Cozy Fantasy Books to Cool Off With

We hope you’re having a cozy, not-too-sweltering summer! Summer and winter are great times (but really, any time is) to read cozy books! What do we mean by “cozy”? In most of these, the stakes are lower and there’s nothing too dramatically epic happening; and the others have a generally optimistic and fairy-tale-like feel. So water we waiting for? Let’s dive into the list of excellent cozy fantasies we recommend!

1. The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin: A young woman, Aurora Finch, discovers she is destined to become the next Starmaker and must leave behind her home to train with the mysterious immortal guardian who draws the sun’s light over the mountains each day to keep her village alive, only to find herself falling in love with the very man she is meant to replace.
 
2. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: After being cursed into the body of an old woman, Sophie seeks out the wizard Howl’s enchanted castle and becomes entangled in his magical adventures.
 
3. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende: A lonely boy named Bastian is drawn into the magical world of Fantastica, where he discovers he has a vital role in saving the realm from the Nothing.
 
4. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: Tress leaves her quiet island to cross deadly spore seas and rescue her kidnapped friend Charlie, becoming an unlikely hero along the way.
 
5. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: A teenage baker whose magic only works on bread and pastries must use her unusual talents to save her city after she becomes caught in a deadly conspiracy.
 
6. Stardust by Neil Gaiman: Tristran Thorn crosses into the realm of Faerie to retrieve a fallen star for the woman he loves, only to find the star is a living woman pursued by powerful enemies.
 
7. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: A shy librarian flees a revolution with a cache of magical books and opens a spellshop on a quiet island, where she rebuilds her life through friendship, community, and a touch of romance.
 
8. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: Brilliant but socially awkward scholar Emily Wilde travels to a remote village to study the Hidden Ones, only to uncover dangerous faerie secrets alongside her enigmatic colleague.
 
9. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series by Patricia C. Wrede: Princess Cimorene rejects a conventional royal life to become a dragon's princess and is swept into magical adventures filled with dragons, wizards, and fairy-tale twists.
 
10. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: A unicorn sets out to discover the fate of the rest of her kind, embarking on a poignant quest through a fading world of magic and myth.
 
 
What’s your favorite cozy fantasy book? Tell us in the comments!

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