
Falling Like Leaves
Margaret K. McElderry Books · Print & ebook · September 2, 2025
A New York Times bestseller!
- Who it’s for
- Readers seeking an autumnal small-town romance.
- Themes
- Family separation, Career and future choices, Finding a sense of belonging
- Genres
- Contemporary YA Romance, Romantic Comedy for Teens, YA Divorce & Marriage Stories
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A New York Times bestseller! Gilmore Girls meets Jenny Han in this “delightfully autumnal small-town romance” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about a city girl stuck in a quaint small town who must confront her future and her old flame while the town prepares for an annual fall festival. Ellis has a plan: spend her senior fall prepping her application for Columbia, get into their journalism program, and set the foundation for a respectable career.
Continue reading
So when her parents announce that not only are they separating, but Ellis has to move with her mom from New York City to Bramble Falls, Connecticut, to live with her aunt and cousin, it couldn’t come at a worse time. From past summers spent in Connecticut, Ellis knows Bramble Falls is idyllic and charming. But it also seems to be full of distractions. There’s local barista Cooper Barnett, Ellis’s one-time best friend and first kiss who now wants nothing to do with her. And then there’s the Falling Leaves Festival, a local autumnal celebration run by Ellis’s aunt where people from all over come to see Bramble Falls’s beautiful foliage. The house is stuffed with decorations, and every conversation seems to center around the festival. Dragged to every oh-so-charming event from apple picking to pumpkin carving, Ellis can’t stop bumping into Cooper…or falling for the quaint town and its quirky residents. As her return to Manhattan gets repeatedly delayed, Ellis finds herself caught between two very different places—and the futures they represent.
Where it sits
| Romantic Comedy for Teens | 56% |
|---|---|
| Contemporary YA Romance | 52% |
| YA Divorce & Marriage Stories | 40% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Holiday YA
- City Life for Teens
- Contemporary YA Romance
- Authors
- Misty Wilson
- Publisher
- Margaret K. McElderry Books
- Published
- September 2, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Family separation · Career and future choices · Finding a sense of belonging
- Reading lane
- Holiday YA