There is just something about this time of year that gets me more excited about reading. The minute the temperatures drop and any sign of fall appears, I feel the urge to get my hands on a new book to snuggle up with.
My TBR for this time of year also tends to be very genre-specific. Give me all of the psychological thrillers and cozy fall vibes to devour! I am perfectly content going from a storyline featuring a lunatic hidden in a basement to a love story at a pumpkin patch. Physically typing that sentence out seems very weird but I know for a fact many of you can relate.
Without further ado, here are the books that have found their way onto my TBR for the season. It is probably wishful thinking that I will actually read everything on this list, but a girl can dream, right?
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Ask for Andrea sold me with the cover as I CLEARLY do judge a book by its cover. I have so many questions…
“James Carson has gotten away with murder three times. The only thing that might stop him from killing again? The three women he murdered. He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves. What James doesn’t know is that his three victims have found each other. And that they’re coming for him. Brecia, Meghan, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. And they won’t rest until they find a way to keep him from killing again. The haunt is on.”
Home Before Dark features a haunted house and that is truly enough for me!
“In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound-and dangerous-secrets hidden within its walls?”
Return to Midnight Again, I am judging this book by its cover and am completely invested.
“Nearly ten years ago, five Ohio university students were murdered in an off-campus Victorian home. The media dubbed it the Midnight House Massacre. Ever since, survivor and novelist Margot Davis has wanted to forget it, and never again utter the killer’s name. Until she’s compelled to write her side of the story. To do that, she’s returning to Midnight House.
It’ll be a chance for Margot to reconnect with other survivors, heal the trauma, and dispel the ugly conspiracy theories of obsessed true crime fanatics. But when news of Margot’s book gets out, she receives a threatening note that demands she stop lying. Or else. It chills Margot’s blood. Because she hasn’t been telling the whole truth.
As the threats continue, each more sinister than the last, a journalist comes to Margot with new suspicions about that brutal October night. Now, to save her own life, Margot must reveal her well-guarded secrets—ones that, for good reason, she’s been too terrified to share..”
The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is said to be the perfect marriage between Practical Magic and The Gilmore Girls. Being a millennial, I can’t think of a better book to read this season.
“Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heatbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel. As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother grows sicker, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?”
The Spellshop immediately drew me in with the beautiful cover and the snippet comparing the read to homemade jam on a fresh-baked muffin. YES PLEASE!
“A lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.
“Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to. She and her assistant, Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. But when a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz save as many books as they can carry and flee to a faraway island Kiela was sure she’d never return to: her childhood home. Kiela hopes to lay low in the overgrown and rundown cottage her late parents left her and figure out a way to survive without drawing the attention of either the empire or the revolutionaries. Much to her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town neglected and in a state of disrepair.
The empire, for all its magic and power, has been neglecting for years the people who depend on magical intervention to maintain healthy livestock and crops. Not only that, but the very magic that should be helping them has been creating destructive storms that have taken a toll on the island. Due to her past role at the library, Kiela feels partially responsible for this, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right: by opening the island’s first-ever secret spellshop.
Her plan comes with risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the kind and quirky townspeople of her former home, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must learn to break down the walls she has built up so high.”
Apprentice to the Villain was first introduced to me late one night on my For You Page. The author, Hannah Maehrer, was at her local Target and saw her book on the shelf. She was so genuinely happy and proud and it truly touched me! I immediately ordered myself a copy and added it to my TBR.
“Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain but something peculiar is happening with the kingdom’s magic, and it’s made The Villain’s manor vulnerable to their enemies…including their nemesis, the king. Now it’s time for Evie to face her greatest challenge: protecting The Villain’s lair, all of his nefarious works, and maybe the entire kingdom. But what happens when the assistant to The Villain is ready to become his apprentice?”
Falling Inn Love is screaming Hallmark movie and I for one am HERE. FOR. IT.
“Beth is a struggling romance author who has been trying to find her place in the world after the unbearable tragedy of losing her family. Unable to find peace other than in her writing, she ends up stranded by the side of the road in Freedom Valley, New Hampshire, where a strikingly hot, green-eyed, bearded flannel-wearing innkeeper rescues her.
Evan, a former marine who took over his family’s inn after the sudden loss of his father, is struggling to keep afloat.
Running out of money, Beth agrees to help Evan run the inn in exchange for room and board, but she has no intention of staying too long and letting her guard down or anyone into her heart.
But there’s something about Beth that makes Evan believe he can be the man to give her the love that she deserves.
The more emotional walls Beth tries to put up, the harder Evan works to tear them down, using everything he can, including a pair of puppies he finds abandoned by the side of the road, to make her want to stay.”
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is being talked about everywhere! Curiosity has gotten the best of me and so I added this beauty to the list.
“When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job. Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…”
One by One is written by one of my favorite authors. I can fly through Freida’s books like crazy and a story about being lost in the woods felt like the right choice for spooky season.
“A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven.
Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought.
Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them?
But as more time passes, one thing becomes clear: Only one of them will return home alive.”
The Lost Bookshop has me in a chokehold! I came across this blindly and fell in love with the storyline and the cover.
“For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.”
If you have any book recommendations or more bookish thoughts to share with me, reach out at [email protected].
Stay tuned for more posts to come including some reviews and reccomantions of books I have enjoyed. Until then, take some time to grab a cup of coffee and snuggle up with a good book.
Happy reading.
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