The arrival of cooler weather, falling leaves and pumpkin spice means it’s a great time to curl up with a cozy blanket, a hot drink and a book – and if it’s a fall-themed book even better!
These 25 books with fall vibes are great options if you’re in search of a seasonal read and includes romance and contemporary fiction, mystery, literary fiction and non-fiction options.
Enjoy the fall reading season!!
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Contemporary or Women’s Fiction
Stories of friendship and self-discovery without any romance.
1. Lauryn Harper Falls Apart by Shauna Robinson
Setting: Virginia, United States
After a misunderstanding at work, Lauryn Harper is demoted from the company’s DC headquarters to a small satellite office in her hometown Greenstead, Virginia – the town that she thought she had escaped for good. Shortly after arriving, she agrees to work with her new office mates and a childhood friend on reviving the town’s fall apple festival as a fundraiser for the town’s community centre – which she hopes will impress her boss enough to get her old job back.
This is a cute story of second chances (friendship not romance) and self-discovery with fun fall vibes – perfect for anyone looking for a lighthearted seasonal read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Fall-Themed Romance
Books set during the most romantic season of the year for when you need a light and easy read with a happy ever after.
2. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
Setting: Fictional small American town
In the first steamy romance of the viral Dream Harbor series, city girl Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start in a small town when her aunt gifts her the Pumpkin Spice Café. Local farmer Logan, however, wants nothing to do with this upbeat girl who has disrupted his routine. Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or is he the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes?
3. Can’t Help Falling in Love by Sophie Sullivan
Setting: Seattle, Washington
A flirty fall rom-com featuring a struggling waitress and the heir to a major Seattle company who enjoy a promising first date before a misunderstanding thrusts them into a fake engagement that they can’t get out of. Apple picking in comfy flannels, outdoor breweries in the crisp air, and fun Halloween preparation – this romance includes all the fall vibes that you could want!
4. Coming Home to Starr’s Fall by Kate Hewitt
Setting: Fictional small town in Connecticut
This grumpy/sunshine romance set in a small town that has seen better days promises Gilmore Girls vibes with falling leaves and pumpkin spice.
In need of a fresh start, Laurie Ellis and her beloved dog, Max, arrive in Starr’s Fall to open a pet store/bakery. She’s worried that she might have made a mistake but won’t be deterred by Joshua Reilly, the handsome but grumpy manager of the bookstore across the road because Laurie also has a secret reason for being in Starr’s Fall involving her own tragic past. But what she doesn’t realize yet is that a clue to that mystery may be hidden in Joshua’s bookstore and what he doesn’t realize is that Laurie might be the key to mending his battered heart.
It’s going to be a fall to remember in Starr’s Fall!
5. Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller
Setting: Maryland, United States
A sparkling second chance romance between two history professors at a private liberal arts college that’s perfect for the fall season!
Assistant professor Clara Fernsby has never let anything – even love – stand in the way of her goal of teaching history and it has paid off as she’s finally up for tenure. Then Theodore Harrison arrives as a visiting scholar for the fall semester – an unexpected blast from Clara’s past as she hasn’t spoken to Teddy since she rejected him over a phone call 10 years earlier.
The boy who was once her best friend is now a total stranger but as they spend evenings working on a shared project, Clara realizes she’s in danger of falling again. Given their history though, Clara knows there’s a good chance he won’t be interested.
6. It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard
Setting: New York City
Publication Date: September 30, 2025
This second-chance romance debut by Canadian author Joss Richard is set in New York City in autumn – quite possibly the most beautiful time in the city!
A twist of fate brings two former roommates, June and Adam, back together in the New York brownstone where they once lived when they inherit the multi-million dollar property from the former owner. Forced to spend time together at the brownstone for the four weeks until the paperwork is finalized, the two must confront the events that led to their estrangement – and the unresolved feelings lingering between them.
7. The Goode Girls of Maple Lane by Jacqueline Firkins
Setting: Upstate New York
A struggling vet student and a rescue golden retriever save each other in this heartwarming, fall-themed new adult romance about second chances and found family.
Cameron Goode is on the verge of giving up her dream of becoming a vet when a local rescue organization reaches out about a neglected golden retriever in desperate need of help. The last thing Cameron needs is another responsibility but she’s Aggie’s last chance and isn’t going to let her go. As the leaves begin to change, Cameron chronicles Aggie’s recovery on a TikTok account and is inspired by her rescue’s resilience to open up to the neighbours in her building – including Everett who dropped everything to help Cameron save Aggie.
