Intro
In terms of audience, I read 3 middle grade, 1 young adult, and 6 adult books. For genre, I read 2 thriller, 3 supernatural/paranormal, 3 fantasy, 1 non-fiction, and 1 romance. I read 3 physical books, 4 e-books, and 3 audiobooks. All of the books I read were acquired from my library or Scribd.
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
Middle grade supernatural/paranormal about a girl grieving the loss of her mother by holing away with books. When she comes across a mysterious book about the lore of a local farm, she needs to rely on her wits and her friends in order to survive a spooky situation. Touches on themes of grief, friendship, and bravery.
Despite the mid-range star rating, I really enjoyed this book! After reading The Bear and the Nightingale and loving the writing but not the story, I was excited to try another series by Katherine Arden. The cover also totally hooked me and the story seemed perfect for spooky season. This book didn’t have a particular impact on me, but the story really was beautiful and I was engaged throughout the entire thing. I might even read the second installment in the series after reading and loving a sample chapter and liking it just as much, maybe more, than this one. If you like middle grade or know a middle grade reader, I think this is a solid pick. Also – the book features a single dad (!!!) who loves to bake (!!!) and decorates their home in bright colors (!!!).
Keeper of the Lost Cities – Neverseen by Shannon Messenger
A middle grade fantasy series about Sophie, an elf, who is deeply connected to the Black Swan, a group of rebel elves. Sophie follows their clues to find out who she really is, as well as other mysteries in the lives of those close to her. She relies on her friends (some of which are boys with crushes on her and vice versa). Standard theming around friendship and bravery.
If you read my September wrap-up, you’ll know that I completed the 2nd and 3rd books in this series during that month and gave them 2 and 2.5 stars respectively. Why I continued on with this series is beyond me… Well, actually, I was looking for an easy plane read and while these books have major issues that really bother me, the author does a great job with characterization and endings, so I keep coming back to spend time with the characters and see how the series continues. Shannon Messenger builds a great world, but falls short in executing the follow through on the world she creates. She does a lot of tell not show and has crafted a painful love triangle square (?) with Sophie and the 3 male leads. I can see why pre-teens enjoy reading this drama, but a lot of the moments between the characters read as fan service and not character/relationship development. I’m officially ending my relationship with this series and chalking it up to the fact that these books are simply not for me. Some middle grade transcends age, and at least for me, this isn’t one of them.
The Institute by Stephen King
An adult supernatural thriller about a secret compound that holds kids hostage for their telekinesis or telekinesis powers. We follow two main characters – Luke, an 11 year old genius, and Tim, a middle-aged former cop starting a new life – as their unlikely stories merge. King grapples with ethical dilemmas, finding the power in oneself and others, and how can society creep into the inhumane. It shows us sorrow, empathy, and even hope.
First, I have to plug that the audiobook of this is excellent. I listened to all 19 hours and it flew by thanks to the diction and voices from the narrator. This was my first Stephen King book and wow was I not disappointed. There isn’t much to say other than to acknowledge the excellent character building and pacing throughout this novel. The other thing that stands out is the strong emphasis on theme that King provides without feeling preachy. He layers on the social commentary while never letting the reader feel comfortable with a simple explanation of it. My only critique is that the ending felt a bit standard for the complexity of the story and that it didn’t leave the extreme emotional reaction that I was expecting. That being said, those are personal to me and it was just missing the je’ne seis quai that would make it a 5 star read. Otherwise, this was an amazing story that I absolutely imagine I will be revisiting sometime in the future.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Pérez
This non-fiction does a deep dive into the many ways that our society is designed for men, not women. The author talks about how when something is designed without gender in mind, that translates to being designed for men. She covers a variety of topics from restrooms to bus schedules to vehicle design to health care.
When reading this book, I had sticky notes out the entire time to mark the things that I found particularly interesting or profound. The author has a casual writing style that is quite accessible – it isn’t overly academic or conversational, but right in between. The author was frank honest about the inequity that exists, but she was also hopeful when providing solutions to the problems. Some of the chapters that I found the most interesting were about the data biases in technology (voice recognition is heavily reliant on male voices and recognizes them more often), gear design (military and other safety gear manufacturers scale down their men’s designs for women, but they often fit inappropriately and do not work as intended since they weren’t designed for women’s bodies), and transit schedules (designed for men’s working schedules and not the unpaid labor of women that requires more stops than a typical male’s commute). If you’re interested in data and feminism, I’m confident that you’ll like it.
Joyland by Steven King
Published under Hard Case Crime, this is Steven King’s take on a traditional crime novel. We follow Devin Jones, a college student recovering from a break-up, as he accepts a job at a North Carolina amusement park. A young girl was murdered at this park years ago, but no one has caught the killer, and rumor is that her ghost still haunts the place where she was killed. A coming of age story with a hint of crime and the paranormal.
Something about this just really worked for me. Steven King is a master at character building, so it’s not surprising that I totally fell into step with this coming of age story. I also happen to be a sucker for this particular setting – spooky amusement park, especially during a transition from summer to fall. I don’t have much to say about this other than that it was such a fun surprise that I really, really enjoyed reading.
