Book picks similar to
Halloween Land by Kevin J. Kennedy
horror
halloween
coming-of-age
novella
Written in the Stars
Kallie Ross - 2017
A town where legacies began centuries ago, bloodlines run deep, and dark secrets abound. A town where nobody is what you think, where truths pose as lies, and where myths blend with reality. A place where everyone has a story. Including the high schoolers. This is only but one… The Kasun wolf pack has always been led by a female alpha, but when Willa Kasun’s mother died to give her life, her father stepped in as leader. Now that she’s about to come of age, the pack will once again be led by a female, as it is meant to be. Except Willa hasn’t shifted yet. Less wolf and more cub-dud, Willa has until her next birthday to shift and claim her place as alpha, or she’ll lose it forever. Something her pack mates won’t let her forget. The few supernatural powers that have manifested are her secret and the only hope she has of unleashing her wolf. Distractions of life as a junior at Havenwood Falls High provide a needed escape from the pack’s pressure, making Willa feel more like a teenager and less like an alpha every day. Then there’s Tarron Wilde, a sarcastic and striking elf, who makes her wonder if being alpha is really what she wants. Her heart yearns for a reality unfamiliar and feared by her pack, while her mind can’t accept being replaced as alpha. The future of her entire pack relies on Willa’s choice—embrace what was written in the stars so long ago or choose to fight for what her heart desires. This is a Young Adult paranormal romance in the Havenwood Falls High series of Young Adult fantasy stories featuring a variety of supernatural creatures. The series is a collaborative effort by multiple authors. Each book is generally a stand-alone, so you can read them in any order, although some authors will be writing sequels to their own stories. Please be aware when you choose your next read.
The Sleep Tight Motel
Lisa Unger - 2018
Check in for the night with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.Eve has a fake ID, a .38, and a violent lover receding in the rearview mirror. He’ll never find her at the isolated motel, and its kindly manager is happy to ease her fears. But if Eve is the only guest, whom does she keep hearing on the other side of the wall? Eve won’t get a good night’s rest until she finds out.Lisa Unger’s The Sleep Tight Motel is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.
In the Shadow of Spindrift House
Mira Grant - 2019
The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive.For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it’s up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory.Welcome to Spindrift House.The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they’ll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House—and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery.Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go.Nature abhors a straight line.Here’s where the story bends.
How to Hang a Witch
Adriana Mather - 2016
Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?If dealing with that weren't enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. Sam must come to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with The Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it's Salem. But history may be about to repeat itself.
Pumpkin Everything
Beth Labonte - 2018
After calling off her fall wedding, horror novelist Amy Fox is left with a broken heart, a mega case of writer’s block, and a serious aversion to all things pumpkin spice. When she receives news that her grandfather has broken his wrist driving through a Dunkin Donuts—literally straight through the front windows—five hundred miles away, in her hometown of Autumnboro, New Hampshire, Amy has no choice but to return to check on him. If she doesn’t make sure that he’s back on his feet, Grandpa may be moved into assisted living, and Amy’s beloved childhood home will be put on the market. Knowing she must return, Amy worries about the only thing worse than pumpkin spice—a reunion with Kit Parker—her childhood best friend, first love, and entire reason for skipping town in the first place. As the two reconnect, a second chance seems possible...if only Kit weren’t holding on to a secret that just might unravel everything. Set against the scenic backdrop of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, Pumpkin Everything is a small town, sweet romance, and the perfect way to kick off the fall season! A pumpkin spice latte wouldn’t hurt, either.
The Cockroach King
Andrew Cull - 2020
It reminds her of happier times, when her Mom was still alive, before the cancer had taken her. It seems like the perfect place to raise her baby boy, Sam.That is, until a friend unearths the remains of a dog, buried in a shallow grave in the backyard.After the bones come the cockroaches…The Cockroach King is a new novella written by Andrew Cull, the award-winning author of Remains and Bones.
Party Games
R.L. Stine - 2014
But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder. As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island.R.L. Stine makes his triumphant return to Shadyside, a town of nightmares, shadows, and genuine terror, and to the bestselling series that began his career writing horror for the juvenile market, in the new Fear Street book Party Games.
