With the crisp fall weather rapidly approaching, as the leaves fall, scarves come out, and pumpkin spice lattes fill your cups, it’s that perfect time of year again to cozy up with a fall read.Â
From romantic retreats, to ivy-covered boarding schools, to cozy fantastical worlds, to mysteries laced in bitter coffee, and to horrors you can sink your teeth into, there’s a fall read waiting specifically for you.
- Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies, Lynn Painter is bringing readers a new fall-themed young adult rom-com. This is a rags-to-riches story about a small-town girl whose family inherits a fortune and moves to New York City, where she meets a big-city boy hiding an explosive secret. It will be hitting shelves on Sept. 29, 2026.
- People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young
From the acclaimed romance author of Out of the Woods and Out on a Limb, Hannah Bonam-Young’s new small-town romance is perfect for fans of Sweet Magnolias. This is the story of a woman’s journey to spread her wings from her small town intertwined with the arrival of an adventurous newcomer who brings out the best in her.
- If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia
Perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, this adult romance is a steaming cup of chai and a warm hug. If It Makes You Happy is a small-town, slow burn romance set at a bed and breakfast in Vermont with a hot single dad and the most lovable sidekick with paws.Â
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt’s compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful novel is perfect for the fans that love Dead Poets Society. A group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from normal. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality, they slip into corruption and betrayal, and at last into evil.
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
This novel details a collection of stories, famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. Vida Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself — all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune, but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now, old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life.
- Don’t Let the Forest in by C.G. Drews
The novel that kickstarted New York Times bestselling author C.G. Drews’ YA career, Don’t Let the Forest In, is a young adult horror novel detailing the lives of two best friends at boarding school and the monsters they created from their own imaginations. From queer representation masked in psychological obsession, to knotting roots to trip you up, to an ending that will leave you pondering for days, this fall-themed horror will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
- Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
From the author that brought Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, this Goodreads Choice Award dark fantasy novel follows a troubled young woman who polices secret magic societies at Yale University. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.Â
- Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
This quintessential cozy fantasy follows a battle-weary orc and her dreams to start a new life after the horrors of war. Set in a coffee shop in a city where none of its citizens know what coffee is, this light, fluffy, and cozy read will leave you in the perfect mood of autumn.
- Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is a sapphic fantasy set in a cozy, fantastical world where all Reyna and Kianthe want to do is open a bookstore that sells tea, but after realizing the kingdom they love is being ruled by a selfish queen, they decide that they’re going to flee the land they’ve known, embarking on a journey of mishaps, mysteries, and mistakes.
- Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber
From bestselling author of Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart, Stephanie Garber’s new adult fantasy debut follows a college student who studies folklore to track down rare artifacts that have a magical essence to them in order to prevent her own death in 24 hours.
- Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
From the author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, with her first ever adult mystery, Holly Jackson brings a nail-bittingly good debut to the genre with the story of Jet Mason and the seven days she has to solve her own murder … seven days before she herself is dead.
- The Dog Park Murders by Angela Barker
In this grumpy/sunshine, cozy, romantic mystery, neighbors find a dead body in the park. They team up to figure out who the real killer of the town is after they realize that the murder weapon is a custom leash from the protagonist’s business and need to solve the mystery in order to clear her name from the suspect list.Â
- The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
Perfect for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Pretty Little Liars, this mystery-thriller details the haunting tale of Sunnybrook High and why there isn’t a cheer team anymore. Five years after the accident, followed murder, and finally suicide. Monica is forced to dig deeper into the secrets of her school, her sister’s death, and even herself to find the truth of what happened to the cheerleaders.