The Best Romance Books to Read During Fall

1. You, Again by Kate Goldbeck

When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.

A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs and she never sleeps over after hooking up.

Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: Take the culinary world by storm, find The One, and make her breakfast in his spotless kitchen.

They have absolutely nothing in common… except that they happen to be sleeping with the same woman.

Read my review of You, Again here.

2. If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia

My new next-door neighbor seems to have everything figured out. Small town golden boy? Check. Single dad extraordinaire? Check. Hot baker forearms? I didn’t notice them, I swear.

I, on the other hand, don’t–at all–have anything figured out. Trust me, I didn’t think taking over my mom’s dream bed and breakfast in Copper Run Vermont was going to be easy. It should be a good place to heal after my divorce. But apparently my scones belong in the garbage with my small talk skills. As pointed out by none other than Cliff.

3. Something About September by Julia McKay

Rebecca Macintosh has always felt that there’s just something about September—nostalgia, crisp mornings, and possibility. But not this year.

Rebecca has thirty days to return home to fix up her late grandmother’s diner or face the consequences. And the only contractor in town? Cort Adams. The man who rejected her one year ago.

He’s somehow even better looking as a single dad than when he was the high school football star she once tutored. She’d been hoping to avoid him forever.

4. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson

Ellis has a plan: spend her senior fall prepping her application for Columbia, get into their journalism program, and set the foundation for a respectable career.

So when her parents announce that not only are they separating, but Ellis has to move with her mom from New York City to Bramble Falls, Connecticut, to live with her aunt and cousin, it couldn’t come at a worse time.

From past summers spent in Connecticut, Ellis knows Bramble Falls is idyllic and charming. But it also seems to be full of distractions, like local barista Cooper Barnett, Ellis’s one-time best friend and first kiss who now wants nothing to do with her.

Dragged to every oh-so-charming event from apple picking to pumpkin carving, Ellis can’t stop bumping into Cooper…or falling for the quaint town and its quirky residents.

5. Fall At Once by Nora Everly

I’m in Cozy Creek for two reasons: To get over my breakup and help my grandmother run her bakery.

I am absolutely not here to fall in love.

But my grandma’s smoking hot firefighter neighbor keeps rescuing me—from the side of the road, from a tree (don’t ask), and then finally from my ex with a steamy kiss in a bar.

So when he needs my help, how can I say no?

As a party planner, I’m the perfect person to step in and work with him on preparations for Cozy Creek Fire Brigade’s Fall Fundraiser. Sparks fly as we spend more time together, but we’ve both been burned by love before.

6. You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch by Anita Faulkner

Rosie’s life is not turning out as planned. She dreams of becoming a novelist, but she’s lost her writing job to an AI chatbot and discovered her boyfriend cheating …

Rosie sets off for a fresh start, only for her car to break down at Autumn Meadows Farm in the Cotswolds, where she is mistaken for a job applicant and finds herself planning ‘Pumpkin Retreats’ to save the farm from developers.

Embracing farm life, Rosie rediscovers her passion for writing – and begins to fall for the gruff but undeniably handsome pumpkin farmer, Zain. But when Rosie learns Zain has been using the same AI chatbot that replaced her to plan their dates and script romantic lines, her happiness is threatened.

7. Cozy Girl Fall by Willow Hurst

When Penny Larkin returns to her hometown of Magnolia Springs after 10 years in San Francisco, she’s determined not to get roped back into small town life.

She’s there to help on her parents’ apple orchard during the busy harvest season and promises herself she’d be back to her life in the city by December.

But when Penny discovers that her childhood sweetheart Ethan Blake is also helping in the orchard – looking distractingly handsome in his flannel shirt and workman’s boots – she realizes it might be harder to keep her promise to herself than she thought.

As Penny and Ethan spend every day of harvest season working side-by-side, it becomes clear that there’s still a spark flickering between them.

