Happy Haunting Season Everyone!

For those of you who don’t know, Halloween is my favorite holiday!

Every year we chose a costume theme for our whole family. Last year we did a “Coco” Halloween and learned about the Dia De Los Muertos tradition. I can still get away with a family themed Halloween because my kids aren’t "too cool for that" yet!

This is the first year that we will not be hosting our annual Trick-or-Treat party. Mostly due to Covid concerns and wanting to be responsible citizens. But also, because we decided to take a year to travel and we’re not about to host a Halloween party in an AirBNB.

I will be adding an “Adventure” section to this blog, but for now, you can keep up with our travels on Instagram.

If you are looking for a great book to get you in the Halloween spirit, you have come to the right place! I read a disproportionately high amount of Supernatural Horror. It’s probably not normal. Anyways, good for you because I can help you find the best book for your spooky cravings.

I have read and been scared by all of the books on this list, except Plain Bad Heroines as it has not been released yet. It is getting fantastic reviews, so I am comfortable recommending it!
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A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.

Follow this link for a No Spoiler Book Review of Grownup.
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First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

Follow this link for a No Spoiler Book Review of Haunting of Hill House.
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What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
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Our story begins in 1902, at The Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, The Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

Release Date: October 20, 2020
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Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

Follow this link for a No Spoiler Book Review of Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
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The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden… 

Follow this link for a No Spoiler Book Review of Sun Down Motel.
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Summaries from Goodreads

With all of the uncertainty this year, it is nice that we can count on spooky books to give our Halloween a bit of normalcy.

How are you planning to celebrate Halloween this year? What is your favorite Halloween book? Comment below:
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For more Can't Wait Book Lists, No Spoiler Book Reviews and Articles from the Library Life, subscribe below!
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Welcome to October! The undisputed best month of all time!

The weather is good, the leaves are beautiful, and of course Halloween! What’s not to love?

This October offers tons of new books to read as you sneak pieces of delicious Halloween candy straight from the pail. Don’t worry, I won’t judge!
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It’s always hard to narrow down the upcoming list to a manageable number of books. This month, I was able to get the list down to six titles, most have a spooky, paranormal vibe, or other Halloween element. Even my romance selection has cosplay! 

Autumn is such a fun time to host a book club. You can have so much fun with decorations, costumes and Pumpkin Spice everything. Even if you don’t get into Halloween or Pumpkin Spice specifically, fall is a gorgeous time to read with friends. The weather is nice and cool, perfect for sipping mulled wine by the fire pit while you discuss your latest read.

I am including six books on my Fall 2020 Book Club list. Two are pretty traditional book club choices, The Vanishing Half and The Midnight Library. Three are dark, spooky seasonal choices, The Haunting of Hill House, The Sun Down Motel and The Five. One to Watch is on the lighter side, but still has plenty to discuss.

All of these books (except Haunting of Hill House) have at least a four-star rating on Goodreads and thousands of reviews. I included the classic, Haunting of Hill House, as a personal recommendation.
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I have included links to discussion questions for all suggested titles.

This will be an interesting September.

Most kids will be back to school in some capacity. Some kids will be business as usual with added safety precautions and mask requirements, and some kids will be learning from home.

I know parents have agonized over their options. I hope that whatever choice you made or situation you find yourself in, that you are healthy and safe. 

Luckily, there are some amazing books being released in September! A little something to look forward to and distract you from how crazy everything is right now!

I love Taylor Swift. I am not going to lie. I am a full on adult and I just love her.

I even liked her when there was that whole Kardashian “scandal”. Not sorry. I will never side with the Kardashians over Swift, I don’t care how many bitchy recordings they have of her! Not gonna happen!

I think most people would agree that Swift’s music is generally upbeat, catchy and fun. It might not be your absolute favorite music, but you probably won’t switch the station either. Unless you’re like a total metalhead or something, but even then…

Happy August readers! We have officially begun our last full month of summer. For some of you that means more time inside curled up with a good book, avoiding the heat. For others it means getting a little bit more time reading outside in the nice weather. Wherever you are, I hope you read some great books this August!

