A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4.8 stars

Synopsis: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Review: If you remember, many months ago, I did a blog post of some of my most anticipated books of 2015 and one of them, was this book. It came out in May and, embarrassingly, it's taken me until now to read it. This is my first trip into Sarah J Maas' writing (Throne of Glass IS on my Kindle, I just need time to read it!) and, I really enjoyed it.

Now, this book was inspired in part by Beauty and the Beast and, maybe it was just me, but, until I found an interview with Sarah where she explained her inspiration, I didn't really see the connection. Our 'beast' Tamlin wasn't very beast like (on the contrary, he was really sweet) and there were no dancing teapots (although that might just be Disney's movie coming into play). Despite this though, I really enjoyed the book. The world that Sarah has created is so intriguing and different. The numerous courts and their corresponding 'High Fae leaders' was really interesting and I actually would have liked to have seen more of them.

It took me a while to warm up to Feyre. Yes, she supports her family (which, as the youngest is really not fair) but, she did seem to repeat herself a lot, especially in the first 100 or so pages. She questioned everything Tamlin did and said, despite him assuring her that she was safe and her family was being looked after. I can understand you might not trust him to begin with; but after a while it does get annoying. To be fair to Feyre though, she's never had a reason to trust anyone, not even her own family. So, that does get her a few bonus points; and she does make up for it in the final portion of the book. That was the best part in my opinion, those last 100-150 pages where Feyre really came into her own and started showing signs of being the kind of heroine I wanted her to be from page 1.
On a quick side note, I loved how Sarah used Feyre's 'weakness' in one of the challenges. I think it was something a little different and her love of painting and art that come from that weakness is intriguing and different and I really enjoyed it. I would have liked some more time spent on the particular challenge but, apart from that, I really enjoyed that aspect of Feyre's character.

Tamlin - oh Tamlin. I do love him. He's so sweet and caring and protective and everything I think Feyre needs. She's had to look after everyone else for so long, that I think Tamlin will be good for her. I can understand why some people don't like him. While I wouldn't say he's a pacifist (he does play the role of the beast after all, and so does have an aggressive nature) he's very good at controlling himself and reigning himself in which doesn't make for the most stand out character. But I loved him and I want a Tamlin. Which brings me onto my next point - I really don't want Feyre to end up with Rhysand! Rhysand is an intriguing character and I would love to learn more about him, but I really don't want him and Feyre to end up together, not after everything she's done in this book to end up with Tamlin. Yes, I ship Feylin and I'm not even sorry.

All of the characters in this book I could learn more about those. Lucien, for starters, was an amazing character and was a complete contrast to Tamlin with his sarcastic comments. He's stubborn and loud and infuriatingly sarcastic, but, he does come through for Feyre in the end, and tries to help her when Tamlin can't. Amarantha was an intriguing villain and I kind of wish we'd met her earlier. There was a lot of build up about her, throughout the book, but because of the curse, it took a while to learn about her. I really liked the idea that her and Tamlin used to be friends, but she fell in love with him. While it's not a new idea, Sarah made it feel like it was which was a pleasant surprise.

The curse itself was incredibly specific. It was almost a thinly veiled prophecy to me. Not only must you fall in love with a human but the human must kill a fey out of pure hatred and hate all of fey-kind. It did make me laugh a little when I read it but hey, I guess fey HAVE to be incredibly specific when making deals. The riddle as well wasn't particularly complex. I'm awful at riddles and I knew what the answer would be but, knowing that didn't detract from the book.

All in all, I really loved this book. It was intriguing and interesting and I loved the characters and the world. I'd really recommend this book and it's made me even more excited to start the Throne of Glass series!

