en-US Mon, 16 Jun 2025 13:38:51 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 202507554 moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group F¨ªur du Ath, Raeve¡¯s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When a renowned bounty hunter is employed by The Crown to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve¡¯s world is turned upside down. Blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles¡ªa group of dual-beaded elementals who intend to turn her into a political statement. Only death will set her free.

Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to assuage the never-ebbing ache in his chest, his hunt for a moonshard lures him into the belly of Gore¡¯s notorious prison where he stumbles upon something that rips apart his perception of reality. A shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.

The echo of the past sings louder than the Creators themselves, and even Raeve can¡¯t ignore the truths blaring at her from a warmer, happier time.
However.
There¡¯s more to this song than meets the eye, and some truths ¡­
They¡¯re too poisonous to swallow.

When the Moon Hatched is a fast-paced fantasy romance for fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists. Beneath the cover is an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages. ]]> 718 Sarah A. Parker Shannon 0 currently-reading 3.97 2024
author: Sarah A. Parker
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 30319086
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.]]> 354 M.L. Rio 125009528X Shannon 4 4.10 2017
author: M.L. Rio
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/14
date added: 2025/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 57905101 New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that¡¯s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.]]> 586 Matt Dinniman Shannon 0 currently-reading 4.57 2021
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 57001971 Welcome to the Gun Show!

The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world's subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.]]> 534 Matt Dinniman Shannon 4 4.48 2021
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/03
date added: 2025/06/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 25489025
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman¡¯s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.]]> 188 Han Kang 0553448188 Shannon 0 to-read 3.62 2007
author: Han Kang
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn¡¯s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ¡®80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn¡¯s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique¡¯s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Shannon 4 4.39 2017
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/28
date added: 2025/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 57821767 A spellbinding mystery leads an unlikely pair on the hunt for a killer.

Tessa Daniels needs a miracle. Preferably, the kind that comes with cold hard cash. Her magic shop is failing, and she'll be tossed into the street unless she clears her debt.

When a financial boon arrives in the form of a young woman determined to attend the prince's ball, a risky spell turns out to be the miracle she needed. That is until the woman is found dead at the stroke of midnight, and Tessa comes face-to-face with the kingdom's cold, and way too appealing, lead detective.

Detective Derrick Chambers has no use for the supernatural. As the rising star at the Royal Agency, he won't let magic, or the pretty witch that deals in it, get in the way of solving a murder.

His logic tells him to steer clear of Tessa's chaos, but a forced partnership soon turns into an attraction neither can resist.

With the body count rising, and the kingdom in a panic, an exposed secret will tear them apart and put Tessa in the sights of a killer where no amount of magic can save her.

Spellbound After Midnight is an enemies-to-lovers, slow burn romance, with a puzzling mystery, strong female heroine, and fairy tale elements.]]> 395 Jenna Collett Shannon 0 currently-reading 4.17
author: Jenna Collett
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 42036538
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.]]> 448 Tamsyn Muir 1250313198 Shannon 0 to-read 4.19 2019
author: Tamsyn Muir
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215020997
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily¡ªher beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But Mar¨ªa knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, Mar¨ªa makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family¡¯s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte¡¯s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow¡ªbut the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That¡¯s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life¡ª
how it ends, and how it starts. ]]> 560 V.E. Schwab 1035064642 Shannon 0 to-read 4.26 2025
author: V.E. Schwab
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214195234 A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination¡ªfrom the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid¡¯s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society.

But Sigrid¡¯s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She¡¯s haunted by the pains of her past¡ªfrom pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta¡¯s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.

What unfolds is an unforgettable story of two sisters finding their way back to each other, and a celebration of that transcendent, unshakable bond.]]> 252 Emily R. Austin Shannon 5 4.01 2025
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/16
date added: 2025/05/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 217171544 Shield of Sparrows is a slow-burn, high-stakes romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros¨Dwhere enemies become lovers, monsters stalk a cursed realm, and a forgotten princess finds the strength to tear off her crown and become the warrior she was never meant to be.

The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel.

I¡¯ve spent my life kneeling¨Dto their will and to my father's. As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king.

I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood.

But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father¡¯s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life.

Now I¡¯m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him¨Dbound to a future I didn¡¯t choose and a husband I barely know.

Everyone wants me to be something I¡¯m not¨Da queen, a spy, a sacrifice.

But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there¡¯s power in being underestimated?

And what if¨Dfor the first time¨DI reached for it?]]> 511 Devney Perry 1649378513 Shannon 0 to-read 4.40 2025
author: Devney Perry
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56377548
The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but a game.]]> 364 Matt Dinniman Shannon 4 4.54 2021
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/09
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 56791389 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BKGYQXW


The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth¡ªfrom Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds¡ªcollapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game¡ªwith the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.]]> 446 Matt Dinniman Shannon 5 4.48 2020
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/04
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 204593914 Welcome to Phantasma. There are only two rules to the game: Stay alive. And don¡¯t fall in love.

When Ophelia¡¯s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize¡ªa single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia¡¯s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn¡¯t trust him. Blackwell doesn¡¯t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart . . .]]> 497 Kaylie Smith 1538769255 Shannon 0 to-read 4.05 2024
author: Kaylie Smith
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42946966
A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?]]> 275 Olga Tokarczuk 0525541357 Shannon 3 3.93 2009
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 208430658 Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost¡ªand the collectors have come calling.

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

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

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever¡ªif it doesn¡¯t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

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

(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)]]> 430 M.L. Wang 0593873351 Shannon 0 to-read 4.37 2023
author: M.L. Wang
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11250317
Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.]]> 352 Madeline Miller 1408816032 Shannon 4 4.38 2011
author: Madeline Miller
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 198493860
Davi has done this all before. She¡¯s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she¡¯s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she¡¯s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she¡¯s been defeated every time.

