Manic Monday: October

Manic Monday is a monthly wrap-up post at Doodle's Book Reviews that hilights the past month's book haul(s), books I read, and any big bookish events that took place. Feel free to leave a comment!

October was a jam-packed month for me. I had three events, which gave me an excuse to go out and buy a bunch of books, and I managed to read a good amount of books for the first time since August. 

Book Hauls

My haul was pretty gigantic. Nearly all of these are signed after October's events, and I have to say that some of these books' covers have made my face turn into the heart eyes emoji. FRONTLINES, WOLF BY WOLF, and ANATOMICAL SHAPE OF A HEART are ARCs that I was fortunate enough to get my hands on, and I am super excited for those.

Books I Read

The books I read in October were Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich, and the Caster Chronicles by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. It was a wide range, from horror to contemporary to paranormal/fantasy, which is exactly how I love to read. I'm not one of those people who works well with a TBR, because I'm a big mood reader, but I do try. It just generally backfires... reviews to come!

Events

Early in October, I attended Anderson's Bookshop's 12th Annual Young Adult Literature Conference. It wasn't quite as good as last year, but this year I met some fantastic authors. Day one was full of panels and signings and keynote speakers, and it was like the calm before the storm. A friend drove in from out of state and joined me for day two, the Fandom Frenzy, which was a whirlwind of activities and games that we got to play with the authors. 

Below are some pictures taken from the conference. I didn't manage to get photos with every author, but here are the ones I did get!

With Nicola Yoon

James Dashner, one of the best

With Heather Petty

A week later, Margaret Stohl came to Anderson's as part of the Women of Marvel tour, in promotion of her new release, BLACK WIDOW: FOREVER RED. She came on a friday night, and I had started book one of her Caster Chronicles that Monday afternoon, finishing the last book in the series about an hour before I met her. What a series, guys.

My third and final event for October was a tour for the new anthology, AMONG THE SHADOWS. Authors that contributed to this one include Mindy McGinnis, Lydia Kang, Demitria Lunetta, Kate Karyus Quinn, Kelly Fiore, and Lenore Appelhans, and they are the ladies that I met on tour. While I have no pictures from this event, I can definitely say that these girls were a riot!

How were your Octobers? Your Halloweens? I want to know!

Happily,

Stephanie