Throughout the year I’ve started each month with a heightened sense of optimism than what I end up with by the end of the previous month. One thing I’ve learned about myself over the past couple of years is that I love a Beginning. Whether that is the beginning of a week, a month, a year, I almost always feel refreshed and ready to take on whatever “new” period of time is ahead. While I still am struggling to maintain the level of structure and enjoyment in life that I had pre-pandemic, this love for beginnings has stood strong.

This little bit of rambling is just to say that while this year has been a whirlwind, and I feel a bit sad that it is coming to a close so quickly, I am excited to start this new month, and the following is a reflection of that.

---

Books On My Radar

From My Shelves (Physical + Electronic)

If you’ve followed the past couple of reading previews, these will be familiar.

• Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
  • It wouldn’t be an October reading list without some Gothic fiction. This novella is one of the earliest works of vampire fiction (pre-Dracula), and I happened upon it while browsing one of my local bookstores. A win all around.
    • If you are in the US (restrictions may apply outside the US), you can read the Carmilla ebook for free via Project Gutenberg.

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest – the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion.

But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day…

• When the Crow’s Away (Evenfall Witches B&B Mystery #2) by Auralee Wallace
  • I finally ordered this, so while it’s currently not physically on my shelves, it will be soon. I read the first book last year and loved it – I recommend it if you like spooky, witchy, and small town mysteries.

When a guest dies in the B&B she helps her aunts run, a young witch must rely on some good old-fashioned investigating to clear her aunt’s name in this magical and charming new cozy mystery.

For four hundred years, the Warren witches have used their magic to quietly help the citizens of the sleepy New England town of Evenfall thrive. There’s never been a problem they couldn’t handle. But then Constance Graves–a local known for being argumentative and demanding–dies while staying at the bed and breakfast Brynn Warren maintains with her aunts. At first, it seems like an accident…but it soon becomes clear that there’s something more sinister at work, and Aunt Nora is shaping up to be the prime suspect.

There’s nothing Brynn wants more than to prove Nora’s innocence, and it hurts her to know that even two years ago that might have been easier. Brynn, after all, is a witch of the dead–a witch who can commune with ghosts. Ghosts never remember much about their deaths, but Constance might remember something about her life that would help crack the case. But Brynn hasn’t used her powers since her husband died, and isn’t even sure she still can. Brynn will just have to hope that her aunts’ magic and her own investigative skills will lead her to answers–and maybe back to the gift she once thought herself ready to give up forever.

Reviews and Blog Tours

I’m not on any blog tours this month, but I do want to start submitting reviews to NetGalley again. I’ve downloaded some “Read Now” titles to my NG shelf that I’ll hopefully enjoy (links direct to the publishers’ sites).

• Lobster Wars by Mark E. Greene
• The Company of Strangers (Stories) by Jen Michalski
• Breaking the Mold: Changing the Face of Climate Science by Dana Alison Levy

Library Books

I still have these – my apologies to my library. I will finish them this month, I will!!

• The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
• Moon Over SoHo by Ben Aaronovitch
• Dessert Can Save the World by Christina Tosi

Reading Challenges

I’m not focusing on any specific reading challenges (like my Classics Club challenge) until after the new year – it just seems best.

---

And that does it for my December Reading Preview. If you are interested in seeing which books I end up reading throughout the rest of the month, keep an eye out for my WWW Wednesday posts, follow me on Instagram, or find me on The StoryGraph. I would also love to know which books, reading challenges, or other bookish topics you are excited about this month—feel free to share in the comments!

Happy reading!