en-US Tue, 04 Mar 2025 03:00:40 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 214954132 Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author ofĚýThe Librarian of Burned BooksĚýabout a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.

When Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work.

Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.

More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection. Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner’s daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes.Ěý

Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.

The three women’s stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to what happened to Colette Durand.

Inspired by the fascinating, true history of Missoula’s Boxcar Library, the novel blends the story of the strong, courageous women who survived and thrived in the rough and rowdy West with that of the power of standing together to fight for workers� lives. And through it all shines the capacity of books to provide connection and light to those who need it most.


]]> 456 Brianna Labuskes 0063376318 Brianna 5 4.35 2025
author: Brianna Labuskes
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 196774809 We Could Be So Good.

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

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

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.]]> 360 Cat Sebastian Brianna 5 4.45 2024
author: Cat Sebastian
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 147980784
An extraordinary story, inspired by real events, of a female aviator who defies the odds to embark on a daring air race across the Pacific, perfect for fans of Great Circle and Her Last Flight .
1927. Olivia "Livy" West is a fearless young pilot with a love of adventure. She yearns to cross oceans and travel the skies. When she learns of the Dole Air Race -- a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400 mile Pacific crossing from the West Coast to Hawai'i -- she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. In a last-ditch effort to take part, Livy manages to be picked as a navigator for one of the pilots, before setting out on a harrowing journey that some will not survive. 1987. Wren Summers is down to her last dime when she learns she has inherited a remote piece of land on the Big Island with nothing on it but a dilapidated barn and an overgrown mac nut grove. She plans on selling it and using the money to live on, but she is drawn in by the mysterious objects kept in the barn by her late great-uncle -- clues to a tragic piece of aviation history lost to time. Determined to find out what really happened all those years ago, Wren enlists the help of residents at a nearby retirement home to uncover Olivia's story piece by piece. What she discovers is more earth-shattering, and closer to home, than she could have ever imagined.]]> 407 Sara Ackerman 036974778X Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.45 2024
author: Sara Ackerman
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: finished-2023
review:
In this gem of a novel, Sara Ackerman delivers a fun, fast-paced tale of courage, grit and adventure while shining a spotlight on a slice of history that’s flown under the radar. The lush historical details and effortless prose make the book soar, while the white-knuckle action keeps you flipping the pages as fast as you can. Ackerman remains unmatched in creating strong, inspirational women who grab hold of your heart on page one and refuse to let go. At once charming and exhilarating, The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West should be at the top of every must-read list.
]]> 195447698
When the threat of war becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In her daughter’s absence, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, as well as the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriouslyĚýmisshelvedĚýand disappearing, and her work forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.
]]> 396 Madeline Martin Brianna 5 4.20 2024
author: Madeline Martin
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves:
review:
The Booklover’s Library is a timely and powerful reminder that it’s not just books that will get you through the darkest of days, but the people who love them right alongside you. Martin’s meticulous research transports readers to bomb-ridden England and opens a door to a fascinating slice of library history that I’d never read about before. Through it all, I cried, I sighed with joy and I rooted for all the complex and endearing characters. This love letter to literature, motherhood and community should be at the top of any bibliophile’s must-read list. Martin never disappoints!
]]> 29939066
Susan Sematov loves her younger son Raz, the quirky and free-spirited pitcher of the team. But Raz’s adored father died only a few months ago, and the family is grief-stricken. Secretly, Raz is looking to fill the Daddy-shaped hole in his heart.

Heather Larkin is a struggling single mother who’s dedicated to her only son Justin, the quiet rookie on the team. But Justin’s shy and reserved nature renders him vulnerable to attention, including that of a new father-figure.

Mindy Kostis is the wife of a busy surgeon and the queen bee of the baseball boosters, where her super-popular son Evan is the star catcher. But she doesn’t realize that Evan’s sense of entitlement is becoming a full-blown case of affluenza, and after he gets his new BMW, it’s impossible to know where he’s going � or whom he’s spending time with.

The lives of these families revolve around the baseball team � and Chris Brennan. What does he really want? How far will he go to get it? Who among them will survive the lethal jeopardy threatening them, from the shadows?

Enthralling and suspenseful, One Perfect Lie is an emotional thriller and a suburban crime story that will keep readers riveted to the shocking end, with killer twists and characters you won’t soon forget.]]> 368 Lisa Scottoline 1250099560 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.73 2017
author: Lisa Scottoline
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 63009810
1890, San Francisco. Seduced by her employer’s nephew, Annie Gilmurray, an Irish maid, is accused of stealing the ring he promised her. Sentenced to one year in San Quentin, Annie is heartbroken and frightened among the inmates of the women’s ward: prostitutes, murderers, and pickpockets. But Annie finds beauty and friendship in a brutal place, where the women look out for one another, dreaming of a better life after release. But their world inside San Quentin's walls is a dangerous one, and when the unthinkable happens, Annie makes a choice that will alter the course of her future forever.

1972, San Francisco. Aspiring photographer Judy Morelli is grappling with the searing betrayal of her husband’s infidelity, subletting a San Francisco apartment while she pieces her life back together. When Judy discovers Annie's mugshot, she becomes fascinated and invested not just in Annie's fate but also in the history of her gentrifying South of Market Street neighborhood, joining the fight against redevelopment to maintain its rich community.

Exploring the different ways in which we are imprisoned and how we can break free, The Incorrigibles is a story of women reaching across the barriers of time, the unbreakable bonds of female friendship, and the forgotten histories of those pushed to society’s margins.]]> Meredith Jaeger Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.44 2024
author: Meredith Jaeger
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/12/15
shelves: finished-2023
review:
In this engrossing and poignant read, Meredith Jaeger shines a light on women who have been forgotten in time, illuminating how injustices we face in the present are so often echoes of those from the past. At the heart of this timely story are two such women who are equally fascinating, flawed, resilient and incredibly complex—as all the very best characters are. With its fast pacing that will have you flipping the pages; important themes that will stick with you long after reading; and rich historical details that immerse you in two incredible time periods, this is one that can’t be missed.
]]> 76839114 The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime.

It’s senior-year spring break, and Noelle Meyer and Evan Sinclair have been kidnapped. Neither knows why they were chosen, only that they share a tragic past: Evan’s father got away with killing Noelle’s mother, effectively ruining her family when the death was ruled an accident.

Despite the connection that should have made them enemies, the teens instead unite to face their other common denominator—their abductors. Noelle and Evan survive one sadistic circumstance after another, eventually making a harrowing escape. But every happy ending comes at a price�

Years later, Evan, now a private investigator, revisits the crime when he learns it may be ongoing. He reaches out to Noelle for help, and they discover that the answers lie with a man known only as the Collector. To close their case and solve the ones that followed, Noelle and Evan must unmask this mysterious spectator—the only man who knows enough secrets to take their captors down.

...

Mia: While ATLR's is a complete standalone, it is set in Reno just as Bad Mother was, and there are a few (general) references to the case from that story. For that reason, I'd suggest reading Bad Mother first to plant yourself firmly in that world. ]]> 390 Mia Sheridan 1662508239 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.04 2023
author: Mia Sheridan
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 57361474 People don’t just disappear without a trace....

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find....

In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times best-selling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.]]> 356 Mary Kubica 077831166X Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.10 2021
author: Mary Kubica
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 20758175
As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?]]> 304 Allen Eskens 1616149981 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.06 2014
author: Allen Eskens
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/19
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 193544871 352 Stacie Grey 1728292921 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.15 2024
author: Stacie Grey
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves: finished-2023
review:
In this engrossing mystery, a vividly drawn cast of characters, claustrophobic setting and propulsive pacing will keeping you flipping the pages until the final twist that will leave you reeling. Grey skillfully and lovingly plays within the rules of the genre while also bringing a fresh voice and perspective to the And Then There Were None premise that will delight not just Agatha Christie fans but fans of tense, clever and goosebump-inducing stories, as well. Clear your calendar for the day, because this is a one-sitting read!
]]> 36448554
Twelve years later, Finn has built a new life with Ellen, Layla’s sister, when he receives a phone call. Someone has seen Layla. But is it her � or someone pretending to be her? If it is her, what does she want? And what does she know about the night she disappeared?]]> 291 B.A. Paris 1250151333 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.45 2018
author: B.A. Paris
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 65214072 From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante, comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Parisian Orphan series, A Traitor in Whitehall.