Image and Synopsis from Goodreads - no Copyright intended

Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout

So this is less of a review than it is just me getting really excited about this amazing book! If any of you have read any of my blog posts you will know that the Lux series is my favourite series of this year, possibly ever. Now, when Opposition came out, we all thought that that was the end of the Lux series but we were wrong. Because, on December 1st, Oblivion was released. Oblivion is Daemon's POV of Obsidian - the entire book from his POV which is awesome BUT if you buy the e-reader edition you not only get Obsidian but you also get Opal AND Onyx in Daemon's POV as well.

Now, I've had Oblivion pre-ordered since June, and if you've visited my blog recently, you'll have seen the countdown to release day so it's fair to say I was a little bit excited. And, OMG this book did not disappoint. Not only do we get three whole books in one from Daemon's POV but within that, you also get to see some never before seen scenes, for example, Daemon getting Kat to make him pancakes which I loved.

I loved getting to see some of my favourite scenes from the first three books from Daemon's POV. One of my favourites is in Opal, where Kat gets sick - I've always wondered what Daemon was thinking in that moment and...argh I loved it. I loved it all! Jennifer's writing style in these books is amazing and well...we get more Daemon Black and who doesn't want that!

Seriously, you need to read this series because it's amazing. If you want to buy Oblivion then I would recommend buying it online if you have an e-reader because you get all three books in one. If you don't have an e-reader, then you can buy a printed copy that just contains the first book in Daemon's POV. Either way, the book is incredible and I would recommend it to anyone!

Image from Goodreads - no Copyright Intended

Book Inspired Christmas Gifts!

I love Christmas - absolutely love it. The magical nature of it has never (and will never) disappear for me. Of course, one of my favourite presents to get is a new book, but there are so many other book inspired gifts you can give to loved ones this year and here are a selection of my favourites. All the links are correct at the time of posting - if they don't work just let me know! Lots of thanks to the hosts of the sites for letting me use their images and link to their sites. None of the images belong to me, I'm just using them to show you guys the amazing products on offer! The links to each individual product featured will be underneath the picture, so just click the caption to take you to that particular products page. If you just want to browse the company's website, the main link will be at the start of the each company's 'section'.




Books Before Boys Necklace, £12.00

First up, we have the The Literary Emporium. The first thing that caught my eye were their jewellery designs. As with many of the websites featured, they have an amazing selection of jewellery inspired by books but, if you don't want to be limited to a specific book, or aren't sure what the recipient's favourite book is, then I thought their Books Before Boys Necklace was really cute and, for £12.00, it's not going to break the bank! It's perfect for Christmas or Valentines Day (if you're exceptionally organised!) and is handmade with a silver plated charm and trace chain.

Keats Dewdrop Earrings, £16.00

 




Another elegantly simple piece of jewellery from this company are their Keats Dewdrop Earrings. They come on a cardboard plaque with a printed quote from Keat's poem Sleep and Poetry. They are slightly more expensive than the necklace at £16.00, but I think they're gorgeous! They come in either silver or rose gold and have sterling silver posts.

Magic Notebooks, £4.00

Finally, they also sell stationary, so for any aspiring writers out there this could be a perfect stocking filler. The notebook that caught my eye were the Magic Notebooks which are £4.00 and look like something straight from Harry Potter so it's a win win! They're A5 notebooks, with 48 lined pages and, if you can't decide which one to get, you can get all three for £10!









Custom Bookplate Stamp, £25.00

Next up are some companies I found on Etsy. First up is Papersushi and a really cute gift for anyone wanting to stake a claim on their books (and the book boyfriend's accompanying them) is their Custom Bookplate Stamp which is £25.00 plus shipping. It's a handmade wooden stamp and is made to order so it's personal to the recipient. They do ship worldwide and I think it's a different kind of gift for the book lover in your life.





Hebel Design creates jewellery based on YA books and they are amazing. There's a large selection to choose from and each collection's jewellery is based on the book series. My three favourite collections are the Lux collection (we all knew that was coming), the Iron Fey collection and the Shadowhunter collection, but they have collections based on other series such as the Grisha series and The Selection series so go check them out!

