D.'s bookshelf: read en-US Sun, 18 May 2025 01:15:33 -0700 60 D.'s bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Murder by the Book (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery, #1)]]> 38348958 Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn't expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . .

Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancĂ© and her father's fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she's moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store.

But there's trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie's friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they've got the story in hand, but Addie's not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight . .]]> 305 Lauren Elliott 1496720229 D. 0 currently-reading 3.69 2018 Murder by the Book (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery, #1)
author: Lauren Elliott
name: D.
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Strangers in Time 217182446 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes David Baldacci’s newest novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,” Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.

As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.]]> 435 David Baldacci 1538742055 D. 0 4.07 2025 Strangers in Time
author: David Baldacci
name: D.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/18
shelves: london-england, perseverance, world-war-ii, currently-reading
review:

]]> Winterkill (Dark Iceland, #6) 54465690
Easter weekend is approaching, and snow is gently falling in Siglufjörður, the northernmost town in Iceland, as crowds of tourists arrive to visit the majestic ski slopes.

Ari Thór Arason is now a police inspector, but he’s separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden with their three-year-old son. A family reunion is planned for the holiday, but a violent blizzard is threatening and there is an unsettling chill in the air.

Three days before Easter, a nineteen-year-old local girl falls to her death from the balcony of a house on the main street. A perplexing entry in her diary suggests that this may not be an accident, and when an old man in a local nursing home writes ‘She was murdered’ again and again on the wall of his room, there is every suggestion that something more sinister lies at the heart of her death


As the extreme weather closes in, cutting the power and access to SiglufjörĂ°ur, Ari ThĂłr must piece together the puzzle to reveal a horrible truth 
 one that will leave no one unscathed.

Chilling, claustrophobic and disturbing, Winterkill marks the startling conclusion to the million-copy bestselling Dark Iceland series and cements Ragnar JĂłnasson as one of the most exciting authors in crime fiction.]]> 210 Ragnar JĂłnasson 1913193454 D. 4 Bit surprised by the ending.]]> 3.91 2020 Winterkill (Dark Iceland, #6)
author: Ragnar JĂłnasson
name: D.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/11
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: cops-law-enforcement, law-and-order, murder-mystery
review:
Overall a good book! Last of a trilogy. Only gave four stars as one character, the main victim's mother, was quite unbalanced, needy and she only got worse got on my nerves. Wanted to tell her to 'Smarten up and snap out of it!" because of how annoying her neediness had become by the end of the book.
Bit surprised by the ending.
]]> <![CDATA[Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)]]> 214175243 NYPD Detective Michael Bennett will stop at nothing to protect family: his wife, his kids—and his fellow officers—in the latest psychological thriller from bestselling author James Patterson.

At every death scene, Bennett says a prayer over the victim.
But recently, too many of the departed have been fellow cops.
“I want you to look at these deaths on special assignment,” NYPD Inspector Celeste Cantor says. “Report only to me.”
Bennett excels as a solo investigator. But he’s chasing a killer who feeds on isolation
 and paranoia.]]> 384 James Patterson 0316403687 D. 5 4.11 2025 Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/02
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: law-and-order, family, perspective-correction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tangled Webs (Men of Valor, #3)]]> 28637715 368 Irene Hannon 0800727754 D. 5 4.24 2016 Tangled Webs (Men of Valor, #3)
author: Irene Hannon
name: D.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: cops-law-enforcement, family, good-guy-vs-bad-guy, hero, insightful, inspiring, intrigue, perseverance, romance, thriller
review:

]]> Thin Ice (Men of Valor, #2) 26101053
FBI Special Agent Lance McGregor, a former Delta Force operator, is assigned to reopen the case, but he's coming up with more questions than answers. If Ginny Reed is still alive—who is the woman buried in her grave? Where is Ginny? And is Christy a pawn in a twisted cat-and-mouse game—or the target of a sinister plot? As he digs deeper, one thing becomes clear: whoever is behind the bizarre ruse has a deadly agenda.

Bestselling author and two-time Christy Award finalist Irene Hannon warms readers' hearts as they root for a romance between Lance and Christy, but she pulls out all the stops as this high-stakes thriller chills to the bone in a race to the finish.]]> 394 Irene Hannon 0800724534 D. 4 4.21 2015 Thin Ice (Men of Valor, #2)
author: Irene Hannon
name: D.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: cia-fbi, detective-novel, law-and-order, perseverance, romance, thriller, family
review:

]]> The Writer 215749267 “Consider blocking out a few hours of uninterrupted reading time”ÌęforÌęThe Writer, #1 New York TimesÌębestselling author James Patterson’sÌę“Excellent
perfectly executed
genuinely suspenseful”Ìę(Booklist) thriller about a true-crime author swept up in a murder plot.

“EČÔłÙ±đ°ùłÙČčŸ±ČÔŸ±ČÔȔ one gonzo plot twist follows the next
loads of fun.”Ìę(Publishers Weekly)
Ìę
NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call:ÌęHow fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West?
In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She’s covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room.
Every book in the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow.Ìę
"This is you?" Shaw asks the woman. "You're a writer?"
Only one person knows the ending to this story. Is it the victim or the killer?

]]> 400 James Patterson 0316570001 D. 4 4.24 2025 The Writer
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: intrigue, law-and-order, murder-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Buried Secrets (Men of Valor, #1)]]> 22504609 378 Irene Hannon 0800721268 D. 5 4.15 2015 Buried Secrets (Men of Valor, #1)
author: Irene Hannon
name: D.
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: cops-law-enforcement, detective-novel, law-and-order, murder-mystery, thriller
review:

]]> Home and Away 211350635 In one of the last great remaining untold stories in all of sports, the Hall of Fame Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin shares for the first time an unfiltered look at playing hockey in Sweden and across North America as part of the sport’s most fabled franchises.

Growing up in Sollentuna, Sweden, on the outskirts of Stockholm, Mats Sundin skated on the lake downhill from his house, a house his father had built with his own hands, on land his mother insisted on buying for their future. In the darkness of the Scandinavian winter Sundin would chase after his older brother on that lake for countless hours. Summers spent in nature with his grandparents instilled a lifelong love for the outdoors. Playing hockey in their driveway, the three Sundin brothers imagined scenes of suiting up for Sweden’s national team and scoring a game winning goal against their favoured rival, the Soviet Union. It wasn’t until his late teens that he caught the eyes of scouts and coaches from the other side of the Atlantic. At the 1989 NHL draft, eighteen-year-old Sundin was as surprised as anyone when he was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques.

After a few years as a Nordique, Sundin was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the highly popular Leaf captain, Wendel Clark. In his early years in Toronto, he felt both at home and from away, working extra hard to gain acceptance in the world’s toughest hockey market. Even once he was named captain, Sundin didn’t deviate from his quiet nature but instead lead by example, never asking anyone to work harder than he did. Over thirteen seasons with the team, he would learn just how fiery the cauldron of Leafs Nation could be.

In Home and Away, Mats Sundin writes openly for the first time about what it was like for him to uproot his life in Sweden to embark on a long hockey career an ocean away. Home and Away is an elegiac, heartfelt, and honest story of a man who followed his passions, cherished his family, faced heavy scrutiny, and ultimately earned his way into both the hearts of fans and the hockey record books. His journey transcends the rink and shows what it means to be a quiet and unpretentious Swedish kid who went on to become one of the most accomplished players in the history of the game.]]> 320 Mats Sundin 1668053535 D. 5 Beautiful, in so many ways! 4.34 Home and Away
author: Mats Sundin
name: D.
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:
Beautiful, in so many ways!
]]> <![CDATA[Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1)]]> 46460
George Smiley had liked Samuel Fennan, and now Fennan was dead from an apparent suicide. But why? Fennan, a Foreign Office man, had been under investigation for alleged Communist Party activities, but Smiley had made it clear that the investigation -- little more than a routine security check -- was over and that the file on Fennan could be closed. The very next day, Fennan was found dead with a note by his body saying his career was finished and he couldn't go on. Smiley was puzzled...]]> 144 John Le Carré 0743431677 D. 0 to-read 3.78 1961 Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1)
author: John Le Carré
name: D.
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Waiting (Harry Bosch, #25; RenĂ©e Ballard, #6; Harry Bosch Universe, #39)]]> 206119050 LAPD Detective RenĂ©e Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold, with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.

RenĂ©e Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her solo mission leads her into greater danger than she anticipates. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch.

Finally, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit. Bosch’s daughter Maddie wants to supplement her work as a patrol officer on the night beat by investigating cases with Ballard. But RenĂ©e soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.]]> 407 Michael Connelly 031656379X D. 3 4.16 2024 The Waiting (Harry Bosch, #25; RenĂ©e Ballard, #6; Harry Bosch Universe, #39)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Sacred Night (Renée Ballard, #2; Harry Bosch, #21; Harry Bosch Universe, #32)]]> 38204677
Renée Ballard is working the night beat again, and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours only to find a stranger rifling through old file cabinets. The intruder is retired detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin. Ballard kicks him out, but then checks into the case herself and it brings a deep tug of empathy and anger.

Bosch is investigating the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway on the streets of Hollywood who was brutally murdered and her body left in a dumpster like so much trash. Now, Ballard joins forces with Bosch to find out what happened to Daisy and finally bring her killer to justice.]]> 400 Michael Connelly D. 5 4.22 2018 Dark Sacred Night (Renée Ballard, #2; Harry Bosch, #21; Harry Bosch Universe, #32)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, intrigue, law-and-order, perseverance, thriller, detective-novel
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Late Show (Renée Ballard, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #30)]]> 34091380 405 Michael Connelly 0316225983 D. 4 3.95 2017 The Late Show (Renée Ballard, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #30)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bonded in Death (In Death, #60)]]> 211004040 The #1 New York Times bestselling author spins an epic tale of loyalty, treachery, murder, and the long shadow of war


His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes


Lieutenant Eve Dallas finds the Rossi case frustrating. She’s got an elderly victim who’d just arrived from Rome; a widow who knows nothing about why he’d left; an as-yet unidentifiable weapon; and zero results on facial recognition. But when she finds a connection to the Urban Wars of the 2020s, she thinks Summerset―fiercely loyal, if somewhat grouchy, major-domo and the man who’d rescued her husband from the Dublin streets―may know something from his stint as a medic in Europe back then.

