Many of us lovers of all things spoopy basically consider late July/early August the beginning of spoopy season (basically whenever Halloween themed merch starts hitting the shelves at At Home, it’s on, right?), so if you’re looking for thematically appropriate reads before October, you’re in luck: Penguin Teen has two spooky new books coming out within a week of each other: The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins and The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh. They’re both creepy in different ways, so you’re likely to find something you will enjoy here.
The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins
One of my MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED reads of the year!
Thank you sooo much to Penguin Teen for sending me a digital advanced copy of the book because I couldn’t wait one moment longer to read it, especially after the postponement last year – and then I devoured it right away.
If you ever wanted a reason to NOT go hiking or camping in the woods, LOOK NO FURTHER. Josie and Neena, two inexperienced young hikers (as in, first hike ever), take off into the mountains for a three day hike & when one of them is gravely injured, they realize they are not alone out there, and despite their fears of bears or other animals, they are being pursued by very HUMAN predators, and the fight for their lives begins.
This is one of those books that as I was reading all I could think was, “OMG OMG. Holy shit. Holyyyy shiiit NOOOO!” I was yelling at the characters trying to save them the whole way through & on the edge of my seat. Right from the beginning when I started getting bad feelings (to be fair, I’m the reader, I know something bad is going to happen–I’ve read the synopsis), I was mentally screaming at them to just turn around. Go to a hotel and get some junk food and watch movies for three days and then just tell people you went hiking, no one will know, and then nothing bad will happen.
I really enjoyed the friendship between the girls and how much they persevere and despite their relative inexperience, adjust to using their resources in an emergency situation. I also liked that even though they were out in nature–which can be terrifying–the enemy in this case was a human enemy–which is the most terrifying.
This was a heart pounding read, downright gruesome at times, and I really liked it. I think Steph Perkins has found her calling in the category of creepy, and I hope she sticks with it. I liked this and There’s Someone Inside Your House way better than I liked Anna and the French Kiss.
The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh
“Don’t worry, Mom. If I want to have a wild night while I’m here, it won’t be with a boy–it’ll be with a Ouija board and a couple of dead Victorian girls.” — The Girls Are Never Gone
Whereas The Woods Are Always Watching terrifies us with the horror of human beings, The Girls Are Never Gone takes a different tact, exploring the supernatural side of the spooky.
It follows Dare, a paranormal podcaster who takes an internship at a historical estate in order to get an in and investigate its ghostly past for her listeners, with the help her new friend, Holly, her new crush, Quinn, and perhaps most importantly, her service dog, Waffles.
If you like ghost stories, this is the route you’ll want to take. This book has a big, old, haunted house, a vengeful ghost, an interesting back story, a little romance, and a good cast of characters–both living and dead. I liked the concept of Dare investigating for a podcast, bringing ghost hunting into the modern era.
Another cool thing about this book is that the MC has type 1 diabetes, helping to shatter stereotypes and misconceptions about the disease and showing how she navigates her diagnosis as a teenager while still living her life to the fullest (with the help of Waffles the dog, of course). I loved how respectful and supportive her new friends were in the book, immediately doing research so they could support her and help her to the best of their ability if she needed it. It really warmed my heart to read.
The drawbacks to this book were that some of the twists were not very surprising and were easily guessable, and some of the dialogue was very stilted and unnatural, and just didn’t sound at all like how people speak to each other. If you can look past that, it’s a really interesting ghost story and it’s still a fun ride to watch the girls find things out even if you’ve already guessed.
So, spoop lovers, take your pick–a story of human horror taking place in the wilderness, or a story of ghostly horror taking place in a big, dilapidated house? Or–hear me out–how about BOTH?!
Check them out August 31st and September 7th from Penguin Teen! And thank you to Penguin Teen for the eARC copies.
Which do you think you will check out? Have you already read these? What’s scarier–humans or ghosts? Let me know in the comments!