Books like Her Halloween Treat

I am a huge fan of the very-brief gothic. It’s so hard to do well; trivial jump-scares are easy, but to produce a meaningful effect in only a few pages takes real precision. Shirley Jackson holds the crown with "The Lottery," but my second favorite instance of a surprisingly quick read that produces a real gasp is Angela Carter’s mini-treasure, "The Werewolf."

It manages to be a fairy tale, feminist critique, a witch, and a werewolf story all at once—and, like the beast in the title, it may not be what it appears. Also wonderful to me are "The Company of Wolves," "The Snow Child," and the eponymous "The Bloody Chamber," that one a revisioning of "Bluebeard"—essentially, Carter updates all kinds of dark fairy tales, bringing out their subversive shadows for a savvy reader. Still so fresh to this day.

If I want to get into the mood for fall, there’s nothing better than reading this Rainbow Rowell graphic novel.

Set at a Nebraska pumpkin patch where high school seniors Josiah and Deja work each year, it’s absolutely crammed with the sights, sounds, and scents of the season leading up to Halloween–not to mention a sweet, slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance between two characters I absolutely rooted for.

Short, hilarious, and sexy, this romance novella is the perfect way to spend an October night. Daisy has a thing for redheads. So when she meets a redheaded Irishman at a New York City party on Halloween night, is it meant to be?

From its funny opening pages to its thoughtful and romantic ending, this absolutely delighted me, and not just because it had the line, “If you want to impress me, you have to watch Golden Girls.”

It only took a half-hour to read this webcomic-turned-book, but it was time unbelievably well spent.

In a series of illustrations, we watch Elsie the vampire and werewolf Jimmy meet, fall in love, and somehow learn to combine their different—sometimes very different!—lifestyles (not to mention diets) in an unusual and adorable relationship. It left me grinning from ear to ear.

I love that Royal Holiday features older characters—the main character in this book is the mother of the main character in another of the same series. Because yes, whirlwind love stories shouldn't be restricted just to the 20- or 30-somethings.

The maturity and self-knowledge of the main characters was so refreshing, and of course the setting is a part of why I love every single book on this list.

I love books that draw you into the plight of the characters and make you ache for them.

Sent away from family and friends, Grace Miller is ashamed and isolated in the “sinner’s shack” as she calls it. Despite her heart-wrenching situation, I admire her pluck and courage. And when the community rallies around to help her, they show God’s love to a hurting stranger. But Grace isn’t the only one with hidden pain in the community.

As others around Grace open up and share their secrets, we discover that they, too, carry their own trauma they’ve hidden from the world. To love again, they need to forgive themselves and open up to God’s forgiveness and grace. I enjoyed the unexpected surprises, the strong emotional pull, the life-changing realizations, and the realistic story.

Ashley who is heading home for Christmas, meets a mysterious woman on a train, and wakes up wearing an antique charm bracelet.

Once home, Ashley keeps running into her former high school boyfriend, hot firefighter Aidan. If you love small town romances (and I do) then you’ll love Ashley’s hometown which is full of community spirit, family and friends and hot chocolate, and holiday traditions. Ashley soon realizes that each charm indicates an event that happens in real life.

It all adds up to the feeling that Ashley and Aidan are meant to be. Sweetly adorable and utterly charming.

The Dream Harbor series is a collection of stand-alone novels set in Dream Harbor, and I love that the small-town romance series has recurring characters that I was interested in and felt as though I’d bonded with.

One of the classic tropes used in this series is especially evident in book one (Pumpkin Spice Café in Dream Harbor) and it’s a trope I love. The author has made the most of these opposites-attract characters to produce some very witty banter that had me laughing out loud.

There’s a lot of personal growth of Laurie Gilmore’s characters, and I felt the romance was truly heartwarming.

This is really terrible–if highly moreish–stuff: a thin, junky, first-drafty picaresque. But it formed the basis of a film starring Jackie’s sister, Joan. The film even had a tie-in aftershave (heavy on the ginseng), promising all kinds of advantages for the wearer. The film and the book both try to suggest a deluxe, upmarket, classy melding of disco culture with the post-permissive society sexual freedoms now available to the 1970s bachelor and (as an ill-informed nod to feminism) the businesswoman.

This imagined milieu was a million miles from the sleazy, criminal experience of London’s Soho, which had traditionally been where all this erotic access was clustered. The aspiration was shared by Paul Raymond, who worked to translate the risqué stage shows of the 1960s (think pre-fame Christine Keeler) to more contemporary fare for the proto-Thatcherite managerial class, keen to see what secular society had to offer them and their new… show more.

I liked Ana Huang’s Twisted Love because it achieves something essential: desire, anticipation, and uncertainty become milestones in the narrative, keeping the reader in suspense, never quite knowing when the characters will finally give in.

Alex was an inspiring character for me: cold, controlling, and, above all, emotionally inaccessible. The tension with Ava works equally well because they are so emotionally different that Huang turns their relationship into an explosive combination.

Add secrets and danger to all of this, and you have a great novel.