October 2026 Reading Wrap-Up

This month I read 5 novels, 4 short stories, and I had 1 DNF. I also started 1 book that I'm still reading.

 

 

Cold Evidence (Cass Leary #10) by Robin James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Legal Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong Language, Fade to black sex

 

 

 

 

The White Ship by H.P. Lovecraft

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

My mind kept wandering while I was listening to this. I listened to it twice because of that, and then decided to actually eye read it. So, I read this three times. I wasn't crazy about the writing style and I think that's part of why my mind kept wandering. But I liked this story. It reminded me that we can have everything, yet still want more. Things can be so perfect, but we get bored with that and want something different. To me, that's what the story seems to be about. 

https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/ws.aspx

https://youtu.be/0GNVP_Gpnpc?si=w0Fvdl-R_gJ1JxZO

 

 

 

 

Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Clean

 

My friend that picked this story first heard the dramatized radio version of it that was made back in the 1940s, so she included the link to that as well as the text. I enjoyed both versions but preferred the text. I read it first and then listened. There were some differences in the radio version but nothing major was changed. One of the biggest differences was that the mother is a lot more hysterical at the end in the radio version with the father trying to calm her down. The father is completely clueless in the original story and never has to calm her down. He just keeps asking her why they are heading for the attic, which seems illogical to him. I think it was indicative of the time period where men were portrayed as more level headed and in control. I liked that Ray Bradbury didn't portray it that way, and I didn't really appreciate that the radio broadcast did that. Even so, I found it fun to pick out the differences. 

Free to read here- https://americanliterature.com/author/ray-bradbury/short-story/zero-hour 

Dramatized radio program free to listen to here-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QSXUk8AOaw&t=6s

 

 

 

 

After the Last Ride by Iris Thomaj

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

 

This was the weakest of the short stories we read. It started out strong but I feel like it just didn't really deliver a solid conclusion.

 

Free to read here- https://reedsy.com/short-story/l2knug/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man on the Moon by Elaine Midcoh

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Clean

 

 

I liked this one in that it surprised me with the direction it went. 

 

Free to listen to here-

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escape-pod/id73329293?i=1000618813148

 

 

 

 

Deadline (Blood Trails #1) by Jennifer Blackstream

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Review to come. 

 

 

 

 

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Horror
Content: Strong Language

 

When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in fourteen years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body, his clothing streaked with blood.

But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words.

Traveling to Paynes Hollow, Sam is faced with the realities of her childhood and the secrets kept hidden in the shadows of her memories. When her aunt goes missing a couple days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.

 

I decided to read this when I was looking for something spooky to read for the monthly reading challenge. This was perfect for Spooktober. I liked the headless horseman connection, even though it was completely different from that story.

 

 

 

 

A Foolish Proposal (The Gentlemen's Wager #3) by Kasey Stockton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance
Content: Clean

 

One careless remark. One outrageous proposal. One Season to discover love where they least expect it.

Tristan Shepherd never expected the London Season to throw him back into the path of Caroline Whitby—the spirited girl from his youth who once declared she detested both him and his horses. But when a single careless remark at a glittering ball damages Caroline’s prospects with a promising suitor, she lays the blame squarely at Tristan’s feet.

Determined to make amends—and needing a wife himself—Tristan offers marriage. Caroline flatly refuses. Still, with the Season slipping away, they strike an uneasy bargain: he’ll help her find a husband, and she’ll help him secure a bride.

But as they navigate crowded ballrooms, stolen moments, and the dangerous game of matchmaking, their sparring gives way to a far more perilous discovery: the one match they both swore was impossible might be the only one they truly desire.

 

I read this because I enjoy Kasey Stockton's books, and also because it fulfilled a category in my book cover challenge. This is part of a companion series where each book is written by a different author. So, they are standalone stories with a small connection through character relationships, and the plot thread of the wager. I decided it was safe enough to start with book three, and maybe not even read the rest of the series. I enjoyed this book particularly because there weren't a lot of miscommunications between them.

 

 

 

 

The Vanished Sister (Lady Sherlock #9) by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong Language, Suggestive themes

 

This was my least favorite book in the series. It was slow to get going, and Charlote and Lord Ingram weren't as prominent. I'm starting to get a little bored with this series, and would really have liked if it had been wrapped up with this book. 

 

 

 

 

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

This ended up being a DNF. I started to listen to it but lost interest. I think I was just in the mood for something else at the time, but I didn't care too much for the characters in this either.

 

 

 

 

Grim Folk Tale (The Unorthodox Chronicles #4) by James J. Butcher

Still reading so no rating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns of Fate (Isle of Wyrd #1) by Anne Bishop

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Words have power. Intentions matter.

Most people come to Destiny Park for entertainment. They come to have their cards read to tell them a bit about their future. They come to walk through a beautiful park and to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. They come in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Arcana, the paranormal beings who rule the Isle of Wyrd.

But some people come to make a bargain with the Arcana—to change their fate. And some people come for dark purposes.

When Detective Beth Fahey is sent to Destiny Park to inquire about a “ghost gun,” she will begin a strange journey on which she must learn to navigate the Arcana’s unforgiving laws and dangerous attractions. Her search will draw her into seemingly impossible cases and the secrets of her own past as tensions rise between the Arcana and their human neighbors across the river.

For the Isle of Wyrd is a place where the dead ride trains to their final destinations, predators literally become prey, and seekers’ true natures are revealed in the ripples of destiny unknowingly stirred in their wakes.

Who will live? Who will die? And who will be lost in between?

  

I went into this with high hopes. I loved The Others series by this author and I wanted to see what she would come up with next. I ended up liking this but not loving it. I felt it was missing a little something. The characters felt a bit surface level to me and I think that was partly due to there being so many points of view. I think if the story had focused more on Beth—who seems to be the intended main character in the series, but it's hard to tell with her limited page time—then we could have gotten more development of her character. I'm not opposed to being in the other character's heads, I just think there were too many. Apparently—according to one review I read—the author was going for the feel of a TV show when she wrote this and it shows in how episodic it feels. Sometimes that works for me, but I didn't like it here.

This was a lot like The Others, and I feel like that should appeal to me more than it did. Maybe the problem is that it was too much like The Others. This very well could have been set somewhere else in that world instead of being a new one. I did like that Beth was more mature and less naive than Meg was in The Others, but I didn't think there were enough differences in the two series. We have humans acting very much the same way here that they did in that series, tempting fate with the supernatural creatures that inhabit the world, and suffering the consequences. The supernatural creatures are portrayed very much the same as they were in the other series as well. The characters and storylines from both worlds felt very interchangeable.

So, despite the fact that I liked this, I have mixed feelings on whether or not I want to continue with this series.