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The books that have made my month spectacularly spooky

October 2022 Reading Wrap-Up

Happy Halloween!
Well.. give or take a day

It’s been a long month in so many ways and yet.. the reading has been fantastic.
I’ve added so many of the books you’ve all shared and reviewed to my TBR that my head is spinning but it’s been a blast.
So many great spooky reads!

Below are the books I’ve had the pleasure of reading, receiving, and (for a few) reviewing this month..
Maybe one or two will catch your eye.

Enjoy!

  (Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.) 

Finished Reading:

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Publication date: September 27, 2022
Pages: 419
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Gothic Fiction, Romantic Fantasy
Book 1 of 1: The Shepherd King

Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the Destriers…and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb
My review

Publication date: November 1, 2022
Pages: 300
Genre: Gothic Fiction, Paranormal Romance, Mystery
Standalone

She’s restoring the old family home on the hill. And unearthing something evil.

In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter…

As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins.

What evil has been locked away for so many years? The ominous brushstrokes, scratching at the door, and moving shadows begin to pull Tess further and further into the darkness in this blood-chilling novel of suspense by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Keepers of Metsan Valo.

The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marmot’s Liu and Sana Takeda
My review

Publication date: October 11, 2022
Pages: 208
Genre: Graphic Novel, Horror, Fantasy

The first volume in a new graphic novel horror trilogy from Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda—the creative team behind the New York Times bestselling series Monstress

Chinese American twins, Milly and Billy, are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, they’re struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated from Hong Kong before the twins were born, Ipo and Keon have supported their children through thick and thin and are ready to lend a hand—but they’re starting to wonder, has their support made Milly and Billy incapable of standing on their own?

When Ipo forces them to help her clean up the house next door—a hellish and run-down ruin that was the scene of a grisly murder—the twins are in for a nasty surprise. A night of terror, gore, and supernatural mayhem reveals that there is much more to Ipo and her children than meets the eye.

I Call Upon Thee by Ania Ahlborn

Publication date: August 7, 2017
Pages: 168
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Suspense
Standalone

Maggie Olsen had a pretty ordinary childhood—swimming and sleepovers, movie nights and dad jokes. And then there were the other things…the darker things…the shadow that followed her home from the cemetery and settled into the corners of her home, refusing to let her grow up in peace.

Now, after three years away from the place she’s convinced she inadvertently haunted, and after yet another family tragedy strikes, Maggie is forced to return to the sweltering heat of a Savannah summer to come to terms with her past. All along, she’s been telling herself, it was just in your head, and she nearly convinces herself that she’d imagined it all. But the moment Maggie steps into the foyer of her family home, she knows. The darkness is still here. And it’s been waiting for Maggie’s return….

Write Out Loud by fellow blogger @ Daphny Aqua
My Review

Publication date: June 27, 2022
Pages: 22
Genre: Poetry
Standalone

One of the biggest challenges of an introvert is sharing their true feeling with people no matter how close they are; they are the ones who usually keep it all bottled inside rather than show their emotions to anyone.

“Write out loud” is a collection of poems where the poet finally gathers her courage to speak out her emotions with the help of the alphabet. Her primary goal in this book is to block all the negativity that surrounds us and visualize the best of life with the hope of inspiring the many people like her so that they can as well come out of their shells expressing feelings they buried deep down through the help of things they love to do.

Currently Reading:

A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology by Dhonielle Clayton

Publication date: December 8, 2020
Pages: 407
Genre: Teen and Young Adult, Short Stories, Diversity and Multicultural Fiction, Fantasy
Anthology

In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.

AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Jenni Balch, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, V. E. Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett

Publication date: November 8, 2022
Pages: 307
Genre: Police Prodcedural, Crime Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
Standalone

Never betray the brotherhood

On a chilly November morning at the University of Georgia, a fraternity brother steps off a busy crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. More than a dozen witnesses all agree on two things: the driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling.

Detective Marlitt Kaplan is first on the scene. An Athens native and the daughter of a UGA professor, she knows all its shameful histories, from the skull discovered under the foundations of Baldwin Hall to the hushed-up murder-suicide in Waddel. But in the course of investigating this hit-and-run, she will uncover more chilling secrets as she explores the sprawling, interconnected Greek system that entertains and delights the university’s most elite and connected students.

The lines between Marlitt’s police work and her own past increasingly blur as Marlitt seeks to bring to justice an institution that took something precious from her many years ago. When threats against her escalate, and some long-buried secrets threaten to come to the surface, she can’t help questioning whether the corruption in Athens has run off campus and into the force and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.

What I Hope to Read Next:

Fog Descending (Book 2: House of Crows) by Lisa Unger
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Books I’ve Picked Up/Recieved In October:

Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
The Corpse Princess by Jayce Carter
Graveneye by Sloane Leong and Anna Bowles

Thank you for taking a moment to check out my post, I appreciate it!
I look forward to checking out all of your October wrap-ups and I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween
Be sure to stay safe out there!

Did you see any books here that caught your interest?

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This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Rosie Amber

    I can’t believe that we are at the end of October already. Well done with all your reading.

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you! And I’m glad I’m not the only one.. October just flew by.

  2. D. Wallace Peach

    You read such great books, Sheri. We talked about “The Night Eaters” already, and “One Dark Window” sounds so appealing. I love dark fantasy as long as it’s not overly romantic. And I love the cover of “Monstress.” It’s so hard to resist a fabulous cover. I’m looking foward to your thoughts on that one. I hope you have another fabulous month of reading. 🙂

    1. Sheri Dye

      You read some pretty interesting ones yourself. (I would know. I’ve stolen tons of them for my own TBR)
      I think you would enjoy One Dark Window-there is romance but it doesn’t take over.
      And after The Night Eaters, I can’t wait to sit down with Monstress.. The artwork is something else.
      Thank you and I hope you have many wonderful reading adventures this month as well!
      I would love to know what you think if you get a chance to pick any of these up. ❤️

      1. D. Wallace Peach

        I read tons of indies, but need to set aside time for some of the mainstream books that are starting to clog up my kindle. I think December will be the month to indulge. in those. And maybe February too! Ha ha. I have a lot of them stacking up. 🙂

        1. Sheri Dye

          I have a pretty daunting backlog of the more popular books that I’ll have to tackle soon as well but I think I might have to wait until after December.. my dance card is feeling a tad bit full right now.
          Best of luck with yours! I hope you enjoy them when you do get a chance!

          1. D. Wallace Peach

            Have an overflowing kindle isn’t such a bad thing. 🙂 Happy Reading!

          2. Sheri Dye

            If it were just the kindle! But noo.. it’s the physical TBR, the kindle, the borrowed books, recommendations, and four other sub-TBR’s you have to keep up with!

          3. Sheri Dye

            That can’t be just me..

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