Fall and cozy season are coming (maybe they’re already here for some of you) and so are some amazing fall reads. From soul-altering masterpieces like Jeff Zentner’s Love Like Apples to the most fun fall romcoms like Fall for Me by Camilla Isley to my favorite ’90s retro romance If It Makes You Happy (from 2025 but I can’t resist), cozy up and fall in love with fall!
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My Review:
Am I ready for fall reads in the summer? If it’s THIS fall read, then absolutely! If you want the chemistry, characters, feelings, and romance, but not a lot of spice, have fun with Fall for Me!
Book Two in the Blue Crescent Harbor series features Peyton, a runaway bride who barely escaped a total psycho and Liam, a grumpy billionaire with a not-so-great reputation he needs to rebuild. When they unceremoniously bump into each other in his small hometown, rumors fly and everyone thinks Peyton is Liam’s new secret wife.
The fake relationship/marriage of convenience is on. Liam (and his lawyers) can protect Peyton from her ex; Peyton can be the wife Liam’s family has been hoping for so he can get more power in his company. And we all know where this is going, with so many funny and tension-filled moments along the way.
My favorite things—the character growth, all the cute small-town things (especially the corn maze), the banter, the trying and failing to ignore the attraction, Peyton standing up to Liam’s obnoxious dad, Liam crushing her ex, and the chemistry! I knew it wasn’t going to be spicy but sometimes it felt that way.
I love a marriage of convenience too! Three’s something comforting knowing they’re already married and they’ll figure it out.
Thank you to @boldwoodbooks for my advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.
My Review: Another Julie Olivia masterpiece to go with your fall reads!
The characters really did it for me in Love Felt Like This. Beverly was a puppeteer and voice of beloved Bernie Bird for a famous kids’ show, until it all came crashing down. She goes on a variety show to try to resurrect Bernie and find a buyer for a new show. Griffin is a famous rock star in a huge rut, and can’t write a song to save his life. He also has a two-year-old daughter, Ava, he keeps a total secret to protect her from the paparazzi.
When Griffin and Beverly accidentally end up on stage together, the creative chemistry is obvious. It gets them thinking, and they figure out a temporary win-win—hole up in Bev’s North Carolina mountain hometown, where she can write a script for her show and Griffin can write songs for it and get his own songwriting back on track, and everyone will leave them alone.
I loved their quirks, especially Bev’s. She has a total 70s throwback style, the kindest heart, a ton of drive, and so much wit and humor. And Griffin. Another giving heart who takes care of everyone he loves at the expense of himself—Ava, his bandmates, Bev. He may have a bit of a grumpy exterior, but he’s going through a lot and trying to keep it together.
The emotions, obstacles, event, family dynamics, stress, characters, conversations—everything felt so real. The way Bev and Griffin really saw and understood each other, picked each other up, supported each other, was masterfully done.
Highly recommended for your fall reads if you love slow burn, forced proximity, a bit of fake dating, single dad, found family, quirky characters, and all the love. Coming September 8, 2026.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for my advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.
I’m not-so-patiently awaiting the republication of Daphne Elliot’s Wood You Be Mine for my fall reads. Check out the publisher’s blurb:
The first time I met the grumpy lumberjack next door, I almost burnt down his cabin. The second time, I was throwing tampons at a moose (don’t ask). The third time, I was naked.
And Henri Gagnon is not just my neighbor and landlord, but a pain in my optimistic, plus sized ass. He’s got a protective streak under his grumpy exterior and he’s convinced I won’t make it through the Maine winter.
I’m going to show him and the rest of this small town that they’re wrong. I have one year to prove myself as the new elementary school principal or I’ll be getting the ax. So I just don’t have time to pine away for the grumpy lumberjack next door, no matter how good he looks chopping wood in his suspenders or the way he growls when he calls me buttercup.
But soon I’m falling headfirst down a hill, and into a full blown crush when he carries me home. He’s distracted trying to save his family’s lumber business, and I’ve got a school to run, and this small town is not as sleepy as it seems. But despite our differences, the heat between us makes it hard to stay away.
Could we actually be right for each other? What happens if I ask him if he Wood Be Mine?
Author’s Note: Wood You Be Mine? is a standalone, full length, small town romance featuring a grumpy lumberjack hero with a heart of gold and a plus sized, sunshine school principal trying to survive in the woods of northern Maine. If you enjoy flirty banter, ax throwing, wood chopping, and slow dancing, come meet the Lovewell Lumberjacks.
Welcome to Lovewell Maine, where the moose outnumber the people and you can’t swing an ax without hitting a hot, grumpy lumberjack. Filled with humor, heart and heat, the Lovewell Lumberjack Series will melt Kindles in 2023.
