Hi loves! Today we have my friend Emily sharing some creepy reads with you! Em is one of my favorites and as we both love horror, I am going to comment after her recommendations so you can hear my thoughts as well! Take it away, girl!

I’m so excited to have the chance to join you today and grateful for the opportunity to guest post! Alyssa is so fun to follow on twitter. She’s snarky, honest and hilarious. We share a love of Neil Gaiman, the fall season and Halloween. Obviously, since she loves Gaiman, she has great taste in authors and books. Obviously some of you are not as refined as we are and might not enjoy horror. That’s ok, we can work on it. Today I’d like to share with you some Halloween reads, in order from slightly creepy to scare your socks off. I tried to choose a mix of older stories and newer releases. These perfect for a dark night when you are home alone and need some company. (She’s right, I am snarky and honest. Okay, and hilarious ;D)

Odd Thomas

This is not your typical horror series. Odd is quick to point out that he’s just a simple fry cook at the local diner. He just happens to be able to see the dead. Dead people don’t talk but they do try to communicate with odd and send him messages. This series is different. There’s always something dark lurking around the corner. However, Odd is such a ray of light, it’s hard to be too concerned. (Okay so I have never read any Koontz…I don’t know why but I have never really been interested! I do like the whole “I see dead people thing” this has going on though..)

John Dies at the End

So weird. That’s the only way to describe this book. Without ruining anything, the basic premise is that when two burnouts take a new drug called soy sauce, it causes them to see a whole new layer of the world. Suddenly they can see all sorts of things that people weren’t meant to see. They can’t unsee it and now everything in this hidden layer of the world can also see them. (I have NEVER heard of this and it sounds so trippy!! Adding it to the TBR)

Through the Woods

I never would have thought a graphic novel could be so creepy before reading this one. It’s a series of short stories. Several of them are gruesome fairytale retellings that would be right at home in the original Brother’s Grimm. I think what really sets the tone is the art style. It’s dark with muted colors and then brilliant pops of red for emphasis. If you aren’t sure about this, I would highly recommend checking out this website http://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html His Face All Red is included in this book and it’s a great example of the style and tone of this collection. (I LOVE THIS BOOK WITH A FIERY PASSION!! IT WAS WRITTEN JUST FOR ME!! That is all.)

HeartSick is a serial killer novel so it could be considered mystery or thriller. Archie Sheridan was kidnapped and tortured by Gretchen Lowell 2 years ago. Now she’s in jail and he can’t forget or move on. Someone else starts killing and of course is seems like Gretchen Lowell might know something about it. The interactions between Archie and Gretchen in this book are just chilling. This book is psychological horror and Chelsea Cain is a master. (Hmm another that I haven’t heard of! Psychological horror though, sign me up!)

Finally, House of Leaves. This might be my favorite horror novel of all time. It’s a story within a story. Unfortunately, it’s better to go into this one blind, so I’m not going to tell you much about it. If you enjoyed Illuminae’s use of primary sources, I think you will enjoy this book. It uses a really unique formatting to illustrate the story. This book is incredibly unsettling and hard to get over once you’ve read it. (Oh my god. I tried to read this last year and just COULD NOT get through it!! It was so hard to read and I just couldn’t fall into it but my brother said it terrified him!! I might have to try again. Sigh.)

I’d like to leave you with this horror short that popped up on my facebook while I was writing this post. I screamed, I’ll admit it. Did you? (You should all also go check out “Lights Out” a short horror film. Honestly terrified me and my threshold is SUPER high…)