Looking for the perfect book for Spooky Season? We’ve got you. Whether you’re in the mood for a spooky paranormal romance, a dark academia with twists and turns, or just a completely unhinged dark romance, this list will have the perfect recommendation for you!
Paranormal Romance
Soul Searching
Soul Searching is Lyla Sage’s, author of the Rebel Blue Ranch series, most recent release. This book has all the small town, slow burn tension that we love to see, but what really makes this book perfect for spooky season? Collins, the fmc, can see and speak to ghosts! I mean, does it really get any spookier than that?!
Blurb:
Collins Cartwright does not want to go home. Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming, was supposed to be in her rearview mirror, but when she finds out a developer is trying to buy her parents' antique shop, she doesn't have a choice. At least, that's what she tells her family.
They don't need to know she's lost her job and is out of money. Or that the ghosts that have always been her companions have recently gone silent.
Brady Cooper is absolutely fine. Seriously, there's no secret reason why he decided to uproot his life and suddenly move to Sweetwater Peak. He just needed a change of pace. At least, that's what he tells himself.
But when he agrees to let Collins stay in his spare room, he doesn't realize that she constantly talks to thin air or that she looks like that.
Good thing their arrangement is only temporary. Right?
Tropes:
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Magical realism/ghosts
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Small town
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Forced proximity
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Workplace romance
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Slow burn
Road Trip With a Vampire
I mean, the title of this book alone should give away why it’s so perfect for spooky season, but just in case it doesn’t… this is a book about a road trip, with a vampire! I don’t know about you but I certainly love a broody vampire, and Peter is exactly that. Oh, and if a vampire wasn’t enough, the fmc, Zelda, is a witch! So you get double the paranormal romance with this book!
Blurb:
Two souls. One unforgettable journey. A love story that is good to the last drop.
Zelda Watson is finally living her best life, far from her magical, chaotic past. But when Peter Elliott, a devastatingly handsome vampire with memory loss, shows up, her cosy world is turned upside down. Especially since he's got that brooding look she’s a total sucker for.
Peter is determined to unlock his forgotten memories, but the key lies thousands of miles away in Indiana.
Zelda is the only one who can get him there. Which only means one thing: a cross-country road trip.
As they hit the highway, sparks fly and the summer nights only grow hotter.
Until it’s not just Peter’s future that’s at stake. . .
Tropes:
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Forced proximity
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Forbidden love vibes
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Vampire x Witch
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Paranormal romance
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Rom-com
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Grovelling
Ashvale: The Vampire’s Thrall
Indie romance author recommendation alert!!! Ashvale: The Vampire’s Thrall is book one in the Ashvale series by Jade Church. When this book is described as The Vampire Diaries meets Vampire Academy it is spot on. It serves all the tension, all the angst and all the drama we love. I can’t think of a better combination for spooky season.
Blurb:
The Vampire Diaries meets Vampire Academy in this deliciously bloody vampire romance filled with tension, magick, feminine rage, and morally grey characters.
For everyone who prefers their vampires with the humanity switch off.
Leonora Romilly was murdered. The catch? She didn’t stay dead.
Instead, she finds herself alive-ish and swept away to Ashvale to learn how to be a fully functioning, albeit undead, member of society.
At Ashvale, the blood runs free and the sexual tension never sleeps, but under the surface, something much more sinister lurks.
With her would-be murderer still roaming free, a new-found love, and her lost memories on the line, can Leonora survive Ashvale with both her head and her heart intact?
Tropes:
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College romance
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Fated mates
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Grumpy x sunshine
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Magic
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Vampires
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Forced proximity
Dark Academia
Nightshade
The secret formula to a perfect spooky season read? Murder and mystery, a gloomy setting such as Scotland, and grumpy characters. Oh! Would you look at that! Nightshade has all three and so much more. Autumn Woods did a fantastic job with her debut trad-published romance book and we highly recommend you add this book to your tbr for autumn.
Blurb:
He’d burn the world down for her . . . but she plans to burn his to the ground.
Isolated in the Scottish Highlands, Sorrowsong University only welcomes students from the most powerful families. Ophelia Winters doesn’t belong, but a rare scholarship grants her the perfect opportunity to investigate her parents’ “accidental” death near the castle grounds.
Things get off to a rocky start when she runs afoul of the mysterious Alex Corbeau-Green – son of her prime suspect. As far as she’s concerned, he is just a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful façade.
When an unknown tormentor begins to stalk Ophelia, she realizes she may not be able to survive Sorrowsong on her own. Alex becomes her unexpected ally – and alibi for murder. And as she begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior, her hunger for revenge wavers for the first time.
Can she really bring herself to destroy everything he’s ever known?
Tropes:
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Grumpy x grumpy
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Romantic suspense
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Murder and mystery
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Hate to love
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Dark academia
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Rugby player x swimmer
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Slow burn
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Gloomy setting
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Set in Scotland
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He falls first
Enigma
Enigma is quite literally exactly what I picture when I hear the words ‘dark academia’. The suspense in this book is unmatched, and between that, the secret societies and the steamy tension, I ate this book up. This is the perfect book for your autumn tbr for those of you looking for something a little bit darker, a little bit twisty and a whole lot of steamy.
Blurb:
There are secrets she must uncover. There are secrets she must keep.
