Horror Recommendations, Pt. II: My Creepy TBR!

September 22, 2018

In case you missed it, earlier today, I posted pt. I of this recommendations idea: horror books I enjoyed, complete with “creep level” ratings! Definitely go check that post out, too!

Spooky Reads I Expect to Enjoy:

Everything below this point is a book I have yet to read and cannot vouch for, but they’re all stories that sounded intriguing to me for one reason or another. It’s not my full horror TBR, just the ones I feel confident I’ll like!
I’ll sort these by age range like I did with the other post.


Adult TBR:

tbr-adult1

  • Universal Harvester — John Darnielle
    • disturbing tapes start showing up at the local video rental store
  • Kin — Kealan Patrick Burke
    • I’m told to expect cannibals, heavy gore, and a Texas Chainsaw Massacre homage
  • Mirror Image — Michael Scott & Melanie Ruth Rose
    • an antique mirror feeds on human souls
  • Nights of the Living Dead — Jonathan Maberry & George A. Romero
    • a zombie-themed anthology edited in part by the master himself, Romero!
  • Suffer the Children — Craig DiLouie
    • post-apocalyptic zombie/vampire/ghoul (one of those?!) children
  • Within These Walls — Ania Ahlborn
    • spooky cult psychopaths!

tbr-adult2

  • NOS4A2 — Joe Hill
    • a man kidnaps children and transports them to another world
  • Fright into Flight — Amber Fallon (editor)
    • a horror anthology about badass ladies
  • Intensity — Dean Koontz
    • nothing like a classic home invasion tale to keep you up at night!
  • The Fireman — Joe Hill
    • a terrifying new plague is causing spontaneous combustion
  • Hammers on Bone — Cassandra Khaw
    • monster hunting! aliens! Lovecraftian horror!
  • Children of the Dark — Jonathan Janz
    • escaped criminals and ancient evil… stuff

tbr-adult3

  • The Toy Thief — D. W. Gillespie
    • if a monster comes into your room to steal your toys late at night, you probably shouldn’t follow it
      • releases October 6th, 2018
  • The House by the Cemetery — John Everson
    • haunted houses and cemeteries… enough said
      • releases October 6th, 2018
  • Doorbells at Dusk — Evans Light (editor)
    • an entire anthology dedicated to the superior holiday
  • The Ballad of Black Tom — Victor LaValle
    • Lovecraft, without the racism
  • Kill Hill Carnage — Tim Meyer
    • terrible things happen at summer camps. (80s horror homage alert!)
  • Kingdom of Needle and Bone — Mira Grant
    • we told the anti-vaxxers they would ruin everything…

tbr-adult4

  • Pretty Little Dead Girls — Mercedes M. Yardley
    • you had me at “murderous fairy tales”
  • I Am Not Your Final Girl — Claire C. Holland
    • a poetry collection where each poem is a different horror character giving her “fuck you” to society
  • Sycorax’s Daughters — Kinitra Brooks (editor)
    • a horror anthology written exclusively by black women, including themes like vampires, mermaids, ghosts, and slavery
  • The Haunting of Ashburn House — Darcy Coates
    • nothing like learning the house you just inherited is haunted to dampen your spirits!
  • Fortune Box — Madeleine Swann
    • everyone receives a mystery package with either the best or the worst thing in it… which will you receive?
  • Milestone: The Collected Stories — Kealan Patrick Burke
    • a collection of stories about a ghost town named Milestone

tbr-adult5

tbr-adult6

  • Savage Woods — Mary SanGiovanni
    • the woods hold an ancient evil…
  • Silent Dawn — C. L. Raven
    • what if a horror video game villain could come into our world?
  • Experimental Film — Gemma Files
    • a “memoir” tells the story of a woman who risks her entire family’s lives by investigating haunted films
  • Brothel — Stephanie M. Wytovich
    • anti-rape culture commentary via erotic horror poetry
  • The Grip of It — Jac Jemc
    • a couple moves into a new home, only for it to begin decaying before their very eyes as it haunts them
  • Beneath — Kristi DeMeester
    • what secrets are the local snake-handlers hiding?

