en-US Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:15:04 -0700 60 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 236601118 Anyone can write a bestseller. Here’s how:

GO GAY

It’s been seven years since Mallory shot to fame as a literary sensation. But after years of struggling with writer’s block, she’s desperate to resurrect her career before it spirals into obscurity. She needs inspiration to strike – and fast.

GO SAD

Enter a young struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for.

GO DARK

Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. Authenticity sells, and there’s nothing more authentic than real life. She’s the perfect person to tell Leo’s story. Gay, sad, dark – just what the world needs right now. But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must just how far will she go to pen the perfect story?]]> 476 Josh Silver 1836431481 Tammie 0 to-read 4.41 2026
author: Josh Silver
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 248971209 Madder Lake is an exciting debut novel about who has access to art and education, the true meaning of home, and the possibility of falling for your rival.]]> Katie Wu 0008819580 Tammie 0 to-read 4.67
author: Katie Wu
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> 25734152 Now in paperback, one of Canada's most passionate environmental and human rights activists addresses the global threat of climate change from the intimate perspective of her own Arctic childhood

The Arctic ice is receding each year, but just as irreplaceable is the culture, the wisdom that has allowed the Inuit to thrive in the Far North for so long. And it's not just the Arctic. The whole world is changing in dangerous, unpredictable ways. Sheila Watt-Cloutier has devoted her life to protecting what is threatened and nurturing what has been wounded. In this culmination of Watt-Cloutier's regional, national, and international work over the last twenty-five years, The Right to Be Cold explores the parallels between safeguarding the Arctic and the survival of Inuit culture, of which her own background is such an extraordinary example. This is a human story of resilience, commitment, and survival told from the unique vantage point of an Inuk woman who, in spite of many obstacles, rose from humble beginnings in the Arctic to become one of the most influential and decorated environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world.]]> 368 Sheila Watt-Cloutier 0143187643 Tammie 0 to-read 3.59 2015
author: Sheila Watt-Cloutier
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 Tammie 3 4.05 2022
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2026/04/12
date added: 2026/04/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 241039314 From the author of The Magician's Daughter comes a captivating historical fantasy where dreams come to life and Arthurian legends are reborn.

Wales, 1941. As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, flooding people's sleep night after night. Whispers arise of wonders and unexplained sights - dragons in the London Underground, and strange lights over Stonehenge. Self-proclaimed prophets claim they are miracles, heralding Arthur's return at the time of Britain's greatest need.⁣
⁣
Elaine Ambrose has never dreamed of Arthur, and she doesn't believe in miracles. A librarian at the British Museum, she wants only to protect the museum's collection from the Blitz, and is frustrated to be sent instead to catalogue a reclusive professor's private library on the coast of North Wales. But all is not as it seems. Soon Ellie must confront what she's tried to ignore: she dreams not of Arthur, but of Nimue - the Lady of the Lake. And her dreams promise not salvation, but a return to the darkness of the last days of Camelot. ⁣]]> 448 H.G. Parry 0316588245 Tammie 0 currently-reading 4.33 2026
author: H.G. Parry
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 228342375
Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis—before her own kills her.

But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor's smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.

With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of an impulsive assassin, a brooding bombmaker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters—and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.]]> 432 Petra Lord 1250362970 Tammie 0 to-read 3.94 2026
author: Petra Lord
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57911600 Prepare to die. His kingdom is near.

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.]]> 398 Andrew Joseph White 1682633241 Tammie 2 4.09 2022
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2026/04/02
date added: 2026/04/02
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars if I'm being generous
]]> 228974111 Welcome to Lee Young-do’s epic classic series, The Bird That Drinks Tears. The master of Korean fantasy—often cited as the J.R.R. Tolkien of South Korea—Lee Young-do has created a tale of castles built on the backs of flying mantas, giant birdmen, heartless immortals, and a quest that will change the very nature of the world and its gods, available for the first time in English by award-winning translator Anton Hur.

Three handles one.

The world is divided by the Line of Limit. To the north are the Tokkebi—fire people able to manipulate flames as both weapons and illusions; Rekon—giant birdmen with immense strength and warrior acumen; and the humans—as divided as the other races are unified. To the south are the Nhaga—a reptilian people who relinquish their hearts for immortality. For centuries, the races didn’t cross that line, but change is in the air. A Nhaga is being sent North…and a trio is being dispatched to make sure this agent from the South makes it out alive—one from each race.

But the illusion of a simple journey is quickly dispelled by the fact that the Tokkebi is merely a scholar, not an adventurer; the Rekon is deathly afraid of water; and the human hunts and eats Nhaga. And when the Nhaga they’re supposed to be escorting out of the Kiboren forest is murdered, the one sent in his place turns out to very much have a heart—meaning he’s quite vulnerable to the dangerous exodus.

The four must quickly forge an alliance and shed the distrust and prejudice that plagues them if they are to survive. And just as crucial, they must figure out what this mission is actually about, because unbeknownst to them, the very fate of the world might rest on this one Nhaga making it to the North intact.

A classic not to be missed, The Heart of the Nhaga is epic fantasy at its best, translated into English for the first time ever by award-winning translator Anton Hur.]]> 448 Yeong-Do Lee 0063349892 Tammie 0 to-read 4.00 2003
author: Yeong-Do Lee
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56898297
A hilarious and whip-smart collection of essays, offering an intimate look at bisexuality, gender, and, of course, sex. Perfect for fans of Lindy West, Samantha Irby, and Rebecca Solnit—and anyone who wants, and deserves, to be seen.

If Jen Winston knows one thing for sure, it’s that she’s bisexual. Or wait—maybe she isn’t? Actually, she definitely is. Unless…she’s not?

Jen’s provocative, laugh-out-loud debut takes us inside her journey of self-discovery, leading us through stories of a childhood “girl crush,” an onerous quest to have a threesome, and an enduring fear of being bad at sex. Greedy follows Jen’s attempts to make sense of herself as she explores the role of the male gaze, what it means to be “queer enough,” and how to overcome bi stereotypes when you’re the posterchild for all of greedy, slutty, and constantly confused.

With her clever voice and clear-eyed insight, Jen draws on personal experiences with sexism and biphobia to understand how we all can and must do better. She sheds light on the reasons women, queer people, and other marginalized groups tend to make ourselves smaller, provoking the What would happen if we suddenly stopped?​​

Greedy shows us that being bisexual is about so much more than who you’re sleeping with—it’s about finding stability in a state of flux and defining yourself on your own terms. This book inspires us to rethink the world as we know it, reminding us that Greedy was a superpower all along.]]> 336 Jen Winston 1982179171 Tammie 0 to-read 3.90 2021
author: Jen Winston
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 208840291 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As Indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests Serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the Serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of interconnectedness and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, rather than accumulation, where wealth and security come from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times and a reminder that “Hoarding won’t save us. . . . All flourishing is mutual.”]]> 112 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1668072246 Tammie 0 4.27 2024
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2026/03/27
date added: 2026/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 223327998
In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?]]> 257 Aoife Josie Clements 1964322065 Tammie 0 to-read 4.01 2026
author: Aoife Josie Clements
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 239277554 A high-strung and inventive literary horror that will delight fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Mariana Enriquez, Ito Romo’s debut novel traces the thousand-year lineage of a new kind of vampire—the mestizo Filth Eater.


Granada, 1849. After centuries of scrounging in the shadows, the vampire Radamés discovers an ancient Aztec codex that reveals the vampires of the “New World” live a more “human” life—they marry, they give birth. Spurred on by tantalizing promise of a fuller existence, Radamés glamours and schemes his way onto a ship headed for Mexico. There, in the underbelly of the forgotten Aztec city of Teotihuacán, the Andalusian vampire falls in love with a member of this ancient sect of Aztec vampires who call themselves Filth Eaters. From their union, the mestizo vampire Doro is born. 


Hopping back and forth in time from the Indus River Delta in 1099 to the Muslim Spanish empire of the 1400s to a flooded cyberpunk New York City of the future, Filth Eaters pulls at the threads of empire, greed, and climate collapse, but the beating, bloody heart of the story is our very human desire for the love that gives life meaning.The debut novel from a celebrated writer of “Chicano Gothic” stories, this surprising, gory saga turns a new page for a centuries-old genre. ]]> 125 Ito Romo 164605430X Tammie 0 to-read 4.00
author: Ito Romo
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55333556
A detective finds himself in a small, isolated town asking, what does the disappearance of a young heir to a yogurt empire have to do with some random lore about an old witch? Matched by an apprehensive local sheriff, a university professor with a taste for younger men, and a whole cast of curious characters, the Slavic myth of Baba Yaga twists into a new labyrinth of secret lives, ancient magic, and multiple suspects.

This genre-bending comedic fairy tale meets thrilling whodunit gives voice to an antihero of epic proportions while interrogating how her story has historically been told by men. From now on, you'll remember the name Baba Yaga for the right reasons.]]> 144 Kat Sandler Tammie 5 4.16
author: Kat Sandler
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2026/03/14
date added: 2026/03/14
shelves:
review:
we all know why i am here but also this was custom engineered in a lab for me personally and i am so sad that i missed the chance to have seen the play on stage
]]> 49246963 Night of the Mannequins, a contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?]]> 136 Stephen Graham Jones 1250752078 Tammie 4 3.75 stars 3.29 2020
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2026/03/12
date added: 2026/03/12
shelves:
review:
3.75 stars
]]> 231127269 The Subtle Art of Folding Space , is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.

Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.

Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.

If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.]]> 240 John Chu 1250425409 Tammie 3 Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading anything by John Chu, and I definitely want to check out his short fiction. This was a really fun book, and while not something I'd consider a new favourite or life-changing by any means, there were a lot of great moments that really resonated with me, especially Ellie's complicated relationship with her mom and sister. Despite being a book that touches on the grief of the loss of a parent, this is overall a really fun, easy read. It kind of feels like the start of a procedural drama, and I do hope that there are future installments planned, because I'd love to see what Ellie and Daniel get up to next. ]]> 3.28 2026
author: John Chu
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2026
rating: 3
read at: 2026/03/11
date added: 2026/03/11
shelves:
review:
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading anything by John Chu, and I definitely want to check out his short fiction. This was a really fun book, and while not something I'd consider a new favourite or life-changing by any means, there were a lot of great moments that really resonated with me, especially Ellie's complicated relationship with her mom and sister. Despite being a book that touches on the grief of the loss of a parent, this is overall a really fun, easy read. It kind of feels like the start of a procedural drama, and I do hope that there are future installments planned, because I'd love to see what Ellie and Daniel get up to next.
]]> 236643256 Acclaimed author Jade Song (Chlorine) returns with her latest literary exploration: a lyrical, poignant, and heartfelt novel about the meaning of love, friendship, debt, depression, and death in New York City—a coming-of-age for a new generation, in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh.

For as far back as she can remember, Vicky has been fascinated and obsessed with death as the only inevitable thing in life. From living above a Chinatown funeral parlor to working at a celebrity start-up for bespoke urns, she has surrounded herself with death—in her home, in her work, and in her ever-growing collection of zhizha, paper creations meant to be burned for the dead, adorning the walls of her apartment. Yet, though living in Manhattan and working her dream job is all she ever wanted, she still struggles to have meaningful connections—or find any meaning at all—in her life. Too often she spends the day in bed, only drawn out from time to time by her best (and only) friend, Jen.

That changes when a dating app leads her into a throuple with an artist and a labor organizer, who offer exactly the kind of love she needs. For some time, it’s perfect, but no one understands better than Vicky that all things must end. As doubts grow over the love in her life, her friendship with Jen, and her professional success, the oddly comforting abstraction of death starts becoming something else altogether. With everything beginning to feel hollow and temporary, Vicky must decide how to keep moving forward. To try and hold on to what she has, or to once again do what she does best: destroy.]]> 288 Jade Song 0063433885 Tammie 3 Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

It's hard to detatch my expectations and feelings about this book because Chlorine is one of my favourite debuts of all time, but I think that this book was simply a case of it just not being for me. Sad girl lit is not really my cup of tea, and if it wasn't written by Jade Song, I don't think I would've picked this up. But don't let my rating of this make you think that I am not going to be picking up Song's next book - there's so much in this book that I recognize from her writing in Chlorine that I do love, and her ability to write characters that are the exact same kind of fucked up as me is truly uncanny - this really just is a case of personal preference.

