January 27, 2021

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

The basics

Title: Firefly Lane

Author:

Series: Firefly Lane #1

- Firefly Lane (2008)
- Fly Away (2013)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
January 25, 2021

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

The basics

Title: A Closed and Common Orbit

Author:

Series: Wayfarers #2

- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014)
- A Closed and Common Orbit (2016)
- Record of a Spaceborn Few (2018)
- The Galaxy and the Ground Within (2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who's determined to help her learn and grow.

Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for - and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
January 20, 2021

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

The basics

Title: The Exact Opposite of Okay

Author:

Series: Izzy O'Neill #1

- The Exact Opposite of Okay (2018)
- A Girl Called Shameless (2019)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Izzy O’Neill is an aspiring comic, an impoverished orphan, and a Slut Extraordinaire. Or at least, that’s what the malicious website flying round the school says. Izzy can try all she wants to laugh it off – after all, her sex life, her terms – but when pictures emerge of her doing the dirty with a politician’s son, her life suddenly becomes the centre of a national scandal. Izzy’s never been ashamed of herself before, and she’s not going to start now. But keeping her head up will take everything she has...
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
January 12, 2021

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

The basics

Title: The Beautiful

Author:

Series: The Beautiful #1

- The Beautiful (2019)>/br> - The Damned (2020)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
January 7, 2021

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The basics

Title: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Author:

Series: Wayfarers #1

- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014)
- A Closed and Common Orbit (2016)
- Record of a Spaceborn Few (2018)
- The Galaxy and the Ground Within (2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
January 4, 2021

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

The basics

Title: Bitten

Author:

Series: Women of the Otherworld #1

- Bitten (2001)
- Stolen (2002)
- Dime Store Magic (2004)
- Industrial Magic (2004)
- Haunted (2005)
- Broken (2006)
- No Humans Involved (2007)
- Personal Demon (2008)
- Living with the Dead (2008)
- Frostbitten (2009)
- Waking the Witch (2010)
- Spellbound (2011)
- Thirteen (2012)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Elena Michaels is the world’s only female werewolf. And she’s tired of it. Tired of a life spent hiding and protecting, a life where her most important job is hunting down rogue werewolves. Tired of a world that not only accepts the worst in her–her temper, her violence–but requires it. Worst of all, she realizes she’s growing content with that life, with being that person.

So she left the Pack and returned to Toronto where she’s trying to live as a human. When the Pack leader calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she’ll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
December 14, 2020

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The basics

Title: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Author:

Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #1

- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019)
- Good Girl, Bad Blood (2020)
- Untitled (2021)
- Untitled (2022)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
Read more »
Posted by Amber • 5 comments
December 3, 2020

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The basics

Title: The Inheritance Games

Author:

Series: The Inheritance Games #1

- The Inheritance Games (2020)
- Untitled (2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

She came from nothing. Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future. Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery, knows why.

They had everything. Now she must move into the mansion she's inherited.
It's filled with secrets and codes, and the old man's surviving relatives - a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got 'their' money.

Now there's only one rule: winner takes all. Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing. But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
October 29, 2020

Fire by Kristin Cashore

The basics

Title: Fire

Author:

Series: Graceling Realm #2

- Graceling (October 2008)
- Fire (October 2009)
- Bitterblue (May 2012)
- Winterkeep (January 2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.

This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she had the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • No comments
October 21, 2020

Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova

The basics

Title: Incendiary

Author:

Series: Hollow Crown #1

- Incendiary (2020)
- Illusionary (2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King's Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata's ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King's Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.

Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez's top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.

But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom--and end the war that has cost her everything.
Read more »
Posted by Amber • One comment
« Previous Entries
Next Entries »