Marilyn's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 09 Feb 2024 05:56:50 -0800 60 Marilyn's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping]]> 182484370
Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she ( slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Aunt Jasmine run an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep the talking fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost.

When she learns about an old spellbook that holds the secret to restoring her power, she turns to Luke Larsen, a gorgeous historian who might just be able to help her unlock the book’s mysteries. Luke, who has his own reasons for staying at the inn, never planned on getting involved in the madcap goings-on around him and certainly had no intention of letting certain grumpy innkeepers past his icy walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he not only agrees to help, but also finds himself thawing .

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone... and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.]]> 352 Sangu Mandanna 0593439376 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.60 2025 A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Emperor and the Endless Palace]]> 146145975 “What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?�

In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue.

In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead.

And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before.

Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.

As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love—a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both.

An unpredictable roller coaster of a debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a genre-bending romantasy that challenges everything we think we know about true love.]]> 312 Justinian Huang 0778305236 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.48 2024 The Emperor and the Endless Palace
author: Justinian Huang
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)]]> 194036469
For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at the store is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including DallerGut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.]]> 243 Lee Mi-ye 1035412748 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.65 2020 DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)
author: Lee Mi-ye
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Snowglobe (Snowglobe Duology, #1)]]> 171681724
Enclosed under a vast dome, Snowglobe is the last place on Earth that’s warm. Outside Snowglobe is a frozen wasteland, and every day, citizens face the icy world to get to their jobs at the power plant, where they produce the energy Snowglobe needs. Their only solace comes in the form of twenty-four-hour television programming streamed directly from the domed city.

The residents of Snowglobe have fame, fortune, and above all, safety from the desolation outside their walls. In exchange, their lives are broadcast to the less fortunate outside, who watch eagerly, hoping for the chance to one day become actors themselves.

Chobahm lives for the time she spends watching the shows produced inside Snowglobe. Her favorite? Goh Around, starringĚýGoh Haeri, Snowglobe’s biggest star—and, it turns out, the key to getting Chobahm her dream life.

Because Haeri is dead, and Chobahm has been chosen to take her place. Only, life inside Snowglobe is nothing like what you see on television. Reality is a lie, and truth seems to be forever out of reach.

Translated for the first time into English from the original Korean.]]> 384 Soyoung Park 0593484975 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.58 2020 Snowglobe (Snowglobe Duology, #1)
author: Soyoung Park
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/05
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]]> The Surviving Sky (Rages, #1) 62336352
High above a jungle-planet float the last refuges of humanity—plant-made civilizations held together by tradition, technology, and arcane science. Here, architects are revered deeply, with humanity’s survival reliant on a privileged few. If not for their abilities, the cities would plunge into the devastating earthrage storms below.

Charismatic and powerful, Iravan is one such architect. His abilities are his identity, but to Ahilya, his archeologist wife, they are a method to suppress non-architects. Their marriage is thorny and fraught—yet when a jungle expedition goes terribly wrong, jeopardizing their careers, Ahilya and Iravan must work together to save their reputations. But as their city begins to plummet, their discoveries threaten not only their marriage, but their entire civilization.]]> 512 Kritika H. Rao Marilyn 0 to-read 3.66 2023 The Surviving Sky (Rages, #1)
author: Kritika H. Rao
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/03
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]]> The Cruel Dark 199263528 Millicent Foxboro is haunted.

Not by ghosts but by the anguish of her past and the uncertainty of her future. After all, even in the progressive year of 1928, most people would balk at hiring a woman who’d spent two months in a mental ward for traumatic amnesia. So when an uncommon assistantship to a reclusive Professor of mythology falls into her lap with an ungodly salary attached, her desperation for stability overrides her cautious nature.

To Millie’s dismay, the widowed Professor Callum Hughes and his estate, Willowfield, are more than she bargained for. The once magnificent home, known for its sprawling gardens and dazzling parties, is falling to pieces after the death of the professor’s fragile wife. What’s more, the staff has been reduced to the only three people not frightened away by rumors of ghosts, leaving the halls empty and languishing in bitter memories.

The professor himself is a grim, intense man with unclear expectations, unpredictable moods, and hungry eyes that ignite Millie’s own dormant passions. The closer she finds herself drawn to Professor Hughes and his strange world of flowers and folklore, the more the house closes in, threatening to reveal her secrets. But the professor is keeping secrets of his own and the most dangerous of all is hers to discover.]]> 226 Bea Northwick Marilyn 0 to-read 3.96 2023 The Cruel Dark
author: Bea Northwick
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> Island Rule 176444102 From the author of The Companions, a genre-bending collection of interconnected short stories in the tradition of Jennifer Egan and Karen Russell

An angry mother turns into a literal monster. A company in San Francisco can scrub your entire reputation and create a new one…for a price. A failed actor on a reality show turns into an unlikely world savior. And much more. Through twelve interconnected stories, Katie Flynn masterfully blends people, places, and even realities.]]> 288 Katie M. Flynn 198212220X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.40 2024 Island Rule
author: Katie M. Flynn
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Prophecy (War Arts, #1)]]> 90590091
But this is not that kind of story.

It does begin with a prophecy: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom.

And that prophecy did anoint a hero, Jian, raised since birth in luxury and splendor, and celebrated before he has won a single battle.

But that’s when the story hits its first twist: The prophecy was wrong.

What follows is a story more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee, and with many unexpected heroes: Taishi, an older woman who is the greatest grandmaster of magical martial arts in the kingdom but who thought her adventuring days were all behind her; Sali, a straitlaced warrior who learns the rules may no longer apply when the leader she pledged her life to is gone; and Qisami, a chaotic assassin who takes a little too much pleasure in the kill.

And Jian himself, who has to find a way to become what he no longer believes he can be—a hero after all.]]> 560 Wesley Chu 059323765X Marilyn 0 to-read 4.07 2022 The Art of Prophecy (War Arts, #1)
author: Wesley Chu
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (The Celestial Kingdom, #2.5)]]> 150351878 Sue Lynn Tan’s highly acclaimed, bestselling Celestial Kingdom duology is expanded with this new compilation of stories from before, during, and after the events in Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior, all from the perspectives of beloved characters and illustrated by Kelly Chong.

Return to the Immortal Realm, a world of gods, magic, and legendary creatures—and embark upon new adventures of valor, danger, and love.

Tales from the Celestial Kingdom collects nine spellbinding stories—two previously published, seven original, including the epilogue to the duology—set in the enchanting world of Sue Lynn Tan’s stunning debut. Filled with magic and mythology, friendship and love, these stories intertwine through the past, present, and future of the two novels, told from the perspectives of multiple characters, including Chang’e, Shuxiao, Liwei, and Wenzhi.

With beautiful illustrations from Kelly Chong throughout, these wondrous tales make the perfect complement to Sue Lynn Tan’s breathtaking series.]]> 153 Sue Lynn Tan 0063326698 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.07 2024 Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (The Celestial Kingdom, #2.5)
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> Meant to Be 34019142
Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged.

When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?]]> 384 Emily Giffin 0425286665 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.98 2022 Meant to Be
author: Emily Giffin
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woodkin (Large Print Edition)]]> 123498503 On the trail, anything can happen.

After secrets and betrayal shatter his marriage, Josh Mallory seeks solace on the Pacific Crest Trail, in the mountains of Washington. On the trail, he’s just another hiker. On the trail, he can outrun the memories. But this backpacking trip swiftly turns grisly when he comes across the body of another hiker who seems to have fallen to his death.

Josh is forced to detour through a small mountain town, where missing hiker posters flutter in the windows, and residents show no interest in hearing about the dead hiker. Unease that something is not quite right chases him back to the trail. But night falls too quickly and in his haste to get away, he becomes trapped on a mountain ridge beneath the light of a full moon. Feeling more and more uneasy, Josh soon realizes that he may not be alone on the mountain, and begins to fear that, like the missing hikers, he won’t make it out alive.]]> 408 Alexander James Marilyn 0 to-read 3.57 2023 The Woodkin (Large Print Edition)
author: Alexander James
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/01
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]]> Lay Your Body Down 58311946
When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church—and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin—has grown not only in size but in influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed “Noble Wife� positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church’s lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars—even if it means confronting the religious trauma she’s spent years trying to bury.]]> 352 Amy Suiter Clarke 0358418313 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.56 2023 Lay Your Body Down
author: Amy Suiter Clarke
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Island of Lost Girls 62645212 Sun-drenched glamour and obscene wealth hide evil secrets in this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller about money, corruption, power and lost innocence from “one of crime fiction's brightest stars� (Megan Abbott), the Edgar and Macavity Award-winning author of The Wicked Girls and The Killer Next Door.

It's paradise for the super-rich, but hell for the girls whose lives they've stolen.

