Books and Backpacks

A hand-picked selection of spookiest books being published in February. There are so many superbly spooky books coming out this month. From vampires and ghosts to more natural terrors, February's releases promise something for anyone. I found a lot of these releases from Read Jump Scare's masterlist of horror fiction releases. So please enjoy this list of my anticipated releases of February 2024. A lot are horror fiction, but there are some thrillers, a short story collection, some sequels, historical fiction, and so much more! February 1:  We Ate the Dark - Mallory Pearson In this haunting novel, four women come together to investigate the murder of their friend Sofia Lyon, whose remains are discovered in an abandoned house. As they grapple with grief and pursue justice, they unearth dark secrets, both about Sofia and the mysterious woods surrounding them. Bound by a haunting connection, the women face not only the truth about Sofia but also a shadowy presence that threatens...

Taking a moment to reflect upon my 2023 in books. Happy new year, book friends! Don't worry about the fact that it's almost February. I read quite a bit in 2023, specifically in the last half of the year. I ended the year having read 83 books overall. My goal was set to be 50 books, so I definitely got well past that. Another goal for the year was to read at least seven non-fiction books, which I also achieved but just barely. I ended up finishing my final non-fiction on New Year's Eve, so I did get that one on a technicality. But I still completed it, so that counts.  I also got really into audiobooks this past year. My summer job involved a lot of driving and during that time, audiobooks became my reading format of choice. I think during July and August I was finishing an audiobook pretty much every day or two.  Speaking of the summer, August was my best reading month. I read nearly 20 books that month with 50 per cent of those being audiobooks.    1. What was your...

Books, shows, and movies all to help you fully actualize the perfect fall.  In my humble opinion, halloween is a mindset-- one that I try to maintain for a majority of the year. So if Christmas-lovers get to start decorating on the first of November, I don't see why us halloween-lovers can't start Halloween in September. To help you start your halloween right this moment, I've decided to put together some spooky suggestions to have a particularly spooky girl summer. Horror novels written by Women:  To start off my spooky recs, I wanted to highlight what I had originally aimed to do with this piece-- talk about the underrepresented women who write horror. I realize that a majority of horror lists on GoodReads are dominated by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Grady Hendrix, so for the first section of my spooky recs, we'll look at horror novels penned by women.   1. Near the Bone- Christina Henry                    ...

       In August, I aimed to read 5 books, but ended up reading 19. I actually ended up having to make a second page for the books I read in my reading journal. The other thing I did differently in my reading journal this month was I started writing down the quotes I liked from each book. I had 4 books on my tbr this month and I read 2 of them, DNF-ed one, and gave up on the last. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how much I read this month and what I read.  Pillow Thoughts- Courtney Peppernell  ... your name runs through my veins...  Honestly, this one was kind of forgettable, but pretty good based on my initial rating.  4/5 You are the sun, the moon, and all the stars. Shatter Me; Unravel Me; Reveal Me - Tahereh Mafi  I'm not afraid of you, my dear... I'm absolutely enchanted -Shatter Me These are the first three books of the Shatter me series that I re-read this month. Honestly, all I remembered from my first reading last year was Aaron War...