84 books like Imaginary Friend

By Stephen Chbosky,

Here are 84 books that Imaginary Friend fans have personally recommended if you like Imaginary Friend. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Taking

Michael Potts Author Of Unpardonable Sin

From my list on in theological horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a fraternal twin, and my brother died about two hours after birth from a bilateral pulmonary hemorrhage. Knowing this as a child, I became fascinated with death, thinking of it as annihilation. Later, I feared my religion (Christianity) might be false and I would be annihilated at death. Thus I became fascinated by all things philosophical and theological, including theological horror. The works I like most center on themes of the truth of religion and life after death while avoiding preachiness and the trap of telling rather than showing.

Michael's book list on in theological horror

Michael Potts Why did Michael love this book?

I highly recommend The Taking because it continues to haunt me with existential terror—I have never been as frightened by a horror novel in my life. The struggles of a young couple in the face of an apparent alien invasion are frightening enough, but the imagery is overwhelmingly frightening and powerful. When the reveal comes at the end, the surprise was almost too scary to bear, since it concerns entities in which I truly believe. This book lingers with me… and lingers…. and lingers….

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Taking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

On the morning that marks the end of the world they have known, Molly and Neil Sloan awaken to the drumbeat of rain on their roof. A luminous silvery downpour is drenching their small California mountain town. It has haunted their sleep, invaded their dreams, and now, in the moody purple dawn, the young couple cannot shake the sense of something terribly wrong.

    As the hours pass, Molly and Neil listen to disturbing news of extreme weather phenomena across the globe. By nightfall, their little town loses all contact with the outside world. A thick…


Book cover of Legion

Nick Roberts Author Of The Exorcist's House

From my list on to prepare you for demonic possession.

Why am I passionate about this?

No movie has traumatized me more than The Exorcist. I saw it at a sleepover when I was twelve years old, and I’ve never forgotten Regan McNeil’s disfigured face and demonic voice. It’s hard to say how many nightmares that possessed little girl has generated. I read the novel a few years later and was equally shocked. Creating art that can affect someone in such a formative way has been my goal ever since. I often set my stories in my native state of West Virginia, which because of its scenic beauty, is commonly referred to as “Almost Heaven.” I feel that it’s my job to balance that out. 

Nick's book list on to prepare you for demonic possession

Nick Roberts Why did Nick love this book?

Due to the financial success of The Exorcist film, a sequel was ordered (The Exorcist II: The Heretic) which had no involvement from the original writer and director and was universally panned. William Peter Blatty then wrote a screenplay for what would have been a sequel to the original film that ignored the second entry. William Friedkin, the director of The Exorcist, was attached but backed out. Blatty turned his inactive script into what became the novel, Legion, which he eventually re-adapted and directed in 1990. The majority of the book is dialogue, so it’s easy to see its origins as a screenplay, but that does not make it any less effective.

This story takes a minor character from the original novel, Detective Kinderman, and chronicles his confrontation with a patient in a mental institution claiming to be possessed by the spirit of a dead…

By William Peter Blatty,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Legion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the author of The Exorcist -- Legion, a classic tale of horror, is back in print!

A young boy is found horribly murdered in a mock crucifixion. Is the murderer the elderly woman who witnessed the crime? A neurologist who can no longer bear the pain life inflicts on its victims? A psychiatrist with a macabre sense of humor and a guilty secret? A mysterious mental patient, locked in silent isolation?

Lieutenant Kinderman follows a bewildering trail that links all these people, confronting a new enigma at every turn even as more murders surface. Why does each victim suffer…


Book cover of Revival

Lillah Lawson Author Of Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree

From my list on Southern Gothic with a heart.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of three novels (with two more set to release next year); Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree; The Dead Rockstar Trilogy; and I'm happiest when straddling literary genres. I have published works of historical fiction, as well as southern gothic, horror, speculative fiction, dark fantasy, and literary fiction. My debut, Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree was nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2020. In addition to writing, I am a genealogist and recently went back to school to obtain my history degree. My love of writing, history, and family all intersect to inform my writing and I always set my characters in good old Georgia.

