Today’s post is sponsored by Kalynn Bayron and Tell The Ghosts I’m Gone!
Title Tell The Ghosts I’m Gone
Author Kalynn Bayron
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Publication Date September 1st 2026 by Bloomsbury YA
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From New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron comes a new horror novel about a group of teens with unique – and potentially deadly – gifts.
Moll, Redd, Agnes, and Ossie are powerful-and dangerous. But they don’t want people to fear them. They’ve spent their lives trying to understand and control their supernatural gifts, trying to help people instead of hurt them.
That’s why they offer paranormal investigative services to anyone who needs them. But when the case of a missing young woman brings them to an old (and potentially haunted) Victorian mansion, soon it’s the four teens who are in the greatest danger. The secrets they uncover about the paranormal forces inhabiting the house may shed light on the darkness that exists at the edge of their powers and finally help them gain control – if they can make it out alive.
It’s nearly that time of the year again! As the days begin to grow shorter and we unpack our coziest sweaters and enjoy glasses of fresh apple cider (preferably around a warm, crackling fire), I thought it would be fun to once again explore the scary (and not-so-scary) books published this year to help make sure our to-be-read lists are ready for spooky season. I know readers’ mileage may vary when it comes to how frightening they’d like their books to be, so I’ve done my best to include books that fall at different places on the spooky spectrum so that every reader can find the right book for them. Got a suggestion you don’t see in the list below? Please leave it in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!
Searching for further thrills and chills this Halloween? Check out the lists I created for Halloween 2020, Halloween 2022, Halloween 2023 and Halloween 2024 as well as this list of 20 Young Adult Books Featuring Vampires and this list of 55 Young Adult Books Featuring Witches and Witchcraft for even more scary (and not-so-scary) young adult books to choose from in addition to the ones in today’s post!
Looking for something a little more romantic? Over on Patreon, I recently shared a list of 25 2026 Young Adult and Adult Autumnal Romance!
Speaking of Patreon, if you enjoyed this post and found it helpful, I hope you’ll consider checking out Pop! Goes The Reader’s Patreon! Members receive access to at least three exclusive posts and rewards there every month, including curated book lists like this one on a specific theme, genre or subject. Membership on Patreon makes a real, tangible difference in helping to support Pop! Goes The Reader and allowing me to do what I love and makes posts like this one, that are accessible to all readers, possible. Thank you!
Publication Date January 13th 2026 by Page Street YA
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Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted.
There’s a ghost haunting Drew Tarpin’s new room. Liam Orville has been dead for ten months and has no idea how to move on. But the longer he stays, the more likely it is he’ll degrade into an energy consuming husk ― which Drew is more concerned about than her grades or her inability to make meaningful connections with other students.
Drew is everything Liam never was when he was alive, but they do share some common ground: Drew finds herself hopelessly attracted to ― and completely tongue-tied around ― Hannah Sullivan, who happens to be Liam’s former best friend.
After a run-in with a ghost-eating monster leaves Drew and Liam desperate for answers, they strike up a deal: In return for Drew investigating why Liam is still around, he’ll help her talk to Hannah. But Liam’s time is running out, and if Drew doesn’t help him move on, he risks becoming a monster himself.
Publication Date January 13th 2026 by Bindery Books
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The Breakfast Club meets 28 Days Later in this revised and expanded edition of Courtney Summers’s cult classic about a traumatized young woman forced to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Sloane Price knows there are worse things than the end of the world, so when the zombie apocalypse happens, the opportunity to escape her violent home life offers no relief. She’s already lost the one thing that matters most — her sister — and now seems like the perfect time to give up.
But when she inadvertently ends up barricaded in her high school with five other teens, their desperate and volatile bids for survival force a series of impossible decisions. As the days creep by and the dead close in, Sloane must confront everything she thought she knew about life, death, survival, and sacrifice and — once and for all — make a choice.
Joined together for the first time in this special “director’s cut” edition, This Is Not A Test and its novella sequel Please Remain Calm explore the forces that tether us to life — and to each other — in our darkest times.
Publication Date January 13th 2026 by Abrams Fanfare
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A thrilling, spine-chilling YA graphic novel from debut author Victoria Setian and Bloom artist Savanna Ganucheau ― a modern spin on the classic horror novel Dracula.
Mina Murray is followed by death ― at least, that’s the rumor in her small town of New Whitby. An aspiring photojournalist, she has a knack for finding herself in unsettling situations to find interesting shots, like on the deck of the recently crashed boat the Demeter.
While exploring the wreckage, Mina comes across large cases of dirt and debris ― and the decaying body of the ship’s captain.
Intrigued by the ghastly scene, Mina tries to unearth more information about the abandoned ship, the captain, and the missing crew. Instead, she finds herself roped into her high school’s newspaper club covering the big school dance her BFF, Lucy, is coordinating. It’s a major bummer, but all might not be too bad if it gets her closer to Jon, her crush and guitarist for the local punk band the Romeros.
But instead of catching Jon’s eye, Mina enters the orbit of Raf, the brooding (and frankly, hot) transfer student who has everyone under his thrall. As Raf’s popularity grows and the dance draws near, sinister events begin to shake the core of the school: The head of the newspaper club gains an unseemly appetite for flies. Jon is getting close to Raf.
And Lucy falls ill…with strange puncture wounds on her neck. Mina starts to suspect that new student is hiding a dark and terrible secret…but will she be able to figure it out before it’s too late?
Publication Date January 13th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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A psychological thriller about a night of babysitting that turns fatal and a girl determined to figure out if the gas leak was an accident, perfect for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.
Ella was supposed to be out with friends. But a blinding headache and a twist of fate leave her babysitting instead.
Only, when she arrives, the house is quiet, the door is wide open — and the air reeks of gas. She manages to call 911, but not everyone survives.
As Ella struggles to recover, cracks begin to form in the investigation. Whispers, memories, and buried motives point to something sinister. The gas leak might not have been an accident after all. And someone might be out to kill Ella next.
The door’s open, the gas is leaking, and nothing is what it seems — your next book club obsession starts here.
Publication Date January 20th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave… Deep fake murders have taken over the high school, but what happens when they start to become real?
Would you Swipe to Die?
When the new craze takes over Bleak Haven High, Ava Wilson refuses to join in. As the niece of an infamous murderer, it’s the last thing she needs.
The mysterious website allows people to view their own ‘death’ – an AI generated version of their final slasher-movie-moments. But, when some of her classmates’ deepfakes are replicated in real life, Ava can either catch the killer…or be the next victim.
Publication Date January 20th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave… The second nail-biting novel in the Bleak Haven series, in Vincent Ralph’s signature, terrifying style!
Bleak Haven High’s senior class of 1987 have already survived the town’s most horrifying tragedy to date. As a result, 17-year-old Noah understands everything there is to know about monsters.
When the bookstore that Noah works in is held up by masked attackers, he assumes they want cash. But the assailants aren’t demanding a ransom. They are searching for Bleak Haven’s very own urban legend – The Burning Book.
After something with a thirst for flesh creeps from the book’s pages, Noah must use his knowledge of Bleak Haven’s terrifying history to help his fellow hostages escape the mall, without turning their town into another bloodbath.
Publication Date January 27th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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After a group of teens visit a dangerous island where three are left behind, the surviving girls realize they must return to confront the sinister force hunting them. This dark YA thriller is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.
Eight were lost. Five were found. None will ever be free.
For Evie Williams, life is about to get a lot more complicated. Haunted by the events of a school trip to Hollow Lake National Park that went disastrously wrong, Evie and her friends returned changed, their lives forever marked by the mysterious Island they encountered — and the three girls they left behind.
Now, someone is picking off those who were involved, one by one. Their families, friends, and even online investigators are all caught in a deadly game. The stakes are raised when Evie receives a chilling message: to save her loved ones, she must return to the Island.
As Evie and the other “Lost Girls” navigate the treacherous terrain of the Island once more, they must confront the secrets they’ve buried, the horrors they witnessed, and the person — or thing — that’s hunting them. But some secrets refuse to stay hidden, and the Island demands a price for freedom.
Publication Date January 27th 2026 by Nancy Paulsen Books
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In the tradition of Jordan Peele and Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Blood, a YA thriller about a Black teen whose fight for survival forces a small southern vacation town to face its dark history of racial violence.
When sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward and her family head to a secluded cabin in the Shenandoah Valley for summer vacation they don’t know the small, mountain town of Sparksburg, Virginia has a dark and twisted past. But when they arrive, Naomi can’t shake the feeling that something about Sparksburg just isn’t right—and it smells god awful, but for some reason Naomi is the only who can smell the town’s stench. When she learns Sparksburg had once been a Sundown Town — a town where Black people weren’t allowed after sunset lest they be murdered — Naomi’s unease starts to make sense.
As Naomi digs more into Sparksburg’s violent origins, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of a girl, appearing nightly outside her window. Then she learns of two girls who’ve recently gone missing and suspects the past may still be present in Sparksburg and beneath the quaint façade of this tourist town is a palpable danger.
When Naomi decides to track the disappearance of the two girls herself, she becomes suspicious of a local man who has kindled fear in Naomi more than once. She soon learns he has a connection to one of the missing girls, and Naomi is certain he’s responsible for the disappearances.
When no one believes her, Naomi takes matters into her own hands. But to save the missing girls, she’ll have to finally face her own past trauma as a “missing girl” as she finds herself in a fight for survival.
Gripping and triumphant, L.S. Stratton tells an important and unforgettable story of racial reckoning inspired by historical events.
Publication Date January 27th 2026 by Disney Hyperion
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From the author of It Waits In The Forest comes Sarah Dass’s next stand-alone supernatural thriller — a lush and evocative tale of the rot that grows at the heart of even the most beautiful places. Perfect for fans of Angeline Boulley and Tiffany D. Jackson!
All Maya Woods wants is to reunite her three best friends, Pearl, Erica, and Lystra, for one last epic boat trip to the islands around their Caribbean home before they all graduate from high school. But the girls are forced to make an emergency landing on Annatto — an island avoided by locals and tourists alike because of the rumors of monsters and shadows that lurk in its depths — and their yearly tradition descends into darkness as Erica turns up dead and the girls are forced to leave her body behind.
Their tight-knit community is sent into a spiral of grief and suspicion, and Maya and her friends are at a loss to understand what happened: was it simply an accident or is there truth to the rumors about Annatto?
