Ready Set Go: Warmest, Fuzziest, Coziest Romance

Time for the most evil recommendation feature we have: READY, SET, GO!

Here are the rules:

We pick a specific sub-genre, trope, or type of romance, and we have to make ONE recommendation for that type.

ONE.

ONLY ONE.

And no more than two sentences as to why.

Yes, just one.  Which one book do you pick to fill that rec?

What is the warmest, fuzziest, coziest romance you’d recommend? 

Any genre, but just one rec.

Ready, set, GO!

Me: Act Like It, Lucy Parker. Every time, no question: Cat Richard, having pancakes after she runs a 5k, the whispered conversations, and Lainie’s family are the perfect warm, fuzzy, cozy read for me. I freaking love that book.

Amanda: A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare! It has everything I could ever want in a comforting, sweet, and funny romance. Guaranteed to make me feel like I’m getting the best hug in the world.

Elyse: A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole. The hero even has a teddy bear. It’s all the warm and fuzzy. It’s like being wrapped in a blanket while cuddling a cat and drinking hot cocoa

Carrie: Jennifer Crusie’s Charlie All Night, which features a lot of puppy cuddling.

Sarah: Oh, good one, Carrie! Especially all the late night radio talking.

Carrie: Best book? No, it’s good, but not great. Most cuddly book? OH HELL YEAH.

Susan: Humanity For Beginners by Faith Mudge! (NB: Amanda here, so sorry to bum everyone out, but I could not find this book available anywhere.) The protagonist set out to run a B&B and accidentally ends up with a halfway house for lesbian werewolves.

Amanda: What?! SUSAN!

Susan: It’s true!

Gloria did not intend to start a halfway house for lesbian werewolves. It just sort of happened. Between running a small bed-and-breakfast with her friend Nadine, helping one young lycanthrope adjust to life after the bite and soothing ruffled fur when the other brings home an unexpected cat, Gloria has more than enough to keep her busy, but one thing is definite: she is not nor ever will be an alpha, whatever Nadine says. And the ever-expanding circle of misfits in her guesthouse is certainly not a pack.

If only Nadine and the rest of the world were as simple and clear cut as she kept wanting them to be.

Carrie: OMG I’m one clicking on that!

Lara: I have a wildcard: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. There are SO MANY BOOKS and for me that’s the epitome of cosy.

Claudia: Under duress since I can only highlight one, I will go with The Parfit Knight by Stella Riley ( A | BN | K | AB ). Fittingly for our times, hero first meets the heroine when he has to seek shelter from a snowstorm and gets stuck in her house for a week.

Tara: Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton is the one for me. It’s so sweet and makes me think of sunshine and rolling hills in Wales.

Aarya: Y’all already picked some of my potential answers. I was struggling to decide because my tastes don’t gravitate toward cozy/warm (hello, slow burn angst). But then it occurred to me that I love holiday novellas because they’re warm and comforting.

So if you don’t mind an out-of-season rec, my pick is Dance All Night by Alexis Daria (Elyse gave it an A- in a lightning review). It has all my favorite ingredients of a Christmas romance:

• Scrooge-like heroine
• prickly/sunshine pairing
• pining
• sexy
• low-on-conflict
• hot chocolate/cookies
• forced proximity via a snowed-in cabin and
• holiday traditions.

But my broader answer to this question is any holiday romance because they all make me feel cozy. Who says you can’t have Christmas-in-April?

Sarah: Holiday romances work at any time, says I!

Susan: Aarya, I can’t believe how many of my favourite tropes you fit into one description.

Catherine:  I mean, I have a Jackie Lau and a Laura Florand book for every occasion right now, but trying for some variety… what about A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh? You have Lauren, who is this perfect, kind, lady who has never let herself have fun, and Kit, who is rakish and disreputable, but again with a deeply kind streak, and they basically team up in a fake engagement to quietly make each other’s lives better and get their families off their backs, only they fall in love. It’s very sweet and always makes me smile.

Claudia: I love A Summer to Remember!

Catherine:  It’s such a sweet book. I have a bit of a crush on Kit.

Sneezy: After much hemming and hawing, I think I’m going with The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. At one point in the book, Stella says to Michael, “I like you better than calculus, and math is the only thing that unites the universe.”

They are both cinnamon rolls studded with blood thirsty blueberries (or is dark chocolate a more blood thirsty food?) so of course I want a whole tray of them.

(And look calculus is my enemy, and I firmly believe the universe is held together by an accident of fairy dust, but if Stella said that to me, I’d wife her too.)

Catherine: Ooh, good choice. This whole thread is full of wonderful things.

Shana: This is a truly impossible task, since I can’t even choose my favorite cozy Jackie Lau book! But since I’m being forced to…I recommend Wrapped by Rebekah Weatherspoon. It’s a holiday novella, and there’s nothing cozier for me than a quick path to a HEA. Heroine is a baker (treats abound), the hero is a cinnamon roll coworker from her former office job that she’d been secretly crushing on. They match on a dating app, and are toe-curlingly gooey together. There’s lots of friend banter to cheer them on while they go holiday shopping, canoodle on the couch, eat cupcakes, eat cupcakes again.

Sarah: Y’all made wonderful choices. Thank you!

OK, your turn! What about you? Give us your one (ONE) recommendation for the Warmest, Fuzziest, Coziest Romance. 

Ready, Set, Go!