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Happy Spooky Season
I tell myself I’m not a Halloween person, and yet every September I find myself impatiently waiting for October. The world is getting moodier, and usually so am I. With the dying leaves comes bursts of color and the innate urge to be festive af.
And I am not immune to this festivity.
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as consuming artificially flavored pumpkin treats beneath the orange trees. Home decor truly doesn’t have a better time to shine. Gilmore Girls is begging to be rewatched for the thousandth time. True crime podcasts feel extra spooky. And my favorite: books are totally in-season.
Let’s admit it, fall and books are the perfect combo.
So, in honor of Spooky Season and Book Season, here are a few books that are just begging to be read by YOU this October (and a few that are on my October TBR!)
The Ex Hex
When I got this book in the mail, I said “Jacob, I bet I could finish this in two days.”
And then I finished it in two days.
Vivi’s heart is broken by Rhys Penhallow, descendant of Graves Glen’s founding father. As a 19 year old witch, the only plausible way to get over a cute welsh boy is to drink vodka with your witchy cousin and pretend to curse the boy who left you in pieces. Ten years later Rhys Penhallow returns and Vivi learns that her pretend curse may not have been pretend. Now her and Rhys must figure out how to break the curse and save the town, all while trying to forget about that steamy summer ten years ago.
The Ex Hex is over the top Halloween and the author, Erin Sterling, describes it as “Hocus Pocus but with lots of sex.” To be honest, I couldn’t agree more. Reading it felt like a crossover between Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown and the best aspects of romance novels. I’ve seen some mixed reviews across the internet on this one, but here is my main thought: I did not go into this book expecting great literature. Because of that, I wasn’t let down. I think this one gets three stars for quality, but five stars for festivity. SO I ended up rating this one a four — I actually enjoyed it; it is a quick read; and it definitely puts you in a Spooky Season mood.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
This one is an oldy but a goody. Some of you may have read this or watched the HBO special, but if you haven’t, October is the perfect time to dive into this true-crime aficionado’s account of The Golden State Killer.
This is actually a posthumous nonfiction book as McNamara passed suddenly before she could finish writing. While the book contains mostly Macnamara’s writing, some parts of the book were pieced together by the editor using her extensive notes.
As a true crime aficionado, McNamara spent much of the later years of her life researching what would eventually become I’ll be Gone in the Dark. She meticulously researched, reviewed case notes, and interviewed anything and anyone connected to The Golden State Killer, a man who committed fifty known sexual assaults in California and then escalated to gruesome and violent murders before disappearing. Police were never able to come close to identifying the man responsible for the horrible attacks throughout the state. With lyrical writing and an almost obsessive amount of detail, McNamara captures this period of crime history in California in a remarkable way.
I cannot express how much I loved this book. While it definitely gave me the chills, Michelle’s writing and research are phenomenal and well on display. While it is nonfiction and true crime, it is quite engaging. If you’ve been wanting to try out true crime, I’d recommend giving this one a go. It reminded me of In Cold Blood, the book that crusaded the true crime genre and got me hooked. This one is PERFECT for spooky season and was also a five star read!
Grab it on Amazon or Bookshop!
Not a Happy Family
This book started out as “meh” for me, but ended up becoming a favorite thriller of mine. I couldn’t put it down because I needed to find out the killer.
Fred and Sheila Merton are found brutally murdered in their home two days after Easter dinner. The last people to see them alive are their three children, who all stand to inherit millions of dollars upon their death. But they’re devastated, right? Or maybe they aren’t. Maybe they aren’t as happy a family as they seem.
For about the first third of the book, I was not vibing with the writing style. Every sentence is short and choppy, and I chalked it up to bad writing. Then, the novel started to pick up. The quick pace lent itself to suspense and I ended up loving every second. I like thrillers that keep you guessing up until the end, and this book does that well. There is a huge list of suspects and I honestly didn’t know who the killer was until about the last five pages. Not a Happy Family one is spooky, but not too bone-chilling. Another great October pick!
Watching You
I randomly grabbed this Lisa Jewell thriller off the target shelves last year, and it is up there with “best random target purchases.” I was immediately hooked in this novel and it kept me on edge until the last page.
Melville Heights, an affluent neighborhood in Bristol, is exactly the place where people keep secrets, but it’s not the place you’d expect to find someone brutally murdered in their kitchen. Secrets don’t seem like a big deal, that is, until a body turns up. The new neighbor, Joey, has an intense crush on the school headmaster, Tom Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam’s son likes to keep his eyes on people. Jenna Tripp thinks something is off with Mr. Fitzwilliam; are headmaster’s always that nice to students?
Like Not a Happy Family, this novel has a large cast of suspects and keeps you guessing until the end. I thought everyone seemed so guilty, and was actually shocked at the ending — I never came close to guessing the truth. Jewell is well known in the world of thrillers, and this book is an example of why. An eerie October read to get you in that Spooky Season mood.
Grab it on Amazon or Bookshop!
October Hopefuls (Reviews to Come!)
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half-Century of Silence
- I’m so excited to read this! It’s true crime and academia all in one — can you say perfect for fall?
- The synopsis makes this sound like John Tucker Must Dies but with witches. Count me in.
Signing Off
Thanks for reading and supporting my work! I’m happy to be back in this corner of the internet after my two month hiatus. It feels good to read again and even better to share the books I love. Make sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss out on any of the fun around here!
Kelliemarie Mash 
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