1985

To twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is home, an island with deep-rooted traditions untouched by the modern world. But this secluded paradise is upended with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his pampered young daughter, Tatiana. While the Meades lavishly spread unimaginable wealth around La Kastellana, the price Mercedes and the rest of the islanders will pay is more than they could ever have imagined.

2016

Robin has been desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who’s been missing for more than a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, an island playground for the international jet set, Robin quickly realizes she’s out of her depth. No one is willing to help and Robin fears she’s running out of time to find her child.

But someone has been watching, silently waiting for the moment to expose the dark truth of what really happens on the island of lost girls.]]> 480 Alex Marwood 0063282232 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.37 2022 The Island of Lost Girls
author: Alex Marwood
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Wild One 62645175
For over a decade she’s been hiding a dark secret—a secret that goes back to that summer at Camp Catalpa when a man died in the woods. Fellow campers Catherine and Meg were there, too, and in the years since, not one of them has ever spoken about what happened that day. Until Amanda slips up—and the truth threatens to explode the tightly controlled façade of her life.

When her past begins to poison her present, Amanda has no one to turn to except the two women who know her most monstrous self. Reuniting with Catherine and Meg one last time, Amanda is desperate to put the demons of that twisted summer to rest. But when trusting anyone, even one another, starts to feel like a wildly risky proposition, just how far will these three go to keep the truth from emerging—and their lives from unraveling?]]> 256 Colleen McKeegan 0063061813 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.41 2022 The Wild One
author: Colleen McKeegan
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Trade Off 61884905
For Stella, deputy editor of The Globe , the choice has always been clear. It doesn’t matter how low she has to stoop―getting the best story is what she’s built her reputation on.

For Jess, The Globe ’s rookie reporter, the story stops when the truth does. But she knows that the dirty tricks of the tabloids will be hard to overturn.

And when a celebrity is hounded by The Globe and pays the ultimate price, Jess wonders just how much Stella and the paper are responsible.

Determined to show the world what the tabloid is capable of, Jess will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, but she needs to watch her back, because someone else is prepared to kill to bury it.

RISK or REWARD. JUSTICE or REVENGE. INNOCENCE or GUILT.]]> 304 Sandie Jones 125083693X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.22 2023 The Trade Off
author: Sandie Jones
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Other Mistress 62921911 “Shanora Williams expertly drops hints and clues as she spins and twists this psychological thriller, leaving the reader gasping for breath and racing to get to the explosive end.� —Darby Kane, international bestselling author of Pretty Little Wife

Perfect for fans of Jeneva Rose and Charlie Donlea, the chilling new book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Before is an insidiously sexy and twisty novel of seduction, betrayal, and obsession about the increasingly dangerous alliance between a betrayed wife and the Other Mistress.

Adira Smith-Cortez knows how to turn around a troubled past. Now she’s a self-made multi-millionaire who takes exquisite care of herself and her only true love: her husband, Gabriel. Adira has it all—except the answer to one tormenting question: why is attentive, affectionate Gabriel cheating on her with not just one, but two women. There’s sexy Jocelyn, a club owner. And then there’s Julianna, a celebrity makeup artist he’s even crazier about. In a tricky twist, vengeful Jocelyn offers Adira the perfect plan to get her straying spouse back . . .

It sounds simple: Adira will befriend Julianna through a fake identity, play on her and Gabriel’s vulnerabilities and cause them to split up permanently. Determined to reclaim her happiness, Adira won’tâ€�ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t—stop to think what could possibly go wrong . . .

Until too many of Gabriel’s lies start adding up to a disquieting truth. Until Julianna discovers who Adira really is—and Jocelyn pushes Adira to ever-more-unthinkable extremes. With her world collapsing and shattering memories tearing her apart, how far will Adira’s obsession take her—and how much of herself is she willing to lose in the process . . .

“Fans of The Wife Between Us, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, won’t be able to put this one down.� �Booklist

“An intriguing story that leaves you guessing just how far these women will go to get what they want. There's plenty of drama and spice to go around with this one!� —Shelly Ellis, author of The Three Mrs. Greys]]> 276 Shanora Williams 1496731123 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.42 2023 The Other Mistress
author: Shanora Williams
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> Beneath Cruel Waters 124006825 294 Jon Bassoff Marilyn 0 to-read 3.62 2022 Beneath Cruel Waters
author: Jon Bassoff
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Moonshine Messiah: A Mountaineer Mystery]]> 152019421
Twenty years earlier, Patrick was Mary Beth's high school sweetheart, but they broke up because Mary Beth couldn't cut the loose ties she maintains with her villainous family. Now Patrick's worked out a deal to wipe Mary Beth's slate clean if she'll just arrest her brother, Sawyer, who is the cult leader of a booming anti-government militia that's been giving the Feds headaches. It's an offer Mary Beth refuses until Sawyer's followers blow up a federal courthouse and G-men start swarming into town, preparing for a siege of the commando's compound.

Suddenly Mary Beth is tasked with trying to head off a bloody, Waco-style massacre and the question isn't whether she should arrest her brother, but if she can do it in time.]]> 310 Russell W. Johnson Marilyn 0 to-read 4.14 2023 The Moonshine Messiah: A Mountaineer Mystery
author: Russell W. Johnson
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> Valley of Refuge 65214053
What would you do if you. . .

. . .were offered an obscene amount of money for your family's ancestral land? For Nalani and her mother, the money that could change their lives―at the sacrifice of everything they believe―is a double edged blade, and they're not sure they can trust the secretive tech billionaire holding it out to them as if it were an olive branch. But what happens when a man with unlimited wealth is given an answer he doesn't want to hear?

. . .woke up on a plane en route to a tiny Hawaiian island, with no memory of who you are or why you're there? Janice, whose only clues are the passport in her pocket, and a locked phone with increasingly alarming text alerts about a situation she may or may not be part of, barely knows where to start. Navigating an unfamiliar place, and her own unfamiliar mind, Janice seeks to discover who she is, and answer the question of why she is here, and exactly whose side is she on?

As plans are set in motion that carry them down dangerous and unexpected paths, all involved must decide just how far they are willing to go to reach their goals, before turning back is no longer an option.]]> 368 John Teschner 1250827353 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.24 2023 Valley of Refuge
author: John Teschner
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Ferryman 61282437 New York Times bestselling author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where the truth isn't what it seems.

Founded by a mysterious genius, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera's lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process--and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he's been dreaming--which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group--known as "Arrivalists"--who may be fomenting revolution.

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized--and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.]]> 538 Justin Cronin 052561947X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.86 2023 The Ferryman
author: Justin Cronin
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (Millennium, #7)]]> 75523433 Lisbeth Salander returns, in a trailblazing new installment to the best-selling Millennium series.

Change is coming to Sweden’s far north: its untapped natural resources are sparking a gold rush with the criminal underworld leading the charge. But it’s not the prospect of riches that brings Lisbeth Salander to the small town of Gasskas. She has been named guardian to her niece Svala, whose mother has disappeared. Two things soon become clear: Svala is a remarkably gifted teenager—and she’s being watched.

Mikael Blomkvist is also heading north. He has seen better days. Millennium magazine is in its final print issue, and relations with his daughter are strained. Worse still, there are troubling rumors surrounding the man she’s about to marry. When the truth behind the whispers explodes into violence, Salander emerges as Blomkvist’s last hope.

A pulse-pounding thriller, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons sees Salander and Blomkvist navigating a world of conspiracy and betrayal, old enemies and new friends, ice-bound wilderness and the global corporations that threaten to tear it apart.]]> 368 Karin Smirnoff 059353669X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.29 2022 The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (Millennium, #7)
author: Karin Smirnoff
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Night It Ended 62805381 Finding the truth seems impossible when her own dark past has her seeing lies everywhere she looks�

From the outside, criminalĚýpsychiatristĚýDr. Madeline Pine’s life appears picture-perfect—she has a beautiful family, a successful mental health practice and a growing reputation as an expert in female violence. But when she's called to help investigate a mysterious death at a boarding school for troubled girls, Madeline hesitates. She’s been through tragic cases before, and the one she was entangled in last year nearly destroyed herâ€�

Yet she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t turn away when she hears about Charlie Ridley. After the girl was found shoeless and in pajamas at the bottom of an icy ravine on campus, the police ruled it a tragic accident. But the private investigator hired by her mother has his doubts. If it were Madeline’s daughter who died, she’d want to know why.

Arriving at the secluded campus in upstate New York, Madeline’s met by an unhelpful skeleton staff and the four other students still on campus during winter break. Each seems to hold a piece of the puzzle. And everyone has secrets—Madeline included. But who would kill to protect them?

]]> 416 Katie Garner 0778334457 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.48 2023 The Night It Ended
author: Katie Garner
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> Look Closer 123018679 479 David Ellis 0425280861 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.27 2022 Look Closer
author: David Ellis
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Secrets We Share 142607114
At first glance, Natalie Cavanaugh and Glenn Abbott hardly look like sisters. Even off-duty, Natalie dresses like a Boston cop, preferring practical clothes and unfussy hair. Her younger sister, Glenn, seems tailor-made for the spotlight, from her signature red mane to her camera-ready smile. Glenn has spent years cultivating her brand through her baking blog, and that hard work seems about to pay off. But her fans have no idea about the nightmare in Glenn and Natalie’s past.

