By Jennifer McMahon 

Scout Press, 2023. 308 pages. Fiction 

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call. Mavis, Alison's estranged Mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother's alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she's always dreamed of. But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis's arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family. 

If you’re looking to read something a little more frightening this holiday season, look no further than My Darling Girl. In typical Jennifer McMahon fashion, this book is a dark and twisty psychological thriller. It takes the relatable storyline of children caregiving for their parents and completely turns it on its head with strained relationships and something far more sinister, perhaps demonic. It’s an eerie book that gets under your skin, something Jennifer McMahon has succeeded in doing time and time again. While it was festive to read this book under the Christmas tree lights, I recommend keeping the lights on, so you don’t get too scared! 

Midnight is the Darkest Hour 

By Ashley Winstead

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2023. 385 pages. Fiction

In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil.

The September House 

By Carissa Orlando 

Berkeley, 2023. 344 pages. Fiction

You can survive anything. That's what Margaret tells herself when the walls of her house start to drip blood every September. She's learned how to live with it and the other terrifying apparitions that have made the sprawling Victorian house she and her husband bought four years ago turn from a dream home into a living nightmare. But she can outlast all of it. Hal felt differently, though. Her husband couldn't take the hauntings anymore, and he left. But now he's not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine arrives, intent on looking for her missing father, convinced something grim has happened to him. With every desperate attempt Katherine makes at finding Hal, the hauntings at the September House grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

BW