PART 1: A book where the mother is the villain.

PART 2: A book in the backwoods.

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana. Woo boy did I have a rough time with this one for some weird reason. I couldn’t seem to stay focused on it but I did enjoy my time with it! The atmosphere was super eerie and there were some genuinely disgusting things that happened throughout the book. The ending was pretty cool, too. Overall, the book didn’t blow me away and make me fall in love with it, but I am glad that I read it. 

PART 3: A book with a masked character.

If I know anything about KB, then All Hallows’ Haunt will absolutely have a masked character. And I know that He Who Haunts Me will have one! I’ve been following KB on TikTok for a while and when I learned that she was writing not one but two books that would fulfill my love for masked characters, I most definitely lost my marbles. I’m so excited for both of her projects to come to life and you know I’ll be raving about them here so keep an eye out if these books sound up your alley!

PART 4: A book with the best final chapter

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. This book is one of my favorite books of 2022! It’s so cute and I absolutely loved Florence and Ben and their banter and literally everything about them. I don’t remember the last time I actually cried over a book and this one made me ugly cry over how cute it was. That’s supposed to be a glowing recommendation, just in case it didn’t sound like one.

PART 5: A series book that changes its protagonist from the first book.

PART 6: A book with someone or something resurrected from death.

PART 7: A book with a character with telekinesis.

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk! Okay it’s been a long time since I read this and honestly, it kinda traumatized me when I did read it, but this book takes place in hell so I had to pick it, obviously. It’s not a bad book by any means, and I highly recommend it! The main character is incredibly sassy and hilarious and it’s a Chuck Palahniuk book so it’s definitely going to be a good read.

PART X: A book that takes place in space.

PART 11: A book that has characters from different franchises/mash up.

The Wicked Villains series by Katee Robert is Disney villains but make it spicy! Learn My Lesson is probably my favorite out of the series. It follows Meg, Hades, and Hercules and they are in a poly relationship which I was so excited to see how that would work out. It's a fantastic story and I just loved seeing how the three of them worked through their different problems and came together to make an absolutely adorable throuple! Highly recommend it if you love Disney villains.

PART 12: A book that is a retelling

PART 13: A book that you found in a thrift or antique shop.

And that does it for the Friday the 13th book tag! This tag definitely reminded me of a few books I'd like to read again, and made me want to actually watch all of the Friday the 13th films that I haven't seen yet. I'd love to know what your favorite entry in the Friday the 13th series is and why it's Jason X. All jokes aside, let me know in the comments! Tomorrow is day 14 and I have a special tribute to the Halloween series that I'm so excited to share. Thanks for stopping by and I'll scare ya later!

Hi hello ghouls and goblins and welcome to Blogtober day 12! Today, I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite spooky book covers. Personally, I feel like spooky can mean a number of things when it comes to the vibes and the Halloween season, don’t you? Spooky can be an umbrella term for something that’s generally scary, sure, but what about spooky cute? Just like my banner that I created for this year's Blogtober posts (and the adorable pastel Halloween decor that Michaels releases), I feel like spooky cute is definitely a thing! But these are just some book covers that I think fit the Halloween season aesthetic. Let’s get spooky!
___________________________________________________________________________

You want spooky cute? You’ve got spooky cute! This Blood That Binds Us by S.L. Cokeley is a stunning example of how to blend something that could be considered spooky (a human heart) with something cute (pastel frickin pink, y’all)! I’ve been following the author on TikTok for a while now and watching this book come to life has been such a treat. And when the cover was revealed to be this gorgeous pastel peachy pink, (which is not what anyone usually expects of a vampire book, right?) I could not believe what a beauty it turned out to be! It’s a great mix of the expected and unique and pulls off spooky cute so well!

Let’s take a sharp left away from cute and turn into downright creepy, shall we? Into the Sublime by Kate A. Boorman has probably one of my favorite covers I’ve ever seen because it reminds me so much of not only The Luminous Dead, but also one of my all-time favorite horror films called The Descent. Immediately upon looking at this cover, you’ll feel a chill running down your spine when you realize there’s a girl on the cover just…staring at you. Then you notice the water and what appears to be a cave setting? The font choice and how it graduates from small to large and the bright, almost blood red, color of the book title just lends to the creepy factor. All of the elements involved come together to make an unsettling and incredibly memorable book cover, and definitely one for this list!

I may be in the minority here, but this next one is spooky, sure, but also beautifully horrific. Plastic Monsters by Daniel J. Volpe caught my eye with the cover first and then the synopsis had me flying to add this to my TBR! If you’ve ever played the original Bioshock video game, you’ll (hopefully) remember the demented and tortured artist Sander Cohen. Sure, he’s a little out of his mind but hey, we all go a little mad sometimes. This book instantly reminded me of one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite video games so of course I’m going to talk about it! It’s a simple cover that gets more and more almost painful the longer you look at it. But in its horror, it leads you to want to learn more about why it has this cover design, which is the beauty of the terrifying image you see. Yet another case of a cover being simple but very effective and successful!

It took me multiple times of looking at this cover to notice that something just isn’t quite right. Look at it. Then look again. Yeah, that’s a hand coming out of the water to grab her. And also she has a pillowcase on her head which I thought was maybe a rag or towel to block out the light. Nope, pillowcase. Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy seems to be a big hit with a lot of horror fans, and I think it’s for a good reason. Unfortunately for me, I put it down and haven’t picked it back up yet, but I’ve seen rave reviews for this and one thing that a lot of people have mentioned is this cover. I love it when horror isn’t super in your face and it takes you a bit to really notice something could be off, just like this cover. It’s subtle but also not at all, if that makes any sense? It makes you wonder if the cover is this creepy, how horrific are the pages beneath? From what I read and have seen in reviews, it’s pretty darn horrific. The cover does a wonderful job at preparing you for the story, although I don’t think you’ll be prepared by how bloody it is!

I think we can all collectively agree that Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo has a spooky cover, yes? Make no mistake, it is stunning, but something about the white and grey tones with the creepy rabbit just gives me the, well, mega creeps. Of course, I mean that with all the love in the world because the excitement I have for this book is insane, but I won’t deny that this cover is infinitely more unsettling than Ninth House was. I think that’s what makes it so effective as a cover, though. This isn’t even a horror book but it has a horrifying cover that will make people want to pick it up because what the heck is up with it?! I can only hope that my future book will have a cover as cool as Hell Bent.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to discuss something that seems to be the new “book snake” trend which is people covered in flowers. Horrid by Katrina Leno is the first book with a cover like this that came to mind when I was thinking about this trend and yeah, it’s pretty spooky. There are so many books that follow this trend and I think it’s a really effective one, especially when it’s done the way that Horrid is done. Surely, your first thought when seeing this cover was “Why are there flowers coming out of her eyes?” And maybe you even wondered why they were black roses (it’s part of the plot and it’s creepy) because those can’t be normal, right? Having a book cover that’s covered in flowers always gives me ominous vibes for some reason, even if the book isn’t supposed to be scary at all. I love when things that are supposed to be inherently beautiful are twisted and made into something horrific, which is probably why I love the flower trend so much. But Horrid did it in a very effective way, I feel, and it still remains one of my favorite covers for a horror book!

___________________________________________________________________________

And that does it for some of my favorite spooky book covers! Honestly, this post was more of a self-indulgent one because I absolutely love looking at and talking about book covers, especially ones I think are spooky in some fashion. So, thank you for sticking around and reading my rambles! I would love to know what some of your favorite spooky book covers are so let me know in the comments below. Tomorrow is day 13 and I’ll be doing the Friday the 13th Book Tag, so be sure to come back tomorrow for some Camp Crystal Lake fun. Just make sure to leave your camp counselor shirts behind because I’ve heard rumors of people wearing them and going missing. I’m sure it’s nothing. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll scare ya later!

