Fresh New Books January 27, 2026 | Time to Kiss Your $ Goodbye!
New Books Because You Know You Deserve Them!
This is where I spotlight the sparkling new weekly releases that are tempting me so you can succumb to temptation too. The focus will be on dark fiction and romance with the occasional thriller tossed in that catches my eye.
Every week there seems to be more and more book releases and this week is no exception. Will I find time to read all of them? Highly unlikely but I'll try to read a bunch before 2026 is over.
First the HORROR and HORRORish because it'll always be my first love.
A Veritable Household Pet by Viggy Parr Hampton
Darla Gregory received a lobotomy at 11 years old ... and she was never the same.
Based on painfully true history, mixed with family drama, complex characters, and a gut-punch twist.
[Scribe’s This is my sister Darla’s story, as dictated to me. I have tried to remain as faithful to her diction and voice as I can, while also making it intelligible and coherent. Darla has progressed considerably since the lobotomy, but she is still unable to write by herself. I have added notes, interpolations, and supporting documentation where necessary to clarify or explain, or to add my own experience if relevant.
If you’re wondering why it took so long for you to read this, I’d encourage you to keep your bratty thoughts to yourself. You’re lucky I’m telling you the truth at all. This is the last thing I have to do for her, and I hope you’re finally mature enough to handle it.]
This book sounds incredibly unsettling.
Learn more at Goodreads.
We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone by Ronald Malfi
A new mother is pursued by mysterious men in black. A misguided youth learns the dark secrets of the world from an elderly neighbor on Halloween night. A housewarming party where the guests never leave. A caretaker tends to his rusted relic of a god deep in the desert...
In his debut short story collection, Bram Stoker Award finalist Ronald Malfi mines the depths and depravities of the human condition, exploring the dark underside of religion, marriage, love, fear, regret, and hunger in a world that spins just slightly askew on its axis. Rich in atmosphere and character, Malfi's debut collection is not to be missed.
I really enjoyed Malfi's The Mourning House & The Night Parade & am looking forward to checking out this short story collection.
Learn more at Goodreads.
This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud
Amidst the devastation of Ireland’s Great Famine, a young woman is salvaged from certain death when offered a mysterious position at a remote manor house haunted by a strange power and the horror of her own memories in this chillingly evocative historical novel braided with gothic horror and supernatural suspense for readers of Katherine Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts and The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins.
County Clare, 1848: In the scant few years since the potato blight first cast its foul shadow over Ireland, Maggie O’Shaughnessy has lost everything—her entire family and the man she trusted with her heart. Toiling in the Ennis Workhouse for paltry rations, she can see no future either within or outside its walls—until the mysterious Lady Catherine arrives to whisk her away to an old mansion in the stark limestone landscape of the Burren.
Lady Catherine wants Maggie to impersonate her late daughter, Wilhelmina, and hoodwink solicitors into releasing Wilhelmina’s widow pension so that Lady Catherine can continue to provide for the villagers in her care. In exchange, Maggie will receive freedom from the workhouse, land of her own, and the one thing she wants more than a chance to fulfill the promise she made to her brother on his deathbed—to live to spite them all.
Launching herself into the daunting task, Maggie plays the role of Wilhelmina as best she can while ignoring the villagers’ tales of ghostly figures and curses. But more worrying are the whispers that come from within. Something in Lady Catherine’s house is reawakening long-buried memories in Maggie—of a foe more terrifying than hunger or greed, of a power that calls for blood and vengeance, and of her own role in a nightmare that demands the darkest sacrifice . . .
It's a new hungry house gothic!
Learn more at Goodreads.
Persona by Aoife Josie Clements
A feral shut-in discovers a disturbing internet porn video of what seems to be herself. A seance of coked-up artists summons unearthly forces in a studio apartment. The staircase of an exurban marketing company descends endlessly beneath the earth.
In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?
This sounds like a strange one. It could go either way for me but I'll likely give it a try.
Learn more at Goodreads.
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield
In this sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut, a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of southern Georgia and must contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself.
When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own.
Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer.
But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline.
Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sunday She Picked Flowers explores retribution, family trauma, and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.
A Southern Gothic!
Learn more at Goodreads.
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion
After a group of teens visits a dangerous island where three are left behind, the surviving girls realize they must return to confront the sinister force hunting them. This dark YA thriller is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.
Eight were lost. Five were found. None will ever be free.
For Evie Williams, life is about to get a lot more complicated. Haunted by the events of a school trip to Hollow Lake National Park that went disastrously wrong, Evie and her friends returned changed, their lives forever marked by the mysterious Island they encountered—and the three girls they left behind.
Now, someone is picking off those who were involved, one by one. Their families, friends, and even online investigators are all caught in a deadly game. The stakes are raised when Evie receives a chilling to save her loved ones, she must return to the Island.
As Evie and the other "Lost Girls" navigate the treacherous terrain of the Island once more, they must confront the secrets they’ve buried, the horrors they witnessed, and the person—or thing—that’s hunting them. But some secrets refuse to stay hidden, and the Island demands a price for freedom.
Survival horror can be fun.
Learn more at Goodreads.
I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway
To lonely eight-year-old Kay Washington the worst thing in the world is silence. That’s why Eddie Video makes the perfect imaginary friend. He’s smart, rambunctious, and loves pulling pranks. But most important, he’s never ever quiet.
