It’s October, and the perfect time of the year to turn on some seasonal listening. Here are eight bewitching romantic listens, full of witches, ghosts, and other paranormal delights. These audiobooks are the perfect accompaniment to a magical fall—the hardest thing will be deciding which one to start with.
Why not begin with a memorably spooky or witchy location? THE COTTAGE AROUND THE CORNER by D.L. Soria with narration by Victoria Villarreal centers around Chanterelle Cottage, a witch-owned store brimming with crystals and charms. Villarreal introduces listeners to Charlie and her two quirky mothers. All three are concerned that a snazzy new mage business may be unwelcome competition in their small town of Owls Hollow. A motley cast of characters is made more vivid in the audio format.
Sarah Beth Durst’s THE SPELLSHOP features another cottage, this one on an island. Librarian Kiela flees to her childhood home when the Great Library of Alyssium suffers a revolution and a fire. Kiela’s creative solutions to the island’s agricultural problems and her talking plant Caz are aptly chronicled by narrator Caitlin Davies, who gives this gentler fantasy both heart and whimsy.
Boneyard Key, Florida, is a place that leans into its haunted reputation, if only for the tourist dollars it provides. In HAUNTED EVER AFTER by Jen DeLuca, read by Jeannie Sheneman, newcomer Cassie Rutherford starts to suspect her new house is haunted and employs coffee shop owner Nick Royer to help her unravel the mystery. Nick’s gruffer exterior is well represented in the audio as are the other residents in town.
No list of October listens would be complete without a haunted funeral home, and queer romance RULES FOR GHOSTING by Shelly Jay Shore, read by Petey Gibson, delivers. When Ezra’s mom declares she is leaving his father for their rabbi’s wife, Ezra gets dragged back into the family mortuary business despite his bothersome ability to see ghosts. Gibson excels at following Shore’s tone shifts in a story that is as much about family as it is about the supernatural.
Perhaps the most fascinating residence on the list is Ivy House, Jessie Evans’s post-divorce place of employment, tucked into the Sierra Nevada mountains. In a full-cast recording of MAGICAL MIDLIFE MADNESS, listeners meet Jessie’s odd neighbor, her butler, and a host of other magical creatures populating the small town, whose residents have opinions on Ivy House’s hidden magic. Full cast is a great fit for this listen.
It wouldn't be Halloween without some curses and spells. DEJA BREW is like Groundhog Day, witch-style. After a difficult October, Sirena finds out a spell will allow her to relive all her past blunders. Narrators Marissa Hampton and Christopher Hampton voice Sirena and Gus Dearworth, who team up to coach Sirena through her redos. For an intense, sizzling listen, try THE WITCH QUEEN OF HALLOWEEN by Kresley Cole. Series narrator Robert Petkoff mixes passion with peril as a witch and a demon try to break a curse that makes nightmares real. On the more humorous side, Carly Bloom’s HOT HEX BOYFRIEND features the Merriweather family of witches, whose magic is trapped by a curse. Narrators Laura Knight Keating and Zion Jang portray the opposites-attract couple—elite witch Max from the magical realms and interior decorator Delia, whose irreverent family is as silly as it is loving. The comic pacing makes all the magical disasters fun to hear.
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