Twenty years ago, their father’s body was discovered in the woods behind their house. A trauma like that doesn’t fit with Glenn’s public image. Yet maybe someone reading her blog does know something. There have been anonymous online messages, vague yet ominous, hinting that she’s being watched. And with unsettling coincidences hitting ever closer to home, both Glenn and Natalie soon have more pressing matters to worry about, especially when a dead body is found in an abandoned building . . .


Natalie is starting to wonder how much Glenn really knows about the people closest to her. But are there also secrets Natalie has yet to uncover about those she herself trusts? About their father. About their neighbors. About her friends. Maybe even about herself. But there are no secrets between sisters . . . are there?]]> 330 Edwin Hill 1496735420 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.74 2022 The Secrets We Share
author: Edwin Hill
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> A Twisted Love Story 52379875 From the bestselling author of My Lovely Wife comes a reckless, delicious thriller about a young couple that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They've never felt anything like it. It's the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy--and she's a detective.

There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about--in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything--even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…]]> 390 Samantha Downing 0593101006 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.19 2023 A Twisted Love Story
author: Samantha Downing
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Two Nights in Lisbon 61885174
You think you know a person . . .

Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon alone. Her husband is gone―no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong.

She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, each time confronting questions she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t fully What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new―and much younger―husband?

The clock is ticking. Ariel is increasingly frustrated and desperate, running out of time, and the one person in the world who can help is the person she least wants to ask.

Bestselling author Chris Pavone delivers sparkling prose and razor-sharp insights in this stunning and sophisticated thriller. Two Nights in Lisbon will stick with you long after the surprising final page.]]> 448 Chris Pavone 1250872308 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.58 2022 Two Nights in Lisbon
author: Chris Pavone
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Mrs. Plansky's Revenge 61884949
One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges―after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you� for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she's counting.

By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta's life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim.

In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back―and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.]]> 304 Spencer Quinn 1250843332 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.62 2023 Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
author: Spencer Quinn
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Mister Magic 63331415 Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show—and discover the secret of its enigmatic host—in this dark supernatural thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.

But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.

Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since.

After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Because magic never forgets the taste of your friendship. . . .]]> 295 Kiersten White 0593359267 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.55 2023 Mister Magic
author: Kiersten White
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Chateau 62919401
Welcome to picturesque Provence, where the Lady of the Chateau, Séraphine Demargelasse, has opened its elegant doors to her granddaughter Darcy and three friends. Twenty years earlier, the four girlfriends studied abroad together in France and visited the old woman on the weekends, creating the group’s deep bond. But why this sudden invitation?

Amid winery tours, market visits, and fancy dinners overlooking olive groves and lavender fields, it becomes clear that each woman has a hidden reason for accepting the invitation. Then, after a wild evening’s celebration, Séraphine is found brutally murdered.

As the women search for answers to this shocking crime, fingers begin pointing and a sinister Instagram account pops up, exposing snapshots from the friends� intimate moments at the chateau, while threatening to reveal more.

As they race to uncover who murdered Séraphine and is now stalking them, they learn the chateau houses many secrets…several worth killing for.]]> 336 Jaclyn Goldis 1668013010 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.47 2023 The Chateau
author: Jaclyn Goldis
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Things We Do in the Dark 61885100 Things We Do in the Dark is a brilliant new thriller from Jennifer Hillier, the award-winning author of the breakout novels Little Secrets and Jar of Hearts. Paris Peralta is suspected of killing her celebrity husband, and her long-hidden past now threatens to destroy her future.

When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she'll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it's not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it's only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future.

Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby Reyes, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that riveted Canada in the early nineties. Reyes knows who Paris really is, and when she's unexpectedly released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris's secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally confront the dark past she escaped, once and for all.

Because the only thing worse than a murder charge are two murder charges.]]> 368 Jennifer Hillier 1250889685 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.89 2022 Things We Do in the Dark
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Delicate Condition 62976325 The Push meets The Silent Patient in a gripping thriller that follows a woman convinced a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens—while the men in her life refuse to believe a word she says.

Anna Alcott is desperate to be pregnant. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life with a grueling IVF journey, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments get swapped without her knowledge. And even when she finally manages to get pregnant, not even her husband is willing to believe that someone's playing a twisted game with her.

When the increasingly cryptic threats drive her out of her Brooklyn brownstone and into hiding in the cold, gray ghost town that is the Hamptons in the depths of winter, Anna is almost at the end of her rope.

Then her doctor tells her she's had a miscarriage—except Anna's convinced she's still pregnant, despite everything the grave-faced men around her claim. Could it be that her mind is playing tricks on her? Or is something more sinister at play? As her symptoms become ever more horrifying and the sense of danger ever more present, Anna can't help but wonder what exactly she's carrying inside of her...and why no one will listen when she says something is horribly, painfully wrong.]]> 432 Danielle Valentine 1728276888 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.61 2023 Delicate Condition
author: Danielle Valentine
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The September House 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]> 352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Centre 68005500 A darkly comic, boundary-pushing debut following an adrift Pakistani translator in London who attends a mysterious language school which boasts complete fluency in just ten days, but at a secret, sinister cost.

Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of â€great works of literatureâ€�, but instead mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood films in her flat in London while living off her parentsâ€� generous allowance and discussing the â€underside of lifeâ€� with her best friend, Naima. Then she meets Adam, who has successfully leveraged his savant-level aptitude for languages into an enviable career. At first, this only adds to her sense of inadequacy, but when Adam learns to speak Urdu with native fluency practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.

Adam tells Anisa about the Centre, an elite, invite-only program that guarantees absolute fluency in any language in just ten days. Sceptical but intrigued, Anisa enrols. Stripped of her belongings and all contact with the outside world, she undergoes the Centre's strange and rigorous processes. But as she enmeshes herself further within the organisation, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the disturbing, hidden cost of its services.

By turns dark, funny, and surreal, and with twists page-turning and shocking, The Centre takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London, and New Delhi, interrogating the sticky politics of language, translation, and appropriation with biting specificity, and ultimately asking: what price would you be willing to pay for success?]]> 288 Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi Marilyn 0 to-read 3.37 2023 The Centre
author: Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Aurora 62558776 304 David Koepp 0062916483 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.67 2022 Aurora
author: David Koepp
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> The Haunting of Alejandra 61641079 A woman is haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona as she unravels the dark secrets of her family history in this ravishing and provocative horror novel.

Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. To her own adoptive mother, she is a daughter. But they cannot see who Alejandra has become: a woman struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her.

Nor can they see what Alejandra sees. In times of despair, a ghostly vision appears to her, the apparition of a crying woman in a ragged white gown.

When Alejandra visits a therapist, she begins exploring her family’s history, starting with the biological mother she never knew. As she goes deeper into the lives of the women in her family, she learns that heartbreak and tragedy are not the only things she has in common with her ancestors.

Because the crying woman was with them, too. She is La Llorona, the vengeful and murderous mother of Mexican legend. And she will not leave until Alejandra follows her mother, her grandmother, and all the women who came before her into the darkness.

But Alejandra has inherited more than just pain. She has inherited the strength and the courage of her foremothers—and she will have to summon everything they have given her to banish La Llorona forever.]]> 272 V. Castro 0593499697 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.63 2023 The Haunting of Alejandra
author: V. Castro
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird]]> 62919399 A collection of nineteen dark, wildly imaginative short stories from the author of the award-winning TikTok sensation Tender Is the Flesh.

From celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of nineteen brutal, darkly funny short stories takes into our deepest fears and through our most disturbing fantasies. Through stories about violence, alienation, and dystopia, Bazterrica’s vision of the human experience emerges in complex, unexpected ways—often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound. In “Roberto,� a girl claims to have a rabbit between her legs. A woman’s neighbor jumps to his death in “A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound,� and in “Candy Pink,� a woman fails to contend with a difficult breakup in five easy steps.

Written in Bazterrica’s signature clever, vivid style, these stories question love, friendship, family relationships, and unspeakable desires.]]> 154 Agustina Bazterrica 1668012669 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.11 2020 Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> Black River Orchard 75352300 A small town is transformed by dark magic when a strange tree begins bearing magical apples in this new masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something else is changing in the town besides the season.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: Strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker.

This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples� and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?

And even if buried in the orchard is something else besides the seeds of this extraordinary tree: a bloody history whose roots reach back the very origins of the town.

But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. And a stranger has come to town, a stranger who knows Harrow’s secrets. Because it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.]]> 640 Chuck Wendig 0593158741 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.08 2023 Black River Orchard
author: Chuck Wendig
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Herc 91274442
Well, it’s not.

