Cozy Halloween Books to Curl Up With

With multiple timelines and points of view, Black Candle Women follows generations of the Montrose women, Augusta, Victoria and Willow, as they come to terms with their own family curse: any person that they fall in love with will die. Set in both present-day California and 1950s New Orleans, we learn about hoodoo and family secrets that have been kept for decades. This book is perfect for fans of Practical Magic, intergenerational dramas centering Black women or magical realism.

Lenna Wickes, a scientific-minded person who is desperate to find anything about her sister Evie’s killer, teams up with renowned spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire in 1873 Europe. Vaudeline, who frequently performs seances in order to solve crimes, is tapped to solve a high-profile murder, recruiting Lenna as her assistant. The women are hired by Mr. Morley, vice president of the London Seance Society, whose president died the same night as Evie--All Hallow’s Eve. Are the deaths connected? What happened to them? With a pinch of Gothic and a splash of cozy mystery, The London Séance Society will delight readers drawn to historical fiction. 

Mika Moon thinks that she’s one of the only witches in England when she receives a letter from Nowhere House, asking her to come teach three young witches their magic. There, Mika meets a lovely cast of characters: Ken and Ian who are the married proprietors of Nowhere House, Lucie the housekeeper, and Jamie the surly librarian (who is at first very suspicious of Mika but his feelings quickly change and blossom into something more). With a found family theme at its core, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a sweet fantasy-tinged story sure to warm your heart. Recommended for fans of The House on the Cerulean Sea.  

What’s better than a Halloween rom-com? A Halloween rom-com set in Chicago starring a library worker and a vampire, of course! Cassie is about to get evicted and is searching for a new apartment when she stumbles upon a Craigslist ad for a roommate. The apartment seems too-good-to-be-true, with a cheap price tag and a convenient location, so she snatches it up immediately. Her new roommate, Frederick, always seems to be out at night, but his awkwardness is made up for by his supportiveness of Cassie’s artistic career. But when Cassie finds blood bags in her refrigerator, Frederick has a confession to make: he’s a vampire. My Roommate Is A Vampire is a quirky comedic romance that is bitingly humorous and straight-up fun. 

I always like to reread one of my favorite novels, The Secret History, in the fall.  Set at a prestigious private college mainly in autumn, the novel follows a group of wealthy classics students (and one student, our narrator, who comes from a less-privileged background) who must go through great lengths to cope with and cover up a murder of one of their classmates. Originally published in 1992, Donna Tartt’s first book remains a popular pick for this season, as it's thrilling without being too gruesome. The gorgeous prose and the dark academia setting is perfect to read outside on a crisp fall day. 

Pumpkinheads is a graphic novel by acclaimed author Rainbow Rowell and illustrated beautifully by Faith Erin Hicks, following high schoolers Deja and Josiah, who have worked together for years at their seasonal job at a pumpkin patch in Omaha, Nebraska. Now seniors, the dynamic duo begins to worry when they realize that sometimes your workplace friendships fizzle out when the job ends. Technically this is a teen graphic novel, but this story is so sweet and the pumpkin patch setting will give you the warm fuzzies.  

What spooky-not-scary book are you picking up this Halloween season?