Lillah's book list on Southern Gothic with a heart

Lillah Lawson Why did Lillah love this book?

This novel is the perfect blend of historical fiction and horror, and King perfectly captures small-town rural life among people who hold a little too strongly to both tradition and stereotypes. The novel invokes that particular dread that can only be raised by those philosophical questions that one can’t seem to answer; the horror of the unknown. Plus, given my own book, I have a soft spot for traveling preachers who aren’t what they seem. 

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Revival as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A spectacularly dark and electrifying novel about addiction, religion, music and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister, Charles Jacobs. Soon they forge a deep bond, based on their fascination with simple experiments in electricity.

Decades later, Jamie is living a nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll. Now an addict, he sees Jacobs again - a showman on stage, creating dazzling 'portraits in…


Book cover of Ancestral Shadows: An Anthology of Ghostly Tales

Michael Potts Author Of Unpardonable Sin

From my list on in theological horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a fraternal twin, and my brother died about two hours after birth from a bilateral pulmonary hemorrhage. Knowing this as a child, I became fascinated with death, thinking of it as annihilation. Later, I feared my religion (Christianity) might be false and I would be annihilated at death. Thus I became fascinated by all things philosophical and theological, including theological horror. The works I like most center on themes of the truth of religion and life after death while avoiding preachiness and the trap of telling rather than showing.

Michael's book list on in theological horror

Michael Potts Why did Michael love this book?

As I read this collection of ghost stories, a sense of awe, wonder, and even joy, came into my mind and heart. These stories are better than those of M. R. James—the twist at the end of each story made me literally chill. Kirk’s world is a Christian world, but he is never preachy, focusing on the storyline. Like Poe, the single effect in the stories is stunning, surprising the reader with marvels and an expanded view of the world. 

By Russell Kirk,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ancestral Shadows as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Foreword by Vigen Guroian

Widely regarded as the founder of the modern conservative movement, Russell Kirk was a noted man of letters whose prodigious literary career included a syndicated newspaper column and a regular page in National Review. This volume demonstrates another compelling side of Kirk — the imaginative author who could communicate his powerful vision through the dramatic genre of the ghost story.

Ancestral Shadows collects nineteen of Kirk's best ghostly tales from periodicals and anthologies published throughout his life. In the tradition of Defoe, Stevenson, Hawthorne, Coleridge, Poe, and other master writers, these frightful stories conjure the creaks…


Book cover of Hekla's Children

Joe Talon Author Of Counting Crows

From my list on spooky minds and old soldiers who never give up.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve written about war for years. To be honest, it all began in school when we studied the terrible events of The Great War. Hearing the hearts shatter of men on the frontline never left me. I wanted to understand. I needed to understand. PTSD is something I’m familiar with, even if I’ve never been on the front line in battle. I’m also obsessed with myths, legends, ghost stories, and mysteries. My Lorne Turner series combines my passions and the books shine a light, in fiction, on what happens to old soldiers when they come home.

Joe's book list on spooky minds and old soldiers who never give up

Joe Talon Why did Joe love this book?

Back to fiction and spooky places. This weaves history, myth, and reality together until you don’t know which way is up. Beautifully written and researched, it will transport you into the world just beyond ours and it has a level of darkness a horror fan will enjoy. I’d say it’s more of a supernatural thriller, but it twists into horror at times. I love this because it once more weaves the real with the mythological, using British traditions to capture your imagination and transport you to new realities.

By James Brogden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hekla's Children as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A decade ago, teacher Nathan Brookes saw four of his students walk up a hill and vanish. Only one returned - Olivia - starved, terrified, and with no memory of where she'd been. After a body is found in the same woodland where they disappeared, it is first believed to be one of the missing children, but is soon identified as a Bronze Age warrior, nothing more than an archaeological curiosity. Yet Nathan starts to have terrifying visions of the students. Then Olivia reappears, half-mad and willing to go to any lengths to return the corpse to the earth. For…


Book cover of River Marked

Alea Henle Author Of Sanctuary Hall

From my list on fantasy novels with mysterious missing parents.

