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Readers' Most Anticipated Fall Books
Bookworms, rejoice! The autumn reading season is just over the horizon. Crisp evenings. Knit sweaters. Autumnal vibes. As such, we have compiled our annual preview of the season’s most highly anticipated new books, as determined by Goodreads members.
The books are selected by tracking Goodreads members' early reviews and the titles that your fellow readers are adding to their Want to Read shelves. We’ve sorted the list into the usual genres, but as always, some books resist easy classification. Which is a good thing! We did our best. Everything below is slated to be published in the U.S. between now and the end of December.
Prepare your frontal lobes, because there are a lot of interesting books on the way. Lily King is back on shelves in September with Heart the Lover, concerning a passionate love triangle among English majors—the most lovable of all undergraduates. Author Oyinkan Braithwaite writes of strange magic in her Nigerian family with the heartfelt and humorous Cursed Daughters. And Ian McEwan imagines life in the year 2119 with the literary speculation of What We Can Know.
Over on the mystery-thriller shelves, look for new books from Richard Osman and Stacy Willingham, plus John Grisham’s first stab (heh) at the traditional whodunit. SFF fans can look forward to alchemists in L.A., time travel in Virginia, and The Great Gatsby in 2075. For Halloween reading, we’ve got new books from Isabel Cañas and Mona Awad, plus a haunted house story for the Information Age.
Also in the mix for this fall: new romance novels from Ali Hazelwood and Ana Huang; new romantasy hybrids from Rebecca Ross and Jasmine Mas; and a promising batch of YA books concerning, oh, Gothic horror, Ojibwe mysteries, small-town hockey—stuff like that.
Finally, the nonfiction stacks are particularly intriguing this year. Look for memoirs from authors Arundhati Roy and Elizabeth Gilbert, plus some incredible real-life stories about World War II spies, online entropy, and replaceable body parts. Not in the same book. But still.
Happy reading! Feel free to add any interesting leads to your digital shelf using the Want to Read button.
Fans of sweeping historical fiction and mutigenerational family drama will want to consider the new novel from author Patrick Ryan (Gemini Bites). Buckeye follows two families in a small Ohio town from World War II through to the 1970s. Early readers are saying nice things about this story of love and loss in the heartlands of the 20th century.
Release date: September 2
Release date: September 2
In the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War, two ostensibly emancipated siblings scramble for freedom in the treacherous wilds of the Mexican desert. Author Nathan Harris returns to the historical era of his acclaimed 2021 debut, The Sweetness of Water, a critical and commercial success that was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Release date: September 2
Release date: September 2
The wilderness cited in this new novel from author Angela Flournoy (The Turner House) refers to that fraught and consequential period between young adulthood and midlife plateau. The book follows five American Black women as they navigate this tricky terrain—and fight to preserve their friendship—in the first wobbly years of the new millennium.
Release date: September 16
Release date: September 16
Future dystopia books can be hard on the stomach these days because, you know, reality. But the new story from author Ian McEwan (Atonement) offers a different kind of view from the future. In the year 2119, an academic from Britain’s remaining island sanctuaries reflects on the high-water mark (heh) of human civilization—his yesterday, our today. Then the POV shifts…
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
Author Lily King has earned a loyal readership with her novels rooted in the complexity of the human heart. King’s latest story evokes the salad days of youth with a literary love triangle among ambitious young English majors. Many years later, the past comes barging in with secrets, regrets, and a few consequences in tow. Stupid past.
Release date: September 30
Release date: September 30
Florida native Chanel Cleeton specializes in contemporary and historical fiction often inspired by her family’s background in Cuba (The Perez Family series). Her latest story uses three parallel timelines to track the fate of a most remarkable book, with action set in Harvard circa 1900, Havana circa 1966, and present-day London. Books about books are the best kind of books.
Release date: September 30
Release date: September 30
So far as her family is concerned, young Eniiyi is the reincarnation of her dead Auntie Mo, doomed to repeat her tragic life thanks to an ancient family curse. But Eniiyi is a modern Nigerian woman, with her own life to live. As with her breakthrough 2018 novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, author Oyinkan Braithwaite blends romance and wicked humor into warm family drama.