And while the community rejoices when Erica mysteriously returns alive and well a week later, Maya can’t seem to let go of her questions. What did they see that night? And who — or what — has Erica returned as? As old arguments and new betrayals rise to the surface, Maya and her friends can feel the shadows closing in on them. Something is lurking in the night, and they must be ready to face it.
Drawing from the darkest corners of Caribbean mythology, acclaimed author Sarah Dass delivers a supernatural thriller blends cultural nuance with monsters that go bump in the night, giving long-time Rick Riordan Presents fans the kind of story that will root into their hearts and awaken never their deepest fears.
Publication Date February 3rd 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Yellowjackets meets Smile in this atmospheric sapphic horror debut, in which a group of troubled girls are stalked through the Appalachian wilderness by a frightening monster that feeds on their deepest fears.
Penny’s abusive father is dead…but she still hears his voice in her head, encouraging her to hurt those around her. She can’t go to school or be around her friends or even draw with a sharp pencil without her intrusive thoughts urging her toward violence. Desperate to get a handle on her OCD, she agrees to spend the summer at Camp Whitewood ― an exclusive therapy retreat in the woods.
She feels optimistic when she arrives. The other girls all have their reasons for being there, which makes Penny feel a little less alone. But then she starts seeing things that can’t possibly be there: the gold watch her father was buried with, his favorite whiskey spilled on her cabin floor…a terrifying figure she calls the Shadow Man looming at the foot of her bed. Penny thinks she is losing her mind, but when a girl goes missing, and is later found dead, it’s clear that whatever is happening at Camp Whitewood isn’t all in her head.
As the hallucinations become increasingly intense and more girls wind up dead, Penny must work with whoever is left standing to figure out what is real before the Shadow Man uses their traumas against them and claims their lives.
Publication Date February 17th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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In this young adult speculative mystery, a teen must find a way to free a cursed witch in order to save her best friend before time runs out.
Every year horror-loving Simone Washington throws an epic Halloween party for her classmates. Party-planning is her favorite escape from the dark secrets in her past, and this year, she’s taking things up a notch with an invitation-only event to celebrate her eighteenth birthday ― something that will leave the halls of Pinegrove Academy flooded with gossip about the big ghoulish bash. The overnight stay at Doll’s Head Lake will be filled with spooky pranks and scary stories told by the fire – including the legend of a local witch named Regret.
But those dark secrets from Simone’s past are forced to the surface at the party when her best friend Kira dies under questionable circumstances. The witch appears and offers Simone a deal: if Simone can figure out how to release Regret from the curse trapping her at the lake within fourteen days, all of Simone’s regrets will be erased. If Simone accepts, Kira’s life will be immediately restored. But if she fails, Kira will die again ― and Simone will be the one to kill her.
Publication Date February 24th 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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All of them are guilty.
All of them must play the game.
But only one can survive.
On the first anniversary of a tragic fire at their high school, seven teenagers jump at the chance to attend a luxury desert retreat. But when they’re left at a rundown abandoned motel and a sinister text message accuses them of complicity in the fire, they realize someone is playing a deadly game of revenge.
The rules? Every hour, one of them must sacrifice themselves, leaving the motel to be killed, until only one survivor remains. Otherwise… they all die.
As the countdown begins, the stranded must answer the questions: when everyone’s guilty, who deserves to live? Who deserves to die?
With time running out, can they work together to uncover who’s running the game before the bodies pile up? Or will it be survival of the fittest?
Publication Date March 3rd 2026 by Feiwel & Friends
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For fans of Sinners and Immortal Dark, a teen girl must uncover her family’s deadly secrets in order to save her best friend and her island in this heart-pounding YA debut.
Addae has spent her whole life on the Golden Isle, a private island off the coast of South Carolina that has been in her family for centuries. Island residents don’t really fraternize with mainlanders, and for good reason. Golden Isle was founded by the Kinfolk, descendants ― including Addae and her Nana Ama, the island matriarch ― of escaped enslaved Black people.
But the Isle and the Kinfolk have secrets that must be protected from the outside world. Secrets of spirituality, mythology that are deeply rooted in their West African culture, beliefs, and traditions. The Kin are bound to protect the Golden Isle and, in turn, it protects them.
When Addae’s best friend Naria goes missing and one of the Kin turns up drained of blood, Addae’s way of life is threatened. It looks like the work of the Adze, West African supernatural beings that drink human blood in order to survive ― also known as vampires.
Believing Naira is alive, Addae travels to the mainland. But as Addae gets closer to finding Naria, she uncovers deep secrets about Nana Ama’s past, and about her own… secrets that could change how she feels about the Golden Isle and her lineage.
Torn between two worlds, Addae will have to decide how far she is willing to go ― and who she is willing to cross―to save her best friend, and even herself.
Publication Date March 3rd 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Roe Damarcus has never been afraid of the dead. Her power to summon spirits has awed the guests of her esteemed family’s galas for as long as she can remember. Her future is certain, and her gift will be another shining jewel in the Damarcus legacy.
But when she fails her realm’s trial to keep her magic and is deemed too dangerous for society, she faces a harrowing choice: give up her gift or serve a punishment sentence aboard the Celestial, a luxurious magical cruise ship where staff members compete for guest votes to earn a coveted retrial.
As a concierge, Roe juggles the demands of affluent guests, cruel bosses, and the suspicion that an infuriatingly handsome silks performer, Ivander, is determined to keep her from a retrial.
But the true dangers surface after her shift ends when the Celestial transforms into halls of nightmares that kill staff members after dark. Faced with the reality of serving aboard, Roe begins to question the ship, trials, and the system that put her there. But the moment Roe sinks into the ship’s dark history, she’s wrongly framed for a guest’s murder. Vowing to conjure her own second chance, Roe will use whatever power she has to uncover the secrets of the ship, her family, and their entwined bloody past…before she becomes the Celestial’s next victim.
Publication Date March 3rd 2026 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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A group of girls does Death incarnate’s bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of The Year of the Witching.
Roslyn isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.
Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could’ve conjured up: Death himself.
Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.
Publication Date March 3rd 2026 by Scholastic Press
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The chilling second installment in the Let’s Split Up trilogy, where coming home means facing a killer who knows your past.
One year after surviving the mystery that made them local legends, the Sanera gang has gone their separate ways. College, new lives, and distance have replaced late-night investigations ― except for Cam, who can’t quite move on.
When Sanera’s Halloween festival reunites the group for a celebratory hometown event, nostalgia quickly turns to terror. Cam spots the Carrington Ghoul ― a figure tied to their last case ―and realizes their past isn’t done with them yet.
As the festival spirals into chaos, a new killer emerges, using Sanera’s local legends as inspiration for a string of gruesome murders. Each crime mirrors myths the gang once debunked, making it clear: someone is obsessed with their history ― and is rewriting it in blood.
With the town exploiting its dark past for tourism and the gang’s fame painting a target on their backs, they must reunite to stop the killer before the legend claims one of their own.
Tense, twisty, and relentless, Be Right Back deepens the danger and raises the stakes in the Let’s Split Up trilogy ― proving that once you uncover the truth, there’s no such thing as moving on.
Publication Date March 10th 2026 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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This propulsive thriller follows a fractured group of friends as they fight to survive a killer escape room in rural Tennessee. Perfect for fans of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Karen M. McManus.
Twelve months ago, an escape room fire took everything from Steffi Zamekova. In just one hour, she lost it all: her popular blog, her close-knit inner circle, and her memories of the night that killed one of the group’s own…the charismatic (if infuriating) Matt Cesari.
On the anniversary of the bewildering tragedy, Steffi is still desperate to piece together what went wrong. So when she receives an ominous invitation in the mail summoning her to the new escape room across town, she seizes the chance for answers.
Reunited with her former friends, Steffi sees the game as a last chance to uncover the truth behind Matt’s death. But it’s soon clear that each participant has their own cagey reasons for accepting the challenge. And as tensions rise and the players are picked off one by one, it’s a race against the clock for Steffi to uncover their secrets and unlock her own memories before the game’s mastermind ensures that no one escapes the room alive.
Publication Date March 31st 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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A vacation in paradise turns deadly when four teens’ sailing charter hits stormy seas in this propulsive new thriller from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Megan Lally!
Hannah is having an incredible spring break. A week at a resort in Mexico with her best friend Emmy and her family is perfect for de-stressing from senior year, even if it’s awkward being around Emmy’s older brother, Jackson, who she’s had a crush on for as long as she can remember.
Still, the beach is gorgeous. So is the guy they meet in the surf. Except Hannah is now the third wheel in Emmy’s vacation romance.
Eager to impress Emmy, her wealthy new boyfriend charters a private sailboat to make the most of their last day in paradise, and Hannah and Jackson are invited along. As the clouds roll in and the skies darken, their boat is the only one leaving the marina. And the further they get into open water, the more unsettled Hannah becomes. A storm is brewing onboard that’s as deadly as the one racing toward them. Forget surviving graduation. Who will make it back to land alive?
Publication Date March 31st 2026 by Holiday House
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A homecoming queen and a bad-boy loner team up to break a generational curse in this YA supernatural horror from a talented American Egyptian voice.
Seventeen-year-old Mina is always focused on what comes next: exams, school dances, opportunities for a picnic by the lake. Filling up the future keeps her from lingering over how little she knows about her history or where she comes from. Anytime she asks her father questions about Egypt–or about her mother’s mysterious death–he struggles to open up.
When Mina receives an invitation from an aunt she’s never met to visit the Haikal mansion, her mother’s childhood home in El Agamy, Mina accepts. She can’t resist the chance to learn more about her roots or what happened to her mother, even if it means lying to her loves ones for the first time in her life.
But when Mina returns from El Agamy, she doesn’t come back alone.
A sinister entity follows Mina from the Haikal mansion to her tiny California town. Mina is forced to abandon her friends, her father, and everything she loves in order to prevent the entity from violently possessing them. Isolated and fighting for her life, Mina must seek help from an unlikely ally: Jesse Talbot, the mortician’s hostile son and the only person who proves immune to possession. Jesse would rather floss with barbed wire than team up with social butterfly Mina, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice—after all, he’s running from family secrets of his own.
As Mina and Jesse dig deeper into Mina’s family lore, they uncover a bloody debt that must be satisfied if Mina wants to finish senior year alive.
Publication Date April 7th 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Everyone in the rural town of Ashling knows the tale of Veronica Green, a teen who was murdered in the woods. But did a party trick bring her back to claim her revenge? A fast-paced, suspenseful YA horror from the author of Summer’s Edge and People Like Us.
