Autumn and winter always feel like the seasons made for reading, it is something comes to mind, to open a good book whether it be by a fire with either a tea or hot cocoa/hot chocolate when the cold whether sets in. Autumn and winter when it comes to mind is about coziness. The months when the air sharpens, routines settle and stories become a kind of warmth. This year’s list is shaped by exactly that feeling: a mix of mysteries, emotionally rich novels, sharp character studies and the kind of page‑turners that make early nights feel indulgent. Each title brings something different to the table whether it be a new world to dive into, a voice worth listening to or a story that lingers long after the last chapter.
These are the books I’m reaching for as the weather cools and the pace shifts. Stories with depth, tension and a little escapism. Enjoy this curated guide to the season’s most compelling reads.
Stay tuned for more.
- The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett: Kathryn Stockett’s The Calamity Club is a bold, bighearted novel about three women whose lives collide in Oxford, Mississippi during the harsh winter of 1933. At its centre is eleven‑year‑old Meg Lefleur, abandoned on Christmas Eve and now one of the “un-adoptable big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fighting daily to keep her spirit intact. Her world shifts when Birdie Calhoun arrives in town—un-married, outspoken and hoping her socialite sister will help the struggling family she left behind, only to discover that her sister’s glamorous life is built on lies. Their fates entwine with Charlie, a woman running low on luck who proposes an audacious plan to claim what’s rightfully theirs even as hypocrisy and danger close in on every act of defiance.
Stockett delivers a story that is riotously funny, deeply emotional and fiercely empowering—a testament to underestimated women who discover that calamity can spark new beginnings. With her signature warmth and wit, she crafts an epic tale of resilience and rebellion, marking a triumphant return from one of today’s most beloved storytellers. - Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel: Kristin Harmel’s Meet Me in Paris is a luminous, emotionally rich novel that unfolds over one un-forgettable week in the City of Light. Nine Americans arrive in Paris, each carrying heartbreak, hope or un-finished business and their stories intertwine in ways that reshape their futures. At the heart of the novel is Julia Glover, who brings her twenty‑three‑year‑old daughter Piper on their first—and last—trip together as Julia faces the reality of her terminal illness. As they race to make memories, Paris opens unexpected doors: Piper meets a charming waiter who sees her clearly, and Julia meets a man who forces her to confront how much truth she’s ready to share.
Around them, other lives shift: a washed‑up rock star preparing for a comeback, a songwriter chasing a love he thought he lost in World War II, and a woman confronting betrayal that may free her to start again. Harmel blends love, loss, courage, and redemption into a story that feels like Love Actually meets The Notebook—a tender, hopeful reminder that even in a city built on romance, the bravest thing you can do is choose your own version of happily ever after. - The Paris Thief by Lisa Rochon: Lisa Rochon’s The Paris Thief is a sweeping, dual‑timeline historical novel that blends art, danger and forbidden love across two pivotal eras in Parisian history. In 1910, eighteen‑year‑old Mathilde escapes her lonely provincial childhood and plunges into the bohemian world of Montmartre, modelling for Picasso and living among artists, writers, and intellectuals who shape her passions and her future. But when the Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre, and her friends and lovers become suspects, Mathilde’s life takes a dramatic turn that binds her fate to the world’s most famous painting.
By 1940, Mathilde has reinvented herself as an archivist at the Louvre, quietly working under a new identity as the Nazis march into Paris. Tasked with evacuating priceless masterpieces to the Château de Chambord, she carries a dangerous secret: the Mona Lisa is under her sole protection, hidden from the occupiers at all costs. When a former lover arrives wearing a Nazi uniform, Mathilde is torn between duty and a love that refuses to die, forcing her to confront the moral boundaries of loyalty, art and survival. Rochon delivers a richly atmospheric story that celebrates resilience, beauty, and the human spirit in times of immense upheaval, drawing readers into a tale of sacrifice, betrayal and the irresistible pull of the past. - The French Illusion by John Grisham: John Grisham’s The French Illusion delivers a sleek, high‑stakes blend of legal suspense and international intrigue, transporting readers into a world where power, deception and ambition collide. Set against a backdrop of European sophistication and political maneuvering, the novel follows characters whose loyalties shift as quickly as the ground beneath them. Grisham builds tension with his signature precision—tight plotting, sharp dialogue and the kind of moral complexity that keeps readers hooked from the first chapter to the last.
With its mix of courtroom strategy, global stakes and the seductive pull of secrets that refuse to stay buried, The French Illusion stands out as one of Grisham’s most anticipated modern thrillers. It’s a fast‑moving, polished read perfect for autumn and winter nights especially for readers who crave smart, propulsive fiction that exposes the cracks in powerful institutions while delivering page‑turning drama. - Hollow Bones by Jodi Pincoult: Jodi Picoult’s Hollow Bones is a haunting, emotionally charged story about the secrets we inherit and the truths we bury to survive. When paleontologist Dr. Sage McKenna un-earths a set of bones in the New Mexico desert, she expects scientific discovery—not the un-raveling of her own family’s history. As the excavation deepens so does Sage’s understanding of the fragile line between faith and fact, love and loss and the stories we tell to make sense of both.
Picoult weaves together past and present with her signature empathy and precision exploring how history shape identity and redemption. Hollow Bones is both intimate and epic—a novel that asks what it means to dig beneath the surface not just of the earth but of the human heart. - The Last Days of Vic & Coco by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Last Days of Vic & Coco is a sharp, seductive, and electric novel set in the sun‑bleached grit of 1974 America, where two women survive by their wits, their rules and the fragile trust between them. Known on the road as Crown Vic and Baby Blue, Victoria Lucchese and Colette Wilson have perfected their pool‑hall con: Coco draws men in with fearless charm and Vic—precise, un-stoppable—cleans the table. They’ve spent years driving long desert highways, slipping through seedy motels and dive bars, leaving overconfident men with empty wallets in their wake. They’re the closest thing to family either has ever had… even if neither knows the other’s real name.
But the world is changing fast. With Nixon on the brink of impeachment, an oil crisis tightening every corner of American life and word spreading about two women hustlers who can’t be beat, Vic and Coco are running out of places to hide. Their solution? One last, audacious score—big enough to secure their future or destroy everything they’ve built together. Reid delivers a story that hums with danger, desire and the intoxicating freedom of reinvention, asking the question at the heart of every con: can you ever truly trust a promise made by a hustler?
If you know me than you will know that I am an avid reader so you may know that there may be more books on the arisen. What more books will be added to my list?
I’m Stacey Hobbs, thanks for reading Face by Stace! Until next time.
do you feel fabulous today?
Face by Stace 