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Dreams & Nightmares
These YA fantasy books and NA fantasy books blur the line between dreams and nightmares, stories filled with haunting magic, morally gray heroes, and enemies-to-lovers tension that keeps you reading long after midnight.
If Sing Me to Sleep gave you chills, this list will keep that feeling alive: dark forests, haunted estates, cursed hearts, and choices that never come without consequence.
Books Where Shadows Rule
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
“Dark fairy tales bleed into the real world, and the monsters want out.”
A portal fantasy that feels like falling into a Grimm story rewritten in ink and ash. Twisted fairy tales, mysterious doors, and a girl who learns that stories have teeth.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
“Twelve sisters cursed, twelve dances at midnight, death stalks every step.”
A seaside mansion, a family curse, and haunting masquerade balls that shimmer with doom. Perfect for fans of gothic mystery and slow-building dread.
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
“A clairvoyant in a dystopian London discovers her gift is both her curse and her weapon.”
Richly built and unapologetically dark, this fantasy introduces a heroine caught between rebellion and revelation. For readers who crave layered worlds and morally complex characters.
Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone
“A haunted estate, a cursed boy, and the monster in the lake, romance was never supposed to look like this.”
A gothic fairy-tale where the line between salvation and damnation blurs. Lush, eerie, and perfect for a rain-soaked evening.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
“A city split by monsters, where even music has teeth.”
Good and evil are just performances in Schwab’s haunting duet of violence and vulnerability. Dark, lyrical, and unforgettable.
There’s something irresistible about characters who live in the gray. Who fight, love, and dream in the spaces between light and shadow. These books remind us that even in nightmare worlds, hope has a pulse… and sometimes, the monsters make the best heroes.
If you’d like to bring any of these stories home, you can find them (and many of our other dark delights) at Books-A-Million – Here
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This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I might earn a small commission — no extra cost to you, but it does help keep the shadows lit..