Loripdx's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:51:35 -0700 60 Loripdx's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The 6:20 Man (The 6:20 Man, #1)]]> 59586621
Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the Army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm.

This treacherous role will take Travis from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power…where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bullseye.]]> 593 David Baldacci 1538719878 Loripdx 4 4.17 2022 The 6:20 Man (The 6:20 Man, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> The Boy of a Thousand Faces 545432
01-02 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist]]> 40 Brian Selznick 0064410803 Loripdx 4 3.69 2000 The Boy of a Thousand Faces
author: Brian Selznick
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
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]]> Cold Comfort Farm 92780 233 Stella Gibbons 0143039598 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.89 1932 Cold Comfort Farm
author: Stella Gibbons
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1932
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.16 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Station Eleven 20170404 An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.]]> 333 Emily St. John Mandel 0385353308 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.05 2014 Station Eleven
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> Close Your Eyes 205098502 Finding missing children is Matthew’s job—but this time it’s his own daughter who’s disappeared.

When private investigator Matthew Hill picks up the call from his wife, Sally, his world comes crashing down. Their eight-year-old daughter, Amelie, is missing. One second, she was there, the next, she was gone.

It’s the very nightmare they’ve been dreading. Long ago, Matthew left the force after a woman blamed him for her son’s death, promising that he too would one day feel her pain. It’s a threat that’s hung over his family ever since, and now it’s Amelie’s picture on the news.

Matthew knows how these things go—the longer their daughter is missing, the less hope there is of finding her alive.

As the clock ticks and a canal is searched, he and Sally must reckon with their greatest fear…]]> 330 Teresa Driscoll 1662523130 Loripdx 3 4.09 2025 Close Your Eyes
author: Teresa Driscoll
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir]]> 203708359 “What a remarkable and moving story filled with twists and turns, the most famous of faces, and a complex family revealed with loving candor. I was blown away by Griffin Dunne’s life and his ability to capture so much of it in these beautifully written pages.� —Anderson Cooper

"Joyful, tragic, and resilient with a masterful, roving tone...Griffin takes his rightful place in a family and tradition of real writers.� —David Duchovny

Griffin Dunne’s memoir of growing up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan finds wicked humor and glimmers of light in even the most painful of circumstances

At eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good. In his early twenties, he shared an apartment in Manhattan’s Hotel Des Artistes with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor working as a popcorn concessionaire at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese. In the midst of it all, Griffin’s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne’s career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair and a victims' rights activist.

And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.]]> 395 Griffin Dunne 0593652835 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.27 2024 The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir
author: Griffin Dunne
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> By Any Other Name 203337138 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 528 Jodi Picoult 0593497228 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.12 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Two Ways 50265329
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice.

But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.

After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways--the first known map of the afterlife.

As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she's never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices...or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now?]]> 416 Jodi Picoult 198481835X Loripdx 3 3.61 2020 The Book of Two Ways
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
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]]> A Light In The Darkness 221279963 Josh and Willy are next door neighbours and best friends. They play basketball, rent scary movies, and goof around. When a rock is thrown through the window of Josh's house while his family is celebrating Hanukah, it is young Willy who is able to rally the street in support. This poignant and uplifting story of friendship, tolerance, and community, based in part by a true incident, highlights the true spirit of the holidays.

"A Light In The Darkness is sensitively written and clearly conveys to children the importance of religious, ethnic, and racial diversity and inclusion. Books such as this one can play a vital role in shaping the formative value system of children, and in doing so empower our youth to build communities in which equity, diversity, and mutual understanding prevail."
- Sanford Cloud Jr.
President & CEO, National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ)]]> 32 Aaron Zevy Loripdx 3 4.80 1998 A Light In The Darkness
author: Aaron Zevy
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.80
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Commitment Hour (League of Peoples, #2)]]> 466375 Ominous winds of change swirl toward Fullin's idyllic existence, carrying dark secrets that will upend his beliefs, alter his view of reality and threaten his very life. But for the boy himself, there is no more room for indecision. The time has come to take an irrevocable stand and seal his fate forever. The hour of commitment is here.
From the author of "Expendable", a major new voice in imaginative fiction, here is a spellbinding adventure which dares to pose critical questions about the human condition and answer them.]]> 248 James Alan Gardner 1568656874 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.71 1998 Commitment Hour (League of Peoples, #2)
author: James Alan Gardner
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cher: Part One: The Memoir (The Cher Memoir Book 1)]]> 213793809
After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir.

Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woman to top Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, she is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has been lauded by the Kennedy Center.

She is a longtime activist and philanthropist.

As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors, and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship.

With her trademark honesty and humor, The Memoir traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century.

The Memoir, Part One follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono—and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous, but eventually drove them apart.

The Memoir reveals the daughter, the sister, the wife, the lover, the mother, and the superstar.

It is a life too immense for only one book.]]> 432 Cher 0062863126 Loripdx 5 4.41 2024 Cher: Part One: The Memoir (The Cher Memoir Book 1)
author: Cher
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs, #3)]]> 7432
A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator. As Maisie soon learns, Agnes Lawton never accepted that her aviator son was killed in the Great War, a torment that led her not only to the edge of madness but to the doors of those who practice the dark arts and commune with the spirit world.

In accepting the assignment, Maisie finds her spiritual strength tested, as well as her regard for her mentor, Maurice Blanche. The mission also brings her together once again with her college friend Priscilla Evernden, who served in France and who lost three brothers to the war � one of whom, it turns out, had an intriguing connection to the missing Ralph Lawton.]]> 359 Jacqueline Winspear 0312426216 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.06 2005 Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs, #3)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs, #2)]]> 83083 It’s now the early Spring of 1930. Stratton is investigating a murder case in Coulsden, while Maisie has been summoned to Dulwich to find a runaway heiress. The woman is the daughter of Joseph Waite, a wealthy self-made man who has lavished her with privilege but kept her in a gilded cage. His domineering ways have driven her off before, and now she’s bolted again.
Waite’s instructions are to find his daughter and bring her home. When Maisie looks into the disappearance she finds a chilling link to Stratton’s murder case, and to the terrible legacy of The Great War..]]> 309 Jacqueline Winspear 0143035304 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.94 2004 Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs, #2)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The White Lady 61346156 Instant New York Times and National Bestseller

The White Lady introduces yet another extraordinary heroine from Jacqueline Winspear, creator of the best-selling Maisie Dobbs series. This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White--veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity--when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind.

A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.

The private, quiet "Miss White" as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor's war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past.

It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White's icy demeanor--but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family's pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path--yet it is one that leads to her freedom.]]> 352 Jacqueline Winspear 0062868004 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.34 2023 The White Lady
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World]]> 28256439 The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.]]> 272 Peter Wohlleben 1771642483 Loripdx 4 4.06 2015 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
author: Peter Wohlleben
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last List of Mabel Beaumont]]> 148516779 The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first�

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. â€Remember: eggs, butter, sugarâ€�. â€I love you: today, tomorrow, alwaysâ€�.

But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: â€Find Dâ€�.

Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.

What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again�

A completely heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting story, guaranteed to make you smile but also make you cry. Perfect for fans of My Name is Ove, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and The Keeper of Stories.]]> 314 Laura Pearson 1785136054 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.03 2023 The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
author: Laura Pearson
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Reliquary (Pendergast, #2) 39030 464 Douglas Preston 0765354950 Loripdx 4 4.03 1997 Reliquary (Pendergast, #2)
author: Douglas Preston
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Nine Perfect Strangers 39280445 Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever?

