Autumn Blues (and Books)

If you know me, you know I’m a summer girl. I was born in sunshine-soaked June. I love heat, humidity doesn’t bother me (even if it bothers my hair), and my spirit animal should be a little gecko on a desert rock.

So autumn’s arrival, with its pumpkin-scented cold breezes and its early nighttime darkness, makes me generally miserable. I interpret autumn as a well-dressed but dangerous harbinger of winter, when I remain under blankets for days on end, dreaming of beaches and rustling green leaves and al-fresco breakfasts and afternoon cicada sounds.

There are a few things about autumn I do like: my annual apple-picking date with Teddy, putting the twinkle lights up in the living room to brighten my space, my cute clothes (my fall/winter clothes are a lot cuter than my summer clothes), and National Novel Writing Month/Preptober. Oh, and in October, Teddy begins to make pizza again—the summer is too warm for the oven. So I do have pizza nights to look forward to.

Still, why I still live in New England when I’m meant for the Southwest is something I grapple with every October.

This year I decided to not embrace autumn—let’s get serious—but to at least open myself up to writers’ artistic impressions of the season by working my way through a list of books that take place in the fall, or that have that “dark academia” aesthetic which, let’s face it, I do totally love.

Here’s my October TBR list:

·  Pumpkin Everything by Beth Labonte

·  Vanilla Bean Vampire by Selina J. Eckert

·  The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

·  They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

·  Love at the Fall Festival by Belle Bailey

·  The Secret History by Donna Tartt

·  A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau

Have you read any of these? What did you think? Are there any books I should add to the list? Let me know!