Prompt #9
Person Holding a Coffee Mug Over an Open Book in a Fall ScenePumpkins
9 | A book with with a fall-inspired front cover
We're getting cozy as we near the end of our list of prompts with fall-inspired front covers. Think swirling leaves, golden forests, cozy sweaters, or misty mornings. Let the colors of autumn draw you in and set the tone for your next great read.

Need some inspiration?
Find all these titles and more at the Grimsby Public Library or Libraries in Niagara Cooperative. Click on any of the book covers below to visit our online catalogue and place your hold. 
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
The Pumpkin Spice Café
by Laurie Gilmore

The perfect autumnal romance read, Gilmore's heartwarming tale finds upbeat city girl Jeannie relocate to a small town to run her aunt's beloved cafe and cause one irascible local's heart to flutter. The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!
Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous (Standard Edition) by Autumn K. England
Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous
by Autumn K. England

STARDEW VALLEY meets STUDIO GHIBLI in a charming cozy fantasy about healing, redemption, and the subtle magic of simple living. Welcome home, weary traveler. When Oaklin Nettlewood accidentally joined an evil world-ending cult, mind control magic forced them to do unspeakable things. Years later, the realm's heroes have finally saved the day, defeated the villain, and shattered the last remnants of the spell...leaving destruction in their wake. And so, with a spell-damaged memory and whole bushel of trauma, Oaklin escapes to a small farm on the edge of Mossley's Rest and swears an oath: After all the things they were forced to do with their magic, they will never use it again.
It's Different This Time: A Fall Romance by Joss Richard
It's Different This Time: A Fall Romance
by Joss Richard

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - In this sweeping romance, a twist of fate forces two former roommates back into their beloved New York City brownstone where they must confront the events that led to their estrangement--and the unresolved feelings lingering between them. Second chances are always a risk, but maybe, if they get it right and are finally honest with each other and with themselves, it could be different this time.
Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Hallowe'en Party
by Agatha Christie

When a Halloween Party turns deadly, it falls to Hercule Poirots to to unmask a murderer.
Flowers Forever: Sustainable Dried Flowers, the Artists Way by Bex Partridge
Flowers Forever: Sustainable Dried Flowers, the Artists Way
by Bex Partridge

Packed to the brim with information on dried flowers, the book includes a section on the process of growing, drying and working with flowers that last, plus guidance on textures, tones and colours and advice on how to source materials sustainably. Flowers Forever also showcases 10 modern designs including an Autumn Bounty Fireplace, a Winter Solstice Wall-hanging and a breathtaking Tablescape. This is a book for those who question the origin and sustainability of all we consume and are seeking to educate themselves while creating these beautiful projects--Publisher's description.
Weyward : a novel by Emilia Hart
Weyward : a novel
by Emilia Hart

Told over five centuries through three connected women, this riveting novel follows Kate, in 2019, as she seeks refuge in Weyward Cottage; Altha, in 1619, as she uses her powers to maintain her freedom; and Violet, in 1942, as she searches for the truth about her mother's death. 250,000 first printing.
At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier
At the Edge of the Orchard
by Tracy Chevalier

James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
Something about September: A Cozy Fall Romance by Julia McKay
Something about September: A Cozy Fall Romance
by Julia McKay

Cozy up with your pumpkin spiced latte and a slice of apple pie, because it's time to fall in love in Bramley Hollow... A fall-inspired second-chance romance about a woman who returns home after inheriting her grandmother's diner, only to discover the contractor she must hire was her high school crush.  As the golden leaves start to fall, Rebecca may find that there's more to her hometown--and to Cort--than she'd realized, and that the dreams she's been chasing might have been the wrong ones. Could a spark kindle hot enough in the cool autumn air to call Rebecca home for good?
Autumn by Ali Smith
Autumn
by Ali Smith

