My October reading stats Books: 13 Pages: 3229 Av. Rating: 4.06 Highest rated reads: The Stepford Wives, Something's Wrong With Maddie, and the Haunting of Hill House 92% fiction 8% Non fiction Top genres: Horror, classics, Literary, LGBTQIA+, and mystery 92% audio 8% digital

My ratings collage: Dracula: 4/5 Carmilla: 4/5 The Haunting of Hill House: 4.5/5 Turn of the Screw: 3/5 Madhouse at the End of the Earth: n/a At the Mountains of Madness: n/a Something's Wrong With Maddie: 4.5/5 Necronomicon: n/a We Have Always Lived in the Castle: n/a The Monk: 4.25/5 Tales of Terror: 3.5/5 The Stepford Wives: 4.75 Picture of Dorian Gray: n/a

Woof ok this month really got away from me, my dog had an emergency surgery so I have been neglecting all my accounts and reviews 😭

Buy anyways here's my October stats! I made this a classics month so a lot of oldies and mostly goodies

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Cover and rating for The Hollow Kind. 3/5 A blue cover with an upside down bear. It has glowing red eyes red vines growing from it.

Moodboard for The Hollow Kind. A dark brick well, an old staircase with framed portraits, roots snaking over the ground, moss growing on trees.

The Hollow Kind - Andy Davidson

I had a hard time getting into this one. It kind of felt like The Ruins with a Southern Gothic twist. I usually like multiple POVs but the way this one jumped back and forth got a little confusing. The premise and the writing were good, it just wasn't for me.

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Cover and rating for Leech by Hiron Ennes. 4.5/5 stars. A pale background with a dark bottle containing a large manor. The lid of the bottle is open and and a spiky substance slithers out.

Moodboard for Leech. Anatomical diagram sketches, an icy cityscape, a medical diagram of a heart, a snow covered manor, strange spiky looking objects

Leech - Hiron Ennes

Probably one of the most unique protagonists I've ever read, and the whole gothic atmosphere was super well done. It got a little slow at points but I was enjoying the vibe so much I really didn't mind. I'm excited to read more from this author!

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Cover and rating for Girl with All the Gifts. 4.5/5 stars, a yellow cover with a dark silhouette of a young girl with her arms raised

Moodboard for Girl with All the Gifts. Hands grasping at a pair of legs above them, a looted grocery store boots marching, a barbed wire fence

The Girl with All the Gifts - M.R. Carey

I watched the movie forever ago and loved it, and the book is even better. This is one of my favourite takes on the zombie apocalypse, and I always love a good dose of science fiction in my horror!

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Cover for The Folly of Realism. Bold white typography over a greyscale image of a close up of half of Vladimir Putins face

The Folly of Realism - Alexander Vindman

This was a really interesting account of how the US has spent the last few decades waffling between supporting Ukraine but also refusing to condemn Russia. (So nothing's really changed much huh) Super informative, and a little rage-inducing.

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I struggled with Child of God, I didn't like it nearly as much 😅 I definitely agree it was chilling though!

Cover for The Road by Cormac McCarthy. A simple black background with the authors name in brown and the title in white

Moodboard for The Road. Several post apocalyptic scenes; overgrown buildings, abandoned cars on a highway, empty cans around a propane stove, a man and a young boy pushing a cart full of their belongings

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

"To be on the road with the last god would be a terrible thing."

I'm kind of embarrassed it took me this long to read this. Absolutely incredible, wild how much I ended up caring about characters whose names we never learn.

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Cunning Folk cover. A black and red background with a shadowy boars head with circular red eyes

Moodboard for Cunning Folk A room of dried herbs, a shadow group dancing around a fire, a dark hallway, a dimly forest with glowing lanterns in the distance, a white stature shrouded by the shadows of the trees

Cunning Folk - Adam Nevill

As someone who occasionally puts weird witchy shit out in her yard, I honestly sided with the neighbors for most of this. I didn't find the protagonist particularly likeable and I struggled to really get invested in this one.

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, Hungerstone, and Into the Drowning Deep are some of my faves!

Cover for Sign Here. A handwritten title with a red line intertwining the letters; the top is a pitchfork and the bottom is a pen

Moodboard for sign Here. A dimly lit investigation board, kids jumping from a train bridge into a river, an orange smoggy building with several levels of fire escape staircases

Sign Here - Claudia Lux

Basically hells version of a door to door salesman and a super toxic family vacation.

