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Books in October - Book Recommendations
BOOooooooks! Hello spooky season and hello spooky books. We cannot wait for autumn vibes. So we tried to select some great horror books for you, don’t worry we’ll also have some cozy fantasy ready for you ;) Let’s take a look at our list, shall we?
Contemporary/Fantasy/Thriller/Sci-fi adults
Swamp Thing: The Anatomy Lesson by Alan Moore & Steve Bissette (6 October)
Because this will be the first horror DC Compact in our shop
This compact volume features Moore’s earliest issues in the classic run, starting with “The Anatomy Lesson.” Swamp Thing’s mythology is hauntingly reshaped with terrifying revelations that begin a journey of discovery and adventure, taking him across the stars and beyond.
A Time of Witches by Madeline Martin (8 October)
Because look at the last sentence of the blurb!
Two women. Two centuries. One chance to rewrite history before they are both erased. Lilith Legare's life is unraveling. Since her mother's death, strange things have been happening - plants turn toward her touch, animals linger in her path, and the birthmark on her arm has started tingling. Worse still is her recurring nightmare of being burned alive at the stake. Her search for answers brings her from Savannah to England, to the decaying Brackenmere Manor where the past blurs with the present. There, Lilith discovers a legacy she never asked for and along with it, the threat of peril. History must be rewritten, or she too will die. In 1645 Suffolk, Sybil Brantham stands accused as a witch. An educated, wealthy widow, she is branded a threat by men who fear her independence. As arrests begin and suspicion abounds, Sybil must protect her younger sister, even as betrayal takes root within her household. Across centuries, Lilith and Sybil are bound by blood and by danger. To save themselves, and each other, they must confront the silence that has stolen women's power for generations-and dare to claim their voices before it's too late.
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy (13 October)
Because this one is now available as small paperback and I know you enjoyed When the Wolf Comes Home
The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That's about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear—affordable housing lottery. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York—people are odd—but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby. They've won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture and disturbing gargoyles. Ana and Reid needed a lucky break.
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield (22 October)
Because I started listening to the audiobook and it’s sooo promising!
When Judith Rice ran away from the house she grew up in, she thought she severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. Seventeen years later, she’s made a home for herself in a cottage secluded deep in the forests of northern Georgia. Jude believes she’s settled into a quiet life. But when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep, Jude’s tentative peace is threatened by the stranger’s presence. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Caught between her desire for this woman and the violence that seems to simmer just beneath her skin, Jude’s past and present clash as the woman stirs up memories that force her to reckon with the violence of her escape years ago.
YA Book Recommendations
Nightcurse by Emma Hinds (8 October)
Because atmospheric dark academia fantasy…
Emrys Swift is so dead. One hundred and fifty seven years worth of dead, to be exact. He’s a Revenant, nightcursed, destined to be stuck being seventeen forever. Hidden away, he spends his infinite days as an undead librarian of witchlore at the NeverEnd library–until a new Revenant arrives and magical artifacts start going missing, jeopardizing his beloved home. Emrys’s mortal enemy and annoyingly attractive shapeshifter Aubrey Vale is determined to solve the mystery – with Emrys’s help. Suddenly Emrys and Aubrey are magically bonded together on a quest into the dark and frost-bitten world of night-kin. But as Emyrs and Aubrey interrogate ghosts and face drowning by mermaids, deathly creatures aren’t the only spectres haunting them. With the ghoulish Night Hunt chasing them down, can they outrun the secrets of Emrys’ death and Aubrey’s life? And if they can save NeverEnd’s future, can they have a future together?
The Soulmate Bakery by Safa Ahmed (15 October)
Because we also need some cozy and some pastries this month
Welcome to Maple Hollow. A town full of wonder and magic, where pixie dust and the smell of enchanted cookies waft through the air, and all manner of fantastical creatures live in perfect bliss. Unless you’re Maya Reverie. Kitchen witch, Maya just needs one thing in her life to go well. Done with being a walking disaster, she knows the exact thing that’ll help get her life on track. . .finding her soulmate. It shouldn’t be difficult; she has all the ingredients for the ultimate soulmate-finding-cookie. But disaster strikes when her cookies end up at the town's Annual Fall Bake Sale and wreak havoc. Maya will do anything to fix her latest mess-up. Even, ask Orion Hawthorne for help. The surly dragon-shifter has always been a thorn in her side, but he is the town’s best curse-breaker and, whether she likes it or not, she’ll need his help. Because to fix this spell she’ll need to; find her actual soulmate, confess and cast a counterspell of epic proportions. Easy.