These nine perfect strangers are about to find out...

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer—or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

Combining all of the hallmarks that have made Liane Moriarty's writing a go-to for anyone looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you laugh and gasp, Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.]]> 453 Liane Moriarty 1250069823 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.53 2018 Nine Perfect Strangers
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #1)]]> 657034
Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind---addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie's a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she's right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth---he can't stay away.

When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, Heartsick makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.
]]> 326 Chelsea Cain 0312368461 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.93 2007 Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #1)
author: Chelsea Cain
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Twelve Dogs of Christmas 199531754
The ultimate holiday gift fromĚý New York Times Ěýbestselling author Susan a delightful novel about a Christmas transport of rescue puppies that’s guaranteed to warm readersâ€� hearts.

Brenda Malloy wants nothing to do with Christmas ever again. Last year, Brenda and her husband rushed their beloved dog Tim to the emergency vet on Christmas eve. The good Tim survived after the vet cleared the obstruction--a pair of women’s lace undies. The bad the undies were not Brenda’s.

A year after the breakup, Brenda has put her life back together. She’s trained for a marathon, is writing a children’s novel, and she’s found purpose and healing as a volunteer with a dog rescue organization in Houston, Texas. The rescue partners with a program in Avalon, New York--a small, snowy town deep in the Catskills. Now Brenda is arranging the transport of rescued dogs from Houston to Avalon—just in time for a merry Christmas with their forever families. Brenda’s friends worry about her driving a van two thousand miles with twelve dogs in crates, but she shrugs off their concern. How hard can it be? She knows the way, and she’s just looking to escape the Christmas overload for a while.

But a blinding snowstorm, an escaped mutt, and a life-saving encounter with Adam Bellamy—a single dad and paramedic—means Brenda has to stay in Avalon longer than she planned. As she drops off each precious pup at their new homes, some of the comfort and joy of the season begins to creep up on Brenda despite her determination to avoid the holidays. Perhaps you can bring Christmas into your heart after all...if you have the right furry friends to guide the way.]]> 256 Susan Wiggs 0063253526 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.87 2023 The Twelve Dogs of Christmas
author: Susan Wiggs
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Cloud Cuckoo Land 56783258 When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.

How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.

Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.]]> 626 Anthony Doerr 1982168439 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.24 2021 Cloud Cuckoo Land
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Very Bad Thing 202991908 From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a taut thriller about one author at the pinnacle of her career, whose past threatens to destroy everything she has—and everyone she knows.

A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.

With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead in a pool of blood.

Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on—at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author’s illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won’t stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?]]> 446 J.T. Ellison 1662520328 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.16 2024 A Very Bad Thing
author: J.T. Ellison
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Drop Dead Sisters (The Finch Sisters, #1)]]> 213004602 “Compulsively readable, Drop Dead Sisters is perfect for readers who love shows like Bad Sisters and Dead to Me. A mystery about three estranged sisters who accidentally kill someone? Yes, please.� —Mindy Kaling

Three sisters reunite on a family vacation and rekindle their relationship the only way they know how—by covering each other’s tracks in a real-life murder mystery not even they can figure out.

Remi Finch has spent the better part of her adult life avoiding family—especially her sisters. They just don’t click. Besides, her unconventional upbringing and major anxiety have convinced Remi that she can’t build a relationship with anyone. Period.

When her parents plan a family reunion camping trip to celebrate their anniversary, Remi’s willing to reconnect, if only because she doesn’t have a choice. But then a dead body turns up at their campsite, and their sisterly bonding kicks into high gear.

No one knows the whole story, but the Finch women are prepared to cover up the pieces before anyone tries to put them together. It’s a precautionary measure, probably unnecessary. Nobody else was there, so how could they have seen anything?

Between old grudges and new dynamics, a handsome park ranger, and a body that won’t stay hidden, Remi is about to learn that nothing strengthens family ties quite like crime.]]> 255 Amelia Diane Coombs 1662522746 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.75 2024 Drop Dead Sisters (The Finch Sisters, #1)
author: Amelia Diane Coombs
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond]]> 208180575 Expert guidance for living a longer, healthier, more meaningful second half of life.


As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Debra Whitman, a globally recognized expert on aging, wanted to delve deeper into why so many Americans struggled to live well as they aged. And she began to wonder what was in store for her own second fifty. Suddenly, the questions she’d been studying for years became How long will I live? Will I be healthy? Will I lose my memory? How long will I work? Will I have enough money? Where will I live? How will I die?

Americans are now living decades longer than previous generations. These added years offer exciting possibilities but also raise crucial questions. In her groundbreaking book, Whitman provides a roadmap for navigating, and celebrating, the second half of life. Drawing on compelling stories from her own family and people across the country, interviews with experts, and cutting-edge research, she shares insights on brain health, the contributions and concerns of an older workforce, caregiving, financing retirement, and more. Her findings are often Americans over fifty are a boon to—not a drain on—the economy. Dementia rates have actually been declining as more people achieve higher levels of education and adopt healthier lifestyles. And while we’ve long known that staying connected to others is critical to mental health, it turns out it is also linked to a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, and a longer life.

Whitman presents practical steps we can take to help create a better second fifty for ourselves. But we can’t do it alone. Whitman also calls for urgently needed changes that would make it easier for every American to enjoy a vital and meaningful second half of life.

Whether you are approaching fifty, into your later years, or caring for someone who is, you’ll find a wealth of wisdom in these pages. Informed by Whitman’s unmatched expertise and her deep passion, The Second Fifty is an indispensable guide for living well in the twenty-first century.]]> 324 Debra Whitman 0393867668 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.52 2024 The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond
author: Debra Whitman
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History]]> 36119928 310 Scott Andrew Selby 1402779151 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.88 2010 Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History
author: Scott Andrew Selby
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole, #8) 6703399 “Terrific entertainment . . . A powerful portrait of Los Angeles in our swift, colorful, gripping, a real knockout.”—Dean KoontzThe day starts like any other in L.A. The sun burns hot as the Santa Ana winds blow ash from mountain fires to coat the glittering city. But for private investigator Joe Pike, the city will never be the same again. His ex-lover, Karen Garcia, is dead, brutally murdered with a gun shot to the head.Now Karen's powerful father calls on Pike (a former cop) and his partner, Elvis Cole, to keep an eye on the LAPD as they search for his daughter's killer--because in the luminous City of Angels, everyone has secrets, and even the mighty blue have something to hide. But what starts as a little procedural hand-holding turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. For a dark web of conspiracy threatens to destroy Pike and Cole's twelve-year friendship—if not their lives. And L.A. just might be singing their dirge.Praise for L.A. Requiem“One of the best crime novels I've ever read. Absolutely terrific!â€�—David Baldacci“Darker, denser, deeper, and more satisfying than anything he’s written before.â€�—The Denver Post“[A] whodunit with salsa and soul . . . [Crais] keeps his plot pounding along.â€�‱÷±đ´Ç±č±ô±đ]]> 404 Robert Crais 0307567850 Loripdx 5 4.48 1999 L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole, #8)
author: Robert Crais
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
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]]> Straw House 12748913 432 Daniel Nayeri 0763660140 Loripdx 0 to-read 2.74 2011 Straw House
author: Daniel Nayeri
name: Loripdx
average rating: 2.74
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority]]> 19077189 “Black people are not dark-skinned white people,� says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are a lot more.They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of “no way!� At this point in history, the idea of black inferiority should have had a “Going-Out-of-Business Sale.� After all, Barack Obama has reached the Promised Land.

