I am always SO excited about October, but this year I have been doubly excited. In case there is any possible way you missed it (ha!), The Absinthe Earl released into the world last week! Everything went smoothly, and I'm happy to say the book made it into the top 100 for Amazon categories such as Historical Fantasy, Historical Romance (Books), and Historical Fantasy Fiction. A couple of wonderful fantasy blogs ran interviews with me: 

• Whispers and Wonder
• Books, Bones, and Buffy

I also had a special feature in the newsletter for Enchanted Living (formerly Faerie Magazine). If you're on Instagram and enjoy fairy and witchy ambience, check out their feed. It's lush and atmospheric, like The Absinthe Earl. 

My family made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch earlier this month and will be carving this weekend. We live in a rural area outside Seattle, so there are pumpkin patches galore, but our favorite is a small one that is just the patch and a corn maze. Their maze is the best I've ever seen. These amazing scarecrow vignettes are hidden throughout, and you try to find them all. This was the first year we did! 

Okay, time for spooky-cozy recommendations! Let's start out with my new favorite coffee, which I learned about from Justine at Whispers and Wonders, who wrote one of my favorite reviews of The Absinthe Earl. Let's hear it for Death Wish Pumpkin! I love it because it has the spice and pumpkin without the sweetness of the traditional pumpkin spice latte. I brew and add cream and a small amount of sweetener, and it's perfect. This blend is definitely seasonal, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to give it up come January, or whenever they cruelly yank it away. 

Next I have a book recommendation. I had hoped to have two, as I have a number of spooky reads in my TBR, but with the release busyness, it just did not happen. I will try to get to Strange Practice soon, but I do have A Darker Shade of Magic for you! I have been hearing so much about this book for so long, and the title is so dang evocative. The protagonist of this story, there on the cover, is Kell. Kell is one of the last "Antari," meaning he can travel between the four parallel Londons: Grey (the most like our world), White (bleak and dangerous), Red (rich and magical), and Black (destroyed by magic, a ruin). Plus he has a cool coat that can be turned inside out in a bunch of different ways and worn in the appropriate situation and sometimes there are things in the pocket of one but not the others. Nifty bit of magic. As usual I won't get much into plot because you can read that in lots of places, but I very much enjoyed this book. It has your standard evil-villain-wants-to-takeover-but-is-challenged-by-the-hero fantasy plot, but the best thing about this book is the lush worldbuilding, so I think if you like my books you might like this one. I also really enjoyed the character of Lila Bard, from Grey London, who sort of blunders into the story and joins forces with Kell. She's deadly but kind and a spiffy dresser.