Kristen Barenthaler
Bio
Curious adventurer. Crazed reader. Librarian. Archery instructor. True crime addict.
Instagram: @kristenbarenthaler
Facebook: @kbarenthaler
Stories (337)
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Book Tastings: April 2024
Check out the full menu below! Crime Who is the Real Villain?: Tag, You're Dead by Kathryn Foxfield: When teen social media influencer Anton Frazer stages a live-streamed, citywide game of Tag, his fans go wild. Outfitted with body cams, GPS trackers, and pressure sensors to keep tally of who's disqualified, contestants are split into Chasers and Runners then let lose into the night-covered urban jungle to hunt each other down.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Book Tasting: Jan. 2024
Check out the full menu below! Romance Appetizers: The Book Proposal by K.J. Micciche: Broke up with, broke, and with a vicious case of writer's block, romance writer Gracie Landing is a hot mess. She can hardly be blamed for drinking one (or a few) too many cocktails when out with her besties in an attempt to cheer herself up.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Book Tastings: Oct. 2023
Check out the full menu below! Cozy Mysteries Appetizers: Buried in a Book by Lucy Arlington: After losing her job as a journalist at the age of forty-five, Lila Wilkins accepts an internship at A Novel Idea, a thriving literary agency in North Carolina. Being paid to read seems perfect to Lila, although it's difficult with the cast of quirky co-workers and piles of query letters. But when a penniless aspiring author drops dead in the agency's waiting room-and Lila discovers a series of threatening letters-she's determined to find out who wrote him off.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Book Tasting: June 2023
Check out the full menu below! True Crime: Appetizers: I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara: A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Book Tasting: April 2023
Check out the full menu below! Mysteries: Appetizer "Buried in a Book" by Lucy Arlington: Lila Wilkens accepts an internship at Novel Idea, a literary agency. Being paid to read seems perfect to Lila. But when a penniless aspiring author drops dead in the agency's waiting room - and Lila discovers a series of threatening letters - she's determined to find out who wrote him off.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in BookClub
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill Poet, writer, and Instagram sensation Nikita Gill returns with a collection of fairytales poetically retold for a new generation of women. Traditional fairytales are rife with cliches and gender stereotypes: beautiful, silent princesses; ugly, jealous, and bitter villainesses; girls who need rescuing; and men who take all the glory. But in this rousing new prose and poetry collection, Nikita Gill gives Once Upon a Time a much-needed modern makeover. Through her gorgeous reimagining of fairytale classics and spellbinding original tales, she dismantles the old-fashioned tropes that have been ingrained in our minds. In this book, gone are the docile women and male saviors. Instead, lines blur between heroes and villains. You will meet fearless princesses, a new kind of wolf lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent Gretel who can bring down monsters on her own. Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations by Gill herself, Fierce Fairytales is an empowering collection of poems and stories for a new generation.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023)
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity--and that of his pen pal--will be revealed.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023)
Alma Presses Play by Tina Cane Alma's life is a constant of halfways: She's half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and, at thirteen, she's halfway through becoming a woman. Then comes the year when everything changes, and her life is overtaken by constant endings: friends move away, romances bloom and wither, her parents file for divorce, and just like that her childhood seems to be over. Among this world of confusing beginnings, middles, and endings, could there be a roadmap for Alma to truly find herself?
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Midnights (2022)
Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi College dropout Pablo Neruda Rind works a graveyard shift at an upscale, twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn. He's up to his eyeballs in credit card debt, never mind his student loans. Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart graduated from child stardom, became an international icon, and has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. When Leanna and Pablo meet at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter it's absurd to think they'd be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the deafening expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. Which, of course, is when things get properly complicated.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Red (Taylor's Version) (2021)
One Great Lie by Deb Caletti When Charlotte wins a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, it's a dream come true. Writing is her passion, she loves Bruni's books, and going to that romantic and magical sinking city gives her the chance to solve a long-time family mystery about a Venetian poet deep in their lineage, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem. Bruni's villa on the eerie island of La Calamita is extravagant--lush beyond belief, and the other students are both inspiring and intimidating. Venice itself is beautiful, charming, and seductive, but so is Luca Bruni. As his behavior becomes increasingly unnerving, and as Charlotte begins to unearth the long-lost work of Isabella with the help of sweet, smart Italian Dante, other things begin to rise, too--secrets about the past, and secrets about the present. As the events of the summer build to a shattering climax, Charlotte will be forced to confront some dark truths about the history of powerful men--and about the determination of creative girls.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon When Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel meet at a Stanford University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects" but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting arranged marriage with him.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Evermore (2020)
Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi College dropout Pablo Neruda Rind works a graveyard shift at an upscale, twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn. He's up to his eyeballs in credit card debt, never mind his student loans. Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart graduated from child stardom, became an international icon, and has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. When Leanna and Pablo meet at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter it's absurd to think they'd be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the deafening expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. Which, of course, is when things get properly complicated.
By Kristen Barenthaler8 months ago in Beat
