Comfort reads are a mainstay of the romance community, and there are so many different kinds that I return to when I need restorative reading and mental solace. There are romances that reaffirm acceptance for who we are, and romances that allow us to ride along as the characters burn everything down. There are stories that transport us away from our own emotional and mental bruising for awhile, and books that wrap us in virtual warm blankets while we read.
I still do wish for a blanket made of books, sometimes.
I’m feeling very emotionally and mentally bruised this week, and I’ve heard from a number of you who can’t look away, who are hurt and anguished and exhausted and angry. So I wanted to share our recommendations of recent books that make for soothing, restorative reads. This is our virtual safe space, and all of us are welcoming you with blankets and tea, quiet and understanding, and hope for happier ever after.
The first book that comes to my mind is Amanda’s review of A Notorious Vow by Joanna Shupe: “…this book is a gem. It gave me those starry-eyed, book-drunk feelings.”
Amanda: I’d also recommend The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Both books are dreamy and are such great romances with acceptance at their core.
Sarah: I could certainly go for starry-eyed, book drunk feelings and stories about acceptance. Brooke, who guest reviewed The Kiss Quotient said similar things about it, too.
And speaking of guest reviews, Tara Scott lovesThe Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley.
Along the same lines: the newest Tessa Dare was exactly what Elyse was looking for when she read it. She said The Governess Game was “as good as puppies.”
Oooh, puppies.
Amanda: I also turn to graphic novels when things get a little too heavy for me. Some colorful and fun recs that I love are I Hate Fairyland and Space Battle Lunchtime.
If your library has Hoopla, they typically have a ton of great digital graphic novels that you can read right there on your computer. Instant gratification, for the win!
Sarah: Oh, and Lumberjanes!
RedHeadedGirl: The Royal We!
Sarah: Oh – and A Taste of Pleasure by Chloe Blake, too.
Amanda: For a goofy, turn-your-brain-off-for-a-while read, what about Slouch Witch, Sarah?
Sarah: Ooh, yes. That was a fun book to read. You’re very good at this, Amanda.
Amanda: It’s not like it’s my job or anything.
Sarah: Heh.
…
What about you? What recent books have you turned to for re-reading and solace? Any you’d like to add or suggest? And if you’re looking for burn-it-all-down rage reading, we have a recommendations post for that, too.
(And please take care of yourselves, k?)
Anything Amanda Quick, but I really love ‘Deception’ (Pirates!), ‘Mischief’, and of course ‘Ravished’. I also second Ilona Andrews, but the Innkeeper series is my cozy read.
I know others have mentioned Dorothy Sayers, but what I love is the mini-series of the Peter & Harriet books. It stars Edward Petherbridge & Harriet Walter. If I watch them all I usually listen to the final book in their series, Busman’s Honeymoon, right after.
Other cozy watches include ‘Now, Voyager’ with Bette Davis and ‘A Room with a View’. Like snuggling up with an old soft blanket.
Lovely posts. Love is love is love. We are going to need all our hands and hearts to get through the sh#t storm ahead. Meanwhile–Cranford by Mrs Gaskell. “A community of Amazons” is how she describes the village of Cranford,and there is more about friendship and love and laughter through tears in this book than many twice as long. I have also dug out my ridiculous Sarah Morgan hospital romances. Lovely trashy wallowing. Thank yoU, ladies, for reminding us of the importance of health-care.
I adored “The Kiss Quotient” – will definitely re-read! I also love the Guido la Vespa books by Veronica Bell – great heroines (not silly and virginal), romance, a lot of humor and wonderful settings. The first one, “Amore and Pinot Grigio,” (there are three, and I hope more being written) is quite steamy, but quite magical also. It’s a Christmas romance, and the third, “Passion in Perugia,” has an LGBTQ sub-plot that caught me by surprise. The second one, “Talk to the Hand Model,” is my favorite because it is set in Avignon, where I spent a year abroad many moons ago.
Will also read and re-read anything by Talia Hibbert.
To all the SBs: Thank you for this post, for thinking of us, yourselves; for reminding us to self-care.
For me, “I see a red door and I want it painted black.” Ever the outlier, but after a week(s) like this, I want to go to a place that’s darker than where I am right now. I need to burn it all down. Can I think of those titles? Apparently not. But a long ago dark time brought me to Laurell K. Hamilton. Off to look for more.
*self-care* This kindle and its dastardly auto-correct. I swear, it doesn’t like anything I type.
I have been waking up in the middle of the night and then being unable to fall back to sleep because I can’t stop thinking about the horror of Kavanaugh and his ilk and my own personal experiences at the mercy of guys in high school. I have resorted to reading to get my mind off them and have found Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody books to be perfect. I like the entire series but consider THE HIPPOPATOMUS POOL (bk8) through HE SHALL THUNDER IN THE SKY (bk 12) to be the high point of the series.
