I can’t believe we’re near October’s end! I guess you could say it’s OctOVER? (hahah) Seems like just yesterday I was singing (badly, of course) “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day…

Many of you requested a list of spooky/Halloween recommendations, and I was also inspired by a handful of other bloggers to compile this list. However, rather than including just YA books, this list also encompasses classics and short stories. So without further ado…

Title: Stalking Jack the Ripper

Author: Kerri Maniscalco 

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Thoughts: Stalking Jack the Ripper is currently at the top of my tbr list, after my lovely friend Alex recommended it to me. You know it’s going to be good if it’s at the top of my list of recs, and I haven’t even read it yet!

Title: And Then There Were None

Author: Agatha Christie

Synopsis: First, there were ten – a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal – and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

Thoughts: I read this few years ago, and it remains my favourite murder mystery. It had me guessing until the very end, and I highly recommend And Then There Were None to those who crave intense mysteries and high levels of suspense. See if you can be Sherlock Holmes and figure out the culprit!

Title: The Tell-Tale Heart

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Synopsis: A Gothic short story classic written by the master of macabre, The Tell-Tale Heart is told through the perspective of an unnamed narrator who suffers from insanity and commits a murder but attempts to convince the reader that he is sane. Whether his attempt is successful or not…is entirely up to you.

Thoughts: I read this for school a few years back, and I think it’s absolutely perfect for the upcoming spooky season. It’s far more bone-chilling than The Cask of Amontillado. If you’re looking for a short, spooky read, this is it!

Side note: Authored Adornments‘ October subscription box theme is Edgar Allan Poe! Make sure to use code BOOKSHOP to receive 10% off your order!

Title: The Shining

Author: Stephen King

Synopsis: Danny was only five years old but in the words of old Mr. Halloran he was a ‘shiner’, aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel his visions grew frighteningly out of control.

As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?

Somewhere, somehow there was an evil force in the hotel – and that too had begun to shine…

Thoughts: You may have heard of The Shining, arguably one of the best horror films out there, directed by Stanley Kubrick. But did you know that it was based on a Stephen King novel? If you’re looking for a truly scary, horror fiction story, you should definitely pick up The Shining! (And this is coming from a scaredy-cat.)

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Author: Ransom Riggs

Synopsis: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Thoughts: I’m currently reading this, and to be honest, I flipped out when I saw the first series of vintage photographs–they were so strange and creepy! Now that I’m further into the book, things are turning out to be rather interesting…

Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Synopsis: Idealistic young scientist Henry Jekyll struggles to unlock the secrets of the soul. Testing chemicals in his lab, he drinks a mixture he hopes will isolate – and eliminate – human evil. Instead it unleashes the dark forces within him, transforming him into the hideous and murderous Mr. Hyde.

Thoughts: All right, where are my morally ambiguous scientists? If you’ve already read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, you may want to pick this one up! Like Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll is a struggling scientist. However, Jekyll’s struggle is different–a clash between good and evil–that releases his inner persona.

Title: This Savage Song

Author: Victoria Schwab

Synopsis: Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Thoughts: I finished TSS a couple of months ago with my book club, The Literary Lions. You’ll be happy to know that there’s NO romance, plenty of action, and full of musical references–August plays the violin!

Of course, there are many other wonderful books to read this spooky season, but these are a few of my favourites. (hahah, I already know I’m going to love Stalking Jack the Ripper) Let me know your own scary story/spooky book recommendations!

Happy reading!

TLDR: Stalking Jack the Ripper, And Then There Were None, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Shining, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, This Savage Song

I AM SO UPSET. BUT IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE. WHERE DO I EVEN START?! HOW DO I WORDS??!

I don’t think that this book should be compared to TFIOS or Eleanor & Park , especially not E&P, (which I didn’t enjoy at all) because it stands on its own.

I am not a crier. Call me heartless, but I didn’t turn on the waterworks when I read TFIOS.

But this. THIS. destroyed. me.

I fell in love with Finch from the very first page. He embraced his nerdiness in a way I admired, a way I never could claim my own outside of my blogging/bookstagram life. He’s quirky, sarcastic, different. His voice was powerfully eye-opening, and I fell so hard for his quotable words. I understood why he felt the need to be Awake, and to have someone or something to keep him Awake.

Finch finds Violet while both their lives are teetering over the ledge- quite literally, in the sense that they meet at the top of the school bell tower, both contemplating death from falling from a great height.

But for Violet, the height isn’t just physical. She struggles with falling out of touch with herself after the accident that took her sister Eleanor. She falls from social grace when she stays around Theodore “Freak,” after their initial meeting. But let me just say, her character development is ASTOUNDING! I loved watching how slowly, but surely, she pieced herself back together, with Finch’s help.