Yet, as Erasing the Myth of Black Inferiority testifies, too much of black America is still wandering in the wilderness. In this powerful examination of “the greatest propaganda campaign of all time”—the masterful marketing of black inferiority Burrell poses 10 provocative questions that will make black people look in the mirror and ask why, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many blacks still think like slaves.

Brainwashed is not a reprimand; it is a call to deprogram ourselves of self-defeating attitudes and actions. Racism is not the issue; how we respond to racism is the issue. We must undo negative brainwashing and claim a new state of race-based self-esteem and self-actualization. Provocative and powerful, Brainwashed dares to expose the wounds so that we, at last, can heal.]]> 320 Tom Burrell 140192669X Loripdx 0 to-read 4.45 2009 Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
author: Tom Burrell
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Griselda Takes Flight (Bright's Pond #3)]]> 11183612
But Griselda's newfound freedom-and her flight time with handsome pilot, Cliff-is hampered by other happenings in town. Like the gold digger who prances around town and is supposedly engaged to Stella Kincaid's brother-the lottery winner who is in a coma. And there's Ivy Slocum's dog, Al Capone, whose adventures continue long after they should.

When Chief of Police Mildred Blessing starts investigating the gold digger, however, things really heat up-for Griselda and all the residents of the unique Pennsylvania hamlet called Bright's Pond!]]> 384 Joyce Magnin 1426726430 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.71 2011 Griselda Takes Flight (Bright's Pond #3)
author: Joyce Magnin
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[I Shall Not Want (The Psalm 23 Mysteries, #2)]]> 21189600 290 Debbie Viguié 1426716095 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.00 2010 I Shall Not Want (The Psalm 23 Mysteries, #2)
author: Debbie Viguié
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> Behind Closed Doors 29437949
But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.

Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.]]> 293 B.A. Paris 1250121000 Loripdx 3 3.96 2016 Behind Closed Doors
author: B.A. Paris
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/08/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Disintegration: A Mystery Thriller]]> 9568998
DISINTEGRATION
(Revised March 2011. Includes alternate ending. DRM-free)

When a mysterious fire destroys his home and shatters his family, Jacob Wells is pulled into a downward spiral that draws him ever closer to the past he thought was dead and buried.

Now his twin brother Joshua is back in town, seeking to settle old scores and claim his half of the Wells birthright. Jacob’s wife Renee is struggling with her own past and her attempts to salvage Jacob are driven by guilt and ambition.

As Jacob and Joshua return to the twisted roles they adopted at the hands of cruel, demanding parents, they wage a war of pride, wealth, and passion. They share a poisonous obsession with the provocative, manipulative Carlita, whose immigrant family helped build the Wells fortune.

Joshua wants other things, too, but Jacob’s desires are divided between the forbidden love he can’t possess, the respectability he can never have, and the revenge he is dying to taste. And Renee has dark motives of her own.

If only Jacob can figure out which of them to blame. But the lines of identity are blurred, because Joshua and Jacob share much more than blood.

And the childhood games have become deadly serious.]]> 306 Scott Nicholson 1452489327 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.37 2000 Disintegration: A Mystery Thriller
author: Scott Nicholson
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Pilgrim's Journey: The Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola]]> 56056915 42 Eric Kampmann 0825306086 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.94 2011 A Pilgrim's Journey: The Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola
author: Eric Kampmann
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Stolen Life 11393898
Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, utterly honest and unflinching narrative, Jaycee opens up about what she experienced, including how she feels now, a year after being found. Garrido and his wife Nancy have since pleaded guilty to their crimes.]]> 268 Jaycee Dugard 1451629206 Loripdx 3 4.09 2011 A Stolen Life
author: Jaycee Dugard
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
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]]> The Leftover Woman 78296909 An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women--from the New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation.

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth--another female casualty of China's controversial One Child Policy. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she's forced to make increasingly desperate decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her daughter.

Meanwhile, publishing executive Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a prestigious family name and the wealth that comes with it, a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. She's even hired a Chinese nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working wife and mother. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardize not only Rebecca's job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble and her role in her own family is called into question.

The Leftover Woman finds these two unforgettable women on a shocking collision course. Twisting and suspenseful and surprisingly poignant, it's a profound exploration of identity and belonging, motherhood and family. It is a story of two women in a divided city--separated by severe economic and cultural differences yet bound by a deep emotional connection to a child.]]> 288 Jean Kwok 0063031469 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.72 2023 The Leftover Woman
author: Jean Kwok
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A Calamity of Souls 198494052
Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.

Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.

Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair. But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.

Over a decade in the writing, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.]]> 480 David Baldacci 1538765020 Loripdx 2 4.38 2024 A Calamity of Souls
author: David Baldacci
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/20
date added: 2024/07/20
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review:
I usually love books by this author; however, I was quite disappointed this time! The characters never seemed like real people to me, and the story seemed formulaic. I kept questioning whether I should keep reading, whether I should bother finishing the book. Super disappointed!
]]> <![CDATA[The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)]]> 62873996
Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258776 Loripdx 4 3.95 2023 The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/07/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing]]> 832543 Building on wisdom from Hindu, Christian, and Kaballah traditions, this comprehensive guide to energy healing reveals the hidden stresses, beliefs, and attitudes that cause illness.Ěý

Anatomy of the Spirit is the boldest presentation to date of energy medicine by one of its premier practitioners, internationally acclaimed medical intuitive Caroline Myss, one of the "hottest new voices in the alternative health/spirituality scene" (Publishers Weekly). Based on fifteen years of research into energy medicine, Dr. Myss's work shows how every illness corresponds to a pattern of emotional and psychological stresses, beliefs, and attitudes that have influenced corresponding areas of the human body.

Anatomy of the Spirit also presents Dr. Myss's breakthrough model of the body's seven centers of spiritual and physical power, in which she synthesizes the ancient wisdom of three spiritual traditions-the Hindu chakras, the Christian sacraments, and the Kabbalah's Tree of Life-to demonstrate the seven stages through which everyone must pass in the search for higher consciousness and spiritual maturity. With this model, Dr. Myss shows how you can develop your own latent powers of intuition as you simultaneously cultivate your personal power and spiritual growth.

By teaching you to see your body and spirit in a new way, Anatomy of the Spirit provides you with the tools for spiritual maturity and physical wholeness that will change your life.]]> 302 Caroline Myss 0609800140 Loripdx 4 4.15 2011 Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing
author: Caroline Myss
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/17
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves:
review:
I usually get my books from the library, but this is one book I'll be purchasing to own! Excellent!
]]> All the Light We Cannot See 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.31 2014 All the Light We Cannot See
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Plot (The Book Series, #1)]]> 56048747 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
The Tonight Show Summer Reads Winner
A New York Times Notable Book of 2021
"Insanely readable." —Stephen King
Hailed as "breathtakingly suspenseful," Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing� of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?]]> 317 Jean Hanff Korelitz Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.06 2021 The Plot (The Book Series, #1)
author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16]]> 15834128
When he was a young boy, Kasher's mother took him on a vacation to the West Coast. Well it was more like an abduction. Only not officially. She stole them away from their father and they moved to Oakland , California. That's where the real fun begins, in the war zone of Oakland Public Schools. He was more than just out of control-his mother walked him around on a leash, which he chewed through and ran away.

