October Wrap-Up

So I'm kind of sad to see October go.  I've really enjoyed reading tons of scary horror books but hey, I can do that all year round so I guess it's still good.  I will be switching gears and adding in some cozies as well as some Christmas reads (don't worry - there will be horror Christmas reads as well) in November and December but hey, as long as I'm enjoying what I'm reading, I'm not going to stress too much.  

I did manage to hit Bingo at least 2 different ways on my 2017 Halloween Bingo challenge.  I had tons of fun and am already looking forward to participating next year.  Here's what my card looked like at the end.

As for the rest of my challenges, all of them are going pretty good except for one.  And I'm okay with that.  So onto the actual books!

GOODREADS: 88/100 (still ahead so at least Goodreads hasn't been mocking me the past 2 months)

2017 CLOAK & DAGGER CHALLENGE: 36/26 (Princesses of the Night, Rituals)

2017 FLIGHTS OF FANTASY CHALLENGE: 39/18 (The October Faction Vol. 1, The October Faction Vol. 2, The Witches of Auburn: Gifts of Our Mother, Rituals)

2017 HORROR READING CHALLENGE: 33/15 (The Twilight Pariah, Dark Exodus, Alone, Princesses of the Night, Damned, The October Faction Vol. 1, The October Faction Vol. 2, Ultimate Sacrifice, The Witches of Auburn: Gifts of Our Mother, Rosemary's Baby)

2017 WHAT AN ANIMAL CHALLENGE: 23/20 (Rituals)

2017 NEW RELEASE CHALLENGE: 64/61(The Twilight Pariah, Dark Exodus, Alone, Princesses of the Night, Damned, Ultimate Sacrifice, The Witches of Auburn: Gifts of Our Mother, Rituals) DONE!!!!

BLOGGER SHAME: 2 (None)

Basically just my Goodreads challenge to complete.  The Blogger Shame was a set your own target so even though I didn't meet my personal goal, at least I did something. I had 2 5-paw reads, 6 4-paw reads, 2 3-paw read and 1 2-paw read for a total of 11 books in October.  Not too shabby!

How did you do in October?

Cake Flavored Book Tag

CAKE FLAVORED BOOK TAG

I was tagged by Bleu over at Booked & Busy, a fairly new blog discovery that has pretty much become a daily stop and come on, who doesn't love cake of some sort!  Also, Cass has a birthday coming up soon so I had to do this one in his honor!

CHOCOLATE CAKE: A DARK BOOK YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE

The Demonists by Thomas E. Sniegoski pretty much started my love affair with all of his books.  This one, as well as its sequel, are both VERY dark.

VANILLA CAKE: A LIGHT READ

The Lumberjane books are great books to pick up when you want something good yet not too serious.  They are tons of fun and I've read the first 5 volumes so far.

RED VELVET: A BOOK THAT GAVE YOU MIXED EMOTIONS

The Most Beautiful by Mayte Garcia.  I was prepared to dislike this book because I thought Mayte was just trying to capitalize on Prince's death but I was so wrong.  I ended up deeply respecting her and realizing Prince wasn't as perfect as I had made him (but don't get me wrong - I still LOVE him and all his flaws).

CHEESECAKE: A BOOK YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.  I can't count the number of times I've recommended this book this year.

COFFEE CAKE:  A BOOK YOU STARTED BY NEVER FINISHED
 

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart.  I rarely DNF books but this one, which I tried to read last year, stands out in my mind.

CARROT CAKE: A BOOK WITH GREAT WRITING

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman.  I JUST finished this one and OMG it was so captivating.  I honestly think there is a spell put on this book.

TIRAMISU CAKE: A BOOK THAT LEFT YOU WANTING MORE

The entire Sin du Jour series by Matt Wallace.  Each book in this series makes me want the next one immediately after I finish the current one.  I'm so sad to read the last one soon!

CUPCAKE:  A SERIES WITH 3 OR MORE BOOKS

There are 5 books in Anne Bishop's "The Others" series and even though I still need to read book 5, I have loved them all!!!

FRUIT CAKE: A BOOK THAT WAN'T WHAT YOU ANTICIPATED

I was sure We Are Always Watching by Hunter Shea was about a haunted house.  It wasn't, but I still really liked it - A LOT!

LEMON CAKE: A BOOK THAT SURPRISED YOU

A book about dogs and fairies?  Wasn't sure how Jackie was going to pull this one off but Stray Magic got ALL THE PAWS!

LANE CAKE: A FAVORITE AMERICAN BOOK

Stephen King's American right?  

Thanks for Bleu for tagging me.  If you liked this tag, feel free to do it and add a link so I know where to check it out!

The Twilight Pariah - Not What I Expected

TITLE: The Twilight Pariah
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Ford
PUBLISHER: Tor.com
PUBLISHING DATE: September 12, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: All Maggie, Russell, and Henry wanted out of their last college vacation was to get drunk and play archaeologist in an old house in the woods outside of town. When they excavate the mansion's outhouse they find way more than they bargained for: a sealed bottle filled with a red liquid, along with the bizarre skeleton of a horned child

Disturbing the skeleton throws each of their lives into a living hell. They feel followed wherever they go, their homes are ransacked by unknown intruders, and people they care about are brutally, horribly dismembered. The three friends awakened something, a creature that will stop at nothing to retrieve its child.

MY THOUGHTS: I had really high expectations for "The Twilight Pariah" despite seeing some well-trusted bloggers who eluded it didn't quite meet their's. I should have trusted them because I had a really difficult time finishing this novella and it took me forever to read something that shouldn't have taken so long.

