Play Book Tag discussion

Have you read a book that is spooky, Autumn related, Hispanic Heritage, Italian Heritage or other which relates to October?

Post it here!

Yay! Got a whole list of fluffy spooky reads! Yes, there are such things. And one that is witchy and hopefully smutty.

Want to mention a book that is creepy gothic and a retelling: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I read it in September as it is the upcoming book to discuss at my Feminerdy Book Club, so not a Flurries book for me. But I think those looking for a suitable creepy gothic scifi/historical fiction - try it.

Just fyi to anyone who adds their books to the group bookshelf.

I have added a
fall flurry of holidays 2024
shelf.

October 14 is both Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day.

There There by Tommy Orange works for Travel and Flurries.

Georgia May Jackson is on the brink of achieving her dream! Getting to run her own Paris restaurant. Since she was a child she had the unusual gift of being able to have an unusual gift for taste. She would know exactly what a dish needed or was missing and it made her food incredible. But in addition to this gift, the food itself brings clarity to others. Things fall clearly into place for those who eat her sensational food. But at the opening of the book, she has been briefly losing her sense of taste, all five of them. She is losing her spark. And then in one night, she loses her job, her boyfriend, her apartment. It is then that she sees the email from her long lost beloved mother, Star Stevens. She goes on a journey to visit her mother, learn about herself, and hope to slowly regain her taste and her dream.

Recipe for a Charmed Life has a bit of magical realism to it. Its subtle. No one ever refers to it as magic, or speaks of why the Steven's Women have this unique gift. In fact it is referred to as a gift, never anything more unusual than that. Readers will think that the reason Star and Georgia were separated will have something to do with the unusual gift, but it does not. The entire story is subtle. Real, raw, and well played. And there is a handsome hunk, an oyster shucker, who is also wounded and vulnerable. The story is really about healing from trauma and learning to be who you are despite the challenges thrown your way. It has an absolute beauty to it. Plus, Georgia May is Feisty. She is a strong heroine who is passionate and obstinate and unapologietic and she cooks from the heart and from love. I thought she was a great character. I greatly enjoyed this read, likely enhanced by the audio.

October - Haunting / magical realism

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

4 stars

Anita is an artist. She was born in Cuba, but relocated to the United States. She feels like she does not belong fully in either place. She meets the famous artist, Jack Martin, and later they marry. After a while, Jack's art is not as popular and Anita's career is on the rise. They are competitive and soon their marriage is ruined and Jack pushed Anita out of a window many stories up after she tells him they are divorcing.

When Anita's art is being shown or discussed, Anita gains power even though she is dead. With it she is able to haunt Jack and others who she feels are helping him. She can move objects and turn into a bat.

The story is also involved a college student named Raquel. She is Puerto Rican and is an art student at Brown University. She is aware of the privilege of white students and works hard to be seen as a top student. Raquel is going to write her thesis on Jack, but initially had no idea of his wife Anita or that at one time he was charged with her murder.

The book talks about the art world and how it is to be a minority in it. It tells that powerful men like Jack can get away with things. Anita died too young, but she opened the door for others. Raquel is finding herself and her role in the art world. The story involves different timeframes and somethings have changed, but the long held privilege and prestige of others is still there. The book highlights inequalities, shows different points of view, talks about family and right versus wrong.

October: Canada, Indigenous, Witches

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

October:witchy, mermaids

A Spell for Trouble, by Esme Addison
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

October: Canada, Mental Illness Awareness

Unless by Carol Shields
written by an Canadian author and set in and near Toronto
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

For Halloween

This Cursed House / Del Sandeen
4 stars

In the early 1960s, Jemma (from Chicago) has been hired by a family who live on a plantation just outside New Orleans. Jemma is a teacher and assumes that she will be tutoring. The Duchon family are all light-skinned Black people and although they say they are “proud coloured people”, they look down on Jemma’s darker skin. Jemma also has an ability to see ghosts, and there appear to be a few around this plantation. She is in for multiple surprises the longer she stays with the backwards Duchons, and only one of those surprises is what they have hired her for.

This was really good. I was pulled in early on, and the surprises continued to come. The Duchons are a piece of work, though I think the author does do a good job of showing multiple sides to a couple of them, and there are reasons why some of them are the way they are. Given the time period and place, there is some historical fiction thrown in to this horror/ghost story, as well, which I quite like.

