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Reading Recs

Halloween Books: Use the Scare-O-Meter to Find Your Perfect Scary Read!

Halloween is just around that corner, and we are SO read-y for all the Halloween reads and scares! While we know some of you are here for those up-all-night chilling chapters, we know that others may be looking to get some shut-eye after that last chapter. So, we’ve broken our favorite Halloween reads into three degrees of scary!

Up all night? Nightlight status? Sleep like a baby? Choose your perfect read and degree of scary below!

 

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The Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman – In this dark and twisty feminist historical mystery, a teenage girl starts a new life as a grave robber but quickly becomes entangled in a murderer’s plans.

 

Edie in Between by Laura Sibson – A modern-day Practical Magic about love, loss, and embracing the mystical.

 

Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos – Shaun of the Dead meets Dumplin’ in this bitingly funny YA thriller about a kickass group of teens battling a ravenous group of zombies.

 

You’re So Dead by Ash Parsons – A hilarious Agatha Christie-inspired YA thriller-comedy about three best friends who sneak into an influencers-only festival event (gone wrong), only to discover a killer is in their midst–and they have to uncover the truth and solve the mystery before it’s too late. Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Truly Devious.

 

 

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Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain – A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

 

They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman – From rising star Jessica Goodman, author of They Wish They Were Us, comes a new fast-paced thriller about two sisters vying for the top spot on their cross-country team—until a teammate’s disappearance throws their lives off course.

 

The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh – The Conjuring meets Sadie in this queer ghost story, when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit.

 

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh – New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.

 

Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall – Melissa Albert meets Twin Peaks in this supernatural thriller about one girl’s hunt for the truth about her mother’s disappearance.

 

The Companion by Katie Alender – Margot’s bad dreams may have stopped when she came to live with Agatha – but the real nightmare has just begun.

 

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The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins – Stephanie Perkins returns with a heart-stopping, gut-wrenching novel about friendship, survival, and navigating unmarked paths even as evil watches from the shadows.

 

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins – It’s been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother and she’s still adjusting to her new life in rural Nebraska. Then, one by one, students at her high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair.

 

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass – Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.

 

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis – Riverdale meets The Haunting of Hill House in the terrifying new thriller from the author of Harrow Lake.

 

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis – A must-have horror/thriller that will keep you gripped, keep you guessing, and keep you up all night.

 

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland – A dark, twisty modern fairytale where three sisters discover they are not exactly all that they seem and evil things really do go bump in the night.

 

 

 

Can’t wait for more scary reads? Check out these 4 highly-anticipated 2022 thrillers we just revealed!

Penguin Teen