Students! It is officially autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Professor Ashley’s favourite season of the whole year. Living in Southern California doesn’t provide us much opportunity to witness seasonal changes or enjoy the trappings we often think of when we imagine fall. One of the ways we celebrate autumn is with Seasonal Reads! This is now the third in our #GeekyReads series following Geeky Spring Reads and Geeky Summer Reads.
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
There’s nothing better when the crisp hits the air than curling up in bed, on a couch, or in your comfy reading chair wrapped in your favourite blanket, with a cup of tea, and warm cat at your feet. The only thing to improve such an idyllic autumn scene? A brand new book (or ebook! We’re big advocates of ebooks! Don’t forget to read out hack post on how to get free ebooks and comics.), as a magical portal to a new place is the only improvement we can imagine.
In celebration of Autumn we have compiled a list of 5 geeky prose books to cuddle up with.
“Shut up I’m reading!” as many great philosophers have shouted … onto the list!
5. Such Sharp Teeth
Written by: Rachel Harrison
This choice betrays Professor Ashley’s love of werewolves - Such Sharp Teeth is definitely in her TBR pile this autumn!
Such Sharp Teeth doesn’t release until October 4th, 2022, so at the time of this posting it is a preorder game only.
A young woman in need of a transformation finds herself in touch with the animal inside in this gripping, incisive novel from the author of Cackle and The Return.
Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby’s father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into Ian, an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked.
Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver—and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else—something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she’s putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?
This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability.
4. The Hacienda
Written by: Isabel Cañas
This is another Professor Ashley bias - witches!
Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches...
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
3. When Life Gives You Vampires
Written by: Gloria Duke
Sadly, like Such Sharp Teeth, a preorder coming our way October 4th, 2022.
Single (plus size) vampire, desperately in search of a life.
Twenty-five year old Lily Baines is used to waking up hungover, overweight, and underemployed. Waking up with fangs? Not so much. But when a little light necking has more serious consequences than she ever imagined, Lily's determined to get to the bottom of it, or die (again) trying.
Tristan hadn't meant to turn Lily—it's against vampire law—but now that she's here, they need to team up to save both their hides. They strike an uneasy truce, fending off other vampires, Lily's work-rival-turned-slayer, and her mother's tone-deaf romance and fitness advice...all while Lily faces down her insecurities about the fact that she lives in a diet-obsessed world with a body that will never age, never die, and never change.
Falling for her maddeningly gorgeous sire? Easy. Surviving an ancient vampire Master determined to see her twice-dead? Piece of cake. But can Lily ever truly learn to love the woman she'll be forever more?
2. Gallows Hill
Written by: Darcy Coates
FUN FACT: CURRENTLY FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED!
The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for generations. The sprawling old house has long been perched on top of a hill overlooking the nearby town, jealously guarding the estate's secrets. Their wine wins awards. Their business prospers. Their family thrives: until Hugh and Maria Hull enter the dark halls of Gallows Hill one last time…and are found dead the next morning.
People whisper that the curse has awakened once more.
It’s been more than a decade since Margot Hull last saw her childhood home. She was young enough when she was sent away that she barely remembers its dark passageways and secret corners. But now she's returned to bury her parents and reconnect with the winery that is her family's legacy—and the bloody truth of exactly what lies buried beneath the crumbling estate. Alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, Margot is forced to come face to face with the horrors of the
1. Fairy Tale
Written by: Stephen King
This choice reveals a Professor Jason bias!
Since we opened this GHL Blog post with a quote from the American master of horror, himself, we hardly felt we could go without.
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
header image courtesy of: Monstera via pexels