As the air is now niceeeeee and crisp, time to hunker down with a book or two (or five) guaranteed to give you some thrills and chills. How much spook can you handle this season? Choose your own reading adventure based on the people (errr, make that, monsters), places and plot elements that make your spine tingle with delight. Grab that beckoning pre-halloween candy bag and sit down to enjoy these scintillating spines. Don’t forget to check out the “Sweater Weather” reading challenge card and treat yourself to a cup of coffee or hot cocoa! 

Make sure to keep the light on with these fantastic finds because we are bringing all the creepy and some cackles to your TBR (to be read) list. In the mood to mingle with some monsters? Ready to roam haunted hallways and spiral into spell-binding fairy tales? Settle into these spooky spines all fall long. The best part is - you pick your path forward. Reader, beware of being bewitched by these frontlist favorites and backlist beloved gems.

To begin your spooktacular adventure, simply plod along the path that sounds most alluring and see where it takes you!

For those who delight in demons behind every door…

Up for haunted house jump scares and grappling with race and gentrification, you choose:  “White Smoke” by Tiffany F Jackson / YA Thriller

For those who gasp at ghostly foes past and present…

Up for a bookish ghost haunt and wrestling with George Floyd’s death and aftermath in Minneapolis, you choose: “The Sentence” by Louise Erdrich / Literary Fiction

For those who vibe with vagabond vampires...

Up for a dark vampire-human relationship but staying for the noir-punk reimagination of vampire gangs, crime and Mexican history, you choose: “Certain Dark Things” Silivia Moreno-Garcia / Fantasy Horror

For those who wait for witchy tales of wonder...

Up for a misty Scottish island mystery but staying for all witchy sisterhood vibes told in a dual timeline, you choose: “The Lighthouse Witches” by  CJ Cooke / Gothic Thriller

For those who cling to the classics captivatingly re-cast...

Ready for a feminist take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale complete with a multiverse journey of two girls destined to die attempting to change their fates, you choose: “A Spindle Splintered” by Alix E. Harrow / YA Fantasy

For those who want wicked good fun with your bestie…

Ready for a dose of nostalgia as you depart from your high school best friend complete with the “go out with a bang” adventure you won’t want to miss, you choose: “Pumpkinheads” by Rainbow Rowell / YA Graphic Novel

For those who are down to duel with death in Victorian London...

Enter 1880s London alongside plucky world-traveler Veronica Speedwell complete with a brooding cantankerous tracker, murders to solve, a traveling circus and lots of Victorian dry wit, you choose: “A Curious Beginning” by Deanna Raybourn / Historical Mystery

For those who hope to have a light-fright field trip into the dark woods…

Enter this book within a book tale complete with a broken down bus, a venture into creepy woods and a daring deal made with the “smiling man” (but at a price), you choose: “Small Spaces” by Katherine Arden / Middle Grade Fantasy

For those who seek a taste of lost love mixed with some zany antics…

Enter into a world of “rom-com” magic complete with saving a small town from destruction, second chance swoony romance and all the beloved 90s Sabrina witchy elements, you choose: “The Ex Hex” by Erin Sterling / Romance

Happy reading, ghouls and goblins!

Blog contribution by Jackie Brekke.
Edited by Angie Sanchez.