It’s time for the monthly Read Around the Rainbow post, and given it’s October, we’ve decided to fill up your TBRs with some spooky, creepy, Halloween-related reads.
I did a list of books with ghosts over at Ofelia’s earlier this month, so you’ll find some of my absolute favourites there. But in that post, I only mention stories with ghosts. There are other stories that deserve mentioning this time of year.
Cold Fingers by Amy Spector
We have the Cold Finger series by our very own Amy Spector. I’ve beta-read these stories, and the comments I left… probably not very useful to Amy since I mostly was begging the main character not to sneak around creaky old houses with dead or almost dead people hidden away. And I just love the prologue. You read it, and you think huh? and then you read the story and… Love is the feel of cold fingers.
Christopher Minnick is at a bad place in his life. Turning thirty and newly out of the hospital, the last thing he wants to do is attend a birthday dinner, even one thrown in his honor.
When he is introduced to a friend’s godson, things just might be starting to look up.
Or are they?
Victor Polidori seems like the perfect man. He’s clever, attractive and interested. But, even as Christopher finds himself falling in love, there are some things that just don’t add up. And when bodies start disappearing, Christopher knows he must get to the bottom of it.
Will Christopher find his happily ever after or is it true what they say? All the good ones are either married or straight. Or they’re necrophiliacs.
https://books2read.com/ColdFingers1
Monster Till Midnight by E.J. Russell
Then we have Monster Till Midnight by E.J. Russell and this… Normally, I deem myself too stupid for time travel stories. It’s just so much I don’t understand LOL, but this is great! And we can’t have a Halloween without at least one guy with a pumpkin head, right?
What if you staged the best haunted house in the history of the holiday, but nobody came?
Brady is prepared with mounds of treats, stellar special effects, and an extraordinary welcome for the throngs of trick-or-treaters he expects in his first year at his new place—a gloriously gothic house with the reputation for really being haunted! But the trick’s on Brady: Halloween is almost over and not one person has knocked on his door.
Once a top Interdimensional Law Enforcement agent, Rej was busted down to Creature Control after a run-in with his arch-nemesis. When he tracks a non-sentient construct across the dimensional barrier, he’s sure he’s about to confront Gorvenath again. But the person who bursts onto the porch in a swirl of tuxedo coattails is a monster of a very different sort—but is he Gorvenath’s accomplice or his victim?
Monster Till Midnight is an 11,000-word gay romance featuring a hopeful samhainophile, a suspicious LEO, gratuitous candy corn, and a relationship that threatens to be really, really, really long distance.
https://books2read.com/MonsterTillMidnight
Costumes by Dianne Hartsock
This here is a ghost story, but I forgot it when I was listing ghost stories. It’s of the don’t-go-into-the-attic kind. There aren’t really any surprises in this short story, but if you’re in the mood for some ghostly fun and don’t have a lot of time to invest…
There’s a presence in the attic, malevolent, waiting. When Bennie’s aunt passes away, he’s given the task of sorting her things before the estate sale. But the chore that should have been a pleasant visit to the past becomes a nightmare for him and his longtime lover Jordan as the dark presence in the attic seeks a new home in them.
Their once gentle and sensual love turns to a dark passion, hard and rough and hurtful. Jordan sees the change, but will his love be strong enough to save them?
https://books2read.com/CostumesHartsock
Ghosts
I have to mention a few ghost stories. I just have to LOL. The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings by Lily Morton is awesome, one of my favourite stories in all categories, and if you go on to read the second book in the series, The Quiet House, it’s even creepier. Then we have The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux, and I’ve already been talking about it this month. And lastly, Spirited Situation by Louisa Masters. This is perhaps more funny than creepy, but it has its creepy moments.
Levi Black is at a crossroads. After suffering a loss and breaking up a long-term relationship, he’s looking for a change. When he receives the news he’s inherited a house in York, he seizes the opportunity to begin a new chapter in his life.
However, when he gets there, he finds a house that has never kept its occupants for very long. Either through death or disinclination, no one stays there, and after a few days of living in the place, Levi can understand why. Strange noises can be heard at all hours of the day and night, and disturbing and scary things begin to happen to him. He never believed in ghosts before, but when events take a sinister turn, he knows he must look for help. He finds it in the unlikely form of the blue-haired leader of a ghost tour.
Blue Billings is edgy, beautiful, and lost. Utterly lost. He conceals so many secrets that some days it’s a miracle he remembers his own name. He knows that he should ignore Levi because he threatens the tenuous grip Blue has on survival. But there’s something about the kind-eyed man that draws Blue to him. Something that demands he stay and fight for him when he would normally run in the opposite direction.
As the two men investigate the shocking truth behind Levi’s house, they also discover a deep connection that defies the short length of time they’ve known each other. But when events escalate and his life is on the line, Levi has to wonder if it was wise to trust the Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings.
When the past comes back to haunt you, order a double.
Dr. Wyatt Case is never happier than when he’s walking the halls of his history museum. Playing wingman for his best friend at Gravedigger’s Tavern throws him way out of his comfort zone, but not as much as the eccentric man behind the bar, Ash Lucroix.
Ash is everything Wyatt doesn’t understand: exuberant, quirky, and elbow deep in a Gaslight lifestyle that weaves history into everyday life. He coordinates his suspenders with his tongue rings. Within hours, Wyatt and Ash are hooked.
But strange things are afoot at Gravedigger’s, and after a knock to the head, Ash starts seeing things that can’t be explained by old appliances or faulty wiring. Soon everyone at Gravedigger’s is wondering if they’re seeing ghosts, or just going crazy. The answer to that question could end more than just Wyatt and Ash’s fragile relationship—it might also end their lives.
When you can talk to ghosts, things are bound to get spirited.
The ghosts have been there since before I can remember. When I was a kid, they doted on me, but as I got older, they got more demanding. I’ve spent my whole life seeing and talking to dead people and trying to pretend I’m not, because the living just don’t understand. Nobody wants to be around the freak who claims to see ghosts.
Until I go to Mannix Estate.
Once a private country home, then a posh hotel, it was closed after a suspicious incident but is now an immersive historic experience. It’s also haunted AF, and everyone knows it. Finally, I’ve found a place to work and live where I can be useful. Where I’m actually wanted.
There are only two problems: I spent a hot, sweaty, satisfying night with Ewan the blacksmith before I knew we’d have to work together. Everyone knows sex with colleagues is a bad idea, right? Even if he’s the world’s most ripped cinnamon roll.
Plus, the ghosts are keeping secrets. There’s something going on that’s not normal, even for a haunted estate. And I suspect that when the truth comes out, I’m the one who’ll have to deal with it… and it won’t be good.
Holly Day 
These sound…scary. So I’m going to add them to my tbr but put a little spooky ghost icon beside each one to remind me to approach with care… 🙂
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