There is no one Hazel trusts less than her self-centered twin, Beth. So when Beth abandons her at a party she didn’t want to attend in the first place, Hazel decides not to let it ruin her night. She throws herself into flirting and telling ghost stories over a Ouija board. Hazel might not be the popular twin, but she is going to have fun if it kills her.
Except Beth doesn’t come home that night, and Hazel’s anger morphs into anxiety. It only sharpens when Beth reappears a day later, disoriented and claiming to be Veronica Green, a teen who was murdered in their small town years before. If it isn’t a possession, Beth is really good at faking it. Did they accidentally release a vengeful horror during the party?
Hazel must uncover what happened to Veronica all those years ago if she’s going to save Beth. But the truth may destroy them both ― if they don’t destroy each other first.
Publication Date April 21st 2026 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Perfect for fans of Don’t Let the Forest In and Wuthering Heights, this gothic horror novel is about the pasts that haunt us and the stories we decide to make for ourselves.
There’s nowhere Catie East would rather be than the redwood forest that surrounds her family’s unusual historic home, the Heights.
She prefers being alone in the forest. People are … complicated. But when a scientist and his son move into the estate’s cottage, planning to study the woods around them, the boy catches Catie’s eye. And when a dead woodpecker miraculously comes back to life in his precious hands…he captures her heart.
Necromancy isn’t the only strange thing happening in the Heights.There’s an unfamiliar face in the mirror. Blood on the floors. Eyes in the wallpaper. And the men around her—including her once-sweet nature boy—are becoming something else. Something possessive and frightening. Something violent.
As the Heights’s dark history starts to come to light, Catie discovers that the home she loves is imbued with pain. And even though the pain isn’t her own, it will corrupt her and the people around her all the same—unless she can stop it.
A story about breaking cycles of abuse and overcoming generational trauma, May the Dead Keep You is an edge-of-your-seat read—equally horrifying, heart-wrenching, and hopeful.
Publication Date April 28th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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In this new mystery from CL Montblanc, the author of Pride or Die, two internet enemies are forced to work together after a true crime meetup turns into a deadly case of its own.
Seventeen-year-old Sam Tombs hopes to get more eyes on the videos they make to raise awareness of crimes against LGBTQ+ teens. A true crime content creator event seems like the perfect opportunity to grow their channel―until the group becomes stranded at an eerie Victorian mansion, and one of them is killed in the night.
Sam’s alibi, and the only person they can trust, happens to be their mean, dorky internet nemesis Dylan. But the two must now put aside their rivalry and use their investigative skills to figure out who among the remaining teens is the killer, before their own deaths become tomorrow’s trending content.
Publication Date May 5th 2026 by Disney Hyperion
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Three wishes. One prom queen celebrating at the Jersey Shore. And one monster who will keep killing until her wishes are paid for.
From the virally popular author of Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch, a queer feminist YA horror/slasher novel perfect for fans of You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight.
Seven years ago, Sundae Valentine made a deal with a monster she met at the bottom of a motel pool. She didn’t know the wishes he offered had a price — or that the third wish, the one she still hasn’t made, will cost her life.
Back then, she barely escaped Wildwood alive. Now, the cheerleaders and football players are headed to the Jersey Shore for prom weekend — leaving Sundae no choice but to return to the scene of her sun-bleached nightmares.
Sundae tries to forget, throwing herself into the rides on the pier, the tequila-fueled dance parties, and the guitar-strumming girl she can’t quite look away from. She hopes the beast has forgotten, too.
But there are eyes like silver coins watching from the shadows, and teeth like a rusty saw glinting in the light of the boardwalk. Because Sundae still owes a debt. And whatever it takes, whoever he has to kill, this time the monster’s determined to collect.
Publication Date May 5th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Midsommar meets Fear Street in this modern, sea-soaked folk horror debut about fighting to survive, and fighting to be yourself.
Seventeen-year-old Lindsay Weinberg has just gotten kicked out of another prep school, and has consequently found herself shipped to her Uncle Levi’s farm in the cold, isolated town of Marbury, Maine.
When Lindsay arrives at a big, old farmhouse miles from civilization, she is greeted by her uncle’s new wife, a goy with a little too much Jesus decor for Lindsay’s taste ― with Uncle Levi mysteriously away on a business trip. Not only that, but Lindsay isn’t the only teen staying there. In fact, there is a small group of teens going through some kind of reform program. Up at dawn. Manual labor all day. No phones, computers or tablets.
Things start to feel hopeless until Lindsay meets the twins, Phin and Cass. They live on an island off the Peninsula’s coast―and they have internet. Lindsay convinces the others at Haven House to sneak out for a party on the island, and the night is incredible. At least…what they can remember of it. All of them wake up in their beds with sea-shell mementos, no memory of how they got home, and wicked hangovers. All of them except one. And as the disappearances and mysteries pile up, Lindsay and the others realize that they have become involved in a terrifying fight to survive, before the Cove claims them all.
Publication Date May 5th 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise, in this YA supernatural thriller that’s Mexican Gothic meets She Is A Haunting.
For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation.
But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization — and help — after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff.
As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields — or risk being consumed by them.
Sharply observed and gorgeously written, That Which Feeds Us explores the true cost of paradise as Lehua must fight to reclaim the land, the stories, and the very souls of her people.
Publication Date May 5th 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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You’re cordially invited to the wedding massacre of the season…
Life is good for Katie Rose Waters. Her family is filthy rich, and she has it all: a closet full of designer shoes in a mansion fit for a queen, Mother Dear’s undivided attention and of course, the comforting knowledge that she can get away with murder any time she wants…literally.
But Katie Rose’s perfect world starts to crumble when her estranged sister Kit returns home to their small town with a new engagement ring and a fiancé in tow. With Belldam, Texas’s most extravagant wedding on the horizon Mother Dear goes into wedding planner mode, obsessing over wedding dresses, florists, and finding a cake. And Katie Rose? She’s been demoted to an afterthought. Unless, of course, Mother Dear needs help with a decapitated body. It’s simply devastating.
Left to her own wicked devices, Katie Rose begins to suspect that her picture-perfect life might be as hollow as the corpses she leaves behind. What’s a spoiled daughter to do without Mother Dear’s guidance? But whatever, everything will be fine as long as the trio can stay calm.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing more stressful than a wedding…
This outrageous young adult slasher blends the comedy of Father of the Bride with nonstop kills à la Serial Mom in the most twisted mother-daughter story yet.
Publication Date May 12th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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For fans of The Last Bookstore On Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.
From a breathtaking new voice in YA, this story is for anyone haunted by the sins of past generations — and fighting to right them.
When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world’s most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn.
Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. It’s after Cedar, and it’s willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar’s new queer family.
The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar’s whole life. It might stretch back to their mother’s gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn.
Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they’re far from dredging the bottom.
Publication Date May 12th 2026 by Page Street YA
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I’m the only one left hunting the monster, the only one left with a chance of saving us all.
Raised in a town surrounded by a labyrinthian, man-eating swamp, Lili craves nothing more than to track down the monster lurking in its depths and kill it.
The monster’s curse claims the flesh and bone of every adult in town, stealing them away, piece by piece. For generations, people have tried to kill it or escape the town altogether, but every path out of town leads them right back in.
Caleb, a bookish boy with dreams of freedom, is hungry to escape. He thinks that with Lili’s help and knowledge of the swamp, he can make a map to freedom. And Lili hopes that with a better sense of its territory, she might finally find and kill the monster.
Together, they chart the swamp’s shifting terrain. Sharing in the danger and the beauty of the landscape sparks a friendship between them ― and then something more. However, what they discover disrupts everything Lili thought she knew about the town, her father, the monster ― even herself. The truth at the root of the curse could devour them all. And Lili must decide if risking her life to be the town’s savior is worth sacrificing her own chance of escape.
Publication Date June 2nd 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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The Witch Haven meets Divine Rivals in this magical tale of a young clairvoyant who gets dragged into a dangerous game of revenge alongside a mysterious thief in early 1900s New York City.
Stella Bohdan is never alone — never — and yet she is the loneliest person she knows, dead or alive. A gifted psychic who can hear the voices of spirits, all Stella wants is to con enough people to survive on the brutal New York City streets and find a way to deal with the tragic death of her sister.
Performing seances in parlor rooms and tarot readings by candlelight, Stella is barely holding on. Until she meets Pax, a mysterious young man who offers Stella an invitation and a promise: Join a secret group of talented mystics who explore the darker realms of spiritualism, and together they will get revenge on her sister’s killer.
But how can Stella admit she is the reason her sister is dead?
In the hope of righting past wrongs, Stella joins Pax and his team of mystics. It’s soon clear there is more behind their partnership than just vengeance.
They must tread carefully though, because in the world of spiritualism, not everything is what it seems — especially when communing with the unknown.
Publication Date June 9th 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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Being a teenager bites — literally. When a classmate develops a thirst for blood, one girl must confront her secret supernatural past before things turn deadly. Fans counting down the days to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot will sink their teeth into this dark and hilarious YA debut.
Her past is back for blood.
My goals for senior year were simple:
● Find a prom dress I don’t hate
● Spend as much time as possible with my amazing boyfriend Max (and my even more amazing best friend Sarita)
● Maybe try not to flunk history classMy plans did NOT include:
● Babysitting a newborn vampire — who also happens to be Max’s annoying (and annoyingly cute) buddy Ezra
● Fighting off my ex-boyfriend — who did I mention is immortal?
● And generally worrying about death and blood and mayhemTurning human was supposed to mean finally getting a second chance at a normal life. But ever since moving to Sunrise Harbor, Florida, nothing has been normal. What’s worse is I actually made friends here. And when my dark past threatens to take it all away, well, being mortal totally sucks.
Award-winning author Darcy Miller makes her YA debut in this wise-cracking and witty entry that brings new blood to your favorite vampire tropes.
Publication Date June 9th 2026 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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Just one taste can change everything.
All seventeen-year-old Dusty wants is to escape into books and the Adirondack wilderness that surrounds her small town. But in the dead of night, strange things have been happening in Black River.
Animals are being ravaged by something unnatural. And Dusty wakes up one day with dirt on her feet, changed and starving. When new kid Will arrives, Dusty feels an attraction unlike anything she’s felt before. She wants him…or she wants his blood. As Dusty realizes she’s transforming into something she can’t control, she reluctantly turns to the only person she somehow knows will understand: the annoyingly attractive Eli Blake.
Together, Dusty and Eli must uncover the mystery of their town and their new, insatiable desires. Have they become vampires or some other kind of monster?