8. The Honeycrisp Orchard Inn by Valerie Bowman
Setting: Long Island, New York
A cozy and sexy romance that follows a young event planner who returns to her family’s inn on an apple orchard to help run their Harvest Festival – only to find herself butting heads with the handsome son of the apple orchard’s owners.
Ellie Lawson’s life in the city is going great until she’s dumped by her boyfriend and loses her job in one fell swoop. Having no other option, she returns to her parent’s inn on Long Island where she intends to enjoy some solitude in the attic apartment only to discover that Aiden, the stubborn, attractive son of the orchard owner, is living there. Forced to live together as roommates, the two also are required to work together to plan the Harvest Festival – a lifeline for both the struggling orchard and the inn.
9. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson
Setting: Fictional town in Connecticut
The first in a new YA series called Bramble Falls, Falling Like Leaves is an autumnal small town romance about a city girl stuck in a quaint small town who must confront her future and her old flame while the town prepares for an annual fall festival.
Ellis is planning to spend the fall of her senior year preparing her application for Columbia’s Journalism program until her parents announce their separation and she has to move with her mom from New York City to a small town in Connecticut called Bramble Falls.
Autumn in the charming town is dominated by the annual Falling Leaves Festival and as Ellis is dragged from apple picking to pumpkin carving, she keeps bumping into local barista Cooper Barnett who was her first kiss. As her return to Manhattan is delayed, Ellis finds herself falling for the town and caught between two very different worlds.
10. Kindling by Bonnie Woods
Setting: Scotland
Spicy autumnal romance set in the Scottish Highlands and second in the series Fireworks.
City girl Harper is stranded in the forest of the Highlands with no place to stay until she meets Fraser, a gruff local woodcutter, who offers her his cabin as long as she doesn’t distract him from his duties. And, well you can imagine how that goes…!
11. Catch and Keep by Erin Hahn
Setting: Wisconsin
Thirty-three year old Maren Laughlin has just turned down her boyfriend’s proposal, walked away from her decade-long position as a park ranger, and returned to Northern Wisconsin to accept her inheritance – a decrepit waterfront bait shop. Local resort owner, Josiah Cole is a single dad to two awesome kids and proud operator of a getaway spot that families return to year after year. For Maren and Joe, it’s not a question of should they, but rather can they make it last?
A heartwarming and sexy friends-to-lovers romance that’s perfect for the fall season!
12. Love and Lattes at Pumpkin Hollow by Victoria Walters
Setting: Small town United Kingdom
A cozy, small-town, opposites-attract romance with autumn vibes that is the first in a brand new series – Birch Tree Farm.
Willow Connor has one chance to save her family’s farm – turning it into the town’s first pumpkin patch – and she has only six weeks to make it happen. Hotshot property consultant Dylan Anderson is convinced selling the farm is the better choice but Willow talks him into staying to watch her turn the farm’s prospects around. Will she save the farm and prove everyone wrong and will Dylan walk away at the end of the six weeks or has he found something worth sticking around for?
13. Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge by Alison Sherlock
Setting: The Cotswolds, England
A cozy, feel-good romance set in the Cotswolds – the perfect autumn escape!
After the death of his father, architect Ben Jackson discovers that their family’s hotel – Maple Tree Lodge – is near financial ruin. With the hotel in urgent need of a renovation, Ben’s sister calls in her best friend, interior designer Lily Watson who needs a project to showcase her talents and prove to her parents that she can make a go of her career.
Lily’s vision for a cosy, country Cotswolds hotel, however, is the complete opposite to what Ben has in mind for a minimalistic, modern makeover and fireworks ensue! Can the two of them find a way to work together and save Maple Tree Lodge and will Lily discover somewhere to finally call home amidst the magic of autumn in the Cotswolds?
14. You Had Me at Pumpkin Patch by Anita Faulkner
Setting: The Cotswolds, England
Rosie, an aspiring novelist, loses her writing job to an AI chatbot and discovers that her boyfriend is cheating so she sets out for a fresh start. When her car breaks down at a farm in the Cotswolds, Rosie is mistaken for a job applicant and soon finds herself planning pumpkin retreats to save the farm from developers. While embracing farm life, she rediscovers her passion for writing and finds herself falling for gruff but handsome pumpkin farmer, Zain.
