10 Fall Books You’ll Want to Curl Up With

If you’re currently in the mood to throw on an oversized sweater, light a candle, grab a pumpkin spice latte, and pretend you live in a tiny fictional town where everyone is attractive and there’s an annual festival, I’ve got some books for you.

I’ve rounded up 10 book recommendations featuring everything from small-town romances and bookstores to witches, second chances, pumpkin patches, and an unreasonable amount of pumpkin spice. Fun fact: I don’t even like pumpkin. But apparently, I love reading about people who do.

So grab your TBR because I feel like we’re about to make some very irresponsible reading decisions.

1. If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia

My rating: 3.5 stars

First up is If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia, which takes us to Copper Run, Vermont, where our main character takes over her mom’s bed-and-breakfast after going through a divorce. She’s trying to get her life back together, but running the inn isn’t going quite according to plan.

Then there’s Cliff, the small-town golden boy who happens to be a single dad, a baker, and the proud owner of some very attractive baker forearms. I feel like that’s an important detail we need to acknowledge.

The two start becoming friends, and if you’ve read more than three romance novels in your life, you probably know where that’s heading.

I didn’t fall completely head over heels for this one, which is why it landed at 3.5 stars for me. But the Vermont setting, bed-and-breakfast, and sweet romance make it an easy book to pick up when you’re craving a little New England getaway.

2. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore

This might be one of the most aggressively fall-coded books on the entire list. I mean, pumpkin spice is literally in the title, so we know what we’re getting ourselves into.

The Pumpkin Spice Café is the first book in Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series, and it follows Jeanie, who leaves her boring desk job behind after her aunt gives her a café in an adorable small town. Enter Logan, the grumpy local farmer who would very much like to stay out of everybody’s business. Unfortunately for him, he’s living in a romance novel, and we all know how that usually works out.

Jeanie is upbeat and sunshine-y, while Logan would prefer to be left alone. Naturally, he starts falling for her, and we get all the grumpy-meets-sunshine tension we came for.

If you’re a Gilmore Girls fan who has ever dreamed of moving to Stars Hollow, Dream Harbor might be your next fictional obsession.

3. The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore

Since we’re already hanging out in Dream Harbor, we might as well stay for another book. The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore is the second in the series, and this one has a premise that immediately caught my attention.

Hazel works at the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, where she starts finding mysterious messages hidden inside books. As more clues appear, she decides to follow them and recruits Noah, a gorgeous, outgoing fisherman who has conveniently already been crushing on her.

So now we have a bookstore, cinnamon buns, a cute fisherman, a scavenger hunt, and romantic tension. What more could we possibly need?

I love that this one adds a little adventure to the romance. Hazel and Noah are running around town following clues, getting closer along the way, and giving us a cute mystery to solve.

If you love bookstore romances but want something with a little treasure-hunt energy, add this one to your list.

4. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

Now we’re leaning into Halloween territory, which means it’s time for witches, curses, and magical chaos.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling follows Vivi, who got her heart broken nine years ago and decided to handle it in the healthiest possible way: vodka, sad music, bubble baths, and putting a curse on her ex-boyfriend. As one does.

She doesn’t think the curse worked, but when Rhys returns to town years later, everything starts going horribly wrong. We’re talking ghosts, murderous wind-up toys, magical disasters, and even a talking cat. Apparently, Vivi’s little breakup ritual had some consequences.

Now Vivi and Rhys have to work together to break the curse while dealing with the extremely inconvenient fact that they’re still attracted to each other.

This is a fun pick if you want something witchy with plenty of humor and romance, plus a little magical mayhem to keep things interesting.

And speaking of spooky season, if you’re ready to trade pumpkin spice for murder mysteries and questionable characters, I also have some thriller recommendations on my YouTube channel.

5. Fall I Want by Lyra Parish

Next we’re heading to a town called Cozy Creek, which might be the least subtle fictional town name in the history of romance novels. I respect the commitment to the theme.

Fall I Want by Lyra Parish is a spicy romantic comedy featuring a billionaire hero who falls first and falls hard.

Our heroine is named Autumn, because of course she is, and she meets Zane, a billionaire who’s escaped to Cozy Creek while dealing with his own broken heart. Their first few interactions are rocky, but eventually they become friends. Then Autumn’s ex shows up, and Zane decides to pretend to be her boyfriend.

You know where this is going, and I’m perfectly fine with it.

We’ve got fake dating, a billionaire romance, a hero who falls first, and two exes who apparently have nothing better to do than cause problems. If you want a romance with some spice and a little relationship drama, this could be a fun one.

6. Pumpkin Spice and Not So Nice by Becky Monson

First of all, can we appreciate that title? Pumpkin Spice and Not So Nice by Becky Monson already has my attention.

Our main character, Jenna, has developed a very unfortunate talent for dating emotionally unavailable men. She dates them, apparently fixes them, and then watches them go marry the next woman. At this point, she’s about ready to give up on real men entirely and stick with fictional ones.

