It’s officially time to cozy up with a fall novel, so we’ve got you covered with our list of the best books for fall! Get ready to dive into these fall reads that are perfect for autumn nights! As a bonus, download the reading log template for free to keep track of all your favorite fall books!

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Reading books to get you in the mood for fall makes the spooky season much more magical. I tend to save the fall thrillers, the cozy spooky books, and any books with fall vibes towards the end of the year. The fall novels just hit differently during this season, give you all the feels, and have a different vibe than if you were to read these during the summer.

It’s the perfect time to get lost in another world, as fall reading captures the season’s essence. Whether you are into spooky thrillers, heartwarming romances, or epic fantasy adventures, one of these fall reads is just waiting for you to dive in.

You can add these fall book recommendations to the free reading tracker available at the end of this post. It’s easy to use and completely editable, so feel free to change it up however you like. It is the exact reading tracker I use to keep track of my favorite books!

Here are my top ten recommendations for the best books for fall reading!

The Best Books To Read For Fall

The following five book recommendations are what I am personally adding to my fall TBR. I chose these books based on their vibes, ranging from horror and gothic to cozy and magical.

The goal was to choose books with spooky vibes, a dark and whimsical aesthetic, or a Practical Magic-type atmosphere.

10. We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

“You’ll never want to open your door to a stranger again.”

Have you ever seen the two horror films Get Out and Parasite? Combine those two movies into a book, and you’ll get We Used To Live Here. This book is suspenseful, eerie, and unsettling—it’s the perfect psychologically creepy book for a spooky season!

We Used To Live Here is about Eve and her partner, Charlie, who buy an old house (of course, in the middle of nowhere!) to renovate it and flip it for a profit. They move in with their dog, and all is well.

One night, a family shows up on their doorstep, and the father claims he used to live in the house when he was a child. He asks Eve if it would be okay to come into their home to show his family the house he grew up in. Eve allows them, and from there, weird things start happening.

I don’t know about you, but this book reinforces my decision to never answer the front door whenever someone rings my doorbell, especially when I’m home alone.

This book just came out this summer, and they are already making a movie about it, so make sure you read it before the movie comes out!

9. Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

“We’re not normal people. We are monsters. But if we’re monsters, we’ll thrive in the dark. Together.”

A romantic comedy between two psychopathic serial killers who compete with each other in a game of murder? I’m in!

For someone who loves to listen to true crime podcasts in my spare time, this book intrigued me. It’s a friends-to-lovers rom-com with a dark twist of murder, spice, and dark romance.

Definitely will be adding this to my TBR for this spooky season. Also, if you have a weak stomach, this book may not be for you due to the nature of some scenes.

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

“It’s a leap of faith to love people and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into nothing, and trusting that you’ll fly rather than fall.”

Let’s switch it up from dark and eerie to warm and cozy. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is my pick for a magical, charming witchy fall read. It is one of the best cozy books for fall.

This heartwarming story is about an orphaned witch named Mika who lives most of her life alone and in fear of others finding out about her magical powers. She never settles anywhere permanently to protect her secret.

One day, she gets a mysterious invitation to a house with young witches, and they want her to be their magical teacher. In that secret society, she finally feels accepted, finds people who feel like family, and falls madly in love.

If you are looking for a cozy fantasy book to read this fall, then this is the ultimate feel-good book to add to your fall TBR. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a wholesome fall read that will uplift you this season.

7. Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

“There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken.”

I’ve wanted to read this series since Shadow & Bone appeared on television. It reminds me of the popular heist movie Ocean’s Eleven but set in a fantasy world.

Set in the fantasy world of the Grishaverse, Six of Crows is about six outcasts who try to pull off a deadly heist that changes their lives forever. Each character has their own personal conflicts and dark pasts, each on a journey to reclaim their power in the face of their past traumas.

It is recommended to read Shadow & Bone series first so you aren’t confused in the first 100 pages of Six of Crows.