Why am I passionate about this?

Once upon a time, I came to the realization that I had no idea what my parents were thinking, much less anyone else. This has turned into a life of repeated musing over how much I do and don't understand about other people. More recently, my mother's death brought to light the many different ways family and friends remembered her, with joy and pain, loss and wariness. I chose this topic for the list because these books help highlight and explore the mysteriousness of family and memory and how a person can be whole and complete and sure of what they've lived through, only to turn and see a new angle never before recognized.

Alea's book list on fantasy novels with mysterious missing parents

Alea Henle Why did Alea love this book?

I love how much Mercy learns about herself. I also really admire the time and space and, above all, respect Briggs's investments in Mercy's witting and unwitting explorations of her powers and heritage. And how Mercy reacts to revelations about her mother and mostly unknown father. I, at least, admire when Mercy is allowed to get cranky and try to pick and choose what she wants to keep or discard, approve or disapprove.

All this, and it's a heck of a roller coaster ride. I rode the slow build-up, increasingly bracing myself for the first big drop, and then whoop-whoop-whoop, I whirled up and down and sideways to the end.

By Patricia Briggs,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked River Marked as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The sixth novel in the international No. 1 bestselling Mercy Thompson series - the major urban fantasy hit of the decade

'I love these books!' Charlaine Harris

'The best new fantasy series I've read in years' Kelley Armstrong

MERCY THOMPSON: MECHANIC, SHAPESHIFTER, FIGHTER

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. And she's never known any others of her kind. Until now.

As Mercy comes to terms with…


Book cover of Amari and the Great Game

Tephra Miriam Author Of The Sparkle Riot Crew and the Kid From Star Quad 9

From my list on igniting your inner magic and creativity.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an author, thought leader, activist, dreamer, and entrepreneur with a passion for change. I believe that creativity and imagination can lift anyone from where they are and usher them into destiny. Stories are a core part of human evolution, which means that stories have the power to change us inside and out. Growing up, I didn't see myself represented in the books and stories around me. I'm passionate about writing fantasy, sci-fi, whimsical tales, and historical action fiction because I believe that by telling our stories, we can help those who have limited opportunities see the world of possibilities and inspire them to dream and create their own magic in this world. 

Tephra's book list on igniting your inner magic and creativity

Tephra Miriam Why did Tephra love this book?

A brilliant follow-up to Amari and the Night Brothers, Amari and the Great Game is a mystical story of bravery, friendship, and perseverance wrapped up in magic. If you loved the first book in the series, this sequel does not disappoint its readers. B.B. Alston lights up the imagination and attention of readers with a tale of adventure while covering important themes of discrimination. I enjoyed how the young character, Amari, showed maturity, compassion, and humility. A clever and enchanting must-read for any young reader or adult who loves magic!

By B. B. Alston,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Amari and the Great Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers!

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.

But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate…


Book cover of Black

R.J. Wilson Author Of Awakening

From my list on powerful young adults and supernatural worlds.

Why am I passionate about this?

Reading certain texts in the Bible growing up began my love for all things supernatural. The more I studied the subject and understood the worldview of the biblical authors and of other ancient cultures, the more I began to see these scenes in vivid color. With my passion for theological study (personally and as part of a master’s program), my work as a police officer, and my love for fantasy fiction perfectly positions me to write stories in which deep supernatural elements intersect with the gritty and real space of everyday life.

R.J.'s book list on powerful young adults and supernatural worlds

R.J. Wilson Why did R.J. love this book?

This was one of the first fiction books I read that set before me a world that is ordinary interrupted, and affected by another world that is supernatural.

In this book, when the main character goes to sleep, he wakes up in another world populated by mysterious beings and people.

Perhaps most interesting about this set up, is that events in this “dream world” affect events in the waking one.

While the main character only retains a passive ability (entering this other world and healing) the whole traveling between both spaces, his interactions with both divine and malevolent beings, and his race to stop his world from destruction all pulled me into the story in such a way that I could not put down.

