October TBR – The TBR Raffle – Sister Edition

Hello, lovelies!

Welcome to the October TBR! I hope you are doing well, and are well into the autumn spirit! I am so looking forward to Halloween, even though I am not sure how I will be able to give out treats with Covid still going on. Maybe I’ll have to open up my garden and do a scavenger hunt or something similar. Any ideas?

September was a pretty good month in terms of my reading, even though life got a bit in the way. I still need to catch up on a few book reviews, but keeping a positive mindset, as always!

This month, I have something different planned for you. It wasn’t really planned, it happened naturally, but I think it turned up quite well in the end. My sister came to visit me one weekend, and she always loves my TBR Raffle videos on Instagram. This time, she asked me if she can choose the prompts. So I agreed. And not only did she end up choosing the prompts, but she ended up choosing the books as well. I had to add a few more titles in the end, which I am ue to review in October, but I am confident I can manage to read them all this month.

And with that. let the October TBR raffle commence.

The October TBR Raffle

I am filming my TBRs on my Instagram Stories. Make sure to follow me on Instagram, and check out the “Monthly TBR” highlight at the beginning of each month!

My TBR Raffle game is simple: I have a number of prompts that I put in small papers, into a jar. I draw a prompt, and I fit in a book that matches my prompt. Here is a list of the current prompts I have. Feel free to leave any prompt suggestions in the comments. Once the paper is drawn, I put it back into the jar, so it has an equal chance to get drawn again. I draw a total of 8 prompts, which result in 8 books for the month. If I fail to read a book, it automatically goes into the next month.

*This month, my sister chose my prompts and my books. I had a lot of fun doing this with her, and maybe I’ll let her do it again in the future! 🙂

My October TBR

✨ 1. New Author

My mum had an impact on this choice, as she was in our living room while we were having our fun. And she’s also been trying to get me to read this title for a very long time now. So she chose The Love Letter by Lucinda Riley.

When Sir James Harrison, one the greatest actors of his generation, passes away at the age of ninety-five he leaves behind not just a heartbroken family and a wealth of memorabilia from his long career but also a secret so shocking, so devastating that it could change everything…

Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journalist, assigned to cover the legendary actor’s funeral. The great and the good of the celebrity world will be there. But Joanna stumbles on something dark beneath the glamour: the mention of a letter Harrison has left behind, the contents of which he was desperate to conceal. As she gets closer to tracking down the source, she realises that there are other very interested parties. And they’ll stop at nothing to reach the letter before she does.

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 2. Lowest Rated

The current lowest rated book on my October TBR is Devil’s Mist by Liam Moiser.  I think the reason for the low ratings has to do with low number of people that read it, so I am excited to dive into this one. It has camping and scary stories, and I think it has the perfect mood for Halloween. 

A camping trip with a friend’s family, with a campfire to sit around and tell scary stories – except Rosie’s dad says this one is true. According to legend, the house across the lake hosts a strange curse, a missing daughter and a threat that anyone who ventures close will meet the same fate. Rosie and Jenny shrug the story off, but as events escalate, it becomes crystal clear that the curse is real and someone else is the next target.

Although they try to deny the truth, a note from an unlikely source confirms their deepest fears. Lies unravel, allies form and the truth about what happens back then threatens to come to light. But one answer remains shrouded, haunting all involved: Will they escape the mist before it comes for them or are they doomed to be lost forever?

Purchase Links:
 Amazon UK

✨ 3. Giveaway

A book that I have won as a Giveaway. My sister chose Beneath the World, a Sea by Chris Beckett. I won this book through ReadersFirst, and it seems like a truly enchanting read. 

South America, 1990. Ben Ronson, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest to investigate a spate of killings of a local species called the Duendes. They are silent, vaguely humanoid creatures – with long limbs and black button eyes – that have a strange psychic effect on people, exposing them to their suppressed thoughts and fears.

The crimes have taken place in a landscape known as the Delta and to reach it Ben has crossed the Zone, a territory which wipes the memories of all who pass through. He remembers nothing of the preceding days; what he did or felt or saw.