I really enjoyed this one, especially in audio. I kept thinking that they wouldn't have time to pull it all together, that time was running out - how would they make everything connect up? But it totally did! I just loved it. French bloodline witches with a magical book of the healing arts. Time travel and monastery/abbey, Hugenots, Henry II, catholics and cardinals, and a present day analyst specializing in past life regression. The perfect October Witchy read with Magic Well Done, just the way I like it.

Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow / Christina Henry
3 stars

In Sleepy Hollow, Ben(de) is the granddaughter of Brom Van Brunt and Katrina Van Tassel (and was raised by them), but thinks of himself as a boy. When Ben and a friend find a dead boy in the woods, with head and hands cut off, Ben starts to wonder if he should be wandering through the woods at all. It’s not long before a second dead boy appears in the woods… this one a boy who had been taunting Ben and Ben had been seen to fight back. Even with all this going on, Ben seems to be fairly safe in the woods via some kind of protector. In the meantime, he is constantly fighting his grandmother on being too much like a boy and it’s about time he started acting like a girl and learning the things he’ll need to know as he gets older and gets married.

I listened to the audio. I liked that the author brought in a trans character. With the dead kids being found in the woods, it was a bit creepy at times. However, as often happens with me and audio, I got distracted and missed things. I did like how it ended, though. Overall, I’m rating it ok.

Kate wrote: "Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs 5 stars


Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynch..."

I enjoy this series, hope you continue to enjoy!

October: Witches, Ghosts and Pumpkin Spice

- 3 stars

Maple Hollow appears to be a gimmicky Halloween town but when Harlow moves in with her sister, licking her wounds after feeling that she has failed again, she finds that the paranormal is actually real and a well kept secret. Struggling to help her sister's cafe and not cause trouble, she finds the town much more interesting when she meets Jordyn, the local apothecary witch. Unfortunately, Jordyn has just drunk summoned her ex who unexpectedly died soon after their break up and she finds dating while haunted by her ex's ghost to be distracting. She needs to figure out to free her ex's spirit and not mess up the start of a relationship with Harlow.

This was cute with the fun play on humans enjoying the Halloween themed town and not realizing it is real. It is a fun cast of characters and I can see how the series can grow from here. The audio was a bit off putting to me so I would do a visual format for another one.

***Noting that this romance got a bit spicier than I expected. Would qualify for Fall into Smut despite the lack of sexy cover.

Kate wrote: "@Jen K

I don’t remember the last time I binge read a series. I want to finish book three by this weekend and get some other spooky reads in this month.

As much as I love this series, I don’t wa..."

Totally agree. I'm the same. They get too similar to stay enjoyable sometimes. I read the first one of this series in 2021 and have managed to read through 8 since but I'm itching to get to the next one soon.

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Review- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am slow to start here but here I am and my first has witches, hauntings and ghosts of a sort, and and Zombies!

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

3 stars

If you ever need a zombie book, grab this one! Mila is a fat brown latina (one of her own descriptions as she 'owns' being fat rather than curvy or other term) in a very white comunity, very isolated. We meet her as she is coping with the apparent suicide of her best and only friend, Riley. Coincidentally 2 other teen girls in their junior high school class, their sworn enemies, died a few days earlier in an apparent suicide pact. Mila could care less about June and Dayton, but she believes Riley was murdered and possibly the others too. Plus she misses Riley so much, is in such pain, that she decides to bring her back to life using the Lazarus spell from in an old grimoire.

You see, Mila is a witch, and a powerful one it turns out as she not only brings Riley back, but June and Dayton too. That's not the only event or spell that doesn't quite work out as planned.

This is funny, irreverent, and clever. Mila's teen sarcasm, even her typical teen snark about younger sisters, parents, teachers, and classmates, are amusing and enjoyable, fitting the character well.

The murder mystery plot is thin and full of holes, especially as there was from the beginning only one possible murderer even if the reason for it are obscured until the end. The author needs to learn about alternate suspects and red herrings. One has to suspend disbelief a tad. Well, more than a tad - where are all the adults here and are the police really so inept? But gotta admire a mororcycle gang of old ladies who are really a coven, and mushrooms popping out in a way that has me thinking twice about eating them ever again.

This is no award winner. Its a standard three, probably raised due to audio. Its cute, and its also sexy. The sex scenes are inumerative and descriptive. Its fun to read a witchy book at Halloween.

Can I have a spin today? Finished my book... Review coming...