1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan� as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.

However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.

With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David?]]> 304 Julia Kelly 1250865484 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.86 2023
author: Julia Kelly
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 63277455 A lawyer's race to reveal a wrongful conviction collides with the dark shadow of a murder in his own home in this propulsive and perfectly-plotted new thriller from award-winning writer Allen Eskens.

When Boady Sanden first receives the case of Elijah Matthews, he's certain there's not much he can do. Elijah, who believes himself to be a prophet, has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past four years, convicted of brutally murdering the pastor of a megachurch. But as a law professor working for the Innocence Project, Boady agrees to look into Elijah's file. When he does, he is alarmed to find threads that lead back to the death of his colleague and friend, Ben Pruitt, a man shot to death four years earlier in Boady's own home.

Ben's daughter, Emma, has lived with Boady and Boady's wife Dee ever since that awful night. Now fourteen years old, Emma has been growing distant, and soon makes a fateful choice that takes her far from the safety of her godparents. Desperate to bring her home, and to free an innocent man, Boady must do all he can to investigate Elijah's case while fighting to save the family he has deeply come to love.

Written with energy, propulsion, and his characteristic pathos and insight, Eskens delivers another pitch-perfect legal thriller that reveals a twisted murder and explores faith, love, family, and redemption along the way.]]> 304 Allen Eskens 031656642X Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.16 2023
author: Allen Eskens
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 75289875 272 Taylor Wolfe 0063293811 Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.49
author: Taylor Wolfe
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/24
shelves: finished-2023
review:
I cried and I laughed out loud and I cried some more� a funny beautiful and honest story about life loss and finding yourself (and your best dog friend) in your young adulthood.
]]> 63833664 After that night, nothing was ever the same again

Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton's life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her.

Until one evening, on call in the ER, everything changes. Sara battles to save a broken young woman who's been brutally attacked. But as the investigation progresses, led by GBI Special Agent Will Trent, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper's assault is uncannily linked to Sara's.

And it seems the past isn't going to stay buried forever.]]> 432 Karin Slaughter 0063157780 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.15 2023
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/18
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 128075931 From the bestselling author of Daughter of the Reich, an historical drama set in London about a bookshop involved in an espionage network.

"An utterly atmospheric and completely compelling read!� —Julia Kelly, international bestselling author of The Lost English Girl

Two courageous women. One astonishing secret. A world on the brink of war.

London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage.

France, 1942: Nineteen-year-old Anya Moreau was dropped behind enemy lines to aid the resistance, sending messages back home to London via wireless transmitter. When she was cruelly betrayed, evidence of her legacy and the truth of her actions were buried by wartime injustices.

As Celia learns more about Anya—and her unexpected connection to the undercover agent—she becomes increasingly aware of furious efforts, both past and present, to protect state secrets. With her newly formed romance taking a surprising turn and the world on the verge of nuclear annihilation, Celia must risk everything she holds dear, in the name of justice.

Propulsive and illuminating, The London Bookshop Affair is a gripping story of secrets and love, inspired by true events and figures of the Cold War.]]> Louise Fein Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.17 2024
author: Louise Fein
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/14
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 36036244 Her first love confessed to five murders. But the truth was so much worse.

Dublin's notorious Canal Killer, Will Hurley, is ten years into his life sentence when the body of a young woman is fished out of the Grand Canal. Though detectives suspect they are dealing with a copycat, they turn to Will for help. He claims he has the information the police need, but will only give it to one person - the girl he was dating when he committed his horrific crimes.

Alison Smith has spent the last decade abroad, putting her shattered life in Ireland far behind her. But when she gets a request from Dublin imploring her to help prevent another senseless murder, she is pulled back to face the past - and the man - she's worked so hard to forget.]]> 330 Catherine Ryan Howard 1504782542 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.83 2018
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/11
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 51166217
Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man--the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family's killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim's not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Jim soon beings to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first ...]]> 288 Catherine Ryan Howard 1538519739 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.05 2020
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/07
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 43620442 To save Manhattan, they’ll have to save each other first�

New York, 1925

Arthur Kenzie’s life’s work is protecting the world from the supernatural relics that could destroy it. When an amulet with the power to control the tides is shipped to New York, he must intercept it before it can be used to devastating effects. This time, in order to succeed, he needs a powerful psychometric…and the only one available has sworn off his abilities altogether.

Rory Brodigan’s gift comes with great risk. To protect himself, he’s become a recluse, redirecting his magic to find counterfeit antiques. But with the city’s fate hanging in the balance, he can’t force himself to say no.

Being with Arthur is dangerous, but Rory’s ever-growing attraction to him begins to make him brave. And as Arthur coaxes him out of seclusion, a magical and emotional bond begins to form. One that proves impossible to break—even when Arthur sacrifices himself to keep Rory safe and Rory must risk everything to save him.]]> 275 Allie Therin 1488055084 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.96 2019
author: Allie Therin
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/04
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 44132255 PLAY

Andrew, the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, watches his only guest via a hidden camera in her room. One night the unthinkable happens: a shadowy figure emerges on-screen, kills her, and destroys the camera. But who is the murderer? How did they know about the camera? And how will Andrew live with himself?

PAUSE

Natalie wishes she'd stayed at home as soon as she arrives in the wintry isolation of Shanamore. There's something creepy about the manager. She wants to leave, but she can't-not until she's found what she's looking for ...

REWIND

Psycho meets Fatal Attraction in this explosive story about a murder caught on camera. You've already missed the start. To get the full picture you must rewind the tape and play it through to the end, no matter how shocking ...]]> 359 Catherine Ryan Howard 1538519704 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.59 2019
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/02
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 75634216 From award-winning, internationally bestselling crime writer Catherine Ryan Howard comes The Trap: an unsettling mystery inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances in Ireland in the 90s, wherein one young woman risks everything to catch a faceless killer.

One year ago, Lucy’s sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy’s life into a waking nightmare. So, she’s going to take matters into her own hands.

Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully-fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open—and destroy her chances of ever joining the force.

A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He’s going to tell her everything, from the beginning. And soon, she’ll realize: what you don’t know can hurt you …]]> 263 Catherine Ryan Howard 1982694718 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.52 2023
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 57628810
56 DAYS AGO
Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin the same week Covid-19 reaches Irish shores.

35 DAYS AGO
When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests that Ciara move in with him. She sees a unique opportunity for a new relationship to flourish without the pressure of scrutiny of family and friends. He sees it as an opportunity to hide who - and what - he really is.

TODAY
Detectives arrive at Oliver's apartment to discover a decomposing body inside.

Will they be able to determine what really happened, or has lockdown provided someone with the opportunity to commit the perfect crime?]]> 305 Catherine Ryan Howard 1982694653 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.68 2021
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/31
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 62322008
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .]]> 384 Liz Nugent 1844885968 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.14 2023
author: Liz Nugent
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/29
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 59040044 The Great War cost Robert his left leg and his first love.

A shattering breakup leaves Robert convinced that he is a destructive force in romantic relationships. When he finds himself falling in love with David, an old friend from boarding school, he's sure that he shouldn’t confess his feelings. But as their meandering conversations drift from books and poetry to more intimate topics, Robert’s love deepens - and so do his fears of hurting David.

Since he was wounded, David has been batted from hospital to hospital like a shuttlecock, leaving him adrift and anxious. His renewed friendship with Robert gives him a much-needed sense of peace and stability. Slowly, David opens up to Robert about the nervous fears that plague him, and when Robert responds with sympathy and support, David finds himself feeling much more than friendship. But he’s afraid that he’s already a burden on Robert, and that asking for more will only strain their developing bond.

Can these two wounded soldiers heal each other?

Content warning: period-typical homophobia and ableism (probably less than is strictly period typical, but this is a romance novel, not a historical essay), implied/referenced suicide]]> 216 Aster Glenn Gray Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.96 2021
author: Aster Glenn Gray
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/27
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 62054146 A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true story of the underground library in WWII Warsaw, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving.

With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto.

