Title: Dead Fake (Bleak Haven #1) Author: Vincent Ralph Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller, Contemporary Publisher: Wednesday Books Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: January 20, 2026 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Would you Swipe to Die?
When the new craze takes over Bleak Haven High, Ava Wilson refuses to join in. As the niece of an infamous murderer, it’s the last thing she needs.
The mysterious website allows people to view their own ‘death’ – an AI generated version of their final slasher-movie-moments. But, when some of her classmates’ deepfakes are replicated in real life, Ava can either catch the killer…or be the next victim.
Review:
This book is creepy and thrilling. There were plot twists that kept me guessing. The ending was so surprising that I actually gasped when I read it. It’s also short at under 250 pages so it would be a perfect beach read!
Dead Fake is a creepy thriller!
Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: death, mass murder, murder
Other books in the series:
Night Terror (Bleak Haven #2)
Have you read Dead Fake? What did you think of it?
Title: The Haunting of Paynes Hollow Author: Kelley Armstrong Genre: Fiction, Horror Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: October 14, 2025 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a nail-biting supernatural horror about a haunted lakeside property and twisted family secrets.
When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in fourteen years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body, his clothing streaked with blood.
But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather’s words.
Traveling to Paynes Hollow, Sam is faced with the realities of her childhood and the secrets kept hidden in the shadows of her memories. When her aunt goes missing a couple days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.
Review:
This was a super creepy story. Sam’s grandfather left her a multi-million dollar property in his will, but she could only receive it if she spent a month on the property where her father killed himself. I thought I had figured out the ending but I was wrong. There was a supernatural element to the story that I wasn’t expecting but I liked it.
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow is a great spooky read!
Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: Alzheimer’s, death, murder, death of animals, stalking
Have you read The Haunting of Paynes Hollow? What did you think of it?
Title: Essentials, Vol. 1 Author: Luke Arnold, Chris Wyatt Genre: Graphic Novel, Horror, Science Fiction Publisher: The Lab Press Source: Bookinfluencers.com Format: Hardcover Release Date: February 25, 2025 Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis:
In a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by the madness of a warping reality, shotgun-wielding scientist Harris Pax and his two extra-dimensional, non-corporeal alien sidekicks (manifesting as a walking corpse and a toy robot) are humanity’s only hope for survival.
In ESSENTIALS, mathematician Harris Pax predicted the end of the world but failed to prevent it. Now he’s living alone in a bunker and his niece’s favorite toys have started talking to him. The good news? He’s not the world’s sole survivor. The bad news? The other survivors are trapped in alternate realities — imprisoned in imagined worlds full of zombies, robots, mythical creatures, and chaos. And now Harris Pax and an unlikely ally must travel the country on a quest to restore reality, save humanity, and defeat his new interdimensional nemesis: Snuggles. Written by Luke Arnold (star of Black Sails; writer, The Fetch Phillips novels) and Chris “Doc” Wyatt (producer, Napoleon Dynamite; writer, Ninjago). This debut graphic novel from THE LAB ships in a gold-foil stamped cloth slipcase!
Review:
This graphic novel had The Last of Us vibes which I loved! There was some horror mixed with sci-fi. It was exciting and fast paced, so it was hard to put down. This special edition had a beautiful cloth slipcover. It ended on a big cliffhanger so I’m excited to see what happens next!
Essentials, Vol. 1 is a great graphic novel!
Thank you Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book as part of a paid campaign!
Content warnings: death, death of parent, death of child, body horror
Have you read Essentials, Vol. 1? What did you think of it?
Title: The Unfinished Author: Cheryl Isaacs Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Contemporary Publisher: Heartdrum Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: September 3, 2024 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
In this debut YA horror novel by Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk), small-town athlete Avery is haunted by the black water and Unfinished beings of Kanyen’kehá:ka stories and must turn to the culture she hasn’t felt connected to in order to save her town.
The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive.
When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.
Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she’s losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.
Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she’s never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.
When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanyen’kehá:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever…or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.
In her stunning debut, Cheryl Isaacs pulls the reader down into an unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged.
Review:
One morning when teenage Avery is on her morning run in the forest, she goes off the trail, gets lost, and finds the legendary black water. She’s always been told to stay on the trails, and now she has awoken the horrors that were lurking in the black water. Avery starts seeing faceless people following her in town, and then people start disappearing. When Avery’s best friend, Key, goes missing, she becomes more determined to find out what is causing these horrors and put an end to it for good.
This was such a creepy thriller. There was so much unknown about the black water that Avery encountered. She had to learn from some elders that were familiar with it, but her family was just her, her mom, and her great-aunt who had dementia, so her resources were limited. As the disappearances got closer to Avery, the story became more suspenseful and scary. Read this one with the lights on!
