Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis 

If you love horror movies, you’ll want to move this to the top of your list.

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Rules for Vanishing is a chilling combination of The Blair Witch Project and Stranger Things that will leave you thoroughly freaked out. And probably convinced that anything that goes bump in the night is Lucy coming into your house to kill you.

About the book: Once a year, a road appears in the forest. And at the end of it, the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons. Lucy’s game isn’t for the faint of heart. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose….Sara’s sister disappeared one year ago–and only Sara knows where she is. Becca went to find the ghost of Lucy Gallows and is trapped on the road that leads to her. In the sleepy town of Briar Glen, Lucy’s road is nothing more than local lore. But Sara knows it’s real, and she’s going to find it.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Did someone say zombie squad? Yes. Yes we did.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

This book is a classic, timeless creepy that just sticks to your mind (usually when you’re trying to sleep.)

About the book: My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise, I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead…

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

This one will keep you up all night. Not because you’ll be scared, but because it will be AGONY to put it down. This slow-burn romance set in New Orleans, a city ruled by the death and tormented by the gruesome murders left in the wake of a serial killer on the loose, will have you flipping pages into the wee early morning hours.

About the book: In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Not only is this quickly making its name as a classic in the slasher genre, but it’s coming to the screen! We are dying (no pun intended) to see There’s Someone Inside Your House make its way to Netflix!

About the book: It’s been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska, and she’s still adjusting to her new life. And still haunted by her past in Hawaii.

Then, one by one, the students of her small town high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, Makani will be forced to confront her own dark secrets.

We Speak in Storms by Natalie Lund

This book is the perfect read if you want a little more depth to your scary. Melancholy and haunting, Natalie Lund’s debut is full of secrets, ghosts, and a traumatic event that seems to be reoccurring every fifty years in the same town.

About the book: It’s been more than 50 years since a tornado tore through a drive-in movie theater in tiny Mercer, Illinois, leaving dozens of teens — a whole generation of Mercerites — dead in its wake. So when another tornado touches down in the exact same spot on the anniversary of this small-town tragedy, the town is shaken. For Brenna Ortiz, Joshua Calloway, and Callie Keller, the apprehension is more than just a feeling. Though they seem to share nothing more than a struggle to belong, the teens’ paths continue to intersect, bringing them together when they least expect it, and perhaps, when they need it most. Both the living and the dead have secrets and unresolved problems, but they may be able to find peace and move forward–if only they work together.

A beautifully told, haunting yet hopeful novel about pushing past the pain, facing the world, and finding yourself.

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo 

This book will give you absolute CHILLS.

About the book: The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark.

Jess Wong is Angie Redmond’s best friend. And that’s the most important thing, even if Angie can’t see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. If nobody notices her, she’s free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more a curse than a gift.

As Angie drags Jess further into Margot’s circle, Jess discovers more than her friend’s growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won’t be able to handle the consequences.

When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.

“It doesn’t even matter that she probably doesn’t understand how much she means to me. It’s purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I’m her best friend.

The Haunted by Danielle Vega

This list requires at least one classic haunted house and a whole lot of ghosts, and The Haunted has both. And if you’re looking for a quick dose of scary, check out author Danielle Vega’s Spooky Hour series, in which she tells true scary stories sent in by readers!

About the book: Clean slate. That’s what Hendricks Becker-O’Malley’s parents said when they moved their family to the tiny town of Drearfield, New York. Hendricks wants to lay low and forget her dark, traumatic past. Forget him. But things don’t go as planned.

The Unleashed by Danielle Vega 

Remember how The Haunted scared the hell out of you? Book 2 is basically going to have you sleeping with the lights on on a regular basis.

The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart

This book is basically Gremlins meets The Breakfast Club by way of Stephen King and Stranger Things. WHAT A COMBO.

About the book: In the summer of 1982, five friends discover an ancient stone box hidden deep in the woods. They seal inside of it treasured objects from their childhoods, and they make a vow:

They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman 

This is the GossipGirl-esque elite prep school murder mystery your heart has been waiting for.

When I Am Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn

Talk about a camping trip gone VERY wrong.

About the book: A gripping story of survival and the razor’s-edge difference between perfect cruelty and perfect love.
 
“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”

Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.

MEME by Aaron Starmer

Ever wonder what would happen if a meme got taken *way* too far?

About the book: A tense, psychological thriller for the internet age about the destructive combination of self-important goals and self-serving plans.

Cole Weston—former friend, former boyfriend—has become dangerous, erratic. Something needs to be done. Getting rid of Cole is practically a public service. So high school seniors Holly Morse, Grayson Hobbs, Logan Bailey, and Meeka Miller devise a plan. Kill Cole. Bury him in the woods behind Meeka’s house. Bury him deep, deep in the ground along with four old cell phones, wiped except for their video confession as insurance that no one will ever betray the group. Everything is perfect, until the meme appears. It’s a screenshot from their confession… a confession that’s supposed to be entombed with Cole forever in the cold Vermont dirt.

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens – Coming July 28, 2020

We are getting serious Sabrina vibes from this cover and WE ARE ABOUT IT.

About the book: Dan and Liss are witches. The Black Book granted them that power. Harnessing that power feels good, especially when everything in their lives makes them feel powerless.

During a spell gone wrong, Liss’s boyfriend is snatched away by an evil entity and presumed dead. Dan and Liss’s friendship dies that night, too. How can they practice magic after the darkness that they conjured?

Months later, Liss discovers that her boyfriend is alive, trapped underground in the grips of an ancient force. She must save him, and she needs Dan and the power of The Black Book to do so. Dan is quickly sucked back into Liss’s orbit and pushes away her best friend, Alexa. But Alexa has some big secrets she’s hiding and her own unique magical disaster to deal with.

When another teenager disappears, the girls know it’s no coincidence. What greedy magic have they awakened? And what does it want with these teens it has stolen?

Are you a mood reader? Check out our Moodreader’s Roadmap to YA!