But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families—and escape may not be possible for everyone. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left—literature.]]> 416 Madeline Martin 1335455027 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.07 2023
author: Madeline Martin
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/25
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 135753865 hardcover book 442 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 0.0
author: WPA (Works Progress Administration)
name: Brianna
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 54785533
An immersive account of the New Deal project that created state-by-state guidebooks to America, in the midst of the Great Depression―and employed some of the biggest names in American letters

The plan was as idealistic as it was audacious―and utterly unprecedented. Take thousands of hard-up writers and put them to work charting a country on the brink of social and economic collapse, with the aim of producing a series of guidebooks to the then forty-eight states―along with hundreds of other publications dedicated to cities, regions, and towns―while also gathering reams of folklore, narratives of formerly enslaved people, and even recipes, all of varying quality, each revealing distinct sensibilities.

All this was the singular purview of the Federal Writers� Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration founded in 1935 to employ jobless writers, from once-bestselling novelists and acclaimed poets to the more dubiously qualified. The FWP took up the lofty goal of rediscovering America in words and soon found itself embroiled in the day’s most heated arguments regarding radical politics, racial inclusion, and the purpose of writing―forcing it to reckon with the promises and failures of both the New Deal and the American experiment itself.

Scott Borchert’s Republic of Detours tells the story of this raucous and remarkable undertaking by delving into the experiences of key figures and tracing the FWP from its optimistic early days to its dismemberment by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. We observe notable writers at their day jobs, including Nelson Algren, broke and smarting from the failure of his first novel; Zora Neale Hurston, the most widely published Black woman in the country; and Richard Wright, who arrived in the FWP’s chaotic New York City office on an upward career trajectory courtesy of the WPA. Meanwhile, Ralph Ellison, Studs Terkel, John Cheever, and other future literary stars found encouragement and security on the FWP payroll.

By way of these and other stories, Borchert illuminates an essentially noble enterprise that sought to create a broad and inclusive self-portrait of America at a time when the nation’s very identity and future were thrown into question. As the United States enters a new era of economic distress, political strife, and culture-industry turmoil, this book’s lessons are urgent and strong.]]> 400 Scott Borchert 0374298459 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.63 2021
author: Scott Borchert
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 4782921
Drawing on new discoveries from personal collections, archives, and recent biographies, a new picture has emerged in the last decade of how the participants' individual dramas intersected with the larger picture of their subjects. This book illuminates what it felt like to live that experience, how going from joblessness to reporting on their own communities affected artists with varied visions, as well as what feelings such a passage shame humiliation, anger, excitement, nostalgia, and adventure. Also revealed is how the WPA writers anticipated, and perhaps paved the way for, the political movements of the following decades, including the Civil Rights movement, the Women's Right movement, and the Native American rights movement.]]> 272 David A. Taylor 0470403802 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.95 2009
author: David A. Taylor
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 193551975
Cavalry lieutenant Russell Krause is all at sea in this strange new century of electric lights and automobiles. But he soon acquires a Caleb O’Connor, a kind-hearted, history-loving college student with secrets he’s desperate to hide. Caleb is gay, and he’s completely smitten with this lively, warm-hearted soldier, who has swiftly become his best friend.

But Russell’s nineteenth century understanding of friendship is far more affectionate than any 1960s friendship is allowed to be. In between telling Russell about escalators, record players, and the Civil Rights movement, Caleb has to explain that men in 1965 are no longer allowed to hold hands or share beds or kiss� which is tough, because Caleb would love to be kissing Russell.

Despite these chilling changes in social customs, Caleb and Russell’s loving friendship grows ever closer. But the cultural divide may prove wider than even love can bridge. Content period-typical attitudes in general, but especially toward homosexuality.]]> 350 Aster Glenn Gray Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.23 2023
author: Aster Glenn Gray
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 36326370 Behind the Bench, ESPN's Craig Custance sits down for film sessions and candid conversations with some of the game's most notable modern luminaries-names like Mike Babcock, Joel Quenneville, Dan Bylsma, Todd McLellan, Ken Hitchcock, and Claude Julien-all of whom share their singular views on topics ranging from leadership secrets to on-ice game plans. Dissect some of hockey's greatest moments with the men who set the pieces in motion. Go straight to the source on what it's like to manage a dressing room full of the league's top stars or execute line changes with everything at stake. Signature games, including Stanley Cup finals, Olympic gold medal clashes, and World Championship contests-both wins and losses-are reflected upon and broken down in detail, making this essential reading for current and aspiring coaches, players, and hockey fans alike.]]> 274 Craig Custance 1633198634 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.13
author: Craig Custance
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/15
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 40199222 Sean McIndoe of Down Goes Brown , one of hockey's favourite and funniest writers, takes aim at the game's most memorable moments--especially if they're memorable for the wrong reasons--in this warts-and-all history of the NHL.

The NHL is, indisputably, weird. One moment, you're in awe of the speed, skill and intensity that define the sport, shaking your head as a player makes an impossible play, or shatters a longstanding record, or sobs into his first Stanley Cup. The next, everyone's wearing earmuffs, Mr. Rogers has shown up, and guys in yellow raincoats are officiating playoff games while everyone tries to figure out where the league president went. That's just life in the NHL, a league that often can't seem to get out of its own way. No matter how long you've been a hockey fan, you know that sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, some of the people in charge here don't actually know what they're doing. And at some point, you've probably wondered: Has it always been this way?
ĚýĚýĚýĚýThe short answer is yes. As for the longer answer, well, that's this book.
ĚýĚýĚýĚýIn this fun, irreverent and fact-filled history, Sean McIndoe relates the flip side to the National Hockey League's storied past. His obsessively detailed memory combines with his keen sense for the absurdities that make you shake your head at the league and yet fanatically love the game, allowing you to laugh even when your team is the butt of the joke (and as a life-long Leafs fan, McIndoe takes the brunt of some of his own best zingers). The "Down Goes Brown" History of the NHL is the weird and wonderful league's story told as only Sean McIndoe can.]]> 302 Sean McIndoe 073527391X Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.33 2018
author: Sean McIndoe
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/15
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 61387980 The heart wants what it wants. Saddle up, ride out, and claim it.

A vibrant and cinematic debut set in the American West about a scrappy orphan who finds friendship, romance, and her true calling as a revenge-seeking gunslinger.

It's the spring of 1877 and sixteen-year-old Bridget is already disillusioned. She's exhausted from caring for her ne'er-do-well alcoholic father, but when he's killed by a snakebite as they cross the Kansas prairie, she knows she has only her wits to keep her alive. She arrives penniless in Dodge City, and, thanks to the allure of her bright red hair and country-girl beauty, is soon recruited to work at the Buffalo Queen, the only brothel in town run by women. Bridget takes to brothel life, appreciating the good food, good pay, and good friendships she forms with her fellow "sporting women."

Then Spartan Lee, the legendary female gunfighter in the region, rides into town, and Bridget falls in love. Hard. Before long, though, a series of shocking double-crosses shatter the Buffalo Queen's tenuous peace and safety. Desperate for vengeance and autonomy, Bridget resolves to claim her own destiny.

A thoroughly modern reimagining of the Western genre, Lucky Red is a masterfully crafted, propulsive tale of adventure, loyalty, desire, and love.]]> 304 Claudia Cravens 0593498240 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.89 2023
author: Claudia Cravens
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: finished-2023
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]]> 179313409 382 Brianna Labuskes 006325929X Brianna 0 currently-reading 4.27 2024
author: Brianna Labuskes
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 124054050 274 Molly Guptill Manning Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.13
author: Molly Guptill Manning
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: finished-2023
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]]> 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 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.23 2023
author: Danielle Trussoni
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 62703226 At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer�I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]> 383 Riley Sager 0593183223 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.12 2023
author: Riley Sager
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 62365905 Casey McQuiston meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century romdram about a scrappy reporter and a newspaper mogul's son--perfect for Newsies shippers.

Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city's biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can't let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.

Andy Fleming's newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He's barely able to run his life--he's never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he'll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.

Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can't deny. But what feels possible in secret--this fragile, tender thing between them--seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they're willing to fight.]]> 384 Cat Sebastian 0063272768 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.25 2023
author: Cat Sebastian
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 78641186 A merry and bright hockey romance about finding your place, finding your people and finding your way back to the one you love the most.Ěý

For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me� vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks.