Those early years read like part Augusten Burroughs, part David Sedaris, with a touch of Jim Carrol...but a lot more Jewish. In fact, Kasher later spends time in a Brooklyn Hasidic community. Then came addicition...

Brutally honest and laugh-out-loud funny, Kasher's first literary endeavor finds humor in even the most horrifying situations.]]> 304 Moshe Kasher Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.15 2012 Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16
author: Moshe Kasher
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> What Is Love? 177680119 Head and heart collide in a story of polar-opposite rivals that’s anything but trivial in this game show romance from Midnight Duet author Jen Comfort.

Answer: From the Latin word for crossroads, this is knowledge so common as to be obscure, the pursuit of which engages millions daily. Question: What is trivia?

Trivia is the magic in the mundane, the connection in the commonplace, and Maxine Hart’s second-favorite pastime. A self-proclaimed Brooklyn street rat and a high school dropout, Maxine has never been a fan of formal education, but thanks to her ADHD “superpowers,� she’s a glutton for knowledge—and a good fight. And when Maxine enters the trivia game show Answers!, her brilliance, coupled with her penchant for big bets, devastates her competition. Even record-holding, 76-time-winner Teddy Ferguson.

Or was it their kiss the night before they faced off that threw the buttoned-up professor off his game?

Now, Maxine and Teddy cross paths again in a high-stakes tournament against all-time Answers! winners, including undefeated champion Hercules McKnight. With nothing in common but an insatiable appetite for knowledge and a desire to win, Maxine offers Teddy a deal: combine their strengths to shore up their weaknesses. She’ll push his tolerance for risk and improve his buzzer speed, if he’ll find creative ways to fill in the gaps in her education.

Except neither one of them foresaw just how scintillating learning could be…]]> 345 Jen Comfort 1662516436 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.80 2024 What Is Love?
author: Jen Comfort
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/26
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 45416596 From the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & the Six—an entrancing and “wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet� (PopSugar) as she reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

“Heartbreaking, yet beautiful� (Jamie Blynn, Us Weekly), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is “Tinseltown drama at its finest� (Redbook): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.]]> 434 Taylor Jenkins Reid Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.46 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Last Night 57010537 From the Amazon Charts and New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Box and Last Day comes a breathtaking thriller about a family shaken by lies, vengeance, and a cold-blooded crime.

A fierce blizzard is burying the eastern seaboard, but on the icy Rhode Island shore renowned artist Maddie Morrison finds warm sanctuary from a contentious divorce at the legendary Ocean House. Hours later, her body is found buried under a blanket of snow and her little daughter, CeCe, has disappeared without a trace.

For Detective Conor Reid; his brother, Tom, a coast guard commander; and Maddie’s grieving sister, Hadley, the posh hotel becomes ground zero for an investigation. Trapped by the blizzard, they must hunker down and determine who in the young mother’s life could have possibly wanted her dead. There are stories of a twisted romantic past. Of old jealousies and resentments that still cut to the bone. And a history of greed, rage, and revenge that created the perfect storm for murder. A storm that has just begun.]]> 329 Luanne Rice 1542030218 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.05 2024 Last Night
author: Luanne Rice
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Almost Surely Dead 180320288
Dunia Ahmed lives an ordinary life—or she definitely used to. Now she’s the subject of a true crime podcast. She’s been missing for over a year, and no one knows if she’s dead or alive. But her story has listeners obsessed, and people everywhere are sporting merch that demands “Find Dunia!� In the days before her disappearance, Dunia is a successful pharmacist living in New York. The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she’s coping with a broken engagement and the death of her mother. But then something happens that really shakes up her someone tries to murder her. When her would-be killer winds up dead, Dunia figures the worst is over. But then there’s another attempt on her life…and another. And police suspect someone close to her may be the culprit. Dunia struggles to make sense of what’s happening. And as childhood superstitions seep into her reality, she becomes convinced that someone—or some thing —is truly after her.]]> 298 Amina Akhtar 1662507593 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.69 2024 Almost Surely Dead
author: Amina Akhtar
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Two Floors Above Grief: A Memoir of Two Families in the Unique Place We Called Home]]> 63892292 In the Heart of a House Unlike Any Other�

Nestled within the walls of a stately Victorian, young Kevin's life unfolded amidst a unique backdrop. His bed shared a room with a stage once graced by orchestras, while downstairs, an electric organ hummed beside caskets in the family mortuary business. It was a childhood of contrasts, where joy mingled with grief, and life danced alongside death.

Journey Through Time and Memory...

Travel back to the roaring �20s and onwards to the vibrant �80s as Kevin shares his captivating tale. Through poignant letters exchanged between family members, experience the intersection of the business of death and the magic of family bonds, faith, and celebration.

Embark on a journey through time and memory�

Open the pages of Two Floors Above Grief. Let the magic of storytelling transport you to a world where every moment, no matter how ordinary, is filled with extraordinary possibility.]]> 344 Kevin O'Connor Loripdx 0 to-read 3.86 Two Floors Above Grief: A Memoir of Two Families in the Unique Place We Called Home
author: Kevin O'Connor
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 51603444 What would you change if you could travel back in time?

 Down a small alleyway in the heart of Tokyo, there’s an underground café that’s been serving carefully brewed coffee for over a hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers its customers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time.

The rules, however, are far from simple: you must sit in one particular seat, and you can’t venture outside the café, nor can you change the present. And, most important, you only have the time it takes to drink a hot cup of coffee—or risk getting stuck forever.

Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of traveling to another time: a heartbroken lover looking for closure, a nurse with a mysterious letter from her husband, a waitress hoping to say one last goodbye and a mother whose child she may never get the chance to know.

Heartwarming, wistful and delightfully quirky, Before the Coffee Gets Cold explores the intersecting lives of four women who come together in one extraordinary café, where the service may not be quick, but the opportunities are endless.]]> 227 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1488077215 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.80 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Polish Nurse: A WW2 Historical Fiction Novel (The Berlin Girl Trilogy Book 1)]]> 198323523 She has a secret. Keeping it will mean the difference between life and death.

1941, Poland. Though war rages around her and occupying German forces march steadily onward, 16-year-old Aleksandra has lived her life sheltered from danger.

Until one day, she goes to school � never to return.

Pushed roughly into a truck with other schoolgirls like her, a single ominous word tells her all she needs to know about her Lebensborn.

Lebensborn, the infamous German “voluntary reproduction� program � rumored to involve the abduction of blond-haired, blue-eyed girls and forcing them to bear the children of Nazi soldiers.

But when their convoy is bombed en route to Berlin, Aleksandra and the girls see their chance to escape. In a foreign land, far from home, they know their survival depends on keeping their identities a secret.

Resourceful and determined not to be discovered, Aleksandra takes a job as a nurse in the German city of Dresden. Just as she starts to think she might live to see the end of the war, her carefully crafted secret begins to unravel. Aleksandra knows that if she ever wants to see her home and family again, she will have to risk it all � on her own.

Previously published as Before Berlin.]]> 366 Leah Moyes Loripdx 0 to-read 4.45 The Polish Nurse: A WW2 Historical Fiction Novel (The Berlin Girl Trilogy Book 1)
author: Leah Moyes
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Greetings from Lavender Valley (Sisters of the Heart, #1)]]> 67995170
Now in her eighties, Jewel’s time is short, and her last letter spells out an unusual request. The five women have never met but Jewel’s last wish is for them to return to Lavender Valley Farm together, back to the refuge where they once found the love and support they craved. Jewel has a keen sense of knowing their needs before they do and she knows they are going to need their sisters of the heart.

