First thought: Challenge Accepted!
Time to jump in on a few killer ways to enjoy reading this Fall!
September is only the beginning for Halloween and horror fans everywhere (and those special people who want everything pumpkin flavored. You know who you are.)
The floodgates have been opened..
This SpelltheMonth will be a little different than usual. I’ll be combining it with the Readers Imbibing Peril @PerilReaders #RIPXVI challenge (yay!) so all of my choices will be dark, spooky, or just plain disturbing.
I’d say that I can’t wait to get started but.. I already have.
First: A big thank you to Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks for creating and sharing her wonderful SpelltheMonthinBooks challenge!
Second: I’m also very grateful to Diana @ Book of Secrets for exposing me to Readers Imbibing Peril, it’s going to be so much fun, and I’m glad I got a chance to participate in it this year!
(Click on the link to Diana’s page above or the image below to find out more about this challenge.)
The Rules for SpelltheMonthinBooks:
- As implied.. the goal is to use the first letter in the title of books you’ve either read or have on your TBR. They can be physical or virtual, skipping such words like A, An, and The, to spell out the current month.
- A theme is supplied every month but following it is entirely up to you.
- Once you have your stack.. you can join the linkup! You can do this by creating a post and adding your link to the linkup at the bottom of Review from the Stacks page or by sharing your link in a comment.
- The linkup remains open for the duration of the month so.. there’s no need to rush but, as always, feel free to join!
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)
S
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
It’s November 1991. Nirvana’s in the tape deck, George H. W. Bush is in the White House, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.
Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the shocking murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father—or so he says.
The longer she sits in the passenger seat, the more Charlie notices there’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t want her to see inside the trunk. As they travel an empty, twisty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly anxious Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer.
Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s jittery mistrust merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?
One thing is certain—Charlie has nowhere to run and no way to call for help. Trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse played out on pitch-black roads and in neon-lit parking lots, Charlie knows the only way to win is to survive the night.
E
The Essence of Evil by Rob Sinclair
He’s your attacker.
He’s a murderer.
He’s your twin.
When DI Dani Stephens returns to work after an attack that almost ended her life, she’s quickly plunged into a horrific new case, as dead bodies are discovered on the streets of Birmingham.
But with no link between the victims, Dani has to get inside the killer’s mind – so turns to the murderer she knows best. Her own twin brother…
But what makes a psychopath? Can understanding her twin help her find a murderer who leaves no trace? As the circle closes on Dani, the clock is ticking and she needs a breakthrough – before she becomes the latest victim.
P
Emily and Elizabeth spend their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drinks too much and disappears for days. The identical twins are rescued by a family determined to be their saviors.
But there’s some horrors love can’t erase…
Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college. Now, she’s surrounded by men who talk to themselves and women who pull out their eyebrows.
As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Emily’s death, she discovers shocking secrets and holes in her memory that force her to remember what she’s worked so hard to forget—the beatings, the blood, the special friends. Her life spins out of control at a terrifying speed as she desperately tries to unravel the psychological puzzle of her past before it’s too late.
T
They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry
In 1995, six university students moved into the house at 215 Caldwell Street. Months later, one of them was found dead on the sofa the morning after their end-of-year party. His death was ruled an accident by the police. The remaining five all knew it wasn’t, and though they went on with their lives, the truth of what happened to their sixth housemate couldn’t stay buried forever.
Twenty years later, all five of them arrive—lured separately under various pretenses—at Wolfheather House, a crumbling, secluded mansion on the Scottish isle of Doon. Trapped inside with no way out and no signal to the outside world, the now forty-somethings fight each other—and the unknown mastermind behind their gathering—as they confront the role they played in their housemate’s death.
They are given one choice: confess to their crimes or die.
E
Even Good Girls by Nicholas Jordan
Can do bad things . . .
Tabitha and her best friend Nancy have been inseparable for years, but when Nancy suddenly begins avoiding Tabitha shortly after the beginning of their senior year, Tabitha grows concerned. But before she has a chance to find out why Nancy has driven a wedge between them, she learns that Nancy has been murdered, and what’s even worse, the police seem to be looking at her as their prime suspect.
Now not only does she feel like she owes it to Nancy to discover the identity of her killer, she also has to do it if she wants to keep herself from being arrested for a crime she didn’t commit.
But as Tabitha dives deep into Nancy’s life, she discoveries secrets about her best friend that she never knew anything about. Secrets that will make her investigation more complicated and much more dangerous. Can she find out who killed her best friend? Or will her snooping around lead the killer to selecting her as their next victim?
M
Everyone wondered about Shaye Archer’s past. Including Shaye.
Shaye Archer’s life effectively began the night police found her in an alley, beaten and abused and with no memory of the previous fifteen years, not even her name. Nine years later, she’s a licensed private investigator, with a single goal—to get answers for her clients when there aren’t supposed to be any.
And maybe someday, answers for herself.
