Summerween 2026 👻🏖️

 

Between July 3rd-9th, I participated in Summerween, hosted by Gabby from @gabbyreads.  I was happy to get to these four books during those days and enjoyed most of them very much. Also, during the week I completed all of Gabby's prompts. My favorite from the books was The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs. 

Books Read:  

1. Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Secret Staircase Mystery Book 1) by Gigi Pandian: 👻👻👻👻

        - I highly enjoyed this cozy mystery and will be continuing on with the rest of the series. One of my favorite parts of this story was the whole idea of Secret Staircase Construction. It was so interesting to hear about the locked rooms they created. Also, the family elements of this story were wonderful. I love how Gigi Pandian used classic mystery stories throughout this and especially here use of Edgar Allen Poe. 

2. The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs: 👻👻👻👻👻

        - Such a strange little book, that I loved. It has a mix of humor, creepy scenes, and a lot of fantasy fun. It is my favorite of John Bellairs books I have read so far.   

3. The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm: 👻

        - I was really looking forward to this book because I have heard it described as a world similar to Wonderland with quirky characters like that. Sadly this was not at all what I thought it was going to be. It was unsettling and quite disturbing with no real plot to it. The only reason I even finished it was because of how short it was. I did not enjoy this in the slightest. 

4. In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste: 👻👻👻👻

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts is a queer continuation of The Great Gatsby, following Daisy Buchanan's daughter Pamelia (Mel) over 30 years after the events of the original novel. Daisy is found dead in Gatsby's mansion, though Mel knows Daisy has been spiraling out of control for years. At Gatsby's estate, she find's her mother's ghost and tries to figure out how to free her from the house.

The novella has stunning writing which drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked in like the house and it's "visitors." Gatsby is one of my favorite novels and I loved seeing where Gwendolyn took this "sequel" of the story. There are many different eerie and creepy scenes which were so good.

Along with Mel, we get some new characters and then many of the characters from the classic including Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway. Nick is my favorite character from the original novel and the author does an incredible job with his characterization in this. The haunted house became a character itself and I loved reading about it's hunger. I think it's interesting how grief and guilt are looked at in this novella.

Overall this was a very entertaining read, I highly enjoyed reading as a big fan of The Great Gatsby.

*Thank you to Edelweiss, Creature Publishing, and Gwendolyn Kiste for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.* 

Gabby's Prompts: 

1. Read a book in the dark or at night  ✔️

        - Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Secret Staircase Mystery Book 1) by Gigi Pandian

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste

2. Read a thriller or horror book ✔️

        - The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs- Fantasy with a bit of creepy scenes

        - The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste 

3. Read a new to you author- someone you have never read from before ✔️

        - Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Secret Staircase Mystery Book 1) by Gigi Pandian

        - The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste 

4. Read a book with Pink on the cover ✔️

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste 

5. Read a book with less than 250 pages ✔️

        - The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs

        - The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm

        - In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts by Gwendolyn Kiste 

Book Titles That Include the Word: Midnight

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Book Titles That Include the Word: Midnight

For this week's Top Ten Tuesday, we were supposed to pick any word we wanted to and then find ten books with that word in the title. There were a few words I was thinking between and midnight was the one I had the most books to choose from. Here are ten books with Midnight in the title which I have enjoyed over the years. They are in no particular order. 

1. The Midnight Carnival by Kenny Gould

- A cozy fantasy story I read last year and highly enjoyed. It is about a man named Max who finds a million dollars in a secret space under the bathtub in his house. He uses the money to buy an old abandoned carnival he used to enjoy in his youth. Most of the plot follows him and a ragtag group who work together to rebuild the carnival and get it running again. This is full of found family, whimsical world-building, and so much heart. 

 

2. At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler

- I highly enjoy the short story collections Dahlia Adler has curated and edited over the years. This one is all retellings of fairy tales written by popular young adult writers. Some of the tales retold here are: "The Little Mermaid," "Hansel and Gretel," "Cinderella," “Rumplestiltskin,” “The Nutcracker,” “The Robber Bridegroom,” etc. There is also an original story by Melissa Albert.

My favorites from the collection are:  

 ~ "In the Forests of the Night" by Gita Trelease- inspired by "Fitcher's Bird" which is a tale I had never heard of before. This is probably my favorite from the collection.

~ "Fire and Rhinestone" by Stacey Lee- inspired by "The Little Match Girl"

~ "Just a Little Bite" by Roselle Lim- a contemporary twist on "Hansel and Gretel" which also had me thinking of Sweeney Todd

~ "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Hafash Faizel- such a wonderful twist on "Little Red Riding Hood"

3. Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar

- I like to recommend this story whenever I have the chance because of how much I enjoyed it. The story is an adult retelling of "The Nutcracker" by E.T.A. Hoffmann, though you don't have to know the story to get something out of this novel. My favorite part of this book was the portal fantasy aspects. It reminded me a bit of the Wood between Worlds in The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis.

4. Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz

- A time loop book which is based on the fairy tale "Cinderella." the main character Anaïs keeps on having to relieve the day of the royal ball over and over again, and is the only one who remembers everything that is happening. It was interesting to see how she used her knowledge of the day and how Zeba Shahnaz took such a well-known tale.  

5. I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld #38) by Terry Pratchett 

- This is the 38th book in the Discworld series and the fourth book in the Tiffany Aching subseries. It follows Tiffany as she continues to grow as a young witch. I won't say much more than that since this is so far into the subseries. 

- If anyone would be interested in knowing my thoughts on the reading order for the Discworld series or the series as a whole, I recommend my post: A Comprehensive Guide for Reading the Discworld 🦧. It is one of my favorite posts I have ever worked on. 

6. The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1) by Matt Haig

- I loved The Midnight Library when I read it back in 2022 and am looking forward to reading the sequel sometime this year. The concept of the book was what drew me first into this story many years ago. Who hasn't wondered what their life would be like if they chose a different path during it? I love the idea of the library. 

7. The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents: Macbeth (The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue #1) by Ian Lendler

- The first book in a cute series of graphic novels which has animals performing some of Shakespeare's plays at the zoo. They are funny takes on the plays and are great starting points to introduce these famous works to children. I know I enjoyed my time with this one about four years ago when I read it. There is also a Romeo & Juliet one. I didn't enjoy it as much, but R&J is one of my least favorites of his plays. 

 

8. The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

- One of my favorite short story collections. I adored this when I read it about nine years ago. It is full of atmospheric writing and stunning illustrations. I love how unique this book is with the illustrations on each page building up to a full two-page spread for each of the six stories. They are inspired by folklore, fairy tales, and myths. Out of all the books on this list, this is the one I probably recommend the most besides I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. I need to reread it soon, it's been too long. 

9. The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike

- I grew up reading Christopher Pike's books. My grandmother had a few of them at her house that terrified me as a preteen and I read a few more of them in high school. The Midnight Club was one I had not heard of until one of my friends recommended it to me in college. I'm glad she did because it is my favorite of his books. It's been over ten years since I read it and I still remember it fondly. Another one I'd love to pick up again someday. 

10. Hilda: The Wilderness Stories: Hilda and the Troll /Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson

- I first learned about Hilda's world through the Netflix tv series. The little girl I used to watch was obsessed with the show and asked me to watch it with her one day. I don't remember what episode we started with, but I was hooked into the show within a couple minutes of watching it. I happened to see that the show was based on graphic novels by Luke Pearson and I knew I would have to check them out sometime. This book contains the first two volumes of Hilda's story. I love this type of fantasy story and having Hilda as the main character. She is a young adventurer that enjoys learning about the world around her and spending time in the wilderness. Another one great for all ages.