October Wrap Up

So many books this month! Most of them spooky, but a few not so spooky books as well. There were a couple of kids' books that I had on hold that I absolutely wanted to get my hands on. One because it's one of my favorite books as a kid, told from my favorite characters point of view. So I was so excited to get my hands on it. The other was a book I wanted to see if my Gremlin needed for their book collection. They do! 

I also hit my reading goal this month! As of the time of writing this, I've surpassed my goal of 75 books! I'm still working on my page count goal. I'm so close to hitting it this year, and I have high hopes I'll hit it by the end of the year. Also, another BINGO square hit; childhood favorite is officially off my board! I'm so close to clearing the whole board. There are only four squares to go. It's do-able. The question is: can I do it?

  

Books Read: 
BINGO Books: 1

Pages Read: 

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

   

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all do. Sometimes the cover catches our eye and draws us to take a closer look at a book. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

Protactinium-231 is a body-snatching alien whose crew have burned through the galaxy conquering planet after planet—or at least, they've been trying. They haven't been very successful.

While attempting to conquer the Canada (of all places), Protactinium gets on the wrong side of a god, who strips him of his mind-control powers, transforms him into the weedy, useless Prince Proculo, and sends him to rule over a fantasy kingdom. With no powers, no physical prowess, and no allies, Proculo is forced to put aside his plans for world domination and join the battle between humans and half-human monsters that is ravaging his new home.

After capturing the half-human, half-spider Tantalus, Proculo falls desperately in love with his bristling muscles and sharp fangs. And Tantalus is an eager ally in Proculo's mission to conquer the world. Together, they will be an unstoppable force—against new enemies and old friends alike.

HAPPY READING!!

Happy Halloween!

 

It's my favorite time of the year! I hope everyone has an absolutely lovely and safe Halloween. May you only receive treats, instead of tricks! And it's filled with only the correct amount of spooky. I'll be passing out candy at work to our block party! Then I'm off to watch Halloween on the big screen for the very first time! And then maybe a few spooky movies after! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Episode 13 - Review

Author: Craig DiLouie

Genre:  Horror

Format: Paperback

This one has been on my physical TBR for ages. In fact, I've started it a couple of times, only to put it away a few pages in. Sometimes it's just not the right time for certain books. On one hand, I'm glad I waited for this book because I did like it. On the other hand, I don't think it needed to be this long. There are whole sections that I just didn't care about, and parts where there would have been brilliant tension. Only to be shafted. So really, this was a mixed bag for me. 

Let's get one thing super clear. This book is said to be like The Haunting of Hill House; that is incorrect. It's with a ghost that has more than one timeline involved. It is nothing like Hill House at all. At no point while reading this book was a I scared, or was jumped scared, or worried, or anything of things that Haunting of Hill House made me. This is the book that you yell at the whole time. I was constantly, out loud, asking Why are we going back into the house. Why are we going down the creepy well? All of us have seen Scooby-Doo: stop splitting up!

That is the type of book this is. Listen, I get it, there's a mystery, and I'm nosey. I would totally want to go through those files. I'll tell you what, though. I wouldn't wait two hundred pages for things to go flying around the room to read them. Also, it's totally cool you have Claire, the skeptic who thinks ghosts are dumb and defy science; therefore, they can't be real. We all need one of those people in our lives. We do. However! There was science in that room, woman! SCIENCE! And I'm meant to believe she's gonna wait until a near-death experience to actually look at it.

Cool. Cool. Cool.

Now, I totally get it, you are all crazy, and you wanted to know what the actual hell is going on. So you go down the creepy well. Fine. FINE! But there were a handful of missed moments here. Like the people who where suppose to come help them back out of the well. Why didn't we get their point of view? Just a few pages of them trying to find all the missing people. Because all their stuff is still there. One of them is a single mother. Like, I have many questions.

The ending was fine with what was 'causing' the haunting. It gets four stars from me for the very end of the book. I really loved the open ending and how they got some of the information. It definitely wins points for me there. But as a whole, I've read better epistolary novels about haunted houses and weird time zones. What I will say though was I did like the writing style of this book. So I'll definitely give Craig DiLouie another try. But this one was just okay. I liked it, but not as good as I wanted it to be.

   HAPPY READING!!

October Book Haul

Okay, okay, okay. First, I only get to go shopping with my Mim once a year. Also! I always find treasures when I go to her local bookstore. They are a gently used bookstore, and I always find something amazing. This year it was the Twilight Zone: The Movie book and my Murder She Wrote novel. So there's that, first of all. Second of all, Night Worms happens every month. So, there's that.