This is the story of everyone else:

Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere)

Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends)

Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage)

Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (Definitely did not hide in a jar)

His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims.

It’s time to hear their stories.

Told with humour and heart, Herc gives voice to the silenced characters, in this feminist, queer (and sometimes shocking) retelling of classic Hercules myth.

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Joanne M. Harris.]]> 384 Phoenicia Rogerson 1335016775 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.51 2023 Herc
author: Phoenicia Rogerson
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Battery Life 122477164 391 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.32 2023 Battery Life
author: Brennan Gilpatrick; Gregory Lang
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Soul Scepter 123248600 Medieval Time Travel...
Modern Militants...
Young Love...
“For anyone looking for a unique and intelligent adventure.”�—Historical Fiction Company
"A heck of a lot of fun."Ěý—Readers' Favorite

Will Donovan’s life is turned upside down when he discovers his family’s connection to a mysterious scepter. As the son of an infamous terrorist, the 16-year-old grew up bullied, shamed, and yearning for a life away from a dark reputation. Meanwhile, people seeking power have been monitoring him for years.

A militant organization attacks Will’s friends, sending him, a girl named Celeste, and their assailants time-traveling to medieval England. As a cunning modern-military commander plots a global conquest to rewrite history, Will and Celeste struggle to navigate the perils of 1345 while being hunted by the modern men.

With every heartbeat, the stakes grow higher as Will races against time to avert disaster—a challenge made more complicated by his growing feelings for Celeste and his uncanny link to the Soul Scepter.

]]> 394 Eric Westergard Marilyn 0 to-read 4.21 Soul Scepter
author: Eric Westergard
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.21
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]]> The Glass Hotel 51578488
High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis's billion-dollar business is really nothing more than a game of smoke and mirrors. When his scheme collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: A woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.

In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.]]> 320 Emily St. John Mandel 052556294X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.74 2020 The Glass Hotel
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> The Infinite Miles 122478081 318 Hannah Fergesen Marilyn 0 to-read 3.49 2023 The Infinite Miles
author: Hannah Fergesen
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Fault 86242424 A monster.
A ship crewed by the damned.

The Thing swam out of the magma in the Earth’s core and clawed its way up through the San Andreas Fault on the night that a chunk of the California coast sank into the Pacific. Millions died, including the two children of Lucille 'Ceely' Bennett, an accomplished engineer stranded in rural Montana when the cataclysm occurred. Ceely builds a submarine, complete with mechanical arms and a set of harpoons -the biggest on the market- with the intention of going down among the ruins of Los Angeles to collect her daughters' bodies. A mother's love and fury drive her to hunt the creature across oceans and decades in this tale of grief and revenge.
This story explores the darkest side of unconditional love in a cerebral and unconventional take on the horror genre.]]> 396 Lumen Reese 1952373123 Marilyn 0 to-read 2.92 2023 Fault
author: Lumen Reese
name: Marilyn
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Citadel 59070304
Or at least, that's what everyone's been told.

When Olivia, a nonverbal autistic nineteen-year-old, has a chance run-in with a demon, she realizes that these beings are not vicious, animals, or unholy, but sentient people. Forever scarred by her mother's legally sanctioned murder, and determined to prevent either side from losing more loved ones, Olivia embarks on a hazardous journey into the Flooded Forest where she faces flesh-eating predators, telekinetic zealot-warriors, and the demons of her own past.

Olivia's quest for answers forces her to decide to either seek justice for both sides, or continue the cycle of war, revenge, and death.]]> 350 C.M. Alongi Marilyn 0 to-read 4.28 2023 Citadel
author: C.M. Alongi
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, 1)]]> 53968569 Ěý
At first, people gazed in wonder at the radiant tear in the sky. A year later, the celestial marvel became a planetary crisis when Earth spun through the comet’s debris field and the sky rained fire.

The town of Northfall, Minnesota will never be the same. Meteors cratered hardwood forests and annihilated homes, and among the wreckage a new metal was discovered. This “omnimetal� has properties that make it world-changing as an energy source…and a weapon.

John Frontier—the troubled scion of an iron-ore dynasty in Northfall—returns for his sister’s wedding to find his family embroiled in a cutthroat war to control mineral rights and mining operations. His father rightly suspects foreign leaders and competing corporations of sabotage, but the greatest threat to his legacy might be the US government. Physicist Victoria Lennon was recruited by the Department of Defense to research omnimetal, but she finds herself trapped in a laboratory of nightmares. And across town, a rookie cop is investigating a murder that puts her own life in the crosshairs. She will have to compromise her moral code to bring justice to this now lawless community.

In this gut-punch of a novel, the first in his Comet Cycle, Ben Percy lays bare how a modern-day goldrush has turned the middle of nowhere into the center of everything, and how one family—the Frontiers—hopes to control it all.]]> 304 Benjamin Percy 1328544869 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.69 2021 The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, 1)
author: Benjamin Percy
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Above the Ether 43252696 Station Eleven and Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood.

In this prequel to Eric Barnes's acclaimed cli-fi novel The City Where We Once Lived, six sets of characters move through a landscape and a country just beginning to show the signs of cataclysmic change.

A father and his young children fleeing a tsunami after a massive earthquake in the Gulf. A woman and her husband punishing themselves without relent for the loss of both their sons to addiction, while wildfires slowly burn closer to their family home. A brilliant investor, assessing opportunity in the risk to crops, homes, cities, industries, and infrastructure, working in the silent comfort of her office sixty floors up in the scorching air. A doctor and his wife stuck in a refugee camp for immigrants somewhere in a southern desert. Two young men working the rides for a roadside carnival, one escaping a brutal past, the other a racist present. The manager of a chain of nondescript fast-food restaurants in a city ravaged by the relentless wind.

While every night the news alternates images of tsunami destruction with the baseball scores, the characters converge on a city where the forces of change have already broken—a city half abandoned, with one part left to be scavenged as the levee system protecting it slowly fails—until, in their vehicles on the highway that runs through it, they witness the approach of what looks to be just one more violent storm.]]> 240 Eric Barnes 1628729988 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.50 2019 Above the Ether
author: Eric Barnes
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> The Mountain in the Sea 63233677 Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.

Rumors begin to spread of a dangerous species of hyperintelligent octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed off the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, from the rest of world. Dr. Nguyen travels to the islands to join DIANIMA’s team: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses� advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. Or what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.]]> 452 Ray Nayler 1250872278 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.80 2022 The Mountain in the Sea
author: Ray Nayler
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Semiosis (Semiosis, #1) 35018907 In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance.

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.

Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.]]> 333 Sue Burke 076539135X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.85 2018 Semiosis (Semiosis, #1)
author: Sue Burke
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)]]> 40959753 They call him father, liberator, warlord, Slave King, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the war-torn planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-third of his life.

A decade ago Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk all he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow's to change his fate forever:

A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp, and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.

An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy--or pay with his life.

And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the Sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe. Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.]]> 601 Pierce Brown 0425285936 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.26 2018 Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Light Bringer (Red Rising #6) 61423693 Darrow returns as Pierce Brown’s New York Times bestselling Red Rising series continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Age.

�The measure of a man is not the fear he sows in his enemies. It is the hope he gives his friends.”—Virginia au Augustus

The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains.

But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.

The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow. Because after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.]]> 683 Pierce Brown 0425285979 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.76 2023 Light Bringer (Red Rising #6)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Barbarian's Mate (Ice Planet Barbarians, #6)]]> 63249841
Josie has always dreamed of finding The One, but the hunter chosen for her is nothing like what she expected (or wanted)—but he might be exactly what she needs.
Ěý
“Resonance� is supposed to be a dream—that’s when your soulmate is chosen for you. And every woman on the ice planet has hooked up with a big, hunky soulmate of their own—except me. So do I want a mate? Heck yeah. More than anything, all I’ve ever wanted is to be loved by someone.

But the soulmate chosen for me? My least favorite person on the darn ice planet. Haeden’s the most cranky, disapproving, unpleasant, overbearing male alien . . . so why is it that my body sings when he gets close? Why is he working so hard to prove to me that he’s not as awful as I think he is?

I hate him . . . don’t I?]]> 320 Ruby Dixon 0593639464 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.77 2016 Barbarian's Mate (Ice Planet Barbarians, #6)
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> The Salvation Gambit 75495021 A hotheaded hacker must outwit the AI at the heart of a rogue warship–turned–penal colony if she and her crew of con women want to escape with their lives in this electrifying sci-fi thriller from the acclaimedĚýauthor of Bonds of Brass.

Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who shaped her from a petty thief and lowlife hacker into a promising con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from her slick fashion sense to her unfailing ability to plan under pressure. Together with Bea, a fearless driver who never walks away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s infuriatingly mercurial rival who can sweet-talk the galaxy into spinning around her finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists, massive payoffs, and never, ever getting caught.