This time? She¡¯s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that¡¯s who she needs to be. It¡¯s Davi¡¯s turn to play on the winning side.

Burningblade & Silvereye
Ashes of the Sun ?
Blood of the Chosen ?
Emperor of Ruin]]> 392 Django Wexler 0316392200 Shannon 4 3.69 2024
author: Django Wexler
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 218624103 448 T. Kingfisher 1250400228 Shannon 0 to-read 4.04 2018
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 221190705 Sara Wolf 8419873586 Shannon 0 to-read 3.65 2024
author: Sara Wolf
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211481283 The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology

A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who¡¯s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches¡ªsomething Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.

A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn¡¯t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she¡¯s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won¡¯t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die¡ªespecially Rune Winters.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can¡¯t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they¡¯re forced into each other¡¯s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren¡¯t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he¡¯s faced with a terrible sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.

In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.]]> 456 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866936 Shannon 3 4.27 2025
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 59666195 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.

A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green.

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale¡ªfrom the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together.

John Green¡¯s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.]]> 302 John Green Shannon 3 4.24 2021
author: John Green
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 212472603
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 Shannon 4 4.53 2024
author: Callie Hart
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 63905241
Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.

All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr ¨C or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?]]> 550 Helen Scheuerer 1922903027 Shannon 0 to-read 4.20 2023
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61135560 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune invites you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.

Most Anticipated from BookPage ? Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ ? The Nerd Daily ? Paste Magazine ? LitReactor ? OverDrive ? LGBTQ Reads ? more

¡°An enchanting tale of Pinocchio in the end times.¡± ¡ªP. Dj¨¨l¨ª Clark

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots¡ªfatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They¡¯re a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ¡°HAP,¡± he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio¨Ca past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio¡¯s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic¡¯s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for Can he accept love with strings attached?

Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

¡ï ¡°An epic quest of rescue and discovery [with] the author¡¯s trademark charm, heart, and bittersweetness.¡± ¡ªLibrary Journal, starred review


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 432 T.J. Klune 1250217423 Shannon 4 3.99 2023
author: T.J. Klune
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 55859459 From the critically acclaimed author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon comes mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality.

I love you. In every world.

Young real estate agent Madison May is shocked when a client at an open house says these words to her. The man, a stranger, seems to know far too much about her, and professes his love--shortly before he murders her.

Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a midsize New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May's shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes.

Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers Madison May, or Felicity's encounter with the mysterious man. And her cat is missing. Felicity realizes that in her pursuit of Madison's killer, she followed him into a different dimension--one where everything about her existence is slightly altered. At first, she is determined to return to the reality she knows, but when Madison May--in this world, a struggling actress--is murdered again, Felicity decides she must find the killer--and learns that she is not the only one hunting him.

Traveling through different realities, Felicity uncovers the opportunity--and danger--of living more than one life.]]> 336 Max Barry 0593085205 Shannon 4 3.71 2021
author: Max Barry
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 177317679 Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut, where Kissen and her companions must navigate lands of gods and demons to unravel a dark truth at the heart of their world.

Professional godkiller Kissen and her companions¡ªyoung noble Inara and knight Elogast¡ªreturn in a winding adventure in a world overflowing with magic, beauty, and danger.]]> 304 Hannah Kaner Shannon 3 4.12 2024
author: Hannah Kaner
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> 54200663 From the prizewinning journalist and internationally recognized expert on corruption in government networks throughout the world comes a major work that looks homeward to America, exploring the insidious, dangerous networks of corruption of our past, present, and precarious future.?¡°If you want to save America, this might just be the most important book to read now." ¡ªNancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains?Sarah Chayes writes in her new book, that the United States is showing signs similar to some of the most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption, she argues, is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key private-sector interests, and out-and-out criminals interweave. Their main not to serve the public but to maximize returns for network members. In this unflinching exploration of corruption in America, Chayes exposes how corruption has thrived within our borders, from the titans of America's Gilded Age (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, et al.) to the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Great Depression, and FDR's New Deal; from Joe Kennedy's years of banking, bootlegging, machine politics, and pursuit of infinite wealth to the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution--undermining this nation's proud middle class and union members. She then brings us up to the present as she shines a light on the Clinton policies of political favors and personal enrichment and documents Trump's hydra-headed network of corruption, which aimed to systematically undo the Constitution and our laws. Ultimately and most importantly, Chayes reveals how corrupt systems are organized, how they enable bad actors to bend the rules so their crimes are covered legally, how they overtly determine the shape of our government, and how they affect all levels of society, especially when the corruption is overlooked and downplayed by the rich and well-educated.]]> 390 Sarah Chayes 0525654860 Shannon 0 to-read 4.18 2020
author: Sarah Chayes
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199927030 The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes¡ªjust in case¡ªfrom the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they¡¯d gone or how they¡¯d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons¡¯ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie¡¯s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie¡¯s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months¡ªfor only then can they get back everything and everyone they¡¯ve lost.]]> 352 Meg Shaffer 0593598873 Shannon 4 3.77 2024
author: Meg Shaffer
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
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]]> 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves¡ªher dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find¡ªthe truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Shannon 3 4.16 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
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]]> 61653268 From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them

Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she¡¯s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel¡¯s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed.

Ned is also an heir¡ªto a chain of home-style diners¡ªand while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?

In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.]]> 340 J. Ryan Stradal 1984881078 Shannon 4 3.58 2023
author: J. Ryan Stradal
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
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]]> 63127235 For a young woman who wields the power of fear, humanity¡¯s greatest enemy is her only hope in a new fairy-tale adventure by Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

Seven years on the run from her abusive father, and with no hope of sanctuary among the dwindling pockets of human civilization, Lark is out of options. Her only leverage is a cursed power: she can thrust fear onto others, leaving all threats fleeing in terror. It¡¯s a means of survival as she searches for a place to call home. If the campfire myths of her childhood are true, Lark¡¯s sole chance for refuge could lie in Cagmar, the city of trolls¡ªa brutal species and the sworn enemies of humanity.

