Our Favourite Spooky Season Reading List: Romance Edition

Spooky Season is our absolute favourite time of year!

Frustratingly, we don’t have the same fall/autumn change of the seasons as the UK or US, but we make sure our October TBR list gives us ALL the spooky season vibes!

Whether you like your love stories brooding and gothic, bloody and unhinged, or cozy with a dash of pumpkin spice, we’ve got your October TBR covered.

These are the books that will haunt your mind long after you’ve closed the cover, the ones that will have yu telling yourself “just one more chapter” and will give you all the thrills.

So light a candle, pour your drink of choice, and get ready for our favourite spooky subgenres of the season!

Let’s summon your next obsession 💋

🏰 Gothic Fantasy & Romance

If your ideal night in involves a thunderstorm, a haunted estate, and a love interest who’s definitely hiding a few secrets in the west wing, plus an unhealthy amount of yearning… then you’re in for a treat.

These reads deliver all the moody atmosphere, candlelight tension, and whispered confessions your heart desires.

Looking for even more gothic book recs? Our Must-Read Gothic Romance Recs blog has enough books to serve you haunted hearts and slow-burn chills all season long.

1. Nocticadia by Keri Lake

**Professor x Student**

Secrets, obsession, and dark desire collide in this atmospheric tale of love that defies the grave.
Nocticadia is a haunting, slow-burn gothic romance set on a cursed island where the dead never rest.
When determined student Lillia, enrolls at Dracadia University in search of answers, she finds more than just ghosts.
She finds *him*: her forbidden, devastatingly handsome professor, known on campus as Doctor Death.

2. Gothikana by RuNyx

Think *Beauty and the Beast* meets *Dracula!*

No gothic romance list is complete without *Gothikana*. Set in a crumbling castle full of secrets, this dark academia tale blends mystery, obsession, and forbidden love in the most deliciously eerie way. This is a haunting, slow-burn romance that proves danger has never looked this good.
**An unusual girl. An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?**

3. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

This is a *chef’s kiss* gothic story 🤌💋

Mist, monsters, and a mind that isn’t entirely her own. Elspeth shares her skull with the Nightmare, an ancient spirit who protects her… for a price. Teaming up with a treasonous, dangerously charming highwayman to hunt magical Providence Cards, she’s pulled into a lush, eerie quest where desire and doom walk hand in hand.
Add this one to your TBR if you love atmospheric worlds, magic, and the concept of battling the monster within.

👻 Paranormal Romance

Witches, vampires, ghosts and morally grey demons who might call you “little mortal.” Is it even spooky season without a supernatural love interest (or three)?

Expect fangs, magic, and the kind of chemistry that defies mortality. The paranormal subgenre is absolutely huge so this is just a shortlist of our top paranormal reads that we believe DEFINITELY belongs on your October TBR list.

1. Witch Of The Wolves by Kaylee Archer

Witches, werewolves, and one dangerously hot Alpha heir!

*Witch of the Wolves* is the first book in this Victorian romantasy series. When Cordelia learns she’s half witch, half lycan, she’s dragged from her cozy London apothecary into a pack power struggle… and straight into the orbit of her infuriatingly magnetic captor, Bishop.
Expect magic, betrayal, and slow-burn tension in this dark, sensual tale perfect for fans of *ACOTAR* and *From Blood and Ash*.

2. Her Soul To Take by Harley LaRoux

**Cults, demons, possession, and a love story that burns straight through hell.**

If you like your paranormal romance extra filthy and a little unholy, *Her Soul to Take* absolutely delivers.
When a ghost-hunting student accidentally summons a demon instead of finding one, she becomes the obsession of Leon — a killer magician with a dark past and darker desires.
This one’s pure sinful chaos and not for the faint of heart, but definitely for the fearless.

3. Soul Searching by Lyla Sage

**A little bit spooky, a whole lot swoony 😉**

*Soul Searching* is the perfect cozy paranormal romance for fall. When down-on-her-luck Collins returns to her haunted hometown, she moves in with a brooding small-town upholsterer who doesn’t believe in ghosts… yet.
Between meddling spirits, emotional baggage, and undeniable chemistry, this story proves that sometimes love really does come from the other side.