When Summerset learns of the crime, his shock and grief are clear―because, as he eventually reveals, he himself was one of The Twelve. It’s not a part of his past he likes to revisit. But now he must―not only to assist Eve’s investigation, but because a cryptic message from the killer has boasted that others of The Twelve have also died. Summerset is one of those who remain―and the murderous mission is yet to be fully accomplished
]]> 359 J.D. Robb 1250370795 D. 5 4.39 2025 Bonded in Death (In Death, #60)
author: J.D. Robb
name: D.
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, intrigue, murder-mystery, perseverance, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Begins with You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life]]> 211880180
Jillian Turecki’s holistic, compassionate, yet no-nonsense approach to love has attracted a devoted following of millions. In her highly anticipated debut book, she makes clear that if you want a meaningful relationship filled with connection, security, and intimacy, you have to look within. The common denominator in all your relationships is you.

Drawing from decades of experience helping clients heal themselves and their relationships, It Begins with You introduces the 9 core truths we must accept in order to change our lives:

Truth 1: It begins with you.
Truth 2: The mind is a battlefield.
Truth 3: Lust is not the same thing as love.
Truth 4: You have to love yourself.
Truth 5: You must speak up and tell the truth.
Truth 6: You need to be your best self (even after the honeymoon).
Truth 7: You cannot convince someone to love you.
Truth 8: No one is coming to save you.
Truth 9: You must make peace with your parents.

Blending therapeutic strategies, somatic techniques, client case studies, practical tools, tips, and guiding questions, It Begins with You gives us a roadmap to finally start doing the work needed to love ourselves and find the love we deserve. It's never too late to choose yourself.]]> 256 Jillian Turecki 0063374366 D. 4 4.35 It Begins with You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life
author: Jillian Turecki
name: D.
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: insightful, perspective-correction, self-help
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pigcasso: The Million-dollar artistic pig that saved a sanctuary]]> 103516006
When Joanne Lefson took on a piglet at her animal shelter, the young sow proceeded to eat everything in her stable but a paint brush. In a flash of inspiration, Joanne attempted to introduce the pig to the art of painting - and thus Pigcasso was born.

Starting out with a humble canvas on the sanctuary wall, Pigcasso's paintings are now owned by the likes of George Clooney, she has a Swatch watch design partnership, a wine label, and has eclipsed the previous world record holder for animal art. She's been commissioned by Nissan and has had exhibitions in Cape Town, Munich and Amsterdam. More than that, Pigcasso's art funds the food and veterinary services for all the animals at the sanctuary.

PigcassoÌę is the story of this unique pig and of the circumstances that brought her and Joanne together to take the art world by storm and form a unique and unbreakable bond.]]> 336 Joanne Lefson 1788404203 D. 4 4.38 Pigcasso: The Million-dollar artistic pig that saved a sanctuary
author: Joanne Lefson
name: D.
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: advocacy, insightful, inspiring, animals-sanctuary, perspective-correction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Taiwan Matters: A Short History of a Small Island That Will Dictate Our Future]]> 203578720 Taiwan expert Kerry Brown sums up the history of Taiwan and the danger of a Chinese takeover in this succinct and authoritative book.

When the bloody Chinese Civil War concluded in 1949, two Chinas were born. Mao’s Communists won and took China’s mainland; Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan island. Since then, China and Taiwan have drifted into being separate political and cultural entities.

Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy and an economic success just one of its companies produces over 90 per cent of the semiconductors that power the world’s economy. It is a free and vibrant society. For the United States and the West, the island is a bastion of freedom against China’s assertive presence in the region. And yet China, increasingly bellicose under Xi Jinping, insists Taiwan is part of its territory and must be returned to it. Should China blockade the island and mount an invasion, it would set off a chain reaction that would pitch it against the US – escalating a regional war into a global one. Taiwan is thus a geopolitical powder keg.

Why Taiwan Matters helps us understand how and why we’ve arrived at this dangerous moment in history. With unparalleled access to Taiwan’s political leaders and a deep understanding of the island’s history and culture, Professor Kerry Brown provides a new reading of Taiwan, its twenty-three million people, and how they navigate being caught in this frightening geopolitical standoff. Why Taiwan Matters is the essential book for understanding Taiwan’s unique story told in an accessible, expert and urgent way.]]> 272 Kerry Brown 1250362091 D. 1 political-manipulation 3.87 Why Taiwan Matters: A Short History of a Small Island That Will Dictate Our Future
author: Kerry Brown
name: D.
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: political-manipulation
review:
After the initial introduction of facts, it became a repetitive and wordy essay.
]]> <![CDATA[Midnight Black (Gray Man, #14)]]> 213651068 With his lover imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, the Gray Man will stop at nothing to free her in this latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

A winter sunrise over the great plains of Russia is no cause for celebration. The temperature barely rises above zero, and the guards at Penal Colony IK22 are determined to take their misery out on the prisoners--chief among them, one Zoya Zakharova. Once a master spy for Russian foreign intelligence, then the partner and lover of the Gray Man, she has information the Kremlin wants, and they don't care what they have to do to get it.

But if they think a thousand miles of frozen wasteland and the combined power of the Russian police state is enough to protect them, they don't know the Gray Man. He's coming, and no one's safe.]]> 518 Mark Greaney 0593548191 D. 5 4.67 2025 Midnight Black (Gray Man, #14)
author: Mark Greaney
name: D.
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: cia-fbi, good-guy-vs-bad-guy, heart-wrenching, intrigue, perseverance, russian-co-conspiracies, thriller, spy-thriller
review:

]]> Nightblind (Dark Iceland, #2) 27248849
Dark, chilling and complex, Nightblind is an extraordinary thriller from an undeniable new talent.]]> 283 Ragnar JĂłnasson D. 4 3.74 2014 Nightblind (Dark Iceland, #2)
author: Ragnar JĂłnasson
name: D.
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holmes Is Missing (Holmes, Margaret & Poe, #2)]]> 212924104 It’s their toughest case yet. And their best detective is missing. Holmes, Margaret and Poe run the private detective agency that solves the crimes no one else can. Or they did – until Holmes said he wanted to leave the business and fell off the radar. In New York City, they are called to investigate the abduction of six newborns from a private hospital. Without Holmes, they try to investigate this terrible crime. They hear word of more missing babies in London, and Margaret follows the trail across the pond. But they need Holmes. To solve the crime of the century, first they must save their friend.]]> 352 James Patterson 0316569976 D. 5 3.99 2025 Holmes Is Missing (Holmes, Margaret & Poe, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
Little bit of a surprise ending, along with a segue for the next book.
]]> Snowblind (Dark Iceland, #1) 25067569 300 Ragnar JĂłnasson D. 5 3.54 2010 Snowblind (Dark Iceland, #1)
author: Ragnar JĂłnasson
name: D.
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
Good book! First time I read a book by this author & it was a nice surprise. Always uncertain when a novel has been translated, in this case Icelandic to English. Once you get used to the Icelandic city/town names, you can keep track of what's happening where, the storyline was good. Its mainly about a rookie cop named, Ari Thor, starting out in a northern Iceland town and his personal battles while helping to solve murder. In the end he solves 3 deaths. Wont say any more as I could ruin it for you. Anyways, I usually can figure out the perpetrator, but this time I was 0 for 3. That never happened before.
]]> <![CDATA[This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light]]> 204789541 In this candid and emotional memoir, Allison Holker opens up about her incredible dance career, her relationship with Stephen “tWitch” Boss, and the resilience that has carried her forward after his death.

Allison Holker was just eighteen when she found fame as a contestant on the reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance. Over the next several years, she had her first child, built a successful career as a professional dancer despite the industry being hostile to working moms, and fell in love with and married fellow dancer Stephen Boss, the former hype man and DJ of The Ellen DeGeneres Show known for his charisma and relentless positivity. Two more children and a wealth of professional opportunities for both Allison and Stephen followed, and the Bosses appeared to be one of the great Hollywood love stories.

Then, in December 2022, Stephen took his own life, leaving Allison to wrestle with unanswered questions, haunting what-ifs, and the heartbreaking realization that Stephen’s infectious joy was hiding pain, addictions, and self-doubt deeper than anyone knew.

For the first time, Allison reveals how she has navigated the emotional and financial aftermath of Stephen’s choice, guided their three children in their grief while managing the outpouring from a well-meaning public, and reopened herself to the next chapter in her professional and personal life. A beacon of hope and comfort for anyone experiencing grief—especially unexpected loss due to suicide—Allison’s story is an honest reflection on the pain of looking back on a complicated life and the resilience required to move into the future.]]> 240 Allison Holker 1400248949 D. 4 3.63 2025 This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light
author: Allison Holker
name: D.
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: heart-wrenching, love, perseverance, heartbreak
review:

]]> Deadlock (Dez Limerick, #2) 61884995 Deadlock is the sequel to the highly praised The Gatekeeper featuring Dez Limerick, one of the best new thriller heroes...]]> 359 James Byrne 1250805783 D. 5 4.29 2023 Deadlock (Dez Limerick, #2)
author: James Byrne
name: D.
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> On the Hunt (Kira Drake, #1) 75593786 #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen introduces a bold new heroine in Murphy Jordan, who, along will with her talented rescue dog, will take on an explosive case with global implications.]]> 368 Iris Johansen 1538726416 D. 3 intrigue 3.36 2023 On the Hunt (Kira Drake, #1)
author: Iris Johansen
name: D.
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: intrigue
review:
It was a fairly decent storyline, but one of the main characters, named Kira, was a major, major control freak. This lessened the enjoyablity. Some of the conversations were like visiting or being visited by those relatives or in-laws you have to tolerate, hence the three stars.
]]> <![CDATA[The Gatekeeper (Dez Limerick, #1)]]> 58724579 James Byrne's The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick in the most anticipated new thriller in years.

