Hey guys! August seriously came and went. I ended up reading everything on my TBR besides one book. I did squeeze in some comics as well. I have a pretty ambitious TBR for September. There are just so many books I want to read. I am trying to fit more audiobooks in there cause those help a lot. So let’s dive in and see what I want to read in September!
Queen of Volts By Amanda Foody
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Science Fiction
Pages: 416 pages
Publication Date: September 1st 2020
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Plot: Return to the City of Sin, where the final game is about to begin…and winning will demand the ultimate sacrifice.
Only days after a corrupt election and brutal street war, one last bloodthirsty game has begun. The players? The twenty-two most powerful, notorious people in New Reynes.
After realizing they have no choice but to play, Enne Scordata and Levi Glaisyer are desperate to forge new alliances and bargain for their safety. But while Levi offers false smiles and an even falser peace to the city’s politicians, Enne must face a world where her true Mizer identity has been revealed…and any misstep could turn deadly.
Meanwhile, a far more dangerous opponent has appeared on the board, one plucked right from the most gruesome legends of New Reynes. As the game takes its final, vicious turn, Levi and Enne must decide once and for all whether to be partners or enemies.
Because in a game for survival, there are only losers…
And monsters.
It Came from the Multiplex: 80s Midnight Thrillers Genre: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction
Pages: 316 pages
Publication Date: September 15th 2020
Publisher: Hex Publishers
Plot: Welcome to tonight’s feature presentation, brought to you by an unholy alliance of our spellcasters at Hex Publishers and movie-mages at the Colorado Festival of Horror. Please be advised that all emergency exits have been locked for this special nostalgia-curdled premiere of death. From crinkling celluloid to ferocious flesh—from the silver screen to your hammering heart—behold as a swarm of werewolves, serial killers, Satanists, Elder Gods, aliens, ghosts, and unclassifiable monsters are loosed upon your auditorium. Relax, and allow our ushers to help with your buckets of popcorn—and blood; your ticket stubs—and severed limbs; your comfort candy—and body bags. Kick back and scream as you settle into a fate worse than Hell. Tonight’s director’s cut is guaranteed to slash you apart.
Edited by Joshua Viola
Produced in collaboration with the Colorado Festival of Horror
Cover art by AJ Nazzaro and Joshua Viola
Story art by Xander Smith
Header art by Aaron Lovett
Contents:
FOREWORD: Bret and Jeanni Smith, INTRODUCTION:Paul Campion, ALIEN PARASITES FROM OUTER SPACE By Warren Hammond, RETURN OF THE ALIEN PARASITES FROM OUTER SPACE By Angie Hodapp, NEGATIVE CREEP By Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, HELLULOID By Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, RISE, YE VERMIN!
By Betty Rocksteady, THE CRONENBERG CONCERTO By Keith Ferrell, CREATURE FEATURE By Gary Jonas, INVISIBLE By Mario Acevedo, SCREEN HAUNT By Orrin Grey, THE DEVIL’S REEL By Sean Eads and Joshua Viola, ON THE ROCKS By K. Nicole Davis, COMING ATTRACTIONS By Stephen Graham Jones, LATE SLEEPERS By Steve Rasnic Tem and SPECIAL MAKEUP By Kevin J. Anderson
My Best Friend’s Exorcism By Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Adult, Humor, Thriller
Pages: 337 pages
Publication Date: May 17th 2016
Publisher: Quirk Books
Plot: Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act….different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?
*This is a buddy read with Destiny @Howing Libraries.*
The Devil and the Dark Water By Stuart Turton
Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Adult, Historical, Suspense, Fantasy
Pages: 481 pages
Publication Date: May 17th 2016
Publisher: Quirk Books
Plot: A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.
It’s 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.
But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.
And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.
Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?
With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.
The breathtaking new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.
Kingdom of the Wicked By Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical, Mystery, Fiction
Pages: 448 pages
Publication Date: October 27th 2020
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson
Plot: Kerri Maniscalco introduces her next series, a dark tale of a beautiful young witch, a troubled demon, and their epic romance, set against a 19th century Italian backdrop.
Emilia and her twin sister Victoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Victoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to discover who did this, and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, the outlier among the seven demon brethren, always choosing duty over pleasure. He’s been tasked by his master with investigating a series of women’s murders on the island. When Emilia and Wrath’s fates collide, it’s clear this disturbing mystery will take a bewitching turn…
Little Secrets By Jennifer Hillier
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 352 pages
Publication Date: April 1st 2020
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Plot: Four hundred and eighty seconds. That’s how long it took for someone to steal Marin Machado’s four-year-old son.
Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family. Up until the day Sebastian is taken.
A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. The only thing keeping her going is the unlikely chance that one day Sebastian reappears. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding him, she discovers that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman.
Kenzie Li is an artist and grad student—Instagram famous—and up to her eyeballs in debt. She knows Derek is married. She also knows he’s rich, and dating him comes with perks: help with bills, trips away, expensive gifts. He isn’t her first rich boyfriend, but she finds herself hoping he’ll be the last. She’s falling for him—and that was never part of the plan.
Discovery of the affair sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix. But as she sets a plan in motion, another revelation surfaces. Derek’s lover might know what happened to their son. And so might Derek.
From the author of Jar of Hearts, a mother driven to the edge by the disappearance of her son learns her husband is having an affair with the woman who might have kidnapped him.
Thunderhead By Neal Shusterman
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Adventure
Pages: 502 pages
Publication Date: January 9th 2018
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Plot: Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.
Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?
*This is a buddy read with Bex @As Told By Bex*
These Vengeful Hearts By Katherine Laurin
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction
Pages: 336 pages
Publication Date: September 8th 2020
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Plot: Anyone can ask the Red Court for a favor…but every request comes at a cost. And once the deed is done, you’re forever in their debt.