I don't know if I ever knew this before, but Thanksgiving was celebrated as a holiday by European settlers in Canada before it was in the States, although it didn't become an official, national holiday until 1879. Sir Martin Frobisher (as in Frobisher Bay for those who've heard of that) and his crew are credited with first celebrating one in 1578--before the one in Massachusetts. There was also one in New France (l later Lower Canada and then Québec) in 1606.

If anyone wants a better history of this, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...

Karin wrote: "I don't know if I ever knew this before, but Thanksgiving was celebrated as a holiday by European settlers in Canada before it was in the States, although it didn't become an official, national hol..."

My uncle (who has lived in Washington (State) for a long time) was here visiting yesterday. He and his partner had looked this up and filled me in on this just yesterday. I had no idea!

LibraryCin wrote: "Karin wrote: "I don't know if I ever knew this before, but Thanksgiving was celebrated as a holiday by European settlers in Canada before it was in the States, although it didn't become an official..."

I'm guessing we weren't taught this in school or not in a way that was memorable to us :)

Karin wrote: "I'm guessing we weren't taught this in school or not in a way that was memorable to us :)..."

You're probably right about that! :-)

Ghost/Haunted House Thriller
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware



Rowan is the latest in a series of nannies at Heatherbrae House. Previous nannies have left quickly, scared away by someone...or something. As the book opens, Rowan is writing letters from jail to tell her side of the story. So we know something has gone terribly wrong.

Heatherbrae House is isolated in the Scottish Highlands. The previous owner lost his daughter to poison before slowing going mad himself. Rumors that the house is cursed kept the house unoccupied unit the current family moved in and restored/modernized the house.

This haunted house/ghost story was atmospheric and wonderfully creepy. There were times I wanted to yell: Rowan Run, Don't Go Back in the House, No Don't Open That Door.

Wonderfully surprising twists in the final 1/3 of the story. Ruth Ware is amazing.

Hispanic Heritage Month


Something Like Home – Andrea Beatriz Arango – 4****
This is a moving novel in verse written for middle-school-age children, dealing with foster care. As the novel opens, Laura is en route to her aunt’s apartment, accompanied by a social worker from DSS. My heart broke for Laura. But she is a resilient child, clearly intelligent but confused by her situation. When she finds a neglected and abandoned puppy, however, she begins to open up to the court-appointed guardian and to her aunt and insists that they listen to her point of view when formulating a plan for her care. Brava, Laura!
LINK to my full review

OMG - I loved this so so much!!!

How I absolutely loved and savored this beautiful story! I fell into it so deeply, entranced and entrenched. Fairy tale woven into life, and love, this story transcends everything. It was magical, simply put. It was love.

by Marie Harte - Halloween setting

Sadie, a gifted baker who's still recovering for a bad break-up from years earlier, is persuaded by her gay brother and business partner Elliot to attend a fancy early Halloween party they are catering in order to mingle and schmooze for new customers. Reluctantly she attends dressed as Xena, Warrior Princess, complete with sword, as Sadie doesn't really like people, has a temper, and is blunt to the point of rudeness. As she describes her intentions: Tonight was her night to enjoy fat foods and, with any luck, a talented boy toy for some mindless pleasure. She’d seen a bunch of contenders. Men with muscular builds engaging in guy behavior. Smack-talking with friends, checking out scantily clad women, and acting not all that bright. Perfect. While hiding behind some foliage on the side of the room, eating her plate full of food and drinking her beer, she's joined by a muscular sexy Devil also looking for a place to relax out of sight to eat and drink. They hit it off and Sadie knows she has just found her muscled boy toy to end her sex drought.

However, what Sadie doesn't know is that her big muscled devil is actually Gear, the star of a reality tv show around his custom design and build motorcycle shop which has imploded and is all over social media and the tabloids due to his punching out his business partner on prime time over his partner sleeping with his fiancee, also part of the show. As they continue to be drawn together, his notoriety and the continued fall-out from the reality show will not only set obstacles in their romance - and it is a romance as Gear is actually a very sweet honorable loving guy - and bring all Sadie's insecurities front and center.

Make no mistake, this is a hot smutty romance, with plenty of sex, though no real use of euphemisms. In fact it would just be raunchy if it wasn't often so funny, such as at their first intimate engagement during that Halloween Party:

Devil’s invitation was all in his lips, his hips, and his personal pitchfork pressing insistently against her belly. and Her panties would never be the same. And neither would her sex life. Hmm. Maybe she should frame them, have him sign her ass before he left.