A highly trained team of mercenaries launches a well-planned, coordinated attack on a well-guarded military contractor - but they didn't count on one thing, the right man being in the wrong place at the right time.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying the sun and sitting in on the occasional gig, when the hotel he's at falls under attack. A skilled team attempts to kidnap the Chief legal counsel of Triton Expeditors, a major military contractor – in fact, Petra Alexandris is the daughter of the CEO – but their meticulously-planned, seamlessly executed scheme runs into the figurative 'spanner-in-the-works,' Dez himself.

After foiling the attack, and with nothing better to do, Dez agrees to help Alexandris with another problem she’s having – someone has embezzled more than a billion dollars from her company and left very few tracks behind. But Dez is a gatekeeper – one who opens doors and keeps them open – and this is just a door of another kind. And the door he opens leads to a dangerous conspiracy involving media manipulation, militias, an armed coup, and an attempt to fracture the United States themselves. There’s only one obstacle between the conspirators and success – and that is Dez, The Gatekeeper.]]> 327 James Byrne 1250805767 D. 5 3.99 2022 The Gatekeeper (Dez Limerick, #1)
author: James Byrne
name: D.
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In Too Deep (Jack Reacher, #29)]]> 204432624 The gripping new Jack Reacher thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew ChildReacher wakes up, alone, in the dark, handcuffed to a bed in a makeshift hospital room. His few possessions are gone. He has no memory of getting there. The last thing he can recall is the car he had hitched a ride in getting run off the road. The driver was killed. The people who staged the attack assume Reacher was the driver's accomplice and patch up his wounds as they plan to make him talk. A plan that will backfire spectacularly . . .]]> 324 Lee Child 0593725808 D. 0 3.65 2024 In Too Deep (Jack Reacher, #29)
author: Lee Child
name: D.
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, perseverance, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Robert B. Parker's Hot Property (Spenser, #51)]]> 209357118 Spenser investigates a case that hits far too close to home for his comfort in this latest installment of Robert B. Parker's beloved series.

Spenser is waiting out the latest Boston snow storm when he gets word that Rita Fiore's been shot. Rita's always been a tricky nudging Spenser for years, she's an ever-present figure that transcends friendship in Spenser's circle. Like many of them, at the end of the day, Rita is family. And family will always be protected.

Both a pit bull in the courtroom and provocateur outside it, though, Rita is no stranger to controversy. But as one of the city's toughest lawyers, Spenser knows that there's no short list of suspects who might want to enact revenge. With Rita's life hanging in the balance, it's up to him to get to the bottom of things, even if it means unearthing some savory secrets.]]> 341 Mike Lupica 0593716140 D. 0 4.29 Robert B. Parker's Hot Property (Spenser, #51)
author: Mike Lupica
name: D.
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, law-and-order, murder-mystery, sheriff
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Chain Reaction (Dez Limerick, #3)]]> 195791066 Dez Limerick, a man of many skills and a murky past, faces the impossible—a skilled, deadly opponent who anticipates his every move.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick ("Dez" to his friends and close personal enemies) is a man with a shadowy past, certain useful hard-won skills, and, if one digs deep enough, a reputation as a good man to have at your back. He was trained as a "gatekeeper"—he can open any door, keep it open as long as necessary, and control who does—and does not—go through. Now retired from his previous life, Dez still tries to keep his skills up to date.

Knocking around the country, picking up the occasional gig as a guitarist, Dez is contacted by a friend in urgent need of his musical skills. At his behest, Dez flies to the East Coast to a gig at the brand new massive complex, the Liberty Center. But he's barely landed before he finds himself in the midst of a terrorist attack, a group has taken over the whole center and thousands of hostage lives are in danger. With the semi-willing help of a talented thief, Dez takes on the impossible task of outfighting and outwitting a literal army. But that's just the beginning, as Dez learns he was actually lured there under false pretenses, by someone who knows more about Dez, his past and his skills than any living person should.]]> 387 James Byrne 1250319781 D. 5 4.31 Chain Reaction (Dez Limerick, #3)
author: James Byrne
name: D.
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
Awesome nook with multiple storylines intersecting each other. Very good read!!! Love the Dez Limerick character.
]]> <![CDATA[A Blizzard of Polar Bears (Alex Carter, #2)]]> 57007389 Wildlife biologist Alex Carter is back, fighting for endangered species in the Canadian Arctic and battling for her life in this action-packed follow-up to A Solitude of Wolverines, “a true stunner of a thriller debut” (James Rollins) and “a great read” (Nevada Barr).


Fresh off her wolverine study in Montana, wildlife biologist Alex Carter lands a job studying a threatened population of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. Embedded with a small team of Arctic researchers, she tracks the majestic bears by air, following them over vast, snowy terrain, spending days leaning precariously out of a helicopter with a tranquilizer gun, until she can get down on the ice to examine them up close.

But as her study progresses, and she gathers data on the health of individual bears, things start to go awry. Her helicopter pilot quits unexpectedly, equipment goes missing, and a late-night intruder breaks into her lab and steals the samples she’s collected. She realizes that someone doesn’t want her to complete her study, but Alex is not easily deterred.

Managing to find a replacement pilot, she returns to the icy expanses of Hudson Bay. But the helicopter catches fire in midflight, forcing the team to land on a vast sheet of white far from civilization. Surviving on the frozen landscape is difficult enough, but as armed assailants close in on snowmobiles, Alex must rely on her skills and tenacity to survive this onslaught and carry out her mission.]]> 336 Alice Henderson 0062982109 D. 4 advocacy, nature 3.84 2021 A Blizzard of Polar Bears (Alex Carter, #2)
author: Alice Henderson
name: D.
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: advocacy, nature
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House of Cross (Alex Cross #33)]]> 209456063 The thirty-second instalment in James Patterson's globally bestselling Alex Cross series. It’s time to put the guns down, Detective Cross. Even if you knew the way out of this place, we would catch you.

A serial killer is taking out America’s finest legal minds, and Alex Cross is called to investigate their brutal murders. But during a dangerous mission to track down the killer, his wife, Bree, and best friend, John Sampson, go missing. To save the people he loves most, Cross has only three goals:
Number one: Find Bree and John.
Number two: Escape.
Number three: Survive.

If he fails, there will be no one left in the House of Cross.]]> 416 James Patterson 0316402680 D. 3 4.13 2024 The House of Cross (Alex Cross #33)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: law-and-order, thriller, murder-mystery, intrigue
review:

]]> To Die For (The 6:20 Man, #3) 209456075 From #1 New York Times bestselling author, David Baldacci, the 6:20 Man returns, this time sent to the Pacific Northwest to aid the FBI in a case that gets more complicated with the more questions Devine asks—and he’s about to come face-to-face with his nemesis, the girl on the train.

Travis Devine has become a pro at adapting to any situation to accomplish the mission set in front of him. Whether it’s a high-powered corporate setting or small-town community, Devine will become the man for the job. His time as an Army Ranger and on the financial battlefields of Wall Street gave him the skills he needed, and he’s put them to good use. But this time it’s not his skills that send him to Seattle to aid the FBI in escorting orphaned, twelve-year-old Betsy Odom to a meeting with her uncle, who’s under investigation for RICO charges. Instead, he’s hoping to lie low and keep off the radar of an enemy that he evaded on a train in Switzerland and who has been after him ever since—the girl on the train.

But as Devine gets to know Betsy, questions begin to arise around the death of her parents. Betsy is adamant that they had never used drugs, but the police in the small rural town where they died insist the Odoms died of an overdose. Devine starts digging for answers, and what he finds points to a conspiracy bigger than he could’ve ever imagined. The question is, how do Betsy, her uncle, and various government agencies all fit into it.

It might finally be time for Devine and the girl on the train to come face-to-face, and when that happens, Devine is going to find himself unsure of who are his allies and who are his enemies. And in some cases, they might well be both.]]> 432 David Baldacci 1538757907 D. 5 Awesome! 4.20 2024 To Die For (The 6:20 Man, #3)
author: David Baldacci
name: D.
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
review:
Awesome!
]]> <![CDATA[Shattering Dawn (The Lost Night Files #3)]]> 211025506
Amelia Rivers, a member of the Lost Night Files podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia - a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents.

Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can't resist the chemistry between them. He takes the case despite his skepticism. For her part, Amelia has second thoughts about the wisdom of employing the mysterious Mr. Sweetwater. She is wary of the powerful attraction between them, and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. She senses they were inspired by his own dreamscapes.

Amelia knows she doesn't have time to find another investigator, and Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia's kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia's lost night occurred. They are desperate to stop a killer and the people who are conducting illegal experiments with a dangerous drug that is designed to enhance psychic abilities. If they are to survive, they will have to trust each other and the passion that bonds them.

]]> 331 Jayne Ann Krentz 0593639936 D. 4 4.20 2025 Shattering Dawn (The Lost Night Files #3)
author: Jayne Ann Krentz
name: D.
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, intrigue, mind-control-suggestions, romance
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 50 Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide to Safely Maintain a Healthy Weight, Hormonal Balance, Increase Energy Levels, and Mental Clarity While Avoiding Common Pitfalls]]> 212243133
It seems your body has turned against you, piling on unwelcome extra pounds and dealing with mood swings.

