As autumn arrives, so does a fresh set of contemporary fiction that promises to be the perfect companion for cozy reading season. This fall’s lineup delivers the emotional storytelling and relatable characters that make contemporary fiction so compelling, offering readers a chance to dive into new worlds while the leaves change outside. From intimate explorations of family dynamics to sweeping tales of love and reinvention, these upcoming releases capture the essence of what makes contemporary fiction so enduring: stories that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant. Whether you’re looking for your next book club pick or a captivating page-turner for those crisp autumn evenings, this season’s most anticipated contemporary novels offer something for every reader.
Cammy Sitting Shiva by Cary Gitter
Cammy Adler thought escaping to New York meant leaving her past behind. But when her father’s sudden death drags her back to River Hill for shiva, she discovers that seven days of mourning can unravel a lifetime of assumptions. Between dodging well-meaning neighbors and getting spectacularly high, Cammy stumbles upon secrets that shatter everything she believed about the man she idolized. As her carefully constructed adult life crumbles, she’s forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: maybe the person who needs figuring out isn’t her dead father—it’s herself. Sometimes you have to lose everything to find out who you really are.
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If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia
City girl meets small-town baker sounds like a recipe for disaster—and it is. She’s got three months to fix her mother’s failing B&B before fleeing back to her real life in Seattle. He’s got roots deeper than Vermont maple trees and zero patience for her burnt scones. But when professional ambition collides with unexpected chemistry, everything gets complicated fast. Because falling for someone means choosing between the life you’ve planned and the one you never knew you wanted. And some choices can’t be undone, no matter how good his flannel-wearing, pastry-making, single-dad act really is.
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Lauryn Harper Falls Apart by Shauna Robinson
Corporate climber Lauryn Harper thought she’d left Greenstead in her rearview mirror forever. But one workplace “mishap” later, she’s exiled to the very charity department tasked with cleaning up her corporation’s mess—in the town she abandoned. When her former best friend storms in demanding help with the Fall Festival, Lauryn sees a chance to fund her way back to the big city. Simple plan, right? Except nothing about facing the people you’ve hurt is simple. And sometimes the life you’re running toward isn’t nearly as appealing as the one you left behind.
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Honey And Heat by Aurora Palit
One night. One decision. One spectacular disaster that changes everything. When Cynthia wakes up next to a stranger, she thinks it’s just another conquest. When Rohit gets promoted to heir of a construction empire, he thinks it’s just good karma. Neither expects their worlds to collide in the boardroom the next morning. Now they’re stuck—she’s furious he stole her birthright, he’s mortified he slept with the boss’s daughter. But when scandal threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked for, these enemies might just become the partnership that saves them both.
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Fun At Parties by Jamie Harrow
Cycling instructor Quinn Ray built her brand on positivity—until a public meltdown torpedoed everything. Now she’s supposed to be on a healing road trip, but her ex-friend Nate needs a ride to track down their mutual buddy Logan across America’s wildest party destinations. From Vegas clubs to Denver baby showers and Nashville bachelorette parties, they’re chasing someone who clearly doesn’t want to be found. Meanwhile, Quinn’s boss wants her to monetize her heartbreak for clicks. But somewhere between the chaos and awkward car rides with Nate, she might discover that sometimes the best rebrands happen off-camera.
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Merry by Susan Breen
Merry Bingham thought selling her family’s priceless first edition of A Christmas Carol was the perfect solution—fund one last magical London Christmas before her possible diagnosis changes everything. Instead, she’s unleashed pure holiday chaos. Her kids are fighting, her husband won’t speak to her, their dream apartment is a nightmare, and somehow the ghost of Charles Dickens is stalking her through London, furious about what she’s done. Turns out forcing Christmas joy on people is harder than it looks. And some family treasures are worth more than money—they’re worth everything.
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The Secret Of Orange Blossom Cake by Rachel Linden
Food blogger Jules Costa thought she understood her Italian heritage until she met her grandmother’s enchanted cookbook. The ancient recipes reveal themselves only to those ready to receive their wisdom, but the pages stay stubbornly blank for Jules. While her career crumbles and the family olive farm faces ruin, she’s stuck with cryptic clues about a lost orange blossom cake recipe and Nicolo, her childhood heartbreaker, who somehow holds the answers. Some family legacies can’t be inherited—they have to be earned. And the most important ingredient isn’t listed in any recipe.
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The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers
Cora’s marriage isn’t perfect, but it’s comfortable. Then she meets Sam, and suddenly comfortable isn’t enough. When an impossible choice splits reality in two, she experiences both paths: the affair that destroys everything and the restraint that preserves it all. As timelines blur and converge, the mundane details of her life—marketing meetings, her daughter’s morbid questions, her husband’s bizarre podcast obsessions—take on new meaning. Sometimes the most devastating question isn’t whether you should follow your heart, but whether you can live with the version of yourself that doesn’t.