Miao Dao
Joyce Carol Oates - 2018
Her dad left. Boys at school can’t keep their hands to themselves. A lecherous stepfather has moved in. Her only refuge is an abandoned lot on her suburban cul-de-sac, crawling with feral felines—one of which follows Mia home. Ghostly white and affectionate, she is Mia’s new companion and—as Mia’s tormenters will soon discover—her fierce protector.Joyce Carol Oates’s Miao Dao is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.
The Lost Boy
Noel Hynd - 1999
For Ellen Wilder, editor of the local newspaper, the gruesome killing is as disturbing as the irrational fears that have suddenly woven themselves into her mind and left her doubting her own sanity. For state police detective Michael Chandler, whose haunting near-death experience has left him with an uncanny way of sensing things, the murder is only a hint of what is to come.But nothing could have prepared either of them for the return of Franny Corbett. A hulking child of a man and the blackest sheep in a family of black sheep, his eerie presence may have ushered in all of these bizarre and frightening events. Soon the town of Wiltshire will be shaken again. For in a car sunk beneath the surface of a glimmering blue lake, floats another body. And the killing has just begun....
The Steep & Thorny Way
Cat Winters - 2016
Scene: Oregon, 1923.Dramatis personae:Hanalee Denney, daughter of a white woman and an African American manHank Denney, her father—a ghostGreta Koning, Hanalee’s motherClyde Koning, doctor who treated Hank Denney the night he died, now Hanalee’s stepfatherJoe Adder, teenage boy convicted of accidentally killing Hank DenneyMembers of the Ku Klux KlanTownspeople of Elston, OregonQuestion: Was Hank Denney’s death an accident…or was it murder most foul?
The Dead House
Dawn Kurtagich - 2015
Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . . Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?
Demon King
Erik Henry Vick - 2018
Psyches fractured, each child has survived as best they could—wrapped in fantasy, the comfort of amnesia, or the silence of isolation When those evils intrude on their lives a second time, it sets a chain of events in action that can only end in destruction. But who will be destroyed, the children or the ancient evils that plague the town?Start reading Demon King today and find out!
Buck Me... For Christmas (Shifter Grove Brides #6.5)
Anya Nowlan - 2015
or some buck? Riley Seston has had a crappy year. Not only did her best friend move away to cold and distant Idaho, but her fiance and boss made off with all the money they'd collected for kids' Christmas presents and he had the nerve to cheat on her! So obviously, things are not great. And when her little jeep crashes through the cold, icy waters of a lake in Idaho, things are going from bad to worse. So no wonder Riley's a little low on Christmas spirit, right? Blitz Frost is a man on a mission. A workaholic like no other, this buck has been sent to cool his heels at his family's cottage in Shifter Grove before the busiest few days of the year for him and his 8 brothers - Christmas! He had no intentions of enjoying it. None whatsoever. So when he finds himself rescuing a gorgeous, curvy damsel in distress and loving every second they spend together, this were reindeer is obviously thrown for a loop. But isn't that what Christmas is about - a little wonder and a little mystery? Can Blitz save Christmas for Riley? And can she save save him... This book is a little Christmas novella set in Shifter Grove. It can be read as a standalone and has a guaranteed HEA! Be prepared for a little twist on everyone's favorite reindeer and be ready to ice the heat - there's plenty of it in this book!Note: This story is the final (Bk 7), of the Shifter Grove Brides - and the first (Bk 1), of the Frost Brothers' Brides series.
The House
Christina Lauren - 2015
Her parents are still uptight and disinterested, her bedroom is exactly the way she left it, and the outcast Gavin Timothy still looks like he’s crawled out of one of her dark, twisted drawings.Delilah is instantly smitten.Gavin has always lived in the strange house: an odd building isolated in a stand of trees where the town gives in to mild wilderness. The house is an irresistible lure for Delilah, but the tall fence surrounding it exists for good reason, and Gavin urges Delilah to be careful. Whatever lives with him there isn’t human, and isn’t afraid of hurting her to keep her away.
The Earth Concurrence
Julia Huni - 2020
But when Siti and her father's team land near the site of the last known scientific outpost, they find more than they bargained for.