Posts in "recap"

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

The basics

Title: Artificial Condition

Author:

Series: The Murderbot Diaries #2

- All Systems Red (2017)
- Artificial Condition (2018)
- Rogue Protocol (2018)
- Exit Strategy (2018)
- Network Effect (2020)
- Fugitive Telemetry (2021)
- System Collapse (2023)

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Goodreads Summary:

It has a dark past--one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.
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Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

The basics

Title: Onyx Storm

Author:

Series: The Empyrean #3

- Fourth Wing (2023)
- Iron Flame (2023)
- Onyx Storm (2025)

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Goodreads Summary:

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.
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Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

The basics

Title: Heartless Hunter

Author:

Series: The Crimson Moth #1

- Heartless Hunter (2024)
- Rebel Witch (2025)

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Goodreads Summary:

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

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

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

The basics

Title: Twisted Love

Author:

Series: Twisted #1

- Twisted Love (2021)
- Twisted Games (2021)
- Twisted Hate (2022)
- Twisted Lies (2022)

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Goodreads Summary:

He has a heart of ice…but for her, he'd burn the world A diverse new adult steamy romance from Tiktok sensation and USA Today bestselling author Ana Huang. Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can't escape. Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. But when he's forced to look after his best friend's sister, he starts to feel something in his chest: A crack. A melt. A fire that could end his world as he knew it. *** Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can't remember. But despite her broken past, she's never stopped seeing the beauty in the world...including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn't want. Her brother's best friend. Her neighbor. Her savior and her downfall. Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both...and everything they hold dear.
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Reckless by Lauren Roberts

The basics

Title: Reckless

Author:

Series: Powerless #2

- Powerless (2023)
- Reckless (2024)
- Fearless (2025)

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Goodreads Summary:

After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King, and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.

Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.

Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts – and the battle between duty and desire is deadly.
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The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth by Meg Cabot

The basics

Title: The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth

Author:

Series: The Princess Diaries #4

- The Princess Diaries (2000)
- Princess in the Spotlight (2001)
- Princess in Love (2002)
- Princess in Waiting (2002)
- Princess in Pink (2003)
- Princess in Training (2006)
- Party Princess (2006)
- Princess on the Brink (2006)
- Princess Mia (2007)
- Forever Princess (2008)
- Royal Wedding (2015)

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Goodreads Summary:

Mia's back from her first royal trip to Genovia. Now she's ready for what's really important: her love life.

Mia and Michael are finally an item, but Grandmere seems to have other plans. Just before the happy couple's first hot date, an unmissable royal engagement turns up. Could it be that Michael; doesn't measure up - and that (please not!) Grandmere's got someone else in the mind for Princess Amelia Mignoette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo?
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Wicked by Gregory Maguire

The basics

Title: Wicked

Author:

Series: The Wicked Years #1

- Wicked (1995)
- Son of a Witch (2005)
- A Lion Among Men (2008)
- Out of Oz (2011)

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Goodreads Summary:

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.
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The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

The basics

Title: The Housemaid’s Secret

Author:

Series: The Housemaid #2

- The Housemaid (2022)
- The Housemaid's Secret (2023)
- The Housemaid is Watching (2024)

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Goodreads Summary:

t's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want. It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything...

That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs. Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go...
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When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

The basics

Title: When the Moon Hatched

Author:

Series: Moonfall #1

- When the Moon Hatched (2024)
- The Ballad of Falling Dragons (2025)

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Goodreads Summary:

The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

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

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

The basics

Title: Magic Study

Author:

Series: Study #2

- Poison Study (2005)
- Magic Study (2006)
- Fire Study (2008)
- Shadow Study (2015)
- Night Study (2016)
- Dawn Study (2017)

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Goodreads Summary:

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be united with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But although she has gained her freedom, she once again finds herself alone - separated from her lover Valek and suspected as a spy for her reluctance to conform to Sitian ways.

Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training - especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes embroiled in a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince - and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with her new enemies.
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