Halloween Horror Book Recs

Happy Halloween! One of my favorite things to do around this season, especially when life settles for a brief minute between Halloween and Christmas is catch up on my creepy reading. I’ve read so many AMAZING books this year so here’s my short list of recs. (this post uses affiliate links)

Muse by LCW Allingham

Yes. I’m recommending my book. My dark dive into art, inspiration and exploitation is short enough to read in a night. It’s gotten so many really good reviews since it came out in April, and it’s get under your skin creepy. And if you’ve read it, please leave me a review!

Rouge by Mona Awad

This Fever dream of a book tearing open the effect of the beauty industry goes in no predictable directions and leaves you with a lot of questions, but damn it is insidiousness, creepy and impossible to put down.

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

If you follow my socials you will know I am a HUGE Rachel Harrison fan since I read her book, The Return. Black Sheep is a bit funnier but just as gruesome and harsh. Harrison has a way of peeling back universal truths about being a woman that we all know but don’t acknowledge.

The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

While this book is classified as MG, the pervasive growing terror this book brings is very adult. The Nest goes in some wild directions, playing on the helpless isolation that we all remember from being a child.

Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

This book is equal parts real life horror and supernatural horror. Set in the idyllic Italian countryside, every toxic family trigger is activated and ever sense is questioned. This book will infuriate you and devastate you, but it will bring you to a place of healing at the end.

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

After reading this book, I am committed to reading everything T. Kingfisher ever has written. Another story about family trauma and haunted houses, but this one goes in a very weird and wonderfully creepy direction. While this book is still terrifying, I would call it a lighter sort of terror.

And if you have similar taste in horror to me, I would always recommend the horror anthologies published by Speculation Publications, being that I helped curate them. Incubate is our anthology of furious “Good for Her” Horror. Grimm Retold, our nightmare fairy tales, and Cry Baby Bridge, our dark horse of a book with truly disturbing stories of the prevalent urban legend.

They can all be found here.

Have a Happy Halloween and stay spooky.