💀 Masked / Serial Un-Alivers / Stalker

Listen, babe — we read, we don’t judge. 😉

If your October TBR is already full of dark romance, we’re here for it. But if you’re looking to add a few more dangerously addictive reads, we’ve got you covered.

These books will deliver pure chaos: masked men, knives, and enough obsession to power a small town. Proceed with caution (and maybe a fan 🥵)

1. Corrupt by Penelope Douglas

**Masked Men** • **Forbidden Desire** • **Revenge Plot.**

The book that started it all for us. *Corrupt* was our gateway into the dark romance spiral, and we’ve never looked back. This one delivers everything the genre is famous for: obsession, danger, power, and heat that borders on sinful.
When good-girl Rika crosses paths with her boyfriend’s older brother, the one she’s feared *and* fantasized about for years, her world unravels into chaos. Twisted games, revenge, and forbidden attraction collide in this addictive, high-stakes classic that defined the dark romance era.

2. Carving for Cara by Melissa McSherry and Dana LeeAnn

Masked Man • Halloween Night • Predator/Prey

If *Corrupt* is dark, *Carving for Cara* is full-on midnight. Set against a Halloween backdrop, this standalone delivers everything we love about the masked-man trope — danger, dominance, and a heroine who refuses to cower.
When a mysterious stranger marks Cara as his prey, their game of fear and desire turns blood-red and beautifully twisted.
Perfect for readers who like their dark romance with knives, masks, and a little bit of mayhem.

3. Ours for Halloween by Violet Taylor

Dangerous, decadent, and utterly unholy!

A spicy, supernatural treat for the boldest dark romance readers.
When Evie follows a masked stranger into the woods on Halloween night, she stumbles into the hands of three monstrous men with appetites far darker than she imagined.
This *why choose* novella is pure chaos in the best possible way.

💀 Cute, Cosy Halloween Reads

As much as we love a book with a vampire MMC who has centuries of emotional baggage, we get that everyone has different reading preferences. Not everyone wants to cry over cursed lovers, be chased through the woods by a masked man or have a dose of fear or thrill for their October TBR list.

So if you’d rather curl up with a blanket with a cute, cozy read, maybe a pumpkin spiced latte then the next book on our list are light on the trauma but heavy on the fun and feet kicking swooning!

1. Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver

Grumpy x Grumpy • Forced Proximity • Small Town Romance

Tourist Season is a darkly funny, slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance where destruction and desire are balanced on the edge of a blade and where love is the most dangerous battleground of all.
If you’re looking for a soft entry to dark romance, then this is the perfect choice. Brynne Weaver’s use of dark comedy gives this book a perfect juxtaposition of mundane small-town life with a dash of calculated murder.

2. Crazy Spooky Love by Josie Silver

Ghosts • Gossip • A *very* inconvenient love triangle

Fun and lighthearted, this book is perfect for a cosy halloween read.
When medium Melody Bittersweet opens her own ghostbusting agency, she’s ready to help restless spirits move on. What she was NOT prepared for, was getting tangled up with her fame-chasing ex *and* a maddeningly handsome skeptic reporter.
This paranormal rom-com is packed with heart, humor, and hauntingly good banter.

2. Love at First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi

Grumpy x Sunshine • Slow Burn • Paranormal

A haunted manor. A brooding movie star. A horror author who can actually *see* ghosts 👀👻
When Rosemary’s bestselling novel becomes a film, she’s not thrilled about the Hollywood heartthrob cast as her leading man, especially when the mansion they’re filming in turns out to be haunted.
This cosy paranormal romance delivers all the slow-burn spice.

That’s a wrap on our Spooky Season book recs. Sorry but not sorry for adding EVEN more books to your already endless TBR 😬

We hope this list has given you some spicy, spooky and sinful reads for your October TBR!

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The Ultimate October TBR List