I think if you enjoy sad girl lit, you'd probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. I would absolutely recommend the audiobook though - Catherine Ho has really solidified herself as a go-to narrator for me. She does such a great job at capturing the different characters' voices, and despite me sometimes missing the top of the chapter where it indicates that the POV switches, I never got lost.]]> 3.68 2026
author: Jade Song
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2026
rating: 3
read at: 2026/03/11
date added: 2026/03/11
shelves:
review:
Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

It's hard to detatch my expectations and feelings about this book because Chlorine is one of my favourite debuts of all time, but I think that this book was simply a case of it just not being for me. Sad girl lit is not really my cup of tea, and if it wasn't written by Jade Song, I don't think I would've picked this up. But don't let my rating of this make you think that I am not going to be picking up Song's next book - there's so much in this book that I recognize from her writing in Chlorine that I do love, and her ability to write characters that are the exact same kind of fucked up as me is truly uncanny - this really just is a case of personal preference.

I think if you enjoy sad girl lit, you'd probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. I would absolutely recommend the audiobook though - Catherine Ho has really solidified herself as a go-to narrator for me. She does such a great job at capturing the different characters' voices, and despite me sometimes missing the top of the chapter where it indicates that the POV switches, I never got lost.
]]> 59232998
Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love?

Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.]]> 288 Akwaeke Emezi 1982188707 Tammie 2
I also feel like Nasir's complete 180 doesn't give me any confidence in Alim as a love interest either - I think what's interesting about the setup of this book is how Feyi was instantly charmed by Nasir, and later Alim, and you could see that father/son influence and dynamic. So for Nasir to completely blow up (understandably, if you ask me) when he finds out about Feyi and his dad, it makes me question whether Alim's charm is also just surface-level. So unfortunately, I just do not feel like I root for this romance at all.

I think this is a book that had a lot of potential, but unfortunately fell flat in its execution. The ending is so incredibly goofy and unearned. I would, however, read a spin-off about Joy if the author ever decides to write one (and Bahni Turpin returns to narrate).]]> 3.50 2022
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2026/03/09
date added: 2026/03/09
shelves:
review:
We started off fairly strong, but by the midway point, I was dropping stars rapidly. The only reason why this isn't rated lower is because Bahni Turpin is an elite audiobook narrator. I came for the mess, but I feel like this was not mess that made me feel anything. I think that for a book that tries to sell me on a romance that is formed on the shared experience of the grief of the loss of a significant other, I find it to be incredibly shallow and under-developed. The characters feel more like cariactures than actual people - we don't really learn anything about Jonah that makes me feel like he was an actual person, let alone someone that makes me feel for Feyi's loss.

I also feel like Nasir's complete 180 doesn't give me any confidence in Alim as a love interest either - I think what's interesting about the setup of this book is how Feyi was instantly charmed by Nasir, and later Alim, and you could see that father/son influence and dynamic. So for Nasir to completely blow up (understandably, if you ask me) when he finds out about Feyi and his dad, it makes me question whether Alim's charm is also just surface-level. So unfortunately, I just do not feel like I root for this romance at all.

I think this is a book that had a lot of potential, but unfortunately fell flat in its execution. The ending is so incredibly goofy and unearned. I would, however, read a spin-off about Joy if the author ever decides to write one (and Bahni Turpin returns to narrate).
]]> 200987323 In this wildly funny and heartwarming office comedy, an admin worker accidentally gains access to her colleagues’ private emails and DMs and decides to use this intel to save her job—a laugh-till-you-cry debut novel you’ll be eager to share with your entire list of contacts, perfect for fans of Anxious People and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favour, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition.

But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworker’s private worlds and secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for. Soon she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if it means coming clean to her colleagues.

Crackling with laugh-out-loud dialogue and relatable observations, I Hope This Finds You Well is a fresh and surprisingly tender comedy about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens. This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes with it.]]> 338 Natalie Sue 0063320363 Tammie 3 3.70 2024
author: Natalie Sue
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2026/02/16
date added: 2026/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 59366246 Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.

Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over.]]> 457 Stephen Graham Jones 1982186593 Tammie 0 on-pause 4.03 2023
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/02/12
shelves: on-pause
review:

]]> 54500501
Don't get me wrong -- I love what I do with a passion, but it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else.

Especially romance.

While chipping away at my work, I'm suddenly the person between hired cartel muscle and the fossil that will define my career.

Which isn't the most insane part of the story.

My savior is a chaotic, bat-wielding punk with a bubble gum pink mohawk and a killer smile.

In a mad dash to escape the thieves, my knight in studded armor sweeps me across the country while hitting every tourist trap along the way.

While smuggling a fossil, might I add.

Oh, and did I mention this pink punk can shift into a dinosaur?]]> 190 Maz Maddox Tammie 0 to-read 4.12 2020
author: Maz Maddox
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58556306
Within forty-eight hours, Yaya Betancourt will go from discovering teeth between her thighs to being hunted by one of the most powerful corporations in America.

She assumes the vagina dentata is a side effect of a rare genetic condition caused by AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical, decades ago, when she and several thousand others were still in the womb.

But, when ABP corporate goons upend her life, she realizes her secondary teeth might be evidence of a new experiment for which she’s the most advanced test tube... a situation worsened when Yaya’s condition sprouts horns, tentacles, and a mind of its own.

On the run and transforming, Yaya may be either ABP’s greatest success, or the deadliest failure science has ever created.]]> 198 Hailey Piper 194633541X Tammie 0 to-read 3.70 2021
author: Hailey Piper
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17259690
Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil's not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil's new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can't walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he's finally found someone and something worth fighting for.]]> 237 Nora Sakavic 1301529044 Tammie 3 4.02 2013
author: Nora Sakavic
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2026/02/10
date added: 2026/02/10
shelves:
review:
By all logic, this should be a 1 star book. The writing is bad, it's completely nonsensical, and incredibly problematic. That being said, it's so unserious to the point where I genuinely found it funny, and as such, I had a fun time with it.
]]> 406235 178 James Baldwin Tammie 0 4.39 1956
author: James Baldwin
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at: 2026/02/03
date added: 2026/02/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 199028160
Trapped in Hell, Zizi fights the takeover of his soul by Four's. As he begins to access Four's memories, he discovers a tragic love story that could be the key to keeping the mortal realm safe. Now, Zizi must defy his fate and escape Hell once more.

On the surface, Rui's life has changed as she is hailed a hero by the Exorcist Guild. But she soon discovers the spell Zizi was forced to create is transforming innocent humans into vicious Hybrid Revenants. With the help of the other cadets, she vows to stop them.

Now magicless, Yiran watches, hungrier than ever, until he begins a dangerous dalliance with Yuki, hoping the Hybrid will recover Yiran's magic. And when he discovers a dark family secret, he must decide what he stands for - before it's too late.]]> 400 June C.L. Tan Tammie 0 to-read 4.10 2026
author: June C.L. Tan
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 222376644 Ignyte Award-winning author C. L. Clark brings fantasy to the fens with Fate's Bane, a tragic sapphic adventure.

Warring clans. Burning hearts. Deadly fate.

The clans of the fens enjoy a tenuous peace, and it is all thanks to Agnir, ward and hostage. For as long as she can remember she has lived among the enemy, learning their ways, growing strong alongside their children. When a burgeoning love for the chieftain's daughter lures them both to a hidden spring, a magic awakens in them that could bind the clans under one banner at last--or destroy any hope of peace. By working their intentions into leather, they can weave misfortune for their enemies... just like the Fate's Bane that haunts the legends of the clans.

Ambitions grow in their fathers' hearts, grudges threaten a return to violence, and greedy enemies wait outside the borders, seeking a foothold to claim the fens for themselves. And though their Makings may save their families, the legend that gave them this power always exacts its price.]]> 167 C.L. Clark 1250293146 Tammie 4 3.78 2025
author: C.L. Clark
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2026/01/27
date added: 2026/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 222399120 From award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Kosoko Jackson comes his adult fantasy debut, a stand-alone novel blending of art history, time- and globe-hopping adventure, and dark horror and fantasy about ten cursed paintings and the lengths people will go to collect them, destroy them…or be destroyed.

?A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.

A struggling painter, Lewis Dixon is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. While he’s always felt there’s something powerful about what he puts on canvas, he also felt there was something disturbing just under the surface—especially as he was compelled to make a painting of a painting—one that he has a connection the object of his art is one of the ten paintings his great-grandfather created over a hundred years ago. Only Lewis’s version is surreal…and maybe just a touch horrific.

Still, he accepts the invitation, only to find not a curated show, but a to see if he not only has the magic necessary to enter the paintings, but also the strength to escape them. Because unbeknownst to Lewis, there is power in his art, just as the ten paintings carry with them both immense eldritch abilities and a terrible curse—making them, perhaps, the most valuable works of art in the world.

And Lewis has been asked to destroy them all.

With orders from a mysterious museum official, Evangeline, and partnered with an alluring agent in her employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must plunge into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and unspeakable terror to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own, and to hopefully locate the tenth painting in the series, long missing, the powers of which are suspected to be most devastating of all…]]> 400 Kosoko Jackson 0063394464 Tammie 3 Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

In full disclosure, I fell asleep during the last 10% of the audiobook and couldn't be bothered to rewind, so make of that what you will. I enjoyed the book for the most part - I thought it was engaging and I really loved the premise of it. That being said, I unfortunately didn't love it either. I think Lewis reads much younger and more immature than the author intends for him to be (I can't remember his exact age but he's supposed to have graduated from post-secondary education), and I think the book just generally suffers from the same issue that a lot of newer releases suffer from, which is that it treats the reader like they're stupid and need to have every little thing spelled out for them. I also think the romance in this book is largely unnecessary and used only as a plot convenience. All that being said, this is my second Kosoko Jackson book and I do actually like his writing style a lot, I just wish some of the other stuff was tightened up a little. ]]> 3.46 2025
author: Kosoko Jackson
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2026/01/22
date added: 2026/01/22
shelves:
review:
Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

In full disclosure, I fell asleep during the last 10% of the audiobook and couldn't be bothered to rewind, so make of that what you will. I enjoyed the book for the most part - I thought it was engaging and I really loved the premise of it. That being said, I unfortunately didn't love it either. I think Lewis reads much younger and more immature than the author intends for him to be (I can't remember his exact age but he's supposed to have graduated from post-secondary education), and I think the book just generally suffers from the same issue that a lot of newer releases suffer from, which is that it treats the reader like they're stupid and need to have every little thing spelled out for them. I also think the romance in this book is largely unnecessary and used only as a plot convenience. All that being said, this is my second Kosoko Jackson book and I do actually like his writing style a lot, I just wish some of the other stuff was tightened up a little.
]]> 58214328 This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.]]> 352 Stephanie Foo 0593238109 Tammie 0 4.49 2022
author: Stephanie Foo
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2026/01/17
date added: 2026/01/18
shelves:
review:
I'm afraid that this book did not live up to expectations for me. While I liked parts of it, and appreciate Foo for sharing such personal details about her life and experiences with CPTSD with the world, I couldn't help feeling like I was waiting for a critique of the romanticization of western ideals and a very western understanding of mental health and trauma that never came. Above all else, I felt like this memoir felt like it was written in the middle of a journey, rather than the end, and there is such a distinct lack of self awareness and accountability that just left me feeling like what was the point? Some of the author's experiences really resonated with me, but personally, that's not enough to make up for the lack of direction and introspection that I felt like this memoir needed.
]]> 215362032 The kaleidoscopic follow-up to the bestselling Detransition, Baby

In this collection of one novel and three stories, Torrey Peters’s keen eye for the rough edges of community and desire push the limits of trans writing.

In Stag Dance, the titular novel, a group of restless lumberjacks working in an illegal winter logging outfit plan a dance that some of them will volunteer to attend as women. When the broadest, strongest, plainest of the axmen announces his intention to dance as a woman, he finds himself caught in a strange rivalry with a pretty young jack, provoking a cascade of obsession, jealousy, and betrayal that will culminate on the big night in an astonishing vision of gender and transition.

Three startling stories surround Stag Dance: “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones” imagines a gender apocalypse brought about by an unstable ex. In “The Chaser,” a secret romance between roommates at a Quaker boarding school brings out intrigue and cruelty. In the last story, “The Masker,” a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip turns dark when a young crossdresser must choose between two guides: a handsome mystery man who objectifies her in thrilling ways, or a cynical veteran trans woman offering unglamorous sisterhood.

