It's cold and miserable out and I want nothing more than to be wrapped up in bed with a hot drink and a good book. Thankfully there's plenty of queer cosy fiction to choose from - from coffee shops to cottagecore, sci-fi, rom-coms and cosy mystery, here's our list of queer cosy fiction to keep you warm on those cold nights in:
John Wiswell
Adult horror/monster romance
Queer Rep: Queer Women, Asexual
Reading Age: 18+
Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.
However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.
Travis Baldree
Low stakes, high fantasy & coffee
Queer Rep: Queer Women
Reading Age: 17+
A queer and cosy high fantasy novel with low stakes, a double-shot of self-reinvention and sapphic romance.
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
TJ Klune
Death, tea & the afterlife
Queer Rep: Queer Men
Reading Age: 18+
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.
Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop's owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.
But Wallace isn't ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo's help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.
Dylan Drakes
Bears, writing & lots of sex
Queer Rep: Queer Men
Reading Age: 18+
Struggling journalism graduate, Luca Torres, never meant to take a vow of celibacy. It was just a dumb idea from a job interview gone wrong. He never thought they’d approve the article. Or make his future career conditional on delivering it.
Now, with no choice but to steer clear of temptation for the summer, he takes the most isolated job he can find: a fire lookout in the rural and picturesque mountains of Washington State.
However, his goal becomes much harder with the arrival of the husky and flirtatious Artair Osmond, a musician and wilderness enthusiast who takes up camp nearby. Now he must decide what he really desires: the career at the prestigious newspaper, or the big, bearded bear he can’t get out of his head.
CJ Connor
Murder, mystery & boardgames
Queer Rep: Queer Men
Reading Age: 18+
Back in his hometown of Sugar House running his family’s board game shop and cafe, Ben Rosencrantz just can’t seem to get his life to pass go, much less collect $200. At least the town has become more LGBTQ+ friendly than when Ben was a teenager—and that flower shop owner Ezra McCaslin enjoys flirting with him.
But despite his usual clientele of gamers, Ben is barely earning enough to keep the store running and stay on top of his father’s medical bills. Then a local toy and game collector named Clive offers him a winning strategy - to purchase a turn-of-the-twentieth-century edition of The Landlord’s Game, the realty and taxation game that inspired Monopoly, at a tenth of the rare edition’s true value. Suspicious of Clive’s shady, low-priced deal, Ben turns the offer down.
Then Clive turns up dead in the dumpster behind Ben’s shop and a backpack full of $100 bills appears on his doorstep. Now Ben is the #1 suspect in Clive’s death, and unless he and Ezra can prove his innocence and find the real killer, he’ll go to jail for murder—and no amount of double dice rolls will set him free . . .
Kay Synclaire
Grief, loss & magic
Queer Rep: Queer Women
Reading Age: 18+
Powerless witch Saika is ready to enact her sister’s final to plant her remains at the famed Ash Gardens. When Saika arrives at the always-stormy sanctuary, she is welcomed by its owner, an enormous, knit-cardiganed mythical beast named Frank, who offers her a role as one of the estate’s caretakers.
Overcome with grief, Saika accepts, desperate to put off her final farewell to her sister. But the work requires a witch with intrinsic power, and Saika’s been disconnected from her magic since her sister’s death two years prior. Saika gets by at the sanctuary using a fragment of a fallen star to cast enchantments—while hiding the embarrassing truth about herself.
As Saika works harder in avoidance of her pain, she learns more about Frank, the decaying house at Ash Gardens, and the lives of the motley staff, including bickering twin cherubs, a mute ghost, a cantankerous elf, and an irritating half witch, among others. Over time, she rediscovers what it means to love and be wholly loved and how to allow her joy and grief to coexist.
Oliver Gerlach
Cooking, competition & friendship
Queer Rep: Queer Women, Non-Binary
Reading Age: 12+
At seventeen, Soup is at a crossroads, eager to make her mark on the world, yet reluctant to leave the restaurant she calls home. The last thing on her to-do list is to overthrow the patriarchy, but when her elven boss snaps at her she begins to see his pattern of abuse, starting in the kitchen. Something's got to give, and the answer is a bet for the restaurant.
If Soup wins the cooking competition, she'll claim the business and protect her village. If she loses, she'll have to leave her home and stand by as the food community she loves is razed to the ground.
With friends and chosen family rallying around her, Soup has a chance to win. Yet, everyone knows villains don't fight fair and this restaurateur is not going to give up his throne so easily . . .
Julie Leong
Family, fortunes & adventure
Queer Rep: Aro/Ace, Queer Cast
Reading Age: 18+
Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences…
Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and - of course - a slightly magical cat.
Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in - and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.
Sydney J. Shields
Witches, magic &bees
Queer Rep: Queer Women
Reading Age: 18+
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.
Grace Curtis
Sci-fi, mystery & chosen family
Queer Rep: Queer Cast
Reading Age: 17+
Welcome to the Grand Abeona home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer.
All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently— who is driving the ship?
Each guest has a secret, every member of staff a universe unto themselves. At the center of these interweaving lives and interlocking mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It’s the love of his life and the only place he’s ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl’s comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final when is it time to let go?
Fern Haught
Mushrooms, magic & adventure
Queer Rep: Non-Binary
Reading Age: 12+
Juniper and Hadley have a good thing going in Larkspur, spending their respective days apprenticing at a little bakery and performing at the local inn. But when a stranger makes an unusual order at the bakery, the two friends (and Hadley's pet snake, Fern) set out on a journey to forage the magical mushrooms needed to make the requested galette pastries.
Along the way, Juniper and Hadley stumble across a mystery too compelling to ignore: Something has been coming out of the woods at night and eating the local farmers' crops, leaving only a trail of glowy goo behind.
Intent on finally going on an adventure that could fuel their bardic craft, Hadley tows Juniper into the woods to investigate.
Rebecca Thorne
Mishap, mystery & murderous queens
Queer Rep: Queer Women
Reading Age: 18+
All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence.
But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town that boasts more dragons than people, and open the shop of their dreams.
In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.
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