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October 31, 2025

Happy Halloween! We have enough candy here for MANY children to show up in costume. But in reality, if we have more than a dozen kids here, it will be a surprise. As my husband was loading up on plain and peanut M&Ms, I told him that he was way overstocking our Halloween goodies. He then walked towards the Twix bars and more before I headed him off. He was going for more variety for the children. I told him we still have the stash of M&Ms that I hid after Halloween LAST year.

We have two young children who are neighbors, and I picked up copies of HALLOWEEN BUGS by David A. Carter for them. I love the Bugs books; they are my go-to pop-up book series.

Bookreporter.com's Fall Reading 2025 Wrap-up

THANK YOU to all who subscribed to this Fall Reading newsletter and entered our contests! We appreciate your enthusiasm and participation.

This Bookreporter.com SPECIAL Fall Reading Wrap-up newsletter brings you a look at ALL of the titles that were included in our Fall Reading feature. We shared eight books with you this fall, and we thank our publisher sponsors who made this possible.

Below are all of this year's featured titles, and we've also created a list of these books in a PDF format that you can access here. We know that many of you enjoy checking off what you have read. A list of all the prize winners is here

Stay subscribed to this newsletter so you can participate in our 2026 Fall Reading contests, which will begin next August.

Paula Hawkins Book Group Event

RGG 25th Anniversary Contest

Paula Hawkins Book Group Event

Erin Somers, author of The Ten Year Affair

When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. But as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming --- until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist. As reality splits, the everyday details of Cora’s life --- her depressing marketing job, her daughter’s new fascination with the afterlife, her husband’s obsession with podcasts about the history of rope --- gain fresh perspective. The intersecting and diverging timelines blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy, questioning what might have been and what truly matters.

Beatriz Williams, author of Under the Stars

Audrey Fisher has struggled all her life to emerge from the shadow of her famous mother by forging a career as a world-class chef. Meredith Fisher’s glamorous screen persona disguises the trauma of the tragic accident that haunts her dreams. She has one last chance to sober up and salvage her big comeback. And where else but discreet, moneyed Winthrop Island can a famous actress spend the summer without the intrusion of other people? Until Audrey discovers an old wooden chest among the belongings of her estranged bartender father, and the astonishing contents draw the women deep into Winthrop’s past and its many secrets. How did a trove of paintings from one of America’s greatest artists wind up in the cellar of the Mohegan Inn? And who is the mysterious woman portrayed on every canvas?

Catherine Newman, author of Wreck

If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry --- and relate.) Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband, Nick, and their daughter, Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky’s widowed father, has moved in. It all couldn’t be more ridiculously normal…until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them --- and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won’t affect them at all.

Susan Orlean, author of Joyride: A Memoir

JOYRIDE is a magic carpet ride through Susan Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder. Throughout her storied career, Orlean’s curiosity draws her to explore the most ordinary and extraordinary of places, from going deep inside the head of a regular 10-year-old boy for a legendary profile (“The American Man Age Ten”) to reporting on a woman who owns 27 tigers, from capturing the routine magic of Saturday night to climbing Mt. Fuji. Orlean takes us through her process of dreaming up ideas, managing deadlines, connecting with sources, chasing every possible lead, confronting writer’s block and self-doubt, and crafting the perfect lede --- a Susan specialty.

Louise Penny, author of The Black Wolf

Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf. But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Armand has realized that plot was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think that his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division. Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there.