October is one of my favorite months. It’s that time of year where your reading time moves slowly indoors, and your go-to drink gets progressively warmer until you’re snuggled up in a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa living vicariously through cozy reads. In honor of all those who love to live the Halloween season through the experiences of fictional characters, I have a collection of stories that feature people with a variety of masks. In these novels, characters weigh the benefits of becoming vampires, werewolves, and doomsday preppers so we can relax and enjoy our apple cider.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
In Holly Black’s only vampire book (and her best book if you ask me), seventeen-year-old Tana struggles with the consequences of a party at which she *might* have been bitten by a vampire. Desperate to avoid a repeat of family trauma, Tana rushes off to a gilded quarantine for the world’s vampires with her maybe-a-vampire ex-boyfriend and definately-a-vampire new acquaintance.
This book is full of tension and angst, reminiscent of Rebecca Schafer’s Not Even Bones and Ava Reid’s A Study in Drowning. Tana is compelling and relatable, as she navigates between risk and reward, kindness and danger. I was particularly impressed by the worldbuilding which was at once complex and realistic. Readers should be aware that this novel has several violent scenes relating to vampirism.
Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Katherine O’Neal
After Lyme disease destroys Priya’s life and med-school aspirations, her only comfort is Oof Ouch My Bones, an online community of people coping with chronic illness, including her online bestie Briget. As Priya and Bridge navigate their conditions together, Priya quickly realizes that her friend is hiding something. Something large and furry with enormous teeth. Written in alternating chat transcripts and normal text, this book is a quick and entertaining read.
Personally, I was impressed by the wit and heart displayed in this novel. While reading it, I learned many things about Lyme Disease and other real conditions that can affect others. An interesting and diverse cast of side characters provide a wonderful backdrop for Priya and Bridge’s unique relationship. Sensitive readers like myself should be aware that the novel can get a little graphic when describing medical conditions (including fictional conditions like lycanthropy).
Prepped by Bethany Mangle
Prepped is a quick-witted novel, part rom-com, part thriller, and altogether entertaining. 18-year-old Becca has always been a little odd. That comes with the territory when you live in a doomsday prepper colony founded by your grandparents complete with regular survival lessons, a backyard bunker, and an assigned boyfriend. However, when disaster strikes, the preppers’ ideology starts to border on crazy. As her world collapses, Becca begins to search for a way out before everything implodes on her and those she loves.
This book was so much fun. It had a little bit of the seriousness of Laura Zimmerman’s Just Do This One Thing For Me in it that caught me off guard. I love how the book explores the liminal space of Becca’s transition into legal adulthood and the implications of that on her relationship with her parents and community when she isn’t engaged in their ideology. Becca’s voice is sarcastic and grounded, and her interactions with other characters are realistic and relatable. Readers should be aware that some of the doomsday prepper’s training activities border on physical and emotional abuse, including replication of particularly traumatic moments.
The Crescent Crier 