Well, until now.

Getting caught is one thing. Getting tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god is a problem this team has never faced before. Aboard the Justice is a world stitched together from the galaxy’s sinners—some fighting for survival, some struggling to build a civilized society, and some sacrificing everything to worship the AI at the heart of the ship.

The Justice ’s all-seeing eyes are fixed on its newest acquisitions, Murdock in particular. It has use for a hacker—if it can wrest her devotion away from Hark. And Murdock’s faith is already fractured. To escape the Justice ’s madness, they need a plan, and Hark might not be up to the task.

If Hark—brilliant, unflappable Hark—ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t plot a way out, Murdock will have to use every last trick she’s learned to outwit the Justice, resist its temptation, and get her crew out alive.]]> 310 Emily Skrutskie 0593499751 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.62 2023 The Salvation Gambit
author: Emily Skrutskie
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Witch of Wild Things (Wild Magic #1)]]> 71872920 Ěý
Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands.

What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart.

With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.]]> 304 Raquel Vasquez Gilliland 0593548574 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.68 2023 Witch of Wild Things (Wild Magic #1)
author: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> Dreambound 68403215
When Byron Kidd's twelve-year-old daughter vanishes, the only clue left behind is a note claiming she's taken off to explore the Hidden World, a magical land from a series of popular novels. She is not the only child to seek out this imaginary realm in recent years, and Byron—a cynical and hard-nosed reporter—is determined to discover the whereabouts of dozens of missing kids.

Byron secures a high-profile interview with Annabelle Tobin, the eccentric author of the books, and heads off to her palatial home in the Hollywood Hills. But the truth Byron discovers is more fantastical than he ever could have dreamed.

As he uncovers locations from the books that seem to be bleeding into the real world, he must shed his doubts and dive headfirst into the mystical secrets of Los Angeles if he ever hopes to reunite with his child. Soon Byron finds himself on his own epic journey—but if he's not careful, he could be the next one to disappear...

Told through journal entries, transcripts, emails, and excerpts from Tobin's novels, Dreambound is a spellbinding homage to Los Angeles and an immersive]]> 400 Dan Frey 0593158245 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.96 2023 Dreambound
author: Dan Frey
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Broken Blade (The Halfling Saga, #1)]]> 60181165 My body is made of scars,
some were done to me,
but most I did to myself.
Ěý
Keera is a killer. As the King's Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the king’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure moves against the Crown, Keera is called upon to hunt down the so-called Shadow. She tracks her target into the magical lands of the Fae, but Faeland is not what it seems . . . and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she learns, and can't help but wonder who her enemy truly is: the King that destroyed her people or the Shadow that threatens the peace?
Ěý
As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago, one that will test her in every way. To keep her word, Keera must not only save herself, but an entire kingdom.
Ěý
Fans of fast-paced high fantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses series, The Inadequate Heir, and From Blood and Ash author Jennifer L. Armentrout, will enjoy the fierce female characters, sapphic representation, and fantasy romance of A Broken Blade.]]> 448 Melissa Blair 145494787X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.93 2021 A Broken Blade (The Halfling Saga, #1)
author: Melissa Blair
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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review:

]]> After the Forest 65214189 After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.�

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 375 Kell Woods 1250852501 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.80 2023 After the Forest
author: Kell Woods
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)]]> 55077538
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles; an accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China.]]> 414 Shelley Parker-Chan 1250621801 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.80 2021 She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)
author: Shelley Parker-Chan
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, #4)]]> 65211737 The Hugo and Crawford Award-Winning Series!

The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass--and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .

The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entrypoint.]]> 120 Nghi Vo 1250851432 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.30 2023 Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, #4)
author: Nghi Vo
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> Damsel 61984840
Elodie never dreamed of a lavish palace or a handsome prince. Growing up in the famine-stricken realm of Inophe, her deepest wish was to help her people survive each winter. So when a representative from a rich, reclusive kingdom offers her family enough wealth to save Inophe in exchange for Elodie’s hand in marriage, she accepts without hesitation. Swept away to the glistening kingdom of Aurea, Elodie is quickly taken in by the beauty of the realm—and of her betrothed, Prince Henry.

But as Elodie undertakes the rituals to become an Aurean princess, doubts prick at her mind as cracks in the kingdom’s perfect veneer begin to show: A young woman who appears and vanishes from the castle tower. A parade of torches weaving through the mountains. Markings left behind in a mysterious “V.� Too late, she discovers that Aurea’s prosperity has been purchased at a heavy cost—each harvest season, the kingdom sacrifices its princesses to a hungry dragon. And Elodie is the next sacrifice.

This ancient arrangement has persisted for centuries, leading hundreds of women to their deaths. But the women who came before Elodie did not go quietly. Their blood pulses with power and memory, and their experiences hold the key to Elodie’s survival. Forced to fight for her life, this damsel must use her wits to defeat a dragon, uncover Aurea’s past, and save not only herself, but the future of her new kingdom as well.]]> 368 Evelyn Skye 0593599403 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.80 2023 Damsel
author: Evelyn Skye
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer]]> 63076711 New York Times Ěýbestselling author Garth Nix’s exciting adult debut: a new collection including all eight stories—plus a never-before-published story—featuring Sir Hereward and his sorcerous puppet companion Mister Fitz, gathered in one magical volume for the first time ever!

Sir Hereward: the only male child of an ancient society of witches. Knight, artillerist, swordsman. Mercenary for hire. Ill-starred lover.

Mister Fitz: puppet, sorcerer, loremaster. Practitioner of arcane arts and wielder of sorcerous needles.

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: godslayers. Agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World, charged with the location and removal of listed extra-dimensional entities, more commonly known as gods.

Together, they are relentless travelers in a treacherous world of magic, gunpowder, and adventure.]]> 304 Garth Nix 0063291967 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.70 2023 Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer
author: Garth Nix
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dead Take the A Train (Carrion City, #1)]]> 65214080 Bestselling authors Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey have teamed up to deliver a dark new story with magic, monsters, and mayhem, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill.

Julie Crews is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-something who packs a lot of magic into her small body. She’s been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs to claw her way to the top.

Julie is desperate for a quick career boost to break the dead-end grind, but her pleas draw the attention of an eldritch god who is hungry for revenge. Her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts her closest friends � and the entire world � directly in the path of annihilation.

The first explosive adventure in the Carrion City Duology, The Dead Take the A Train fuses Khaw’s cosmic horror and Kadrey’s gritty fantasy into a full-throttle thrill ride straight into New York’s magical underbelly.]]> 391 Cassandra Khaw 1250867029 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.58 2023 The Dead Take the A Train (Carrion City, #1)
author: Cassandra Khaw
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Many Savage Moons 123840512
In the space of a single afternoon, Nathaniel falls hard for Winter York, the beguiling, tattooed woman he meets at the local bookstore. She entrances him with her enigmatic sophistication, and the fact that she is avoiding another man only increases his interest. What starts as the perfect day ends in a violent home invasion when the man Winter is avoiding tracks her home.

Nathaniel fights him off, sure the worst is over. Winter, however, insists that the man is capable of a strange and twisted magic: once he touches someone, he can write them into dreams, dreams where that person can die. How does Winter know? She is the inspiration for the man’s fantasy book series, and she has seen her friends perish at the stroke of his pen.

Many Savage Moons is an unconventional love story full of literary references and haunting tattoos, set in a world where a writer wields fantastical powers over those who inspire his work. Straddling the literary and fantasy realms, Many Savage Moons is a compelling work of fiction.]]> 287 Ben Spencer 1732038031 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.07 Many Savage Moons
author: Ben Spencer
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> None of This Is True 62334530
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]> 390 Lisa Jewell 1982179007 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.08 2023 None of This Is True
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> Artifacts of an Ex 59653720
There’s just one problem: Daniel is dead set on not being another rebound.

Five times he’s been the guy who makes the girls he’s dating realize they want to get back with their ex. And he refuses for there to be a sixth. She insists she’s over her ex, but when he shows up unexpectedly with his new girlfriend, it turns out Daniel was right. She isn’t ready for a new relationship.

She throws herself into making Heartifacts successful, but flashy influencers threaten her original vision of the exhibit. To create the exhibit she’s always wanted, Chloe needs to go back to basics, learn to work with artists in a more collaborative way, and discover what love can be. Only then will she convince Daniel she’s truly ready for everything they could be to one another.

In the tradition of Jenny Han and Emma Lord, Jennifer Chen’s Artifacts of an Ex is a story of love, art, and finding your way when everything you know has changed completely.]]> 320 Jennifer Chen 1250865662 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.24 2023 Artifacts of an Ex
author: Jennifer Chen
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[My Roommate Is a Vampire (My Vampires, #1)]]> 60041932 True love is at stake in this charming, debut romantic comedy.

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean...

