October was a month full of academia novels and witchy books. I can honestly say that I enjoyed everything I read. Fall is my favourite season for reading and I’m sad to say goodbye to October!
Below is everything I read in October 2026:
The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham: 4/5 stars
I read my first Elin Hilderbrand novel last winter, and since then I’ve become a huge fan. While most of her novels take place in the summertime, The Academy and The Thoroughbreds take place during the course of two school years. I was really excited to read these this fall!
The Academy takes place at an elite New England boarding school called Tiffin Academy. The novel follows the drama that ensues at the boarding school, including tension that arises when a new app called ZipZap shares blind items about the school’s staff and students.
I had a great time listening to this novel on audio. It had a lot of Gossip Girl elements, but it didn’t read like a young adult novel. The Academy was classic Elin Hilderbrand, with scandal and intriguing characters.
For my full review on The Academy, see here.
The River King by Alice Hoffman: 4/5 stars
I love Alice Hoffman and I’m on a mission to read all of her novels eventually. The River King is a book set at a school, so it was a great one to read in October.
The River King takes place in the town of Haddan, Massachusetts. It focuses on Carlin, a scholarship student at the prestigious Haddan School, and Gus, an unconventional freshman who resides in a boys’ dorm. It also follows Besty, a photography teacher who is new to town. During the novel, a body is found in the river behind a prep school. When a local policeman investigates, he disturbs the order of things at the school and in the town.
The River King was very well-written and featured Alice Hoffman’s signature dreamlike writing style. There were elements of magical realism that are often found in her novels as well. The novel contained some disturbing subject matter. My favourite character was Carlin, who I just loved, and Gus broke my heart.
The River King was adapted into a movie in 2005, and I’m eager to watch it now that I’ve read the book!
The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham: 4/5 stars
The Thoroughbreds, the sequel to The Academy, was one of my most anticipated fall-themed book releases this season. I jumped right into the audiobook after I finished listening to The Academy.
The sequel kicks off at the beginning of a new school year at Tiffin Academy. It follows the lives of the students and staff at the boarding school, including characters from The Academy and some new faces.
While I The Thoroughbreds had less scandal than The Academy did, I loved the continued development of characters we were introduced to in The Academy and the way their stories were brought to a close. I wish this wasn’t the end of the series!
For my full review of The Thoroughbreds, see here.
Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman: 4.5/5 stars
I hadn’t heard much about Blackbird House before I read it this month, other than that fall is a good time to read it.
Blackbird House is a collection of stories of various men and women who live in an old farm on the outskirts of Cape Cod over the course of 200 years.
I loved this book! I thought it was a really creative idea to have the Cape Cod farm be the constant character throughout. I enjoyed piecing together the different stories and finding the links between them, whether that be through characters, animals, or even plants. Unsurprisingly, Blackbird House was beautifully written. I was completely immersed in it.
As an aside, while I really enjoyed reading this book in the fall because I think Alice Hoffman’s writing suits the season so well, it can be read any time of year.
Faithful by Alice Hoffman: 4.5/5 stars
I had been curious about Faithful for a long time. It was an Alice Hoffman novel that I seemed to see pop up again and again.
Faithful is about a woman named Shelby who grows up on Long Island. When Shelby is a teenager, she and her best friend are involved in an accident in which her best friend suffers catastrophic injuries. The novel follows Shelby as she moves through the world, carrying her guilt about the accident with her each step of the way.
I absolutely loved this novel. It’s now one of my favourite Alice Hoffman novels I’ve read. Shelby was such a complex character and her development throughout the novel was fascinating and inspiring. From the very beginning of the novel, I was rooting for Shelby.
As with Blackbird House, it’s not a fall read specifically, so you could read it any time of year.
For my full review of Faithful, see here.
Theodora’s Tea Shop by Christy Anne Jones: 4/5 stars
This novel was released this past summer. Blackwell’s (a British bookseller) posted about it on Instagram, and I knew immediately that I wanted to read it.
Theodora’s Tea Shop is a fantasy novel about a woman, Dot, who sets out to find a witch to help her learn magic. The witch, Theodora, peddles magic under the pretense of running a tea shop. When Dot arrives, Theodora’s secrets are revealed and both of their lives are threatened.
While this novel wasn’t the cozy read I was expecting, I really enjoyed it. It fits firmly in the fantasy genre, with a unique world and specific rules and terms. Theodora’s Tea Shop was fast-paced, exciting, and unpredictable.
If you love fantasy novels, I’d definitely recommend it. However, even if fantasy novels are not your typical reads, I’d give it a try! It was a fun change of pace from the novels I typically gravitate towards.
For my full review of Theodora’s Tea Shop, see here.
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais: 3.5/5 stars
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor has been on my fall TBR for multiple years. I’m so glad I got to it this month!
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is about a coven of octogenarian witches who run a moonshine distillery in their manor house. They fight to save the manor house from demolition and to fulfill a bargain made by one of the witches out of desperation.
If I was to describe this novel in movie/TV show terms, I’d say it’s Hocus Pocus meets Book Club meets Sex and the City. It was such an entertaining read!
I listened to this one on audio and the narration was great.
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman: 4/5 stars
The last Alice Hoffman book I read in October was The Red Garden.
The Red Garden is a collection of interconnected stories set in a small town in Massachusetts. The novel spans over 300 years and centers around a mysterious garden.
Since it’s a collection of interconnected stories all set in the same place, it was similar to Blackbird House. Again, the writing was great and the stories were touching. I liked Blackbird House slightly more, because I was able to identify how each story linked together a little more easily than I was able to in The Red Garden, but I would recommend them both!
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer: 4/5 stars
I really enjoyed listening to The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer in September, so I knew I wanted to read The Book Witch.
In The Book Witch, the main character is a witch who goes into and out of novels to repair changes that have been made to them. Falling in love with a fictional character is against the rules. However, when a valuable book is stolen, the witch’s first fictional book crush, a detective, is who the witch can turn to for help.
The Book Witch contained multiple twists that I wasn’t expecting. Without giving any spoilers, one of the twists led me to believe I wouldn’t enjoy the remainder of the novel, but I was wrong. I ended up continuing to really enjoy it. The novel was really creative and it was a heartwarming love letter to books. One fun aspect was the subtle references to The Wishing Game!
The Haunted Librarian by Auralee Wallace: 3/5 stars
My final fall read was also one of my most anticipated fall-themed book releases this season. I read Auralee Wallace’s other fall novels, In the Company of Witches, While the Crow’s Away, and The Late-Night Witches, last fall, and they were all fun, light reads.
The Haunted Librarian is about a recently hired librarian who can see ghosts. She meets ghosts who are trapped in her new library and learns that the future of the library is at risk. She sets out to help the ghosts and save the library.
I was really excited when I started listening to this novel and learned that it was set outside of Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. I wish that the setting would have featured more prominently in the novel, because P.E.I. is one of my favourite places.
The novel was a light read that I enjoyed. Fall is definitely the perfect time to read it. Of Auralee Wallace’s novels, In the Company of Witches remains my favourite!
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