Read If You Dare — Hauntingly Good Books for Halloween

As Halloween draws closer, the world begins to feel a little more ominous. Perhaps its just our minds playing tricks, but we swear candlelight starts to flicker differently, strange sounds begin to stir in the night, and unusual shadows lurk where they don’t belong. 🎃🕯️

Though, something about this eeriness makes reading darker tales all the more enticing! Whether you’re drawn to murderous monsters, sinister spirits, wicked witches or vicious vampires, these fantasy book recommendations are guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine. Do you dare to turn the first page? 🩸🪦

👻 Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity

Three years ago, Leena discovered that she can see the dead. She has since hidden herself, knowing that if she ever reveals her curse she will be locked away in an asylum. But when her beloved brother, Rami, falls fatally ill, Leena has no choice but to buy the expensive medicine that will save his life by bartering the only valuable thing she has—her secret. A ruthless merchant who trades in confessions accepts her bargain, for a deadly price. Leena must find the ghost of Percival Avon, the last lord of Weavingshaw whose living estate is hungry for blood, or lose her freedom forever.

🏰 We Who Have No Gods by Liza Anderson

Vic’s life crumbles apart when her brother, Henry, reveals that their long-missing mother belonged to the Acheron Order—a secret society of witches tasked with keeping the dead at bay. And what’s worse, Henry inherited their mother’s magical abilities while Vic did not, and he has been chosen as the Order’s newest recruit. Determined to keep him safe, Vic accompanies him to the isolated woods in upstate New York that play host to the sprawling and eerie Avalon Castle. When she joins the academy despite lacking powers of her own, she risks not only the Order’s and her brother’s wrath, but also Xan’s, the head Sentinel.

The FairyLoot Exclusive Edition of We Who Have No Gods is available to purchase here.

⚰️ Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger, only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past. Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken, and trying to find his own role in the world. Healer or destroyer? Protector or predator? But as the shadows walk and villagers start dying, a new rumour is whispered: Witch.

🥀 Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

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. But at night, they sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, against their father’s wishes. while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst. 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.

🧛‍♂️ The Gravewood by Kelly Andrew

Shea Parker has lived her entire life in the shadow of the Gravewood—a deadly forest that’s cut her town off from the world. With resources dwindling, she’s forced to ration her hearing aid batteries. When her stash runs out, she’ll be left in silence. Her only hope is Oliver Lysander, the volatile leader of the vampires who rule the Gravewood. Their deal is simple: she gives him her blood, he brings her batteries. No lines crossed. Nothing personal. Until Shea’s best friend is lured into the Gravewood, and her brother Asher Thorley returns from the frontlines, willing to expose Shea’s darkest secrets to get his sister back.

🖤 One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic. When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it.

🧙The Glittering Edge by Alyssa Villaire

When her mother falls victim to a deadly curse, Penny must work with a misfit witch and the local golden boy to save her life. But the dark secrets they discover will change their lives—and their small Indiana town—forever.

The FairyLoot Exclusive Edition of the sequel, The Neon Sky, is available to purchase here.

🪾 The Luminaries by Susan Dennard

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night. Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.