The first book read this month was from the batch I got signed at the Boston Teen Author Festival.  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was just such a lovely book that I gave a rare 5 stars! The writing was poetic and the story was just beautiful.  I don’t have the words.

I’ll be looking for more of this author’s books, but I had to put that aside, because this month I had vowed to read all the horror!

It was a daunting stack.  But I currently have only 2.5 books left to go!  Which is great, considering some of these have been languishing on my TBR shelf for years.

My absolute favorite horror novel I read this month was Diary of a Haunting.  I loved how the mystery of the house unfolded and how the format of blog posts was affected by the haunting as well.  There were some great creepy moments.  The Women in the Walls was a close second.  Amy Lukavics really knows how to pull you into a story without fleshing out the setting, somehow.

Many of these seemed to be more thriller than horror (Blind Spot and The Creeping).  And sadly, I was a bit disappointed in There’s Someone Inside Your House.  I read so much horror that I was waiting for some new twist and did not find it.

Of course, I vowed to read all horror novels in October, but then this one came out, and I had to read it.  I’ve only been waiting years since his last book!  Luckily it was a fast one and had everything I’ve come to expect from a John Green novel: quirky characters, philosophical discussions, and endings that are not tied up in a neat little bow.

• Best Overall: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
• Best Horror: Diary of a Haunting
• Weirdest Overall: Fiendish
• Fastest Read: Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror
• Slowest Read: The Copper Gauntlet
• Best Audio: Highly Illogical Behavior

The full list (links take you to my Goodreads reviews):

1. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
2. There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
3. The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics
4. Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano
5. Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley (audiobook)
6. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
7. The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy
8. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley
9. Blind Spot by Laura Ellen
10. Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff
11. The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2) by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare (audiobook)