Whatever they are, they’re not the only ones.
An irresistible blend of suspense and romance, this paranormal small town mystery is perfect for fans of Stephanie Meyers and Tigest Girma.
Publication Date June 16th 2026 by Christy Ottaviano Books
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Perfect for fans of Rory Power and Tiffany D. Jackson, this twisty horror novel follows a magnetic young influencer who gets ensnared in a web of dark, jealousy-fueled magic.
Three years ago, Bella dumped her best friend Kerry to follow her dreams of becoming an influencer. It worked; she is Such a Lucky Girl, famous for her epic manifesting glow-up and dedicated to helping other girls be “lucky,” too. She’s living the dream — success, sponsorships, and fame. She burned her old life to the ground and never looked back.
Leaving Kerry behind. Alone. Angry.
When Kerry picks up a vintage self-help book on shadow work, she’s fascinated by the suggested rituals. Get back at those who have wronged her? Yes, please. She has one person in mind, and that girl is smiling at her millions of followers, having forgotten Kerry long ago. But there’s something attached to the book, something dark and ancient, and Kerry and Bella may not be ready for what is about to be unleashed.
Publication Date June 23rd 2026 by Norton Young Readers
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Two friends must uncover the truth about the bloody reappearance of a cryptid in this queer, X-Files-inspired thriller from the author of Bad Creek.
To save her family’s struggling ranch, 18-year-old Claire fabricates a video of her hometown’s legendary alien cryptid, Old Lucky, that grabs the attention of paranormal vloggers Lenny and Evan. Lenny is plagued with doubts about their channel’s future, so catching Old Lucky might just be her chance at finding something real.
After Evan deserts Lenny, believing the investigation to be a hoax, Claire agrees to “help” Lenny uncover the history of Old Lucky ― and preserve her deceit. But the more the girls are drawn together and the more clues they unearth, the more secrets rise to the surface. The cows are being mutilated, the ranch hand has disappeared, and the strange lights in the sky are back. Something inhuman lurks in Scarberry, where danger lives close to home. The Monsters We Made is an eerie and suspenseful exploration of one town’s dark history and the people who brought it back to life.
Publication Date June 23rd 2026 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
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In a small town haunted by unsolved disappearances, a teen with a secret ability must unravel a deadly mystery – before she becomes the next victim.
Mendocino is not the quaint coastal California town Zayn Pereira imagined. It’s shrouded in a fog that never lets up. Posters of a missing teen girl are plastered everywhere, and just offshore is an island called Rainsong, rumored to be haunted.
At her new school, everyone is tense and suspicious of each other. So when charismatic Ollie takes Zayn under her wing, it’s a relief – but is her charm hiding something? People assume brooding Tiago, the missing girl’s ex-boyfriend, is responsible for her disappearance…but Zayn can’t keep her eyes off him. Is he really who everyone says he is?
Besides, Zayn has a secret of her own. And when Tiago is struck by a car one night, she is forced to reveal it to save him. In doing so, Zayn discovers her connection to a generations-old feud that still rages today. Can she break herself from the grip of Mendocino’s past tragedy? Or will she become the next girl on the missing poster?
Filled with angsty romance, supernatural powers, murder, and vengeance, this is a chilling and propulsive read.
Publication Date June 23rd 2026 by Nancy Paulsen Books
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Thrilling crossover YA horror perfect for fans of Krystal Sutherland and Tiffany Jackson, where the captain of a high school cheer team is caught in a bitter rivalry and turns to an ancient, supernatural creature for help, not knowing she’s just made a deal with a devil and could lose everything that matters, including her life.
Maris Larsen is the captain of the West Eaton High cheer team. She’s Coach’s favorite and the team worships her. Being on the team makes her feel special — powerful. When she’s leading the girls on the mat, Maris doesn’t have to think about her dead-end life in a dead-end town. She can forget about her depressed mother and absent father and the fact that her girlfriend doesn’t really love her. But when newcomer and Coach’s new golden girl, Genevieve Ray, joins the team, the only thing going right in Maris’s life is suddenly in jeopardy. A bitter rivalry develops between the two, but Maris is determined to take Genevieve down. The knife she needs to wield comes to Maris in her dreams.
While sleepwalking, Maris is visited by a monstrous, decaying beast in the shape of an enormous deer. Doe is an ancient, tired creature who has been wandering, trapped in her current form for decades. She cannot die, but she cannot go on living as she has. Only a girl related by blood to those who bound her in this form can free her, but those girls she loved died years ago — murdered in a fire.
But Maris is somehow linked to Doe’s beloved girls — linked by blood — and so she has the power to free Doe, to unleash her immense power. In Maris’s dreams, she and Doe form a bond, but Maris doesn’t know the creature from her dreams is real. Maris doesn’t understand the danger she’s in. She only knows Doe has promised her a way to win her battle with Genevieve. But for Maris to win, someone has to die, and the only real winner in the end will be Doe.
Publication Date June 30th 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Pretty Little Liars meets The Blair Witch Project in this harrowing thriller from the author of Murder Land, brimming with betrayal, unsettling town secrets, and a killer lurking in the woods.
Emma knows her friends all lie to her. And everyone knows Emma is the outcast of their group. She’s usually fine with that, until her friends go on a camping trip that she planned…without her. The next morning, she wakes up to the news that all three of them died at the campsite.
When Emma starts receiving unnerving videos of the girls the night they died from an anonymous source, it becomes clear their deaths weren’t an accident. And if this becomes a murder case, Emma will be suspect number one. Because while everyone knows she had been excluded from the plans, what they don’t know is that she went to the campsite that night after all, and someone has proof.
Emma teams up with Beck, one of the victims’ sisters, to return to the woods and figure out what really happened the night her friends died, uncover who is behind the mysterious videos she is receiving, and make sure that nobody can pin their murders on her. But stranded in an eerie town that doesn’t welcome outsiders with a murderer on their heels, Emma and Beck just might be next…
Publication Date July 7th 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
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In an insular small town steeped in Norse traditions, a local teen grapples with dark secrets from the past rising to the surface in this “spine-tingling thrill ride” (School Library Journal, starred review) by New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline West.
Lucia Sorenson holds on hard to the things she loves. Her tiny hometown clings to the bluffs above the Mississippi River, threatened by weather and time. Unlike most people her age, Lucia plans to stay after graduation and help her grandfather run the Viking Museum of Black Point. Maybe then she can keep everything her ancestors built from washing away.
When the Black Point Hotel, a supposedly haunted local landmark, is bought by an outsider, the town is shaken — and for Lucia, fresh changes arrive in the form of the owner’s nephew, Max. As Lucia gets to know Max, she begins to question her role in the town’s rituals and to see the place, and herself, with new eyes.
But the town is flooding, and old secrets are rising to the surface. Soon Lucia will have to choose between the home she thought she knew and the hideous truths hidden underneath.
Publication Date July 7th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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From the author of Escape Room comes a thrilling whodunnit. Three people all confess to murdering the same person, they all have motives, but only one is the true killer.
Guess who?
Maria’s life spirals into chaos after she provides testimony that puts her brother behind bars, a decision that has fractured her family and left Maria isolated from her friends. And not long after, Maria is found dead.
Three of her peers — Cody, Norah, and Pip — all confess to the murder. And they all have a motive…but only one is guilty.
When it comes to light that Maria was being tormented by a mysterious, masked figure known only as the “Mystery Guest,” the search for answers becomes even more complicated.
Who is behind that mysterious mask? Who is the mystery guest? Maren Stoffels masterfully plays with perspectives and motives, as only she can — resulting in a murderously exciting page-turner.
Publication Date July 7th 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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The daughter of a sinister magical family who made a deal with the devil must stop the man killing them off, one by one, in this deliciously dark fantasy thriller that’s House of Hollow meets Succession, laced with a kiss-or-kill romance.
Cicely is the black sheep daughter of the powerful Winter family, who made a deal with the devil in exchange for riches and ruthless magic. Soren is the boy her family banished to the underworld. Their fates intertwine when Cicely’s loathsome Uncle Dorian winds up dead at a masquerade ball.
Once overlooked for her lowly gift of discovering secrets, Cicely is now her family’s only chance at survival, tasked with finding the killer before he takes out every last Winter. With time running out, Cicely narrows her sights on Soren, who she suspects is back for vengeance.
Yet the more Cicely investigates Soren – and gets to know him – the more she begins to question how much family loyalty is worth. After all, when it comes to being a Winter, one can have love or power, but rarely both…
Publication Date July 21st 2026 by Bloomsbury YA
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I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Counselors in this YA thriller about the daughter of a killer who must prove her innocence after a night of fun turns deadly.
Dina Soto is used to laying low. Ever since her father confessed to murdering two of his students, Dina’s mom has kept the family on a short leash to avoid drawing any more attention. But when cute, popular, and incredibly sweet Kai Thompson invites Dina to spend the weekend with him and his friends at his cabin, Dina thinks maybe being noticed wouldn’t be so bad.
But once at the cabin, Dina realizes one night won’t change her reputation as the daughter of a killer – especially not when people start turning up dead. Told in part through police evidence, the truth of what happened that night unravels alongside long-held secrets. But one thing remains true: Dina is adamant she didn’t do it. Now, she just has to prove it.
Publication Date July 21st 2026 by Union Square & Co.
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From Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lora Senf comes a fast-paced YA filled with cosmic horror and existential dread — four teens fight for survival on an impossible island against a creature who might spell the end of the world. Perfect for fans of Kate Alice Marshall and Claire Legrand.
Reckless, depressed, impulsive and sixteen, Harrow Lane is going to an island that shouldn’t exist to look for answers about the death of her father — the father who accidentally cursed her shortly after she was born. Things immediately go very wrong — beginning with the sinking of the boat that brought them to the island and an ominous chuckle from something that shouldn’t be there — and keep getting worse in ways they couldn’t possibly imagine. Harrow and friends came without being invited and whatever lives there doesn’t like visitors.
With no way to reach the outside world and no understanding of the rules of the island, Harrow and her friends are in mortal danger, and knowing who can and can’t be trusted is a thing they left back on shore. Matters are only complicated by Harrow’s emotions — she’s given her biggest feelings human faces and personalities and does her best to keep them locked away in a seedy motel she built in her mind. But emotions are sneaky, and she’s having to face them at the worst possible time. It’s creating sort of an “Inside Out in hell” situation as they fight for survival against a creature that seems to be made entirely of terror and who very well might spell the end of the world.