tbr-adult7

tbr-adult8

  • Bedfellow — Jeremy C. Shipp
    • when a creature appears in the Lund family’s home, it convinces them it’s always been there—and that they must follow its every whim
      • releases November 13th, 2018
  • Craven Manor — Darcy Coates
    • how much money would it take to convince you to move into a crypt and become a haunted estate’s caretaker?
  • Hark! The Herald Angels Scream — Christopher Golden (editor)
    • a christmas-themed horror anthology featuring a lot of well-known names
      • releases October 23rd, 2018
  • Colder, vol. 1 (graphic novel) — Paul Tobin
    • an asylum escapee discovers he can cure the insanity of others, but never his own madness
  • Bird Box — Josh Malerman
    • whatever you do, don’t open your eyes…
  • The Cabin at the End of the World — Paul Tremblay
    • an unsuspecting family gets dragged into a terrifying plot to save the world

tbr-adult9

  • Sour Candy — Kealan Patrick Burke
    • give me all the creepy children stories!
  • What the #@&% is That? — John Joseph Adams & Douglas Cohen (editors)
    • an anthology about monsters
  • The House of Small Shadows — Adam Nevill
    • more creepy dolls!
  • Hell House — Richard Matheson
    • when a man learns he is going to die, he decides to have one last hurrah: spending the night in a terrifying haunted house
  • The Deep — Nick Cutter
    • when a plague causes people to forget even the most basic functions, scientists set off on a mission to gather a cure from the ocean deeps, but find something much more sinister
  • Horrorstör — Grady Hendrix
    • … haunted IKEA?

tbr-adult10

  • Into the Drowning Deep — Mira Grant
    • queer ladies! murderous mermaids! Seanan McGuire’s pseudonym! ♥
  • The Black Farm — Elias Witherow
    • Nick and Jess thought death would be a relief, but when they wake up in The Black Farm, they realize the nightmare has only begun
  • The Disappearance — Bentley Little
    • when Gary’s girlfriend goes missing without a trace of ever having existed, Gary follows the clues to a cult that may be responsible.
  • The Troop — Nick Cutter
    • boy scouts and parasites, what a winning combination.

YA TBR:

tbr-ya1

tbr-ya2

  • The Dead House — Dawn Kurtagich
    • missing teens, alter egos, psychiatric reports—gimme
  • Frozen Charlotte — Alex Bell
    • super creepy dolls and a girl who’s afraid of her own skeleton
  • And the Trees Crept In — Dawn Kurtagich
    • a haunted manor with a twist
  • The Girl From the Well — Rin Chupeco
    • a retelling of the classic Japanese legend behind “The Grudge” mixed with “Dexter”
  • Daughters Unto Devils — Amy Lukavics
    • when relentless tragedy strikes the Verner family, young Amanda must decide if the evil is coming from the cabin, or her own soul
  • The Call — Peadar Ó Guilín
    • a blend of horror, folklore, fantasy, dystopia, and a spin on zombies

tbr-ya3

  • The Creeping — Alexandra Sirowy
    • years after being the only child to return of a pair of missing girls, Stella begins to see a corpse that looks just like her long-gone childhood friend
  • House of Furies — Madeleine Roux
    • Louisa thinks the new boarding house she’s employed at is great, until she learns that the owner is doling out some very peculiar punishments on the guests
  • Shutter — Courtney Alameda
    • haunted cameras and exorcisms!
  • Enclave — Ann Aguirre
    • a post-apocalyptic world where the teens are sent to fight off monsters in a society entirely underground
  • Diary of a Haunting — M. Verano
    • Paige and her family move into a house once belonging to a cult, and terrible things begin to happen in this story told through journal entries, letters, and photographs

MG TBR:

tbr-mg1

  • The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away — Ronald L. Smith
    • Simon is convinced he’s been abducted by aliens…
  • The Jumbies — Tracey Baptiste
    • a Caribbean folklore retelling about mind-controlling monsters called jumbies
  • Doll Bones — Holly Black
    • again… creepy dolls. I have a few brands, okay?
  • Coraline — Neil Gaiman
    • a girl goes into another world, where she finds evil mirrored versions of her family
  • The Graveyard Book — Neil Gaiman
    • after his family’s murder, a toddler unknowingly wanders into a cemetery, where he is adopted by the spirits residing there

tbr-mg2.jpg

  • A Tale Dark & Grimm — Adam Gidwitz
    • for those of us who never quite forgave all of those authors who cleaned up the originally creepy Grimm fairytales
  • The Screaming Staircase — Jonathan Stroud
    • a humorous, spooky series about a team of ghost hunters!
  • Charlie and the Grandmothers — Katy Towell
    • you know something weird is up when you get sent to vacation with the exact grandmothers you were told had already died…
  • Spirit Hunters — Ellen Oh
    • Harper Raine will stop at nothing to hunt down the ghosts bothering her family
  • Small Spaces — Katherine Arden
    • creepy scarecrows!

