Romance authors share the books that haunt them

Welcome to Day 3 of romance authors sharing their favorite scary books. You can find Days 1 and 2 here and here. I get to pick another one! (Yeah, I know, I'm such a power monger.) I thought about choosing It by Stephen King, which actually made me physically ill (never happened before and hasn't since -- thanks so much, Mr. King). But then I remembered how flipped out I got while reading Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. And it had nothing to do with my last name.

Here's what more authors had to say (they're listed with their most recent or upcoming release):

Tess Gerritsen, Last to Die

"I'll never forget the chills I got while reading The Descent by Jeff Long. What if ancient legends of The Devil are based on real sightings? What if there's a hidden race of creatures living below ground, and a brave band of scientists descends deep into the earth to make contact? Thought-provoking, mind-bending, and utterly terrifying."

Leslie Tentler, Edge of Midnight

"My favorite scary book is still Stephen King's Cujo. As an animal lover, I was horrified by this good-pets-gone-bad story. It was heartbreaking, terrifying and seemed so real. It's a miracle I still love fur-babies!"

Cynthia Eden, Howl for It

"My favorite scary book is Anna Dressed in Blood — this is such an incredible YA story. The hero reminds me of Dean (from Supernatural) — it's like what Dean would have been as a teenager … a teenager who falls in love with one very twisted ghost. The book has it all — thrills, chills, and a ghost sure to make your heart race. Forget 'Bloody Mary' — Anna is definitely the new game in town."

Wendy Corsi Staub, Sleepwalker

"Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi — because true crime is the scariest genre of all, and this book chillingly depicts one of the most horrific murder sprees of our times. Even just hearing the name 'Charles Manson' can make people shudder."

Julie Ann Walker, Rev It Up

"I discovered Coma by Robin Cook when I was 15. I must admit, reading that book at such an impressionable age probably wasn't a good idea, particularly since it's left me with a life-long mistrust of hospitals. I mean, the imagery of human 'samples' being suspended on wires from the ceiling, and whisked from room to room in order to have their organs harvested still gives me the heebie jeebies. Brrrr."

Samantha Grace, Miss Lavigne's Little White Lie

"When I was 13, I stayed up late one summer night reading Stephen King's novella The Mist. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and knew I'd be afraid to turn off the lights later, but I couldn't put the book down. There's something terrifying about screams coming from a thick fog and not knowing what's out there."

Linda McMaken, Baer Necessities

"I'm such a coward, I really don't read too many scary books. Seriously, my nightlight bill would look like the national debt. I did have one, though. It goes back a few, OK, a lot of years, but it still scares the bejeebees out of me. Even now, it still sits on my bookshelf and mocks me when I walk past it, but the book is really good, and I can't part with it: The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was republished many years later as Cape Fear, and it was made into a movie of the same title. My mom took me to see the movie since I had the book. Wrong thing to do — the light bill soared after that. Happy Halloween, everyone!"

Adrianne Ambrose, The Urchin

"A book that deeply frightened me as a child was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Even as an adult, I'm still alarmed by the sociopathic little boy and the co-dependent tree."

Shana Galen, When You Give a Duke a Diamond

"The scariest book I've ever read is Salem's Lot by Stephen King. That book definitely started a lifelong love of vampire stories and introduced me to Anne Rice, whose writing was a major influence on my own. The problem with Salem's Lot is that it scared me so much I couldn't sleep for about a month. I was too afraid there would be some vampire face floating out there, hissing to be let in."

Cindy Kirk, The Doctor's Not-So-Little Secret

"I recently listened to the audiobook New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb. The suspense in that book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I was actually so stressed that a couple of times I quit listening for a day so that I could gather up courage to continue. All of her books in the In Death series are fabulous, but for whatever reason the killer in this one terrified me!"

Lili Peloquin, The Innocents

"My favorite scary story is Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates. I read it when I was young — 12, I think. It's about a pretty teenage girl, Connie, who attracts the attention of an older guy — a violent creep who comes on smooth — at the local hamburger joint. He stops by her house the next day and tries to lure her into his car. She goes with him even though she senses he means her harm. I think I was really frightened because I sensed a wimpiness in my own nature and knew that if I'd been in Connie's shoes, I'd have done the same. Terrifying!"

Erin Knightley, Miss Mistletoe

"Oh, I am the biggest wuss in the world when it comes to scary things! I have read exactly one Stephen King: Dolores Claiborne. It wasn't so much scary as a thriller, but it was certainly way off my normal romance track. My hat's off to anyone who can read a scary book and still sleep at night!"

Nicola Cornick, Forbidden

"My favorite scary book is The House of the Nightmare by Kathleen Lines. It was a collection of 26 ghost stories and it was the 'true life' ones that frightened me the most. Whenever I hear someone tapping on the door to come in these days I still jump out of my skin. I read it when I was about 12, under the covers, by torchlight. I couldn't put it down, but at the same time I was so scared that my hands were shaking so the torch was wavering all over the place. Which was how my mom found out. She saw the lights underneath my bedroom door and thought we had burglars."

