Romances for the Spooky Season
Gemma Moon, author of paranormal erotica and horror, shares her picks for romances to read during the spooky season.
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If October is making you crave a romance filled with with witches, monsters, and demons, here are four of my favorites, in order from sweetest to spiciest. I’ve also put an honorable mention that isn’t a romance but very worth a read.
Spoiler: The Witchwood Boys Are Trending is my favorite.
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Gay Romance
Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine
Bisexual Wallace has died, but he refuses to move on, so he stays with ferryman Hugo at Hugo’s tea shop. Wallace is given one week to go to the great beyond, but it’s becoming harder and harder to leave Hugo. This novel about love and death has Klune’s trademark humor and heart.
The Awakening, first book of the Zodiac Academy, by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
You have been selected to attend Zodiac Academy, where your star sign defines your destiny. Today’s horoscope: totally screwed.
Genre: Romantasy
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Cruel Hero/Bully, Slow Burn, Age Gap, Forbidden Love, Fated Mates
Tory and Darcy have just found out they have a secret destiny as heirs to the fae kingdom, and now they need to go to the Zodiac Academy to learn how to use their magic. The only problem is that the four very hot sons of the council don’t want the princesses to rule the kingdom, and will do anything to stop them.
Tory abhors the dragon shifter who is making her life a living hell, but there’s something irresistible about him as well. Darcy harbors secret longings for her grumpy vampire professor. And secrets from their past may determine their fate.
A Soul to Keep, first book of The Duskwalker Brides, by Opal Reyne
In a world where demons ravage the earth, the most powerful monsters are the skull-headed duskwalkers. They hunger for human flesh, but they also hunger…for love.
Genre: Monster Romance
Tropes: Arranged Marriage, Size Difference, Forced Proximity
Reia is shunned by her village for reasons outside her control, and is sacrificed to a duskwalker to be his bride in exchange for the village’s safety. Orpheus the duskwalker has been searching for a companion for decades, and is losing hope he’ll ever find the right bride. Delightful horror vibes and a spooky magic forest pair with a cozy quaint cabin. Forced proximity and a magic spell that requires physical touch results in sensual situations.
The Witchwood Boys Are Trending, first book of The Witchwood Boys, by C. M. Stunich
They tricked me into a dark and unholy union.
Genre: Erotic Romance, Horror Romance, Dark Romance
Tropes: Reverse Harem/Why Choose, Forced Proximity, Enemies to Lovers, Alpha Male
Kate enters a magic and dangerous forest on a dark night–and gets trapped. The only way out is to form a coven with three hot men and perform sex rituals.
Do you wish it was Halloween all year round? Then this book is for you. Dark witchy magic. Three hot as fuck witchmen, all alphaholes in the most delicious way. I can’t express just how much I adore this series.
Honorable Mention
Ninth House, first book of Alex Stern, by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Dark Academia, Occult, Murder Mystery
Tropes: Opposites Attract, Slow Burn
Scrappy low-life Alex Stern is the only survivor of a mysterious multiple homicide. She can see ghosts, and is given a free ride at Yale in exchange for her services to a secret society. Her mentor is the young gentleman and scholar Darlington, unable to see ghosts but desperate for magic.
Competent but troubled heroine Alex is a joy to see among the Ivy League elite, kicking ass and taking names. Handsome, upper class Darlington is her foil, and his eccentric passion for the paranormal reminds me of Gansey from The Raven Boys. Plus we get secret societies, ghosts, demons, dark magic, and a murder to solve.
The romance is very slow burn, but you’ll fall in love with Darlington all the same, and you get some delightful fanservice in the second book. The third book is still to come.
Gemma Moon is best known for her werewolf erotica, the Bound and Knotted series. She likes to write about humans getting in touch with their primal natures by getting pushed out of their comfort zones—preferably by wild and sexy monsters.
