October Reading Recap
October Reading Recap: 8 Books I Read this Month
By: Brittany Shields
So in October I took inventory of the books I still needed to read for the Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge. I figured out there was still a possibility of accomplishing it and managed to read four more for my challenge. I also snuck in one of the last two books I needed for the Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge.
Depending on how much time I get to read around the holidays I MAY be able to finish BOTH the 2024 and the 2025 Reading Challenges. Just in time to start the 2026 Reading Challenge I am in the process of finishing up preparing for you!
Exciting stuff!
Two of this month’s books were also on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025.
I read a lot of good books in October. Half were fiction, half non-fiction. Because it was spooky month, I tried to read some books with eerie vibes. Just looking at the covers of the (fiction) books and I think you can see I accomplished that fairly well!
My non-fiction books revolved around parenting and cultural topics.
The Myth of Good Christian Parenting just released in October and thus far has generally received pretty positive reviews. I believe my Goodreads review was one of the few 2 star ratings and was a review I really labored over. A few weeks post posting it, I still believe I was able to write a review I felt called to write and pray that God uses it for his glory and that in all things his truth is revealed.
Stay tuned, because that book made me more excited to read Good News for Parents: How God Can Restore Our Joy and Relieve Our Burdens by Adam Griffin which I think will be a real encouragement to parents. You can keep an eye out for that review in the next few months if I can get to it.
I love that I am able to read both fiction and non-fiction books. It’s so fun to escape into new worlds or be on the edge of my seat as I try to solve a mystery or be drawn into a beautiful character arc as they learn more about themselves and the world they live in.
Yet it is also so grounding and encouraging to read non-fiction books that help me understand my own place in God’s world and to think about how he is working in me and in others.
I hope you are able to also read broadly and if you haven’t been able to do that, maybe that can be a new goal for you to set.
I’ve reviewed books of all genres on my website and I’m sure you can find something that piques your interest!
Don’t forget to follow my Facebook page for more reviews, recommendations, and book-lover fun!
1. Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City: Teaching Historical, Economic, and Biological Truth in a World of Lies
By: Stacy Manning & Katy Faust
Genre: Non-Fiction/ Cultural
[Fulfilled ‘A book with footnotes’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
You read the title of this book and you know immediately it’s going to be a polarizing book. If this title offends you, then it’s probably not the book for you. It’s not a book that is trying to convince anyone of anything; they are not trying to change anyone’s mind.
A lot of reviewers that didn’t necessarily agree with everything the authors said still found value in the principles they shared and the parenting strategies they promoted.
I would say it is a book written specifically for parents who agree with conservative politics and want to know how to navigate a hostile environment that is at odds with these views. Parents who want to know how to help their kids thrive in a school environment that is teaching the opposite viewpoints.
Read my full review to see how they define ‘woke’ and ‘conservative’, see what reservations I had about reading this book, get a better idea of the lessons they teach in it, read my critiques, and peruse my list of further reading options.
2. The Laughing Dead (Steinbeck & Reed #3) by Jess Lourey
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
[Fulfilled ‘A book with more than 25 chapters’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“My life was devolving into a tightrope walk over lit dynamite, flame racing down the fuse toward the cap.”
I read book one— The Taken Ones— but I decided not to read book two— The Reaping— because it was all about kids being taken and I usually avoid those kind of books. Not that the Taken Ones or The Laughing Dead aren’t hard to read in their own right. I just know what sticks in my head and what doesn’t.
These two Lourey books that I’ve read proved that she knows how to write a creepy book. She finds weird biological anomalies and then fashions characters around them that freak you out a little bit.
The series revolves around Van (Evangeline) Reed and Harry Steinbeck. Van is a messy, rule-bending investigator and Harry is the proper, uptight scientist. The Taken Ones is about a cold case connected to a recent murder and a side plot that involves Harry’s sister and the cult Van grew up in.
I would definitely recommend reading this series in order. Van is on a character development arc that you won’t fully understand unless you see her progress. There are also probably going to be spoilers to the other books just by knowing the plot of this book, so if you plan to read the other books and haven’t yet, I would probably wait to read the rest of this review.
If you want to read the review anyway, you’ll find more plot details (including why it’s called The Laughing Dead) and catching us up on where we’ve been in the series, one critique I had, three comments, and my ultimate recommendation on the book.
3. Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms by Justin Whitmel Earley
Genre: Non-fiction/ Christian Living
“To steward the habits of your family is to steward the hearts of your family.”
It’s a Christmas miracle! We finished this book! I made a declaration on February 9th of 2024: 'Mike and I should read this book out loud together.’ What a precious, little idea.
Folks, it took us OVER A YEAR to finish. It is like 11 chapters long. Even if we only read one chapter a month, we should have finished it MONTHS ago. We are a disgrace.
That being said. It’s a fantastic book. You should definitely read it. And I do think reading it as a couple is the best option, but don’t be like us and spread it out over your entire lifetime.
Habits of the Household is a book meant to help parents think about the habits of their family in ten areas: waking, mealtimes, discipline, screentime, family devotions, marriage, work, play, conversation, and bedtime.
You can read in my full review more about how they explain the basis for habits and how it is not a matter of earning our salvation; you’ll also found some of the things we pulled from the book to try to implement in our family, as well as a Lord of the Rings reference and a link to other parenting books I’ve reviewed.
4. Den of Liars (The Devious #1) by Jessica S. Olson
Genre: Fantasy/ Romance
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a curse’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“Secrets are meant to be shared, not stolen. Just like hearts.”