Casey treats Landon like an old friend, even though they’ve only interacted briefly in the past. He’s endlessly charming and completely laid-back in a way that Landon absolutely can’t relate to. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.

As roommates, Casey refuses to be defeated by Landon’s one-word answers. As friends, Landon comes to notice a few things about Casey, like his wide, easy smile and sparkling green-blue eyes. Spending the holidays together only intensifies their bromance-turned-romance. But as the new year approaches, the countdown to the end of Landon’s time in Calgary is on.]]> 352 Rachel Reid 1335458530 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.97 2023
author: Rachel Reid
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 61884832 A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction� (The Washington Post).]]> 338 S.A. Cosby 1250831911 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.18 2023
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61884844 A whip-smart, propulsive debut about infidelity, backstabbing, and murderous intrigue, set against an exclusive summer haven on Fire Island
None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder?
Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he's the tennis pro-or someone else's husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other.
Until a body is discovered, face down off the side of the boardwalk.
Stylish, subversive and darkly comedic, this is a story of what's lurking under the surface of picture-perfect lives in a place where everyone has something to hide.]]> 272 Emma Rosenblum 1250887003 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.32 2023
author: Emma Rosenblum
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/08
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

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

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

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.]]> 432 Fredrik Backman Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.27 2016
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/31
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61058362
American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.

A decade later the Doves fall headlong into a dangerous dual mission: Josie is working for U.S. Army intelligence and accepts an assignment to hunt down the infamous doctor, while a mysterious man tells Arlette he may have found her son. The Golden Doves embark on a quest across Europe and ultimately to French Guiana, discovering a web of terrible secrets, and must put themselves in grave danger to finally secure justice and protect the ones they love.

Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into the stories of women throughout history and for exploring the terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of Nazi fugitives in the wake of World War II—and the unsung females spies who risked it all to bring them to justice.]]> 528 Martha Hall Kelly 0593354885 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.16 2023
author: Martha Hall Kelly
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/05
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 34051952 From the bestselling author and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, this is the story of NHLer Steve Montador—who was diagnosed with CTE after his death in 2015—the remarkable evolution of hockey itself, and a passionate prescriptive to counter its greatest risk in the future: head injuries.
Ěý
Ken Dryden’s The Game is acknowledged as the best book about hockey, and one of the best books about sports ever written. ĚýThen came Home Game (with Roy MacGregor), also a major TV-series, in which he explored hockey’s significance and what it means to Canada and Canadians. Now, in his most powerful and important book yet, Game Change, Ken Dryden tells the riveting story of one player’s life, examines the intersection between science and sport, and expertly documents the progression of the game of hockey—where it began, how it got to where it is, where it can go from here and, just as exciting to play and watch, how it can get there.]]> 351 Ken Dryden 0771027478 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.40 2017
author: Ken Dryden
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/25
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 504405 308 Ken Dryden 0470835842 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.15 1983
author: Ken Dryden
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/25
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60784540
Picture a lovely cottage on a cliff, with sloping lawns, walking paths, and beautiful flowers. It’s Gabe and Pippa Gerard’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Over the past several months, Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge.

Until one day, he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral. . . .Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate . . . lie? As the perfect façade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel. Because sometimes, the most convincing lies are the ones we tell ourselves.]]> 327 Sally Hepworth 1250229707 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.78 2022
author: Sally Hepworth
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61272702
Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans.

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.]]> 368 Jeannette Walls 1501117297 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.67 2023
author: Jeannette Walls
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/15
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60539925 Sidney Crosby Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.33 2022
author: Sidney Crosby
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 57522883
This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it’s a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, Five Decembers is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.]]> 429 James Kestrel 1789096111 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.38 2021
author: James Kestrel
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/03
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 57695442
In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his unstable mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.

Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.

Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.

WINNER OF THE PETER LOVESEY FIRST CRIME NOVEL CONTEST]]> 336 Eli Cranor 1641293454 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.61 2022
author: Eli Cranor
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60784806
Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.

A dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.]]> 336 Alex North 125075786X Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.39 2023
author: Alex North
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61273344
The author of numerous best-selling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,� Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, although no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the baking competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned too high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.]]> 288 Jessa Maxwell 1668008009 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.44 2023
author: Jessa Maxwell
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 66164787
Charles Davids is a probationary firefighter working his first week out of the academy. For Charles, quietly battling his lack of confidence is a daily challenge as his new officers coach him on life as a New York City firefighter. The men love to tease and prank the new guy, but when it comes to drilling and training, they’re clear that the job is no joke. As is said in the fire service: "let no man’s ghost return to say my training let me down."

Unfortunately for Charles, his first week is the same week that Alan Johnson, an unstable and soon-to-be-ex husband, gets kicked out and comes up with the idea to report fake fires at his wife's apartment every night. Alan laughs at the thought of her being awakened nightly by sirens and horns—if he can’t sleep in their apartment, why the hell should she? But after days of crying wolf, Alan decides that fake fires aren’t enough�

Set on the hot summer streets of NYC and building to a fiery conclusion, No Man’s Ghost is a vibrant and thrilling look at the people who keep a city safe—and the ones who want to watch it burn.]]> 336 Jason Powell Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.02 2023
author: Jason Powell
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves: finished-2023
review:
In this emotionally gripping tale, Jason Powell offers an incredibly rich, engaging and authentic glimpse into the lives of the real-life heroes who protect New York City from fires. Crisp, gorgeous prose and sweat-inducing action scenes take readers into the heart of danger, even as they fall in love with Powell’s compelling found-family of firefighters. Charles Davids shines bright as a man trying to find his feet and his confidence, and rooting for him to succeed is especially satisfying. This should be at the top of everyone’s must-read list.
]]> 61273767 The acclaimed author of The Light Over London weaves an epic saga of love, motherhood, and betrayal set against World War II.

Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.

Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at nineteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.

Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.]]> 416 Julia Kelly 1982171707 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.03 2023
author: Julia Kelly
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61342851 336 Cara Black 1641293551 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.52 2023
author: Cara Black
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61062487
It’s the middle of the night when part-time police consultant and full-time empath Reece gets an anonymous call warning him that his detective sister needs his help. At an out-of-the-way Seattle marina, he discovers that three people have been butchered—including the author of the country’s strictest anti-empathy bill, which is just days from being passed into law.

Soon, Reece’s caller a shadowy government agent known as The Dead Man, who is rumored to deal exclusively in cases involving empathy. He immediately takes over the investigation, locking out both local PD and the FBI, but, strangely, keeps Reece by his side.

As the two track an ever-growing trail of violence and destruction across Seattle, Reece must navigate a scared and angry city, an irritating attraction to his mysterious agent companion, and a rising fear that perhaps empaths like him aren’t all flight and no fight after all�

"Readers will be yearning for more the minute they finish the final page." � Library Journal , starred review, on Starcrossed

Sugar & Vice]]> 416 Allie Therin 1335621946 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.15 2023
author: Allie Therin
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 39926 368 Naomi Wolf 0060512180 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.90 1990
author: Naomi Wolf
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61237143 An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London.Ěý

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.]]> 468 Kate Thompson 1538724219 Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.20 2023
author: Kate Thompson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 51838143 They have nothing in common—so why does Ryan feel most like himself whenever he’s with Fabian?

Pro hockey star Ryan Price may be an enforcer, but off the ice he struggles with anxiety. Recently traded to the Toronto Guardians, he’s determined to make a fresh start in the city’s dynamic LGBTQ Village. The last thing he expects to stumble upon in his new neighborhood is a blast from his past in the fabulous form of Fabian Salah.

Aspiring musician Fabian loathes hockey. But that doesn’t stop him from being attracted to a certain burly, ginger-bearded defenseman. He hasn’t forgotten the kiss they almost shared back in high school, and it’s clear the chemistry between them has only intensified.

Fabian is more than happy to be Ryan’s guide to the gay scene in Toronto. Between dance clubs and art exhibits—and the most amazing sex—Ryan’s starting to feel something he hasn’t experienced in a long time: joy. But playing the role of the heavy on the ice has taken its toll on his body and mind, and a future with Fabian may mean hanging up his skates for good.]]> 292 Rachel Reid 1488068917 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.76 2020
author: Rachel Reid
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 61273863
Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she must discover the truth—or suffer the same fate.]]> 313 Julia Bartz 1982199458 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.41 2023
author: Julia Bartz
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/23
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 58939872 The sequel is finally here! Shane and Ilya’s story, first seen in Heated Rivalry, continues in this long-awaited hockey romance from Rachel Reid.

