Hello, Friends!! It’s been a while since my last post, and while I have been reading, I have been adding books to my shelves of unread books. So many I am having a hard time keeping track, and my bookshelf is overflowing, and I have books on chairs and on the floor in my book room, and I keep buying more. But I do need them all!! I really need self-control, along with shelf control, when purchasing physical books.
Books I have added to my shelf of unread physical books in October
The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke
While searching up spooky reads for October, I came across a new book by C.J. Cooke. I didn’t realize she had one out. So when I saw she had a new spooky read, I ordered it immediately. I read and enjoyed The Lighthouse Witches, and then after reading it, I bought The Nesting. It is on my spooky shelf of unread books. I wanted to sneak The Ghost Woods in for a Halloween read, but I just started it.
What it is about:
In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall.
This place is shrouded in folklore – old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child.
Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.
Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something.
Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live in the grounds – and together they begin to unpick the secrets of this place.
As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew – and risk what she holds most dear.
Published in October 2022 by HarperCollins 416 pgs
Genre: Gothic thriller
Setting: 16th-Century manor Lichen Hall in the woodlands Scottish Borders
C.J. Cooke lives in Glasgow, Scotland
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
I love, love Alice Feeney’s writing style, and she gets me every time with her killer twists. Her books are now an automatic purchase for me. I love that the clues are there for you to figure out her twists, and while I never do, I can see how I was misled. I have read this one and loved it less than Rock Paper Scissors. Lindsay is now reading it, and I hope to post our reviews when she is done.
What the book is about:
After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
Published in August 2022 by Flatiron Books 352 pgs
Genre: Psychological suspense/ Lock room mystery
Setting: Tiny Tidal Island off Cornish Coast England
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer
Kelly Rimmer is a favorite author for Lindsay and me. We have started this one and are almost down. So far, it’s a winner for both of us.
About the book
Berlin, 1930—When a wave of change sweeps a radical political party to power, Sofie von Meyer Rhodes’s academic husband benefits from the ambitions of its newly elected chancellor. Although Sofie and Jürgen do not share the social views growing popular in Hitler’s Germany, Jürgen’s position with its burgeoning rocket program changes their diminishing fortunes for the better. But as Sofie watches helplessly, her beloved Berlin begins to transform, forcing her to consider what they must sacrifice morally for their young family’s security, and what the price for their neutrality will be.
Twenty years later, Jürgen is one of the many German scientists offered pardons for their part in the war, and taken to America to work for its fledgling space program. For Sofie, this is the chance to exorcise the ghosts that have followed her across the ocean, and make a fresh start in her adopted country. But her neighbors aren’t as welcoming or as understanding as she had hoped. When scandalous rumors about the Rhodes family’s affiliation with Hitler’s regime spreads, idle gossip turns to bitter rage, and the act of violence that results will tear apart Sofie’s community and her family before the truth is finally revealed.
Published in June 2022 by HarperCollins 351 pgs
Setting: Berlin 1930, Huntsville, Alabama 1950
Kelly Rimmer lives in rural Australia
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
I loved Little Fires Everywhere, which I dug deep into with the themes of parenthood, class, entitlement/privilege, race, and familial relationships. I think of it often, and I wonder if I would feel the same way about it now as I did when I read it. It has been five years since it was written, and I see things differently now with our changing world. I wonder if the author had an agenda when it came to themes of entitlement and privilege. So I want to see what she offers us in her new book.
About the book
From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes one of the most highly anticipated books of the year – the inspiring new novel about a mother’s unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.
Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.
Published in October 2022 by Penguin Press 335 pgs
Setting: Shaker Heights, Ohio
Genre: Domestic Fiction
Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights
The Winners (Beartown 3) by Fredrik Backman
I loved everything I read by Fredrik Backman and the humorous insight he offers us in his stories. I added this one to my NG shelf from a widget sent to me a while back. I quickly downloaded it and had good intentions to read and review it early, but it is one I have to hold and own. It’s also 670 pages, and I would much rather read a physical book over Ebook with that many pages.
About the book
Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?
As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.
So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home? Everything.
Published in September 2022 by Atria Books/ 670 pgs
Setting: Swedish forest town called Beartown
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Fredrik Backman lives in Stockholm, Sweden
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
I bought this one while browsing Chapters Bookstore for some much-needed book therapy. Before going, I limited myself to only buying one book, and that day I had some self-control and only bought one. I bought it because the cover caught my attention, and it was one of the books featured at the front of the store. It also helped that my husband was with me, judging me with that look in his eye.
What the book is about
An enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go.
Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.
Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.
When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey’s new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island’s famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.
Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn’t yet been written
Published in August 2022 by St. Martin’s Press 304 pgs
Setting: Off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island
Genre: Magical Realism, Ghost story, Domestic Fiction, Paranormal fiction
Sarah Addison Allen was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina
That’s all for now but of course I added titles to my unread NetGalley and Edelweiss shelves and will be posting them in a separate post.
Penny For Our Thoughts 
I’m the same way. I love books. Some I read again after 5 years on the shelf. Books are adventurous friends that make your mind travel to all the corners of the world and impart great knowledge!
LikeLike