Brynn's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 19:47:18 -0700 60 Brynn's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Lost Apothecary 53288434 A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders� that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive.]]> 301 Sarah Penner 0778311015 Brynn 3 3.72 2021 The Lost Apothecary
author: Sarah Penner
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/24
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]]> The Marriage 58435450
Ten years ago he killed my son. Today I married him.

Ten years ago my darling son Jesse was murdered and our perfect family was destroyed. My strong, handsome boy, so full of life, became a memory, a photo I carried with me everywhere.

But today I’m finally close to finding happiness again. My ash-blonde hair has been curled into ringlets. Carefully placed white flowers frame my delicate features. The small, drab chapel has been prettied up with white satin, and there are tiny red hearts scattered on the small table where I will soon sign the register with my new husband.

The man who killed my son.

My friends and family can’t understand it. My neighbours whisper in the street whenever I walk past. How can I love a man like Tom?

They don’t really know me at all…]]> 10 K.L. Slater Brynn 0 currently-reading 3.65 2021 The Marriage
author: K.L. Slater
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> We Used to Live Here 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Brynn 0 to-read 3.67 2024 We Used to Live Here
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> Incidents Around the House 199757490 A chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy,� from the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’sMommy,Daddo,and Grandma Ruth.But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”�

When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the same question, over and over . . . Bela understands that unless she says yes, soon her family must pay.

Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage. The safety Bela relies on is on the brink of unraveling.

But Other Mommy needs an answer.

Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror told by the child Bela. A story about a family as haunted as their home.]]> 367 Josh Malerman 0593723120 Brynn 0 to-read 3.61 2024 Incidents Around the House
author: Josh Malerman
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tell Me What You Did 209823382
Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they've committed to her audience. She can't guarantee the police won't come after her "guests," but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that's proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother's murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother's murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?]]> 420 Carter Wilson 1464226229 Brynn 0 to-read 3.77 2025 Tell Me What You Did
author: Carter Wilson
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 181350367 For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 358 Kristen Perrin 0593474015 Brynn 0 to-read 3.76 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> Good Half Gone 203545787
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wives

Iris Walsh saw her twin sister, Piper, get kidnapped—so why does no one believe her?

Iris narrowly escaped her twin sister’s fate as a teen: abducted in broad daylight and long gone before she could convince the cops there was anything to investigate. With Piper presumed a runaway and no evidence to go on but Iris’s scattered memories, the case quickly goes cold.

Ever since that terrible day, Iris� search for Piper has bordered on obsession. Chasing leads across years and following clues that all seem to point to a single name, Iris does everything she can to get close to the only person who might know the answer to the question that still haunts her: where did Piper go? And if the police still won’t help, she’ll just have to find the answer herself--using her criminal psychology degree to intern at the isolated psychiatric hospital on Shoal Island, where secrets lurk in the shadows and are kept under lock and key. But Iris soon realizes that something even more sinister is simmering beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients aren’t the only ones being observed…]]> Tarryn Fisher Brynn 4 3.26 2024 Good Half Gone
author: Tarryn Fisher
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)]]> 220161593 In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Women in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?]]> 400 Ruth Ware 1668025620 Brynn 0 to-read 3.83 2025 The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
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review:

]]> The Lost Bookshop 158986402
The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,� she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.�

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found�

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> Evie Woods Brynn 3 3.84 2023 The Lost Bookshop
author: Evie Woods
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/03/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping]]> 182484370
Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she ( slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Aunt Jasmine run an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep the talking fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost.

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

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone... and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.]]> 352 Sangu Mandanna 0593439376 Brynn 0 to-read 4.61 2025 A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)]]> 217536270
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.

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

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

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

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

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.]]> 624 Callie Hart 1538774194 Brynn 0 to-read 4.29 2024 Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)
author: Callie Hart
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Brynn 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)]]> 208841368 Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell's long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell's murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell's magic-and Emily's knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.
]]> 368 Heather Fawcett 0356519198 Brynn 0 to-read 4.14 2025 Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)]]> 134119076 When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.]]> 370 Heather Fawcett 0593500202 Brynn 0 to-read 4.28 2024 Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bookshop of Second Chances]]> 54814861
Almost instantly, Thea becomes enamored with the quaint cottage, comforted by its cozy rooms and shaggy, tulip-covered lawn. The locals in nearby Baldochrie are just as warm, quirky, and inviting. The only person she can't seem to win over is bookshop owner Edward Maltravers, to whom she hopes to sell her uncle's antique novel collection. His gruff attitude--fueled by an infamous, long-standing feud with his brother, a local lord--tests Thea's patience. But bickering with Edward proves oddly refreshing and exciting, leading Thea to develop feelings she hasn't felt in a long time. As she follows a thrilling yet terrifying impulse to stay in Scotland indefinitely, Thea realizes that her new life may quickly become just as complicated as the one she was running from.]]> 431 Jackie Fraser 0593355652 Brynn 0 to-read 3.54 2020 The Bookshop of Second Chances
author: Jackie Fraser
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 62984085 Duration: 10:04:19

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family—and a new love—changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for....]]> 10 Sangu Mandanna Brynn 5 4.06 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Language of Spells (The Language of Spells #1)]]> 17930779 When you are ready, seek, and you shall find. It is your gift.

Gwen Harper left Pendleford thirteen years ago and hasn’t looked back. Until an inheritance throws her into the mystical world she thought she’d escaped. Confronted with her great-aunt’s legacy Gwen must finally face up to her past.

The magic she has long tried to suppress is back with a vengeance but gift or burden, for Gwen, it always spells trouble. She has to stay � she has nowhere else to go � but how can she find her place in the town that drove her out after branding her a witch�?

]]> 332 Sarah Painter Brynn 0 to-read 3.70 2013 The Language of Spells (The Language of Spells #1)
author: Sarah Painter
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe Sneak Peek]]> 45149501 Download a FREE sneak peek of Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Café—a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm!

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

]]> 50 Heather Webber 1250262003 Brynn 5 4.18 Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe Sneak Peek
author: Heather Webber
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/18
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities]]> 61884939
When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing—a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama—is the perfect chance to start a new life. A normal life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town.

On the surface, Maggie Mae Brightwell is a bundle of energy as she runs Magpie’s, Driftwood’s coffee and curiosity shop, where there’s magic to be found in pairing the old with the new. But lurking under her cheerful exterior is a painful truth—keeping busy is the best way to distract herself from the lingering loss of her mama and her worries about her aging father. No one knows better than she does that you can’t pour from an empty cup, but holding on to the past is the only thing keeping the hope alive that her mama will return home one day.

