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15h

The Princess Trap
Talia Hibbert
From bestselling author Talia Hibbert comes a story of wicked royals, fake engagements, and the fed-up office worker trapped in the midst of it all⌠Cherry Neita is thirty, flirty, and done with men. As far as she can tell, theyâre overrated, overpaid, and underperforming â in every area of life. But a girl has needs, and the smoking-hot stranger she just met at the office seems like the perfect one-night stand⌠Prince Ruben of Helgmøre is reckless, dominant, and famously filthy. The outcast royal is rebuilding his reputation â all for a good cause â but he canât resist a pretty face. And bossy whirlwind Cherryâs got the face, the body, and the attitude to make Rubenâs convictions crumble. Even better, when she propositions him, she has no idea who he really is. But when paparazzi catch the pair, erm, kissing in an alleyway, Rubenâs anonymity disappears faster than Cherryâs knickers. Now the press is in uproar, the palace is outraged, and Rubenâs reputation is back in the gutter. Thereâs only one way to turn this disaster around â and it involves Cherry, some big fat lies, and a flashy diamond ring. On her left hand. Unfortunately, Cherry isnât pleased with Rubenâs âfake engagementâ scheme⌠and neither is the king. The Princess Trap is a steamy, diverse royal romance featuring a take-no-sh*t heroine and a misunderstood hero fighting to survive life at the palace. Thereâs fake relationship fluff, a healthy dose of angst, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after. Please be aware this story contains scenes of abuse that could trigger certain audiences.

JocyReads finished a book
19h

Shady Hollow
Juneau Black
The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony--until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case. Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy. Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera's cunning and quickness to crack the case.

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2d

The Shuddering
Ania Ahlborn
They only come when it snows, and nobody ever gets away. A group of close friends gathers at a secluded cabin in the wintry mountains of Colorado for a final holiday hurrah. Instead, it may be their last stand. First a massive blizzard leaves them marooned. Then the more chilling realization: something is lurking in the woods, watching them, waiting... Now a weekend of family, friends, and fun has turned into a test of love and loyalty in the face of inhuman horrors. The only hope for those huddled inside is to fightâtooth and nail, bullet and bladeâfor their lives. Otherwise, they'll end up like the monsters' other victims: bright pools of blood on glittering snow, screams lost in the vast mountains.

JocyReads started reading...
2d

Shady Hollow
Juneau Black
The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony--until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case. Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy. Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera's cunning and quickness to crack the case.

JocyReads finished a book
2d

Hunted
P.C. Cast
What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil, and all he wanted was you? At the start of this heart-pounding new installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoeyâs friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings arenât Neferetâs secrets any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesnât want to hear and truths she canât face?
Alright PB peeps. I am 3rd in line for my hold at the library (Libby) what is something I will understand later? Favorite quotes, your own little inside joke, anything!

JocyReads is re-reading...
4d

Hunted
P.C. Cast
What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil, and all he wanted was you? At the start of this heart-pounding new installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoeyâs friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings arenât Neferetâs secrets any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesnât want to hear and truths she canât face?

JocyReads finished a book
4d

Half His Age
Jennette McCurdy
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iâm Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths weâll go to in order to get what we want. Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesnât know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesnât? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, itâs just enough that he sees her when no one else does. Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstaclesâor attempts to overcome themâin her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.

JocyReads started reading...
4d

Half His Age
Jennette McCurdy
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iâm Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths weâll go to in order to get what we want. Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesnât know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesnât? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, itâs just enough that he sees her when no one else does. Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstaclesâor attempts to overcome themâin her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.

JocyReads finished a book
4d

Long After We Are Gone
Terah Shelton Harris
An explosive and emotional story of four siblingsâeach fighting their own personal battleâwho return home in the wake of their father's death in order to save their family's home from being sold out from under them, from the author of One Summer in Savannah. "Don't let the white man take the house." These are the last words King Solomon says to his son before he dies. Now all four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company, who has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort. While fighting to save the Kingdom, the siblings must also save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto. Junior, the oldest son and married to his wife for 11 years, is secretly in love with another man. Second son, Mance, can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, the oldest daughter and a lawyer in New York City, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Youngest daughter, Tokey, wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways. Told in alternating viewpoints, Long After We Are Gone is a searing portrait on the power of family and letting go of things that no longer serve you, exploring the burden of familial expectations, the detriment of miscommunication, and the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children.

JocyReads TBR'd a book
5d

Diavola
Jennifer Marie Thorne
Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology. Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive. It isnât easy when sheâs the only one in the family who doesnât quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much heâs practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyoneâincluding her blandly docile husband and two kidsâfalling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet. The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the railsâthe strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself. (Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)

JocyReads TBR'd a book
1w

Bunny
Mona Awad
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny," and seem to move and speak as one. But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision. The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.

JocyReads TBR'd a book
1w

Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor
The future of storytelling is here. Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes. What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.

JocyReads finished a book
1w

Root Rot
Saskia Nislow
Come meet The Liar, The Secret Keeper, The Crybaby, and the rest. Nine children travel with their families to their Grandfather's vacation property, where strange things begin to happen: eyes blink from the bottom up, mushrooms ooze blood, people's faces don't hang right anymore-except they do, once you look more closely. Transformations warp the children's sense of time and place, the very land itself seeming to encroach upon them. As The Liar watches the children succumb one by one to an unknown fate, she must make sense of absent stars in the night sky, vials of amber liquid that taste of milk, a funny little rope tied in knots. She's faced with a choice: join or resist, only the choice is not so simple. Set in The Grandfather's Lake House as he continues to extend his property lines and told in the eerie we of the children, Root Rot explores predatory family dynamics, the boundaries of bodies and home, and how individuals choose to participate in or push back against structures that would harm them.

JocyReads TBR'd a book
1w

The Arachnid
I.V. Ophelia
In the shadows of 1890s Buffalo, a poisoner's bite leaves more than just scarsâeven for the undead. Two years after fleeing London, Alina Lis has built something she never thought a home. Leading a commune of women like herself, she's found a new, greater purpose; experimenting on the Vipera. But peace, she learns, is as fragile as a spider's web in winter. Silas Forbes, the Vipera she escaped, hasnât forgotten. But his thirst for Alina threatens everything he's created in her absence. And he's brought another along for the Luka Novikov, the man who once betrayed her, now bound to them both by wounds that won't heal and debts that can't be paid. As human and Vipera worlds violently collide, old poisons surface and new alliances form. In a society where survival means choosing sides, Alina must protect the family she's built, Silas must decide what price he'll pay for his obsession, and Lukaâmarked forever by the poisoner's kissâmust survive the clash of an immortalâs longing and a womanâs fury. Some venoms have no antidote. Some hungers can never be satisfied. THE ARACHNID is the second installment of the darkly seductive POISONER SERIES, where humans and Vipera twist together like lovers in the dark.