On the last day of October, a Sunday (and everyone knows Sundays are for reading), I thought a book recommendation post was in order. Lately, I’ve read three new books that all take place during October, and I want to tell you about them. Because can you think of anything better than to spend an October Sunday curled up with a warm beverage of your choice (I’ve been favoring hot chocolate lately), by a fire if you have one (otherwise Youtube fires work, too), under a blanket with a good book? I sure can’t. 🙂
And before I get to the recommendation part: these three books are all published by JMS Books, so you can buy them at 40% off today. Even better, right? 🙂
Rain hummed in the background, a low musical counterpoint. October doing its best, even in Southern California. Cool steely skies and pumpkins appearing on porches.
October by Candlelight by K.L. Noone
When the lovely K.L. Noone visited my blog, celebrating the release of October by Candlelight, I wrote “So this book could be written just for me” and I was not wrong. I’ve read it now, and it exceeded my expectations, it was even better and fluffier and lovelier than I thought it would be. This book is definitely ending up on my feelgood-re-read Goodreads shelf, and I’m declaring it a must-read for the month of October. If you want to read about an established couple who recently moved in together, and if you want all the coziness of October and none of the scary stuff, this is the perfect book.
I read a tweet a while back saying that we shouldn’t write reviews based on our emotions. F*ck that sh*t, I say, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. K.L. Noone’s words makes me feel things, they make my heart grow in my chest, make me smile, they chase away all memories of a long hard day at the Day Job. Her words make me happy, and I’m not gonna pretend otherwise.
He was tired, starving, in pain, and now they’d dragged him down to the beach. In October. It had stopped raining for the moment, but the clouds hung heavy above them.
Call Me Charles by Holly Day
When my friend Holly Day visited my blog to tell you about her release Call Me Charles, I wrote that the excerpt she brought broke my heart and made me mad. And OH-EM-GEE, reading the actual book made me both madder and sadder. Charles’s so called friends are first class assholes, and I’m seriously contemplating writing a fanfic version of this book where I can write myself and a baseball bat into the story so I can show the assholes exactly what I think about them. But I probably won’t do it, because Charles has Hubert to take care of him. Hubert who buys a sandwich from Charles for months, despite bringing his own lunch from home, despite Charles giving him normal bread when Hubert’s gluten intolerant, just because he finds Charles cute.
Holly excels in writing cute, quirky characters and this story is no different. Charles might not be as quirky as Adrian in The Dragon Next Door, but almost. He’s cute and naive and a little bit clueless, so I can’t blame Hubert for wanting to wrap him up in cotton and protect him from the world. It’s a lovely story, read it, you won’t regret it!
As he caught his breath, his sweat-soaked shirt clinging to him, he berated his stupidity. On this dark October night, he had been tricked as easily as a child. He risked forfeiting his life for a moment of unwariness.
A Tricky Situation by Ellie Thomas
A Tricky Situation is about Kit, a young man learning to stand up for himself and his beliefs and values. He does it elegantly and impressively, which is one of the reasons I like this book so much. Yes, the love interest Edmund plays a part in Kit’s transformation, but most of it is Kit himself. And while I wish the romance aspect could have been elaborated more (you know me, I’m a sucker for the romance!), reading about how Kit comes to important realizations about himself and who he wants to be is a delight. I’m amazed at how much the author made me care for Kit with so few words, something that takes great skill for a writer. Showing someone’s complexities in 500 pages is easy. Doing it in 8427 words is much harder. And for that, I tip my hat to you, Ellie Thomas.
So if you’re in the mood for a historical short story about self-discovery with a hint of romance, this is definitely the book for you. And Ellie Thomas, if you read this: should you ever feel the urge to write a Kit and Edmund epilogue, I’ll definitely read it.
Nell Iris 