Maggie, Russel and Henry are on summer break from college. Maggie has switched her majors (again) and now wants to be an archaeologist so she convinces her friends to start a dig on an abandoned town property - in the outhouse of all places. They eventually stumble upon an scary old skeleton of a baby with horns so Maggie puts it in her trunk so they can figure out what exactly they have found (apparently Maggie doesn't watch horror movies and doesn't know she should leave the dead buried). Following this, a strange apparition appears throughout the home and the town and people end up dying. It's up to Maggie and her friends to figure out what is going on before every one they care about ends up dead.

This book had potential and a good premise but overall I felt it was a tad disjointed. In fact, I kind of felt like I was reading two stories mashed into one. Anyone who has read this book and knows me and my blog will know that I really liked how this "being" was formed (the apparition creature, not the devil baby) but had a hard time connecting that with the baby in the well. I will admit that perhaps I wasn't fully invested in this book as I picked it up on a whim and there were some things going on while reading it that kind of distracted me. That being said, I just expected better. "The Twilight Pariah" is a short read and if you like horror, definitely consider picking it up, just don't set your expectations too high.  

RATING: 3 STARS 

Stacking the Shelves (135)/Sunday Post

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves or TBR piles, may it be physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in a physical store, online, books you borrow from the library or friends, review books, gifts and of course, ebooks! The original meme was started over at Tynga's Reviews. And it now has a new co-host where individuals can link up as well - Marlene from Reading Reality.  Clicking on the book (or title) should take you to the Goodreads page.  I'm also now linking up with the Sunday Post which is hosted by Kimberly@Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

So I think Amazon had a run on free horror books over Halloween week so I grabbed more than several including The Dead Orphanage and The Knowing.  I also saw Mad Black Wheel go on sale this month for $1.99 so I grabbed it and Night of the Moths was my Kindle First choice this month.

And I also received a few books for review.  I couldn't resist Arachnosaur because it looked like so much fun.  The Beloveds and Paper Ghosts also caught my attention.

So what did you add to your shelves this week and have you read any of these???

Also, Cass was feeling left out after being left to guard the wolf last week while Booker blogged so I promised I post a picture of him.  Here is my baby look innocent (and we all know the truth).

Weekly Reads (11/03/17)

I can't believe Halloween and October are over.  I guess we are forced to move on to Thanksgiving.  And I don't know about you, but it seems pretty early since it's technically just three weeks away.  We had a nice Halloween at our home and handed out candy and then watched a movie.  The boys got lots of kid attention which they loved and a treat or two for themselves.

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern over the fire last week.  You'll be glad to know it was finally extinguished last Saturday after burning 8 days.  Now the clean up begins and I really hope the owner has to answer for what he has done.  

Speaking of movies, we watched "The Dark Tower" and overall, I guess I didn't really like it.  Matthew McConaughey was seriously channeling Christopher Watkins in my opinion  so I couldn't even enjoy watching him.  Idris Elba did a good job though. I haven't read the books yet but Stormi and I are slated to read the first one in December as a buddy read so I'm excited to see what I think.  I've heard the book and the movie are completely different.  We also watched Season 2 of "Stranger Things" and I love it so much.  I can see myself totally rewatching the entire series again this winter.  Dustin is my favorite and although I thought it started out slow, it really picked up steam after the third episode.  

I've had a hard time picking up a book the last few days.  I can't seem to figure out what I want to read.  However, the HoHoHo readathon starts November 8th so the books I picked for that are on tap too.  Here's what MIGHT get picked up this week.

So I hope you all have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by The Farm.

Chosen Blog Tour

Chosen
R.S. Broadhead
(The Urban Legends Series)
Publication date: October 24th 2017
Genres: New Adult, Supernatural, Thriller

Black eyes. No emotion. No sympathy. Only emptiness.
Piper McAdams’s life was normal. Career? Check. Boyfriend? Check. Friends? Check. One unsettling run in with a homeless man turns everything from normal to terrifying. She begins seeing…things.
Things she can’t seem to explain or make any sense.
As if things aren’t already getting out of hand, Piper receives news that the only family member she has is dead. She thinks maybe a trip across the country to her hometown will get her away from all the strange events happening.
After a late night accident, Piper isn’t in her hometown burying her loved one. She’s in a town called Hell. All she wants to do is leave, but the people seem to be holding her there for some reason.
A reason she feels threatens her life. Around every corner things become darker and scarier.
Can she escape what is coming for her?

MY THOUGHTS:  I have always been fascinated with urban legends so reading this book was kind of a no-brainer.  I love the concept of Piper ending up in a town called Hell and couldn't finish this book fast enough.  Although Piper makes some questionable choices during the book, she realized she was doing so and because of this, I liked her better as a character and really cared what happened to her next.  I won't give much else away but if you love creepy books, I recommend you pick this one up next Halloween or any time of the year for that matter.  I'm very interested to see what this author comes up with next. 

Goodreads / Amazon

Author Bio:
R. S. Broadhead lives in Jackson, Alabama with her husband of ten years, their two little girls, and a pug named Wednesday Love the Duchess, or Winnie for short. She has a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in business administration. She loves to snowboard, travel (Australia is her favorite place so far), and dance (not professionally, just whenever she feels like it). When she was sixteen-years-old, her and her friends would take pictures and make up funny stories about them. Fourteen years later, UNVEILED was born. UNVEILED, her first novel, is the first book in a four book series.

Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Can't Wait Wednesday (130)

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

FROM GOODREADS:  Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.”

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. 

The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  I really like the Academy setting and I think it sounds like a good mystery if done right.  I've not read anything by this author other than a winter novella, but I am very curious about her Jack the Ripper series.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK????