The feeling of crisp, cool air, colorful leaves, and scents like pumpkin spice mean it is time for all things fall!
What better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons than warm beverages, sweaters, and a cozy read? Though Fall doesn’t officially start until September 22nd, many look to Labor Day as the unofficial start to the season.
So grab your favorite fall drink (pumpkin spice or hot chocolate) and a book from our favorite list, light a candle with a fall smell (we suggest cinnamon or nutmeg), and curl up under a fuzzy blanket while the leaves fall outside and read away!
The Authenticity Project
Author:
Clare Pooley
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Fall Vibes:
This book, set in a local neighborhood café, is a feel good story with a strong sense of community full of comfort food.
Summary:
Clare Pooley’s novel, The Authenticity Project, follows a lonely, eccentric septuagenarian (read: man in his 70s) artist named Julian Jessop who questions if people are truly honest about their lives. He begins a project by writing his life’s truth in a green journal and leaving it in a local café. The café’s tidy owner, Monica, finds the notebook, adds her own honest entry, and passes it on.Â
The journal travels to several different people, including an addict trying to get sober and an Instagram influencer whose real life is less than perfect. As each person reveals their deepest selves, they become connected in real life at Monica’s café. The story explores themes of loneliness, honesty, and forgiveness, ultimately demonstrating how sharing vulnerabilities can foster unexpected friendships and lead to genuine happiness.
Legends and Lattes
Author:
Travis Baldree
Genre:
Fantasy
Fall Vibes:
This book is set in a coffee shop. It is a cozy read with a feel good atmosphere including found family.
Summary:
Battle-weary orc barbarian Viv hangs up her sword for a quieter life running a coffee shop. After a final score nets her a mysterious stone and a hefty purse, she sets out to open the first coffee shop the city of Thune has ever seen, introducing its residents to the unfamiliar gnomish drink.
Viv enlists the help of a kind hob carpenter, a talented succubus barista, and a shy rattkin baker, forming a found family. Together, they build a warm and beloved local spot, but Viv’s past eventually catches up with her. Through teamwork and friendship, they face down old rivals and navigate Thune’s shady underbelly to protect their new life.
The Teller of Small Fortunes
Author:
Julie Leong
Genre:
Fantasy Fiction
Fall Vibes:
This whimsical story includes a cozy atmosphere and found family. The book is full of warmth & comfort, and focuses on healing from past traumas.
Summary:
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong is a cozy fantasy novel about Tao, an immigrant fortune teller who travels between villages with her mule, offering small, inconsequential fortunes to avoid the dangerous consequences of big predictions. Her solitary life changes when she’s recruited by a former mercenary and a reformed thief on a quest to find a lost child. A baker with a love for adventure and a magical cat soon join their group, transforming Tao’s life into one of found family. As she lowers her emotional walls, her past shadows emerge, forcing her to choose between her lonely comfort and the risk of losing the family she’s found. The story explores themes of prejudice, immigration, and the power of belonging, all within a heartwarming, character-driven narrative that prioritizes kindness and community.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Author:
Sangu Mandanna
Genre:
Cozy Fantasy
Fall Vibes:
This warm, witchy book is full of magical elements and has a strong fall atmospheric setting. This cozy, whimsical book includes a strong theme of found family.
Summary:
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna is about Mika Moon, a solitary witch who lives by the rules of isolation until she’s recruited to tutor three young witches at the enigmatic Nowhere House. There, she becomes part of an unconventional family, finding connection with the quirky inhabitants, including the prickly librarian Jamie, with whom she develops a slow-burn romance. The story explores themes of found family, belonging, and overcoming emotional barriers, all set against a backdrop of magical mishaps and a looming secret that threatens their newfound home.
Candy Corn Murder
Author:
Leslie Meier
Genre:
Cozy Mystery
Fall Vibes:
Candy Corn Murder has Halloween and Autumn Festival settings with fall imagery.
