Sunshine and Scaries: Your Guide to Summerween Reads

THE DROWNING SUMMER

by C. L. Herman

This. Book.

Starting off SO strong with the ultimate Summerween read. This mystery unfolds on the beaches of Long Island, giving seaside vibes with a paranormal twist.

Six years ago, three teens were found drowned, sand dollars over their eyes, and Evelyn Mackenzie made a promise to herself: never summon a ghost again (you can guess how long that lasted). When her latest summoning goes wrong, she turns to her clairvoyant ex-best friend, Mina, to help pick up the pieces. The two of them come back together to discover the truth about that summer long ago, and while doing so, navigate their feelings for each other– did someone say friends to enemies to… something else? Hehehe I’m obsessed.

This witchy mystery is packed with atmosphere, tension, and so many twists and turns that left my jaw on the floor. This is one to add to your summer stack immediately!

TWILIGHT

by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight. A cult classic. You know I had to include this one being that it is the 20 year anniversary this October and 20 years later I am still obsessed (and still Team Edward—try to change my mind you simply cannot). Anyway, this one is a given. Isabella (Bella) Swan moves from sunny Arizona to Forks, Washington with her dad where it rains 24/7. And soon meets Edward Cullen, a vampire whose family coexists with the people of Forks, and after pining, brooding, and much intrigue with one another, begin to fall in love.

But it is SO not that simple, she is also introduced to her father’s best friends son, Jacob Black who also is into Bella, and just so happens to have a reason to hate Edward Cullen. Enter our love triangle;) This book has everything from the supernatural, thrill, romance, and the SUSPENSE. I have wanted nothing more than to crawl into this story and live there. This is a must read anytime of the year, but especially Summerween because I guarantee after this first book you will be HOOKED need a clear schedule to do nothing but lounge in the sun and finish this spectacular series.

WHEN WE GO MISSING

by April Henry

Next, I have a true-crime-style mystery that delivers on the intrigue. Our lead, Willow, is a photographer who carries her camera with her everywhere. She volunteers at an animal shelter where she takes photos for the unadopted animals. As Willow is taking pictures of a cat that has yet to be adopted she meets a new volunteer—enter, Dare our second POV in the book. I eat up books with multiple narrators, allowing us to explore more aspects of the story, revealing juicy secrets, and building MORE suspense.

Later, Willow finds a lost memory card and checks to see if anything is on it. Low and behold there are pictures on it… in fact there are hundreds, and they are all pictures of different teenage girls. One of those girls being herself! EEEEKKKK omg that sends a chill down my spine how disturbing, unfortunately the police don’t agree. Willow is told taking photos in public is not a crime, so her and Dare team up to do some investigating of their own.

Lots of time together working to solve this mystery means lots of time to get to know each other and the tension between the two grows as the investigation progresses. The secrets in this book are off the hook, just when you think you can trust someone think again.

THE WHISPERWOOD LEGACY

by Jo Schulte

Whisperwood—the name itself screams creepy to me—is a theme park that brings classic fairy tales to life right in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Run by the Strauss family, or it was… Virginia Strauss (the family’s matriarch) mysteriously closed the parks gates 18 months ago, and left the family with their dwindling fortune. Enter Frankie Strauss our seventeen-year-old leading lady. Unlike the rest of the family she is relived at the closure, after witnessing the corruption that came from the wealth. I LOVE a self-aware heroine.

We soon learn that Virginia has gone missing *dun dun DUUUUNNNN* and Frankie begins to think that her family has played a role in it, no one can be trusted. This park also is not what it seems, and it’s discovered that the fairy tales are not just a theme, but in fact can be deadly.

Thankfully so she does not have to go through this grimness alone, she meets the gorgeous groundskeeper, Jem, and he helps her sort through the web of secrets and lies they uncover. I love all the twists and turns of this dark contemporary fantasy. The Whisperwood Legacy, is certainly one you will want to read AFTER your trip to a theme park this summer, or before if you live for the fright. Either way this story is a Summerween must!

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

by Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan, the queen of mystery and suspense! With the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie coming out this summer (EEK I cannot WAIT), and the fact that the word Summer is in the title I had to recommend this to you all.

This book throws us right into the nightmare situation where four teens are involved in a hit in run accident killing a young man. Instead of doing the RIGHT thing, they panic and cover up their mistake—leaving the body behind and anonymously tipping off the police. They make a secret pact to NEVER speak of that night again, and they do… that is until one of the girls receives a note. “I know what you did last summer” it reads.

Their lie is not so secret anymore, and someone is coming back to make them pay for their mistake. The four of them come back together to figure out who their tormenter determined to kill them is. Will they figure it out before their fate becomes that of the man they killed last summer? Read this book to find out, and do so before you see the new movie (because we all know the book is always better;))

OUR SHADOWS HAVE CLAWS

by Yamile Saied Méndez, Amparo Ortiz, Ricardo López Ortiz

I LOVE a short story book. Though I didn’t know a single tale before the telling feels so nostalgic, like each story is being told to me by my fifth-grade teacher who read us a scary story every day of the month of October (just my fifth-grade teacher? Oh yeah, ok).

