Your Fall 2025 Reading List: 18 Books for Cozy Season Reading
As someone who treats seasonal reading lists like a competitive sport, I've curated the perfect collection of books that capture everything I love about fall: atmospheric settings, a touch of magic, and stories that make you want to curl up with a blanket and ignore all responsibilities.
Whether you're craving gothic classics, witchy fantasies, or love stories with a darker edge, this list has something for every mood autumn throws your way. And yes, I've overthought every single pick, so you don't have to.
Full transparency: This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost to you. I only recommend books I genuinely love or am excited to read.
Gothic Classics
The Original Masters of Atmospheric Storytelling
There's a reason these books have survived centuries—they invented the moody, atmospheric reading experience we're all chasing. Think fog-shrouded moors, crumbling estates, and protagonists who probably should have left the creepy house way earlier than they did. These are the books that established the blueprint for everything we love about fall reading: suspense, romance, and settings so vivid you can practically feel the cold seeping through the windows.
Why start here? Because understanding the originals makes everything that came after them even better. Plus, there's something deeply satisfying about reading a book that's been making people deliciously uncomfortable for over a hundred years.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, by Washington Irving: The book that created American haunted mythology. I recommend the version that includes his other short stories so that you can meet Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle under the same cover.
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, by Mary Shelley: Okay, ladies, it’s time to yap about Mary Shelley, the original goth girlie. This edition preserves her original text and her strong, ahead-of-its-time voice.
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë: Emily never knew the success her novel became; she died a year after its publication of tuberculosis at the age of 30. But generations have come to love this dark, brooding love story between Heathcliff and Catherine. Reread it, it’s better than you remember from 8th grade literature class.
For more Gothic Classic recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Dark Academia
Ivy-Covered Halls, Secret Societies & Intellectual Intrigue
If you've ever fantasized about attending a mysterious university where everyone wears tweed, quotes dead philosophers, and harbors dangerous secrets, this section is your entire personality. Dark academia is all about the romance of learning mixed with morally gray characters and the sneaking suspicion that studying classics shouldn't feel this dangerous.
These books capture that intoxicating blend of intellectual ambition and bad decisions that makes you think, "Yes, joining a secret society is definitely a good idea."
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt: The book that defines the Dark Academia genre. This is the perfect fall read.
Babel, by R.F. Kuang: I’ve seen this book described as “a thematic response to The Secret History,” and it rings true. Grab a cozy blanket and commit to your Big Fall Read.
Bunny, by Mona Awad: This pretty much sums it up: “Heathers gone to grad school.” — Booklist
For more recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Witchy Reads
Stories Where Magic Runs Through Bloodlines
Fall is witch season, and these books deliver magic that feels both ancient and intimately personal. We're talking about women discovering power they didn't know they had, family legacies wrapped in secrets, and the kind of enchantment that's equal parts wonder and responsibility.
These aren't your sparkly magic wand stories—these are books where magic comes with consequences, history, and the understanding that power is complicated. Perfect for when you want your fantasy grounded in something that feels real, even when it's impossible.
Lady Macbeth, by Ava Reid: The reinvention you didn’t know you needed until this novel. A perfect read for chilly fall nights.
Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman: Okay, fine, I’ll watch Practical Magic again. But PS, the book is better than the movie.
Weyward, by Emilia Hart: This story weaves together the lives of three women across five centuries, spinning a beautiful cloak of female resilience.
For more recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Contemporary Fantasy
Where Wonder and Melancholy Intertwine
Sometimes you want magic that feels like it could be happening right now, in the regular world, if you just looked at things from the right angle. These contemporary fantasies blend the everyday with the extraordinary, creating stories that are both escapist and deeply emotional.
These books understand that magic doesn't fix everything—sometimes it just gives you new ways to process grief, love, and the complicated business of being human. They transport you while keeping one foot firmly planted in feelings you recognize.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab: Bittersweet, haunting, captivating. Both heartbreaking and hopeful. What kind of mark can one person leave on the world?
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern: A dark and imaginative love story that feels like a dream.
Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke: A fantasy world that feels incredibly real, I wish I could go back and read this for a first time.
For more recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Dark Romance
Love Stories with Shadows & Secrets
When regular romance feels too... sunny for fall, these books deliver. We're talking relationships complicated by secrets, morally gray love interests, and the kind of tension that makes your heart race for multiple reasons. These stories understand that sometimes the most compelling romances are the ones where you're not entirely sure if you should be rooting for the couple to get together.
Perfect for when you want swoon-worthy moments mixed with genuine suspense, complex characters, and relationships that feel earned rather than easy.
Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Morena-Garcia: It’s like Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and Dracula combined and reimagined as a new genre of fantasy novels. Silvia Morena-Garcia is one of my favorite authors in the horror space.
The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston: A ghostwriter meet-cute with an actual ghost that proves love isn’t dead after all.
Anatomy: A Love Story, by Dana Schwartz: The YA debut of one of my fav podcasters, this fast-paced mystery/romance delighted me. I need to read the sequel too!
For more recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Coming of Age
Books That Wrap You in Warmth, Memory & Bittersweet Beauty
There's something about fall that makes us reflective, nostalgic for the way things used to be—or the way we remember them being. These coming-of-age stories capture that bittersweet feeling of growing up, looking back, and understanding that who we were shaped who we became.
These books are the literary equivalent of flipping through old photographs: sometimes joyful, sometimes painful, always tinged with the awareness that you can never really go back. They're perfect for when you want to feel all the feelings.
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery: Anne Shirley from Prince Edward Island will forever reside in my heart. Discovering my own ancestors lived on the rugged islands of Eastern Canada made me feel like I had found a missing piece. Pour a cup of tea and fall in love with Anne, if you haven’t already.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith: A classic immigrant story that stands the test of time. Seeing Brooklyn through Francie's eyes will change you.
The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich: What do we owe the living? The dead? What do we owe the reader? The book? This modern classic has become a quintessential fall reading recommendation, perfect for every book lover and sensitive soul.
For more recommendations, check out my Fall Reading List on Benable.
Your Turn to Build the Perfect Fall TBR
There you have it—18 books organized by exactly the mood you're chasing this season. Whether you're team gothic atmosphere, dark academia intrigue, or witchy vibes, you've got options that'll keep you reading straight through to winter.