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.]]> 341 Jenna Levine 0593548914 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.46 2023 My Roommate Is a Vampire (My Vampires, #1)
author: Jenna Levine
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/06
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]]> The Darkness Surrounds Us 134740160 352 Gail Lukasik 0744302897 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.46 2023 The Darkness Surrounds Us
author: Gail Lukasik
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Citizen Orlov (Citizen Orlov #1)]]> 62997284 Not every fishmonger can be a secret agent.

Journey to an unnamed mountainous country in central Europe at the end of the Great War. Enter Citizen Orlov, a simple fishmonger and an honest, upright citizen, who stumbles into the Ministry of Security, and consequently a hidden world of espionage and secrecy. His first assignment? To safeguard the King when he visits the scenic town of Kufzig.

But Orlov soon discovers that his ministry handler, the alluring but-couldn’t-possibly-be-a-femme-fatale Agent Zelle, is planning not to protect the King but to assassinate him. Caught in a web of plot and counterplot, confusing loyalties, and explosive betrayals, Orlov finds himself on trial for murder. He has an opportunity to clear his name—but with his friends, mother, and fellow citizens� lives in the balance, freedom comes at a high cost.]]> 288 Jonathan Payne 0744309018 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.97 2023 Citizen Orlov (Citizen Orlov #1)
author: Jonathan Payne
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cheat Sheet (The Cheat Sheet, #1)]]> 60105952 Is it ever too late to leave the friend-zone?

Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.

Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)

Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with...oops, forgot I ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t tell anyone about that!

Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.

How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?

Send help.
XO Bree

Buckle up for a slow burn, sports romance with combustible chemistry from the first chapter, laugh-out-loud humor, and easy to love characters. The Cheat Sheet has all the sizzle, but no on-page explicit content (PG-13 equivalent for mild language, implied sexual situations, and alcohol use).]]> 322 Sarah Adams Marilyn 5 3.89 2021 The Cheat Sheet (The Cheat Sheet, #1)
author: Sarah Adams
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/27
date added: 2023/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The Locked Door 57795665
While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.]]> 313 Freida McFadden Marilyn 4 4.00 2021 The Locked Door
author: Freida McFadden
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/24
date added: 2023/04/24
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review:

]]> Good Bad Girl 83668030 Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things. Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors, Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.]]> 306 Alice Feeney 1250843960 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.62 2023 Good Bad Girl
author: Alice Feeney
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening, #1)]]> 65214365
Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

Calista must follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.]]> 416 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1250750199 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.94 2023 Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening, #1)
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic]]> 75532088 For fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is a debut novel that explores the shields we build around our hearts to retain our own magic.

Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.

With the news of their grandmother's impending death, Sadie's estranged twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie's world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her death, Sadie isn't sure she'll have the strength to keep the family, and her magic, together.

As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother growing sicker by the day, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?

Readers who love the magic of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and the sense of community found in The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches will enjoy this warm, witchy novel.]]> 322 Breanne Randall 1639105735 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.16 2023 The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic
author: Breanne Randall
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Lilith 81069444 In the Garden of Eden, at the beginning of time, an outrageous lie is born: that women are inferior.

Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. Until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him. She refuses - and is banished forever from Paradise.

Demonized and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has a secret: she has already tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Endowed with Wisdom, she knows why Asherah - God's wife and equal, the Queen of Heaven - is missing. Lilith has a plan: she will rescue Eve, find Asherah, restore balance to the world and regain her rightful place in Paradise.

Lilith's quest for justice drives her throughout history, from the ziggurats of Ancient Sumer to the court of Israel's Queen Jezebel, and to the side of a radical preacher in Roman Judea. In the modern age, as she observes the catastrophic consequences of a world built on inequality, Lilith finally understands what must be done to correct the wrong done to women - and all humankind - at the beginning of time.

Inspired by ancient myths and suppressed scriptures, Lilith is a thought-provoking and ambitious novel with an evocative literary voice and a triumphantly engaging heroine.]]> 336 Nikki Marmery 1639105719 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.63 2023 Lilith
author: Nikki Marmery
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Bright Young Women 101124639
The survivors, including key witness Pamela Schumacher, will be forever changed by this night. They have all become victims. But they tell their perspectives here, they remain masters of their stories. And they hunt the perpetrator on their own - against resistance from the justice system and the police; against public opinion, which idolizes the serial killer.]]> 384 Jessica Knoll 1501153226 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.99 2023 Bright Young Women
author: Jessica Knoll
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Nanny 61530932 A woman discovers the father of the child she is nannying may be her biggest (Only)Fan in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson.


After losing her job and being on the brink of eviction, Cassie Evans finds herself with two choices: get a new job (and fast) or fire up her long-untouched OnlyFans account. But there are no jobs to be found, and as for OnlyFans. . . . Well, there are reasons she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t go back. Just when all hope seems lost, an ad for a live-in nanny position seems the solution to all her problems. It’s almost too perfect—until she meets her would-be employer.

Aiden Reid, executive chef and DILF extraordinaire is far from the stuffy single dad Cassie was imagining. She is shocked when he tells her she’s the most qualified applicant he’s met in weeks, practically begging her to take the job. With hands that make her hindbrain howl and eyes that scream sex, the idea of living under the same roof as Aiden feels dangerous, but with no other option, she decides to stay with him and his adorably tenacious daughter, Sophie.

Cassie soon discovers that Aiden is not a stranger at all, but instead someone who is very familiar with her—or at least, her body. She finds herself at a loss for what to do, given that he doesn’t remember her. As their relationship heats to temperatures hotter than any kitchen Aiden has ever worked in, Cassie struggles with telling Aiden the truth, and the more terrifying possibility—losing the best chance at happiness she’s ever had.]]> 421 Lana Ferguson 059354935X Marilyn 0 to-read 3.54 2023 The Nanny
author: Lana Ferguson
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mantiz Gambit (Disunion, #1)]]> 123265311
"It is bracingly epic and imaginative, a tautly plotted and intelligently accomplished tale for fans of science fiction." -- The Book Commentary

The Union of Earth maintains a tenuous hold on its colonies. When the planet Acadia threatens to secede, Ex Fleet commander Matt Ryder is forced to choose sides. Meanwhile, a young bureaucrat named Amanda Chester is sure that alien forces are behind the rebellion. Amanda guides a small group of operators, including a reluctant Matt Ryder, on a mission that will either stop the war…or start a larger one.

Replete with space naval battles and hand-to-hand combat in the vacuum and on the ground, Disunion: Book One - The Mantiz Gambit, tells the story of brave men and women fighting to hold a fragile human network together.]]> 592 John Whitman Marilyn 0 to-read 4.35 The Mantiz Gambit (Disunion, #1)
author: John Whitman
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.35
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]]> Leave It to the March Sisters 62315837 Ěý
When it comes to disastrous relationships, English professor Amy Marsden has pretty much seen everything . From Banana Brad (who had a thing for fruit costumes) to her latest disappointment, Derek (undiscovered artist with a penchant for tighty-whities and their perky pizza delivery driver), it’s been an endless adventure of oddballs, jerks, and some terrible lapses in judgment. Which is exactly how Amy has ended up living in a house with the guy she’s been half in love with since she was a kid....

Theo Sinclair has been her sister Jo’s best friend—and a commitment phobe—for as long as Amy can remember. And aside from one hot and heavy make-out session, she’s managed to ignore her feelings for Theo and successfully avoid adding another entry in her What-was-I-thinking list. Yet now that they’re living under the same roof, Amy and Theo are sharing everything from Cheetos and smoothies to their family drama, past trauma, and an attraction that Amy begins to think might not be one-sided. Could Theo really have feelings for her—or is Amy just setting herself up for another disaster?]]> 400 Annie Sereno 1538721465 Marilyn 0 to-read 2.92 Leave It to the March Sisters
author: Annie Sereno
name: Marilyn
average rating: 2.92
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]]> Whalefall 62919162 327 Daniel Kraus 1665918160 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.66 2023 Whalefall
author: Daniel Kraus
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Militia House 61796642 Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize
Nominated for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Award

“An extraordinary novel about the quiet and not so quiet horrors of war.� —Roxane Gay

Stephen King meets Tim O’Brien in John Milas’s The Militia House, a spine-tingling and boldly original gothic horror novel.

It’s 2010, and the recently promoted Corporal Loyette and his unit are finishing up their deployment at a new base in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Their duties here are straightforward—loading and unloading cargo into and out of helicopters—and their days are a mix of boredom and dread. The Brits they’re replacing delight in telling them the history of the old barracks just off base, a Soviet-era militia house they claim is haunted, and Loyette and his men don’t need much convincing to make a clandestine trip outside the wire to explore it.

It’s a short, middle-of-the-day adventure, but the men experience a mounting agitation after their visit to the militia house. In the days that follow they try to forget about the strange, unsettling sights and sounds from the house, but things are increasingly . . . not right. Loyette becomes determined to ignore his and his marines� growing unease, convinced that it’s just the strain of war playing tricks on them. But something about the militia house will not let them go.