Acidly funny and breathtaking in its scope, with the inventive audacity of George Saunders or Jennifer Egan, Stag Dance provokes, unsettles, and delights.]]> 288 Torrey Peters 0593595645 Tammie 0 3.86 2025
author: Torrey Peters
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2026/01/17
date added: 2026/01/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 231127100 Lambda Literary Award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur returns with a steamy Sapphic rom-com about two rival publicists who are forced to work together when their mega-famous clients—a popstar and a quarterback—begin to date.

Poppy Peterson’s life is finally back on track and she’s thriving as the publicist of the NFL’s most promising quarterback (and her childhood best friend), Cash Curran. So, she doesn’t appreciate when he makes an impulsive and public pass at America’s popstar darling, Lyric Adair. When Lyric’s notorious publicist Rosaline Sinclair reaches out, Poppy is ready to face her wrath, but instead learns that Lyric is equally interested.

As Cash and Lyric embark on their ill-advised whirlwind romance, Poppy and Rosaline are forced together, each determined to protect their own client from the other. Poppy is frustrated by Rosaline’s cool demeanor, while at the same time, as a legend in the industry, she’s determined to impress her. But, no matter what she does, she can’t shake the feeling that Rosaline doesn’t like her.

That is until one steamy night, when the two women contend with their unexpected feelings and begin a messy romance of their own. But with paparazzi, tabloids, and stalker fans nipping at their heels, Poppy and Rosaline’s loyalties will be tested in ways they could never expect.

A high energy, Sapphic, and deeply sexy romance, Playing for Keeps has everything listeners expect from Alexandria Bellefleur and more!



workplace romance forced proximity secret relationship found family hurt/comfort]]> 320 Alexandria Bellefleur 0063258579 Tammie 0 to-read 3.75 2026
author: Alexandria Bellefleur
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 222376985 He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.

Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.

In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.

As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.

Guy doesn't have a choice.


“I will follow this writer anywhere.” —Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl
]]> 425 Hiron Ennes 125081121X Tammie 0 to-read 4.27 2025
author: Hiron Ennes
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205762592 “When my violence subsides, we will have nothing, and be champions.”

Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them. Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns.

Only Marney survives the massacre.
She vows bloody vengeance.

A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing...]]> 429 August Clarke 1645660982 Tammie 0 to-read 3.83 2024
author: August Clarke
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 217192122 really is thrilled for her. Left to her own devices, she’s doing… fine.

Oh, except for the fact that her new roommate, Emma Bordeaux, has hated Regan since the literal day they’d met two years ago. Sure, most of their interactions end in disaster and Regan is the root cause, but they are all accidents! She’ll win Emma over though; she’s determined to make this living arrangement work come hell or high water.

Emma never planned on finding herself living with the most frustrating person she’d ever met, but for rent this low, she’s positive that she can put up with anything Regan throws her way.

What she isn’t sure she can handle is her mom returning to her life, wanting to bond with Emma. She definitely doesn’t know how to manage her mom believing that she and Regan are a couple. And she doesn’t want to deal with the fact that Regan seems far too into acting the part.

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of all is realizing that she might have been wrong about Regan all along…]]> 506 Haley Cass Tammie 2
I just think Haley Cass could perhaps learn the art of brevity.]]> 4.38 2024
author: Haley Cass
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/12/28
date added: 2025/12/28
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars

I just think Haley Cass could perhaps learn the art of brevity.
]]> 233333688 In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.

October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.

October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.

One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.

Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.]]> 352 Kylie Lee Baker 1335001557 Tammie 0 to-read 4.25 2026
author: Kylie Lee Baker
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205846808
It’s the most romantic time of the year.

The holidays are fast approaching, and the Belvedere siblings are a mess. Liz, a Hollywood showrunner and responsible eldest, has no idea how to follow up her hit show’s first season, or how to deal with her giant crush on its star, Violet Grace. Birdie turned her chronic middle child syndrome into a career as a stand-up comic, but since she spends more time wooing women than working on new material, she’s facing one-hit wonder status, especially once she gets axed by her manager. And Rafi, sensitive romantic and the baby golden boy, proposes to his coworker girlfriend in front of his entire company, only to be turned down by the woman he thought was the love of his life.

Born to three different fathers, the three adult children share one mother: famed actress and singer Babs Belvedere. Seeking direction and holiday cheer, all three siblings head up to their mother’s house in the Catskills, determined to swear off love and focus on themselves and their work. But the spirit of the season seems to have different plans for them, and their best intentions are quickly derailed in the most delightful and festive of ways.

Emotional, smart, and sexy, this queer holiday romcom celebrates love, family, and the wild creative life, and is perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Casey McQuiston.]]> 432 Georgia Clark 0593729080 Tammie 0 to-read 3.70 2024
author: Georgia Clark
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199653099 Hunger makes monsters in this dark new tale in Nghi Vo's Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle.

Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.

Trapped in the mansion of a sinister magistrate, Chih and Almost Brilliant must learn what happened in Baolin when the famine came to call, and they must do so quickly... because the things in the shadows are only growing hungrier.

The Singing Hills Cycle has been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, and the Ignyte Award, and has won the Crawford Award and the Hugo Award.

The novellas are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.]]> Nghi Vo Tammie 4 4.18 2025
author: Nghi Vo
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/12/25
date added: 2025/12/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 217387788
Rural PI Mel Tillman knows this well. She's seen her fair share of bloody cases and botched cover-ups. But killing with someone? That is a different kind of mess all together, and Mel's got real experience with it.

No one's heard from Toby Dunne since Chloe Harper's sweet sixteen party--because the birthday girl and sixteen-year-old Mel buried him so deep in the backwoods, no one's ever finding him. Mel loses little sleep over it--Toby had been terrorizing them.

What she does lose sleep over is Chloe, the girl with whom she survived that horrible night in the woods. Chloe, the girl she fell in love with. Chloe, the girl who disappeared and hasn't been seen in more than six years.

Tasked with locating Chloe by her family, Mel can't resist the call of a good chase, or finding the one who got away with her heart (and with murder). When Mel finds an armed and vigilant Chloe living off-grid in a highly booby-trapped patch of Canadian wilderness, she realizes that Chloe had been expecting someone other than her ex to come looking for her. The thing that's kept Chloe going for years is that she's kept Mel safe by running. Now, the truth must come out as they run for their lives once again.

Because when they buried Toby Dunne in the backwoods, they buried something else, too. Something Toby took. And the powerful family he stole it from? They'll do anything to get it back.]]> 304 Tess Sharpe 0374614423 Tammie 0 to-read 3.76 2025
author: Tess Sharpe
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41735449 Nothing interferes with Shane Hollander’s game—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.

Pro hockey star Shane Hollander isn’t just crazy talented, he’s got a spotless reputation. Hockey is his life. Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that, especially the sexy Russian whose hard body keeps him awake at night.

Boston Bears captain Ilya Rozanov is everything Shane’s not. The self-proclaimed king of the ice, he’s as cocky as he is talented. No one can beat him—except Shane. They’ve made a career on their legendary rivalry, but when the skates come off, the heat between them is undeniable. When Ilya realizes he wants more than a few secret hookups, he knows he must walk away. The risk is too great.

As their attraction intensifies, they struggle to keep their relationship out of the public eye. If the truth comes out, it could ruin them both. But when their need for each other rivals their ambition on the ice, secrecy is no longer an option.

USA TODAY bestselling author Rachel Reid

Game Changers
Book 1: Game Changer
Book 2: Heated Rivalry
Book 3: Tough Guy
Book 4: Common Goal
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: The Long Game]]> 375 Rachel Reid 1488051240 Tammie 2 4.30 2019
author: Rachel Reid
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2025/11/26
date added: 2025/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 58939872 To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.

Ten years.

That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?

Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.

It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.

It’s time to make a call.]]> 479 Rachel Reid 1335458522 Tammie 2 4.49 2022
author: Rachel Reid
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/11/27
date added: 2025/12/22
shelves:
review:
I love the relationship but the writing is not good, and the author's handling of race (across both HR and TLG) and disordered eating is terrible so unfortunately this cannot get a higher rating from me. Would probably still recommend though despite my issues with it.
]]> 207567782 For readers of Nightbitch and We Ride Upon Sticks, this strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town is an unsettling reminder that the horrors of modern life are monsters ready to possess us all.

In the valley at the intersection of three towering mountains sits Cadenze, an ugly, remote town with little to its name. It's filled with tourists in the summer and dead the rest of the year, when most of its residents surrender to a sleepier existence. Except, that is, for whatever is lurking in the caves...

Angelina Sicco was born and raised in Cadenze, and for many generations, so was every member of her family. Determined to be content with her lot in life, she walks her mongrel dog, attends her brother's heavy metal concerts, holds court in the local dive bar, and does everything she can to bait hot, queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown. But on the night of a family party much like every other, Angelina runs into Patrick's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, who's back in town for a spell. Perhaps enticed by Jagvi’s arrival, an ancient evil lying dormant in those caves is awakened, and soon Angelina’s small, contained world begins to shatter.

As the monstrous force grows bolder, it infiltrates Angelina’s life. It talks with her dog’s mouth; it guzzles on her memories; it controls Angelina from the inside. Only Jagvi’s touch repels it — the final trigger for a secret, passionate romance. But this monster feasts on all the passion, heartbreak, and mess that makes up a life, and Angelina Sicco’s life has never looked tastier. What will Angelina do to protect her future? And what will it cost her?]]> 304 Mikaella Clements 153874225X Tammie 0 to-read 3.88 2024
author: Mikaella Clements
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 219551319
Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy's enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape-for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.

Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems.

But can she risk giving him power over the world-and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?]]> 553 Elise Kova 0593726340 Tammie 0 to-read 3.94 2025
author: Elise Kova
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26892110
Steve tries hard to be an ordinary guy, and he's been doing a pretty good job at it—until Carolyn shows up in his life with a tempting offer, a pair of red rubber galoshes, and exactly $327,000. Soon, he finds himself swept up in a war waged on a scale he can barely comprehend, as powerful forces battle for control of the Library and the future of the universe itself.

Brilliantly plotted, blackly funny, truly epic in scope—and featuring a cast of characters that includes a tutu-clad psychopath, a malevolent iceberg, and a lion named after an atomic bomb—The Library at Mount Char is the year's most ambitious and acclaimed fantasy debut and a ride like none you've ever been on.]]> 390 Scott Hawkins 0553418629 Tammie 0 to-read 4.03 2015
author: Scott Hawkins
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42957404 The world you know is underneath the substance of another, with cracks in the firmament that let the light of its magic in…

Layla and Nat have nothing in common but their boyfriend – enigmatic, brilliant Meraud – and their deep mutual dislike. But when Meraud disappears after an ambitious magical experiment goes wrong, they may be the only ones who can follow the trail of cryptic clues that will bring him safely home.

To return Meraud to this world, the two of them will confront every obstacle: the magic of the wild unknowable, a friendly vicar who's only concerned for their spiritual wellbeing, and even the Thames Water helpline. All of which would be doable, if only they didn’t have to do it together.

But the winter solstice is fast approaching – and once the year turns, Meraud will be lost forever. In this joyously queer novella, Nat and Layla must find a way to overcome their differences before it’s too late.]]> 110 Katherine Fabian Tammie 3 4.11 2018
author: Katherine Fabian
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/12/10
date added: 2025/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 204458825
Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy’s enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape—for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.

Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world—and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?]]> 573 Elise Kova 0593726359 Tammie 0 to-read 4.14 2025
author: Elise Kova
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 33413128
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.]]> 432 Fredrik Backman Tammie 5 4.27 2016
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/12/06
date added: 2025/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 61190770 The Handmaid's Tale, Squid Game and Watchmen

Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the popular and highly controversial programme inside America's prison system. In packed arenas, watched by millions of live-stream viewers, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

Fan favourites Loretta Thurwar and Hamara 'Hurricane Staxxx' Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is nearing the end of her time on the circuit, free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares for her final encounters, as protestors gather at the gates, and as the programme's corporate owners stack the odds against her - will the price be simply too high?]]> 367 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 0593317335 Tammie 4 4.11 2023
author: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/11/30
date added: 2025/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 195391620
On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same.

That is, until the most mundane car crash ever sends Phoebe's childhood crush Jess crashing into the time loop.