These Latin American monster retellings have everything from vampire to the “el Viejo de la Bolsa”— a figure in Latin American folklore who puts misbehaving children in a SACK to carry them away. Sort of the opposite of Santa Clause… Thankfully I did not find out about him until I read this book or else I know for sure he would have haunted my dreams (Ok—he still might now).

Besides the nightmarish characters who appear in the story, some are hero’s serving justice and slaying the characters who would (or might still) haunt your dreams. I loved this book’s diverse narrative, and the introduction to some frightening—yet awesome stories I otherwise would have never discovered.

HORRID

by Katrina Leno

Inspired by the creepy poem “There Was a Little Girl” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, that the authors mother often recited to her. This book is exactly as the title, and line in said poem states: Horrid. Each chapter title is a line from the poem adding to the creepiness the poem institutes.

I’m serious when I say this book both devastated and petrified me. For context Jane recently lost her father to a heart attack, which prompted her and her mother to make the cross-country trek from California to Maine where her mother grew up. Already dealing with the loss of her father, and the culture shock moving to the east coast, she notices her mother seems to be haunted by the history of her childhood home—though she won’t tell Jane why. Out East where her mom grew up had always been a secretive subject.  Naturally after she settles in and sees how people in town act towards her when they hear who her family is and where she lives, her curiosity is officially peeked. After some exploring, she discovers a storage room her mother has kept locked turns out to not to be a storage room at all… instead it is the door to a little girl’s bedroom.

Jane is haunted by a simmering anger that bubbles up amid her situations. Capturing grief and how it manifests in different people we follow Jane and her mom as they feel the intense weight of it and how it consumes them in different ways. If you’re looking for a truly horrid Summerween pick, Horrid needs to be on your list.

DEAD FLIP

by Sara Farizan

Switching things up a bit, after such a dark novel I had to bring in a lighter recommendation. If you are a fan of Stranger Things this comedic murder mystery should be at the TOP of the Summerween stack.

Following the cutest group of besties Cori, Maz, and Sam growing up, brought together from a love of pop culture, we’re brought to present day 1992. Things are sadly very different than they used to be. Sam is missing, and Cori and Maz don’t speak on account of their differing opinions on what really happened to their friend, and five years later the two have grown apart in so many ways.

As Maz parties and runs away from the past, Cori hides who she really is under the mask of queen-bee at school, and Sam returns? He hasn’t grown up with the rest of them. He comes back in the same state he disappeared in… twelve years old.

Though the three of them have been apart for all these years they have to put it all aside to figure out what really happened that night coming together to ensure Sam’s safety. The depth of the friendships in this story is like a blanket from the fear factor, making it an excellent place to start in a scary summer read.

WE’LL NEVER TELL

by Wendy Heard

Murder. Twists. Suspense. Hollywood lore. Must I go on?? We’ll Never Tell, the title, and name of the YouTube account anonymously run by a group of seniors in high school: Casey, Jacob, Eddie, and Zoe. The four friends film the intriguing behind the scenes moments of LA locals. As their senior year comes to an end, along with their channel, they want to go out with a BANG! Deciding to go big or go home the four of them decide to break into the infamous Valentini “murder house” that has been abandoned and untouched since 1972. Sounds like a great idea… not!

Well, they make it in and shockingly get the footage. Soon after though, they trip an alarm, and race out of there before the police arrive, catch them, and destroy the finale to their channel. When the group gets to safety, they realize they didn’t make it out as safe as they thought. Jacob was left behind! Not only that he was bleeding out that very moment in the house.

So many questions, coverups, and mysteries arise as the remaining three try to stay alive long enough to solve the mystery of what happened to Jacob. It all is on them before the house can cause anymore hurt. This summer do not miss the groups summer of thrills, murder, and mystery.

DREAM BY THE SHADOWS

by Logan Karlie

Last on the list, but certainly NOT least, I give to you Dream By the Shadows. Omg. this book is like Beauty and the Beast meets gothic darkness and I eat it UP. The imagery sucks you into this lush world with so many secrets, magic, and of course romance.

Taking place in the kingdom of Noctis, plagued by a curse that spreads through dreams from the Shadow Bringer in the Dream Realm. Thankfully there is an elixir to take before bed to ward off the dream infiltration but for some, it does not work. Esmer Havenfall lives in the Kingdom of Noctis and wants nothing more than to leave her dreadful village. When her sister Eden falls victim to the nightmares, their elixir-dealing parents are accused of a grisly crime…

Esmer herself though is not so ordinary, the Shadow Bringer soon visits her in a dream, and she learns that his dark magic is a part of her as well. With this she heads into the dream realm to avenge her family and attempt to end the curse on her land. But what will happen when she learns the prince of darknesses harrowing past, and begins to open her heart to him? If you like dark romance, and extraordinary fantasy world building this book cannot be missed this summer of sinister reads.