HallowRead {Day Five & Giveaway}

Leaves are falling, pumpkins are being carved and our willpower against sugary treats is being tested! There's only one thing that all of this could mean-- it's Halloween (or as we'll be calling it, HallowREAD)! The only way for bookworms like us to get into the spooky spirit is to read our favourite, most creepy books that should never be read in the dark! As we count down to one of the most anticipated nights of the year, each day I will be posting either a spooky, eerie, or super-natural type excerpt that makes scurrying under the covers seem like not such a bad idea!   

My challenge for you: read a novel (or two!) that helps you get into the Halloween spirit and/or share your most scary bookish moments on your blog or in the comments below! It'll be a week full of creepiness, books and a GIVEAWAY that will give TWO of you the opportunity to win one of the seven books featured throughout the week! Stay updated on all of the fun using the hashtag #YAHallowRead on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!   

As the night owls would say, It's going to be a real HOOT :) !

Today's HallowRead excerpt comes from SPELLBOUND by Cara Lynn Shultz...

All I could hear was the soft squishing of my own feet on the wet leaves as mu sneakers pressed them into the concrete. 

And the I head it: a low, hissing, popping sound that made my bones jump. It was similar to the sound of a balloon exploding, only deeper. I whirled around, seeing nothing but the river, and the still, silent pathway spreading out behind me. A bitter, almost sulfuric smell burned my nose. I looked up, and saw that another street lamp had gone out. That's...also weird.

I picked up my pace, breaking into another jog. Hiss. Hiss. Pop. POP! I stopped short, as if I had run into an invisible wall. I was frozen in my tracks, afraid to look behind me. I slowly turned around, dimly aware that I has started shaking. Four street lamps were extinguished, the lights dead and black from within. The pathway was velvet dark, the only illumination coming from Queens, across the river. I placed my left foot behind me, carefully, as if I were walking the plank. My eyes were still riveted on the dead street lamps as I backed away from them cautiously, the way someone would step away from a wild animal.

I hear another popping sound behind me. It started off low- almost guttural. I spin around. The streetlight in front of me were smoking, black plumes streaming out as if it were on fire. I heard a sharp sizzling, crackling sound and instinctively crouched down, covering my head with my hands. I screamed as the frosted gladd light exploded, a flah of flames shooting glass and filaments into a halo on the ground below. The burning embers extinguished as they fell on the wet leaves, sending off a sinister, snakelike hiss as the heat died out.

The next thing I heard was chocked-up breathing-- mine. I took off ignoring the burning in my chest as I sprinted down the pathway. I tried singing to myself, to distract myself from the sounds that I knew I could not be hearing. But the crackling, the hissing demanded to be heard, getting louder as it chased me, reaching out to grab me with unseen claws as I raced along the river. Every light I passed ruptured and died. Every streetlight blew out as I passed it, like I was the wind extinguishing a row of lit matches.

I ran off the pathway and across the street, ignoring the blaring horns of a taxi as it stopped short in front of me. Getting hit by a car would be preferable to letting the blackness catch up with me, I knew it. I had to get out of there before I was in total darkness. 

  
Spellbound (Harlequin Teen) @ Amazon

{Giveaway}

Two winners will each get to choose which book out of the seven featured during the week they'd like to receive as a prize.

Contest open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to you (Not sure? Check here)!

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