I’ve decided to start the spooky season early with 2 month long readathons!

So this month is a crazy one. With our wedding only 23 days away, my down time, and therefore reading time, is pretty limited. But I still enjoy reading challenges! So I decided to casually join these to month long readathons, dedicated to reading all the spooky/seasonal things – which is what I’m in the mood to read anyways!

First up…

MONSTERathon

This is created and hosted by Cait from chaptercviii so definitely check out her video for all the details! I signed up a little late, but I still have lots of reading time left!

I’m giving myself plenty of options for some of these so that I can mood read a little (I’m not normally a mood reader, but I since this month is hectic, I want options for quick reads if need be).

1. Classic Creepers | Read a book with a classic horror monster

For this I’m reading Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2) by Kerri Maniscalco. I meant to read this last month but wasn’t able to fit it in. I’m really enjoying this series so I’m excited to continue on!

2. What Big Eyes You Have | Read a book over 400 pages

A few of the other books I have listed would fit this challenge but I’m trying to pick a book for each challenge.. because I have no chill. So I’m going to try and (finally!) get to Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand.

3. Chimera | Read a book that could be classified under multiple genres

A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell #2) by Deanna Raybourn is both Historical Fiction & Mystery so it’s perfect for this challenge! Plus I’ve been meaning to read this since I finished book 1… last year 🙈

4. The Real Monsters | Read a book featuring monstrous humans

 

I feel like any thriller could work here so I’m keeping my options open for this! These are some of the overdue thriller arcs I have – so it would probably be a good idea to choose one of these!

5. Unsightly | Read a comic/graphic novel/manga featuring a monster

I don’t normally read graphic novels, but I just requested the entire Babysitting Nightmares series by Kat Shepherd from my library. This looks like a really cute, and seasonal, middle grade graphic novel and I thought they’d be perfect to read in between some of the more intense books this season.

6. Angry Mob | Read a book recommended to you by more than one person

 

These are some really popular (sometimes polarizing) spooky reads I’ve seen recommended a lot, and currently have on my physical TBR. So I’ll choose from one of these!

7. Sacrifice | Read a book that you’ve seen in an unhaul video

 

I have a couple of options for this one. I watched a couple of unhaul videos and these were the books I found that were already on my TBR. so I’ll pick from one of these when I get to this challenge 😊

8. The Beasts | Read a book featuring a monster with plant or animal traits

This one might be a bit of a stretch, but I just got this out from the library and I’m dying to give it a try. The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katerine Arden is about a winter demon, but the synopsis says “crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer” so I’m counting it 😂

9. The Haunts | Read a book featuring a monster that is dead or undead

 

These are both new releases I’m really excited to pick up so I’ll read one of these, depending on how much time I have (Gideon is a bit of a beast). Dead Voices (Small Spaces #2) by Katherine Arden is the sequel to Small Spaces, which I’m reading for the LoFH readathon! Gideon the Ninth (The Ninth House #1) by Tamsyn Muir is about necromancers.

10. The Conspiracies | Read a book featuring an alien, robot, or sci-fi based creature

Another stretch, but I really wanted to squeeze a romance onto this TBR. So I’m choosing Praying for Rain (Praying for Rain #1) by BB Easton for this because it follows a couple during the apocalypse and they have visions of The Horsemen. So they’re my “sci-fi creature” 😅

---

Ladies of Horror Fiction Readathon

This readathon is to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Ladies of Horror Fiction. Check out their twitter for all the challenges and recommendations! The goal is read horror novels written by women that fall into the following categories.

1. Indie Author

Right now I think I’m going to skip this challenge, only because I’m trying to read things that are already on my TBR. And nothing on my current TBR fits this challenge.

2. LGBTQ+ Author

Tunnel of Bones (Cassidy Blake #2) by Victoria Schwab is the sequel to City of Ghosts which I read last year and loved. I just got this audio so it’s the perfect timing!

3. POC Author

I really wanted to read this last fall but wasn’t able to get to it, so I’m super excited to get to it this month! Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is a short story collection about women’s lives and bodies. Bonus – this is available on audio on Hoopla!

4. YA/MG Author

This is another book I really wanted to read last year but never fit in. Small Spaces (Small Spaces #1) by Katherine Arden is a Middle Grade horror story. And it’s super short so it’ll make a great, quick readathon read.

5. Translated or Set in Another Country

I have 2 translated thrillers on my physical TBR so I’ll pick one of these for this challenge! I’ve been meaning to continue the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo for ages, but I just got The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup from BOTM and am kind of itching to give it a shot – even though it’s a chunker of a book!

---

So those are my (new) reading plans for the month! I know I said I was going to try and prioritize my backlist arcs, which I’ll still try to do, but I wanted to do something fun this month. Let me know if you’re participating in either of these!

♥♥♥♥