It’s getting closer and closer to that time of year—the one in which the leaves will change color, pumpkins will be brought outside, the air will have a more crisp feel and smell to it—yeah, you know what I’m talking about: fall. Although I’m a summer lover and am milking every last drop of warm weather and ray of sunshine, I know that fall is right around the corner. I personally believe every time of year is a great time to cozy up with a good book, but there’s no denying that lighting a nice candle, snagging a good book, and getting cozy and relaxing near a window is one of the best ways to enjoy fall.
I’m obsessed with the Goodreads app and participate in its personal reading challenge every year. This year, my goal is to read 100 books, and I’ve managed to get 80 under my belt so far. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with books this year; I’ve found a lot of highly anticipated new releases to be lackluster, while others have taken me by surprise and blown me out of the water. I’ve also broken away from my typical thrillers, suspense, and crime novels and explored the world of fantasy, horror, magical realism, and a little bit of sci-fi. It’s opened my eyes to the massive variety of books out there in the world.
Despite the ups and downs I’ve had with books this year, there are a lot of new releases this fall that I’m really looking forward to. I turned to the Goodreads app (again!) to round up the most anticipated books this fall, along with a few of my personal recommendations as well for what to read this fall. Add these to your to-be-read list, grab your own copy, get cozy, and get reading.
Most Anticipated Books This Fall:
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
Chloe Sevre may look like your typical freshman honor student—the type to wear leggings, frequent frat parties, participate in yogalates—but she isn’t. She’s a psychopath, 1 of 7 students in a DC-based college who are part of an usual clinical study of psychopaths. When one of those students is murdered, a dangerous cat-and-mouse game ensues, and Chloe goes from being the hunter to the hunted.
The Turnout by Megan Abbott
Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since birth, ballet practically flows through their veins. They spent their childhood being homeschooled and trained by their mother. Now, decades later, the sisters have taken over the Durant School of Dance alongside Dara’s husband—and once their mother’s prize student—Charlie. When a suspicious accident occurs at the onset of the school’s annual performance of The Nutcracker, an interloper arrives and threatens the delicate balance of everything they’ve worked for.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Things have been wrong with Mr. and Mrs. Wright for a long time. When the pair win a weekend away in Scotland, it may be just what their marriage needs. Adam Wright—a self-confessed screenwriter and workaholic—has lived with face blindness his whole life, unable to recognize the faces of family, friends, and his wife. Every anniversary the couple exchanges traditional gifts, and Amelia Wright writes a letter to her husband that she never lets him read. Until now. This weekend will make or break their marriage, and they soon may realize that one of them might not get their happily ever after after all.
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
The Delaneys are fixtures in their communities. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all their friends. They have four children: Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke. When Joy suddenly goes missing, two of the children think their father is innocent, and two are not so sure.
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
Evangeline Fox was raised in her father’s curiosity shop and grew up on legends of immortals like the Prince of Hearts. Evangeline knows that his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well. When she learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate to stop it, and goes to the Prince of Hearts for help. All the prince asks for is three kisses, but after the first one Evangeline quickly realizes that she may have gotten more than she bargained for, and that the prince has other deadly plans for her.
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
When a young man is found murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about the three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home; Carly is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of another family member, and Miriam is the nosy neighbor keeping secrets from the police. Three separate women with three separate connections to the victim, who all seem to have simmering resentment for different reasons. When it comes to exacting that resentment and getting revenge, even good people may do terrible deeds.
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
In 2017, 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, and leaves her baby with her mother, Kim. Kim watches her daughter leave and waits all night long for her to return. The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah’s friends, who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place. Tallulah never returns. Fast-forward to 2019, and Sophie is walking in the woods next to the boarding school where her boyfriend teaches when she stumbles upon a note fixed to a tree with the words: ‘DIG HERE.’ A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma, and dark secrets lie at the heart of this novel.
Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight
Everyone has those friends, the ones you can lean on no matter what, who will always be there for you despite how much time has passed and no matter what time that phone call comes in… Five friends have come together again in the Catskills to stage an intervention for their drug addicted friend. They can’t bear to lose anyone else after they covered up a horrible secret in college and lost Alice 10 years ago. But that reunion leads to chaos when a dead body is discovered.
We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
Emily is having the time of her life in Chile with her best friend, Kristen. It’s much needed, especially after a backpacking trip in Cambodia last year left Emily with PTSD and the two girls a crime they had to cover up and a dead body they had to dispose of. On their final night in Chile, Emily walks into their suite and finds a shockingly horrifying scene: broken glass and blood on the floor from the dead backpacker Kristen killed in self-defense after he attacked her. The scene is eerily similar to the one in Cambodia last year. Back home in Wisconsin, Emily tries to bury her trauma and throws herself into a new relationship and work, but when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The deeper she digs, the more she realizes that she has more questions than answers about who her best friend really is, and what really happened that night in Chile.
False Witness by Karin Slaughter
Leigh Collier is working at a white-collar law firm to help her estranged husband pay for private school for their daughter, Maddy, as they navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. Her life is as unremarkable and ordinary as she’d hoped it would be. After all, she escaped a childhood filled with trauma, poverty, betrayal, and a devastating act of violence that tore it all apart. Then the kind of case that could make or break her career lands on her desk: defending a wealthy man accused of rape. When she meets the defendant, she’s shocked to find that she knows him, and he knows her. Moreover, he knows what happened 20 years ago, the thing she’s spent decades running from. If she can’t get him acquitted, she’s going to lose much more than the case. Now, she has to enlist the help of her estranged sister, Callie—the last person she wants to turn to—before time runs out.
Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak
Stella and Violet are best friends, and from the moment they met in college they knew their roles. Stella is the beautiful, reckless, and privileged one who lives in the spotlight; Violet the hardworking, laser-focused one who stays behind the scenes and is always there and ready to clean up whatever mess Stella leaves in her wake. After college, Violet moves to New York and lands a job at a cable news station, where she manages to work her way up from intern to assistant to producer, and to a life where she’s finally free of Stella’s shadow. Violet thrives and her ambitions grow in this fast-paced world, but when Stella—envious of Violet’s new life—uses her beauty, privilege, and connections to snag a job at the same network, she jeopardizes everything Violet’s worked for. Stella might be the one with the rich family and friends, but Violet isn’t giving up so easily.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
In horror movies, the final girl is the one left standing while the credits roll, but what happens to her afterwards? Lynette Tarkington is a real-life final girl, and for more than a decade, she’s been meeting up with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group as they try to do the unthinkable and piece their lives back together. When one woman goes missing, Lynette’s worst fears are realized: someone knows about the group, knows where they live, and is watching them, determined to take apart their lives piece-by-piece.