Lastly, I went to Goodwill to see if there were any Halloween treasures. Because you never know. Sometimes I find some winners. I didn't find anything Halloween to take home; it did seem like someone's Nana downsized their house. Because I found the motherlode of Agatha Christie and Murder She Wrote novels. Honestly, I could have taken the whole lot. I didn't, but I could have. What I did was pick the one Jessica Fletcher novel I wanted to read, and take all the Hercule Poirot novels. He's my favorite, and I own so very few of his novels.

So it's a lot of books. But one of them was on my TBR already, and one isn't for reading. I just don't know how I'm going to display the Twilight Zone Book yet. The rest, well, my TBR was always going to outlive me. But I do have so many cozy mysteries to read during the dark months. 

HAPPY READING!!

The Faceless Old Women - Review

Author: Joseph Frink & Jeffery Cranor

Genre: Science Fiction / Horror

Format: Audiobook

Welcome to Night Vale was one of those things that, over the years, I completely forgot about. Despite the fact that during its original years I was not only up to date, but I also saw a couple of live shows. The stuff happened, and it fell by the wayside, and I assumed it was finished. Then, wouldn't you know, it came across my Libby app. So I thought I'd jump back into the podcast, and after a few dozen episodes I felt like I could jump into the novels. And I had to start with one of my favorite characters, The Faceless Old Woman.

When it came to this book, I think I knew very little. I had the background of who she was in the "current" timeline of Night Vale. But I refused to read reviews or do any research into this book. I just knew it was about the Faceless Old Women and how she got to Night Vale. Honestly, that was the best way to go into this. The less you know, the better, because anything and everything could be spoilers.

Honestly, this book blew me away. It's told in two different timelines. The first is a current timeline with the Faceless Old Woman living (mostly) in Craig's house. The whole book is told through the Woman's point of view. So we start out with her talking about Craig and his future. She's here to help him have a wonderful future, and all the creepy things she does to give him a "good" life. So I thought that this was going to be a creepy haunted house book with a spirit that wants to be an evil life coach.

Only I could be both right and so very wrong at the same time.

Because remember I said there were two timelines. The second was the woman's past, and that is how she made it all the way to Night Vale from the Mediterranean in the 1800s. This part of the tale is a swashbuckling adventure full of double crosses and near deaths. With a whole lot of Night Vale history hidden in the wings if you know what you're looking at. In fact, I thought I had a few things figured out, and again, I'm really good at being both right and wrong.

What I didn't see happen was how this book wrapped up. Because holy crap. Woof. I don't think I'd ever guess that- that was what was going to happen. I do love the reason she became faceless. How her revenge took her that far and turned her into a nobody in the end. Though I do think she's getting a lovely bit of vengeance. Because I mean, if you can't get them in life, get them in death. It's honestly really cool.

This book also has an amazing cast of characters that you fall in love with. Which makes their deaths that much harder toward the end. I actually stopped working at one point and started on my phone. Only to realize I needed to finish this book, not at home because I was going to need to sit with it. And I was going to need to give it my full attention.

If you've never heard of Welcome to Night Vale, I would say if you like weird, funny horror, check it out. All of the podcast episodes are on Spotify! But honestly, I don't think you need to know everything about Night Vale to jump into this book. While it'll help to know about the hooded figures and a few things when you get to the Craig chapters, you could do without it. But everyone needs a bit of Cecil in their lives.

Also, if you need more reason to read this book. The audiobook is read by Mara Wilson, who did a wonderful job, and I enjoyed it completely.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

Picture the scene. It's 1485, the War of the Roses is finally over and England's resolute king, Henry VII has just ascended the throne. What follows is a vibrant time of reformed religion and revitalized culture - of course its lead players wanted to be noticed. Behold Hot a collection of the most obscene glutes, obnoxious outfits, strongest jawlines, and sultriest gazes ever to be captured in paint - there is nothing quite like the portraiture of the this is truly the age of peacocking.

From the author of Hot Victorians, this book celebrates the hottest gents from the Tudor age. Across royalty, statesmen, artists, diplomats, and noblemen, this book will prove that what the Tudors lacked in subtlety, they made up for in sheer exuberance.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

  

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all do. Sometimes the cover catches our eye and draws us to take a closer look at a book. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

Centuries ago, in the dark of the woods, a pact was made. A gift was given. And the costs have echoed down the bloodlines.