Publication Date July 21st 2026 by Amulet Books
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New from the author of Dead Girls Walking comes a YA horror about a girl kidnapped by a racist cult after investigating the supernatural happenings at her sister’s gravesite.
A month ago, Junie Daniels was in a car crash that left her with a dead sister, fragmented memories of the accident, and a mother too checked-out to plan a funeral.
The cheapest grave plot Junie can find is in the next town over. Sure, Williamsville is still proudly named after a slave master who was rumored to dabble in dark magic―but this is North Carolina, after all.
When unexplained occurrences start happening at the graveyard, though, Junie and her best friend, Omari, investigate. And it’s not long before Junie and Omari are taken…
Williamsville wants both Daniels girls. But Junie will do anything to protect her sister ― even if it’s only her corpse.
Publication Date July 21st 2026 by Delacorte Press
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An addictive killer-thriller following an aspiring crime journalist’s investigation into a case that blurs the line between art and life. Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder.
When aspiring crime journalist Fliss Keller attends an estate sale and uncovers a disturbing painting by a mysterious artist, she wants nothing to do with it. Unfortunately for her, her Art History professor dad buys it immediately. The portrait has been lost for decades and completes a set of four existing paintings of women by the same artist already hanging in the town’s gallery.
But when a series of gruesome crimes rock the community and her father’s gallery becomes the epicenter of a deadly game, Fliss discovers that the paintings may hold the key to a killer’s identity.
Haunted by the specter of a serial killer, Fliss races against time to solve the mystery before it claims another victim. In a world where every brushstroke hides a sinister secret, can she unravel the clues before she becomes a killer’s muse?
Publication Date July 28th 2026 by Feiwel & Friends
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Bring It On, but with murder, this heart-pounding YA thriller follows Jonty, a star cheerleader forced to track down a killer and achieve her dream ― before it’s too late.
With competition this fierce, bodies are bound to hit the mat…
All Jonty has ever wanted is to lead her cheerleading team, The Exalted Ones, to win a NCA championship. Cheer is not just a sport, it’s her legacy. Her mother cheered for T.E.O. before she died, and Jonty would do anything to snatch the crown and honor her mother’s memory. This year she has a real shot, finally beating her rival Tommie and becoming the team captain.
But Jonty’s perfect season is shattered when Tommie shows up dead on the first day of practice. Now the team is down a flyer and everyone is convinced that Jonty killed her. Everyone except Adam, her co-captain, who was with her the night that Tommie died.
As the season progresses, girls keep dropping like flies, and one thing becomes clear: Someone is sabotaging The Exalted Ones, and they’re willing to commit murder to get their way. But with the police still convinced it’s her, will Jonty be able to save herself, her team, and her perfect season?
Publication Date July 28th 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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The remaining members of a ghost hunting show return to the haunted manor that may have killed their friend in this atmospheric, contemporary gothic debut perfect for fans of She Is A Haunting and Delicious Monsters.
Four teens went into the manor, three came out.
In July, Georgia Perry and Jules Park — secret girlfriends, covert art thieves, and cohosts of a popular YouTube ghost hunting show — step into a haunted house to steal a priceless painting. A few short hours later, there’s a knife in Jules’s chest and Georgia is waking up in a pool of blood with no painting and no memory of how she got there.
Now it’s October, and Georgia is underwater. She hasn’t been to class in weeks, and she’s avoiding her old crew — and only friends — like the plague. But when the three remaining thieves get a call from the man who paid a hefty sum to keep them out of jail, demanding that they return to finish the job, Georgia has no choice but to return to her old life.
As the estranged friends scramble to steal the painting with no cover story and no leader, they quickly realize that something is very, very wrong, and it’s not just the suffocating memory of Jules or the prying eyes of their viewers. Between the strange shadows that begin to trail them and the nightmares plaguing Georgia’s sleep, only one thing is certain: something followed them home from De Lys manor, and it will do anything to keep them from going back.
Publication Date August 4th 2026 by Sarah Barley Books / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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A girl hated by her town for her father’s crimes must decide whether to save it or burn it all down when a dying god in the woods warns her of an impending catastrophe in this “socially conscious and serpentine mystery topped with spine-tingling supernatural imagery” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
When a bone-white crow lands in Sylvie Singer’s backyard, she knows trouble is coming. And after an FBI raid reveals her father’s double life, Sylvie’s entire world comes crashing around her. With nowhere to go but the abandoned railway station in the cursed West Woods, Sylvie spends her time avoiding the carnivorous white deer that live there, counting down the days until she can graduate from high school and finally leave the town that’s openly out for her blood. Then Sylvie encounters a different sort of monster.
Illican is a horned god bound to the West Woods, even more wretched than she is. Sylvie is drawn to Illican, excited that he can introduce her to magic that could save her town — save her. But Illican is dying, and the last thing Pine Ridge Hollow wants is help from Sylvie Singer…
The town is a tinderbox, and Sylvie is the spark that will either save it or burn it all down.
Publication Date August 4th 2026 by Graphix
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Beware the dead of winter in this suspenseful YA graphic novel thriller!
When it’s so cold, it bites!
Teen influencers Jen and Dante post wild videos of themselves doing extreme sports. But when they jump out of a helicopter to ski down a mountain, the stunt goes way wrong. Dante’s ankle gets slashed, and the helicopter crew — who were supposed to be waiting at the bottom of the mountain — are nowhere to be found. As the confused teens seek answers from some locals, they all find themselves flesh-to-fang, trapped in an isolated cabin surrounded by frost vampires!
Their only hope for survival is to make it to sunrise…
Publication Date August 4th 2026 by Entangled: Mayhem Books
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They’re being hunted…
When sixteen-year-old Georgie and her troublemaking brother are shipped off to the wilderness for their stepmother’s newest reality show, Georgie is convinced it’ll be the worst experience of her life. Two weeks. No phones. Hiking. Camping. Cameras catching every humiliating second.
Then she meets Mack Gray. Tattooed, unreadable, and ― among a cast of kids already branded as trouble ― he’s the one she’s sure is dangerous.
One night, the counselors are chanting affirmations around the fire. By morning, they’re gone.
But the kids are not alone.
Georgie can feel it, stalking them from the shadows ― watching, waiting, picking them off one by one. Whatever it is, it isn’t just hunting.
It’s playing.
And in this game, there seems to be only one ending: no one gets out alive.
Publication Date August 4th 2026 by Abrams Books for Young Readers
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A chilling collection of terrifying creatures from around the world, perfect for readers who want to know what lurks in the shadows.
A Romanian Strigoi rising from its grave. The Boogeyman’s claws scraping beneath the bed. A Banshee’s wail echoing through Ireland. The glowing eyes of the Mothman staring from a West Virginia tree line. Krampus arriving to punish naughty children in the Yuletide season.
In Strange and Terrible Things: A Guide to Creatures That Haunt Our Dreams, author and artist Devin Forst takes you on a global tour of nightmares. Packed with eerie folklore, monstrous myths, and creepy tales from every corner of the world, this thoroughly researched guide uncovers nearly 80 sinister beings that live in the heart of humanity’s oldest fears.
Perfect for fans of horror and role-playing games, this illustration-heavy older middle–grade book explores the stories we tell about monsters ― and what those stories say about us.
Creatures include those from classical mythology and contemporary folklore, and from diverse cultural traditions, including African, Aztec, British, Chinese, Egyptian, Filipino, Greek, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Mesopotamian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Nordic, Native American and North American, Slavic, and South American.
Publication Date August 11th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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Willa has no memory of anything before arriving at Dorsey House, and when she meets two sinister girls who seem to already know her, she slowly begins to lose her grip on what is real…and what is a lie. A haunting contemporary speculative thriller for fans of Kill Creatures and We Were Liars.
Willa Childs doesn’t know why she’s at Dorsey House. The tragic accident that banished her to the mysterious reformatory perched at the edge of the sea is lost in the recesses of her murky memory. The Dorseys themselves offer no answers, and the only other wards, Caroline and Ivy, seem intent on keeping Willa in the dark — and on the outside of their obsessive friendship.
Yet as the days pass, it begins to feel like the sinister twosome knows Willa better than she knows herself. And as her memories gradually return to focus, the girls become even stranger, doing their best to convince Willa that she’s been at Dorsey House before. Only, that’s impossible.
Or is it? If they’re telling the truth, Willa can no longer trust her own mind. The line between reality and nightmare begins to blur. Willa is certain Dorsey House is haunted, but by what? And if she can’t remember leaving, how will she ever escape?
Publication Date August 11th 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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A lyrical, evocative horror about vampires from the Philippines…and a hunter on their tail. A brother and sister fight to protect their secrets, their community, and most of all, each other, in this evocative novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Patron Saints of Nothing.
As Filipino vampires known as manananggal, Lily and her brother Caleb understand the value of a secret. After all, to hide is to survive. To lie is to live. They’d never harm another person — but people only believe their worst fears around creatures of myth. So the siblings stay quiet. They follow their community’s rules.
Until a monster hunter turns up and kills a fellow manananggal, anyway.
Until Caleb is marked as the hunter’s next prey.
Suddenly, he and Lily realize there’s always been more at stake than the lives of their people. Because when doing everything “right” is still a death sentence, what can they take as truth? As the hunter nears, the siblings must decide if they’ll be driven from the only home they’ve ever known…or fight to protect a community that may already be lost.
Publication Date August 18th 2026 by HarperCollins
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Let the killing continue in Lights! Camera! Frendo! It’s the fourth installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, and this time Frendo goes Hollywood – with all the blood, guts, and mayhem you’d expect from the series that spawned the blockbuster motion picture.
Sabrina Alvarez is pretty much a nobody — until she lands the starring role in the big budget film based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Sabrina knows she should be on top of the world. She’s going to be THE Quinn Maybrook, Final Girl of Final Girls, national hero and certified badass. But as soon as Sabrina gets to Kettle Springs, she just can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off. A spate of deaths, an out-of-control director, a town decimated by loss and divided by anger, and a movie designed to glorify it all. Something bad is brewing, and this time, it’s all on film.
A meditation on the villains inside us all, it’s the latest installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, Clown In A Cornfield.
Publication Date August 25th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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Three girls bond in unsettling ways when a grizzly starts picking off known abusers in their secluded mountain town in this darkly funny, deeply feminist novel for fans of books like The Honeys and Wilder Girls.
When it comes to boys and bears, always choose the bear.
The girls of Riverside are raised to grin and bear it. Until three of them can’t anymore.
