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The Gothic Undercurrents It's the perfect time of year to read some spooky, dark, gothic tales. Here are six stories with gothic undercurrents that I really liked. What are some of your favorite spooky or gothic reads? 01 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters In this gothic Victorian tale, Waters offers a slow build to heartbreak There's also a Gothic undercurrent in this book, which I love.

The shadowy, eerie tone of the first title in Gillig's Stonewater Kingdom series gives way to heartwarming, sometimes funny moments as an unlikely pack of allies sets out on a journey of discovery, complete with battles, evolving loyalties, and an increasingly high-stakes quest. The romantic aspect is less essential than the fantasy elements, which I appreciated. The first book in Rachel Gillig's Stonewater Kingdom series, The Knight and the Moth , considers Sybil Delling ("Six") and a group of five other foundling girls who have given up ten years of their lives to serve as Diviners, dedicating themselves wholly to being submerged in magical waters and conveying their visions and dreams of Omens at her abbess's whim. But the shrouded girls, who have bonded over the years like family, begin to disappear, and Sybil doubts for the first time whether their collective purpose is holy and noble after all. She starts to question the motivations of those with influence, including the abbess who has tasked them with the violent drowning dreams and the Omens themselves. Sybil is no shrinking violet at the beginning of the story, but she develops a satisfyingly solid sense of self and clarity of purpose as she determines who to align herself with, picks and chooses appropriate ways to express loyalty, and remains open to discovering new sides of herself and of those she has allowed into her inner world. Gillig builds a layered fantasy world on elements of stone and water, and the moth symbolism changes in significance. Sybil's understanding of her own power and abilities shifts while she assesses the power of the elements she's always trusted. There's an evolving quest involving unlikely heroes, allies who continually reveal layers that make them even more interesting. I was hooked on each of our main protagonists (particularly Maude) and their rich, strategically revealed back stories. I don't love an overly swoony, melodramatic "romantasy" story in which characters' energy is spent on pining and obsessing, where dramatic declarations overshadow a novel's fantasy elements. The Knight and the Moth is built on a spare yet satisfying fantasy world with a limited number of characters and an essential engaging romance aspect that is far more than a swoony distraction. I really, really liked this balance. Bartholomew! This character development hurt my heart in the best way and warmed it too. The class-warfare and discrimination against hungry sprites by the comfortable, wealthy, longstanding nobles feels like an editorial on haves and have-nots that is relevant for the current real world. The eerie, shadowy tone set up at the beginning felt like a far more gentle version of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series. As The Knight and the Moth 's story evolves, the humorous moments make the haunted, gray setting and oppressive corruption and greed surrounding our main characters feel satisfyingly heartwarming. I can't wait for the next books in this series. More from Rachel Gillig Rachel Gillig is also the author of the Shepherd King duology. For more fantasy/science fiction stories I've loved, please check out these titles .

You might also want to check out these gothic-feeling stories.

This felt almost gothic in its initial darkness and hopelessness, then took me by surprise by blooming

Starling House is another wonderful, dark, twisty story from Alix E. Harrow, with imperfect characters, a noble, messy quest, layers of history, and a captivating end. I can see them all now, truths and lies, all lying one atop the other...the Gravely brothers...Eden, which was a good little town and a terrible little town, filled with good and terrible people...Eleanor. Opal is desperate for cash, and her petty theft at her minimum-wage jobs isn't going to cut it. She's got to raise the money to send her bright younger brother Jacob to a private school where he can thrive--and have better prospects than Opal herself has had since the loss and disappearance of their single mother. She's been cobbling together enough to get by, but when a mysterious draw to the spooky Starling House ends up in an overpaying job offer, she feels she can hardly say no. Arthur, the young, haunted-seeming caretaker of the estate, seems resigned to her presence even as he advises her to stay far away from Starling House. He's caught up in solving some sort of puzzle related to the past. Which Opal promptly attempts to file under Not Her Problem. Opal takes his envelopes of cash for her overpriced housekeeping, but she doesn't tell Arthur that she's been dreaming of the decrepit, rambling house for years, and that she has some eerie sense that she's finally home. Harrow has crafted a rich, fully realized set of interconnected elements; families riddled with greed and betrayal, duty and disappointment, well-meaning and ineffectual passersby; and dreams of darkness, belonging, and taking up the mantle of an eerie, wonderful, terrible home and the predecessors who fought for it. Starling House includes social commentary and judgments about privilege, corruption, and abuse at the hands of terrible, powerful men. The supporting characters are fantastically odd, fiercely loyal, and a heartwarming support for a girl who often feels without an anchor. I adore Harrow's writing; her imperfect, faulted characters; the noble, messy quest; the hard-fought realizations and revenge. This was wonderful. I received a prepublication edition of the audiobook of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Alix E. Harrow is also the author of the wonderful The Once and Future Witches and The Ten Thousand Doors of January, as well as A Spindle Splintered, A Mirror Mended, The Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage, and Fractured Fables.

The gothic story King Nyx offers haunting imagery, sinister mysteries, unreliable memories, resurfacing the various aspects of the story had held together a little more cohesively, but I enjoyed the dark, gothic

There's even a Gothic undercurrent in this book, which I love.

