stardust82

263 points

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My Taste

The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)

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Thoughts from 19%

This started off very slow for me, so I'm hoping it picks up soon... I had to relisten to the first part a couple of times (but I get distracted easily).

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The Hacienda

Isabel Cañas

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches... In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined. When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano? Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her. Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

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stardust82

Aug 21, 2025

4.5

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.0

👰

🤱

❤️‍🩹

I'll be thinking about this book for weeks. Part of the reason I was so nervous about reading it was because I had thought this book was more for a middle-aged audience (like Phoebe and Gary's age), but I found that the message was universal and that the earlier you learn it, the happier you'll be. It was a reminder to choose happiness, as hard as it may be. A reminder that everything is temporary, the good and the bad, and that appreciating the present moment is worth the effort. Phoebe and Lilah were the perfect characters to send this message. Phoebe was someone who lived the experience of a marriage that was once happy but turned sour, and Lilah was someone who was brave enough to heed both Phoebe's advice and the warning signs Lilah had already noticed. As someone who dreams of finding my person one day, this book showed me the importance of being yourself around the people you love, letting go sometimes, and that there is never a "right time." While I would love to recommend this book to everyone I encounter, I think it's important to note that it was a struggle to get through the first little bit only because I thought I would never stop crying. You have to be in a good headspace to start the book. Thankfully, the book turns hopeful after a few chapters but there are definitely still moments throughout that were difficult. Had the book not continued to revive hope in the reader, I don't think I would have been able to finish. All in all, you'll definitely cry while reading this book, but you'll almost certainly laugh as well. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook as the narrator was perfect.

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The Wedding People

Alison Espach

A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us start anew. It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamt of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other. In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach's The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

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stardust82

Thoughts from 90%

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stardust82

Thoughts from 72%

I love that by becoming everyone else's therapist, Phoebe's able to work through her own stuff. Also, I'm a little confused why people think that Phoebe is(/was?) an unlikeable character? She seems like an amazing person; she's so kind to everyone even if they're not kind to other people. I'd love to hear someone's thoughts on this :)

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stardust82

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Vampires of El Norte

Isabel Cañas

Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda. As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

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The Hacienda

Isabel Cañas

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The Possession of Alba Díaz

Isabel Cañas

When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust… from bestselling author Isabel Cañas. In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong. Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can’t help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between them… and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood grows stronger.

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The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding

Osita Nwanevu

A bold case for reimagining the American project and making American democracy real—from a formidable new voice in political journalism Frustrated with our political dysfunction, wearied by the thinness of contemporary political discourse, and troubled by the rise of anti-democratic attitudes across the political spectrum, journalist Osita Nwanevu has spent the Trump era examining the very meaning of democracy in search of answers to questions many have asked in the wake of the 2024 election: Are our institutions fundamentally broken? How can a country so divided govern itself? Does democracy even work as well as we believe? The Right of the People offers us challenging answers: while democracy remains vital, American democracy is an illusion we must make real by transforming not only our political institutions but the American economy. In a text that spans democratic theory, the American Founding, our aging political system, and the dizzying inequalities of our new Gilded Age, Nwanevu makes a visionary case for a political and economic agenda to fulfill the promise of American democracy and revive faith in the American project. “Nearly two hundred fifty years ago, the men who founded America made a fundamental break not just from their old country but from the past—casting off an order that had subjugated them with worn and weak ideas for the promise of true self-governance and greater prosperity in a new republic,” Nwanevu writes. “With exactly their sense of purpose and even higher, more righteous ambitions for America than they themselves had, we should do the same now⁠—work as hard as we can in the decades ahead to ‘institute new Government’ for the benefit of all and not just the few.”

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Ruth

Kate Riley

In this mesmerizing and profound novel, the arc of a woman's life in a devout, insular community challenges our deepest assumptions about what infuses life with meaning. Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian communism, a world without private property, television, or tolerance for idle questions. Every morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume, sings the same breakfast song in a family room identical to every other family room in the community; every one of these moments is meant to be a prayer, but to Ruth they remain puzzles. Her life is seen in glimpses through childhood, marriage, and motherhood, as she tries to manage her own perilous curiosity in a community built on holy mystery. Is she happy? Might this in fact be happiness? Ruth immerses us in an experience that challenges our most fervent beliefs.

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stardust82

Thoughts from 33%

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stardust82

Thoughts from 19%

I've definitely already cried a few times already. I think it just presses a little too hard into my fear of abandonment, especially because I can see myself a lot in Phoebe. However, I'm hoping that since it's starting off so sad it can only get more hopeful from here. So far, I'm loving the character development. Phoebe feels very real; I can see the good things about her as well as her flaws, and even why she is the way she is. I'm genuinely rooting for her so hard right now. I feel like I've only gotten the tiniest glimpse into Lilah's character, but I'm sure there's more to come. Even though I, of course, think she's being selfish about Phoebe's situation, I'm starting to see why she's acting the way she is and have at least a tad bit of empathy for her. Current rating: 3.5

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stardust82

Preliminary Thoughts

I'm a little nervous going into this book as it's completely out of my comfort zone, but that's part of the reason why I picked it. I fear it'll be one of those books that puts me into an existential spiral and leave me questioning my life choices and depressed about the way my life is currently going, BUT I'm hoping the humor that the blurb is promising will ease the anxiety. Reading through a couple reviews, I am a little doubtful, however, that the humor will get me through it as it seems the novel is less funny and more heavy. We'll see!

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The Wedding People

Alison Espach

stardust82 finished reading and wrote a review...

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