From the Man Booker-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to be both: a breathtakingly inventive new novel--about aging, time, love, and stories themselves--that launches an extraordinary quartet of books called Seasonal. Fusing Keatsian mists and mellow fruitfulness with the vitality, the immediacy, and the color hit of Pop Art, Autumn is a witty excavation of the present by the past. The novel is a stripped-branches take on popular culture and a meditation, in a world growing ever more bordered and exclusive, on what richness and worth are, what harvest means--
The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
by Louise Penny

A stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store and all clues point to bistro owner Olivier being the killer. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets long buried--but not forgotten.
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Overstory
by Richard Powers

The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays by Kelly McMasters
The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays
by Kelly McMasters

A memoir in intimate essays navigating marriage and motherhood, art and ambition, grief and nostalgia, and the elusive concept of home.
Picture Perfect Autumn by Shelley Noble
Picture Perfect Autumn
by Shelley Noble

Dani Campbell is the latest darling of the Manhattan art scene. On a photo shoot at an antiques barn, she discovers an envelope of old photos and sees in them what her photos are missing. Her search for their source leads [her] to a small Rhode Island town, a dilapidated American Gothic beach house, and Lawrence Sinclair. 
The Patchwork Players: An ELM Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Patchwork Players: An ELM Creek Quilts Novel
by Jennifer Chiaverini

The cast of a smash TV show arrives at a quilter's retreat for a week of camaraderie and creativity that takes some surprising twists in this heartwarming new installment of Jennifer Chiaverini's much-beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. Acclaimed TV actress Julia Merchaud almost can't believe her good fortune. Her beloved historical drama, A Patchwork Life, revived her career and made stars of several younger actors. But Julia's happiness turns to dismay when she learns that the hit show will have only one more season. Can she convince everyone to stay just a little longer?
A Stranger in Town: A Rockton Novel by Kelley Armstrong
A Stranger in Town: A Rockton Novel
by Kelley Armstrong

In the latest riveting thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, the paranoia increases--along with the stakes--as the town of Rockton tries to solve the latest mystery at their door. When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, someone who seems to have come to the Yukon for a wilderness vacation but instead is now fighting for her life, it's all hands on deck. What--or who--attacked this woman, and why?
Harvest Season by Brynne Weaver
Harvest Season
by Brynne Weaver

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver comes the second book in the devilishly steamy Seasons of Carnage trilogy where dark romantic comedy meets thrilling suspense--and where love is ripe for ruin.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
The Immortalists
by Chloe Benjamin

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades.  A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.
The Witches' Tree: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton
The Witches' Tree
by M. C. Beaton

Molly hunched over the steering wheel. A breeze started to move the fog, which danced in swaying pillars in front of her headlights, somehow even more difficult to drive through than the previous thick fog. As she approached the village, through the shifting fog, she saw the lightning-blasted limbs of the witches' tree... Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. 
To place a hold, click on the cover and go to our online catalogue. 
2026 GPL Reading Challenges
To access the full list of challenges any time, visit the Grimsby Public Library's Reading Challenge page on our website all year round.
 
How to participate
Read a book according to each prompt to be eligible to win our grand prize at the end of the year. That's 12 books total.
(Tip: you don't have to do the challenges in order, as long as you complete all 12 within the year, it still counts!) 
 
Monthly recommendations 
By signing up for this e-Newsletter, you'll get monthly recommendations for each challenge throughout the year straight to your inbox. Every year in January we start again and send you a brand new list of 12 challenges.
Stay on Track
Half the battle of completing a reading challenge is keeping track and staying motivated. Here are a couple ways we suggest to stay organized:
  1. Download, print and fill out the GPL Reading Challenge form
  2. Create a list of what you read using your GPL online account
  3. Use a book tracking website like Goodreads or The Storygraph
Share with us!
Sharing the books you read is not required, but highly encouraged! Share your progress with us and other readers by posting photos and updates on social media using the hashtag #GPLReadingChallenge  and tagging us @GrimsbyLibrary!
Good luck!
Grimsby Public Library
18 Carnegie Lane
Grimsby, Ontario
L3M 1Y1
www.grimsby.ca/library