Before we continue, this article contains affiliate links to Amazon. By purchasing through them, you are supporting The Game of Nerds.
‘Tis the season for all things spooky and creepy.
Looking for your next hauntingly horrific read to set the mood for this spooky season? Try one of these eight books! While none of them are specifically Halloween-themed, each book has its own unique sense of horror that will be perfect to set the mood for crisp autumn nights.
Here there be monsters. Monsters, and so much more. Here, you’ll find out what it means to be loved by a cult of alien worms. You’ll fight to stop the second coming of Lucifer. Here, you’ll find a woman with an appetite for eyeballs, an Eldritch being who likes to be called Dorian, and a boy with blood on his sleeves and a sketchbook full of monsters.
The chill is in the air, so why not invite that chill inside?
You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White
Genres: Horror, queer, science fiction, thriller
Appalachia is full of worms. Worms, rot, and a surprising fresh start for Crane. The hive loves him, so he is offered something he thought he would never have: the freedom to transition and be loved and seen as a man. All this comes crashing down when his partner gets him pregnant. And now the hive who has protected him, kept him safe from the horrors of the world and the freedom to live authentically as himself, is forcing him to carry his pregnancy to term.
They will have his baby, at whatever the cost.
Unfortunately for the hive, they underestimate what Crane is willing to do to end the pregnancy and take back his right to his own body. He will do anything, even if it means destroying the hive and raining blood and death upon them.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Genres: Horror, thriller, contemporary fiction
Ji-won dreams of eyes. Beautiful, round, blue eyes. Bloody eyes. Eyes in nightmarish rooms. Eyes of hateful, loathsome men. Eyes that remind her of her sister’s disgusting boyfriend, George. George, who doesn’t deserve an ounce of Umma’s love. George, who has overstayed his welcome.
Consumed by rage, Ji-won hungers for blood, and maybe something more. Nothing will get in her way. It doesn’t matter how many people she has to go through, George won’t take anything else from her family. It’s simply what he deserves.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Genres: Horror, fantasy, historical fiction, medieval
The plague was only the beginning. War is upon them, a war of the heavens. Lucifer is coming and he will unleash the wrath of hell upon the world. Humanity will not survive.
Thomas, a disgraced knight, does not know how the young girl knows this. She says she sees angels, that the dead speak to her in her dreams. Thomas has long since stopped believing in God, but the promise of salvation is too sweet to resist. He agrees to help her, shepherding her across lands filled with battle and death to confront the evil that threatens to destroy the world.
But the girl is not as innocent as she seems, and as her true nature is revealed, Thomas will have to decide if he will stay by her side in the fight to save humanity’s soul or walk away and let the world burn.
Thrum by Meg Smitherman
Genres: Science fiction, horror, romance
Ami wakes alone. Truly and utterly alone. A singular soul drifting through deep space. Her crew dead and gone. She doesn’t expect anyone to answer her distress call, but someone does. Someone by the name of Dorian, mysterious and ancient. She should not trust him, but the offer of assistance is too hard to ignore. She will certainly die out here, alone, if she doesn’t let him in. So she does.
That’s when the thrumming begins to start.
Dorian may be her salvation, but is the cost of survival worth losing her mind for? Only time will tell, though she has very little of it left.
Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
Genres: YA horror, dark academia, mystery, romance
The first sign that something was wrong with Thomas was the disappearance of his abusive parents. Then the blood on his sleeve. The disinterest in his artwork. Thomas won’t say anything, even to his best friend, Andrew.
It’s killing Andrew, not being able to help his friend. So in a desperate attempt to figure out what’s wrong, he follows Thomas into the woods, the place he disappears into each night. What he finds there are monsters. Monsters from his own, warped imagination. The monsters he writes stories about, that Thomas brings to life with his pencil upon paper. Literally so, as it would seem.
Thomas and Andrew find themselves locked in a battle to save their town from the monsters of their own creation. But the closer they get, the stronger the monsters grow, and it soon becomes clear that to stop the monsters, one of them might have to die.
Hazelthorn, also by C.G. Drews, comes out October 28th. Read my review here!
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Genres: YA fantasy, horror, mystery, thriller
Something strange happened to Iris and Grey. Something strange that neither of them can remember. Something they know to be true because of the scars it left upon them. Iris doesn’t think she’ll ever know what happened, until Grey goes missing and corpses start appearing.
The threat of her missing memories stalk her everywhere she goes as she searches for Grey. As she tries to uncover the truth, one thing becomes clear: Grey has been keeping secrets from her. To find her sister, she will have to solve the mystery of what happened to them when they were children, if she can survive.
Sundial by Catriona Ward
Genres: Horror, thriller, mystery
Rob has everything she ever wanted. A successful job, a loving husband, and two beautiful daughters. It’s the life she always dreamed of having. Except, something is wrong with Callie. It started off small. Collecting animal bones. Talking to ghosts. But when Rob begins to worry about the safety of her youngest daughter, Annie, she knows what she must do.
Return to Sundial, the home she grew up in, deep in the Mojave Desert. Rob thought she had left the past behind her on the day she left Sundial. Never did she think she’d ever return. But the past has a funny way of catching up to you.
To save her daughters, she must bring them into the darkness. Sacrifices must be made, and not all of them are going to survive.
A Long Time Dead by Samara Breger
Genres: Romance, fantasy, horror, gothic
Poppy doesn’t mind being turned into a vampire. She has always been one to favor the night over the day anyways. But Roisin helps. Roisin, the kind, ancient vampire who eases her through the struggle of her turning and the terrible thirst accompanying it. It is easy for her to fall in love with Roisin, but Roisin has secrets, secrets filled with a bloodlust for vengeance. Luckily they have time, lots of it.
But neither vengeance or love is linear, especially when you’re a vampire and have eternity to spare. Especially when Roisin’s past finally decides to catch up to her.
For more recommendations…
Looking for books with vampires to enjoy this spooky season? Check out Nosferatu Book Recs: 9 Books with Vampires and Gothic Vibes. Or maybe something a little more monstrously romantic? Try 5 Kindle Unlimited Books to Unleash Your Inner Monster This Spooky Season. Or if you’d like more chilling book recommendations that are perfect for the most haunting time of year, you can find some here with 5 Chilling Books to Read During the Last Dregs of Fall.
Happy reading!
