A Potion, a Powder, a Little Bit of Magic: Or, Like Lightning in an Umbrella Storm by Philip Stead

A delightfully chaotic and quirky fantasy of hope, love, loneliness, curiosity, whimsy, and friendship.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

An addictive, laugh-out-loud funny fantasy with Hindu mythology, sisterhood, and action galore.

Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster

A sweeping, immersive fantasy of fate and friendship brimming with Colombian mythology.

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee 

A propulsive, captivating space opera following an action-packed galactic quest with Korean mythology.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

A whimsical, heartwarming fantasy with a cozy atmosphere, adventure, and a fire demon.

Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson

A lively and cinematic fantasy illustrated by the author featuring witty characters, found family, and pirate shenanigans.

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

An eerie and enrapturing historical fantasy set in 1899 at the Biltmore Estate, featuring the lush Blue Ridge Mountains and a gripping mystery.

Shim Jung Takes the Dive by Julia Riew

A riveting, vibrant fantasy brimming with Korean folklore, sea-swept settings, and captivating characters.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill 

A spellbinding, touching fantasy with a cozy atmosphere, celestial magic, a small dragon, and a swamp monster.

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera 

A thought-provoking, creative sci-fi novel with Mexican folklore about the power of storytelling.

The Missing Magic of Sparrow Xia by Leia Ham

An exhilarating and enchanting fantasy illustrated by the author featuring fire magic, friendship, and mystery.

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

A splendidly chilling and humorous supernatural thriller brimming with ghosts, twists, and wit.

The Tear Collector by R. M. Romero

An atmospheric, heartfelt climate fiction tale of monsters, love, memories, and hope.

The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan by Jasmine Warga 

A vivid, thoughtful novel of friendship, grief, and belonging inspired by true stories from U.S. zoos.

Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate 

A sweet and tender novel in verse about community, change, love, and loss following a pup named Wombat after a devastating fire.

From spooky mysteries to spellbinding cozy fantasies to cinematic thrillers, there’s a little something for every middle-grade reader here. Happy reading!

The post 15 Must-Read Middle-Grade Books appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Fall is a season beloved by many around the world. The leaves change colour, the wind temperature drops, and pumpkin spice fragrance fills the morning air. Sweater season brings an onslaught of fashionable sweaters into the market and scarves are socially acceptable to wear. But best of all, this is the perfect weather to curl up with a book! Even though Halloween may now be behind us, there’s always time to enjoy a few books that may seep into your nightmares…

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Goodreads

With beautiful illustrations to accompany the story, Ghosts is about two sisters, Catrina and Maya, whose family has just moved to a town on the Northern California coast in hopes that the cool air will help Maya with cystic fibrosis to breathe better. Turns out that the town is full of ghosts, but the thing that haunts Catrina more than anything is that her sister might soon become one of them. Raina Telgemeier writes about a tough topic in a humorous way from the perspective of a child. Follow Catrina through her journey as she learns that sometimes ghosts aren’t the scariest things around.

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
Goodreads

A middle-grade novel about ghost hunters with special abilities, The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud is a thrill and the first book in the Lockwood & Co series. Anthony, Lucy, and George have various gifts that allow them to see, hear, and sense ghosts. Anthony Lockwood, the founder of Lockwood & Co, leads the group to various terrifying investigations as the group strives to solve hauntings around London. Screaming Staircase may be the talented trio’s biggest challenge yet.

A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah
Goodreads

This psychological thriller will haunt your thoughts until all the answers are revealed. After quitting her job as a TV producer, Justine moves to the countryside for some peace and quiet in her life, but she finds none when her daughter grows visibly more upset when her best friend is unjustly expelled from her school. When Justine talks to the principal to reconsider, she’s told that George hasn’t been expelled because George doesn’t exist. What is real? Who is lying? A series of threatening phone calls increases the drama and suspense as Justine tries to make sense of what is happening around her.

The Lost by Natasha Preston
Goodreads

A heart-pounding story of torture, violence, and hope amidst it all. When teens in their small town go missing one by one, Piper and Hazel suspect that these teens aren’t simply runaways as the police suggest. Kidnapped by three wealthy boys, Piper and Hazel find themselves amongst the missing teens in a building far into the woods locked away from the outside world. They are forced to play a game of torture their goal only to survive in this thrilling book of twists and turns.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Goodreads

An instant New York Times Bestseller, The Thirteenth Tale has also been adapted into a movie of the same name. Winter has spent six decades of her life telling stories that have kept her from her own past. At last, she is ready to reveal the truth to the world. To write her biography, she invites Margaret Lea who finds that Winter’s story curiously takes a parallel of her own. Read as Margaret unveils the truth from Vida as she is transformed by her haunting stories.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Goodreads

A stunning classic about a man, a woman, and another woman’s shadow. When Maxim de Winter proposes to the heroine, she is ecstatic as she is swept away to his massive country estate. She can’t believe her luck. But only when they arrive does she realise the part Maxim’s late wife plays in her new life. Rebecca although dead still feels very much alive to our heroine as she fears the death of her marriage at the hands of a dead woman.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Goodreads

The Blackwood family is met with distrust, fear, and hatred by the village people in New England where this story takes place. Everyone in the wealthy Blackwood family is dead except Mary, her sister, Constance, and her Uncle Julian. Six years ago, half the family was poisoned with arsenic in their food. This little family survives in complete isolation as the reader explores them through a set of events while the mystery of the murders hangs in the air.

