Cozy is the perfect feeling for this time of year. When outside can be harsh, we want soft things–fuzzy blankets, warm drinks, a crackling fire. That can extend to our reading material as well. Here is a list of books and series that are softer and sweeter, without harsh language or violence, and that leave you with a warm feeling.

• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.
• The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor. This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn't famous at all. It's about falling so wildly in love with him – the way one will at twenty-four – that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight. There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end.
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt An exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Anne Shirley, an eleven-year-old orphan, has arrived in this verdant corner of Prince Edward Island only to discover that the Cuthberts—elderly Matthew and his stern sister, Marilla—want to adopt a boy, not a feisty redheaded girl. But before they can send her back, Anne—who simply must have more scope for her imagination and a real home—wins them over completely.
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend. Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
• Anxious People by Frederik Backman A poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined
• A Quiet Life in the Country T. E. Kinsey Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they’ve just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There’s a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation…
• The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden Young Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed to protect her family and community as her beloved village’s defenses weaken and evil creeps nearer.
• The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, Lucy is able to share her love of reading with her students, who she’d give anything to help. When she gets a chance to win the only copy of her favourite author’s new book, it seems like her life – and her students’ – might be about to change.