I don't normally eat while I'm reading (unless I'm reading through my lunchtime), but I do always have some hot tea at hand (caffeinated or herbal, depending on the time of day).
My favorite place to order tea is The Tea Haus, a Canadian company with some great seasonal selections. I'll be ordering some themed teas from them for the bingo:
Yum!
Generally, in order to qualify for Halloween bingo, all books must fit into one of the general genres of horror, mystery, suspense or supernatural. This space is filled by any Halloween bingo book that has been adapted to film or television. For extra fun, you can watch the adaptation - although this is an optional add on!
Mystery stories set in 1950s England where charismatic upper-class, athletic vicar solves crime with the help of a slightly disreputable working-class police Inspector.
Dark and twisted Southern Gothic novel by Gillian Flynn that was made into an almost as dark TV series by HBO
Coming of age story for the magically gifted who have been raised in ignorance, get to try out for magic school. This is not Hogwarts. These are not children. The line between good and evil, entitled and excluded, righteous and corrupt depends on who is drawing it.
Slightly tacky gothic creep show novel turned into something more interesting by Netflicks.
Sprawling nearly 1,000-page spooky historical fiction of Victorian men pitting themselves against the elements, each other and the supernatural on a quest for the Northwest Passage that turns into a struggle for survival. It was turned into a TV series last year. Season two is scheduled for release this year.
I've only read the first book in this trilogy about a professor coming into her powers as a witch but it was fun and Sky have now turned it into TV that seems good to look at.
So I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never, right? The work week has been crazy busy to the point that I just want to flop over and do nothing when I get home, so I've been putting off these pre-party prompts for until the weekend. And then I got lazy, so this is still a little later in coming than I'd intended.
So I'm going to toss all of the prompts into the same post rather than create individual ones for each.
While putting together this post, I spent the evening scrolling back through to the first pre-party post on my dashboard feed to kind of get an idea of what and how everyone else is posting--because I'm a bit anal like that. And so while adding another mountain of books to my TBR thanks to everyone else's pre-party posts, I started putting together my own.
At first I was just going to keep it simple and give some brief responses to all of the prompts, but then I started throwing in book covers and rambling on, so the next thing I knew, the post ended up pretty long.
So here we go!
Well this is a rather easy one to answer. If you know me, you know that I'm definitely NOT a horror person. The number of horror books I've read probably equals the number of times we've played Halloween Bingo, if only because I make myself step out of that comfort zone and read something in the genre. For the most part, I find myself enjoying more of the Classic Horror novels; I've yet to really read many modern horror novels save for some psychological horror by Neil Gaiman or Dean Koontz. I've yet to touch Stephen King or Joe Hill if only because I've heard that their books can get pretty heavy.
I like ghost stories, but I don't like bloody, gory, slasher fic horror. Though surprisingly, I don't mind a bit of bloody, goriness in crime thrillers. And to be honest, I've read a few crime thriller mysteries that have content that can be quite horrifying if you really think about it. But I'm fine with that... because I don't make sense.
But anyway, yeah... I'm more of a mystery story type of person and have lately been interested in historical mystery. I've always been interested in cozy mysteries, and I'm also very much a fan of crime thrillers with good murder mysteries. Romantic suspense with crime thrillers and murder mysteries are my go-to genre and comfort reads. I've only recently started sampling more classic mysteries such as those written by Dame Agatha or Sir A.C. Doyle.
Like a few other BL-ers have stated, I'm not always into mystery for the puzzles though--I'm no good at figuring the puzzles out on my own. But I love following the characters as they interact and react to the situations they are thrown into as a result of a murder or as a need to investigate said murder. And I love watching the pieces fall together in the conclusion and thinking, "Ah, that makes a lot of sense..."
Some of my more favorite mystery books/series that come to mind immediately include Dame Agatha's And Then There Were None, and Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series. After a quick scan of all the books I've read, I'd also throw in the Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling), the Mindhunters series by Kylie Brant, and the stand-alone book Every Secret Thing by Emma Cole (a.k.a. Susanna Kearsley). Once again, I love these books not so much for how the mysteries were set up, but more so for the characters and how they interact with each other, how they react to everything happening around them.
I also have a thing for mysteries with a supernatural twist, though I haven't read a lot of them. Some that come to mind that I personally liked would be the first few books of Kay Hooper's Bishop/SCI series, The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright, the In the Garden trilogy by Nora Roberts, and some recent favorites by Simone St. James.
Between the three listed above, I've never cared for vampires nor zombies, so by default werewolves would be my preferred type of supernatural creature. I think I'd probably choose any kind of animal-shifter as my preferred supernatural creatures.
In truth though, I don't know if supernatural creatures are really my thing, and my experience with books that have these creatures is pretty limited. I DO love Anne Bishop's The Others series a lot, so there's that. And then there's that urban fantasy series I fell for last Halloween which involves cryptids, which will forever fascinate me. I shall, in fact, be trying to insert the next few InCryptid books into this year's Halloween Bingo if I can. =D
While I'm not a huge fan of horror, I DO love a great ghost story, especially of the ghostly mystery and haunted house mystery variety. One of my first and forever favorites from my childhood is The Dollhouse Murders which I've already listed above, one of few books I've reread and actually still loved. Recent favorites include the Simone St. James historical, ghostly mysteries, which I also listed above under the first prompt. So I'm not going to add any covers here since I've already added them above.
There's nothing like a great haunted house or ghostly mystery without the blood, guts, and gore to scare the crap out of you, and yet at the same time really make you think. This is probably the only way I like to be scared in my reading. And if the author includes some history of really old hauntings in the story, I'm even more excited!
