helllloooo spooky (& then some) reads of october!!
hullo, and welcome to october’s collection of our monday morning weekly reading book review videos— complete with links to learn more (&/or shop the titles!) at bookshop.org (online bookshopping that supports local, independent bookstores! woohoo!!)
happy spooky (or otherwise) crisp fall reads to you! :D
xo,
*hallie :)
✨📖 weekly reading book review october 2025: episode one!! 📖✨
🎃 here’s what (royal) we read this week:
💙 THE WAND KEEPERS: THE MUMMY SNATCHER CURSE by tiffany mcDaniel
❤️ THE HOUR OF THE PUMPKIN QUEEN by megan shepherd
💚 LOST EVANGELINE by kate diCamillo
🧡 HELLO, BROADWAY! A YOUNG PERSON’S GUIDE TO MUSICAL THEATER by emily hurd & michael mitnick, & illustrated by natia rojas castro
📚 currently reading:
😳 ANOTHER by paul tremblay (thanks, quill tree books ! )
👻 HAUNTED USA by heather alexander, & illustrated by sam kalda
🎬 watched:
🌊 THE TEMPEST (2010; worth the-making-of, naturally!!)
📚 mmmmmmiiiiight pick up next:
❤️ SCARLET MORNING by nd stevenson (thanks again, quill tree !! 🥰 & yaaaay illustrated middle grade!! 🥳🎨✏️🙌🏽)
🩷 FORGET ME NOT by stacy willingham
my copy from book of the month (try for $5!)
💜 &/or maybe finish THE GRAMMAR OF FANTASY by gianni rodari (& illustrated by the matthew forsythe !!)
about to finish this month’s spooky cute crayon box sticker mailing & then go make some WANDKEEPERS art!! 🥰💜
with all my sticky*sweet heart,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review october 2025: episode two!! 📖✨
🎃 here’s what i read this week:
💚 THE BEAST & THE BETHANY: BATTLE OF THE BEAST by jack meggitt-phillips, illustrated by isabelle follath (one of my fave silly middle grade series i discovered this year; this is book 3!)
boxed paperback trilogy here: https://bookshop.org/a/5254/9781665965590
(& looks like no. 4 & 5 are coming! yay!!)
😑 BEAUTIFUL UGLY by alice feeney (adult mystery/thriller and Not for Me b/c reasons 😥)
📚 currently reading:
👑 THE PRINCESS SWAP: CINDERELLA & THE BEAST / BEAUTY & THE GLASS SLIPPER by kim bussing (yay adventurous faerie tale girls making things happen in a whackadoodle faerie tale world! 😄🥳💖 )
📚 miiiiight read next:
💜 THE COTTAGE AROUND THE CORNER by d.l. soria (magical grown*up romcom)
💙 THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY by marie benedict & courtney sheinmel
🐑 MIDNIGHT TIMETABLE: A NOVEL IN GHOST STORIES by bora chung(adult horror -?- short stories)
what stories are you loving right now?!
🥰☕️🏈🎧🩰🎨🎬🎭📺📝📖👻🎃
off to get paint on my hands & sprinkles in my belly,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review october 2025: episode three!! 📖✨
📚 this week, i read:
👑 THE PRINCESS SWAP: CINDERELLA & THE BEAST / BEAUTY & THE GLASS SLIPPER by kim bussing ( #randomhousekidspartner )
🎭 THE DARK COVE THEATRE SOCIETY by sierra marilyn riley
🌈 THE [WONDERFUL] WIZARD OF OZ by l. frank baum
many editions available, this is at least the shape of mine:
https://bookshop.org/a/5254/9780141321028
essential visual oz, illustrated by charles santore: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wizard-of-oz-l-frank-baum/1133048987?ean=9781604335422
📚 currently reading:
👻 HAUNTED USA: SPINE-TINGLING STORIES FROM ALL 50 STATES by heather alexander & stunnnnnninnnggg graphite illustrations by sam kalda
📚 miiiiiiight read next:
🩵 A PALACE NEAR THE WIND by ai jiang
🩷 NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by annabel monaghan
💛 WE by yevgeny zamyatin
🎬 watched:
💜 BEETLEJUICE, JR. at the greer cultural arts center
tickets for this week here!
https://www.greerculturalarts.com/greer-childrens-theatre.html#/
(p.s. as they sing, it's a show about DEATH, incl. suicide ideation, so take care with your audience members. )
🫣 half-watched the first three episodes of MURDAUGH: DEATH IN THE FAMILY on hulu/hulu on disney+ (somebody give johnny berchtold that EMMY now!!!!!! 😳🙌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19853270/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
🎧 & listening to, as ever:
🩵 TRUE SUNLIGHT PODCAST with mandy matney & liz farrell (they’ve re*mastered a number of MURDAUGH MURDERS episodes so you can get the original goods with 20/20 future vision commentary now, too!!)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-sunlight/id1573560247
📺 the MURDAUGH: DEATH IN THE FAMILY official companion podcast (mandy & liz interviewing cast & crew! easier to take in than the -visual- show… 😅❤️)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-death-in-the-family-official-podcast/id1845258373
🎬 WHAT WENT WRONG: this month, covering bts of all the scary movies i’ll never watch… 😅🖤
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-went-wrong/id1512847066
🥳 & i’m headed into my studio to finish:
🖌️ my hallie*esque alternate cover art/portfolio piece inspired by THE WAND KEEPERS: THE MUMMY SNATCHER CURSE by tiffany mcDaniel !!!
