Spooky season is over. I can’t say I did much to celebrate it in general. Despite my love of the supernatural, I’ve never really cared about Halloween. I know, I know, hot take because a lot of people really love it 😅 I did read a few books that could maybe be considered horror though, and I watched Jennifer’s Body for the first time. I’ve just heard it mentioned a lot and wanted to understand the references and see what the hype is about. I don’t have anything negative to say about it, just not really my thing.

I opened up an author’s newsletter and was pleasantly surprised to see a quote from one of my reviews to help promote a sale for one of their books! Always nice when reviews are appreciated.

This is random, but what is up with Goodreads constantly deciding I have just reread a book when I have not? I’ll go to my page, and there will be a post like, “Kit read [some random book I’ve not even thought about in five years].” No, Goodreads, I did not just read that book again! And then I’ll have to go and remove the 2nd date that was randomly added. And this seems to happen every few weeks. I also realized a bunch of books I’ve read are somehow still on my to-read shelf, despite having a date listed and everything. How is that even possible?

Also, while I’m complaining about Goodreads, I still hate the new design. Normally when sites get redesigned, it sucks at first because you’re not used to it, but then you get used to it, and it’s fine. Not this one! This is an objectively bad design. Like, other books in a series being below the reviews??

Anyway, I played some more BG3. I don’t think I did much else. I’ve had a lot of headaches, so a lot of days my brain (and body) were too tired to really do anything except watch or listen to YouTube videos.

Blog/Bookish Updates:

I noticed my email notifications started sending the entire post instead of an excerpt, even though I didn’t change anything, and I’ve checked that it’s set to send only the excerpt under WordPress and Jetpack settings. I tried switching the settings and then switching them back, since that apparently worked for someone else. So I guess I’ll see what happens with this post.

Books I Received for Review:

Usually the Libro.fm ALC program doesn’t have that many books I’m personally interested in, since at this point I mostly read queer sci-fi/fantasy, but October had a bunch of those! So I grabbed A Vile Season by David Ferraro, The Door in Lake Mallion by S. M. Beiko, And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh, and Rogue Community College by David R. Slayton. I also got Upon the Midnight Queer by ‘Nathan Burgoine, from the author.

Books I Finished:

I decided to get a little into the spooky season with some light horror books (and a couple not horror). All queer, except for one. Also decided to do some re-reading/listening. I haven’t done much of that in a while because new books are always so tempting. The great streak I was on unfortunately broke, but that’s ok, not every book can be my favorite.

If you’re considering buying any of these books from Amazon, I’d really appreciate if you’d use my affiliate link!

A Vile Season by David Ferraro – Vampire historical fantasy with romance. YA? To be completely honest, I found the main character bland and never really got into the book. But YMMV. I enjoyed the audio narrator well enough.

The Door in Lake Mallion by S. M. Beiko – Younger YA, almost portal fantasy? A neat idea, but the story kept me at a distance, like I was being told the events rather than sinking into a character’s mind. Just not my preference. I liked that it had a disabled, queer MC though. Also nice, if not super memorable, audio narration.

And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh – Sorta-supernatural horror-ish dark academia? Another one not quite for me. I felt it lacked tension and ended with a fizzle. Also for some reason I thought it would be queer, and then it wasn’t, but that’s on me. (I actually feel like it would’ve been a stronger story if there had been some queer feelings the MC was just afraid to accept. I thought that was being hinted at in one scene, but then nothing.) Solid audio narration at least.

✨ Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo – Speaking of queer feelings the MC was just afraid to accept… and supernatural horror-ish dark academia… and tension… sooo much tension… I didn’t even realize it until now, but it’s no wonder I was in the mood for this one. This was a re-listen, and it’s just a fantastic book. One of my favorites. Love the audio too.

Geist Fleisch by Christian Baines – Historical paranormal with a bit of romance. This one was surprising and unique and sucked me in.

Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kolsch – Paranormal witchy horror-ish YA. This was great! The characters felt believable, and the story was pretty heavy but not without hope. The audio narration was a little unnatural, like pauses in the middle of sentences sometimes, but not bad. This was one I got from Libro.fm a couple months ago.

✨ Wolf Hall by Harper Fox – A somewhat surreal, eerie, but ultimately not all that surreal or eerie short story. This was another re-listen of another favorite. Third time I’ve listened to it because I just love it, this author can write, and the audio narration is fantastic.