Bailed at 56%
I wanted to like this book. The historical stuff is impeccable but it got kind of repetitive and I really didn‘t care about Jake/George.
If I had had only a few hours left, I would‘ve soldiered on but I couldn‘t make myself finish the last 13.5 hours.

More historical romance than horror but it doesnt detract from the lush emotion & suspense in this gothic story.
When Nena & Nestor are attacked by a mysterious monster as children, Nestor flees, assuming his actions caused Nena‘s death. 9 years later, he returns as men from the rancho ride to defend Mexico from invaders.
Nena goes with to provide first aid, only to flee from Yanquis & the same monsters that nearly killed her when she was a child.

Told in dual timelines, this book follows Silvestre Swan, the keeper of Newfoundland‘s Swan lighthouse in 1913. When family politics get in the way of funding, he knows the lighthouse‘s days are numbered.
2014 brings Mari Adams in her search for the wreck of the Californian. To ensure the funding for her passion project, she accepts the job to find the story behind Swan Light.
Bittersweet with wonderful characters.

Detective Poirot has his work cut out for him when a man is found murdered just a few doors away. He and a wild cast of characters are snowed in and without access to regular law enforcement, it is up to Poirot to solve the crime.
Some of the leaps in logic felt a bit contrived but I was listening to the audio book so I might‘ve missed some things that made them make more sense.
Xenophobia aside (ahh the 1930s), I had a good time.

When arms instructor Lin Chong is wrongfully accused of treason, she is rescued and taken to the mountain sanctuary of Liangshan where she joins bandits who fight for the good of the Empire.

Bad ass women being bad ass while taking down corrupt politicians. Shes, Theys, and (maybe??) Gays unite!
Also, magic (that isn‘t magic).
I enjoyed this book so much!

Six friends, acquaintances, and strangers gather to discuss Austen‘s collective works while navigating their own messy lives.

I don‘t say this often, but the movie was much better. The book bounced around from so many POVs and timelines that it got confusing at times. There was also a lot of time spent on the characters‘ childhoods that didn‘t seem to matter to the plot.

When Sonya catches her fiancee in bed with her cousin, her world quickly deteriorates. When a surprise inheritance from an unknown uncle offers her a new start, she takes it with both hands. But living in a haunted mansion with one ghost that has it out for her family might not be the fresh start she was looking for.
This one didn‘t suck me in like Roberts‘ other books but it was fine. The cliffhanger ending has me eagerly waiting for #2.

When 5 year old Ruthie disappears, it sends the rest of her family, especially her brother Joe, spiraling, the effects that last for decades.
As a child, Norma was plagued by dreams of a mother different than her own, brothers & sisters, and a house full of laughter. It wasn‘t until a lifetime of gaslighting & emotional abuse later, does she find out that the dreams are actually memories of her childhood.
A lot of sad moments but such a good book

What a weird little story lol the plot was fairly predictable and the climax was pretty lackluster but I really enjoyed the characters. They were funny and real. A plus sized FMC whose personality wasn‘t all about being plus sized was nice to see. As was the diversity and LGBTQIA+ characters.
The insta-love trope was kinda 🙄 but with the short timeline of the book, it was the only way to make it happen.

It was interesting learning more about Grohl‘s life and about the bands he was in. He is a wonderful juxtaposition of dorky kid, anti-everything rebel, and man with a heart of gold.

I DNF‘d about a third of the way through. I just struggled to relate to or care about any of the characters.

In a world where women have magic but are forbidden from using it once they are married, Beatrice wants to forgo the marriage mart in favor of developing her magic but her family is nearly destitute and she needs to find a wealthy husband.
When she meets the Lavan siblings, people she believed to be her enemies would eventually show to be the answer to all her problems.

Murderbot, ART, ART‘s crew, and the team from Preservation are still on the planet that caused so many problems in Network Effect but with a different mission: getting the inhabitants to side with them against the corporate rim group wanting to mine the planet for resources. The colonists threw a wrench in the plans when they revealed there was a third settlement that had been isolated for 30 years. The race is on to beat Barish-Estranza to them.

