Hello besties! Happy October — the scary season is officially upon us and I am so excited!
There are so many horror, mystery/thriller, and just autumnal vibe stories that I want to read this month and I thought it would be fun to share with you some books I’m planning and hoping to read this month!
So, get cozy and let’s go through some of my scary season TBR!
Masters of Death by Olivie Blake
If Olivie Blake is writing it, I will be reading it! I picked up a copy of Masters of Death at the beginning of September, and I think it only makes sense to read this one during the scary season!
Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.
Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.
When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.
Links for Masters of Death: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
I’ve had this book on my TBR for so long, I honestly can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. I did try to start it a few months ago, but I don’t think I was in the right mood for it, but I think that it’ll be a great one to read one night when curled up in bed with a hot cup of tea!
A house with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.
When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.
But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.
Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.
Links for She is a Haunting: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze
This is another one that I’ve had on my TBR for so long. I keep staring at it on my shelves and I think about picking it up, but something stops me. I’m hoping to get to it sometime this month, because it really does seem like the perfect time to read this one.
Cross into the spirit realm with this thrilling supernatural debut about sisterhood and female defiance, perfect for fans of Kerri Maniscalco— inspired by lives of real teenage twin mediums in the 19th century.
Sacramento, 1885
Edie and Violet Bond know the truth about death. The seventeen-year-old twins are powerful mediums, just like their mother—Violet can open the veil between life and death, and Edie can cross into the spirit world. But their abilities couldn’t save them when their mother died and their father threatened to commit them to a notorious asylum.
Now runaways, Edie and Violet are part of a traveling Spiritualist show, a tight-knit group of young women who demonstrate their real talents under the guise of communing with spirits. Each night, actresses, poets, musicians, and orators all make contact with spirits who happen to have something to say. . . notions that young ladies could never openly express. But when Violet’s act goes terribly wrong one night, Edie learns that the dark spirit responsible for their mother’s death has crossed into the land of the living. As they investigate the identity of her mysterious final client, they realize that someone is hunting mediums…and they may be next. Only by trusting in one another can the twins uncover a killer who will stop at nothing to cheat death.
Links for The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James
I’ve read a couple Simone St. James books this year — The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel — and have absolutely loved them both, so I definitely want to read more of her books. I’ve had The Book of Cold Cases on my TBR for a long time, and I’m really looking forward to reading it!
In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect–a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases–a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes.
They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?
Links for The Book of Cold Cases: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta
I’ve had The Lost Coast on my TBR for over a year now — it’s been staring at me from my shelves saying, “read me! read me!” and I just…haven’t, but I really want to! It has witches and is set in California, so obviously, I’m excited about it, especially after loving The Heartbreak Bakery and Echo After Echo by the same author.
The spellbinding tale of six queer witches forging their own paths, shrouded in the mist, magic, and secrets of the ancient California redwoods.
Danny didn’t know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they’re ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn’t just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill. Lush, eerie, and imaginative, A.R. Capetta’s tale overflows with the perils and power of discovery — and what it means to find your home, yourself, and your way forward.
Links for The Lost Coast: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
We all know that I love a good murder mystery and I especially love a mixed media mystery! I haven’t had a chance to really look at this one, but a YouTuber that I watch flipped through the book and I saw lots of mixed media elements which just makes me SO excited. I’m dying to get my hands on this one and can’t wait to read it.
A shocking thriller about a cold case, a fictional true crime series, and the family caught in the middle.
SIX EPISODES. ONE KILLER.
It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder–but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating–and perhaps cracking–this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited–on camera. The truth will come out.
Are you ready to see it?
Links for Murder in the Family: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya de Becerra
First of all, the cover for this book is so freaking cool and gives such scary-horror vibes — I am all about it. I love watching horror tv shows and movies, so When Ghosts Call Us Home definitely sounds like something that I’ll really like. This just came out on Tuesday, and I can’t wait to read it!
Haunting of Hill House meets found-footage horror in this edge-of-your-seat thriller that explores the power of family ties and the trauma that lurks there.
When Sophia Galich was twelve, she starred in her older sister Layla’s amateur horror movie Vermillion, which recorded raw footage of her very real reactions to scenes her sister concocted in their old Californian house on the coast―Cashore House.
In the years after the film’s release, Sophia’s relationship with her sister became more strained, while her memories of the now-infamous house fueled her nightmares. Vermillion amassed an army of fanatical fans who speculated about the film’s hidden messages, and it was rumored that Layla made a pact with the devil―her soul in exchange for fame and arcane knowledge. Sophia dismissed this as gossip…until Layla disappeared.
Now, Sophia must study the trail of clues Layla has left behind, returning to the very place where it all began. As she gets closer and closer to Cashore House’s haunted heart, she must once again confront the ghosts of her childhood. But the house won’t reveal its secrets without a fight.
Links for When Ghosts Call Us Home: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
Earlier this year I read Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young and absolutely loved it. I loved the magical realism, the small town vibes, and the mystery — I was completely hooked on her writing style and have thought about this book often. Because of that, The Unmaking of June Farrow has totally jumped to the top of my TBR and I just think it’s going to deliver on the autumn vibes I’m looking for!
A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.
In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.
It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.
After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’sdecades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.
With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.
Links for The Unmaking of June Farrow: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
I think the coolest thing about A Haunting on the Hill is that it takes place at Hill House — yes, that Hill House first created by Shirley Jackson and brought to life by Mike Flanagan for Netflix. The TV series is one of my absolute favorites, but Jackson’s book left me wanting more, so I’m so curious as to what this book is going to be like and I seriously can’t wait to read it!
From three-time Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, and Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever authorized novel to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House: a suspenseful, contemporary, and terrifying story of longing and isolation all its own.
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift. All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone . . .
Links for A Haunting on the Hill: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
For someone who had a very bad reading month in September, I’ve definitely set an ambitious TBR for this month, but I am truly so excited about all of these books and can’t wait to get started!
Are there any books that you’re especially looking forward to reading this month? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time!
I believe October will be better for us.
oh boy do i hope so!