Valuing combat prowess, the troll high council is intrigued. Lark could be much more useful than the low-caste humans who merely labor in Cagmar. Her gift makes her invaluable as a monster slayer to fight off the unspeakable creatures that torment the trolls¡¯ hanging city, suspended from a bridge over an endless dark canyon.

Lark will do anything to make Cagmar her home, but her new role comes with a caveat: use her power against a troll, and she¡¯ll be killed. Her loyalty is quickly put to the test when she draws the hatred of a powerful troll who loathes humankind. Still, she finds unexpected friendship in the city and, even more surprisingly, love. But if everything else doesn¡¯t undo her, being caught in the arms of a troll surely will. Now in the fight of her life, Lark has a lot to learn¡ªabout her past, about trust and hope when all seems lost, and above all, about the extraordinary power of fear itself.]]> 344 Charlie N. Holmberg 1662508719 Shannon 3 3.96 2023
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
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]]> 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Shannon 0 to-read 4.14 2012
author: Hugh Howey
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199702767 Step into a city where monsters feast on human emotions, knights split their souls to make their weapons, and witches always take more than they give.

Pain is Dymitr¡¯s calling. To slay the monsters he¡¯s been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands.

Pain is Ala¡¯s inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother¡¯s, unless she can find a cure.

One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees.

But they only have one day before the flower dies . . . and Ala's hopes of breaking the curse along with it.]]> 171 Veronica Roth 1250855497 Shannon 0 to-read 3.82 2024
author: Veronica Roth
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 123279507
¡°An epic fantasy odyssey begins.¡± ¡ª Entertainment Weekly

"A richly rendered world . . . Kaner writes action that's both fun and intelligible . . . If "The Last of Us" didn't slake your thirst for stories of a grizzled fighter taking a tough kid on the road, then?Godkiller?should be your jam.¡± ¡ª?Charlie Jane Anders, The Washington Post

Enter a land of gods and monsters, soldiers and mercenaries, secrets and wishes¡ªthe explosive #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut in a new trilogy for fans of?The Witcher?and?Gideon the Ninth

Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world¡ªbut after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays ¡°godkillers¡± to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child¡¯s soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can¡¯t kill it without ending the girl¡¯s life too.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it.

¡°Godkiller?will have you in its grasp from the first pages. . . An extraordinary journey.¡±?¡ª?Samantha Shannon,?New York Times?bestselling author of?The Priory of the Orange Tree

"Beautifully imagined and intensely felt . . .?Godkiller?is a bone-rattling fantasy thriller that flies by in a breathtaking rush." ¡ª?Joe Hill,?#1?New York Times?bestselling author of?Locke & Key

"Epic and intimate, tender and sharp, Godkiller is a triumph of storytelling." ¡ª Hannah Whitten, New York Times?bestselling author of For the Wolf]]> 293 Hannah Kaner 0063348284 Shannon 3 4.09 2023
author: Hannah Kaner
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
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]]> 208930983 In the underground Fae realm, only the strongest and most ruthless have power¡ªbut a young human woman forced into a life of servitude is about to change everything.

Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild¡ªsome say ¡°half feral¡±¡ªbut she¡¯ll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court.

Trapped as a servant in the faeries¡¯ underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn¡¯t, the punishment is death¡ªfor both mistress and servant.

With no ally but a sentient dagger of mysterious origins, Kenna must face monsters, magic, and grueling physical tests. But worse dangers wait underground, and soon Kenna gets caught up in a secret rebellion against the inventively sadistic faerie king. When her feelings for the rebellion¡¯s leader turn passionate, Kenna must decide if she¡¯s willing to risk her life for a better world and a chance at happiness.

Surviving the trials and overthrowing a tyrant king will take cunning, courage, and an iron will... but even that may not be enough.]]> 451 Sarah Hawley 0593819799 Shannon 0 to-read 4.19 2024
author: Sarah Hawley
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 207297940 Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson¡¯s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

All her life, Vaasa Koz¨¢r has been sharpened into a blade.

After losing her mother¡ªher only remaining parent¡ªto a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid¡¯s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.

But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins¡ªand help keep it at bay.

This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid¡¯s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother¡¯s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?]]> 352 Rebecca Robinson 1668052482 Shannon 0 to-read 4.00 2024
author: Rebecca Robinson
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 203579027
After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an ¡°aunt¡± she¡¯s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet¡ªand discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm¡ªthe one he is from.

Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae king, Tyghan. But what she doesn't know is that he's the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father¡ªdead or alive.]]> 547 Mary E. Pearson 1250367573 Shannon 0 to-read 3.68 2024
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> 195853525 This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America.

What is far less known about these groundbreakers is that they were bound not just by their music or even the discrimination that they, like so many black performers of their ?day, routinely encountered. Each defied and ultimately overcame racial boundaries not by waging war over every slight, which never would have worked in that Jim Crow era, but by opening America¡¯s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music. In the process they wrote the soundtrack for the civil rights movement.