Ben is uneasy about what he may have done in the Zone and avoids opening the diaries he kept whilst there, busying himself with the investigation instead. He becomes fascinated by the Duendes, but the closer he gets, the more he begins to unravel. As the Delta starts to take hold of his mind, Ben becomes increasingly haunted by the unopened diaries and the terrible secrets they might hold… 

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 4. Sister Pick

My Sister was so happy this also popped up. So she chose one of her favorite books, which I haven’t read yet. It’s After by Anna Todd. After is the first book in the After series. 

Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way.

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to.

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before.

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn’t the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her?

Unless…could this be love?

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 5. Classic

For my classic read, my sister chose Emma by Jane Austen. Emma has been on my TBR for a very long time, and I am really looking forward to finally reading it for the October TBR.

Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen’s most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 6. Highest Rated

It’s amazing that we have both a Lowest Rated and a Highest Rated prompt in the same month for October TBR. I really love these. My current highest rated book is All About Amy by James J. Caterino. All About Amy has been on my TBR for a while now, and I remember winning it in a giveaway from Goodreads, a very long time ago.

Meet Troy Carter Brown, a man living a life of quiet desperation. One day, a mysterious woman from California shows up on his doorstep claiming to be a walk-in, the transmigrated soul of Amy Ellis, his long lost girlfriend who died in a tragic boating accident nearly twenty years ago. Is she merely playing him in some sort of an elaborate con game, or has the soul of Amy really returned to Troy in the form of this alluring stranger named Julie Saxton. Only in the end, as Troy and Julie end up on the run together fleeing for their lives from local gangsters, will the dramatic truth be revealed.

Purchase Links:
 Amazon UK

✨ 7. Standalone

My sister chose Uprooted by Naomi Novik for the standalone prompt for this October TBR, , because she knows I want to read this book so bad! Thanks sis!

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, ambitious wizard, known only as the Dragon, to keep the wood’s powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman must be handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as being lost to the wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows – everyone knows – that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia – all the things Agnieszka isn’t – and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But no one can predict how or why the Dragon chooses a girl. And when he comes, it is not Kasia he will take with him.

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 8. Sent by Author

Hands Up by Stephen Clark is the book my sister chose. Probably because it is purple. 🙂

Officer Ryan Quinn, a rookie raised in a family of cops, is on the fast track to detective until he shoots an unarmed black male. Now, with his career, reputation and freedom on the line, he embarks on a quest for redemption that forces him to confront his fears and biases and choose between conscience or silence.

Jade Wakefield is an emotionally damaged college student living in one of Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods. She knows the chances of getting an indictment against the cop who killed her brother are slim. When she learns there’s more to the story than the official police account, Jade is determined, even desperate, to find out what really happened. She plans to get revenge by any means necessary.

Kelly Randolph, who returns to Philadelphia broke and broken after abandoning his family ten years earlier, seeks forgiveness while mourning the death of his son. But after he’s thrust into the spotlight as the face of the protest movement, his disavowed criminal past resurfaces and threatens to derail the family’s pursuit of justice.

Ryan, Jade, and Kelly–three people from different worlds—are on a collision course after the shooting, as their lives interconnect and then spiral into chaos. 

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 9. Extra

I am participating in a blog tour for Meet Me in London by Georgia Toffolo. My tour stop is on 5th October.

What do you do when your fake engagement starts to feel too real…

Aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea, and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.

Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her. A girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion. Something to keep his mother from interfering while he focuses on the business.

When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his store and he will provide an opportunity for Victoria to showcase her designs. But what starts as a business arrangement soon becomes something more tempting, as the fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for…

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

✨ 10. Extra

I am also participating in a blog tour for Haunted by multiple authors. This book is a collection of spooky short ghostly stories and my tour stop is on 28th October, right in time before Halloween. If there is just one title I can pick to be most excited about – it’s definitely this one!

Purchase Links:
| Amazon UK |Amazon US |

And that’s my October TBR.
Make sure to follow me on Instagram, so you can stay up to date with my current updates during the month.
What are you planning to read this month? Let me know in the comments!

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