Ava and Maggie soon find they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both haunted—not by spirits, but by regret. Both must learn to let go of the past to move on—because sometimes the waves of change bring you to the place where you most belong.]]> 320 Heather Webber 1250867266 Brynn 0 to-read 3.89 2023 At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities
author: Heather Webber
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> South of the Buttonwood Tree 52378571
Sarah Grace Landreneau Fulton is at a crossroads. She has always tried so hard to do the right thing, but her own mother would disown her if she ever learned half of Sarah Grace's secrets.

The unexpected discovery of the newborn baby girl will alter Blue's and Sarah Grace's lives forever. Both women must fight for what they truly want in life and for who they love. In doing so, they uncover long-held secrets that reveal exactly who they really are--and what they're willing to sacrifice in the name of family.]]> 336 Heather Webber 1250198569 Brynn 0 to-read 4.25 2020 South of the Buttonwood Tree
author: Heather Webber
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Opportunist (Love Me with Lies, #1)]]> 13312527 278 Tarryn Fisher Brynn 5 checkoutabookwithbrynn 4.19 2011 The Opportunist (Love Me with Lies, #1)
author: Tarryn Fisher
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2014/06/15
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: checkoutabookwithbrynn
review:
Review to come but as a teaser...Tarryn Fisher is an amazing storyteller! I'm hooked! Read this book!
]]> The Girl Who Chased the Moon 5126859 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world--no matter how out of place they feel.

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew--a reclusive, real-life gentle giant--she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.

Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes--which is a good thing, because Julia can’t seem to stop baking them. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also in the hope of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Flour, eggs, milk, and sugar . . . Baking is the only language the proud but vulnerable Julia has to communicate what is truly in her heart. But is it enough to call back to her those she’s hurt in the past?

Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.]]> 288 Sarah Addison Allen 0553807218 Brynn 0 to-read 3.97 2010 The Girl Who Chased the Moon
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Sugar Queen 11648261
Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night. . . . Until she finds her closet harboring Della Lee Baker, a local waitress who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey’s narrow existence quickly expands. She even bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who is hounded by books that inexplicably appear when she needs them—and who has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush. Soon Josey is living in a world where the color red has startling powers, and passion can make eggs fry in their cartons. And that’s just for starters.

Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

Praise for The Sugar Queen

“Like the most decadently addictive bonbons, once started, Allen’s magically entrancing novel is impossible to put down.� —Booklist (starred review)

“Bewitching . . . Such a pleasurable book.� � Publishers Weekly]]> 290 Sarah Addison Allen Brynn 0 to-read 4.01 2008 The Sugar Queen
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> First Frost 24594307
Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby� a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.
Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

Lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It’s where the real story begins.]]> Sarah Addison Allen Brynn 5 3.54 2015 First Frost
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: feel-good-read, supernatural-magical-realism, magical
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight at the Blackbird Café]]> 41556079 Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 336 Heather Webber 1250198607 Brynn 0 to-read 4.01 2019 Midnight at the Blackbird Café
author: Heather Webber
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)]]> 75668288 The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire's shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor's only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire's rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion--one that could save their world...or destroy it.

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters, sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, and richly drawn worlds, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.]]> 472 Thea Guanzon 0063277271 Brynn 0 to-read 3.65 2023 The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)
author: Thea Guanzon
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of Everyday Plants]]> 44333107 Discover the folklore, history, and healing properties of common plants, from daisies and garlic to oak and rosemary.

Plants have always played a vital role in our existence, revered for their healing and nutritional properties and entwined with ancient legends, local spirits, and deities. Folk Magic and Healing gathers many of these beliefs, aiming to inspire a deeper appreciation of our flora and countryside. Stunningly illustrated, this treasury is packed with insight about everyday plants and their magic and mysteries. It covers trees such as beechwood, birch, and fir, and provides an A to Z that ranges from agrimony, boneset, and chamomile to dandelions, lady’s mantle, laurel, and wild strawberry. With folkloric and literary quotes throughout, and background on each plant’s history, Latin name, and medicinal uses, this lovely guide is perfect for plant lovers, gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and everyone!]]> 164 Fen Inkwright 1912634112 Brynn 0 to-read 4.43 Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of Everyday Plants
author: Fen Inkwright
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants]]> 52730081 Discover the folklore and history of our most toxic plants through this beautifully produced, gorgeously illustrated compendium.
“If you drink much from a bottle marked ‘poison,� it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.� � Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland In both history and fiction, some of the most dramatic, notorious deaths have been through poisonings. Concealed and deliberate, it’s a crime that requires advance planning and that for many centuries could go virtually undetected. And yet there is a fine line between healing and killing: the difference lies only in the dosage! In Botanical Curses and Poisons, Fez Inkwright returns to folkloric and historical archives to reveal the fascinating, untold stories behind a variety of lethal plants, witching herbs, and funghi. Going from A to Z, she covers everything from apple (think of the poisoned fruit in “Snow White�) and the hallucinogenic angel’s trumpet to laurel, which emits toxic fumes, to oleander (a deadly ornamental shrub), with each plant beautifully illustrated by the author herself. This enthralling treasury is packed with insight, lore, and the revealed mysteries of everyday flora—including the prevalence of poisoning in ancient Rome, its use in religion and magic, and common antidotes—making this perfect for gardeners, writers, folklorists, witches, and scientists alike!]]> 257 Fez Inkwright 1912634228 Brynn 0 to-read 4.26 2021 Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants
author: Fez Inkwright
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 3) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 3)]]> 46208148 The Complete Language of Flowers is a comprehensive dictionary for over 1,001 flower species. Along with a visual depiction, each entry provides the flower's name, characteristics, and historic meanings from mythology, medieval legends, folklore, and flower poetry.

For centuries, symbolic flower meanings have fascinated readers, writers, poets, and suddenly smitten couples alike. Extremely popular during the Victorian era, these floriographies flourished and versed the public on the hidden meaning of popular flowers like peonies (bashfulness) and tulips (passion).Coupled with stunning full-color illustrations, this beautiful reference is a must-have for gardeners, florists, and flower enthusiasts. Whether you're looking to arrange the perfectly bespoken wedding bouquet or to understand what the yellow rose you just received from an admirer means (friendship), this updated floriography is a visual delight.]]> 256 S. Theresa Dietz 1577151909 Brynn 0 to-read 4.37 2020 The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 3) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 3)
author: S. Theresa Dietz
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Language of Herbs: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 8) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 8)]]> 58341001
Along with a beautiful visual depiction , each entry provides the herb or spice’s scientific and common names , characteristics , and historic meanings and powers from mythology, medieval legends, folklore, and flower poetry.

