Another autumnal month is gone, and another batch of autumnal reading list reviews are coming your way!
I have well and truly got my mojo back for reading because I just love reading from my autumn list so much.If you haven’t already then be sure to check out September’s reviews where I read nine books! Let’s get into October’s reviews.
I’ve been making lots of bookish content on other platforms too. Come and give my new YouTube channel a follow! I managed ten books in October which is massive for me because I’m not the quickest reader. Here are the next batch of books I ticked off of my autumn reading list.
How to Sell a Haunted House
Author: Grady Hendrix | Genre: Paranormal | Length: 400 pages
Synopsis: Louise and Mark are brother and sister but they’ve never been close. When their parents day in a car accident old wounds are reopened and the fighting starts. There’s one asset they both want, their childhood home. It needs to be sold and fast.
Forcing themselves to get along for the sake of some cash, they begin to prep the house for sale but the more time they spend there, the more weird things they uncover. Soon they’re divulging secrets that have haunted them their whole lives, things they never knew about one another. All while trying to figure out how to sell a haunted house.
Review: Well this was a weird one and not really in a good way! There were a lot of different subplots to this that wove into the larger narrative and it was so bizarre. It often felt like there was too much going on. There was some OK dark humour to the story but overall it felt too silly to be a creepy horror book. I won’t spoil it for anyone but I just could not get on board with the malevolent forces in this book because they felt really daft!
In my opinion, it was way too long and definitely could have had some bits removed to make it punchier but overall I just don’t think I’m a fan of Grady Hendrix’s storytelling style and I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of his books.
100% Match
Author: Patrick C. Harrison III | Genre: Splatterpunk | Length: 94 pages
Synopsis: Bart is ready to find his perfect woman. He’s done his research, he knows what women want and he knows what he wants, his 100% match. The odds are stacked against him though. He’s thirty years old, a fry cook, bald, overweight and not particularly attractive. He’s not exactly at the top of every woman’s list. Oh, and he does bad things, very bad things to cats and children. Bart is determined to find love but can someone like him find their match?
Review: Before we get into a review I have to say that if you plan to read this book or any other splatterpunk/extreme horror novel then please do your research and check out the trigger and content warnings beforehand. Splatterpunk isn’t your typical horror, it’s designed to shock and be just about as extreme as you can get. Do not read this genre just based on mine or anyone else’s review.
This was my first splatterpunk book, I’d been curious about the genre for a little while now and I get that it isn’t for everyone at all. With that being said, I am a big horror fan and I did want to push the boundaries so I gave this one a go.
First off, it does have a storyline which is a big bonus, it’s not just pages and pages of shock. I read this in one sitting but if it had been a longer book I probably would have needed to take a break from it. I think I gasped and laughed in equal measure at this book. It does have some genuinely funny moments but some intense, grim moments too.
Was it the best-written book? No, but then again that really isn’t the purpose of this genre. It did what it was designed to do and that was shock. Just a word of warning too, the ending is a lot to handle! Overall it was a good choice for my first splatterpunk and it’s a genre I’d explore again.
Autumncrow
Author: Cameron Chaney | Genre: Short stories | Length: 169 pages
Synopsis: In Autumncrow Valley every night is Halloween. Things happen in the small town that don’t happen anywhere else, magic and other darker entities seem to be engrained in the soil of the place. Take a trip around Autumncrow in a book of short stories that showcase the weird and wonderful inhabitants and the mysterious goings-on in the valley.
Review: I usually don’t get on well with short story collections but I wanted something quick to read and this had been sat on my Kindle for a couple of years. It took me by surprise! This has to be the best short story collection that I’ve ever read.
All of the stories are centred around the fictional town of Autumncrow Valley and there’s a real mix of creepy, Halloween fun and even hauntingly beautiful stories in there. The only story I wasn’t a big fan of was the final one because it felt like a bit of a departure from the rest of the book. But overall I loved it and I really enjoyed that they were all about one place. It made them all feel very connected.
Overall it was a fabulous book for October that I highly recommend. Plus the cover art is great too!
The Pumpkin Spice Café
Author: Laurie Gilmore | Genre: Romance | Length: 374 pages
Synopsis: Looking for a fresh start, Jeanie takes over her aunt’s cafe in the small town of Dream Harbor. Her bubbly personality and amazing coffee quickly make the inhabitants of the town fall in love with her. However, there’s one person who never wants to fall in love again. Logan is the local farmer and he avoids Dream Harbor and gossips at all costs. So when he finally meets Jeanie, he can’t explain why he feels so drawn to her.
