Summerween Book Recs: Haunted & Hallowed

They told you not to follow. You did anyway. Now something’s waiting.

This week’s Summerween selections pull you into the kinds of horror you don’t just survive, you inherit. Sisters vanish, towns grieve, and something ancient waits in the bog. These books are haunted by loss, driven by love, and chilling to the bone.

The House of Quiet

by Kiersten White
Published by: Delacorte Press
on September 9, 2025
Bookshop
Goodreads

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken comes a dark fantasy about a girl who will do anything to find her sister, including posing as a maid to infiltrate the mysterious House of Quiet.

To save her sister, she must enter the House.

In the middle of a deadly bog sits the House of Quiet. It’s a place for children whose Procedure triggered powers too terrible to be lived with—their last hope for treatment. No one knows how they’re healed or where they go afterward.

Birdie has begged, bargained, and blackmailed her way inside as a maid, determined to find her missing sister, Magpie. But what she discovers is more mysteries. Instead of the destitute children who undergo the Procedure in hopes of social advancement, the house brims with aristocratic teens wielding strange powers they never should have been burdened with.

Though Birdie wants to ignore them, she can’t help being drawn to stoic and silent Forest, charmed by clever River, and concerned for the youngest residents. And with fellow maid Minnow keeping tabs on everything Birdie does, danger is everywhere.

In her desperate search for Magpie, Birdie unearths terrifying threats and devastating truths, forcing her to confront just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save her own sister. Because in the House of Quiet, if you find what’s lurking beneath . . . you lose everything.

Unravel the mystery. Ignite the rebellion.

Haunted & Hallowed

The House of Quiet by Kiersten White

To find her missing sister, Birdie lies her way into the eerie House of Quiet, a reclusive treatment center for children whose magical powers are too dangerous to live with. Posing as a maid, she discovers a twisted system, aristocratic teens with terrifying abilities, and secrets that could cost her everything. What lies beneath the House is darker than she imagined, and it doesn’t let go.

Tropes: undercover rescue, sister bond, elite magic, secret institution
Pair it with: whispered names, creaky floorboards, and a truth you’re not ready for.

We Are Always Tender with Our Dead by Eric LaRocca

On Christmas morning, three faceless entities descend on Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire, committing an act of violence that fractures the town and the lives of those within it. As grief spirals into cruelty and more blood is spilled, young Rupert Cromwell must reckon with the unbearable weight of family, vengeance, and survival. Gorgeously written, deeply disturbing, and impossible to forget.

Tropes: small-town horror, supernatural violence, transgressive grief, literary dread
Pair it with: locked doors, uneasy quiet, and a bone-deep ache you can’t explain.

The Moss by Lisa Lueddecke

A year after her sister’s disappearance, Emma returns to their eerie hometown in rural Maine, and to the edge of the bog that may have taken Eve. As rumors swirl and her father unravels, Emma begins seeing things that shouldn’t be there, drawn deeper into the ancient hunger of the Moss. A slow-burn horror steeped in family trauma, folklore, and fable-like dread.

Tropes: missing sister, haunting wilderness, slow-burn horror, folklore
Pair it with: muddy shoes, a voice in your dreams, and a warning you didn’t heed.

Up next week: Wicked Magic & Dangerous Girls – scammers, schemers, and sinister sisterhoods.