Horror Romance Books to Run Shivers Down Your Spine

Following her mother's death by suicide, promising young therapist Cate Duncan's life takes a downturn and she struggles with an overwhelming depression. In an attempt to get better, she agrees to enter a radical new alternative healing program run by Dr. Angeline MacGregor and her son Ben. Once she arrives at the program, however, she realizes she is the only "patient", and the unconventional figures offering the treatment possess some curious abilities that help Cate to understand her own strange powers. More sweet than scary, All the Broken Places will satisfy your paranormal romance cravings with a unique twist on the genre.

Carrie Ames finally became Dr. Carrie Ames, and then her life took a turn. After an attack by a powerful vampire, Carrie is now a vampire herself, and she has an unbreakable blood tie to the monster who changed her.

The tie works like an invisible leash, binding her to one of the most depraved creatures on earth. While he’s hell-bent on making Carrie into a soulless killer, his sworn enemy is determined to exterminate her. And she’s attracted to him too?

Drinking blood, living as an immortal demon, and being a pawn between two warring vampire factions isn’t exactly how Carrie imagined her future. But the only way to conquer fear is to face it. 

Julie Hall has a strange talent (or curse) for finding corpses. She'd rather stay at home with her family and her dog, but when FBI Agent Garrett Pierce asks specifically for her help in finding three missing girls, Julie reluctantly agrees. 

What started as three quickly balloons as the case grows more gruesome with each passing day. It becomes clear that they are tracking a dangerous serial killer, and when the killer's sights turn toward Julie, even her growing relationship with Agent Garrett may not be enough to save her.

Summer is over, and it’s time for James Ryder to pretend that everything is back to normal, even though his sister died just two months ago. But the school year starts out with a bloody bang: a double murder in the computer lab. Even with his girlfriend, Chelsea, and friends around him, James still feels on edge.

The new girl doesn’t help. Rina Cargiale is gorgeous, in a mesmerizing kind of way, but she’s also kind of socially awkward. Probably because she’s really a two-hundred-year-old vampire. After seeing James at his sister’s grave one night and following him home for a little sip of his blood, Rina becomes obsessed. She must get Chelsea out of the way. It sucks that she might have to kill her, when humiliating her would be much more satisfying. But what Rina wants might not matter when someone from her past flies into town.

If you're not ready for a full-on horror experience this season but still want a few thrills and chills in your romance, you can never go wrong with the queen of the genre, Nora Roberts. This is a writer who has always dabbled in multiple genres, often blending them together in the great melting pot of romance. Carolina Moon is a romance, a thriller, a Southern Gothic drama, and a psychological horror all at the same time. 

Its heroine, Tory Bodeen, grew up in an abusive fundamentalist household with a violent father and a passive mother who did not understand her unique gifts. Her only solace is her best friend Hope, but a vision Tory has of Hope being raped and murdered as a child sadly comes true. Returning to the town of Progress, South Carolina 18 years later, Tory is drawn to Hope's brother but can't forget her past or the fact that Hope's killer was never caught. Carolina Moon has mystery, paranormal, romance, and dark scares that make it a perfect cozy Halloween read.

It’s always a good time to read some Anne Rice, but Halloween offers an especially fitting period to curl up with one of her deliciously sensual novels. While none of her work is technically romance, it’s tough to deny their romantic allure. Rice’s vampires in particular are heavily rooted in an oft-imitated blend of horror and romance, which is partly what’s made them so popular and influential for the past four decades. 

We could recommend any of the Vampire Chronicles here (the first three books in the series are near-peerless in terms of vampire fiction), but we’ve decided to shake things up a bit and go with the epic grandeur of The Witching Hour. The first book in the Mayfair Witches trilogy (before the series blended with the Vampire Chronicles), The Witching Hour is a doorstop of a novel–over 1,200 pages!–that offers an extensively detailed insight into several generations of the Mayfair family and their relationship with the occult. Even at its densest, The Witching Hour remains a compulsive reading experience chock full of the sexy, the dark, and Rice’s obsessive attention to detail. 

