caoie
just a mid 20's trying to hang onto her love of reading
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caoie finished a book
20h
The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (London Highwaymen, #2)
Cat Sebastian
Cat Sebastian returns to Georgian London with a stunning tale of a reluctant criminal and the thief who cannot help but love her.
Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her--and who she may have left tied up a few hours before...
A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody's bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband's blood and in desperate need of his help?
As they flee across the country--stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats--they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob's past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.
4
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caoie TBR'd a book
3d
If Venice Dies
Salvatore Settis
What is Venice worth? To whom does this urban treasure belong? This eloquent book by the internationally renowned art historian Salvatore Settis urgently poses these questions, igniting a new debate about the Pearl of the Adriatic and cultural patrimony at large. Venetians are increasingly abandoning their hometown — there’s now only one resident for every 140 visitors — and Venice’s fragile fate has become emblematic of the future of historic cities everywhere as it capitulates to tourists and those who profit from them. In If Venice Dies, a fiery blend of history and cultural analysis, Settis argues that “hit-and-run” visitors are turning landmark urban settings into shopping malls and theme parks. He warns that Western civilization’s prime achievements face impending ruin from mass tourism and global cultural homogenization. This is a passionate plea to secure Venice’s future, written with consummate authority, wide-ranging erudition and élan.
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1w
The Gentleman's Book of Vices
Jess Everlee
Is their real-life love story doomed to be a tragedy, or can they rewrite the ending?
London, 1883
Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can’t love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding.
Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last hurrah: meeting his favorite author in person.
Miles Montague is more gifted as a smut writer than a shopkeep and uses his royalties to keep his flagging bookstore afloat. So when a cheerful dandy appears out of the mist with Miles's highly secret pen name on his pretty lips, Miles assumes the worst. But Charlie Price is no blackmailer; he’s Miles's biggest fan.
A scribbled signature on a worn book page sets off an affair as scorching as anything Miles has ever written. But Miles is clinging to a troubled past, while Charlie’s future has spun entirely out of his control…
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1w
The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence
The Care Collective
We are in the midst of a global crisis of care. How do we get out of it?
The Care Manifesto puts care at the heart of the debates of our current crisis: from intimate care--childcare, healthcare, elder care--to care for the natural world. We live in a world where carelessness reigns, but it does not have to be this way.
The Care Manifesto puts forth a vision for a truly caring world. The authors want to reimagine the role of care in our everyday lives, making it the organising principle in every dimension and at every scale of life. We are all dependent on each other, and only by nurturing these interdependencies can we cultivate a world in which each and every one of us can not only live but thrive.
The Care Manifesto demands that we must put care at the heart of the state and the economy. A caring government must promote collective joy, not the satisfaction of individual desire. This means the transformation of how we organise work through co-operatives, localism and nationalisation. It proposes the expansion of our understanding of kinship for a more 'promiscuous care'. It calls for caring places through the reclamation of public space, to make a more convivial city. It sets out an agenda for the environment, most urgent of all, putting care at the centre of our relationship to the natural world.
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caoie joined a quest
1w
Classic Literature from the United States 🇺🇸📚🥧
🏆 // 6838 joined
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A collection of the most influential works in literature from the United States.
4
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caoie started reading...
1w
The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (London Highwaymen, #2)
Cat Sebastian
Cat Sebastian returns to Georgian London with a stunning tale of a reluctant criminal and the thief who cannot help but love her.
Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her--and who she may have left tied up a few hours before...
A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody's bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband's blood and in desperate need of his help?
As they flee across the country--stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats--they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob's past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.
2
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caoie left a rating...
1w
caoie
Aug 18, 2026
Aug 18, 2026
4.5
Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5Audiobook: 4.5
🕵️
❤️🔥
🤕
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caoie commented on EatTheRich's review of Dark Matter
1w
I am keeping this as spoiler free as possible because this book has made me such a Blake Crouch hater that I must spread my hate to as many people as possible. take it off your TBRs people!!! I will not rest until you have.
this whole book is a bullet point list of the thoughts, dialogue and plot of a better sci-fi book. This includes a great cast of characters, such as; Man, Wife and Teenager. Later, we are even blessed with Woman and Villain.
