Despite being 35, every Halloween I look forward to watching Hocus Pocus. It’s a not-so-guilty pleasure among my generation, and lucky for us, Disney recently released Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel (Freeform), a novelization of the original movie and a sequel that takes place 25 years later. (I skipped over the first half and went straight for the sequel).

Fast forward to present-day Salem, in which Max and Allison’s 17-year-old daughter, Poppy, has spent her entire life trying to keep her family’s secret about the Sanderson sisters under wraps. She doesn’t believe that her parents and Aunt Dani managed to summon and defeat the Sanderson sisters 25 years ago. On Halloween, in an attempt to impress her friends and debunk the story, Poppy takes her friends to the Sanderson house. Not only do they discover that the Dennison family story is real, but summon the Sanderson sisters back to Salem. The sisters are looking to finish what they started 25 years ago, and the three teens must figure out how to defeat them in order to save their families and friends. Here’s to hoping Disney makes a movie version soon!

Kate Morton is back with The Clockmaker’s Daughter (Atria Books). For centuries, Birchwood Manor has sat at a bend in the Thames, offering a safe haven for those living inside its walls. Though in the last 150 years there have been many visitors to the house, only one has stayed: the spirit of the only person who really knows that happened that tragic night in 1862, when artist and then-homeowner Edward Radcliffe’s fiancée was murdered and a priceless family heirloom stolen, an event surrounded by many theories, but no definite answers. Meanwhile, in present day London, a young archivist unearths some of Radcliffe’s belongings, including a sketchbook of a house and a framed photograph of a beautiful woman. Determined to figure out who the woman is and why the house feels so familiar to her, Elodie embarks on a search to uncover Radcliffe’s story, who the woman is and how they might be connected. As with every Morton masterpiece, the author manages to expertly weave together several characters’ stories across different eras, culminating in a great “aha!” moment in the end.

Hester Fox’s The Witch of Willow Hall (Graydon House) is another story of witches that’ll get you in the Halloween spirit. In 1821, the Montrose family has been shunned by Boston socialites over rumors of a shameful family secret, and they are forced to start over in New Oldbury, Mass., in a home that seems to have an effect on all three Montrose girls. Lydia has possessed a peculiar power since childhood, and since moving to Willow Hall, it has been amplified. She is seeing and hearing things that haunt the history of the land, all while her family seems to be falling apart. Unless Lydia learns to control her powers, she could forever damage her family; if she uses them well, she may fix all that has gone wrong.

Kimberly Ruscitti