There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and oh, she can see ghosts.

Luckily for her, her hidden talent comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance

Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect backdrop for a story that tests Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who may not be all that he seems.

Inspired by her own work as a music journalist, Karina Halle offers a more hellish insight into the wild and hypnotic world of metal. Dawn Emerson has big plans for her life but they're all put on hold while she goes on the road with one of her favorite groups, the metal band Hybrid. It is, of course, a world of sex and drugs and rock n' roll, but then things take a much more monstrous turn.

Rory Morris is, unfortunately, back in her hometown. Her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby's father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she'd put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she's attacked.

Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She's unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver. She's changing into something else, maybe even a monster, maybe even a werewolf. But does that mean she's putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?

After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside.

Noemí is an unlikely rescuer. She's a glamorous debutante, more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she's also tough and smart, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin's new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, who seems oddly fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but he might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

Yes, you can read erotica involving H.P. Lovecraft’s ultimate eldritch abomination! Isn’t the world wonderful? Edited by Carrie Cuinn and featuring stories from the likes of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gabrielle Harbowy, and Kirsten Brown, Cthulhurotica does exactly what it says on the cover. That means tentacles galore! 

Lovecraft's mythos has always been rich in potential and the specific fears evoked by cosmic horror, which makes it perfect for reinterpretation from a more adult perspective. The scares aren’t sacrificed in favor of the sex here, rest assured. This isn’t one for novices but the more curious among you may make a lot of discoveries here.

Willem and Abby were married for all of one day before Abby stepped out into traffic and was struck by a vehicle. As Willem watches over her in the hospital, he can't help but wonder whether she did it on purpose. What has she been hiding? What is the rash-like red mark circling her wrist?

Answers come when Abby wakes and begins to share the stories of her past. But Willem never could never have imagined the truth of his wife's past, which Booklist calls a “fast-paced examination of the destructive and restorative nature of obsessive love.”

Leon earned his reputation among magicians for a reason: they call him a killer and killing is what he’s best at. But there’s one girl he couldn’t manage to kill, even though the cult that once controlled him wants her dead.

Hunting for ghosts is Rae’s passion, but summoning a demon was never part of the plan. Monsters are roaming the woods, and something ancient and evil is waking up and calling her name. And her only shot at survival is the demon stalking her.

It's not really Halloween without a good vampire read. Romance is, fortunately for those of us who adore the genre, chock full of vampires who range from sweet and sympathetic to bloodcurdlingly amoral. Nancy Baker’s A Terrible Beauty brings in the alluring vampire Sidonie, the naive human artist Matthew, and a heavy dash of Beauty and the Beast for equal measure. It's not exactly a full-on horror, but A Great Beauty is certainly a great read for those dark nights. 

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But this comes with a price. Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.

Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

When Jamie Prescott and her best friend Laurie attend a speed-dating event, Jamie expects to meet a roster of mediocre men. She doesn’t expect one of her dates to have his throat slit at their table during a blackout. After the lights come back on and there are more bodies on the floor, it becomes clear that dating can be a very dangerous pastime.

Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of slasher movies, the remaining speed daters try to find an exit while the killer adds to their body count. As the night progresses, Jamie begins to suspect they are committing the slayings to woo one of the daters and turn them into a real-life Final Girl. But Jamie has other plans, and as she fights for her life, she can’t help but find herself entangled in a love triangle with two of the other survivors.

This novel, the literary debut of Lucy Taylor, won the Bram Stoker Award and was highly acclaimed upon release. It's a shame it seems to have disappeared from wider pop culture conversations because it's a fascinating and challenging read that demands a second look. Val, our protagonist, has lived a very tough life and now travels the world looking for new and more boundary-pushing thrills that will fill the void inside her. She learns of a place known only as the City that promises pleasure and pain beyond her wildest nightmares. The Safety of Unknown Cities is heavily reminiscent of the works of Clive Barker, which should give you an idea of how graphic it is.