10 New Cozy Fall Books, Because You’d Rather Be In An Alternate Happier World Right Now

Here we meet Ellie Lawson, freshly dumped and fired, on her way back to her parents’ idyllic inn located in the middle of an apple orchard. She expects a quiet phase of getting back on her feet, but is greeted by the surly Aiden, who is currently living in the attic apartment she came home to occupy. Forced into being roommates, the two will navigate intense tension, differing values, and big feelings. Who knows? Maybe the small town life really is for Ellie.

In the magical world of Tangleroot Valley, it’s actually quite normal for every witch to have a cat dragon. What’s unusual is that Aloysia Papplewick doesn’t. She’s got plenty else on her plate to worry about, like preparing for the Harvest Festival and getting her pumpkin patch under control. So when she and her best friend’s brother are whisked away on a mysterious quest, she’ll have even more to contend with (including an unexpected spark).

This one’s giving Practical Magic vibes but about motherhood, if you ask me! Cassie Beckett is busy enough as it is, with her barely-there husband, wild little sister, and three feral children. So when the vampires return to her gloomy home of Prince Edward Island, she knows it’s her duty as a witch to see them back out. So with the help of her friends, family, and her baby in an extremely garlicky onesie, she sets out to do what generations of witches before her failed to. Leave it to a mother, right?

Sera Swan was once one of Britain’s most powerful witches, but she exhausted most of her power bringing her great aunt Jasmine back from the dead — which also led to her being banished from her guild. Now, she and Jasmine run a quaint (and lightly enchanted) inn in the countryside, where Sera focuses on dealing with their eccentric guests and keeping her talking fox under control. So when Luke, a historian with all the walls up, arrives at the inn, Sera thinks he may just have what she needs to complete the spell that will restore her power. This is very much a “the real magic is the friends we made along the way” type of story.

If the cover art reminds you of Stars Hollow, that’s the sign of a good cozy fall book. Even better: this story is set in 1997. After a nasty divorce, our narrator takes over her mother’s bed and breakfast in small town Vermont, just for a few months, where she instantly becomes enamored with her hot neighbor, Cliff. Cliff’s a flannel-sporting single dad whose charm is undeniable, but is he worth leaving behind the big city life?

Seriously, the book’s description tells you so. Willow is determined to save her family’s farm by reinventing it as a pumpkin patch, but she only has six weeks to pull it off. She even challenges Dylan, the broker trying to convince her to give up and sell the place, to stick around and watch her save it. At the end of the deal, will they have become more than competitors? (Wink, wink.)

Manspreading in a kilt on the cover, are we? Sign me up. This book is described as “Charmed meets The Pumpkin Spice Café” which sounds like exactly what we’re looking for here. Sloane MacGregor never intended to return to Scotland, but she’s nearly 25 (the year when witches come into their magic) and her grandmother has requested Sloane and her sisters’ help breaking a generations-old curse on their family. Knox Douglas is mayor of Briarhaven, a small town for magical folk that he works tirelessly to maintain. So he’s not pleased when he sees a cursed MacGregor show up (at least not at first...).

The Bittersweet family has had a business on High Street for ages, where people in the charming town of Chapelwick can inquire about their services as mediums. Melody Bittersweet happens to have a little side business within their sprawling home, in which she helps settle ghosts’ unfinished business and see them to the other side of the veil. Her first call is about an old mansion for sale that keeps losing buyers because of the spirits within. But when she arrives, she realizes her celebrity ghost hunter rival is also on the case along with local reporter Fletcher Gunn covering the whole thing. Can she solve the bickering between the ghosts within, and deal with the meddling men vying to be the heroes of the story?

Yes, another autumnal small-town romance is exactly what we all need right now. Ellis is a senior in high school, diligently prepping her application to Columbia — so she’ll get in to their journalism program and nab a solid career. But then her parents announce they’re separating, and Ellis moves with her mom to a tiny town in Connecticut to live with family. She bumps into Cooper, the local barista she kissed that one time who seemingly can’t stand her now. And her family wants to drag her to all the festivals and apple orchards, where she keeps seeing him again and again. Her return to Manhattan keeps getting delayed, too. What will her future hold?

Azrael is a witch, and also a failed screenwriter. When he returns to his family’s home in Hallowcross, he finds that his former childhood best friend, Victoria, has purchased his late parents’ Hopelessly Teavoted tea shop. She had to quit business school to do it, and her parents have cut her off, and she also has a knack for summoning the dead. Before the end, Az and Vickie will have to team up to wrangle the spirits haunting Hallowcross and remove Vickie’s curse.