Beta Quartz Pendant, $30.00

From the Lux collection, I love this Beta Quartz Pendant. It's a little pricey at $30.00 but it really is gorgeous. It's a real Quartzite stone encased in a sterling silver case. The chain isn't provided but you can choose from the necklace options available. I just think it's so pretty and unique that it's worth the extra cost and, it's from the Lux series which is my favourite series ever. This is definitely on my wish list!

Ash's Amulet Pendant, $30.00

From the Iron Fey collection, comes another pendant, this time in the shape of Ash's pendant. Personally, I like the more subtle
desgins like the Beta Quartz pendant and this one. Again, this is $30.00 and again doesn't come with the chain. It's silver plated bronze and is so unique and different that you'll definitely get comments over it!

Witchlight Candle, $12.00

Finally, we have the Shadowhunter's collection. If you want something to set the atmosphere in these cold, dark evenings then take a look at this Shadowhunter candle. It's a plastic, battery operated tea light which flickers. For $12.00, this would be a nice stocking filler maybe?

Angelic Power Rune Tiny Earrings, $24.00

The other thing that caught my eye in this collection were this Angelic Rune Tiny Earrings. These tiny 6mm earrings are so cute and sit on sterling silver posts. For $24.00, they're small enough that you could wear these everyday.

Winnie the Pooh Real Fragment Bracelet, £32.00

Scribbelicious hand make jewellery from old books and create book themed gifts. I love looking through their designs, they're so easy to personalise and are something a little different to give as a gift this year. Now, I grew up with Winnie the Pooh and, even now, those characters have a special place in my heart. I love this page fragment bracelet with the characters names on it. It's £32.00 but it's so beautiful that it's completely worth it. It's a silver plated sweetie bracelet so that the bracelet will fit most wrist sizes and the charms are made from real page fragments. For anyone who loves these characters as much as I do, this would be a beautiful gift.

Mischief Managed Bookmark, £12.00

I think my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series are Fred and George (closely followed by Sirius) - I love those twins! I love how they are the next generation of pranksters, following on from Sirius & co. and the phrase 'Mischief Managed' just sums them up! This bookmark comes in either Bronze or Silver and is £12.00. Spread the mischief people!

Now you can also personalise the gifts you give from Scribbelicious. Simply click this link to go to the Customisable Archives to take a look at the products you can have customised. If you can't find what you're looking for, or have a specific quote or lyric in mind, then you can email them and they will sort it all out for you.

These are just a selection of fabulous products on offer this Christmas and I hope that it's given you some inspiration for your gifts this year! Thank you again to all the companies who have let me feature their products and I wish you all a Merry book-filled Christmas!

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.
Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct.

Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realise that the heart can be more lethal than the sword....  

Review: I really enjoyed this book, which surprised me. When I picked it up, the blurb sounded interesting but I wasn't sure I was going to buy into the storyline with all the characters involved. In reality, Morgan Rhodes balanced all the characters and their individual story lines really well and it made the book really unique.

The book has multiple Points of View which I know a lot of people (including myself) are wary of, but it really works here. Each character has their own story and, each time we get their chapter we get to understand their motivations more. A lot of books that use multiple POV favour one character over another but each character has an equal balance of screen time which is actually really refreshing to see.

The characters themselves are all really interesting. They all have strong personalities in some way and the way they behave and think really propels the story along. This book is heavily character driven but I thought it was really interesting to see why each character behaves in the way they do. We see a lot from Magnus and Cleo - the royalty of two of the kingdoms. When I started the book I thought I would hate Cleo and favour Magnus, but in reality, Cleo became one of my favourite characters. To begin with she's self centred and obnoxious but, as the story progresses, you understand that she's been sheltered from hardship her whole life so she is selfish because she's never had reason to be anything else. As we get even further, you see her realise how privileged her life is and she quickly grows and becomes a better character and princess because of it.