By Ted Dekker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Enter the adrenaline-laced story that started it all: the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man's choices as dreams and reality collide.

Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes mysterious assailants only to encounter a silent bullet that clips his head . . . and his world goes black. He awakens in an alternate reality and soon finds himself pulled between two worlds. In one, Thomas is an average guy working in a coffeehouse. In the other, he's a battle-scarred general leading a band of warriors known as the Circle.

Every time Thomas falls asleep in one reality, he…


Book cover of The Awakening

Dorothy McFalls Author Of The Last Moonlight Dragon

From my list on romantic fantasy novels to escape troubling times.

Why am I passionate about this?

I rediscovered my love of romantic fantasies when my mother went into the hospital, and I needed a place to go to escape the horror of watching a parent’s health fail. I not only buried myself in reading fantasies filled with magical love stories, I started writing them again. Throughout my life, I’ve reached for fantasy novels whenever life got tough. As a child, I would read nearly every fantasy I could find. As an adult, my tastes have changed, and I’m looking for fantasy novels with a romantic twist. But still, it’s the heroine overcoming adversity despite the worst odds that gives me hope and comfort exactly when I need it.

Dorothy's book list on romantic fantasy novels to escape troubling times

Dorothy McFalls Why did Dorothy love this book?

This series is a cozy fantasy with a warm blanket and piping hot tea. Breen, a young lady from the United States who is in search of adventure, travels to Ireland and finds more than she’s ever bargained for.

I love this series so much for the adventure and the found family waiting to join her in the fun. Breen also finds magical portals, dragons, and a dangerously handsome magical man.

At a time when I desperately needed a cozy read filled with friendships and new loves, Nora Roberts, the queen of romance, hit all the best high notes for me with The Awakening.

By Nora Roberts,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Awakening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Sunday Times bestseller Nora Roberts - a tale of adventure, magic and finding your home

Mists, shimmering silver fingers, rose over the pale green water of the lake. They twined and twisted toward a sky quietly grey, while in the east, over the hills, a pink blush waited, like a held breath, to waken.

Breen Kelly had always been a rule follower. So, when her father left when she was twelve years old, promising to return, she waited. Now, more than a decade later, she's working at a job she hates and is tired of the life that playing…


Book cover of The Absolute Book

Jody Bower Author Of The Princess Powers Up: Watching the Sleeping Beauties Become Warrior Goddesses

From my list on fantasy heroines who break the mold.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a PhD in cultural mythology and wrote my dissertation on heroine journeys, which became my book Jane Eyre’s Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine Story. I've come to understand that the traditional hero quest story is usually about returning society to the way it used to be, before something threatened or changed it. In contrast, heroines (as long as they are not just gender-swapped heroes) tend to question how things have been and upset the status quo. First, the heroine must learn to discern what is good and right in the world and identify the old, rotten ways that must be discarded if all are to prosper.

Jody's book list on fantasy heroines who break the mold

Jody Bower Why did Jody love this book?

Elizabeth Knox plunks her protagonists into the middle of an ongoing mystery that crosses the veil between this world and the world of Faerie, with no explanation, so the reader has to follow the same few clues that the heroine is given. I love an author who assumes that her readers are that intelligent! As she unravels the mystery, Taryn Cornick also must face up to the consequences of a great sin she once committed and do all she can to atone for it, while accepting that it may not be enough. Knox weaves in aspects of Dante’s Purgatorio, Celtic and Norse mythology, our current ecological crisis, and the psychology of trauma to create an epic fantasy that invites multiple re-readings.

By Elizabeth Knox,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Absolute Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A bewitching epic fantasy about a revenge killing, a mysterious scroll box that has survived centuries of fires, and the book that changed everything

"Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, The Absolute Book is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful." --Deborah Harkness, New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches

"An instant classic . . . It is everything fantasy should be." --The Guardian

Taryn Cornick believes that the past--her sister's violent death, and her own ill-conceived revenge--is behind her, and she can get on with her life. She has written a…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in good and evil, single mothers, and missing persons?

Good And Evil 138 books
Single Mothers 57 books
Missing Persons 296 books