It’s nearly one year after the release of the hit Netflix series Wednesday, and we’re all aching for that dark academia, urban fantasy, amateur sleuth vibe. While we’ve been promised a second season, details on when we can expect it have yet to be released. So, if like me, you’ve already re-watched the show, here are some 2023 releases to fill the Addams family void in your dark little heart.
This is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs
If you’ve missed the allure of untrustworthy academics, then you’ll want to get snowed in with this one. A group of students are studying the psychology of lying in Forest, North Carolina. When a winter storm blows in, trapping them on campus and a student turns up dead after a test, it will be up to a local detective to sort through the deceit and find the killer.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall
For fans of Wednesday’s unique psychic ability, get ready for Linden. In the isolated Appalachian town, the four James sisters are known to possess unusual gifts. For Linden, her ability to taste what people feel has created difficulties. Last year, she went missing and returned with no memory of what happened. Only nightmares. Now, another girl has gone missing, but this time, she’s murdered. As Linden and her sisters set off to seek answers in the forest, they unbury more than they bargained for.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters
Who didn’t love the fact that Wednesday was writing a novel throughout the show? In this new release, all who are asked to attend Corbin College go. The tuition is free, the students are elite and the professors are inspirational. When Tara accepts a spot there, her writing is flowing, but the stories that come out are dark and twisted. Haunted by nightmares and an invisible presence, Tara must get to the bottom of a dark secret before it overtakes her.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Wings Once Cursed & Bound by Piper J. Drake
Wednesday is filled with magic, artifacts and supernatural beings which is exactly what readers get in this Thai contemporary fantasy. Peeraphan Rahttana has lived her life in the human world, but when a vampire turns up, claiming to be from a secret magical organization, she’s whisked away into a mysterious world. Battling a curse, Peeraphan must embody her true self, a Thai bird princess, and flee with Bennett in order to keep her wings and her freedom.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine
Who can forget the remarkable scenes of Wednesday strumming on her cello? Music lovers will fall for Luisa, a 17th century fifteen-year-old desperate to be the best violinist. She doesn’t make many friends in her pursuit until she meets Maddalena. Born into a noble family, Maddalena is expected to go to the Pietà to secure marriage prospects. But she has plans of her own that she as swept Luisa up into. Filled with friendship, magic and Venetian decadence, this story of boundless desire is one readers won’t be able to put down.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
The Addams family is known for speaking many languages and French, German and Latin are all touched on in the show, making this language-based book a must-read. It’s Anisa Ellahi dream to be a renowned translator, but she mostly finds herself adding subtitles to Bollywood films. When her admittedly unextraordinary white boyfriend manages to learn a language in ten days, she coaxes the secret out of him. He tells her of The Centre and she enrolls in the vigorous and questionable program. As her abilities expand she discoveries there is a great cost for the skills she gains.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriguez Wallach
Murder, a cursed forests and mystery, need we say more? One hundred years after the Lizzie Borden murder, history appears to be repeating itself. When Vik is accused of killing his girlfriend’s wealthy parents with an axe, his sister Tessa is the only one convinced he didn’t do it. She blames herself for the move to Fall River, MA that put him in this position and she’s determined to enter the dark forest, unbury a century old secret and prove her brother’s innocence.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Win Lose Kill Die by Cynthia Murphy
Like the Nightshade Society at Nevermore, secret societies, academia and murder, just go together. At Morton Academy, the competition has always been stiff amongst the high-achievers. Now, it has turned deadly. As students compete for the top, bodies pile up and five students are determined to figure out what is going on as they wade through a history of secret societies, cults and unscrupulous teachers.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause
Though she struggles to admit it out loud, Wednesday has a fierce and protective love for her brother Pugsley and would do anything to protect. So too would Catalina. Her father, her brother and she are living in a remote cabin in Wisconsin during the 1800s. When tragedy takes her pa, a man covered in bark and leaves with sap dripping from his eyes claims her brother. Now she must pursuit him into the woods to retrieve her sibling. Combining Faustian lore with Mexican American poetry, this story takes readers deep into the woods and deeper into the soul.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Here, and Only Here by Christelle Dabos (Author), Hildegarde Serle (Translator)
Is there any school more clique-y than Nevermore? Perhaps this one. At the School of Here, students are segmented into their individual groups of outcasts, friends and pairs, but all are ruled by a godlike prince. When a new student vanishes, the school is thrust into a whirlwind of secret investigations, accusations and power dynamics. An exploration of the collective, society finds itself reflected in Here.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Leave A Comment