

karigan started reading...
10h

The Palace Beneath the Sea
Lauren Wiesebron
The acclaimed author of House of Frost and Feathers returns with a sweeping, lyrical novel inspired by a mermaid folktale filled with exploration, love, adventure, and magic. A GREAT LOVE. A MYSTERIOUS KINGDOM BENEATH THE WAVES. A DEVASTATING BETRAYAL. A doomed love story created the city of Ys, it’s fitting that another one would end it . . . Nolwenn is sure that her life’s purpose is to defend her beloved coastal city of Ys as a lighthouse keeper. But when a dangerous, unnatural tide threatens Ys, the queen instead tasks Nolwen with collecting enough rare seasilk to shield the city from the deadly monsters who lurk deep beneath the waves. Determined to fulfill her task, Nolwenn recklessly puts her life in danger, only to be attacked by the very creatures she’s trying to defend her city against. She’s saved by Morvan, a member of the korrigez people, with the torso of a human and the tail of a fish. Against her will, Morvan drags her deeper into the ocean to the coral palace of Below-Ys. Although Nolwenn is terrified and homesick, Below-Ys is also strange and beautiful…as is Morvan. The more time Nolwenn spends below the surface, the less she is sure she wants to leave. As danger draws ever nearer to her homeland and Ys remains precariously unprotected, Nolwenn must decide between her heart and her home.


karigan started reading...
10h

The Palace Beneath the Sea
Lauren Wiesebron
The acclaimed author of House of Frost and Feathers returns with a sweeping, lyrical novel inspired by a mermaid folktale filled with exploration, love, adventure, and magic. A GREAT LOVE. A MYSTERIOUS KINGDOM BENEATH THE WAVES. A DEVASTATING BETRAYAL. A doomed love story created the city of Ys, it’s fitting that another one would end it . . . Nolwenn is sure that her life’s purpose is to defend her beloved coastal city of Ys as a lighthouse keeper. But when a dangerous, unnatural tide threatens Ys, the queen instead tasks Nolwen with collecting enough rare seasilk to shield the city from the deadly monsters who lurk deep beneath the waves. Determined to fulfill her task, Nolwenn recklessly puts her life in danger, only to be attacked by the very creatures she’s trying to defend her city against. She’s saved by Morvan, a member of the korrigez people, with the torso of a human and the tail of a fish. Against her will, Morvan drags her deeper into the ocean to the coral palace of Below-Ys. Although Nolwenn is terrified and homesick, Below-Ys is also strange and beautiful…as is Morvan. The more time Nolwenn spends below the surface, the less she is sure she wants to leave. As danger draws ever nearer to her homeland and Ys remains precariously unprotected, Nolwenn must decide between her heart and her home.


robyn00 started reading...
4d

The Iliad
Homer
After nine years fighting the Trojan War, the Greeks sense imminent defeat. The gods have cursed them with a plague; the Trojans have set their ships on fire; and their best warrior, the impenetrable Achilles, has turned his back on them. But when the Trojans go too far and kill Patroclus, his beloved brother-in-arms, Achilles returns to the battlefield with a vengeance so terrible that it shocks even the gods. Written by Homer more than twenty-five hundred years ago, The Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature—the seminal epic narrative of infantry combat, the scars of battle, and the inevitability of fate. Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War.


karigan commented...
10h
Reading this book felt the same as when you start college and think you’re gonna learn everything you need to know to do your future job well and then being left with more questions than answers when you actually finish (in the best way possible bc it makes you want to learn more!)