Look What You Did by Kaitlin Reilly (15 October)
Because of course a thriller in October
After the tragic death of golden boy Will Ashford, everyone in town is in mourning. Or almost everyone. Seventeen-year-old Mackenzie couldn't be more relieved. Because she knows Will's veneer of perfection hid something dark and dangerous. It was a truth she learned one night at the Ashford house and swore never to tell. But her plan is threatened when she starts receiving texts from an unknown number. Someone knows the secret Mackenzie has tried so hard to hide—and they are determined to reveal it. When Mackenzie's former best friend is found dead, she is convinced the anonymous texter is connected to her murder, and she will stop at nothing to find them. But doing so will mean confronting the trauma she's fought so hard to suppress and exposing the dark secrets her town has tried to keep buried—or risk being the next girl dead.
Scorpion Deep by CG Drews (29 October)
Because we know some of you like CG Drew’s books!
The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He'll be left behind with nothing but the ocean's haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned. In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape. To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can't help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep's adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another. But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.
Children’s Books
The Notted Island by Katherine Child (1 October)
Because this sounds just so great!
Last Island is struggling. Colour has not reached them, their Notte is making mistake after mistake and now an Automated Night Sky salesman has come to town. It's time for Umbertiska Lupp, a young islander with pockets full of cake, to take matters into her own hands and embark on an adventure to bring unity and colour to Last Island. (Age 9-12)
The Princess in Black and the Trick-or-Treating Trouble by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (8 October)
Because Halloween…
It’s a dark and silly night, and Princess Magnolia is wearing her Princess in Black cape and mask over her clothes—just enough to pass as a Halloween costume in a hurry. She can’t wait to go trick-or-treating! This year, Princess in Black costumes are popular, and so are monster disguises, like the little orange guy with horns yelling “GOAT!” as the kids shout “trick or treat!” When the little monster devours an onion, however, along with an eraser and a bar of soap (not to mention a rock), and as he politely asks for a goat at each door, it’s clear to Princess Magnolia that something isn’t quite right. And—oh no—the next house is Duff’s goat shack! With half of her monster-fighting outfit at home, who can come to the poor critters’ rescue? Halloween hijinks meet high-spirited heroics in a special Princess in Black adventure that’s a treat all around. (Age 5-8)
Arlo and the Raven by Lucy Fleming (8 October)
Because apparently I love ravens…
Arlo lives alone among the clouds on a craggy clifftop. He loves to fly, doing loop-the-loops and skimming the sea with his feathery wing tips. But he longs for a flock, to fit in with the birds who fly all together. One day, Arlo hears an awful clattering, a tip-tap-tapping, right outside his home. Raven has moved in with his collection of found things--shiny and sharp, heavy and stub-your-toe big--and is noisily building a house. Arlo's feelings brew like a storm! But Arlo soon discovers Raven is an understanding friend and that they can make great things together. Soon more friends of a feather are flocking together, and Arlo is finally found. Sweet illustrations bring this fantastical story to life. (Age 3+)
The Raven's Gift by Kiran Millwood Hargrave & illustrated by Tom de Freston (8 October)
Because again, ravens… and Kiran Millwood Hargrave!
Harry didn't even like Frankie that much. But he really did LOVE her. Looking after the ravens that live in the tree outside Frankie's window makes Harry feel connected to her - makes him feel less as if he's being sucked into a black hole. And when the big storm comes, Harry's holding on to survival and hope for the sake of an orphaned baby raven ... (Age 10+)
We hope you enjoyed our little list and that it gave you some book inspiration!
Looking to pre-order one of these books? Just follow the path! 👇
This blog post is written by The Little Bookshop, your bookshop for English books in Rennes.
