Who Are You Spending October With? Supernatural Books for Every Creature
Table of Contents
October has a way of making you pick a side.
Maybe you want candlelight and old magic. Maybe you want someone with fangs and terrible judgment. Maybe you want the moon to cause problems, or a bargain you absolutely should not make.
So pick your supernatural: witch, vampire, werewolf, angel or demon, or fae. Each one comes with four books to start your October TBR, and a small piece of advice we'd strongly suggest you take.
The Witch
You're choosing her if: you want old magic, complicated women, secret knowledge, and the general sense that someone in this book knows considerably more than you do.
Start here:
- Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. Sydney Sage was raised to fear magic. Then it turns out she has a real talent for it, and her Alchemist upbringing starts to look a lot less certain.
- Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber. Twin sisters, one raised as a princess and one as a witch in hiding, swap places with very loud results.
- The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. Mika Moon has spent her life keeping her magic quiet, until a house full of young witches needs a teacher.
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. The Owens sisters, a family curse, and the most famous midnight margaritas in fiction.
Important: If she offers you tea, you take the tea.
If Sydney's story is your starting point, our Bloodlines Special Edition Box Set gathers all six books in one place for your shelf.
The Vampire
You're choosing them if: immortality sounds interesting, morally questionable romance does not scare you, and you've already accepted that nobody involved is going to make the sensible choice.
Start here:
- The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. Oraya is the human daughter of a vampire king, and she enters a deadly tournament anyway.
- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Rose Hathaway, guardian-in-training, would do anything to protect her best friend. The rules are more of a suggestion.
- A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal. A tearoom by day, a blood bar for vampires by night, and a heist that gets complicated fast.
- We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark. Arvelle Dacien walked away from the arena years ago. Then a vampire buys up the medicine her little brother needs to survive, and the price of the cure is going back in, with the emperor himself as her final target.
Important: Plans begin after sunset.
Our Nightborn Duet Special Edition Box Set brings Oraya's story (and Six Scorched Roses) together, and Rose Hathaway fans can carry the Key to St. Vladimir's Academy into every reread.
The Werewolf
You're choosing them if: you want fierce loyalty, pack dynamics, complicated instincts, and at least one scene where the moon is causing problems.
Start here:
- Bride by Ali Hazelwood. A vampire agrees to an arranged marriage with a werewolf alpha. Neither of them is happy about it, which is exactly the point.
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house her whole life. One of them has always watched back.
- Wolfsong by T.J. Klune. Ox meets the Bennett family and finds out what it means to belong to a pack.
- Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. Elena Michaels is the only female werewolf in existence, and she would really like a normal life. Her Pack has other plans.
Important: Maybe check the moon phase first.
The Angel or Demon
Choosing sides can wait.
You're here if: you like ancient powers, celestial rules, demonic bargains, and people discovering that good and evil are considerably messier than advertised.
Start here:
- The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. Victorian London, the Shadowhunters, and Tessa Gray caught between Will and Jem.
- The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare. Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn, the Los Angeles Institute, and a love the Shadowhunter Law forbids.
- Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor. Karou was raised by monsters in Prague. Then she meets an angel who already seems to know her.
- Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. A witch hunting her twin's killer summons a prince of Hell for help. The contract has terms.
Important: Read the contract before signing anything.
Shadowhunters, our Dark Artifices Special Edition Box Set is open for preorder.
The Fae
Beautiful, yes, but trustworthy? Absolutely not.
You're choosing them if: court politics, dangerous bargains, impossible rules, and people who really should ask more follow-up questions are exactly what you want from October.
Start here:
- The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith. In a Victorian England ruled by a faerie queen, debutantes bargain with her for whatever will make them a better match. Ivy refuses to make a deal, and ends up competing to marry the queen's fae son instead.
- The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Jude is a mortal girl raised in the High Court of Faerie, and Cardan is the prince who makes sure she never forgets it.
- Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. A very serious scholar goes to a remote village to study the Folk. The Folk have notes.
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. An assassin, a glass castle, and a story that walks straight into the fae world by Heir of Fire.
Important: Compliments are fine and gifts are questionable. Bargains are a no.
If Celaena's journey is already yours, the Throne of Glass Dust Jackets Set 1 dresses your shelf in new art.
Five Supernaturals. Plenty of Bad Ideas.
You really only need to decide who gets first place on the TBR. After that, all bets are off.
And if you couldn't pick just one, we understand. October is long, and every creature on this list deserves a night.
Stay suspicious,
The LitJoy Team