Now also stuck, Jess convinces Phoebe to break out of her routine and take advantage of their consequence-free days to have fun. From splurging on concert tickets, to enacting (mostly) harmless revenge, to all-night road trips, Jess pulls Phoebe further and further out of her comfort zone—and deeper in love with them. But the more Phoebe falls for Jess, the more she worries about what's on the other side of the time loop. What if Jess is only giving her the time of day because they're trapped with no other options? What if Phoebe's new doctor dismisses her chronic pain? And perhaps worst of all: What if she never gets the chance to find out?]]> 336 Chatham Greenfield 1547613904 Tammie 0 to-read 4.08 2024
author: Chatham Greenfield
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/11/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 15818226
With Destiny’s Embrace, Jenkins brings readers back to the American West, where Logan Yates, a self-important ranch owner, must confront his feelings for his beautiful, free spirited housekeeper, Mariah Cooper. While they bicker incessantly, their sexual tension is palpable, and only rises when Mariah's former lover arrives on the scene. Will she accept Logan's heart?

Set in 19th-century California, Destiny's Embrace features unforgettable characters and a satisfying mix of adventure and passion from nation's premier writer of African-American historical romance.]]> 373 Beverly Jenkins 0062032658 Tammie 4
My first but certainly won't be my last Beverly Jenkins. The only thing preventing this from being a higher rating is that the last 20% is way too rushed, and the timeline of this book being less than a week is truly just so ridiculous. But otherwise, this was an absolute delight. ]]> 4.10 2013
author: Beverly Jenkins
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/11/24
date added: 2025/11/24
shelves:
review:
3.75 stars

My first but certainly won't be my last Beverly Jenkins. The only thing preventing this from being a higher rating is that the last 20% is way too rushed, and the timeline of this book being less than a week is truly just so ridiculous. But otherwise, this was an absolute delight.
]]> 49978975 Meet the SOCIETY OF SIRENS—three radical, libertine ladies determined to weaponize their scandalous reputations to fight for justice and the love they deserve…

She's a Rakess on a quest for women's rights…

Seraphina Arden's passions include equality, amorous affairs, and wild, wine-soaked nights. To raise funds for her cause, she's set to publish explosive memoirs exposing the powerful man who ruined her. Her ideals are her purpose, her friends are her family, and her paramours are forbidden to linger in the morning.

He's not looking for a summer lover…

Adam Anderson is a wholesome, handsome, widowed Scottish architect, with two young children, a business to protect, and an aversion to scandal. He could never, ever afford to fall for Seraphina. But her indecent proposal—one month, no strings, no future—proves too tempting for a man who strains to keep his passions buried with the losses of his past.

But one night changes everything...

What began as a fling soon forces them to confront painful secrets—and yearnings they thought they'd never have again. But when Seraphina discovers Adam's future depends on the man she's about to destroy, she must decide what to protect…her desire for justice, or her heart.]]> 400 Scarlett Peckham 0062935615 Tammie 0 to-read 3.78 2020
author: Scarlett Peckham
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/11/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216526684

A tribute to the 150,000 people harmed by the United States and Canada during WWII, this anthology is the first of its kind. Its poets express a range of experiences and perspectives from the afterlife of this historical yet enduring injustice through poetry. With a foreword by acclaimed poet, activist, and concentration camp survivor, Mitsuye Yamada, and an introduction by the editors, Brynn Saito and Brandon Shimoda, Descendants explores intergenerational trauma as the contributors, all descendants themselves, sift through an intimate record of wartime incarceration.


Contributors to this anthology include poets of Japanese American, Japanese Canadian, Okinawan American, Okinawan Canadian, Japanese Hawaiian, Alaska Native/Tlingit, mixed race Nikkei, and Japanese descent. These poems inhabit and retell the story of incarceration and its many legacies, through a diversity of modes and themes, creating a kaleidoscopic whole exploring anti-Asian racism, assimilation, loyalty, resistance, and redemption. The anthology illuminates individual perspectives and reveals collective experience. It insists upon the imperative of poetry in the processes of solidarity and transgenerational healing.]]> 320 Brynn Saito Tammie 0 to-read 4.65
author: Brynn Saito
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 222377141
A gorgeous, atmospheric debut fantasy that reimagines the Jewish myth of golem in a tale rooted in history, folklore, and sapphic romance—perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Ava Reid, Hannah Whitten, and Naomi Novik.

The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.

As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the curse of the woods has plagued her village, but when the Ozmini Church comes to collect their tithes, they don’t listen to the warnings about a monster lurking in the trees. After a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes a bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings him the monster, he will spare her mother from execution.

When she ventures into the blood-soaked woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only after Malka helps her free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.

But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save—and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.]]> 352 Maddie Martinez 1250367751 Tammie 0 to-read 3.44 2025
author: Maddie Martinez
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6978889 Into Thin Air and Touching the Void, No Way Down by New York Times reporter Graham Bowley is the harrowing account of the worst mountain climbing disaster on K2, second to Everest in height... but second to no peak in terms of danger. From tragic deaths to unbelievable stories of heroism and survival, No Way Down is an amazing feat of storytelling and adventure writing, and, in the words of explorer and author Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “the closest you can come to being on the summit of K2 on that fateful day.”]]> 288 Graham Bowley 0061834785 Tammie 0 3.95 2010
author: Graham Bowley
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2025/10/29
date added: 2025/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 42870948
Teenagers develop ungodly appetites, a city becomes insomniac overnight, and bodies are diligently picked apart to make up better ones. The mundane worlds of schools and sleepy sea-side towns are invaded and transformed, creating a landscape which is constantly shifting to hold on to its inhabitants. Blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, salt slow considers characters in motion – turning away, turning back or simply turning into something new entirely.

Winner of The White Review Short Story Prize, Armfield is a writer of sharp, lyrical prose and tilting dark humour – salt slow marks the arrival of an ambitious and singular new voice.]]> 193 Julia Armfield 1529012562 Tammie 0 on-pause 3.95 2019
author: Julia Armfield
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/10/25
shelves: on-pause
review:

]]> 207932096
Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race, and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team - one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive - just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all.]]> 320 Karen Lord 1399618911 Tammie 0 on-pause 3.48 2013
author: Karen Lord
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/10/25
shelves: on-pause
review:

]]> 54636591
传说季雨时就是这样的天才。
另外，传说他是个Gay，长得还很漂亮。

他要去支援天穹七队的消息一经传出，就炸开了锅。

谁都知道七队队长宋晴岚一身匪气，深度恐同。
不仅凭着超强的能力两年内就成为了战场黑马，还最讨厌上面往他队里塞花瓶。

果然，宋晴岚当众发言：“有用？兄弟们是要去卖命，不需要会量子波动速读的小天才！”


后来。
一行人在任务中被逼到绝境。
那个漂亮的小天才眉目沉静，枪枪爆头，战斗力爆棚。

宋晴岚当着众人求他：“季顾问，留下来。”
末了，又补一句：“我给你卖命。”

*

季雨时有个秘密。
他经常夜不能寐，记忆超载噩梦缠身。
能让他安然入睡的。
世上唯有宋晴岚。

[——我为你踏平世间苦海，永不回头。因为，你才是那渡我的岸。]

○真香文
○痞气骚话长腿攻＆超级记仇超忆症受，强强
○或烧脑，但主要是为谈恋爱服务，全篇都是瞎扯淡
○薛定谔的高科技（不要较真
○超忆症其实很痛苦，创作需要，勿杠
○作者玻璃心，看不下去点叉就行别留言了谢谢
【攻受人设在作者微博有大图，来自温捌太太@薛定谔的色感，特别特别感谢温老师！】]]> 721 微风几许 Tammie 0 on-pause 4.52
author: 微风几许
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/10/25
shelves: on-pause
review:

]]> 212426504 A delightfully insightful exploration of our obsession with gossip that weaves together journalism, cultural criticism, and memoir, from the host of the massively popular Normal Gossip podcast.

Can you keep a secret? As the pandemic forced us to socialize at a distance, Kelsey McKinney was mourning the juicy updates, jaw-dropping stories, and idle chatter that she’d typically collect over drinks with friends. She realized she wasn’t the only one missing these little morsels and her hunger for this aspect of normalcy took on a life of its own and the blockbuster Normal Gossip podcast was born. With listenership in the millions and gossip quickly becoming her day job, Kelsey found herself with the urge to think more critically about gossip as a form, to better understand the role that it plays in our culture.

In YOU DIDN'T HEAR THIS FROM ME, McKinney explores the murkiness of everyday storytelling. Why is gossip considered a sin and how can we better recognize when gossip is being weaponized against the oppressed? Why do we think we’re entitled to every detail of a celebrity’s personal life because they are a public figure? And how do we even define “gossip,” anyway? She dishes on the art of eavesdropping and dives deep into how pop culture has changed the way that we look at hearsay. But as much as the book aims to treat gossip as a subject worthy of rigor, it also hopes to capture the heart of how enchanting and fun it can be to lean over and whisper something a little salacious into your friend’s ear. With wit and honesty, McKinney unmasks what we're actually searching for when we demand to know the truth – and how much the truth really matters in the first place.  ]]> 288 Kelsey McKinney 1538757400 Tammie 0 3.59 2025
author: Kelsey McKinney
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/10/20
date added: 2025/10/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 223338983 A ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, following a freshman girl whose college life is turned upside down when her roommate’s ex-convict brother moves into their dorm and starts controlling their every move.

Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?

Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.

 ]]> 358 Tiffany D. Jackson 0063271273 Tammie 5 Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

Everytime I read a Tiffany D. Jackson book, I'm reminded of how much I love her writing. The way that she paces her stories, the way that she weaves in the backstories of the characters, her commentary, everything just works so well for me. I couldn't put this book down, and read it in two sittings. January LaVoy's narration is excellent, as expected, and I would highly recommend the audiobook specifically. The only thing that keeps it from being a full 5 stars is that I do think the ending wrapped up a little too quickly, and I wish it was maybe one chapter longer to flesh out the final reveal, but it's a minor complaint in a book that I otherwise really loved.]]> 3.91 2025
author: Tiffany D. Jackson
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/10/10
date added: 2025/10/10
shelves:
review:
Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

Everytime I read a Tiffany D. Jackson book, I'm reminded of how much I love her writing. The way that she paces her stories, the way that she weaves in the backstories of the characters, her commentary, everything just works so well for me. I couldn't put this book down, and read it in two sittings. January LaVoy's narration is excellent, as expected, and I would highly recommend the audiobook specifically. The only thing that keeps it from being a full 5 stars is that I do think the ending wrapped up a little too quickly, and I wish it was maybe one chapter longer to flesh out the final reveal, but it's a minor complaint in a book that I otherwise really loved.
]]> 52028992 364 B.R. Yeager 1733569456 Tammie 0 to-read 3.69 2020
author: B.R. Yeager
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220137908 Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.

Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier.

She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier's to use. Grey would do anything for Kier - be anything for him - if he would only ask.

When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret.

For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke - the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her.

The Second Death of Locke is a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy and about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of The Knight and the Moth and The Six Deaths of the Saint.]]> 504 V.L. Bovalino 035652454X Tammie 0 to-read 3.87 2025
author: V.L. Bovalino
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228062219 The debut novel from beloved writer Erika Veurink, this is a deeply personal and propulsive romance laced with humor, heat, and high-octane yearning. Perfect for fans of You, Again, One Day, and People We Meet on Vacation.

After a postgraduation drive from Iowa City to NYC, Teddy and Marin have both had enough of each other to last the rest of their lives. But that doesn't stop their paths from crossing over eight rocky years, punctuated by chance encounters and transatlantic visits, on a journey that eventually brings them right back to where it all started.]]> 224 Erika Veurink Tammie 3 3.5 stars 3.60 2025
author: Erika Veurink
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/10/03
date added: 2025/10/03
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars
]]> 208511269
So begins the madcap adventure of The Beggar Student, where there is glamor in destitution and glimmerings of truth in intellectual one-upmanship. Replete with settings straight out of the popular anime Bungo Stray Dogs and echoes of the themes in No Longer Human, this biting novella captures the infamous Japanese writer at his mordant best.]]> 73 Osamu Dazai 081123858X Tammie 0 to-read 3.65 1940
author: Osamu Dazai
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210223811 Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek:

The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world.

That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams….

Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.

With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like.

But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.]]> 559 R.F. Kuang Tammie 3
Ultimately, I think this is a perfectly fine book. I have come to expect a certain level of depth in terms of the themes and commentary from Kuang, and I just don't think this book delivers on that front. I think that a lot of the converstions this book has are very surface-level - in particular, I think it is distinctly lacking any real conversation around the intersectionality of Alice's experience as not just a woman in academia, but a woman of colour, and a foreigner at that. It very briefly touches on each of these things, but never in any great detail or with any significantly new or interesting insight into any of it either.