You're always on edge, fearing that every new pain is the start of a decline in independence.

And you fear losing your mental sharpness and forgetting your precious memories.

You're not alone. 92% of people your age express dissatisfaction with their health and share the same fears about their bodies, their minds, and their independence.Ìę

But guess what?Ìę

Reclaiming your vitality and attaining your dream body is within reach – all through the incredible power of Intermittent Fasting.

Imagine a life where you step into each day with a renewed sense of confidence, where you feel fantastic in your skin, and your energy levels are through the roof.Ìę

This book will show you that age is just a number, and with intermittent fasting, your best days are yet to come.

With the GRACE framework, this book will help you kickstart your journey of intermittent fasting and age with confidence, energy, and vitality – even if you've been battling shame over weight gain, anxiety about physical decline, or the despair of lost youthful vigor.

Inside, you'll

The magic of Intermittent Fasting and how it’s a game-changer for women over 50ÌęCommon pitfalls when practicing intermittent fasting – with tips to outsmart those stumbling blocksGetting started with intermittent fasting – discover the different ways you can fast and how to choose the fasting plan that fits right into your lifestyleStrategies to recharge and sharpen your mind, including tons of tips to deal with the fatigue and brain fog that may initially come with fastingPractical techniques to discover the joyful dance of weight management and an active, vibrant life - including physical exercises suitable for youWhat to eat to maximize the benefits of intermittent fasting – and how to listen to your body's rhythm to ensure you’re giving it the nourishment it needs28 heart-healthy recipes to help you maintain a healthy weight while keeping your heart happy and taste buds satisfied!A 28-day meal plan – the ultimate roadmap to a month of delicious meals, strategically designed for your intermittent fasting successAnd so much more!

If you’ve always eaten 3 square meals a day (plus one or two snacks in between), the idea of fasting may seem impossible at first.

But once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’ll feel renewed, recharged, and ready to take on anything.Ìę

With safe, gradual, and step-by-step guidance, this book won’t rush you through starting the intermittent fasting lifestyle, instead leading you by the hand every step of the way, at your own pace.Ìę

Embrace a sustainable and effective approach to intermittent fasting and unlock a vibrant and fulfilling life after 50!

Revitalize your golden years and stay radiant at 50 and beyond. Scroll up, and hit 'Add to Cart' now!]]> 169 Grace Erickson D. 0 to-read 4.00 Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 50 Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide to Safely Maintain a Healthy Weight, Hormonal Balance, Increase Energy Levels, and Mental Clarity While Avoiding Common Pitfalls
author: Grace Erickson
name: D.
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Only the Brave 195430689
Only the Brave is a heart-wrenching story of courage and hope set in wartime Berlin, from the billion-copy bestseller Danielle Steel.

In 1930s Berlin, dark days dawn under Hitler’s Third Reich. For nineteen-year-old Sophia Alexander, life will never be the same. The daughter of a respected doctor, Sophia has always believed that her destiny is to look after others, and as the persecution of Jewish families begins, she joins a group of dissidents who are committed to helping them to safety.

As war is declared, Sophia answers her religious calling and enters a convent, where she continues to fight bravely against the Nazi regime. That is until the fateful day she is arrested and taken to RavensbrĂŒck concentration camp, where her only hope of survival is to escape and successfully make the dangerous journey to the border.

Sophia’s situation is further complicated when she meets a US airman, shot down nearby. As she nurses him back to health, they grow close, but she is still resolute that her destiny is with the Church.

As Sophia looks for a sign of which path to follow, will she have the strength to question what she has committed her whole life to?]]> 272 Danielle Steel 0593498437 D. 5 3.96 2024 Only the Brave
author: Danielle Steel
name: D.
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: perseverance, world-war-ii, advocacy, good-guy-vs-bad-guy, heart-wrenching, hero, london-england
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flashback (Kendra Michaels, #11)]]> 173404048 336 Iris Johansen 1538726262 D. 3 3.78 2024 Flashback (Kendra Michaels, #11)
author: Iris Johansen
name: D.
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, perseverance, murder-mystery, thriller
review:
Fairly good story. The reason I have it just three stars was the tendency of the authors having the two central characters, Kendra & Lynch, repeatedly spar with each other about control & independence in their relationship & in the investigation. Annoying after a couple instances. May have written it that way to get enough words down for the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Passions in Death (In Death, #59)]]> 203578776 Homicide Detective Eve Dallas hunts a killer who turns a wedding party into a murder scene in the latest novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author, J.D. Robb.

On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls’ night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancĂ©e—two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii.

Despite the dozens of people present, useful witnesses are hard to come by. It all brings back some bad memories for Eve. In her uniform days, she’d suffered an assault in the very same room—but she’d been able to fight back and survive. She’d gotten justice. And now she needs to provide some for poor young Erin.

Eve knows that the level of violence and the apparent premeditation involved suggest a volatile mix of hidden, heated passion and ice-cold calculation. This is a crime that can be countered only by hard detective work and relentless dedication—and Eve will not stop until she finds the killer who destroyed this couple’s dreams before the honeymoon even began
]]> 359 J.D. Robb 1250289564 D. 0 4.02 2024 Passions in Death (In Death, #59)
author: J.D. Robb
name: D.
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: law-and-order, murder-mystery, intrigue, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men]]> 41104077
Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women​, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposĂ© that will change the way you look at the world.]]> 448 Caroline Criado PĂ©rez 1419729071 D. 0 4.35 2019 Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
author: Caroline Criado PĂ©rez
name: D.
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: advocacy, insightful, perseverance, perspective-correction, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Emotional Eater's Repair Manual: A Practical Mind-Body-Spirit Guide for Putting an End to Overeating and Dieting]]> 13595002
Therapist and life coach Julie Simon offers a new approach that addresses the true causes of overeating and weight emotional and spiritual hunger and body imbalance. The Emotional Eater’s Repair Manual presents five self-care skills, five body-balancing principles, and five soul-care practices that can end overeating and dieting forever. You’ll learn to nurture yourself without turning to food, to correct body and brain imbalances that trigger overeating, and to address your soul’s hunger. Weight loss, more energy, improved health, and self-esteem will naturally follow.]]> 360 Julie M. Simon 1608681513 D. 0 to-read 3.93 2012 The Emotional Eater's Repair Manual: A Practical Mind-Body-Spirit Guide for Putting an End to Overeating and Dieting
author: Julie M. Simon
name: D.
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out—and Never Say Diet Again]]> 28110894 Imagine a graph with two lines. One indicates happiness, the other tracks how you feel about your body. If you’re like millions of people, the lines do not intersect. But what if they did?
This practical, inspirational, and visually lively book shows you how to create a healthier and happier life by treating yourself with compassion rather than shame. It shows the way to a sense of well-being attained by understanding how to love, connect, and care for yourself—and that includes your mind as well as your body.
Body Kindness is based on four principles.
WHAT YOU DO: the choices you make about food, exercise, sleep, and more
HOW YOU FEEL: befriending your emotions and standing up to the unhelpful voice in your head
WHO YOU ARE: goal-setting based on your personal values
WHERE YOU BELONG: body-loving support from people and communities that help you create a meaningful life
With mind and body exercises to keep your energy spiraling up and prompts to help you identify what YOU really want and care about, Body Kindness helps you let go of things you can't control and embrace the things you can by finding the workable, daily steps that fit you best. Think of it as the anti-diet book that leads to a more joyful and meaningful life!]]> 288 Rebecca Scritchfield 0761187294 D. 0 to-read 3.84 2016 Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out—and Never Say Diet Again
author: Rebecca Scritchfield
name: D.
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight]]> 20702829
Weight loss is not the key to health, diet and exercise are not effective weight-loss strategies and fatness is not a death sentence.

You've heard it there's a global health crisis, and, unless we make some changes, we're in trouble. That much is true—but the epidemic is NOT obesity. The real crisis lies in the toxic stigma placed on certain bodies and the impact of living with inequality—not the numbers on a scale. In a mad dash to shrink our bodies, many of us get so caught up in searching for the perfect diet, exercise program, or surgical technique that we lose sight of our original improved health and well-being. Popular methods for weight loss don't get us there and lead many people to feel like failures when they can't match unattainable body standards. It's time for a cease-fire in the war against obesity.

Dr. Linda Bacon and Dr. Lucy Aphramor's Body Respect debunks common myths about weight, including the misconceptions that BMI can accurately measure health, that fatness necessarily leads to disease, and that dieting will improve health. They also help make sense of how poverty and oppression—such as racism, homophobia, and classism—affect life opportunity, self-worth, and even influence metabolism.