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
In this fresh take on a gothic thriller, we follow a down-on-her-luck girl named Jules who comes across the job of a lifetime as an apartment sitter. The rules of this arrangement are a bit restrictive, but Jules doesn’t have much a choice, so she ignores the warning signs until things start to get serious. Lock Every Door has a strong sense of tension throughout the entire thing, and it evokes themes of social class and resilience.
This is definitely one of the better thrillers that I’ve read all year. I read the audiobook, which I think was well done. As mentioned in the summary, Riley Sager does an excellent job at building a sense of dread that slowly and steadily builds over the course of the story. I liked how the setting felt grand and claustrophobic all at the same time, and the many characters were distinct and well integrated. The ending is absolutely wild and completely unexpected, which I liked overall. However, it does go a little bit off the rails, which is why this isn’t a 4.5 or 5 star for me because some of the messaging did feel a bit contrived.
An Enchantment of Raven by Margaret Rogerson
This young adult standalone fantasy takes place in a world where people and fair people (faeries) coexist. Fair people are unable to perform human craft, so they value artisans and pay for these human services through enchantments. We follow Isobel, a painter, on an adventure through the world of the fair people and her complicated relationship with a fairy prince.
I wanted to love this book so badly, but unfortunately a few things didn’t work out. First, I have to say that I LOVE Margaret Rogerson’s writing style, and I would read something from her again. Her writing is the perfect mix of accessible while still having lovely prose. She does an excellent job at building a deeply atmospheric world, but that’s where things start to fall short. The world building starts to get interesting with lush descriptions of surroundings and hints at interesting lore, but there needs to be a lot more depth in order for the world to feel entirely fulfilling. It’s almost like this 250 page book needed to be twice as long. I also struggled to buy into the main relationship because we did not get much in the way of how the two characters grew to love each other. Because most of the plot and the challenges they face are contingent on their love, I was left feeling apathetic and sometimes even frustrated about the choices the characters make. Overall, this is a book that I know I would have loved when I was younger and it is something that I think the fantasy genre needs. As an adult who is a bit more critical, though, I’d be amiss to not mention the parts that fell short. If the premise sounds interesting to you and you’re in the mood for a standalone fantasy story, you might enjoy this.
The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill
A middle grade graphic novel about shy little dragons who grow leaves from their antlers that can make a magical tea. A diverse cast with differently-abled and LGBT+ representation and a beautiful story about friendship, love, tradition, and acceptance.
Oh how this book brought me joy. I read it a few times before returning it to my library, and I’m thinking about buying my own copy to have at home. The art is absolutely beautiful and the themes shared through this story are quiet, yet lovely. There isn’t much to say about this other than how lovely it was and what a great gift it would be for yourself or someone you know.
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
A thriller where a husband and wife kill women to keep things interesting (yeah, really). Told from the husband’s point of view, we hear his thoughts when he starts to become weary about this “hobby” and things slowly unravel.
In a word, the critique that I’d give to this book is boring. I think that’s what Samantha Downing is going for in a way, but that doesn’t change the fact that long stretches of this book are simply a father describing his day to day life and sprinkling in moments of murder. The thing this book does really well is cause you to think about the kind of person that you can root for and demonstrate a situation where you can have a lovely father but still a terrible person. I listened to this on audiobook and eventually had to switch to 1.5x speed (I don’t know how you 2x speed people do it, my brain can’t keep up that fast). The increase in speed caused the narrator to sound a bit robotic, even further removing me from a somewhat robotic narrator to begin with. I appreciate this book for it’s unique take on a thriller, but it just wasn’t my favorite.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Georgie is the youngest in her family, and she’s sick of not being taken seriously. Travis is a former baseball player and womanizer who needs to develop a more wholesome image. The two of them decide to “fake date” despite being “off limits” to one another since Travis is Georgie’s brother’s best friend. This is an adult romance with explicit scenes that don’t fade to black.
I might need to write an entire rant review for this one. There’s too much to say to cover all of the bases (get it, baseball pun for a book about a baseball player). In short, I thought this book was cringey, unbelievable, and problematic. Just a few of the things I didn’t like were – The way the male lead talks about the female lead like she’s a little sister, yet still over sexualizes her. The pacing of the book that makes little to no sense (was it one week, one month, or one year). The addition of a female empowerment club that has no purpose other than to introduce other characters for a series. An absurd makeover scene like something from a 2000s rom com. An overprotective male lead that exhibits controlling behavior. Gross ways of approaching virginity, particularly regarding dirty talk during sex. Public sex at a school, which is a literal crime. I could keep going, but I won’t. This book was absolutely not for me, but I should add that many people seem to love this book. I’m not a romance reader myself, so if you like romance, I’d check out a few other reviews to see if this is for you since this isn’t typically a genre I read.
Even though I didn’t read any “favorites of the year” this month, I still am happy with the reading that I accomplished. Even the books I didn’t enjoy had some enjoyable components. What was your favorite book you read in October? Have you read any of these books? If so, do you agree with rating? Provide some insight below!