As Spooky Season is upon us, I find myself more and more drawn to Halloween movies, tv shows, and books. Vampires, demon hunters, ghosts, werewolves, witches – all of the paranormal stories are just calling my name (hello? Is anyone there?).
Unfortunately, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I was not made with the skills to be a demon hunter or the stamina to run from the zombie apocalypse…but it won’t stop me from reading about it, and it shouldn’t stop you either. Here’s five spooky book recommendations to keep you reading late into the night – and up past your bedtime.
- The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
When a young witch, Vivienne “Vivi” Jones, sets a curse on her ex-boyfriend Rhys Penhallow – she never expects it to become anything more than a “silly little Ex Hex” that might cause him a few bad hair days. She suddenly realizes her mistake nine years later when Rhys returns to Graves Glen, Georgia to recharge the town’s ley lines and attend the annual fall festival.
Everything about Rhys’s visit turns from one disastrous event to another. Between attacks from murderous wind-up toys, ghosts, and talking cats, Vivi and Rhys must attempt to save the town and break the hex – all while not falling in love again.
- There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Rural Nebraska is supposed to be quiet, peaceful, relaxing…not murderous.
Makani Young came to live with her grandmother in Nebraska almost a year ago, but there’s been something weird happening at her high school. One by one, students begin dying in a series of gruesome murders, each becoming more and more grotesque.
As the danger crawls closer, can Makani survive this Nebraska killer’s plan?
- White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
A Midwestern city. Ghosts. Secrets.
The last thing Marigold “Mari” expects to find when she moves from California to Cedarville is to be running from ghosts. Ghosts from her past? She can deal with that, that’s to be expected. But real ghosts in a picture-perfect home? Not really.
The neighbors near her new house are hiding secrets, but so is the house itself. From household items vanishing, lights turning on and off, shadows walking past rooms, voices in the walls, and a bad smell seeping through the vents – but it all gets even creepier when her ten-year-old stepsister Piper tells her about a friend who wants Mari gone. Can Mari outrun these ghosts in the house and the town of Cedarville?
- Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
In Amity Falls, life is isolated and dull. Ellerie Downing knows this better than anyone. With the stories that early town settlers started about monstrous creatures living in the woods, no one wants to venture too far.
When a group of people from town go on a trip for supplies and don’t return, strange activities begin happening in town.
The creatures from the stories become real, offering to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires in exchange for a small favor. However, these exchanges may hold more sinister intentions than expected.
- Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
Audrey Rose Wadsworth leads a double-life. Being born a lord’s daughter, she’s confined to a life of wealth and privilege she never asked for. When she’s not attending social teas or dress fittings, she hides away in her uncle’s laboratory studying forensic medicine….against her strict father’s wishes and society’s expectations.
When a real threat begins terrorizing London with a string of savagely murdered corpses, Audrey’s work draws her to investigating the serial killer. Hopefully the answers she finds won’t draw her into more danger as well….