Every time I read a haunted house book, I am singing to myself: “I think your house is haunted, Your dad is always mad and that must be why…” (that’s a Taylor Swift reference, for everyone who successfully lives under a rock). I am new to horror and have found out that I absolutely love a haunted house book where the ghost is not just a simple apparition who used to live in the house and is trying to get the new owners out of there (I am looking at you Conjuring).

Given how much I have been enjoying reading these haunted house books, I have not gone actively searching for a list. Mood reading my way through my TBR and new releases have got me into this weirdly decrepit house situation in books. Now you get the best picks from haunted house books that I have already read and am currently reading.

Gallant by V. E. Schwab

There’s a door in the garden wall that you are not supposed to open. When Olivia gets to the house she might have a claim to, she sees something beyond it. Who is on the other side of the door? Why is the master of the house dying of mysterious wounds?

This house is properly haunted. Okay, maybe not this exact house, but this house in another reality. V. E. Schwab really writes multiverses to perfection and while this is not the expansive world of the Shades of Magic series, she weaves the same magic in this standalone eerie book.

The tenderness that Schwab adds to a story that is essentially a haunted-house book is exemplary. There is a magical aspect of guardians and nature being affected by decaying magic if those guardians fail to protect. These elevate the plot beyond just horror for readers looking for more.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

You know there are books that alter your brain chemistry, find you a new favourite author and get you a genre and book to obsess over for the next decade? Starling House by Alix E. Harrow was that book for me. I am making my way slowly through her backlist to savour the works of the author and the payoff has been incomparable so far.

As you can probably already guess, I recommend Alix E. Harrow as an author overall and Starling House is a great starting point. The house here is not so much haunted by ghosts as there are beings finding their way into the real world from there. The rumours and speculations around the lone house on the hill and its occupants have created an air of mystery and has given the house a story that is not entirely the reality of the situation.

So when Opal’s life is threatening to turn upside down all over again and she lands a cleaning job at the mysterious house with the recluse master, she has secrets to uncover. Whatever is in the house follows her home and invades her dreams, she cannot escape it. But there might be more to it as it calls her to the house, she has something to do there.

Generational curse, multi-dimensional storytelling across timelines and a potent eco-criticism that is patent to Harrow’s work at this point — these aspects turn Starling House into more than a haunted house horror story.

You Did Nothing Wrong by C. G. Drews

You already know that it is not going to be a simple haunting in the house if the book is on this list, but you would not be able to guess what is actually in the walls. C. G. Drews is phenomenal at building an eerie atmosphere and make you look over your shoulder as you read the book. They do not miss in this latest work as well.

You Did Nothing Wrong by C. G. Drews is all about this woman moving to America with her fiance and son. But her secrets are haunting her across the world and the man she followed here is not who he says he is. Secrets are galore in this house and the house itself is hiding a deadly secret itself.

What I could not figure out till the very end was the why of it. The reveal of that while this plot progresses is done so well that this story becomes almost a thriller with a very eerie atmosphere. This sentient house is my favourite haunted house on this list.

You can check out the full review here.

The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton

A Mormon society is the focus of this book where Hazel is married off to a mysterious man almost against her own wishes to be his fourth wife. 1879 is plunged into 1500s with how isolated their society and thinking are in The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton.

Our protagonist, Hazel, is prone to daydreaming. She is imaginative, free-thinking and creative. She is also anxiety prone. Naturally, the society she belongs in labels her a sort of problem child. She is constantly reigning in all of her instincts. But this new house, new sister-wives and new husband have put her mind in a state where she is constantly uneasy.

The feeling of being watched has been haunting her and she reacts to nothing. The new people she is supposed to impress are already looking at her strangely. But she is almost sure that the house is sentient, the piano in the attic is being played and everybody is hiding something from her.

I am currently making my way through this book and the intrigue in this eerie atmosphere with its feminist slant of narrative has been captured in the plot. Please join me in reading this book over on Threads and share your thoughts.

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Have you read any of these books yet? Are there other books with similar vibes on your TBR? Drop them in the comments below!