Is Logan ready to find love again? Is the small-town life even what Jeanie wants? As the two grapple with their feelings to a backdrop of autumnal activities and heartwarming side characters they discover that taking a chance on love might just be worth it.
Review: OK so I’ll hold my hands up and say that like many people I bought this book purely for the cover. Spicy romance is not my jam at all. Or at least that’s what I thought.
I absolutely fell in with this book and it’s opened my eyes to a genre I would never have considered before. Honestly, it’s become my entire personality and I can’t wait to read the next book in November and then the Christmas one in December. I don’t ever want this series to end!
I’m not going to say too much else as I’ve written a full review for The Pumpkin Spice Cafe so please have a read of that instead!
The Quiet Tenant
Author: Clémence Michallon | Genre: Thriller | Length: 303 pages
Synopsis: Aiden Thomas is a hard-working family man loved by everyone in town. So when his wife dies, everyone rallies around him and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia. Aiden has a dark secret that would destroy everything though. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. So far he’s murdered eight women and kept one, Rachel, locked up in his backyard shed.
When Aiden is forced to move he has no choice but to take Rachel with him. All eyes are on him so he tells his daughter that a friend of a friend needs somewhere to stay. After five years in captivity surely Rachel is too brainwashed to do anything but obey his rules. Rachel hasn’t given up though and soon she sees that Cecilia might just be the ally that she needs.
Review: This was a book that’s been sitting on my Kindle for quite some time and has never jumped out at me. I wanted to get some of the older books on there read so I went for this. I have to say, I struggle with thrillers these days. They were once my favourite genre but it takes a lot to find something that hasn’t been done hundreds of times before now and that can grip me. This one did.
It wasn’t without its faults and there were a couple of plot holes and things that could have been explained more but there were parts of this that I found myself speed-reading through because it was so tense and I just needed to know what was going to happen. It was one of the more far-fetched serial killer/kidnapping stories I’ve read in that I still can’t figure out why Rachel was kept alive however, it wasn’t bad for a genre that doesn’t quite do it for me like it once did!
Fresh Hell
Author: Cameron Chaney | Genre: Horror | Length: 270
Synopsis: Ever since Bailey’s father disappeared in mysterious circumstances she had been plagued with terrible nightmares. They always contain the same boy and she always dies at the end. But when she returns to school for her senior year she’s left wondering if her nightmares are just that or if they’re a premonition.
Attending Autumncrow High is a boy who looks like the one from her nightmares and in typical fashion her best friend has been suckered in by his good looks. Bailey is used to weird things happening in Autumncrow Valley but this might be too much for even her to handle.
Review: I was so excited to return to Autumncrow Valley after loving the short stories so much. This book promised to be a throwback to the young adult horror boom of the 90s and it sounded right up my street. However, it fell very short of my expectations.
The Autumncrow Valley in this book just felt like it had a totally different vibe to the one in the short stories. I also found it far too depressing and gruesome for it to fit into the YA 90s horror mould. It didn’t match the feel of books from that time at all for me.
Had I not already read Autumncrow, I might have got along with this better but I was disappointed in the end.
Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist
Author: Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison | Genre: Sapphic romance | Length: 218 pages
Synopsis: Maple Hollow is Halloween mad and the tourists love it, but what no one outside the town knows is that it’s not just a gimmick. Real magic lives there and witches, monsters and vampires roam the streets.
In a moment of drunken regret, witch Jordyn summons her ex-girlfriend’s ghost but now she’s got a problem because Lou won’t go away. She’s got unresolved business and her soul can’t rest until Jordyn moves on. The new girl in town, Harlow, seems like the perfect person to help with that.
Jordyn is determined that she isn’t looking for love though and as a human Harlow isn’t sure that she can get used to the goings-on in Maple Hollow, after all, she’s failed at everything she’s ever done. Can this unlikely pair make things work?
Review: I was in a bit of a reading slump and desperate for something to get me out of it so I figured another cosy, autumnal romance would do the trick and I was right!
This is a sapphic romance with a touch of spice. It’s super cosy and fun with some true autumn vibes and lots of fun characters. I was super pleased to learn that this will be a series because I definitely want to know more about Maple Hollow and its weird and wonderful inhabitants.
I did write a full review for Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist so have a read!
Let’s Split Up
Author: Bill Wood | Genre: YA horror | Length: 339 pages
Synopsis: Nothing ever happens in Sanera. No one new ever comes to town and half the teens there can’t wait to get away to the big cities. So when the high-school it-couple Brad and Shelley are brutally murdered whilst investigating a ghost story in a manor on the edge of town, the whole place is turned upside down.
