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There are tons of intriguing books coming out in October. Here are 5 that I'm most looking forward to reading.
🍂 October 2024 Book Releases 🎃
American Scary: A History Of Horror, From Salem To Stephen King And Beyond by Jeremy Dauber
Adult History Nonfiction
October 1, 2024
America is held captive by horror stories. They flicker on the screen of a darkened movie theater and are shared around the campfire. They blare out in tabloid true-crime headlines, and in the worried voices of local news anchors. They are consumed, virally, on the phones in each of our pockets. Like the victims in any slasher worth its salt, we can’t escape the thrall of scary stories. In American Scary, noted cultural historian and Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes the reader to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.
Why I want to read it: Because I love horror stories, but I can't explain why. There are a million reasons not to like horror. Maybe I like it because I'm dead inside, and I'm hoping it'll make me feel something. I don't know. Maybe this book knows!
How To Summon A Fairy Godmother by Laura J. Mayo
Adult Fantasy
October 8, 2024
Lady Theodosia Balfour has certainly gotten the short end of the stick—her stepsister, the newly crowned Princess Beatrice, is telling everyone in polite society that Theo, her sister, and their mother are evil, wicked, and horrid people who treated her like a slave. Though Theo knows this isn't exactly true, it seems her life is thoroughly ruined by the rumor. With the Balfour family estate on the verge of bankruptcy, Theo's only path forward is a forced betrothal to the Duke of Snowbell, a foul-tempered geezer who wishes only to use her as a brood mare for spare heirs.
Desperate for help, Theo clings to the only thing that might save her: the rumor of a fairy godmother, one that supposedly helped her stepsister secure a prince. After discovering a way to summon a fairy in Beatrice's old room, Theo thinks her prayers have been answered. But the fairy she meets isn't at all what she imagined. Drop-dead gorgeous, incredibly cunning, and slightly devious, Cecily of the Ash Fairies is much more interested in gathering powerful favors and smoking her pipe than providing charitable magic for humans in a bind.
Before she receives magical assistance, Cecily sets Theo to three tasks, seemingly to prove that Theo is a selfless and kind person, though she begins to suspect there may be more to these tasks than originally stated.
Why I want to read it: Because it sounds funny. One of my goals is to read happier books. This one seems pretty happy.
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin
Young Adult Historical Fiction
October 8, 2024
Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.
The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?
Why I want to read it: OMG, people, this is not a drill. Two of my favorite authors have written a book together. I never dreamed this could happen, and I know it'll be perfect. Both of these authors are brilliant researchers and excellent at writing about little-known events from history. I can't wait.
The Hollow And The Haunted by Camilla Raines
Young Adult Fantasy
October 22, 2024
Sixteen-year-old Miles Warren hails from a long line of psychics. Resigned to a life in the (not especially profitable) family business, Miles is perfectly happy, thank you very much—except for the part where he's constantly exhausted from long nights digging up graves, hiding his sexuality from his family, and unable to fulfil his dream of going to art school one day. Perfectly happy.
But Miles' comfortable routine is interrupted when has a premonition of a violent supernatural murder. He soon discovers that the victim is none other than Gabriel Hawthorne, whose family have a mysterious, decades-long feud with Miles' own. Gabriel is everything Miles expects from a Hawthorne—rude, snobbish, and irritatingly good-looking—but Miles isn't just going to stand by and let someone murder him. The two form an uneasy alliance, trying to solve Gabriel's murder and prevent it from taking place.
The odds are against them; death premonitions are notoriously hard to alter. As they uncover secrets about their families' feud and dark magic swirls around the pair, Miles is horrified to realize that he doesn't hate Gabriel as much as he's supposed to. He might even like him.
Too bad Gabriel is almost certainly going to die.
Why I want to read it: Does anyone else get Cemetary Boys vibes from this one? I hope they're similar because I loved Cemetary Boys. Enemies teaming up to solve a murder that hasn't happened yet seems like a good time.
The Scholar And The Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry
Adult Fantasy
October 22, 2024
Years after a rogue faerie broke free on the battlefields of WWI, killing hundreds and threatening to expose the magical world, the study of faerie magic is forbidden and the doors to faerie country are sealed. But for those who survived, their wounds cannot be fixed by bandages and bedrest. A magical curse requires a magical solution. Clover is determined to find a way to save her brother, Matthew—one of the few survivors of the faerie attack. At Camford, England’s premier magical academy, she’s nobody, just a scholarship witch with no lineage and no connections. But when she catches the eye of golden boy Alden Lennox-Fontaine and his friends, doors that had been previously closed to her are flung open, and she finds herself enmeshed in the glittering and seductive world of the country’s magical aristocrats. Months of joyous friendship and mutual study come crashing down when experiments go awry, and old secrets are unearthed. Years later, when the faerie seals break again, Clover knows it’s because of what they did. And she knows that she must seek the help of people she once called friends—and now doesn’t quite know what to call—if there’s any hope of saving the world as they know it.
Why I want to read it: I can't stop thinking about Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia Of Faeries. I love the world, the concept, the characters, everything. Instead of rereading that book, I should try this one. It sounds similar.
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