Add Wood You Be Mine to your fall reads November 10, 2026!
Publisher’s Blurb:
She’s counting down the days until she leaves Tuscany. He’s counting on making her stay.
Some people go to Tuscany to find themselves. Allegra Bianchi goes to escape—New York, her ex’s new relationship, and a career that derailed the moment she was passed over for partner.
Her plan is simple: settle her eccentric Italian grandmother’s estate, sell whatever isn’t nailed down, and return to the life she’s worked too hard to lose.
Instead, she walks into a mess—a crumbling antique shop, two hundred acres of leased vineyard land, and one infuriating clause in the will: live and work in the shop for three months, or inherit nothing.
Then there’s the neighbor she clashes with instantly. Matteo Lucchese is the infuriatingly handsome winemaker who leases her family’s land and refuses to be impressed by her credentials—or her attitude. He’s rugged and stubborn, stuck living in a time that feels long past, and the word rush isn’t part of his vocabulary. Basically, they’re exact opposites.
But as the days stretch into weeks, Tuscany chips away at the armor Allegra doesn’t realize she’s wearing, and Matteo shows her the appeal of slowing down, of staying rooted, of wanting something other than climbing the corporate ladder.
She goes to Tuscany to escape. But now that the countdown to going home is on, Allegra isn’t sure she’s ready to leave. And the life she’s falling for comes with a looming expiration date.
The Fall Affair is already out and ready for your fall reads consumption!
Publisher’s Blurb:
She’s stuck working and (accidentally) living with a charming cider maker.
Harlow Spencer has a plan. Move to Ottawa, Canada, work in a dreamy small town nearby, and settle into a comfortable life with her boyfriend. It’s perfect. Until she finds him cheating.
So Harlow sets off for Autumn Creek, despite knowing she’ll never belong in a small town like this. But her two-month contract is the only stability she has left. Without a place to stay, Harlow lands in a spare room on an apple farm. Only now, she’s living under the roof of an infuriatingly attractive man who gets along with everyone but her.
Jude Bramley isn’t expecting the woman who moved into his house without saying hello to be his new coworker. He certainly doesn’t trust her to plan the Harvest Festival with him either. But to save his struggling town, they’ll need to work together.
As fall unfolds, Jude shows Harlow the town he loves through his eyes. Surrounded by apple orchards and autumn leaves, their bickering turns into sizzling tension. But with the festival to focus on and their time together burning out, they must fight their attraction.
Or at least, they should.
By Your Cider is a pumpkin spicy, small town, forced proximity romance about a city girl who accidentally moves in with her new co-worker. It’s a must to add to your fall reads September 1, 2026! Welcome to Autumn Creek
Publisher’s Blurb:
Emma Harper wants a love story. Carson Price wants nothing to do with one.
As the children’s librarian in Autumn Ridge, Emma spends her days surrounded by happy endings. But between restoring her old farmhouse, keeping her family together, and searching for a decent man in a very small town, her own romance feels permanently shelved.
Then one impulsive night at a bar, she kisses Carson Price—the popular guy she crushed on in high school.
For Emma, it’s a reckless little dream come true.
For Carson, it’s a fun night with a beautiful woman he never expects to see again.
Until the next morning… when he moves in across the street.
Newly divorced, cynical, and focused on raising his daughter while rebuilding the dental practice he just bought, Carson has no interest in love. Marriage? Never again. Romance? Absolutely not.
Friendship with his warm, bookish, unexpectedly tempting neighbor? That might be safe enough.
Except Emma has never been good at doing anything halfway. And the more he lets her into his life, the harder it is for either of them to pretend friendship is all this is.
She’s ready to fall. He’s determined not to. But in a small town, staying just friends might be the hardest thing of all.
Add Falling for Keeps to your fall reads on September 2, 2026.
Publisher’s Blurb:
Cozy up with your pumpkin spiced latte and a slice of apple pie, because it’s time to fall in love in Bramley Hollow…
A fall-inspired second-chance romance about a woman who returns home after inheriting her grandmother’s diner, only to discover the contractor she must hire was her high school crush.
Sweater weather is better together.
Rebecca Macintosh has always felt that there’s just something about September—nostalgia, crisp mornings, and possibility. But not this year. Rebecca has thirty days to return home to fix up her late grandmother’s diner or face the consequences. And the only contractor in town? Cort Adams. The man who rejected her one year ago. He’s somehow even better looking as a single dad than when he was the high school football star she once tutored. She’d been hoping to avoid him forever.
As the golden leaves start to fall, Rebecca may find that there’s more to her hometown—and to Cort—than she’d realized, and that the dreams she’s been chasing might have been the wrong ones. Could a spark kindle hot enough in the cool autumn air to call Rebecca home for good?
Add Something About September to your fall reads – it’s available NOW!
Need more fall reads? Check out Fall Love by L.B. Dunbar!
Publisher’s Blurb:
Neve Snowe doesn’t need to settle down. She is already settled in her small harbor town, with a cozy beach cottage and part ownership in the family-run auto repair shop. She doesn’t want a man, but she likes them. And she has one golden only sleep with flatlanders. You know, the guys who never intend to stay in Lovewell Landing, only use the coastal area for a brief holiday.
And the last thing she desired was the unexpected . . . to be expecting.
Tate Love spent his summers in Lovewell Landing as a teenager, but somehow he’d missed the beautiful girl who turned into a spunky woman, daring him to jump into the icy ocean one New Year’s Eve, then slept with him near the town’s sacred well, holding spell-binding waters.
He never thought he’d see her again, until nine months later, a business prospect brings him back to the area.
Now, the man who longs to be tied down finds that one night planted the seed to everything he ever wanted, while he holds the pen that could sign away all she’s ever loved.
Welcome to Lovewell Landing, where autumn is in the air, pumpkins decorate every doorstep, and a little fiasco might cause opposites to fall in love.
Fall Love is a steamy, romantic comedy companion novel to The Holiday Post and continues the romances of the Snowe sisters in the beautiful and quirky small town of Lovewell Landing. All the fall reads (and winter too) you could ask for!
Add the first book in Lyra Parish’s brand-new series, Flirty Fall Fling, to your fall reads!
Publisher’s Blurb:
I read the grumpy skeptic’s fortune in the bottom of a coffee cup. The grounds say he’ll find true love, but I tell him to expect a flirty fall fling…
In my defense, he thinks I’m a fraud and made it clear he doesn’t believe in l-o-v-e. I try to forget him, but he keeps appearing wherever I go. Then he offers me five grand per hour to break a family curse he swears is real. Considering I need the money to repair the roof of my haunted manor, I help him.
Our sessions end before the autumn equinox, and instead of walking away he proposes a new deal: be each other’s until Halloween. Against my better judgment, I agree, but with strict rules.
Between sneaking around at the apple orchard and finding each other in the hay maze, I catch myself not wanting to keep him my dirty little secret. The town’s meddling matchmakers don’t know their beloved Jamie is Jameson Cross, a billionaire in hiding. Or that he’s in my bed every night. When the paparazzi track him down and the tabloids leak that he’s dating a witch, his bags are already packed for New York.
The cup said he’d find his forever, and I don’t believe it’s me. Magically, the stubborn man who’s never been able to commit to anyone longer than thirty days is determined to prove me wrong.
And I think the universe might be on his side. Pfft.
If you loved Blaire from Fall I Want & The Hookup Situation…. this is HER book! YAY!
Flirty Fall Fling is the first book in a brand new series releasing in September of 2026 by the self-proclaimed fall queen and romcom author, Lyra Parish. This book is a laugh-out-loud spicy romance that’s set in the small town of Pine Haven, Colorado where our heroes and heroines fall in love with someone they shouldn’t.
This book is a spicy secret dating, romcom with all the fall vibes and more pumpkin pie than you can handle. Recommended for 18+ only!
Coming to your fall reads September 3, 2026.
To round out my anticipated fall reads, I had to include by 2025 favorite, If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia.
Meet my latest obsession—90s vibes (from this GenX/teen of the 90s), fall in Vermont, hot and charming single dad, the BEST dog sidekick, slow burn, neighbors. I loved the whole story, but the dog and epilogue really put me over the edge into the OBSESSED category. If you love a heartfelt fall read with some spice too, this one is for you!
City girl Michelle temporarily moves to small-town Vermont in the fall of 1997 to run her family’s B&B while her dad grieves the loss of her mom, and her sister finishes college. Definitely a fish out of water, she gets off to a rough start and seriously doubts her ability to keep the inn above water. Enter sexy single dad, baker, and neighbor Cliff, who jumps in to help her (even when she’s a little standoffish). And enter LOTS of chemistry…
I loved how these two opposites gravitated toward each other, supported and helped each other work through their issues, and made a fantastic team to thrive among obstacles, including navigating two very different kids, an ex-wife, and Michelle’s issues with her family.
If you love a good pet sidekick, you’ll adore Rocket, Michelle’s dog that worms his way into everyone’s heart and definitely has mine (of course, I’m a sucker for a dog so there’s that)
I think this one will go down as one of my favorite fall reads of 2025, if not the best.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for my advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.