The only problem I had with the book was the fact that the adults seemed so flimsy and paper cut. They didn’t feel realistic enough. They were just there for the sake of being there because teenagers obviously need parents.

I’ve noticed that the primary reason behind the negative reviews is that the author is accused of portraying mental illness as some kind of cute quirk. But it’s not. I agree, mental illnesses should never be shown as ‘cute,’ but in this case, I think Finch’s quirkiness came from his innate personality rather than his mental illness. His struggle with bipolar disorder and depression doesn’t define him as a person, and it certainly doesn’t create the way he thinks. Rather, his illness controls how intensely he feels, as seen with his self-contained anger at Roamer, then the release of that anger packed into a hostile punch in Roamer’s face that led to Finch’s own expulsion. But for all the deep, why-don’t-you-just-think-on-this-for-a-moment-ultraviolet-remarkey-able quotes, his mental illness was not speaking for him. He expressed himself through his personality, NOT his depression and disorder.

And that, my friends, is EXACTLY what he meant by not being defined by his diagnosis.

“Listen, I’m the freak. I’m the weirdo. I’m the troublemaker. I start fights. I let people down. Don’t make Finch mad, whatever you do. Oh, there he goes again, in one of his moods. Moody Finch. Angry Finch. Unpredictable Finch. Crazy Finch. But I’m not a compilation of symptoms. Not a casualty of shitty parents and an even shittier chemical makeup. Not a problem. Not a diagnosis. Not an illness. Not something to be rescued. I’m a person.”

*SPOILER AHEAD DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE RUINED*

It wasn’t the ending itself that ended my heartbeat and turned on the faucets I didn’t know I had in my eyes. It was the fact that the story was so heartbreakingly true and real. The pain, the exhaustion, the feelings of helplessness, I felt it all. Finch succeeded in saving Violet, mentally and physically, and yet she couldn’t save him from taking his life at the Blue Hole, where they had their first ‘date.’ It broke me when Violet wondered to herself, “Was I not enough?”  Ultimately, Violet gave Finch a temporary reason to stay Awake, but it wasn’t quite enough to lull him away from choosing to be Asleep.

But in dying young, Finch is immortalized in the stories of his Indiana town, in Violet’s mind, and in the spirit of the Blue Hole. His death reminds me, just a little, of a poem by A.E. Housman:

To an Athlete Dying Young

hello, everyone! sorry for the lack of posts; i promise i’m very much active. i’m still trying to get the hang of wordpress here. i’ve been thinking of different posts to write, and i thought i’d compile a list of my absolute favourite retellings in the realm of ya and fantasy. enjoy!

a court of mist and fury by sarah j. maas occupies my number one spot. there is no further discussion about this! it’s roughly based on the myth of hades, the greek god of the underworld and persephone, goddess of spring and hades’ queen. as a picky reader wary of the hype surrounding many newly released ya books, i was afraid that acomaf would fall short of my high expectations. however, i was completely wrong! maas blew my mind with her latest installment, and i found myself wanting more of prythian, more of feyre, and most of all, more of rhysand, who has usurped will herondale as my favourite fictional boyfriend. if you enjoy teasing banter, steamy scenes, and action sequences taut with tension, acomaf should be first on your to read list!

[acomaf art by charliebowater]

rhys+feyre fanart by charliebowater

cover

second on the list is the wrath and the dawn by renee ahdieh, a lush, beautifully written book based on the arabian nights. the lyrical language alone will fully immerse you into shazi’s world, and the descriptions of the places, food and people will convince you to want to live in the pages of the story and become a part of it. plus, it helps that khalid is protective of shazi without being possessive, which i thought was the sweetest thing.

cruel beauty, written by rosamund hodge, takes the third spot on my list. it’s a loose retelling of beauty and the beast. i thought it was an interesting take on the classic fairy tale story we’re all used to hearing about. if you’re into snarky humor and strong female protagonists, this is the book for you!

the forbidden wish by jessica khoury is a wonderful, unique retelling of aladdin. part of the reason why i loved it so much was because it was the first aladdin retelling i’ve read. i loved the concept of the jinn and their magical powers. near the end of the book, you’ll get to understand the book’s title for what it is.

throne of glass, also by sarah j. maas, is a retelling based on a loose interpretation of cinderella. the author has said that it is built around a single question: what if cinderella was a assassin who went to the ball not to dance with the prince, but to kill him? doesn’t that sound interesting?! i remember picking up the book on a whim back in 2012 when it was first published. i recommended it to a few friends, and they all loved it!

old cover

new (uk) edition cover

and that’s it for now! happy reading!! what are some of your most loved re-imaginings?