Megan Lawless (aka Outlaw): Riverside born and raised. Lettered in volleyball, basketball, and track. HATES Kevin Johnson, but tolerates him for her best friend, Megan.
Megan Deloria: Outlaw’s ride or die. Riverside royalty and soon to be valedictorian. Shoo-in for the homecoming crown alongside her boyfriend, Kevin.
Meghan Bach (aka Bee): Moved to Riverside last year. Still the “new girl.” Pulls tarot cards daily. Just wants to forget what happened last summer at that party with Kevin.
And then there’s Kevin Johnson: Riverside’s Golden Boy. Only scared of two things — the dark and bears. Soon, he’ll be scared of three more.
Because Megan, Megan, and Meghan are done with Kevin, and they’re about to teach everyone in their tiny rural town the new natural order: Predator, meet prey.
Publication Date August 25th 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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It’s kill or be killed in this heart-pounding apocalyptic horror. The first book in a new series, If We Survive The Night combines the ruthless zombie perils of The Last Of Us with the every-woman-for-herself angle of Yellowjackets. What type of person does it take to survive the end of the world?
Sixteen-year-old Quinn is used to being told that what she feels inside isn’t quite right. After getting kicked out of multiple foster homes and narrowly escaping juvenile detention, she’s undergoing therapy at a residential treatment center for “troubled” girls. Looking for a night of freedom, Quinn sneaks onto the roof with her best friend Keisha, and what she sees changes everything…
She witnesses the start of the zombie apocalypse.
As zombies, or “carriers” as the news calls them, infiltrate the treatment center, escape becomes crucial. Quinn and Keisha make a pact to leave together, but several unexpected complications screw up their plans.
As the girls battle the carriers and wrestle with their doubts about each other, Quinn realizes she has never felt more alive. Maybe this is exactly the kind of world she was built for. And part of thriving in this cutthroat environment means cutting off the dead weight – even if that means putting other lives at risk…But even if she’s willing to sacrifice everything, can anyone really outlive the apocalypse?
Publication Date August 25th 2026 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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In this gothic historical tale, two girls must uncover the secrets of their haunted home before it’s too late.
The Harrow Home for Wayward Girls has long stood as a place of secrets. The estate has housed hundreds of young women hidden away during their pregnancies, their homesick cries echoing through the halls, providing a haunting score to Grace Harrow’s childhood.
Now, in the summer of 1947, the Home has been sold to a wealthy hotelier. Grace expects the new owner’s daughters to be spoiled. Yet Rose, the eldest daughter ― unaware of Mr. Harrow’s abusive tendencies ― is jealous of Grace’s seemingly easy confidence. But as they’re drawn into each other’s lives, an unlikely friendship begins to form. Fortunately so, because not all of the wayward girls made it out…
One still lingers. Lurking in the shadows. Looking for vengeance.
To expose the truth buried in the walls of the Harrow Home, Grace and Rose must unravel a legacy of silence and cruelty. But Grace’s father will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden, and if the truth comes to light, it could destroy both their families.
Publication Date August 25th 2026 by Penguin Workshop
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E. M. Carroll meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a dash of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in this debut young adult graphic novel that is a celebration of horror, queerness, and figuring out who you want to be.
There is a crypt that sits in the darkness… A crypt that exists across multiple realms, that houses your worst fears… And it’s coming to Widow’s Creek…
When seventeen-year-old Barnaby Jones comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they expect that to be the toughest part of their day. But it turns out the toughest part might actually be when their best friend, Fi, is kidnapped by a faceless killer who’s been abducting teens all across the small town of Widow’s Creek. Or is it when Barnaby unwittingly summons the undead and fabulous Queens of the Crypt through a portal in their bedroom closet?
Either way, the Queens — the Phantom, the Countess, Lady Invisible, the Creature, and the Bogeywoman — are here to help. As the horrors creep closer, can Barnaby work together with the scream queens to save Widow’s Creek from destruction and unmask the Faceless Frightener?
Publication Date September 1st 2026 by Bloomsbury YA
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Jennifer’s Body meets The Weight of Blood in this horror-comedy about an evil spirit looking for a second chance at love and life.
Just because Schuyler is a bloodthirsty evil spirit doesn’t mean she can’t fall in love. Ever since Wren Castillo moved into the house Schuyler haunts, Schuyler has been crushing hard. But Wren has a boyfriend, Enzo, and he’s the worst. Schuyler has no choice but to watch as Enzo treats Wren terribly – until she accidentally possesses him.
With Enzo’s spirit nowhere to be found, Schuyler must pretend to be him until she can set things right. But Schuyler feels more at home in Enzo’s body than she ever did in her own, and as she grows closer to his family and friends-including Wren-she starts to wonder if this could all be for keeps.
Maintaining a possession is harder than Schuyler expected, though, and it might just take some spilled blood to keep her new body going strong. Worse, it turns out she’s not the only one interested in stealing Enzo’s body. When another evil spirit threatens everyone Schuyler now holds dear, she must decide just how far she’s willing to go to secure her second chance at love-and life.
Publication Date September 1st 2026 by Annick Press
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A babysitter faces the horror of longing for a life that might destroy her in this haunting debut for fans of Trang Thanh Tran.
Sixteen-year-old Rachel Bei comes from a family of mediums and spiritual practitioners ― and she could not care less. Yes, there was that time she thought she saw her beloved wàipó not long after her death. But that was back in fifth grade, and grief does funny things to people. Now Rachel isn’t just a skeptic; she’s embarrassed by her mom’s beliefs. That’s one reason babysitting for the Morin family is so appealing. Their immaculate house and home-cooked dinners feel like an escape from Rachel’s messier life with her mom. The Morins may be moving through grief of their own, but Rachel is impressed by the sense of normalcy they’ve maintained for their daughter, Blythe…at least until Blythe tells Rachel she’s been speaking to her dead sister Maddie, and her ghost does not want Rachel in the house.
Drawing on Chinese folklore and suffused with a creeping dread that builds to a gruesome climax, this darkly immersive novel confronts family secrets, the stunning audacity of whiteness, and the ghosts we carry with us.
Publication Date September 1st 2026 by Bloomsbury YA
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From New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron comes a new horror novel about a group of teens with unique – and potentially deadly – gifts.
Moll, Redd, Agnes, and Ossie are powerful – and dangerous. But they don’t want people to fear them. They’ve spent their lives trying to understand and control their supernatural gifts, trying to help people instead of hurt them.
That’s why they offer paranormal investigative services to anyone who needs them. But when the case of a missing young woman brings them to an old (and potentially haunted) Victorian mansion, soon it’s the four teens who are in the greatest danger. The secrets they uncover about the paranormal forces inhabiting the house may shed light on the darkness that exists at the edge of their powers and finally help them gain control – if they can make it out alive.
Publication Date September 1st 2026 by Random House/Disney
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A spine-tingling young adult horror about the untold origins of Maleficent’s dark magic — because evil is seldom what it seems, from New York Times bestselling author, Delilah S. Dawson.
Her story begins once upon a nightmare…
Maleficent believes she is destined for great things. In her hometown, only fairies who sprout wings at age sixteen can learn magic — and though her family looks down on her, she knows that once her wings appear, they will finally recognize her potential.
But when the unthinkable happens and Maleficent is denied her destiny, she joins up with four other teens bent on defying their fates to venture beyond the town’s borders.
A mysterious force pulls at Maleficent, leading the group to an abandoned castle perched on a mountain. This strange place seems straight out of a dream, providing everything they need to survive and creating new rooms at will.
But something sinister is afoot, too: all exits are blocked, and shadows haunt the halls. As fear and paranoia tear the group apart, Maleficent is more determined than ever to be the mistress of her own destiny. In exchange for the magic she has long desired, she’ll do anything.
Anything.
From New York Times bestselling author Deliah S. Dawson comes a sinister novel positioning one of Disney’s darkest villains, that shows the power of desire and the importance of sacrifice.
Publication Date September 8th 2026 by HarperCollins
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From acclaimed author K. Ancrum, on the National Book Award longlist for The Corruption of Hollis Brown, and Lambda Literary Award winner for Icarus, comes a queer romantic horror thriller that is a love letter to Frankenstein about the consequences of our decisions, the legacy of family, and the depths we’ll go to be forgiven.
Victor Frankenstein is a young, wealthy, and brilliant prodigy who wants nothing more than to prove himself and change the world. His plan to right what he feels is wrong with the world? Reanimation of the sick and dying, bringing them back to life. But no one will give him the chance to prove his genius. However, one drunken night a bet is made, one that will cause Victor to do the unspeakable: take a teen boy from a small, neighboring village, and experiment on him under the dark of night. Elias Hilfiker. The boy who would become his monster. His curse. When Elias awakens, his voice is gone, his skin is stitched, scarred, and branded with strange symbols, and he’s abandoned by his loved ones. Meanwhile, Victor embarks on a journey to discover how to reverse the horror he’s unleashed, visiting dark alchemists in lands far and wide, gripped by fear and guilt.
But Victor’s act of resurrection creates a tether to Elias, leaving them feeling each other’s pain, joy, and regret, as the two each seek a way to end the other. As the two bound boys continue to search for answers and forgiveness, vengeance and mercy, the boundaries between what makes a man and what makes a monster will only get more blurred.
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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KPop Demon Hunters meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer in this sparkling, darkly funny young adult graphic novel following a teen pop star who must take up her missing mother’s demon-slaying mantle and battle her way through the monster-infested world of social media influencers.
To her fans, Mallori (heart over the i, thank you very much) is the ultimate teen pop star: platinum albums, a massive online following, and a glittery pink lifestyle to die for. But in her own life, Mallori Martin just wants to be her own person, free from the pressures of stardom — not to mention her mom-ager’s controlling hand.
After a particularly vicious fight with said mom, Mallori wakes to find her gone, with no clue where or why. In desperation, Mallori calls the police — whose search uncovers not her missing mother but several bodies buried in the basement of their Hollywood Hills mansion.
The bodies don’t stay secret for long, not with Mallori’s legions of fans watching her every move. With rumors flying about Mrs. Martin’s secret serial-killer lifestyle, Mallori flees the public eye, only to discover her mom was indeed living a double life: as a demon slayer.
She’s been abducted, and Mallori can’t let that fight be their last conversation. So to get her back, Mallori will have to pick up where her mom left off, hacking her way through demons and boogeymen — with all her trademark sparkle.