Life’s been hard, but facing the inevitable loss of the only parental figure you’ve known can be harder. Will the five women be able to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way of granting the beloved matriarch of their family her last wish?

Get to know each of the women through Jewel’s own letters in GREETINGS FROM LAVENDER VALLEY, the first book and prequel in the Sisters of the Heart Series. Fans of heartwarming, feel-good women’s fiction like those by Debbie Macomber or Sheila Roberts will devour this series by USA Today bestselling author, Tammy L. Grace.]]> 119 Tammy L. Grace 1945591412 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.18 Greetings from Lavender Valley (Sisters of the Heart, #1)
author: Tammy L. Grace
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store]]> 85148114
ĚýĚýĚýĚýAs these charactersâ€� stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.]]> 400 James McBride 0593422961 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.25 2023 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
author: James McBride
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/02
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]]> Holly (Holly Gibney #3) 83638977
“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.� —BILL HODGES

Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

“I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.� —STEPHEN KING]]> 464 Stephen King Loripdx 5 4.32 2023 Holly (Holly Gibney #3)
author: Stephen King
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/27
date added: 2023/11/27
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]]> Fatal Flaw (Fatal, #4) 10145519
Already on edge, Sam and her team start investigating a series of baffling murders. The victims are well-liked with no known enemies, and the murders are carried out in a clean and efficient manner. Unable to find a clear motive for the deaths, she feels like she's chasing her tail.

With no obvious connection between the victims, Sam soon suspects that she may be the ultimate prize in the killer's clever game. When the danger starts to hit a little too close to home, she has two find the elusive murderer and manage to live long enough to enjoy her happily-ever-after.

Book 4 of the Fatal series.]]> 406 Marie Force 1426893140 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.42 2014 Fatal Flaw (Fatal, #4)
author: Marie Force
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/26
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]]> <![CDATA[As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride]]> 22344069
The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets and backstage stories.

With a foreword by Rob Reiner and a limited edition original poster by acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film.]]> 273 Cary Elwes Loripdx 5 4.35 2014 As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
author: Cary Elwes
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/19
date added: 2023/11/19
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]]> Night Owl (Trasker #1) 122996469 A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac―nearly killing her in the process―Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone―including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.]]> 312 Andrew Mayne 1662506449 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.17 2023 Night Owl (Trasker #1)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/18
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]]> The Marsh King's Daughter 32889533
Helena Pelletier has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a business that fills her days. But she also has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Helena, born two years after the abduction, loved her home in nature, and despite her father’s sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him, too…until she learned precisely how savage he could be.

More than twenty years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn’t know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison, and disappeared into the marsh. The police begin a manhunt, but Helena knows they don’t stand a chance. Knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist the world calls the Marsh King–because only one person was ever trained by him: his daughter.]]> 310 Karen Dionne 0735213003 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.85 2017 The Marsh King's Daughter
author: Karen Dionne
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> The Quiet Tenant 61897971
When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend� who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life—and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant is an electrifying debut thriller by a major talent.]]> 303 Clémence Michallon 0593534646 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.80 2023 The Quiet Tenant
author: Clémence Michallon
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[There's No Coming Back from This]]> 57725873 “The show must go on� takes on a whole new meaning for one single mom in a witty and emotional novel by the USA Today bestselling author of I Thought You Said This Would Work.

It seems lately that Poppy Lively is invisible to everyone but the IRS.

After her accountant absconded with her life savings, newly bankrupt Poppy is on the verge of losing her home when an old flame, now a hotshot producer, gives her a surprising way out: a job in costumes on a Hollywood film set. It’s a bold move to pack her bags, keep secrets from her daughter, and head to Los Angeles, but Poppy's a capable person—how hard can a job in wardrobe be? It's not like she has a choice; her life couldn't get any worse. Even so, this midwesterner has a lot to learn about the fast and loose world of movie stars, iconic costumes, and back-lot intrigue.

As a single mom, she's rarely had time for watching movies, she doesn't sew, and she doesn't know a thing about dressing the biggest names in the business. Floundering and overlooked, Poppy has one ally: Allen Carol, an ill-tempered movie star taken with Poppy’s unfiltered candor and general indifference to stardom.

When Poppy stumbles upon corruption, she relies on everyone underestimating her to discover who’s at the center of it, a revelation that shakes her belief in humanity. What she thought was a way to secure a future for her daughter becomes a spotlight illuminating the facts: Poppy is out of her league among the divas of Tinseltown.

Poppy must decide whether to keep her mouth shut, as she's always done, or with the help of a scruffy dog, show the moviemakers that they need her unglamorous ways, whether the superstars like it or not.]]> 300 Ann Garvin 1542033586 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.95 There's No Coming Back from This
author: Ann Garvin
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/28
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]]> Housemoms 123157459 Three grown women find escape and camaraderie on sorority row in a delightfully exhilarating novel about fresh starts, whether you want them or not, by New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster.

How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down?

One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.

Tasked with preparing a stately—but in CeCe’s estimation shabby—house for rush, CeCe isn’t the only one navigating a new life. Janelle Smith’s last experience as a housemother was at a Jersey strip club, where she witnessed a mob hit. To keep her safe until trial, WITSEC finds her a new identity and a housemom position on Eli Whitney’s sorority row, where Janelle’s conflict mediation and tolerance for high estrogen levels make her a star employee. For Hayden, a barista at a hopelessly hip off-campus café, the goal is to flee everything the money, the scandals, and the exasperating family nonsense. What next?

Though CeCe’s not ready to sell her Chanel bag, she’s open to reinvention. Hayden might even admit she needs help in her new independent life. And Janelle’s due for a personal triumph. But big challenges loom between the alabaster columns of Eli Whitney, unexpected and dicey enough to bring them all together—if only to keep them from falling completely apart.]]> 251 Jen Lancaster 1662510160 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.53 Housemoms
author: Jen Lancaster
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.53
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)]]> 131068071
A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club� of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.]]> 341 Tess Gerritsen 1662515111 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.34 2023 The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/22
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]]> The Mystery of Mrs. Christie 54221749 Marie Benedict, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room, uncovers the untold story of Agatha Christie’s mysterious eleven day disappearance.

In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car � strange for a frigid night. Her husband and daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away.

The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted. With her trademark exploration into the shadows of history, acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such a murky story.

What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?

A master storyteller whose clever mind may never be matched, Agatha Christie’s untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all.]]> 272 Marie Benedict 1492682721 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.66 2020 The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
author: Marie Benedict
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/11
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]]> Salem Falls 10915
When Jack St. Bride arrives by chance in the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls, he decides to reinvent himself. Tall, blond, and handsome, Jack was once a beloved teacher and soccer coach at a girls' prep school -- until a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation and robbed him of his reputation. Now, working for minimum wage washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, Jack buries his past, content to become the mysterious stranger who has appeared out of the blue.

With ghosts of her own haunting her, Addie Peabody is as cautious around men as Jack St. Bride is around women. But as this unassuming stranger steps smoothly into the diner's daily routine, she finds him fitting just as comfortably inside her heart -- and slowly, a gentle, healing love takes hold between them.

