5 Cozy Fantasy Books Goodreads Readers Love, Including a Literary Mystery
These five cozy fantasy books offer enchanting worlds, lovable characters, romance and plenty of feel-good moments!
Key Takeaways
- Cozy fantasy offers magical worlds with lower stakes and comforting vibes.
- These picks feature witches, magical shops, romance and found family.
- Goodreads readers praise all five books for their charm and escapism.
For many years, fantasy as a genre meant huge, intricate worlds and high, life-or-death stakes, two things that you may not always want to take on as a reader. Enter cozy fantasy: a genre filled with magical characters, lushly imagined worlds and warm, cozy, sometimes surprisingly mundane vibes. Read on for five cozy fantasy books that Goodreads readers love—and you won’t want to put down.
‘Legends & Lattes’ by Travis Baldree
A number-one New York Times bestseller and Goodreads Choice Award nominee for readers’ favorite fantasy, Legends & Lattes is the book that many people believe put cozy fantasy on the map. Viv, an orc mercenary, decides to retire from her violent profession to open the first ever coffee shop in her city, even though no one even knows what coffee is. What follows is a story filled with magic, perseverance and found family.
What Goodreads users are saying: “I wish I could inhabit this book forever. Legends & Lattes is the comfort read version of drinking warm coffee on a long winter night. Such a beautiful, big-hearted story, one that foregrounds deep meaningful friendships and queer love between women as something that heals, something to take up against the times like a sword and shield. I have such a reverent spot in my heart for the kind of fantasy that isn’t about big extravagant conflicts, but which focuses instead on the quiet, tiny, daily moments between people just trying to eke out a decent life, capturing all the safe and easy intimacies of being in proximity of each other, of caring and being profoundly cared for, of making someplace to belong. Legends & Lattes does exactly that.”
‘The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches’ by Sangu Mandanna
Another nominee for the Goodreads Choice Award for readers’ favorite fantasy, this book follows Mika Moon, a witch who lives a solitary and lonely existence. That is, until she is invited to a place called Nowhere House to train three child witches, after which she becomes entangled in the lives and problems of her students and the other peculiar yet appealing folks who call Nowhere House home—including Jamie, the handsome, grumpy librarian.
What Goodreads users are saying: “The actual definition of a cozy heartwarming book!!!! The found family in here was so good, the slow burn romance was amazing, I loveddddd our main character’s relationship growth with the girls she was teaching, & seeing her find a place she could call home. Such a great read for fall!!!”
‘The Spellshop’ by Sarah Beth Durst
Picture a Hallmark channel romance where the heroine moves back to her childhood hometown from the big city to open a bakery and falls for her kindly neighbor—now change the bakery to shop that trades in spells and magic, and you’ve got The Spellshop by #1 NYT bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst. Then once you’ve enjoyed this ride, you can check out the next two books in the Spellshop Series, with the fourth coming out next year.
What Goodreads users are saying: “This was EXACTLY what I wanted out of a cozy fantasy romance!! It’s precisely the right amount of coziness and small town vibes, but with high enough stakes that there’s an engaging plot, and a cute slow-burn romantic subplot. Also the main character has a sentient spider plant named Caz as a companion!”’
‘The Book Witch’ by Meg Shaffer
Rainy March is a third-generation Book Witch, a profession that allows her to jump in and out of stories to save our most beloved and important books from fiends seeking to wipe them off the page forever. When her grandfather goes missing and a precious book is stolen, she enlists the help of the fictional detective the Duke of Chicago, with whom she shared a passionate and forbidden tryst in the past.
Of all the books I’ve read this year, this was one of my favorites. The magical elements were so fresh and inventive, the jumps into classic novels like The Great Gatsby were so much fun, and the twists and turns in the mystery were unexpected yet never too stressful. It was a cozy read from beginning to end.
What Goodreads users are saying: “Oh. My. Goodness. I loved every page, every chapter, every character, every single word of this story! This isn’t just a “shouting from the rooftops” kind of praise—it’s a climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, cheer until you pass out from altitude kind of love. That’s how much this book deserves to be celebrated. I adored Rainy March, the brave and wistful book witch; the dreamy Duke of Chicago, who swept me right off the page; and Koshka, the coolest familiar cat ever written—Ïand I’m not even a cat person! Honestly, I could read thousands of books about their adventures.”
‘Assistant to the Villain’ by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
If you prefer your cozy fantasy to be heavier on the romance, this #1 NYT bestseller can’t be beat. Evie Sage needs a job to support her family, so she agrees to work as the titular assistant to the most infamous villain in her kingdom. When someone starts to threaten him and his power, Evie has to uncover the culprit to save her boss, who she also happens to be wildly attracted to. There are four books in the series out now, with the fifth and final expected next year.
What Goodreads users are saying: “I loved the humor and writing style of this book. Such a silly goofy kick your feet and giggle humor style. I’ve never read a book like that before. And I loved the characters! It was so fun seeing the villain’s heart soften over time and seeing Evie embrace her own villainous side. And I never would’ve guessed the identity of the person sabotaging the villain!!”
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