Based on more than 250 interviews, this exhaustively researched book brings alive the history of Black America in the early-to-mid 1900s through the singular lens of the country¡¯s most gifted, engaging, and enduring African-American musicians.]]> 416 Larry Tye 035838043X Shannon 4 4.03
author: Larry Tye
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
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]]> 131127539 Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction
Short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the California Book Award for Fiction, and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction
Winner of Tournament of Books

A Best Book of the The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Washington Post, Time, Fresh Air, Vanity Fair, NBC News, The BBC, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Granta, The New York Public Library, The Washington Independent Review of Books, Electric Literature, Them, Literary Hub, BookPage, Gay Times, Book Soup, Five Books, Southwest Books

¡°Like no book I have ever read.¡± ¡ªAri Shapiro, NPR¡¯s All Things Considered

Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly but who has haunted the edges of his Juan Gay. Playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized, Juan has a project to pass along, one built around a true artifact of a book¡ªSex A Study of Homosexual Patterns¡ªand its devastating history. This book contains accounts collected in the early twentieth century from queer subjects by a queer researcher, Jan Gay, whose groundbreaking work was then co-opted by a committee, her name buried. The voices of these subjects have been filtered, muted, but it is possible to hear them from within and beyond the text, which, in Juan¡¯s tattered volumes, has been redacted with black marker on nearly every page. As Juan waits for his end, he and the narrator recount for each other moments of joy and oblivion; they resurrect loves, lives, mothers, fathers, minor heroes. In telling their own stories and the story of the book, they resist the ravages of memory and time. The past is with us, beside us, ahead of us; what are we to create from its gaps and erasures?

A book about storytelling¡ªits legacies, dangers, delights, and potential for change¡ªand a bold exploration of form, art, and love, Justin Torres¡¯s Blackouts uses fiction to see through the inventions of history and narrative. A marvel of creative imagination, it draws on testimony, photographs, illustrations, and a range of influences as it insists that we look long and steadily at what we have inherited and what we have made¡ªa world full of ghostly shadows and flashing moments of truth. A reclamation of ransacked history, a celebration of defiance, and a transformative encounter, Blackouts mines the stories that have been kept from us and brings them into the light.]]> 290 Justin Torres Shannon 3 3.61 2023
author: Justin Torres
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
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]]> 96177629
Now he is. . .

Without a home

Waiting for his stand-up career to take off

Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking

Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story¡­

In this sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship, Dolly Alderton offers up a love story with two endings, demonstrating once again why she is one of the most exciting writers today, and the true voice of a generation.]]> 345 Dolly Alderton 0241523672 Shannon 0 to-read 3.84 2023
author: Dolly Alderton
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 6931344 The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.]]> 284 Victoria Schwab 1423137876 Shannon 3 3.65 2011
author: Victoria Schwab
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
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]]> 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 ¨C a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution ¨C 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 fa?ade, 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 Shannon 4 4.16 2024
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
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]]> 57331333 Wolf Hall meets The Favourite in this beguiling debut novel that brilliantly brings to life the residents of a small English town in the grip of the seventeenth-century witch trials and the young woman tasked with saving them all from themselves.

England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices.

Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, Matthew Hopkins, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, he takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca--and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling.

Brimming with contemporary energy and resonance, The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust, and betrayal run amok as a nation's arrogant male institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed for so long may be about to rise up and claim their freedom.]]> 320 A.K. Blakemore 164622065X Shannon 3 3.63 2021
author: A.K. Blakemore
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves:
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]]> 19827903
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

The Girl with All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.]]> 420 M.R. Carey Shannon 3 4.08 2014
author: M.R. Carey
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/19
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 37901946 The true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indiana, masterfully told by National Book Award winner Phil Hoose.

By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in the state shattered the myth of their inferiority. Their brilliant coach had fashioned an unbeatable team from a group of boys born in the South and raised in poverty. Anchored by the astonishing Oscar Robertson, a future college and NBA star, the Crispus Attucks Tigers went down in history as the first state champions from Indianapolis and the first all-black team in U.S. history to win a racially open championship tournament¡ªan integration they had forced with their on-court prowess.
From native Hoosier and award-winning author Phillip Hoose comes this true story of a team up against impossible odds, making a difference when it mattered most.]]> 212 Phillip Hoose 0374306133 Shannon 4 4.26 2018
author: Phillip Hoose
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
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]]> 21416690 Irene must be at the top of her game or she'll be off the case - permanently...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option - the nature of reality itself is at stake.]]> 329 Genevieve Cogman 1447256239 Shannon 0 to-read 3.71 2014
author: Genevieve Cogman
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 150249463
In Daretana¡¯s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead¡ªkilled, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire¡¯s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it¡¯s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana¡¯s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior¡ªbut as the case unfolds and he watches Ana¡¯s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire¡¯s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he¡¯s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra¡ªand wonders how long he¡¯ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

By an ¡°endlessly inventive¡± (Vulture) author with a ¡°wicked sense of humor¡± (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that¡¯s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820729 Shannon 4 4.40 2024
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
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]]> 203956639 A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.

Lennon Carter¡¯s life is falling apart.

Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because¡ªlike everyone else at the school¡ªshe has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.

After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion¡¯s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton¡¯s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.

As Lennon continues in her studies her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College, and the way her mentor¡¯s tragic and violent past intertwines with it. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns. For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.]]> 464 Alexis Henderson 0593638301 Shannon 0 to-read 3.43 2024
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 136470356 A dark, atmospheric tale of deadly secrets and forbidden love.

Mortui vivos docent.
The dead teach the living.

After watching my mother succumb to a mysterious illness, I promised myself two things. I¡¯d find the cure for what ravaged her. And leave the godforsaken city where she abandoned me.

Four years later, I receive an acceptance letter from Dracadia University, one of the oldest, most prestigious schools in the country. Nestled on a secluded island off the coast of Maine, it¡¯s rumored to be haunted by the souls of the mental patients exiled there centuries before. Those whose bones are said to make up the island¡¯s white sandy shores.

And restless ghosts aren¡¯t even its most daunting peculiarity.

Devryck Bramwell, known on campus as Doctor Death, is a brilliant pathologist in charge of the midnight lab. He¡¯s also my devastatingly handsome professor, who seems to loathe tenacious first-years, like me. Except, his dark and enigmatic gaze tells me all the ways he¡¯d devour me if given the chance, and his stolen kisses burn my lips with forbidden jealousy.