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

33 Comments
    1. I haven’t read most of these either. I tried Ania Ahlborn for the first time recently though, and boy can she tell a creepy story! Also, can’t go wrong with Joe Hill! In the YA pile, I’m a big fan of Dawn Kurtagich, and the new Stine is fun! 😀

      1. Excellent! 😀 I haven’t read anything from Ania yet, but I seem to slowly be accruing her entire collection of works between friends’ gifting me copies and BookOutlet sales, haha! I’m not complaining. ;P I also agree with you on Joe’s work, I never seem to get tired of anything he writes! I’m very excited to try out Kurtagich’s work (she is so lovely and personable on social media!), and I am BESIDE MYSELF over the Fear Street reboot. ??

    1. I love Horrorstor and The Girl from the Well, especially Horrorstor since it was so much creepier than what I expected! Sadly, My Best Friend’s Exorcism did not meet my expectations and The Dead House, while enjoyable, confuses me… The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and Tale Dark and Grimm is perfect for Halloween’s children’s books though! 🙂

      1. Aw, I’m sorry to hear MBFE didn’t work out so well for you! Do you think it may have been because it was YA horror, and maybe Grady Hendrix excels more at adult horror? I’ve only read We Sold Our Souls by him so far so I have no idea – I’m excited to read his other works, though. Thank you so much for the recommendations! 😀

    1. Yet another amazing list – it’s huge! So many of these sounds intriguing and, of course, spooky. I was recommended NOS4A2 on Twitter and it’s on my TBR for September, although considering I’ve only read one book this month I doubt I’ll get around to it, so I may add it to my October TBR. It’ll probably fit in better there. And now Autumn is here, it’s going to set the scene nicely. Great list, can’t wait to hear what you think about them.

      1. Thank you! Yeah, this isn’t even all of it – just the things I thought I was most likely to end up enjoying. I’d say this is probably close to half of my horror TBR on goodreads. ??
        I hope your October reading goes better for you! <3 I would be 100% down for a buddy read of NOS4A2 in October if you're at all interested!

    1. This is an amazing list, I’m interested in so many of these now, I’m not even going to mention them all, but H.P. Lovecraft minus the racism is always a winner. And I’ve seen Horrorstör, around and I’m pretty sure I’ll love it, because it just sounds so bizarre, also there’s something creepy about IKEA I won’t lie, I always thought so.

      1. Thank you! Haha yes, HP Lovecraft – racism = a jolly good time, I’d say. I wish he hadn’t been such a jerk, because he had some really fascinating ideas in that weird little brain of his.
        And yesssss, omg, what you said about IKEA!! Hahaha it’s so funny because I always laugh a little when I tell people that there’s a horror book about a haunted IKEA, but when I first heard about the book, I was like YEP I COULD SEE IT. ?

    1. Lockwood & Co! You must read it. I love that series so much. <3 I also thought Shutter was better than Pitch Dark. Coraline was just okay for me but I loved The Graveyard Book.

      1. Oh awesome! Lockwood & Co is one I’m really excited to start. And I liked Pitch Dark but I had hoped that Shutter would be better so I’m excited to hear that. And Neil Gaiman’s writing in general has been a struggle for me in the past, but I’m hoping I’ll like his MG work better than his adult work!

    1. Kin, The Fireman, Cabin at the end of the world, Sour Candy, N0S4A2, Horrorstor and a couple by Ania Ahlborn and Mary SanGiovanni are on my tbr. I loved Richard Laymon though The Woods Are Dark was one of my least favourites.

    1. I don’t scare easily but frozen Charlotte creeped me out so much that I swear I could see my heart beating through my chest! I was scared to go to the bathroom! Not the best choice reading it at night but whats the point of reading a horror book when the sun is out???? I think dolls have always been super creepy for me and that’s why it affected me so much!

    1. Love this list! Exactly what i needed 🙂
      Just picking my way through and try to not get excited about every single thing 😀
      Nos4r2 was great, and I have Bird Box already.
      The others… well, most of them are totally new to me!

      1. Thank you, love! 😀 I hope you find some good ones on here. I’m hoping to read NOS4A2 this fall, I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet—same for Bird Box! I really want to try to get to Bird Box before the movie comes out.

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