As far as I’m concerned, there is no bad time to read a cozy book, especially a cozy romance. But winter seems particularly perfect, doesn’t it? When it’s cold out, our bodies remind us that our ancient ancestors spent the season slowing down, recharging and cocooning themselves in warmth, and a chilly night is the perfect time to curl up at home with a book that helps you do just that. Here is a list of books that warm the heart and heal the soul — and some of them are steamy!
By Talia Hibbert
We’re off to a strong start with one of my favorite novels of any genre! This is the final book in Hibbert’s trilogy of romances about the Brown sisters (you don’t have to read them in order), and I love them all, but Eve’s story has the biggest place in my heart. She is the messy baby of the family, with a sunshine soul and a lifetime of well-suppressed hurt from feeling like an outsider in her overachieving family. When her latest business venture crashes and burns, she’s desperate to prove she can stand on her own. Enter Jacob, the perfectionist owner of the Castell Cottage bed-and-breakfast, who reluctantly hires Eve as his new chef … after she accidentally runs him over and breaks his arm.
There’s a lot to love about this book — the cozy setting, the supporting cast, the incredibly hot sex scenes, the humor, every single appearance by Eve’s grandma — but what makes it so special to me is the tender and realistic way Hibbert portrays her two neurodivergent protagonists.
By Freya Marske
In this dazzling historical fantasy, Robin, a young baron saddled with his dead parents’ debts and completely unaware of the secret magical world running parallel to the Edwardian England he knows, meets Edwin, a magician with a complicated relationship with magic and an even more complicated relationship with his magical family. Adventure, mayhem and murder naturally ensue.
Alongside a beautiful, steamy and moving romance, expect a plethora of beautiful settings and delightful supporting characters (plus two sequels to dive into when you’re done). If you’ve ever wished for Georgette Heyer’s wit in a more queer, inclusive and magical story, this is the book for you.
Read our review.
By Aiden Thomas
A book about death, ghosts and a cemetery might sound like the furthest thing from cozy. But Thomas’s beautiful debut, set in a Latino community in Los Angeles, combines magical realism, teen drama, family conflict and first love into a novel that’s warm, moving and relatable.
Yadriel is a trans boy looking for acceptance from his family of brujx, or sorcerers; determined to prove himself, he taps into his ancestral power to summon a ghost. Of course, things don’t quite go according to plan, and he finds himself stuck with the specter of Julian, his school’s resident bad boy, who needs Yadriel’s help solving the mystery of his death before he can move on. But the longer the pair spend together, the less Yadriel wants Julian to go.
Read our review.
By Alyssa Cole
Frankly, all I needed to hear about this book were the words “hot mess of an heiress starts an apprenticeship with a sexy sword maker in Scotland” and I was sold. At first glance, this sounds like a historical romance, but it’s actually a delightful, sexy contemporary novel packed with Cole’s signature wit, a spirited and vulnerable heroine and a very hot and very reluctant duke.
By Evie Dunmore
Now this, on the other hand, is a historical romance. The first volume in Dunmore’s magnificent League of Extraordinary Women series, “Bringing Down the Duke” introduces readers to Annabelle, a working class young woman, and her three unapologetically political and unconventional best friends, who are in the first cohort of female university students at Oxford. Annabelle is there on a scholarship, in exchange for which she has to recruit prominent men to support the growing women’s suffrage movement. Her target: Sebastian, an icy, influential and inconveniently handsome duke.
Sebastian has a lot of privilege and prejudices to unpack over the course of the book, but his story is a joy to read, as is his and Annabelle’s growing attraction. There are a lot of laughs (and tears!), the supporting cast is absolutely stellar, and the romance is a deliciously steamy slow burn.
By Sarah Beth Durst
As much as I adore grumpy men as love interests, I have an enormous soft spot for grumpy women as protagonists. The heroine of “The Spellshop,” Kiela, is a taciturn, reclusive librarian. She’s also loyal, generous and deeply lonely.
When her city is destroyed, Kiela flees the burning wreckage with as many precious books as she can carry and finds herself in the only place she could think to hide: her late parents’ cottage. Expect slow days in a sleepy coastal village, baked goods, winged kittens, a sentient spider plant and a hot man who builds bookshelves for our heroine. I, for one, couldn’t ask for more.
By Mai Mochizuki; translated by Jesse Kirkwood
I have to admit that I’m cheating a bit here: This is not actually a romance, at least in the traditional sense. But if you’re anything like me, you read romance not only for the love stories, banter and smut, but also for that soft, joyful sense of healing a good romance gives you. And few books lately have made me feel as soft, joyful and healed as “The Full Moon Coffee Shop.”
It’s best to go into this book knowing as little as possible. All you really need to know is that it’s a charming contemporary fantasy and, as you might have guessed from the cover, it does involve cats.
Read our story on Mai Mochizuki and the rising popularity of “healing fiction.”
By Suzanne Walker; illustrated by Wendy Xu
For all the comic and graphic novel fans out there, this one is a real treat. “Mooncakes” is a cozy, adorable, casually queer and gorgeously illustrated adventure about a teen witch named Nova, her magical grandmothers, her werewolf crush, horse demons, spell books, food and family. If you were a fan of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” you’ll love Nova Huang.
By Diana Wynne Jones
And finally, here is another of my absolute favorite novels of all time: the whimsical and wonderful “Howl’s Moving Castle.” Fans of Studio Ghibli’s film adaptation will be familiar with the adventures of Sophie Hatter (young, feisty and cursed with the appearance of old age), the wizard Howl (adorable chaotic disaster), the fire demon Calcifer (snarky and full of secrets) and the titular moving castle (my dream home!). But believe it or not, the book is even cozier, funnier and lovelier than the screen version.