Time again for one of the most challenging recommendation features 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.
And no more than two sentences as to why.
Just One.
And our theme this month?
The doomy-est scrolly-est days of hellscape in the US are next week, and I’m sending all of you virtual comfort and strength and compassion. This time, we’re building an essential list: your one (1) In Case Of Emergency Break Glass and Read This Romance recommendation.
We’ve talked about books like these before, but it seems extremely necessary right now.
We’re looking for your MOST POWERFUL Emergency Comfort Reads, the romances that never fail to help you out, books that are So Good they are your First Aid kit romances.
What “In Case Of Emergency, Read This” Romance would you recommend?
Any genre, but just one rec!
Ready, set, GO!
Sarah: I carry a few books on my Kindle at all times for this category alone. I have had a few book emergencies this year.
For this one, I’m going for The Unleashing, Shelly Laurenston, Crows 1. I know, I know: I talk about this trilogy a LOT.
But anger, rage, revenge, women being reborn into powerful, vicious second lives with freedom and access to power…Yes, please. I can escape into that world any time.
Lara: Tessa Dare’s A Week to be Wicked. It has never failed me in an emergency, ever.
Sarah: SUCH a good choice. Dare’s books are very much in the “In Case of Emergency Break Glass And Read This” category.
Elyse: I have to go with Alyssa Cole’s A Prince on Paper, which has the sweetest hero ever
But I also reread a lot of Edith Layton when I’m feeling down. To Wed a Stranger is one of my favs.
Claudia: It’s re-read time around here as well. I went back to some of my favorite Meredith Duran books. I second Lara’s choice (it never fails to make me laugh out loud) and on the same vein I’m going to go with a Mary Balogh book from way back: The Famous Heroine.
It’s probably her funniest book and a friends-to-lovers and fish-out-of-water mix. It’s a child of the 90s, though.
And speaking of her old books: I recently found out that she has a Halloween-themed novella compilation, No Ordinary Love, available through Hoopla for me.
Tara: Depending on what’s going on for me, I need something that’s either incredibly fluffy or highly immersive. So when I want something fluffy, I reach for Chelsea M. Cameron. I’m actually rereading her book Didn’t Stay in Vegas right now for that reason.
And if I’m looking for something immersive, I go back to the greatest Devil Wears Prada fanfic of all time, Truth and Measure by Telanu. It’s 270k+ words, the character work is spot on, the chemistry is amazing, and I just love it so much.
Shana: I have to agree with the above fanfic recommendation. I read it based on Tara’s suggestion during a previous Tough Time and it worked.
Shana: I’m struggling with narrowing this down to one book.
I know I often suggest Better Off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon for pretty much everything, but I strongly believe there’s nothing that lesbian vampire sorority girls won’t solve.
Shana: However, Talia Hibbert is my first stop for cozy comfort, because her heroes are really into caretaking. Get a Life, Chloe Brown is basically a Snuggie in book form.
Catherine: Hmm. Not a romance, but the Penric and Desdemona novellas really work for me – they have so much kindness and humour in them, and they are short enough for a stressed out attention span.
For romances, I am very predictable! Lucy Parker is an author who can hold my attention nineteen hours into an international flight, so she is a solid winner here. And Laura Florand writes the holiday in France that you can still have when France is…20-something hours away on that same international flight.
Sarah: Gotta narrow it down to one!
In a pinch I will accept two, because this is hard, but no more than that.
Catherine: Penric it is!
Sarah: And there’s a new one??!! Yay! That was almost my choice!
Catherine: There is, and I am just about to willfully join the Bad Decisions Book Club in order to read it tonight. Which is after midnight already.
Catherine, two hours later: Reporting in from the Bad Decisions Book Club to strongly recommend Masquerade in Lodi. A total delight.
Ellen: I am not much of a re-reader anymore (it gives me too much anxiety about all the books I haven’t read yet!) but I’ll answer this from the perspective of books that really brought me incredible comfort and joy during difficult times.