Her shorter Vicky Bliss and Jacqueline Kirby series are also excellent comfort reads.
During the days I have been trying to keep from following the news obsessively by re-listening to Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock Series ahead of the release of book 3 on Oct 2nd which I am very excited about. The narrator, Kate Reading has a voice that as well as being very soothing seems to have a smile in it as she reads. If that makes sense!
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and The Hobbet are great comfort reads and great for reading aloud / listening.
I keep imaging Kate Daniels going in and kicking some Senate ass and it helps. Many favorites have been mentioned: Frederica, A Summer to Remember and Ilona Andrews. I’d add Balogh’s Slightly Dangerous and Simply Love and Jo Beverely’s Devilish and Mary Jo Putney’s The Rake. Anything by Loretta Chase, Georgette Heyer and Julie James.
Robin McKinley’s Beauty and Spindle’s End are very comforting as is Carla Kelly’s Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand and Nora Roberts’ Chesapeake Saga and her Born In trilogy which are wonderful reads.
I’d also recommend Sherry Thomas and Andrea Penrose’s mysteries. And Stella Riley’s A Parfait Knight is one of my most beloved books, it sits in my “fire” box with The Return of the King, Hero and the Crown, Pride and Prejudice and His Dark Materials.
Hang in there bitches!
Oh wow, yes, this thread. THIS THREAD. This…week? Two weeks? HOW THE HELL LONG HAVE WE BEEN IN THIS NEWS CYCLE OF HORRORS?…has aged me considerably.
OK.
Nth-ing Shelly Laurenston/G.A. Aiken. When I have trouble going to sleep, I tend to put one of my Audible books on low volume and stick in just one ear bud; this week has been all about Jace’s story from the Crows series. BERSERKER RAGE. And a sneaky beta-ish hero who nerds out heavily when disoriented.
I tend to dive into paranormal/UF series in times of stress. I read fast and like to re-read; it means I need a 1000s-of-pages-long journey ahead of me before I have to make a new choice.
Currently I’m up to Archangel’s Legion in my re-read/re-listen of Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. SO good. (And in the Romance package on Audible.)
Definitely have gone back through Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels, Innkeeper, HIdden Legacy) lately, too.
Hang in there, everyone. You all matter.
This week I started and mostly finished Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflowers books. I also picked up a bunch of Tessa Dare to reread. I have 36 books checked out from the library and most are frothy romances. I need froth so I’ll stop screaming at the news.
So many fave’s already mentioned but I’d add Anne McCaffery’s DragonRiders series. There are times when I need to be on a different planet, and Pern has helped at different times.
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES—all the books, including the later ones like RILLA OF INGLESIDE (Rilla is Anne & Gilbert’s youngest daughter). Barbara Pym’s books about British gentlewomen in straightened circumstances after WWII, especially EXCELLENT WOMEN. Anything by Agatha Christie.
Also, if, like me, you are happily married to a good, decent man who is just as angry at what is happening as you are, take a moment to express thanks to whatever spirit you believe in that you have someone who “gets” you, understands the travesty that has occurred this week, and stands as proof that there are some good men out there—it’s not all douchebros bonding over subjugating women (which you wouldn’t be wrong for believing after the rage-inducing behavior of the GOP this week).
Anything Jo Beverley……..it soothes the soul.
Joan Wolfe as well, her heroes are always honorable and boy I long for that these days!!!!
Mary Burchell, who I discovered through this awesome place!!!!!
@#34 Cate, SOAP was a parody soap opera that ran in primetime in the late ’70s. They took all the standard soap opera tropes and amped them up to 500. Infidelity, secret babies, star-crossed lovers, sex with aliens, AMNESIA!, mob hits — you name it. It’s the equivalent of a 70s romance except all the crazysauce is intentional. Billy Crystal got his start in this show playing the gay son; Robert Guillaume also came to prominence playing the sarcastic butler. The entire cast is brilliant (only Richard Mulligan could do 10 minutes of trying to get down off a coffee table while drunk and make it roll-on-the-floor hilarious all the way through) and for the most part it is very sex-positive, especially in terms of women owning their sexuality. One of my favorite scenes involved all the women in the show sitting around a table talking about how much they love sex while devouring a cake that was supposed to have been for someone’s birthday party that night. It’s a great catharsis. I nabbed the box set of the entire series at Fry’s a couple years ago, but I’m sure it’s still out there and probably a lot cheaper than I paid for it. (Hey, see if the library’s got it!)
I’ve purchased more books from this post than any previous ones. Thank you all for your suggestions!
MADLY by RUTHIE KNOX IS my all time favorite comfort read. The beginning where May is stranded in a bar in Manhattan, dedicated to the Green Bay Packers, with only a few dollars is wonderful. Grumpy H reluctantly helps her and romance ensues. Food porn included.