To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.

Ten years.

That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?

Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.

It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.

It’s time to make a call.


Game Changers
Book 1: Game Changer
Book 2: Heated Rivalry
Book 3: Tough Guy
Book 4: Common Goal
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: The Long Game
]]> 479 Rachel Reid 1335458522 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.56 2022
author: Rachel Reid
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/23
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 41735449 “Sexy, hot, funny and sweet, Heated Rivalry is a game changer in sexy sports romance.â€�Ěýâ€� All About Romance

Nothing interferes with Shane Hollander’s game—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.

Pro hockey star Shane Hollander isn’t just crazy talented, he’s got a spotless reputation. Hockey is his life. Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that, especially the sexy Russian whose hard body keeps him awake at night.

Boston Bears captain Ilya Rozanov is everything Shane’s not. The self-proclaimed king of the ice, he’s as cocky as he is talented. No one can beat him—except Shane. They’ve made a career on their legendary rivalry, but when the skates come off, the heat between them is undeniable. When Ilya realizes he wants more than a few secret hookups, he knows he must walk away. The risk is too great.

As their attraction intensifies, they struggle to keep their relationship out of the public eye. If the truth comes out, it could ruin them both. But when their need for each other rivals their ambition on the ice, secrecy is no longer an option.

USA TODAY bestselling author Rachel Reid

Game Changers
Book 1: Game Changer
Book 2: Heated Rivalry
Book 3: Tough Guy
Book 4: Common Goal
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: The Long Game]]> 375 Rachel Reid 1488051240 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.36 2019
author: Rachel Reid
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/23
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60398221
Relief pitcher Reid Giordano is struggling to maintain his sobriety—and his roster spot. The press, along with a heck of a lot of his new Oakland teammates, seem to think his best baseball days are behind him. Only Charlie Braxton gives him the benefit of the doubt—and a place to stay when Reid finds himself short on cash…and friends.

When their growing friendship turns into an unexpected attraction, and that ignites a romance, both Charlie and Reid must grapple with what it means to be more than teammates. And as their season winds down, they’ll need to walk away…or go out there and give it everything they’ve got.]]> 357 K.D. Casey 0369734300 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.01 2022
author: K.D. Casey
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 59901166
London, 1883

Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can’t love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding.

Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last meeting his favorite author in person.

Miles Montague is more gifted as a smut writer than a shopkeep and uses his royalties to keep his flagging bookstore afloat. So when a cheerful dandy appears out of the mist with Miles's highly secret pen name on his pretty lips, Miles assumes the worst. But Charlie Price is no blackmailer; he’s Miles's biggest fan.

A scribbled signature on a worn book page sets off an affair as scorching as anything Miles has ever written. But Miles is clinging to a troubled past, while Charlie’s future has spun entirely out of his control…]]> 304 Jess Everlee 1335679987 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.75 2022
author: Jess Everlee
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60254707
He’d worked hard to build this perfect little life. A stable relationship with a successful man. A beautiful home in a quiet suburb. And best of all, a job where he spent his days talking about literature.

Then his tenure was denied and, too quickly for him to stop it, everything crumbled.

Now, with his dreams in the dust and his confidence shattered, Andrew has one summer to figure out his next move.

Bulbs, Florida, is like no place Andrew’s ever known. It’s small and provincial. It’s hot as hell. Storms roll through every single day. But Andrew just has to keep his head down. Finish his book, find a new job, put things back on track. Easy-peasy.

He didn’t plan on making a friend.

Coley Brandt has a green thumb and an easy smile. He’s much younger than Andrew, but he puts Andrew at ease, makes him feel at home. Their time together reminds Andrew what having a purpose feels like.

Suddenly, this long, lonely summer feels too short.

But Coley has dreams of his own, and they’re a million miles away from the life Andrew’s trying to get back.

Maybe this is just a summer fling. Maybe, like the lightning, it’s only meant to be glorious for a moment before it disappears.

Or maybe it’s something more.

Too Like the Lightning is a steamy small-town, age-gap romance. It’s perfect for lovers of second chances, coffee on the back porch, thunderstorms, poetry, and happily ever afters. 85,000 words.]]> 301 Travis Beaudoin Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.23 2022
author: Travis Beaudoin
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 62656593 Is it possible my straight best friend had a sudden stick shift?

I made peace with my hopeless crush on my straight best friend, Journey, years ago. It helps that he’s never in the country long and our relationship consists of sporadic texts and video chats at odd hours.

Now Journey is back. Back in the country, in my space, sharing my bed, and something is changing between us.

Neither of us has a clue how to run the small farm his uncle left him, but I’m willing to be the idiot standing next to him, figuring it out. Learning how to shear an alpaca or keep a rogue mini cow out of the kitchen looks easy compared to navigating the sudden change in Journey.

Is he looking at me differently? Is he touching me more? Straight guys don’t normally kiss other men, right? I don’t know what’s happening between us, but I’ll put things in gear and floor it all the way.

Stick Shift is a bi-awakening, best friends to lovers story with farm animal shenanigans, nosy mechanics, and all the steam and sweetness you can handle.]]> 276 K.M. Neuhold Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.21 2023
author: K.M. Neuhold
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60393194 I don’t have time for a relationship, not even with the adorably dorky vet I can’t seem to stop bumping into� *sigh * pass the oil and lube

Between running a garage full of beefed up, gear head mechanics and bailing my idiot brother out of trouble every other week, the last thing I have time for is a relationship.

I’ve tried it too many times, and the ridiculous reasons I always find to end it have become a running joke around the garage. But I’ve learned my lesson. No. More. Boyfriends.

I don’t care how many times Porter falls asleep drunk in my bed or how cute he looks covered in oil smears while I teach him how to fix up the vintage car he has rusting away in his garage, I’m not going to fall for him.

Even if I did, what do a mechanic and a veterinarian have in common anyway?

It’s better if we’re only friends� friends who occasionally fiddle with each other’s crankshafts…]]> 249 K.M. Neuhold Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.16 2022
author: K.M. Neuhold
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 63632316
Ryan Cosgrove is thirty-two, which means he’s practically a geriatric hockey player. He won a cup a long time ago, and now all that’s left is his empty house, his golden retriever, Lola, the tail end of his hockey career, and the weight of loneliness as everyone in his life pairs off to start families. It’s hard to put effort into a personal life when you’re closeted, but since he’s the only vet on the team without a partner or kids, it’s obvious for Ryan to give Jackson his guest room for the season.

Their friendship is fast and easy, budding into a legendary bromance, if The Northern Lights� social media is to be believed. Ryan is calm and steady, an anchor when Jackson needs one. Jackson’s magnetic personality pulls Ryan out of his shell. But despite the best of their intentions to keep “their relationship friendly and professional, their feelings keep slipping into romantic territory.

Ryan has been down this road before. He can’t make the mistake of falling for a teammate again. Plus, Jackson is ten years younger than him. Jackson needs to focus on hockey, healing his recently broken heart, and doing even one thing his parents will be proud of him for. Getting into a relationship in the middle of the season with his liney and roommate is a recipe for disaster.

But despite all the best intentions, Jackson keeps finding himself in Ryan’s arms. Will their feelings blow up in their faces, or can they figure out a way to have a real relationship?

Drive the Net is a low-angst, age-gap, MM hockey romance.]]> 197 Hannah Henry Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.69 2022
author: Hannah Henry
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 56786433 It was just one night.
It was just one mistake.

FBI Agent Noah Downing had questions about his sexuality that a single night in Vegas should have answered. But dawn finds him on a plane back to Iowa, back on the trail of a vicious serial killer who disappeared six years ago and has suddenly resurfaced. There's nothing like a murder investigation to escape an existential crisis.

FBI profiler Cole Kennedy is still reeling after finding a heart-stopping connection with a seemingly perfect man, only for him to vanish. When he's sent to Iowa to profile the killer terrorizing America's heartland, he finds more questions than answers - both about the murderer and about Noah, the last man he ever expected to see again.

