October has a particular flavor, doesn’t it? The kind that lingers like smoke in the air and cinnamon on your tongue. The nights stretch longer, the wind sighs through the trees, and suddenly every drink tastes like something a witch might brew under a harvest moon.
This week’s Tasty Tuesday is for readers who crave a little magic with their caffeine — stories that simmer with mystery, sip well by candlelight, and leave you delightfully haunted.
🕯️ The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
A story stitched together with rebellion, sisterhood, and spells hidden in plain sight. This book feels like striking a match in the dark — soft light, sudden warmth, and the promise of something dangerous.
Sip pairing: A cinnamon mocha, spiked with just enough heat to taste like defiance.
🦇 House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Dreamlike and disquieting, this tale of three sisters is equal parts beauty and rot. Reading it feels like wandering through a fog-drenched garden — you know something’s watching, but you can’t stop moving forward.
Sip pairing: Black tea with a twist of blood orange. Floral, strange, and just a touch feral.
💀 We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Isolation. Ritual. Poison and propriety. Jackson’s classic isn’t just unsettling — it’s hypnotic. Merricat Blackwood might be the most quietly terrifying narrator in literature, and you’ll adore every unnerving second.
Sip pairing: Extra-dark hot chocolate, laced with the faintest bite of bitterness — sweet comfort with a warning label.
So tonight, light a candle. Let your drink cool beside a book that bites back. Listen for whispers between the pages. Halloween isn’t about the jump scares — it’s about the slow, delicious dread that curls up beside you while you read.
Tell me, my fellow book fiends: what story and sip are keeping you company this week?
literary gluttony 
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