Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is a simple one: Water. There are so many ways to go with this theme, but the first thing that came to mind for this mystery/thriller lover is books with pictures of houses on their covers. Have you ever noticed how many of them include water—usually crashing ocean waves—to enhance their moody, broody vibes? Not only does the inclusion of water create a sinister sense of isolation, but it also taps into the fear a lot of us have of the mysterious deep. These types of covers always send a thrilling little chill down my spine, which makes me instantly want to add the book to my TBR pile! There's just nothing like a (potentially) haunted house to pique my curiosity, whether the place is inhabited by actual ghosts or just ringing with the echoes of a secret past or whispering premonitions of an ominous future to come...

Before we get to that, though, take a minute to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give some love to our fabulous TTT host, Jana. If you want to hop on the TTT party bus (and you do!), you'll find everything you need to know on her blog.

1. The Only One Left by Riley Sager—I'm still on the very long library waiting list for this thriller. It concerns a teenage girl who allegedly killed her parents and sister at their cliffside mansion in Maine. Now an elderly woman debilitated by a series of strokes, Leonora is finally "speaking" out about the crime by writing her story on an old typewriter. As her home health care aide reads the pages, they become increasingly alarmed. Is the old woman as innocent as she seems or is she as guilty as sin?

2. Lakeview House by Helen Phifer—In desperate need of a new start, Maddy Hart impulsively accepts a position as a live-in caretaker at an imposing house on the shore of Lake Thirlmere. She's never been there before, but something about the place feels eerily familiar. Maddy tries not to be spooked by all the creaks and strange noises she hears while she's cleaning out the house, but the more time she spends there, the more creeped out she becomes. Are the sinister stories she's been hearing about the home's last resident true? Is Maddy in some kind of danger? Isolated and alone, she fears the worst...

3. What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline—I've never read anything by Scottoline, but I'm intrigued by the premise of this one. Jason Bennett is a regular dad whose ordinary suburban life takes a wild, unexpected turn one night as he's driving his family home from a lacrosse game. They become victims of a violent carjacking that puts them in the center of a dangerous FBI case. Encouraged to go into witness protection, the Bennetts are thrown into an entirely new life. As their peace of mind slowly unravels, new facts in the case come to light, convincing Jason that it's up to him to get the justice his traumatized family deserves.

4. The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day (available October 3, 2023)—Fifteen years ago, Liss Kehoe responded to a late-night knock on her door and was shocked to be handed a newborn. The baby's mother, Ashley Hay, then disappeared. Liss has raised the boy she thinks of as hers, always fearful that Ashley will return and demand her son back. When the missing woman's car is found submerged in a quarry pond on Liss' property almost two decades later, it provides more questions than answers. What really happened to Ashley? Was it suicide, an accident, or something much, much more sinister?

5. The Nesting by C.J. Cooke—Tom Faraday is an architect bent on finishing the home he's building on a fjord in Norway, even though that's where his wife took her own life. He hires Gaia to be a nanny for his two young children. Although she loves the kids, she senses that something is very off in the Faraday household. Odd things are happening, leading Gaia to believe that Mrs. Faraday's death did not come by her own hand...

6. You Never Know by Connie Briscoe—In spite of its mixed reviews, I'm curious about this thriller. It revolves around a deaf woman who is delighted when she meets the man of her dreams. Not only is he charming and successful, but Marcus is also fluent in American Sign Language. It doesn't take long, though, before he seems to become a completely different person. Some sleuthing on her part reveals that her husband's first wife is missing, presumed dead. Then, Marcus himself disappears. Who is the stranger she married, really? And where has he gone?

7. The Midnight House by Amanda Geard—This triple-timeline mystery revolves around Blackwater Hall, a graceful, secret-filled home in County Kerry, Ireland. Will a modern-day disgraced journalist be able to solve its mysteries?

8. Into the Dark by Fiona Cummins—Something odd has happened at beautiful, windswept Seawings. The home's occupants—two parents and two teens—have vanished. When a friend enters, she finds a radio playing, phones charging, cars in the garage, and no one home. A sinister message scrawled on one of the bedroom walls hints that something unspeakable has happened, but what?

9. The Engagement Party by Darby Kane—Twelve years ago, a young woman went missing from her posh school and one of her classmates, a boy no one really knew, took his own life. One text indicated there was a connection between them, which closed the case for the police. Now, a group of college friends have gathered on a private island in Maine to celebrate an upcoming wedding. Someone is using the party as a chance to force out the truth about what really happened a dozen years ago. As the tension ramps up, so does a storm that will strand them all with a killer who has already gotten away with murder once.

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose—This cover is a bit of a departure from the others, but it's got a house and water so it counts, right? The story is about a group of moms in an Irish village whose lives are shattered when one of their own is found murdered in her home. Ciara's Instagram-worthy life seemed absolutely perfect, so who could possibly have wanted her dead? A whole lot of people as it turns out...

There you are, ten mystery/thrillers I want to read that have covers featuring a house and water. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Which others can you think of that fit with the theme? I'm always looking for recs! What did you do for this watery prompt? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. I also reply to comments left here.