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by Soho Teen
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An elite, isolated Kenyan boarding school is terrorized by supernatural entities, grotesque maladies, and strange transformations in a chilling YA horror debut inspired by the urban legend of “night runners.” Perfect for fans of She Is A Haunting and White Smoke.
When Shani returns to her elite, isolated boarding school after her father’s mysterious death, she just wants to finish senior year with her scholarship intact — which means focusing on her work and staying out of trouble. Even with her best friend, Pendo, by her side, she’s never quite fit in at Taji Academy. But soon, strange things start happening at school — not only are students coming down with odd, grotesque skin maladies, someone is causing chaos on campus after curfew. Are they night runners, the supernatural entities that terrorize rural neighborhoods in the dark?
The strict administration insists it’s just students pulling pranks. Everyone knows that night runners are just an urban legend. But when one of the popular students, Adila, goes missing — and Shani wakes up one morning with mud on her feet, torn clothes, and a pounding headache — she knows it’s more than that. As she and others at Taji begin to transform with no way to contact the outside world, she must figure out what is happening — before it’s too late.
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by HarperCollins
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A school’s storied legacy cannot stop student’s whispers of mysterious disappearances and a legendary monster, in this terrifying new novel that will entrance fans of Madeline Roux and Claire Legrand.
Jess has always been a runner — always looking for an escape, no matter how many detention centers or “special schools” she’s been sent to. So when she receives a scholarship to the illustrious Danvers-Cutteridge in the mountains of West Virginia, her first plan of action is to find the fastest exit.
But Jess soon learns that this new school has secrets hidden beyond the grand staircases and storied past. A student has gone missing, and Jess’s new friends suspect that they haven’t been told the truth about the disappearance.
As Jess helps search for answers (and a way out), she discovers more of Danvers-Cutteridge’s unsettling history. The abuses and mutilations inflicted on past residents. The strange authority in the headmaster’s celebrated family tree. And the fearsome legend that has haunted the valley for decades — a mysterious girl, dressed in green.
Soon, Jess’s search will take her down into the heart of the school, through the closed-off parts of its history left forgotten in the dark. But walls and iron aren’t enough to keep the hungry darkness at bay…
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave…
The next eerie novel in the Bleak Haven series, in Vincent Ralph’s signature, terrifying style!
In 2008, Ethan’s older brother drowned in Bleak Haven’s cursed creek. While the coroner ruled out foul play, Ethan has always suspected that there’s more to the story.
Four years later, 18-year-old Ethan chooses the anniversary of the tragedy to finally return to the creek, attempting to gain the closure that has always eluded him.
What starts as a healing process aided by his loyal friends turns sinister when something emerges from the shadows: a figure that looks unnervingly like Ethan’s dead brother, begging for a sacrifice that could change everything.
As Ethan digs deeper into the creek’s dark history, he discovers that someone did return when all seemed lost. Maybe they were the ‘miracle’ child the news reports painted them as. Or perhaps they only came back because someone took their place.
If that’s true, Ethan really could bring his lost brother home. But how far is he willing to go…and at what cost?
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave…
The nail-biting conclusion to the Bleak Haven series, in Vincent Ralph’s signature, terrifying style!
The Fear Farm fright-fest is the one night of the year when Bleak Haven’s residents are happy to be afraid.
Most people turn a blind eye to the “accidents” that have previously blighted the attraction, but seventeen-year-old Tori Swift has other ideas.
Convinced that there’s an aspiring killer in their midst, Tori auditions alongside her classmates, perfecting her role as the ideal villain while secretly searching for the real thing.
But when tragedy strikes, a murderer is suddenly on the loose in a place where everyone pays to be terrified.
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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A twisty, off-the-rails mystery about seven teens, forced to spend a stormy — and deadly — night together. Perfect for fans of There’s Someone Inside Your House and No Place Left To Hide.
The members of the Coastal Canyon debate team have their reasons to hate each other: complicated pasts, thornier presents, a huge competition loss…Now they’re stuck at an Airbnb together for a night during what feels like the storm of the century. Can it get any worse?
Yes. Yes, it can.
A flat tire, a severed landline, someone’s unconscious, and there’s a body outside. The night is unraveling, and it’s becoming clear: no one is safe. But safe from who? A teammate? A teacher? Or is a stranger lurking nearby in the woods?
Seven students.
Three teachers.
One body.
Lock all the doors and trust no one.After all, death isn’t up for debate.
Publication Date September 15th 2026 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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Luminary is more than just a school. It is a test of moral fiber, strength of will, and human resilience.
Lia Michaels can pick any lock and break into most computer systems. But a life of delinquency has her bouncing between foster homes and juvie. So when she applies to Luminary Prep, a new experimental school created to challenge academic conventions, Lia is surprised by the acceptance letter that follows.
With state-of-the-art technology, fancy cafeteria food, and a campus that looks like a painting come to life, Luminary seems to be the break Lia needs. That is, if she can excel in class and be one of only five students who will be allowed to graduate.
But classes at Luminary are…odd. And dangerous. There is a death-trap obstacle course in Physics, a Chemistry exam with explosives, and guillotines in Political Science. As students keep vanishing, one by one, Lia starts to wonder if it’s not that five students will graduate — but that only five will survive.
Publication Date September 22nd 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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The teen daughter of an infamous serial killer must prove she isn’t the one behind recent copycat murders in this “tongue-in-cheek” (Booklist, starred review) graphic novel that’s a campy, feminist send-up of slashers that both celebrates and subverts classic tropes.
In the cozy town of Clossdale, a serial killer rampages! Five girls missing in as many weeks! Bodies turning up on the forest floor! And all fingers point to one vile fiend: Ash Hargreeves.
Except Ash didn’t do it. She may be the daughter of the infamous Clossdale Killer, and these copycat killings aren’t exactly convincing proof of her innocence — and okay, she’s kind of a weirdo who has two friends total, but when the murders strike a little too close to home, Ash decides to take a stand.
With the help of her besties, Ash is going to hunt down the killer, clear her mother’s name, and stop there from being any more dead girls — now and forever. After all, WWJLCD: what would Jamie Lee Curtis do?
Publication Date September 22nd 2026 by Delacorte Press
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A chilling Gothic horror novel set at a coed boarding school in Scotland, where a teen girl must not only fight against her monstrous male classmates but the monster growing within her after being cursed.
Every wish granted comes with strings attached. That’s how Catriona Cameron ends up with a scholarship to Floodbane Academy — an elite boarding school on the Isle of Skye she never applied to — where she’ll be one of only six girls to enter the castle’s unwelcoming halls.
She’s not looking for trouble. But after a few male students violently attack and make cruel wishes about her, Catriona is cursed with devastatingly good looks, unpredictable new powers, and an insatiable hunger to devour anyone who preys upon women.
As the cravings mount, so does the carnage. With every new taste, Catriona faces the possibility that she is becoming as monstrous as those she hunts. Is slaying the wicked truly worth the loss of her humanity?
Publication Date September 22nd 2026 by Wednesday Books
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For fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and highly bingeable thrillers, Lucy Kline, Necromancer, is a Nancy Drew-style murder mystery mixed with the occult.
It’s been two years since Lucy’s twin sister was presumed dead. As the only person who knew about Louisa’s plan to sneak out on the night she was killed, Lucy still feels responsible for her sister’s grim fate ― despite the fact that it was Lucy who eventually cracked the case, putting Louisa’s killer in jail.
Or so she thought.
When another girl who looks just like Louisa goes missing under similarly mysterious circumstances, and ghostly dreams begin to plague Lucy, she throws herself back into the investigation. The more clues she uncovers, the more her nightmares bleed into reality. And signs start to point to the impossible: necromancy.
With the help of her classmate Howie and a retired medieval history professor, Lucy must find the culprit behind these disappearances and finally come to terms with the grief that’s haunted her for years.
Publication Date September 22nd 2026 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Five years ago, the Poison Apple Carnival became a secret soaked in blood.
Everything about Pritchett High’s grisly Senior Scavenge massacre was erased. The internet was wiped clean. And the truth was buried beneath the reframe of a tragic car crash. But Dusty Nash is about to dig it all up. Driven by humiliation and resentment, and mentored by someone, or something claiming to be Blythe Lennon, Dusty revives the horrors of the Senior Scavenge.
Far away from Belldam, Texas, Violet Warren lives with the truth, its nightmares and ghosts.
When a new group of girls begins receiving candy-colored invitations to a resurrected Senior Scavenge, the language is disturbingly familiar with chilling rhymes and twisted rules. What’s new is the blackmail. Someone has been stalking them.
Violet’s only chance to stop another slaughter depends on her returning to her hometown to confront the violence she escaped… and the one who’s copying it. Because Blythe Lennon may be dead ― but her influence is not.
Whatever you do – Don’t. Go. Online.
Nightmare on Elm Street meets M3gan in this razor-sharp sequel that proves surviving the slasher doesn’t mean the nightmare is over.
Publication Date September 22nd 2026 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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Dark academia takes a fresh twist in this YA novel, where a determined high school senior strikes a bargain with a demon to win a coveted scholarship ― only to discover her rival has made the same deal.
Merritt Maldonado has done everything right. But for every club she’s founded, tree she’s planted, and sport she’s played, her academic nemesis Linus Lexington has been right there. By her side. Copying her every move.
And now they’re neck and neck for a coveted full ride scholarship. Desperate to gain an edge, Merritt finds herself making a deal with a demon. But when other applicants start dying in gruesome ways, Merritt realizes the demon is killing off her competition. And to make matters worse, she finds the demon’s mark on Linus.
Now Merritt and Linus’ souls are tied to the same deadly demon. With bodies piling up, they have to work together to break the pact, stop the killings, and maybe admit that the bond they share isn’t just supernatural…
Publication Date September 29th 2026 by Simon Pulse
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Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown In A Cornfield.
Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley — the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.
Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.
When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise — and will she still recognize herself by the end?
Publication Date September 29th 2026 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
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A stunning YA debut from gothic master Isabel Cañas, bestselling author of The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, and The Possession of Alba Díaz.
Despite near-constant political violence in the city and an abusive father at home, Minerva Treviño’s cowardice has kept her alive for sixteen years. But even she has a limit. Unable to take another beating or miss another meal, Minerva musters enough courage to flee to a neighborhood full of rich people loyal to the deposed fascist viceroy and take a job as lady’s maid to a wealthy widow.
Minerva is happy serving Encarnación del Valle. She has food in her belly and the safety of a warm house lit by magical chispa. Why should she care who runs the country or how her employer affords the magic?