Magnus on the other hand, is the most tricky character of the bunch because you're never entirely sure what to make of him. He can be cruel like his father, but he does have a softer side which he often shows to his sister. He reminded me of Sebastian from the Mortal Instruments - following his fathers orders while fighting to protect his sister in his own special way. You can understand his thought process, and his dislike of his father, once you learn his past, but he is definitely one to watch for in the rest of this series.

The world building and the politics of this world was also really well done. Each kingdom is completely different both in environment, economic status, and the beliefs of the population. It was really interesting to see how the conflicting beliefs and values of each kingdom worked with and against the rulers and the power players and made me want to learn more about the world. In terms of the world, it did remind me slightly of the Queen of the Tearling in that, that book was really centred on the world. I think I actually preferred this world though, because we got to see how each kingdom worked whereas in TQoTT we really only focused on the one.

While one or two of the plot points were predictable, they didn't detract from how much I enjoyed this book and I would really recommend it to those of you who enjoy fantasy novels, or who enjoyed TQoTT. Now's the perfect time to read the series as the latest book is being released in the next few weeks!  

Image and Synopsis from Goodreads - no Copyright Intended

Top Ten Tuesday

So I'm hoping this blog post is going to kick off a long, long list of posts on this blog for the remainder of the year. I have so many books to read (which means a whole lot of reviews to write!) and I'm determined to make the remainder of 2015 as 'bookish' as possible. Saying that, we'll start off easy with this Top Ten Tuesday (on a Wednesday because I'm currently losing track of my days!) which is Ten Quotes from Books I've Read in the Past Year or So.

1. There are moments that you'll remember for the rest of your life, and there are moments that you think you'll remember for the rest of your life, and it's not often they turn out to be the same moment. ~ The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
2. You are an exceptional, talented, and brilliant young woman. Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you’re less. Do not ever let anyone make you feel invisible. Do not let anyone—not even a teacher who constantly sends you for coffee—push you around. ~ Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead
3. "You missed World Hist."
   "Did you take notes for me?"
   "No. I thought you were dead in a ditch." ~ The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
4. So I was thinking, there're eighty-six thousand, four hundred seconds in a day, right? There're one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes in a day...There're one hundred and sixty-eight hours in a week. Around eighty-seven hundred and then some hours in a year, and you know what?...I want to spend every second, every minute, every hour with you...I want a year's worth of seconds and minutes with you. I want a decade's worth of hours, so many that I can't add them up. ~ Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
5. “I am not a child, and I know plenty of love. Love is wanting to be with that person for the rest of your life no matter of the consequences. Love is being willing to sacrifice your life for somebody else.” He met his father’s eyes, “Love is seeing the good in somebody regardless of their title or station in life. Love is so painful and yet so wonderful that it is worth it!” Emane pushed himself back up again from the table speaking deliberately. “Love is understanding that someday you might lose the person that you love, but that every day you get to spend with them is worth the risk. Love is taking the good with the bad.” His voice rose with each sentiment. “Love is trust. Love is wanting to understand even when you don’t.” Staring at his father, Emane added, “I know of love, Father, and I did not learn it from Ciera.” ~ Wings of Arian by Devri Walls
6. Every hero is the villain of his own story ~ The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

So these are my top 6 quotes from books I've read this year - what are yours?

On Writing: National Novel Writing Month

For as long as I can remember, I've loved to write stories. English has always been my favourite subject and my love of reading definitely has something to do with that. I want to write books like the ones I read and review on this blog. I want to write books that someone else will read over and over again and, for the past few years, I've taken part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This post will be the first in a series of posts about my writing process, how I write and, how NaNoWriMo 2015 ends up going.

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a yearly event where writers all over the world, attempt to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of Novemeber. Which is a crazy thing to do, but it's something that I look forward to every single year. Now, 50,000 words is not a complete novel - a completed novel is usually between 80,000-100,000 words but, by the end of November, you'll have at least part of your novel completed, which is a lot more than you have at the start of the month!