Wife: so horny and in love with the MMC. Her only personality trait besides liking art. Her husband is the only thing in her life that means anything, makes no decisions for herself, he is her whole world. Questions nothing and no one. Does what she's told.
Man: Jason is an absolute nothing-burger of an MMC. He is soooooo stupid smart (which we know, because he understands Schrödinger's cat and Crouch dedicated a page in a half for Jason to explain that to us like it isn't the most famous thought experiment in the world) but instead spends this whole book stumbling around and being thrown in one direction on the other by outside forces, never doing anything remotely smart or cunning. I started rooting against him because he annoyed me so bad.
And finally, Teenager:
...that's not a mistake I just can't think of a single thing to describe that character.
The only reason this wasn't a DNF is because it was such an offensively easy read. I had to work for NOTHING in this book.
The writing was...ugh. Everything seems to come back around to sex or lust. Why am I reading page after page dissecting the quality of the sex Wife and Man are having?
It features numerous cringe inducing lines such as:
It felt like the first time you had really seen me. The first time anyone had really seen me. It was the hottest thing
Hottest???? Hottest. Whatever.
Being with Daniella isn't like home. It is home
There is barely a sentence longer than 6 words in this whole book. And every page, every bit of excruciating internal dialogue from the MMC looks like this:
I go to the shop I miss my wife I am...sad Angry No money Grr
Useless side characters that get written in and out in a line, no imagery, no atmosphere, no....intelligence. If I had written this I wouldnt show it to my postman let alone my publisher. And the fact that this is now a TV show? AND going to be a movie!?!?!? I've seen enough. Blake Crouch I am in your WALLS
96
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caoie left a rating...
1w
caoie
Aug 18, 2026
Aug 18, 2026
4.5
Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5Audiobook: 5.0
🏚️
🤵
💓
2
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caoie joined a quest
1w
Love in the Big City 🏙️🍸💋
🏆 // 2316 joined
Not Joined
Fast-paced lives. Crowded streets. Late nights. Ambition, longing, and messy, magnetic love—all happening in real time.
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caoie is interested in reading...
1w
It Had to Be Him
Adib Khorram
Heartstopper meets Eat Pray Love in this swoony, spicy, second-chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Adib Khorram about two former classmates unexpectedly reuniting in Italy.
Ramin Yazdani's marriage proposal has just gone bottoms up: his ex dumped him in public for being boring. Bent on proving him wrong, Ramin books a spontaneous solo trip to Italy. When he runs into his high school crush while in a gelateria, however, his resolve to reinvent himself is put to the test.
Noah Bartlett’s in a rut. Since his divorce, he's become a bit of a homebody. So when his ex-wife insists he join her and their son on an Italian holiday, Noah reluctantly agrees. But his reticence turns to excitement when he sees his former classmate, who's aged just like a fine wine. As a teenager, Ramin fascinated him—and since Noah now knows that fascination was code for crush—all those feelings are quick to come rushing back.
Soon Ramin and Noah are tumbling headfirst into a relationship. Only Ramin fears Noah’s feelings won’t last without Ramin’s adventurous new persona—and Noah's not sure he can be the supportive partner Ramin deserves. With the days counting down to the end of their trip, can their love last without the magic of Italy?
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caoie is interested in reading...
1w
You, Again
Kate Goldbeck
Can they stop hating each other long enough to fall in love?
A commitment-phobe and a hopeless romantic clash over and over again—until heartbreak and unexpected chemistry bring them together in this clever enemies-to-friends-to-lovers debut romance.
When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.
A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs, and she never sleeps over after hooking up. Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: Take the culinary world by storm, find The One, and make her breakfast in his spotless kitchen. They have absolutely nothing in common . . . except that they happen to be sleeping with the same woman.
Ari and Josh never expect their paths to cross again. But years later, as they're both reeling from ego-bruising breakups, a chance encounter leads to a surprising connection: friendship. Turns out, spending time with your former nemesis is fun when you're too sad to hate each other--and too sad for hate sex.
As friends-without-benefits, they find comfort in late-night Netflix binges, swiping through each other's online dating profiles, and bickering across boroughs. It's better than romance. Until one night, the unspoken boundaries of their platonic relationship begin to blur. . . .
