So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Halloween Freebie
I’m quite the chicken when it comes to horror and other spooky ghosty supernatural things, so it’s really no surprise that I’m not all that fussed with the spooky season. I tend to stay away from the majority of spooky/horror books but there are a few I keep seeing since last year that piqued my curiosity. Pretty much all of these are very hyped and they’re a good mix of MG, YA and Adult. I’m curious enough that I’ve even added quite a few of these to my TBR so only time will tell if I ever decide to pick any of these up! 😂
SMALL SPACES SERIES
This series by Katherine Arden is one that I’ve seen around for a while now and honestly, I love these covers so much and they’re 99% of the appeal for me? 😂 They sound pretty spooky but I’m also very curious because they’re so hyped and such well-loved stories!
City of Ghosts
They’re here.
They’re watching.
Cass can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead.
When Cass’s parents start hosting a TV show about the world’s most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh. Here, graveyards, castles and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms.
But when Cass meets a girl who shares her “gift”, she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil—and herself. And she’ll have to learn fast. The city of ghosts is more dangerous than she ever imagined.
WHISPERING PINES
Rae’s father vanished without a trace—and Rae knows what happened to him. But no one believes her when she says that her father didn’t run off, that he was actually taken. Now, a year of therapy later, Rae’s mother decides they need a fresh start, and so they move to a new town in the hope that life can return to normal.
The problem is, there is nothing normal about the town of Whispering Pines. Read more…
SCRITCH SCRATCH
Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She’s a scientist, which is why she can’t think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she’s made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There’s something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour…he’s gone.
Claire tries to brush it off, she must be imagining things, letting her dad’s ghost stories get the best of her. But then the scratching starts. Read more…
HORRID
Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented.
As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Read more…
SUMMER SONS
Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge. Read more…
MEXICAN GOTHIC
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. Read more…
nos4a2
Victoria McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety old covered bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be.
Charles Talent Manx has a gift of his own. He likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2. In the Wraith, he and his innocent guests can slip out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that lead to an astonishing playground of amusements he calls Christmasland. Read more…
Do you enjoy spooky books or are you a total chicken like me? What spooky titles have piqued your interest? Have you read any of these or are they on your TBR?
dinipandareads 
I really want to read Scritch Scratch, the Small Spaces series, and NOS4A2 (I read and loved his book Horns). I also want to read Mexican Gothic, but i own that one! I recommend City of Ghosts. I’m about to start the second book.
Lauren @ http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
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I’ve always liked the covers of the Small Spaces series. Especially the first book. I’ve never read them, but they’re definitely eye-catching.
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I love the way you phrased this post because that’s how I feel about a lot of horror movies: intrigued enough to read the summary, but not wanting to watch them and terrify myself. I’m all about the premise!
Of these books, I really did love Mexican Gothic though, and the cover of Horrid is pretty enough I might give it a go. 🙈
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I requested the Small Spaces series from my local library. So far only book #2 has arrived, but I’m hoping Small Spaces will show up soon so I can start reading. 🙂
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-halloween-picture-books/
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Mexican Gothic peaked my interest, too. I’ve read some mixed reviews of it, though. So I haven’t taken the reading plunge yet.
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I’ve heard of Mexican Gothic and NOS4A2 before, but being a bit of a horror wimp, have stayed away from those books for a long time now. But I saw the cover for Horrid, and it really made me sit up. It’s creepy but also so striking! Definitely piqued my curiosity too.
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I’m definitely not one for spooky books either, but City of Ghosts does sound fun so that one I also want to give a try!
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Great list, Dini! I think you’d enjoy Mexican Gothic – it is horror, but I don’t think it’s the kind of book that’ll have you sleeping with the light on. I’d really like to read Katherine Arden’s MG series, too, and I’ve such good things about Scritch Scratch!
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Small Spaces sounds intriguing.
Happy reading!
My TTT https://readwithstefani.com/top-ten-halloween-recommendations/
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I am not a big scary reader, but I thought I would have read at least one of these. I do want to read Small Spaces. I saw so many raves for that one.
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I can’t wait to read Scritch Scratch.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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Yeah, I think all of these are too creepy for me. I’m a big wimp!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I’m a big chicken but I’m really intrigued by Small Spaces, mainly because I loved Arden’s Winternight trilogy so much and want to read more from her.
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Exactly the same for me too! I really enjoy her writing and I’m curious to see how different or similar it is in her MG books! 😃
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The Arden series looks amazing, especially that last one! I wish I had read those this month!
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Some great covers. “Small Spaces”, “City of Ghosts” and “Scritch Scratch”.
Thanks for visiting my TTT which presents books with food on their cover.
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I want to read Summer Sons SO BADLY! I also need to add like all of these to my tbr too! The Arden Series definitely looks amazing! Love spooky reads so definitely need to pick some of these up! Great list, I really enjoyed Mexican Gothic, definitely a creepy read 💜
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I picked you Small Spaces last week for my daughter. She hasn’t read it yet, but I may give it a try next fall.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/12-books-with-orange-covers-pick-a-color/
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I LOVE that Small Spaces cover. My favorite time of day is when the world is still light, but the trees are dark against the sky. I used to run into my boss’s office every day around dusk to just look out his window at the sky. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by yesterday! I always look forward to your comments. 🙂
Lori
https://fiftytwo.blog/2021/10/26/ttt-book-covers-that-were-scarier-than-the-book/
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I had really hoped to read Horrid this month, but I’m rapidly running out of time. A lot of these are on my TBR.
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I absolutely LOVE the Cassidy Blake series too! I think City of Ghosts is my favorite so far, but they’re all so good. My daughter and I have the Small Spaces series in her TBR tower of books stacked next to my chair.
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The covers on all of these ARE so enticing! Mexican Gothic is on my tbr, as well. Hopefully someday we can both get to it. 😉 Great post this week!
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I loved City of Ghosts! Mexican Gothic is pretty good too, Neither of them were too spooky for me.
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[…] How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino, translated by Bruno Navasky#WWWWednesday: 27 October 2021#TopTenTuesday: Spooky Books That Piqued My Interest!ARC Review: Puck Shy by Teagan […]
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City of Ghosts, Mexican Gothic, and Scritch Scratch are on my TBR. I’ve been reading a few scary books and I’ve been enjoying reading them. It feels good to get out of my comfort zone. I do get scared a lot, though.
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