What to Read Based on Your Favorite Season of American Horror Story

Favorite Season: AHS: Hotel (Season 5)
What to Read: Hotel Ruby, by Suzanne Young
This season’s already made you terrified of going on vacation, so you might as well cement your status as a committed homebody. If you love the glamourous hotel setting and the range of characters drawn to it, Hotel Ruby is a must-read. After Audrey’s mother suddenly dies, she, her father, and her brother end up spending the night at Hotel Ruby while en route to the kids being dropped with their grandmother. What was supposed to be an overnight stay gets extended, as the family uses the distractions of the hotel to cope with their grief. But Hotel Ruby isn’t just fancy parties and ballroom affairs—it has a dark past just waiting to be discovered.

Favorite Season: AHS: Freak Show (Season 4)
What to Read: Gifted (Donovan Circus #1), by Liz Long
With one of the greatest settings to date, it’s no wonder Freak Show was one of AHS’s most watched seasons. There’s just something about a carnival environment that pulls you in, while at the same time scaring the daylights out of you. So if you’re looking for creepy trip to the circus, look no further than Gifted. The story follows Lucy, a girl born with the ability to create and control fire, who runs away to join the circus. But her gift is dangerous, even within the world of “freaks” and gifted people, so it isn’t long before the troupe casts their suspicions on her when people begin turning up dead.

Favorite Season: AHS: Coven (Season 3)
What to Read: Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Set in New Orleans, Coven follows a group of Salem witches as they fight for their own survival while engaging in some pretty epic backstabbing. With its Southern Gothic feel, Beautiful Creatures is the perfect bookshelf match. When Lena Duchannes moves into her family’s mansion in rural South Carolina, Ethan is unexplainably drawn to her. But the harder her chases, the more she pulls away. After all, Lena has secrets to keep—like the fact she’s from a long line of castors (read: witches), that her family is haunted by a curse, and that the occult is alive and well at the local library. Like Coven, it seamlessly weaves between past and present, creating a rich, sweeping mythology.

Favorite Season: AHS: Asylum (Season 2)
What to Read: Asylum, by Madeleine Roux
Asylums are notorious for being haunted, so just the word “asylum” is likely to make the hairs on the back of your neck prickle. If you love season two’s setting, Roux’s Asylum is the perfect book for you. The terrifying series starter incorporates creepy found photos from real-life asylums and simulated journal entries, giving it an almost cinematic feel. When Dan arrives at his summer college-prep program, he finds that normal summer housing is closed and he and his fellow students will be staying at a former psychiatric hospital instead. What at first seems interesting soon turns terrifying as they uncover disturbing secrets about what happened at the hospital and discover their own links to the asylum’s dark past.

Favorite Season: AHS: Murder House (Season 1)
What to Read:  The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, by Paige McKenzie
There’s nothing like a classic haunted house story to keep you up at night—every creak of the floorboards sounds like a threat from a house you’re suddenly convinced wants to kill you. So if you want to read about a truly dangerous house, check out The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, a terrifying story that started as an equally terrifying YouTube series. It follows Sunshine, a well-adjusted teen from Austin, Texas, who moves to the Pacific Northwest with her adoptive mother. Unfortunately, the wet and gloom of her new home is only worsened by its super creepy vibe. But it isn’t until her perspective starts to match her environment and a darkness settles inside her that she starts to realize the house is more than just creepy.