Salem Salazar is the black sheep of her wealthy family. Plagued by scandal, she enrols at the elite Mortimer University to find out what happened to her perfect, missing older sister Olivia.
There, she soon discovers Olivia is only one of many girls who have disappeared at Mortimer, and vows to uncover the dark forces responsible. Even if it means using herself as bait.
And Cazimir van der Waal has caught her scent. Caz may look as though he was carved by the Gods, but he also has a dark past, a hidden agenda, and a ravenous appetite for a beautiful, golden-eyed girl.
But whilst Caz is obsessed with Salem, he is far from the most dangerous thing at Mortimer…
As Salem and Caz’s investigations intertwine, their undeniable chemistry ignites a passionate bond. Can they uncover the truth before it consumes them both?
Tropes:
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Dark academia romance
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Steamy suspense
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Rivals to lovers
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Secret societies
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Forbidden romance
Endless Anger
Okay, if you’re torn between wanting a dark academia that isn’t paranormal, and one that is, this book is perfect for you. Officially, Endless Anger is not paranormal. Unofficially… I mean, there’s literally a ‘curse’. It’s just normal enough for those not looking for anything out of this realm, but also adds that little extra spooky element too. As this is the first book in a spinoff trilogy, we recommend reading the Monsters and Muses series first.
Blurb:
Sometimes the pomegranate doesn't fall far from the tree...
Asher Anderson is angry―at the world, at himself, at the way his best friend Lucy Wolfe seems determined to tune out this buzzing connection between them. He doesn't mean to solve all his problems with violence, but maybe he has too much of his father in him. That's why the faculty at Avernia College hates him, right? Because of the "evil" blood in his veins?
He should know better than to darken the old, ivy-covered university's door, but it's practically a law of the universe: wherever Lucy goes, Asher follows. Even if that means entering a twisting labyrinth of secret societies, human sacrifices, and a very personal history soaked in blood.
Lucy is used to being an outcast. She's even used to Asher being her dark, brooding shadow. What she isn't used to is him shattering her resolve by taking her up against library bookshelves as she desperately pretends her heart hasn't always been his. She should know better than to play with fire, but with unexplained deaths and pointed threats ripping apart the university's fabric, Asher and Lucy soon find themselves at the center of the turmoil…where they'll have to confront their feelings or die trying.
Tropes:
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Childhood friends to lovers
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Dark academia
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Small town university
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Grumpy x grumpy
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Family curse
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Virgin MCs
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One (dorm) bed
- Idiots to Lovers
Dark Romance
Once You're Mine
Okay, we have officially entered the completely unhinged books to add to your spooky tbr. Some people love Halloween for the paranormal aspects and magic of it all, some like the gloomy atmosphere and rainy windows, and others like a stabby man who’s obsessed. If that last one sounds like you, let me introduce you to this duet…
Blurb:
Murder brought us together.
Only death can keep us apart.
The Tormentor:
Calista belongs to me... she just doesn't know it.
The first time we met, I wanted her.
The next time, I was obsessed.
I watched her.
I followed her.
It only deepened my need to possess her.
Once she's mine, I'm never letting her go.
The Target:
Hayden Bennett is a monster, in and out of the courtroom.
Unfortunately, I need his help.
What was supposed to be a simple transaction turns into something else.
Something intense.
He's always there when I need him,
but I don't know if trusting him is a good idea...
Tropes:
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Dark romance
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Stalker romance
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Enemies to lovers
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Praise kink
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Slow burn (ish)
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Touch her and die
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Serial killer
Butcher and Blackbird
Was one serial killer not enough for you? How about two? Who fall in love with each other and are rivals in a serial killing competition? Butcher and Blackbird pushes limits and feeds us everything we love in a dark romance while also remaining somewhat lighthearted at times. Just erm, don’t eat any cookies and cream ice cream while you read this…
Blurb:
Even serial killers deserve a meet-cute.
When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive - the friendship of two like-minded, pitch-black souls who just happen to enjoy killing other serial killers.
Stalking across the country, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.
But as their friendship develops into something deeper, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their new-found romance.
Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?
Tropes:
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Serial killer x serial killer
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Rivals to friends to lovers
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Slow burn
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He falls first
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Only one bed
Willing Prey
If you need a particularly steamy, spicy, smutty read this spooky season, Willing Prey is for you. Claire agrees to spend 30 days fulfilling Shane Underwood’s needs in exchange for $30,000, and who can blame her? He’s a rich, broody man obsessed. Where can we find one…?
Blurb:
Anything goes in the woods…
Drowning in student loan debt, Claire Collins is about to be made an offer she can’t refuse: spend thirty days indulging corporate lawyer Shane Underwood’s primal desires in exchange for $30,000. All she has to do is give him the hunt of his life.
Claire’s perfectly happy to swap her boring summer serving job for wild, kinky sex. But once they cross the tree line, she realizes how little she knows about the man paying her to be his prey.
Shane is different in the woods. Brutal. Devastating. Feral.
That’s okay with Claire—she is, too. And she’s sinking her teeth a little deeper into Shane’s heart every time he catches her.
Tropes:
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Explicit sexual content including primal play, consensual non-consent, kink-awakening, switching
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Ex husband's boss
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Forced proximity
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Light stalking
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$30k for 30 days
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He falls first
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Broody lawyer who can’t do feelings
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High heat and low angst
Do you have a spooky season recommendation for us? Let us know on one of our socials!