This is an incredible book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, using the disappearance of Jean McConville as the framework to show the key players on both sides of the divide.
It was tough to know who to root for by the end. Nearly everybody was both a victim and a villain, but Jean left ten kids behind and they, like so many other Irish children, paid the price.

I love when past me sends present me gifts! I totally forgot I preordered this until it showed up at my door!

After the death of her grandmother, Cleo Fox is invited to live at the Mayfield, the luxury London hotel owned by her aunt and uncle. When a guest is murdered, Cleo dives into the investigation with the help of the hotel staff.

Such a delightful book. Cleo is very competent but not infallible and is more than willing to admit when she makes mistakes and accepts the consequences.

New graduate Aimee takes to the skies as the newest portal mage on her teacher‘s skyship, Elysium. When her first portal goes wonky and they end up in the middle of battle for a powerful relic, the Axiom Diamond, their small crew takes on the might of the Eternal Order.
Sci-fi and fantasy, this story of a found family has amazing characters, fantastic world building, and impeccable fight scenes.

This book feels like a love letter to book people wrapped up in a story about a woman finding her path in life while helping at her friend‘s bookstore.
Maggie is jobless and agrees to cover her friend‘s bookshop when she goes on maternity leave, but Maggie isn‘t a book person. When one mistake lands the shop in trouble, Maggie breaks all the rules to help it survive and accidentally builds a community.

Very much not for me.

Edit: this book is impeccably written, no plot holes, and Flynn‘s portrayal of mental illness is incredibly realistic. Now that I‘ve had a chance to think about it. I believe that was my problem, there was nothing to take me out of the story.

Gideon the Ninth vibes in a whodunnit set in an imperial court of intrigue with psychics.

Charm is the emperor‘s mistress, given Orchard House to run as a gentleman‘s club and brothel. Before he dies, he gives her the order to figure out who murdered him and kill any of his sons who wanted his throne.

Meanwhile, Charm has to protect her boneghosts and appease the new emperor and his mad brothers, all with her own splintered personality.

Five people, all struggling with different aspects of their lives, find their way to a mysterious coffee shop pop up where they are given delectable treats and life advice based on their astrology by giant talking cats.

The astrology stuff went over my head but the self-help stuff was actually lovely and light-handed with both a touch of fate and free will. The reveal at the end brought me to tears.

Chloe has spent the last few years overwhelmed by her chronic illness but when she‘s nearly hit by a car, she decides to take more risks. She makes a list of things she wants to accomplish and strong-arms her hot apartment super Red into helping her.
Really adorable hate-to-love romance with great disability representation, a plus size FMC, and struggles with mental illness.

I hated this book. Everything made it sound like a dark comedy… so far from the truth.
Every single man in this book sucked.
For people who have read a ton of true crime, Patty and her friends did so many things wrong.
The book club was pretty negligible to the plot.
It dragged horribly in places.
The men were literally the worst.

Between the new release of Dracula, a broken collarbone, & her sister‘s death, Tillie sets out to hunt the vampire she thinks killed her sister. Fueled by a budding opium addiction, a friendship with a lower class boy, & her obsessive personality, Tillie discovers a love for writing & a nefarious plot that took more lives than just her sister‘s.
It dragged in some places but the attention to detail was impeccable.

The author discusses growing up with an abusive mother, kind but oblivious father, and how that affected her when she was kidnapped and assaulted as a 14 year old.

There were 4-5 different timelines going and the bouncing around got very confusing after a while. She also included some from her kidnapper‘s POV which was weird since she didn‘t frame it as what he had told her, it was as if she were inside his head.

Māori detective Hana Westerman is sent a mysterious video that leads her to head up the investigation of two murders that quickly multiply. It‘s hard to stop a killer when he has centuries-old retribution as his goal.
Full of Māori history and culture, I highly recommend the audiobook so you can hear how the names and words are pronounced.

A rare Emily Henry miss for me.
Miscommunications abound in this book, while many of them come from a good place, nearly all the unhappiness in both the friendships and romantic relationships could have been avoided with one conversation.
On the other hand, Henry nails building an immersive setting and 3D characters.

