Hello and Happy October! 🎃

It’s officially spooky season and I love everything about it. The leaves are crunchy underfoot and nature is showing all of the beautiful colours it has for us to see.

I have had umpteen trips to coffee shops and cafes, for seasonally flavoured drinks, cakes and brunches.

My nail art is 10/10 on theme, and I am wearing my favourite clothes (jumpers, thick socks and my favourite Levi jeans). It’s officially the time to get cosy in a blanket, with a candle burning and a good book in hand.

I live near Hull and we had our fantastic Hull Fair return this October, for a load of ‘scream if you wanna go faster’, brandy snap, and Hull’s famous Patties, Chips and Peas.

I always try to ensure I’ve got a good spooky stack for October, and this month I’ve definitely had a fairly ambitious to be read goal, given that the books I’ve chosen to read first are books with a large amount of pages and super tiny text!

The first book I read this October was by an author I’d have had to live under a rock not to have heard of before, but that somehow, I’d never read.

THE INSTITUTE, BY STEPHEN KING

Stephen King’s The Institute, Hodder edition. Featuring Chester The Cat’s toes.

If, like me, up to this point you’ve only seen Stephen King’s stories on the big screen, then you’ll already know from the films that he is the king of horror and suspense stories. This guy knows how to write from a place of human fear and his imagination is wild yet believable, along the lines of the R.L Stine Goosebumps books we read and loved as kids, but on significant amounts of caffeine!

His writing often explores themes of psychological trauma and are usually set in a cosy and quaint small town in America.

In The Institute, we delve into the lives of two key protagonists; former Policeman Tim Jamieson, and twelve year old genius Luke Ellis.

We begin with Tim, a man who is supposed to be boarding a plane to New York, but who decides to take the money and hitchhike after the airline offers cash to anyone willing to give up their seat on the overbooked flight. He however ends up spending one night in the small town of Du Pray, South Carolina. He doesn’t leave and takes up a new role with the local police department.

Luke Ellis, child genius with minor telekinetic abilities finds himself in a living nightmare. A boy on the verge of going to college at the age of just 12, he finds himself abducted in the middle of the night and his parents murdered by a small crew of adults, whisked away to a secret facility in the woods, known as ‘The Institute’.

Inside the Institute’s walls, Luke and other children like him become the subjects of sinister experiments designed to develop their special abilities.. but why? What is the motive here and who is behind it?

It’s a complete rollercoaster of power struggles, abuse, control, self development, friendship and the unbreakable human spirit.

CAN’T PUT IT DOWN RATING: 5/5

I absolutely ADORED it. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the blurb. I was thinking maybe a thriller. A horror perhaps? What I found inside the cover was such deeply layered, incredible story telling; cinematic, with horrendous moments and beautiful spells of light, with big moments created from friendship and love.

First of all, my goodness does King know how to write characters. Considering that The institute is his 74th Book (yes, 74!), his characters were so fully fleshed out. They were real people, with real backstories, thoughts, feelings and emotions. They leapt from the page, loudly. I could see them and I heard them. Some side characters were not as strong but the main characters throughout the book (of which there were many besides Tim and Luke) were definitely fully formed people with something to add to the story.

Secondly, The Institute is one of Stephen King’s recent novels which I realised not from the publication date inside the book, but of some of the comments made by some of the characters. I’ve always thought of King’s books being nostalgic but having this one mention current topics definitely made it feel much more eerie and believable!

Finally, what really struck me throughout this thrilling supernatural horror tale was just how carefully moments of really soft, emotional and gentle moments between characters were placed so delicately on the page. Horror struck one moment and eyes welling up by the next page. Who does that!

This is so perfectly polished, the chapters are perfect lengths if you haven’t got tons of time to read in one sitting and the writing is simple and accessible whilst so intelligent with the perfect pace.

I loved the story of kids and the quirky amongst us changing the world for the better.

Get ready to be spooked, entertained and inspired! 🎃📚

WASHED DOWN WITH:

Last weekend my Husband and I hired an old Fishermans cottage in Whitby and spent our time being blown from cafe to cafe by Storm Babet. The waves at Whitby’s Harbour and Beach were like nothing I’d seen before! The marina was swollen, with sea levels very high. There were huge crashing waves, dangerous rip tides and plenty of driftwood washed up ashore.

I therefore took every opportunity to stay dry, which included popping into Bothams, a glorious bakery and tearoom!

We’ve started having a ‘proper coffee’ at work each day (with a cafetière) so I decided to treat the work crew to a bag of the 1865 blend.

Gosh did this go down a treat. It’s got a really smooth nutty taste, but in my opinion has a really smokey, almost tobacco like smell.

It’s glorious and received many positive ‘this is gorgeous!’ comments from the team.

Available in store or online for £4.75 (plus postage). Click here to go to the website.

Bothams of Whitby Coffee.

I really hope youve enjoyed this book and coffee review, if you have then like or share it!

As always you can find me on socials to see what im currently up to:

Instagram: @papyrusandpeppermint

Goodreads: Papyrus and Peppermint

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