I went through ups and downs with this book - I enjoyed the beginning a lot, and then it kind of lulled until around the 50% mark where it started picking up for me again, and then I hated the ending. So while there are pieces of this book that I did genuinely really love, my lasting impression of this book does unfortunately lean negatively just because of how much I did not like the ending.

If I may take an aside also to complain about this audiobook - it's not the worst audiobook I've ever experienced, but it's not great. The narrator's American accent (and what little of the other few accents she does) is genuinely terrible, and so while the majority of the narration is in what I assume is her own accent, Alice's dialogue is always done in this terrible American accent, and it drove me nuts. Also, for whatever reason, in the last chapter of the book, they decided that they would have a separate, male narrator do Peter's dialogue lines (as well as another male character), when that has never been the case for the entirety of the book! It completely threw me out of the story, and made the already cringey dialogue even more unbearable.

I think this book's greatest sin is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a fun romp through hell? Does it want to be a cutting critique on academia? Does it want to be a rivals-to-lovers romance? It kind of does all three, but none of them exceptionally well, so I think we are left with a book with a bit of an identity crisis.

All in all, I think this is a relatively fun book, if academic texts and classical references are your thing, just maybe don't expect these references to go beyond a basic name drop. It's not my favourite Kuang book by a long shot, but I still would reach for this over Yellowface, and I enjoyed my time with it.]]> 3.73 2025
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/09/24
date added: 2025/09/24
shelves:
review:
I have read this book, and I have also read a scattering of reviews on the book across the rating spectrum, and I think I ultimately fall somewhere in the middle. For starters, I don't think this book is anywhere near as complicated and intelligent as some people are giving it credit for, but I do also think that it does require a base level of reading comprehension, which I do think is missing from some other reviews I've seen. You don't need to have done any pre-requisite reading to enjoy the book or understand what's going on, but it's also not a turn your brain off kind of book either.

Ultimately, I think this is a perfectly fine book. I have come to expect a certain level of depth in terms of the themes and commentary from Kuang, and I just don't think this book delivers on that front. I think that a lot of the converstions this book has are very surface-level - in particular, I think it is distinctly lacking any real conversation around the intersectionality of Alice's experience as not just a woman in academia, but a woman of colour, and a foreigner at that. It very briefly touches on each of these things, but never in any great detail or with any significantly new or interesting insight into any of it either.

I went through ups and downs with this book - I enjoyed the beginning a lot, and then it kind of lulled until around the 50% mark where it started picking up for me again, and then I hated the ending. So while there are pieces of this book that I did genuinely really love, my lasting impression of this book does unfortunately lean negatively just because of how much I did not like the ending.

If I may take an aside also to complain about this audiobook - it's not the worst audiobook I've ever experienced, but it's not great. The narrator's American accent (and what little of the other few accents she does) is genuinely terrible, and so while the majority of the narration is in what I assume is her own accent, Alice's dialogue is always done in this terrible American accent, and it drove me nuts. Also, for whatever reason, in the last chapter of the book, they decided that they would have a separate, male narrator do Peter's dialogue lines (as well as another male character), when that has never been the case for the entirety of the book! It completely threw me out of the story, and made the already cringey dialogue even more unbearable.

I think this book's greatest sin is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a fun romp through hell? Does it want to be a cutting critique on academia? Does it want to be a rivals-to-lovers romance? It kind of does all three, but none of them exceptionally well, so I think we are left with a book with a bit of an identity crisis.

All in all, I think this is a relatively fun book, if academic texts and classical references are your thing, just maybe don't expect these references to go beyond a basic name drop. It's not my favourite Kuang book by a long shot, but I still would reach for this over Yellowface, and I enjoyed my time with it.
]]> 222376533 The Godfather meets The Magicians in the sweeping adult debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Red City is a dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles.

Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city―and the paths of their lives―will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.]]> 420 Marie Lu 1250885671 Tammie 0 to-read 4.06 2025
author: Marie Lu
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220161322 The only thing more dangerous than a king is his heir in this first English translation of the “beautifully heartbreaking” (Kirkus Reviews) historical novel inspired the popular TV series from one of China’s best-known authors of romantic tragedy.

There is no room for love in an empire.

Qu Xiaofeng has been living in Shangjing for three years now. A naïve, happy-go-lucky treaty bride from the desert kingdom of Xiliang, she has everything she could ever want as the crown princess of the Li Empire—everything except the crown prince’s heart.

Because Li Chengyin is a heartless boy. Cruel, jealous, and ruthless, he has given his adolescence to the cutthroat contention for the throne and, now that he is the heir presumptive, largely ignores his bride in favor of the girl he seems to really love.

Xiaofeng doesn’t mind…much. It leaves her more time to sneak out of the manor to go drinking and riding in the streets, living just the way she wants to. But one day another boy shows up, claiming to be a sweetheart from a life she can’t remember having lived. As Xiaofeng puzzles out the tangled threads of her past and her complicated feelings about the enigmatic, distant husband she loves and hates in equal measure, what she doesn’t realize is that she’s setting a course straight to tragedy.

Because the only place more dangerous than the palace is the crown prince’s court, the only thing harder to be than a king is his heir, and the path to the throne is paved with blood. Power will always have its price—the only question is if Xiaofeng will survive long enough to pay.]]> 560 Fei Wo Si Cun Tammie 0 to-read 4.14 2025
author: Fei Wo Si Cun
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228683707
Aelus is a warrior priest, devout in his faith, plagued by his own complicated lineage. His efforts to prove himself, however, are shattered when a routine ceremony goes horribly awry. Given one last chance at redemption, he's sent to unravel the conspiracy threatening his Order—a mission that puts him in Cordè's employ.

Aelus's uptight personality and austere lifestyle clash with Cordè's free-spirited world of parties and indulgence, creating friction that breeds suspicion. But they must put their animosity aside when they discover a bigger threat lurking beneath the streets—one that's stolen the power of the gods themselves. As the bodies pile up, they'll be forced to choose: trust each other, or let the city burn.]]> 452 Kate Hyers 1962739597 Tammie 0 to-read 4.51
author: Kate Hyers
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217875279 How, exactly, do you steal a dragon?

The holy city of Muqdah is falling. For days, the priests of the First Temple have argued amongst themselves — despite the cracks growing in the city’s magical shields. But fighting the Imperial army could mean the sacrifice of Muqdah’s dragons. Only one among their number believes it worth the risk … and the lone voice of a pregnant woman falls on deaf ears.

In the great Imperium, a slave named Zuri escapes into the night. Arriving on the doorstep of the Brass Wyvern, she discovers kinship, safety — and an unexpected purpose. When the bedworkers there hear of her captors’ caged dragon, a plan is hatched: free the beast, right history’s wrongs.

As Imperial magic and ancient bloodlines collide, an oppressed people start to make their voices heard. But not everyone sees eye-to-eye on justice, and a royal heist is easier said than done.

The Brass Wyvern is a witty fantasy epic with anti-colonialist vibes, queer love, feminine rage, found family, and of course — sweet, sweet revenge.]]> 476 Bronte-Marie Wesson 1763682129 Tammie 0 to-read 3.92
author: Bronte-Marie Wesson
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 231980088 A lush, sapphic romantasy.

In the shadowed streets of plague-ridden Athens, Maia lies on the brink of death. When the grim reaper appears to claim her, Maia makes a bold a kiss.

Ancient and enigmatic, Lady Death has guided countless souls into the unknowable afterlife. But Maia is different. Her resilience and humour—and that kiss—awaken a desire that Death has never known. What begins as a moment of terrified curiosity deepens into a passion as tender as it is consuming.

But can love truly conquer death when mortality stands in the way?]]> 185 A.C. Jolly 106839840X Tammie 0 to-read 4.50
author: A.C. Jolly
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197108968 From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect…

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby…

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.]]> 384 John Marrs 1335000364 Tammie 0 to-read 3.98 2024
author: John Marrs
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 218372468 When a late bloomer goes viral for coming out, she decides to use her newfound fame to get her first kiss—with the help of a sexy bartender.

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed. But after posting a video about her late bloomer status and ace identity, she's finally ready to get some firsts out of the way. Using her new influencer status to come up with a scavenger hunt idea in which the winner earns her first kiss, Angela realizes she may need some help to pull off the event. Enter Krystal Ramirez, hot bartender and Angela’s unrequited crush of five years. Despite vowing that romantic love isn’t for her, Krystal seems awfully determined to help Angela pull off the scavenger hunt and find true love.

There’s just one the connection between Angela and Krystal is getting stronger and stronger the more they hang out, until Angela isn’t sure she wants to go through with the scavenger hunt after all. But Krystal is convinced that she isn’t capable of love and before long, Angela realizes she's falling head over heels for a woman who may never love her back. ]]> 374 Gabriella Gamez 1538726653 Tammie 3 Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

I thought this was quite cute, though a little cringe at times. I do think you have to be a certain type of chronically online to enjoy some aspects of the book, so your mileage may vary. Aside from the main romance, I actually really loved Angela's relationship with her cousin, Julian. I thought they were very sweet and if he ever gets his own book in the series, I'll definitely be tuning in.]]> 3.54 2025
author: Gabriella Gamez
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/09/08
date added: 2025/09/08
shelves:
review:
Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

I thought this was quite cute, though a little cringe at times. I do think you have to be a certain type of chronically online to enjoy some aspects of the book, so your mileage may vary. Aside from the main romance, I actually really loved Angela's relationship with her cousin, Julian. I thought they were very sweet and if he ever gets his own book in the series, I'll definitely be tuning in.
]]> 55887785
To live in a body both fat and Black is to intersect at the margins of a society that normalizes anti-fatness as anti-Blackness: hyper-policed by state and society, passed over for housing and jobs, and derided and misdiagnosed by medical professionals, fat Black people in the United States are subject to culturally sanctioned discrimination, abuse, and trauma.

In Belly of the Beast, author Da’Shaun Harrison–a fat, Black, disabled, and non-binary writer AMAB (assigned male at birth)–offers an incisive, fresh, and precise exploration of anti-fatness as anti-Blackness. Foregrounding the state-sanctioned murder of Eric Garner in a historical analysis of the policing, disenfranchisement, and invisibilizing of fat Black men and trans and nonbinary AMAB people, Harrison discusses the pervasive, insidious ways that anti-fat anti-Blackness shows up in everyday life. Fat people can be legally fired in 49 states for being fat; they’re more likely to be houseless. Fat people die at higher rates from misdiagnosis or non-treatment; fat women are more likely to be sexually assaulted. And at the intersections of fatness, race, disability, and gender identity, these abuses are exacerbated.

Taking on desirability politics, f*ckability, healthism, hyper-sexualization, invisibility, and the connections between anti-fatness and police violence, Harrison viscerally and vividly illustrates the myriad harms of anti-fat anti-Blackness–and offers strategies for dismantling denial, unlearning the cultural programming that says “fat is bad,” and moving beyond the world we have now toward one that makes space for the fat and Black.]]> 144 Da’Shaun Harrison 1623175976 Tammie 0 to-read 4.50 2021
author: Da’Shaun Harrison
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52339313 Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.]]> 344 Aiden Thomas 1250250463 Tammie 2
Unfortunately, I do think this book quite literally lost the plot a little bit. And by that, I mean the plot was nowhere to be found. Between this book and Lost in the Never Woods, I think that unfortunately, mystery elements are just not Aiden Thomas's strong suit, and I kind of wish this book didn't rely so heavily on them. I feel like there was no sense of urgency to the fact that Yadriel's cousin was just murdered - he was just going about his days, going on side quests, and I kind of feel like he just forgot about Miguel until the plot required him to remember he was murdered. Meanwhile, I'm out here constantly stressed about what happened to Miguel.

The villain reveal was also extremely predictable, and I'm not sure I really liked the message that the motive behind it all sends to the reader. I'm also constantly frustrated at Yadriel's lack of awareness of anything outside of his own personal experience, but I do think this was a deliberate choice, and that perhaps that frustration was what Thomas intended. So while I don't think this necessarily makes the characterization of Yadriel bad or ineffective, it does certainly make it a little tiresome to read. I did like Julian and Maritza though, but I wish Maritza had more character development than she actually got.

