Tis the season for all things haunted and eerie—and what better way to get in the spirit than with a spine-chilling read? Here are some standout spooky book recommendations for this Halloween season:
HISTORICAL FICTION
Title: The Bewitching
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Plot: 1908 (Alba’s tale): In rural Mexico, young Nana Alba endures devastating family losses and becomes convinced that malevolent magic—or true witchcraft—is at play.
1934 (Beatrice Tremblay’s story): At an elite New England college, obscure horror author Beatrice Tremblay writes a manuscript about her roommate Virginia’s mysterious disappearance—a haunting event that fuels her fiction.
1990s (Minerva’s journey): Graduate student Minerva, researching Tremblay, begins to sense an eerily familiar malevolent presence trailing her on the same campus. The shadow linking her grandmother’s past and Tremblay’s tragedy seems poised to repeat.
As Minerva delves deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, the lines between academic study and supernatural involvement blur—suggesting that one dark, ancient force might be haunting all three women.
YOUNG ADULT
Title: Immortal Consequences
Author: I.V. Marie
Plot: Immortal Consequences brings us into the chilling halls of Blackwood Academy, a magical boarding school perched on the edge of the afterlife. Here, departed souls are bound to shepherd lost spirits—for eternity—unless they can change their fate in the Decennial, a terrifying once-in-a-decade competition. The winner earns the power-filled path of the Ascended or the mystery-shrouded journey to the Other Side. Six students enter the trials, each driven by urgent and deeply personal stakes. As the trials begin, alliances form, secrets unravel, and these students—rivals, lovers, friends—discover survivorship may be the cruelest game of all. This Decennial is no celebration—it’s a deadly competition. Only one can win—and some fates are worse than death.
ROMANTASY
Title: Accomplice to the Villain
Author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Plot:Evie Sage’s plan to land a low-effort job for financial stability takes a wildly unexpected turn when an encounter with The Villain, the kingdom’s most feared figure, lands her the position of his assistant. What starts as a bizarre job offer quickly spirals into something far more dangerous—and slightly romantic. Having lost her job and desperate to support her ailing father and younger sister, Evie accepts an odd job offer from The Villain—part paperwork, part mayhem. She soon discovers her new workplace, Massacre Manor, is decorated with severed heads and eyeballs, but the potion of doom comes with an undeniably attractive (albeit brooding) employer. Beneath the chilling reputation, Evie recognizes a softer side in The Villain, especially as they work to uncover a traitor leaking plans to King Benedict. Their investigation brings them closer, revealing unexpected layers behind the feared antagonist.
MYSTERY
Title: Forget Me Not
Author: Stacy Willingham
Plot: Twenty-two years after her sister Natalie vanished, investigative journalist Claire Campbell returns to her hometown for the summer. Seeking distraction, she takes a job at Galloway Farm, a vineyard tied to Natalie’s final summer. There, she discovers an old diary belonging to one of the owners, whose entries hint at unsolved crimes eerily connected to her sister’s disappearance. As Claire becomes consumed by the diary’s contents, she’s drawn into a dangerous search for the truth—one that forces her to confront the darkest parts of her past.