I crave his authority.
He aches for redemption.
Together, we¡¯re toxic. Delicious fodder for the prying eyes hellbent on exhuming the rotted skeletons of our pasts.

For the dead have much to teach, and it¡¯s only a matter of time before Dracadia¡¯s most depraved secret is resurrected.

Nocticadia is a standalone dark academia gothic romance.]]> 682 Keri Lake Shannon 0 to-read 4.21 2023
author: Keri Lake
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199251612 A brooding fae king bent on revenge meets his match in this hilarious modern romance.

Book lover Addison Thornrose can match you with your next perfect read. Unfortunately, she can¡¯t match herself with a good man. Her latest just dumped her. Worse, she¡¯s learned that unless she marries, and quickly, her family will lose their witch magic¡ªforever.

Feylin, king of the fae, has no interest in romance. In fact, the only thing he¡¯s interested in is getting revenge on the Thornrose family because they ruined his life. So when he learns that they¡¯re holding a Bridgerton style ball to marry off their oldest daughter, Addison, he sees an opportunity for vengeance.

But what Feylin doesn¡¯t expect is to start falling for Addison. And worse, he really doesn¡¯t expect it when ancient fae magic binds him to her so that they can¡¯t be separated.

His solution is to strike a bargain¡ªbe in a fake relationship. Just until they can break the spell between them, and just until he can get his revenge.

For Addison, this is a dream come true. She doesn¡¯t want to be pawned off to a line of suitors, and she certainly doesn¡¯t want to be engaged. But between the spine-tingling fake dates and the tension-infused banter, lines begin to blur. And Addison begins to wonder when her heart will stop faking it and her feelings become real.

Bridgerton meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this grumpy-sunshine romantic comedy that features a magical bookshop, a tight-knit family, sisterhood, and lots of laughter. It¡¯s the first in a series of stand-alone romances.]]> 372 Amy Boyles Shannon 3 3.89 2024
author: Amy Boyles
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 59748422 A darkly funny and provocative debut novel that reimagines classic fairy tale characters as modern women in a PTSD support group
?
In present-day New York City, Ruby (Little Red Riding Hood), Gretel, Bernice (Bluebeard¡¯s widow), Marlena (the miller¡¯s daughter from Rumplestiltskin), and Ashlee (the winner of a Love Island-esque dating show, a new kind of fairy tale heroine) all meet in a basement support group to process their traumas.
?
Though they start out wary of one another, judging each other¡¯s stories, gradually these women begin to realize that they may have more in common than they supposed¡­What brought them here? What will they reveal? And is it too late for them to rescue each other? ?
?
Dark, edgy, and wickedly funny, this debut for readers of Carmen Maria Machado, Kristen Arnett, and Kelly Link takes our coziest, most beloved childhood stories, exposes them as anti-feminist nightmares, and transforms them into a new kind of myth for grown-up women.]]> 336 Maria Adelmann 0316450820 Shannon 3 3.74 2022
author: Maria Adelmann
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 55200663
After the first settler on Titan trips her distress signal, neither remaining country on Earth can afford to scramble a rescue of its own, and so two sworn enemies are installed in the same spaceship.

Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor, with no memory of a launch. There¡¯s more that doesn¡¯t add up: Evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship¡¯s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed¡ªnot when he¡¯s rescuing his own sister.

In order to survive the ship¡¯s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust one another¡­ especially once they discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive.]]> 397 Eliot Schrefer 0062888285 Shannon 4 4.31 2021
author: Eliot Schrefer
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she¡¯ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering ¡°expats¡± from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible¡ªfor the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a ¡°bridge¡±: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as ¡°1847¡± or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin¡¯s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he¡¯s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as ¡°washing machines,¡± ¡°Spotify,¡± and ¡°the collapse of the British Empire.¡± But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry¡¯s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how¡ªand whether she believes¡ªwhat she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley¡¯s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 Shannon 4 3.54 2024
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 216333042 224 Monte Cook Games 1950568555 Shannon 5 4.43
author: Monte Cook Games
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 63847274 Only his memories can save her¡­

A great primal power has risen. The Queen of Flesh and Fire has become the Primal of Blood and Bone¡ªthe true Primal of Life and Death. And the battle Casteel, Poppy, and their allies have been fighting has only just begun. Gods are awakening across Iliseeum and the mortal realm, readying for the war to come.

But when Poppy falls into stasis, Cas faces the very real possibility that the dire, unexpected consequences of what she is becoming could take her away from him. Cas is given some advice, though¡ªsomething he plans to cling to as he waits to see her beautiful eyes open once more: Talk to her.

And so, he does. He reminds Poppy how their journey began, revealing things about himself that only Kieran knows in the process. But it¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess what she¡¯ll wake to or exactly how much of the realm and Cas will have changed when she does.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout revisits Poppy and Casteel¡¯s epic love story in the next installment of the Blood and Ash series. But this time, Hawke gets to tell the tale.]]> 712 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1957568461 Shannon 3 3.88 2023
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 56339614 The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself.

On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn't good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price.

Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens, honing her comedic skills.

Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot.?Yours Cruelly, Elvira?is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn't shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heart-breaking tale of a Midwest farm girl's long strange trip to become the world's sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon.]]> 394 Cassandra Peterson 0306874369 Shannon 4 4.41 2021
author: Cassandra Peterson
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6443834 ¤½¤·¤Æ2009Äê¡¢¡º1²Ï84¡»¤ÏÄæ¤Î·½Ïò¤«¤é1984Äê¤òÃ褤¤¿½ü¹ýȥСÕh¤Ç¤¢¤ë¡£
¤½¤³¤ËÃ褫¤ì¤Æ¤¤¤ë¤Î¤Ï¡¸¤³¤¦¤Ç¤¢¤Ã¤¿¤«¤â¤·¤ì¤Ê¤¤¡¹ÊÀ½ç¤Ê¤Î¤À¡£
˽¤¿¤Á¤¬Éú¤­¤Æ¤¤¤ëÏÖÔÚ¤¬¡¢¡¸¤½¤¦¤Ç¤Ï¤Ê¤«¤Ã¤¿¤«¤â¤·¤ì¤Ê¤¤¡¹ÊÀ½ç¤Ç¤¢¤ë¤Î¤È¡¢¤Á¤ç¤¦¤Éͬ¤¸¤è¤¦¤Ë¡£±Õ±Õ> 554 Haruki Murakami 4103534222 Shannon 0 to-read 4.02 2009
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58526043
From the desperation of golden crowns¡­

Casteel Da¡¯Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could¡¯ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.