Whenever something scandalous happens at Heller High, the Red Court is the name on everyone’s lips. Its members–the most elite female students in the school–deal out social ruin and favors in equal measure, their true identities a secret known only to their ruthless leader: the Queen of Hearts.
Sixteen-year-old Ember Williams has seen firsthand the damage the Red Court can do. Two years ago, they caused the accident that left her older sister paralyzed. Now, Ember is determined to hold them accountable…by taking the Red Court down from the inside.
But crossing enemy lines will mean crossing moral boundaries, too–ones Ember may never be able to come back from. She always knew taking on the Red Court would come at a price, but will the cost of revenge be more than she’s willing to sacrifice?
*This is a buddy read with Bex @As Told By Bex*
Bookish and The Beast By Ashley Poston
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Retellings, Ficton
Pages: 288 pages
Publication Date: August 4th 2020
Publisher: Quirk Books
Plot: In the third book in Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe.
Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.
On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.
When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.
But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.
A Wicked Magic By Sasha Laurens
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Thriller, Fiction
Pages: 386 pages
Publication Date: July 28th 2020
Publisher: Razorbill
Plot: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The Craft when modern witches must save teens stolen by an ancient demon in this YA fantasy-thriller debut.
Dan and Liss are witches. The Black Book granted them that power. Harnessing that power feels good, especially when everything in their lives makes them feel powerless.
During a spell gone wrong, Liss’s boyfriend is snatched away by an evil entity and presumed dead. Dan and Liss’s friendship dies that night, too. How can they practice magic after the darkness that they conjured?
Months later, Liss discovers that her boyfriend is alive, trapped underground in the grips of an ancient force. She must save him, and she needs Dan and the power of The Black Book to do so. Dan is quickly sucked back into Liss’s orbit and pushes away her best friend, Alexa. But Alexa has some big secrets she’s hiding and her own unique magical disaster to deal with.
When another teenager disappears, the girls know it’s no coincidence. What greedy magic have they awakened? And what does it want with these teens it has stolen?
Set in the atmospheric wilds of California’s northern coast, Sasha Laurens’s thrilling debut novel is about the complications of friendship, how to take back power, and how to embrace the darkness that lives within us all.
The Outsider By Stephen King Genre: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, Suspense,
Pages: 561pages
Publication Date: May 22nd 2018
Publisher: Scribner
Plot: An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.
As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.
Mexican Gothic By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Fantasy, Historical, Adult, Thriller
Pages: 301 pages
Publication Date: June 30th 2020
Publisher: Del Rey
Plot: An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . .
From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes a novel set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.
After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find – her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
Death on the Nile By Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Thriller
Pages: 333 pages
Publication Date: July 5th 2005
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Plot: The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything – until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: “I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.” Yet in this exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems…
Cirque Berserk By Jessica Guess
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Novella
Pages: 111 pages
Publication Date: Feburary 20th 2020
Publisher: Unnerving
Plot: The summer of 1989 brought terror to the town of Shadows Creek, Florida in the form of a massacre at the local carnival, Cirque Berserk. One fateful night, a group of teens killed a dozen people then disappeared into thin air. No one knows why they did it, where they went, or even how many of them there were, but legend has it they still roam the abandoned carnival, looking for blood to spill.
Thirty years later, best friends, Sam and Rochelle, are in the midst of a boring senior trip when they learn about the infamous Cirque Berserk. Seeking one last adventure, they and their friends journey to the nearby Shadows Creek to see if the urban legends about Cirque Berserk are true. But waiting for them beyond the carnival gates is a night of brutality, bloodshed, and betrayal.
Will they make they make it out alive, or will the carnival’s past demons extinguish their futures?
Book 4 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.
*This is for Bex’s Book Club Attack of the Killer Book Club*
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death By Caitlin Doughty
Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Humor, Death, Adult, History, Medical
Pages: 237 pages
Publication Date: September 10th 2019
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Plot: New York Times Bestseller
Best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers real questions from kids about death, dead bodies, and decomposition.
Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut’s body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral?
In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician’s knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious, and candid answers to thirty-five distinctive questions posed by her youngest fans. In her inimitable voice, Doughty details lore and science of what happens to, and inside, our bodies after we die. Why do corpses groan? What causes bodies to turn colors during decomposition? And why do hair and nails appear longer after death? Readers will learn the best soil for mummifying your body, whether you can preserve your best friend’s skull as a keepsake, and what happens when you die on a plane.
Beautifully illustrated by Dianné Ruz, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? shows us that death is science and art, and only by asking questions can we begin to embrace it.
What books are you reading in August? Have you read any of these? Let me know!
Bookish In Bed
Bookish In Bed 
Several of these are sitting on my TBR, but I haven’t read any of them yet. Hope you get to them all and that you love them!
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Thank you so much 🙂
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These look like some perfect reads for the upcoming spooky season! There’s a couple I’d like to read too though I don’t think I’ll get to them this month
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It’s funny I was looking at this list the other day and was like ooh lots spooky reads. I didn’t even realize when picking. Oh nice, I do hope you enjoy them when you get to them!
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It Came from the Multiplex sounds so fun! I just pre-ordered the ebook. And I can’t wait for our buddy read and for Cirque Berserk with Bex’s club. I hope you love the Caitlin Doughty book, I know I did!
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I have been in such a 80s/90s mood lately so It Came from the Multiplex sounded right up my alley. I am super hyped for Cirque Berserk. I have heard nothing but amazing things. Also really enjoying Caitlin Doughty’s book. It is hilarious.
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I’m really looking forward to your review or thoughts on Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? I’ve heard such great things about it.
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I’m reading it slowly but really enjoying it. It’s so funny but also super interesting. I’m learning things I had no idea about.
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