So for that I will pick The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip ( A | BN | K | AB ).
It’s a fantasy primarily but it has a strong romantic subplot and it’s just really beautiful and moving. I remember finishing it in a coffee shop in college ugly-crying.
Actually, this is making me want to re-read it.
Amanda: For comfort reading, I imagine just putting on an audiobook and lying in bed with everything in reach. This idea is brought to you by my period and heating pad.
My overall choice is the Maiden Lane series (so many hours to nest in bed!) because the narrator is just SO GOOD. I do have a soft spot for Scandalous Desires because of Charming Mickey.
Sneezy: My pick would be A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane.
A giant fluffy cat will love you, ask and give cuddles, chomp your enemies to bits, go on world saving adventures with you – need I go on? Even though there’s suicidal ideation in this book, I feel like it’s handled well and the overall book is imbued with so much hope.
And I need hope, rather desperately.
Ok, what about you?
What one romance do you recommend for Emergency Reading Situations?
What’s your go-to Comfort Read/First Ad romance?
Ready, set, go!
I am so anxious in These Trying Times that I talked my non-romance book club into reading Pamela Ribon’s “My Boyfriend is a Bear” for our December pick.
Other comfort faves: Jane Austen (Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, specifically); Katie Heaney and Ariana Rebolini’s “Public Relations”; K.J. Charles’s “Think of England” (the only book I own in hard copy, ebook, and audiobook); and my all-time favorite romance, Sherry Thomas’s “Ravishing the Heiress.”
Maude’s book in Ilona Andrews Innkeeper series is my rec. I have many books where I re-read favorite parts, but this one always ends up as a full re-read.
For audio, any of the Fox and O’Hare books authored by Evanovich and Goldberg but especially their last book written together.
Act Like It by Lucy Parker or All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Sorry that’s two but I just couldn’t decide.
Anything and everything by Cat Sebastian, KJ Charles, Lucy Parker, Talia Hibbert, and Alexis Hall.
If you’re looking for stories with characters that feel like old friends, where the world’s wrongs get righted, and where the stories make you lose track of what day it is, they’re the perfect authors to read
Some of my favorites have already been listed, but I’ll add Slightly Married by Mary Balogh, or any Betty Neels book.
I have too many comfort reads, but the only one I want to die & be buried with is “The Lord of Scoundrels” by Loretta Chase.
An early Loretta Chase: Knaves Wager. Unlike her later books there’s no explicit sex but the chemistry between h& h is so amazing that the heat is off the charts. It has the authors signature dry wit and secondary characters that are as complex and well drawn as the main characters. Penny reid’s Neanderthal Meets Human; it’s sequel: Neanderthal Marries Human and Beard Science. What all my selections have in common is that both the h& h are equally delightful. Julian from knaves Wager is my all time favorite romance hero.
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas. I think I prefer it because not everything is so polished and richness isn’t taking granted compared to average romance lit. Crazy Rich Asian series by Kevin Kwan, because some of the characters are total hoot.
The Hating Game (Sally Thorne) and Marianna Zappata’s Dear Aaron. For historicals, P&P and for fantasy, well, uhm, Harry Potter is the ultimate comfort read, naturally 🙂
To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis
A time travel comedy of errors with a romance subplot, one of my favorite comfort reads of all time.
Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
The vampire infested world of McKinley’s Sunshine is scary, stressful, and chaotic in very different ways than the stress and chaos in real world. Also the heroine is a baker, and loves her job.
Man vs. Durian, by Jackie Lau
The h&h are such nice people, and there’s no unnecessary drama or big misunderstanding. Low stress, funny read that I totally need right now.
Since it’s 2020, I have already re-read many of my comfort books, so thanks so much to all for the suggestions. I feel like I am preparing, as if readying a fortress, for the election and the third wave of the virus.
My ICOE book is “Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor” by Lisa Kleypas.
I know some readers were upset about her foray into contemporaries, but I am enchanted by this series, especially books 1-3.
