Fall is finally beginning to make itself at home here in the South, and I couldn’t be more excited! So many of us look forward to having a hot cup of tea, a cozy blanket and a great read while sitting on the porch listening to the leaves crunch as they fall. Today’s books are perfect choices to usher in the cozy season.

If Hallmark movies are your favorite thing about fall, you will want to be sure to check out “Built to Last” by Erin Hahn. This second-chance romance features a former child star who is back in the starlight on a home renovation show. The catch? Her two former co-stars are also on the show – one a former flame and one a romance that never took off.

You will also want to be sure to pick up “When in Rome” by Sarah Adams. When worn-out pop singer Rae Rose is inspired by her favorite Audrey Hepburn film, “Roman Holiday,” she takes off for Rome … Kentucky. Complications abound when she meets Noah Walker, a local baker who inherited his grandmother’s struggling pie shop.

John Grisham returns with “The Boys from Biloxi: A Legal Thriller.” Two childhood friends from immigrant families find themselves on opposite sides of the law as adulthood sees them follow in each of their father’s footsteps.

If you like your crime stories to have a bit of humor, “Killers of a Certain Age,” a novel by Deanna Raybourn, will be a perfect fit. Described as “The Golden Girls meet James Bond …” this Amazon Best Book of the Month follows an elite all-female squad of assassins as they are pushed into retirement. When they discover they are being targeted by a fellow operative, they embark on a mission to survive.

“The Last Chairlift” is John Irving’s first novel in seven years. Adam Brewster’s search for answers about his father leads him to Aspen, Colorado, where his mother competed as a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships back in 1941. The author of “The World According to Garp” and “The Cider House Rules” once again enthralls readers with this family saga.

Barbara Kingsolver visits the mountains of southern Appalachia in “Demon Copperhead.” Born to a single teenage mother, our protagonist traverses foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, love and loss.

Laurie Lico Albanese gives us another literary gem with “Hester.” Gifted seamstress Isobel Gamble immigrates to America from Scotland with her husband in the early 1800s. When he departs abruptly to serve as a medic on a ship, Isobel must make her way in a strange country. During his absence, she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom she shares an intense, spell-binding bond.

Contributor Lori Skinner is the head librarian for Northwest-Shoals Community College. For more information, she can be contacted at 256-331-6288 or lori.skinner@nwscc.edu. NW-SCC Libraries are open to the public and look forward to serving your library needs.