Clare L. Deming

October found me reaching a good reading pace once again, with five books completed, and nearly a sixth. None of the books reached 5-star status for me, but three of them were 4-star books. October also found me attending New York Comic-Con, and you can read about that in some recent posts here (Thursday / Friday). I also wrote more book reviews and started to delve back into writing fiction. Overall October was a great month!

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on the book links in this post. You can also find my list of recommended reads (in different categories) over at Bookshop.org.

---

Books I read in October (2,019 pages):

• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is a historical fantasy novel set in the late 1700s in Maine that features a midwife who investigates a murder, and is based on a true story – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Murmuration by T.J. Klune is a re-release of an earlier work by this author that is a science fiction romance I recently reviewed for Net Galley in my last post – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Eleventh Gate by SFWA Grand Master Nancy Kress is a stand-alone science fiction novel that I read for a book club discussion – ⭐⭐⭐
• Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher is the second book in a series of loosely connected romantasy novels – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Blacklight Born by Alexander Darwin is the final book in The Combat Codes series of books that use mixed martial arts in a science fiction story of found family and rebellion – ⭐⭐⭐

---

Reading now:

• Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo is the third and final book in the Alex Stern series and blends occult horror with urban fantasy. This one is shaping up to be a 5-star read if the author can pull off the ending. I’m about 3/4 of the way through this one and will likely be done with it by the time this post goes up.
• Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue is a spicy romantasy novel that finds our main character to be a bit too much of a Mary Sue, but I’m a sucker for a woman with a sword so I’m having fun with this one.
• The Best of All Possible Planets by Alex Shvartsman is a humorous science fiction novel that I’m listening to as an audiobook. I’m only a few chapters in, but I just found a Douglas Adams reference in binary so I’m patting myself on the back a little.

---

Other books I had hoped to get to in October:

• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is the sequel to Artificial Wisdom which would have been a 5-star read if the ending hadn’t failed to answer some important questions (review here). I’m really looking forward to this second book!

---

Books I’m planning to read in November:

• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is my roll-over book from October that will be first-up for me to read.
• The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman is a stand-alone LGBT retelling of a werewolf myth for a book club read.
• Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon is the 9th and latest installment in the Outlander series. I expect to start this one as an audiobook at the end of the month.
• Quicksilver by Callie Hart is a book I will eventually get to, really!
• Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel is the latest book by the author of Station Eleven (my review here) and also a pick for an upcoming book club discussion.
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin is a classic of science fiction that I have never read for a book club discussion.
• The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan is book #8 in The Wheel of Time. I need to get back to this series now that I have figured out how to convert my old .prc file of the entire series to an .epub and get it back onto my Kindle.

---

New books acquired in October (4 allowed):

• Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo is the final book in the Alex Stern series that I am currently reading.
• The Eleventh Gate by Nancy Kress is a stand-alone science fiction novel that I read in October.
• Tempest by Victoria Aveyard is the Fairy Loot selection for the month and looks like a romantasy novel with pirates. I think the standard cover is prettier than the Fairy Loot edition on this one.
• Metropolis by Thea von Harbou was a free e-book of a lesser known science fiction classic (first published in 1925) that I acquired for completing a survey for a publisher.

---

I was doing so well on my rule of book acquisition for the year… until New York Comic-Con. I had forgotten about how many books I usually pick up when I made my plan to only acquire the number of books I read in the previous month, minus one, for each month of 2026.

Six of these were give-aways and five were purchases, with five of them bearing autographs. Several were ARCs (advanced reader copies) and many were puchases after the cozy fantasy panel. One is non-fiction, and most look like they have a romance element.

• Soul Sworn by Kate Dylan is an ARC that looks like spicy romantasy. Publication date = 11/17/26.
• The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson is a Hugo-nominated fantasy novel (and start of a series) that I have wanted to read for a while. Purchase of this book gave me a free ARC of another one.
• Merciful Carnage by Sara Hashem is an ARC that looks like a dark fantasy romance from Orbit. Publication date = 2/2/27.
• The Magic We Made by Meg Cabot is a stand-alone romance about magic in a Connecticut town by the author of The Princess Diaries.
• Meet Cute Magic by Morgan Elizabeth is a cozy fantasy romance with witches, ghosts, and a bookstore.
• The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin is a cozy fantasy romance that is the prettiest book I acquired at Comic-Con.
• Silvercloak by L.K. Steven is the start of a dark fantasy series from a British author and was one of the give-aways I won.
• Conform by Ariel Sullivan was another give-away book and is the first book in a science fiction romance series.
• Beneath by Ariel Sullivan is the second book (but also a prequel) in the Conform series and the second-prettiest book I acquired at Comic-Con.
• Perilous Enchantment: The true history of faeries by Sarah Clegg is a non-fiction book looking at fairies and their lore that I acquired by showing up at the publisher at the end of the day, looking sad, and asking for more books.
• A Date With Death by Kelly Creagh is the other book that I acquired by showing up at the publisher and asking for more books. This appears to be a light-hearted romance novel.

I missed a few other giveaways that I would have liked to have, and didn’t come up with the strategy to show up at the end of the day and ask for whatever the publisher had left over until the second day. However, I was also practically limited by the size of my backpack and how much I was willing to carry.

Whew! This was a long post and now I need to get back to reviews and reading. How is your fall reading shaping up? What books are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments.