It’s almost fall! While my favorite season will always be summer, I get so excited when fall time comes around. It’s the start of fuzzy socks, hot drinks, spooky movies, and staying cozy inside with a good book. The weather up here in upstate NY has started to cool off. Air conditioners are off but still in windows, sweaters are starting to come out, and Tim Hortons released their fall drinks. Things are slowing down, and I find myself spending a lot of time in our new hobby room doing crafts and re-watching Gilmore Girls for the 5th time. I haven’t been reading much as my focus has been on other things, including our new puppy Madeline, but I hope with spending more time indoors, I can read some good books. I am a huge mood reader, so I have a hard time with immediate TBRs. Adding books to my TBR cart based on the season has helped me get through some of the books I have been meaning to read. I picked eight books. They perfectly complement the autumnal breeze on the way. Hopefully, they will help you start, or add to, your list as well!
Table Of Contents
- Witchcraft For Wayward Girls-Grady Hendrix
- Little Women- Louisa May Alcott
- The Last Heir to Blackwood Library-Hester Fox
- Graveyard Shift-M. L Rio
- The Empress-Kristin Cast
- A House With Good Bones-T. Kingfisher
- The Tenant-Freida McFadden
- Anne of Green Gables-L.M Montgomery
- My Final Thoughts
Witchcraft For Wayward Girls-Grady Hendrix
Details
- Published: 2025
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Gothic Horror
- Page Count: 496
- Fable Rating: 4.0
- Barnes & Noble Link
Synopsis
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.
My Thoughts
The premise of this book sounds so good, but honestly, I was hesitant to buy it at first because I didn’t know how I would enjoy a male author writing this point of view. I included this book in a post on Lemon8, where I showed books that caught my eye but I didn’t buy, and had someone share in the comments that they LOVED the book and had gone to the author’s book tour. They said Grady Hendrix writes women’s issues in a “considerate and thoughtful way”, that you can “tell he respects women greatly”. They mentioned the author’s note where the author talks about women in his own life had them sobbing. This convinced me to go back and buy the book, and I am so excited to read it. It sounds like it’s something I am really going to enjoy.
Little Women– Louisa May Alcott
Details
- Originally Published: 1868
- Genres: Classic, coming of age, Historical Fiction
- Page Count: 759
- Fable Rating: 4.0
- Barnes & Noble Link
Synopsis
Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with “woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the “girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.
My Thoughts
I bought this copy at a library book sale a little while ago. This is another classic I’ve never read before. With my 2025 goal of wanting to read more classics, I figured this would be a good one to add to my fall TBR
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library-Hester Fox
Details
- Published: 2023
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Gothic, Mystery
- Page Count: 336
- Fable Rating: 3.0
- Barnes & Noble Link
Synopsis
In post–World War I England, a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must untangle its powerful secrets…
With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home.
The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked doors: a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own.
Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey’s previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library’s mysteries in order to reclaim her own story—before it vanishes forever.
Lush, atmospheric and transporting, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library is a skillful reflection on memory and female agency, and a love letter to books from a writer at the height of her power.
My Thoughts
A gothic mystery historical fantasy? Yes please. This book seems like the perfect thing to be on my TBR
Graveyard Shift-M. L Rio
Details
- Published: 2024
- Genres: Gothic, Botanical Horror, Dark Academia, Novella
- Page Count: 144
- Fable Rating: 3.0
- Barnes & Noble Link
Synopsis
Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.
Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio’s inimitable style.
My Thoughts
My top read of 2024 was this exact mix of genres and was also a novella, so I’m definitely excited to get into this one. I read the other one the same time of year. This is a very anticipated read for me
The Empress-Kristin Cast
Details
- Published: 2025
- Genres: Fantasy, Romance,
- Page Count: 400
- Fable Rating: 3.0
- Barnes & Noble Link
Synopsis
From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the House of Night series Kristin Cast comes a spicy and spellbinding light romantasy filled with tarot, adventure, and a hero who is broody, sexy, and just the right amount of trouble.
What happens when a twenty-three-year-old woman stumbles into a world of magick, mystery, and one ridiculously hot, broody hero? She breaks all the rules, obviously.
Hannah has always played by the book—until a tarot reading goes sideways and drops her into a world where magick is real, danger lurks in the shadows, and men look like they’ve stepped out of a fantasy novel. Case in point: Kane, the kingdom’s gruff yet infuriatingly gorgeous protector, who claims Hannah’s arrival isn’t an accident. Apparently, she’s the key to saving his realm from ruin.
Hannah’s priorities?
Get her tarot card back.
Find a way home.
Absolutely not fall for the battle-scarred warrior who makes her want to forget all her plans.
But as the palace’s secrets unravel, and enemies close in, the line between duty and desire blurs. Because if Hannah wants to return to her world, she’ll have to embrace the magick inside her and trust the one man who makes her question everything
My Thoughts
The reviews for this one are mixed, but a fantasy romance book with a plot surrounding tarot sounds like the perfect book for me and the season.
A House With Good Bones-T. Kingfisher
Details
- Published: 2023
- Genres: Gothic Horror, Fantasy, Mystery
- Page Count: 247
- Fable Rating: 3.5
- Barnes & Nobel Link
Synopsis
A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.
“Mom seems off.”
Her brother’s words echo in Sam Montgomery’s ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.
She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam’s excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.
But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.
To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed the novella I read from this author this time last year so I knew I wanted to read more from them. This one seems so good. I love a good spooky mystery
The Tenant-Freida McFadden
Details
- Published: 2025
- Page Count: 368
- Genres: Thriller, Mystery
- Fable Rating: 3.5
- Barnes & Nobel Link
Synopsis
There’s no place like home…There’s no place like home…
Blake Porter is riding high, until he’s not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone that he shares with his fiancée, he’s desperate to make ends meet.
Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She’s exactly what Blake’s looking for. Or is she? Or is she?
Because something isn’t quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets…
Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it’ll be far too late. The trap is already set. The trap is already set.
#1 New York Times New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden knocks at your door with a gripping story of revenge, privilege, and secrets turned sour…
My Thoughts
I honestly have quite a few of Freida McFadden Books I haven’t read on my shelves, but this is my most recent purchase. This is also one of her new releases. The plot sounds interesting and different from some of her other books, which interests me
Anne of Green Gables-L.M Montgomery
Details
- Originally Published: 1908
- Genres: Children’s Literature, Coming of Age, Classic
- Page Count: 320
- Fable Rating: 4.0
- Barnes & Nobel Link
Synopsis
This heartwarming story has beckoned generations of readers into the special world of Green Gables, an old-fashioned farm outside a town called Avonlea. Anne Shirley, an eleven-year-old orphan, has arrived in this verdant corner of Prince Edward Island only to discover that the Cuthberts—elderly Matthew and his stern sister, Marilla—want to adopt a boy, not a feisty redheaded girl. But before they can send her back, Anne—who simply must have more scope for her imagination and a real home—wins them over completely. A much-loved classic that explores all the vulnerability, expectations, and dreams of a child growing up, Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family… and, most of all, love.
My Thoughts
This is another library book find and another classic I haven’t read. I know….there’s a lot of those. I was obsessed with the Netflix show and am so sad it never got another season, and I have wanted to read the books for a while. It’s a perfect one for fall
My Final Thoughts
Well, those are the 8 books that are on my autumn TBR as of right now. A mix of fantasy, Gothic horror, mystery, coming of age, and even romance. Something I do want to add to the TBR is some seasonal fluffy romance, but I don’t have any on my shelves because it’s not a genre I read very often. Maybe I’ll have to take a trip to my library and see what I can find.
What is on your TBR list this fall? Will you be adding any of these titles?
Well, until next time, keep reading!
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