Body insecurity is rampant, and it doesn't have to be. It's time to overcome our culture's shame and distress about weight, to get real about inequalities and health, and to show every body respect.]]> 232 Linda Bacon 1940363195 D. 0 to-read 4.19 2014 Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight
author: Linda Bacon
name: D.
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last One at the Wedding 203579177 From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.]]> 338 Jason Rekulak 1250895782 D. 0 to-read 3.61 2024 The Last One at the Wedding
author: Jason Rekulak
name: D.
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fire and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #23)]]> 199798883 It’s never easy working fire scenes.
Ìę
Called to Washington, DC to analyse the victims of a mysterious arson attack, Tempe quickly finds her misgivings justified. The fire site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighbourhood with a colourful history, and as the pieces start falling into place, the property’s ownership becomes more and more suspicious.
Ìę
Sensing a good story, Tempe teams up with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Delving into the past, the duo learns that back in the Thirties and Forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant – until the son of one of the gang members is shot dead at his farm in Virginia.
Ìę
When another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim, what might have been coincidence starts to look more like targeted attacks. As she and Ivy dig deeper, Tempe’s instincts point towards the somehow, her every move since coming to Washington has been anticipated in advance. And every path forward brings with it a lethal threat.]]> 288 Kathy Reichs 1668050927 D. 5 3.84 2024 Fire and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #23)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: D.
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/12
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[French Kiss (Detective Luc Moncrief, #1)]]> 29605492
Very handsome and charming French detective Luc Moncrief joined the NYPD for a fresh start-but someone wants to make his first big case his last. Welcome to New York.]]> 160 James Patterson 1786530295 D. 4 3.50 2016 French Kiss (Detective Luc Moncrief, #1)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves: heart-wrenching, law-and-order, love, murder-mystery, perseverance
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Night Fire (Renée Ballard, #3; Harry Bosch, #22; Harry Bosch Universe, #33)]]> 43885041 Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renee Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him -- new from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly

Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, John Jack Thompson, is dead, but after his funeral his widow hands Bosch a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before -- the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.

Bosch brings the murder book to Renée Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. That will be their starting point.

The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?]]> 405 Michael Connelly 0316485616 D. 0 4.14 2019 The Night Fire (Renée Ballard, #3; Harry Bosch, #22; Harry Bosch Universe, #33)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, law-and-order, murder-mystery, perseverance
review:

]]> Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 D. 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: D.
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The City and Its Uncertain Walls]]> 209192695 From the bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World comes a love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for our peculiar times.

We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears . . . and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life.

Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world—a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a singular and towering achievement by one of modern literature’s most important writers.]]> 449 Haruki Murakami 0593801970 D. 0 to-read 3.71 2023 The City and Its Uncertain Walls
author: Haruki Murakami
name: D.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Playground 205478762 The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.]]> 381 Richard Powers 1324086033 D. 0 to-read 4.15 2024 Playground
author: Richard Powers
name: D.
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Trial: A BookShot: A Women's Murder Club Story (BookShots)]]> 135795592
An accused murderer called Kingfisher is about to go on trial for his life. Or is he? By unleashing unexpected violence on the lawyers, jurors, and police involved in the case, he has paralyzed the city. Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club are caught in the eye of the storm.

Now comes a courtroom shocker you will never see coming.]]> James Patterson D. 3 3.73 2016 The Trial: A BookShot: A Women's Murder Club Story (BookShots)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: family, family-dysfunction, hispanics, law-and-order
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Medical Examiner (Women's Murder Club, #16.5)]]> 32603493
A woman checks into a hotel room and entertains a man who is not her husband. A shooter blows away the lover and wounds the millionairess, leaving her for dead. Is it the perfect case for the Women's Murder Club – or just the most twisted?]]> 144 James Patterson 178653102X D. 4 murder-mystery, law-and-order 3.66 2017 The Medical Examiner (Women's Murder Club, #16.5)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: murder-mystery, law-and-order
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on Gramercy Park (Gaslight Mystery, #3)]]> 492656
At a summons from Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, Sarah arrives at the elegant home of famed magnetic healer Edmund Blackwell to find his wife in labor—and the good doctor dead from an apparent suicide. Only Malloy sees what no one else wants to: that Blackwell was murdered in his own home


After a successful delivery, the Blackwell baby falls mysteriously ill. Relying on her nurse’s training and woman’s intuition, Sarah discovers the source of the baby’s sickness—and discovers a scandal that leads Malloy’s investigation down a gilded path paved with greed, deception, and desire
]]> 329 Victoria Thompson 0425178862 D. 5 3.99 2001 Murder on Gramercy Park (Gaslight Mystery, #3)
author: Victoria Thompson
name: D.
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Ambush (Michael Bennett, #11) 38095071
The life of New York's top cop is not the only one at risk. One of Bennett's children sustains a mysterious injury. And a series of murders follows, each with a distinct signature, alerting Bennet to the presence of a professional killer.

Investigators chase leads that turn out to be phantoms, and this master killer entices one officer into compromising Bennett. He then goes a step further, luring another member of Bennett's family into even graver danger. Michael Bennett can't untangle what's driving the assassin-but he can tell it's personal. And he needs to determine exactly how he figures in the killer's logic, before there is one fewer Bennett in the world.]]> 432 James Patterson 1780895232 D. 5 3.90 2018 Ambush (Michael Bennett, #11)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Weekend Wife 34714939 I now pronounce you husband and wife... for the weekend.
When Megan Rooney gets fired from her job, her life is turned upside down. But then her sexy neighbor, Nick Walker, tells her that he needs a wife for a weekend trip to Tuscany, and she's the perfect candidate. She surprises herself when she agrees to go--but what if the lie turns out to be exactly what she's always wanted?
BookShots Flames
Original romances presented by JAMES PATTERSON Novels you can devour in a few hours Impossible to stop reading ]]> 144 Beth Ciotta 0316470139 D. 4 3.94 2017 The Weekend Wife
author: Beth Ciotta
name: D.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Eruption 199372731
“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”—USA Today

“Eruption is an epic thriller
fast-paced and deeply considered
a cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart, tackling big themes like love and loss.”
–TŸ±łŸ±đ

The master of the techno-blockbuster joins forces with the master of the modern thriller to create the most anticipated mega bestseller in years.

Michael Crichton, creator of Jurassic Park, ER, Twister, and Westworld, had a passion project he’d been pursuing for years, ahead of his untimely passing in 2008. Knowing how special it was, his wife, Sherri Crichton, held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson, the world’s most popular storyteller.

“Red-hot storytelling... The action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build." –Kirkus, starred review

“Explosive
the summer’s ultimate literary mashup.” —Washington Post

"Takes readers on a thrilling journey." —BBC

"Beachbag-ready." —Boston Globe

“A seismic publishing event
all the elements of a summer blockbuster
it’s a thrill and the pages practically turn themselves.” —Associated Press

“Eruption is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie.” –Los Angeles Times

"Breakneck and plausible." —Publishers Weekly]]> 423 Michael Crichton 0316565083 D. 5 3.79 2024 Eruption
author: Michael Crichton
name: D.
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Eruption (Eruption #1) 22616883 288 Adrienne Quintana 1462115365 D. 0 nature, to-read 4.16 2015 Eruption (Eruption #1)
author: Adrienne Quintana
name: D.
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves: nature, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder in Rose Hill (Gaslight Mystery, #27)]]> 194803815 Midwife Sarah Malloy and her private detective husband Frank discover that the cure is worse than the disease when they investigate the death of a promising young woman in this atmospheric, riveting mystery from the USA TODAY bestselling author of Murder on Bedford Street.
Ìę
Sarah Malloy has just helped with the delivery of a bouncing baby girl atÌęher women’s clinic, when she receives a visit from anÌęengaging andÌędeterminedÌęyoung woman writing an article for New Century Magazine. LouisaÌęRodgersÌęexplains that she is researching the dangers of patentÌęremedies. Sarah is only too happy to tell Louisa exactly what she thinks of the so-calledÌęmedicinesÌęwhose ingredients include heavy doses of alcohol and other addictive drugs, and hurt much more than they help.

A few days later, Sarah receives a visit from aÌębereft Bernard Rodgers, whoÌęexplains that his daughter, Louisa, has been found strangled in the lobby of the building where New Century has its offices. The police have decided it was a random attack and have made no attempt to investigate, hinting that Louisa got what she deserved for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. Sarah wants justice for the bright young woman but as she and Frank delve deeper into Louisa’s life, they find that nothing is quite as it seemed and Louisa is not who she claimed to be. The Malloys must first solve the mystery of Louisa’s life before they can figure out who wanted to see her dead
]]> 336 Victoria Thompson 0593639790 D. 4 3.94 2024 Murder in Rose Hill (Gaslight Mystery, #27)
author: Victoria Thompson
name: D.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves: london-england, murder-mystery, family-dysfunction, family, insightful, intrigue, romance
review:

]]> Twilight Territory 150779167
As the Viet Minh begin to battle the French and Takeshi risks his life for the Resistance, Tuyet and her family are drawn into the conflict, with devastating consequences. A lushly panoramic novel, by turns gritty and profoundly moving, Twilight Territory is a war story and a love story that offers a fascinating perspective on Vietnam’s struggles to break free of its French colonial past.]]> 400 Andrew X. Pham 1324064846 D. 0 to-read 3.45 2024 Twilight Territory
author: Andrew X. Pham
name: D.
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Summer Will Be Different 197577126 This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won’t give into temptation. This summer will be different.

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

It’s easier said than done.

Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won’t wind up in Felix’s bed. Again.

If Lucy can’t help being drawn to Felix, at least she’s always kept her heart out of it.

When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she’s never been able to. But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.]]> 368 Carley Fortune 0593638883 D. 5 3.94 2024 This Summer Will Be Different
author: Carley Fortune
name: D.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Highgate Cemetery Murder (Tate and Bell Mystery, #1)]]> 202712672
Hours later, the man’s cold body lies in the city mortuary, alongside the woman he couldn’t save. And his sister, unconventional nurse Gemma Tate, tracks down troubled police inspector Sebastian Bell to unravel the truth.

Sebastian has enough pressure to solve the murder of an aristocratic heiress without Gemma meddling in his case. But the cryptic sentences she brings him from her brother’s notebook could be a crucial lead. If only they knew what “milky way” meant. But as the trail of clues takes them away from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobility and into the dangerous slums of London, how far will their partnership be tested on the quest for justice, and will they both emerge unscathed?

