Welcome all to the final stop on the Spooktober express. We have reached Halloween! I wish you all a spooktacular Halloween – to celebrate, here are some popular Halloween creatures and books to go with them!
CATS
The Ninth Life – Taylor Brooke
For the past few months, The Ninth Life was known as The Unforgettable Lives of Austin Price – and its one of my most anticipated 2020 releases! Taylor has described it as:
“🌈queer non-binary MC who lived 8 past lives as CATS!!
✨portland, OR
🐶there’s a talking dog
💜complicated love triangle
🏔austin is such a soft boi
🐯life & love & grief”
The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Hiro Akirawa
Contains human owner trying to find a new home for his cat, but the cat doesn’t know why! Beautiful and heartbreaking and so much love!
Other Words for Smoke – Sarah Maria Griffin
Contains strange evil owls, fairytale like setting and a large, fluffy talking cat!
WITCHES
These Witches Don’t Burn – Isabel Sterling
Queer witches, dating and blood rituals!
The Hollow Girl – Hillary Monahan
To repay the boys that attacked her and her friend, Bethan has to collect body parts to complete a spell which will bring her friend Martyn back from the brink of death. Gruesome witchiness!
The Scapegracers – Hannah Abigail Clarke
This book is described on Goodreads as “An outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school, and performs some seriously badass magic in the process.” And it sounds epic! I am so hear for queer witches.
The Dark Tide – Alicia Jasinska
Retelling of a Scottish fairytale! YES YES YES! (I’m Scottish so I’m incredibly excited for this!!!) Enemies to lovers, sapphic, Witchy Queen, MC sacrificing herself to save her secret crush….then falls for the enemy?! Everything about this sounds perfect!
SKELETONS/NECROMANCY
Even though necromancy could in theory be considered a part of the above witches section, I am given it it’s whole section! Because necromancy is probably my favourite type of magic and I love love love books which feature it!
Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir
Science fantasy! Sapphic! Enemies to lovers! Skeletons! Oh god so many skeletons!
Reign of the Fallen – Sarah Glenn Marsh
Necromancers who have to bring back the dead by walking into the “Deadlands” to retreive the souls of the dead + bisexual MC + someone starts killing necromancers…Part fantasy, part mystery!
The Bone Witch – Rin Chupeco
MC who accidentally brings her brother back from the dead at his funeral, learning she is a Bone Witch.
MERMAIDS/SEA CREATURES
Into the Drowning Deep – Mira Grant
Absolutely terrifying! Mermaids have been discovered, after they were caught on camera devouring the crew of a ship. Now a new research vessel is setting off to find them. Cue unimaginable horrors. If you missed my review of this spooktacular book yesterday, check it out here!
The Abyss Surrounds Us – Emily Skrutskie
Sea monsters! Women fighting sea monsters! Pirates! Pirates trying to use a sea monster to control the seas!
Ice Massacre – Tiana Warner
Every year, a warriers are sent to fight the mermaids. Every year, no one returns. So this year, a group of women are sent, in the hope that the mermaids luring siren power won’t work on them.
GHOSTS AND OTHER HAUNTINGS
Missing, Presumed Dead – Emma Berquist
Lexi can see ghosts. When Jane is brutally murdered, she returns as a ghost and enlists Lexi’s help to hunt down her murderer. This book is so so amazing, it’s dark and gritty and really tense, I absolutely flew through it!
The Dark In-Between – Elizabeth Hrib
When Casey reutrns from the dead, its to discover her best friend has died. When an angel falls from the sky, Casey follows the angel to a place called Limbo, which she must learn to walk between, in order to save her friend.
Unbroken – Brooklyn Ray
Okay so this is why I had to add “And other hauntings”, because I wanted to mention this book. When Michael moves into his new home, he doens’t expect it to be haunted – by a witch turned demon who likes to bake…. Cue falling in love!!!! Please give me all the queer, demon romance.
WEREWOLVES
A Curse so Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast! Harper is kidnapped and wakes up in a strange land, where Prince Rhen is trying to make her fall in love with him. He’s been cursed to repeat Autumn, turning into a mindless beast at the end of every season and slaughtering his kingdom. If someone can fall in love with him, the curse will be broken.
Red Hood – Elana K. Arnold
When Bisou runs into the woods on the night of homecoming, she encounters a wolf, and somehow, manages to kill it. The next day, one of her classmates has been found in the woods. Dead. She doesn’t know if it’s her fault. Loose Red Riding Hood retelling, dark and gorey, female empowerment!
VAMPIRES
Blood Countess – Lana Popović
Okay not technically vampires, but instead “A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula”. This inspiration is Elizabeth Báthory, who has the title of most prolific female serial killer ever….I have chills just thinking about this book!
The Beautiful – Renée Ahdieh
The glitz and glamour of vampires in New Orleans! Serial killings, murder mystery and falling in love with a monster.
The Deathless Girls – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Vampire brides of Dracula is all I’ll say!
***
Happy Halloween! With this post I have reached the last of my Spooktober posts. I hope you have enjoyed this spooktacular last week of October! I’ll be a little less around during November, as I’m aiming to do NaNoWriMo, and get some of my angsty bisexual pirate book written! If you’d like to keep up with my writing progress, follow me on Twitter, that’s probably where I will be most! Might even tweet a line or two from the book as I go (pending I have any lines I like enough…)
Finally, what’s your favourite Halloweeny book? Let me know in the comments below!
Paws out,
Rach + Draco
Anxious Nachos 