Release date: November 4
Release date: November 4
Set in 13th-century Belgium, this debut novel from Janet Rich Edwards introduces teenage Aleys, who flees an arranged marriage to join a sisterhood of rogue mystics in the streets of Bruges. By way of vivid historical fiction, author Edwards is digging for deeper truths about women and the world at large. Bonus trivia: Edwards is also a professor of epidemiology at Harvard.
Release date: December 2
Release date: December 2
The latest from Southern thriller specialist Stacy Willingham (A Flicker in the Dark) follows Claire Campbell, an investigative journalist who takes a summer job at a vineyard in coastal South Carolina. Claire’s subsequent discovery of an old diary leads to disturbing revelations about a very grim, very personal, 20-year-old cold case.
Release date: August 26
Release date: August 26
Richard Osman’s wildly popular Thursday Murder Club series continues with this latest mystery, in which our septuagenarian sleuths crack the case of an upcoming wedding and a missing Best Man. Did you know that the Netflix film adaptation of the first book is slated to debut August 28? It’s true. Helen Mirren! Pierce Brosnan! Sir Ben Kingsley!
Release date: September 30
Release date: September 30
If you like your psychological thrillers mixed with a bit of heavy weather survival drama, consider this latest story from industrious genre ace Freida McFadden. Specific details are scarce on this one, but the book evidently features a remote wilderness cabin in the path of a titanic incoming hurricane. Also, a young girl with a dubious story. And a big knife.
Release date: October 7
Release date: October 7
When a new dancer disappears from Atlanta’s most notorious Black strip club, former headliner Michah “Lyriq” Johanssen must delve back into her past to uncover a devastating truth. Several, actually. Early readers are seriously digging this harrowing mystery-thriller and its willingness to ask uncomfortable questions about sex, race, and power.
Release date: October 14
Release date: October 14
The godfather of the legal thriller returns with what is being described as a traditional whodunit-style murder mystery. There’s a widow involved, as alert readers will have already deduced. Plus a small-town lawyer, a big-time inheritance, and a growing pile of very convenient circumstantial evidence. Early readers are also reporting a twist or two, so be careful with spoilers.
Release date: October 21
Release date: October 21
Fantasy Novels
Dark fantasy readers will want to poke around the writings of the author known as SenLinYu, who has been quietly assembling an online army of devoted fans with her dark-side fan fiction. The author’s new novel introduces a world of necromancers and alchemists that may feel eerily familiar—think of it as an extended riff on the alchemy of applied storytelling.
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
Evidently, alchemy is a thing this year: Beloved YA author Stephanie Garber makes her adult debut with this intriguing variation on paranormal romance, dark academia, and old-school urban fantasy. The gist: A mythology and folklore class leads a young woman into a shadow world of magic just beneath the glossy surface of Los Angeles.
Release date: October 7
Release date: October 7
North Carolina author Adrienne Young has been nominated for numerous Goodreads Choice awards over the years, thanks to her inventive takes on SFF themes—pirates, Vikings, temporal loops—for both YA and adult readers. Her latest adult novel promises fantasy and romance in a sprawling ancient city with dual POVs, Greco-Roman vibes, and some timeline jumps.
Release date: November 4
Release date: November 4
Recommended for fans of Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss, the Hierarchy series from Australian author James Islington has been embraced by readers who like their epic fantasy gritty and grim and packed with big ideas. This follow-up to 2023’s The Will of the Many continues the story of one young man’s ferocious resistance against imperial might. Only now, he’s three young men. Crazy story.
Release date: November 11
Release date: November 11
Rethinking Greek mythology from the ground up, this ambitious novel from author Ayana Gray (the Beasts of Prey series) reimagines Medusa as a resourceful young woman in the bustling markets and austere temples of ancient Athens. When the gods try to play their cruel games, Meddy opts to skip the victim thing entirely and go straight to vigilante. The hair—that’s just a bonus.
Release date: November 18
Release date: November 18
Dorothy Frasier is a paranoid schizophrenic, recently admitted to the Hanover State Psychiatric Hospital in Virginia, 1964. That’s what the doctors are telling her, anyway. But Dorothy knows they’re wrong. She’s actually a time traveler from the bleak future, on a mission to save humankind. Well, she’s pretty sure. Is Melissa Pace’s buzzy debut dystopian sci-fi or psychological thriller? Let’s find out!