(process painting video in the crayon box (incl. monthly sticker mail!! what what?!): https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
with all my cinnamon toast heart,
🧡xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review october 2025: episode four!! 📖✨
📚 this week, i read:
📖 A PALACE NEAR THE WIND by ai jiang
📖 WE by yevgeny zamyatin
📖 HAUNTED U.S.A. by heather alexander & ✏️ art by sam kalda
📖 WRITE THROUGH IT by kate mckean
📚 i made art inspired by:
📖 THE WAND KEEPERS: THE MUMMY SNATCHER CURSE by tiffany mcdaniel
see the video on the crayon box here: https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
📚 currently reading:
📖 MY PLAIN JANE by the lady janies (brodi ashton , cynthia hand , & jodi meadows)
📖 HENRY VIII by wm. shakespeare
📖 SOMEONE IN THE ATTIC by andrea mara
my copy from book of the month: https://www.mybotm.com/4fk6zo9eig4
📚 miiiiiiight read next:
🎭 CAST & CREW: SETTING THE STAGE by lindsay champion (yaaaay theatrical middle grade!!)
📖 GRAVE FLOWERS by autumn krause
📖 MINA’s MATCHBOX by yoko ogawa
🎧 listening to:
🎧 WHAT WENT WRONG PODCAST (this month: spooky movies i’ll never see + natalie wood’s mysterious death)
🎧 MURDAUGH: DEATH IN THE FAMILY OFFICIAL PODCAST with mandy matney, liz farrell / true sunlight podcast
📺 & re-watching:
🎬 ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING season four because i love it the mostest!
DON’T FORGET: monthly marker re*cap coming in a few days!!
CLICK HERE: https://halthegalstoryart.substack.com/subscribe
💜xo,
*hallie 🤓
the ushe:
montly marker re*cap, my (always free!) substack newsletter here:
https://halthegalstoryart.substack.com
as ever, you can shop my recommended reading lists on my bookshop.org affiliate page, organized by genres or age recs here:
https://bookshop.org/shop/halthegal
you can also find these videos & other travel and artsy, bookish nonsense on my instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/halthegal_storyart/
and get more behind-the-scenes in the studio, publishing updates, and MonthLY STickER mail from me in the crayon box here:
https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
you can find me & my #scbwiArtober2025 (ghost bunny doodles every day this month!) posts on my bluesky:
fave reads of the month!
i think there was only one book i read and didn’t love this month. so here’s the edited super-highlights:
LOST EVANGELINE, by kate dicamillo
i became a loyal fan of kate’s work once i started “the norendy tales,” and this is the third in that faerie tale series. short. illustrated (this one by multi-caledott winner sophie blackall). and just pure magic and charm. easy to read. easier to share.
THE WAND KEEPERS: THE MUMMY SNATCHER CURSE, by tiffany mcdaniel.
the second in this quirky, magical middle grade series, this one takes our unlikely friends (and egypt, the mummy cat) to egypt for some new wrappings. bad guys abound. a parade and spooky quests and trials and blue freckles save the day.
(bonus: see some ART i made inspired by this one below! even better: the video of me creating that multi-media piece!) :)
WRITE THROUGH IT, by kate mckean.
do i read too many writing craft and publishing industry books? um, only in the name of research and creative procrastination…? ;D this one was voicy, and like BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL by courtney maum, this book covers everything you need to know. really enjoyed the pep talks at the back, too. to paraphrase my biggest takeaway: “writing shall never be fast or easy. but it is fun. so remember to enjoy it.”
it’s definitely now on my go-to rec list for newbie authors, or people who write and are beginning to consider publishing (or the people who love them and wanna know whey their book isn’t out yet.) ; )
real quick, a few more titles i loved this month:
a re-read of the original THE [WONDERFUL] WIZARD OF OZ by l. frank baum; THE PRINCESS SWAP: CINDERELLA AND THE BEAST / BEAUTY AND THE GLASS SLIPPER, by kim bussing (i’ve collected the next two in the series already!); THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY: BATTLE OF THE BEAST (BOOK THREE), by jack meggitt-phillips; HOUR OF THE PUMPKIN QUEEN, by megan shepherd; HAUNTED U.S.A.: SPINE-TINGLING TALES FROM ALL 50 STATES by heather alexander, illustrated by sam kalda ← that one really just for the illustrations. i definitely do NOT recommend going ghost hunting for yourself! but i do appreciate an indigenous folktale or few!! really do check out footage of sam’s amazing graphite pencil work on his instagram here!