Besties Jeremy and Rafe went missing in a WV forest when they were kids. They showed back up 6 months later without an explanation.
15 years later, Jeremy is a professional finder and Emilie asked him to help find her sister that disappeared in the same forest as him and Rafe, a few years before they did.
A wonderful combo of Chronicles of Narnia, Where the Wild Things Are, and Peter Pan & The Lost Boys but felt totally new.

Maelys is a semi-respectable Regency-era young lady who just happens to be cursed. It started with her dress dissolving at a ball and quickly escalates to attempts on her life. She recruits her best friend, her cousin, and Lady Georgiana Landrake aka The Duke, to help end the curse.
I usually love Hall‘s books but this one didn‘t land for me. It felt like two books with the exact same plot stuck together.
I did enjoy the magical realism, tho

Hana spent most of her life exiled from her home island, but when chance and three dragons bring her back, she makes it her mission to right the wrong that lead to her exile.
Sam is grandson to the Queen and has spent his life hunting for a dragon egg, the one thing that can save his mother‘s life. When Hana, his childhood best friend offers her help, he accepts without question, ignoring his suspicions.
Amazing book, I loved it beginning to end.

Language nerds and feminists unite in Montell‘s book showing how the English language has developed and how, even now, props up the patriarchy.
Funny, enlightening, and sometimes crude, I learned a lot while being entertained, beginning to end.

Opal grew up on the stories E. Starling published about the monsters in the Underland but when her mom dies in a car accident, she puts everything aside to raise her little brother.
When a chance encounter with Arthur, the mysterious owner of Starling house and heir of Opal‘s favorite author, leads to a job in the gothic house, Opal finds out E. Starling‘s book might not be as fictional as everybody thought.
Flawed characters and overcoming trauma

Weatherly is a Death Talker, she can pull somebody out of death‘s grasp, but only once.
She‘s never had much of a handle on her life but when her cousin/best friend is killed in a hit-and-run, she spirals in a whole new way, but when the mayor & his son are found dead, suspicion turns on her.
Weatherly‘s long-lost mom is somehow connected to the murders and Weatherly needs to know how.
Family drama, folk magic, childhood trauma, and perseverance.

After a terrible one-night-stand, Iris and Stevie run into each other at auditions for Stevie‘s ex‘s play. Out of desperation, they decide to fake date, Iris for inspo for her book, Stevie so her friends will get off her back.
There was some messed up logic that bugged me in this book. Lots of things I would consider tiny were blown up and lots of big things were shrugged off.
Also, Stevie‘s friends were the worst.

When Vicky‘s sister flees her marriage in the middle of the night, her family will do anything to avoid the scandal of a divorce, meaning Vicky has to marry quickly before word gets out and so her husband will be in place to prevent her brother-in-law from inheriting.
When a series of accidents stop looking like accidents, Vicky has to wonder who to trust, her father‘s business partner or her childhood friend.

A fictionalized take on the true unsolved axeman murders in New Orleans. It follows a detective, an ex-con, and a Pinkerton secretary as they separately investigate the murderer who had NOLA on edge for months.
There were a lot of storylines with side characters that had nothing to do with the main story. It tended to drag in a lot of places. I didn‘t like it was revenge.
And why was Louie Armstrong there??

In a world where monsters exist, Dymitr is a knight tasked with killing them but he wants out.
Ala is one of those monsters, living with a family curse that will lead to her death.
Niko is unique in his clan, valued for doing what no one else can, until he betrays them.
Dymitr knows how to cure Ala and will trade it for an introduction with Baba Jaga, the one person who can save him.
Incredible world building for such a short book.

Cristabel and her younger siblings, Flossy and Digby spend their youth telling stories and putting on productions using the bare skeleton of a whale as their theater.
The acting skills they gained in their youth come in handy for Cristabel and Digby when they become spies for the British in France during WWII.
It felt like two entirely different books. For me, the first half when they were kids dragged but the second half during the war was great.