A twisted secret stretches between Cole and Noah, tangled with questions they both have about each other. But now, thrown together, they'll have to unravel the killer's profile and follow his trail... back to the very beginning, to where everyone's questions are answered once and for all.

***This is an M|M romantic suspense standalone novel, featuring a second chance romance, the hunt for a twisted serial killer, and one man's journey to acceptance. 80k words.]]> 302 Tal Bauer Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.25 2021
author: Tal Bauer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 75364705
I keep things simple. I’m a classic one-night wonder. Relationships? Are you out of your mind? No. No way. Not interested. My heart is vulcanized rubber, puck hard, and that’s the way I like it.

Then I'm traded to the absolute worst team in the NHL, the Rocky Mountain Outlaws, and I’m hit with a one-two punch.

First: I’m asked to step up and lead the team, which is every kind of bad idea you can imagine. I'm a head-down, mind-my-business kind of guy. Mr. Uninvolved, Mr. No, Not Me, Mr. Find Someone Else. But these players have been through a mess of hell, and someone thinks I can help pull them together.

The Outlaws are made up of jaded veterans and wide-eyed rookies, and we have no business whatsoever succeeding. We are scrappy and plucky and built out of spit and duct-tape� and whatever we’re doing, it’s working.

Second: The first day I’m in Boulder, I go over the boards and come face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes and lose my heart. Boy, howdy: meet my new co-captain, Shea Darling.

He’s way, way off-limits. It's a stratospherically terrible idea to want or crave him. This crush, this infatuation, is going nowhere fast.

Yeah, right. I’m gone for Shea. I’m head over heels, and I’m all tangled up in something I can’t understand or control. This isn’t me. I don’t fall in love. And there’s nothing simple about Shea, or about the Outlaws. This team is finally putting up the wins, and we are making something of ourselves. Falling for my co-captain while we’re on a Cinderella run could jeopardize everything we’re striving for.

But then there’s this one night.
And this one kiss.
And everything changes.

Eighty-two games in a season.
Twenty men hungry for redemption.
One co-captain who could be my forever.

This is the rest of the story.



The Rest of the Story is a friends-to-lovers, hockey players/teammates MM romance, and includes themes of survivorship.

The Rest of the Story is set in the same universe as Gravity , but each novel can be read independently. You do not need to read Gravity first to enjoy The Rest of the Story.]]> 419 Tal Bauer Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.40 2023
author: Tal Bauer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 57640563
Justin Swanscott has three certainties in his life: he’s gay, football is overrated, and he really, really doesn’t like cowboys. He should never have fallen into Wes’s open-range eyes or let his heart run wild when Wes gave him that shy little smile over summer. But he couldn’t stop himself.

Everyone’s asking questions about Wes this season: How is he playing so well? Will Texas be undefeated this year? Will he take the team all the way to the national championship? What’s next for him?

The truth? Wes isn’t dreaming about an NFL contract. His heart belongs to Justin, even though the world wants it to belong to football.

Wes has stadiums packed with screaming fans, ESPN is all over him, and the NFL wants him badly. He’s living under a microscope, and the pressure keeps building as the team keeps winning. Everyone wants something from him, but all Wes wants is to love Justin.

Something’s gotta give.]]> 394 Tal Bauer Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.29 2021
author: Tal Bauer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60695252
We're a puzzle made of two pieces.

Landon Larsen is the envy of all the dads in Last Waters, Texas. He's cool, confident, and put together. He and his son—the high school's all-star quarterback—have the perfect father-son relationship. He’s such a Super Dad, it's almost sickening.

I'm not cool, or confident, and my relationship with my son couldn't be worse. He's barely speaking to me, and a year after my wife died, we're both clinging to the wreckage of our family.

Landon's son and mine are best friends and—of course—Landon is the football Team Dad. And though I know nothing about football, Landon convinces me to volunteer to be closer to my son. Volunteering might give him and me a chance to rebuild what's broken between us. Now I'm spending all my free time with the team—and with Landon—and the more we're together, the deeper our friendship grows. My son is opening up, too, little by little. I think I’m getting him back.

There's just one giant problem.

I'm head over heels for Landon.

I've never been attracted to men in my life� until him. Landon draws me in without even trying, and the harder I fight this, the deeper I fall.

Crushing on my son's best friend's father must be my biggest parenting failure ever, but I can't get enough of Landon. Falling for him puts each fragile moment I've rebuilt with my son at risk. What would he think if he knew I craved his best friend's dad? I'm playing with fire, but I can't turn off these feelings Landon has unlocked inside of me.

Of course, a guy like Landon could never fall for someone like me. It's pointless to even imagine we could be something together.
So why did I just kiss him?

***

You & Me is a single dads, friends-to-lovers, bi awakening MM romance, full of dads and their exasperating teenage sons, high school sports shenanigans, and #FoundFamily. Come for the epic love, stay for the forever feels.]]> 384 Tal Bauer Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.47 2022
author: Tal Bauer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 61848341 C’est cela l’amour, et tu es mon rêve...

Bryce:

Hockey is my life. This game pulled me from my tiny Quebec hometown all the way to the NHL, and now? I’m the number one player in the league. Team capitaine for the Montréal Étoiles. I’m shattering records and packing arenas every night, and I’ve promised my team: we’re going to win the Stanley Cup this year.

But I’m keeping big secrets. I'm thinking dangerous thoughts, and dreaming about impossible things. Like how a man’s lips might taste, or how his body might feel in my arms.

I can’t go there. I’ve got to focus. Team. Hockey. Cup. What my heart wants doesn’t matter.

So why am I falling head over heels at the NHL's All-Star Weekend?

I can’t do this. I can’t fall for Hunter Lacey. He’s a hockey player. We’re both in the NHL. He’s on a different team. And, oh yeah, he’s straight.

Hunter:

I’m a middle-of-the-road, nothing-special hockey player. Good enough to be drafted into the NHL, and I’ve been on the roster for the past two years, but I’ll never make the Hall of Fame. I’m just trying to keep my head up and get through each day, until this wild ride comes to an end.

Deep thinking isn’t really my thing. Look inside myself? Lotta beer and burgers there.

I never thought I’d be invited to the All-Star Weekend, but here I am. And there’s my hero: Bryce Michel, league superstar.

Saying hello to Bryce turns into hours spent together on the ice, and then an invite to dinner, and then days at each other's side. I’m in heaven. He’s my hero, and this is the coolest�

Then Bryce’s lips land on mine, and the world turns upside down.

Gravity is an MM romance featuring bi/gay awakening, friends to lovers, team shenanigans, fast-paced hockey, ice-melting sizzle, and swoony Québécois love songs.

Gravity is set in the same universe as The Rest of the Story .]]> 273 Tal Bauer Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.11 2022
author: Tal Bauer
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 58984691 FromĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I—the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory.Ěý

“An eye-opening and detailed novel about remarkable female soldiers. . . Chiaverini weaves the intersecting threads of these brave women’s lives together, highlighting their deep sense of pride and duty.”�Kirkus Reviews

ĚýIn June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with troops in the field. Pershing needed telephone operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, speak fluent French and English, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet, since the calls often conveyed classified information.

At the time, nearly all well-trained American telephone operators were women—but women were not permitted to enlist, or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them.

More than 7,600 women responded, including Grace Banker of New Jersey, a switchboard instructor with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College; Marie Miossec, a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer; and Valerie DeSmedt, a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator from Los Angeles, determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium.

They were among the first women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten seconds.

Deployed throughout France, including near the front lines, the operators endured hardships and risked death or injury from gunfire, bombardments, and the Spanish Flu. Not all of them would survive.

The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel...until now.Ěý


]]> 453 Jennifer Chiaverini 0063080699 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.01 2022
author: Jennifer Chiaverini
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.86 2019
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 51933429
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 330 Lucy Foley Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.64 2020
author: Lucy Foley
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 56922665 USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women’s alternating voices.

On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.

Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire.

Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby—before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.

Jordan Baker, Daisy’s best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.

Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women’s freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who’s trapped in a terrible marriage.

Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby’s romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.

Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women’s perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.]]> 368 Jillian Cantor 0063051265 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.01 2022
author: Jillian Cantor
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 60784641 From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.]]> 279 Rachel Hawkins 125028001X Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.59 2023
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 52761909 Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors�The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.]]> 368 Janet Skeslien Charles 1982134194 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.00 2021
author: Janet Skeslien Charles
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 52180399 The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.]]> 305 Stephen Graham Jones 1982136456 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.68 2020
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 59040904
1943. As war in the Pacific rages on, Isabel Cooper and her codebreaker colleagues huddle in “the dungeon� at Station HYPO in Pearl Harbor, deciphering secrets plucked from the airwaves in a race to bring down the enemy. Isabel has only one wish: to avenge her brother’s death. But she soon finds life has other plans when she meets his best friend, a hotshot pilot with secrets of his own.

1965. Fledgling journalist Lu Freitas comes home to Hawaii to cover the grand opening of the glamorous Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Rockefeller's newest and grandest project. When a high-profile guest goes missing, Lu forms an unlikely alliance with an intimidating veteran photographer to unravel the mystery. The two make a shocking discovery that stirs up memories and uncovers an explosive secret from the war days. A secret that only a codebreaker can crack.]]> 384 Sara Ackerman 0778386457 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.03 2022
author: Sara Ackerman
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 60879779
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let's get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me]]> 371 Benjamin Stevenson 0063279029 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.75 2022
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 18007504
How good are you at knowing the minds of others? How well can you guess what others think of you, know who really likes you, or tell when someone is lying? How well do you really understand the minds of those closest to you, from your spouse to your kids to your best friends? Do you really know what your coworkers, employees, competitors, or clients want?

In this illuminating exploration of one of the great mysteries of the human mind, University of Chicago psychologist Nicholas Epley introduces us to what scientists have learned about our ability to understand the most complicated puzzle on the planet—other people—and the surprising mistakes we so routinely make. Why are we sometimes blind to the minds of others, treating them like objects or animals? Why do we sometimes talk to our cars, or the stars, as if there is a mind that can hear us? Why do we so routinely believe that others think, feel, and want what we do when, in fact, they do not? And why do we believe we understand our spouses, family, and friends so much better than we actually do? Mindwise will not turn other people into open books, but it will give you the wisdom to revolutionize how you think about them—and yourself.Ěý
]]> 242 Nicholas Epley 0307595919 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.76 2014
author: Nicholas Epley
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 61273858 From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.]]> 384 Sadeqa Johnson 1982197366 Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.23 2023
author: Sadeqa Johnson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:

]]> 53320092
Looking for Miss America is a fast-paced narrative history of a curious and contradictory institution. From its start in 1921 as an Atlantic City tourist draw to its current incarnation as a scholarship competition, the pageant has indexed women’s status during periods of social change―the post-suffrage 1920s, the Eisenhower 1950s, the #MeToo era. This ever-changing institution has been shaped by war, evangelism, the rise of television and reality TV, and, significantly, by contestants who confounded expectations.

Spotlighting individuals, from Yolande Betbeze, whose refusal to pose in swimsuits led an angry sponsor to launch the rival Miss USA contest, to the first black winner, Vanessa Williams, who received death threats and was protected by sharpshooters in her hometown parade, Margot Mifflin shows how women made hard bargains even as they used the pageant for economic advancement. The pageant’s history includes, crucially, those it excluded; the notorious Rule Seven, which required contestants to be “of the white race,� was retired in the 1950s, but no women of color were crowned until the 1980s.

In rigorously researched, vibrant chapters that unpack each decade of the pageant, Looking for Miss America examines the heady blend of capitalism, patriotism, class anxiety, and cultural mythology that has fueled this American ritual.]]> 320 Margot Mifflin 1640092234 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.71 2020
author: Margot Mifflin
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
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]]> 62248124
“Dear old world,� she murmured, “you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.� —L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908

As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud’s mind became more and more persistent: Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled—Anne with an “e.�

But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a decision: forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister’s wife, an existence she once likened to “a respectable form of slavery.� The choice she makes alters the course of her life.

With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.

Beautiful and moving, After Anne reveals Maud’s hidden personal challenges while celebrating what was timeless about her life and art—the importance of tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination.]]> 384 Logan Steiner 0063246457 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.61 2023
author: Logan Steiner
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:
In this outstanding debut, Logan Steiner delivers a moving, richly detailed and nuanced portrayal of a deeply fascinating woman. Steiner, with a loving hand, lifts the veil of L.M. Montgomery to give us a glimpse of Maud, her strength, her struggles, her quiet courage navigating life as both an ambitious author and a loving friend, wife and mother. Steiner’s extensive research is evident not only in the facts but in the complex emotional tapestry she weaves. Anne of Green Gables fans will sure to delight in this book, but so will any fans of interesting, complicated and clever women. This one is not to be missed!
]]> 82769755
But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead in the Canteen kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the Canteen's luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. To catch the killer, Annie falls in with Fiona's friends, a bitter and cynical group―each as uniquely unhappy in their life and career as Annie is in hers―that call themselves the Ambassador's Club.

Solving a murder in real life, it turns out, is a lot harder than writing one for the stage. And by involving herself in the secrets and lies of the Ambassador's Club, Annie just might have put a target on her own back.]]> 297 Sarah James 1728252253 Brianna 5 finished-2023 3.43 2023
author: Sarah James
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:
This vibrant, utterly delightful mystery expertly captures the drama, glamour and absurdity of wartime Hollywood. Sarah James’s swift dialogue, dry wit and clever characters transport you into a 1940s movie, where the jokes are quick, the love affairs scandalous and the cast as charming as they are flawed. Underneath it all, James’s deep knowledge of the era’s movies and music lends an authenticity that makes the rest shine even brighter. I laughed, I gasped and I never wanted it to end. This should head straight to the top of every must-read list.
]]> 61399138 From the author ofĚýLove & Other Disasters comes a sparkling grumpy-meets-sunshineĚýromance featuring two men's sweeping journey across the Western wilderness.

Alexei Lebedev’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail begins with a single snake. And it is angling for the hot stranger who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Lex is prepared for rattlesnakes, blisters, and months of solitude. What he isn’t prepared for is Ben Caravalho. But somehow—on a 2,500-mile trail—Alexei keeps running into the outgoing and charismatic hiker with golden-brown eyes, again and again. It might be coincidence. Then again, maybe there’s a reason the trail keeps bringing them together . . .

Ben has made his fair share of bad decisions, and almost all of them involved beautiful men. And yet there’s something about the gorgeous and quietly nerdy Alexei that Ben can’t just walk away from. Surely a bad decision can’t be this cute and smart. And there are worse things than falling in love during the biggest adventure of your life. But when their plans for the future are turned upside down, Ben and Alexei begin to wonder if it’s possible to hold on to something this wild and wonderful.]]> 384 Anita Kelly 1538754886 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 4.24 2023
author: Anita Kelly
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 61385729
Jake Fischer has been here before: pitching for the Oakland Elephants, hiding his worries behind a smile, hoping to win it all. Ten years ago, it didn’t turn out the way he wanted. Nothing in his life did. But now he’s back—and so is the one teammate tied inexorably to his past.

It doesn’t matter how many times catcher Alex Angelides replays that moment during the Fall Classic over in his mind, the outcome never changes. He’s not sure what happened to make that pitch glance off his glove, or what happened with his relationship with Jake—and he’s not going to be the one to ask.

A whole lot may have changed in the last decade, but some things have stayed the same. Jake and Alex still can’t stay out of each other's faces on the field, or out of each other's beds off of it. They’ve got a second chance to win it all…but only if they realize what they lost.]]> 434 K.D. Casey 0369734319 Brianna 5 finished-2023
Second-chance romances are not my favorite trope, but KD Casey writes a book and I’ll read it!! I’m so glad I did!! Let me try to count the ways �

Both Alex and Jake felt like deeply realized, nuanced, three-dimensional characters in their own right, and their relationship then felt deeply realized, nuanced and three-dimensional

I loved following both of their journeys from young brash ball players to older, more mature but still flawed men and then finding each other within that journey

The emotional arc of their relationship was believable, painful and then SO SATISFYING.

The aspects of Jakes faith throughout was so important, wonderful and well done; as was the very real depictions of what anti depressants can mean to the person taking them.