The Unfinished is a great horror!
Thank you Frenzy Books for providing a copy of this book!
Have you read The Unfinished? What did you think of it?
Title: Starling House Author: Alix E. Harrow Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary, Gothic, Horror Publisher: Tor Books Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: October 3, 2023 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.
Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.
If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
Review:
In Eden, Kentucky, there is a strange house that belonged to Eleanor Starling, the author of The Underland who disappeared. Everyone in the town avoids the house, and it’s occupant, Arthur Starling, at all costs. Opal has lived in Eden for most of her life. She lives in a motel with her younger brother, who she wants to give the best life. Opal has always been drawn to Starling House, seeing it in her dreams and nightmares, so when Arthur offers her a job with a huge paycheck, she accepts. However, Starling House is more haunted than Opal expected. Opal and Arthur must battle the beasts in the house before their nightmares take over.
Eleanor Starling’s book The Underland was based on her life at Starling House. Since Opal loved that book, she got to live in her favourite story when she went to the house, which is a reader’s dream. I think the story would have had more tension if it was a little shorter. There were some long descriptions and drawn out scenes that could have been condensed. At the beginning of the story, there were footnotes that expanded on what was written in a funny way. I wished those footnotes continued to the end of the story because they were entertaining.
Starling House is a spooky, gothic novel.
Thank you Tor Books and Raincoast Books for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: death of parent, drowning, car accident
Have you read Starling House? What did you think of it?
Title: House of Ash and Bone Author: Joel A. Sutherland Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Horror Publisher: Tundra Books Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: September 5, 2023 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The Haunted meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this young adult debut horror by acclaimed Canadian master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.
Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger is a talented writer with special abilities she doesn’t fully understand. Over the years she has developed methods to cope with the voices she hears in her head, but the old house her family has inherited in Vermont makes Josephine question what’s real and what’s not more than anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s filled with shadows, and whispers, and the unshakable feeling of being watched. Josephine then catches her first glimpse of a shadowy woman with long hair, pale skin, an impossibly wide smile and hollow pits for eyes. Her name is Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died three hundred years ago. She has summoned the family to Vermont to ensnare them — then consume them — in order to rise from the grave and live again . . .
Review:
Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger has always had to find methods to cope with the voices she can hear in her head. She wears headphones to block out the thoughts of her parents and sisters. When her father suddenly inherits a mansion in Vermont, the family goes there for a weeklong vacation after Christmas. The house is filled with everything her family needs and loves. However, Josephine catches sight of a shadow woman with a creepy smile and hollow pits for eyes. No one else can see the woman and her family keeps forgetting the strange things that happen in the house. The woman needs to trap Josephine’s family in the house to feed herself, unless Josephine can defeat her first.
It’s been years since I read a book that was so scary I couldn’t read it before sleeping at night, but this was one of those books. It was creepy and disturbing. Sometimes a good horror book can fizzle out at the end and not have a complete ending. This story had a satisfying ending that also left the possibility for a sequel.
House of Ash and Bone is a creepy YA horror!
Thank you Tundra Books and Penguin Teen Canada for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: body horror, death
Have you read House of Ash and Bone? What did you think of it?
Title: Scream for the Camera (Graveyard Girls #2) Author: Lisi Harrison, Daniel Kraus Genre: Middle Grade, Horror, Contemporary Publisher: Union Square Kids Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: October 3, 2023 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
New York Times bestselling authors Lisi Harrison and Daniel Kraus deliver a s lightly scary, extremely addictive contemporary middle-grade series—perfect for fans of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and Ann M. Martin’s The Babysitters Club.
It’s been a month since the Graveyard Girls—Gemma, Whisper, Sophie, Frannie, and Zuzu—discovered Silas Hoke’s empty grave. A month, and no answers. That changes when messages from the other side start to creep up on the Graveyard Girls. Gemma’s good-luck charm. The skull in Whisper’s spilled milk. Sophie’s vanishing phone. Frannie’s theater curse. And Zuzu’s possessed Jōurnal. Who is trying to reach them . . . and why?
The good There might be one person with some answers. The bad She’s a mortician . . . with a deadly secret.
Speaking of bad news, straight-A Sophie is quickly sliding down the scale to becoming a B-flat friend. She is spending way more time hanging out with “Danger Me” and way less time with the Graveyard Girls and her schoolwork. Will her scary story be enough to win back her pals, or will her picture-perfect life become the ultimate photo bomb?
Review:
A month ago, the Graveyard girls discovered the infamous killer Silas Hoke’s grave was empty. They’re still wondering what happened when strange things start happening. Gemma breaks her mother’s good luck charm, Whisper sees a skull in spilled milk, Frankie curses the theatre, Sophie’s phone disappears, and Zuzu is possessed by Ginny Baker, who was Silas’s murder victim. The girls have to figure out why these strange things keep happening, while also searching for Silas Hoke’s body and dealing with the everyday challenges of being a preteen.