Did you know that allspice can be added to herbal mixtures to attract money or luck? Or that sprinkling arrowroot at the doors of your home will keep guests� negative energy from entering? Reaching the height of popularity during the Victorian era, floriographies —dictionaries of symbolic flower meanings—were an amusing pastime and art to subtly communicate unspoken emotions . To complement the success of The Complete Language of Flowers, author S. Theresa Dietz has scoured historic sources and compiled an equally beautiful compendium in The Complete Language of Herbs , revealing the secrets and powers of hundreds of common and forgotten herbs and spices from around the world .

Together with stunning full-color illustrations and two indexes , one for searching by common herb and spice name and the other organized by meaning , this beautiful reference is a must-have for gardeners, chefs, party planners, and food enthusiasts.

Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, the Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia series offers comprehensive, display-worthy references on a range of intriguing topics, including birthday astrology, dream interpretation, astrological self-care practices, techniques for harnessing the power of dreams, and the stories behind signs and symbols.]]> 256 S. Theresa Dietz 1577152824 Brynn 0 to-read 3.82 The Complete Language of Herbs: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 8) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 8)
author: S. Theresa Dietz
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Language of Trees: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 12) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 12)]]> 61918879
Some of the lore of trees will Imagine developing a spiritual connection with a tree in a way that exceeds visual perception? Where learning its meaning and value simultaneously improves your own mental and physical wellness?Throughout history, floriographies —flower dictionaries—have gained notoriety for regulating human emotions; giving depth, symbolism, and meaning to extremely delicate aspects of nature .Following the success of The Complete Language of Herbs and its predecessor The Complete Language of Flowers , authorS. Theresa Dietzcontinues this custom with The Complete Language of Trees . Coupled with two indexes , one for searching by common tree name and the other organized by meaning , Dietz cleverly connects quality time in nature with the overall improvement of mental health by developing astunningly depicted dictionary for gardeners, environmentalists, and nature lovers alike.

Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, the Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia series offers comprehensive, display-worthy references on a range of intriguing topics, including birthday astrology, dream interpretation, astrological self-care practices, techniques for harnessing the power of dreams, and the stories behind signs and symbols.]]> 256 S. Theresa Dietz 1577153308 Brynn 0 to-read 3.64 The Complete Language of Trees: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 12) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 12)
author: S. Theresa Dietz
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.64
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Language of Food: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 10) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 10)]]> 60021504
Have you ever considered the cultural origins and meanings of your favorite foods? The Complete Language of Food ties ingredients back to mythological and folklore roots for a unique and appetizing exploration of the foods we eat .

Presented alphabetically , each food entry With everyday ingredients like acai, bok choy, and cauliflower, you’re bound to learn more than you ever imagined about your household favorites as you discover the symbolic meanings, uses, and facts behind each . The knowledge gained will bring new meaning and intention to your mealtime.

Some of the exciting lore behind certain foods will
Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, the Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia series offers comprehensive, display-worthy references on a range of intriguing topics, including dream interpretation, techniques for harnessing the power of dreams, flower meanings, and the stories behind signs and symbols.

Also available in the Complete Book of Dreams , Complete Language of Flowers , Complete Language of Herbs , Signs & Symbols of the World , and Complete Guide to Astrological Self-Care .]]> 256 S. Theresa Dietz 157715259X Brynn 0 to-read 4.13 The Complete Language of Food: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Volume 10) (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia, 10)
author: S. Theresa Dietz
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature's Rhythms]]> 61271694 A beautifully illustrated, interactive guide to ancient, nature-based holidays and customs. Through themed meditations, crafts, and rituals, young readers can learn about old and new ways of honoring the seasons—and create their own!

Each “spoke� in The Wheel of the Year marks an important turning point: the winter and summer solstices, the spring and fall equinoxes, and the festivals of seeding, growing, and harvesting that arrive in between. Within each section, enjoy:
An overview of the holiday and its significance in cultures around the world
A sensory scavenger hunt for sights, sounds, and smells the season
Ideas for a seasonal altar using objects from nature
Themed crafts, rituals, games, and recipes
Blending nature connection with art, poetry, and myth, The Wheel of the Year conveys the magic and beauty of ancient traditions and encourages young readers to notice, care for, and celebrate the natural world around them.]]> 256 Fiona Cook 1524874809 Brynn 0 to-read 4.51 The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature's Rhythms
author: Fiona Cook
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism, Vol. 2 (Hidden Languages, #2)]]> 207294830 NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLING ILLUSTRATOR

From the creator of Floriographyand the Woodland Wardens Oracle Deckcomes this beautifully illustrated exploration of the folklore, mythology, and history surrounding our favorite winged companions.

Birds have inspired us since the dawn of their elegance in flight, captivating colors, and delicate mannerisms spark hope, joy, and delight. Cultures around the world have historically looked to birds as sacred messengers, intermediaries between earth and sky, including them in myths and legends and using them to teach moral lessons and historical truths.

In Jessica Roux’s Ornithography, each of 100 entries focuses on one bird species, featuring a full-page color illustration in her detailed, darkly romantic style and the lore behind each bird.

The perfect gift for birdwatchers, gardeners, and history buffs, as well as all readers who appreciate nature, mythology, and art, Ornithography is as intriguing and playful as the feathered muses that fill its pages.]]> 224 Jessica Roux 152488877X Brynn 0 currently-reading 4.37 2024 Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism, Vol. 2 (Hidden Languages, #2)
author: Jessica Roux
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers (Volume 1) (Hidden Languages)]]> 50898143
Floriography is a full-color guide to the historical uses and secret meanings behind an impressive array of flowers and herbs. The book explores the coded significances associated with various blooms, from flowers for a lover to flowers for an enemy.

