Set in Shanghai, Alva is half Chinese half American. Raised by her mom. Lu Fang steps in as her stepfather. This book is culturally so accurate and touching. We all think we have it the worst and if we were to just move to somewhere else everything would be ok bc that‘s what we see. So good is this book. There are some hard parts but the author writes them in a way that she gets you through those terrible happenings. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is great! The world is a playground and we are all playing. The ocean, friendship, oceanography, AI…this book is so true and what a great cast of characters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I‘m so pleased I finally loved a Pulitzer Prize winning book.😏😆 Social media and the internet and all that has changed for not only us but for the entire living world out there.

If you like the Housewives franchise then this read is for you. Set in England, friends who are rich and involved! Best character is Ian the Executive Butler! Fun summer read.

A psychiatrist and his patient. The mind is a weird thing…is there a parallel universe out there? Letters used as part of the story. Makes you wonder. At the end though I felt like the patient!😂😂😂😳

Loved this! Favorite read of this year. You do not need to know what it‘s about it‘s that good! I never read the jacket covers, heard so much love for this book. Number one of my reading this year! Just get it and love it!:)

Always a good summer read…retirement with a loss at sea on the island of Nantucket. The story goes well with Hilderbrand‘s announcement that this is the last in her Nantucket based reads. Coco and Lamont have to put up with the rich islanders and the crazy newcomers. Money, money, money…🥳😏

Always a good quick read. We added some extra terrestrial science and I liked it. Good forensics and lost love. Kay Scarpetta is a good character still.

Loved the cover but the time travel gist needs to be explained and told earlier in this book. Could have been so good. Also not having quotation marks drove me crazy! I don‘t read the jackets of books so I went into this not knowing…3.75 stars for me. The worlds all seemed so blah? Could have been so so good.

If you love science fiction and want to be scared about AI this is the book. Better read for women than men..why? Bc if a man likes this then I am really scared! Love that a woman wrote this. Be free! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Found this not knowing that it was about two serial killers who may be working together…gemstones and the ten plagues are the killers calling card. Jena the Pittsburgh cop is on their trail to save Jack and the jurors of Silas who may be innocent but incarcerated. Quick read. Scary. 😱

I love Fiona Davis books. This time she chose the Met and the Met gala to tell the story of an Egyptian half face of a Queen from Egypt that has been stolen. Two timelines, some good Egyptian archeology, a good ending. Only problem, I can read her books too quickly!:)

Loved the first half and then I don‘t know how I finished this. I need more action and lots more science. Thank goodness I watched the movies first…how did he write this? I made it through but will rewatch the movies to see if I really now get it. 😬 We don‘t all have to love what everyone else loves!

Students would learn so much from this graphic book, conversations are needed in history. As an adult this all makes so much sense and yes I still have questions. I‘d start from present and then move into past histories…but I‘m a science teacher so what do I know?!😏

Finally go to this and loved it. Set in Sicily, two time lines, Sara and Sarafina both fight to empower themselves in a man‘s world. The history of Sicily and its women and the mafia make this an excellent read.

Read the first, The Butcher and the Wren and then look forward to book 3 after this one. Wren knows that Serial killer Jeremy is still out there…but where and could someone believe her instincts?! Good read…scary good.

Every book that I read by this author gets better and better. Family, regret, strong women, and food!:) ChiChi the songwriter marries Tony the singer…set in the Big Band Era, just a generational read. Love these books. 🇮🇹🍝⛪️

Found this at the library, it looked good. Didn‘t even read what it was about…loved it! A reporter, a newlywed that kills her husband, a dead whale, a wonderful marriage. I loved it. Short and sweet and just what I needed! Weird items here but it all made a great story. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Mystery that involves four friends who have always wondered if Jennet was killed, drowned by accident or harmed herself. They can drink a mixture that takes them into the future when young or takes them to their past if they are older. Would you change your past? A kinda new type of time travel and I liked it.

Loved this part one memoir of Cher. If you grew up watching the Sonny and Cher show then you will love this! Of course I‘ll be reading part two…let‘s also be a movie star! There is no other diva than Cher! I would suggest listening to it on audible!:)

Quick read. If you want to know the parts of Maria Von Trapp‘s life that were not portrayed in the Sound of Music movie/musical then this is a short good read for you. Her story is interesting and how certain things happened were I guess you would say, meant to happen. The songs by Roger‘s and Hammerstein were and are a treasure.

Loved this read. A romantasy that has a world filled with dragons and moons. Great characters and each chapter is needed. I love Raeve and Kaan. If you like Court of Thorns and Roses this one is a must to read. 🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉

Loved this adult fairy tale. If you love Princess Bride then this is for you. A talking rat, oceans of spores in different hues. A pirate ship lined with silver. Brandon Sanderson is THE storyteller.

Good read. The author uses her great-great-great aunts writings from her trek to the Yukon to stake their claim in gold. Dual timeline, the 1898 timeline and the history of striking gold was the majority of this book. Money creates problems. The Han tribe that lived on the Yukon River and the gold rushers that took their chances all either triumphed or suffered from the gold found in that region. Alice‘s story is both brave and cunning.

Our book club selection and finally they chose a book that I hadn‘t read or heard about!😂. Set in present day and during WW2, Liv finds out about her grandmothers past secrets. The fight of the French to keep the Germans away from their champagne fields. Very good read. The French resistance and the history of champagne.