Follow this link for new release books, August 2020 Can't Wait Book List.

I always encourage people to use their local library to access free books, ebooks and audiobooks. Unfortunately, that is not always an option. So it is nice to know that many online bookstores provide inexpensive access to thousands of ebooks. Sorting through their selections can be overwhelming, which is why I compiled this list of best e-books for $3 or less.   

Some of these books are by well-known popular authors, some of these books are by new and upcoming authors. Most have hundreds, if not thousands of four and five star reviews. All of these books are relatively new, having been published within the last two years.   

When the world went on lockdown, book bloggers responded one of two ways. They either immediately published a list of doomsday books or a list of uplifting books. I was in the second category. I was beyond stressed about our situation and needed something to help me relax. So I published this list of Funny, Happy, Cozy Books to Help You Relax! If you are still really stressed, please check it out!

At this point, however, many of us have started to accept our “new normal”. We know that if we practice social distancing, wear masks, and wash our hands we can limit our chances of contracting the virus. For now, our food supply chain is operational. We don’t have the shortages we did when this started. Things are different and they will be for a long time, but I have less uncertainty, fear, and anxiety than I did in the beginning. I hope you feel the same.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of August New Release Books to these seven exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books.

There are so many good books coming out this month, it was hard to narrow down this list! I ended up including the best upcoming books from a variety of genres including, Political Fiction, Non-Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Romance. These are the seven stand-out titles for August! Hopefully there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal. 

Reading can be an expensive hobby! Especially if you like to buy new hardback editions of popular books. If you read a new book every week, your hobby can add up quickly. You could easily spend $1300 per year on books!

I always encourage people to use their local library to access free books, ebooks and audiobooks. Unfortunately, that is not always an option. So it is nice to know that Amazon provides inexpensive access to thousands of ebooks. Sorting through their selection can be overwhelming, which is why I compiled this list of Best e-books for $2 or less.  
 
Some of these books are by well-known popular authors, some of these books are by new and upcoming authors. Most have hundreds, if not thousands of four and five star reviews. All of these books are relatively new, having been published within the last two years.   
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After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of July New Release Books to these eight exciting titles.

I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books.

​I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. This month’s selections include a dark fairy tale, a cutesy romance, and zombie horror, to name a few. Hopefully there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal. 

Karin Slaughter is one of those intense thriller authors that fans can’t seem to get enough of. Every book she publishes leaves her readers begging for more.

Luckily her fans never have long to wait as she publishes about a book per year. Between her popular Will Trent series and her standalone books, she always has a new book on the horizon.

Her upcoming book, Silent Wife, is the tenth Will Trent book. I know it can be daunting to see that a series is on #10 if you haven’t started it, but stay with me. You have options!

The Will Trent series can be read as a standalone and out of order. So you could read, Silent Wife, and then go back and read book three, if you wanted. However, fans recommend starting at the beginning and binge-reading the series in order.
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I love the idea of finding my next favorite author by following the book awards. Unfortunately, the reality is a little different.

Most well-known book awards are published on unwieldy websites that are damn-near impossible to navigate.

​In addition to being difficult to track down, the winning books are often selected by critics for critics. These are books that critics read and then congratulate each other for reading. They are just too unpleasant and pretentious to attract most readers.
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​I created this list in an effort to find the award winning books that people actually want to read. I started with the 30 most well-known book awards and narrowed the list to these eleven. Many of these awards are still listed on websites designed by MC Escher, but the books tend to be well rated and widely read.

Every year libraries host Summer Reading Clubs for all ages, including teens.

The main goal of the program is to help reduce the loss of knowledge that occurs every summer, known as the “Summer Slide”. Studies show that students lose about 20% of their school year knowledge during summer break (Austrew, 2019).

As you can imagine, this year will be particularly bad because of the early school closures. Luckily, Summer Reading Clubs have shown to help prevent and reduce the Summer Slide.

