Dark academica with a dash of romance and oodles of mystery... Despite the name of the book, this one takes place on a university campus in the 2 weeks before schools le's out. Considering I'm a teach before summer break myself I can definitely say the vibes are vibing... Whether you end up reading this book just when it's released, smack dab in the middle of spooky season, or like me, in May, when you're desperately looking for a break and you can feel the desperation of the amateur detectives trying to solve the mystery before their suspects all go home for the summer, please please please make sure you don't let this one slip you by.
Even without having to finish this book up before my loan from Netgalley was up, I'd like to believe it would have been just as fast a read. Meaning, I started it one day and finished it the next. The dynamic duo of protagonists with a bitter romantic history at their back grabs you from the beginning and you're along for one wild ride, both trying to discover what is happening on campus and rooting for them to talk things through and make up because it's clear they still care deeply about each other.

Absolutely gripping and immaculately atmospheric. Perfect for fans of the Alex Stern duology or The Atlas Six trilogy.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I was really looking forward to reading this one. It has a gorgeous cover, and I was particularly hyped to read something in the line of Ninth House or The Secret History with that dark academia murder mystery line through it. Unfortunately, that’s not quite what I got.

There are definitely some shining pieces throughout this book. Max and Cella, the on-again, off-again protagonists, prove a little frustrating with their romance and character development, but we are gifted with an interesting villain. We see how the use of magic is lined up to defeat our great evil, but the use of it is far and few between, with most of it coming into play for the romance side of things.

On the plus side, the writing style (with interspersed, allegedly non-fiction pieces of work) was really good. I enjoyed the way that all of these fragments were put together, and I think they would work even better in a physical copy. Some of the early and late descriptions in the book are also really enjoyable and well-thought out.

I think one of my main issues with this book is that we learn so little about the characters as people- rather, we learn about them in the isolation of the events of this book, which here means it’s harder to connect with them.

I feel like there is definitely an audience for this book, however, it’s just not me. I was here for a violent and nasty world of magic use and politics wrapped up in academia, and just didn’t get that here.

Okay first off this book is beautiful! Cover alone is going to pull in so many readers but the story itself was wonderful. A dark academia murder mystery at a magical university in New Mexico?!?!? Loved the edition of mixed media format such as diary entries and footnotes. Definitely worth the read!

This was a fun read. It’s a mix of murder mystery and paranormal magic, set at a magical college. The atmosphere was great, and the plot had me hooked pretty quickly. I do wish I’d read it in autumn—it definitely has that moody, cozy vibe. My only gripe is that I just didn’t care much for Cella and Max as a duo. Their relationship didn’t really click for me. But overall, a solid debut and a good mix of spooky and suspenseful.

Tropes:
Slow burn
Mystery
Dark academia
Second chance romance


The way the book was written and set up was interesting. I loved the papers, letters, and diary entries/footnotes as it made it appear as a research paper. It was unique.

There is a magic system in the book however, it didn’t give me enough magic throughout the book. I felt like there was something off or maybe I just missed something in the book.

Max and Cella kept my interest but they both kind of blended in the back for me. Nothing special or “magically” about these characters to me. I do wish for a Max POV tho

An intriguing mystery that kept me hooked. The dark academia vibes were so wonderful and have me the moody atmosphere I love in books

Set in the sun-bleached weirdness of a New Mexico college, The Book of Autumn feels like The Secret History wandered into a desert cult with a broken compass and just enough magic to keep things dangerous.

The structure is part case file, part confession, layering research notes and memory into a slow-burn mystery that turns personal fast. Cella and Max’s fractured magical bond carries real emotional weight, and the magic system: based on energy, objects, and intent - is more grounded than flashy, which works in the book’s favor.

Though the romance is light and the climax stumbles a bit, the setting and voice are so distinct that it’s easy to forgive. If you’re craving dark academia with a Southwestern twist and a little cowboy chaos, this one’s worth picking up.

“In that shadow-space of Magic, he brought the light streaming in, a single beam of sunlight bursting through gray storm clouds”.

A fun magical murder mystery with a dash of drama from a weird cult. From the description I thought there was gonna be more romance but it felt a little like an afterthought.

I enjoyed this book as an ARC from NetGalley. There was a lot of magical lore dropped throughout this which I enjoyed.

It's interesting and draws you in to some extent, but whilst the pace is steady at first, the sudden push to what I assume was the climax felt a little rushed. I thought it was being set up to continue the story and end in a sort of cliff hanger but it ended up tying a neat-ish bow to close off the story. There's still some room to continue I guess with the disappearance of our villain but it would have been better to stick to the pace of the overall book instead of picking up the pace which is what then made it feel like it was rushed. Overall though I enjoyed reading the Book of Autumn as it explored other world theories and magic but I do feel that having the majority of it from the view point of Cella and then throwing in a sudden but extra tiny insert for Max's point of view made it a bit jarring and brought up more questions than giving an answer. I also don't think it was necessary to add. Still it was enjoyable overall but I can't say it's the best book I've read this year.

I requested this book expecting to love it, it sounds like exactly my type of read and while I ended up enjoying it, it wasn’t anything that will stick with me.

The Book of Autumn sets up a promising blend of magic, memory, and mystery against the vivid backdrop of a desert university. The prose is sleek and atmospheric, and the concept of magically bonded pairs adds emotional depth to the narrative. Cella and Max’s strained dynamic has a believable tension that carries much of the book.

