Spooky Books to Read This October (2024)

I don’t often do a recommendation list for books but, each year, if there’s a month I’ll put one together, it’ll be for October. So, welcome! Here’s a short list of spooky books.

Middle Grade & Young Adult

It Came From the Trees by Ally Russell is one of my favorite middle grade horror novels to-date. It has plenty to offer: outdoorsy main character, an eerie atmosphere, and a creative (and terrifying) twist on Bigfoot.

Give Me Something Good to Eat by D.W. Gillespie is aptly compared to Hocus Pocus and Stranger Things. The MC, Mason Miller, is in a race against time to save his sister from the macabre tradition hosted by a witch each Halloween.

The last middle grade novel on this list is Amalie Howard’s Bumps in the Night. Darika Lovelace confronts family secrets and ends up on a supernatural adventure through a dangerous, otherworldly maze.

Up next is Holly Horror: The Longest Night by Michelle Jabès Corpora. One of my most anticipated sequels of 2024 and an atmospheric ghost story that finally answers the big mystery of the series, which began in Holly Horror.

General Fiction

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, the fifth novella in The Singing Hills Cycle. Cleric Chih is accompanying a bride, and the story that unfolds is a haunting, gothic mystery set in a crumbling, isolated estate.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is set during the “Great War,” and follows a combat nurse who’s looking for her brother, who may (against all odds) be still alive, despite being presumed dead. It’s a bittersweet yet hopeful story as well as one full of ghosts and the visceral horrors of war.

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker is a slightly lighter story than The Warm Hands of Ghosts. But it was, at its core, still a ghost story, which took place on the sets of a niche TV show—a cross between ghost hunting and home renovation.

Classic

Sabriel is Garth Nix’s 1995 fantasy novel, the first of The Old Kingdom series: Necromancy, a crumbling kingdom succumbing to the dead, and a heroine reluctant to pick up the mantle of Abhorsen. There is a sense of dread that permeates across the entire story.

So, that’s every spooky book I’m recommending this October. Happy reading!

Spooky Books To Read This October

Welcome! Today, Adri and I have put together a list of some of our 2022 reads. These books are right at home in October, and you can also check out our list from last year HERE.

 

Breana: This year, I have six books for my part of the list. Up first is Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. It’s a classic, and now that I’ve read it for myself, I better appreciate and understand the praise its garnered. Then there’s Katherine Arden’s conclusion to the Small Spaces quartet, Empty Smiles. Summertime, clowns, what more do I need to say? The next book is Monsters in the Mist by Juliana Brandt. I read this book as an ARC back in May of this year. And I praised it for the balance it struck between the supernatural scares and the personal nature of the issues, which had negatively affected the characters. Switching gears, I had to mention Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer. It was horror comedy—occasionally over the top with its suburban cliques and hijinks—but the supernatural aspects were appropriately nerve-wracking to read about. Plus, I had a good laugh at certain parts of the story. Next is Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone. There was everything from a dark atmosphere, isolated setting, sinister Lord Under, and the horror of one particular and very cursed lake. And last, but certainly not least, is Middle Game by Seanan McGuire. The synopsis says “Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.” The story is a page-turner with some truly horrifying moments—particularly with the nature of alchemy that McGuire created—which is why it deserves to be on this list.

Adri: Hey everyone! I actually didn’t read that many spooky books this year. I did get to read Daybreak on Raven Island by Fleur Bradley. I thought it was just the right amount of spookiness plus friendships. And the other books I read were the last three in the Books of Elsewhere series by Jaqueline West. And those are The Second Spy, The Strangers, and Still Life. It’s a slightly older series (2010-2014) but still up there on creepy. Especially since it dealt with magical paintings that the main character could enter in a creepy old house.

Spooky Books to Read This October

Welcome! Today, Adri and I are going to share a list of some of our favorite spooky books we’ve read this year. Also, check out our list from last year HERE.

Breana: My first pick is What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie (find the review HERE). I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book, and it was an excellent story with a few genuinely creepy moments. The setting, an old and isolated museum, Woodmoor Manor, was the perfect location for a ghost story. It was a spooky read that also had a heartwarming resolution.

Adri: My first pick is The Shadows by Jacqueline West (find the review HERE). It was a reread, and I was excited to get back into The Books of Elsewhere series with Olive, three wise cats, and paintings in a creepy house.

Breana: My next one is Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez-Wallach (find the review HERE). This book was one of my favorite reads so far this year. It had a lot of references to the conjuring universe (specifically Ed and Lorraine Warren), and Wallach’s use of paranormal aspects amongst an every-day and almost cheerful idyllic kind of setting only heightened the spooky happenings surrounding the story.

Adri: My second and last pick (because I need to step up my spooky reading game) is Spellbound by Jacqueline West. In terms of pacing between both books, the first in the series was like moving into the house, where as the second is like settling into the house—especially for Olive. It was kind of wild, and I can’t wait to get into The Second Spy, The Books of Elsewhere #3.

Breana: I have two more books to add to this list. The first is Mine by Delilah S. Dawson (find the review HERE). Mine was probably one of the eeriest books on my end of the list. From growing up to dealing with a frightening haunting in a house she didn’t want to be in—with parents who she was at odds with—the character, Lily, went through it. And my last pick is Dark Waters by Katherine Arden. My review for Dark Waters will be posted later this month. It was one of my favorite reads of the year so far, and it’s a fitting continuation of the story set up by Small Spaces and Dead Voices.

 

So that’s what we read this year. Thanks for stopping by. Happy reading!