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thenerdygirl) wrote2023-11-02 12:39 pm
thenerdygirl) wrote2023-11-02 12:39 pm
October reads
I read nine books this month with a focus on the supernatural: 4 witch books, 1 vampire, 1 werewolf, 1 ghost, 1 cozy murder mystery (I know, cozy & murder don't really go together but...), and 1 non-fiction basically about cleaning & mental health. I had been reading How to Keep house while drowning for a while and already gushed about it on Instagram and possibly here before but I finally finished it in early October. Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the books I read this month with only two being kinda meh and having annoying aspects.
FAVES
01. Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison - The werewolf book, obviously. This one has a lot of similarities to Ginger Snaps in that the main focus is two adult sisters with a close but complicated relationship where one sister gets bitten. TW: It does have body horror and has a flashback to sexual assault.
02. Murder & Mamon by Mia P. Manansala - The cozy murder mystery. I'm just enjoying the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series as a whole and would recommend it if you like cozy mysteries. It hits a lot of cozy mystery tropes but does them better IMO plus all the Filipino food descriptions and recipes make me hungry every time I read these books.
03. Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland - The best of the four witchy books I read this month. Basic synopsis is the main character returns to her family home after getting fired, she's currently being haunted by the ghost of her dead sister, and her family unfairly blames for the previously mentioned death. It's in the romance section but I honestly thought the family side of the story was far more interesting.
HONOURAL MENTION
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix - I thought it was pretty good though it dragged in places. I think the writer absolutely nailed the complete and utter devastation and exhaustion one can experience with parental loss and dealing with an estate. I related too hard at times so it's not a book I see myself re-reading, hence why it's not a fave. Plus, again, the ending was dragged out.
MEHS
01. Small town, big magic by Hazel Beck - Interesting premise and I was invested in the story but the authors sabotaged themselves by making the main character insufferable. A descriptive word used in multiple reviews on Goodreads, not just mine.
02. Playing the Witch Card by K.J. Dell'Antonia - Thls witchy book focuses more on Tarot which was interesting but overall the book was bland and kind of joyless until the irritating ending.
I try to keep my observations short on dreamwidth because I don't want to spoil anything but if you don't give a fig about spoilers, you can see my slightly longer reviews on Goodreads or Storygraph. I don't promise they're any good but they're there 😜
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I just found out about the Tita Rosie's Kitchen books literally this week! My November display at the library is all cozy mysteries with recipes; I usually do a Harvest Time/Fall/Thanksgiving thing, but that seemed too easy, and that's how I ran across this series. Haven't read them yet, but very interested!
Grady Hendrix is truly a wild card. I generally like his writing (my favorite is We Sold Our Souls, all about a forty-something former Metal guitarist tracking down her bandmates to get them out of a deal they made with the Devil years before), but sometimes it does fall flat. How To Sell A Haunted House is definitely one of the good ones. Agree on the pacing being weird though.
I'm "AshTheAudiomancer" on Storygraph--I'll add you!
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