“Christmas at Friday Harbor“ is the first one, and although it starts with loss, it is so warm and smart and satisfying. The setting (San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State) plus the shivers of everyday magic never fail to transport me.
I hadn’t realized there was a new Penric novella!
Romance, Band Sinister by KJ Charles. London rogue and country innocent, m/m version, plus hilarious secondary characters.
Not really a romance, The Comfortable Courtesan series by L A Hall. I can’t put my finger on why these are so immersive for me, but they are.
Space opera with romance subplots: my favorite of Lee & Miller’s Liaden series, the duology of Scout’s Progress and Mouse and Dragon. Regency in Space.
Also space opera with romance subplots, the interlocking Peltedverse series by MCA Hogarth. I went back to reread one and ended up rereading them all. The series beginning with Mindtouch is a milk-and-cookies ace romance. The series beginning with Earthrise is classic space opera (trading ship, pirates, aliens, etc.) with a romance subplot. The Prince’s Game series beginning with Even the Wingless is very dark, though it comes through to a happy ending. I went back to reread some favorite scenes and ended up rereading most of it. There are several recent books that tie together characters from all three of the previous series but I think you have to read the others first to appreciate them. (The author has a set of plot summaries for Prince’s Game for those who want the background for reading the related books without reading through the angst.)
I’m sure I’ve said this before in another post. But I just have a really bad feeling about how things are going to be in 2021 no matter who wins the election. So I’m planning to re-read my entire Tessa Dare collection next year since she’s usually my go-to.
I’ve also been saving reading (most of) The Bridgertons, The Bareknuckle Bastards, The Hathaways, The Ravenels series, and Say Yes To The Marquess all for the first time. So if I have to hunker down…
Other comfort reads – Anne of Green Gables, anything that is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, fairy tale retellings in general, or stories with governesses who brighten up a family that’s been dealing with a tragedy. More like The Governess Game, but I’ll take the gothic novel-governess trope also. (As long as it isn’t TOO graphic or disturbing.)
One thing that has really brought me comfort over the past year or so, is watching / listening to people get excited over books and reading as well. Especially now that Romancelandia is finding a home on BookTube. I love to watch people get excited and fangirl over the kinds of books that I love, too.
@OtterB you made me interested in looking into your recs since I enjoy a good space opera. I put all of your recs on my list to read and I might fall down the MCA Hogarth rabbit hole this weekend. These books sound so good.
Mindtouch is free on Amazon if anyone else is interested in reading these books.
@Christy whenever one of us goes to pet our cat and he smacks us with a paw, we yell “TOUCH NOT THE CAT” — love Mary Stewart.
My go to comfort read is one I have reread quite a few times already and want a follow up to just because I loved the characters, banter and because it’s like crush wish fulfillment on a page almost: Just The Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James.
I keep my Kindle stocked with books that I know I will re-read, but I feel like I have failed by not having a special “In case of emergency” collection! I often find myself scrolling through my collections looking for my special comfort reads. I will be correcting this oversight pronto!
As to my additions to the list ( many of my favs have already been mentioned):
A Sorceress of His Own by Dianne Duvall
The Wedding Night by Kati Wilde
Beauty and the Beefcake by Pippa Grant when I just need to laugh without the bloodshed in a Laurensten book
Gracie’s Touch by S.E. Smith when I want tears
P&P the Wild and Wanton Edition with Michelle Pillow
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
Dark Horse by Michelle Diener
Grim by M.K. Eidem
The one that stands out in my mind that I have actually re-read recently is Just The Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James. Equal parts witty banter, smart characters and a touch of crush wish fulfillment, it is one I like going back to. I’d even hope for a sequel of sorts to see what happened to the supporting characters as well.
Back in the land of the living after 36 hours with no power and very limited internet access (I know what they mean when they say if the entire country was without internet for three days, by day four we’d be in full-blown anarchy!). Thank you, Bitches, for all your good thoughts. I can now cross off “hunker down in a house while a Category 2 hurricane rages outside” off my anti-bucket list!