Overall, I think this was an okay book, and one that I would recommend to people with caveats. The first half of the book is much stronger than the second half, in my opinion. That being said, I think unfortunately Aiden Thomas just perhaps isn't the author for me. I didn't dislike my time with this book, but I also am not itching to read the next book by any mans.]]> 4.24 2020
author: Aiden Thomas
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/09/05
date added: 2025/09/05
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars

Unfortunately, I do think this book quite literally lost the plot a little bit. And by that, I mean the plot was nowhere to be found. Between this book and Lost in the Never Woods, I think that unfortunately, mystery elements are just not Aiden Thomas's strong suit, and I kind of wish this book didn't rely so heavily on them. I feel like there was no sense of urgency to the fact that Yadriel's cousin was just murdered - he was just going about his days, going on side quests, and I kind of feel like he just forgot about Miguel until the plot required him to remember he was murdered. Meanwhile, I'm out here constantly stressed about what happened to Miguel.

The villain reveal was also extremely predictable, and I'm not sure I really liked the message that the motive behind it all sends to the reader. I'm also constantly frustrated at Yadriel's lack of awareness of anything outside of his own personal experience, but I do think this was a deliberate choice, and that perhaps that frustration was what Thomas intended. So while I don't think this necessarily makes the characterization of Yadriel bad or ineffective, it does certainly make it a little tiresome to read. I did like Julian and Maritza though, but I wish Maritza had more character development than she actually got.

Overall, I think this was an okay book, and one that I would recommend to people with caveats. The first half of the book is much stronger than the second half, in my opinion. That being said, I think unfortunately Aiden Thomas just perhaps isn't the author for me. I didn't dislike my time with this book, but I also am not itching to read the next book by any mans.
]]> 60320796 A new series from the author of The Raven Rings trilogy - Siri Pettersen!

Juva knows all about blood readers. Praised for their Sight, they are nothing but swindlers, preying on people’s fears for power and profit. Born by blood readers herself, she knows only too well, and she has vowed never to become one of them.

But when her family is threatened by vardari, the eerie lasting ones, who never age, Juva is entangled in a desperate hunt for the blood readers’ legacy: a dark secret that once changed the world, and may do so again.

In order to survive, she has to confront the terrifying childhood memory she fought to forget.

Iron Wolf is a new spellbinding fantasy mystery from Siri Pettersen, built on a Norse foundation, about blood, desire and addiction. It’s the first book in the trilogy VARDARI, an independent series set in the universe of the award-winning fantasy phenomenon THE RAVEN RINGS.]]> 400 Siri Pettersen 1646900154 Tammie 0 to-read 4.16 2020
author: Siri Pettersen
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58082211
Nothing survives in this city. But in a place that never allowed you to write your own history, even remembrance can be a radical act.

Hong Kong has long been known as a city of extremes: a former colony of the United Kingdom that today exists at the margins of an authoritarian, ascendant China; a city rocked by mass protests, where residents once rallied against threats to their democracy and freedoms. But it is also misunderstood and often romanticized, its history and politics simplified for Western headlines. Drawing richly from her own experience, as well as interviews with musicians, protesters, and writers who have made Hong Kong their home, journalist Karen Cheung gives us an insider’s view of this remarkable city at a critical moment in history—both for Hong Kong and democracies around the world.

Coming of age in the wake of Hong Kong’s reunification with China in 1997, Cheung traverses the multifold identities available to her in childhood and beyond, whether that was her experience at an English-speaking international school where her classmates would grow up to be “global citizens” struggling to fit in with the rest of Hong Kong, or within her deeply traditional, multilingual family. Along the way, Cheung gives a personal account of what it’s like to seek out affordable housing and mental healthcare in one of the world’s most expensive cities. She also takes us deep into Hong Kong’s vibrant indie music and literary scenes–youth-driven spaces of creative resistance. Inevitably, Cheung brings us with her to the protests, where her understanding of what it means to belong to Hong Kong finally crystallized.

Weaving together memoir, cultural criticism, and reportage, The Impossible City transcends borders to chart the parallel journeys of both a young woman and a city as they navigate the various, sometimes contradictory, paths of coming into one’s own.]]> 352 Karen Cheung 0593241436 Tammie 0 to-read 3.86 2022
author: Karen Cheung
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 223491909
Yet strange storms are a-brewing. Their matriarch, Roses Sun, is grappling with an existential she must produce a male heir that bears the clan's surname. She fears that if her generation is the one in which their esteemed lineage ends, they will be punished as "hungry ghosts" in the afterlife—an ancient but very real Asian superstition.

Faced with this terrifying fate, Roses summons her favorite nephew, Wayward. Believing him to possess the "lucky seed," Roses presents Wayward with a mandatory to father a baby boy who will inherit everything. When the other members of the Sun Clan catch wind of Roses's plot, all hells break loose. Wayward's family will now clash like never before in an epic war over the future of the Suns…if there is a future at all.

Yet through the chaos, Wayward sees opportunity. What if he can leverage all the conflict into a solution for his problematic family? What if he can reunite the Sun Clan by healing them? And what if the tumultuous Suns can finally learn how to love each other for the first time?]]> 448 Justinian Huang 0778387860 Tammie 4 Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If there's one thing I've learned about Justinian Huang's writing, it's to trust the process. You will not be able to anticipate the ride that he will take you on, but trust that there is a deliberate, intentional, and rewarding ride ahead of you. This book was the ultimate messy rich family drama - there was never a dull moment and full of ridiculous shenanigans, but at its core, a satisfying story about a dysfunctional family and the relationships within it.

If I have one critique, it's that the conclusion of the novel felt a little bit rushed to me, especially given all the loose ends we had to wrap up, but it's a minor gripe in an otherwise fantastic book. I love how unapologetic this book is - messy, dramatic, queer, Asian, and just downright fun - but it also has a lot to say about familial bonds and intergenerational trauma.

Content warning for sexual assault and drug use in the book - nothing is graphic or gratuitous in my opinion, but it does come up, so it's something to think about if that's a trigger for you.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, messy family saga. I think the comps to Crazy Rich Asians and Succession are both pretty solid, though tonally I think more similar to the original novel, Crazy Rich Asians, than the film. It's over the top, a little bit zany, and campy, and while that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it certainly is mine. ]]> 3.48
author: Justinian Huang
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.48
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/09/02
date added: 2025/09/02
shelves:
review:
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If there's one thing I've learned about Justinian Huang's writing, it's to trust the process. You will not be able to anticipate the ride that he will take you on, but trust that there is a deliberate, intentional, and rewarding ride ahead of you. This book was the ultimate messy rich family drama - there was never a dull moment and full of ridiculous shenanigans, but at its core, a satisfying story about a dysfunctional family and the relationships within it.

If I have one critique, it's that the conclusion of the novel felt a little bit rushed to me, especially given all the loose ends we had to wrap up, but it's a minor gripe in an otherwise fantastic book. I love how unapologetic this book is - messy, dramatic, queer, Asian, and just downright fun - but it also has a lot to say about familial bonds and intergenerational trauma.

Content warning for sexual assault and drug use in the book - nothing is graphic or gratuitous in my opinion, but it does come up, so it's something to think about if that's a trigger for you.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, messy family saga. I think the comps to Crazy Rich Asians and Succession are both pretty solid, though tonally I think more similar to the original novel, Crazy Rich Asians, than the film. It's over the top, a little bit zany, and campy, and while that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it certainly is mine.
]]> 219445683 A haunting coming-of-age tale following the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ronny Nyugen, as she grapples with the weight of generational trauma while navigating the violent power of teenage girlhood, for fans of Jennifer’s Body and Little Fires Everywhere.

It's the summer before high school, and Ronny Nguyen finds herself too young for work, too old for cartoons. Her days are spent in a small backyard, dozing off to trashy magazines on a plastic lawn chair. In stark contrast stands her brother Tommy, the pride and joy of their immigrant parents: a popular honor student destined to be the first in the family to attend college. The thought of Tommy leaving for college fills Ronny with dread, as she contemplates the quiet house she will be left alone in with her parents, Me and Ba.

Their parents rarely speak of their past in Vietnam, except through the lens of food. The family's meals are a tapestry of cultural memory: thick spring rolls with slim and salty nem chua, and steaming bowls of pho tái with thin, delicate slices of blood-red beef. In the aftermath of the war, Me and Ba taught Ronny and Tommy that meat was a dangerous luxury, a symbol of survival that should never be taken for granted.

But when tragedy strikes, Ronny's world is upended. Her sense of self and her understanding of her family are shattered. A few nights later, at her first high school party, a boy crosses the line, and Ronny is overtaken by a force larger than herself. This newfound power comes with an insatiable hunger for raw meat, a craving that is both a saving grace and a potential destroyer.

What Hunger is a visceral, emotional journey through the bursts and pitfalls of female rage. Ronny’s Vietnamese lineage and her mother’s emotional memory play a crucial role in this tender ode to generational trauma and mother-daughter bonding.]]> 288 Catherine Dang 0349125775 Tammie 0 to-read 3.71 2025
author: Catherine Dang
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216647797 For fans of The Poppy War, She Who Became the Sun and The Will of the Many, a breathtaking fantasy novel about the daughter of an overthrown emperor from an exciting new voice

Khamilla Zahr-zad’s life has been built on a foundation of violence and vengeance. Every home she’s known has been destroyed by war. As the daughter of an emperor’s clan, she spent her childhood training to maintain his throne. But when her clansmen are assassinated by another rival empire, plans change. With her heavenly magic of nur, Khamilla is a weapon even enemies would wield—especially those in the magical, scholarly city of Za’skar. Hiding her identity, Khamilla joins the enemy’s army school full of jinn, magic and martial arts, risking it all to topple her adversaries, avenge her clan and reclaim their throne.

To survive, she studies under cutthroat mystic monks and battles in a series of contests to outmaneuver her fellow soldiers. She must win at all costs, even if it means embracing the darkness lurking inside her. But the more she excels, the more she is faced with history that contradicts her father’s teachings. With a war brewing among the kingdoms and a new twisted magic overtaking the land, Khamilla is torn between two impossible vengeance or salvation.]]> 480 Sarah Mughal Rana 0778387666 Tammie 0 to-read 3.12 2025
author: Sarah Mughal Rana
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215344205
Hon Lai Chu, one of the foremost writers working in Hong Kong today, sets her characters loose in a macabre reality animated by sketchy institutions and characters with elusive motivations. Politically and socially allegorical, Mending Bodies, translated by Jacqueline Leung, challenges our safe understandings of people, bodies, and governments.]]> 209 Hon Lai-chu 1949641767 Tammie 0 to-read 3.44 2010
author: Hon Lai-chu
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11713 320 Michael Ondaatje 0771068719 Tammie 0 to-read 3.88 1992
author: Michael Ondaatje
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 222419254 The highly anticipated new novel. When a young single woman in Tokyo decides she’s ready to sell anything—even her womb—to escape the precarity of her life, an agency pairs her with a wealthy couple desperate to have a child. The match seems made in heaven. She even looks a little like the wife. But is anything ever that simple?

Nothing has ever gone right for Riki. She left her boring hometown in Hokkaido, where she worked at a nursing home, for a better life in Tokyo. But as a temp in the big city she has no job security, and barely scrapes by. She eats the same old discount boiled egg for lunch every day, sometimes for dinner, too. Many of her peers have to take on a side hustle just to make ends meet. So when her friend discovers an agency offering a hefty sum for egg donation, both leap at the chance for an interview.

Meanwhile, former ballet star Motoi Kusaoke and his wife, Yuko, have been trying to conceive for years. After trying what feels like every available option, it seems futile—until Motoi dives deep into his research and learns that, while surrogacy is technically illegal in Japan, there is a company that’s found a loophole.

Before long, everyone has an opinion on the from Yuko’s sex-obsessed, asexual best friend, to Motoi’s controlling prima ballerina mother, and even the affable sex-worker-slash-therapist that Riki has been to a couple of times, after she accepted a down-payment to be a surrogate.