Fans of Andrea Penrose, Deanna Raybourn and Carole Lawrence will be hooked on this intricate, compelling mystery set in Victorian London.]]> 367 Irina Shapiro 1805081772 D. 5 4.25 2024 The Highgate Cemetery Murder (Tate and Bell Mystery, #1)
author: Irina Shapiro
name: D.
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/17
date added: 2024/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon]]> 199798198
The Grand Canyon is an American treasure, visited by more than 6 million people a year, many of whom are rendered speechless by its vast beauty, mystery, and complexity. Now, in A Walk in the Park , author Kevin Fedarko chronicles his year-long effort to find a 750-mile path along the length of the Grand Canyon, through a vertical wilderness suspended between the caprock along the rims of the abyss and the Colorado River, which flows along its bottom.

Consisting of countless cliffs and steep drops, plus immense stretches with almost no access to water, and the fact that not a single trail links its eastern doorway to its western terminus, this jewel of national parks is so challenging that when Fedarko departed fewer people had completed the journey in one single hike than had walked on the moon. The intensity of the effort required him to break his trip into several legs, each of which held staggering dangers and unexpected discoveries.

Accompanying Fedarko through this sublime yet perilous terrain is the award-winning photographer Peter McBride, who captures the stunning landscape in breathtaking photos. Together, they encounter long-lost Native American ruins, the remains of Old West prospectors’ camps, present day tribal activists, and signs that commercial tourism is impinging on the park’s remote wildness.

An epic adventure, action-packed survival tale, and a deep spiritual journey, A Walk in the Park gives us an unprecedented glimpse of the crown jewel of America’s National an iconic landscape framed by ancient rock whose contours are recognized by all, but whose secrets and treasures are known to almost no one, and whose topography encompasses some of the harshest, least explored, most awe-inspiring terrain in the world.]]> 488 Kevin Fedarko 1501183052 D. 0 to-read 4.22 2024 A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
author: Kevin Fedarko
name: D.
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Guncle (The Guncle, #1) 54508798
So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting—even if temporary—isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.]]> 326 Steven Rowley 0525542280 D. 0 to-read 4.09 2021 The Guncle (The Guncle, #1)
author: Steven Rowley
name: D.
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at the Foundling Hospital (A Tate and Bell Mystery, #3)]]> 211037642 Gemma’s boots slip on uneven ground and her black cape catches in the wind as she runs. “Please, not Lucy,” she prays.

Nurse Gemma Tate is heartbroken when she hears that one of her young charges at the Foundling Hospital has been killed. She knows that police inspector Sebastian Bell will work tirelessly to uncover the truth, but, obstructed by the curt matron, he’ll need her help navigating the cloistered world of the orphanage.

The mystery thickens when Sebastian finds a small wooden doll clutched in the murdered girl’s hand and Gemma hears whispers of a shadowy romance. But that isn’t the darkest secret hidden behind the high hospital walls. As time runs down on the investigation, Gemma won’t give up. But could the shocking discovery she makes be her last?

A gripping gas lit Victorian mystery, perfect for fans of Andrea Penrose, the Lady Sherlock mysteries, and Miss Scarlet and the Duke.]]> 318 Irina Shapiro 1805086596 D. 0 to-read 4.26 Murder at the Foundling Hospital (A Tate and Bell Mystery, #3)
author: Irina Shapiro
name: D.
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

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

Over a decade in the writing, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.]]> 480 David Baldacci 1538765020 D. 5 4.38 2024 A Calamity of Souls
author: David Baldacci
name: D.
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach D. 0 to-read 4.10 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: D.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Never Lie 62080187
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate
 with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]> 286 Freida McFadden D. 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: D.
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out
 and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of


An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 D. 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: D.
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stingrays 33224083 When a teenager goes missing on a Caribbean beach, the local police are baffled. It's up to the Stingrays, a world class team that solves the unsolvable, to unearth the truth--a truth that no one will believe.

BookShots
LIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
- Novels you can devour in a few hours
- Impossible to stop reading
- All original content from James Patterson]]> 144 James Patterson 1786531585 D. 4 3.49 2017 Stingrays
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Alert (Michael Bennett, #8) 24396884 "This is not a test"—every New Yorker's worst nightmare is about to become a reality.

New Yorkers aren't easily intimidated, but someone is doing their best to scare them, badly: why? After two inexplicable high-tech attacks, the city that never sleeps is on edge. Detective Michael Bennett, along with his old pal, the FBI's Emily Parker, have to catch the shadowy criminals who claim responsibility—but they're as good at concealing their identities as they are at wreaking havoc.

In the wake of a shocking assassination, Bennett begins to suspect that these mysterious events are just the prelude to the biggest threat of all. Soon he's racing against the clock, and against the most destructive enemy he's faced yet, to save his beloved city—before everyone's worst nightmare becomes a reality.

]]> 368 James Patterson 0316407038 D. 4 3.89 2015 Alert (Michael Bennett, #8)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, law-and-order
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Manhunt (Michael Bennett, #10.5)]]> 34834618 Michael Bennett, be grateful you're alive.

Someone attacked the Thanksgiving Day Parade directly in front of Michael Bennett and his family. The television news called it "holiday terror"--Michael Bennett calls it personal. The hunt is on....

BookShots
LIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
- Novels you can devour in a few hours
- Impossible to stop reading
- All original content from James Patterson]]> 145 James Patterson 0316473510 D. 4 3.85 2017 Manhunt (Michael Bennett, #10.5)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves:
review:

]]> The Women 127305853
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 D. 0 to-read 4.58 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: D.
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Chase (Michael Bennett, #9.5) 29766806 "This was no suicide," says Detective Michael Bennett.

A man plunges to his death from the roof of a Manhattan hotel. It looks like a suicide--except the victim has someone else's fingerprints and $10,000 in cash. Enter Detective Michael Bennett.

BookShots
LIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
- Novels you can devour in a few hours
- Impossible to stop reading
- All original content from James Patterson]]> 118 James Patterson 031636164X D. 4 3.85 2016 Chase (Michael Bennett, #9.5)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/17
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Great Novels: His Latest Bestsellers (A Darkness More Than Night / City of Bones / Chasing the Dime)]]> 58965 816 Michael Connelly 0752867334 D. 0 to-read 4.28 Three Great Novels: His Latest Bestsellers (A Darkness More Than Night / City of Bones / Chasing the Dime)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Chasing the Dime (Harry Bosch Universe, #12)]]> 32507 Pierce has just been thrown out by his girlfriend and moved into a new apartment, and the company he founded is headed into the most critical phase of fund-raising. He's been "chasing the dime" - doing all it takes to come out first in a technological battle whose victor will make millions. But he can't get the messages for a woman named Lilly out of his head:

"Uh, yes, hello, my name is Frank. I'm at the Peninsula. Room six twelve. So give me a call when you can."

Something is wrong. Pierce probes, investigates, and then tumbles through a hole, leaving behind a life driven by work to track down and help a woman he has never met.

The world he enters is one of escorts, websites, sex, and secret passions. The beautiful Lilly is an object of desire to thousands. To Pierce, she becomes the key that might fix a broken life. But in pursuing Lilly, Pierce has entered a landscape where his success and expertise mean nothing. He is a mark, an outsider, and soon he is also the victim of astonishing violence, the chief suspect in a murder case, and fighting for his life against forces he can barely discern.

]]> 448 Michael Connelly 044661162X D. 0 to-read 3.95 2002 Chasing the Dime (Harry Bosch Universe, #12)
author: Michael Connelly
name: D.
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crosshairs (Michael Bennett, #16)]]> 195834283
A sniper dubbed “The Long Shot Killer” is taking out impossible targets in New York City.

As the unknown shooter’s hit list mounts, Detective Michael Bennett calls for reinforcements.

Officer Rob Trilling doesn’t like to talk about himself.ÌęBut he has an impressive resume as a former Army Ranger who’s won a Bronze Star and recognition as a sniper with NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit.Ìę

​Bennett struggles to connect with the soldier, barely older than his own ten kids, especiallyÌęwhen Trilling begins to log unexplained absences from duty.Ìę

Trilling may be more comfortable with rifles than he is with people, but only Bennett can prove whether his partner is a lonely hunter or a hardened assassin.Ìę]]> 400 James Patterson 031640358X D. 5 4.46 2024 Crosshairs (Michael Bennett, #16)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/16
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves:
review:
Loved it! Mind you just over half way thru I had an inkling of who was actually the shooter. Still glad everything worked out well. Won't say anymore so I don't ruin it. Good read!
]]> <![CDATA[Make-Ahead Meals: 150+ Recipes to Enjoy Every Day of the Week]]> 22749907
Better Homes and Gardens Make-Ahead Meals is a must-have recipe collection for anyone looking to get homemade dishes on the table with ease. Filled with over 150 recipes and 100 gorgeous photos, plus tips and tricks for quick food prep and complete meals, this book makes planning dinner a breeze.