Libraries are operating a little differently this year.
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This is the perfect year to join your local library Adult Summer Reading Club program!

Summer Reading Club will certainly be a little different this year, but in some ways that will be great for adults.

Most libraries have taken this situation as an opportunity to streamline their Summer Reading Programs. You will likely be able to sign up online, through email, or over the phone, even if your library is not currently open.

A lot of libraries are even still offering prizes for curbside pickup along with books and other materials. Prizes vary by community, but I have seen everything from restaurant coupons, to drawings for a brand new iPad. It comes down to local funding and donations. Your library will have a list of prizes.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of June New Release Books to these ten exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books. I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. This month’s selections are a little on the dark side, with a couple of fun humorous options thrown in. Hopefully, there is something for everyone!

I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal.
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Please note, publication dates are shifting due to the Coronavirus epidemic. I verified the publication dates on multiple sources, however they may still change. Thank you for your understanding, if some of these become inaccurate. 
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Stephen King is such a prolific author that a scientific study is required to understand which of his published books are his very best. In order to scientifically determine his best works one needs to consider, not only all of his novels, but the author as well. 

I wanted to include a quick biographical section on Stephen King in my scientific study, so naturally I went to his website stephenking.com 

I expected to find how many books King has published, but determined that the number is incalculable. He does have a list of his written works, so if you have a strong scrolling ability, you can try to determine the total that way. Please let me know if you find the answer. I suspect it’s a constantly changing variable.

There is some interesting biographical information on his website. Stephen King is 6’4” tall, which is unexpected and newsworthy. He met his wife in a library, which is the most appropriate and adorable thing ever. Much more about his life, parents, where he lives, etc. on his website.

Don’t you love it when you find a good dark and thrilling mystery? The kind of book that keeps you reading late at night because you just can’t put it down. Isn’t it great when a book gives you the creeps? When writing gives you goosebumps? These are the best mysteries.

This list was made for fans of Gone Girl, and The Woman in Cabin 10. If you love dark mysteries with lots of plot twists, these books are for you. These stories feature haunted hotels, spooky local folklore, accidents, murder and mistaken identity. All the elements of great creepy thrillers.

​The following books were published within the last two years and have been keeping people up at night ever since. Check out the summaries below to pick your next favorite dark mystery!

Don’t get me wrong! I love World War II Historical Fiction! It’s just, there is so much more to history than WWII. History starts one second ago, and goes all the way back. Everywhere. Have you ever wondered what life was like in Japan, in the 1600s? How about Russia, in the 1920s? With historical fiction you can go just about anywhere at any time.

I compiled this list with the help of some librarians and book bloggers on Twitter. All of these titles are rated at least four stars on Goodreads and most of them have hundreds-of-thousands of reviews. About half of these books were published within the last few years and the other half are considered to be classics. All of them are readily available for check-out or purchase.
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These books make varying attempts to be historically accurate. The Giver of Stars is loosely based on true events and will make you feel like you are living in depression era Kentucky. The Underground Railroad features a LITERAL underground railroad. The author may have taken some artistic liberties with that, but the result is amazing! All of these books will transport you to another time and place with their own unique style.

After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of May New Release Books to these seven exciting titles. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books. I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books. I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal.

Please note, publication dates are shifting due to the Coronavirus epidemic. I verified the publication dates on multiple sources, however they may still change. Thank you for your understanding, if some of these become inaccurate. 

A lot of people are discovering their library’s online collection for the first time and are still getting used to the process. Most libraries will have all of the newest and most popular books purchased, but there is going to be a wait list. So, while you are waiting for, Where the Crawdads Sing, and The Splendid and the Vile, consider reading something you may have missed a few years ago.

Follow this link if you have questions about accessing your library’s online collection, read the e-book and e-audiobook section.

The following books were published at least two years ago and are available for check-out in all of the library systems that I checked. I cannot promise what may be available to you, but you should have a pretty good chance at getting most of these books right away! 
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