Sapphic Halloween Books: 17 Witchy, Gothic and Spooky WLW Reads

October is the best month to be a sapphic reader. Witches fall for rival witches, ghosts haunt bed-and-breakfasts, vampires get second chances and gothic boarding schools keep their secrets. Whether you want a cosy pumpkin-patch romance or something that will keep you up with the lights on, there is a queer love story waiting for you.

Here are 17 sapphic Halloween books, sorted from cosy to genuinely creepy. Each title links to its full review on Lesbian Romance Reads, so you can check heat, ending and content warnings first. If you mostly want romance with a guaranteed happy ending, keep this guide to the best sapphic romance books open in another tab.

Quick picks

• Coziest: Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist
• Best witchy rom-com: Payback's a Witch
• Best ghost story: With All My Haunted Heart
• Most likely to break you: The Mercies
• Scariest: Our Wives Under the Sea

Cozy witches and friendly ghosts

1. Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist by Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison

A cosy Halloween-town rom-com with one of the most likeable settings around. It is pure autumn atmosphere. The romance moves fast, from strangers to soulmates in short order, so choose it for the vibes rather than a long build.

2. Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper

Emmy goes home for a once-a-generation witchy tournament and teams up with Talia, a gorgeous witch from a rival family, to take down the man who wronged them both. It has a lovely autumn setting and a complete happy ending, though the ex-boyfriend plot sometimes steals the spotlight.

3. With All My Haunted Heart by Isabel Sterling

A witch is hired to haunt, not banish, a small-town bed-and-breakfast. It is a cosy paranormal romance that is genuinely moving about grief and found family.

4. This Spell's Disaster by Tori Anne Martin

A cute, chaotic witchy fake-dating rom-com with excellent world-building. Fair warning: its miscommunication plot is one of the most divisive on the cozy shelf.

5. How to Get a Girlfriend (When You're a Terrifying Monster) by Marie Cardno

A short, silly, sweet monster romance. A tiny breakaway piece of an all-devouring cosmic entity falls for a witch scientist. It is exactly as delightful as the title promises.

6. The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

A warm, emotionally generous witch romance with the best grandmother in sapphic fantasy. It is sold as cosy, but it goes darker than the cover suggests, so expect some real weight with your honey.

Young adult covens and curses

7. Practical Rules for Cursed Witches by Kayla Cottingham

A warm, adventurous YA curse-breaking quest with a lovable airship found family and a sweet rivals-to-lovers romance.

8. The Scapegracers by H. A. Clarke

A feral, funny and genuinely creepy coven debut with one of the best friendship ensembles in YA sapphic fantasy. The plot can be slippery, but the girls are unforgettable.

9. These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

A quick, likeable Salem witch mystery with an already-out lesbian heroine and a sharp portrait of a toxic ex.

Vampires

10. Carmilla and Laura by S.D. Simper

A short, warm rewrite of the 1872 story that invented the lesbian vampire, built so that this time the women survive. Gentler on horror, generous with love.

11. The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

A foundational Black lesbian vampire novel that reimagines feeding as a consensual, spiritual exchange rather than predation. Essential reading for anyone interested in queer horror history.

12. A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

A gorgeous, claustrophobic gothic confession about escaping a monstrous love, with prose readers quote endlessly. Its portrait of abuse lands hard, so check the content notes first.

Gothic and literary horror

13. Plain Bad Heroines by emily m. danforth

In 1902, girls at a New England boarding school start dying in strange ways, all linked to one scandalous book. A century later, a film crew arrives to tell the story. It is a witty, sumptuous, illustrated gothic where almost every major character is a queer woman.

14. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Miri's wife Leah comes home from a deep-sea mission that went wrong, and she is no longer quite herself. The marriage becomes the horror. Extraordinary, unsettling and sad.

15. White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

A literary, prize-winning haunted-house novel narrated partly by the house itself. The sapphic relationship is real but secondary, so read it for the dread.

16. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

A real storm in 1617, a real witch hunt and a love story that arrives late and stays with you. Not a horror novel exactly, but the most frightening thing in it is human.

17. House of Rayne by Harley Laroux

A gothic horror romance that made Publishers Weekly's Best Romance list of 2025. Expect prestige-horror atmosphere and an explicit, unusually tender romance. The falling-in-love happens fast, which some readers mind.

More spooky sapphic reading

Lesbian Romance Reads has two deeper guides for the season: sapphic witch romance books and sapphic gothic romance. Want horror alongside fantasy, mystery and romance? Their guide to sapphic books in every genre picks two standouts per shelf.

What is on your Halloween TBR? Share it in the comments.