Spooky month is officially over and we enter the month of pre-Christmas!

• I read 16 books this month
• Genre: 9 fantasy, 2 non-fiction, 2 horror and 3 contemporary
• Gender of authors: 12 women and 4 men
• Race of authors: 10 white authors, 5 asian writers and 1 black writer
• Age range: 8 adult, 6 YA and 2 children.
• Format: 13 paperback, 2 hardback and 1 ebook.

Challenges

• Prompt: Spooky
  • Starling House
  • The Girl from the Other Side, Vol.3
  • I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle
  • Witchcraft
  • Garlic and the Witch
  • Every Exquisite Thing

Sword Catcher – Cassandra Clare (DNF)

I was super excited to finally read Cassandra Clare’s adult debut. I had read the first 4 books of her YA Shadowhunter series when I was younger but hadn’t read any of her stuff in ages. I was looking forward to seeing her to move away from her Shadowhunter universe and try something new. While I did enjoy the world-building and lore of Clare’s brand new world I found the pacing and the plot to be very slow. I ended up DNFing just under 200 pages in as barely anything was happening and this was a nearly 600 page book. I was just a lot of standing around talking which for me did not grab me at all.

Every Exquisite Thing – Laura Steven (2 stars)

This was a disappointing read unfortunately. I found the premise to be super intriguing and was excited to see how it was applied but I found the execution to be lacklustre and at times absurd. I found the main character unlikable, the plot structuring to work against mystery the author is trying to set up and many other things. I will say it was super nice to see aloe pica representation – as someone who struggled with it growing up I could relate to our MC on that level.

Normal Women – Philippa Gregory (4 stars)

I had the privilege to introduce Philippa Gregory on her book tour for this mammoth of a history book. Taking in 900 years of women’s history in Britain – this book was vast, well-researched, intersectional and very inclusive. I learnt some much about so many women that history had forgotten.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson (4 stars)

Look at me rating a classic very highly. I think this was down to the short page number and the creepy atmosphere. I also part audio booked it and the author was incredible in building tension and a sense of dread.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me – Jamison Shea (4 stars)

I have a whole review about my love for this book but what I will say is this is a super atmospheric novel that delves into the descent into madness that happens when you get given loads of power and how systems are built on oppressing talent that doesn’t fit into their very white lense.

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – Hwang Bo-reum (5 stars)

This book resonated with me on a molecular level. Most likely due to me being a bookseller but I loved all the conversations that were had about lifelong happiness, how that is different from one person to another and how the pursuit for happiness takes courage, sincerity, putting yourself first and a big leap. I loved the mix between the funny slice-of-life moments in the bookshop alongside the more introspective elements of the novel.

Curious Tides – Pascale Lacelle (5 stars)

After finishing this a week I am still struggling to form the words to describe how much I enjoyed this book. The writing was incredibly insightful and poetic, the plot kept me up at night and constantly guessing, the mystical meta element to the plot was super fun (listen I love books about books), the beauty of relationships and how complicated they can be was probably the most interesting and humanising factor of the novel and finally I loved the exploration into how insecurity and fear can hold you back.

Starling House – Alix E. Harrow (5 stars)

This book is an amazing slow-burn urban fantasy/horror novel about creepy houses with a complicated history, a book about a book, the topic of how history distorts the truth, how poverty can be just as horrific and scary as the fantastical horrors plaguing this story, slavery in the American South, Opal’s character from start to finish was so incredibly written and I feel that Harrow has truly nailed flowery prose with a straight to the point plot.

Other books I have read:

• The Girl from the Other Side, Vol.3 – Nagabe
• Witch Hat Atelier, Vol.2 – Kaome Shirahama
• Donut Feed the Squirrels – Mika Song
• Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials
• Imelda and the Goblin King
• The Kamogawa Food Detectives
• Garlic and the Witch
• Vox Machina Origins, Vol.1