Yet planting roots in Salem Falls may prove fateful for Jack. Amid the white-painted centuries-old churches, a quartet of bored, privileged teenage girls have formed a coven that is crossing the line between amusement and malicious intent. Quick to notice the attractive new employee at Addie's diner, the girls turn Jack's world upside down with a shattering allegation that causes history to repeat itself -- and forces Jack to proclaim his innocence once again. Suddenly nothing in Salem Falls is as it seems: a safe haven turns dangerous, an innocent girl meets evil face-to-face, a dishwasher with a Ph.D. is revealed to be an ex-con. As Jack's hidden past catches up with him, the seams of this tiny town begin to tear, and the emerging truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray. Now Addie, desperate for answers, must look into her heart -- and into Jack's lies and shadowy secrets -- for evidence that will condemn or redeem the man she has come to love.]]> 434 Jodi Picoult 0743418719 Loripdx 3 3.83 2001 Salem Falls
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/24
date added: 2023/09/24
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]]> Everyone Here Is Lying 63139946 Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery's family declare her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth. ]]> 336 Shari Lapena 0593489934 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.75 2023 Everyone Here Is Lying
author: Shari Lapena
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Puzzle Master 62121610
Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder who hasn't spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When Price draws a perplexing puzzle, her psychiatrist believes it will explain her crime and calls Brink to solve it. What begins as a desire to crack an alluring cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. She soon reveals that there is something more urgent, and more dangerous, behind her silence, thrusting Brink into a hunt for the truth.

The quest takes Brink through a series of interlocking enigmas, but the heart of the mystery is the God Puzzle, a cryptic ancient prayer circle created by the thirteenth-century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia. As Brink navigates a maze of clues, and his emotional entanglement with Price becomes more intense, he realizes that there are powerful forces at work that he cannot escape.

Ranging from an upstate New York women's prison to nineteenth-century Prague to the secret rooms of the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Puzzle Master is a tantalizing, addictive thriller in which humankind, technology, and the future of the universe itself are at stake.]]> 362 Danielle Trussoni 0593595297 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.23 2023 The Puzzle Master
author: Danielle Trussoni
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/12
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]]> Mad Honey 59912428 A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.]]> 464 Jodi Picoult 1984818384 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.05 2022 Mad Honey
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/01
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]]> Caribou Island 8584946 On a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, a marriage is unraveling. Gary, driven by thirty years of diverted plans, and Irene, haunted by a tragedy in her past, are trying to rebuild their life together. Following the outline of Gary's old dream, they're hauling logs to Caribou Island in good weather and in terrible storms, in sickness and in health, to build the kind of cabin that drew them to Alaska in the first place.

But this island is not right for Irene. They are building without plans or advice, and when winter comes early, the overwhelming isolation of the prehistoric wilderness threatens their bond to the core. Caught in the emotional maelstrom is their adult daughter, Rhoda, who is wrestling with the hopes and disappointments of her own life. Devoted to her parents, she watches helplessly as they drift further apart.

Brilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, Caribou Island captures the drama and pathos of a husband and wife whose bitter love, failed dreams, and tragic past push them to the edge of destruction. A portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul, it is an explosive and unforgettable novel from a writer of limitless possibility.

]]> 293 David Vann 0061875724 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.45 2010 Caribou Island
author: David Vann
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/28
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]]> <![CDATA[This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone]]> 8584965 336 Melissa Coleman 0061958328 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.73 2011 This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone
author: Melissa Coleman
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/28
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]]> Joan Is Okay 55333768
Joan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary, successful. She does look up sometimes and wonder where her true roots lie: at the hospital, where her white coat makes her feel needed, or with her family, who try to shape her life by their own cultural and social expectations.

Once Joan and her brother, Fang, were established in their careers, her parents moved back to China, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city, and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.

Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful, laced with sharp humor, Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding one’s voice within a dominant culture; being a woman in a male-dominated workplace; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all, it’s a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you can’t get her out of your head.]]> 224 Weike Wang 0525654836 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.65 2022 Joan Is Okay
author: Weike Wang
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1)]]> 54626223 From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.

“Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked…� To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver’s Row don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home.

Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn’t ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn’t ask questions, either.

Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the “Waldorf of Harlem”—and volunteers Ray’s services as the fence. The heist doesn’t go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.

Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

Harlem Shuffle’s ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It’s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

But mostly, it’s a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.]]> 318 Colson Whitehead 0385545134 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.67 2021 Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1)
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Crook Manifesto (Ray Carney, #2)]]> 61812836 Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.

It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It's strictly the straight-and-narrow for him -- until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated - and deadly.

1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney's endearingly violent partner in crime. It's getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook - to their regret.

1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. ("Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!"), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney's tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.]]> 336 Colson Whitehead 0385545150 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.82 2023 Crook Manifesto (Ray Carney, #2)
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/08
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]]> The Nickel Boys 42270835 Author of The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in 1960s Florida.

Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.

In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.

The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.

Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead Loripdx 0 to-read 4.25 2019 The Nickel Boys
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> The Underground Railroad 30555488
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor--engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey--hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.]]> 320 Colson Whitehead 0385542364 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.04 2016 The Underground Railroad
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/08
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]]> The London SĂ©ance Society 61109069
1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves�
]]> 352 Sarah Penner 0778387119 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.46 2023 The London SĂ©ance Society
author: Sarah Penner
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage]]> 58340758 In this fascinating and insightful book, feminist curatorĚýRachael LennonĚýprovides an intimate and intersectional examination of the history of marriage around the world.

In this fascinating feminist history, Rachael Lennon tells a remarkable story of how this institution has developed from the ancient customs of the stone age through to the modern form it takes today.

In this eminently readable and relatable study, Lennon also explores themes such as the pressure to marry, the politics surrounding proposals, the spectacle of marriage, the business behind it, and the politics tied to consummation as well as issues such as taking a man’s name, the nuances of marriage vows and obedience, â€having it allâ€� and trying to keep up the fight to have an enduring marriage.

Having married her wife just a few years after the legalisation of same sex marriage in the United Kingdom, LennonĚýinterweaves her own personal experiences of marriage with stories and anecdotes from throughout history to explore how marriage has transformed over the years.

In shaking off patriarchal expectations, Rachael examines marriage’s troubling past and celebrates a more joyful present, celebrating the feminist activists who have fought to make marriage a pure and equitable celebration of love, open to everyone regardless of gender or sexuality.

She also asksĚýwhat compels us to keep making this choice? Can we let go of the gendered baggage that we have inherited? Can weĚýhold true to feminist values as we commit to our partners? And what does that look like? How can we build on the past to continue to redefine marriage for the future?]]> 256 Rachael Lennon 0711267111 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.88 2023 Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage
author: Rachael Lennon
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/04
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]]> The Keeper of Stories 59904786 She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her�

When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B � a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties � she meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share.

Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?]]> 386 Sally Page Loripdx 0 to-read 4.07 2022 The Keeper of Stories
author: Sally Page
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The House Witch (The House Witch, #1)]]> 61337597 A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.

When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.

