For A Dose Of Spooky, Add These Titles To Your Summerween TBR

It’s not the season of the witch quite yet but that doesn’t mean your TBR can’t get a little spooky. In fact, whether you’re counting down the days to Halloween or just looking to soak up the last weeks of summer with a good scare in book form, it might be time to embrace Summerween. The trend which is all over social media involves indulging in your favorite Halloween traditions–be that scary movies or individually wrapped candy–and summoning the spirits of the season before we hit October.

“Celebrating Halloween months ahead of the actual date??? Don’t mind if I do,” writes Sammi Caramela for Vice. “If anything, it gives me an excuse to put my decorations up early and make it through this scorching, humid season that is summer on the East Coast.”

Naturally, stocking your summer TBR with more Halloween appropriate titles is a critical part of this vibe for readers, so to help set the mood, here are some thrills, chills, and kills to check out.

‘The Woman of the House’ By Kate Mooney: Rose Crawley has everything she could have ever wanted and she plans to keep it that way by keeping her past buried. Her house, has other plans and when unsettling things start happening, she finds out the previous tenant–a mom, just like her– disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

‘The Unkown’ By Riley Sager: The latest from the prolific thriller follows Marin Keane, a struggling actor who is stunned to find herself with a starring role in a horror movie set on a remote New England island. Fans of Widow’s Bay will devour this eerie tale of fact vs. fiction.

‘Ghost Women’ By Jennifer Murphy: At an arts school that was once home to a monastery, a body is found hanging from a tree and Detective Lola Germany is all but convinced she has a ritualistic murder on her hands. But then even more bodies start piling up…

‘Keep Them Close’ By David Ellis: Brother and sister Allison and Luke are thick as thieves, or are they? When Allison’s husband is murdered, their dark secrets come knocking forcing them to reckon with just how far they will go for one another.

‘Tillinghast’ By Clare Cavenagh: Stutley Tillinghast leads a quiet life; as the minister of a small Rhode Island parish, his contact with people is limited… and that’s probably for the best. Hailed by the horror king Paul Tremblay as “A vampire (don’t say that word) novel like no other,” this is a can’t miss read.

‘The Age of Blood and Magic’ By Hannah Mathewson: If your summer appetite veers more toward the fantasy world, this eat the rich… literally, story about a trillion dollar company that sells magic might be the perfect addition to your summer TBR.

‘The Au Pair’ By Teddy Wayne: “Is anything more dangerous than a fragile male ego?” asked the New York Times about Wayne’s latest which details the fallout from a high profile affair between a literary star and his Norwegian au pair.

‘Nine Lives’ By Catherine Steadman: Following her divorce, Frankie decides to put down roots in a glamorous London neighborhood, just her and her cat Blue. But when Blue comes home one day with ‘help me’ etched into his cat collar, Frankie starts to suspect her new neighborhood is anything but idyllic.

‘Wedding Week’ By Aisha Saeed: Hena Mirza has not seen her family since her fiancé disappeared three years ago on her wedding day so when her sister calls to tell them that she’s getting married and that there mother is dying, it comes as quite the shock. Then, the 8-day desi wedding starts to eerily mirror her own failed nuptials, and that’s just the first sign that everything is not as it seems.

‘Murder Bites’ by Mimi Montgomery: This book has everything: a local dog walker murdered and then staged among outsized Home Depot skeletons, an outcast in a sleepy suburban community who locals blame for the killing, and a glamorous septuagenarian widow poised to help her clear her name.

‘Tantrum’ By Rachel Eve Moulton: Thea’s third pregnancy? Easy. But her third child… a little more complicated. From the moment she sets eyes on her baby girl she knows: that thing is a monster. But maybe in today’s world, a baby girl with an appetite for darkness isn’t the worst thing?

‘Muñeca’ By Cynthia Gómez: A queer gothic romance about a Latine witch who sets out to save an heiress whose been cursed, this debut is as lush as it is chilling and a poetic examination of class, sexuality, and colonialism.

‘Driven’ by By Mason Coile: This heart stopping claustrophobic novel follows a grieving father who is trapped in a self driving car hurdling towards where, he doesn’t know–all he knows is he needs to get out, and fast.