Lisa Kleypas Devil in Spring—Pandora is such a delightful weirdo and Gabriel loves and really gets her. I love the St Vincent and Ravenel clans together, and this also has some great hurt/comfort too. I’ve reread it twice this year already.
I have to rec one of my favorite fanfics too: a Sherlock/John called Nature and Nurture where Mycroft brings the boys a baby clone of Sherlock. It’s amazing:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/729134/chapters/1354275
Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas—Pandora is such a delightful weirdo, and Gabriel truly gets her. I love seeing the St Vincent and Ravenel clans merge and the great hurt/comfort too
Best fanfic is Nature and Nurture—a Sherlock/John where Mycroft brings them a baby clone of Sherlock, and they raise him. It’s amazing:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/729134/chapters/1354275
Rereading/listening to Joanna Bournes Spymaster series. Also Carla Kelly and Georgette Heyer. Re reading Devil’s Cub.
Julia Quinn’s Just Like Heaven got me through grad school. Bought it the first week on a whim because I saw it in the mall while getting supplies and liked the cover, then proceeded to reread at least once a month when things got stressful (and devour the rest of her backlist). It’s like sinking into a nice warm bubble bath. (with the caveat that there’s an extensive and quite descriptive wound care section, so not necessarily great for the squeamish.)
Also in times of stress I watch and re-watch The Man from UNCLE movie. The clothes! The music! The scenery! The banter! The very attractive leads! Honestly if it had more food scenes it would be a perfect movie. The part where Henry Cavill sits out a boat chase to go eat a sandwich and drink wine never fails to make me hungry.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase
I’ve read both of these multiple times and they just get better with each read.
ETA: looks like commenting’s broken – hearts are down and I can’t get a message through, not even into a moderation que.
Howl’s Moving Castle because when in doubt, its always a good idea to go with DWJ
I’m adding everything on here – even the ones I’ve already read – to my TBR pile!
For me, my comfort re-read (apart from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which as has been pointed out, is super obvious) would be SUNSHINE, by Robin McKinley. I love all the descriptions of food in it and I love piecing together the world McKinley’s built for the novel.
I’ve been trying to think what I would add, and it struck me that I haven’t been someone who rereads since childhood. This could be because I’m always trying to find new books and I don’t go through as many as some of the others who comment here. Having said this the biggest comfort reread when I was a child was the series which began with Tales of a Forth Grade Nothing. I know it has several books, but Nothing and it’s sequel Superfudge were the ones I read the most. It might be time for a reread.
ETA: I just looked on Goodreads and saw that Superfudge is book number three, while Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great is the true sequel. In my world, Superfudge is still the sequel though. 😉
This comments section has mentioned so many books that I re-read at least once a year!
For me, trying times still have different flavors.
If I’m wanting to feel badass, I’ll reread Crocodile on the Sandbank and tell the patriarchy where to stick it.
If I need a shot of ridiculousness, then it’s one of Georgette Heyer’s “everything goes wrong in one scene at the end” books, like Sprig Muslin. Lois McMaster Bujold’s A Civil Contract’s butterbug scene works for this, too.
But if I just need to hide away, then I usually pick up The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery. The normalization of wanting to just be on your own and not have anyone quacking at you is so nice (plus a lovely Beta hero).
OMG! So many comments! It’s going to be delicious to read those over.
Mine own go-to read, those that are ALWAYS loaded on my reader because I get the urge to read them at least once a year, sometimes more:
Lois McMaster Bujold’s THE CURSE OF CHALION and MEMORY. Why those? I dunno. I think because the main character goes down to his miserest miserable misery and then come back from behind to surprise his opponent.