The language of flowers was historically used as a means of secret communication. It soared in popularity during the 19th century, especially in Victorian England and the U.S., when proper etiquette discouraged open displays of emotion. Mysterious and playful, the language of flowers has roots in everything from the characteristics of the plant to its presence in folklore and history. Researched and illustrated by popular artist Jessica Roux, this book makes a stunning display piece, conversation-starter, or thoughtful gift.]]> 213 Jessica Roux 1524858145 Brynn 0 4.55 2020 Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers (Volume 1) (Hidden Languages)
author: Jessica Roux
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3)]]> 22895268 Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness's enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches - with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.]]> 24 Deborah Harkness Brynn 5 must-listen-audiobooks 4.08 2014 The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3)
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/10/07
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks
review:
This trilogy was AMAZING! I enjoyed every book and was sad to hear the last words spoken when the book came to an end. Deborah Harkness wrote the beautiful words, but in my humble opinion, Jennifer Ikeda brought them to life. I wish the story could have gone on forever, but I'm happy with the way this trilogy ended.
]]> Garden Spells 7084062
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants - from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys - except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.

When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down - along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy - if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom - or with each other.]]> 8 Sarah Addison Allen 1423333381 Brynn 5 3.97 2007 Garden Spells
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves: checkoutabookwithbrynn, must-listen-audiobooks, supernatural-magical-realism, magical, feel-good-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book Charmer (Dove Pond, #1)]]> 42202000 Prepare to fall under the spell of a story following two fiercely independent women and their truly magical friendship in a sleepy Southern town, from New York Times bestselling author of Karen Hawkins.

Sarah Dove is no ordinary bookworm. To her, books live, breathe, and sometimes even speak. As the librarian in her quaint Southern town of Dove Pond, her gift helps place every book in the hands of the perfect reader. Recently, however, the books have been whispering about something out of the ordinary: the arrival of a displaced city girl named Grace Wheeler.

If the books are right, Grace could be the savior Dove Pond desperately needs. The problem is, Grace wants little to do with the town or its quirky residents—Sarah chief among them. But with a bit of urging, and the help of an especially wise book, will Grace ultimately embrace the challenge to rescue her charmed new community?]]> 368 Karen Hawkins 1982105542 Brynn 0 to-read 3.85 2019 The Book Charmer (Dove Pond, #1)
author: Karen Hawkins
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> William 201110254
But there's something strange about William. It's not that his skin feels like balloon rubber and is the colour of curdled milk, nor is it his thick gurgling laugh or the way his tongue curls towards his crooked top teeth. It is the way he looks at Henry's wife, Lily.

Henry created William but he is starting to lose control of him. As William's fixation with Lily grows and threatens to bring harm to their house, Henry has no choice but to destroy William.

But William isn't gone. Filled with jealousy for humanity, for its capacity to love and create life, William starts to haunt the house. He lurks behind each locked door. You can hear him muttering in the eaves of the attic. He is whispering in Henry's head. And he will be the one to take control...

William is a new kind of ghost story, where the haunting is not from another world, but from inside your home. Inside your head...]]> 224 Mason Coile 1399812777 Brynn 0 to-read 3.74 2024 William
author: Mason Coile
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wicked Webs We Weave 220320070
Kinsley Atwood may dread her answer until her dying days.

When the boy she loves dies right before her eyes, she dedicates her life to learning all she can about the magic that consumed him. Drawing on the dark arts with no regard for herself, she spends a lifetime mastering her craft and understanding the sacrifices it will take to bring him back� regardless of the price she’ll have to pay.

A dark fantasy short-story.]]> Tish Thawer Brynn 5 5.00 2024 The Wicked Webs We Weave
author: Tish Thawer
name: Brynn
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:
Tish Thawer has done it again with another wickedly good witchy read!!! This spooky short story will leave you wanting more and asking yourself, what are you willing to lose for love? While Kinsley Atwood shows you exactly what it takes…dedication and sacrifice. Don’t miss this fantastic dark fantasy!
]]> Other Birds 61301503
From the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells comes an enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go.

Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.

Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment on an island outside of Charleston she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a girl on the run, two estranged middle-aged sisters, a lonely chef, a legendary writer, and three ghosts. Each with their own story. Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn’t yet written.]]> 9 Sarah Addison Allen Brynn 4 3.88 2022 Other Birds
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The Honey Witch 196726166 The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.

When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.]]> 368 Sydney J. Shields 0316568864 Brynn 0 to-read 3.57 2024 The Honey Witch
author: Sydney J. Shields
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Dark and Secret Magic 204294871 A warm, spellbinding tale about a witch and the secrets her coven has been keeping from her, with echoes of the classic Hades and Persephone story, in the tradition of Practical Magic and Witch of Wild Things.

Hecate Goodwin, Kate to her friends, has curated the perfect life as a hedge witch, living in a secluded cottage with only a black cat for company. She spends her days foraging herbs from the Ipswich forest, gardening, and creating tinctures to sell at the apothecary she owns. Most evenings pass without her speaking to another human being, an arrangement she quite prefers.

Kate’s solitude is thrown into disarray when her older sister, Miranda, reaches out and asks her to host their coven’s annual Halloween gathering. The day marks the beginning of the new year for witches and is also Kate’s birthday. The pressure from her coven to make the evening memorable mounts as the event draws near. To complicate things further, a handsome man from Kate’s past turns up at her cottage, asking for sanctuary. It is Kate’s duty as a hedge witch to honor this request, much to her dismay. Matthew Cypher is no ordinary lost soul–he’s a practitioner of forbidden magic who’s tricked Kate once before, and her guard is up.

As she juggles Matthew’s arrival and the preparations for Halloween, Kate comes across an old tome shrouded in dark magic. She is horrified when she realizes the blood-red inscription is written in familiar handwriting: her recently deceased mother’s. Afraid to even touch the dark magic her mother secretly studied, Kate can turn only to Matthew for help. Her idealized memory of her mother begins to distort, and as she and Matthew grow closer, Kate has to reevaluate whom she can really trust.

A Dark and Secret Magic is a celebration of the Halloween season and a love letter to anyone who drinks pumpkin spice in August and carries the spirit of a witch inside their heart all year long.]]> 304 Wallis Kinney 1639109897 Brynn 0 to-read 3.89 2024 A Dark and Secret Magic
author: Wallis Kinney
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/29
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]]> The Spellshop 199269577 The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

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

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

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

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

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.]]> 384 Sarah Beth Durst Brynn 0 to-read 4.05 2024 The Spellshop
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/29
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]]> The Magic All Around: A Novel 123266566 336 Jennifer Moorman 1400240484 Brynn 0 to-read 3.75 The Magic All Around: A Novel
author: Jennifer Moorman
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Evernight: Romance in a World of Darkness, Volume 1]]> 12607448

Evernight In A World of Darkness is one super hot anthology of sensual hot stories that makes your cravings to read more of these type of stories. I know I want more....Rating 5 Stars Brianna Martini]]> 188 Allison Cassatta 1927027586 Brynn 4 4.25 2011 Evernight: Romance in a World of Darkness, Volume 1
author: Allison Cassatta
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2011/12/12
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Before (Heven and Hell, #0.5) 12964286 Before.