This was another great Graveyard Girls book! I really like the way the characters are developed. The narrative alternates between each of the five girls, but they are all distinct characters with different lives and challenges. One of the girls in the first and second books tells her own spooky story, which is included in the book. It’s a fun little bonus story that’s connected to the main plot. This story ended on a very good cliffhanger so I hope there will be more books in the series!
Scream for the Camera is a great middle grade story for spooky season!
Thank you Union Square Kids for sending me a copy!
Content warnings: child death (mention), death of parent (mention)
Title: You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight Author: Kalynn Bayron Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Horror Publisher: Bloomsbury YA Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: June 20, 2023 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game . . . but can you survive the night?
This heart-pounding slasher by New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is perfect for fans of Fear Street.
Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.
But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?
Review:
Charity Curtis works at her dream summer job, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake, a horror simulation. Guests pay for Charity and the rest of her team to scare them while recreating scenes from the horror movie Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. During their final weekend of the summer, some of the employees go missing. Then someone breaks into the camp, and someone else ends up dead. Charity becomes the final girl in her own horror story, and she has to figure out who the killer is before it’s too late.
I’m not usually a fan of horror stories, but when I saw this awesome edition from Waterstones, I knew I had to have this book. This was a fast paced slasher story. I read it in under a day, it was so good and hard to put down! I thought I had the story figured out but I was wrong. The ending was so good and unexpected!
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is the perfect horror read for spooky season!
Thank you Bloomsbury US for providing a digital copy of this book!
Content warnings: body horror, stabbing, death, gun use, murder, death of animal (bird)
Have you read You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight? What did you think of it?
Title: The Lake House Author: Sarah Beth Durst Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Thriller, Horror Publisher: HarperTeen Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 25, 2023 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Claire’s grown up triple-checking locks. Counting her steps. Second-guessing every decision. It’s just how she’s wired – her worst-case scenarios never actually come true.
Until she arrives at an off-the-grid summer camp to find a blackened, burned husk instead of a lodge – and no survivors, except her and two other late arrivals: Reyva and Mariana.
When the three girls find a dead body in the woods, they realize none of this is an accident. Someone, something, is hunting them. Something that hides in the shadows. Something that refuses to let them leave.
Review:
Happy Pub Day to The Lake House!
Claire, Reyva, and Mariana arrive on a remote lake for a summer camp that their parents went to when they were kids. Their parents all decided to send them now since the camp is reopening after being closed for years. However, when they get to the camp, the house has burned down. Then they find a dead body in the woods. It’s too late for them to return to the mainland because the boat that dropped them off has left. The three girls must conquer their fears to survive the mysterious dangers of the lake house.
I don’t usually like survival stories like this one, but I was intrigued by the premise of this story. I really enjoyed it! The three girls had to figure out how to survive on the island with only the things they had brought for camp, but they also encountered other challenges throughout the story. There were a lot of unpredictable twists that kept the story suspenseful. There was a bit of a supernatural twist to the end of the story too that surprised me, but it all came together in the end.
The Lake House is a suspenseful new YA story!
Thank you HCC Frenzy for providing a digital copy of this book.
Title: Juniper and Thorn Author: Ava Reid Genre: Horror, Gothic, Fantasy Publisher: Harper Voyager Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: June 21, 2022 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From highly acclaimed bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente.
A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.
Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.
As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.
Review:
Marlinchen and her two sisters are witches who live with their father, the last wizard, in the city of Oblya. Marlinchen and her sisters must use their magic to earn money for their family since their father was cursed. The girls are never allowed to leave their home. One night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak into the city to see the ballet. She falls in love with the show and the principal dancer Sevas. After this taste of freedom, Marlinchen pushes the boundaries to leave her home more, but her father’s anger becomes more threatening as she has more secrets to keep from him.
I wasn’t familiar with The Juniper Tree story, which this book is based on, so this story was a surprise to me. I really liked Marlinchen, though the people around her didn’t like her at all. She suffered abuse from her family and some clients. Though some parts of this story were difficult to read, I loved the twists and it had a meaningful ending.
I had the opportunity to meet Ava Reid yesterday in Toronto. After hearing her speak about the book, including her inspiration and publishing process, I feel like I understand the book much better.
Juniper and Thorn is a thought-provoking gothic horror.
Content Warnings: physical and emotional abuse, child abuse (emotional, sexual and physical), rape, murder, death of animals, death of parent, body horror, cannibalism
What to read next:
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
Have you read Juniper and Thorn? What did you think of it?
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