Meticulously plotted and viscerally immediate in its telling, The Militia House is a gripping and brilliant exploration of the unceasing horrors of war that’s no more easily shaken than the militia house itself.]]> 272 John Milas 1250857066 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.58 2023 The Militia House
author: John Milas
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Every Rising Sun 61884971 Named one of NPR's Books We Love

In this riveting take on One Thousand and One Nights, Shaherazade, at the center of her own story, uses wit and political mastery to navigate opulent palaces brimming with treachery and the perils of the Third Crusade as her Persian homeland teeters on the brink of destruction.

In twelfth century, Persia, clever and dreamy Shaherazade stumbles on the Malik’s beloved wife entwined with a lover in a sun-dappled courtyard. When Shaherazade recounts her first tale, the story of this infidelity, to the Malik, she sets the Seljuk Empire on fire.

Enraged at his wife’s betrayal, the once-gentle Malik beheads her. But when that killing does not quench his anger, the Malik begins to marry and behead a new bride each night. Furious at the murders, his province seethes on rebellion’s edge. To suppress her guilt, quell threats of a revolt, and perhaps marry the man she has loved since childhood, Shaherazade persuades her beloved father, the Malik’s vizier, to offer her as the next wife. On their wedding night, Shaherazade begins a yarn, but as the sun ascends she cuts the story short, ensuring that she will live to tell another tale, a practice she repeats night after night.

But the Malik’s rage runs too deep for Shaherazade to exorcise alone. And so she and her father persuade the Malik to leave Persia to join Saladin’s fight against the Crusaders in Palestine. With plots spun against the Seljuks from all corners, Shaherazade must maneuver through intrigue in the age’s greatest courts to safeguard her people. All the while, she must keep the Malik enticed with her otherworldly tales—because the slightest misstep could cost Shaherazade her head.

This suspenseful first-person retelling is vividly rendered through the voice of a fully imagined Shaherazade, a book lover whose late mother bestowed the gift of story that becomes her power. Created over fourteen years of writing and research, Jamila Ahmed’s gorgeously written debut is a celebration of storytelling and a love letter to the medieval Islamic world that brings to life one of the most enduring and intriguing woman characters of all time.]]> 432 Jamila Ahmed 1250887070 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.90 2023 Every Rising Sun
author: Jamila Ahmed
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Garden of Echoes and Ash (Dark Eden #1)]]> 124934342
Too bad Renae’s gift has other plans. Gods help her, because it wants him—the man she accidentally brought back to life. Now she’s stuck inside his head and will do anything to sever their psychic connection before it jeopardizes her mission, her sanity, and her self-control.

But there’s more to Liam Riley than his stormy personality and filthy imagination. He’s determined to unravel Renae’s secrets one by one to get to the truth behind his near-death experience. When things heat between them, Renae must decide where her loyalties lie—with the clandestine organization that owns her, or with the man who wants to teach her what it means to be alive. Either way, one of their souls will burn.

An entrancing contemporary fantasy romance for fans of fated mates, the supernatural, and scorching slow burns. Previously published as The Ash Gardeners by J. Ember Hintz Publisher’s, This book contains mature themes and graphic content intended for an adult audience. Reader discretion is advised. Please visit the author’s website for a complete list of CWs.]]> 321 J. Ember Hintz 1958602957 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.79 2022 Garden of Echoes and Ash (Dark Eden #1)
author: J. Ember Hintz
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Deception in the Fog: A Victorian Vampire Tale]]> 61256507
An exciting new suspenseful vampire novel from Alistair Carlyle!]]> 414 Alistair Carlyle Marilyn 0 to-read 3.10 Deception in the Fog: A Victorian Vampire Tale
author: Alistair Carlyle
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.10
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Becoming Hook (Legends of Neverland #1)]]> 123013381
James Hook never meant to become a pirate, and never dreamed that he would turn against best friend, Peter Pan. Every adventure and eternal youth awaited them� until a pixie exposes a shocking revelation. Tinkerbell’s information forces James into acknowledging that, far from being the benevolent hero he painted himself to be, Peter Pan was kidnapping innocent children.

After accepting the traumatic loss of his hand and of the family he can barely remember, James deserts Pan. In the fight to rescue the Lost Boys, Hook will risk everything, even if that means becoming the most notorious villain in Neverland� or losing the fiery pixie who is stealing his heart.

Can the original Lost Boy vanquish Neverland’s greatest threat?]]> 320 Mary Mecham Marilyn 0 to-read 4.13 Becoming Hook (Legends of Neverland #1)
author: Mary Mecham
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.13
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]]> Beseeched 123225650 262 Tecia McLaughlin 1800746644 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.12 Beseeched
author: Tecia McLaughlin
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.12
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Preset (The Four Cities, #0.5)]]> 122473544 Inception meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this captivating prequel to the acclaimed, bestselling science fiction romance Reset.

Can you give up a love you ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t forget? After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors formed a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. To halt extinction, everything in the Four Cities is carefully predicted and carefully controlled â€� even love. But how can you control love and freedom?

Preset weaves the tales of Eleanor, the Crone, and Eli, the Planner, before and after the creation of the Four Cities.
Much has changed in the world and their relationship, but there are some truths that have yet to come to light. Fighting for change yet still loving her husband Eli, the scientist Eleanor travels to Elara, the lone city resisting fully bending to Eli’s control. There she must separate reality from lies, memories from desires, as she tries to piece together the truth about what is happening in the Four Cities. But the gulf between love and freedom, between the past and the now, between what we remember and what we strive to become can be as vast as the break between two hearts bound together. It is here, in the dark fissure left by loss, where Eleanor discovers the true cost that has been paid to save humanity.]]> 334 Sarina Dahlan Marilyn 0 to-read 3.54 2023 Preset (The Four Cities, #0.5)
author: Sarina Dahlan
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
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]]> First Time Lucky 122767945 Pros for sleeping with Tristan Walker: He’s drop-dead gorgeous and good in bed.

Cons for sleeping with Tristan Walker: Someone’s definitely going to end up with a broken heart.

Colette Harris never planned on still being a virgin when she turned thirty, but her career ambitions got in the way. So did her anxiety. But this year Colette is determined to throw caution to the wind and finally get lucky. What she wants is a perfect one-night stand so she can experience her first time with a man who knows what he’s doing but won’t stick around to make her breakfast in the morning. What she gets is Tristan Walker.

Ever since a climbing trip with his brother ended in tragedy, Tristan Walker has been drifting. He surfs all day and parties all night, living in the moment, with no plans for his future. Then one night in a crowded LA club, after a chance encounter with a beautiful woman, he realizes he wants more from life than casual sex and bad hangovers. Only one problem: the woman of Tristan’s dreams wants him for his body, not his heart.

A one-night stand is all they agree to, but what happens when one night isn’t enough?

To win over Colette, Tristan must prove he has more to offer than dirty talk and mind-blowing moves. And Colette must decide if she wants to keep playing it safe or finally take a chance on love.]]> 366 Loni Hansen 1954815077 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.23 First Time Lucky
author: Loni Hansen
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.23
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]]> The Price of Rebellion 123250797
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE YEAR - Indies Today (2022)
GOLD MEDAL - SCIENCE FICTION - Literary Titan (2023)
WINNER - SCIENCE FICTION - BOOK EXCELLENCE (2024)
(Plus six additional awards for science fiction, dystopian, and cross-genre)

“A thrilling and provocative dystopian tale...This book is Tom Clancy meets George Orwell.� —Independent Book Review

“Shudder at Bland’s projected future.� —Azure Dwarf

“Adrenaline-fueled, laser-focused…an undeniable page-turner.� —Kirkus Review


IT'S 2047. SECRETS HAVE BEEN REVEALED. AND WASHINGTON WANTS REVENGE.

Dray Quintero uncovered an ugly truth: the leaders in D.C. are fake. They’ve stolen the identities of those elected to Congress and are determined to stay in power, using his own technology to dupe the population.

After revealing this truth to his fellow citizens, Dray joins the rebellion—but his joining is as much to free the U.S. as it is to avenge his loss. Before he can strike, the government’s Agency attacks with devastating consequences. Dray and the other survivors are forced to run as Agents hunt them.

Then he makes a discovery that could alter the country’s future. He’s forced to choose between the rebellion and a desperate hope. Between family and country.

What he does will change everything.

Don't miss the propulsive series finale, The Price of Freedom.]]> 388 Michael C. Bland 1958336904 Marilyn 0 to-read 4.50 The Price of Rebellion
author: Michael C. Bland
name: Marilyn
average rating: 4.50
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]]> Gone to the Wolves 62039317 The award-winning author John Wray dives deep into the wild, risky world of heavy metal in the 1980s and '90s.