Summary:
In Leslie Meier’s cozy mystery, Candy Corn Murder, Maine reporter Lucy Stone investigates a Halloween homicide after a pumpkin catapult competition goes awry. Lucy’s husband, Bill, and his friend Evan build a catapult for the annual Giant Pumpkin Fest, but when it launches a pumpkin at a junked car, the trunk bursts open revealing Evan’s body inside. Because Bill was last seen with the victim, he becomes the prime suspect.Â
To clear her husband’s name, Lucy begins sleuthing and uncovers a connection to the wealthy Miller family and their internet business. She realizes the murder might be linked to a decades-old town ghost story and an unsolved family mystery. Lucy races against time to expose the killer before Halloween ends and uncovers buried secrets in the process.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Author:
T.J. Klune
Genre:
Fantasy
Fall Vibes:
This cozy fantasy has a warm and hopeful tone throughout the book. The focus on found family in an unexpected place and a strong focus on healing and self discovery make it a great book to escape into this fall.
Summary:
The House in the Cerulean Sea follows Linus Baker, a rigid and by-the-book case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth when he is sent on a highly classified assignment to investigate a mysterious orphanage on the remote Marsyas Island. The orphanage houses six of the most unusual and powerful magical children in the world, including the Antichrist. Their caring and enigmatic guardian is Arthur Parnassus, who is devoted to protecting his young wards.
As Linus spends time with Arthur and the mischievous, lovable children, he begins to question his own prejudices and the strict rules he has followed his whole life. The story is a whimsical, found-family tale about acceptance and learning to love others for who they are. Ultimately, Linus must decide whether to save this home from the suspicious oversight of his superiors or continue living his unremarkable, solitary life.
The Spellshop
Author:
Sarah Beth Durst
Genre:
Fantasy
Fall Vibes:
The Spellshop is set in a hidden cottage on a remote island surrounded by a garden full of magical items. There are many references to harvest and sweet treats and loveable characters, a sweet romance, and found family.
Summary:
Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop follows Kiela, a socially anxious librarian who flees a revolution with her best friend, a sentient spider plant named Caz. They escape their city’s burning magical library, bringing salvaged spellbooks to Kiela’s childhood island home. The island, Caltrey, is struggling due to the empire hoarding magic and neglecting the remote community.
Seeking to earn a living, Kiela opens a jam shop as a cover to secretly offer magical remedies to her neighbors, defying the law against commoners using magic. As she navigates island life with her handsome merhorse-herding neighbor, Larran, she must confront her fears and risk exposing her secret. The cozy, romantic fantasy explores themes of found family, courage, and using knowledge to empower a community.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Author:
Heather Fawcett
Genre:
Fantasy/Romance
Fall Vibes:
The details of the fairy world create a cozy, magical world, and enchanting atmosphere. The book successfully blends scholarly tones with whimsy to make it an enchanting fall read!
Summary:
Emily Wilde is a Cambridge professor on a field trip to a remote Norwegian village to study the elusive Hidden Ones, the final entry she needs for her definitive faerie compendium. An introverted and socially awkward scholar, Emily would rather spend time with her books and dog than the villagers, much less Wendall Bambleby, who is charismatic, infuriating, handsome, and her academic rival. His arrival heralds a strange, dark magic affecting the town. Emily and Wendell must work together to find out what is causing the dark magic. The journey challenges Emily to re-examine her detached scholarly perspective and confront her own feelings as she discovers that some mysteries cannot be solved with books alone.
The Pumpkin Spice Café
Author:
Laurie Gilmore
Genre:
Romance
Fall Vibes:
This novel includes a feel good romance centered around a grumpy farmer and a city girl who takes over a local café in the fictional cozy town of Dream Harbor.
Summary:
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore is set in Dream Harbor. Jeanie inherits a local café and seeks a fresh start after leaving a high-stress city job. She faces self-doubt while trying to run the business and navigate the close-knit community, all while a mysterious sabotage adds tension to the café. Jeanie spends time trying to find her place in the community, learn how to run the café, and figure out what is going on with the grumpy local farmer, Logan.
Given Our History
Author:
Kristyn J. Miller
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Fall Vibes:
The present-day story takes place at a college campus during the fall semester. A cozy and atmospheric fall-set romance.Â
Summary:
Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller is a second-chance romance about two history professors, Clara Fernsby and Theodore “Teddy” Harrison, who reunite a decade after a painful falling out. Having bonded as teens over a shared love for history and early 2000s emo music at summer camp, Clara and Teddy’s paths diverge when Clara prioritizes her career.
Now working as a visiting scholar at the same college where Clara is up for tenure, Teddy is thrust back into her life. They are forced to share an office, forcing them to confront the unresolved history and lingering romantic feelings they have for each other. The story, told through dual timelines, explores their past while following their present-day journey to see if they can finally get their second chance at love.
