've made a few changes to my reading life this year that will free up more time for the chunky SFF books I've been missing.

I recently found out the third book (Childen of Memory) will be coming out later this year so this turned out to be perfect timing to jump back into this universe.

The only other book I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky is Walking to Aldebaran which I really enjoyed as well. I'd love to read a lot more of his catalog. I've heard amazing thing about his fantasy novel Guns of the Dawn.

If you haven't read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it sounds like you can really start anywhere with his books, but I do recommend this one if you love science fiction and discovering new species (even if that new species happens to be spiders!).]]> 4.32 2015
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Jen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/04
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: science-fiction, own-audible, own-kindle, series, scifi-fav
review:
So I hate spiders. But what I do love is reading about alien life forms. That is a favorite thing. There are uplifted (intelligent) spiders in Children of Time, and they are honestly the best story line of the book.

Children of Time also follows a dual timeline of a ship crewed by the last humans.

I originally gave this book 3 stars when I read it back in 2019, but I can't remember why my rating wasn't higher. It has remained with me and I've been wanting to reread it ever since. As per usual when I reread something, I'm upping my rating. Children of Ruin (the sequel to Children of Time) came out a few years ago, but I haven't read it yet. It's been hard for me to read the chunky, epic books that I used to read, but I've made a few changes to my reading life this year that will free up more time for the chunky SFF books I've been missing.

I recently found out the third book (Childen of Memory) will be coming out later this year so this turned out to be perfect timing to jump back into this universe.

The only other book I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky is Walking to Aldebaran which I really enjoyed as well. I'd love to read a lot more of his catalog. I've heard amazing thing about his fantasy novel Guns of the Dawn.

If you haven't read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it sounds like you can really start anywhere with his books, but I do recommend this one if you love science fiction and discovering new species (even if that new species happens to be spiders!).
]]> 56222205
In this stunning follow-up to Hollow Kingdom�� and Seattle Times / Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association bestseller�� , the animal kingdom's "favorite apocalyptic hero" is back with a renewed sense of hope for humanity, ready to take on a world ravaged by a viral pandemic (Helen Macdonald).

Once upon an apocalypse, there lived an obscenely handsome American crow named S.T. . . .
��
When the world last checked-in with its favorite Cheeto addict, the planet had been overrun by flesh-hungry beasts, and nature had started re-claiming her territory from humankind. S.T., the intrepid crow, alongside his bloodhound-bestie Dennis, had set about saving pets that had become trapped in their homes after humanity went the way of the dodo.
��
That is, dear reader, until S.T. stumbled upon something so rare—and so precious—that he vowed to do everything in his power to safeguard what could, quite literally, be humanity's last hope for survival. But in a wild world plagued by prejudiced animals, feather-raising environments, new threats so terrifying they make zombies look like baby bunnies, and a horrendous dearth of cheesy snacks, what's a crow to do?
��
Why, wing it on another big-hearted, death-defying adventure, that's what! Joined by a fabulous new cast of animal characters, S.T. faces many new challenges plus his biggest one parenthood.]]> 368 Kira Jane Buxton 1538735245 Jen 5 science-fiction, scifi-fav
Told through the POV of animals in a post-apocalypse trying to save the last human on Earth, Feral Creatures was an absolute joy to read.

Feral Creatures is fantasy, scifi, and horror all rolled into one. It's a rare and beautiful book. The first book in the series Hollow Kingdom was one of my favorite books of 2019, and I have zero doubts Feral Creatures will be in my top books of the year list this year. (I have such a book hangover now!)

If you haven't read Hollow Kingdom, I highly, highly recommend you pick that one up and continue on with Feral Creatures. This series is such a gift!

Review copy provided by publisher]]> 4.05 2021
author: Kira Jane Buxton
name: Jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/07
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: science-fiction, scifi-fav
review:
I laughed, I cried, I fell in love.

Told through the POV of animals in a post-apocalypse trying to save the last human on Earth, Feral Creatures was an absolute joy to read.

