hthill25
Book lover always having a physical, audio & digital book going at the same time. Rom-coms are the fave, but I branch out into most genres.
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hthill25 started reading...
1w
The Sign for Home
Blair Fell
Longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
When a young DeafBlind man learns the girl he thought was lost forever might still be out there, he embarks on a life-changing journey to find her—and his freedom.
Arlo Dilly is young, handsome, and eager to meet the right girl. He also happens to be DeafBlind, a Jehovah’s Witness, and under the strict guardianship of his controlling uncle. His chances of finding someone to love seem slim to none.
And yet, it happened once many years ago, at a boarding school for the Deaf, Arlo met the love of his life—a mysterious girl with onyx eyes and beautifully expressive hands which told him the most amazing stories. But tragedy struck, and their love was lost forever.
Or so Arlo thought.
After years trying to heal his broken heart, Arlo is assigned a college writing assignment which unlocks buried memories of his past. Soon he wonders if the hearing people he was supposed to trust have been lying to him all along, and if his lost love might be found again.
No longer willing to accept what others tell him, Arlo convinces a small band of misfit friends to set off on a journey to learn the truth. After all, who better to bring on this quest than his gay interpreter and wildly inappropriate Belgian best friend? Despite the many forces working against him, Arlo will stop at nothing to find the girl who got away and experience all of life’s joyful possibilities.
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hthill25 started reading...
1w
The Monsters We Make
Kali White
For fans of Rene Denfeld and Shari Lapena comes a rich, atmospheric family drama set in the 1980's following the disappearances of two paperboys from a small midwestern town.
It's August 1984, and paperboy Christopher Stewart has gone missing.
Hours later, twelve-year-old Sammy Cox hurries home from his own paper route, red-faced and out of breath, hiding a terrible secret.
Crystal, Sammy's seventeen-year-old sister, is worried by the disappearance but she also sees opportunity: the Stewart case has echoes of an earlier unsolved disappearance of another boy, one town over. Crystal senses the makings of an award winning essay, one that could win her a scholarship - and a ticket out of their small Iowa town.
Officer Dale Goodkind can't believe his bad luck: another town and another paperboy kidnapping. But this time he vows that it won't go unsolved. As the abductions set in motion an unpredictable chain of violent, devastating events touching each life in unexpected ways, Dale is forced to face his own demons.
Told through interwoven perspectives--and based on the real-life Des Moines Register paperboy kidnappings in the early 1980's--The Monsters We Make deftly explores the effects of one crime exposing another and the secrets people keep hidden from friends, families, and sometimes, even themselves.
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hthill25 started reading...
1w
Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw
Eric LaRocca
From rising horror star and award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke comes a nightmarish, haunting, tech-Gothic thrill ride about sorrow, memory, and the unabashed complexity of love as a transgressive act.After his husband dies, Simeon Link finds himself overcome by grief and seeking comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce Simeon to a curious figure known as Porcelain Khaw—a man with the ability to let those who are grieving have one last intimate moment with their beloved...for a price. Hallucinatory, fiendish, and destructively beautiful, Wretch transports us to a world where not everything is as it seems, and those we love may be the ones who haunt us most.
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hthill25 wrote a review...
1w
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1w
One True Loves
Taylor Jenkins Reid
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.
Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.
That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.
Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?
Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.
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hthill25 wrote a review...
1w
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1w
The Ending Writes Itself
Evelyn Clarke
'Secrets don't stay secret for long in publishing'
Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.
‘This is a house of novelists, not murderers. You dream up crimes. You don’t commit them.’
‘But a writer has. And so, who better than a writer to catch them?’
World famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself.
Fletch’s publisher, Merriweather Press, has invited six authors to Fletch’s private island in Scotland. Authors whose books have never had the big marketing budgets or publicity opportunities. In other words, midlist. And they’re about to be presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
Whoever writes a worthy ending will receive one million dollars, and a further one million dollars for a new three-book contract.
They have just seventy-two hours, with no access to the outside world, just a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write…
Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.
‘Smart, original and completely addictive…The Ending Writes Itself is both a great locked-room thriller and a brilliant satire on the publishing industry. An absolute must-read’ Karin Slaughter
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hthill25 wrote a review...
1w
This book makes you feel for the main character throughout. There's an air of mystery about it, which if you listen to the audiobook, the narrator does a great job bringing this out. There are also things that happen that I didn't see coming, which is always welcome. If you're into books about crazy familial relationships or books about the early tech world, I'd suggest you give this one a try.