This is a spooky, atmospheric, gothic Victorian ghost story perfect for the season. Purcell has also written other gothic novels I'd like to read: The Poison Thread, Bone China, and her

#historicalfiction, #mysterysuspense, #gothic, #dualstoryline, #silentcompanions What are you reading

mocked, badly treated young woman coming of age in a family of obtuse, rigid, unkind members living in a gothic More Gothic Tales For Bossy reviews of other Gothic stories, please check out the titles at this link

this installment of Veronica and Stoker's Victorian England mystery-solving, they enter a sinister, gothic an elusive butterfly and an invitation from Lord Templeton-Vane, her partner Stoker's brother, to a gothic It wasn't my favorite of the series mysteries thus far, but I enjoyed the dark, gothic feel of twisting

The book builds to be an often-sinister, Gothic-feeling story with various interconnected repercussions The feeling here is Gothic, as those who are wronged come back to haunt certain later inhabitants and

Rae Dunlap's debut novel The Resurrectionist , focused on early medicine, serial killers, and a gothic Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as (real-life) serial

Julia Fine's Maddalena and the Dark is a gothic story set in 1700s Venice in which two young women's Maddalena and the Dark has a distinct gothic tone, and the story treads ever deeper into seedy, suspect

Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as fictionalized

You might also like the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Spooky, Gothic Tales.

Rash offers a fascinating, Appalachian-set mystery told from various points of view with a Southern gothic One Foot in Eden is a quiet, haunting story with a Southern gothic feel and understated revelations from

Jackson's gothic horror tale is made all the more frightening by its reliance on terror, shadows, and Jackson's gothic horror tale is made all the more frightening by its reliance on terror, shadows, and

Things in Jars, a mystery I gave four Bossy stars--and listed in two Greedy Reading Lists, Six Spooky, Gothic

mocked, badly treated young woman coming of age in a family of obtuse, rigid, unkind members living in a gothic

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Anatomy: A Love Story, a gothic young adult historical fiction 01 Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz In Anatomy: A Love Story, Dana Schwartz's young adult gothic

In this gothic Victorian tale, Waters offers a slow build to heartbreak, twists and double twists, hesitant Fingersmith is a delightfully dark, often menacing Victorian-era gothic tale.

fiction LGBTQ love story set in World War I from Alice Winn; and I'm reading Elliott Gish's fascinating gothic

in Elle Cosimano's playful Finlay Donovan mystery series; I'm reading Quantum Girl Theory, a recent gothic of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. 02 Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan In Erin Kate Ryan's recent gothic

Things in Jars, a mystery I gave four Bossy stars--and listed in two Greedy Reading Lists, Six Spooky, Gothic

imagined origins of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, All Our Yesterdays; and I'm listening to Kirsten Bakis's gothic

which is based upon witch hunts during the seventeenth-century English Civil War--is smart, shadowy and gothic The Manningtree Witches is smart and thoughtful, and the tone of Blakemore's novel is shadowy and gothic

collision of faeries and humans, the first in a series; I'm also listening to Sarah Waters's spooky, gothic Fingersmith is a delightfully dark, often sinister Victorian-era gothic tale.

The Villa is gothic suspense told in two timelines, both at the same Italian villa, where dark mysteries

listening to Lone Women, Victor LaValle's Western, which so far features strong female characters and a gothic

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Heiress, Rachel Hawkins's upcoming (January 9) gothic suspense

which is based upon witch hunts during the seventeenth-century English Civil War--is smart, shadowy and gothic The Manningtree Witches is smart and thoughtful, and the tone of Blakemore's novel is shadowy and gothic

The Villa is gothic suspense set at an Italian villa, where dark mystery and wicked turns abound.

this past month: a wonderful story about a grumpy female pirate; fascinating futuristic speculation; a Gothic-feeling The book builds to be an often-sinister, Gothic-feeling story with various interconnected repercussions

check out Hell Bent. 06 Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine Julia Fine's Maddalena and the Dark is a gothic Maddalena and the Dark has a distinct gothic tone, and the story treads ever deeper into seedy, suspect

A compelling Gothic suspense story with supernatural elements that keeps you guessing. Eeeee! Sager has crafted a compelling Gothic suspense story in which we're along for the ride as Maggie, a young #mysterysuspense, #gothicnoir, #booksaboutbooks, #unreliablenarrator, #ghosts, #spooky, #hauntedhouse

Voices from a Medieval Village as well as Splendors and Glooms, a Gothic mystery about puppeteers that

01 Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack by Heidi von Palleske In von Palleske's modern gothic novel

which is based upon witch hunts during the seventeenth-century English Civil War--is smart, shadowy and gothic The Manningtree Witches is smart and thoughtful, and the tone of Blakemore's novel is shadowy and gothic

mocked, badly treated young woman coming of age in a family of obtuse, rigid, unkind members living in a gothic

interested in my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s  or my Bossy reviews of Gothic

Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as fictionalized

The Jackaby story is dark, mysterious, and feels Gothic, yet there's humor too.

interested in my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s or my Bossy reviews of Gothic

Here are the six books I most loved reading this past month: two historical fiction stories, gothic magical

The book builds to be an often-sinister, Gothic-feeling story with various interconnected repercussions

Things in Jars, a mystery I gave four Bossy stars--and listed in two Greedy Reading Lists, Six Spooky, Gothic

For my full review of this book, see One of Us Is Lying. 06 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters In this gothic

Things in Jars, a mystery I gave four Bossy stars--and listed in two Greedy Reading Lists, Six Spooky, Gothic

The story is dark, mysterious, and feels Gothic, yet there's humor too.