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Sparks Fly by Zakiya N. Jamal
Stella’s first venture into sexual exploration ends in an embarrassing retreat, but that’s nothing compared to walking into work Monday morning and seeing her almost-hookup leading the AI project that might eliminate her job. Max Williams is brilliant, gorgeous, and completely off-limits. Their chemistry is undeniable, their workplace dynamic is explosive, and their personal values align perfectly—which makes their professional opposition even more complicated. When following your heart means risking your career, and protecting your future means denying your desires, sometimes the biggest gamble is believing you deserve both love and success.
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We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
Author Sam thought she’d escaped the twisted world of her MFA program and the wealthy cult of creative writing students who called themselves “Bunny”. She was wrong. Now they’ve kidnapped her at her own book reading, furious about how she portrayed them in her bestselling novel. Tied up and forced to listen, Sam becomes the audience for their version of events—a blood-soaked origin story of artistic ambition, supernatural creativity, and friendship gone horribly wrong. Sometimes the most dangerous stories are the ones your subjects tell about themselves. Welcome back to the Bunny-verse, where revenge is a collaborative art.
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Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
From the moment Eniiyi enters the world on a family funeral day, everyone sees a ghost made flesh. Monife died young and heartbroken—now everyone expects Eniiyi to follow the same doomed path. Add in the family curse that drives away every man who tries to love a Falodun woman, and Eniiyi’s fate seems sealed. But when love finds her anyway, she refuses to accept destiny’s verdict. Armed with determination and Lagos’s ancient spiritual traditions, she’ll either break three generations of heartbreak or become its latest victim. Some patterns are meant to be shattered.
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Heart The Lover by Lily King
Jordan thought she understood love stories until she lived one that defied every rule. Two brilliant best friends, one unforgettable semester, and a triangle that couldn’t resolve into anything clean or simple. Sam and Yash welcomed her into their world of intellectual intensity and midnight revelations, but passion has a way of reshaping even the closest friendships. Decades later, when the past arrives uninvited at her door, Jordan must reckon with the choices that scattered three lives in different directions. Because the most complicated love stories are the ones where everyone was right—and everyone was wrong.
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Wreck by Catherine Newman
Rocky’s family has survived Cape Cod vacations, college departures, and moving elderly parents in—now they’re facing the hardest challenge yet: an ordinary Tuesday. When a local tragedy becomes Rocky’s latest obsession and a medical scare threatens to upend everything, she discovers that normal life might be more terrifying than any crisis. Between her daughter’s post-college confusion, her son’s new independence, and her father’s persistent presence, Rocky’s learning that loving people means accepting their messiness. Sometimes the most devastating realization is that you can’t protect the people you love from being human.
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Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
Margo Miyake has lost eleven bidding wars and eighteen months of her sanity to the D.C. housing market. When she finally finds the perfect house, she’s not about to let a little thing like “it’s not for sale yet” stop her. What starts as innocent research escalates into full-scale infiltration of the owners’ lives. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, and Margo is very, very desperate. But every perfect house has its secrets, and some dreams come with a price tag that can’t be paid in dollars. Sometimes getting everything you want is the worst thing that can happen.
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The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
Tiffin Academy just became America’s second-best boarding school—which is weird, considering their terrible sports teams and crumbling dorms. But before anyone can figure out how they jumped seventeen spots, ZipZap arrives. The anonymous gossip app starts dropping secrets faster than students can delete them, and suddenly everyone’s dirty laundry is trending. From the influencer queen bee to the suspiciously young teacher to the transfer student who won’t play along, nobody’s safe when the truth goes viral. Sometimes the most dangerous thing about an elite education isn’t the competition—it’s what people will do to survive it.
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Overdue by Stephanie Perkins
Librarian Ingrid Dahl thought she had love figured out—eleven comfortable years with her college boyfriend, a predictable future stretching ahead. Then her sister’s whirlwind engagement forces an uncomfortable question: is settling the same as happiness? One experimental month of dating other people seems harmless enough, especially when it means exploring her long-buried feelings for grumpy coworker Macon. But some experiments change you in ways you can’t undo. When the month ends, Ingrid discovers that the person she was before—the one who knew exactly what she wanted—might be gone forever.
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We Met Like This by Kasie West
Literary agent Margot Hart believes in fate, destiny, and coffee shop meet-cutes—not swiping right on shirtless bathroom selfies. Too bad Oliver keeps appearing on every dating app, complete with witty banter and memories of their one disastrous-yet-steamy date from three years ago. When Margot loses her job and decides to start her own agency, Oliver’s suddenly everywhere: offering help, being annoyingly perfect, and making her question everything she thought she wanted. Because sometimes the universe delivers your soulmate through WiFi and algorithms, even when you’re too stubborn to admit it.
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