Now, if writing a novel in 30 days isn't your thing, then there is something called National Blog Posting Month I think - where you write a blog post every day for 30 days. I don't know too much about this actually - it's a relatively new discovery for me, but if you do run a blog and fancy a challenge, then maybe this is for you!

National Novel Writing Month isn't just for adults. There's also a Young Writers Programme (which for the last four years is the programme that I've done - 2015 is the first year I've progressed to the adult version!) and, as the name suggests, this is where young people write a novel. Unlike the adult programme, the word count can be changed to suit ability and, I know in the US a lot of schools make NaNoWriMo a part of the curriculum and students really enjoy it.

If you're interested in joining up for 2015 (there's still a little time left!) then go to the NaNoWriMo website to sign up and create your novel. If you're interested in the Young Writers Programme, then head to the Young Writers Programme website where there's information for both young people and educators.

I hope you enjoy this series - if there's something you want to know about writing then ask away and I'll try to answer it!

Image from NaNoWriMo - no Copyright Intended

Halloween Book Recommendations

I'm such a bad blogger - I know, I know, I'm sorry! To make it up to you, here is a list of Halloween, spooky, creepy book recommendations I have gathered from the lovely people of the internet and a new list of books for me to pick up and try myself (because I obviously have so much time on my hands!) are there any that I've missed?

• The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius." Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.
  
  Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

• Echo Boy by Matt Heig - Audrey's father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters. Daniel is an echo - but he's not like the others. He feels a connection with Audrey; a feeling Daniel knows he was never designed to have, and cannot explain. And when Audrey is placed in terrible danger, he's determined to save her. The Echo Boy is a powerful story about love, loss and what makes us truly human.

• Dancing Jax by Robin Jarvis - At the end of a track, on the outskirts of an ordinary coastal town, lies a dilapidated house. Once, a group of amateur ghost hunters spent the night there. Two of them don’t like to speak about the experience. The third can’t speak about it. He went into the basement, you see, and afterwards he screamed so hard and so long he tore his vocal cords.
  
  Now, a group of teenagers have decided to hang out in the old haunted house. Dismissing the fears of the others, their leader Jezza goes down into the basement… and comes back up with a children’s book, full of strange and colourful tales of a playing-card world, a fairytale world, full of Jacks, Queens and Kings, unicorns and wolves.
  
  But the book is no fairytale. Written by Austerly Fellows, a mysterious turn-of-the-century occultist, it just might be the gateway to something terrifying…and awfully final. As the children and teenagers of the town are swept up by its terrible power, swept into its seductive world, something has begun that could usher in hell on earth. Soon, the only people standing in its way are a young boy with a sci-fi obsession, and his dad – an unassuming maths teacher called Martin…

• Say her name by James Dawson - Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?
  
  Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before... A truly spine-chilling yet witty horror from shortlisted 'Queen of Teen' author James Dawson

• Zom-b by Darren Shans - Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, "It's a big, sprawling, vicious tale...a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!"

• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
  
  Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family...

• Daughters unto Devils by Amy Lukavics - When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner's family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly Ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries.
  
  When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn't right on the prairie. She's heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda can't be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul.

• Ravens Gate by Anthony Horowitz - When Matt Freeman gets into trouble with the police, he's sent to be fostered in Yorkshire. It's not long before he senses there's something wrong with his guardian: with the whole village. Then Matt learns about the Old Ones and begins to understand just how he is different. But no one will believe him; no one can help.

• The Diviners by Libba Bray - Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.
  
  Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.
  
  As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.
  
  Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

• The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich - Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . .
  
  Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.
  
  Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?

• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake - Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
  
  So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
  
  Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
  
  Yet she spares Cas's life.

Now, I can only vouch for the Anna Dressed in Blood being amazing but all the others sound really intriguing to me and I hope you've found something to suit the Halloween season. Thank you to everyone who recommended these books to me and there should be (hopefully) another post up soon.

All blurbs from Goodreads - no Copyright Intended