Recs if you like Where I End...
it’s complicated: mother-child relationships
Fiction & nonfiction books that explore the complexities and traumas of mother-child relationships or in which such relationships play a central role. While many books on this list are what I’d classify as including “mommy issues” there are others that are more about the different perspectives and nuances of the mother-child (often specifically mother-daughter) relationship. Some books center the child, some the mother, some both.
Suggestions are welcome.
assigned by frankie
almost every single book mentioned* on Frankie's Shelf youtube channel because their taste is wild and i love it.
updated as frankie posts. *mentioned as in the book is the focus of the video, listened in the description, or offhandedly said.
Weird Gurls Read Weird Horror
the gurls NEED to read horror books 💋 i wouldn’t say these are all horror but that’s left to the reader to make that assumption
Feral and Hysterical: Works by Women
List of recommendations included in Sadie Hartmann's Feral and Hysterical: Mother Horror’s Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women.
Pairs with 50 States, 50 Books by Women list.
Cunty Sapphic Horror
Horror recs for the weird sapphic girly pops
Aardvark Book Club master list
Every single Aardvark Book Club book pick since its inception. Updated monthly!
Irish Horror Fiction
Horror and horror-adjacent books set in Ireland and/or by Irish authors. I welcome additional recs!
Let's get weird and existential!✌️🤪
Books that make you feel things. Or want to feel things. Or unsure of what you're feeling. Things get weird, you're unsettled and on the edge of your seat, and you can feel your brain physically rewiring itself while you're left questioning "WTF did I just read, and what do I do now?" The answer, of course, is to touch grass and read the next book on the list.
Femgore
Horror stories focusing on female characters who commit acts of violence rather than being the victims.
grief is a journey
fiction books centered around characters processing grief 🦋
Scream Queens
A reading list celebrating the women who know exactly how to get under your skin! Thankful for the gurlies!!!
oh brother, this guy stinks! 🍅
books to hate-read, recommended by the pagebound club comments
people hate the character(s) but they couldn't put the book down 😋
(antihero, villain protagonist, unreliable narrator, etc.)
boo!! tomato tomato!! 🍅🍅🍅
Widows Bay Required Reading
if you’re craving something that feels like the next martha’s vineyard (iykyk)! books that evoke the same feeling as the magnificent tv show ‘widows bay’
Goodreads "Horror For Beginners"
Created from the list on Goodreads by Cybil and Sadie Hartmann (September 29, 2025)
sapphic horror
My reading slump did my reading goal dirty
Playing the catch up game!
Last year my slump hit me hard so here’s a collection of quick read to help you catch up or just town over the line in time!
It’s a mix but promise the all pack a punch! All <270 pages 🥳
Nowhere to run
Horror, thrillers, and mysteries where "island escape" doesn't mean a nice vacation
Shirley Jackson Awards (Novels)
Past and present winners and nominees of the Shirley Jackson Awards. Frightful reading!
Unhinged Moms
Motherhood and pregnancy horror . Suggestions are welcomed
Feral and Hysterical
This is a list of horror books written by women, as recommended by Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror) in her book Feral and Hysterical. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Feral and Hysterical because it is so much more than a list of books. There are more lists of books, but also thoughtful essays by women writers. It's worth spending some time with Feral and Hysterical.
"Women are overqualified to write fictional horror. Period." -- Sadie Hartmann