Make-ahead cooking isn’t about stocking the freezer with pre-made meals that don’t keep well. This book shows cooks how to plan and prep prior to serving, through techniques like freezing carefully to preserve freshness, creating refrigerator casseroles, or using a slow cooker in the morning for dinner that night. Make-ahead cooking also saves money. For time-strapped families, these strategies can be the difference between a home-cooked meal and spending money on packaged meals or ordering in.]]> 300 Better Homes and Gardens 0544456165 D. 3 3.26 2015 Make-Ahead Meals: 150+ Recipes to Enjoy Every Day of the Week
author: Better Homes and Gardens
name: D.
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year]]> 195820787 Ìę
This is Milk Street’s new and comprehensive guide to today’s recipe repertoire, full of fresh flavors and simple yet game-changing techniques. This is everyday cooking you actually want to cook every day.
Ìę
Milk Street 365 Ìęis both inspiration and reference for the contemporary kitchen, with recipes that will change the way you cook at home==from soups, stews and salads to flatbreads, pizzas and noodles. Dishes
Ìę Ìę
You’ll learn better ways to roast chicken ( flat birds crisp better, and seasonings stay in place when slid under the skin) and discover bold finishes for chops and steaks (think a slather of cilantro-lime sauce or a smear of miso butter).
Ìę
Here, fundamental recipes and their nearly endless variations are paired with lessons on the art and science of good cooking. Sidebars and charts deliver valuable guidance about the tools, ingredients and techniques that comprise the modern kitchen.Ìę
Ìę
It’s a 360-degree approach for all 365 days of the year.]]> 640 Christopher Kimball 031653868X D. 4 3.81 Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year
author: Christopher Kimball
name: D.
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/15
date added: 2024/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller (Jack Reacher #19.1)]]> 23173133 In this short story from the thrilling anthology FaceOff, bestselling authors Lee Child and Joseph Finder—along with their popular series characters Jack Reacher and Nick Heller—team up for the first time ever.When Jack Reacher sits down to watch a baseball game at a Boston bar, he has no way of knowing what kind of trouble is about to walk in the door—and not just because he’s a Yankees fan in a Red Sox town. In this action-packed short story, Reacher and a new acquaintance—Sox fan Nick Heller—find themselves drawn into a much less friendly rivalry when the guy sitting between them at the bar turns out to be a marked man. For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven short stories in FaceOff!]]> 26 Lee Child 1476788790 D. 5 3.82 2014 Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller (Jack Reacher #19.1)
author: Lee Child
name: D.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Small Wars (Jack Reacher, #19.5)]]> 25775707
What could connect a cold-blooded off-post shooting with Reacher, his elder brother Joe, and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon?]]> 44 Lee Child 1473540488 D. 4 3.89 2015 Small Wars (Jack Reacher, #19.5)
author: Lee Child
name: D.
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3) 220970 432 Lee Child 0515128635 D. 4 4.08 1999 Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3)
author: Lee Child
name: D.
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Payback in Death (In Death, #57)]]> 75260734 Lt. Eve Dallas is back and this time she's investigating the death of one of her own.

When a retired police officer is found shot dead in his home, Eve and the team are called to the scene to investigate. The victim is Martin Greenleaf, former Captain of Internal Affairs. At first glance it looks like suicide but Eve thinks there could be more to this carefully laid scene than meets the eye.

Captain Greenleaf put a lot of cops away during his forty-seven years in Internal Affairs. Did the weight of the job finally prove too much for him? Or could this be a case of payback in death...]]> 364 J.D. Robb D. 4 4.50 2023 Payback in Death (In Death, #57)
author: J.D. Robb
name: D.
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: good-guy-vs-bad-guy, law-and-order, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Traitors' Gate (A Tate and Bell Mystery, #2)]]> 209174656 The chill of winter has descended on London. But for Sebastian Bell and Gemma Tate, there will be little cheer this season


Gemma Tate has a new job and a new address. She is putting her past – her memories of nursing in the Crimean war – behind her. Until Jacob Harrow, a journalist with ties to Crimea, is found brutally killed, and Gemma is pulled into the investigation.

Police inspector Sebastian Bell works alone. But when all signs point towards a dark secret Harrow brought back from the war, he realizes he needs Gemma’s help to untangle the mystery. But raking up the past has devastating consequences when Gemma’s friend, another nurse from Crimea, is found murdered in her boarding house


As dark betrayals come tumbling out, Gemma and Sebastian are on a dangerous race to uncover the truth. In her determination to solve the case, could one rash act by Gemma place her next in the killer’s sights
?

The second addictive and atmospheric Tate and Bell mystery is perfect for fans of Andrea Penrose, the Lady Sherlock mysteries, and Miss Scarlet and the Duke]]> 320 Irina Shapiro 1805081802 D. 0 to-read 4.33 2024 Murder at Traitors' Gate (A Tate and Bell Mystery, #2)
author: Irina Shapiro
name: D.
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic]]> 75666350
Looking out his porch window one spring morning, Adam Shoalts spotted a majestic peregrine falcon flying across the neighbouring fields near Lake Erie. Each spring, falcons migrate from southernmost Canada to remote arctic mountains. Grabbing his backpack and canoe, Shoalts resolved to follow the falcon’s route north on an astonishing 3,400-kilometre journey to the Arctic.

Along the way, he faces a huge variety of challenges and obstacles, including storms on the Great Lakes, finding campsites in the urban wilderness of Toronto and Montreal, avoiding busy commercial freighter traffic, gale force winds, massive hydroelectric dams, bushwhacking without trails, dealing with hunger, multiple bear encounters, and navigating white-water rapids on icy northern rivers far from any help.

In his signature style, Shoalts roams as much across space as he does time, winding his way through a stunning diversity of landscapes ranging from lush Carolinian forests to lonely windswept mountains, salty seas to trackless swamps, pristine lakes to glittering mega-cities, as well as the sites of long ago battles, shipwrecks, forgotten forts, and abandoned trading posts. Through his travels, he reveals how interconnected wild places are, from the loneliest depths of the northern wilderness to busy urban parks, and the vital importance of these connections.

Where the Falcon Flies invites readers on an extraordinary armchair adventure that spans five ecoregions and centuries of fascinating history, and is a masterwork by one of Canada’s most successful and audacious authors.
]]> 362 Adam Shoalts D. 4 4.28 Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic
author: Adam Shoalts
name: D.
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: insightful, perspective-correction, nature
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holmes, Marple & Poe (Holmes, Margaret & Poe, #1)]]> 146500884 Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and August Poe run the most in-demand private investigation firm in New York City.

The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes which expose the dark underbelly of the city; from priceless art theft, a high-stakes kidnapping, and a decades-old unsolved murder, to a gruesome subterranean prison, and corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power.

But it's not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods - and untraceable pasts - attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI.

After all, it's no surprise that there's a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Marple and Poe?]]> 352 James Patterson 0316405299 D. 5 4.13 2024 Holmes, Marple & Poe (Holmes, Margaret & Poe, #1)
author: James Patterson
name: D.
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/07
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight]]> 4937206 Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Linda Bacon, PhD, presents a well-researched, healthy-living manual that debunks the weight myths and translates the latest science into practical advice to help readers forever end their battle with weight.]]> 326 Linda Bacon 1933771585 D. 0 to-read 4.16 2008 Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight
author: Linda Bacon
name: D.
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Chaos Agent (Gray Man, #13)]]> 157980068 Artificial intelligence leads to shockingly real danger for the Gray Man in this latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.A car accident in Japan.A drowning in Seoul.A home invasion in Boston.Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and artificial intelligence. Is it a tech company trying to eliminate the competition or is it something even more sinister?After all, artificial intelligence may be the deadliest battlefield gamechanger since the creation of gunpowder. The first nation to field weapons that can act at the speed of computer commands will rule the battlefield.It’s an irresistible lure for most, but not for the Gray Man. His quest for a quiet life has led him to Central America where he and his lover, Zoya Zakharova, have assumed new identities. With a list of enemies that Ìęincludes billionaires, terrorists, and governments, they need to keep a low profile, but the world’s deadliest assassin can’t expect to hide out forever.Eventually, they’re tracked down and offered a job by an old acquaintance of Zoya’s. He needs their help extracting a Russian scientist who is on the kill list. They reject the offer, but just being seen with him is enough to put assassins on their trail.Now, they’re back on the run, but no matter which way they turn, it's clear that whoever's tracking them is always going to be one step ahead. Since flight’s no longer possible, fight is the only option left, and no one fights dirtier than the Gray Man.]]> 556 Mark Greaney 0593548159 D. 5 4.49 2024 The Chaos Agent (Gray Man, #13)
author: Mark Greaney
name: D.
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/03
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: thriller, intrigue, good-guy-vs-bad-guy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I]]> 101160707 This instant New York Times bestselling “dynamic detective story” (The New York Times) reveals the hidden history Rudolf Diesel, one of the world’s greatest inventors, and his mysterious disappearance on the eve of World War I.

September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder.

After rising from an impoverished European childhood, Diesel had become a multi-millionaire with his powerful engine that does not require expensive petroleum-based fuel. In doing so, he became not only an international celebrity but also the enemy of two extremely powerful Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the world.

The Kaiser wanted the engine to power a fleet of submarines that would finally allow him to challenge Great Britain’s Royal Navy. But Diesel had intended for his engine to be used for the betterment of the world.

Now, New York Times bestselling author Douglas Brunt reopens the case and provides an “absolutely riveting” (Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author) new conclusion about Diesel’s fate. Brunt’s book is “equal parts Walter Isaacson and Sherlock Holmes, [and] yanks back the curtain on the greatest caper of the 20th century in this riveting history” (Jay Winik, New York Times bestselling author).]]> 378 Douglas Brunt 1982169907 D. 3 history-inventors 4.21 2023 The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
author: Douglas Brunt
name: D.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/28
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves: history-inventors
review:

]]> The Frozen River 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 D. 0 to-read 4.37 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: D.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Funny Story 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancĂ©e’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry D. 0 to-read 4.21 2024 Funny Story
author: Emily Henry
name: D.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies (The Vacation Mysteries, #1)]]> 195790849 Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series―is that too much to ask?

Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life―the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can't get out of her life―Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.

Contending with literary rivals, rabid fans, a stalker―and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly―theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts, and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.]]> 342 Catherine Mack 1250325854 D. 0 to-read 3.47 2024 Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies (The Vacation Mysteries, #1)
author: Catherine Mack
name: D.
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works]]> 123979539 446 Helen Czerski 1324006714 D. 0 to-read 4.17 2023 The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works
author: Helen Czerski
name: D.
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards]]> 199798901
In the midst of mourning her husband’s sudden death, writer Jessica Waite discovered shocking secrets that undermined everything she thought she knew about the man she’d loved and trusted. From uncovered affairs to drug use and a pornography addiction, Waite was overwhelmed reconciling this devastating information with her new reality as a widowed single mom. Then, to further complicate matters, strange, inexplicable coincidences forced her to consider whether her husband was reaching back from beyond the grave.

