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I Hope this Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

  As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions. When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favour, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition. But as Jolene is drawn furt...
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Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkin Reid

  Paperback edition Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the `80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its co...
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Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

  Paperback version Back in high school, everybody thought Shiloh and Cary would end up together . . . everybody but Shiloh and Cary. They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change. Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed. Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned. When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything? The answer is yes....
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The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare

  Read on Playbooks Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. As the only daughter of a broke father, she is a valuable commodity. Removed from school and sold as a third wife to an old man, Adunni's life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a new TV. When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a domestic servant to a household in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the strange disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni... As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless servant, fourteen-year-old Adunni is repeatedly told that she is nothing. But Adunni won't be silenced. She is determined to find her voice - in a whisper, in song, in broken English - until she can speak for herself, for the girls like Rebecca who came before, and for all the girls who will follow. **** title : the Girl with the Louding Voice Author : ...
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Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney

Hardcover edition Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he'd like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young - but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they worry about sex and friendship and the times they live in. Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world? *** Title : Beautiful World, Where are You Author : Sally Rooney Published year : September 2021 Pages : 337 Genre : fiction, romance, contemporary Language : English Age recommendation : 21+ (TW : suicide, explicit) I realized that people will either dislike or really like this book when I looked at the ratings on Goodreads. Lately, I avoid checking a book’s rating and reviews until I’m already halfway through it. I just want to read a book objectively. Let me start by s...
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Gadis Kretek oleh Ratih Kumala

Gadis Kretek P ak Raja sekarat. Dalam menanti ajal, ia memanggil satu nama perempuan yang bukan istrinya; Jeng Yah. Tiga anaknya, pewaris Kretek Djagad Raja, dimakan gundah. Sang Ibu pun terbakar cemburu terlebih karena permintaan terakhir suaminya ingin bertemu Jeng Yah. Maka berpacu dengan malaikat maut, Lebas, Karim, dan Tegar, pergi ke pelosok Jawa untuk mencari Jeng Yah, sebelum ajal menjemput sang Ayah. Perjalanan itu bagai napak tilas bisnis dan rahasia keluarga. Lebas, Karim dan Tegar bertemu dengan buruh bathil (pelinting) tua dan menguak asal-usul Kretek Djagad Raja hingga menjadi kretek nomor 1 di Indonesia. Lebih dari itu, ketiganya juga mengetahui kisah cinta ayah mereka dengan Jeng Yah, yang ternyata adalah pemilik Kretek Gadis, kretek lokal Kota M yang terkenal pada zamannya. Apakah Lebas, Karim dan Tegar akhirnya berhasil menemukan Jeng Yah? Gadis Kretek  tidak sekadar bercerita tentang cinta dan pencarian jati diri para tokohnya. Dengan latar Kota M, Kudus, Jakarta...
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I Want to Die but I want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee

  Papperback version PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm – what's the word – depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek Sehee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her - what to call it? - depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgmental of others. She hides her feelings well at work and with friends, performing the calmness her lifestyle demands. The effort is exhausting, overwhelming, and keeps her from forming deep relationships. This can't be normal. But if she's so hopeless, why can she always summon a yen for her favorite street food: the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like? Recording her dialogues with her psychiatrist over a twelve-week period, and expanding on each session with her own reflective micro-essays, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions, and h...
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