And born of mortal flesh¡­

Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life¡¯s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way¡ªbecause there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.

A great primal power rises¡­

Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear¡ªto protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be¡ªwhat she fears the most.

As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.]]> 654 Jennifer L. Armentrout Shannon 3 4.25 2022
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 60301558 Nat Cassidy¡¯s highly commercial, debut horror novel An Awakening of Terror, blends Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I'll Be Gone in the Dark.Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can¡¯t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer. Then the killings begin again.Mary¡¯s definitely going to find herself.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 400 Nat Cassidy 1250265223 Shannon 3 3.75 2022
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 195790718
There¡¯s only one in the cloud cities, dragons rule, and the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas¨Dand she wants Anahrod dead.

Enjoy this page-turning adventure with conniving dragons, high-stakes intrigue, a daring heist, and a little bit of heat.]]> 435 Jenn Lyons Shannon 0 to-read 3.61 2024
author: Jenn Lyons
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199392376 What does it mean to be human in a world where technology is quickly catching up to biology?

In a near-future world, a new technological therapy is quickly eradicating cancer: The body¡¯s cells are entirely replaced with nanites¡ªrobot or android cells that not only cure those afflicted but leave them virtually immortal. At the same time, literary researcher Yonghun teaches an AI how to understand poetry and creates a living, thinking machine he names Panit, meaning "Beloved," in honor of his husband. When Dr. Beeko, who holds the patent to the nano-therapy technology, learns of Panit, he transfers its consciousness into an android body, giving it freedom and life. As Yonghun, Panit, and other nano humans thrive¡ªand begin to replicate¡ªtheir development will lead them to a crossroads and a choice with existential consequences.]]> 256 Anton Hur 0063344483 Shannon 0 to-read 3.79 2024
author: Anton Hur
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49878332

Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the state's elite schools. When her nine-year-old daughter bombs a monthly test and her Q score drops to a disastrously low level, she is immediately forced to leave her top school for a federal institution hundreds of miles away. As a teacher, Elena thought she understood the tiered educational system, but as a mother whose child is now gone, Elena's perspective is changed forever. She just wants her daughter back.

And she will do the unthinkable to make it happen.]]> 321 Christina Dalcher 0440000831 Shannon 0 to-read 3.72 2020
author: Christina Dalcher
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 136276877
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island¡ªand everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer¡ªand they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.]]> 368 Stuart Turton Shannon 0 to-read 3.63 2024
author: Stuart Turton
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55924835 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book three in her Blood and Ash series¡­

She's been the victim and the survivor¡­

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she¡¯s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It¡¯s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior¡­

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms¡¯ dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy¡¯s head.

A lover and heartmate¡­

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible¡ªtravel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people¡ªand each other.

And now she will become Queen¡­]]> 659 Jennifer L. Armentrout Shannon 3 4.30 2021
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Shannon 0 to-read 4.52 2007
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53799686
Viewing an apartment normally doesn¡¯t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

First is Zara, a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else until tragedy changed her life. Now, she¡¯s obsessed with visiting open houses to see how ordinary people live¡ªand, perhaps, to set an old wrong to right. Then there¡¯s Roger and Anna-Lena, an Ikea-addicted retired couple who are on a never-ending hunt for fixer-uppers to hide the fact that they don¡¯t know how to fix their own failing marriage. Julia and Ro are a young lesbian couple and soon-to-be parents who are nervous about their chances for a successful life together since they can¡¯t agree on anything. And there¡¯s Estelle, an eighty-year-old woman who has lived long enough to be unimpressed by a masked bank robber waving a gun in her face. And despite the story she tells them all, Estelle hasn¡¯t really come to the apartment to view it for her daughter, and her husband really isn¡¯t outside parking the car.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

Rich with Fredrik Backman¡¯s ¡°pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature¡± (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People¡¯s whimsical plot serves up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.]]> 336 Fredrik Backman 1982121602 Shannon 0 to-read 4.12 2019
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50706646
Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.]]> 435 Andrea Stewart 0316541427 Shannon 0 to-read 3.97 2020
author: Andrea Stewart
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 77197
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.]]> 435 Robin Hobb 055357339X Shannon 0 to-read 4.21 1995
author: Robin Hobb
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 157981739
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran¡¯s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the the fae court.

The fae haven¡¯t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world ¨C torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts. . .]]> 386 Saara El-Arifi 0593723007 Shannon 0 to-read 3.52 2024
author: Saara El-Arifi
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54319549 A Betrayal¡­

Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that¡¯s one order she¡¯s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.

A Choice...

Casteel Da¡¯Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he¡¯s the only way for her to get what she wants¡ªto find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she¡¯s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself¡ªabout him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she¡¯s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.

A Secret¡­

But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.]]> 637 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1952457106 Shannon 3 4.32 2020
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/29
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it¡¯s best to let the uncanny house¨Dand its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling¨Dgo to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she¡¯s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she¡¯ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Shannon 0 to-read 3.76 2023
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52831247 Captivating and action-packed, From Blood and Ash is a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Laura Thalassa.

