News and Updates
The weather is finally turning cooler, and I couldn’t be more excited. There’s nothing quite like an early morning spent curled up under a blanket with a hot cup of coffee and a good book. Fall also brings festivals, book events, and plenty of opportunities to celebrate reading, and I can’t wait to visit some of my favorite literary events around Atlanta in the coming months.
As the seasons change, though, there are also some changes happening here at Read With Lindsey.
Earlier this year, I launched a new business, L. Barger Bookkeeping. With more than 20 years of bookkeeping and consulting experience, helping small business owners succeed feels like a natural next step for me. Right now, I’m building the business during the hours outside my full-time job, and I’m excited about the possibilities ahead.
Of course, adding a new venture to an already busy schedule means my time has become even more limited. In September, I realized I needed to adjust my priorities while I work toward growing the business enough to eventually leave the corporate world. At the moment, my focus is simple: my sanity, my family, L. Barger Bookkeeping, and then Read With Lindsey.
The good news is that I’m still finding plenty of time to read. The challenge is finding enough time to write detailed reviews for every book.
Starting this month, I’ll be publishing full reviews only for pre-release titles, which will continue to appear on Saturdays. I will still share quick reviews, recommendations, and reading updates on social media, primarily Instagram and Facebook. My hope is that this is a temporary shift and that I’ll be able to return to full reviews for every book in the near future.
If you’d like to help speed up that timeline, I’d be incredibly grateful for any bookkeeping referrals. I work with service providers, solopreneurs, authors, musicians, and other small business owners who need reliable bookkeeping support. You can learn more at L. Barger Bookkeeping.
As always, thank you for reading, supporting, and being part of this community. I appreciate you more than you know.
This Month
As October settles in and the days grow shorter, many readers find themselves drawn to stories that capture the season’s darker, moodier atmosphere. It’s the perfect time of year for books filled with secrets, suspense, unexpected twists, and the lingering feeling that something isn’t quite right. Even readers who typically avoid horror often gravitate toward thrillers, which deliver the same sense of tension and unease without venturing fully into the frightening. They satisfy our seasonal craving for mystery and adrenaline while providing the fast-paced, page-turning momentum that makes the genre so irresistible.
At its core, a thriller is all about tension. It’s the genre that keeps readers leaning forward, promising themselves “just one more chapter” long after bedtime. Thrillers thrive on danger, uncertainty, hidden truths, and high stakes. At the heart of most thriller novels is a simple but compelling question: What’s really going on, and what happens if the truth comes out too late?
Unlike genres that focus primarily on atmosphere, character introspection, or emotional journeys, thrillers are built to create momentum. They often feature shocking twists, unreliable narrators, looming threats, investigations, moral gray areas, or characters trapped in situations that seem to worsen with every page. Whether psychological, domestic, crime-based, legal, political, or action-packed, every thriller shares the same goal: to keep readers in suspense and unable to look away.
Monthly Reading Challenge: Thrillers
Below are the books we chose for this month’s reading challenge prompts. If you’re looking for other great books for this month, try one of the reads recommended by our StoryGraph community!
Weekly Reading Challenge: Part of a Series
Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears is an excellent choice for the Thriller prompt because it delivers everything readers expect from the genre: high stakes, escalating tension, political intrigue, and the constant sense that disaster may be just around the corner. Clancy builds suspense on a global scale, weaving together military strategy, intelligence operations, and international conflict into a story that feels both urgent and unsettling. One of the novel’s greatest strengths is the way it gradually tightens the pressure, drawing readers deeper into a web of hidden agendas, looming threats, and split-second decisions where every choice carries enormous consequences.
The novel is also a natural fit for the Part of a Series prompt. Set within Clancy’s expansive Jack Ryan universe, The Sum of All Fears benefits from the rich world-building, recurring characters, and ongoing political relationships developed throughout the series. While the story stands on its own, longtime readers gain the added satisfaction of seeing familiar characters navigate new challenges and increasingly complex situations.
That’s one of the greatest pleasures of reading a series: the opportunity to return to a fully realized world and spend more time with characters whose stories continue to evolve. For readers looking for a thriller with scope, suspense, and the added depth that comes from an established series, The Sum of All Fears is a standout choice that perfectly satisfies both prompts.
Weekly Reading Challenge: Workplace Thriller
David Baldacci’s The 6:20 Man is an excellent choice for the Workplace Thriller prompt because it transforms the familiar rhythms of professional life into a story filled with tension, suspicion, and danger. Set against the backdrop of high finance, the novel begins in a world of daily commutes, office politics, and ambitious careers before revealing the secrets and power struggles lurking beneath the surface. Baldacci expertly demonstrates how an environment that appears polished and predictable can quickly become unsettling when hidden motives and dangerous truths emerge.
That contrast lies at the heart of what makes workplace thrillers so compelling. Rather than introducing threats from distant or unfamiliar places, these stories find suspense within the structures people navigate every day: offices, hierarchies, reputations, and professional relationships. The result is a kind of tension that feels especially immediate because it grows out of environments that readers recognize and understand.
For readers who enjoy corporate intrigue alongside fast-paced suspense, The 6:20 Man delivers both. The novel explores the pressures of ambition, competition, and performance while reminding readers that workplaces are rarely just about the work itself. Beneath the surface are alliances, rivalries, secrets, and personal motivations that can have far-reaching consequences when exposed.