Acutely funny and addictively page-turning, Swallows pulls at the seams of society, reassessing our understanding of motherhood, self-worth, bodily autonomy, and class. What does it mean to be “in control”? And can money really buy happiness?]]> 352 Natsuo Kirino 030726758X Tammie 0 to-read 3.51 2022
author: Natsuo Kirino
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54881330 I loved every moment of it… immersive, heart-wrenching, I feel emotional writing this review.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars Company Daughters. Virtuous young ladies to become the brides of industrious settlers in a foreign land. The Company will pay the cost of the lady’s dowry and travel. Returns not permitted, orphans preferred.Amsterdam, 1620. Jana Beil has learned that life rarely provides moments of joy. Having run away from a violent father, her days are spent searching for work in an effort to stay out of the city brothels, where desperate women trade their bodies for a mouthful of bread. But when Jana is hired as a servant for the wealthy and kind Master Reynst and his beautiful daughter Sontje, Jana’s future begins to look brighter.Then Master Reynst loses his fortune on a bad investment, and everything changes. The house is sold to creditors, leaving Jana back on the street and Sontje without a future.With no other choice, Jana and Sontje are forced to sign with the East India Company as Company sailing to a colonial Dutch outpost to become the brides of male settlers they know nothing about. With fear in their hearts, the girls begin their journey – but what awaits them on the other side of the world is nothing like what they’ve been promised…Based on true history, this is a gripping and unputdownable historical novel, perfect for fans of Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Miniaturist and The Indigo Girl.WINNER OF THE 2021 GOLDEN CROWN LITERARY SOCIETY AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION.FINALIST FOR THE 2021 BISEXUAL BOOK AWARDS.LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD.What readers are saying about The Company ‘Blew my mind… a book I've told so many people about purely because I'm still in disbelief that it exists, that it's so magically written and most of all that it is based on true events… a hard-hitting, soul-crushing book of a woman's struggle to survive… I loved every moment of it. Breathlessly, and in a way that took up my entire brain… immersive, heart-wrenching, and I feel emotional writing this review.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars‘From the moment I started reading The Company Daughters, I was captivated by this historical tale. Although it does contain a love story, it's not a romance…This was a gripping read.’ Goodreads reviewer ‘This book is so stunningly tender and beautiful, all mixed in with some seriously tragic and heart-wrenching events… Rajaram is an extremely skilled writer, and I love her writing style… The themes of sisterhood and female love were so present in this book and I found it very moving.’ Goodreads reviewer‘I was enchanted by this book! It’s a delightful read that will have your emotions all over the place.’ Goodreads reviewer‘I love historical fiction, and this book touched on a topic and time I knew nearly nothing about…There’s love, there’s loss, there’s surviving, there’s thriving… It was a very beautiful book.]]> 385 Samantha Rajaram 1800191758 Tammie 0 to-read 4.01 2020
author: Samantha Rajaram
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217388064 From the acclaimed international bestseller Keigo Higashino (The Devotion of Suspect X) comes a sweeping novel in the tradition of Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment.

This is the compelling story of a brutal crime and the two teenagers—Ryo, the son of the murdered man, and Yukiho, the daughter of the main suspect—whose lives remain inextricably linked over the twenty-year search for the truth behind the crime.

In Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective SasagakI is unable to find the killer. Over the next twenty years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth.

Under the Midnight Sun is a complex, psychological novel about crime and its after-effects by one the most read and most accomplished contemporary mystery author. A twisting, compelling work that will astonish and delight Higashino’s old fans and new readers alike.]]> 560 Keigo Higashino 1250379822 Tammie 0 to-read 4.52 1999
author: Keigo Higashino
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52180399 The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.]]> 305 Stephen Graham Jones 1982136456 Tammie 4 3.67 2020
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/09
date added: 2025/08/09
shelves:
review:
This one is for the 2nd person POV enthusiasts
]]> 220971136 Combining the political intrigue of She Who Became the Sun with the gorgeous world-building of Children of Blood and Bone, Birth of a Dynasty is the start of a thrilling epic fantasy trilogy centered around three families’ fight for power in Ahkebulin, a land where magic is feared, giants are real, and prophecy holds sway. 

We shall not forgive. We shall not forget. We will have our vengeance.

After witnessing the massacre of everyone he’s ever known and loved, M’Kuru Mukundi, the sole surviving member of the High Noble House Mukundi of Madada, vows revenge. M’kuru flees to a small village where he hides under the guise of farm boy Khalil Rausi… unaware that the real Khalil’s father is the bloodthirsty General of Zenzele army, and under the direction of the King’s scheming son, Prince Effiom, was responsible for the murder of M’kuru’s people. When an imposter claiming to be M’kuru shows up in the village, the real M’kuru—now Khalil—must bide his time amongst his enemies, pretending to be everything that he hates in order to get vengeance.

In another part of the country where giants roam free, young Zikora Nnamani, the only daughter of Lord Nnamani, knows nothing of political intrigue—she wants little more than to be a fierce Seh Llinga warrior. But a well-known prophecy places too much potential power on her small shoulders, and—as far as Prince Effiom and the King know—she is the only living threat to their dynasty ruling forever. However, when a messenger arrives to “invite” Zikora to stay at the palace, her family is not in a position to refuse. Before she is taken away, she begins The Rite of Blessing, a magical inheritance that she will need to learn how to use, but that may also bring the world one step closer to the completion of the prophecy that Prince Effiom so fears.

Between scheming ladies at court, backstabbing princes on the prowl, and paranoid kings, M’kuru and Zikora must do what they can, no matter how terrible, to save their people and claim vengeance for their families. But they are just two young people against an entire kingdom—and a prophecy destined to thwart their dreams—and the last thing they can do is trust anyone…even each other.]]> 384 Chinaza Bado 0063397609 Tammie 0 to-read 4.26 2025
author: Chinaza Bado
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 85173872
In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, each set against the supernatural or surreal. All are written with Due’s trademark attention to detail and deeply drawn characters.

In addition to previously published work, this collection contains brand-new stories, including “Rumpus Room,” a supernatural horror novelette set in Florida about a woman’s struggle against both outer and inner demons.]]> 296 Tananarive Due 1636141056 Tammie 0 to-read 4.00 2023
author: Tananarive Due
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214152402 A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society.

But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta’s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.

What unfolds is an unforgettable story of two sisters finding their way back to each other, and a celebration of that transcendent, unshakable bond.]]> 256 Emily R. Austin 1668058146 Tammie 0 to-read 3.95 2025
author: Emily R. Austin
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 223854541 A down-on-her-luck woman makes a deal with a crafty demon to win back her ex-girlfriend after a proposal gone awry, only to discover the girl of her dreams might be the devil she knows, from nationally bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.

Samantha Cooper is having a day from hell.

In less than 24 hours, her life has unraveled, leaving her single and with nowhere to live. Adding insult to injury, she’s trapped in an elevator with a gorgeous woman claiming to be a demon.

Daphne is not at all what Samantha expected from someone claiming to be an evil supernatural entity. She’s pretty, witty, dressed in pink, and smells nice. And she’s here to offer Samantha a deal she can’t refuse. Six wishes in exchange for one tiny trade—Samantha’s soul. There’s a glaring loophole in their contract, one Samantha fully intends to exploit so she doesn’t fork over her soul. After all, she only needs one wish to win her ex back.

Hell-bent to gather the last of the one thousand souls she needs so that she can be free of her own devilish deal, Daphne grants each of Samantha’s wishes . . . with a twist, so that Samantha is forced to make another.

As Samantha’s wishes dwindle and Daphne offers her glimpses into the life she thought she wanted, the unlikely pair grows close. Perhaps the girl of Samantha’s dreams is actually the stuff of nightmares, but Samantha and Daphne will have to outsmart the Devil himself if they want a chance at happily ever after.]]> 322 Alexandria Bellefleur 0593952502 Tammie 0 to-read 3.63 2025
author: Alexandria Bellefleur
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59345243 A high-strung pastry chef’s professional goals are interrupted by an unexpected career transition and the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager in this deliciously fresh and witty queer rom-com.

Simone Larkspur is a perfectionist pastry expert with a dream job at The Discerning Chef, a venerable cookbook publisher in New York City. All she wants to do is create the perfect loaf of sourdough and develop recipes, but when The Discerning Chef decides to bring their brand into the 21st century by pivoting to video, Simone is thrust into the spotlight and finds herself failing at something for the first time in her life.

To make matters worse, Simone has to deal with Ray Lyton, the new test kitchen manager, whose obnoxious cheer and outgoing personality are like oil to Simone’s water. When Ray accidentally becomes a viral YouTube sensation with a series of homebrewing videos, their eccentric editor in chief forces Simone to work alongside the chipper upstart or else risk her beloved job. But the more they work together, the more Simone realizes her heart may be softening like butter for Ray.

Things get even more complicated when Ray comes out at work as nonbinary to mixed reactions—and Simone must choose between the career she fought so hard for and the person who just might take the cake (and her heart).]]> 308 T.J. Alexander 1982189088 Tammie 0 did-not-finish
I would've DNF'd way earlier but I am reading this for my local book club so I felt like I needed to read at least a third of it to be able to participate, and I'll probably just skim the rest for those purposes. Either way, this was very much not a book for me. I wasn't a fan of the writing, and Simone is an absolutely insufferable main character with a superiority complex, and is honestly just not very nice to the people around her? So I'm not sure how I'm supposed to root for her in a romance.

But more importantly, I just personally have no interest in reading what is a very thinly veiled fanfiction of actual, real-life people. Especially because based on some other reviews, the way the struggles of real BIPOC chefs and creatives were co-opted for this story centering two white characters, even if they are queer, doesn't quite sit right with me.]]> 3.66 2022
author: T.J. Alexander
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/08/01
date added: 2025/08/01
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
DNF @ 36%

I would've DNF'd way earlier but I am reading this for my local book club so I felt like I needed to read at least a third of it to be able to participate, and I'll probably just skim the rest for those purposes. Either way, this was very much not a book for me. I wasn't a fan of the writing, and Simone is an absolutely insufferable main character with a superiority complex, and is honestly just not very nice to the people around her? So I'm not sure how I'm supposed to root for her in a romance.

But more importantly, I just personally have no interest in reading what is a very thinly veiled fanfiction of actual, real-life people. Especially because based on some other reviews, the way the struggles of real BIPOC chefs and creatives were co-opted for this story centering two white characters, even if they are queer, doesn't quite sit right with me.
]]> 55711617
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though – this, Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedic recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but… will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening? Does she even want to?

Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?

This new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, called “one of our most talented living writers” by Tommy Orange, explores the changing landscape of the West through his distinct voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence.

Go up the mountain to Proofrock. See if you’ve got what it takes – see if your heart, too, might be a chainsaw.]]> 405 Stephen Graham Jones 1982137630 Tammie 5
My first Stephen Graham Jones book, and most definitely will not be my last. Also my first slasher ever? I'm generally not a horror girlie, especially not in movie form, but I ended up picking this one up on a recommendation, and I loved it. I know that many reviews will say that you need to have an appreciation for slashers to enjoy this book, but I don't think it's quite as simple as that. I think if you're okay with not necessarily understanding every reference, then you'll be totally fine, and the Slasher 101 sections in the book serve as a pretty good way to ensure that you can at least understand what the references are foreshadowing and how they're interacting with the events of the book.

I also personally loved Jade as a main character, but I know that is not everyone's experience. She's long-winded, and some might find her inner monologue to be exhausting, but I found it strangely endearing? I just think that as someone who also has very strong hyperfixations, I could relate to how she thinks.

I have a feeling that this could definitely be a full 5 stars on reread, once I finish the series and see where the rest of the story is going, because I do feel like some parts felt like setup and weren't fully resolved by the end of the book. That being said, I do feel like the resolutions we got were extremely satisfying, and there were so many full circle moments that were emotional and felt earned.

I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series, as well as more of SGJ's works.]]> 3.50 2021
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/31
date added: 2025/08/01
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars

My first Stephen Graham Jones book, and most definitely will not be my last. Also my first slasher ever? I'm generally not a horror girlie, especially not in movie form, but I ended up picking this one up on a recommendation, and I loved it. I know that many reviews will say that you need to have an appreciation for slashers to enjoy this book, but I don't think it's quite as simple as that. I think if you're okay with not necessarily understanding every reference, then you'll be totally fine, and the Slasher 101 sections in the book serve as a pretty good way to ensure that you can at least understand what the references are foreshadowing and how they're interacting with the events of the book.

I also personally loved Jade as a main character, but I know that is not everyone's experience. She's long-winded, and some might find her inner monologue to be exhausting, but I found it strangely endearing? I just think that as someone who also has very strong hyperfixations, I could relate to how she thinks.

I have a feeling that this could definitely be a full 5 stars on reread, once I finish the series and see where the rest of the story is going, because I do feel like some parts felt like setup and weren't fully resolved by the end of the book. That being said, I do feel like the resolutions we got were extremely satisfying, and there were so many full circle moments that were emotional and felt earned.

I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series, as well as more of SGJ's works.
]]> 54661258
𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔... 𝑮𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚!

𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙔

Marymount girls are good girls. We’re chaste, we’re untouched, and even if we weren’t, no one would know, because we keep our mouths shut.