Release date: August 19
Release date: August 19
With his new novel, sci-fi elder stateman John Scalzi returns to his Old Man’s War series after a 10-year hiatus. Scalzi’s future vision is rooted in old-school military SF and finds Earth sharing a hard-won peace with the Colonial Union and the alien Conclave. When a hyper-advanced new species enters the picture, a diplomat is dispatched on a secret mission. Recommended for fans of Heinlein and Card.
Release date: September 16
Release date: September 16
Two estranged sisters sail across a dying Earth in this future-tense maritime drama from the creator of last year’s space heist, The Stardust Grail. Brooklyn author Yume Kitasei conjures an eerie future, where crops are failing worldwide and the sea is swallowing all of our coastal cities. Amid the decay, Kitasei delivers a story about corporate greed, failed stewardship, and the abiding strength of sisterhood.
Release date: September 30
Release date: September 30
Billed as a reimagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, Local Heavens follows the adventures of Filipino computer hacker Nick Carraway in New York City circa 2075. Debut author K.M. Fajardo introduces all kinds of interesting twists, including transhumanism, queer romance, and several updates to 1980s cyberpunk tropes. Check the Goodreads book page for a note from the author.
Release date: October 14
Release date: October 14
Another buzzy debut coming to the SF aisle this fall, Grace Walker’s The Merge posits a future technology that allows two people to blend their minds into one body and brain. When one young woman merges with her dying mom, she’s put in a rehab center with other Mergers, only to discover…well, it’s not great. Let’s just say those background details on resource depletion are there for a reason.
Release date: November 11
Release date: November 11
Horror Novels
The latest story from Isabel Cañas (The Hacienda) invites readers to a remote silver mine in northern Mexico, circa 1765, where a malevolent demonic force has been awakened. Cañas specializes in carefully researched speculative fiction inspired by her work as a historian and linguist. Also look for some Gothic-style romance underneath the historical horror.
Release date: August 19
Release date: August 19
Subtitled “A Haunted House Novel,” this new scary story from author Rachel Harrison (Cackle) puts a 21st-century spin on the well-worn horror template. The setup: Influencer Clio Barnes, hoping to generate some house-flipping content, returns to her recently inherited and supposedly haunted childhood home. She soon discovers that her mom was right, all those years ago. They’re heeeeere…
Release date: September 9
Release date: September 9
Willow Hawthorne hasn’t been well for a long, long time. Wandering her home and garden, Willow is pretty sure that time isn’t moving like it’s supposed to. Her only friend is a little girl who appears in the garden. But now she’s gone, too. Is Willow trapped in her home? Or in her head? Florida author Marie Still (My Darlings) delivers another uneasy descent into psychological horror.
Release date: September 16
Release date: September 16
Fans of Mona Awad’s 2019 monster hit, Bunny, will want to check in on this new one, designed to function as a prequel, sequel, and standalone story. Having survived her acquaintance with the twisted clique from her MFA program, Samantha returns to campus on a book tour. But the Bunnies don’t like Samantha’s new book. They don’t like it one bit.
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
This latest horror-thriller from Australian author Darcy Coates may remind readers of a certain notorious music festival from a few years back. Think cheese sandwiches. Coates’ story proceeds from a similar luxury island setup, but with bloody cultists instead of clueless event promotors. Also in the mix: an especially disturbing version of hide-and-seek.
Release date: August 26
Release date: August 26
Elsie Silver’s popular Rose Hill series concludes with one final tale of small-town contemporary Western romance. This time around, Silver tackles a trope she’s never wrestled with before when Gwen falls hard for fire pilot Sebastian “Bash” Rousseau. The complicating factor? Bash is Gwen’s ex-boyfriend’s dad. Hoo, boy. Returning fans will note that this installment’s winning cover art color: purple.
Release date: September 9
Release date: September 9
Over on the darker side of the romance aisle, Brynne Weaver’s Tourist Season introduces the seaside villa of Cape Carnage, where troublesome visitors are dispatched with glee. But the tables are turned when a visiting serial killer targets local gal Harper Starling. Will these two spirited young people choose love or murder? (Heads up that new readers may want to consult Weaver’s content warnings.)
