Happy Fall Y’all! Cooler weather brings so many wonderful moments – fall festivals, apple picking, cozy clothing, and reading while wrapped up in a blanket. We love to hike on the weekends when it turns cooler, but I’ll still find plenty of time to read.
Do your reading choices seem to fluctuate with the changes in the weather? I always seem to turn to books full of magic and some cozy mysteries this time of year. I also tend to like small town romances more than in the summer. Today, we are looking at some of the best Fall reads in each of those categories!
Books Full of Magic
If you’re looking for books full of magic, you need to go straight to the prime writer in this category….Alice Hoffman! Her most famous “magic” book is, of course, Practical Magic, in part because of the movie starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. I read this book last year and loved it! It is so different from the movie and in some ways, so much better! This series includes three other books, all of which I’m reading in October – Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, and The Book of Magic.
Hoffman has also just released The Invisible Hour which is perfect for fall. Set in New England with a good portion of the book occurring during fall and winter, it gives the cozy reads feel!
Other great books about magic include the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings series. But if you’re looking for a great stand-alone book about magic, check out The House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland. This one is part sci-fi, part magic….ALL thriller. I actually had a tough time finishing it because of the thriller aspect, but it was so good!
Cozy Mysteries
Mysteries have been my go-to since childhood. As a 5th and 6th grader, I read every single Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book in order. I even wanted to be a detective like Nancy Drew! Cozy mysteries are a unique subset of the mystery genre. They are typically lighter reads and even include romance or comedy as a main thread.
The go-to writer for cozy mystery books has to be Richard Osman. The Thursday Murder Club series is a hit for most of my friends and talked about quite often in my book clubs. I haven’t had a chance to dig into the series yet, but it’s squarely on my TBR list!
The Queen of mysteries wrote most of her books in this category as well. Agatha Christie wrote 66 mysteries, so there’s a lot to unpack there! My absolute favorite Christie novel would be And Then There Were None – 10 strangers marked for death gather on a secluded island and one by one they are knocked off!
Small Town Romance Novels
Do you like small town romance novels? This is one of those categories some readers just love to hate, and I get it. My eldest and I have a running text chain where we talk about the absolute worst romance novels we (including their friends) run across. With all that said, I have lots of books in this category that I love.
My favorite recent release in this category would be Heather Webber’s newest At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities! With little bits of magic and mystery, and a lot of romance, this book was one I did not want to put down. There were moments of laugh out loud witty conversations and a few moments where I wanted to cry. Webber’s books tend to do that for me – Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe was that way, too! I am just starting South of the Buttonwood Tree today and can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I would also recommend checking out Book Lovers from Emily Henry. I read this in September and the full review will post next week. Again, witty conversation, a few teary moments, and a handful of cringeworthy scenes, but the romance was amazing. It was another book I didn’t want to put down, and hated to say goodbye to the characters when it was done!
Do you have a favorite book about magic, cozy mystery, or small-town romance? Share in the comments – I’m always game for great new books!
This post contains affiliate links.
What I’m Reading
- Current print book: South of the Buttonwood Tree, Heather Webber
- Current audio book: The Storyteller, Dave Grohl
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman
Discover more from Read With Lindsey
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
