We have been having fun with Top Ten Tuesday, so we decided we will do one every week. This bookish meme was hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and has been going since June 2010! Since January 2018 Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is a Halloween freebie and I decided to go with some recommendations for these last couple of days right before Halloween. I know I will be reading a nice and spooky or witchy read these next days so let’s which ones I hope you pick up!
1.Small Spaces – Katherine Arden
Let’s start with a super fast read! This is a MG horror story and for a person who’s as easily scared as I am, this was creepy! I enjoyed it a lot and was properly creeped out. After starting it, I had to finish it as soon as possible because there was no way I would be able to sleep without knowing how it would end haha. The sequel released not too long ago, so you could pick them up both.
2. City of Ghosts – Victoria Schwab
Another wonderfully creepy MG story from one of my favorite writers. I adore anything Victoria writes and this series is no different! There are currently two books out and they’re super quick reads. The settings are amazing, Edinburgh and Paris, and I just love the atmosphere in the books. We already have a title and setting for book three, Bridge of Souls set in New Orleans. I can’t wait!!
3. Mooncakes – Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu
Another quick read, this is a standalone graphic novel about magic, ghosts, and shapeshifters. I read an earc of this wonderful story but would definitely love to add it to my collection. Since this is a graphic novel, it’s a very quick read and would be perfect to read on the day of Halloween. I really liked the art in this one and would highly recommend it. There’s also some really nice diversity and I loved seeing that.
4. The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware
I shared my review for this one not too long ago. This is an adult thriller and I thought it was quite creepy and chilling. The setting made this story for me, it takes place at a ‘smart house’ with devices connected to basically everything. It seems like the house is also haunted, so the big question is, is it supernatural or is there a person doing all of this? I really liked the journey towards the answers and was personally very satisfied with the ending.
5. Truly Devious – Maureen Johnson
This is a YA mystery thriller, a genre I love to read during this time of the year. We follow a dual timeline and there are basically two mysteries. The second book is out already and the third one will be published January 2020. Another book were I loved the setting, a very cool and remote boarding school! I love love love books set at boarding schools so this is an instant like from me haha. We got quite some cliffhangers and I can’t wait for the last book!
6. Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas
Probably my favorite YA mystery ever! I went back and forth between guilty and innocent all through out this book! After her best friend is murdered during their spring break in Aruba, Anna is accused of her murder. We follow her trial, and I really liked how Abigail showed is how easy it is to make someone look guilty. But is Anna actually guilty? I would highly suggest picking up this book and decide for yourself!
7. The Beautiful – Renee Ahdieh
I just finished this one yesterday! Hopefully I’ll have a review for you all soon but for now, I would definitely recommend this one! It’s a bit of a slower paced story so if you don’t like that, this probably isn’t the book for you. We follow Celine after she moves to New Orleans in 1872. It’s there that she comes into contact with people who don’t seem to be mortal. I love Renee’s romances, even though I’m not that big on romances haha. And this was no exception, I can’t wait for the sequel that will be released next year!
8. Keturah and Lord Death – Martine Leavitt
This is such an underrated story! I think I only know two people who read this but I wished more people this. It’s a pretty thin book so you should be able to read it in one sitting. I loved the prose in this story and it reminded me a bit of Sherazade. It definitely has a very romantic story line but since Death is also a character, I thought it would fit with this list of Halloween books.
9. The Call – Peadar O Guilin
This is one of the more creepy books on this list! As I said before, I’m not really a horror reader and I scare pretty easily. But I did love this horror story! I was very creeped out and I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook until I finished the whole thing. There is also a sequel but I have been to scared to pick that up hahaha. I loved how brutal the fey in this one are. They are probably the most brutal fey I have ever read about.
10. 172 Hours on the Moon – Johan Harstad
And I think this is the most creepy book on this list. It is another horror story, but it starts off as more of a thriller than a horror in my opinion. Three teens win a week long trip to the moon. It starts off pretty slow with quite some POV’s. But once the story gets going and it because more and more thrilling and creepy you will want to continue until you’re done. I loved the ending but this book still haunts me! It will be interesting to hear if horror lovers enjoyed it as much as I did!
I tried to pick some lesser known books as well as some popular ones! Hopefully there’s a book for anyone of here. What are some of you favorite books to read during Halloween? Let me know in the comments!
I liked Truly Devious a lot. And I really want to get to Small Spaces!
Greg recently posted…Tuesday Tagline #164
I would highly recommend Small Spaces! Happy you liked Truly Devious, hopefully we’ll love the conclusion!
I love whenever I see The Call on a list because it’s soooo criminally underrated and such a cool, different book. I love tons of these books. Great list Isabelle!
You are so right!! I feel like it got some attention when it first came out but I haven’t heard anyone talk about it ever since!! Thank you <3
Great list! I’ve heard so many good things about 172 Hours on the Moon, I need to check it out at some point. 🙂
You really should! I haven’t really heard that many people talk about it, but the ones that did read it seem to love it!
City of Ghosts has been on a few different lists this week.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Astilbe recently posted…The Hundredth House Had No Walls by Laurie Penny
It simply is the perfect book to read this week!
The Turn of the Key sounds amazing.
Lydia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Free Horror Stories
I enjoyed it a lot!! Very creepy in my opinion!
I LOOOOVED The Beautiful!
YAAAAY! I saw quite some negative reviews but I enjoyed it so much!
Mooncakes was great! Truly Devious is on my TBR and part of me feels like waiting until the third book is out before starting it 😂 I’m really curious about Small Spaces and Turn of the Key but I’m quite a chicken so I don’t know if I can handle it (especially Small Spaces)! Great recs though 🙂
Dini @ dinipandareads recently posted…#TopTenTuesday: Spooky Books I’d Read If I Wasn’t A Chicken (Halloween Freebie)
Haha, yes you might want to wait with Truly Devious so you can binge read all three of them! I was able to handle both The Turn of the Key and Small Spaces but was definitely creeped out. I would recommend reading them during the day haha. Small Spaces is MG and a pretty quick read so I feel like you could probably finish it in one sitting!
I completely forgot about 172 Hours on the Moon. I really liked that one as well. Super creepy!
So happy to see someone else read it too! I never hear anyone talk about it! And yes, it was so creepy!!
I’m reading City of Ghosts right now and I agree it’s a good one for the season! The Call was weird and spooky, I enjoyed it, and The Turn of the Key was very atmospheric. Great list!
kay recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I Planned on Reading (and failed to) This Halloween
Happy you enjoyed The Call and The Turn of the Key! Hardly anyone talks about the Call anymore unfortunately. Hope you love City of Ghosts as much as I did <3
I really liked The Beautiful too.
Brooke Lorren recently posted…Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts, Oh My!
Happy to hear that! I heard mostly negative reviews at first but more and more people seem to like it 😀
I LOVED Small Spaces! Such a spooky read!
YESSS to soo many of these books! But especially Truly Devious and Dangerous Girls. I think they are both two of my favourite YA books of all time. So. Good. Especially Dangerous Girls–I think about that chilling ending SO often. It really messed with my head the first time I read it.
Oh, yes! The Call – that was excellent. 🙂
Lauren @ Always Me