Kip, Leslie, and Kira are outliers--even in the metal scene they love. In arch-conservative Gulf Coast Florida in the late 1980s, just listening to metal can get you arrested, but for the three of them the risk is well worth it, because metal is what leads them to one another.

Different as they are, Kip, Leslie, and Kira form a family of sorts that proves far safer, and more loving, than the families they come from. Together, they make the pilgrimage from Florida's swamp country to the fabled Sunset Strip in Hollywood. But in time, the delicate equilibrium they've found begins to crumble. Leslie moves home to live with his elderly parents; Kip struggles to find his footing in the sordid world of LA music journalism; and Kira, the most troubled of the three, finds herself drawn to ever darker and more extreme strains of metal. On a trip to northern Europe for her twenty-second birthday, in the middle of a show, she simply vanishes. Two years later, the truth about her disappearance reunites Kip with Leslie, who in order to bring Kira home alive must make greater sacrifices than they could ever have imagined.

In his most absorbing and ambitious novel yet, John Wray dives deep into the wild, funhouse world of heavy metal and death cults in the 1980s and '90s. Gone to the Wolves lays bare the intensity, tumult, and thrill of friendship in adolescence--a time when music can often feel like life or death.]]> 400 John Wray 0374603332 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.53 2023 Gone to the Wolves
author: John Wray
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Thief Liar Lady 63139926 "Happily Ever After" is a total scam, but at least this time the princess is the one controlling the grift--until her true love arrives and threatens to ruin the whole scheme. Intrigue, magic, and wit abound in this Cinderella fairytale reimagining, perfect for fans of Heather Walter and Naomi Novik.

I'm not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen--as the rumors insisted--in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn't meekly help my "evil" stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this--to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we want in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there's always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince--the wrong prince--distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I'm in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I've created...and that could prove fatal.

There's so much more riding on this than a crown.]]> 416 D.L. Soria 0593358058 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.56 2023 Thief Liar Lady
author: D.L. Soria
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Camp 62922352 Perfect for readers of Riley Sager and Grady Hendrix, a chilling new read from the New York Times bestselling author where a diabolical modern twist on Friday the 13th meets Yellowjackets at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon.

There are always stories told around the fire at summer camp—tall tales about gruesome murders and unhinged killers, concocted to scare new arrivals and lend an extra jolt of excitement to those hormone-charged nights. At Camp Luft-Shawk, nicknamed Camp Love Shack, there are stories about a creeping fog that brings death with it. But here, they’re not just campfire tales. Here, the stories are real.

Twenty years ago, a girl’s body was found on a ledge above the lake, arms crossed over her heart. Some said it was part of a suicide pact, connected to the nearby Haven Commune. Brooke, Rona, and Wendy were among the teenagers at camp that summer, looking for fun and sun, sex and adventure. They’ve never breathed a word about what really happened—or about the night their friendship shattered.

Now the camp, renamed Camp Fog Lake, has reopened for a new generation, and many of those who were there on that long-ago night are returning for an alumni weekend. But something is stirring at the lake again. As the fog rolls in, evil comes with it. Those stories were a warning, and they didn’t listen. And the only question is, who will live long enough to regret it?

“Nancy Bush is my go-to author. Always.� —Lisa Jackson, #1 New York Times bestselling author]]> 384 Nancy Bush 1420155687 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.16 2023 The Camp
author: Nancy Bush
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Dragonfall (Dragon Scales #1) 63911524
Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the 'gods' remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfill his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely–body, mind, and soul–and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.]]> 352 L.R. Lam 0756418429 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.61 2023 Dragonfall (Dragon Scales #1)
author: L.R. Lam
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The First Bright Thing 61884813 If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today?

Ringmaster � Rin, to those who know her best � can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. And the circus they lead is a rare home and safe haven for magical misfits and outcasts, known as Sparks.

With the world still reeling from World War I, Rin and her troupe � the Circus of the Fantasticals � travel the midwest, offering a single night of enchantment and respite to all who step into their Big Top.

But threats come at Rin from all sides. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their show and everyone in it. And Rin's past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t fully escape.

It takes the form of another circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin's circus has something he wants, and he won't stop until it's his.]]> 336 J.R. Dawson 1250805546 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.56 2023 The First Bright Thing
author: J.R. Dawson
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Maddalena and the Dark 61884841 A novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous wager

Venice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls� orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.

After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known. But Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn’t hesitate. But every wager has its price, and as the girls are drawn into the decadent world outside the Pietà’s walls, they must decide what it is they truly want—and what they will do to pay for it.

Lush and heady, swirling with music and magic, Maddalena and the Dark is a Venetian fairytale about the friendship between two girls and the boundless desire that will set them free, if it doesn’t consume them first.]]> 304 Julia Fine 1250867878 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.35 2023 Maddalena and the Dark
author: Julia Fine
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> The Road to Roswell 58775691 A delightful novel about alien invasions, conspiracies, and the incredibly silly things people are willing to believe—some of which may actually be true—from the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of Blackout and All Clear

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she ł¦˛ą˛Ô’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet.

But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he’s not an invader. That he’s in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn’t know how—or even what the trouble is.

Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid’s dress, save the world—and still make it back for the wedding?]]> 399 Connie Willis 0593499859 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.64 2023 The Road to Roswell
author: Connie Willis
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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]]> The Antiquity Affair 63354468 An archaeologist’s estranged daughters.

1907: The dawn of Egyptology is a time of imperialism and plunder, opulence and unrest, and Dr. Warren Ford, esteemed archaeologist, is the man of the hour. His daughters—intellectual Lila, on the eve of her debut as a Manhattan socialite, and nonconformist Tess, who dreams of following in his footsteps—have always lived in his shadow, and their lives couldn’t feel more different. But when a secretive organization seeks to find a lost relic legendary for its dangerous power, it isn’t Dr. Ford they turn to—it’s his two remarkable daughters.

A legendary artifact known as the Serpent’s Crown.

Rumored to reside in the mysterious Tomb of the Five Ladies, the Serpent’s Crown will only be found by solving a seemingly impossible riddle that will open the tomb—and the organization believes that one of the Ford daughters holds the key to deciphering the code. What was supposed to be an elegant debutante ball for elder sister Lila quickly turns sinister when Tess is kidnapped and put on a ship across the Atlantic. When Lila and her father realize that Tess’s life is in danger, they must act quickly to track her down and stop the Serpent’s Crown from falling into the wrong hands.

A puzzle three millennia in the making.

A race for the Crown begins, with Lila and her father in hot pursuit of the organization and Tess. With lives at stake, the fractured family must keep their wits about them, find the artifact, and escape the ruthless men who are also determined to possess the Crown and use it to their own advantage—no matter the cost.

In this women-centered nod to the beloved Indiana Jones stories, The Antiquity Affair is a high-stakes, trans-Atlantic thrill ride, with the page-turning excitement and romance of classic adventure novels and a poignant story of sisterhood at its core.


An exciting turn-of-the-century adventure
Stand-alone novel
Book length: 100,000 words
Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn, Laurie King, Clive Cussler, and Indiana Jones
Includes discussion questions for book clubs]]> 416 Lee Kelly 1400240638 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.62 2023 The Antiquity Affair
author: Lee Kelly
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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]]> Spin a Black Yarn 58844849 Five harrowing novellas of horror and speculative fiction from the singular mind of the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box

Josh Malerman is a master weaver of stories--and in this spine-chilling collection he spins five twisted tales from the shadows of the human soul:

A sister insists to her little brother that "Half the House Is Haunted" by a strange presence. But is it the house that's haunted--or their childhoods?

In "Argyle," a dying man confesses to homicides he never committed, and he reveals long-kept secrets far more sinister than murder.

A tourist takes the ultimate trip to outer space in "The Jupiter Drop," but the real journey is into his own dark past.

In "Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer(TM)," a trendy married couple buys the latest home gadget only to find themselves trapped by their possessions, their history . . . and each other.

And in "Egorov," a wealthy old cretin murders a young man, not knowing the victim was a triplet. The two surviving brothers stage a savage faux-haunting--playing the ghost of their slain brother--with the aim of driving the old murderer mad.]]> 387 Josh Malerman 0593237862 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.35 2023 Spin a Black Yarn
author: Josh Malerman
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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]]> Zhara (Guardians of Dawn, #1) 36241527 Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.]]> 416 S. Jae-Jones 1250191424 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.49 2023 Zhara (Guardians of Dawn, #1)
author: S. Jae-Jones
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Isles of the Gods (The Isles of the Gods, #1)]]> 62562898 464 Amie Kaufman 0593479289 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.88 2023 The Isles of the Gods (The Isles of the Gods, #1)
author: Amie Kaufman
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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]]> When Women Were Dragons 59722221 A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman's place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. - The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and
watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small--their lives and their prospects--and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.]]> 384 Kelly Barnhill 0593466578 Marilyn 0 to-read 3.86 2022 When Women Were Dragons
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: Marilyn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/18
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