With her signature candor and unflinching honesty, Waite details her tumultuous love story and the pain of adjusting to the new normal she built for herself and her son. A riveting, difficult, and surprisingly beautiful story, The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is also a lyrical exploration of grief, mental health, single parenthood, and betrayal that demonstrates that the most moving love stories aren’t perfect—they’re flawed and poignantly real.]]> 320 Jessica Waite 1668044854 D. 0 to-read 3.51 2024 The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards
author: Jessica Waite
name: D.
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All This & More 199515825 The Cartographers and The Book of M comes an inventive new novel about a woman who wins the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made
 and how far she’ll go to find her elusive “happily ever after.”

But there’s a twist: the reader gets to decide what she does next to change her fate.

One woman. Endless options. Every choice has consequences.

Meek, play-it-safe Marsh has just turned forty-five, and her life is in shambles. Her career is stagnant, her marriage has imploded, and her teenage daughter grows more distant by the day. Marsh is convinced she’s missed her chance at everything—romance, professional fulfillment, and adventure—and is desperate for a do-over.

She can’t believe her luck when she’s selected to be the star of the global sensation All This and More, a show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants the chance to revise their pasts and change their present lives. It’s Marsh’s only shot to seize her dreams, and she’s determined to get it right this time.

But even as she rises to become a famous lawyer, gets back together with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world, she begins to worry that All This and More’s promises might be too good to be true. Because while the technology is amazing, something seems a bit off.


Can Marsh really make her life everything she wants it to be? And is it worth it?

Perfect for fans of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, bestselling author Peng Shepherd’s All This and More is an utterly original, startlingly poignant novel that puts the reader in the driver’s seat.]]> 469 Peng Shepherd 0063278979 D. 0 to-read 3.33 2024 All This & More
author: Peng Shepherd
name: D.
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Nature of Disappearing 195790594 In this captivating novel of suspense, a wilderness guide must team up with the man who ruined her life years ago when the friend who introduced them goes missing.

Emlyn doesn’t let herself think about the past.

How she and her best friend, Janessa, barely speak anymore. How Tyler, the man she thought was the love of her life, left her freezing and half-dead on the side of the road three years ago.

Her new life is simple and safe. She works as a fishing and hunting guide, spending her days in Idaho’s endless woods and scenic rivers. She lives alone in her Airstream trailer, her closest friends a handsome and kind Forest Service ranger and the community’s makeshift reverend, who took her in at her lowest.

But when Tyler shows up with the news that Janessa is missing, Emlyn is propelled back into the world she worked so hard to forget. Janessa, it turns out, has become a social media star, documenting her #vanlife adventures with her rugged survivalist boyfriend. But she hasn’t posted lately, and when she does, it’s from a completely different location than where her caption claims to be. In spite of their fractured history, Emlyn knows she might be the only one with the knowledge and tracking skills to save her friend, so she reluctantly teams up with Tyler. As the two trace Janessa’s path through miles of wild country, Emlyn can’t deny there’s still chemistry crackling between them. But the deeper they press into the wilderness, the more she begins to suspect that a darker truth lies in the woods―and that Janessa isn’t the only one in danger.

Poignant, suspenseful, and unforgettable, THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING explores what it takes to start over―and the cost of letting the past pull you back in.]]> 304 Kimi Cunningham Grant 1250907616 D. 0 to-read 3.62 2024 The Nature of Disappearing
author: Kimi Cunningham Grant
name: D.
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bear 196056205 A mesmerising novel of two sisters on a Pacific Northwest island whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor — a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods, by the celebrated, bestselling author of Disappearing Earth.

They were sisters and they would last past the end of time.

Sam and her sister, Elena, dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works long days on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence.

Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the plan to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.

A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us — and within us — Bear is a propulsive, mythical, rich novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.]]> 304 Julia Phillips 0525520430 D. 0 to-read 3.21 2024 Bear
author: Julia Phillips
name: D.
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grow Your Own Herbs: The 40 Best Culinary Varieties for Home Gardens]]> 40591871 Grow Your Own Herbs, garden experts Susan Belsinger and Arthur O. Tucker share everything a new gardener or home cook needs to know to grow the forty most important culinary herbs.ÌęGrow Your Own Herbs starts with basic gardening informationÌęwith details on soil, watering, and potting. Profiles of 40 herbs—including popular varieties like basil, bay laurel, lemon verbena, tarragon, savory, thyme, and more—feature tasting notes, cultivation information, and harvesting tips. Additional information includes instructions for preserving and storing, along with techniques for making delicious pastes, syrups, vinegar, and butters.ÌęGrow Your Own Herbs is perfect for those new to gardening, gardeners with limited space, and anyone looking to add fresh herbs to their daily meals.
Ìę]]> 224 Susan Belsinger 1604699299 D. 4 4.06 Grow Your Own Herbs: The 40 Best Culinary Varieties for Home Gardens
author: Susan Belsinger
name: D.
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Herbs! Creative Herb Garden Themes and Projects]]> 12022321 192 Judy Lowe 1591864909 D. 4 4.00 2011 Herbs! Creative Herb Garden Themes and Projects
author: Judy Lowe
name: D.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/20
date added: 2024/05/20
shelves:
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]]> The Classic Herb Garden 21179746 A helpful guidebook to growing herbs successfully and safely, with photos included. Ìę Herbs have been used since ancient times both to flavor food and as natural medicines. In this easy-access guide, gardener Gordon Thorburn reveals different types of herb gardens to suit your needs—from those that don’t require a lot of attention (mint and rosemary don’t need much watering, but basil and the beautiful Vietnamese coriander are very demanding), to classic herb gardens, culinary options, and medicinal herb gardens. Ìę Whether you suffer from migraines, insomnia, coughs and colds, or fatigue, there are herbs which can treat you without side effects. But some herbs can prove fatal—so you can also discover which herbs are safe to use as herbal teas, but not as salad leaves, in this guide to creating the perfect herb garden for your needs. Ìę Each herb is listed with growing instructions and its culinary and medicinal uses, plus the color of its flowers and any must-know information, from health warnings to nature-friendly herbs which attract butterflies and bees to help pollinate your garden.]]> 293 Gordon Thorburn 1844689174 D. 4 3.75 2010 The Classic Herb Garden
author: Gordon Thorburn
name: D.
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/19
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]]> Loneliness & Company 195391728 A timely, beautifully observed debut novel set in near future New York about a young woman who finds herself tangled in a secret government project combating loneliness.

Lee’s life is perfectly mapped out. A top student and professor favorite, everyone expects her to land one of the coveted roles at a Big Five corporation. So when, upon graduating, Lee finds herself at a company no one’s heard of in the dead city of New York instead, her goals are completely upended.

In this new role, Lee’s task is to gather research to train an AI how to be a friend. She begins online and by studying the social circle of her outgoing roommate Veronika. But when it’s revealed that the company is part of a classified mission to solve loneliness—an emotion erased from society’s lexicon decades ago— Lee's determination to prove herself kicks into overdrive and she starts chasing bolder experiences for the AI.

How far will Lee go? As loneliness continues to spread, she must decide what she’s willing to give up for success and, along the way, learn what it means to be a true friend.

Loneliness & Company is an enchanting, gorgeously written novel about finding meaning and connection in a world beset by isolation.]]> 271 Charlee Dyroff 163973208X D. 0 to-read 3.73 2024 Loneliness & Company
author: Charlee Dyroff
name: D.
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Ministry of Time 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—for 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—and whether she believes—what 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 D. 0 to-read 3.54 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: D.
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Camino Ghosts (Camino Island #3)]]> 199550833 292 John Grisham 0385545991 D. 0 to-read 3.91 2024 Camino Ghosts (Camino Island #3)
author: John Grisham
name: D.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs]]> 201319612 The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus offers a revelatory look at the drugs upending weight loss as we knew it—from his personal experience on Ozempic to what these drugs mean for our society’s deeply dysfunctional relationship with food, weight, and our bodiesIn January 2023, bestselling author Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, the diabetes drug that produces significant weight loss. HeÌęwasn’t alone—credible predictions suggest that in two years, a quarter of the U.S. population will be taking this class of drug. Proponents say that this is a biological solution to a biological problem. While 95 percent of diets fail, the average person taking one of the new drugs will lose a quarter of their body weight in six months, and keep it off for as long as they take it. Here is a moment of liberation from an illness that massively increases your chances of diabetes, dementia, and cancer, and causes 10 percent of all deaths.ÌęStill, Hari was wildly conflicted. The massive rise in obesity rates around the world in the last half century didn’t happen because something went wrong with human biology. It happened because something went disastrously wrong with our We began to eat food designed to be maximally addictive. We built cities that are impossible to walk or bike around. We became much more stressed, making us seek out more comfort snacks. From this perspective, the new weight loss drugs arrive at a moment of madness. We built a food system that poisons us, then decided en masse to inject ourselves with a different potential poison that puts us off all food.A personal journey through weight loss combined with scientific evidence from experts, Magic Pill explores, as only Hari can, questions How did we get to this point? What does it reveal about our society that we couldn’t solve this problem socially, and instead turned to potentially risky pharmaceutical solutions? And will this free us from social pressure to conform to an ideal body type—or make that pressure even more dangerously intense?]]> 320 Johann Hari 0593728637 D. 0 to-read 4.26 2024 Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs
author: Johann Hari
name: D.
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
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