Here are a few recommendations based on books I’ve recently read. And one I read last year that just stuck with me.

 White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson → If you’re looking for YA horror/suspense, then this is the book for you. Jackson does not shy away from how everyday issues can lend themselves to horror. Because sometimes the scariest things aren’t ghosts of supernatural phenomena, but the twisted capabilities of human nature. 

This book was heart pounding and gripping from start to finish. And even though the ending was abrupt, sometimes that can lend itself to the nature of the genre. Sometimes not everything is left answered in a horror book. 

Anyway Tiffany D. Jackson is one of those writers who just…there’s an ease to her descriptions that makes everything flow so smoothly. You get emotionally attached to her characters and she incites the right kind of emotions from her readers. 

 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones → If you’re looking for speculative fiction in the horror genre, this book is for you! I read this one last year and was totally blown away by it! The writing in this is poetic, dark, enchanting, and the characters have such duality to them that you really see both the light and dark sides of human nature. Here is an excerpt that really stuck with me:

“It’s soft at the end, not just the pain, but the world. This is all you really need isn’t it? Just one good friend. Somebody you can be stupid with. Somebody who will peel you off the ground, prop you up against the wall. The land claims what you leave behind.”

And it’s just so haunting and so raw and so relatable to what happens to this group of friends who illegally take ownership of deer meat that somehow ends up haunting them. 

I’m sure you have to read the story to get the full impact, but I really loved this story and will always recommend it! 

 The Assassin and The Libertine by Lily Riley → A horror romance. Honestly, I have been put off by romance stories feat. vampires since a certain series dominated everyone’s reading list during my teenage years. But Lily Reid takes the vampire romance, transports it to 18th C France, gives it historical context, and writes a host of interesting characters that are complicated yet endearing. She’s changed my opinion of vampire romances. And if you are skeptic that you could ever enjoy anything like this (like I was), this book will prove you wrong.

If you have any spooky recommendations, drop them below!

 Courtney