This is the story of my past. Of what things were like for me when everything was normal. Of what every teenager’s life is like. Clothes. Parties. Boys and summer vacation. What’s so wrong with that?

I liked it. I was happy.

Until things changed. I changed.

I didn’t know that lies and secrets were about to take over my existence. I didn’t know there was someone out there, someone meant just for me. I didn’t know that I was about to go on a journey, a journey that would lead me to the girl I am today.

This is the beginning of the worst year of my life. Would I go back and change things? Erase everything that has happened to go back into these moments?

Not a chance.

This is a story of before.]]> 45 Cambria Hebert 1936593270 Brynn 0 3.66 2011 Before (Heven and Hell, #0.5)
author: Cambria Hebert
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)]]> 60808492 6 Sarah J. Maas Brynn 4 3.37 2019 A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:

]]> One Perfect Couple 199798953 Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.]]> 385 Ruth Ware 1668025590 Brynn 5 This was a fantastic read or listen, in this case. I was often left feeling anxious and confused while genuinely trying to unravel the mystery of who could be behind it all and their motives. Imogen Church did a fantastic job narrating the story! ]]> 3.60 2024 One Perfect Couple
author: Ruth Ware
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks, mystery-thriller, checkoutabookwithbrynn
review:
Everything you need in a mystery/thriller!
This was a fantastic read or listen, in this case. I was often left feeling anxious and confused while genuinely trying to unravel the mystery of who could be behind it all and their motives. Imogen Church did a fantastic job narrating the story!
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Forsaken (The Devil's Assistant, #3)]]> 28170923 270 H.D. Smith 1942030053 Brynn 0 to-read 4.22 Dark Forsaken (The Devil's Assistant, #3)
author: H.D. Smith
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Witch King (The Rising World, #1)]]> 61885085 "You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' Witch King...

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.]]> 415 Martha Wells 1250826799 Brynn 0 to-read 3.60 2023 Witch King (The Rising World, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)]]> 53138095
فردی که بیش از دیگران اعصاب او را تحریک می‌کند� کسی نیست جز کاسین، این جنگجوی زخم‌خورد� که موقعیتش در دربار ریسند و فیرا او را مدام در نزدیکی نستا نگه می­دارد؛ اما خشم نستا تنها چیزی نیست که در حضور کاسین تحریک می­‌شو�. آتشی که بین آن­‌ه� شعله می­‌کش� غیرقابل‌انکا� است و وقتی ناچار به زندگی باهم در یک خانه می­شوند، بیش‌ازپی� حرارت می‌گیر�.

دراین‌بین� ملکه‌­ها� انسان خائن نیز که طی جنگ اخیر به قلمرو خود بازگشته‌ان� متحدی جدید و خطرناک یافته‌ان� که حضورش صلح شکننده حاکم بر دیگر قلمروها را تهدید می‌کند� و کلید بازداشتن این تهدید جدید در دست کاسین و نستاست که باید با گذشته­ی شوم خود روبه‌ر� شوند.

نستا و کاسین در دنیایی غرق در جنگ، در دنیایی که عدم اطمینان و بی­ثباتی آن را فراگرفته با هیولاهایی بیرون و درون وجود خود روبه‌ر� شده و به دنبال بهبود و پذیرش در آغوش یکدیگر می‌گردن�.]]> 757 Sarah J. Maas 168119628X Brynn 0 to-read 4.44 2021 A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)]]> 50659472 The epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the fate of Feyre's world is at stake as armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy it.]]> 699 Sarah J. Maas 1635575605 Brynn 5 4.47 2017 A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)]]> 199531757
Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd�

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.]]> 384 Karen Marie Moning 0063249219 Brynn 0 to-read 3.72 2024 The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy, #1)
author: Karen Marie Moning
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Crash 216223609 The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.

But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself—and her unborn child.

A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.
]]> 384 Freida McFadden 1464227322 Brynn 0 to-read 3.71 2025 The Crash
author: Freida McFadden
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)]]> 26073150
Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world torn apart.]]> 624 Sarah J. Maas 1619634465 Brynn 5 4.59 2016 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Dreadful 63051209 A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is� you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing � from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess � is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all � who does he want to be?
Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.]]> 344 Caitlin Rozakis 1803365471 Brynn 0 to-read 3.66 2024 Dreadful
author: Caitlin Rozakis
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I'll Be Waiting 203578924 From New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood...

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future� together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.�

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body....

In this atmospheric, thrilling new ghost story, Kelley Armstrong's full talents are on display to thrill, chill and leave the reader guessing how Nicola escapes with her life--if she can.]]> 325 Kelley Armstrong 125028421X Brynn 0 to-read 3.69 2024 I'll Be Waiting
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls, #5)]]> 203518955 Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series.

Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.

Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.]]> 444 Deborah Harkness 0593724771 Brynn 0 to-read 3.95 2024 The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls, #5)
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> What Fire Brings 168432028 A writer’s search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller—she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property.

The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are—for the other women who have also gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.]]> 375 Rachel Howzell Hall 1662504187 Brynn 0 to-read 3.42 2024 What Fire Brings
author: Rachel Howzell Hall
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ink Blood Sister Scribe 200141872 416 Emma Törzs 006325347X Brynn 0 to-read 3.96 2023 Ink Blood Sister Scribe
author: Emma Törzs
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Falling Out of Focus 33281359
My world as I knew it had imploded. Fired from my job. Blackballed in the industry. Walking in on my cheating boyfriend... the structured life I worked so hard to build was falling apart––which is exactly why I gave in when my mother suggested a trip home to Scotland.

I hoped to find clarity in the rolling countryside. Instead, I stumbled onto the unimaginable. One minute I was standing on a scenic bridge contemplating life. The next... I was falling. Tumbling down into a cobalt and teal canvas where the ocean and sky became one.