While this is really quite smutty though more entertainingly so than sweaty, there's actually a real romance plot of 2 broken hearts finding each other and mending, and lots of fun secondary characters in both families and their respective businesses. Sadie is a true badass who stands up for those she cares for verbally and with a strong right hook. Gear may be a huge muscled tattooed biker but he's also a true gentleman with a warm heart. I wanted them to end up together in a HEA.

Halloween is very present with 2 Halloween parties, a Halloween festival, a bakery that decorates extensively creating a Spookville, and many discussions of costumes (one of the side characters has a costume shop), Halloween baked goods and treats.

I think this is an author whose other works and even series I will dip into, especially if she keeps delivering lines like this - Smoke is one of the mechanics in the bike shop and Sahara is Gear's cheating ex-fiancee:

“Well, Smoke called Sahara a can’t. Because he said if he’d called her that other c-word, he’d have been censored.

Now THAT's a euphemism!

October: Halloween/ Zombies

by L.M. Juniper- 4 stars

Where will you be when the world falls apart? Jake is on the tube heading to meet his girlfriend fearing it is the end of his relationship. Liv is sleeping in her car after being released from prison and living day to day. Yet when the number of infected spread and the army seems to be against the people rather than helping them, both step up with the want to live and to save those around them. Eventually the two meet and create a group of 7 people who randomly end up together trying to survive a zombie takeover of London and to find a way to loved ones.

While very much about zombies and the spread of the parasites infecting people, it is also very much a story of defining your identity and deciding the person that you want to be and finding those that support you on the journey. The rest of the group was a bit token but I really enjoyed the group as a whole as they tried to make their way through a zombie apocalypse. A bit long but I definitely enjoyed the adventure.

October (ghosts, haunted houses)

Linghun - Ai Jiang

4 stars

Linghun contains the novella by the same name plus a few short stories. Linghun is about a housing development where the houses have the power to summon the ghost of a loved one. Grieving people wait years for the chance to bid on one of the houses. When Wenqui's family gets the chance to move into one, her mother jumps at the chance. She wants to see Wenqui's brother, who died when he was six, again.

This was a very interesting and unique story. It was a well written examination of grief and how those grieving are stuck in time. The different characters the novella focuses on are all grieving in different ways and are affected by the houses in their own way. The themes of grief and immigration paired well and I would love to read more by this author.

October - Autumnal

Pumpkin Everything - Beth Labonte - 3 Stars

Pumpkin Everything was a cute, autumnal read and is a must if you’re in the mood to get swept up in a world of pumpkin scented candles and Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

Amy returns to her hometown of Autumnboro to check on her grandfather after he drove through a Dunkin’ Donuts. Her mother is threatening to sell the family home and move her grandfather into assisted living if Amy doesn’t head back to the town she grew up and help him out.

Amy has only just entered the town when she runs into her ex-boyfriend and first love, Kit. The two re-connect but Amy is unaware that Kit is keeping a huge secret, one that threatens to ruin their entire relationship.

Readers always know what to expect in a cozy, small town romance. The characters are well formed and interesting. Some you will like and some will get on your nerves. The town and it's traditions are adorable. It's not a book I would reread again, but if you’re looking for a cute, cozy, seasonal romance, it fits the bill.

shelving done to here, Oct 27/24

Run by Blake Crouch

Jack and Dee along with their two children Naomi and Cole are running for their lives. Something is causing people to wantonly murder, torture and burn down everyone and everything in sight. 7-year-old Cole tells his father he knows why this is happening: a strange aurora seen over the lower 48 states of the US seems to have infected those who viewed it with demonic blood lust. The family's treacherous journey will send them from their home in Albuquerque in a desperate quest to reach Canada where it is rumored there is a safe haven. The horrors they see along the way are beyond belief as they face dangerous situations, near starvation and injuries. At one point Jack is separated from his family when he is captured by infected militants. Dee and the children, not knowing if Jack is alive or dead, stridently head north hoping to find both Jack and safety.

This book is pure, unrelenting horror which at times was almost too much to take in. On the other hand it is very exciting and I couldn't stop reading it until I reached the last page. This family is amazingly resilient and I wanted them to reach safe haven at all costs.

Fall Flurries - Indigenous People, Hispanic Heritage

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez - 3.5* - My Review

Noé Álvarez chronicles his experience of participating in the Peace and Dignity Journey (PDJ), a relay-style Alaska to Panama long distance running event in which indigenous people cover at least ten-mile stretches at a time. Álvarez grew up in Yakima, Washington, the son of Mexican immigrant parents, who make a living in the agricultural fields. They urge him to escape a life of physical labor. He is granted a scholarship but has trouble adapting to college. He leaves school temporarily to join the run, hoping that this test of endurance will help him find a spiritual connection to the land of his parents.