However, despite the academic setting, the story doesn’t lean heavily into the dark academia genre. The focus is more on the mystery and the romantic history between the leads than on the intellectual or ideological weight I tend to associate with true dark academia. The murder investigation offers some intriguing threads, but the payoff didn’t quite land for me—after a slow burn of setup, the resolution felt a bit too neat and underwhelming.

This will likely appeal to readers who enjoy romantasy with a side of magical intrigue, but it didn’t quite align with what I hoped for going in.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I received a free copy from Kensington Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date 28 October.

I requested this book mostly based on the striking cover and murder mystery magic academia premise. In The Book of Autumn, Cella Gibbons has been running for years--from her abandoned postgrad studies, her dead brother, and from the other half of her magic, cowboy Max Middlemore. But when a student is murdered at her alma mater, she's called back to use her unique powers to work on the investigation with Max.

Despite the university setting, this is not a very academia-focused book. The bones of the plot are mostly murder mystery, with a B plot focusing on the romance between Max and Cella after their dramatic breakup years ago. The murder investigation dodges my usual bugbears--Max and Cella seem reasonably competent at investigating, and there are a satisfyingly tangled number of red herrings and possible suspects. However, while the mystery setup was solid, it stumbled a bit on the conclusion, which felt rushed and anticlimactic after the slow establishment of possible suspects.

The workdbuilding felt a bit thin overall, and relied on overdone tropes such as the hidden magical school. Likewise, few of the characters besides protagonists Max and Cella get much characterization beyond cliches like beloved librarian, troubled dead brother, or trusty faculty advisor. However, I did like how Max and Cella's bond was developed. It's made clear that their magical attachment is due to a coincidence--being born at the same time--rather than any fated compatibility. Their romance originally developed out of working in close proximity together on magic, rather than being forced by a fated bond.

A solidly enough executed mix between an academic murder mystery and a cowboy romance, but not particularly a standout in a crowded field of witchy/magical romances.

Just finished The Book of Autumn by Molly O’Sullivan and it really surprised me in the best way.

It’s kind of dark academia meets desert magic — set at this weird, mysterious college in New Mexico, where the main character Cella (a former student turned anthropologist) gets pulled back into all the magical chaos she thought she left behind. There’s haunting, secrets, and a little bit of romance with her old magical partner, Max.

The vibes are immaculate — dusty red landscapes, spooky ranch-turned-campus, lots of secret rituals. The magic system is a little hazy at times, but honestly I didn’t mind because the characters and atmosphere totally carried it.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC of the book x

What a unique magic system and writing style! I liked how it was wrote in as an academic research paper! I liked the mystery of the book and the world setting! Would recommend.

I loved the idea of this - a dark academia murder mystery with magic. But it needed a little bit more for me. The writing style of having papers, letters, diary entries etc. was really interesting. But the mystery itself needed a bit more work - it felt a bit flat. I also really wanted to see more magic!

2.2
I'm not sure it ever would have been great, but the execution brought this down to tedious. My primary takeaway is simply that, no matter how well defined the magic system is in your mind, if you fail to show us or tether it to any kind of relatable experience, your story isn't going to make a lick of sense.

1⭐️ A dark academia murder mystery set in a school for magic. The book is compared to The atlas six and Ninth house which got me really excited, but unfortunately this wasn’t really for me.

It’s definitely unique the way it’s written. A research paper with footnotes and everything. Personally I’m not a big fan of footnotes in books, but it did make it more unique.

The magic aspect didn’t feel as special as I’d like it to be. There’s no distinct difference between people who are able to use magic and who cannot. That made it way less impressive, seclusive and interesting to me.

This also didn’t feel as much like a dark academia book as I expected and wanted it to be. Sure, it takes place in a school, but the whole dark academia vibe didn’t really come through for me.
It’s also mostly a mystery book if anything (and the mystery didn’t do it for me). I wasn’t invested, if anything I was just frustrated most of the time. There was so much dialogue and so little happening. It felt like I was watching all the boring parts of a mystery unfold and it wasn’t satisfying me. Because of this I really struggled to get through it.

What I did like is that Max, the main guy, was literally Role Model with a cowboy hat in my head. That made it a little more fun.

All in all this just wasn’t it for me. It didn’t match my expectations in the slightest. Maybe that’s on me but I expected so much more from this.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the arc.

The style of this book was original. It is written like a research paper which is truly unique and really captivates your attention. Thank you Netgalley for giving met he opportunity to review this beautifully written debut novel. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in it.

You read the summary and think, "Oh, this sounds like a cute murder mystery with second chance romance", then you start reading the book, and it smacks you with scenes from the Exorcist, Pet sematary, the Conjuring, and a few other classic horrors.

The Magic system was interesting, I've never picked up a book that was so detailed in the use of object and energy channeling, the points of religious use against magic, the belief of astral projections to other dimensions. It was a little refreshing from the usual fantasy magic.

You can stop running. Cella is back at the school to help a young girl that has been taken over by something. She can’t believe that she killed her girlfriend for no reason. But Cella knows that it going to be really hard working with Max. She left him behind when she ran and they still have history together. She knows that she hurt him by leaving and taking their shared magic away. But he hurt her and she couldn’t carry on when her brother died.
Can they work together to find out what has taken over the young girl’s body before it is too late? Will they be able to mend their relationship?
A good read full of magic and a deep soul binding friendship.
Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for the copy. This is my voluntary review.