Friends Cam, Jonesy, Amber and new girl Buffy decide to take matters into their own hands. Is the Carrington Manor Ghoul real or is something else going on? But when they make the horror movie mistake of splitting up to find evidence, only time will tell if it was the best or worst decision of all.
Review: This book promised to be Scooby Doo meets Scream and boy did it deliver on that promise! Growing up I was a huge Scooby Doo fan, I’m talking actually obsessed, so the nostalgia from this book was very welcome!
It’s a young adult thriller so don’t expect anything too complex however due to the language in it I probably would advise that this book is for older teens. It definitely is very heavily influenced by Scream and Scooby Doo which I didn’t mind at all but it won’t be for everyone. It’s pretty simplistic but sometimes that’s needed in a book.
One thing I will say is that sometimes it was hard to distinguish between characters and I had to go back and see who I was reading about. This is a debut novel though so maybe that’s something that will improve over time.
Read my full review for Let’s Split Up.
Gone to See the River Man
Author: Kristopher Triana | Genre: Horror | Genre: 182 pages
No star rating given
Synopsis: Lori doesn’t see herself as the average super fan. She feels she’s got something that sets her apart from the others. But she’s just the same and the man she’s obsessed with has a plan for her.
Edmund Cox sits in prison for butchering over twenty women, his letters to Lori hint that he has a special task for her, one that Lori is all too keen to accept to prove that she wants to get close to him. The task sounds simple enough, retrieve a key from Edmund’s cabin and take it to The River Man.
Lori has no choice but to take her sister along but the adventure soon becomes a nightmare and there’s more to the quest than she ever realised. Can Lori prove that she’s worthy of a killer’s love and just what dark demons of her own is she hiding?
Review: This is the first time ever that I haven’t given a book a star rating because I just can’t. Aside from the fact that it strays into extreme horror territory (which is a difficult genre to score anyway), there were parts of this that worked well and parts that I found terrible. So in the end I didn’t give it a star rating.
For the first half of this book, I was sure that this was just a mainstream horror, however after the halfway mark, this book deals with some pretty taboo topics so I highly recommend checking the trigger warnings. I would say it’s these taboo topics that probably do place it in the extreme horror/splatterpunk genre. As a character study of Lori, it’s deeply dark and disturbing and I would have liked the book to remain on this path but sadly it didn’t.
Once the River Man comes into play, the book completely went off a cliff for me. I didn’t particularly enjoy the River Man plot and I didn’t think it particularly added anything to the story. There was enough real-life horror in the book between both Lori and Edmund’s actions that it didn’t need this supernatural element. The ending was sub-par and felt a little rushed when there were much slower elements in the book that could have been cut out in favour of a better ending.
There was potential, but ultimately it was a bit of a letdown. Also don’t expect to feel anything but revulsion and hatred for Lori, she isn’t a main character that you’re going to sympathise with in any way!
The Cemetery Ghost
Author: Amy Cross | Genre: Horror | Length: 143 pages
Synopsis: Elizabeth finds herself wandering through a snowy cemetery whilst her father attends a funeral. She comes across a strange boy who suddenly disappears and it doesn’t take Elizabeth long to work out that he’s a ghost. When the boy reappears he tells her that his name is Patrick but that’s all he remembers.
In the nearby rectory, a strange man moves in desperate to finish what his father started seventy years earlier. Jerome Shand wants to get his hands on the Lochdale Book, one of the most dangerous books in the world. He resurrects the ghosts of the family he lived in the rectory but when he can’t get the answers he’s looking for, he knows he has to find the last remaining ghost, Patrick.
Together, Elizabeth and Patrick desperately try to stop Shand from getting his hands on the book and releasing its evil into the world but they soon discover that leaving the past behind isn’t so easy.
Review: Last month, I read my first Amy Cross novel Stephen and I loved it. It was a wild ride of a book and one that will stick with me for some time! Amy Cross has written over 200 books which is quite an achievement so I figured it was time to cross another off my list. I went with a short book this time and while it was enjoyable it wasn’t up to the standard of Stephen for me.
I guessed the twist quite early on in the story which is what caused me to knock some points off because when I say Stephen made me gasp out loud, I’m not even joking. The twists in that book were exquisite! However, it was a good darkly atmospheric book with quite a sad undertone. For a short book, it got the job done and done well.
In all fairness, it’s going to take a lot for a book to beat Stephen anyway and I’m excited to read some other Amy Cross novels!
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