In a genre often filled with sweeping wars, dark prophecies, and world-ending stakes, I’m here for the rise of cozy fantasy offering something gentler. Whether it’s magic woven into everyday life or baby dragons and a mystery in a fantastical small town, the low-stakes escape is definitely comforting. So if you’re looking to read something on rainy afternoons or just about any time you wish to escape into something wholesome, browse through this list of nineteen cozy fantasy books.
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
From the author of The Spellshop, is a cottagecore cozy portal fantasy where a teen girl, after a devastating heartbreak, decides to spend her summer helping her eccentric great aunt manage her quaint Vermont inn, but the fixer-upper is hiding a magical secret.
Brewed in Love by Shelly Page
A cozy sapphic romantasy about a teen witch trying to keep her family’s apothecary up and running, with a little help from her ex-best friend—and first crush. With forest magic, wolves, and a mystery at the centre of it all.
Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow
A cozy YA romantic fantasy, a Guardian and a Misfortune go head-to-head over the fate of a lovesick bookshop owner. A fairy who wants to see a “happily ever after” everywhere is the Guardian assigned to a woman whose life needs a makeover. But a grumpy Misfortune is tasked to continue the woman’s string of bad luck.
The Herbwitch’s Apprentice by Ireen Chau
A regency style cozy fantasy about a half witch girl learning to grow her powers—and keeping them hidden—is aiding the prince in an investigation before innocent witches are condemned.
The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao
A charming, escapist read that is a slice-of-life story with magic much like The House on the Cerulean Sea. A lost soul who, following her brother’s death, gave up on her dream of being a songwriter and boards this magical train where a charming, handsome artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.
Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee
In this YA sapphic cozy fantasy, a geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide.
Once Upon A Rose by Gabrielle Landi
In this wholesome retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a lord cursed by a sorcerer proposes a marriage of convenience to the feisty librarian in exchange of providing funds for her library while a transforming pet dragon is watching his every move.
Second Time’s a Charm by Taylor Epperson
A cozy fantasy rom-com filled with magical creatures like a dragon, a vanishing porcupine, and fire-breathing chickens. Returning home after years away, Reece is going to have to avoid her assassin ex-boyfriend as she learns to care for the magical creatures now under her protection.
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
A whimsical and heartwarming fantasy about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track while running an inn and finding out the best magical is in the family she has found.
Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
A spellbinding cozy fantasy where a “perfect” witch who loves to please everyone around her must guide an orphan teenage witch through the process of getting her blossoming magical powers under control, in a cabin owned by a quietly gruff and handsome warlock.
A Witch’s Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Qureshi
A warm cozy fantasy where a garden witch with a penchant for potions must put aside her annoyance with a charmingly handsome son of the apothecary to enlist his help to find out who is responsible for poisoning her sisters.
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
A delightful cozy fantasy romance where a widow saddled with money-hungry relatives desperate to wrest her uncle’s inheritance away from her unsheathes an ancient sword and an immortal warrior appears with an oath to protect her as they run away from her in-laws.
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
A low-stake fantasy with a sapphic romance where an almost-mage gets an opportunity to earn her magehood via an assignment to transport magical artifacts to a safe but dull magical village, but she’ll have to work with the brilliant, unfairly attractive overachiever.
The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean
A cozy fantasy with a queer romance set in a magical zoo teeming with mythical beasts from dragons and unicorns to kelpies and krakens. A passionate phoenix keeper lands her dream job but her plans to revive the phoenix programme need her to team up with an unbearably beautiful, insufferably hotshot griffin keeper.
The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy by Roan Parrish
A pooky-yet-cozy fantasy about a haunted house tour guide in New Orleans. Jamie [transmasc they/them] creates haunted houses for a living and Edgar [ciz he/him] is 100% haunted and ghosts have tormented him since childhood. Love blooms between them as one makes ghosts and one sees ghosts everywhere he goes.
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva
A cozy tale of a halfling and a goblin who must learn to love each other despite their differences as both think they’ve inherited the same cottage and make a bargain: they’ll live in the house together and whoever is driven out first forfeits their ownership.
Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland
A cozy m/m romantasy where a naive, sulky man-child goblin in a situationship with the lord of the manor must reach improve his incurably stubborn self when challenged by a goddess with quests that better him: everything from finding a sheep to swaddling a baby.
Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree
Return to the cozy fantasy world of Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring the foul-mouthed bookseller as a drunken night brings her in the company of a legendary warrior and an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware.
Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy where a woman bored of her life decides to try magic from a spell book her husband brought and sets off, with her grouchy, cat-like companion to save the village from an entrepreneurial villain running a goblin-fruit Ponzi scheme.
A Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames
A gentle fantasy where a cheeky butcher’s daughter, an immature but goodhearted magician, and his clever talking cat unlock secrets in the dark heart of their cursed kingdom where quirky magical houses exist and rebellions stir.
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