6. Hollow Heathens by Nicole Fiorina

“And the cruelest is love. Long after death, love has the power to turn us all into the darkest of monsters.”

Gothic and dark vibes, forbidden romance, cursed love—Hollow Heathens is haunting, captivating, and heartbreaking.

Hollow Heathens follows a girl named Fallon as she returns to her childhood home in Weeping Hollow, a mysterious little gothic town with dark and twisted magic lingering in the air.

She finds herself drawn to Julian, the leader of the Hollow Heathens. Julian is a dark, morally gray character living with a centuries-old curse. He is the dark, cursed villain of our dreams.

Fallon and Julian are both from rival families – kind of like a gothic fantasy Romeo and Juliet love story.

I’ve been saving this book to read during the scariest month of the year. This story is perfect for the spooky season, from the eerie setting to the characters.

Best Fall Books With Top Ratings

The following books are my favorite fall recommendations to read this season. These are fall favorites that I’ve read, loved, and would totally read again to capture all the spooky, cozy fall vibes!

Besides being my personal favorites, each of the following books has great reviews and has been rated greater than 4.0 out of 5.0 on goodreads.com.

5. Under the Oak Tree by Suji Kim

“If I were to die, I should like to return as your hair. To have no other purpose but to cascade down your back, and every time the wind blows, brush against your lips, your cheeks…”

Reading Under the Oak Tree changed my life because it was the book that reignited my love for reading romantasy books again nearly three years ago. From this book, I discovered other amazing romantic fantasy books like the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and the rest of the SJM universe, Fourth Wing, and other heart-wrenching five-star reads.

I seriously became obsessed with this series during the fall season, so naturally, I had to include it in my list of highly recommended fall books.

The book on the left is the Under The Oak Tree Novel version, while the book on the right is the Under The Oak Tree Comic Version. I originally started with the comic (because how can you not with how dreamy the male lead looks!) and then moved on to the novel.

To summarize, a knight and a Duke’s daughter are forced into an arranged marriage – both are extremely flawed and broken individuals. However, the character growth is immaculate.

The story takes the reader on the main leads’ journeys of overcoming personal challenges and insecurities and navigating their new lives together. It also contains a mixture of fantasy elements, found family, and many smut scenes.

The sixth book in the series is when we get Riftan’s point of view — and it is EVERYTHING. It made me fall in love with the characters and the story more as we finally understand why Riftan is the way he is.

Riftan’s POV is my favorite book of the series because it is so heartwrenching and bittersweet. It’s beautifully written, funny, and devastating all at once.

It also takes you deeper into why this man is irrevocably in love and devoted to Maxi, the main female character. It’s giving Invisible String by Taylor Swift.

If this book were a movie, it would be rated R because of the strong content and events. Some trigger warnings include a lot of sexual scenes, physical and emotional abuse, SA, child neglect, self-harm, self-hatred, and war.

4. Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

“You want more than I can give you,” I whispered. “I can’t imagine that ever being true,” he murmured. “Because I want only you, Lilith. Whatever of you I can have. I’ll take one night. One hour. One minute. Whatever you want to give me. I’ll have it.”

If you love dark and romantic tales with vampires, then Six Scorched Roses is a must-read to add to your list this fall! This book is a novella in the Crowns of Nyaxia series (a standalone novel in The Serpent and the Winds of Night books) that follows the love story between a mortal named Lilith and a swoon-worthy vampire named Vale.

Their love story is tragically beautiful, and the chemistry between the two characters is just *chef’s kiss*. When I first read this, I thought it would be a forgettable quick read between the two main books of the series.

Boy, was I wrong. I devoured this book, and it left me wanting more!

I loved this novella more than The Serpent and the Wings of Night. Easily a 5 star read!

3. Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli

“Everytime Gideon looked at the young heiress, she reminded him of the sea: steal-your-breath beautiful on the surface, with the promise of untold depths beneath.”