Used for the following groups, challenges, and/or prompts: The Book Gang-May 2026 book club choice Around the Year in 52 Books (2026)-Prompt #10 (An Award winning book (American Library Association's Alex Award)) The 52 Book Club's Mystery Genre Challenge-Prompt #45 (More than 4 stars on Goodreads) 2025 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee-Historical Fiction
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hthill25 finished a book
1w
What Kind of Paradise
Janelle Brown
A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me DisappearThe first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Thoreau-like utopia.As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother's San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.
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hthill25 started reading...
2w
What Kind of Paradise
Janelle Brown
A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me DisappearThe first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Thoreau-like utopia.As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother's San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.
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hthill25 started reading...
2w
One True Loves
Taylor Jenkins Reid
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.
Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.
That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.
Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?
Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.
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hthill25 started reading...
2w
The Ending Writes Itself
Evelyn Clarke
'Secrets don't stay secret for long in publishing'
Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.
‘This is a house of novelists, not murderers. You dream up crimes. You don’t commit them.’
‘But a writer has. And so, who better than a writer to catch them?’
World famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself.
Fletch’s publisher, Merriweather Press, has invited six authors to Fletch’s private island in Scotland. Authors whose books have never had the big marketing budgets or publicity opportunities. In other words, midlist. And they’re about to be presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
Whoever writes a worthy ending will receive one million dollars, and a further one million dollars for a new three-book contract.
They have just seventy-two hours, with no access to the outside world, just a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write…
Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.
‘Smart, original and completely addictive…The Ending Writes Itself is both a great locked-room thriller and a brilliant satire on the publishing industry. An absolute must-read’ Karin Slaughter
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hthill25 wrote a review...
2w
This book, wrapped up in relationships, family & business, still has a lot to say about racism/bigotry. The romance side of this book wasn't a surprise, but I did like the way the author approached the racism aspect in a way that seemed plausible. This is a good read, especially for those who want to get a feel for what it feels like to be Muslim in current times. Used for the following groups, challenges and/or prompts: Book Bingo 2026 Book Girls' Guide Reading Challenge-May Surprise Prompt: Novels set in restaurants
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hthill25 finished a book
2w
Hana Khan Carries On
Uzma Jalaluddin
From the author of Ayesha at Last comes a sparkling new rom-com for fans of “You’ve Got Mail”.
Hana Khan's family-run halal restaurant is on its last legs. So when a flashy competitor gets ready to open nearby, bringing their inevitable closure even closer, she turns to her anonymously-hosted podcast, and her lively and long-lasting relationship with one of her listeners, for advice.
But a hate-motivated attack on their neighbourhood complicates the situation further, as does Hana's growing attraction for Aydin, the young owner of the rival business. Who might not be a complete stranger after all...
A charmingly refreshing and modern love story, Uzma Jalaluddin's tale is humorously warm and filled with gorgeous characters you won't be able to forget. Now in development for film with Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios.
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hthill25 wrote a review...
2w
This book is great insight into how a woman changes throughout time-her thoughts, her feelings, her demeanor. The main character in this work is faced with extenuating circumstances that most won't endure, but can sympathize with. I loved how this character matured as time went on. While I thought this would be a novel about an odd relationship, it was so much more than that. I recommend for those who are curious about marriage with conjoined twins, 1800s southern history, and how women change over time.
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hthill25 finished a book
2w
The Foursome
Christina Baker Kline
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline comes a boldly original reimagining of an astonishing true two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina—Kline’s own distant relatives—who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
When Chang and Eng Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity—they’re a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they’re looking for wives—and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.
Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Addie sees in the twins’ fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sallie, quiet and observant, isn’t so sure. When the twins’ lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything—including race, class, and gender—is rigidly defined.
Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, The Foursome is both intimate and a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.
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hthill25 started reading...
3w
The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)
James Islington
This highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and bestselling fantasy novels—follows Vis as he grapples with a dangerous secret that could change the course of history across alternate dimensions.
OMNE TRIUM PERFECTUM.
The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.
But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.
I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium, and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.
I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.
Above all, though, I need to find answers before it’s too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.
I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.
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hthill25 wrote a review...
3w
This quick read has so much to say about so many things-nature, technology, relationships, the environment, etc., and it's done in such a beautiful way. In addition, the illustrations add so much more to this well written story. There are some things about nature it addresses that are true, but kind of bring the book down for me, which is why I can't give it a full 5 stars. However, it's a definite recommend! Used for the following groups, challenges, and/or prompts: The Book (Club) Was Better-May 2026 pick Around the Year in 52 Books (2026)-Prompt #42 (Set in an isolated location)
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hthill25 finished a book
3w
The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)
Peter Brown
Can a robot survive in the wilderness?
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.
As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home—until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.
From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.
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