OCTOBER 28TH, 2026
I love these brilliant horror novels, and yet each book has very different themes, settings, and types of horror, including body horror, dark academia, folk survival horror, a ghost story, and historical horror.
They feature diverse, well-drawn characters who drive the plot.
1. Adam, Mine by K Ancrum (2026) is a retelling of Frankenstein and a historical body horror.
Set in 1890, when 17-year-old prodigy Victor Frankenstein says he will bring a dead body back to life, his peers, unsurprisingly, ridicule him. Victor vows to prove them wrong. He kidnaps a boy, Elias, who has a crush on him.
He destroys Elias’s body with untested Alchemy, but it has the side effect of making them feel each other’s emotions. Victor tries to undo what he has done, while Elias vows to exact vengeance on him.
As the book went on, I felt sympathy towards Victor with mixed feelings about Elias, despite the terrible things Victor had done to him! I found the book a really interesting exploration of asexuality. This isn’t something that’s shown often, so it’s great to read about it.
2. Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G.Drews (2024) is a dark academia, body horror
Andrew writes fairy tales full of twisted monsters while Thomas draws them. One night, Andrew follows Thomas into the forest and finds him fighting the monsters from the stories. This book, nominated for the 2026 Carnegie Medal, depicts the romantic relationship between two boys, Andrew and Thomas, and also offers a fascinating portrayal of asexuality.
The descriptions of the monsters in the forest made them truly terrifying. The way C.G. Drews wrote about Andrew being bullied for being different was cleverly done, as it showed there are many types of monsters in the world.
For more about Don't Let The Forest In
3. That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall (2026) is a gothic, supernatural horror
This book explores the horrors of colonialism, sexism, and racism. A Native Hawaiian teen, Lehua, travels to a luxury island resort in Mexico to search for her missing twin. To find her, she investigates the island's bloody history.
The best part of the novel is that it reflects the diversity of the world we live in, as, for too long, heroes were depicted as white and male, while marginalised characters were often portrayed as monsters. At last, we are starting to redress the balance.
In the UK and Ireland, the book isn’t readily available in bookshops but can be ordered or read online. It was longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was selected as Reese Witherspoon’s A Sunni Reads Select Pick
4. Hollow by Taylor Grothe (2025) is a survival, folk horror
Cassie and her friends go on a backpacking trip, but when she wakes up the next day, all her friends are missing, and she struggles with sensory overload. Then a boy named Kaleb brings her to safety in an off-grid compound. Here, Cassie feels like herself for the first time in her life, despite the strange things that keep happening there. I love the gradual unfolding horror.
When Maya and Alanah go on a hiking trip before they graduate from High School, Maya finally gets the courage to break up with Alanah.
Cassie has recently been diagnosed with autism, but chooses to hide this from her friends, which is a powerful example of autistic masking.
While around 27% of teenagers have a disability or chronic health condition, in books, such lead characters are estimated at just over 3%! We need to address this discrepancy with more characters like Cassie. Disability Stats
5. I Will Never Leave You by Kara A. Kennedy (2024) is a paranormal, ghost horror
Maya and her controlling girlfriend, Alanah, go on a hiking trip before they graduate from High School. Maya finally finds the courage to break up with Alanah. Then, Alanah disappears. The police suspect Maya, and it becomes a huge media story. Alanah’s ghost returns to haunt Maya and issues her an ultimatum. Either help her possess a girl, or be framed for her murder.
I found this such a clever inversion of the usual ghost-haunting-partner trope. Instead, I found myself gripped by the psychological horror of trying to escape an abusive ex as a ghost. It is anyone’s worst nightmare.
For a deep dive book review in the Lesbian Review
Final thoughts
These beautifully written horror stories are amazing at scaring us and also feature gripping love stories that will keep you reading until the end, and are full of diverse characters, whether they are queer, asexual, autistic, in toxic relationships, or suffer from racism, sexism or school bullying. The horror is relatable to the world around us.
Buy these books if you dare!
- Chris
Fiction Rebellion Heroine