How was your spooky month? I had a fun time taking my 6-year-old (dressed as my dog) out trick-or-treating. I really need to buy less candy because we never get as many trick-or-treaters as I think we might!
We read some great books this month. Only two of the 12 books on the list this month were 3-star reads. The rest were all above that!
Here’s what we read in October.
Cathy
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan
Yeongju is burned out from her corporate career and opens a bookshop. She hires Minjun as a barista and we spend the story meeting the various patrons and friends of the bookstore.
Renee read this in September 2024 and echoing her thoughts, the story is about people finding a place and a community that welcomes them. For me, it’s also a book about figuring things out – similar to What You Are Looking For Is In The Library – the story gives each character their space to think, to reflect, and to grow. And the growth of each of the characters is what I like most and the message that you don’t have to have everything figured out by the time you leave school, you will still grow and change and finding something that makes you happy is a good thing.
I’ve really really enjoyed this one so it’s 5 / 5 stars for me.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
The Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
Twins Tori and Darcy are taken from the mortal world to the fae world. They’re enrolled at the Zodiac Academy (a boarding school for 18+) where they learn to wield their magic, awaken their Order (the magical creature that they can transform into), and discover the sinister plans of those plotting against them.
I hate to admit that I have binged this series, plowed through all of the books in about a month. The story captured me, I like the setting (the fae world and magic is great), the “good guys” are generally okay as characters but the villains are fantastic – just so evil and ruthless. I’ve read and watched a lot of things recently where the villain somehow redeems themself, which is okay but, for me, ruins their whole villain vibe. Reading ZA with bad guys that have absolutely no redeeming qualities and no way to apologise for their abhorrent behaviour is great – give me a really evil villain that actually challenges the heroes any day.
The story is good, the writing gets better throughout the series (it was a bit lacklustre and overly descriptive in the first couple of books) and the relationships and banter that’s built between certain characters is engaging and amusing – making the characters and their relationships more believable.
The whole series will probably get 3 / 5 stars. It’s a good series with an interesting plot but I don’t think I’ll re-read it.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Joli
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
I thought that the first Guncle book was super charming, cute, and heart warming. So naturally, I added The Guncle Abroad to my library holds right away when I saw it would be coming out. It was good, but it just didn’t hit me like The Guncle did! I’ve got a full review of The Guncle Abroad that you can check out if you want the details.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
This book surprised me. I listened to the audiobook version (read by Elle Fanning) and didn’t read a ton about it before choosing to listen to it. When it started, I initially thought I wouldn’t make it through. It was a bit…weird I guess? Margo was hard for me to really like at first. However, I’m really glad I stuck with it because this book surprised the heck out of me!
Margo grew on me pretty quickly, along with the underlying weirdness of this book. I ended up getting super invested in Margo’s story and just had a super fun time listening to it. I don’t want to go into details because I feel like it’s best read without really knowing! Put this one on your TBR.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
I’ll Just Be Five More Minutes: And Other Tales from My ADHD Brain by Emily Farris (Audiobook)
If you’ve been following LQ for a while, you may have seen other mentions from me about my recent ADHD diagnosis (last January). I’ve been really interested in reading about it, including essay-style books like this one. I also really like audiobooks read by the author, and this one checked that box.
Unfortunately, I really didn’t connect with Emily as much as I would have liked. I’ve read a few ADHD-centric books so far that I really enjoyed (like Order From Chaos), but this one just didn’t hit the same. Emily is definitely funny and she told some stories I enjoyed, but overall her personality didn’t totally jive with mine.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
I don’t read a lot of mystery/thriller books, but I thought this one was fun. It does get totally nuts as you get closer to the end, and there are a lot of crazy things happening and characters being tossed around and details that made me go “huh?”. But overall I enjoyed the ride.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Molly
Weyward by Emilia Hart
An enchanting tale of three women tied to one another by blood and a mystical connection to nature. In the present day, Kate flees her abusive boyfriend for the cottage her great-aunt Violet left her and discovers her family history while rediscovering herself. Decades earlier, Violet dreams of escaping her dreary family estate and making a name for herself as an entomologist. And in the 1600s, their ancestor Altha faces trial for witchcraft.
I enjoyed everything about this book—the characters, the magic, the pacing. It was the perfect start to October.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Harrow is one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint with this new haunted house story. It was just creepy enough without getting too scary to be enjoyable.
Opal’s childhood storybook comes to life when she gets a job cleaning for Arthur Starling. The spooky old house on the hill has the been subject of many local legends and is now of interest to the family that owns the nearby coal mines.
As Opal works desperately to earn enough money to send her brother Jasper to school somewhere away from the coal fumes that exacerbate his asthma, she becomes more entwined with Starling House, its history, and the strange creatures that stalk its grounds when the mist rises.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Bunny by Mona Awad
Samantha Mackey is suffering from writer’s block in the final year of her graduate program, and worse, she’s on the outs with the rest of her cohort, a group of four girls with cultish habits who refer to each other as “Bunny.” Her friendship with a woman named Ava is the only bright spot in Samantha’s dreary world.
An invitation to their private workshop brings Samantha into their strange circle, where she learns that their communal pet name is the least weird thing about them. But the closer Samantha gets to the Bunnies, the more strained her relationship with Ava becomes.
This book has a reputation for being strange, and it certainly threw me for a loop at times. At about the 75% mark I was unsure if I even knew what was going on. But despite some moments of confusion, overall I found the book very inventive and an interesting look at our desire to be loved.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Renee
Guilty Creatures by Mikita Brottman
This book is a true story of 2 couples in Florida, friends since high school. When two of them start having an affair, the other husband ends up dead. It would take 17 years to find his body.
Both couples were deeply religious, active members of their southern Baptist church.
The book was interesting and exposes a lot of hypocrisy and the dark side often associated with fundamentalism. Also just a juicy story if you’re into that kind of thing. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was a bit dry at times. I’d recommend the physical copy.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
I loved the way Alix Harrow told the story of the spooky Starling House and the role it plays in the Kentucky town where it was built. It had the perfect blend of mystery and fantasy for me. It was atmospheric and I imagined everything with a dark grayish blue hue over it, constantly in a state of despair (unless the house was happy).
That said, I could have done without the romantic subplot which didn’t really do anything for me. Looking forward to checking out more of this author’s books in the future!
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
5 years ago, Lucy Chase’s best friend, Savvy Harper, was found dead in a field after a wedding. A few hours later, Lucy was found roaming around town, covered in blood, with no memory of what happened.
Lucy comes back to town for her Grandma’s birthday and realizes Grandma has an ulterior motive: she wants Lucy to talk to Ben Owens, host of the Listen for the Lie podcast, to help clear her name.
Through sections of the book that are produced to sound like podcasts, Ben interviews Lucy and others who were there that night before Savvy died to try to figure out what happened — or jog Lucy’s memory. Did she do it? She really can’t remember. But being back there and hearing from all those people has her back at that place 5 years ago, and it’s only a matter of time.
This was probably my favorite audiobook that I’ve listened to all year. The production was so well done that it made an already-engaging story even more compelling. It was perfect for a long drive that I had to make. Kept me guessing until the end and unsure of who to trust.
Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads
That’s our list! What did you read in October?
