September was the month I'd been waiting for since last autumn: Elin Hilderbrand’s sequel to The Academy finally arrived, and it was worth every day of the countdown. Around it, I read a caper about four women who never quite retired from crime, and then fell headlong into a series that has deliciously taken over my nightstand.

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Rules for Aging and Larceny by Julia London — ★★★★
Billed as Ocean's Eleven meets The Golden Girls, and it lives up to the promise. Four women in their seventies, one last heist, and a friendship worth more than the take. I have a weakness for a good caper, and this one had just enough fizz and female loyalty to keep me happily along for the ride!

The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand — ★★★★★
My most anticipated novel of the year, and it arrived exactly as I’d hoped! This was also The Lauren Letter’s September Book Club selection! Hilderbrand trades Nantucket shoreline for the ivy and old money of a boarding school, and it’s even better than I hoped for!

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1–4 by Beth Brower — ★★★★★
I'm halfway through the series as it stands, with volume nine due in February, and thoroughly taken with the cozy, quirky, and romantic world of St. Crispian’s, London. Emma's voice is sharp, funny, and entirely her own. These are the books I'd prescribe for an autumn afternoon with a pot of tea. I won't bury the lead: expect October's reading roundup to feature the back half of the series!

October Book Club: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1-8 by Beth Brower

For October, we’re doing something a little different and reading an entire series! Picture Bridget Jones meets Jane Austen: it’s 1883, and the witty, headstrong Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s, only to have her plans for a charmed, studious life derailed by a meddling cousin, a formidable aunt, and a cast of delightfully odd neighbors — all recorded in her decidedly unfiltered journals.

Don’t let the size of the series fool you — these journals span 100–250 pages each on average. You will fly.

P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.

Everything I Read | September 2026