15. Fall I Want by Lyra Parish
Setting: Fictional small town in Colorado
A spicy small town rom-com!
Zane Alexander, a broken-hearted billionaire, escapes to Cozy Creek where he meets Autumn. Amidst the town’s fall festivities, Autumn’s ex returns and she and Zane fake a relationship which leads to them developing feelings.
This is book 1 of 6 in the Cozy Creek Collection series which all are fall-themed. Additional books which can all be read as stand alones are: Fall Too Well, Fall at Once, Falling Slowly, Fall Shook Up and Fall Me Maybe.
Mysteries Set in Autumn
You can’t beat a mystery set during spooky season!
16. Still Life by Louise Penny
Setting: Eastern Townships, Québec, Canada
The first book in the bestselling Inspector Gamache series set in the fictional village of Three Pines in Québec’s Eastern Townships takes place in the fall when hunting season is under way, there’s a nip in the air and falling leaves cover the ground.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal when a woman is found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident but Gamache is soon certain that she died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
This is a wonderful mystery series that is as much about the recurring characters as it is about the murders – I have read five of them thus far and I’m hooked! They can technically be read as stand alones but are much better if read in order as there are elements that continue through each book and advance an overarching storyline.
17. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Setting: New England
A contemporary classic of dark academia by a Pulitzer-Prize winning author.
As the fall semester gets underway at a New England college, a group of clever eccentric misfits come under the influence of a charismatic classics professor who introduces them to a way of thought and life that leads down a dangerous path.
18. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Setting: Georgia
A spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong that is the first in the Graves Glen series.
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart by putting a curse on her horrible ex-boyfriend. She knew she shouldn’t use her magic that way but wasn’t worried that it would cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two – until now.
Rhys Penhallow has returned to Graves Glen for a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and attend the annual fall festival but everything goes disastrously wrong. Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex wasn’t so harmless after all and she and Rhys have to ignore their chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.
19. Halloween Party by Agatha Christie
Setting: A small fictional village in England
Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate when a 13 year-old is found murdered hours after she boasted at a Halloween party that she had once witnessed a murder.
20. Autumn Chills by Agatha Christie
Setting: Primarily England
Secluded cottages, eerie manors and ghostly hauntings and cursed tombs abound in this collection of 12 autumn-themed supernatural mysteries and murderous plots featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Agatha Christie’s other favourite detectives.
21. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
Setting: Eastern Townships, Québec, Canada
Book #5 in Louise Penny’s bestselling Three Pines/Inspector Gamache series.
The peace of Three Pines is shattered when a stranger is found murdered on the floor of Olivier’s Bistro. Inspector Gamache is called in to investigate and is dismayed to discover that Olivier’s story is full of holes.
Literary and Non-Fiction Set in Fall
When you’re looking for something more substantial to get lost in.
22. Autumn by Ali Smith
Setting: United Kingdom (primarily London)
Shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, this is the first in Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet of interconnected novels – Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.
Told with a non-linear narrative style that moves back and forth between the present (2016) and the past as Elisabeth, an art historian, visits 101 year-old Daniel, now in a care home, who was her neighbour when she was a child. The story begins after the Brexit referendum has taken place as the year moves from summer into fall and is an exploration of what time is and how we experience it.
23. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Setting: Massachusetts
A betwitching novel about life, love and magic first published thirty years ago.
Two orphaned sisters, Gillian and Sally, raised by their witch-aunties grew up feeling like outsiders in their Massachusetts town. Sally escapes by getting married and Gillian by running away but after a terrifying encounter with Gillian’s abusive ex, they embrace their magical powers and work together to break a curse and protect their family.
24. October by Richard B. Wright
Setting: Canada and Europe
A haunting coming-of-age story by a Canadian Governor-General’s Award-winning author set in World War II Quebec woven together with a contemporary portrait of a man still searching for answers in the autumn of his life.
While visiting his gravely ill daughter in Europe, James Hillyer encounters by chance Gabriel Fontaine, whom he met as a boy while on holiday in Gaspé. Now, over six decades later and faced with the terrible possibility of outliving his own daughter, James is asked by Gabriel to accompany him on a final, unthinkable journey.
25. Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer
Setting: Japan
In this beautifully-written memoir, essayist Pico Iyer, known primarily for his travel writing, returns to his long time home in Japan after the sudden death of his father-in-law and, as the leaves begin to change and the weather cools, he reflects on aging, death, family and Japan.
Additional Reading
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