Show Us Your Books: Perfect October Reads!

Posted October 9, 2018 by shooting in Book Review / 48 Comments

October Reads

Show Us Your Books: Perfect October Reads

In honor of October and Halloween, I thought I’d share a few mini reviews of books that I’ve read in the last month or so that I think would make the perfect October reads. I’m linking up with Jana and Steph for Show Us Your Books; join us or browse to find your next read! 

Wicked Witch Murder by Leslie Meier

Review by Lauren

Source: library e-copy; all opinions are my own

Review (add to Goodreads): Wicked Witch Murder is the 16th book in the Lucy Stone series. Don’t worry, while you hear about the various characters growing up (such as Lucy’s children), each book is its own mystery and you don’t need to read them in order. I’ve read various books from this series and they have never been in any sort of order. Obviously I chose Wicked Witch Murder this time around because I figured it would be a good Halloween read. While I liked this one okay, I only gave it three stars, and I don’t recommend you start the series with this one.

Basically, Lucy stumbles across a dead body in the woods, and people in the town start to blame the resident witch, Diana Ravenscroft, except Diana isn’t your pointy-hat, broom riding, variety of a witch. She actually practices Wicca, which is all about harmony, but not everybody is informed enough to see that and believe that she’s sacrificing people in the woods. It’s an interesting concept, but I don’t know that the author handled the topic of Wicca well enough, though I can’t say more than that for fear of spoilers. At any rate, this is a fun cozy mystery series, so I do think the books are worth checking out – just maybe not this one, unless you read them all!

All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Review by Lauren

Source: library copy; all opinions are my own

Review (add to Goodreads): For two years, Judith was missing from her town, and now it’s been two years since she’s been back and people shy away from her, believing she is cursed. She came back with no tongue and her mother forbids her to even try to speak, so she lives her life in silence. The book is told in Judith’s point of view, except she’s writing to her childhood friend, Lucas. Therefore, it’s almost like reading a letter – when Judith says “you”, she means Lucas. This writing style might not be for everyone, but don’t let the idea of it stop you from trying the book. It grows on you as you read and I didn’t find it confusing at all.

All the Truth That’s In Me never gives you the timeline of when it takes place, but it’s obviously many, many years ago as Judith’s town is afraid of outsiders attacking their town and taking over, leaving them all for dead. It’s this impending attack that starts Judith’s new journey of finally being truthful. She finds that she has a lot more to say than she realized, and that maybe some people want to hear it.

This is the first Julie Berry book I’ve read, but it’s been one I’d wanted to read for awhile now. Thankfully, my library-led book club read it. My sister and I both loved it, while others were a bit unsure. It’s an interesting book that leads to a lot of discussion and some of what you think happened, or is happening, isn’t quite what it seems, so that adds a bit of mystery!

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Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Review by Lauren

Source: personal copy; all opinions are my own

Review (add to Goodreads): I’ve owned Vicious for years now – I actually own two copies, with different covers. However, it wasn’t until last month that I finally read it in anticipation of its sequel, Vengeful, coming out (which I do own and hope to read later this month). Vicious is absolutely amazing, and I happily and easily gave it five stars. I highly recommend!

Essentially, the book is about Victor and Eli, college roommates, who discover how to give themselves powers – turning them into EOs or ExtraOrdinaries. Vicious takes you back and forth, from college days, to the present, where Victor has escaped prison and is on the hunt for Eli. What made two college friends turn into enemies? Obviously it has something to do with their newfound powers.

Schwab is an amazing writer, and she expertly weaves this story, leaving you wanting more and more as you flip the pages. Vicious is an adult book, though if it were a movie, it would be more PG-13 than R. I loved how morally grey the characters are, especially Victor. He’s not a saint, or always a hero, but he’s not necessarily the villain either. Vicious is a fascinating character study. Plus, there are some fantastic secondary characters that readers are sure to fall in love with, such as Sydney and Mitch. I do highly recommend this book, or anything by V.E. Schwab really, though I’ve only read her Shades of Magic trilogy so far, apart from Vicious.

48 responses to “Show Us Your Books: Perfect October Reads!

  1. I like this mix of picks for October! I like reading slightly spooky books or thrillers this time of year. My friend and I are reading Rebecca this month for our book club–it also seems like a good October book!

  2. Ooh, I hadn’t realised that Viscous was so intricate Lauren, I love characters that reside within those morally grey areas. I t always leaves open that hopeful window of redemption. I always forget about Halloween until I hop around and visit blogs, we don’t celebrate it here. Apart from a few kids that will use any excuse for lollies. Looking forward to checking these out Lauren, thanks for the recommendations! ♡♡♡

    Kelly recently posted: What If It's Us
  3. Thank you for the ideas. I am always looking for new books to read, as I go through them quite quickly. These sound perfect for this time of year.

  4. These sound like some great reads, especially for October. I’ve been thinking I might need to get some kind of mystery book or something along those lines to read this month. Get into the spirit and all.

  5. These do seem like great Halloween reads! Hmm, the letter writing thing in the second sounds different, glad to hear it grew on you though. I wasn’t a huge fan of Vicious, but I’m glad you liked it so much! Especially since you own multiple copies. What a disappointment it would’ve been if you hadn’t liked it, haha.

  6. All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry sounds like an amazing read along with Vicious. I’ve heard a lot about that novel too. I’ll have to take a look at Chapters by me to see if they still have a copy. I checked a few weeks ago and they didn’t have any in stock.

    Mary Yaroscavitch recently posted: Easy Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls
  7. I usually skip scary/horror books (I’m too scared haha), but All the Truth That’s in Me sounds good. When I’m done with my stack, I will search for it!

  8. ooooh, thanks for sharing, Lauren! Some of these books sound much more interesting to me than others (All the Truth That’s In Me definitely appeals to me the most) but tis the season for spooky reads, so they all appear worthwhile 🙂 thanks for the great review!

  9. When I picked up All the Truth That’s in Me I read it in one night. I just couldn’t put it down and ended up absolutely loving it! So I’m glad you enjoyed it as well, Lauren! I actually read it as an ARC, so it was quite some time ago. Now I feel like re-reading it because I’m sure I missed some things, having read it so quickly, haha.

    Yay for Vicious! I read that when it came out as well, but have been putting off my re-read so I can read it and Vengeful back to back. I’m still waiting on my copy of Vengeful to arrive! Hopefully it will come soon and then I can read both together. I hope we love Vengeful as much as Vicious!

  10. yay I also want to read Vicious! I saw “All the Truth That’s In Me” around a few weeks ago and was super intrigued by it! I love that it makes you wonder about everything! 🙂

  11. I recently added Vicious to my list, I’ve been seeing it everywhere lately and I had no idea that it’s been out for awhile now. All the Truth That’s In Me sounds really interesting. Thank you for all the recommendations.

  12. I read All the Truth That’s in Me last year, but I didn’t like it. I can’t really remember that much about it (I unfortunately didn’t write a review, so I have nothing to reference other than my two star Goodreads review), but I remember feeling disappointed by it. Maybe I was just expecting something much different than what I got. That’s kind of my own fault, I guess (I tend to do that sometimes!), but I still didn’t like the book.

    I did, however, like your idea of sharing reads perfect for Halloween/October!

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