Best Books for Fall Vibes
It’s giving pumpkin spice latte and a flannel.
When it comes to capturing fall vibes, the best books for fall are the ones that make you feel like you’re wrapped in a cozy sweater with a cup of tea by your side. Think moody atmospheres, rich storytelling and poetry, plus a hint of magic or mystery.
So as the weather starts to cool down and the cozy vibes settle in, it’s the perfect time to grab a book and get lost in a different world. Whether you’re into swoon-worthy romances, mind-bending fantasy, or quick, punchy short stories, there’s something here for everyone. Or maybe you enjoy historical fiction that’ll transport you to another era to poetry that speaks to the soul, this list is packed with page-turners for every mood. So, get your blanket, light a candle, and let’s dive into the best books for fall.
Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
A CLASSIC!
In the fictional town of Durham, The Pentlands were a proud and wealthy family with a rich history dating back to the founding colony of Massachusetts Bay.
Everything was how it should be with John, the elder patriarch; his son Anson and his wife Olivia; and their children, Jack and Sybil, carrying on in the way that upper-class society families do. But the world is changing. Old money is moving out and dying off. New money is moving in. The “old ways,” of which The Pentlands are accustomed are becoming a thing of the past and in the midst of it all, Olivia Pentland is feeling increasingly trapped by her mundane life and loveless marriage. With Sybil and a host of other familiar faces returning to Durham for the fall, the routine life of the Pentland’s is thrown off kilter by internal scandal, familial secrets, and a newcomer who vies for Olivia’s attention.
Pushed to the limit by these trials and eventual tragedy, The Pentland family is faced with a choice to either break free from the mold of old aristocracy or attempt to move stiflingly through it.
Intercepted by Alexa Martin
Series in development with Starz by 50 Cent and La La Anthony
An iBooks “Best of September” Pick
A GoodReads Best of the Month pick for September
Marlee thought she scored the man of her dreams only to be scorched by a bad breakup. But there’s a new player on the horizon, and he’s in a league of his own…
Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She’s definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There’s just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.
Gavin fights to show Marlee he’s nothing like her ex. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to let her escape her past. The team’s wives, who never led the welcome wagon, are not happy with Marlee’s return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. But when the gossip makes Marlee public enemy number one, she worries about more than just her reputation.
Weyward by Emilia Hart
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF TWO GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (Best Debut Novel & Best Historical Fiction)
I am a Weyward, and wild inside.
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.
1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.
1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives–and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
A Best Horror Novel of All Time (Cosmopolitan)
A Top 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature (The New York Times Style Magazine).
Manhunt is an explosive post-apocalyptic novel that follows trans women and trans men on a grotesque journey of survival.
Beth and Fran spend their days traveling the ravaged New England coast, hunting feral men and harvesting their organs in a gruesome effort to ensure they’ll never face the same fate.
Robbie lives by his gun and one hard-learned motto: other people aren’t safe.
After a brutal accident entwines the three of them, this found family of survivors must navigate murderous TERFs, a sociopathic billionaire bunker brat, and awkward relationship dynamics–all while outrunning packs of feral men, and their own demons.
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk – Theodore C Van Alst
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
LOCUS AWARD FINALIST
A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?”
Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear–and even follow you home.
These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.
Freddie: The Rescue Dog Who Rescued Me by Grant Hayter-Menzies
Rescued from a puppy mill in 2010, Freddie was a bright light in lives of his human companions and the ultimate muse for biographer Grant Hayter-Menzies to explore the human-animal bond in his books. As Grant helped Freddie overcome the fears and traumas of his early years, Freddie in turn helped Grant through some of the most challenging years of his personal and professional life. I
t was Freddie who inspired Grant to shift the focus of his writing from human biographies to the notable but forgotten lives of historical animals, who exhibited levels of bravery and devotion rarely seen among people. Yet as Freddie sat quietly beside his human’s desk as he wrote these books, little did Grant know that Freddie was about to face the hardest battle of his young life.
Offtrack by Esha Patel
Formula One meets The Hating Game in this rivals-to-lovers romance between a legacy driver and F1’s first woman driver
Diana Zahrani is Formula One’s first female racing driver this century. All the other drivers are told to race carefully around her, and leave her to her real job: being a pretty face and good advertising for a hypermasculine sport. But Diana’s not worked this hard her whole life just to be a mascot.
World Championship favourite Miguel de la Fuente is not taking any rookie seriously, let alone a woman. With his first championship win looming, all he has to do is stay focused – and make sure Diana stays out of his way.
But motorsports is a small world, and as Diana and Miguel race their way through the season, they’re forced to face each other again and again. When sparks fly, Miguel and Diana must decide for the sake of their teams where their priorities lie: on track, with the championship, or offtrack, with each other…
Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc
Gilmore Girls fans! Pour yourselves a hot cup of tea and get ready to fall in love with this cozy romance that will have you dreaming of autumn all year long.
Fall is a big deal in Briar Glen, a quaint and charming village in New England. That’s when tourists from all over the country descend upon this picturesque town to see the babbling brooks and colorful leaves while sipping hot chocolate or pumpkin spice lattes.
But sixteen-year-old Lucy Kane hates the uber-popular PSL. She finds it overrated — especially when you consider the fact that there isn’t even pumpkin in it! — which is bad because she works at Cup o’ Jo, the local coffee shop her mom owns. Business at Cup o’ Jo hasn’t been great in the off-season, but that’s okay because it always picks up during the fall …
The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl’s disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Paris Assignment.
London: 1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a scoop: her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.
Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again.
As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?
Summers End by Juneau Black
A unique take on dark academia.
It’s late August in Shady Hollow, and intrepid reporter Vera Vixen agrees to chaperone the school’s annual field trip to Summers End, an ancient tomb built by an early woodland culture. Naturally, her good friend Lenore Lee comes along to help her.
But when the group enters the tomb one morning, they find a corpse that is distinctly more. . . modern than expected. Digging deeper, Vera and Lenore discover that the deceased was involved in the recent excavation at the site, and very unpopular with their colleagues–including Lenore’s sister, Ligeia. Now the fox and raven must delve into the dark world of academia and archaeology to clear Ligeia’s name. Some creature at Summers End thought they were clever enough to get away with the perfect murder. Can Vera and Lenore unearth the truth in time?
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR FOR 2024
Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.
In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There–warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts–asking what it means to bethe children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts.
The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis
Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony–before even Lizzie Borden–there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.
On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home–and then covered up the crime with hellfire.
When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin’s sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new “penny press” explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she’s a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials. Each one in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh–for the “Christmas murders.”
After Polly’s legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated her guilt. Not just her guilt but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel was inspired by her trials.