A Maiden¡­

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy¡¯s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty¡­

The entire kingdom¡¯s future rests on Poppy¡¯s shoulders, something she¡¯s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom¡­

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.]]> 622 Jennifer L. Armentrout Shannon 3 4.36 2020
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/04/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 62558732 Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix¡¯s children¡¯s school. Josie has been listening to Alix¡¯s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie¡¯s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can¡¯t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix¡¯s life¡ªand into her home.

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

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]> 384 Lisa Jewell Shannon 4 4.15 2023
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/19
date added: 2024/04/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 58293924 Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies.

In Charlie Hall¡¯s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences¡ªbut also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone¡¯s feelings¡ªand memories¡ªbut manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden¡ªa second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie¡¯s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear¡ªand at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelg?ngers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister¡ªall desperate to control the magic of the shadows.]]> 304 Holly Black 1250812194 Shannon 2 3.51 2022
author: Holly Black
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/03
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 157995292 Insecure with a magical realist spin: River Mumma is an exhilarating contemporary fantasy novel about a young Black woman who navigates her quarter-life-crisis while embarking on a mythical quest through the streets of Toronto.

Alicia has been out of grad school for months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won¡¯t stop texting her macabre news stories and reminders to pick up items from the grocery store.

Then, one evening, the Jamaican water deity, River Mumma, appears to Alicia, telling her that she has twenty-four hours to scour the city for her missing comb.

Alicia doesn¡¯t understand why River Mumma would choose her. She can¡¯t remember all the legends her relatives told her, unlike her retail co-worker Heaven, who can reel off Jamaican folklore by heart. She doesn¡¯t know if her childhood visions have returned, or why she feels a strange connection to her other co-worker Mars. But when the trio are chased down by malevolent spirits called duppies, they realize their tenuous bonds to each other may be their only lifelines. With the clock ticking, Alicia¡¯s quest through the city broadens into a journey through time¡ªto find herself and what the river carries.

Energetic and invigorating, River Mumma is a vibrant exploration of diasporic community and ancestral ties, and a homage to Jamaican storytelling by one of the most invigorating voices in today¡¯s literature.]]> 304 Zalika Reid-Benta 1645661350 Shannon 0 to-read 3.65 2023
author: Zalika Reid-Benta
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40275288
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction ¨C but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tan¨¦ has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 848 Samantha Shannon 1408883457 Shannon 0 to-read 4.18 2019
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Shannon 0 to-read 4.34 2023
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 518848
With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear¡ªand sometimes disappears altogether.]]> 491 Garth Nix 0064471837 Shannon 0 to-read 4.17 1995
author: Garth Nix
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127281143
At the northern edge of a land ruled by a monstrous, foreign tyrant lies the wild forest known as the Elmever. The villagers know better than to let their children go near¡ªonce someone goes in, they never come back out.

No one knows the strange and terrifying traps of the Elmever better than Veris Thorn, the only person to ever rescue a child from the forest many years ago. When the Tyrant¡¯s two young children go missing, Veris is commanded to enter the forest once more and bring them home safe. If Veris fails, the Tyrant will kill her; if she remains in the forest for longer than a day, she will be trapped forevermore.

So Veris will travel deep into the Elmever to face traps, riddles, and monsters at the behest of another monster. One misstep will cost everything.]]> 160 Premee Mohamed 1250881781 Shannon 4 3.86 2024
author: Premee Mohamed
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale¡¯s secret societies. These eight windowless ¡°tombs¡± are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood¡¯s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]> 461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Shannon 0 to-read 4.00 2019
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he¡¯ll enroll in Oxford University¡¯s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation¡ªalso known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working¡ªthe art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars¡ªhas made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Shannon 4 4.16 2022
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 123443274
"Salt and broom, make this room
Safe and tight, against the night."

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls¡¯-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he¡¯s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her. The threats mount around both Jane and Rochester¡ªwho¡¯s becoming more intriguing and appealing to her by the day. Jane begins to fear her herb healing and protective charms may not be enough to save the man she¡¯s growing to love from a threat darker and more dangerous than either of them imagined.]]> 282 Sharon Lynn Fisher 1662515685 Shannon 2 4.12 2023
author: Sharon Lynn Fisher
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/10
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 29246020 New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology.

In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (¡°gleaned¡±) by professional reapers (¡°scythes¡±). Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythe¡¯s apprentices, and¡ªdespite wanting nothing to do with the vocation¡ªthey must learn the art of killing and come to understand the necessity of what they do.

Only one of them will be chosen as a scythe¡¯s apprentice. And when it becomes clear that the winning apprentice¡¯s first task will be to glean the loser, Citra and Rowan are pitted against one another in a fight for their lives.]]> 448 Neal Shusterman Shannon 3 4.40 2016
author: Neal Shusterman
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 135802269
Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

Except one: Ganymedes Piscero - class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?]]> 496 Frances White 0241640075 Shannon 0 to-read 4.02 2024
author: Frances White
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 123247704
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 852 Sarah J. Maas Shannon 3 4.40 2024
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 44779795 Maeve¡¯s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card¡ªand then disappears.

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette¡¯s Catholic school. But when Maeve¡¯s ex¨Cbest friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn¡¯t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily¡¯s gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find¡ªeven if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church¡¯s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.]]> 384 Caroline O'Donoghue 1536213942 Shannon 0 to-read 3.95 2021
author: Caroline O'Donoghue
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57941596
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri¡¯s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels¡¯ plans, the choice becomes stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what¡¯s right. And they¡¯ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode¨Dand the people who will do anything to save it.]]> 807 Sarah J. Maas 1635574080 Shannon 4 4.57 2022
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 46126162
In her new preface, Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump¡¯s victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a huge victory for the billionaires who have been pouring money in the American political system.

