If you're anything like the LoveReading team as soon as September arrives a sinister transformation occurs. Shadows begin to creep in and where once we saw beach fronts, fruity cocktails and sunshine, something dark lingers...

We are, of course, talking about our to-be-read piles. As Autumn appears, reading preferences can shift, and ours have us on the hunt until gripping thrillers and exhilarating horrors appear in our eagerly awaiting claws. 

Halloween is when all the ghosts and ghouls come out to play. It's the perfect time of year to finally get round to reading classics like Dracula and Frankenstein. The longer nights entice you to give in to your dark side and fill your mind with tales of hauntings, witches and goblins as well as horrors discovered outside of the supernatural. You may also find this time of year is the perfect time to explore more of the occult, brush up on your potions and hone your craft.

This October we are super excited that Penguin has launched a brand new Horror series - a celebration of the very best literary horror, a series of terrifying novels and tales that for generations have thrilled, captivated and kept readers wide awake at night. The series includes Benighted by J. B. Priestley - a gothic treat shot through with the dejection and anxiety of a world recovering from the horrors of the First World War; it's a razor-sharp blend of dark social satire and even darker dread.

Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales by Edith Wharton is another gem. Combining pristine prose with strange, suffocating atmospheres and profound sense of the uncanny, this collection of her very best haunting narratives detail spectral handwriting, isolated houses in lonely landscapes, and a husband with a terrible secret...

But it can be quite ... dark ... lurking in the shadows where the thrills and chills linger and sometimes we're in the mood for something a bit more light and cosy. If this is more your style, don't worry you'll find plenty of seasonal feel-good reads in the list below to sink your teeth into. Anyone want to spook up their love life? How about setting the cauldrons bubbling with some escapist witchy fun?

Whatever your poison, these books will help to keep you up until the witching hour and beyond.

If you have a younger reader brave enough to read spooky, funny and scary reads for Halloween then click here to browse our feature on LoveReading4Kids.