one_crazy_eliott finished a book
19h

You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance
Chani Nicholas
The beloved Los Angeles astrologer with more than one million fans shows a new generation how to use astrology as a tool for self-discovery, success, and self-care in this revolutionary guide. Modern astrology isn’t about passively accepting our fate, it’s about action, and beloved astrologer Chani Nicholas shows you how to bring this life-changing practice into your life and embrace self-empowerment, intentionality, and spirituality. Gone are the days of "on Tuesday you will meet your prince charming" horoscopes. Instead, Nicholas is spearheading a radical new approach to astrology. In her hip, inspirational weekly horoscopes, she doesn’t tell readers what will happen to them. Instead, she encourages her devotees to take control—to confront themselves, their desires, and their needs—to fulfill their potential using the power of the stars. Written in her lyrical, cool-girl, feminist writing style, You Were Born for This explains how knowing your star signs and what they mean for your individual character can be revelatory. Understanding the astrological chart can help you refine your intentions, identify your strengths, recognize areas for growth, become more connected to your core self, and steer you on your spiritual path. In an era when growing numbers of people feel a sense of meaninglessness and a desire to learn more about themselves, You Were Born for This teaches you how to harness the zodiac to help you become more in tune with yourself and your place in the universe.


karigan commented...
11h
Same I’m so excited to be able to branch out without it taking over my entire plan!!


Fantasy started reading...
11h

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.


gracie started reading...
21h

Local Heavens
K.M. Fajardo
A corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare. New York City, 2075. Filipino-American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas, where he’s struck by the city’s contradictions—shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class. When Nick meets alluring new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby’s frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren’t all they seem—and as a corporate- sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows that no secret can stay buried forever. He’s the reason they don’t. And his latest assignment? Investigate Gatsby himself. As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite—and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city’s most vulnerable—he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes precedence: Love, or truth? Heart, or soul? A brilliant reimagining of Fitzgerald’s classic tale of glamour, desire, and desperation, Local Heavens examines the guardrails of morality… and the price of desire. Publication set for fall 2025.


karigan entered a giveaway...
23h
Knopf Doubleday giveaway

Mirror Lake
Juneau Black
The third novel in the "Shady Hollow" series, in which Vera Vixen takes on her most challenging case yet: solving the murder of a rat who appears to still be alive. Change is afoot in Shady Hollow, with an unusually tense election shaping up between long-serving Chief of Police Theodore Meade and Vera's beau, Deputy Orville Braun. But the political tension takes a back seat when resident eccentric Dorothy Springfield becomes convinced her beloved husband, Edward, is dead, and that the rat claiming to be him is actually a fraud. While most of the town dismisses Dorothy's rants as nothing more than a delusion, Vera has her doubts. More than a few things don't add up in the Springfield household, but Vera will have to tread carefully, since, with Orville's attention on the election, she may be more exposed than ever.
print • 10 copies • US only


karigan entered a giveaway...
23h
Knopf Doubleday giveaway

Cold Clay
Juneau Black
The second book in the "Shady Hollow" series, in which some long-buried secrets come to light, throwing suspicion on a beloved local denizen. It's autumn in Shady Hollow, and residents are looking forward to harvest feasts. But then a rabbit discovers a grisly crop: the bones of a moose. Soon, the owner of Joe's Mug is dragged out of the coffeeshop and questioned by the police about the night his wife walked out of his life--and Shady Hollow--forever. It seems like an open-and-shut case, but dogged reporter Vera Vixen doesn't believe gentle Joe is a killer. She'll do anything to prove his innocence... even if it means digging into secrets her neighbors would rather leave buried.
print • 10 copies • US only


karigan entered a giveaway...
23h
Knopf Doubleday giveaway

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.
print • 10 copies • US only


karigan joined a quest
23h
The Cozy Crimes of Shady Hollow
🌲🦊🔍
Limited Time Quest ⏳ // 1515 joined

Sponsored Limited Time Quest (Sep 1-Nov 30, 2026): Welcome to Shady Hollow! It’s a small town populated by friendly animal folks, from birds to bears, where the calm is marred only by the occasional murder.