Encased by water and chilled to the bone, I woke in a land of Fae queens and talking otters. There, I would learn that anything is possible for those brave enough to let go.]]> Brynn Myers Brynn 0 3.92 2017 Falling Out of Focus
author: Brynn Myers
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2017/01/24
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: fae-magic, must-listen-audiobooks, supernatural-magical-realism, celtic-mythology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 25521109 16 hrs 7 mins

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill � the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.]]> 16 Sarah J. Maas Brynn 4 3.81 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks, fae-magic
review:

]]> A Friend Indeed 200262438 Twisty and ingenious, A Friend Indeed is an engrossing psychological thriller perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Ruth Ware.

When single mom Jo Dykstra was at her lowest—jobless and penniless—her childhood friend Dana McFarlane helped her out bigtime by securing her a teaching job and thus an opportunity for a new life in the affluent Pacific Northwest town of Glebes Bay. So, when Jo gets a frantic late-night call from Dana, sobbing and desperate for help, it feels like a chance to help her friend in return.

The last thing Jo expects to see when she arrives at Dana’s oceanfront mansion? Her friend’s handsome and wealthy husband, Stan, dead, sprawled face down on the floor. Dana admits to killing her husband following years of secret abuse and begs Jo not to call the police. For nearly two decades, Dana’s marriage and family had looked picture perfect. Who’d ever believe that pillar-of-the-community Stan was a monster? Determined to cover up her husband’s killing and shield her kids from scandal, Dana convinces Jo to help her dispose of the body.

But the cover-up starts to crumble when a blackmailer threatens to expose their crime. Hounded by gossipy neighbors, ill-fated lovers, and zealous cops, truth and lies are laid bare between Jo and Dana, putting their families in danger and threatening to shatter a thirty-year friendship. Shocking and fast-paced, A Friend Indeed is a riveting tale about the power of friendship and the deadly weight of lies.]]> 308 Elka Ray Brynn 0 to-read 3.74 2024 A Friend Indeed
author: Elka Ray
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wren in the Holly Library (Oak & Holly Cycle, #1)]]> 61431964 Can you love the dark when you know what it hides?

Some things aren’t supposed to exist outside of our imagination.

Thirteen years ago, monsters emerged from the shadows and plunged Kierse’s world into a cataclysmic war of near-total destruction. The New York City she knew so well collapsed practically overnight.

In the wake of that carnage, the Monster Treaty was created. A truce...of sorts.

But tonight, Kierse―a gifted and fearless thief―will break that treaty. She’ll enter the Holly Library...not knowing it’s the home of a monster.

He’s charming. Quietly alluring. Terrifying. But he knows talent when he sees it; it’s just a matter of finding her price.

Now she’s locked into a dangerous bargain with a creature unlike any other. She’ll sacrifice her freedom. She’ll offer her skills. Together, they’ll put their own futures at risk.

But he’s been playing a game across centuries―and once she joins in, there will be no escape...]]> 400 K.A. Linde 1649374070 Brynn 0 to-read 3.73 2024 The Wren in the Holly Library (Oak & Holly Cycle, #1)
author: K.A. Linde
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 112973698
I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 416 Emilia Hart 1250880696 Brynn 5 3.90 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks, supernatural-magical-realism, witches
review:
I didn't want it to end!!! Thank you, Emilia Hart, for this fantastic audiobook! The narrators did an amazing job of drawing you into this magical story. I seriously did not want it to end. I don’t know if there will be a book two, but if there is, I will be the first one in line to buy it.
]]> A Sorceress Comes to Call 195790847 A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.]]> 327 T. Kingfisher 1250244072 Brynn 0 to-read 4.06 2024 A Sorceress Comes to Call
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Sirens 208734016 A story of sisters separated by hundreds of years but bound together in more ways than they can imagine

2019: Lucy awakens in her ex-lover’s room in the middle of the night with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister’s house on the coast of New South Wales hoping Jess can help explain the vivid dreams that preceded the attack—but her sister is missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she starts to unearth strange rumours about Jess’s town—tales of numerous missing men, spread over decades. A baby abandoned in a sea-swept cave. Whispers of women’s voices on the waves. All the while, her dreams start to feel closer than ever.

1800: Mary and Eliza are torn from their loving home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship heading for Australia. As the boat takes them farther and farther away from all they know, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies.

A breathtaking tale of female resilience, The Sirens is an extraordinary novel that captures the sheer power of sisterhood and the indefinable magic of the sea.]]> 352 Emilia Hart 0008499152 Brynn 0 to-read 3.96 2025 The Sirens
author: Emilia Hart
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Skeleton Key 199772443
It is the summer of 2021 and Nell has come home at her family's insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Her father, Sir Frank Churcher, is regarded as a cult figure by many. Fifty years ago he wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, it was a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried - gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore's pelvis remained hidden. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. And it ruined Nell's life.

But Sir Frank has reunited the Churchers for a very particular reason. The book is being reissued, along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting the anniversary. Nell is appalled, and fearful. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

From the bestselling author of He Said/She Said and Watch Her Fall, this is a taut, mesmerising novel about a daughter haunted by her father's legacy . . .]]> Erin Kelly Brynn 5
I have mixed emotions about this book, but overall, I cannot deny that it was a beautiful read. Erin Kelly has told a deeply intricate story, and while there were times when I wanted to give up, I’m glad I stuck it out because it is beautifully written. The words often felt lyrical. Hats off to the narrator! Helen Keeley did an amazing job of keeping the story engaging. ]]> 3.40 2022 The Skeleton Key
author: Erin Kelly
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks, mystery-thriller
review:
Beautifully written and exceptionally narrated!

I have mixed emotions about this book, but overall, I cannot deny that it was a beautiful read. Erin Kelly has told a deeply intricate story, and while there were times when I wanted to give up, I’m glad I stuck it out because it is beautifully written. The words often felt lyrical. Hats off to the narrator! Helen Keeley did an amazing job of keeping the story engaging.
]]> Those Empty Eyes 108103500
It’s been ten years since, and Alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. People like Matthew Claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister.

Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children.

Most shocking of all—as Alex digs into Laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. For as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be . . .]]> Charlie Donlea Brynn 4 3.76 2023 Those Empty Eyes
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Twenty Years Later 57645345
Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will.]]> 357 Charlie Donlea 1496727169 Brynn 0 to-read 4.07 2021 Twenty Years Later
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nettle & Bone 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 Brynn 0 to-read 4.07 2022 Nettle & Bone
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe � a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution � who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Brynn 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1)
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Salt and Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt, #1)]]> 39679076 In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.]]> 403 Erin A. Craig 1984831925 Brynn 0 to-read 3.89 2019 House of Salt and Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt, #1)
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Teacher 207660969
From the New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a chilling story of twisted secrets and long-awaited revenge.