Why is America living in an age of profound and widening economic inequality? Why have even modest attempts to address climate change been defeated again and again? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? In a riveting and indelible feat of reporting, Jane Mayer illuminates the history of an elite cadre of plutocrats¡ªheaded by the Kochs, the Scaifes, the Olins, and the Bradleys¡ªwho have bankrolled a systematic plan to fundamentally alter the American political system. Mayer traces a byzantine trail of billions of dollars spent by the network, revealing a staggering conglomeration of think tanks, academic institutions, media groups, courthouses, and government allies that have fallen under their sphere of influence. Drawing from hundreds of exclusive interviews, as well as extensive scrutiny of public records, private papers, and court proceedings, Mayer provides vivid portraits of the secretive figures behind the new American oligarchy and a searing look at the carefully concealed agendas steering the nation. Dark Money is an essential book for anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.
--penguinrandomhouse.com]]> 464 Jane Mayer 0385535600 Shannon 0 currently-reading 4.37 2016
author: Jane Mayer
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 29758013
When eccentric explorer, Lady Vincenza 'Vintage' de Grazon, offers him employment, he sees an easy way out. Even when they are joined by a fugitive witch with a tendency to set things on fire, the prospect of facing down monsters and retrieving ancient artefacts is preferable to the abomination he left behind.

But not everyone is willing to let the Eboran empire collapse, and the adventurers are quickly drawn into a tangled conspiracy of magic and war. For the Jure'lia are coming, and the Ninth Rain must fall...]]> 544 Jen Williams 1472235177 Shannon 0 to-read 4.07 2017
author: Jen Williams
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51867529
Anna¡¯s Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.

Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.

Until she meets Effie and Attis.

They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose themselves in a haze of spells.

But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her Aunt was right all along.

Is her magic a gift ¡­ or a curse?]]> 576 Cari Thomas 0008407002 Shannon 0 to-read 3.92 2021
author: Cari Thomas
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 193907194
'er at number 14 is dirty

Receiving an unexpected and unsigned note is a disconcerting experience. In Penning Poison, Emily Cockayne traces the stories of such letters to all corners of English society over the period 1760-1939. She uncovers scandal, deception, class enmity, personal tragedy, and great loneliness. Some messages were accusatory, some libellous, others bizarre. Technology, new postal networks, forensic techniques, and the emergence of professional police all influence the phenomenon of poison
letter campaigns. This book puts the letters back into their local and psychology context, extending the work of detectives, to discover who may have written them and why.

Emily Cockayne explores the reasons and motivations for the creation and delivery of these missives and the effect on recipients - with some blas¨¦, others driven to madness. Small communities hit by letter campaigns became places of suspicion and paranoia. By examining the ways in which these letters spread anxiety in the past Penning Poison grapples with the question of how nasty messages can turn into an epidemic. The book recovers many lost stories about how we used to write
to one another, finding that perhaps the anxieties of our internet age are not as new as we think.]]> 315 Emily Cockayne 0192514253 Shannon 0 to-read 3.47 2023
author: Emily Cockayne
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44797223 #1 ?New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas launches her brand-new CRESCENT CITY series with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion¡ªotherwise known as Crescent City¡ªhas to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city¡ªand Bryce¡¯s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city¡¯s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there¡¯s far more to Bryce than meets the eye¡ªand that he¡¯s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir¡­

With unforgettable characters and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom¡ªand the power of love.]]> 874 Sarah J. Maas Shannon 4 4.58 2020
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 123029113 A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers¡ªand her life¡ªback on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

Sera Swan used to be 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 Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power¡­

Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just know how to unlock the spell¡¯s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan 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.]]> 336 Sangu Mandanna Shannon 0 to-read 4.36 2025
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49083252 A forgotten history. A secret network of women. A legacy of poison and revenge. Welcome to The Lost Apothecary¡­

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary¡¯s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary¡¯s in a stunning twist of fate¡ªand not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.]]> 320 Sarah Penner Shannon 3 4.00 2021
author: Sarah Penner
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/13
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 57899793 Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud¡¯s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah¡¯s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle¡¯s liquor store while hiding the fact that she¡¯s applying to college so she can escape him¡ªand Juniper¡ªforever.

When Sal¡¯s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth¡ªand what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

From one of today¡¯s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness¡ªone that¡¯s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.]]> 376 Sabaa Tahir 0593202341 Shannon 0 to-read 4.48 2022
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59838811 You are the next step in human evolution.

At first, Logan Ramsay isn¡¯t sure if anything¡¯s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can¡¯t deny it: Something¡¯s happening to his brain. To his body. He¡¯s starting to see the world, and those around him¡ªeven those he loves most¡ªin whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan¡¯s genome has been hacked. And there¡¯s a reason he¡¯s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what¡¯s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large¡ªat a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan¡¯s the one person in the world capable of stopping what¡¯s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he¡¯ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he¡¯s fighting, he can¡¯t help wondering: what if humanity¡¯s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man¡¯s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity¡ªand our boundless potential.]]> 352 Blake Crouch 0593157532 Shannon 3 3.77 2022
author: Blake Crouch
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he¡¯s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she¡¯s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya¡ªthe exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that¡ªordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime¡ªmaking Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites¡¯ powers¡ªthe very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don¡¯t kill her, the prince she¡¯s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is¡ªcompletely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts Shannon 0 to-read 4.17 2023
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55196813
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter¡ªshe throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black¡ªbut will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different¡ªand reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0593356152 Shannon 0 to-read 3.71 2022
author: Nita Prose
name: Shannon
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 90202302 ¡°The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.¡± ¡ªXaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College¡ªViolet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet¡¯s already wondering how she¡¯ll get through. It¡¯s not just that it¡¯s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it¡¯s designed to stretch the riders¡¯ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It¡¯s the new vice commandant, who¡¯s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is¨Cunless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet¡¯s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else¡¯s, she still has her wits¡ªand a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won¡¯t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College¡ªand nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Shannon 3 4.33 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Shannon
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/23
date added: 2024/01/23
shelves:
review:

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