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!