8. People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young

Prudence Welch has found solace in her introverted life in Baysville, a charming tourist town in Northern Ontario. Despite once dreaming of a life beyond its borders, she now finds contentment in her routines: working at her father’s gas station, writing poetry, and caring for her mother, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease shortly after Prue’s nineteenth birthday.

But as her mother’s condition worsens and her father’s concerns about her own future intensify, Prue feels her world slipping further out of control.

Enter Milo Kablukov, an enigmatic wanderer whose beat-up van covered with ill-advised bumper stickers rolls into town just when Prue needs a change. It’s all too easy to let go with him, and Prue can’t help but strike up an unlikely friendship with Milo.

9. Can’t Help Falling in Love by Sophie Sullivan

Lexi Danby is looking for some no-strings, fall fun. Once a college track star, she was forced to drop out when her father passed away. Now she’s trying to make ends meet while putting herself through school and caring for her grieving mother.

When her comically bad waitressing lands her directly in the path of a handsome, charming stranger named Will, Lexi may just have found the distraction she’s been looking for.

Their first date looks promising until a misunderstanding at a party thrusts Lexi and Will into a fake engagement they can’t talk themselves out of. And Will turns out to be a member of Seattle royalty.

10. It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard

Reeling from the cancellation of her hit TV show, June Wood has nothing left to lose when a mysterious email lures her back to the New York City brownstone she once called home before she moved to Los Angeles.

Thanks to a clause in the former owner’s will, she and her old roommate, Adam Harper, now own the multimillion-dollar property—or at least they will in a month, once all the paperwork is signed.

Four weeks, then June can return to her life in LA and forget about New York City and everything she left behind. Sure, the fact that June and Adam are estranged and haven’t even spoken in five years, and that their friendship didn’t exactly end on good terms might complicate matters, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

11. Bonfire & Bliss Bookstore by Brittanee Nicole

For Penny Darling, love is best enjoyed between the pages of a book. After a very public failed engagement, she’d rather cozy up by the fire with a book boyfriend than a real one any day. And as the owner of Bonfire & Bliss Bookstore, she has her pick.

Then Jake “Monty” Montgomery returns home. Her high school best friend, now a struggling author with inked forearms and wicked green eyes. And he needs her help.

His proposal is simple: She’ll teach him to write the perfect book boyfriend and he’ll pose as her real boyfriend, keeping Hope Harbor’s busybodies—and their obsession with Penny’s love life—at bay.

12. Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter

Isabella Shay is usually a very honest person. But when she’s running late for her first day at her dream job and the barista yells for “Amy” three times with no answer, she does the unthinkable.

Izzy takes that PSL.

It’s the exact drink she ordered and paid for, only way further ahead in the queue—and she’ll take whatever bad karma is coming for her; she’s desperate and very late.

But when she turns around and runs directly into the most attractive man she’s ever seen, spilling the drink all over his made-for-GQ shirt and tie, she ends up having the ultimate meet-cute. Karma who? Sparks fly and things feel beyond promising, until he says to her: “See you tomorrow, Amy.”

13. An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson

After a bruising divorce, headstrong Juliet Miller invests in a flat and advertises for a flatmate, little believing that in her late thirties she’ll find anyone suitable. But along comes self-employed copywriter Floz, raw from her own relationship split, and the two women hit it off.

When Juliet’s twin brother Guy meets Floz, he is overcome with a massive crush, just as his friend Steve develops the hots for Juliet. But being a shy, gentle giant, Guy communicates so clumsily with Floz as to give her the opposite impression.

Can he turn Floz’s affection for his family into love for him? And then Juliet makes a discovery, which will turn their lives upside-down…

14. November 9 by Colleen Hoover

In November 9, Fallon and Ben meet just before Fallon’s move and spend a day together that inspires Ben’s novel.

Their annual meetings continue despite the complexities of their lives, but Fallon begins to question if Ben’s stories are real or just a crafted narrative.

As their relationship unfolds, they must confront whether their love story, marked by heartache, is genuine or just a plot twist.

Read my review of November 9 here.