1. What goes bump in the night? Name a book that has legitimately scared you while reading it.

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk made me think about my own death at 18 years old and it traumatized me. I’m almost 30 now and I still remember crying and feeling so sure that I was going to die soon when I was reading this. Don’t ask me why because I have no idea to this day, but I know this book messed me up. Hilariously, I did get diagnosed with cancer at 24 so I the had to think about dying again at a young age, but that’s totally unrelated to the book. Which, speaking of, I did enjoy Damned and will probably have to read it again soon so I can be terrified all over again and read the sequel, Doomed.

2. Jack O’ Lanterns and Classic Costumes: A book you always reach for during Halloween time.

3. Black Cats and Magic Mirrors: A book you love that is laced with superstition and/or magic.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. Honestly, do I need to say anything more? I don’t think I do but I just want to scream about how much I loved this frickin book. I know everyone does so it’s no surprise that I’m also on the hype train for ACOMAF, but it genuinely is one of the best sequels I’ve ever read.

4. Witch’s Brew: Favorite witch character in any book/series.

Paige Winterbourne from Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong! The Women of the Otherworld series is one I never finished but I did read about Paige and absolutely loved her, oh my gosh. It’s been a long time since I read any of these books, but I do remember that Paige was a great witchy character and I had so much fun reading a book that was more centered around her (she appears in a previous book in the series)!

5. Ghouls and Ghosts: A book that still haunts you to this day (good or bad)

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I know, two books by the same author for one book tag? Yes, that is correct. Invisible Monsters was a book I read in high school (I want to say my sophomore year) and it has stuck with me ever since. If you asked me why, or to tell you what I liked so much about it that it still haunts me all these years later, I couldn’t tell you. But it had such an impact on me back then and whenever I see the book, I get so happy and emotional over it because while I can’t recall specifics, I just know I love this book quite a lot.

6. Haunted Graveyard: You’re all alone in a haunted graveyard, you get ONE book to give you comfort, which is it?

A graveyard, you say? Then Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber is definitely the book I’m picking! This series was (and still is) one of my absolute favorites when I was a teenager. I adored Raven, swooned over Alexander, and dreamed that a mysterious vampire boy would show up in my neighborhood and that we would fall in love as they did. Obviously, that never happened (although I did fall in love) but this series still holds many fond memories for me! I think it’s well past time for a binge-read of the series again.

7. The Undead: Favorite supernatural creatures to read about (i.e. vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc).

Shocker, it’s vampires! I know, you definitely didn’t see that coming based off of my rant on Vampire Kisses, right? I’ve always loved reading books about vampires ever since I was little and absolutely nothing has changed. And I know this prompt didn’t ask for a book, but I figured I’d throw in another throwback in Marked by P.C and Kristin Cast just for fun. This was another series I loved when I was younger but I actually never finished it because I got impatient waiting for the next book to come out and just stopped reading. Guess I found another series to binge-re-read after Vampire Kisses!

8. In the dead of night: Pick a book with a black cover.

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson was the first book that came to mind! I’m obsessed with this cover, oh my goodness. And this is on my spooky October TBR so I will absolutely be reading it this month. It’s a Carrie retelling but with a twist and I’m really excited to see how this is done! I’ve heard really good reviews about it so I can’t wait to pick it up soon.
__________________________________________________________________________

And that does it for the Spooky Scary book tag! Don’t forget to go check out the original video from Clever Fox here for her answers. I’d love to see your answers for this tag so if you want to do it, consider yourself tagged! I’d love to know what you’re reading during the spooky season so let me know your recent spooky read in the comments below. Tomorrow is day 12 and I’ll be sharing some of my favorite spooky book covers so don’t forget to come back to check out that post! Thanks for stopping by and I’ll scare ya later!