Robin D Owens Heart books…
Sharon Shinn’s 12 houses series and the newer elementals series. The Goblin Emperor.
Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris.
@Amy OMG now i know exactly what i need to read right now. I need Pern.
So much “Yes, That!!!!”
You all have managed to mention my favorite ever author, Agatha Christie, my favorite youth book, The Westing Game, and Summers at Castle Auburn, which I like so much, I used it for a reading at a friends wedding (the part at the end comparing a farmer ‘s wife. Don’t want to spoil- read it, read it, read it!)
I love hanging out on this site….
Some of my favourites are Ilona Andrews, Shelly Laurenston/GA Aiken, Georgette Heyer, Julie James and Lucy Parker (and her earlier Elle Pierson). Some specific books I love are Enemy Within by Marcella Burnard (an SF title Carrie S reviewed it forever ago), Broken Open by Lauren Dane and Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod. Also the MM books by Sarina Bowen/Ellen Kennedy of Him and Stay – love Wesmie. And the follow-up WAGS book of Stay.
If you read on a kindle (or device that allows folders), my tip (following SB Sarah’s organization idea) is your present self be kind to your future self and set up a folder called Comfort (or whatever works for you). Any time you read a book that gives you something you need – the good book sigh, that great rage read, laugh out loud moments – add it to the folder. It’s a short cut in times of stress to finding those books that feed your soul.
This post is great! I’ve written down a lot of recommendations. I probably don’t have anything to add that no one else has mentioned, but I’ll say it anyway. My comfort read authors include: Mariana Zapata, Lucy Parker (even though I’ve read it several times and listened to it even more) and Ilona Andrews, which seems like a weird choice as it’s rather violent, but the banter between Kate and Curran once you hit books two and three in their series always makes me laugh out loud.
Comfort Reads:
“Dreaming of You” and ” Devil in Winter”- Lisa Kleypas
“Naughty Neighbor” – Janet Evanovich
“Getting Rid of Bradley” – Jennifer Cruise
Latrivia Welch’s “Medlov” series
Old school Nora Roberts
One of my favorite comfort reads s is Francesca Lia Block’s Necklace of Kisses — about Weetzie Bat grown up, and it deals with trauma but in gentle and somewhat removed tone. I always feel better when reading it. Other books that have been helping this week are more introverted isolationist — All Systems Red, the first in the Murderbot diaries, and Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, which SBTB informed me of so thanks for that.
This week is made of bees.
I am struggling. I don’t feel like a good person or a good mother right now and I don’t know how to stop caring about things I can’t change. I have sent some messages, made some phone calls, donated to a state senate challenger. Screaming into the wilderness here in Arizona.
Just finished the new Seanan McGuire before things got even more terrible. Now starting a reread of Toby Daye. It isn’t exactly a comfort series but is different enough from the real world to help, and so far has been fairly happily ever after, though not quite as much as Ilona Andrews. I plan to start back on all of hers also.
Ooh, what a good idea, dear SBTB! <3 Here are some of my favorites.
Patricia Wentworth, The Case of William Smith. The gentlest of romances, set in post-war London. There is amnesia, and soft flirting, and little toy wooden animals, all while good people take care of each other and work to solve a mystery. (There’s a sinister lesbian-coded character, but even as a queer woman, I still find the book really soothing.)
Josephine Tey, Brat Farrar *chants* Found family, found family, found family! Ahem. *clears throat* This is also set in post-war England. A disabled orphan, half-starved in a London tenement, takes a terrible risk by impersonating a boy who disappeared as a teen. And then he falls in love with the boy’s family, and sets himself to solve the mystery that haunts him, even at his own expense. But everyone gets an HEA and it is very satisfying. Also there is romance and dancing (and horses, if you’re into that.)
Dorothy L. Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane sequence, starting with Strong Poison. These people are damaged and prickly and afraid and they just! love! each other! so! much!
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. “My bride is here,” he said, again drawing me to him, “because my equal is here, and my likeness.” I mean. I MEAN! And then: “She is all here; her heart too.” I love them.
Jane Austen, Persuasion. The ultimate in second-chance HEA. Bless these precious nervous still-in-love dorks.
Sebastian Faulks, Charlotte Gray. WWII novel in which a shy, depressed Scotswoman goes to London, gets a secretarial job, makes friendships with other women, falls in love with a hot RAF pilot (as one does) and becomes an SOE badass. I love Charlotte.
A lot of my go-to favorites have been mentioned here already (Jenny Cruise! Lucy Parker!! The Brothers Sinister!! Lord Peter & Harriet Vane!!! Now Voyager!!! But especially THE WESTING GAME!!!), but what I have been doing this week is catching up/re-reading the Cormoran Strike mysteries by Robert Galbraith(JK Rowling to her friends) and re-watching The Good Place. Because even in hell, people sometime surprise you and are also really, really, funny.