C.H. Admirand, A Wedding in Apple Grove

"I normally don't read scary books, but I had to read William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist when my brother snuck a copy past our mom — she did not want us reading it. OMG, that book scared the bejeezus out of me, but I couldn't put it down and ended up sleeping with the light on for that whole summer!"

B.J. Daniels, Justice at Cardwell Ranch

"Salem's Lot. My mother was staying with us while I was reading this book. Stephen King convinced me there were vampires and the only way they could come into your house was to ask. Honestly, had my mother knocked and 'asked' to come in, I would have barred the door!! That's how scary that book was. I loved it!!!!"

Katie Lane, Hunk for the Holidays

"I'm nothin' but a big ol' chicken so I don't read scary books. The closest I come is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. What a wuss."

Mina Khan, DEAD: A Ghost Story

"My favorite ghost story is a middle grade, The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere, Vol. 1) by Jacqueline West. We read bedtimes stories every night as a family and I picked this one because we love Halloween. Well, it gave me the shivers ... I had to stop and ask my kids if we should continue, or it was too scary. The kids wanted more. Well, I'm glad they made me finish the book ... loved it! It's got talking cats, paintings you can climb in and out of, and ghosts!"

Jane Lynne Daniels, Careful What You Kiss For

"Gothic horror scares me more than anything. I'd have to say my 'favorite' (read: most frightening!) scary story is The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. The heart of a murderer's victim still beating beneath the floorboards ... ahhhh! Scared myself all over again just thinking about it."

Devin Morgan, Aris Returns: A Vampire Love Story

"My favorite scary book is Dracula by Bram Stoker. His words are so rich I can practically taste them. I love reading this novel by candle light. It makes me feel truly trapped in his castle and I can actually see his horrid white face and fearsome fangs moving closer and closer."

Julia Dumont, Starstruck Romance and other Hollywood Tails

"Out of all the horror novels I've read, none terrified me like William March's The Bad Seed. The idea of a little girl being a murderous psychopath was horrifying ... pure evil in a pink party dress. There was a creepy girl down the block named Darla who reminded me of her. I did not sleep a wink the night I finished it and had nightmares for weeks. Even under the covers with my eyes squeezed shut, I kept seeing that face."

Kathleen Eagle, Night Falls like Silk

"I adore Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. It has a deliciously Gothic feel. A carnival rolls into a small town bringing dark secrets and terrible temptations for two boys. Nothing creepier than evil lurking in the amusement park, the circus, the playground. Nothing scarier than children entering a mysterious carnival. Alone. In the dark."

Jess Haines, Stalking the Others

"My favorite scary story is Needful Things by Stephen King. Having the one earthly thing you want most delivered to you with the unspoken price of your soul has always struck me as a terrifically chilling concept. That story has scared the pants off of me since I was a teenager. It's one of the few books I reread over and over, and it never loses its power to frighten me."

Beth Yarnall, Rush

"A while back I overheard some authors on Twitter talking about Angelfall by Susan Ee. I don't normally read YA, but what they said intrigued me and after reading the first few sentences on Ms. Ee's website I bought it. Ms. Ee paints a post-apocalyptic world that is disturbing in its violence and depravity. There were moments that truly frightened me, reflecting a society that is not so different from our own and what lengths people would go through to survive. The ending was shocking and unexpected. The protagonist achieves her goal, but it's not the victory she or I as a reader expected. I thought about this book long after I finished reading it, dissecting what it was that bothered me so much. This is a book that will stay with you long after the last page is read."

Shobhan Bantwal, The Reluctant Matchmaker

"My favorite scary book is Dean Koontz's Intensity, not so much because I enjoyed reading it, but because it scared me senseless. For months after I read it, I used to jump out of my skin every time I heard a sound in the house at night. I've been keeping our bedroom door locked at nights ever since."

Kristina Wright, Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance (November)

"My favorite scary novel? Well, I adore Stephen King (who doesn't?), but I'd have to say Dean Koontz's classic Watchers is my all-time favorite scary novel. It's so good, I've gifted several people with this terrific suspense novel since I first read it over 20 years ago! Despite the chilling plot involving a genetically engineered monster and a terrifying assassin hired to kill everyone associated with the top secret project, Watchers has an awesome canine protagonist named Einstein (who has also been genetically engineered) and two human companions on the run from both the monster and the assassin. It's Einstein who will stay with you long after you finish this book. Best dog ever written!"

Kelly Long, Hart's Truth

"Scared of safety ... My favorite scary book is Stephen King's Christine. To this day, when my seatbelt automatically tightens, the faint thought that I might become permanently part of the car drifts across my mind."

