“The Dream Haunters” by Megan Mary is about as close to a fall beach read as you can get. Imagine sitting on a blustery dune, the wind whipping the gray waves, a thermos of hot cider nearby… You get the picture. This is the book you will want to read or listen to while bundled beneath your woolen cloak. Hannah Skye has lost most everything she ever valued: her parents, her cat, her grandmother, and her job. Out of nowhere, she receives a letter and a plane ticket from her estranged aunt. The same day, she learns her aunt has disappeared. Immediately enmeshed in the mystery, Hannah sets out to Maple Hollow and her family’s ancestral Skye Manor. Maple Hollow exists in a state of perpetual fall, with pumpkins growing and the leaves on the trees in shades of orange, yellow, and red. There, she must uncover the truth of what happened to her aunt as well as find her own truth. This was a very quick listen. The narrator, Pearl Hewitt, did a lovely job giving life to the different characters,
If you enjoyed “Logan's Run,” but wished it were a bit darker, then you will probably love “The Monsters in our Shadows” by Edward J. Cembal. In a sort of alternate future, humankind has been devastated by Shivers, a ghostlike being that attaches itself to a person and eventually devours them. There is no knowing when the beast will decide to feed. You could live with your shiver for years. Once the Shiver consumes its host, it will eat any person it comes across. Anthem is the Exilist for Atlas, a small settlement of survivors. His job is to remove those who are about to be consumed by their Shiver and leave them on the other side of the city wall so the Shivers won’t run amuck in the town. But then, the town’s leader sends him on a mission beyond the wall to save the small population, and Anthem learns that all is not as he has been taught. This was a fun read. Don’t you love it when, as a reader, you come up with a solution to a problem, and you think, “Boy, I hope the author