October Book Wrap Up: You Could Say It Was Bewitching

Did you make your October spooky? I decided to fill my month with witchy reads. And it went a little something like this.

‘The Amber Spyglass’ — Philip Pullman

5 out of 5 stars. The final part of the trilogy was a fantastic way to end. It was definitely on the sadder side, but I appreciate the conclusions everyone got. Also the witches are the best.

‘Midnight Sun’ — Stephenie Meyer

3 out of 5 stars. The only book I read this month that didn’t include witches (unless you count mind-reading). I was so disappointed in this book. If this book had been all four of the original series in one, I think it wouldn’t have dragged so much. Instead, it had way, way too much internal dialogue. So much unnecessary padding. It was a complete bore to be honest.

‘Bunny’ — Mona Awad

3 out of 5 stars. This book was terrifying, original, and perfect for the spooky season. A college student gets sucked into a witchy cult that turns bunnies into humans. I mean, what the heck?? Fantastic. Unfortunately, I did feel like it dragged throughout the book, and it didn’t help that it was told in very passive voice (intentional, but not helpful for reader engagement). The ending was great though. Very satisfying.

‘Garden Witchery’ — Ellen Dugan

4 out of 5 stars. This was a fantastic resource for gardening according to moon phases, seasons, and even more informative witchy plant-related tips. It was PACKED with information, so it was nice to have all that broken-up with some personal stories from the author. But…it was a little dry in areas as well.

‘The Green Witch’ — Arin Hiscock-Murphy

3 out 5 stars. After reading Garden Witchery this book felt very surface-level. There weren’t many spells, but it did have a lot of recipes (one I tried for bread turned out terrible). All in all, it was a good starter book for understanding plant potentials.

‘The Near Witch’ — V.E. Schwab

4 out of 5 stars. When I started this book, I wasn’t really into it. It didn’t really grab my attention. This teenage girl is friends with witches on the outskirts of town. Then a mysteriously powerful stranger comes to town at the same time children start to go missing. But I actually really enjoyed this book by the end. It was sweet and old-fashioned, and it had spooky vibes for sure.

‘The Witch of Blackbird Pond’ — Elizabeth George Speare

1 out of 5 stars. Disclaimer: I never read this as a kid, so I have no nostalgia attached to it. I absolutely hated this book. I hated the main characters. I hated who the girl ended up with. I wish that the witch had been in more of the book. So many more things…but I just did not like this book at all.

‘Witchery’ — Juliet Diaz

4 out of 5 stars. Although Diaz’s recipes and spells were pretty long and tedious, I enjoyed how many there were. She got right to the point and covered a lot of ground I hadn’t read it other books yet. I felt like this was a great medium level book content-wise.

‘The Babysitters Coven’ — Kate Williams

5 out of 5 stars. I listened to this book via audiobook right before Halloween, and it was magnificent. This was another one that I was unsure about when it was about a third of the way through. It just didn’t seem to be going the way I expected. But then—excitement, adventure, mystery, Halloween thrills. The title says all you need to know. I also loved all of the illusions to classic horror or folklore stories.