As the weather turns colder and the leaves start to fall, I always start craving a cozy fall read! Sometimes I just want to read about a small town, kind quirky people, and hear about harvest time and pumpkins. Sometimes I want something a little more sinister, a good mystery that will be just a tad spooky! The following are a few books that have scratched this itch for me this year and I hope they will give you that cozy fall feeling if you are craving that this year too!
Comfy Cozy Fall Reads Set in Modern Day
Pumpkin Everything by Beth Labonte
Sometimes you just need a heartwarming story that follows the same arch as every Hallmark movie you have ever watched- that’s what this book is. Amy Fox is traveling back to Autumnboro New Hampshire to help her grandpa after he has broken wrist- and so he can keep his house, Amy’s childhood home which her mother is only too eager to sell and be rid of.
The problem is that Amy has become a somewhat famous horror fiction writer… and some, ok most, of the townspeople have made their way into her books in some way shape or form. A fact which they are none too happy about. Then there is the fact that going home, means Amy will have to face her childhood sweetheart, someone she unfairly abandoned in their hour of need…how will she own up to facing him again?
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
This is a wonderfully atmospheric fall book, with a touch of magic to keep things whimsical and fun. Everyone in this small North Carolina town knows that the Waverley sisters each have something special about them. The Sisters of course know it too- they also know things tend to get a little weird right before the first frost of the year- and First Frost this year is set to arrive on Halloween…
Quiet Clair has found her life turning into a race she can’t keep up with as her candy business achieves national acclaim. Sydney is still desperate to escape her past, and wants yet another new beginning, even though her life is good now. Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has the gift of knowing where things belong and she knows this boy at school belongs with her- of course she should have never told him that…
As First Frost draws near the feelings these women experience intensifies. Then there is the matter of the stranger who appears in town, who could possibly provide some answers about their past; or could possibly ruin their lives as they know it.
Amber Waves of Grace by Jessica Berg
Corrie gave up her job as a journalist when her father suffered a brain injury in a horrific accident, and moved back to her family’s farm where she grew up. However coming home also means that Corrie has to face her old flame, and the secrets she has tried to leave behind. When her ex’s brother starts helping out at Corrie’s farm, Corrie starts to feel like her past is breathing down her neck. Then a young pregnant woman finds her way to Corrie’s farm the family takes her in, but could she be the link to the trouble that starts finding its way to Corrie’s farm? Will Corrie be able to hold it all together, or risk it falling apart and thereby lose everything?
Comfy Cozy Historical Fiction for Fall
The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
Let’s pause for just a moment and talk about the title of this book, The London Seance Society, that’s normally not a title I would go anywhere near because I don’t think the occult isn’t a play thing and I hate it when author’s try to make the occult into a play thing. However I really enjoyed Ms Penner’s first book, The Lost Apothecary, and decided to give this a try. This turned out to be much more of a historical fiction murder mystery (my favorite!) than a book of the occult. In the author’s note Ms Penner states that any instances of incantations being said were purely her creation, although the London Seance Society was shaped after The London Ghost Society which was formed and existed in England in the victorian era. Now onto why I like this book!
Leena Wickes has always rolled her eyes at her little sister, Evie’s, talk about ghosts and the afterlife. Leena does not believe in anything she can’t prove with science. However When Evie is found murdered and the police don’t care to investigate further, Leena takes it upon herself to discover by any means necessary how Evie died. This leads Leen to apprentice under renowned medium Vaudline D’Allaire, a medium known for being able to provide answers to the loved ones of the deceased, and a Medium Evie had studied under before her murder.
What Leena doesn’t plan on is getting pulled into a convoluted case when the London Seance Society calls Vaudline to their headquarters to help them investigate the death of its founding member, however Vaudline’s presence must be a secret- she has already fled the country once because her life was at stake- which this case put her in mortal danger? As Vaudline and Leena begin to parse out the situation they find more and more evidence that not everything is as it seems, and some unexpected ties to Evie….
This I Know by Eldonna Edwards
This is an atmospheric coming of age story of a young girl growing up in a small town, set in the 1960’s. Grace was born with The Knowing, as she calls it. She can still hear her twin brother who died at birth and he talks to her, urging her to have patience with those around her when they don’t understand Grace’s gift of the knowing. Grace knows things about people, especially when she has contact with them. She can sense when one of her sister’s is in danger and tries to warn them. However her father, the preacher of this small town, thinks Grace’s gift is from the devil and won’t stand for any talk about it. Over the years there are a few mysterious disappearances in this small town; girls go missing and are never seen again. The one poor neighbor girl stumbled back home one night so traumatized from something that she has never been able to speak since- could Grace use her gift to help discover what evil is lurking in their small town?
The Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
A standalone sequel to The Jane Austen Society, fans of her previous work will greatly enjoy this latest book by Natlie Jenner. Bloomsbury books is a rare bookstore that has always been run by men, and governed by the shop’s rules- 51 of them to be exact. When the shop’s manager falls ill and is forced to take a leave, the women are at last allowed some freedom; and of course once they get a taste of freedom they are reluctant to return to their former roles. Add to this hidden relationships, a secret hunt for a rare book, and a budding relationship all set in 1950s London- and you get a book that makes you want to curl up with your favorite mug of hot tea!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Sometimes you get a good book at the wrong time and sometimes you get the right book and at the perfectly right time—that’s what happened with this book! I love a good mystery and, of course, I love a time-setting from the past. I am a little bit of a wimp… I don’t want anything too scary but, that being said, I still want to get a little scared. This is the perfect scariness for me! Ten people are stranded on a stormy island and one by one they start turning up dead which can only mean one thing—the killer is among them! If you want a goose-bump-raising mystery try this one!
Here’s to cozy fall nights, comfy throw pillows and good books- happy reading!
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