October 2024 Newsletter

Hello all my reader friends! Have you been having a wonderfully spooky October this year? I love everything about autumn from its magnificently colorful sunrises and sunsets, to the changing of the leaves, the blustery cool breezes, and walks through the crunchy woods. And I always have fun picking out my spooky reads each year! This October I was able to squeeze two in.

What I’m Working on This October

I worked all this year on my first Historical Novel, “When Dealing With Horses”. I got all the way up to the final edit, and then the spooky season hit and I had to follow my inspirations where they took me. I decided it was time to power through and finally wrap up Zooey Zombie’s story. A few weeks ago I released the fourth book in the series, “Wanted Undead or Alive”. This short novel was action and emotionally packed so it was really fun to write. The story just flowed out of me effortlessly. I truly love Zooey and her friends, so I never have a difficult time jumping back into their post-apocalyptic world.

Once I finished and released the fourth book, I jumped right into continuing the story with the fifth and final book, “The End of the Undead”. This story is coming to me effortlessly and it’s so exciting to see it come to the culmination of everything Zooey has been dealing with as a member of the Undead race. The villain, Ren, is out of control as he tries to create an army of new zombies, ones that can think and talk and have inhuman strength and capabilities. Does humanity stand a chance as he tries to wipe it out? You’ll just have to see! I most likely won’t have it released by Halloween, so we’ll keep the spooky season going into November.

For the holiday season I will also be releasing the Zooey Zombie box set! A new character makes a brief appearance at the end of the final book, one that will have the honor of claiming their own series from the same world. Could it be a different breed of monster on the loose now? Could be! I have not settled on the series covers yet, but this image is in the running and it makes a great teaser!

October Book Reviews

This was my choice for this year’s Halloween read. In that alone, I was disappointed but only because this is more of an epic love story than a creepy legend come to life like I thought it would be. That being said, it was still a really amazing book that dove deep into an imagined love tale between the familiar Ichabod and Katrina of Sleepy Hallow. Immediately after, I reread Washington Irving’s original story. The author of this retelling did a great job staying true to the original while incorporating her own spin on things. It’s a bit 🔥 spicier than I like my novels but it worked. I highly recommend this for a fun romance mystery, any time of year! There were several postings on Facebook reading groups and Instagram about it, but the cover and the fact that it’s a spin off of a classic is what sealed the deal for me.

Now for the next book review…DON’T LAUGH!

I actually just finished it early this morning so my review is not even posted to Goodreads or Bookbub yet. Yes, I gave it five stars. It was about 650 pages long and I devoured it in about a week. If you know me at all, you know that is very unlike me. It’s hard in my busy life to find long stretches to read, so I am typically a one book a month reader. (Plus I’m a slow reader by choice. I like to savor my books and really picture the scenes in detail in my head.)

I don’t know how Twilight popped into my head this spooky season but it did. The series and I have a love/hate relationship. I have always loved monsters, scary movies, and classic vampires. Vampires were actually my favorite of the classic monsters, mostly because I grew up watching Lost Boys on repeat. When I turned twenty I even got a vampire tattoo on my forearm. It was the iconic vampire barring his teeth with a female victim in his clutches. I loved it! Drew it myself even. And immediately after…the Twilight movie came out. Now, I hadn’t heard of it until the books had the theater covers already on them. I was working in a minimart and happened to be bored and looking for something to read to pass the time when there was no customers. I saw a pale Robert Pattinson paired with Kristen Stewart and thought “Hm, I’ll give it a try”. Shortly after, I was relentlessly teased for my “Twilight tattoo”. I hated it! And the worst part of it all? I actually loved the books (and let’s not lie, I love the movies too). I am not a fan of the glittering vampire, that part is cheesy, but I love star crossed lovers who overcome their obstacles together. I’m a romantic sucker.

Fast forward seventeen years, my vampire tattoo is now a garden of hibiscus and roses. And the curiosity to revisit an old favorite stirs within me. I searched Amazon for the box set to lose myself in, and then found this! Twilight told from Edward’s thoughts and perspective! I ordered it as well, and have been shamelessly binge reading while binge watching the movies.

This book is a bit darker than Bella’s perspective. I didn’t realize just how much murder Edward really thought about, and in such great detail. I am now reading this as a Christian and can see the author’s Christian inspiration woven throughout. I know that was a huge complaint of the novels over a decade ago, but honestly I really liked it. Carlisle is obviously a Jesus parallel. He goes about life different than everyone else and he gains followers who are wanting to live life in his different way too. Edward uses Carlisle to draw strength to be good and deny his vampire urges. Drinking blood represents sin, and he notes that everyone has slip ups, we all make mistakes, including vampires trying to be “vegetarian”. The vampires who still drink human blood represent worldly people still living and reveling in their sin. Anyway, I could appreciate her Christian roots to the story. If you’re not a Christian and know nothing about Christianity, you probably wouldn’t pick up on it at all.

The story was familiar, like coming home. I don’t really know what it is about Stephanie Meyers’ writing, but I love it and can’t get enough of it. She has a wonderful way of describing something in great detail, but making it sound like a love poem. It draws me in and keeps me reading. There were many times I could feel my emotions taking over me to match the intense feelings of the characters. She is not a spicy writer by any means, but the slow and painful drawn out aching first kiss, now from Edward’s perspective, still had me sighing aloud.

Go ahead. Laugh. That’s fine. But I stand by my guilty pleasure in the Twilight Saga!

It only took me ten years, but I finally finished my vampire cover up. In 2013 I covered the vampire with a rose, but left the lady thinking I could be okay with that, but I just never really liked it. Now I’ve added the hibiscus, as a remembrance of my years spent living in Hawai’i. Pink for my daughter, blue for my husband, and purple for me. I love it! But now that the Twilight mania has passed I do find myself kind of missing my original vampire tattoo.

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Let’s Keep in Touch!

I love interacting with other readers, especially those who have enjoyed my books. I am active on Instagram! @horsey_bookworm is my handle. Give me a follow. I try to follow back any reader friends so we can keep in touch and exchange our awesome reads with each other.

Have You Had the Chance to Read any of my Books Yet?

I absolutely love hearing what readers think of my beloved books! If you’ve read any of them, I urge you to please please leave a review. Amazon is most important for authors, obviously, but Goodreads and Bookbub and even social media posts help other readers find us. If you could leave a review of any book of mine you’ve read I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thank you.