Alex is just one of my favorite characters ever! I love him and his family and the way he was a solid player but not a star. It’s cool to read about the rest of the roster when so many MCs are the best and brightest

What I’m saying is run don’t walk to get this lastest! It might be my favorite from the series?! But who can tell they’re all great! ]]> 4.18 2023
author: K.D. Casey
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:
First and foremost I LOVED this book!!!! All the stars for so many reasons!

Second-chance romances are not my favorite trope, but KD Casey writes a book and I’ll read it!! I’m so glad I did!! Let me try to count the ways �

Both Alex and Jake felt like deeply realized, nuanced, three-dimensional characters in their own right, and their relationship then felt deeply realized, nuanced and three-dimensional

I loved following both of their journeys from young brash ball players to older, more mature but still flawed men and then finding each other within that journey

The emotional arc of their relationship was believable, painful and then SO SATISFYING.

The aspects of Jakes faith throughout was so important, wonderful and well done; as was the very real depictions of what anti depressants can mean to the person taking them.

Alex is just one of my favorite characters ever! I love him and his family and the way he was a solid player but not a star. It’s cool to read about the rest of the roster when so many MCs are the best and brightest

What I’m saying is run don’t walk to get this lastest! It might be my favorite from the series?! But who can tell they’re all great!
]]> 59948520 A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during a time of war.

It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting.

Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle--an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood--without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt's family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt's horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next.

An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.]]> 382 Alice Winn 0593534565 Brianna 5 finished-2023 4.51 2023
author: Alice Winn
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: finished-2023
review:
I sat down at night to start a few pages of this haunting, gorgeous novel and ended up staying up until 3 am, fully held in its iron grip. This is a brutal read, but it’s one I’ll be thinking about for a long time. Winn skillfully dives deeply into the pain of war and all the scars (both emotional and physical) that it leaves with prose that had me going back to re-read sentences just because of how perfect they were sculpted. The romance is tender and rendered so wonderfully with love and deep affection for two wounded & flawed characters. This will become an instant classic in the genre!
]]> 61053935 A compelling debut novel about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country's wealthiest families.

Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she’s worth and is determined to get all she deserves—it just so happens that what she deserves is to marry rich. After a lifetime of forced instruction in the art of swindling men by her mother, Bea wants nothing more than to escape her shadow, close the door on their sordid past, and disappear safely into old-money domesticity.

When Bea finds her final mark in the perfectly dull blue-blooded Collin, she’s ready to deploy all her tricks one last time. The challenge isn’t getting the ring, but rather the approval of Collin’s family and everyone else in their tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend Gale. Going toe-to-toe with Gale isn’t a threat to an expert like Bea, but what begins as an amusing cat-and-mouse game quickly develops into a dangerous chase. As the truth of Bea’s past threatens to come roaring out, she finds herself racing against the clock to pass the finish line before everything is exposed.]]> 353 Rachel Koller Croft 0593547500 Brianna 0 to-read, finished-2023 3.63 2023
author: Rachel Koller Croft
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: to-read, finished-2023
review:

]]> 58175765 An impossible crime. A detective on the edge of madness. The future of time travel at stake.

January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights� to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents� that start stalking their bidders.

There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.]]> 336 Rob Hart 1984820648 Brianna 0 currently-reading 3.48 2022
author: Rob Hart
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 40390752
Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.

Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.

Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.

In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth.]]> 530 Kate Quinn 0062740377 Brianna 5 to-read 4.30 2019
author: Kate Quinn
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58575609
He can hear her.

One year into her prized role as the youngest ethics investigator in California's history, Emma suspects corruption in the state's billion dollar expansion to train travel. But that unwittingly puts her on a killer's trail—a killer who will do anything to reach his illicit million dollar payday, including personally eliminating Emma Lawson as a threat.

Detective Alibi Morning Sun sees connections where no one else does. A drowning at a lake, a fire in a storage facility and a murder by the river carry a thread soaked in blood.

As Emma follows the money and Alibi traces bullets and bodies, the killer counts down to his grand finale. With each mounting danger, it quickly becomes apparent that the corruption Emma has been digging for is real—and it’s deadly.

Three days. Two days. Now only one…]]> 300 Kris Calvin 1643859056 Brianna 5 3.98 2022
author: Kris Calvin
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/03/09
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In Under a Broken Sky, Calvin deftly weaves together threads of several intriguing mysteries to create a rich, complex tapestry of corruption, betrayals and lies. Just as compelling are the believable, three-dimensional characters and the way their lives collide and intertwine.This suspenseful, emotional page-turner should shoot to the top of everyone’s must-read list!
]]> 58997456 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Spanning Prohibition-era Montana, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, New Zealand, wartime London, and modern-day Los Angeles, Great Circle tells the unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost.

After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles.

A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to redefine herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times--collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a monumental work of art, and a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead.]]> 593 Maggie Shipstead 0525656979 Brianna 5 3.98 2021
author: Maggie Shipstead
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/02/05
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As they delve deeper into the dead woman’s secrets, Seol forms an unlikely bond of friendship with the inspector. But her loyalty is tested when he becomes the prime suspect, and Seol may be the only one capable of discovering what truly happened on the night of the murder.

But in a land where silence and obedience are valued above all else, curiosity can be deadly.]]> 326 June Hur 1250229553 Brianna 0 to-read 3.82 2021
author: June Hur
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/07/25
shelves: to-read
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On her quest to conquer the Riemann Hypothesis, the greatest unsolved mathematical problem of her time, she turns to a theorem with a mysterious history that holds both the lock and key to her identity, and to secrets long buried during World War II in Germany. Forced to confront some of the most consequential events of the twentieth century and rethink everything she knows of herself, she strives to take her place in the world of higher mathematics and finds kinship in the stories of the women who came before her—their love of the language of numbers connecting them across generations.

In The Tenth Muse, Catherine Chung offers a gorgeous, sweeping tale about legacy, identity, and the beautiful ways the mind can make us free.]]> 291 Catherine Chung 006257406X Brianna 0 to-read 4.00 2019
author: Catherine Chung
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/05/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 39863464 A tale of a single night. The story of a lifetime.

If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said and done?

This is the story of Maurice Hannigan, who, over the course of a Saturday night in June, orders five different drinks at the Rainford House Hotel. With each he toasts a person vital to him: his doomed older brother, his troubled sister-in-law, his daughter of fifteen minutes, his son far off in America, and his late, lamented wife. And through these people, the ones who left him behind, he tells the story of his own life, with all its regrets and feuds, loves and triumphs.

Beautifully written, powerfully felt, When All Is Said promises to be the next great Irish novel.]]> 326 Anne Griffin 125020058X Brianna 0 to-read 3.94 2019
author: Anne Griffin
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/01/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 41081925 Deeply buried secrets make for a disturbing family reunion in bestselling author Catherine McKenzie’s tantalizing novel of psychological suspense.

What happened to Amanda Holmes?

Twenty years ago, she was found bludgeoned in a rowboat at the MacAllister family’s Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with the crime.

Now, after their parents� sudden deaths, the MacAllister siblings return to camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate the camp occupies. Ryan needs to sell. Margaux hasn’t made up her mind. Mary believes in leaving well enough alone. Kate and Liddie—the twins—have opposing views. And Sean Booth, the groundskeeper, just hopes he still has a home when all is said and done.

But it’s more complicated than a simple vote. The will stipulates that until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t settle the estate. Any one of them could have done it, and each one is holding a piece of the puzzle. Will they work together to finally discover the truth, or will their secrets finally tear the family apart?]]> 355 Catherine McKenzie 1542040353 Brianna 0 to-read 3.61 2019
author: Catherine McKenzie
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/01/03
shelves: to-read
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Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose, a group that wrote and distributed anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens. The following year, Sophie and her brother were arrested for treason and interrogated for information about their collaborators. This debut novel recounts the lives of Sophie and her friends and highlights their brave stand against fascism in Nazi Germany.]]> 368 Kip Wilson 1328594432 Brianna 0 to-read 4.13 2019
author: Kip Wilson
name: Brianna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

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Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.]]> 389 Adam Silvera 0062457799 Brianna 5 3.76 2017
author: Adam Silvera
name: Brianna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/19
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review:

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