He meets fellow PDJ runners after they have already started, joining them at Prince Philip Island in Canada. He documents their journey through a bit of Canada, the western US, Mexico, and Guatemala. By being a month late, he must prove himself to the rest of the group, which comprises people with a wide variety of tribal backgrounds. Álvarez’s grandfather was of Purépecha descent. Eventually, he gets to know the people, each of whom has a personal reason for running. Their stories form a major portion of the narrative. Álvarez finds the run both physically and emotionally demanding. He suffers minor injuries and must endure a great deal of pain. The PDJ contains many challenges, such as dealing with uneven terrain, weather, wildlife, and threats from the non-running local populations.

I was sad to see the runners and their leaders engaging in bullying and in-fighting. As they go further south, their rapport begins to unravel. I found it strange that a run dedicated to peace and dignity would treat their own members without it. The author is remembering events that took place when he was nineteen years old, and this is his debut. I found it uneven, and there is less about running than I expected. Its strength is in the personal stories of the participants, and the way they are working through sadness and tragedy, along with Álvarez’s meditations on what the run represents.

3.5

Note: The author's grandfather's indigenous heritage allowed the author to participate in the run, but he grew up with Mexican cultural traditions.

Fall flurries - Indigenous People

Flight by Sherman Alexie - 3.5 -4.0 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This book got off to a rough start with the kind of gross language teenage boys like, and I tossed it aside. Later I remembered that I felt that way with another Sherman Alexie book, which I ended up loving, so I retrieved this one. The main character is an angry indigenous foster kid who goes by the nickname of Zits. He had several abusive foster parents already, and he doesn’t trust anyone. Now he shuts down or acts out with every new placement. He runs away and meets a charismatic kid who pushes him to commit a crime. In the middle of it, he travels back in time, into another person’s body. He shifts into several different historical events that were important to indigenous people in the last several hundred years. Both the historical and personal stories are interesting and satisfying.


Where Wolves Don't Die by Anton Treuer, 4 stars.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I really enjoyed this dramatic story about Ezra Cloud, an Ojibwe boy in Minnesota who doesn’t like living in the city. When a long-time bully harassed his friend Nora, Ezra punched a locker, and broke his hand. Later that night a fire broke out in the meth lab in the bully’s basement. He fingered Ezra. After talking to the police, Ezra’s college professor father sends him up north to stay with his grandfather in Canada. He enjoys learning the life of a trapper in the wilds. After his first big kill, he learns how his people honor the animals, and they invite the whole community to a feast with a traditional ceremony. He encounters wolves, a fisher cat, and a hungry bear who woke up early from his hibernation. Confrontations with wild animals and people lead to dramatic outcomes, for all the families. I always enjoy reading about the Ojibwe and Anishinabe culture and lifestyle.

I have one more indigenous book, to finish. The narration is like a lullaby to me, and after a week I still don’t know how it ends.

Fall Flurries - October - Halloween

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers - 4* - My Review

Published in 1983, this book is a wild fantasy-adventure-time-travel-and-historical-fiction featuring magicians, body-switching werewolves, evil clowns, Egyptian gods, mystical creatures, and rips in the space-time continuum. Set mostly in Regency London, it blends fantastical elements and real historical events and includes literary references to classic Romantic poets.

American protagonist Brendan Doyle is a professor whose specialty is 19th century British poetry. He has written a book on Samuel Taylor Coleridge and is now focused on (fictional) poet William Ashbless. A millionaire convinces him to join a group of wealthy time-tourists to be transported back to 1810 to attend one of Coleridge’s lectures. Doyle becomes stranded in the past, where he must deal with magical conspiracies and personal threats as he tries to find a way back to his own time—or at least survive in the one he’s stuck in.

The Anubis Gates of the title refer to magical portals that connect different points in time and space. These gates are controlled by Egyptian gods and magicians, and they play a central role in the villains’ attempts to manipulate history and achieve power. I appreciate that the time travel element is explained and consistent. The tone is Gothic. It is fast-paced, tense, and eerie. It was a fitting read for Halloween. Recommended to fans of secret histories with a fantasy component.

Also, if anyone is interested in reading it for November's tag, this book is tagged "Steampunk" (though it is set in Regency rather than Victorian times). It is rather lengthy, but it is a wild ride.

shelving done, Nov 23/24