NOTE: We teamed up with Penguin Kids for this Enchantingly Eerie Reads Giveaway. All opinions are our own; we were under no obligation to give a positive review. Giveaway prizes provided by Penguin Kids.
Horror books are having a moment. Breaking free of their spooky season shackles, readers are gobbling up spine-tingling tales all year long. They aren’t all just jump scares or terrifying demons, though. Sometimes, it’s more about the eerie atmosphere or the creepy situations the characters find themselves in that make your heart start to race.
One of our favorite authors, Mary Averling, has mastered the art of writing haunting, yet heartfelt tales that weave in a touch of fantasy and magic. Her books, The Curse of Eelgrass Bog and The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay couldn’t be more different, but what they share are eerie settings, brave girls facing their fears, and wonderfully weird stories with creepy atmospheres that pull you in and twists that keep you guessing page after page. Woven into every story is so much heart, hope, and humor, you’ll almost forget you’re reading horror. Almost.
Her newest book, The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay, hits shelves today, and it’s a unique take on a ghost story, starring a twelve-year-old ghost named Maudie who spends her day haunting a cottage in the woods, trying to forget the things that haunt her. When her friends go missing and the monster from her nightmares appears, he tells her she has to find the missing key to a mysterious cabin door or risk never seeing her friends again. Maudie won’t just have to face her fears and team up with the human girl she’s been haunting, but take a look at the past she’s been avoiding – and all the truths that come along with it.
Are you brave enough to venture into a bog full of monsters or tiptoe through the haunted midnight woods? We’ve teamed up with our friends at Penguin Kids to give one lucky winner a chance to WIN an Enchantingly Eerie Prize Pack, featuring both of Mary’s books!
Keep reading for even more details about these eerie reads, then grab your favorite adult and have them enter below for your chance to WIN!
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog
🌿THE VIBE: Enchanting, eerie, mysterious, quirky.
📚FROM THE AUTHOR: Brave enough to venture into Eelgrass Bog? Mary Averling shared all the reasons Kess is totally fierce in our FIERCELY FICTIONAL spotlight!
SYNOPSIS:
Dark secrets and unnatural magic abound when a twelve-year-old girl ventures into a bog full of monsters to break a mysterious curse.
Nothing about Kess Pedrock’s life is normal. Not her home (she lives in her family’s Unnatural History Museum), not her interests (hunting for megafauna fossils and skeletons), and not her best friend (a talking demon’s head in a jar named Shrunken Jim).
But things get even stranger than usual when Kess meets Lilou Starling, the new girl in town. Lilou comes to Kess for help breaking a mysterious curse—and the only clue she has leads straight into the center of Eelgrass Bog.
Everyone knows the bog is full of witches, demons, and possibly worse, but Kess and Lilou are determined not to let that stop them. As they investigate the mystery and uncover long-buried secrets, Kess begins to realize that the curse might hit closer to home than she’d ever expected, and she’ll have to summon all her courage to find a way to break it before it’s too late.
The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay
🌿THE VIBE: Dreamy, creepy, magical, emotional.
SYNOPSIS:
A ghost must team up with the living girl she’s been haunting in order to defeat a monster out of her nightmares and save her little brother, from the author of The Curse of Eelgrass Bog.
Maudie isn’t your typical twelve-year-old girl—she’s the ghost of one. Along with her best friend Kit and little brother Scratch, she haunts a cottage in the woods, doing her best to scare off the vacationers and forget her old life.
But everything changes when Kit and Scratch go missing. Maudie knows something terrible must have happened, and she’s right: Longfingers—a monster from her own nightmares, with spidery fingers and needle-sharp teeth—has stolen her friends away.
Longfingers makes Maudie a twisted deal: find the key to a door in a mysterious cabin, or she’ll never see her friends again. With nobody else to turn to, Maudie has to beg for help from Gianna, the living girl she’s been haunting. Together, the girls search for a way to thwart the monster and save Maudie’s friends.
But Maudie’s keeping secrets about the cabin and her past. Unless she finds a way to finally face the truth, she may never be able to rescue her friends from Longfingers’s grasp.
Enchantingly Eerie Reads Giveaway:
WHAT DO I WIN?:
ONE (1) lucky winner will receive an Enchantingly Eerie Prize Pack that includes:
– ONE (1) paperback copy of The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling
– ONE (1) hardcover copy of The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay by Mary Averling
*Prizes generously provided by Penguin Kids
HOW DO I ENTER?:
Grab a parent or guardian and have them fill out the form below by February 18, 2025 at 11:59pm ET.
Giveaway runs from 02/04/25 at 12:30 pm ET through 02/18/25 at 11:59 pm. Open to US residents ONLY. Be sure to read the fully detailed rules HERE before entering.
NOTE: THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED!
You must be 18 or older to enter. Please, only ONE entry per person. If selected as a winner, we will provide your parent/guardian with an affidavit to confirm that you are a valid winner who has permission to win. They will be REQUIRED to sign and return the affidavit to YAYOMG! to claim your prize. Prizes will NOT be mailed out without signed parental consent.
💘PREFER SOMETHING SWOONY?: Enter to WIN a crush-worthy book duo, including two magical romcoms you’ll totally swoon over!
