The Ladies of Horror Fiction team is putting a spotlight on Young Adult and Middle Grade horror each month. Below we are featuring the books that were released in September as well as what our team has been reading and reviewing.
New Releases
The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this funny, action-packed novel about a coven of witchy babysitters who realize their calling to protect the innocent and save the world from an onslaught of evil.
Seventeen-year-old Esme Pearl has a babysitters club. She knows it’s kinda lame, but what else is she supposed to do? Get a job? Gross. Besides, Esme likes babysitting, and she’s good at it.
And lately Esme needs all the cash she can get, because it seems like destruction follows her wherever she goes. Let’s just say she owes some people a new tree.
Enter Cassandra Heaven. She’s Instagram-model hot, dresses like she found her clothes in a dumpster, and has a rebellious streak as gnarly as the cafeteria food. So why is Cassandra willing to do anything, even take on a potty-training two-year-old, to join Esme’s babysitters club?
The answer lies in a mysterious note Cassandra’s mother left her: “Find the babysitters. Love, Mom.”
Turns out, Esme and Cassandra have more in common than they think, and they’re about to discover what being a babysitter really means: a heroic lineage of superpowers, magic rituals, and saving the innocent from seriously terrifying evil. And all before the parents get home.
Published September 17th 2019 by Delacorte Press | Goodreads | Amazon
The House of Bones by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Seventeen-year-old Aderyn (“Ryn”) only cares about two things: her family, and her family’s graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don’t always stay dead.
The risen corpses are known as “bone houses,” and legend says that they’re the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it about Ellis that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?
Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the long-hidden truths about themselves.
Published September 24th 2019 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Goodreads | Amazon
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister–at all costs.
Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?
It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca–before she’s lost forever. And even though she’s hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends–and their cameras–following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.
Published September 24th 2019 by Viking Books for Young Readers | Goodreads | Amazon
The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring
Simmering in Patagonian myth, The Tenth Girl is a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist.
At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi—a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother—it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls.
Mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house—despite warnings not to roam at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of mysterious Others. But one of Mavi’s ten students is missing, and when students and teachers alike begin to behave as if possessed, the forces haunting this unholy cliff will no longer be ignored.
One of these spirits holds a secret that could unravel Mavi’s existence. In order to survive she must solve a cosmic mystery—and then fight for her life.
Published September 24th 2019 by Imprint | Goodreads | Amazon
Young Adult Books Reviewed
Wilder Girls is becoming a fast LOHF favorite. This month Audra read and loved Wilder Girls as well! Be sure to check out Audra’s full review (This is an amazing book—one that I’m so excited that is marketed to teens, but that I’m also glad is resonating with the adult audience.)
Toni read and reviewed Kate Alice Marshall’s Rules for Vanishing. You can check out Toni’s full review at Misadventures of a Reader (Marshall was very clever in how she put this book together.)
This month Emily enjoyed both These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling and House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig. Be sure to read Emily’s review of The Witches Don’t Burn (If you’re looking for a witchy (and gay!) book to read next month, this is definitely one to pick up.) and her review of House of Salt and Sorrows (House of Salt and Sorrows is a fantastic retelling, and it would be a great pick to read during spooky season!)
Laurie enjoyed the audiobook production of Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich. Check out Laurie’s full review (It is an atmospheric creepfest of the creepiest order. The audio production only enhances that and I LOVED the experience.)
Middle Grade Books Reviewed
Toni also read and loved Dead Voices, the sequal to Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. You can read her full review here (I love the entire message that Arden has throughout this series.)
Upcoming Reviews
Jen read Mary Downing Hahn’s Deep and Dark and Dangerous and Toni read Doll Bones by Holly Black. Stay tuned for our upcoming reviews!
Currently Reading
Laurie is currently reading The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White. The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein is one of Emily’s favorite YA horror novels from this year. Stay tuned for Laurie’s review of this one as well!
Have you read any of the books we read or reviewed this month? Let us know what YA or MG books you have read recently!
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