On the shelf: Books for fall

By Courtney Warren

I love a good summer read, but fall books are truly where I shine. I will turn the AC down in the house on purpose, so that I can get under a blanket with a cup of tea and a book. Here are a few titles to look forward to this fall.

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Okay, I know I said cozy, but hear me out. I’ve yet to meet a Harrison book I didn’t love. She does creepy fall so well! According to the publisher, Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but, beneath the glossy veneer, she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parents’ messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember - or what the courts determined when they stripped her of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, a sinister presence in the house manifests, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander
This one seems like so much fun for fall! I love any and all bookshops, so I’m excited for this read. According to the publisher, this is a charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.

The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham

Hilderbrand became an auto-buy author for me last summer when I first picked up one of of her books at Sundog Books while visiting Seaside. To see she’s got this one coming out, and she wrote it with her daughter, has me so excited! 

According to the publisher, it’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy, and just as students reunite and unpack, news breaks that America Today has ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. The seventeen-spot leap raises eyebrows, since the dorms are outdated, the teams always lose, and the students are more social than studious. Still, the campus is beautiful, classes are small, and the dining hall boasts a New York chef, not to mention the endless parties and Monday night piano sessions. 

Just as the community begins to bask in the glow of their new ranking, a mysterious app called ZipZap starts spreading scandalous blind items across campus. Suddenly, from influencer Davi Banerjee to young teacher Simone Bergeron, transfer student Charley Hicks, and even Admissions Director Cordelia Spooner, no one is safe.