October has arrived — slipping in quietly, like the soft creak of a door left ajar. The air feels different now, doesn’t it? A little heavier, a little older. The sun fades sooner, and the nights stretch out like ink across the sky. It’s the season for stories that whisper in the dark, that breathe softly against your neck, that linger long after the last page.
This Mood Reads Monday is dedicated to that perfect Halloween feeling — the thrill of something beautiful and unsettling all at once. The kind of books that make you light a candle, pull your blanket tighter, and wonder if that shadow in the corner just moved.
✨ Today’s Mood: Hauntingly Beautiful
These aren’t jump-scare stories or cheap thrills. They’re slow burns and whispered chills — tales that explore love, death, power, and the exquisite ache of things that refuse to stay buried.
🕯 A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
This is not just a retelling of Dracula — it’s a reclamation of his story through the eyes of one of his brides. Gibson’s prose is lush and lyrical, dripping with devotion, defiance, and desire. It’s gothic literature reimagined for modern readers — and it’s utterly intoxicating.
📖 Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
Death is personified — and flirtatious. Belladonna feels like a waltz in a haunted ballroom: graceful, eerie, and heartbreakingly romantic. It’s a story about life, loss, and the beauty found in the spaces between both.
🌑 The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
A classic gothic setup — an arranged marriage, an isolated mansion, a locked door — twisted into something far more sinister. Starling takes familiar tropes and turns them inside out, crafting a narrative that’s both deeply psychological and relentlessly unsettling.
💀 The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Heat and horror blend beautifully in this Mexican gothic tale of betrayal, faith, and hauntings that refuse to be silenced. The Hacienda delivers atmosphere in every sentence — you can practically feel the dust and dread in your lungs as you read.
October is the time to sink into books that echo the world outside — quiet, shadowed, and brimming with secrets. So light your candles, pour something warm, and let yourself get lost in stories that know how to haunt you just right.
What’s your mood read for this spooky season? Drop your October read in the comments — let’s build a haunted reading list together.
literary gluttony 
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