Emma Frederick thought her nightmare was over when she killed her abusive husband, but someone is stalking her and tormenting her with mementos from her past. With no evidence to support her claims, the police dismiss her claims as post-traumatic stress, but Shaye is convinced that someone is deliberately terrorizing Emma…playing a cat and mouse game with only one goal in mind.
To kill Emma.
B
Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis
The world is not tame. Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof.
So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.
Morning brings the realization that she’s alone—and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive with the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.
E
Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter
Emotionally guarded Daphne Amos always believed she’d found a kindred spirit in her fiancé, Heath. Both very private people, they’ve kept their pasts hidden from the world, and each other, until Heath’s escalating nightmares begin to put an undeniable strain on their relationship.
Determined to give their impending marriage the best chance of succeeding, Heath insists that Daphne join him on a seven-day retreat with Dr. Matthew Cerny, a psychologist celebrated for getting to the root of repressed memories. Daphne reluctantly agrees—even though the past is the last place she wants to go.
The retreat’s isolated and forbidding location increases her unease, as do the doctor’s rules: they must relinquish their keys and phones, they’ll be monitored at all hours by hidden cameras, and they’re never to socialize with the other guests.
One sleepless night, Daphne decides to leave her room…and only then does she realize that the institute is not at all what it seems—and that whatever’s crying out from Heath’s past isn’t meant to be heard. It’s meant to be silenced.
R
Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.
They didn’t expect actual mermaids. They certainly didn’t expect those mermaids to have teeth.
This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench…and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.
Best of Luck and Happy Reading to all of you amazing people! I can’t wait to see what everyone is doing for these challenges and I hope you’ll be joining us in the fun.
If you do, please drop a comment down below, I would love to see what you come up with!
Do you celebrate/take part in Halloween?
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Love the way you combined the two challenges! Which of these books are you most looking forward to reading?
Thanks.. and they say you can’t have your cake and eat it too! 😆
I think I’m most curious about is The Essence of Evil.. I’ve heard of all the others but that one was a new find and it sounds pretty twisted.
And you? What are you really looking forward to reading?
Some very good choices! And they do spell out September 🙂
Thanks, crossing my fingers that they’re as good as they sound!
And I sure hope so.. For a minute there I was worried I did the wrong month! 🤭😂
I always double dip when I can, so great that you can combine two challenges. I hope you enjoy all these dark, creepy reads, Sheri.
Thank you! I really hope so.. they all sound fantastic to me!
And I’m just happy I found out about the Imbibing Peril challenge with enough time to participate, it’s definitely my kind of thing.
What about you? Reading anything good?
I am doing Cozy Mystery month, but I need to mix it up. I just finished The Last House on Needless Street and Under the Whispering Door, both very different from my usual reads, but really good.
That sounds fun! And I can’t wait to read both of those! (Especially ‘Under the Whispering Door,’ I’m so glad you enjoyed them!) Do you have a list you planned out beforehand or do you just pick what interests you at the time?
A little of both. I plan out what I want to read, but then if something calls to me, I will grab it. I just got approved for the audiobook of Under the Whispering Door on NG, so I listened to it right away. I am a mood reader for sure, so I usually read about half of what I planned.
Lol! That sounds a lot like what I do. I only read half of what I intended in the first place too.. It’s so easy to get distracted when there are just so many great options!
And that’s so lucky! Did you enjoy it?
I did, Sheri. There were a few things that I had to wrap my head around, but once I got into the story, it was really good. I definitely recommend it.
That’s great! I’m so glad you liked it! There’s still some time before I’ll be able to get ahold of it but.. at least it will prolong my excitement for it! 😅
Good luck with this month’s challenge Sheri! I will say September seems like an easier month to find titles to work with than August was with those darn Us in there.🤣
Thank you, I’m hoping to complete the month in time but.. Life. We’ll see! And September was great if you’re fine with all the E’s.. I just had my husband help. 🤣
Are you taking part in any of the challenges?
My favorite challenge is starting soon so I will be in that until Jan.🙂
Ooh, fun! Do you mind if I ask.. Which one is that?
Turf Wars in the Game Night group on Goodreads. It’s based on the game of Risk so we “battle” each round to win the turfs. It’s been played like 5 times now and I’m totally addicted. The first game Sandi, the host, used areas in Los Angeles, then it was Canada, and so on. Now it’s based on Big Brother seasons with the group having a running TV theme this year. Whatever theme she uses I don’t care, I just love it’s a read as much as you can challenge that motivates me.😃
Oh, that’s so brilliant! I have to check it out! My husband and I love risk, well, then we got addicted to PlagueInc. Needless to say it seems a little too on the nose to be playing that one these days.
Anyway, that challenge sounds like a lot of fun! I can see why you’re excited for it!
It’s definitely a ton of fun as you have no idea what the other teams are doing each round then wait anxiously on result days to see what will happen. Sign ups are open now if you’re interested.😃
It sounds like a blast, I’ll look it up, thanks! 😁