Old favorites serve as comfort reads for me. These include: some old Star Trek novels, Mary Balogh’s Wulfric title, Jennifer Ashley’s Madness of Lord Ian, Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega books, Lyn Gala’s Aliens series, S.K. Dunstall’s Linesman trilogy, Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound plus Oracle’s Moon, titles by Julie James and Anne Cleeland and on and on ….
I thought of another one. To Marry a Prince by Sophie Page. It’s a very sweet royal romance. I binged on them earlier this year and it was my favorite.
Thank you so very much for this list, darling SBs!
Chiming in with Shelley Laurenston, Jennifer Crusie, Amanda Quick, Nalini Singh, Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan and adding La Nora’s Gallagher trilogy, LM Montgomery’s Anne of the Island and Tales of Avonlea, Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and watching old cartoons
“Pride & Prejudice”, of course. I am rereading “Faith & Fidelity” by Tere Michaels. Not an easy read at times, what with angst and trauma and life crumbling around Evan from page 1, but cathartic and reassuring that even when life issues us an epic beat down, we can recover and find love and happiness again. This week marked the 10th anniversary of the series, and I love Matt and Evan as much now as I did then.
I just did a rewatch of “Star Trek Into Darkness” tonight; yet another where bad stuff happens but love saves our heroes. Kirk/Spock is my OTP forever, and when life turns to crap, I binge watch Trek.
I also read “Scarlet” (vol 1) by Bendis and it fed my anger nicely, since the MC is a woman whose boyfriend was gunned down and framed by corrupt cops; she starts a revolution by seeking vengeance and fighting back against a government entity that protects the powerful and oppresses the rest.
Forgot about my ultimate bathtub book. The Trouble With Kings by Sherwood Smith. It makes me happy. It makes me float. It gives me an HEA. And as long as our water heater is working properly I can read it all in the tub and just refill hot water and bubbles as needed.
Jenny Crusie’s Manhunting is my go to. Hearing Kate eviscerate scumbag rich dude clients and watching her inflict physical damage on a series of entitled pricks is THE BEST.
For happy smiles I turn to Bill Bryson – especially “The Road To Little Dribbling”, for fantasy with some romance and beautiful writing then “Stardust” by Neil Gaiman. And well you may laugh, but “Polo” by Jilly Cooper was one of the first romances I ever read, and so it’s comforting in a familiar blanket kind of way (and I still love the hero).
Popping back in to say that my Kindle Daily Deals email told me Jennifer Crusie’s “The Cinderella Deal” is on sale for $1.99. As with almost any Crusie novel, I’d recommend it as a good comfort read.
I just read JD Robb’s latest Leverage in Death-and it was just right for right now. For me, anyway. The supporting cast was well represented, the crime wasn’t too disturbing, (looking at you-Devoted in Death) and it is so satisfying to send those a$$hats to off planet miserable jail. I could fill up that jail this week!
I’ve been re-devouring Eloisa James books. 10 I think in the last 3 weeks? Like sexy mac and cheese in the comfort department for me…
I’ve been feverishly clicking tabs between this post, amazon, and my library while reading the comments-luckily for my budget my library has some of the rec’s, and some are part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Many of my comfort reads have been mentioned, Jane Austen being a top one for me. D.E. Stevenson is a huge favorite of mine, I didn’t see the Mrs. Tim books mentioned, I believe at least the first one is available as an ebook. These books never fail to put a smile on my face.
I also like to read my Rosamond DuJardin books-they are the ultimate comfort books to me. Young adult books published in the 40’s and 50’s-I’ve read them all so many times it is like coming home when I open one up.
I think I am going to dig out my Parks and Rec DVD’s-I feel like I need a big dose of Leslie Knope after this week.
Terry Pratchett’s books (especially the Night Watch and Witches series) because the little guy always ends up getting the upper hand over the rich and powerful.
Connie Willis’s gentle romance plots always make me feel better–Bellwether is my favorite.
I have given Meg Cabot’s Boy Next Door to a number of people during tough times.
And on a non-fiction note, Jenny Lawson’s “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” always reduces me to gasping laughter.
@Batman, thank you for reminding me that I had Warrior still unread on my Kindle. Just started it and am riveted. So much fun!
Dex in Blue – Amy Lane, Dex and Kane are both good guys. They have trouble with both their families. They have found family. I always feel better for having read Dex in Blue.
Tell Me It’s Real – TJ Klune. A farce.
The Wedding Journey – Carla Kelly. Another found family. The MCs get justice against the bad guy in the end.
I Hate Fairyland was too gruesome for me, but I have been loving Lumberjanes, Goldie Vance, The Misfits, and Heavy Metal. I think they’re all published by Boombox, and I’ve been reading them all through hoopla – which I found through this site, so many thanks!