Autumn is in the air, and you know what else is? Fall books! Whether you love reading or loathe it, we are positive that at least one of our Fall selections will pique your interest. So, snuggle up with a blanket and grab a warm cup of cider, because we’re about to count town our top (wink) YA recommendations for this spooky fall season! 

1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Tags: Law & Crime, Prejudice & Racism, Social Themes, Thriller/Suspense, YA fiction

Calling all true crime enthusiasts and detective devotees, time to bring out the red yarn and thumbtacks because Jackson’s latest trilogy was made for you! 

Enter Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi: a high-school senior who’s infatuated with the five-year-old homicide haunting her town. In the community’s eyes, the case is settled: pretty and popular pupil Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. But let us be honest, when are things every what they seem? Overwhelmed by the sense that Sal couldn’t possibly have been a killer, Pip schemes to revisit the case for her final senior project. What begins as an attempt to dismantle the town’s blind acceptance of the original case, quickly transforms into something far more sinister when Pip discovers she may be able to prove more than she intended – perhaps even Sal’s innocence. Follow Pip’s adventure to uncover the truth before time runs out, and the investigator becomes the investigated. 

Don’t be shy! Read all about how this investigation transforms into an obsession this Fall! 

TW: murder, death threats, drugs, racism, sexual assault (mentioned), self-harm/suicide, verbal and psychological abuse

2. Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer 

Tags: Action & Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Monsters, YA Fiction

It takes a special kind of monster to dismember supernatural corpses and sell them without remorse. 

Nita has never murdered anyone in her life – no she simply dices their bodies postmortem and prepares them for purchase. Her mother is the killer, Nita just does as she is told – the task she was trained for. It sounds preposterous, but this is Nita’s life, and she’d wish for nothing else. That is until her mother brings home a live “specimen” and demands Nita carry out the routine. Driving a scalpel into a teenage boy begging for his life is simply a line Nita won’t cross. She is done. 

However, in deciding to save her mother’s latest target, Nita inadvertently places herself in the worst position imaginable – sold in his place. Just like the bodies she dissects, Nita isn’t entirely “human”. She possesses the ability to modify her biology, making her one of the biggest cash grabs on the black market. Now stuck in a cage, stolen a thousand miles away from “home”, Nita must do whatever she can to survive – no matter how monstrous.  

Join Shaeffer’s bunch of marvelous morally gray characters in this YA trilogy this Halloween! 

TW: emotional abuse, drugs, descriptions of blood and gore, murder, violence

3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Tags: Family, Fantasy & Magic, Horror, Juvenile fiction, Parents

Whether you were scarred by the movie or heard the lore of this classic children’s scare, we all know this cute button of a story. Coraline is a girl unsatisfied with her monotonous realm, so when she finds a little door in her new house, it doesn’t take much to entice Coraline to enter. On the other side lay a world much like her own – only better. However, with this other world, there comes another mother and another father who make some intense demands. They wish to change Coraline, swapping her doe eyes with plastic buttons, so she can stay with them in this fantastical world forever. Using her wits and all of her mighty youthful strength, Coraline must outsmart her Other Mother before she won’t be able to return to her ordinary life ever again.

Charming and agonizingly strange, Gaiman’s children’s classic Coraline remains a terrifying nostalgic read even adults can’t shake. Perfect for this Halloween season!!

4. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Tags: LGBTQ+, transgender, fall, paranormal

Hidden away in a corner of Los Angeles is a cemetery which is home to a tight-knit Latinx community who also happen to be in charge of monitoring ghosts. Yadriel is the child of the chief and transgender, a concept that his family continues to struggle with, leaving Yadriel frustrated. To prove himself as a worthy member of his family, he and his cousin Maritza perform a traditional ritual, but everything goes downhill when Yadriel’s cousin dies mysteriously, and Yadriel, trying to figure out the culprit, summons the wrong ghost. That ghost turns out to be Julian Diaz, the ultimate bad boy, who also died under strange circumstances. Counting down the days until Julian’s ghost turns “evil” and with two killings on their hands, Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza must solve this mystery before their time runs out.

TW: transphobia, homophobia, death, gender dysphoria, character abuse

5. The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Tags: Romance, found family, paranormal

Blue Sargent, the only non-psychic in her psychic family, has always been told that, were she to ever kiss her true love, she would kill them. When a ghost speaks to her on the night where her family takes note of the soon-to-be-dead, it can only mean two things: either he is her one true love, or she will kill him. She meets the boy she saw and his group of private school friends soon after, and, soon discovering there is more to him than she previously thought, she sets off on an unknown and exhilarating quest. 

The privileged rich boy on a mission

The troubled and fierce punk

The scholarship kid

The quiet yet observant boy 

And Blue. 

6. Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1) by Kerri Maniscalco

Tags: murder mystery, enemies to lovers, humor, spooky

So, you think you know the story of Jack the Ripper… well think again! The daughter of a lord, Audrey-Rose Wadsworth’s whole life has been planned for extravagance and wealth, but behind her family’s back, she secretly pursues her dreams of becoming a forensic scientist by apprenticing in her uncle’s laboratory. It is there that she meets the young, charming Thomas Cresswell…whom she immediately despises. Before either can work out their issues with one another, the gruesome murders of Jack the Ripper force them to partner up to discover the crimes’ true perpetrator. 

This book will leave you wanting more mysteries from this daring heroine and her wildly spooky tales! 

TW: murder, toxic parenting, sexism, gore

7. The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Tags: puzzle games, mystery, Knives Out vibes, thriller

Avery Grambs is living on the edge of poverty when she receives shocking news: she has just become heir to billions. With no relation whatsoever to the late billionaire in question, Tobias Hawthorne, Avery is thrown into the middle of his household and his family whose money she has just “taken.” Not to mention, his four brilliant grandsons who have all grown up knowing they would inherit their grandfather’s fortune. Recipe for disaster. With no clear reason why she has been selected, and clues and puzzles everywhere she looks, Avery is determined to find out why she, of all people, was chosen to be the old riddle lover’s heir. But to do that will require one last game.  

TW: abusive relationships, cheating, murder/attempted murder