Then she discovers a mysterious fifty-dollar bill with a handwritten note on it that was accidentally donated to her family’s pumpkin patch. The note leads her to Aidan St. Claire, who turns out to be hot, mysterious, and, wouldn’t you know it, emotionally unavailable.

Jenna. Girl. We have been here before.

Of course, Jenna wants to figure out what’s going on with Aidan, and things develop from there. I love the family pumpkin patch setting, but it’s the mystery surrounding that fifty-dollar bill that makes this premise especially fun.

7. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson

If you love Gilmore Girls and Jenny Han, Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson might be right up your alley.

This YA romance follows Ellis, a Manhattan teenager who has her senior year all planned out. Unfortunately, her parents separate, and she ends up moving with her mom to Bramble Falls, Connecticut, a town that takes autumn extremely seriously.

How seriously? They have a month-long Falling Leaves Festival. Personally, I’d be packing my bags immediately, but Ellis is a little less enthusiastic.

Making matters worse, her former best friend and first kiss, Cooper, still lives there. And apparently, Cooper has had a major glow-up, which is terribly inconvenient when you’re trying to be annoyed about moving.

As Ellis gets dragged into festival activities and keeps running into Cooper, she starts realizing that maybe Bramble Falls and the people in it mean more to her than she expected.

This one has first love, second-chance-ish romance, and a teenager trying to figure out what she wants from life. It’s a cute option if you’re in the mood for something younger with plenty of nostalgia.

8. It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard

Let’s leave the tiny fictional towns for a minute and head to New York City, because I’m a sucker for a romance set in Manhattan.

I liked It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard a lot. It’s a second-chance romance about June and Adam, two former best friends and roommates who lived together in a gorgeous West Village brownstone on Perry Street five years ago.

They haven’t spoken in years, but then June gets a mysterious email explaining that, thanks to a bizarre legal loophole, she and Adam can keep the brownstone if they move back in together and live there for one month.

I’m sorry, what?

If someone told me I had to live with my estranged, attractive former best friend for 30 days in exchange for a West Village brownstone, we’d be working through our issues immediately. I would already have my suitcase packed.

So June and Adam find themselves living under the same roof again, unpacking everything that happened between them while dealing with all the unresolved feelings that clearly haven’t gone anywhere.

If your dream involves wandering around Manhattan in a trench coat with a coffee before heading home to your ridiculously expensive brownstone, I think you’ll appreciate this one.

9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

If someone took the word cozy, put it in a blender with a little magic, and turned the whole thing into a book, I feel like we’d end up with The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

Mika Moon is one of the few witches in Britain, and she’s spent most of her life being told that witches need to stay away from one another. As a result, she’s pretty isolated, although she does have an online account where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. The funny part is that she really is one, but she assumes nobody will take her videos seriously.

Then she gets invited to a mysterious place called Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. Suddenly, Mika finds herself surrounded by an unexpected little family, including Jamie, a very protective and very prickly librarian who doesn’t trust her.

If you like magical stories that leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, this is one I’d reach for.

10. Fall Into Temptation by Lucy Score

Last up is Fall Into Temptation by Lucy Score, and before we go any further, I have an important warning. This is book two in the Blue Moon series, so I recommend reading No More Secrets first.

Yes, the books make sense as standalones, but I’m a stickler for reading a series in order. I can’t help myself.

This one follows Beckett Pierce, the most eligible bachelor in a very nosy town in upstate New York. Beckett is taking a break from relationships after his last girlfriend handcuffed herself to his porch and set his welcome mat on fire. Which, to be fair, seems like a reasonable reason to take some time off from dating.

Then Gianna moves to town. She’s a single mom of two, dealing with an ex, and starting a yoga studio, so the last thing she needs is another complication.

Unfortunately, her landlord is Beckett. He’s also the mayor, and she’s extremely attracted to him, so that’s going well. The two keep getting thrown together, the chemistry keeps building, and the entire town seems physically incapable of minding its own business.

If you like single-mom romances, broody heroes, meddling neighbors, and plenty of chemistry, this one has all of that waiting for you.

So, Which Book Are We Reading First?

After putting this list together, I’ve realized that my ideal fall involves living in a fictional small town, owning some kind of bookstore or café, attending an unreasonable number of harvest festivals, and accidentally falling in love with a baker, farmer, fisherman, librarian, billionaire, or broody mayor.

Very realistic expectations, I know.

I live in South Florida, where fall is pretty much just summer with Halloween decorations. But I was born and raised in Ohio, so whenever I pick up one of these books, I can mentally transport myself back to a place where the leaves change colors, the air gets crisp, and wearing a sweater doesn’t mean risking heatstroke.

That’s one of my favorite things about reading. I can be sitting in my very warm Florida house and still spend the afternoon wandering around Vermont, hanging out in a magical cottage, or falling in love in New York City.

Now I want to know: What’s your ultimate cozy fall book recommendation? Have you read any of these, and which one should I pick up next?

I’m always looking for another excuse to make my TBR even more out of control, so please enable my bad book-buying habits.

And if you love chatting about books, finding new recommendations, and keeping up with what’s happening in the book world, come hang out with me on YouTube. There’s always another book to talk about.