Top 10 Most Anticipated Dark YA Books of October 2022

From fairy-tale retellings to suspenseful mysteries, this October has a YA book for everyone! And the best part? Every book listed below has an advanced reader’s copy (ARC) available for request on Netgalley.

Keep reading to explore the top 10 ARCs to read before the 10th month of the year!


Wrath • Sharon Moalem & Daniel Kraus

Wrath is the story of a lab rat instilled with human genes whose supersized intelligence helps him escape the lab. Sammy has the potential to sire a rodent army capable of viciously overwhelming the human race.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Self-Portrait with Nothing • Aimee Pokwatka

Abandoned as an infant on the local veterinarian’s front porch, Pepper Rafferty was raised by two loving mothers. She’s never told anyone that at fifteen she discovered the identity of her biological mother: Ula Frost, a reclusive painter famous for the outrageous claims that her portraits summon their subjects’ doppelgangers from parallel universes.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

The Memory Jumper • Amanda Michelle Brown

The Memory Jumper is a dark fantasy retelling of Rapunzel. To keep her mind-altering powers a secret, Adelaide lives in an underground safe house with her narcissistic mother Fawn. Together they sell her illegal Memory Jumping abilities for profit—but when Adelaide decides to break free, Fawn’s grip on her life only tightens.

Goodreads | Netgalley

Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria • George Jreije

Twelve-year-old Shad Hadid is an aspiring baker whose life is uprooted when he discovers he’s descended from a long line of alchemists. His arrival at the mysterious Alexandria Academy awakens a nefarious force long lurking in the shadows, and soon learnd he holds the key to either stopping—or unleashing—their evil plot.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

The Picture Bride • Lee Geum-yi

After Willow left South Korea as a picture bride in 1918, she’s done all that she can to make the best of her unexpected circumstance. But it isn’t long before her dreams for this new life are shattered, first by a husband who never wanted to marry her in the first place, and then by the escalation of the Korean independence movements.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Princess of Souls • Alexandra Christo

From the author of To Kill a Kingdom comes Princess of Souls, a Rapunzel-inspired YA fantasy romance about a teen witch groomed to steal souls for an immortal king and the reckless, rebellious boy to whom her fate is tied.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Flight 171 • Amy Christine Parker

Devon Marsh boards a four-hour flight along with her classmates for a senior class ski trip. Their fun getaway takes a turn for the worst when a supernatural creature hijacks the flight and gives the students a deadly ultimatum: choose one among them to sacrifice before the end of the flight. Or the plane will crash with no survivors.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Shadow Sister • Lindsay Marcott

Ava grew up in a haunted mansion, envied by all her friends. But when her mother died mysteriously there, the thrills of Blackworth Mansion became nightmares. Seventeen years alter, Ava returns to the property to make a dangerous discovery. Now she must decide just how far into the past she’s willing to go.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Anywhere You Run • Wanda M. Morris

It’s 1964 in Jackson, Mississippi, and Violet Richards is in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. She and her sister are now on the run—Violet from the law, and her sister from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s someone else they need to run from, a man with secrets and motives unknown to everyone but him.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Found Object • Anne Frasier

In this startling suspense novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Reader, investigative journalist Jupiter Bellarose takes her boss’s advice: head back to her hometown for a fluff piece and get her world in balance. But in Savannah, Juniper begins to question everything she knows about her mother’s murder.

Goodreads | Amazon | Netgalley

Oliver Halloway

Oliver Halloway is a psychology major with a love for sci-fi and fantasy novels. At Lost Island, he manages digital communication, coordinates side projects, and writes blog posts about the publishing industry. In his free time, he can be found on the soccer field, playing indie video games, and taking his cat Luna on walks (yes, she has a leash and everything).