With sharp observations and sizzling chemistry, You, Again explores the dynamics of co-ed friendship in this sparkling romantic comedy of modern love in all its forms.
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caoie is interested in reading...
1w
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times
Monica Guzmán
"I can see this book helping estranged parties who are equally invested in bridging a gap—it could be assigned reading for fractured families aspiring to a harmonious Thanksgiving dinner." —New York Times
"Like all skills, these techniques take practice. But anyone who sincerely wants to bridge the gaps in understanding will appreciate this book. Guzmán is emphatic about making an effort to work on difficult conversations." —Manhattan Book Review
We think we have the answers, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out to find what was blinding us and discovered the most eye-opening tool we're not using: our own built-in curiosity.
Partisanship is up, trust is down, and our social media feeds make us sure we're right and everyone else is ignorant (or worse). But avoiding one another is hurting our relationships and our society. In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people.
She shows you how to overcome the fear and certainty that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is different from or even opposed to yours.
In these pages, you'll learn:
* How to ask what you really want to know (even if you're afraid to)
* How to grow smarter from even the most tense interactions, online or off
* How to cross boundaries and find common ground—with anyone
Whether you're left, right, center, or not a fan of labels: If you're ready to fight back against the confusion, heartbreak, and madness of our dangerously divided times—in your own life, at least—Mónica's got the tools and fresh, surprising insights to prove that seeing where people are coming from isn't just possible. It's easier than you think.
1
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caoie is interested in reading...
1w
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.Gathering Moss will appeal to a wide range of readers, from bryologists to those interested in natural history and the environment, Native Americans, and contemporary nature and science writing.
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caoie TBR'd a book
1w
Thirty Love
Tom Vellner
Things heat up on and off the court for two tennis rivals in this steamy debut gay sports romcom perfect for fans of TJ Alexander and Casey McQuiston.
American tennis star Leo Chambers is determined to win the US Open by 30, the age when many players feel retirement looming. He’s just a year away from that dreaded birthday, but he can’t find his focus—considering he hasn’t told anyone he’s gay, he’s clashing with his strict coach (who also happens to be his dad), and he still can’t figure out how to beat his longtime nemesis on tour, Gabe Montoya, who, well, hits different. Gabe is playing better than ever, and Leo can’t seem to escape him—and maybe he doesn’t want to escape him.
Leo’s other obstacle is Sascha Volkov, a Russian legend who has such a powerful influence on the tennis world, he would destroy Leo’s career if he found out that he’s gay.
No distractions, Leo reminds himself. But when Gabe makes a shocking announcement, Leo is thrown off his game—in more ways than one. Ready? Play.
Thirty Love is a must-read for fans of queer sports romances.
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caoie finished a book
1w
The Lawrence Browne Affair
Cat Sebastian
An earl hiding from his future . . .
Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.
A swindler haunted by his past . . .
Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an identity faster than he can change clothes. But when his long-dead conscience resurrects and a dangerous associate is out for blood, Georgie escapes to the wilds of Cornwall. Pretending to be a secretary should be easy, but he doesn’t expect that the only madness he finds is the one he has for the gorgeous earl.
Can they find forever in the wreckage of their lives?
Challenging each other at every turn, the two men soon give into the desire that threatens to overwhelm them. But with one man convinced he is at the very brink of madness and the other hiding his real identity, only true love can make this an affair to remember.
2
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caoie started reading...
1w
The Lawrence Browne Affair
Cat Sebastian
An earl hiding from his future . . .
Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.
A swindler haunted by his past . . .
Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an identity faster than he can change clothes. But when his long-dead conscience resurrects and a dangerous associate is out for blood, Georgie escapes to the wilds of Cornwall. Pretending to be a secretary should be easy, but he doesn’t expect that the only madness he finds is the one he has for the gorgeous earl.
Can they find forever in the wreckage of their lives?
Challenging each other at every turn, the two men soon give into the desire that threatens to overwhelm them. But with one man convinced he is at the very brink of madness and the other hiding his real identity, only true love can make this an affair to remember.
1
0Reply