With Halloween at the end of this week, it's no surprise that today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is a holiday freebie.  I don't know how you feel about Halloween, but it's not my favorite.  Although I'm all about candy (as long as it's chocolate), I've never been a fan of dressing up.  Just not my thing.  Ghost stories have always thrilled me, although truth be told, I'm a pretty big wimp when it comes to scary things!  In the past, my husband and I have spent Halloween evening sitting in our driveway handing out candy and visiting with neighbors while we supervised our kids' trick-or-treating efforts.  Now that our youngest is a month away from her 12th birthday, she's decided she wants to trick-or-treat with her friends in their neighborhood without any parents tagging along.  Fine by me.  Way I figure it, these unwanted parents will stick a bowl of candy on our porch, turn off the lights, and stay inside with popcorn and a scary-ish movie.  We'll see.  What about you?  Any big plans for Halloween?

Back in high school, I spent many nights hiding under my covers with a flashlight and a chilling horror novel.  The older I've gotten, though, the wussier I've become.  I still love me a shivery ghost story or a haunting Gothic thriller, as long as it's not too terrifying.  For my TTT list, I decided to highlight some of the creepy novels from 2020 and 2021 that are on my TBR list.  These are sure to give me a good fright!

Before we get to that, though, I want to give a shout out to our lovely host, Jana.  Click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl to give her blog some love and find out more about Top Ten Tuesday.

1.  The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb—In search of a life reset, the titular character checks into a boardinghouse on the shores of Lake Superior for the summer.  There she finds camaraderie with a group of similarly lost souls.  Her peace is short-lived—soon she's hearing voices, being plagued by nightmares, and wondering what's inside the mysterious room at the end of the hall ...

2.  The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks—Haunted by the recent suicide of her sister, Freya Lyell decides to visit the place of her death.  When she enters mysterious Byrne Hall, she sees a portrait of her sister hanging on the wall.  Freya's never seen the picture and she knows her sister has never been to the house.  What is her sister's likeness doing in a house she's never been to?  What do its owners know about her death?  What dark secrets is the house hiding?

3.  The Shadow in the Glass by J.J.A. Harwood (coming March 18, 2021)—In this dark Cinderella retelling, a miserable maid finds her only solace in the bewitching library inside her stepfather's home.  One night as she's lost in her world of books, her fairy godmother appears to grant her seven wishes.  Each comes with a price—how much is Ella willing to risk for a magical respite from her many troubles?

4.  Don't Tell a Soul by Kirsten Miller (coming January 26, 2021)—I read Rebecca earlier this year and was seriously underwhelmed, but this modern-day YA version still sounds compelling.  It concerns Bram, a young woman who goes to live with her grieving uncle in an effort to escape her old life.  The old mansion he's renovating is seriously creepy and the town he lives in is filled with suspicious, unwelcoming people who tell chilling tales about missing girls associated with her uncle's manor house.  Is the place haunted?  Should Bram be wary of her strange uncle?

5.  The Nesting by C.J. Cooke—Set in Norway, this Gothic thriller sounds absolutely terrifying!  It concerns a nanny who takes a job watching two young children while their father finishes building his dream home on an isolated fjord near a deep, looming forest.  When strange things start happening in the house, the nanny begins to suspect that the kids' dead mother might not be as dead as they all supposed ...

6.  Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti—When her aunt dies in a car accident, a woman travels to the Catskills to help the woman's dying husband.  Being there brings back haunting memories of a troubling disappearance sixteen years ago.  As the woman digs into the past, disturbing family secrets start coming to light.

7.  The Lost Village by Camilla Sten (coming March 23, 2021)—People have been mysteriously vanishing from an old mining town for years.  Alice, a documentary filmmaker, is obsessed with the place and wants to make a movie about it.  When she takes a crew to the village, strange things start to occur.  Can they figure out what happened to all the missing townspeople before they become the next ones to vanish without a trace?  

8.  It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan—A crumbling mansion on the edge of a swamp, Sam Wakefield's ancestral home is a decaying pile built by her mad ancestors.  Already full of ghosts, the house shifts when Sam's pregnant sister moves in.  A new ghost haunts the mansion's corridors.  What does it want?  And why is it leading Sam toward a mysterious forgotten room?  Actually, this one might be a little too creepy for me ...

9.  The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni—When Alberta Monte receives a letter informing her that she's inherited not just a title but also a castle in Italy, she's skeptical but curious.  She'll take any chance to learn more about her mysterious family.  Soon, she discovers that her ancestry is much darker than she ever imagined.

10.  The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis (coming February 3, 2021)—I enjoy McGinnis' dark YA novels, so I'm excited for her newest.  The first in a planned duology, it concerns Tress Montor, a teen whose whole life changed when her parents disappeared while taking her best friend home one night.  Desperate for answers, Tress uses a raucous Halloween costume party as a cover for forcing her former bestie to come clean about what really happened that night.  Sounds intriguing!

Spooky books aren't on the menu for me this Halloween since I'm deep into middle-grade reading for the Cybils Awards, but I'm hoping to get to these chilling reads at some soonish point.  Have you read any of them?  What did you think?  Are you reading anything creepy this Halloween?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours. 

Happy TTT!