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Goodreads

With supernatural powers and murder set in 1920s New York, The Diviners is the perfect binge read! Evie O’Neill is banned from her old hometown, so she packs her bags and heads for New York City to live with her Uncle Will, but Evie has a dark secret she is determined to keep: a supernatural power that has brought her nothing but trouble. But when a girl is murdered with a cryptic mark on her arm, she realises that her powers could be used to catch a serial murderer.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Goodreads

“Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.” Roger and Dodger are twins containing talents beyond human ability. Roger is skilled with words while Dodger is a magician with numbers. These abnormally talented beings aren’t quite human as they were made by an alchemist, Reed, who monitors their life from afar. He has a dangerous plan. A plan to raise the children into their highest power and claim their authority as his own. This book of fantasy breaks all rules, plays with the mind, and tells a story unlike any other.

Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Goodreads

Flora Dane was kidnapped and kept for 472 days where she learned just how much a person can endure. After surviving the ordeal, Flora learns to navigate life and strives to find a new sense of normal. When it is revealed that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society, it brings up the question: is Flora Dane a victim or a vigilante? The gruesome details of Flora’s kidnapping and the reality of the situation haunt readers worldwide in this fast-paced thriller.

You by Caroline Kepnes
Goodreads

One of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, You by Caroline Kepnes is a terrifying novel for the 21st century. When Guinevere Beck enters a bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, Joe is immediately taken by her. He googles the name on her credit card to find her public Facebook account learning everything he needs to know about her there. Since then, Joe obsesses over Beck going to extreme lengths to make his presence known in her life even if it means getting rid of a few obstacles.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Goodreads

A ground-breaking piece of horror fiction, the Pet Sematary by Stephen King is a scare like no other. Rather than lots of blood and gore, this novel is a slow-burning unease that explodes in the final chapters. Dr. Louis Creed’s home is located near a road that is often claims the lives of animals. Children in the area have created a growing cemetery for the animals killed on that road, but even further into the woods, Dr. Creed discovers an ancient Indian burial ground with sinister properties that are better read than said. The less you know going into this book, the better.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Goodreads

House of Leaves is a complex book that makes your mind work for it. It never hands you the information directly. It has an incredible way of crawling under your skin and taking root in your mind. This book will elicit a reaction from you. Anyone who has ever read this book always has something to say about it. House of Leaves is not an easy book which makes it the perfect for a spooky read.

Do you have any other spooky suggestions? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 13 Spooky Reads That Will Give You Goosebumps appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Plot (from Goodreads): “Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life. Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.”

Victorian London? Murder? Jack the Ripper? Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco is a book to enjoy during the crisp Autumn months while you are sitting by the fire. The descriptions are horrifyingly graphic and the mystery so tangible, which makes you feel as if you are right alongside Audrey as she attempts to figure out the ripper’s true identity.

Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Plot (from Goodreads): “When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in. For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions. Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.”

Though this series is geared more towards younger audiences as it is categorised as a Middle Grade, it can still be enjoyed by everyone (I for one am not in the younger audiences category). It is a perfect Halloween read for those looking for a creepy ghost story with elements of humour to lighten the mood.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Plot (from Goodreads): “One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone’s a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.  Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.”

A recent release, One of Us is Lying is more of a mystery than a thriller. This is a book that is made for you to race through in order for you to figure out who the culprit is and why they did it. It will leave you wondering until the very end, “Who killed Simon?”

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Plot (from Goodreads): “Shhhh! Don’t spread the word! Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island. You do not want to miss it. It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury. But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?”

Ten teenagers are invited to a lake house party where they are supposed to have the weekend of their lives. But what they get instead is a storm cutting them off from the outside world and teens getting killed, one-by-one. Filled with suspense and intrigue, this book is a perfect read for the Halloween season.

A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachman

Plot (from Goodreads): “Seventeen-year-old Anouk has finally caught the break she’s been looking for—she’s been selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780’s to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace has lain hidden and forgotten ever since. Anouk, along with several other gifted teenagers, will be the first to set foot in it in over two centuries.  Or so she thought. But nothing is as it seems, and the teens soon find themselves embroiled in a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have imagined. An evil spanning centuries is waiting for them in the depths.”

This is another thriller that left me breathless and desperately wanting more. Set in modern-day, a group of teenagers are chosen to help with the excavation of an underground palace, but the mission turns out to be a lot different from they thought. Twists and turns make up this creepy thriller that will leave you gasping for breath.

Which one of these have you read or want to read this Halloween season? Tell us in the comments below!

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