Books I Read in October 2020

I'm typically not really a Halloweeny person but for some reason this year I decided that October just HAD to be spooky book month (plus the odd cosy and festive pick thrown in there). I had a weird reading month because I definitely read some new all-time faves, I finished up the Diviners series which has hopped it's way right to the top of my list of favourite series of all time but there were also quite a lot of disappointing reads. I also went into a massive reading slump at the end of the month so I definitely didn't get as many books read as I wanted to. On the whole, though I just had the most magical time reading this month and I got through eight books which I'm not mad about.

Before The Devil Breaks You

Libba Bray

In this instalment of the Diviners, the group have all joined together in a hope to use their powers to defeat the mysterious King of Crows but billionaire Jake Marlowe, a former associate of their mentors poses a different threat and New York City is no longer a welcome place for diviners.

I love this series so much I honestly don't have the words. The characters are perfect, the relationships were perfect, the setting was perfect, the atmosphere was perfect, the whole book was perfect. The pacing was a little off and this was really just a filler book but I just adore this series and I adore these characters and I will love and support them until I die. Character development is me going from disliking Evie in book one to literally being willing to die for her in book three. This is quite possibly my favourite book I've ever read, probably not the best book, but most definitely still my favourite. I can't remember the last time I truly felt captivated by a world and set of characters as much as this.

The Price Guide To The Occult

Leslye Walton

For eight generations the Blackburn women have been cursed. Destined to be loved for only three days by one of the original eight settlers of their island resulting in the birth of a new daughter and the father to never acknowledge them. They also only have one power each but Nor Blackburn, the ninth Blackburn daughter is hoping that maybe the curse has run its course, that she'll be safe. But her elusive mother is back and doing magic that she shouldn't be able to do, not without sacrifice.

I picked this up at my local bookstore in a buy one get one half price deal years ago purely because of how beautiful the cover was and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. I decided that if I was ever going to get round to reading it, October had to be the time. I honestly don't know how I feel about this. I don't really know what happened, I didn't know who any of the characters were the whole way through and the climax was just kinda eh?

The King Of Crows

Libba Bray

In the final book of The Diviners series, our group of diviners have been split up and are situated all round the country on a mission to get to Nebraska to defeat the evil King of Crows once and for all.

I entered a massive reading slump after finishing Before The Devil Breaks You and the only thing I wanted to read was the next book in the Diviners series so the rest of my reading took a bit of a back seat while I devoured this. This audiobook was 22 hours long and it was such a great end to the series. I wrote a whole post on my experience with the Diviners series if you want to check it out here.

Six Of Crows

Leigh Bardugo

Kaz is a criminal, and what better person to carry out a heist to save the kingdom than a criminal. Kaz and his ragtag bunch of criminal friends carry out a heist so daring that nobody else wanted to do it.

A bit of a crow theme going on this month. I may get all the hate for this but I just didn't vibe with this book. It's billed as being one of the best YA fantasy series of all time but maybe because I was so invested in The Diviners series it just didn't really do it for me. I was so close to DNFing it multiple times but I persevered and actually ended up really enjoying it by the 75% mark but I really feel like it should have captivated me sooner (it's possibly due to the fact that I haven't read The Grisha Trilogy which is set in the same world but minor details). I'll probably still read the second book in this duology because although I didn't love it, I'm still semi-interested in finding out what happens. The only character I actually ended up caring about was Jesper which for a book series where everyone raves about the characters in I was a little disappointed. I just don't get the hype and sometimes you won't and that's okay!

Meet Me In London

Georgia Toffolo

Advance Copy provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins

Oliver Russell needs a girlfriend for the opening of his new store and a chance encounter with Victoria provides him with just that. Victoria agrees to be his fake fiancee up until the opening but obviously, as a romance, feelings start to get in the way.

I love Toff and I love fake dating so this really should have been right up my street but I think I'll chalk it up to me not being in the right headspace for this because it had been on my shelf for a while and I kept putting it off.

One For Sorrow

Zoe Sugg and Amy McCullough

Advance Copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin Random House

Illumen Hall is one of the most prestigious schools in the UK. Ivy has worked hard to become a prefect but now she has to share her room with new girl Audrey. The school is reeling from the death of a pupil at the end of last year and now secrets are beginning to be uncovered.

Where to begin with this one! I had such high hopes for it but it just let me down so so much. I'm always anxious about being hypercritical of books but this was just not good. I love Zoe and the concept for this sounded so promising but it was just very flat, predictable and none of the characters were enjoyable to read about. My copy also had printing errors which added to the mystery aspect as I had to literally guess what words were because so many letters were missing (I worked this out by like the second page though so it didn't affect my impression of the book overall)

Loveless

Alice Oseman

Georgia is obsessed with romance but has never been kissed, never had a boyfriend, never even had a crush and as she's about to start university she's adamant to find the love she's so often dreamed about because if it won't happen in uni, will it ever happen? And if it doesn't happen, maybe that's okay.

I love Alice Oseman so much, I've read her Heartstopper graphic novels and the Nick and Charlie novella but this one has been catching my eye since it was released back in July. I saw so much of myself in this novel (in all of the characters) I guess because I've just finished uni and I'm nostalgic for that uni experience again. I loved the Shakespeare elements, one of the first things I actually did at uni was go to see a Shakespeare play at the uni theatre. I can't wait to pick up another one of Alice Oseman's books now as my first foray into her full-length novels did not disappoint!.

A Monster Calls

Patrick Ness

Every night Conor gets a visit from the Monster that lives in his back garden and he tells him stories. Originally scaring him, the monster ends up helping him deal with things such as his mother's terminal illness and being bullied in school.

I read More Than This a few years ago and fell in love with Patrick Ness' writing and since then I've been fully intending to pick up another one of his books and I figured that spooky season would be the best time to finally pick up A Monster Calls and it did not disappoint! It's such a beautiful read.

So that is my little pile of books that I read this month. I've started another two and was really hoping to get them finished but as I said the dreaded reading slump hit, which was inevitably going to happen at some point after reading 40 books in 4 months but I'm hoping to get them done next month! Did you read any spooky books this October or did you head down the cosy route instead?