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December 2023: What Books Made Your Month?

The Last Great Chapter to Another Year

Happy New Year!

Well, here we are, at the end of another chapter in our lives.
Did you meet your reading goals? Write up new worlds and wonders? Did your poetry dance off its pages?
Or did you fall behind, find yourself in a slump, all dried up and at a loss for words..
The magic of each new year is the potential to do better—or at least try.
So here’s to 2024, let’s make it our best year yet.

This last post of 2023, I’ll be sharing with you all of the books that have come into my life in December, and there are so many good ones.
Perhaps you’ve read a few, perhaps you’re looking forward to doing just that, either way, they’re worth checking out.

Enjoy!


Click on any book title or image to find out more about these books on Amazon.
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

What I’ve Read:

Edenville by Sam Rebelein
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
The Curse of the Dark Horseman by Kristina Stangl DNF
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid


What I’m Currently Reading:

The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror by Tori Bovalino, Alex Brown, Olivia Chadha, Chloe Gong, Courtney Gould, Shakira Moise, Aden Polydoros, Allison Saft, Erica Waters, Hannah F. Whitten

A cemetery full of the restless dead. A town so wicked it has already burned twice, with the breath of the third fire looming. A rural, isolated bridge with a terrifying monster waiting for the completion of its summoning ritual. A lake that allows the drowned to return, though they have been changed by the claws of death. These are the shadowed, liminal spaces where the curses and monsters lurk, refusing to be forgotten.

Hauntings, and a variety of horrifying secrets, lurk in the places we once called home. Written by New York Times bestselling, and other critically acclaimed, authors these stories shed a harsh light on the scariest tales we grew up with.


The September House by Carissa Orlando

A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee. 

Margaret is not most people. 

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.


What I’d Like to Read Next:

Scorpio by Marko Kloos
Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter
Starter Villain by John Scalzi


Books I’ve Picked Up/Won:

The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf

Evie once again leaves her world behind to rescue Blight Harbor’s ghosts in this second book in the bone-chilling middle grade Blight Harbor trilogy that’s reminiscent of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.

Evie Von Rathe has been home for only a few weeks from her adventure in the strange world of seven houses when Blight Harbor’s beloved ghosts begin to disappear. Did they leave without saying goodbye, or has something gone horribly wrong? Soon Evie is invited to a mysterious council meeting, where she learns about the Dark Sun Side and a terrible secret.

Yes, the ghosts have gone missing. And that means serious trouble.

With the help of an eleven-year-old (or 111-year-old, but who’s counting) ghost named Lark, trusty Bird, and a plump ghost spider, Evie must find a way to defeat the vicious Nighthouse Keeper responsible for the missing ghosts, save her otherworldly friends, and find her way home from the Dark Sun Side before she’s trapped there forever.


And that’s a wrap
Thank you so much for stopping by, for supporting my blog, and taking the time to share with me your books and little moments.
How was your 2023? Full of new loves and old favorites, I hope.

May your New Year bring you all the best stories, full of bookish friends, captivating worlds, and grand adventures.

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Rosie Amber

    Junkyard cats has a great book cover. Happy New Year.

  2. Mark Edward Jabbour

    Just finished “Laps with Lemon” (in one day). short memoir from my son about his cat, Lemon’s, life and death. Can’t recommend it enough. Writing a review, next. Happy New Year, and thanks. We’ve different tastes, but I like your style.

  3. @lynnsbooks

    Ahh, you’re reading September House, I’m hoping to get to that one soon so look forward to seeing your thoughts.
    Lynn 😀

    1. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

      It was a light month for me, but I loved September House when I read it earlier this year and I’m looking forward to Scorpio!

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