Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates! 🎃 And if not, I hope you’re having a cozy Autumn evening. I only set myself a small reading goal for spooky season because life has been crazy, but I managed to finish them all so let’s discuss…
Sad Girl Hours by Anna Zoe Quirke
Saffron struggles with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and is dreading autumn and winter. She took time off in her first year at university and can’t afford to do the same this year if she’s going to achieve her dream of being an astrophysicist. She’s managed to keep it a secret from her friends – fearing that they won’t want to spend time with her if they see her at her lowest – but it’s getting harder. Especially when she meets Nell.Nell – wannabe poet, autistic and proud, and lover of autumn and winter – is determined to show Saffron everything these seasons have to offer. The two grow close, and when Saffron confides in Nell, romance blooms. But with Saffron struggling to keep a lid on her mental health and Nell figuring out her own sexual identity, things soon spiral out of control.A dual-perspective sapphic rom-com perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Alice Oseman.
This was the perfect autumn read, really. I read this as
part of Sapphic September and it was full of queer joy, whilst also dealing
with some complex issues. I’d never read a story that focused on Seasonal
Affective Disorder before, so I appreciated that this book gently fed me more
information about the condition that Saffron struggles with each year.
Then there was Nell, who I absolutely ADORED. Since my autism diagnosis at the start of this year, I’ve been on a mission to discover more books with autistic main characters, so that’s what initially drew me to this story. It was super refreshing to see that autism wasn’t the focus of Nell’s plot because we need more casual neurodiverse representation. I was also pleasantly surprised by the acespec rep!
Royal Rating:
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
When Paul and Julian meet as university freshmen in early 1970s Pittsburgh, they are immediately drawn to one another. A talented artist, Paul is sensitive and agonizingly insecure, incomprehensible to his working-class family, and desolate with grief over his father's recent death. Paul sees his wealthy, effortlessly charming Julian as his sole intellectual equal - an ally against the conventional world he finds so suffocating. He idolizes his friend for his magnetic confidence. But as charismatic as he can choose to be, Julian also is volatile and capriciously cruel. An admiration isn't the same as trust.As their friendship spirals into an all-consuming intimacy, Paul is desperate to protect their precarious bond, even as it becomes clear that pressures from the outside world are nothing compared with the brutality they are capable of inflicting on one another. Separation is out of the question. But as their orbit compresses and their grip on one another tightens, they are drawn to an act of irrevocable violence that will force the young men to confront a shattering truth at the core of their relationship.Exquisitely plotted, unfolding with propulsive ferocity, These Violent Delights is a novel of escalating dread and an excavation of the unsettling depths of human desire.
Maybe one day I will finally except the fact that dark
academia is a genre I prefer to enjoy the aesthetics of rather than read. I love
watching dark academia movies and the overall vibes of the genre, but whenever
I delve into a book, it never ends well for me. After having an exceptionally
complicated relationship with The Secret History and If We Were Villains (and
don’t get me STARTED on A Little Life) I really should have been more cautious
before picking this one up. But in typical me fashion, I blinded trusted my
bookstagram mutuals’ praise of this one and thought that maybe, just maybe, the
dark academia would hit different this time.
It didn’t.
I will say I enjoyed it more than 90% of the others I’ve tried, but I still wanted to bash my head against the wall multiple times whilst reading it. The growing tension throughout the story was perfect though and it did keep me hooked in the second half. But I’m still not fully sold.
Royal Rating:
Don’t Let The Forest In by C. G. Drews
High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality―Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork―whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster―Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...
Okay, so I know I’ve literally just said I don’t mix
well with dark academia, but this is an exception. This was actually the
highlight of my Halloween reading. It’s dark academia mixed with fantasy, so
it’s a much better combo for me.
I adored the characters, the mystery, the gory monsters, not
to mention the illustrations. AND there was a fantastic plot twist that left me
reeling. The only reason this book juuuuust missed out on five stars for me is
because the characters stuttered a little too much, to the point that it grated
on me after a while. And when I say stutter, I don’t mean they have a speech
impairment because I would absolutely understand that. It was just them being
too terrified or anxious to talk and it seemed to be happening on every other
page. But that simply comes down to personal preference.
I’ve just picked up the author’s next book, Hazelthorn, and
I’m diving into it immediately because I’m eager to see what they come up with
next.
Royal Rating:
So these were my Halloween reads for 2025! Not as many as I
wanted to get through because I’ve had some personal issues going on throughout
October that have left me with less time to read, but I’m happy with my little
pile.
What have you been reading during spooky season?
