Halloween is only a month away, & we’re in the mood for something spooky, so what better way to get that than with an eerie, haunting YA book?
TEEN FICTION FRAISTAT
A place for vanishing / Ann Fraistat
The house was supposed to be a fresh start. But Libby’s new home turns out to be anything but normal. Scores of bugs haunt its winding halls, towering stained-glass windows feature strange, insectile designs, and the garden teems with impossibly blue roses. And then there are the rumors. The locals, including the mysterious boy next door, tell stories about disappearances tied to the house, stretching back over a century to its first owners. Owners who supposedly hosted legendary masked séances on its grounds. Libby’s mom refuses to hear anything that could derail their family’s perfect new beginning, but Libby knows better. The house is keeping secrets from her, and something tells her that the key to unlocking them lies in the eerie masks hidden throughout the property.
TEEN FICTION GARBER
Castle of the cursed / Romina Garber
After losing her parents in a mysterious attack, seventeen-year-old Estela suffers from survivor’s guilt and is sent to live with her Aunt in their ancestral Spanish castle, where she uncovers family secrets and meets a supernatural, silver-eyed boy who claims he is trapped in the castle.
TEEN FICTION GREGOVIC
The monstrous kind / Lydia Gregovic
Living in a Regency England beset with a mist that turns humans into monsters, Merrick is summoned home from London by her sister, but her sister has secret plans that may threaten their lives, and the lives of the ruling Manor families.
TEEN FICTION JOHNSON
Death at morning house / Maureen Johnson
The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist. With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition. Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths? Maybe this job isn’t such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that’s been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing. All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down–if someone doesn’t bury Marlowe first.
TEEN FICTION URBAN
Under the surface / Diana Urban
On her senior French trip, seventeen-year-old Ruby follows her classmates into the Paris catacombs to attend an exclusive party, but they quickly become entangled in a sinister pursuit underground and uncover dark secrets about the catacombs and each other.