Happy Fall everyone!!! I don’t care that it’s still summer, it’s September 1st, 2025 and the air is crisp here (compared to normal September weather) so it’s FALL!!!
Anyways, we are doing an unofficial readalong of Phantasma this season! As Jennifer said, there is no special badge but it would be so fun to work towards a Quest badge together 🫶🏻
I’m planning on starting the book in the next week or so, what about you??
I sometimes see people create lists that really should be shelves but they're doing so to be able to share them with another person or a small group such as a book club. Of course these can still be made as shelves instead but those other people will always have to go to the owner's library to access it whereas when it's created as a list, they can save it to their own profiles. It'd be fun if we could save others' (public) shelves and maybe have a separate section in our libraries to see them!
Dracula
Bram Stoker
Everything I discuss here is based on the publicly known details about Dracula, so I’m not marking it for spoilers, but proceed with caution if you know nothing about who Dracula is. Also, please keep in mind the lack of a spoiler tag when responding!
I can’t help but think about how our experience reading this today, even if we know nothing about the actual story, is forever altered by the lore and legends built over time after this book came out. You’d probably be hard pressed to find someone nowadays who doesn’t already know that Dracula is a vampire. And obviously, if you read the blurb for the book on here, you’d learn that before reading as well.
That makes this reading experience so fundamentally different when compared to that of someone who read it shortly after its release. My basic understanding is that while this certainly wasn’t the first vampire story, it also wasn’t widely known that Dracula was a vampire until you actually read the book. So I’m curious to know what the experience must have been like to learn with Harker (and I assume the other characters later in the book) what Dracula is. Instead, we go into this with more information than the narrator and I don’t think that was the original intent. I definitely could be wrong though haha
I’ll be researching this as I read more I think and come back to update, but for any Dracula lovers or English majors out there, I’d love to hear your thoughts!


karigan started reading...
2w

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, they’re overrated, overpaid, and underperforming – 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 – all for a good cause – but he can’t resist a pretty face. And bossy whirlwind Cherry’s got the face, the body, and the attitude to make Ruben’s 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, Ruben’s anonymity disappears faster than Cherry’s knickers. Now the press is in uproar, the palace is outraged, and Ruben’s reputation is back in the gutter. There’s only one way to turn this disaster around – and it involves Cherry, some big fat lies, and a flashy diamond ring. On her left hand. Unfortunately, Cherry isn’t pleased with Ruben’s ‘fake engagement’ 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. There’s 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.


karigan finished a book
1d

Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins
"My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead." Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Though she's long been a part of the revolution, Katniss hasn't known it. Now it seems that everyone has had a hand in the carefully laid plans but her. The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the cost.


karigan commented...
1d
It was a really great baby's first intro to astrology! My assumption is that if you know a lot about your big three, you probably know most of what the book has to offer but I knew next to nothing so it was very informative!


karigan finished a book
1d

You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance
Chani Nicholas
The beloved Los Angeles astrologer with more than one million fans shows a new generation how to use astrology as a tool for self-discovery, success, and self-care in this revolutionary guide. Modern astrology isn’t about passively accepting our fate, it’s about action, and beloved astrologer Chani Nicholas shows you how to bring this life-changing practice into your life and embrace self-empowerment, intentionality, and spirituality. Gone are the days of "on Tuesday you will meet your prince charming" horoscopes. Instead, Nicholas is spearheading a radical new approach to astrology. In her hip, inspirational weekly horoscopes, she doesn’t tell readers what will happen to them. Instead, she encourages her devotees to take control—to confront themselves, their desires, and their needs—to fulfill their potential using the power of the stars. Written in her lyrical, cool-girl, feminist writing style, You Were Born for This explains how knowing your star signs and what they mean for your individual character can be revelatory. Understanding the astrological chart can help you refine your intentions, identify your strengths, recognize areas for growth, become more connected to your core self, and steer you on your spiritual path. In an era when growing numbers of people feel a sense of meaninglessness and a desire to learn more about themselves, You Were Born for This teaches you how to harness the zodiac to help you become more in tune with yourself and your place in the universe.