My (late) Halloween Reads 2022

Hey all! I’ve been super busy, but I wanted to post the books I pulled from my tbr pile to keep me company this All Hallows’ Eve. I meant to post these earlier, but life hit me these last couple of weeks. Better late than never right? And honestly, is there ever really a time too late for good Halloween reads? Especially these three reads running the gambit from sweet, to scary, to spicy.

The Books

Title: Halloween at the Graff
Author: Sinclair Jayne
Publication date: September 25th 2017
Page Count: 276
Publisher’s page: Halloween at the Graff

Starting over at thirty-two is never fun, especially in a town the size of a postage stamp. Chasing that with having to beg for a job she’s wildly over-qualified for and Walker Wilder’s pride is really burned. But now that she’s the new events director for the historic Montana Graff Hotel, she’s tasked with creating buzz and traditions to fill rooms during the off-season. Halloween may not scream touristy, but hiring a spirit-hunting TV crew will definitely grab some headlines… But when the sexy spirit hunter shows up, he haunts more than her dreams.

Calum Quest is done. He’s created an entertainment empire by chasing something he’s never seen and is tired of asking questions with no answers. His life has been defined by ghosts he needs to exorcise, yet, when a red-haired, grey-eyed beauty with a body that melts his mind pours him a double shot of Laphroaig whiskey and challenges him to one more round, how can he say no?

My Review

Halloween at the Graff reads like a Hallmark fall movie, with cheesy dialogue and all. (This is not a bad thing – I love a good Hallmark holiday movie). There is some spice here, but not really. It’s more of a light spice, a pumpkin spice if you will. A sweet romance where Instalust turns into Instalove in a cute small-town fall background. We’re told that Walker lived a big, high-powered life in the political arena of DC before she’s part of some huge public scandal that sends her scurrying to small-town Montana to hide out and lick her wounds, but we never found out just what the scandal was, which left me feeling a little unsatisfied despite the cute romance story.

Title: Halloween Carnival
(Vol 1)
Editor:  Brian James Freeman
Publication date: October 3rd 2017
Page Count: 165
Publisher’s page: Halloween Carnival Volume 1

Robert McCammon, Kevin Lucia, John R. Little, Lisa Morton, and Mark Allan Gunnells put the horror back in Halloween with a quintet of devilishly delightful tales, curated by acclaimed author and editor Brian James Freeman.

STRANGE CANDY by Robert McCammon
Chocolate bars and sour suckers are trick-or-treat staples, but beware the odd sweet at the bottom of your bag. You never know who it’s from—or what it might do to you.

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES by Kevin Lucia
Father Ward should have heeded the warnings about hearing confession on All Hallow’s Eve. Because a man is about to tell him a secret more haunting than any he has heard before.

DEMON AIR by John R. Little
Fear of flying is not uncommon. But on this transpacific airline, the real danger isn’t the flight itself. It’s whoever—or whatever—is up in the air with you.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS by Lisa Morton
Trick McGrew, former cowboy star of the silver screen, has never believed in tall tales. But down in Mexico, the land of La Llorona, he’s about to find out just how real urban legends can be.

#MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN by Mark Allan Gunnells
Some people will go to any lengths to rack up retweets, likes, and follows on social media, no matter who they end up hurting . . . or even killing.

My Review

This collection of Halloween stories is a pretty mixed bag of treats. Starts off with a couple tales that are more desolate than I was expecting (trigger warning for grief over the loss of a child in both). The next couple of tales are pretty tame and not really scary, but serve as great appetizers to the main course: the last story in this collection and the longest by far. #MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN takes up half of the entire book and contains some light gore and somewhat grizzly death scenes and delivers some real nail-biting tension. It feels like a classic Halloween horror tale. Well done.

Title: All I Want for Halloween
Author: Marie Harte
Publication date: October 1st 2017
Page Count: 354
Publisher’s page: All I Want for Halloween

When Sadie Liberato is cajoled by her brother to attend a costume party a month before Halloween, she had no idea she’d fall for a handsome devil in a mask. Or that she’d have one hellishly fine encounter in the dark. But when her masked devil turns out to be Gear Blackstone, fallen TV reality star of the super popular show, Motorcycle Madnezz, she wonders if this is a match made in heaven or hell…

My Review

Not going to lie, this book is like 50% spicy scenes with a little bit of light breeding kink thrown in. Loved the main pairing. The big, tattooed motorcycle mechanic who falls first and the tough chick who “swears like a sailor and bakes killer cookies” make such a great combination. They meet at a Halloween party and sparks fly. Despite both of them being a little gun-shy from past betrayals, the two just can’t stay away from each other.