When the viceroy sweeps back into power, Encarnación gleefully retreats to the family’s mountainside estate to wait out the inevitable slaughter of the viceroy’s enemies — and of course Minerva may join her. At la Casa de las Gardenias, Minerva is surrounded by more experienced servants and the cruel, scheming del Valles. But the living residents of the house are the least of anyone’s worries, and Minerva quickly discovers that the ancient estate is home to forces far older and more bloodthirsty than anything she could have imagined.
Publication Date October 6th 2026 by Pushkin Children’s Books
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Perfect for fans of Stranger Things, this chilling new young adult novel uncovers a cursed river and a village’s dark secret.
The North American debut of 2-time UK Carnegie Medal nominee Darren Simpson.
Nobody talks about the strange happenings in Maimsbury. No one speaks of the hooded figures glimpsed in the woods, nor the children’s game that went so horribly wrong. But most of all, nobody dares whisper their doubts about the river they have worshipped for centuries.
Like everyone in Maimsbury, Gorse is used to the sacrifices made every spring to the River Yeelde. The life of a farm animal – in return for a year of plenty – seems a fair trade. That is, until a tragedy leads him to a blood-curdling discovery.
Because this year is a Brim Year, and after giving so much, the river needs more than an animal’s life to sate its thirst…
Thirst is a gloriously spooky, folklore-inspired novel perfect for YA horror fans. Blending page-turning storytelling with powerful social commentary, 2-time UK Carnegie Medal nominee Darren Simpson delivers a savage critique on how we justify sacrificing others for our own good, and the importance of pushing back against the status quo when it is harmful or outdated.
Brilliant and bloodthirsty, this breathless narrative creeps up on you just like the infernal river that encaptures Maimsbury’s inhabitants in its deadly thrall.
Publication Date October 6th 2026 by Bindery Books
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The darkness isn’t empty. It’s hungry.
At the edge of the City of the Void, a massive chasm extends miles into the earth, its treacherous terrain overrun with vicious monsters and carnivorous plants. For orphaned best friends Petra and Jade, guiding treasure-seeking tourists down into the Void is the only way to earn enough to pull themselves up out of the slums for good.
Petra prefers to play it safe and take jobs only in the Void’s upper levels, where the dangers are better understood, while Jade wants to risk a descent to the deepest and most mysterious Sixth Layer. Because the deeper they go, the better the payout, and the sooner their dreams can become reality. Their friendship is Petra’s whole world, and Jade’s approval means everything — so Petra agrees to do it Jade’s way.
When their job goes wrong and Jade is lost in the Void, Petra must plunge deeper than she’s ever dared to save her friend. But she doesn’t know the truth of the Void…or what really waits for her in its depths.
Publication Date October 6th 2026 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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A teen girl faces the horrors of misogyny and racism — plus an evil witch and her horde of monsters — in this fun, fast-paced thriller.
Thulasi is the perfect daughter: she’s responsible, she never breaks the rules, and she’s always willing to babysit her seven-year-old cousin. Even on Halloween night.
But the night takes a horrifying turn when a simple playdate leads to accidentally summoning a horde of monsters out of a book of horror tales, along with her small town’s most famous author, Addison Greer — Thulasi’s literary hero. Except Addison has a more sinister scheme planned for her miraculous return: revenge on the family that wronged her.
Drawn into a bloodthirsty bargain with Addison, Thulasi will have to team up with Sam, the super cute quarterback in her class, and the only other teen stuck with babysitting duty on Halloween. They only have until midnight to foil Addison’s plans — while keeping their seven-year-old charges safe — or her monsters will destroy their town and everyone they love.
Publication Date October 13th 2026 by Delacorte Press
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A chilling romantic folk horror inspired by the legend of the Wild Hunt! Months after their harrowing final performance, a teen girl reunites with her acting troupe for a weekend in the woods — only to find something they awakened has followed them there.
There’s something on those moors that likes to hunt young maidens for sport…
Senior Hazel Fletcher is thrilled when she scores the lead in her high school theater group’s latest production: a doomed romance inspired by local legends of a fearsome huntsman who once rode over the moors. Reclusive and talented, the Edgemoor Players usually keep their parts — and their secrets — to themselves, most of all Roman Cavalero, their enigmatic leading man.
That was then. Now, months later, no one dares talk about the play, its disastrous final performance, or the eerie events that dogged their rehearsals.
When Hazel is unexpectedly reunited with her old castmates on an extra-credit camping trip, the group finds themselves holed up in a ruined church, deep within the wintry fold of an ancient wood. There, tragedy strikes, and Hazel and the rest of the Players are forced to confront old fears and reckon with a deadly truth: What they started last year isn’t over.
Months ago, the Edgemoor Players woke something up — and now it won’t rest until it hunts down its prey.
Publication Date October 13th 2026 by Feiwel & Friends
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Liliana “Lili” Garza hasn’t had a single moment of peace since her best friends were murdered at a graduation. A year later, Lili is barely scraping by. Now that her own high school graduation is fast approaching, reminders of the massacre are all around her, with news stories commemorating the anniversary of the Gatzville graduate murders and a town that refuses to let her forget.
But when one of Lili’s classmates is found dead at a party exactly one year after that horrific night ― killed by the same injuries that Lili herself had survived ― Lili realizes that someone is trying to recreate the past ― and this time, they might not let her escape. To stay alive ― again ― Lili must confront the ghosts of her past to find out who is coming for her, even if it means unearthing the painful memories she has buried deep down inside.
A tense thriller about the scars that trauma leaves ― and the lengths we will go to survive, despite the odds stacked against us ― this is a powerful YA novel that will stay with you long after the final page.
Publication Date October 13th 2026 by Wednesday Books
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Flickering neon lights and hot Miami nights turn deadly in this haunting gothic horror.
You may not escape, but the truth will.
Twenty-five years ago, the Ripley Memorial High School senior class entered the luxurious Kaleidoscope Key resort deep in the remote Florida Keys. By morning, almost all were dead. Despite international intrigue and years of investigation, no one truly knows how the 183 students died. And they never will, since the five survivors of the massacre have never spoken a word about what happened to them that night.
Paige Keller, daughter of one of the Kaleidoscope Key Massacre’s infamous survivors, has grown up determined to steer her life away from the resort and the unsolved mysteries her ex-best friend, KJ, can’t leave alone. But when she’s called home on the 25th anniversary of the massacre, she finds that KJ has gone missing.
Paige knows there’s only one place KJ could be: her obsession, the now-abandoned resort. When Paige and the remaining survivors’ kids go in after her, they’re forced to confront their ― and their parents ― pasts once and for all.
Kaleidoscope Key is waiting, and it’s starving. Once they find their way inside, there may not be a way out. And one way or another, the truth of the massacre will come to light.
Captivating and chilling, Courtney Gould’s Until The Last Light Goes Out is a tale you won’t soon forget: a horror story, a love story, and an ode to the pain passed between generations.
Publication Date October 20th 2026 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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When Sidney Cromwell moves to rural Forsyth County, Georgia from the big city of Atlanta, all he wants is to fit in at his new high school. But when Sidney nearly drowns in Lake Lanier, an allegedly haunted lake that is the site of numerous inexplicable freak accidents and deaths, he becomes a social pariah as he starts to suffer terrifying visions from the past and hauntings by apparitions calling him to Lanier.
Sidney returns to the lake for answers, and he finds in its murky depths the spirits of former residents from Oscarville, the Black town that lies beneath the man-made lake. They enlist Sidney to remind Forsyth of its devastating history and push its citizens to make amends so that the souls in Oscarville can finally rest.
But Sidney soon learns that people will go to great lengths to avoid facing truths they’d rather not hear. The people of Forsyth County refuse to acknowledge the past, and as Oscarville’s populace starts to lose their patience, their rage and thirst for vengeance rise like a tidal wave.
Poignant, timely, and utterly terrifying, this gripping supernatural thriller is perfect for fans of Internment, She Is A Haunting, and You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight.
Publication Date October 27th 2026 by Peachtree Teen
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Bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with another horrific YA thriller: a profound portrait of a struggling teen trying to convince the world — and himself — that he’s better than the serial killer who raised him.
Morgan Slaughter, a seventeen-year-old trans boy with autism, put his serial killer father in prison years ago. Despite that, everyone thinks Morgan will grow up to be just like his dad: including his volatile mother, the documentary crew following their family, and maybe himself.
Desperately, Morgan latches onto his father’s final victim—the only one who was never identified — hoping that if he unravels the mystery, he’ll finally prove he’s better than the man who hurt him. But this puts Morgan in the crosshairs of classmate Felicity Keating, who knows the truth about Morgan’s childhood — that he wasn’t just a witness to his father’s brutality, he was an accomplice. And if he doesn’t let them help with his investigation? They’ll tell everyone.
Forced to confront his past, Morgan’s ugly but carefully controlled world unravels. The film crew is manipulative. His mother’s temper spirals into malice, then violence. And Morgan and Felicity may be more tightly intertwined than either of them can stomach…
You’re No Better is a gritty and unapologetic coming-of-age suspense about teens who grew up surrounded by cruelty and are clawing their way to adulthood the only way they know how.
Publication Date October 27th 2026 by HarperCollins
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Long-held grudges and ancient evils come to roost in this psychological, speculative horror that’s Don’t Let The Forest In meets Stranger Things.
Nothing stays buried forever…
Ava learned the hard way that speaking up means being shut out. A social outcast, she finds comfort in her job at a wildlife rehabilitation center, surrounded by the injured, the damaged, and the lame. Best of all, the work distracts her from the night that changed her life — and the boy she holds responsible for it.
Micah knows he’s not a good guy. His past is littered with mistakes, accidents, and things he’d rather forget. But feeling guilty and accepting punishment are two different things. He doesn’t know which is worse — the weight of what he’s done…or the growing feeling that it’s all about to be dragged into the light.
Hailey will do whatever it takes to rise up from her life of abject poverty. The biggest weapon she has is her looks, and she’ll use it to get what she wants — the richest boy in town. When Ava’s claims threaten their relationship, Hailey knows she must silence her — maybe forever.
When Ava unknowingly awakens an entity that has been biding its time underground, the three teens will be brought together on a night when something wants to be born and only a death will balance the scales.
Publication Date October 27th 2026 by Feiwel & Friends
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CG Drews, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Don’t Let The Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.
The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He’ll be left behind with nothing but the ocean’s haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.
In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.
To his shock and horror, the ritual works ― Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can’t help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep’s adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.
But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.