As a selection for the Workplace Thriller prompt, The 6:20 Man stands out because it combines the momentum of a gripping page-turner with a setting that feels surprisingly relatable. It’s a novel that captures both the excitement of a thriller and the unsettling realization that danger can sometimes hide in the most ordinary places.
Weekly Reading Challenge: Banned Book
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an excellent choice for the Banned Books prompt because it remains one of the most frequently challenged novels despite the profound impact it has had on generations of readers. In this deeply personal coming-of-age story, Stephen Chbosky explores adolescence, identity, mental health, trauma, sexuality, and the often complicated search for belonging. These honest discussions of difficult subjects are precisely why the novel has faced repeated challenges over the years, but they are also what have made it so meaningful to those who see their own experiences reflected in its pages.
One of the reasons The Perks of Being a Wallflower continues to resonate is its compassion. Rather than sensationalizing the challenges its characters face, the novel approaches them with empathy, honesty, and humanity. Through Charlie’s story, readers are invited to consider the complexities of growing up, the importance of connection, and the lasting impact of feeling seen and understood.
As a selection for the Banned Books prompt, the novel also highlights why challenged books matter. The books most often questioned or removed are frequently the ones that give voice to difficult conversations and lived experiences that may not be represented elsewhere. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not remembered because it is controversial. It is remembered because it offers comfort, recognition, and understanding to readers who need it most.
For those looking to explore the significance of banned and challenged books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower serves as a powerful example of how literature can foster empathy, encourage dialogue, and help readers feel less alone.
Weekly Reading Challenge: Halloween
Simone St. James’s The Sun Down Motel is a perfect choice for the Halloween Thrillers prompt because it combines a compelling mystery with an atmosphere that feels tailor-made for October. Set in a rundown roadside motel with a dark history, the novel is filled with the kinds of elements that make Halloween reading so enjoyable: unexplained events, lingering secrets, ghostly presences, and a constant sense of unease. St. James creates an environment where danger seems to lurk just beyond the edge of perception, making it difficult to shake the feeling that something is watching from the shadows.
What makes the novel especially effective is its balance between suspense and the supernatural. While the story delivers the twists, investigations, and momentum readers expect from a thriller, it also embraces the eerie atmosphere often associated with classic Halloween reading. The result is a book that feels unsettling without becoming outright horror, making it an accessible choice for readers who enjoy a good scare but prefer suspense over terror.
As a selection for the Halloween Thrillers prompt, The Sun Down Motel captures the best of both worlds. It offers a mystery that keeps readers racing through the pages while surrounding them with a haunting atmosphere that perfectly complements the season. For anyone looking for a thriller that is equal parts suspenseful, spooky, and immersive, this novel is an ideal October read.
New This Month
We have several of our Most Anticipated releases hitting stores this month. Which are you picking up?
- October 13th: Beignets and Big Feelings, The Confederacy Myth, Meet Me in the Afterglow
In Case You Missed It
Last Month’s Recap
Last month, we took a trip back in time with Classic Literature, exploring everything from iconic poetry to the novels many of us first encountered in high school classrooms. It was a reminder of why so many of these works have endured for generations, but also why classics aren’t always the books we reach for when we’re looking for our next favorite read.
Ironically, our favorite book of the month wasn’t a classic at all. The clear standout was The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning, a fantastic new release and the second book in a series we first discovered back in January. Packed with humor, romance, mystery, and a delightfully unconventional villain-origin story, it was the kind of book that kept me turning pages long after I planned to stop.
What was your favorite read from September?
If you missed it, be sure to check out last month’s recap, where we revisited every book we read and revealed our top pick of the month. Whether you’re looking for your next great read or simply want to see how your favorites stacked up, it’s a great chance to relive a month filled with outstanding stories.
Reading Playlist
This month’s reading playlist embraces our Thrillers theme with songs that feel suspenseful, mysterious, and just a little dangerous. From iconic tracks like “Thriller,” “bad guy,” “bury a friend,” and “Disturbia,” the playlist captures the tension, paranoia, and adrenaline that make thriller novels so hard to put down. Mixing eerie, cinematic sounds with bold, dramatic energy, it creates the perfect soundtrack for twisty plots, dark secrets, unreliable narrators, and stories that keep readers guessing until the final page.
The playlist also reflects several of this month’s featured prompts, giving each one its own distinct mood. For Banned Books Week, songs like “Fight the Power,” “Brave,” and “Freedom! ’90” celebrate themes of free expression, courage, and speaking your truth. Meanwhile, our Halloween-inspired selections add a delightfully spooky touch with favorites like “Monster Mash,” “Somebody’s Watching Me,” and “I Put a Spell on You,” bringing just the right mix of fun, mystery, and chills.
Together, these songs create a playlist that moves seamlessly from suspenseful to rebellious to hauntingly atmospheric while maintaining the pulse-pounding energy of the thriller genre. Whether you’re diving into a workplace conspiracy, a banned-book favorite, or a motel haunted by secrets, there’s a track here to set the mood for every page.
Take a listen on Spotify and let me know if I missed any tunes you think should be included.
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The Coldest War, MP Woodward
- Current audio book: TBD
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Murmuration, TJ Klune
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