Feral Creatures is fantasy, scifi, and horror all rolled into one. It's a rare and beautiful book. The first book in the series Hollow Kingdom was one of my favorite books of 2019, and I have zero doubts Feral Creatures will be in my top books of the year list this year. (I have such a book hangover now!)

If you haven't read Hollow Kingdom, I highly, highly recommend you pick that one up and continue on with Feral Creatures. This series is such a gift!

Review copy provided by publisher
]]> 48848254 A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it--a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.

CARA IS DEAD ON THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR WORLDS.

The multiverse business is booming, but there's just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive.

Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying--from diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn't outrun.

But on this earth, Cara's survived. And she's reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID'd her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she's got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend she's always lived in the city she grew up staring at from the outside, even if she feels like a fraud on either side of its walls.

But when one of her eight remaining doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined--and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.]]> 329 Micaiah Johnson 0593135059 Jen 5 science-fiction, scifi-fav
The Space Between Worlds is a multiverse story. In this reality, they have discovered a way to travel between the dimensions, but you can only travel to a world where you have died and therefore do not exist. There are so many things that make this a great novel! I flew through it in just a couple of days.

This book is perfect for fans of Blake Crouch's Recursion. I was excited to see it rank so highly in the ŷ������ Choice Awards. It got my vote!]]> 3.84 2020
author: Micaiah Johnson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/22
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: science-fiction, scifi-fav
review:
I read The Space Between Worlds over my Thanksgiving break, and I can't believe I haven't taken the time to post a review for it yet. It's without a doubt going to wind up on my best of the year list. I can't believe this is a debut! I'm excited to see what Micaiah Johnson comes up with next.

The Space Between Worlds is a multiverse story. In this reality, they have discovered a way to travel between the dimensions, but you can only travel to a world where you have died and therefore do not exist. There are so many things that make this a great novel! I flew through it in just a couple of days.

This book is perfect for fans of Blake Crouch's Recursion. I was excited to see it rank so highly in the ŷ������ Choice Awards. It got my vote!
]]> 55003957 In this apocalyptic adventure C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.

It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .

It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic.��His��box. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.

As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity—their creators—unify and revolt.

But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.]]> 304 C. Robert Cargill 0062405802 Jen 5
Day Zero was so touching! I was not expecting a book with so much heart! I loved following a young protagonist and his AI nanny. I also loved seeing the AI uprising from this perspective.

I'm sure you can read this without reading Sea of Rust first, but I did love the "prequel" perspective.

4.5 stars]]> 3.95 2021
author: C. Robert Cargill
name: Jen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/16
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: science-fiction, own-audible, scifi-fav
review:
I am such a fan of C. Robert Cargill - both books and movies. I really enjoyed Sea of Rust so I was excited to return to that world.

Day Zero was so touching! I was not expecting a book with so much heart! I loved following a young protagonist and his AI nanny. I also loved seeing the AI uprising from this perspective.

I'm sure you can read this without reading Sea of Rust first, but I did love the "prequel" perspective.

4.5 stars
]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Jen 5 Why did I read Project Hail Mary?

Andy Weir. I loved The Martian - I did not love Artemis. I was anxious to see where I would fall with Project Hail Mary.

The Strengths

I love these types of stories so much! I love going to other worlds and meeting alien species. It was incredible to spend time in this book. So. Much. Science.

The Weaknesses

I originally gave this book 4 stars, but two months later I can't remember why. What I do remember is this is one of my favorite books so far this year. (So I'm just going to correct that rating up to 5 now.)

Final Thoughts

More books like this one, please!]]> 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: Jen
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/29
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: science-fiction, own-audible, scifi-fav
review:
Why did I read Project Hail Mary?

Andy Weir. I loved The Martian - I did not love Artemis. I was anxious to see where I would fall with Project Hail Mary.

The Strengths

I love these types of stories so much! I love going to other worlds and meeting alien species. It was incredible to spend time in this book. So. Much. Science.

The Weaknesses

I originally gave this book 4 stars, but two months later I can't remember why. What I do remember is this is one of my favorite books so far this year. (So I'm just going to correct that rating up to 5 now.)

Final Thoughts

More books like this one, please!
]]>