As someone with ADHD, anxiety, and a brain prone to rumination, life can be turbulent. Fantasy has long been my preferred method of escapism, and when I discovered the cozy variety a few years ago, I was immediately enthralled. It gives me that warm-fuzzy feeling I so desire in troubling times, while still providing my dopamine-deficient brain the hits it needs to remain immersed. More than anything, I want to share with others the way that cozy fantasy makes me feel. Crafting such fiction is my purpose.
I wrote...
Heretical Fishing: A Cozy Guide to Annoying the Cults, Outsmarting the Fish, and Alienating Oneself
I am not being hyperbolic when I say that discovering this fiction changed the course of my life. I found it during a dark time, and the impact it had might be the reason I’m so addicted to reading and writing cozy fantasy. Upon finishing it, I wasn’t ready to leave the world behind, so I fired up the audio and started again.
This novel is a place of reprieve. A warm hearth I can return to when life gets difficult. And I can’t recommend it enough.
A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????
Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body.
Arrogant Masters? Heavenly Tribulations? All that violence and bloodshed? Yeah, no thanks. I’m getting out of here.
Farm life sounds pretty great. Tilling a field by hand is fun when you’ve got the strength of ten men—though maybe I shouldn’t have fed those Spirit Herbs to my pet rooster. I’m not used to…
I started this novel on the way home from a convention, and despite my intention of reading for a moment before having a well-earned nap, I just couldn’t put it down. RC Joshua’s descriptions of the drinks within are so captivating that I may or may not have spent hundreds of dollars on tea (and related accessories) the day after finishing this book.
If I wasn’t already addicted to boba (or bubble tea, as we call it in Australia), this novel would have further devastated my wallet.
Arthur never knew the comfort of home—until he died. Now, reborn in a vibrant demon world, he's serving up more than just tea: he's crafting the life he always dreamed of, one friendship at a time.
Arthur didn’t plan on being reincarnated to a world full of demons. But after the initial misunderstandings were cleared away, he found himself exactly where he wanted to be. In a world that was nice.
It doesn’t take long before a community of friendly demons forms up around Arthur, helping him find his place in this new world. With each bubble that rises in…
Within a few chapters, I knew I would love this book. I could smell the coffee, feel the flour on my hands, and taste the pastries each time someone bit into one. The low-stakes trials of opening a cafe were so wonderfully written that I momentarily dreamed of doing so (which, for the record, would be a terrible idea for my chaos-goblin brain).
Even years after reading this book, Thimble and his mannerisms live rent-free in my head, which speaks to the impact this story had on my psyche.
High fantasy, low stakes - with a double-shot of coffee.
After decades of adventuring, Viv the orc barbarian is finally hanging up her sword for good. Now she sets her sights on a new dream - for she plans to open the first coffee shop in the city of Thune. Even though no one there knows what coffee actually is.
If Viv wants to put the past behind her, she can't go it alone. And help might arrive from unexpected quarters. Yet old rivals and new stand in the way of success. And Thune's shady underbelly could make it all…
Though this is a work of fiction, it might be the most scientifically accurate depiction ever written of cats and their shenanigans. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Kraken was based on Delemhach’s actual cat. This novel made me think of my old boy and the various crimes he used to commit against our household (RIP Harry, yowler of the night, destroyer of couches, and cuddle-bug extraordinaire). Upon finishing it, I felt the urge to adopt one. Or two.
A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.
When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.
But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a…
I loved the repeated subversion of frustrating romance tropes in this book. I never thought I’d enjoy a LitRPG romcom so much, or that it could even work as a concept, but here we are.
Though I may not be hard to fool, this novel baited me countless times, only to pull me back from the brink just before I turned my Kindle into a frisbee. It takes a certain awareness to pull off such trickery, and Mystic Neptune possesses it in spades.
A reluctant heroine finds unexpected love when she’s sent to assassinate a lonely dark lord in the first book of this cozy romantasy series.
Henrietta Doryn has never enjoyed fighting. She’d rather be in the kitchen baking cookies. But it’s her duty as Warrior Princess to face off against the forces of evil. As such, she’s unceremoniously shooed from her kingdom to go eliminate the all-powerful Dark Lord next door.
Keith Monfort has never enjoyed ruling with an iron fist. He’d prefer to be in his workroom tinkering with practical magic. But it’s his duty to lead the Dark Enchanted…
My book tells the story of a former CEO who, when transported to a fantasy world and offered limitless power, decides instead to find friends and do as much fishing as humanly possible. Each genuine connection, delicious meal, and moment of mindfulness erodes his capitalist indoctrination, leaving a clean shore upon which to build something new.
But inept cults, plotting nobles, and magical misunderstandings conspire to draw him in. With the help of found family, a budding romance, and even a dutiful pet crab that fires off energy blades like an anime protagonist, Fischer avoids the call to adventure at all costs.
I have always loved reading and its ability to take you far away to a distant time and place and lift you up. As a kid, I never left the house without a book, and the ones that made me laugh were my go-to's. I believe the ability to make people laugh is a truly special talent, especially while making the text relatable, so the reader’s always asking, wow, what would I do in that situation? My readers often tell me that my writing sounds just like me, which is wonderful because there’s no need to pretend. You will always know what you’ll get with me!
A heart-warming and hilarious novel about the highs and lows of marriage, fraud, and goat’s cheese.
Libby Popovic is a country girl who’s now living a golden life in Bondi with her confident financier husband Ludo, and their two children. When Ludo is jailed for financial fraud, and Libby’s friends and family lose tens of thousands of dollars as a result, she feels agonisingly complicit.
Matters go from atrocious to worse when her possessions and home are repossessed, Libby is sacked, and a priceless family heirloom is wrecked. While camping out at the family goat farm, Libby must re-evaluate her…
