Two release dates circled in red. Eight books that have been waiting patiently since last October.
This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday, the weekly bookish linkup hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl at thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday where book bloggers everywhere answer the same prompt each week. This week it is books on our fall 2026 to-read list, and for once I am not bending the prompt. Fall is my reading season. Every book with a foggy cover suddenly looks urgent.
I built this list in two passes: the romantasy release calendar for the two dates I have been waiting on all year, then the shelves of our fantasy romance library of 750+ titles for books that only make sense between September and December. Gothic houses, secret societies, witches, one very old vampire. If it would feel wrong in July, it qualified.
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros (September 29). The next Empyrean book is a collection of thirteen stories built around favorite characters and their dragons, with sixteen full color illustrations in the deluxe first edition. I have made peace with the format. Thirteen stories is not a novel, but it is Empyrean, and I will be reading it the day it lands.
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas (October 27). ACOTAR book six. Koschei, bound to a mountain lake for millennia, is stirring, and a Prythian still patching itself together after Hybern has to remember how to work as one. Our complete guide to A Court of Splintered Harmony has everything confirmed so far. The site has it at a 4 on our spice rating scale, which for Maas feels like a safe bet.
Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig. Not new, but new to me, and I refuse to read it in any month other than October. One Dark Window ended with Elspeth and the Nightmare tangled in one body and Ravyn left holding the pieces. The most autumn duology in the genre, and I have been saving the second half for a full year.
The surprise Empyrean release: thirteen interconnected stories built around a single legendary Threshing Day at Basgiath, the day cadets and dragons choose each other. Not book four, but a return to the world of Fourth Wing ahead of it, arriving between the quadrant's deadliest traditions and the fandom's loudest theories.
Book six of A Court of Thorns and Roses opens the Valkyrie Cycle. Koschei the Deathless is stirring in his mountain lake, gathering allies who want the human lands back, while the Night Court struggles to rebuild alliances fractured by betrayals and hard truths. First of three movements. Out October 27, 2026.
The second installment in Gillig's Shepherd King duology deepens the gothic atmosphere and moral ambiguity. Her prose is lyrical, her worldbuilding oppressive in the best way, and her characters are broken in all the right ways. Dark academia meets paranormal horror.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Alex Stern, who can see ghosts, gets a free ride to Yale in exchange for policing the secret societies and the magic they run on. New Haven in autumn, tombs full of rituals, a missing mentor. Owned since 2019. This is the year.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. Six young magicians are recruited to the Alexandrian Society, told that five will be initiated, and left to work out what happens to the sixth. It is the book everyone means when they say dark academia fantasy books, so I should read it before I keep recommending it.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. Elisabeth grew up in a Great Library where the grimoires whisper on their chains and turn into monsters if damaged. When one gets loose she ends up traveling with the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn and his demon servant Silas, who everyone tells me is the best character in the book. Libraries, ink, a sensible cloak.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig. A Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling set at Highmoor, a manor on a cliff over a cold sea, where four of Annaleigh's eleven sisters have already died. The rest sneak out to dance at night, and Annaleigh starts to suspect something is choosing them. It belongs on any list of gothic fantasy romance and has been on mine for three Octobers running.
A dark tale of magic, politics, and danger plays out through the eyes of a woman caught in supernatural intrigue at an elite university. Power, secrets, and violence permeate every page. Darkness wins out.
Six talented magicians are selected by a mysterious patron to join an elite secret society. But their recruitment may be far more sinister than they realize, and the price of membership demands everything. Trust fractures as dark truths emerge.
A librarian apprentice in a world where grimoires are alive and dangerous must solve a mystery that could destroy her world. Ancient magic awakens as alliances shift unexpectedly. Knowledge and power prove equally dangerous.
Seven sisters live in a crumbling manor where one by one they fall mysteriously ill and die. The youngest, Annaleigh, begins to suspect a darker truth lurks beneath the tragedies. Uncovering the mystery may cost her everything, including her sanity.
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. Emilia is a witch in a Sicilian restaurant family, right up until her twin Vittoria is murdered and she accidentally summons Wrath, one of the seven princes of Hell, to help find out why. Slow burn, food descriptions that should be a crime, Halloween week read. The follow ups lean darker, which is why the series sits on our dark romantasy books list.
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. A novella written as one long letter from Constanta, Dracula's first bride, to the husband she has finally decided to stop obeying. Centuries pass, two more lovers join the household, and the book is really about what it takes to leave someone who made you. Short, lush, and a 3.5 for heat on our scale.
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. The sequel to Encyclopaedia of Faeries sends Emily and Wendell from Cambridge to the Austrian Alps, hunting for a door into the faerie realm he was exiled from, while someone keeps trying to poison him. Footnotes, snow, and the least romantic person in academia slowly admitting she has feelings. My late November comfort read, chosen so the list does not end on a vampire.
That is my fall. If you came over from the linkup: hello, welcome, this site is what happens when a reading habit turns into a spreadsheet and then a website. Every book above has a page here with tropes and ratings, and the best romantasy books of all time list is the natural next stop. Tell me in the comments what is on your fall list, and whether ten books and one very busy October is a plan or a cry for help.
Emilia wants revenge on the witch who cursed her family, but to get it she must make a deal with the Prince of Demons himself. Together they must solve the mystery behind her family's curse, all while resisting a dangerous attraction that neither of them expected. It's dark Italian folklore meets enemies-to-lovers with real teeth.
A haunting retelling of Dracula told through the eyes of his brides across centuries. Gibson's prose is intoxicating and the sapphic romance is tender amid blood and darkness. It's Gothic, sensual, and utterly obsession-inducing.
Emily and Wendell travel to the Austrian Alps for more fae research. Their bickering romance deepens while they uncover secrets in unfamiliar territory. Cozy fantasy continues with stakes raising and the couple's dynamic evolving.
Our spice guide explains exactly what each heat level means.
Read the Spice Guide
The title is real, the covers are divisive, and Koschei is finally stirring. Here is everything confirmed.
Zero signings attended. Ten speeches fully prepared.
Seven I am behind on, three I have not started. Be gentle.
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Published September 2026 by The Fae Shelf editorial team. Updated regularly with new releases and community feedback.