Build A Haunted House, Get A Book Rec!

If you’re looking for a dark thriller about magic, set in a fascinating and mystical world, this is the one for you. Kingdom of Souls is about Arrah, a girl who’s born into a family of powerful witchdoctors. Every year she tries to access her powers, but she doesn’t succeed. She’s at her last resort when she discovers that the long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring, and it’s up to her to stop him. 

If you want some haunted frights mixed with some good ole’ fashioned family drama (and a little bit of romance), you’ll love Dreaming Darkly. After her mother’s death, Ivy Bloodgood is sent to live with her rich uncle on a remote island in New England called Darkhaven. She realizes quickly that all her mother’s lies and secrets are hiding in this house, and she’ll have to be the one to confront them. Scared that she can no longer trust what she sees, Ivy seeks the help of a boy who thinks her episodes are connected to the sordid history of Darkhaven—but what they don’t know might kill them both.

If your vibe is “Gossip Girl, but make it terrifying,” might we suggest Ten. When Ten teens go to Henry Island for an exclusive party weekend, the only thing on their mind is that this will be the weekend of their lives. They don’t know it could be the last weekend of their lives. A killer begins to pick off the teens one by one, and it’s up to Meg to find out who the killer is before it’s too late. 

A haunted mansion, pre-Civil War ghosts, and lots and lots of creepy photographs fill this spooky novel about reconciling with the past. Sixteen-year-old Gretchen and her father inherit a pre-Civil war mansion in upstate New York. When they arrive, the house is crumbling and filthy. But what they see is the least of the damage. The true horror is the legacy of racism and violence in the house that has led the ghosts to take revenge on the living. 

If you want a mysterious and tricky novel where you absolutely don’t know what’s going to happen next, pick up Wink Poppy Midnight. Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl with wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous. What really happened? Someone knows. Someone is lying.

If you’re looking for a dark fantasy story full of chaos, romance, and twists, you’ll love Reign of Shadows. Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok's lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna's survival depends on the world believing she is dead. Luna wants more than a life in hiding, and when she meets Fowler, he seems like her chance to escape. But her escape is into the very world of darkness that poses the biggest threat.