A cemetery full of the restless dead. A town so wicked it has already burned twice, with the breath of the third fire looming. A rural, isolated bridge with a terrifying monster waiting for the completion of its summoning ritual. A lake that allows the drowned to return, though they have been changed by the claws of death. These are the shadowed, liminal spaces where the curses and monsters lurk, refusing to be forgotten.Hauntings, and a variety of horrifying secrets, lurk in the places we once called home. Written by New York Times bestselling, and other critically acclaimed, authors these stories shed a harsh light on the scariest tales we grew up with. Stay / Erica Waters The tallest poppy / Chloe Gong Loved by all, save one / Tori Bovalino One-lane bridge / Hannah Whitten Ghost on the shore / Allison Saft Petrified / Olivia Chadha Third burn / Courtney Gould It stays with you / Aden Polydoros Truth or dare / Alex Brown The burning one / Shakira Toussaint

Horror and myth collide when a Korean American teenager's grief summons something ancient: a water ghost that has been feeding on her family's sorrow for decades. Dark strands of hair crack the corners of my sight, suspended as always in the air, spidering and floating as if in liquid. Mul-gwishin. Water ghost. Gracie Russell feels she belongs nowhere. In suburban 1990s Washington, she is constantly at sea—struggling with her biracial identity, her father's violent alcoholism, and her mother's looming mortality. When Ji-eun dies, Gracie will lose her last chance to mend their relationship. But she can already feel her mother slipping away, pulled by the tides of memory back to authoritarian 1970s South Korea. The secret she buried there has awakened something in the deep. And now it is rising. As Ji-eun's body weakens and the autumn rains fall in torrents, the sound of dripping water haunts Gracie. Cracks form in the basement wall, exposing a crumbling passageway to a sea of liquid darkness, and Gracie is running out of time. The mul-gwishin is coming for her. For readers of Catriona Ward and Han Kang, Cracks is a harrowing vision of heritage, violence, and the histories that possess.

From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption, asking readers to question what it means to stop surviving and start living. Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die. Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives. While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal. But the past isn't so easily buried. No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she's come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.

From rising horror star and award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke comes a nightmarish, haunting, tech-Gothic thrill ride about sorrow, memory, and the unabashed complexity of love as a transgressive act.After his husband dies, Simeon Link finds himself overcome by grief and seeking comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce Simeon to a curious figure known as Porcelain Khaw—a man with the ability to let those who are grieving have one last intimate moment with their beloved...for a price. Hallucinatory, fiendish, and destructively beautiful, Wretch transports us to a world where not everything is as it seems, and those we love may be the ones who haunt us most.

While still running from the ghosts of his past, a trans man reluctantly returns to his hometown and runs straight into the arms of a ghost who is about to change his future. Hayes Hastings never expected to go back to Broomstick Bluff. Yet with a faltering family business and parents unwilling to step up, he returns to help his beloved grandmother with the ghost tour company that put his family on the map. He’s determined to hate the small town suspended in an eternal autumn just as much as he’s dead set to leave on the first day of winter with as little contact with the town’s residents as possible. But before he can even start his first day of work, his carefully planned world is knocked off its axis in the form of a beautiful employee dressed as a witch with wildfire hair, a familiar cinnamon scent he can’t place, and a carefree attitude unlike anything he could ever dream of possessing What starts as the pair being pushed together as co-workers quickly escalates to spooky late nights and steamy afternoon apple orchard make-out sessions. Yet as they grow closer, both letting down unsuspecting walls, one secret stands to tear them apart forever. And it just might be big enough to send Hayes Hastings packing for good.

The war between Aixauh and Inabri ended. The heroes have won, what now? A decade after the war that resulted in the death of someone important to them both, the Aixauhan Alchemist Cai-Li Ying seeks out to rekindle their relationship with her estranged lover, the Inabrian Oracle, Anne Barberry. However, a lot has changed in the past decade. Anne barricades herself in the Castle on a hill where her family‘s dark secrets lie. Chely has gained the reputation of being the Blood Hawk, who dabbles in dark magic, much to Anne’s disgust. Rumors has it that Anne herself is responsible for the disappearance of visitors who went to the Castle. Other things are happening as the two witches reunite. Old ghosts come back to haunt them. People they know from the war come and go. Scars left by the war does not easily fade. Are they truly each other‘s salvation, or are they doomed to repeat the past that tore them apart? This is a story about grief, loss, generational trauma and cycle of war. Sometimes, true love is not the answer. A sapphic high fantasy for those who enjoy the Poppy War by RF Kuang and The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.

Warm and witchy, The Misfit Witches of Marigold Island is a cozy fantasy and slow-burn sapphic romance for fans of The Spellshop and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. A spell gone wrong leaves a witch powerless—but opens the door to a new kind of magic. Paloma has spent a decade as a witch's apprentice, dedicating herself completely to the craft of spell casting. But even with her whole future planned, all it takes is one sneeze to send a spell awry, extinguishing her magic completely. Paloma's distraught: Without her powers, can she even call herself a witch? At the gentle urging of her mentor, Paloma returns home to verdant, magical Marigold Island. There, she launches By the Broom, a successful courier service, and finds community in a house of other Queer misfit witches and their familiars—including a straw hat–wearing raccoon named Nori. Still, the ache of losing her powers—and her sense of self—lingers. Even a flirtation with Liss, the charming café owner whose chocolate chip cookies are literally enchanted to feel like a hug, can't quiet her grief. As she zooms around making deliveries, she can't ignore the blight creeping across the island—or the feeling that Marigold's magic is fading too. Paloma's used to solving problems on her own. Can she learn to accept her limitations and trust her new housemates to help her save the island they all love before it's lost to them forever?

Count On Me is a secret lovers romance set during a fictional mayoral campaign. It isn’t affiliated with or intended to represent any real political party or ideology. The campaign is the backdrop. The romance is the heart. Rayne Webber never expected that the man she shared one unforgettable night with would show up in her town—on the other side of her mayoral race. Enter Dakarai Ramos. Her plan is solid: Ignore the fine campaign strategist and his crisp pocket squares. Ignore the inconvenient kitty flutters. Win the election. She’s structured, disciplined, and focused. This should be easy. It isn’t. A debate meeting turns into a steamy battleground. Chance encounters keep blurring the lines until they finally break down and agree to a secret relationship. They’re one misstep away from a “Sleeping With The Opposition” headline blowing up their careers. But unable to resist each other, they risk it anyway—stealing moments in discreet locations around town, escaping to a secluded lake house, and sharing late-night phone calls that deepen their connection. Then a scandal hits. The fallout tests Dakarai’s loyalty to his candidate and threatens to tank Rayne’s campaign. In a high-stakes world where the final race is decided by a strict ballot count, the real win might not be a political title at all… It might just be finding that someone you can always count on. The vibes: - Dual POV, first person. - A grown, standalone romance about public life, private feelings, and healing from the past. - Secret lovers. - She’s running for mayor. He’s running her opponent’s campaign. - A boss babe who doesn’t shrink herself + a man who would never want her to. - Body & Skin Positive: Soft bellies, curves, vitiligo and all the fine that comes with it. - Slow Burn / High Heat - A culturally diverse cast.