More thriller than horror but really fun! I enjoyed the different perspectives we got and even tho none of the characters are really great people they're all still likeable.

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Cover for Blood on her tongue A black and white dog stands in from of a dark wall of foliage and red flowers

Moodboard for Blood on Her Tongue Two girls in white dresses sitting next to each other, Blood coated lips, a half full moon over a swamp, a dark cathedral window, a girl braiding another's hair, a moss covered arm next to a body of water

Blood on her Tongue - Johanna Van Veen

I'm just collecting sapphic vampire novels at this point (Though the queer romance is more of a subplot here) This one was a really cool take I hadn't seen before, and the first half really hooked me immediately with the bog body situation!

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It was very bleak, but I think it was totally worth it!

My Storygraph reading wrap up Books: 10 Pages: 3262 Av. Rating: 4.16 Highest rated: The Drift, I Who Have Never Known Men, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Av. Length: 332 pages Av. Time to finish: 7 days 80% fiction 20% Non fiction Top genres: Horror, Literary, history, dystopian, politics 90% audio 10% print

Ratings collage Bury our bones in the Midnight soil: 5 Mary: An Awakening of Terror: 4.25 This Thing Between Us: 4 Child of God: 2.75 King Leopold's Ghost: n/a And Then I Woke Up: 4 I Who Have Never Known Men: 5 Command and Control: n/a The Bell Chime: 3.25 The Drift: 5

A little late, but here's my August wrap up! Three 5-stars this month!
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Cover for The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo. A dark forest with eyes drawn overtop

Moodboard for The Woods All Black. A room with floral wallpaper, family photos and a wooden cross, a dark forest with a cabin, old medical equipment, eyes glowing in the woods.

The Woods All Black - Lee Mandelo

This was really good! Took a minute to adjust to literally every other character consistently misgendering the protagonist, but it was really well written and the ending was *chefs kiss*

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Cover for Rot by Padraic Scanlan. A background of wooden planks with a pile of potatoes in varying states of decay

Rot - Padraic X Scanlan

"An imperial history of the Irish famine"

I think this is a super interesting topic, and unfortunately I didn't learn anything about this in school so this book was definitely informative but it felt a little slow, and tough to get through at some points.

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Cover for Probaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak. A white background with an illustration of a smiling woman in a US military uniform

A photo of Marlene Dietrich

Propaganda Girls - Lisa Rogak

"The secret war of the women in the OSS"

Super short, but really interesting! Followed four women who worked to create "black propaganda" during WWII, which was basically just psychological warfare tbh.

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Cover for The Dark Half by Stephen King A gravestone in a field with the inscription: "George Stark. 1975-1988. Not a very nice guy" a black bird sits on top of it, with a flock in the background

Moodboard for The Dark Half. A flock of birds, an old car with "high toned son of a bitch" on the back, a gravestone with the name George Stark, an old book being pulled off a shelf, a person writing.

The Dark Half - Stephen King

It's been a while since I read Stephen King, and his stuff is usually hit or miss for me, but this one started off strong. I liked this one quite a bit, I just wish the wife got to play a bigger role. The villain was super scary tho.

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Cover for The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor A dark room, a deck of cards strewn on the floor, the corner of a bare bedframe, with the title and authors name written in red on the wall

Moodboard for The Hiding Place A woman standing next to an identical ghostly figure, a dimly lit cavern, an empty classroom, a telephone pole with an old "missing" poster, with the photo torn out

The Hiding Place - C.J. Tudor

This started off really strong, but i feel it started to fall off towards the end. I think certain aspects didn't really end up coming together, but the overall premise was so scary I still really enjoyed this!

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female armor “how women actually want to dress”

Cover for Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison A pink background, with a black sheep illustration with legs transitioning into paint drips with red dots for eyes

Moodboard for Black Sheep. A goth woman with short black hair, a crowd of people with glowing eyes, a ballroom with dancing people, a woman working as a waitress, a group of people dancing in red light

Black Sheep - Rachel Harrison

Slowed down a bit around the middle, and felt a bit predictable after the initial twist. Great characters tho, would read the exact same story again from her mom's POV. Also i love a protag that's not a great person but is still likeable

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The cover for The Changeling by Victor LaValle. A blue background with white tree illustrations and a baby carrier on the ground

Moodboard for The Changeling An empty crib in a derelict room, an illustration of fairies in the woods, a row of old books, a shadow of a child holding up a mask

The Changeling - Victor LaValle

This was really beautifully written, and LaValle does a really great job making his characters feel so real and human. It did feel like it slowed down a little in the middle, but I liked the overall fairytale vibe.

