The 2023 Halfway to Halloween Book Tag

 

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

   It is that time of year again, The Halfway to Halloween Book Tag!

This is a fun way to interact with the book community to see what everyone is reading. Have fun and feel free to tag someone. Let us see what answers I came up with this year.

  

1. Lost in the Haunted House (what book had you confused or lost from the very beginning?) Most of the novels I read are not that confusing. But Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich did leave me scratching my head through most of it. I was mainly confused by the writing. It did not seem like her style. She injected heavier violence than usual into a somewhat tame cozy mystery and it did not work. And the sexual banter between the main protagonists came at the most inopportune times.

2. Don't Go There! (what book has the creepiest setting?) Stillhouse Lake. A beautiful lake-side community with a dark secret? Yes, please! Rachel Caine takes our sense of serenity and destroys it as Gwen Proctor's new, idyllic home is beset with psycho killers and internet trolls.  

 3. Ghostly Better Half (who is your eternal book soulmate?) I read thrillers with serial killers in them. They tend not to make the best dating material.

 4. Yummy Caramel Apples (like a deliscious Caramel Apple, once you start you can't stop.) NOS4R2 by Joe Hill. I loved this exciting and scary book, which I "ate" up every page. This is one book that sailed along a winding dark river at break-neck speed. 

 5. Really? Vampires Again? (what is your least favorite Halloween trope?) My least favorite Halloween trope is the bully that ruins Halloween. This is never a fun way to read a story. It makes the main protagonist do ridiculous things in order to get even. 

 6. “Pumpkin in Everything” (your favorite Halloween trope?) My favorite trope is the last character standing. This has been a great way to excite a reader as their favorite character is beset with so many horrifying experiences that it looks like they may not survive. But ingenuity saves the day and they defeat the villain. A great example is in the novel Lock Every Door by Riley Sager with his protagonist, Jules Larsen.

 7. Evil Incarnate (The evilest villain) Rose the Hat from Stephen King's Doctor Sleep is my choice for this one. Leading a  group of immortal vampiric beings known as the True Knot, Rose sucks the life force from her victims. That lifeforce is recycled as "Steam", which powers the Knot's own lives. She is beautiful and creepy, and when she arrives, kiss your Shine goodbye.

 8. Ouji Board (a book that messes with things that you don’t want to be involved in!) This is not a hard one this year. Since most of the novels I have read are thrillers, I would pick being hunted. The creepy ways that some of those characters are stalked by the killers are frightening.

 9. Full Moon (What character do you turn into on the full moon?) I would have to pick Frankie Elkin from One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner. I am curious and love solving mysteries. I also love helping people who are unable to help themselves. Cracking cold cases would be of interest. 

 10. The Veil is Thin (the other world and this world have meshed for one night; what book world would you love to be swept up in?) Any Harry Potter book would be a fun way to take advantage of this. Who wouldn't want to spend time at Hogwarts? 

 11. Stick a Pin in It (what author(s) would you love to take control of and make them write you anything you want?) Dan Brown and Dean Koontz. I would love to see a team up with Robert Langdon and Jane Hawk for a death-defying spy thriller set in Europe. It would be epic. 

 12. Kitty Noir (what red flags do you look for when first starting out a book?) I love books that tease me in the beginning. A good prologue or first chapter can be the glue that sticks me to a book until the end. The best example this year was Someone We Know by Shari Lapena. The novel begins with a murder as seen through the eyes of the killer. After that, I was ready to stay with this thriller until the shocking finale.  

 13. Boil and Bubble (A book that had a lot of different components thrown in but the result was magical.) The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz. This novel had action, horror, and spy-thriller elements thrown together in a very satisfying and tense read. The series is amazing, but this particular book really had the kitchen-sink feel to it and it worked very well.

   Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.

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 Because there is always time to read,

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 All written content (c) Copyright 2023 by Thomas Bahr II

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The various Halloween GIFs and JPGs used are not my designs and I claim no rights to them.