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Working at Book Riot for the past few years has slowly (very slowly) pulled me out of my comfort zone, horror-wise. Now, I was always a witchy, fun kinda girlie—with childhood faves that spanned from The Craft to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, to any and every other thing that featured a powerful female protagonist. I’ve also always harbored an interest in macabre manga, like The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, among others. But I only just started delving into more horror fiction, and I have the many glowing Book Riot writer recommendations to thank for that.
This spooky season, I’m hitting up my old familiars—i.e. cute, witchy romances and low-key thrillers—but also expanding to demonic hauntings and nightmare scenarios.
Here are a few books I plan on reading.
An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
A new Alexis Henderson for fall always bodes well, and An Academy for Liars is an especially fall-friendly dark academia novel that has a synopsis that kind of reminds me of Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko and Sergey Dyachenko (which I loved). In it, Lennon Carter is invited to take the entrance exam for the mysterious Drayton College because of her innate gift of persuasion—which can be used on people and matter alike. Once she passes the test and gains entry to the school, she finds that she loves her studies and the moss-covered campus. Her alluring adviser, Dante, is kind of enjoyable, too. The history of the college itself, though? Unnerving. As is her mentor’s connection to it.
Ruin Road by Lamar Giles
In this YA novel, Cade Webster has conflicting realities. On the one hand, he’s a star football player for a nice school; on the other, he lives in a “bad” neighborhood and is too big, ambitious, and Black for everyone’s comfort. One night, while trying to avoid a dangerous run-in with the cops, he goes into a pawn shop. He tells the shopkeeper he wishes people would stop being so scared around him, and this wish somehow comes true. At first, it feels nice, but Cade quickly realizes that people aren’t scared of anything at all, which leads to increased violence. Cade will have to put a stop to whatever sinister thing is at play, but it will cost him.
Such Lovely Skin by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
First of all, this cover is fire! Wonderfully creepy cover. The “twins” shown here are actually Viv, a lying Twitch streamer, and a mimic demon she lets into her life. It all starts when tries to get back into posting on Twitch by trying a new game. An NPC asks her for a secret, and she confesses that she was responsible for her sister’s death, which no one else knows. Then it all really hits the fan. She gains an evil doppelganger, who no one believes in (see: “lying Twitch streamer”), and who she’ll have to kill before it destroys everything.
Final Cut by Charles Burns
From the author of Black Hole comes a meditation on art, film, and people who fantasize about people who don’t want them. When Brian was a child, he made sci-fi movies with his friend, replete with smeared lipstick that served as blood on bodies. Now that he’s an adult, and an artist, he wants to make those movies for real. He goes to a remote cabin with his childhood friend Jimmy, Tina, and the object of his obsession, Laurie. But as he means to pay homage to his favorite movie, he instead writes himself into a story where his obsessions merge Laurie into the perfect girl, a distressed damsel, and even his savior. Then things turn upside down as reality blends with dreams and imagination.
Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
Lately, we’ve gotten plenty of great, feminist retellings of iconic women in literature and mythology, but Kiersten White’s (Hide, Mister Magic) Lucy Undying breathes fresh life into the tale of Lucy Westenra, Dracula’s first English victim. Since she was first bitten, she’s been trying to escape Dracula, but it’s in the 21st century that she finally meets a woman similarly trying to escape. Iris is charming, but her family—with their ill-begotten health empire—won’t let her out of their clutches. And Dracula, meanwhile, is back on his BS. Still, Lucy’s and Iris’s connection feels real and intense, and it might be a real chance at happiness.
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
This queer Appalachian thriller by the award-winning White starts off swingin’. It follows autistic teen Miles Abernathy, a proud and socialist West Virginian, after he comes out as trans to his parents. That same night, he sneaks off to a party where the photographic evidence he has serves as proof of Sheriff Davies’ guilt in an “accident” that injured his dad and killed others. Miles is beaten by the sheriff’s sons and his friends, and in the hospital, Sheriff Davies threatens him to be silent. But that’s not all—as the sheriff is speaking, a soot-covered ghost hovers over Miles’ bed. And, after Miles accidentally kills one of the boys involved in his beating, he finds out that the spirit of the town overall has had enough of the violence doled out on them by those in authority. And they’re willing to do anything they have to to stop it.
Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
This Black-led, dark academia vampire romantasy with Ethiopian influences has been compared to Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, which is a particular brand of dark fantasy I vibe with. In it, lost heiress Kidan Adane infiltrates Uxlay University, where students dedicate themselves to studying to preserve peace between humans and vampires. But Kidan is there because her family was killed and her sister kidnapped, with all signs pointing to Susenyos Sagad, the vampire bound to her family, being the culprit. But Susenyos—and giving into her own darkness—is alluring, and after a murder happens that echoes her sister’s disappearance, Kidan finds herself dangerously deeper into the vampire underworld.
Morgana and Oz by Miyuli
I started this just a couple days ago and am already on just about the last episode on Webtoons. It’s a very precious YA enemies-to-lovers romantasy graphic novel that has hints of Romeo and Juliet. It starts off when Morgana’s well-off witch family is preparing for a very important dinner that is meant to squash the longstanding beef between their family and the Red Vampire Clan. Except, the vampires don’t quite trust them, and so have a few of their number hang back outside as backup as others go inside. Morgana, flustered from having accidentally burned her mother’s gown, runs out back to quickly dispose of the evidence, which is where she meets Oz. Shortly after, there’s a big ruckus from the negotiations dissolving, and in a panic, Morgana accidentally turns Oz into a cute lil’ kitty cat. She’ll spend the next few days trying to turn him back while keeping her flub a secret. But there are other issues: someone seems to have poisoned the vampires at the party, her grandfather is missing, and there is talk of Morgana’s family being involved in dark magic. As Oz and Morgana try to settle their differences, there’s an understanding that develops between them. And then some.