Not that I have anything to share anyway. I never let guys go too far. I’m behaved.

Beautiful, smart, talented, popular, my skirt’s always pressed, and I never have a hair out of place. I own the hallways, walking tall on Monday and dropping to my knees like the good Catholic girl I am on Sunday.

That’s me. Always in control.

Or so they think. The truth is that it’s easy for me to resist them, because what I truly want, they can never be. Something soft and smooth. Someone dangerous and wild.

Unfortunately, what I want I have to hide. In the locker room after hours. In the bathroom stall between classes. In the showers after practice. 𝑀𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑀𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑝 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡.

For me, life is a web of secrets. No one can find out mine.

𝙊𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙄𝘼

I cross the tracks every day for one reason—to graduate from this school and get into the Ivy League. I’m not ashamed of where I come from, my family, or how everyone at Marymount thinks my skirts are too short and my lipstick is too red.

Clay Collins and her friends have always turned up their noses at me. The witch with her beautiful skin, clean shoes, and rich parents who torments me daily and thinks I won’t fight back.

At least not until I get her alone and find out she’s hiding so much more than just what’s underneath those pretty clothes.

The princess thinks I’ll scratch her itch. She thinks she’s still pure as long as it’s not a guy touching her.

I told her to stay on her side of town. I told her not to cross the tracks.

But one night, she did. And when I’m done with her, she’ll never be pure again.

*TRYST SIX VENOM is a standalone, new adult, bully romance suitable for readers 18+. It will release directly into Kindle Unlimited!]]> 589 Penelope Douglas Tammie 0 to-read 3.82 2021
author: Penelope Douglas
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199798012
Veycosi, a scholar of folklore, hopes to sail off to examine the rare Alamat Book of Light and thus secure a spot for himself on Cynchin’s Colloquium. However, unexpected events prevent that from happening. Fifteen Ymisen galleons arrive in the harbor to force a trade agreement on Cynchin. Veycosi is put in charge of the situation, but quickly finds himself in way over his head.

Bad turns to worse when malign forces start stirring. Pickens (children) are disappearing and an ancient invading army, long frozen into piche (tar) statues by island witches is stirring to life—led by the fearsome demon known as the Blackheart Man. Veycosi has problems in his polyamorous personal life, too. How much trouble can a poor scholar take? Or cause all by himself?]]> 384 Nalo Hopkinson 1668005107 Tammie 0 to-read 3.62 2024
author: Nalo Hopkinson
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60789179
Questions like this sit between the lines of this stunning collection of stories that engage the nuance of African women's histories. Their history is not just one thing, there is heartbreak and pain, and joy, and flying and magic, so much magic. An avenging spirit takes on the patriarchy from beyond the grave.

An immigrant woman undergoes a naturalization ceremony in an imagined American state that demands that immigrants pay a toll of the thing they love the most to be allowed to stay. A first-generation Zimbabwean-American woman haunted by generational trauma is willing to pay the ultimate price to take her pain away—giving up her memories. A neighborhood gossip wakes up to find that houses are mysteriously vanishing in the night. A shapeshifting freedom fighter leaves a legacy of resistance to her granddaughter.

In Drinking from Graveyard Wells, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu assembles a collection of poignantly reflective stories that ventilate the voices of African women charting a Black history across oceans between southern Africa and America. Ndlovu's stories play with genres ranging from softly surreal to deeply fantastical. Each narrative is wrapped in the literary eloquence and tradition of southern African mythology, in a way that transports readers into the lives of African women who have fought across time and space to be seen.

Drawing on her own experiences as a Zimbabwean whose early life was spent under the Mugabe dictatorship, Ndlovu's stories are grounded in truth and empathy. Ndlovu boldly offers up alternative interpretations of a past and a present that speculates into the everyday lives of a people disregarded. Her words explore the erasure of African women—while highlighting their beauty potential and limitless possibility. Immersed in worlds both fantastical and familiar, readers find themselves walking alongside these women, grieving their pain, and celebrating their joy, all against the textured backdrop of African histories, languages, and cultures.]]> 158 Yvette Lisa Ndlovu 0813196973 Tammie 0 to-read 4.34 2023
author: Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217388265 A deeply dark academia novel from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, perfect for fans of A Deadly Education and The Atlas Six who are hungry for something a little more diabolical.

The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously powerful: the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.

Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that’s what Alessa Li is told when she’s kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.

But there’s more to Hellebore than meets the eye. On graduation day, the faculty go on a ravenous rampage, feasting on Alessa’s class. Only Alessa and a group of her classmates escape the carnage. Trapped in the school’s library, they must offer a human sacrifice every night, or else the faculty will break down the door and kill everyone.

Can they band together and survive, or will the faculty eat its fill?]]> 278 Cassandra Khaw 1250877814 Tammie 0 to-read 3.08 2025
author: Cassandra Khaw
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228362986 Nora Sakavic Tammie 0 to-read 4.86
author: Nora Sakavic
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.86
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 97995549
Until she meets the enigmatic Helene.

Helene is just as restless, just as lonely, and just as full of secrets. With Helene in tow, Ronnie and the band make their way across the Pacific Northwest, trying to outrun not only their mistakes, but the mysterious disease stalking the band, a disease that devours succubi from the inside out.

The hunger is as endless as the road, but maybe Ronnie doesn’t always want to sleep alone.]]> 135 J.A.W. McCarthy Tammie 4 3.73
author: J.A.W. McCarthy
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/18
date added: 2025/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 217896248 From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar's walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle's new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.]]> 352 Caitlin Starling 0063418819 Tammie 0 to-read 3.58 2025
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75500819 A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences.

On the surface, Alice is exactly where she thinks she should be: She’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steve—a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture—is nothing but supportive; and they’ve moved into a new home in a posh Toronto neighborhood. But Alice could not feel like more of an impostor. She isn’t connecting with her daughter, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their ever-watchful neighbors, among whom she’s the sole Indigenous resident. Even when she does have a minute to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.

Then strange things start to happen. She finds herself losing bits of time and hearing voices she can’t explain, all while her neighbors’ passive-aggressive behavior begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve assures her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very, very wrong and that in her creation story lies the key to her and Dawn’s survival. She just has to finish it before it’s too late.]]> 368 Alicia Elliott 0593473086 Tammie 0 to-read 3.84 2023
author: Alicia Elliott
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217388174 A new Queer, Asian-inspired fantasy novella about a renowned dragon slayer who never takes her armor off in public, Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame reads like She Who Became the Sun meets The Mandalorian, with dragons!

The fiercely independent nation of Quanbao is isolated, reclusive, and something of a mystery to the rest of the world. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper but instead loved and worshiped.

Yeva is perhaps a strange emissary to these people. Not only because their face has never been seen in public, but because they are a hero born to a birthright that makes them suited for their task—hunting dragons.

And so the dragon hunter must woo Quanbao's queen—the Lady Sookhee—to understand what secrets she is hiding. A woman reasonably suspicious of Yeva's intentions, and the imperial might of the throne she represents, Sookhee bears the burden of the safety of her entire people. How can she trust this stranger newly arrived to her court, a weapon forged in blood and fire, to understand what her people need and how best to safeguard their future?]]> 167 Neon Yang 1250357349 Tammie 0 to-read 3.57 2025
author: Neon Yang
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 224004657 Award­ winning author Ken Liu returns with his first sci-fi thriller in a brand-new series following former “orphan hacker” Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her cybersecurity and hacking skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, identity, and the power of shared dreams.

Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at fourteen as the “orphan hacker,” is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a Boston suburb.

But when a lawyer named Piers—whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals—barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can’t walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an onierofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee’s waking dream and providing an emotionally resonant and narrative experience. While attendees’ dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also providing a one-on-one dream experience for the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding his dreams in return for Elli.

Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.]]> 404 Ken Liu 1668083175 Tammie 4 Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

This has all the ingredients that I've come to expect and appreciate about Ken Liu's writing, but presented very differently than any of his other works. Like many of his other books and stories, this book is a little hard to categorize. At face value, it's a sci-fi thriller about an orphan hacker who gets roped into this scheme to help a lawyer find his missing wife. But it's also an interesting look into the future of AI surveillance, the value of art, the realities (both good and bad) of over-reliance on technology, exploitation of human labour, and much more.

It's both the book's greatest strength and its biggest weakness, in my opinion. At times, it does feel like it's biting off more than it can chew. At around the 250-300 page mark, it starts to feel like it's perhaps overstaying its welcome. But then the last 80 pages or so bring you deeper into the story yet again, and it sucks you back in for one last run. Liu is a master at crafting stories and characters that make you think about the world in which we live in, the past that shapes the present, and the future that we might find ourselves in. This book is no different. While the book is perhaps more approachable in prose than some of his other works, I think that it's no less thought-provoking than the others.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book, especially if you're a fan of thrillers, or are interested in a book that will make you think about the role of technology (especially AI) in our lives. It's also has a sort of exciting, fast-paced feel to it that makes it an easy read, so while it's not my personal favourite Ken Liu book, it's definitely one that I'd happily recommend to people who have never read any of his works before.]]> 3.49 2025
author: Ken Liu
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/14
date added: 2025/07/14
shelves:
review:
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

This has all the ingredients that I've come to expect and appreciate about Ken Liu's writing, but presented very differently than any of his other works. Like many of his other books and stories, this book is a little hard to categorize. At face value, it's a sci-fi thriller about an orphan hacker who gets roped into this scheme to help a lawyer find his missing wife. But it's also an interesting look into the future of AI surveillance, the value of art, the realities (both good and bad) of over-reliance on technology, exploitation of human labour, and much more.

It's both the book's greatest strength and its biggest weakness, in my opinion. At times, it does feel like it's biting off more than it can chew. At around the 250-300 page mark, it starts to feel like it's perhaps overstaying its welcome. But then the last 80 pages or so bring you deeper into the story yet again, and it sucks you back in for one last run. Liu is a master at crafting stories and characters that make you think about the world in which we live in, the past that shapes the present, and the future that we might find ourselves in. This book is no different. While the book is perhaps more approachable in prose than some of his other works, I think that it's no less thought-provoking than the others.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book, especially if you're a fan of thrillers, or are interested in a book that will make you think about the role of technology (especially AI) in our lives. It's also has a sort of exciting, fast-paced feel to it that makes it an easy read, so while it's not my personal favourite Ken Liu book, it's definitely one that I'd happily recommend to people who have never read any of his works before.
]]> 43289181 The Gods of Tango, a revolutionary new novel about five wildly different women who, in the midst of the Uruguayan dictatorship, find one another as lovers, friends, and ultimately, family.

In 1977 Uruguay, a military government crushed political dissent with ruthless force. In this environment, where the everyday rights of people are under attack, homosexuality is a dangerous transgression to be punished. And yet Romina, Flaca, Anita "La Venus," Paz, and Malena--five cantoras, women who "sing"--somehow, miraculously, find one another. Together, they discover an isolated, nearly uninhabited cape, Cabo Polonio, which they claim as their secret sanctuary. Over the next thirty-five years, their lives move back and forth between Cabo Polonio and Montevideo, the city they call home, as they return, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs, with lovers in tow, or alone. And throughout, again and again, the women will be tested--by their families, lovers, society, and one another--as they fight to live authentic lives.

A genre-defining novel and De Robertis's masterpiece, Cantoras is a breathtaking portrait of queer love, community, forgotten history, and the strength of the human spirit. At once timeless and groundbreaking, Cantoras is a tale about the fire in all our souls and those who make it burn.]]> 312 Carolina De Robertis 0525521690 Tammie 0 to-read 4.37 2019
author: Carolina De Robertis
name: Tammie
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 123858963
But the case ends up being more complicated than Wen could ever have anticipated. The client has been possessed by a demon prince from Hell, and he’s not interested in leaving.]]> 162 Em X. Liu 1786189925 Tammie 0 to-read 3.72 2023
author: Em X. Liu
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 232208854 A propulsive debut novel following a has-been reality TV star and a disgraced producer who get one last shot at redemption on a show set on a remote island, only to discover that the plot twists are beyond what they ever imagined.

Everyone gets the story arc they deserve.

Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance at glory—to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type—Ruddy the bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest—but everyone is more than they appear.

The contestants’ goals seem simple—survive the wild, build a raft, win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.

As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage each other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline. Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make it out in one piece.]]> 447 Stephen Fishbach Tammie 0 to-read 3.79 2026
author: Stephen Fishbach
name: Tammie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

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