Hi friends,

Sorry but I am posting this Top 5 Tuesday extremely late as I went to the theater with a friend but anyway, I so wanted to post as I think today’s theme is just perfect for this week!

When Shanah @bionicbookworm announced today’s theme as the Top 5 Creepy Atmospheres I thought I would be screwed because I don’t do creepy!

BUT ... it turns out that if I rarely read creepy stories, it did happen, often without my knowing or consent. LOL

I mean that I had no idea that these stories would be creepy like that but once I began I was of course dying to know the ending! Like a car crash you witness in slow motion. It’s horrifying but you are glued on the spot and just HAVE to see!

How could I leave these reads without knowing if the main characters would survive? And if they would not face a fate worse than death? Right?

So here are my top creepy reads, stories with lots of atmosphere, mystery and sometimes, gore as well as horror!

You will have a mix of dark romance and YA.

Empathy by Ker Dukey

Excerpt of my review:

“I totally did not see it coming and I love when an author can surprise and mind trick me right through the end.
It still remains a really dark and shocking read, with evil minds and hints of many harsh scenes. But it’s also diabolical.
So many times I wanted to stop reading, bile in my mouth for the way Melody is manipulated. But then, I would have missed the grand finale.”

The Contradiction of Solitude by Merdith A Walters

Synopsis

“You may notice me, but you will never know me.
I prefer it that way.
I am the daughter of a monster.
Born from blood and lies.
Dead before I have truly lived.
But Elian tells me that I’m different.
He tells me that I’m beautiful.
That I’m an enigma wrapped in irresistibly complicated skin.
Elian says that he loves me.
These words terrify me.
I can’t trust love.
Or hope.
Or truth.
Because I fear the beast inside.
It threatens to drown Elian and his sweet, unconditional love.
It’s a beast that will destroy everything.“

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas

“Erika

My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He’s handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me.
But I noticed him.
I saw him. I heard him.

Michael
My brother’s girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her mind. That’s all I really want anyway.

Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college.

In my city.
Unprotected.
And now every last one of her nightmares will come true.”

Creepy right?

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

“You’re a flat beast. Got a little viper lurking in there, ready to strike. A rattler probably.”

You have mystery, murder, magic, action, betrayal, horror, morally grey and complex characters with a dash of gentleman mentor on top. And let’s not forget the building of a crew throughout the story. It’s creepy all along as you don’t know where the threat is coming from!

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

“No matter how much you see, there are bottomless seas you don’t. What I am certain of is the heart of it. First we were four. Now we are three”

And so begins this story… Creepy right? 😀  But there is more!

“We swear that the Order doesn’t end, ever, not until one of us dies and we aren’t four anymore.”

With The Order came power.

And power is intoxicating. It makes you bold. Thirsting for more. A tool for revenge. A mean to make up for injustice. It can turn you into a fierce animal. You don’t think you ARE and FEEL. You want more. Always more.

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

“Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.
He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.”

In barely a few page I could already see and smell the island and its spooky atmosphere. I could portray Marion as the responsible girl, too old for her age. Shouldering responsibilities she should not. Not at her age.
This is followed by an action scene sending your heart galloping as wildly as the spooked horse Marion happened to sit on.
Then you have an element of mystery and horror thrown back to the mix because you are wondering “What is Val?”

From that moment on, the creepiness in the book never relented and the fine hair on my nape rose many times as I had chills while reading this horror story.

Before I let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Marieke Nijkamp’s writing is excellent! The story is nerve racking with an oppressive mood.Everything happens in this very, very small town lost in Alaska with endless nights and snow everywhere. It is weighting on you. It has an oppressive and eerie feeling. Lost is a town that thrives on secrets.
The small clues left here and there built up the tension till the apex of the thriller.
All along I was uneasy, shivering, shoulders tense and I could not put it down.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao

The serpent on the cover could not be better chosen to symbolize that book!

““You have two faces. Two beings live within you, struggling for control. One has a heart of darkness and feeds in the pain of weaker souls. The other longs to stretch a hand to the light, to live and love as others do. Have you never sensed this?”

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

I swear the more I read the creepier it got with the pinnacle in the last 10%!

Synopsis

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

Pfew I did it! Have you read any of these? What are your favorite creepy reads?

Thanks for reading!

Sophie