Patricia Briggs’ short story about Ben in the SHIFTING SHADOWS short stories collection, “Redemption” I think? All the stories are good but Ben’s has something that make me come back to it again and again. This too is a story about evolution, and becoming a better person despite all your efforts to the contrary. 🙂
Wen Spencer’s ELFHOME (3rd in the series) and BLACK WOLVES OF BOSTON and especially, PROJECT ELFHOME short stories collection. Families, biological and found. Love love love how the relationships aggregate.
HEROES AND GHOST by SA Payne, an m/m sci fi story about a repressed guy that buys in a drunken fit (of course, only drunk people do that in books) a sex doll made from human genetic material. He’s very flustered when he receives the package, can’t treat the thing like a sex doll, ends up treating it like a good dog instead. Over the weeks, he comes to suspect that his pet is maybe not a pet at all… It’s a bit trashy, there’s lots of clichés and I can’t stand SA Payne’s other books, but Heroes & Ghosts… I come back to it again and again. Ever since I saw Planet of the Apes when I was young and impressionable (the one with Charlton Heston, not the garbage with Mark Wahlberg), the intelligent being mistakenly treated as a pet thrills me.
And finally, DADDY-LONG-LEGS by Jean Webster. I own multiple copies, still today if I come accross a copy, I’ll buy it. This, and my top tier Georgette Heyer 🙂
I love how everyone promptly ignored the one book specification — like no, we need ALL The Comfort right now! Shoutout to those who’ve already mentioned fanfic, Attachments by Rainbow Rowell and A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, and I’m going to give a thumbs up to OtterB for her MCA Hogarth recommendation because that reminds me that I have some Hogarth series I haven’t finished. Yay!
My comfort read that is likely to get picked up this week is Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. Hilarious dialogue and badass middle aged ladies are my jam. Also planning to reread Radiance and Eidolan by Grace Draven, since the third book in the trilogy (The Ippos Kings) is now out. These are a Beauty and the Beast retelling — set in space! — and competence porn abounds.
@KatiM, thank you for the fanfic suggestion. I had no idea I’d been subconsciously shipping Leia and Boba Fett til today!
@KatiM, thank you for the fanfic suggestion. I had no idea I’s been subconsciously shipping Leia and Boba Fett til today!
So many good suggestions! One of my top favorites is Sharon Shinn’s Mystic and Rider. That whole series is on the docket for next week . . .
I also repeatedly binge Nalini Singh and Shelly Laurenston — it depends on the type and duration of the emergency.
@Arijo
I love love your top threes except I would put Paladin of souls before The Curse of Chalion in my top reread list but Memory is and will always be my favourite Miles because that is when he grows up even though I have to mention the sinking of Impsec in Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance which is probably my top Bujold comedic scene. Yeah for Ben’s story and Wen Spence. And, I use to reread Daddy Longlegs all the time when I was in my teens. The cherry on the cake, you mention Georgette. Basically, we are book twins so now I need to go and check out your last rec. What a brilliant rec league.
@Arijo
I love love your top threes except I would put Paladin of souls before The Curse of Chalion in my top reread list but Memory is and will always be my favourite Miles because that is when he grows up. I have to mention though the sinking of Impsec in Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance which is probably my top Bujold comedic scene. Yeah for Ben’s story and Wen Spencer. And, I use to reread Daddy Longlegs all the time when I was in my teens. The cherry on the cake, you mention Georgette. Basically, we are book twins so now I need to go and check out your last rec. What a brilliant rec league.
Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall. Short, sweet but also about moving on, hope after misery, and books!
Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall. Short, sweet, and all about finding new joy and hope.
@LN : please, don’t set your expectations too high (>_<) Objectively, HEROES & GHOSTS is not that good a book, it just plays to my own personal catnip.
So, we're reading twins? 😉 I'd love to have some of your recommendations then!
@Kate I’m so glad I could introduce someone else to the rarepair hell that is the Boba Fett/Princess Leia ship. I first read that series last fall before the world went to hell in a handbasket and it just stuck with me when I needed a comforting reread in March. I really hope that the author branches out into writing original romance. Her writing is just so good.