From witches to Indigenous folklore to ghosts and more, 2025 had the best of the best when it comes to horror. If you’re looking to add more to your TBR but want to know which ones are must-reads, check out our picks for the best horror novels of 2025!
This year, the winner of the She Reads Best Horror of 2025 Award is:
The Bewitching by Silva Moreno-Garcia
Growing up, Minerva’s great-grandmother always told her stories about the witches, leading Minerva to focus her grad studies on the history of horror literature and the life of horror author Beatrice Tremblay. In her research, Minerva finds that Beatrice’s popular novel is inspired by true events. During the Great Depression, Beatrice attended the same school as Minerva and became obsessed with her roommate who eventually disappeared. Digging further, Minerva finds that the entity that stalked Beatrice and her roommate may still be on campus and the stories seem similar to those her great-grandmother told her about the witches in Mexico.
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And don’t miss out on the rest of our favorite horrors from 2025!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
The Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida is where families send unwed mothers to have their babies in secret. In 1970, fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the house to meet a dozen of girls who are just like her: pregnant and terrified. At the Wellwood House, the girls are controlled by the adults every waking moment. When a librarian gives Fern a book about witchcraft, Fern realizes this might just be what she and a few of her friends need to escape.
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The Buffalo Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
A diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered inside of a wall that spans a story going all the way back to over 200 Blackfeet dead in the snow. The diary is told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab that tells the life of a vampire who haunts the Blackfeet reservation in search of justice.
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The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas
In 1765, Alba flees Zacatecas with her parents and her fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine to escape a deadly plague. Shortly after arriving, Alba begins to have hallucinations, finds herself sleepwalking, and experiencing convulsions. Something is lurking beneath Alba’s skin. Elias came to the New World to escape a troubled past and at the request of his cousin, Alba is to be left alone. Try as he may, Elias can’t help but notice the danger mounting as Alba deteriorates while the demon inside of her craves blood.
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The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
Little Nettlebed is a village that is home to the unusual. From creatures washing up on riverbanks to ominous ravens that gather on the roofs of those who are about to die. The villagers never liked the Mansfield girls and have always made it known. When they begin to hear barking, one villager claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform in front of his eyes and now the rumors swirl that they are involved in witchcraft.
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Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown. The gruesome job is nothing in comparison to the horrific death she witnessed when her sister, Delilah, was pushed in front of a train. Before the murderer fled, they yelled two words: bat eater. Since Delilah’s death, Cora can’t be sure of what’s real and what’s imaginary. When she begins to notice that all her cleanups have been East Asian female victims and there are dead bats at every scene, she wonders if this is a warning about the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open.
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You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White
Masses of worms and flies have invaded Appalachia. In exchange for loyalty and fresh corpses, the hives offer struggling humans salvation. One of those is Crane, who found a chance to transition, never speak of it again, and live a life he’s wanted. He’s also met handsome ex-Marine, Levi, who treats him like a real man. When Levi gets Crane pregnant, the hive demands the child’s birth.
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The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Aymar Castle has been under siege for months. As the survivors begin to thin, the food runs low, and there’s no hope, the castle stores are replenished. The divine figures of Constant Lady and her Saints arrive and soon everything seems right again in the castle. War hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady, paranoid-nun-turned-sorceress Phosyne tries to unravel the mysteries of these new arrivals, and a serving girl Treila is desperate to escape. As madness descends on the castle, the three women must shift alliances and save the castle.
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Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle
Four years ago, a disaster now known as the Low-Probability Event occurred causing the deaths of eight million people in a single day, all in freak accidents. Former statistics and probability professor, Vera, is still grieving from that day and has been in search of a single shred of hope ever since. When Special Agent Layne shows up at Vera’s, she finds he’s investigating a casino in which he believes is connected to the deaths of the millions lost. Now, Vera’s the key between the world as they know it and another catastrophe.
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