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
STEM romance specialist Ali Hazelwood took a delightful left turn into paranormal romance with last year’s hit, Bride, concerning vampires and werewolves and the women who love them. This new companion book, second in the Bride series, follows human-were hybrid Serena Paris and her complicated relationship with Koen Alexander, undisputed Alpha of the Northwest pack. Lupine love! It’s the best.
Release date: October 7
Release date: October 7
Meanwhile, contemporary cozy author B.K. Borison is getting into the paranormal side of the holiday romance. Good Spirits introduces Nolan Callahan, whose spectral existence as the Ghost of Christmas Past is necessarily lonesome. But things start looking up when Nolan agrees to help antiques dealer Harriet York sort out her own past. Advance readers are praising the clever and happy ending.
Release date: October 21
Release date: October 21
Vincent DuBois, captain of the Blackcastle Football Club—that’s soccer, you Yanks—is in a real predicament. He’s temporarily sharing a flat with sports nutritionist Brooklyn Armstrong, who also happens to be his coach’s daughter. There’s probably a joke in here about scoring, but we’re trying to run a classy operation. Ana Huang has the details in this new installment of her Gods of the Game sports romance series.
Release date: October 28
Release date: October 28
With her much-admired 2023 novel, Divine Rivals, author Rebecca Ross introduced her Letters of Enchantment duology and staked out new imaginative territories in the romantasy realms. Her new book is a kind of prequel standalone story, set in the same world, featuring mortal and immortal love. Returning readers, rest assured: Written correspondence is still central to the proceedings.
Release date: September 2
Release date: September 2
The Primal of Blood and Bone is the latest tale in Jennifer L. Armentrout's hugely popular Blood and Ash series. In the mix: a world on the brink of destruction and ancient powers rising from their slumber. Details are a little scarce with this one, but word on the street suggests this new installment will actually be the second-to-last book in the series, with the concluding volume bumped to next year.
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
Book number two in Jasmine Mas’ Villains of Lore series centers on the adventures—martial, carnal, and otherwise—of a female Hercules in a kind of alternate Greek mythology. Our heroine Alexis has a whole new set of problems this time around, what with the Olympians, the Titans, and Alexis’ own husbands. Plural. Bonus trivia: Author Mas has a degree in Greco-Roman classical studies from Georgetown.
Release date: October 28
Release date: October 28
Author N.E. Davenport (The Blood Gift Duology) is back on shelves this October with a brand-new vision of fantasy, romance, and palace intrigue. It seems that Kadeesha, Princess of the Aether Dominion, is caught in the middle of a lethal feud between the two kings. One has claimed her in an arranged marriage. The other just kidnapped her. Kadeesha, however, has her own wants and needs.
Release date: October 28
Release date: October 28
In her follow-up to last year’s epic romantasy, Quicksilver, author Callie Hart continues the story of thief-turned-queen Saeris Fane and the handsome fae warrior known as Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. (Just call him Fisher.) Readers of the first book continue to say nice things about Hart’s overall worldbuilding and her creative variations on both romance and fantasy tropes.
Release date: November 18
Release date: November 18
Young Adult Novels
The author of Firekeeper’s Daughter—winner of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for YA—is back with a new Northern Michigan mystery story. Troubled teenager Lucy Smith has been on her own for a while. But when a strong Ojibwe woman offers a different path forward, Lucy discovers startling details about her own heritage. Returning readers will recognize some characters here.
Release date: September 2
Release date: September 2
More Midwest adventures this fall as author Lynn Painter (Better Than the Movies) delivers a new YA romance set in Minnesota. Childhood besties Dani and Alec reunite as teenagers in their hockey-loving small town, only to find that things are so much more confusing in high school. Ain’t that the truth. The fake-dating scheme isn’t helping, either.
Release date: September 30
Release date: September 30
This one looks like fun: The new cozy fantasy from Mara Rutherford introduces Willow Stokes, a teenage magic shop owner who is entirely aware—like the rest of the town—that her merchandise is fake. That’s when outlander Brianna Hargrave shows up with her particular knack: Everything she touches turns to magic. Real magic. Events progress, and the two young women embark on a most unusual fetch quest.