“I am too valuable, my heritage too dangerous, my existence a live wire ready to catch flame.”
True to Jessica Olson’s other two books, this was a compelling, hard-to-put-down, creative and magical story. This is one about truth and lies, curses and freedoms, love and control. Two cursed brothers and the girl that stands between them, discovering what is true and what is hers.
Olson has such a great imagination when it comes to creating worlds and ways of using magic. With Den of Liars, she pits magics against each other in the form of enemy brothers with different curses/abilities and a competition held in a magic-saturated casino.
It is the first of some sort of series so the story is just beginning, the depths of the magic yet to be discovered.
For more plot details, see my full review (it’s hard to summarize in a sentence or two). You’ll also find my list of things I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I predict to happen in the next book, and a content advisory.
5. The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
[Fulfilled ‘A book with an occupation in the title’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“You can make up whatever you want to be the truth and you can live your life as if you’ve sealed it off forever. But, like a heartbeat behind a wall, the truth is always there, holding you hostage.”
I don’t remember Clark’s book The Last Flight super well, but enough to know that I think I liked that book better than this one.
The Ghostwriter felt a little too unsurprising and drawn out for what it ended up being. Plus there were a few things I would have preferred to be different.
The setting is Ojai, California. Our main character is Olivia (Taylor) Dumont, current ghostwriter living detached from her childhood baggage and emotionally absent father. A father who has now asked Olivia to ghostwrite a book for him.
It turns out the book is a tell-all memoir about his own teenage years when his brother and sister were murdered in their house and the killer was never proven.
The book weaves together Olivia’s investigation with excerpts from the past as she figures out if her dad actually had any culpability in their deaths or not.
If you want to know what parts I wish were done differently, check out my full review. You’ll also find a content advisory and more plot details.
6. The Myth of Good Christian Parenting (How False Promises Betrayed a Generation of Evangelical Families) by Marissa Franks Burt & Kelsey Kramer McGinnis
Genre: Non-fiction/ Parenting
“This myth—that God provides a formula for ‘good Christian parenting’—permeates these resources, presenting an aspirational goal while also motivating parents with high eternal stakes.”
When I saw the title of this book I was curious because it implies there is no such thing as ‘good Christian parenting.’ As someone who has been encouraged by several Christian parenting books, I was interested to see what claims would be made and what culpability the authors believe evangelicals bear in ‘betraying’ a generation.
This was a book review I really labored over. While there are good and wise things to be found in this book, ultimately I struggle to recommend it because the authors deny core doctrines of the gospel message.
In my full book review I share in more detail the things I could agree with in the book, and then I cover a few big rocks of disagreement. I also offer several other sources and links to consider as you use your own discernment with this book.
7. Walking in Unity: Biblical Answers to Questions on Race and Racism by Krista Bontrager & Monique Duson
Genre: Christian Living/ Cultural
“For believers, unity is our starting point, not a destination to be achieved.”
I heard Duson & Bontrager discussing their book on a podcast, and I went and bought the book because I wanted to hear more. I’ve done a lot of reading on the topic of race since 2019 and am interested in how people have actually lived out what the authors call ‘biblical unity’ with people of other ethnicities.
What I loved most about this book was that it was written by friends— one white, one black— who had to wrestle through all the questions because they valued their relationship. They are both followers of Christ, yet were approaching these issues with very different viewpoints. They had to look at what the Bible said and see where each of them needed to adjust their framework and understanding.
They look at what racial reconciliation is (the popular ‘church’ way of looking at race issues) and point out some of the flaws in its principles. Instead they offer a biblical model of unity which is the basis of their Center for Biblical Unity that they co-founded.
Throughout the rest of the book they apply these principles to concepts like intersectionality, colorblindness, definitions of racism, intention and impact, microaggressions, systemic injustice, reparations and redistribution, representation, multiethnic churches, and multiethnic families.
You can read more about how they contrast racial reconciliation with their biblical model in my full review and see what other things stuck out to me. I also provide some links to their website, podcast, and other books I’ve read on this topic.
8. Odriel’s Heirs (Odriel’s Heirs #1) by Hayley Reese Chow
Genre: Fantasy
[Fulfilled ‘A book about a kid (or young adult) with powers’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
“Light the darkness, Dragon.”
I read the third book in this series (Time’s Orphan) a couple years ago and liked it so much I planned to go back and read the earlier books. I probably should have read this one sooner than now because I already forgot most of book three… it ended up not spoiling anything I guess!
Odriel’s Heirs is a compelling young adult fantasy series full of magic and courage and sacrifice. It’s a classic story of good vs evil.
The Dragon Heir (power of fire), Shadow Heir (power of invisibility), and Time Heir (power to heal) are tasked to protect Okarria from an evil necromancer and his corpse army who has set his sights on conquering their land.
The main character is Kaia who is training under her father to be the next Dragon Heir, but when her father is missing and an epic battle looming, she must venture out with the Shadow Heir to find her father and other reinforcements as they prepare to fight for those they love. She is also on her own personal journey of harnessing and accepting her ability and learning where the power truly comes from.
I loved the depth and distinctness of the characters. The danger was real and the enemies formidable, and the character development was great! The epilogue nicely sets up the next book and I think you’ll want to race through the whole series once you read one.
You can find more plot details and quotes in my full review, as well as some of my own comments and a pronunciation guide straight from the author herself.
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