Lesson #1: Trust no one.

Eve has a good life. She wakes up each day, kisses her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except�

Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye.

Addie can’t be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that’s what everyone says.

But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet…]]> Freida McFadden Brynn 4 3.46 2024 The Teacher
author: Freida McFadden
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/19
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Dark and Shallow Lies 56913189
La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World--and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey's best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can't believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something - her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou - a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town's bloody history - Grey realizes that La Cachette's past is far more present and dangerous than she'd ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn't know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent--and La Cachette's dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.]]> 421 Ginny Myers Sain 0593403967 Brynn 0 to-read 3.92 2021 Dark and Shallow Lies
author: Ginny Myers Sain
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[For You and Only You (You, #4)]]> 204016596 New York Times bestselling author Caroline Kepnes, whose acclaimed YOU series inspired the hit show on Netflix, follows “addictively charming antihero� (The Washington Post) Joe Goldberg to the hallowed halls of Harvard, where he leaves crimson in his wake.

“Twisted . . . delightfully creepy.”—Rolling Stone

A POPSUGAR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start. Glenn Shoddy, an acclaimed literary author, recognizes Joe’s genius and invites him to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard. Finally, Joe will be in a place where talent matters more than pedigree . . . where intellect is the great equalizer and anything is possible. Even happy endings. Or so he thinks, until he meets his already-published, already-distinguished peers, who all seem to be cut from the same elitist cloth.

Thankfully, Wonder Parish enters the picture. They have so much in common. No college degrees, no pretensions, no stories from prep school or grad school. Just a love for literature. If only Wonder could commit herself to the writing life, they could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. Wonder has a tendency to love, to covet, but Joe is a believer in the rule of fiction: If you want to write a book, you have to kill your darlings.

With her trademark satirical, biting wit, Caroline Kepnes explores why vulnerable people bring out the worst in others as Joe sets out to make this small, exclusive world a fairer place. And if a little crimson runs in the streets of Cambridge . . . who can blame him? Love doesn’t conquer all. Often, it needs a little push.]]> 448 Caroline Kepnes 059313382X Brynn 0 to-read 3.40 2023 For You and Only You (You, #4)
author: Caroline Kepnes
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Doors 156009464
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.

But this is no ordinary book�

It is the Book of Doors.

Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.

Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.

Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.

But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.]]> 404 Gareth Brown 0063323982 Brynn 0 to-read 4.01 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid Is Watching (The Housemaid, #3)]]> 197717652
I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes.

But her cold stare gives me chills�

The Lowells� maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?

I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?]]> 383 Freida McFadden 1464221138 Brynn 0 to-read 3.89 2024 The Housemaid Is Watching (The Housemaid, #3)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witches of Scotland Book 1 (The Dream Dancers: Akashic Chronicles, #1)]]> 60871061 It’s one thing to read about witches, it’s another thing to discover you are one.

Glasgow law student, David Hunter is drifting through life and feels something is missing. When on a night out someone tries to kill him he discovers he is from a long line of witches known as Dream Dancers, his life is turned upside down.

Now David has unwittingly exposed himself to a world of powerful witches, clandestine government agencies, and a fight to protect the Akashic records.

Is a life filled with Magick really his true calling in life?

If you love witches, magick, and conspiracy theories, you’ll love the first book in this fast-paced supernatural thriller series.]]> 206 Steven P. Aitchison Brynn 0 to-read 3.99 The Witches of Scotland Book 1 (The Dream Dancers: Akashic Chronicles, #1)
author: Steven P. Aitchison
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Insomnia 58587864
Emma Averell loves her life—her high-powered legal career, her two beautiful children, and her wonderful stay-at-home husband—but it wasn’t always so perfect. When she was just five years old, Emma and her older sister went into foster care because of a horrific incident with their mother. Her sister can remember a time when their mother was loving and “normal,� but Emma can only remember her as one thing—a monster. And that monster emerged right around their mother’s fortieth birthday, the same age Emma is approaching now.

Emma desperately wants to keep her successful life separate from her past, so she has always hidden her childhood trauma. But then she’s unable to sleep, and now losing time during the day, also one of the first symptoms her mother showed. Is the madness in her blood, just as her mother predicted? Could she end up hurting her family in her foggy, frenetic state? Or is she truly beginning to lose her mind?]]> 336 Sarah Pinborough Brynn 0 to-read 3.65 2022 Insomnia
author: Sarah Pinborough
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Lullaby for Witches 57578395
Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin.

Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch� dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker.

One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore.

But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever.

Don't miss Hester Fox's next novel, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library ...where a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must uncover its secrets!

Look for these other gothic mysteries from Hester]]> 314 Hester Fox 1525804693 Brynn 0 to-read 3.56 2022 A Lullaby for Witches
author: Hester Fox
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Brynn 4 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/02
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)]]> 127280062 Torn apart by war. Reunited by love?

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

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

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

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.]]> 420 Rebecca Ross 1250857457 Brynn 4 must-listen-audiobooks 3.99 2023 Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks
review:

]]> Summer Sons 53290204
As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.]]> 372 Lee Mandelo 125079028X Brynn 0 to-read 3.80 2021 Summer Sons
author: Lee Mandelo
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)]]> 59406549 Why save the world when you can have tea?

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city's most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times—bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]> 338 Hafsah Faizal 0374389403 Brynn 0 to-read 3.49 2024 A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Storm Rises (Bloodlines Legacy #1)]]> 190351066 A Hidden Prophecy
A Destiny Unveiled

Fae Princess Avalynn Stromm is next in line for the throne and will one day rule all of Faevenly. But instead of fussing over ballgowns and suffering through palace politics, she’d rather be out exploring and hunting. Or, better yet, competing in the highly desired Summit Range Hunt alongside the realm’s greatest warriors.

Mateo Vela is a lowborn half-fae living in the dreaded Sublands. He longs for a better life where his family doesn't have to struggle for necessities. So when the High King of Faevenly opens his prestigious hunt to competitors from his province, he has his chance to change his fate at last. But whether that destiny ends in glory or death is yet to be seen.

Before the hunt even begins, whisperings of prophecy and revenge begin to circulate, and Avalynn and Mateo are at the center of it. And when they are thrust into the dangerous hunt, they’d just as soon have each other’s heads than work together…until they are faced with a common threat and discover there's much more at stake than crossing the finish line first.