I'm not sure I've read a whole lot of other ghostly tales that weren't also mysteries. There's a non-fiction book I read a long time ago of which I don't recall the name of, but compiled a lot of haunted places around America. These are always fun.
On a non-bookish aside, I once visited Savannah, Georgia with my besties for a vacation and took a couple ghost tours at night with them. The history was fascinating; Savannah is known as one of the most haunted cities in America, so there was lore everywhere! I wouldn't mind doing more historical ghost tours in future.
On another aside, I think there are at least a few ghostly tales that aren't really mysteries I've read and loved. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House was an incredibly psychological horror that creeped me out a lot. Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book was one of my most favorite Halloween Bingo reads from the first game in 2016! Both are books I'd absolutely recommend to anyone wanting to read something ghostly and well-written.
Ah... this is a good one. My best year was probably the first Halloween Bingo in 2016 wherein I had so many favorites I had a hard time choosing just one. In 2017, I had a few books I liked just fine, but none that really stood out. And then in 2018, there were two books I squee-ed over, and a couple that I found pretty good... but the rest were really kind of mediocre, truth be told.
Hopefully 2019 will bring another great year, just like the first!
2016:
2017:
2018:
One of the first series I thought of for this prompt was Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series, one of my most favorite series since the moment I started reading The Raven Boys and found that it had a lot more depth than I'd expected, as well as a squee-worthy friendship between Blue and her boys, as well as wonderful writing that just takes you into the magical world.
The Others by Anne Bishop is a strangely entertaining series that I fell for quite quickly during the first book. It seemed that it hadn't mattered to me that there was very little story in the first book, very little development of characters... and recycling of story conflicts throughout the series. But I just loved the books. In truth, the books that follow the Meg story-arc seem to have better story lines and development, even if we still repeat the same conflicts.
Brown and de Luca is a fun and witty series that follows famous self-help book writer Rachel de Luca after she has a corneal transplant only to start seeing visions of brutal murder through those donated cornea. The creepy factor is intriguing, but what I really loved was Rachel's voice as she discovers the beauty of being able to see again. It helps that she's super snarky and doesn't take crap from anyone. The murder mysteries are also interesting.
I was going to base this prompt off of books I read for Halloween Bingos past, as I'm not entirely sure how to go about finding some favorite seasonal covers. Instead, I decided to just show off some of my favorite covers from Halloween Bingos past, and then add some covers that seem quite seasonal.
Favorite Covers from Past Halloween Bingos
Covers that feel seasonal to me that I like
This one's a little harder to respond to if only because reading Halloween books isn't exactly a thing I think about until Halloween Bingo rolls around. So I'll just list a few authors I've thought of who have books that would definitely fit into my Halloween Bingo card based on my leanings more toward mystery. I also have a couple authors who's books I've saved specifically for Halloween Bingo.
Simone St. James
Mary Stewart
Barbara Michaels
Neil Gaiman
Anna Lee Huber
Deanna Raybourn
Nora Roberts
Seanan McGuire
I think I've read a book by Nora Roberts each year so far. And I've always intended to read a book by Neil Gaiman each year, but did not do so in 2018. And starting from this year foward, I think I might start including a book by both Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels each year if I can manage it.
Horror is one of my favorite genres, and my first mature book love.
The scarier the better. I want to be afraid to go to sleep without a light on.
Although there are exceptions, and they do have their place, I can pass on the blood, guts, and gore since they're usually added more for the shock effect than to create fear.
These are stories that stuck with me, even if it was just a scene or two. Weighted bit towards Stephen King, mostly because he was my introduction to horror and I was very young when I read some of them.
The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood
The atmosphere, stalking of and being stalked by a myth in the deep north woods. Not knowing if it was real. Possibly the scariest book I've read.
The Punished by Peter Meredith
Even being afraid of the dark, I don't find 'hauntings' particularly scary. Although weird noises inside and outside will set me to turning on all the lights. LOL But this one ranks up there with the best of them. The whole thing was just creepy as it gets.
Pet Semetary by Stephen King
The scene when he was carrying his son past the deadfall was one of the most fear inducing single scenes ever.
Cruelty by Edward Lorn
I think it was the last book in the series, when the black stone angel came flying out of nowhere while he was walking through the woods. That scene was incredibly unnerving, and the closest thing to a jump scare I have encountered on the written page.
It by Stephen King
It brought back all the childhood memories of being afraid of the dark, the monster under the bed, the thing in the closet, the musty basement with the dark corners. The photos freaked me out the most. It was a long time before I could comfortably flip through a photo album.
Cujo by Stephen King
I grew up on a farm in the middle of the woods, so knowledge of rabies was taught as soon as us kids were allowed out doors unsupervised. However, because I was about 10 when I read this it freaked me out. Mostly because I don't recall King stating anywhere that it was rabies. The dog gets bit then goes on a rampage. I was thinking some weird possession thing, which I suppose in a way it was.
I'm trying to choose books with little to no gore, and no animals or children being hurt, as far as I can recall.
The Maze Runner series by James Dashner
Bird Box by Josh Malerman was pretty good
Make Room! Make Room! By Harry Harrison
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Probably the most psycho mind screwing I've ever read
The Ballad of Black Tom and/or The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
Blackwater by Michael McDowell
If having 'black' in the authors name counts, The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood.
Because his books are usually huge, I'm going with some of Stephen Kings short(er) stories.
The Mist
UR if you have a Kindle, this one is fun.
Gerald's Game and Misery could also fall under Psycho.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Shining TV miniseries (way better than the movie)
1408, based on the Stephen King short story
Make Room! Make Room! By Harry Harrison (was made into Soylent Green, though the ending is different)
Log in with Facebook 