But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a house witch and his kitten familiar, Kraken, take to meddling in imperial affairs. As his powers are gradually discovered by the court, Fin finds himself involved in a slew of intrigues: going head-to-head with knights with less-than-chivalrous intentions, helping to protect the pregnant queen, fending off the ire of the royal mage, and uncovering a spy in the castle. And that’s only the beginning—because Fin’s past is catching up with him just as his love life is getting complicated . . .]]> 658 Delemhach 1039410243 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.16 2022 The House Witch (The House Witch, #1)
author: Delemhach
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/06
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]]> Yolk 43562313 From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters switching places and committing insurance fraud to save one of their lives.

Jayne Baek is barely getting by. She shuffles through fashion school, saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, clout-chasing friends, and a wretched eating disorder that she’s not fully ready to confront. But that’s New York City, right? At least she isn’t in Texas anymore, and is finally living in a city that feels right for her.

On the other hand, her sister June is dazzlingly rich with a high-flying finance job and a massive apartment. Unlike Jayne, June has never struggled a day in her life. Until she’s diagnosed with uterine cancer.

Suddenly, these estranged sisters who have nothing in common are living together. Because sisterly obligations are kind of important when one of you is dying.]]> 400 Mary H.K. Choi Loripdx 0 to-read 3.95 2021 Yolk
author: Mary H.K. Choi
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/01
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]]> The Circus Train 56469793 At the World of Wonders, Europe's most magnificent travelling circus, every moment is full of magic, and nothing is as it seems--especially for the people who put on the show

Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite her father's overprotection and the limits her world places on her because she is disabled. Her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. Over several years, as their friendship flourishes and Alexandre trains as the illusionist's apprentice, World War II escalates around them. When Theo and Alexandre are contracted to work and perform in a model town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena becomes separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible--herself.

A must-read for fans of The Night Circus and Water for Elephants, The Circus Train will take readers on a heart-wrenching and spectacular two-decade journey across Europe. When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward?

]]> 352 Amita Parikh Loripdx 0 to-read 4.02 2022 The Circus Train
author: Amita Parikh
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)]]> 43822820 here.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.]]> 352 Lisa Jewell 1501190105 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.93 2019 The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/02
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]]> The Other Emily 55619129 Number one New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz takes readers on a twisting journey of lost love, impossible second chances, and terrifying promises.

A decade ago, Emily Carlino vanished after her car broke down on a California highway. She was presumed to be one of serial killer Ronny Lee Jessup’s victims whose remains were never found.

Writer David Thorne still hasn’t recovered from losing the love of his life, or from the guilt of not being there to save her. Since then, he’s sought closure any way he can. He even visits regularly with Jessup in prison, desperate for answers about Emily’s final hours so he may finally lay her body to rest. Then David meets Maddison Sutton, beguiling, playful, and keenly aware of all David has lost. But what really takes his breath away is that everything about Maddison, down to her kisses, is just like Emily. As the fantastic becomes credible, David’s obsession grows, Maddison’s mysterious past deepens—and terror escalates.

Is she Emily? Or an irresistible dead ringer? Either way, the ultimate question is the same: What game is she playing? Whatever the risk in finding out, David’s willing to take it for this precious second chance. It’s been ten years since he’s felt this inspired, this hopeful, this much in love…and he’s afraid.]]> 352 Dean Koontz 1542019966 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.77 2021 The Other Emily
author: Dean Koontz
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)]]> 29354916
But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.]]> 424 John Grisham 0385541201 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.96 2016 The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/25
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]]> The Testament 5348
Enter the lawyers. Nate O’Riley is fresh out of rehab, a disgraced corporate attorney handpicked for his last job: to find Rachel Lane at any cost. As Phelan’s family circles like vultures in D.C., Nate goes crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman—pursued by enemies and friends alike—holds a stunning surprise of her own.]]> 533 John Grisham 0440234743 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.87 1999 The Testament
author: John Grisham
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/25
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]]> Women Talking 40046077
While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home, these women—all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside their community and unable even to speak the language of the country they live in—have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in the only world they’ve ever known or should they dare to escape?

Based on real events and told through the “minutes� of the women’s all-female symposium, Toews’s masterful novel uses wry, politically engaged humor to relate this tale of women claiming their own power to decide.]]> 216 Miriam Toews 1635572584 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.61 2018 Women Talking
author: Miriam Toews
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/17
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]]> <![CDATA[We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story]]> 52582665 Marvel's newest recruit shares his own inspiring and unexpected origin story, from China to the bright lights of Hollywood.ĚýAn immigrant who battles everything from parental expectations to cultural stereotypes, Simu Liu struggles to forge a path for himself, rising from the ashes of a failed accounting career (yes, you read that right) to become Shang-Chi.

Our story begins in the city of Harbin, where Simu's parents have left him in the care of his grandparents while they seek to build a future for themselves in Canada. One day, a mysterious stranger shows up at the door; it's Simu's father, who whisks him away from the only home he had ever known and to the land of opportunity and maple syrup.Ěý

ĚýLife in the new world, however, is not all that it was cracked up to be; Simu's new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings. His parents, on the other hand, find their new son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to - although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values.Ěý

ĚýAs Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious son well; he gets A's, crushes national math competitions, and makes his parents proud. But as time goes on, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the expectations placed on his shoulders, and finds it harder and harder to keep up the charade.Ěý

ĚýBarely a year out of college, his life hits rock bottom when he is laid off from his first job as an accountant. Unemployed, riddled with shame and with nothing left to lose, Simu finds an ad on Craigslist that will send him on a wildlyĚýunexpected journey, into the mysterious world of show business.Ěý

ĚýThrough a swath of rejections and comical mishaps, it is ultimately Simu's determination to carve out a path for himself that leads him to not only succeed as an actor, but also open the door to reconciling with his parents. After all, the courage to pursue his ambitions at all costs is something that he inherited from his parents, who themselves defied impossible odds in order to come to Canada.

ĚýWe Were Dreamers is more than a celebrity memoir - it's a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance.]]> 320 Simu Liu 0063046512 Loripdx 3 4.33 2022 We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
author: Simu Liu
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 3
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date added: 2022/12/09
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]]> The Vibrant Years 61175551 Living on their own terms means being there for one another.

When sixty-five-year-old Bindu Desai inherits a million dollars, she’s astounded―and horrified. The windfall threatens to expose a shameful mistake from her youth. On an impulse, Bindu quickly spends it on something a condo in a posh retirement community in Florida.

The impulsive decision blindsides Bindu’s daughter-in-law, Aly. At forty-seven, Aly still shares a home with Bindu even after her divorce from Bindu’s son. But maybe this change is just the push Aly needs to fight for her own dreams.

As Bindu and Aly navigate their new dynamic, Aly’s daughter, Cullie, is faced with losing the business that made her a tech-world star. The only way to save it is to deliver a new idea to her investors―and they want the dating app she pitched them in a panic. Problem is, Cullie has never been on a real date. Naturally, enlisting her single mother and grandmother to help her with the research is the answer.

From USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev comes a heartfelt novel about three generations of hilarious, unconventional, ambitious women who embark on a shared journey of self-discovery. Join the Desai women as they come together to embrace the hijinks and heartbreak of facing their greatest fears to finally live their most vibrant lives.]]> 272 Sonali Dev 1542036232 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.98 2022 The Vibrant Years
author: Sonali Dev
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/27
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Over Her Dead Body 59967765
Ashley Brooks’s life isn’t working out as planned. After years of struggling to make it in Hollywood, she’s still waiting for her big break. When fate leads her to the doorstep of legendary casting director Louisa Lake George, Ashley thinks her luck is about to change: the prickly old pro knows about a role she’s perfect for. The aspiring actress never gets to thank her, though, because the day after the audition, Louisa is dead. The bigger shock—she left all her money to Ashley.

