Dare I Say, I Feel a Revival Coming

Love Me Stone • Autumn 2026

Dare I Say, I Feel a Revival Coming

Something about this autumn feels different. Dark books. Cold nights. Strange movies. Live music. And permission to get a little weird again.

I know.

It's August.

Technically, I should still be talking about beach days and sunscreen and what we're drinking on patios.

But I can feel it coming.

Not fall.

A revival.

And apparently mine has a soundtrack, a reading list, a dress code and at least one questionable fictional man made entirely of wicker.

Let me explain.

I Think I'm Ready for the Dark Again

There is always that point near the end of summer when I start craving something different.

The days are still warm, but the light changes.

Evenings arrive a little differently.

You start reaching for the jacket you haven't worn in months. Candles suddenly seem reasonable again. The books on your nightstand get darker.

And maybe you do, too.

Not darker in the sad sense.

Darker in the more interested in things with teeth sense.

More mystery.

More desire.

More velvet and leather and old books and red wine and songs that sound better after midnight.

More stories where the forest should probably be avoided and absolutely no one avoids it.

Maybe that's what I mean by a revival.

Not becoming someone new.

Remembering a version of yourself that summer temporarily buried under linen.

From the Archives

Be Weird. Be Whole.

Maybe becoming more yourself requires becoming a little less understandable to everyone else. This one suddenly feels very appropriate for the season we're heading into.

Read Be Weird. Be Whole.

And Then October Started Showing Off

Because apparently October has received the assignment.

On October 19, She Wants Revenge is playing at Felton Music Hall.

If you've ever listened to Tear You Apart in a dark room and thought, yes, this seems emotionally healthy, you already understand why this matters.

Then there's Wicker.

A strange, dark, folkloric love story involving a woman who asks a basketmaker to build her a husband.

And he comes to life.

And he's Alexander Skarsgård.

Cinema is healing.

I've already gone sufficiently down that rabbit hole to create an entire reading list for anyone else who saw the trailer and thought:

Well. Apparently I'm into this now.

The Nighttable

10 Books to Read While You're Waiting for Wicker

Haunted forests. Dangerous desire. Old magic. Strange lovers. Ten books for anyone who is apparently ready to enter their folkloric romance era.

See the Reading List

And then, of course, October ends exactly as it should.

Halloween.

So within a matter of weeks we're getting darkwave music in the redwoods, strange folkloric romance, haunted reading lists and the one holiday where becoming slightly unrecognizable is actively encouraged.

Tell me that isn't a sign.

The Nighttable Is Getting Darker

My reading habits have already started making the seasonal transition.

Give me psychological thrillers.

Dark romance.

Gothic houses with deeply concerning real estate histories.

Morally gray men.

Women making terrible decisions for extremely understandable reasons.

Old gods.

Family secrets.

Small towns where everyone knows something except the protagonist.

And preferably at least one sentence that makes me put the book down and stare at the ceiling.

Read After Dark

Nighttable: 5 Dark Romance & Thriller Books to Read After Dark

Five books for nights when going to bed at a reasonable hour was technically an option.

Visit the Nighttable

If you've been hanging around The Nighttable, you know this isn't exactly new territory around here.

But autumn?

Autumn gives us permission to fully commit.

Naturally, There Will Be Things

Because emotional transformation is wonderful.

But have you considered emotional transformation with accessories?

I'm already collecting the things that belong in this particular universe.

Black lace.

Oversized sweaters.

Dark lipstick.

Gold jewelry.

Candles that smell vaguely like something happened in the woods.

Boots.

Vintage-looking frames.

Dark florals.

Leather jackets.

Books, obviously.

Things that make your house look like a woman with excellent taste and several secrets lives there.

Shop the Mood

My Dark Finds

The Amazon corner of the October Revival: dark, romantic, slightly strange finds for your home, closet, nightstand and whatever version of yourself wakes up when the sun starts setting earlier.

Shop My Dark Finds

I Don't Want a Pumpkin-Spice Autumn

No offense to pumpkins.

They've done nothing wrong.

But I don't want the perfectly curated version of autumn where everything is orange and we all pretend we're delighted by decorative gourds.

I want romantic autumn.

I want cold air through an open window while I'm reading under too many blankets.

I want live music in small rooms.

Fog through the redwoods.

Coffee when it's actually cold enough to need it.

Dark nails.

Old movies.

Bookstores at dusk.

Dinner somewhere candlelit.

Driving home with the heater on and the windows cracked because somehow both are necessary.

I want to wear something slightly dramatic for absolutely no reason.

I want to romanticize the darkness instead of rushing to turn every light on.

I want to remember that there is something beautiful about seasons changing precisely because they don't ask whether we're ready.

They just do.

More feeling.

More curiosity.

More books with questionable men.

More nights that turn into stories.

More wearing the thing.

More going to the show.

More following what fascinates us.

More being a little weird about being alive.

Maybe We Need Seasons, Too

Maybe that's the thing I've been thinking about.

We talk so much about consistency.

Knowing who you are.

Finding yourself.

Staying grounded.

But maybe being fully alive also means allowing yourself to have seasons.

There are versions of us that belong to summer.

Bare skin. Salt water. Long afternoons. Saying yes because the sun hasn't gone down yet.

And there are versions that wake up when the evenings get colder.

More introspective.

More sensual.

More creative.

A little stranger.

Maybe she reads different books.

Maybe she listens to different music.

Maybe she stays in more.

Maybe she goes out later.

Maybe she wants different things.

None of those versions have to cancel each other out.

Maybe they're all us.

So Consider This Your Warning

Something is coming.

I don't entirely know what yet.

That's half the fun.

But there will be dark books.

There will be music.

There will be Wicker.

There will be Halloween.

There will probably be tattoos.

There will definitely be questionable fictional men.

There will be things worth wearing, reading, watching, listening to and experiencing.

And somewhere between the first genuinely cold evening and October 31, I intend to lean completely into it.

Not reinvent myself.

Not start over.

Just turn the lights down a little.

Put on something good.

Open a darker book.

Follow whatever feels interesting.

And see what comes back to life.

Dare I say it?
I feel a revival coming.

🖤

Stay close. The October Revival is just getting started.