If enemies-to-lovers were manifested into a physical book, this would be that book! In true enemies-to-lovers fashion, Rune, the Crimson Moth vigilante witch, is being hunted by Gideon, the feared witch hunter who is also the captain of the Blood Guard.

The brooding male lead strongly hates all witches. Motivated by his dark secret, he claims his calling in life is to purge the world of witches once and for all to keep everyone safe. As for Rune, she’s hiding who she really is because if her secrets ever get out, it could mean death for her and all other witches.

Both characters do a great job of outsmarting the other. Though the ending was predictable and ended on a cliffhanger, I was still gutted by the events.

I’m a sucker for beautiful book covers, so can I just point out how stunning The Crimson Moth cover is?! They are both the same exact book but with different covers because The Crimson Moth is the U.K. edition while The Heartless Hunter is the U.S. edition.

2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

“She hates this part. She shouldn’t have lingered. Should have been out of sight as well as out of mind, but there’s always that nagging hope that this time, it will be different, that this time, they will remember.”

Speaking of beautiful book covers, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue Illustrated Edition is gorgeous! This book is a great pick for the fall season because it takes you on an existential journey of life and what it means to be human.

Addie is a girl who made a deal with the Devil to live forever. However, the caveat is that anyone who meets her will immediately forget her. So, she goes through her long life as a ghost of the world, desperately wanting to leave her mark.

This was a complex, tragic, and beautifully written book. The story’s pacing is slower because not many major things happen, so if you are an action person, this book will not be for you. However, if you pull through to the end, it will be worth all the heartache that this book will put you through.

1. The Shepherd King Duology (One Dark Window & Two Twisted Crowns) by Rachel Gillig

“There once was a girl clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a king – a shepard by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book. The two were together, so the two were the same…The girl, the King…and the monster they became.”

The ultimate book to give you the coziest and spookiest vibe is The Shepherd King Duology. Hands down, these two books are equally my top choices for the perfect fall read because they embody a good combination of gothic, eerie, and dark fantasy vibes—a gothic fairytale, if you will.

The story follows a girl named Elspeth, who was a child when she was infected with a sickness caused by the magical mist in their town. This results in her having an entity called “The Nightmare” living in her mind. Anyone found to have been infected by the mist gets executed, so Elspeth has to keep that monster in her head a secret.

To get rid of the mist, Elspeth teams up with the dark and mysterious Ravyn Yew, the Captain of the Destriers, to collect a complete deck of Providence Cards. Providence Cards are magical tarot cards that grant the user magical abilities. By collecting all the cards, they save their kingdom from the mist.

But even though she is working with Ravyn, he is still the Captain of a group of the king’s elite soldiers whose main goal is to find and execute people like Elspeth who are infected with the sickness.

The magic system and world-building are unique and well-developed, unlike anything I’ve ever read. I enjoyed every minute of reading both books.

These books had me in a chokehold, and the ending broke me. It’s a rollercoaster of a ride, sometimes confusing, but everything ties together nicely at the end. This book will live rent-free in my brain for the rest of my life.

I read these books around October, right before Halloween, and it was the perfect time to do so! So I highly suggest you do the same.

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The Ultimate Notion Reading Tracker

Keep track of all your fall reads with the free Notion reading tracker. This template is the exact book tacker I use to plan and keep track of what I want to read for the year. Feel free to edit this template however you like.

Personally, I like to plan each month with a specific book I want to read. Usually, I finish the book before that month is over. If that is the case, I will pick another book from my TBR list and add it to my currently reading section.

Once I am done reading a book, I complete it and rate it. The complete list of books is at the bottom of the page and can be filtered by year. As you can see from the example below, I check off all the books I’ve read so far this year.

If you have any questions as to how to use the template, feel free to send me a message.

Download the book tracker template for free here or fill out the form below.

Fall is the perfect time to cozy up with one of these favorite fall reads. From fantasy romance lovers to fall thrillers, these are the best books to read this fall. And don’t forget to add these autumn reads to the book tracker template to make your own fall reading list.

What is on your reading tracker for the best books for fall?

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