We are now firmly into my favorite time of year. I love autumn and I love October and the days leading up to Halloween, and though I'm not into horror or gore, I do like to make my reading Spooky Season appropriate. Here are some books I read and enjoyed in October:
All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles of us (M/M Gothic mystery/romance): THIS BOOK! I loved this book so so much. Zeb is summoned to a wealthy relative's manor house and finds, to his horror, the rest of his terrible family and his ex-lover. He learns that the true purpose of gathering the family is for the master of the house to choose who to leave his fortune to, by getting one of them to marry his ward. Zeb wants no part of it but discovers he's trapped on the estate as the situation gets worse and spookier and murderous. This is KJ Charles at her best—snappy dialogue, twisty plot, a well-earned romance. Just fantastic.
Curses & Cold Brew by Ali K Mulford and Elle Morrison (F/F paranormal romance): Curses & Cold Brew is the second in the Maple Hollow series, set in a small town filled with Halloween charm that is a major tourist destination—only the tourists don't know that the witches, vampires, and monsters inhabiting the town really are witches, vampires, and monsters. It's a small town full of fun characters (including a gossipy vampire knitting circle) and cozy autumnal-ness. Witch Iris and demon Ramona's story begins in the first book with a bargain, but they get their happy ever after here. The souls Ramona made deals for are going missing, and Iris decides she's going to help Ramona find out what's going on, whether Ramona wants her to or not. It's another fun installment of the series.
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Fantasy/horror): I said I'm not into horror, but this worked for me—it was eerie and atmospheric and tense and witchy but not scary, at least in my opinion. The book tells the entwined stories of three young women in different times: Minerva, a graduate student struggling to write her thesis in 1998; her great-grandmother living on a farm in Mexico in 1908; and a college student at the same college Minerva attends whose roommate mysteriously disappears in 1934. Their stories weave together in interesting ways, and they're all touched by witchcraft and the supernatural. As Minerva does her research, she finds those supernatural forces stalking her and she has to unravel old mysteries and rely on her great-grandmother's wisdom to save her own life. I couldn't put this down once I got started.
The Undead Complex by Courtney Smyth (Paranormal mystery): This is the second book in the Undetectables series and it was as good as the first. The series centers three witches, friends since childhood, who have set up a detective agency to investigate paranormal crimes with their ghost friend (whose murder began the first book and that they haven't been able to solve yet), and this book gives us their second big case. I'd suggest starting with the first book to understand the background and characters. There's also lots of queer and chronic illness rep.
What have you read and loved lately?
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