Cary Morgan Frates (aka Morgan O'Neill), After the Fall

"I don't usually read horror/scary books, so I had to think what I'd ever read in this genre. It didn't take long for The Other by Thomas Tryon to come to mind. I must have read it soon after it was first published in 1971, and to this day I can remember certain scenes, the twists and the lingering horror. Obviously, it was devastating because of the story line, but it wouldn't have stayed with me to this day had it not been for the powerful writing."

Deborah Grace Staley, Unforgettable, The Fifth Angel Ridge Novel

"I have to say I loved The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I went through a period where I was loving reading classic Gothic romance. I just love the creepy settings, i.e. a gray, drafty castle in the middle of nowhere with things happening in it that defy explanation. It just makes the reader turn each page, anxious to see what creepy thing will happen next. Ah, and then there's the dark, mysterious hero whose tortured soul calls to the naive, innocent heroine who thinks her love can heal him. And it usually does. Sigh ..."

Glynnis Campbell, Passion's Exile

"The scary book that has haunted me forever is Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I first read it when I was 13, the same age as the two boys in the book who discover a midnight carnival has come to town. The story is eerily beautiful, pitting the heroes against spooky circus freaks, an enthralling mirror maze, the mysterious Mr. Dark, and a sinister carousel, and making them face the greatest human fears of all -- aging, death and solitude."

K.M. Jackson, Through the Lens

"One of my favorite scary books is Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. I loved the way Rice took us into this deeply atmospheric world making it feel like a believable part of our history. Lestat was so terrifying and yet so sexy that it totally messed with my young head. Before reading this I only had a matinee movie image of vampires, never imagining them turning men or making the not quite a child vampire companion. Many years ago I visited New Orleans and took an Interview walking tour and with my imagination I swore I saw Lestat around every corner. Rice created a fantastic classic read that stays with you forever."

Jacqueline Sheehan, Picture This

"My all-time favorite story (and this is truly a ghost story) is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It was published in 1898, so this novella has some gravitas, but it remains totally scary. The first time I read it, I was a college freshman and I had secretly dropped out of college and I was just waiting for my mother to discover my crime. So I decided to read a book in a friend's apartment where I was couch surfing. Nothing terrifies me more than ambiguity and children who are in touch with dead people. Henry James managed to include both. I was so unhinged by this book that I wanted nothing more than to go home."

Tawna Fenske, Believe it or Not

"I'm obsessed with Chelsea Cain's Heartsick series (which includes Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart and more). I love the fact that they feature a super creepy, super twisted, super smart female serial killer and the jaded cop who's after her. And since I'm a third-generation Oregonian, I also love that all the stories are set in Oregon."

Shona Husk, Kiss of the Goblin Prince

"I don't read a lot of horror as I scare easy — I discovered this during a very short Stephen King phase when I was 16. However the scary book that has really stayed with me is Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist which I also read as a teenager. Some of the images stayed with me for years. I reread it as an adult not that long ago and it is still really creepy."

Laura Kaye, One Night with a Hero

"I love this question because it made me go back through my Stephen King library to decide which of his is my favorite scary book. As soon as I saw it, I knew! Salem's Lot. I read this as a teenager and remember being as riveted as I was terrified. It is the kind of book that makes you turn all the lights on in your house and jump at every little noise. The slow but sure infection of the entire town by vampirism — and these aren't your hot, sexy, sensitive vampires either! These are pure unadulterated, irredeemable evil. Part of the horror of Salem's Lot is that there is no winning, no happy ending, no escaping evil's spread. The main character barely escapes with his life and, to do so, he kills, sees killed, or sees turned into vampires almost everyone in this small New England town. In the end, the only resolution is to burn the whole thing to the ground. But it's still not a victory. Man, I'm going to have to read this again — gulp!"

Sharon Lynn Fisher, Ghost Planet

"This is going to sound crazy but my favorite scary book was one I never finished — House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It was amazing, but it started freaking me out and I put it aside. Then just looking at the cover started freaking me out and I shelved it. It reminded me a lot of H.P. Lovecraft who also scares the pants off me. (I love him too.)"

Kathleen Watson, Sweeter Than Tea

"I was scared silly by Steven King's It. There were many nights I'd wake up and was scared to open my eyes for fear of Pennywise staring me in the face! What really resonated with me, however, was the fears of childhood that we work so hard to overcome actually coming back to haunt you (literally) in adulthood."

Louann Carroll, A Shadow of Time

"Aside from my own book, A Shadow of Time, which is a paranormal romance with a dash of horror, my favorite spooky novel is The Haunting of Hill House. Written by Shirley Jackson in 1959, it is, in my opinion, the BEST ghost story ever written. The subject matter is more about terror rather than horror. There's no body, no blood, and little violence. It is just pure psychological freak-out. I found The Haunting of Hill House chocolate- and wine-worthy, so light a fire, turn off your phone, and wrap your favorite blanket around your shoulders. Even the movie is well done. (Original, as I haven't seen the most recent version.) I guarantee it will scare the pants off you. Grab your husband/boyfriend and cuddle up close for a great ride."

So, HEA readers, this is your last chance to share your favorite scary book.