Secrets emerge, long-buried rivalries resurface, and Avalynn and Mateo must form an unlikely alliance if they are to make it out of the hunt alive. Not to mention the undeniable pull growing between them neither one saw coming.]]> 282 Rose Garcia Brynn 0 to-read 4.45 A Storm Rises (Bloodlines Legacy #1)
author: Rose Garcia
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ever the Night Road 63310615
In a city of water and glass, seventeen-year-old Dagny Losh longs for some kind of connection to a changing world. When an orphan boy of the marsh goes missing, Dagny's search for the child in a decaying oracle tower sets events in motion that lead her to discover a fragment of her old life, before the river washed everything away. A fragment once thought forever lost, and it will take all she has to protect it.

A story of misfits and rogues, crumbling palaces and slums, and a deep underground, all joined together by fate and the stars.

Ever the Night Road is the first book in a two part series.

*IAN Book of the Year Award for Outstanding Fantasy (2024)
*Readers Favorite International Book Awards Gold Medal Winner
*IPPY Book Awards Gold Medal Winner
*The Wishing Shelf Book Awards Winner]]> 422 Michael Breen Brynn 0 to-read 4.27 Ever the Night Road
author: Michael Breen
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Gargoyle 6403116 A New York Times Bestseller


The Gargoyle: the mesmerizing story of one man's descent into personal hell and his quest for salvation.

On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.]]> 518 Andrew Davidson 0307388670 Brynn 0 to-read 3.94 2008 The Gargoyle
author: Andrew Davidson
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Queen's Handbook to Essence and Embers (Stolen Spells #3)]]> 199296729 "From essence to embers, and embers to dust. A Queen will always do as she must!"

With the Kingdoms united and the stolen spell books retrieved, Lily and Alder face their greatest challenge yet—merging their families.

As the sisters' new elemental powers grow, they must learn to control them but quickly find themselves at odds when a strange pull toward the Dark begins to affect Lily and Daisy in unexpected ways.

With Bennett’s true self revealed and new love in the air, one thing becomes clear: It’s up to the “flower girls� and the men they love to protect the lives they’ve fought so hard to achieve. Even if that means bringing Hexx to the Fae realm.

“Thanks for shopping, and remember� Practice safe hex!”]]> Tish Thawer Brynn 0 to-read 4.09 2024 The Queen's Handbook to Essence and Embers (Stolen Spells #3)
author: Tish Thawer
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dead House 24396858 Three students: dead.
Carly Johnson: vanished without a trace.

Two decades have passed since an inferno swept through Elmbridge High, claiming the lives of three teenagers and causing one student, Carly Johnson, to disappear. The main suspect: Kaitlyn, "the girl of nowhere."

Kaitlyn's diary, discovered in the ruins of Elmbridge High, reveals the thoughts of a disturbed mind. Its charred pages tell a sinister version of events that took place that tragic night, and the girl of nowhere is caught in the center of it all. But many claim Kaitlyn doesn't exist, and in a way, she doesn't - because she is the alter ego of Carly Johnson.

Carly gets the day. Kaitlyn has the night. It's during the night that a mystery surrounding the Dead House unravels and a dark, twisted magic ruins the lives of each student that dares touch it.

Debut author Dawn Kurtagich masterfully weaves together a thrilling and terrifying story using psychiatric reports, witness testimonials, video footage, and the discovered diary - and as the mystery grows, the horrifying truth about what happened that night unfolds.]]> 400 Dawn Kurtagich 0316298689 Brynn 0 to-read 3.68 2015 The Dead House
author: Dawn Kurtagich
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Drowning Kind 54303987 Be careful what you wish for.

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.]]> 319 Jennifer McMahon 198215392X Brynn 0 to-read 3.79 2021 The Drowning Kind
author: Jennifer McMahon
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lucky 82970 243 Alice Sebold 033041836X Brynn 0 to-read 3.77 1999 Lucky
author: Alice Sebold
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> What You Never Knew 54810161 Told in alternating points of view between the living and the dead, Jessica Hamilton's debut novel will be perfect for fans of THE LOVELY BONES.

Idyllic Avril lsland, owned by the Bennett family, where their hundred-year-old cottage sat nestled in acres of forest. Forty-year-old June Bennett believed that the island had been sold after the summer of her father's disappearance when she was only twelve years old. It's months after the shocking death of her older sister May in a fatal car accident, that June finds out that the cottage was never sold. Avril Island is still owned by the Bennett family and now it's hers.

Still reeling from the grief of losing her sister, June travels back to Avril lsland in search of answers. As she digs, she learns that the townspeople believe her father may have, in fact, been murdered rather than abandoning his family in the dead of night, as she was led to believe by her mother. And that's when she begins to notice strange things happening on the island--missing family possessions showing up on her bed, doors open when she had locked them closed. It takes June no time at all to realize that her childhood summers at Avril Island were not at all what they had seemed to be.]]> 304 Jessica Hamilton 1643856960 Brynn 0 to-read 3.72 2021 What You Never Knew
author: Jessica Hamilton
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/26
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]]> The Warm Hands of Ghosts 154462576 New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.]]> 325 Katherine Arden 0593128257 Brynn 0 to-read 3.97 2024 The Warm Hands of Ghosts
author: Katherine Arden
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/26
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]]> An Education in Malice 64414866 An Education in Malice is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from Sunday Times bestselling author S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit A Dowry of Blood.

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.]]> 352 S.T. Gibson 0356519325 Brynn 0 to-read 3.51 2024 An Education in Malice
author: S.T. Gibson
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/26
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]]> <![CDATA[A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)]]> 56163940
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]> 340 Hafsah Faizal Brynn 0 to-read 3.65 2024 A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)]]> 199363148 No god, no creature, no war can come between them

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, their fate depends on their facing the depths of hell� together.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again�

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands � that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper � an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 11 Rebecca Ross Brynn 5 must-listen-audiobooks 4.10 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Brynn
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/24
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: must-listen-audiobooks
review:

]]> Four Dead Queens 40367270
With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens.

An enthralling fast-paced murder mystery where competing agendas collide with deadly consequences, Four Dead Queens heralds the arrival of an exciting new YA talent.]]> 413 Astrid Scholte 0525513922 Brynn 0 to-read 3.78 2019 Four Dead Queens
author: Astrid Scholte
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2) 174156145
Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

A nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.]]> 467 Tana French 0593493435 Brynn 0 to-read 3.96 2024 The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2)
author: Tana French
name: Brynn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/05
shelves: to-read
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