Release date: October 21
Release date: October 21
Australian author C.G. Drews (Don't Let the Forest In) is back in the game this fall with Hazelthorn, a blend of Gothic horror, queer romance, and YA fantasy. The setup: Evander has just inherited the Hazelthorn estate from his late guardian. But when greedy family vultures start circling, Evander must turn to his sworn enemy for help. Also: The haunted garden out back is freaking out.
Release date: October 28
Release date: October 28
Mallory Fontaine sees dead people. But it’s not as useful as you might think, so she and her sister also run tours at the haunted Saphir mansion. When a real murder takes place on the estate, Mallory must solve mysteries both spectral and corporeal. Author and retelling specialist Marissa Meyer (Cinder) updates the old Bluebeard folktale with new twists and a slow-burn romance.
Release date: November 4
Release date: November 4
Author and activist Arundhati Roy won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1997 for her modern classic novel The God of Small Things. With her first foray into the memoir format, Ray excavates her loving but complex relationship with her late mother. Roy also reflects on how her upbringing continues to fuel her efforts as a tireless advocate for peace, justice, and human rights.
Release date: September 2
Release date: September 2
Another intimate memoir from another celebrated writer, All the Way to the River is the latest in candid revelation from author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love). The new book centers on Gilbert’s relationship with her partner, Rayya Elias, who died in 2018. From there, the book moves both outward and inward, exploring issues of love, addiction, and that baffling human instinct toward self-destruction.
Release date: September 9
Release date: September 9
With her uncanny knack for blending wry humor and earnest wonder, Mary Roach is one of our best working science writers. Consider her previous bestsellers, such as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. With Replaceable You, Roach documents the surprising number of human body parts that can now be lab-grown, 3D-printed, or otherwise approximated.
Release date: September 16
Release date: September 16
Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore offers a comprehensive history of the U.S. Constitution, with an urgent emphasis on the issue of amendments. Lepore argues that the ability to amend our Constitution is critical in a fast-changing world. Indeed, she argues that this issue will very probably become a life-or-death matter in the years to come, for America and her citizens.
Release date: September 16
Release date: September 16
John J. Lennon delivers what may be the fall’s most extraordinary book with The Tragedy of True Crime, entirely researched and written from prison. Lennon, serving 28 years to life for murder, weaves his own story into profiles of three other convicted murderers from different walks of life. Billed as a work of immersive prison journalism, the book offers a different perspective on our culture’s obsession with true-crime stories.
Release date: September 23
Release date: September 23
Journalist Beth Macy is committed to doing the ground-level work of investigating those forces diminishing modern American life. (Check out her 2018 book, Dopesick). In her new book—part memoir, part two-fisted journalism—Macy considers the steady decline of her hometown of Urbana, Ohio. Why is small-town America coming apart at the seams?
Release date: October 7
Release date: October 7
With his newest book, journalist and sci-fi author Cory Doctorow coins a delightful new phrase to address the question on everyone’s mind: How did the internet get this awful? Why has the basic user experience of platforms like Facebook and Google degraded so severely? The short answer: relentless pursuit of profit. Doctorow’s longer answer provides further insight, startling details, and grim humor.
Release date: October 7
Release date: October 7
Generally acknowledged as one of the greatest nonfiction writers of her generation, Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) returns to shelves this fall with a comprehensive memoir of her professional life, her personal life, and the interesting in-between bits. Joyride is also structured to function as a guide for anyone aspiring to the creative life, with practical advice from a lifetime spent telling stories.
Release date: October 14
Release date: October 14
In 1780, the Dutch slave ship known as The Zorg set sail from the Netherlands to the coast of Africa. Subsequent events—incredible and appalling—would spark a global abolitionist movement in England and, eventually, the U.S. Author Siddharth Kara combines rigorous primary-source research with propulsive narrative strategies to bring an important and long-obscured story back into the light.
Release date: October 14
Release date: October 14
Author Christine Kuehn got the surprise of her life when she finally asked her elderly father about the family’s history in World War II. Kuehn’s remarkable book uses a dual-timeline structure to reveal new information about Nazi and Japanese spy networks in Hawaii, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and one family’s terrible secret.
Release date: December 2
Release date: December 2