To most of Oliver‘s family, he‘s known as Elizabeth or Lizzie. Only his sister Jane and his best friend, Charlotte know who he really is.
Then Charles Bingley and Mr. Darcy arrive in town and he feels the sting of Darcy‘s rejection as Lizzie but somehow befriends them as Oliver.
This was a delightfully queer Pride & Prejudice retelling with a trans male lead that maintains the friendships and yearning of the original.

Marguerite is back in town with a proposal for the White Rat that will change everything. She just needs to borrow a paladin and get her spy on.
Shane grew up in the temple of the Dreaming God, then got called by the Saint of Steel. When his god died he felt the sting of losing both.
They‘re on a mission to save a brilliant artificer & keep various factions from killing Marguerite.
It didn‘t feel like it fit with the others but the story was good.

Mermaid friends, Pearl, Tooth, and Eez, are big fans of the booze they found in a shipwreck but when they run out, they decide find more on the surface. Eez casts a spell, turning them human, but none of them thought past their first drinks. Thankfully, they find a friend who helps them navigate the human world.
Wonderful queer rep and body-positive art.

When children are killed and the Jewish community of Cambridge is blamed, King Henry II sends for a doctor of death to investigate. Adelia is the best but she is a woman doctor in Medieval England and is under constant threat of the community thinking she‘s a witch and a killer wanting to keep their secrets.
Such an immersive story that brings forensics, restrictive gender roles, and religious tension to a nail biting whodunit mystery.

Two serial killers bond over murder and their annual game, eventually falling in love and trying for a normal-ish life until a previous kill comes back to bite them in the ass.
I loved the humor and the backwardness of rooting for the serial killers.
Some of the dialogue was terrible and, while I‘m no prude, some of the spice went a beyond my comfort level.

Poppy is a witch but nothing in her life goes right and her hair is sentient.
Axl is a “Viking” illusionist with glorious abs and a manbun.
That‘s pretty much all we get for the two MCs personalities. The story was pretty flat but I enjoyed Poppy‘s landlady, Iris, and ship figureheads coming to life was wild.

Elliot is a cold, blunt, rule follower… ok he‘s an asshole. When he is allowed to attend school in the Borderlands (a fantasy land on the other side of a wall), he chooses the diplomacy route rather than military route and becomes a menace to everybody. Including the love of his life, Serene, and her best friend, Luke.
I felt like they all started too young for how they acted. It dragged on forever then boom, stuff happened, rinse and repeat.

Beth has one season to find a good match or she and her widowed mother will be destitute. Gwen is on her 4th season and is in no rush to wed.
When the two girls become friends, they decide to try to get their parents together and they‘re not going to let a little thing as the mutual hatred stop them. They just weren‘t counting on falling for each other.

Meddy‘s mom and three aunts conspire to set her up with a good man. Well, he turns out to be not so good and everything goes downhill from there. Especially when Meddy‘s old flame shows up.

Picture Weekend at Bernie‘s set at an Indonesian-Chinese-American wedding with meddling aunties instead of yuppies.

You need a good suspension of disbelief and I struggled with that. Otherwise it was fun.

Tommaso has a short time to turn his empty house into a home before his mom comes at Christmas but simple furniture shopping made him want to put a fist through the wall. So running into interior decorator Carter was perfect timing.
He just wasn‘t counting on getting feelings, even though he‘s not quite sure what the feelings are. Thankfully, his out-and-proud teammate lives across the street to help him.

I really struggled with this one.
1) There are so many things/people/organizations/places that come up and are important to the plot but are never explained. I checked at least 4 times to make sure this wasn‘t a sequel.
2) The acronyms were plentiful and ridiculous
3) A MLM is the bad guy (ok this was kind of funny if it had been done differently)

Wallace is an asshole.
And then he dies.
But he doesn‘t cross over right away. He is met by a reaper who escorts him to Charon‘s Crossing, a tea shop that doubles as a portal to the afterlife run by the enigmatic Hugo.
Wallace is given the opportunity to come to terms with the life he lead and the death nobody grieved and ended up finding a purpose, a family, and a home.
Sometimes you have to die for your life to begin.