Scary Books that Thrilled Me this October

Every year, I always tell myself I want to read something scary and spooky in October. The days get shorter, the leaves have changed colour and are starting to fall, and it’s just a magical time in my opinion. I’ll say it again, I just love fall. But while every year I want to read spooky books, I only squeeze in one in the month of October. Which always makes me disappointed in myself as I really want to relish the spooky season. But this year, I was really feeling the fall season, and especially the spirit of Halloween. So I made it my mission to read spooky books this October, and I have read a few books that totally revved up my enjoyment of the fall and Halloween.

Here are my mini reviews of the scary books I read in October.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

I have likely mentioned before that I really like Ruth Ware, and this was one of her books that I have been dying to read. I’ve been holding off since it was a pick for a book club I’m in with some friends, and when it was selected as our next read late in August, I was so so excited. We are meeting some time in November, so late in September I picked up this book and started reading.

While Ruth Ware always writes really good thrillers, I really enjoyed this one a lot. The mystery was well paced, the characters were intriguing and the crime was one worthy of serious punishment. I loved the way the novel shifted between the present and the recent past, the shifts were placed perfectly so that the novel flowed beautifully and I just kept wanting more. This is a really page turning read and I am glad that I read it in October as it totally set the tone for me and got me in a serious reading more. Specifically for more thrilling books, which I managed to read a lot of. While not a scary book, I’m glad I read this in October.

Suggested for You: Horrifying and Fantastic Boos to Read this October

Horrid by Katrina Leno

The only reason I knew about this book is because I’ve become a huge BookTube fan, and watch several book vloggers now. One of them mentioned this book in a few videos, and honestly it was the cover that really attracted me. I mean, look at it. It’s stunning. Covers are so important in my opinion. And when I saw this in my local Indigo, I decided to remind myself what it was about and found the blurb quite interesting so I bought the book. And wow, what a read. For me, this novel read like a movie. It never gave away too much, the creepy stuff happened both one and off page if that makes sense, and the secrets unravelled were disturbing. As was the ending. If you like YA novels, and like horror, I think you’ll like this book a lot. It is the most perfect of scary books for October.

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

While I was in the YA section, I also saw this book in stock and it was one someone had also mentioned in a vlog, and the cover was pretty. I read the blurb and thought, well, this does sound interesting. And this novel is dark, let me tell you. It’s unsettling in a way that kept you wanting more, and I really enjoyed this novel. There is a strange element of magic that just really drew me in because magic didn’t exist in this world, and yet, it seemed there was dark magic at work in the novel. Certainly the suggestion of monsters made you think that dark magic wasn’t entirely out of the question, so all of the events have you always wondering. I loved this book a lot.

Phantom Heart by Kelly Creagh

I loved the Nevermore series by Kelly Creagh, and I have always loved The Phantom of the Opera, so I was very excited to stumble across this in the book store. It sounded like it dealt with ghosts, and I loved the idea of a horror romance, so I was excited to read this novel as well. It didn’t delight me as much as the other novels I read in October, but it certainly is a good book to read in October. I liked that the story was well developed, but Part 2 of the novel needed to be fleshed out a bit more I think, and I would have liked more clarity around some points. I’m not sure if this is the first in a series, and that’s why I was left feeling like there wasn’t enough closure, but…there I am. Great writing, interesting premise and hopefully we get a sequel.

Check out my star ratings for all these books over on The Storygraph!

In Conclusion

I loved reading all these scary books in October, and I hope I can keep reading a lot over the next couple of months as the fall really is the perfect time of year for reading. I might even read some more spooky books! I have some on my shelves so I might as well, and I found all the reading was really relaxing so it’s been perfect self care too. I’m inspired to look into other horror novels as well, and really stretch my reading wings.

Did you read anything scary this month? What did you do to celebrate the spooky season? Let’s chat in the comments below!