Louisa’s grown children arrive stunned and ready to fight. Her nephew tries to play peacemaker, while Ashley grapples with why Louisa would leave her fortune to a stranger—and whether she should keep it. But Ashley quickly discovers everyone, including the dead woman, is hiding something, and it’s a race to get to the truth before someone else winds up dead.]]> 305 Susan Walter 1542029058 Loripdx 3 3.98 2022 Over Her Dead Body
author: Susan Walter
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/30
date added: 2022/10/30
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Everywhere That Mary Went (Rosato & Associates, #1)]]> 307644 It's just a matter of time. Mary has been slaving away for the past eight years trying to make partner in her cutthroat Philadelphia law firm. She's too busy to worry about the crank phone calls that she's been getting-until they fall into a sinister pattern. The phone rings as soon as she gets to work, then as soon as she gets home. Mary can't shake the sensation that someone is watching her, following her every move. The shadowboxing turns deadly when her worst fears are realized, and she has to fight for something a lot more important than partnership -- her life.]]> 352 Lisa Scottoline 0060540478 Loripdx 0 to-read 3.69 1993 Everywhere That Mary Went (Rosato & Associates, #1)
author: Lisa Scottoline
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/10/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Fairy Tale 60188762
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King Loripdx 3 4.38 2022 Fairy Tale
author: Stephen King
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/01
date added: 2022/10/02
shelves:
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]]> Carrie Soto Is Back 60435878 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 384 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158687 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.19 2022 Carrie Soto Is Back
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters, #1)]]> 22609358
Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.

In this sweeping, epic tale of love and loss—the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven novels—Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.]]> 460 Lucinda Riley 1476759901 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.16 2014 The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters, #1)
author: Lucinda Riley
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> This Is How It Always Is 40409102 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B01HW6Z3FG

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.]]> 338 Laurie Frankel Loripdx 0 to-read 4.26 2017 This Is How It Always Is
author: Laurie Frankel
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> Mother of All Secrets 59424741
Sleep deprived and overwhelmed, first-time mom Jenn is struggling to adapt to her new role. Frustrated with her loving but preoccupied husband and still grieving the death of her own mother, she feels isolated and depressed. It’s only when she joins a new-moms� group that she starts to think she’s finally getting back on track.

Until Isabel, the group’s leader, suddenly disappears.

Now Jenn’s baby isn’t the only reason she can’t sleep. Consumed with worry over Isabel, Jenn is teetering on the edge of obsession. Concern turns to paranoia when Jenn finds clues that force her to look at herself, her marriage, and the women in her support group, who have more in common than Jenn realized. Much more.

Saving Isabel means unearthing secrets that were supposed to stay buried forever, and Jenn has to decide what she’s willing to risk to help a woman she barely knows. With each revelation, she gets closer to a slow-burning act of retribution that could easily and irrevocably draw her into the flames.]]> 270 Kathleen M. Willett 1542038944 Loripdx 0 currently-reading 3.90 2022 Mother of All Secrets
author: Kathleen M. Willett
name: Loripdx
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Forest Meets the Stars]]> 41818297
After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.

The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.

Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?

Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.]]> 333 Glendy Vanderah 1503959910 Loripdx 4 4.29 2019 Where the Forest Meets the Stars
author: Glendy Vanderah
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/02
date added: 2022/07/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Tanqueray 60686528 “A deeply touching memoir . . . A beautiful, sometimes shocking NC-17 story, kept out of the lily-white, upper crust canon of literature—until now.� �The Washington Post

The storytelling phenomenon Humans of New York and its #1 bestselling books have captivated a global audience of millions with personal narratives that illuminate the human condition. But one story stands apart from the rest...

She is a woman as fabulous, unbowed, and irresistible as the city she lives in.

Meet TANQUERAY.

In 2019, Humans of New York featured a photo of a woman in an outrageous fur coat and hat she made herself. She instantly captured the attention of millions. Her name is Stephanie Johnson, but she’s better known to HONY followers as “Tanqueray,� a born performer who was once one of the best-known burlesque dancers in New York City. Reeling from a brutal childhood, immersed in a world of go-go dancers and hustlers, dirty cops and gangsters, Stephanie was determined to become the fiercest thing the city had ever seen. And she succeeded.

Real, raw, and unapologetically honest, this is the full story of Tanqueray as told by Brandon Stanton—a book filled with never-before-told stories of Tanqueray's struggles and triumphs through good times and bad, personal photos from her own collection, and glimpses of New York City from back in the day when the name “Tanqueray� was on everyone’s lips.]]> 192 Brandon Stanton 1250278287 Loripdx 4 4.45 2022 Tanqueray
author: Brandon Stanton
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/13
date added: 2022/07/13
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]]> On the Inside 19345328
Kristen was living the dream - a loving husband, adorable children, a successful career. Why hadn't it been enough? She's had a lot of time to ponder the answer - behind bars.

It was a little fudging of the numbers, just once to cover some unpaid bills. Somehow, she wound up a convicted white-collar criminal, sentenced to a women's prison full of drug dealers and murderers, enduring days of mind-numbing tedium punctuated by moments of harrowing violence. A place where respect is earned with one's fists.

Yet within these walls, random acts of kindness occur, friendships form, and people fall in love. Letters from her sister-in-law keep Kristen connected to the family she's lost. They give her hope that someday she might be given a second chance. But first, she must face the personal demons lurking in the shadows of her soul - and find a way to forgive herself.]]> 325 Kim Cano Loripdx 0 currently-reading 4.13 2013 On the Inside
author: Kim Cano
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/17
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]]> The Pawnbroker 23846176 The Pawnbroker, is one such sufferer.

At 45, Nazerman, who survived Bergen-Belsen although his wife and children did not, runs a Harlem pawnshop. But the operation is only a front for a gangster who pays Nazerman a comfortable salary for his services. Nazerman’s dreams are haunted by visions of his past tortures. (Dramatizations of these scenes in Sidney Lumet’s 1964 film version are famous for being the first time the extermination camps were depicted in a Hollywood movie.)

Remarkable for its attempts to dramatize the aftereffects of the Holocaust, The Pawnbroker is likewise valuable as an exploration of the fraught relationships between Jews and other American minority groups. That this novel, a National Book Award finalist, manages to be both funny and weighty, makes it all the more tragic that its talented author died, at age 36, the year after its publication. The book sold more than 500,000 copies soon after it was published.
]]> 279 Edward Lewis Wallant 1941493149 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.13 1961 The Pawnbroker
author: Edward Lewis Wallant
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/12
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]]> The Giver of Stars 43925876 From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.]]> 390 Jojo Moyes 0399562486 Loripdx 5 4.27 2019 The Giver of Stars
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/05/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box #1)]]> 35992086
There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong—if time-rusted—iron bolts and zig-zag up the precarious cliffside.

Then one day when Gwendy gets to the top of Castle View, after catching her breath and hearing the shouts of kids on the playground below, a stranger calls to her. There on a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small, neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat�

The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told—until now.]]> 178 Stephen King 1501188305 Loripdx 4 4.32 2017 Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/06
date added: 2022/05/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Vanishing Half 51791252
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.]]> 343 Brit Bennett 0525536299 Loripdx 0 to-read 4.11 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Loripdx
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/04/30
shelves: to-read
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]]>