Frighteningly Good Reads

Happy Halloween! Are you looking to treat yourself to a good book today? Need a recommendation? Here are our picks of our best reads of October.

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MK's Best of the Bunch

I read a lot this month, and my favorites bookend the month, actually.  I really enjoyed Eventide by Sarah Goodman, which had the review post on October 3 along with 3 other young adult novels you're going to love and yesterday's review of Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard. I think the commonality between these two books is that relationships play just as much a role in the books as the mystery the characters are trying to solve, and they can't solve it without people. Especially now, it's hard to function alone. That's especially resonating with me right now.

MADNESS, SECRETS, AND LIES

Wheeler, Arkansas, 1907

When their father descends into madness after the death of their mother, Verity Pruitt and her little sister Lilah find themselves on an orphan train to rural Arkansas.

In Wheeler, eleven-year-old Lilah is quickly adopted, but seventeen-year-old Verity is not. Desperate to stay close to her sister, Verity indentures herself as a farmhand. But even charming farm boy Abel Atchley can’t completely distract her from the sense that something is not quite right in this little town. Strange local superstitions abound, especially about the eerie old well at the center of the forest. The woods play tricks, unleashing heavy fog and bone-chilling cold…and sometimes visions of things that aren’t there.

But for Verity, perhaps most unsettling of all is the revelation that her own parents have a scandalous history in this very town. And as she tries to unearth the past, sinister secrets come with it—secrets that someone will go to violent lengths to protect…. (Goodreads)

Buy Eventide at Amazon

Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student.

Sunless Woods is a mindship—and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She’s come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân’s resolute integrity.

When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân’s student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship--and to the devastating secrets they’ve kept from each other. (Goodreads)

Buy Seven of Infinities at Amazon

Susan's Best of the Bunch

I really don't want to say much about the plot of Lies We Tell Ourselves by Steena Holmes because I don't want to give away any clues but I will tell you that it had me racing through the pages to find out what happened to Jessica.  I planned to read a few chapters of this book on a Saturday morning but ended up doing nothing the rest of the day but reading it because I couldn't put the book down.  I have read and enjoyed all of Steena's books but this one was absolutely her best! Read my full review.

Sexual trafficking is a horrific part of our current society and the information in this book was at times difficult to read but it's something that everyone needs to be aware of. Education and awareness are the beginning of stopping it and we all need to work to put an end to sexual exploitation of minors. 

One missing sister...

Twelve years ago, Paige Fischer's identical twin, Jessica was kidnapped. Blaming herself, Paige never gave up hoping Jess is still alive, despite everyone else in her life insisting it’s time to move on.

One devoted fiancé...

Jamie is the perfect partner, and father to their son, but when he asks Paige to set a date for their wedding, she tells him she can't, not until her sister is found. Every step forward Paige takes with her life feels like a betrayal to Jess and until Paige knows for sure what happened to her, she can't settle down.

One fateful lie...

There's been a sighting and all it takes is one phone call, one betrayal and one whispered threat for Paige to throw caution to the wind and do what nobody else could: rescue Jess. But what if Paige doesn't make it in time? Is Jess still alive? Or is someone playing a twisted game with Paige?

Whatever outcome, the only thing Paige knows is that she's willing to risk it all, even her own life, to save her sister. (Goodreads)

Buy Lies We Tell Ourselves at Amazon

Donna's Best of the Bunch

This month is really hard to choose as I read 15 books and some of them are in favorite series or by favorite authors. I'm picking The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker as it is the perfect Christmas book. I absolutely loved the characters. Three best friends who live on different continents decided to swap Christmases this year. Not only do they get the Christmas they wanted, but they also discover important things about themselves. There is a bit of romance but it is a clean read and really sweet with friends and family in abundance. Read my full review.

Chloe, Jules, and Lucy meet at a Maui resort kids' club, aged 11, forging a lifelong friendship spanning two decades and three continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap Christmases, none of them expecting the hilarity and romantic escapades that will ensue.

Chloe from Melbourne spends her Christmas with Lucy's mum and dad in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England, stunned to the core when she discovers who grew up across the road from Lucy.

Lucy, who has jetted off to snowy Colorado for her dream-come-true white Christmas, is taken into the fold of Jules's loud and brash family, discovering more about herself in a few short days than she has in years.

And Jules leaves the cold climes of Colorado to spend a balmy 'Orphan's Christmas' with Chloe's friends in Melbourne, finding that time away from her mundane life is just what she needed.

Join these three lovable women as they each get a Christmas to surpass their wildest dreams. (Goodreads)

Buy The Christmas Swap at Amazon

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