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Oooh ill add that one to my list!

My July Storygraph wrap up Books: 8 Pages: 3051 Avg. Rating: 3.88 Highest Rated Reads: The Girl with All the Gifts: 4.5 The Road: 4.5 Leech: 4.25 Average book length: 350 pages Average time to finish: 3 days 75% fiction 25% Non fiction Top Genres: Horror, dystopia, science fiction, LGBTQIA+, Literary

My July reads ratings collage The Decline and fall of the human empire: n/a Sign Here: 4.25 Cunning Folk: 2.75 The Road: 4.5 The Folly of Realism: n/a The girl with all the gifts: 4.5 Leech: 4.25 The hollow kind: 3

My July wrap-up! On book 65 right now, might actually hit my goal of 100 for the year! 🎉

One cover for Code Dependant. A pink background with illustrations of people, buildings, and vehicles connected by a yellow web/net

An alternative cover for Code Dependant. A dark purple background with an iridescent CTRL keyboard key

Code Dependant - Madhumita Murgia

I've never been a fan of AI, but this made me want to delete my few remaining social media accounts and throw my phone into a lake! Gave me a bit of an existential crisis so that was fun. (Very well written and researched the topic just icks me out lmao)

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Cover for Rabid. A white background with a red scratchy texture at the top, and a black and white illustration of a dog foaming at the mouth with its tail between its legs

Rabid - Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy

"A cultural history of the world's most diabolical virus"

Reading about the treatment of animal and human patients was super depressing, but it was also neat to see all the stories and myths that evolved throughout history that clearly came from rabies!

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Cover for Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward. Looking out into the water from the mouth of a cave. The rocks create the silhouette of a skull, and a boat and figure floating in the water look like the eyes

Moodboard for Looking Glass Sound. S small coastal town, and old fishing boat at the side of a building, someone writing pages on pages of a story, a partially submerged cave, a pile of Polaroid photos, and light reflected through a window

Looking Glass Sound - Catriona Ward

I still don't fully know how I feel about this one. I did really enjoy following Wilder through his life, and the parts about the killer were super disturbing and well done. The ending got confusing to me, but thats on me for listening while working.

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The cover of Hungerstone by Kat Dunn. A classical looking painting of a woman laying dramatically over the edge of her bed, with the title and authors name in neon green

Moodboard for Hungerstone. An old Victorian painting room with candles and red curtains, a horse and carriage in the fog, a fancy dinner plate with blood on the edge, a wooden bridge into a castle, a dark haired woman embracing another woman in a white lace dress, and a vine covered garden veranda

Hungerstone - Kat Dunn

"Who would I be if I was someone who wanted things?"

Honestly sometimes you just need a bratty vampire to show you your husband sucks and you deserve better 🤷‍♀️ I really loved this, I was worried I'd be getting sick of vampires by now but nope still going strong.

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My June 2025 wrap up! Books: 9 - Pages: 2,645 - Av. Rating: 3.92 Highest rated reads: Blood on her Tongue (4.5) The Dark Half (4) The Hiding Place (4) Average book length: 318 pages Time to finish: 3 days Fiction: 67% Non- fiction: 33% Genres: Horror, thriller, history, historical, fantasy Audio: 100%

My June 2025 ratings collage: Code Dependant: N/A The Changeling: 3.5 Black Sheep: 3.75 The Hiding Place: 4 The Dark Half: 4 Propaganda Girls: n/a Rot: n/a The Woods All Black: 3.75 Blood on her tongue: 4.5

A few days late, but here's my June wrap up ✨️

Cover for When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy. A snarling wolf stands outside a window, looking in

Moodboard for When the Wolf Comes Home. An empty diner, a fairytale illustration of a wolf walking on two legs, a screenshot from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, military boots, dog tags

When the Wolf Comes Home - Nat Cassidy

This wasn't what I was expecting at all, and I really enjoyed it! Felt like a fever dream at some points, but in a fun way. This was probably my favourite Nat Cassidy book so far (tho I haven't read Mary yet)

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Cover for The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown. A faded blue image of a flat snowy landscape with mountains in the distance, and a star filled sky

A black and white illustration of a wagon party on an expedition

The Indifferent Stars Above - Daniel James Brown

I've watched so many video essays on the Donner Party story but they don't compare at all to the level of detail this book goes into, so if you enjoy super dark historical events and somehow haven't heard of this one, I definitely recommend!

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