Found this and am adding it to my granddaughters books TBR! Tilly finds out that she can go into the books of her favorite characters. Oh how I wish I could do that! I‘ll be reading this entire series. So cute!:)

Two girls, 25 yrs apart, one dead, one has been attacked. A podcaster who uses true crime as her subject gets involved in the present trial and the past mysterious death. She said, he said in a trial that is hard to sometimes read about but presented in a well written prose. Liked the ending that it tied up all the loose ends and made sense.

So good. Grew up seeing her and always thought she had integrity! Well this book read by her lets me know she was a force and she made her own way. Her family, her struggles in a man‘s workforce, her tenacity and some good scoops! Dan Rather-NOT!!!😏. Went to the bookstore to look at the pics!!!;). Great memoir.

Cute read. Shiloh and Carey. From high school best friends to hopefully more. Shiloh made me nervous! Just say yes sometimes and stop thinking!:). Love this author for thoughtful nostalgic heartfelt readings.

Good tense read! Meghan is a nurse and living in Chicago where there is a serial offender making everyone‘s lives a nightmare. Good thriller. You think you know then, boom , you don‘t really know!

Good read especially if you have a sister. We all have our demons to deal with. Four sisters, one is gone. Good read. Mothers try their hardest.

I love time travel. This is good but when they travel it could have been great. Etta and Nicholas need to find the Astro lab so that Etta‘s mom lives. I really didn‘t like the cliff hanger ending…is book 2 worth it?

I read this and decided to listen to it bc excerpts of Lisa Marie‘s voice is on this. Think it is better on Audible! Heartbreaking each time. I‘d recommend this even if not an Elvis fan. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Picked this up, Dillon goes to VAMPS vampire academy when his half human/half vampire background is explained to him once he is 18. It‘s no Twilight but it is a good YA vampire novel that leads you on Dillon‘s journey into the vampire world. Cozy coffins and flying lessons. Hillary Clinton used as an example of the female high vampire made me laugh. 🤣. Fun or needed example?!😂🧛‍♀️

Saw this on a lot of lists, loved it. Fantasy that has its own twist. A world where bloodlines control ice, fire, wind. Loved the mother/son bond and the strength of women in this book.

Starts off weirdly and I didn‘t know where it was going and then science appears! DNA coding has lead us all to a world where we may not recognize ourselves. 3 family timelines that don‘t want to be connected but are. Good read.

I have found my comfort read in Adriana Trigiani‘s books. Food, family, fights, and found love. Will be reading every book of hers as I read through this year.

Happy New Year and this is book #1 for 2025. At first you think that it is Jurassic Park with wooly mammoths and then you find out what is really happening at this resort. The ending and the afterward is scary, scary real! Science is real! 🧬🧬🧬🧬 Science fiction is great.

Almost done, last book of the yr, no. 82 and it is worth every page! Every character in this book is perfect! I want William to suffer and Aliena to be everything!!!! Who knew building a cathedral could be so full of love and treachery and battle?!

This would be a great book present for anyone who loves sports and the perception of an underdog team. Great history of sign language and the world of quiet. 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

I have found my new author that when I need a calming read with food I‘m all in! Valentine makes shoes with her grandma in NYC…Little Italy, a new found love, a trip to Capri and family fights. Love this author and will read the next two of these.

Wow! I was 5, this happened 30 miles from where I‘m from in Kent, Ohio. This is history drawn and explained at its best. Without learning from history it‘s going to happen again. 4 dead in Ohio should not be such a song. Wow…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loved this read. A grandmother who was a wartime Japanese bride who had to move to Texas. A granddaughter who wants to be an architect but who allows a person to squash her dreams. What a story! People be who you are and live your lives!:)

Loved this as a kid. I made sure I had a copy for my grand daughter and bought this one that has colored pics! Still a great little story! Some pig, terrific, humble, radiant!:)🐷🐷🐷🕷️🕸️

I loved this book! Ciro and Enza and their family story of immigration from Italy to America. NYC, the Metropolitan Opera, Caruso, Minnesota. What a story! I would have not had this on my list without finding the authors podcast: You Are What You Read. Read and then find her podcast!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Retelling of Beauty and the Beast with the female lead, Harper who is transported to another realm from Washington DC in present time. Liked that the author had her have cerebral palsy that affects her leg but she doesn‘t let that stop her. First in a trilogy but I think I‘m good…liked this but don‘t think I need to read on…good YA fantasy.

For some reason the start of this book was slow for me. I knew I had to finish it and once you do ..😳😢 Loved the authors notes on the real life midwife Martha Ballard and the story she wrote based on her daily diaries in 1789. Women were always strong and continue to fight.

Watched the Netflix series first then I heard that the author allowed them to change a few things. Usually never watch then read but I did like the ending better on the series. Also loved the beach line dance at the beginning credits after episode one…watched it every time!

Did anyone have to read this? I did and I‘m going to say after getting past his two eggplants this was a heart warming story. Beauty and the Beast for adults! Will I read more probably not but I did like the undertones to this story.

Written in free verse this book would be great in ELA reading groups. Moth lost her family in an accident but finds a friend in Sani. Loved this, can read in one sitting. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋. Good twist at the end that I did not see coming.

Kept seeing this and resisted reading it. Saw someone said how they were learning and made myself pick up the paperback. 🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎. Art history, equine science, horse racing in the antebellum South, 3 timelines and a bit of a romance…Loved this Read. Not a horse person but now I am closer to being one. Based on the stud Lexington.