The clans of Skin Dancers—humans able to shapeshift into the form of any animal they've eaten—rule the 1980s New England crime scene. A late summer wedding between two families is meant to usher in a new era of peace between households, and stifle the brewing tensions that threaten to boil over into war.

But something is lurking in the forest outside the family compound. Something ancient, angry...and starving.

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

Yes, I know; we haven't even had Halloween yet. But I've been waiting months for this book to come into the library and for my turn. The Grinch is my favorite Christmas movie. I watch it every year! Hands down, Max is the best part of the movie. No, I will not take questions or comments about that. This was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's everything I loved about the original, but from Max's point of view. This is getting added to the things I need to buy myself at Christmas. It's so cute and was totally worth the wait, and should be a must-read for anyone who loves The Grinch.

It's been years since I originally read this book. Like I was in Junior High and should not have been reading this, long ago. Because I thought surely this book was a fever dream and I was remembering it wrong. Which meant it was probably the perfect book to read while I was waiting at the airport. This book was not a fever dream. I remembered exactly what happened at the end of this book, in techno color. And just woof. Woof! This is still one of the most brutal endings I've ever read. Still the coolest as well. Because that is one hell of a way to die.

And some change. Sarah Gailey is one of my favorite authors. So I always try to snag whatever they publish. Combine that with one of my favorite TV Shows, and I was pretty excited. This was a mixed bag for me. I loved the idea of it all: Buffy has lost her powers, and the Scooby Gang is coping. I loved that Xander has a boyfriend; I also love that Spike had his fangs back toward the end. Also, hello Faith! There was something about it, though; it was fine. I liked it; it was fun, and it was fine. I definitely want to read another volume. But I'll probably snag it from the library!

This was so much fun! I don't know if I retained any of the information that was inside this book. What I can tell you is that it was a lot of fun. It had me laughing out loud while I was working. This was a brilliant way to look at history. A reminder that learning can be fun, and history is wild because, seriously. SERIOUSLY?! It's a great combination of humor and nonfiction. I'm so glad I stumbled across this library. It was a great audiobook for work while I was doing mundane tasks.

This is my favorite vampire movie of all time. I don't just watch it at Halloween; it's one of my comfort movies. I can quote the whole thing; the title song is probably one of the most played songs on my Spotify, and I cannot wait for the Broadway play to travel. So if there was anyone this book was written for, it was me. At the start, this book was great; there was background on the making of the movie. Most of which I didn't know about the production itself. So that was cool. After that, though, the book sort of fell down for me. It got repetitive, like actual lines were used back-to-back, in a copy-and-paste kind of way. While I have no proof, toward the end it started to feel a bit, I used AI to make sense of my thoughts and look a book. However, I don't actually know for sure, and it was only a little over sixty pages. So yeah, I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it because I was wrapped up in one of my favorite movies. Not because it was great. Which was a bit of a bummer.

HAPPY READING!!

Edmonds November SBC

Huge thank you to everyone who came out to our little spooky Silent Book Club! If you couldn't make it last Wednesday, never fear, we'll be back on November 18th, 2026!! We'll start reading at 7:30 pm, but show up early for dinner or drink. 

Also, don't forget to bring your ideas for 2027 Book BINGO! 

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms - Unboxing

 

October Theme: Sacred Spaces 

Okay, okay, buckle up, everyone, and let me tell you a story about this month's Night Worms box. Because I swear this stuff only happens to me. So, for context, I live fairly close to where Night Worms ships from. That means it usually takes only a couple of days to get to me. So I thought, oh! I should be able to open this before I leave to go see my family in the Midwest! Oh, how very wrong I was. First, the package was trapped in Seattle at the post office. Okay, cool, that happens. It'll be a nice little thing to look forward to when I get home. 

But then! While at the airport, I was like, I'll just check on this package and the other thing I have coming. I wanted to get a timeline from my friend who was picking up the mail while I was out. Somehow it ended up in Georgia! That's thousands of miles away from where I wanted it. Which begged the question of if I was going to get this package. 

Lo and behold, I got an email a couple of days later saying my package was out for delivery. And wouldn't you know it. After a long adventure, I came home to this:

Everything arrived! Books were in amazing condition, and I was both shocked and happy. I honestly thought only the mailer was going to arrive. So, to get everything in perfect condition was amazing! Because I was so excited to read Rooted! Also, the tea that came for this month's hot beverage sounds amazing. As soon as the weather dips into the dark and cold, and I need the heated blanket, I'll give it a go!

HAPPY READING!!