Crack open these books for the coziest autumn reads

Jump into a new book this fall. Light a pumpkin-scented candle, cuddle up on the sofa with your softest blanket and settle in for an evening of reading. You earn cozy points if you have a cup of tea and a sweet treat on your nightstand. We curated a list of books with magic, romance, suspense and history, so you can pick something that suits your taste. Or try to get through all of them before the season ends to sample a little bit of everything. Whichever book you choose, our handpicked novels won't disappoint.

"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen

An honorable mention leads our list because a new adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility" comes out Oct. 16, making it a perfect autumn film. The novel follows two sisters, Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, as they search for love and make questionable choices along the way. Marianne's impulsive nature leads her to fall for John Willoughby, an unsuitable man who can't meet her family's expectations. Meanwhile, Elinor's reserve makes it hard for her to find love. The sisters learn it takes more than good looks and charm to find true love in a society where money and status rule everything.

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

"The Book Thief" is a classic everyone should read this fall. It takes place in Nazi Germany in 1939. Illiterate Liesel finds a handbook left beside her brother's grave, buried under a thick layer of snow. She takes the book home, and her foster father teaches her to read. She falls in love with books instantly and makes it her mission to steal every one she can. Liesel sneaks into the mayor's wife's library and takes books from the Nazi book-burning piles, collecting too many to count. She stops stealing when her foster family hides a Jewish man in their basement, choosing to protect her family and herself.

"Under the Orchard's Spell" by Ann Adams

Ali Reid might have the worst luck in her town. After inheriting a pear orchard, she loses her fiancée and her best friend. On top of that, the orchard is drowning in debt and producing rotten fruit. She's racing to find out what's causing the rot before picking season starts. Ali asks her first love, Logan, for help, and the more they work together, the more they realize they still have feelings for each other. What they uncover might be a curse on the land that spreads to anyone who lives on it too long. Ali has to find a way to break the curse to save her orchard and Logan before it's too late.

"Weep, Woman, Weep" by Maria DeBlassie

If you want to keep your life peaceful, avoid the riverbank where La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, lurks. She feeds on women suffering from heartbreak inherited from their female ancestors. Generational trauma always gets passed down in some way. Once La Llorona gets hold of a vulnerable woman, she drowns her in more tears and sadness than she can bear. She has already claimed multiple women, including the best friend of protagonist Mercy, who nearly fell victim too before escaping her grasp. Ever since, Mercy hasn't felt like herself. La Llorona is still hunting her, but Mercy tries to heal from the generational trauma and regain her peace so she can ward off La Llorona forever.

"Falling for Autumn, Again" by Jet Atkinson

Small towns are full of charm and slow pace, but when everyone knows your business, it's hard to find privacy or avoid people you don't want to see. What happens when the one person you fell in love with comes back to town after 10 years of no contact, and you have to see him every day at work? You shove the feelings aside and hope they don't come crawling out. Autumn hasn't seen Ezra since she broke his heart when she learned of her father's illness. Now he's back in town, helping build the bistro she has wanted to run for years on her Christmas tree farm. Being close to him will test her feelings, even though she claims she's over him. Ezra was head over heels in love with Autumn, and he hopes to make his money and leave without falling for her again, but who knows? Small towns always have a way of bringing people together