It’s Tuesday again and time for this week’s list of books. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Click on over to her blog and give her some love. If you want to join in the TTT fun, you can find all the information on her blog.
10 Halloween or Spooky Themed Books
This week is a Freebie so we are doing the top ten books for Halloween (pumpkins, witches, vampires, ghosts, and all those things) and let me tell you this list was not easy. Why? Because honestly, I could have easily filled the list with Stephen King books and been done with it. All of his are perfect for Halloween. However, I wanted to give you a little more.
Most of these are more spooky than straight up Halloween themed. Spooky isn’t always a fright either. Sometimes it’s the mystery novel that leaves you feeling uncomfortable. Of course, I threw in a couple of feel good just witchy books as well.
1. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
In the town of Hawkins Hollow, itโs called The Seven. Every seven years, on the seventh day of the seventh month, strange things happen. It began when three young boysโCaleb, Fox, and Gageโwent on a camping trip to The Pagan Stone…
It is only February, but Caleb Hawkinsโdescendant of the town foundersโhas already seen and felt the stirrings of evil. Though he can never forget the beginning of the terror in the woods twenty-one years ago, the signs have never been this strong before. Cal will need the help of his best friends Fox and Gage, but surprisingly he must rely on a stranger as well.
Reporter Quinn Black came to Hawkins Hollow hoping to make its eerie happenings the subject of her new book. She too can see the evil the locals cannot, somehow connecting her to the townโand to Cal. As winter turns to spring, they will shed their inhibitions, surrendering to a desire that will grow and form the cornerstone of a group of men and women bound by the fight against what is to come from out of the darknessโฆ
2. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.
An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancรฉe, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.
Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in. . .
3. Down in the Hollow by Timothy Hobbs
It all begins with a decapitated head found at the bottom of a dark well. Bertram Stone is a former Texas Ranger running from the changes of an ever-evolving world. Horses were being replaced by cars. Laws were changing how Bertram could deal justice. Wanting to live out his golden years in peace, Stone flees to the quiet town of Hamilton, Texas where he becomes the local sheriff. In a small town where the law rarely needs enforcing, everything is going according to his plan. Until a great evil plunges Hamilton into horror. On the outskirts of town, in a small community called Deer Hollow, there is a ramshackle cabin where a man lives by the name of Eli Snow. He is a recluse, living away from other people. What nobody knows about is the secret terror he has kept hidden away for years. A nightmare that is about to be unleashed.
4. The Lighthouse Keeper by Alan K. Baker
In December 1900, three lighthouse keepers vanished without trace from the remote Scottish island of Eilean Mor.
An emergency relief crew was sent to man the lighthouse, and at the end of their month-long duty, they resigned from their posts, never to speak of what they had experienced.
The mystery of Eilean Mor has never been solved. Until now.
In the present, a group of environmental researchers arrives to observe the wildlife. While exploring the lighthouse, now deserted, one of the team discovers a manuscript written by one of the relief keepers, a man named Alec Dalemore. As a sudden storm cuts off their escape, the researchers come to realise that Dalemore wrote the manuscript as a warning to all who would come after him — a warning of something ancient and powerful and strange beyond imaginingโฆ
The Lighthouse Keeper is a supernatural tale based on the Flannan Isles mystery, one of the greatest unsolved enigmas in maritime history.
5. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, Magic Lessons, and The Book of Magic.
For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them backโalmost as if by magic…
6. Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling New York Times bestselling rom-com by Lana Harper.
Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful oneโin part because she hasn’t been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.
But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She’s determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago.
On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramovโan all-around badass adept in the darker magical artsโwho is fresh off a bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Lindenโunbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in?
But most concerning of all: Why can’t she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?
7. The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen
Rage burns brighter than any spellfireโฆ
Deep in the birchwoods of Norway, magic courses through the veins of two sisters. For years they’ve been alone, but sweet-tempered Kaija is tired of living in shadows and longs for a life filled with community, even if it means stifling her magic. But Minna is a witch through and through, with wrath always simmering just below the surface. Different as they may be, both will never forget the day they were driven from their village. The day their mother burned.
When Kaija leaves to pursue a new life, Minna is left alone in the darkness of the forest. Devastated and outraged at the betrayal, Minna casts a curse to punish those who took everything from her. What she doesn’t realize is that this act will incite a deadly chain of events. Soon it will destroy everything, including the life Kaija has lovingly built. But once a witch’s rage boils, regret means nothingโshe can’t take back what’s already done.
Someone will have to burn.
A magical story of sisterhood, revenge, and feminist rage, The Witches at the End of the World is perfect for fans of Alix Harrow and Kelly Barnhill.
8. The September House by Carissa Orlando
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Streetโfor sale at a surprisingly reasonable priceโthey couldnโt believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. Itโs her house. But after four years Hal canโt take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, heโs not returning calls, and their daughter Katherineโwho knows nothing about the hauntingsโarrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
9. The Last One by Will Dean
When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, itโs the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.
And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But thatโs just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.
10. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesnโt want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesnโt want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her fatherโs academic career and her motherโs lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesnโt want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.
Most of all, she doesnโt want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, sheโll need his help to get the house ready for sale because itโll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.
But some houses donโt want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of themโฆ
What a List!
That is my list! I hope that y’all enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed coming up with everything on there. Be sure to stay tuned for next week’s list!
These all sound very spooky indeed.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
Thank you for stopping by.
I haven’t ever read a novel by Nora Roberts but have heard of her, and seen the Lifetime adaptations of her novels. Based on those, she does write some good mystery stories. ๐ Thanks so much for visiting my website today.
The Sanatorium looks so scary.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
This is a great list of books for the season. thanks for sharing! Happy Halloween!
I don’t think I’ve visited you before but thought I must because my daughter is named Rita. It isn’t a name one often runs into. thanks for sharing these exciting titles.
Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies, the book is fun but i love the movie aesthetics
So many of these sound amazing. Not sure I could handle some of them. thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog today.
I’ve only read one of the books on this list, but it looks like i need to get in gear and read some more, because a lot of these look right up my alley! Spooky but not too scary is right where I like to be when reading, and I’ll have to add some of these to my tbr. Thanks for the heads up!
also not sure why this is typing in all caps when i don’t have caps lock on – i promise i’m not shouting.
THE LAST ONE is on my list today too. It sounds so good. I hope we both enjoy it!
Happy ttt!
susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I hope to read Pracical Magic soon, i LOVED the movie!
Loved Practical Magic! The entire series was great and perfect for this time of year. Great list!