Forty-something, immigrant Ivanon is a contract killer with an unusual imaginary friends who’ve overstayed their welcome. His only rule, no kids—kids need their imaginary friends.
But when one of Eddie Video’s “pranks” goes too far and lands Kay in the hospital, Ivanon agrees maybe exceptions can be made. After all, rent is due. But Ivanon and Kay will soon learn Eddie Video is no ordinary imaginary friend; he is something much, much darker.
A balance of comedy and catharsis, this dual-narrative tackles both the fear of growing up and the scars our childhood leaves behind..
This could be a fun one to break up some of the dark ones in this list.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Humboldt Cut by Allison Mick
Jordan Peele and Jeff Vandermeer meet The Overstory in comedy writer Allison Mick’s darkly humorous debut eco-horror novel, as a Black woman returns home to the redwood forests of northern California, only to unearth the monsters that lurk among the trees…
Jasmine Bay is a nurse for an Oakland mental health facility, battling her own demons, caught in a spiral of suicidal despair. Estranged from her brother James and his wife Tilly, who was once her best friend, Jas has chosen self-isolation to protect herself—even if it means denying herself a hopeful future with co-worker and potential love interest Henry Lewis.
When her godmother dies, Jas returns to Redceder for the funeral, a logging town where her grandfather William Whipple made a living deforesting the countryside, ripping and raping apart nature’s very foundations for corporate profits. As trees fell to axes and chainsaws, so did dozens of lumberjacks, falling prey to the dangers of their job—and to the ecoterrorism of Jas’s grandfather who was lynched for his crimes.
And buried in the haunted woods are even more dark secrets perpetrated by Jas’s family. Unnatural acts giving birth to entities made of human flesh and petrified bark, seeking to avenge the devastation that ravaged their land. It is an inheritance that threatens to consume the remnants of Jas’s family, and her very sanity. . .
Celebrated comedy writer Allison Mick’s Humboldt Cut exposes the traumatic costs of environmental destruction in an energetic, darkly humorous horror adventure that combines the botanical terrors of VanderMeer’s Annihilation and the psychological horror of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones with a dash of Jordan Peele.
A humorous eco comedy? yes, please
Learn more at Goodreads.
Ballad of the Bone Road by A.C. Wise
Port Astor is a city of secrets. Once home to the Hollow Queen and her court, the fae have been driven out by industrialists and religious leaders. But just below the surface, their legacy remains in traceries of hidden roads, strange apparitions and spectral hauntings.
Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, clearing out Port Astor's ghosts and devouring its demons. Both have their own Bellefeather shares her body with a demon, Belezial; Brix has trapped the ghost of his fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go.
When Brix is asked to investigate an apparent haunting at the prestigious Peony Hotel, he comes across a young couple tangled up in one of the city's most infamous stories. They have summoned the ghost of Jimmy Valentine, tragic movie star and supposed favorite of the Hollow Queen herself. Meanwhile, Bellefeather is called back to her childhood home by her estranged sister, whose preacher husband Clarence has gotten a young woman from his congregation pregnant. But when Bellefeather arrives, she realizes whatever has taken over Clarence and his 'flock' is more sinister than faith, and Ava's is no normal pregnancy.
The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And the Hollow Queen won't give up her kingdom so easily.
A horror fantasy blend, perhaps?
Learn more at Goodreads.
Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis
Port Astor is a city of secrets. Once home to the Hollow Queen and her court, the fae have been driven out by industrialists and religious leaders. But just below the surface, their legacy remains in traceries of hidden roads, strange apparitions and spectral hauntings.
Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, clearing out Port Astor's ghosts and devouring its demons. Both have their own Bellefeather shares her body with a demon, Belezial; Brix has trapped the ghost of his fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go.
When Brix is asked to investigate an apparent haunting at the prestigious Peony Hotel, he comes across a young couple tangled up in one of the city's most infamous stories. They have summoned the ghost of Jimmy Valentine, tragic movie star and supposed favorite of the Hollow Queen herself. Meanwhile, Bellefeather is called back to her childhood home by her estranged sister, whose preacher husband Clarence has gotten a young woman from his congregation pregnant. But when Bellefeather arrives, she realizes whatever has taken over Clarence and his 'flock' is more sinister than faith, and Ava's is no normal pregnancy.
The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And the Hollow Queen won't give up her kingdom so easily.
This just looks and sounds adorable! Check out Tammy's review at Books, Bones & Buffy
Learn more at Goodreads.
I will not make you wait any longer. Here's the latest MONSTER-ROMANCE!
Oops! I Summoned A Demonic Merman by Naomi Lucas
One moment I’m within my domain in the abyss, and the next…
She’s in front of me with a steam cleaner in her hand.
Her name is Grace… but I’m in no threat of falling, feeling hexed…
With her, I’ve ascended, on land.
Now she wants to get rid of me, saying I’m an accident.
Unfortunately for her, I have no intention of leaving without a taste.
I plan to stay until she’s flustered, wet, and bent out of shape.
Then maybe I’ll give her a reprieve, after I’ve had my fill of the chase.
-Sepher, Duke of Hell
Witches Love Monsters features short, fun romps from some of your favorite Regine Abel, Opal Reyne, Naomi Lucas, and Tiffany Roberts. Each book reads as a standalone
This whole series sounds amazing.
Learn more at Goodreads.
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