October Hopefuls
Hello.
October has finally arrived and I’m so excited about the spooky season, that I’m beside myself. I promised myself that after my failed September TBR I would no longer partake in them because they’re just too much pressure. As an alternative, since I’m still a list girlie at heart, I’ve decided on Hopeful lists. I’ll go through novels that I’d like to accomplish during the month, without any actual weight on whether or not they must be completed.
I’m hoping using this method going forward will relieve some of the anxiety I have when it comes to reading books, choosing books, or deciding if and when to DNF. The following descriptions are a mix of why I chose the book and what I honestly remember the book being about. Without further ado, I hope to complete this throughout October.
Rough Pages by Lev Ac Rosen. Arc. Published Oct. 1, 2024. I received this arc from NetGalley and I was so excited that I decided to do an entire readathon for the Evander Mills Trilogy. Over the last two weeks, I’ve completed the last two books and am currently 25% through this. In this latest addition, Evander is in a race against time to try to find two missing pillars of the queer community and help keep his queer family safe from being found out.
Class Trip by Bebe Faas Rice. Published in 1993. This novel is one out of my 24 for 24 list I made at the beginning of the year. Out of the 141 novels completed this year, only 3 are from this list, so it’s time to get a move on. This is perfect for October because it’s about a serial killer in the woods who goes after a group of kids on a field trip. I’m expecting camp, scary moments, and a high body count.
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass. Published in 2021. This novel has been part of my TBR for a long time, and I just never seem to get around to it. I’m hoping to change that this year. This novel is coming in clutch, with a Black main character, whose being haunted by a school shooter, because he can talk to ghosts, it’s perfect for Halloween time!
Clown In The Cornfield by Adam Cesare. Published in 2020. This novel has been hand-selected at the most perfect time. A small town is having issues assimilating the old and new, until the school mascot, a Clown, goes Homicidal and decides to kill off the complainers. I’m so excited about this, It seems to be very popular it’s the first novel in a trilogy.
Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio. Published September 2024. I purchased this about a week ago and have been faithfully waiting until October to read it. It’s been on my TBR ever since M.L. Rio announced they were writing a novella, and I own 3 editions of If We Were Villains, okay? The hype is real. In this Novella, there’s a cemetery attached to this college and a rag-tag crew comes across a freshly dug hole one day perfect for a body, and they are trying to figure out who dug it and for whom, without ending up in it, which is like absolutely made for me. This is probably my most anticipated read this month.
Ambrose by Kate Kimbrell. Arc. Published October 29th, 2024. I’m kind of putting the cart a bit before the horse with this one. The author opened up the arc forms the night before last, and I applied, I should know if I got accepted to the arc team within the next few days, so here’s hoping I get it. Ambrose is a Dark Academia Professor/Student romance, which is my preferred Smut. There’s a spooky castle, a forbidden romance, and an undiscovered mystery with secrets abound.
Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley. Published August 2024. I’m honestly not sure what this is about. I requested it on NetGalley but was rejected and then I randomly saw it in the bookstore one day so I requested it from the library. I am currently 15% into the audiobook, and it’s such a provocative title. I think our main character was murdered, and her ghost comes back because she has unfinished business.
This Girl’s A Killer by Emma C. Wells. Arc. Published October 29th, 2024. I received this arc from NetGalley. I was so excited when I read the synopsis. We follow this enigmatic female main character named Cordelia Black, who is a businesswoman and in her spare time, a killer of bad men. A female vigilante? Yes, please! Here’s a direct quote from the back of the book.
Ask Cordelia Black why she did it. The answer will always be: He had it coming.
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher. Published in 2022. I’ve been wanting to read this since I picked it up last year and just never got around to it. This was purchased when I thought I would give Book Horror more of a chance. I’m not actually sure that this is a novella, it is definitely novella length, but it’s essentially a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of The House of Usher, and is supposed to be full of fungi/spore horror.
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark. Published in 2020. Another novel that I’m honestly not sure about the plot. Whenever this novel is recommended the number one thing that people talk about is how unhinged the main female character is. Another novel with a photographer protagonist. As a staunch purveyor of women's rights and wrongs, this calls to me in a way I cannot convey.
Virgin Night by Christopher Robertson. Published in 2022. I’m excited about this novel because it has been conveyed as a cheesy slasher film in novel form, and I just love devouring novels like this. I’m hoping for a scary, screamesque time. In a small town, the night before Valentine’s Day, an undead horror and a megachurch present a danger all too real to the kids of Cherry Lake.
Hiding Lies by Stephanie Rose. ARC. Published October 29th, 2024. This is an arc I received from NetGalley. As a photographer, I love when they appear in novels. This mystery involves a forensic photographer, who gets wrapped up in a case with an ever-increasing body count and an uneasy feeling that she is more involved than she knows. It sounds absolutely up my alley.
Don’t Let The Forest in by C.G. Drews. ARC. Published October 29th, 2024. This is an arc I received from NetGalley. I was so excited when I saw this was available, one of my first instances of blogs about books was Paper Fury, so when I saw they’d published a novel I knew I must read it! This sounds like a wild ride. A boy whose only friend is acting strangely, causes him to follow one night and witness a terror, and together they have to fight it before it ends them all.
All in All, I’m excited to see what I manage to complete this month and whether this is a viable method for choosing novels in the future. Do you have reading plans for October?
Until Next Time,
Gabs.
