By Jessica Rampersad (@jessbeyondthepages)
As we step into a new year, it feels like the perfect moment to sink into the soft, reassuring world of cozy fiction. A new chapter can feel both exciting and uncertain, and it’s natural to crave stories that offer comfort when everything around us feels like it’s shifting. Cozy fiction delivers warmth, gentleness, and a comforting escape beyond the intensity of everyday life.
This genre isn’t defined by a specific plot or setting; it’s defined by a feeling. It’s the kind of story that invites you to slow down, unwind, and settle into a world where conflicts are low-stakes, characters are fundamentally good-hearted, and community and connection matter most. Whether it’s a clever and determined aunt untangling neighbourhood secrets, a long-distance romance sparked by chance encounters and tender moments, or a runaway finding refuge in a magical garden and falling in love while figuring out who they are. At its core, cozy fiction is all about reassurance.
That’s what makes this genre so powerful, especially for marginalized readers who rarely see themselves in stories without trauma at the center. Cozy fiction reminds us that joy, comfort, and safety are not luxuries, but experiences everyone deserves. It creates space for women of color, immigrants, queer people, and other marginalized voices to inhabit softness, agency, and belonging. In a world that often demands resilience, cozy fiction offers rest.
And rest is resistance, too.
Cozy stories help us imagine a better world. One where people show up for each other, where small acts of kindness matter, and where problems, though real, can be solved with honesty and compassion. They remind us that gentleness isn’t boring, it’s brave.
If what you need right now is a dose of comfort, a moment to breathe, or a reminder that goodness still exists, cozy fiction has plenty to offer. It might even be the softest, warmest way to start the new year.
1) Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin (HarperCollins)
When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunnit—the first book in a cozy new detective series from the acclaimed author of Ayesha at Last.
After her husband’s unexpected death eighteen months ago, Kausar Khan never thought she’d receive another phone call as heartbreaking—until her thirty-something daughter, Sana, phones to say that she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years.
Returning to the Golden Crescent suburb where she raised her children and where her daughter still lives, Kausar finds that the thriving neighborhood she remembered has changed. The murder of Sana’s landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes which have gone unsolved.
And the facts of the case are Sana found the man dead in her shop at a suspiciously early hour, with a dagger from her windowfront display plunged in his chest. And Kausar—a woman with a keen sense of observation and deep wisdom honed by her years—senses there’s more to the story than her daughter is telling.
With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth. Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty? But even Kausar can’t predict the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way…
2) Landing by Emma Donoghue (Harper Perennial)
A delightful, old-fashioned love story with a uniquely twenty-first-century twist, Landing is a romantic comedy that explores the pleasures and sorrows of long-distance relationships–the kind millions of us now maintain mostly by plane, phone, and Internet.
Síle is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who’s traveled the world. Jude is a twenty-five-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude’s and Síle’s worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit.
This sparkling, lively story explores age-old questions: Does where you live matter more than who you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be a fool to do so?
3) Fowl Play: A Bellavista Cooperative Mystery by Iona Lam
After years of working as a personal concierge, Mallory McKenzie-Chu is ready for a change. So when her old friend Cora wants to convert a heritage mansion in Victoria, Canada into a housing cooperative for seniors, Mallory’s onboard faster than you can say, “Ticket, please!” But springtime in the picturesque seaside town isn’t all cherry blossoms and ocean views; not when she runs afoul of marauding peacocks, a skeevy land developer and former best friend, Saffron, who happens to be Cora’s niece. When the developer is found dead as a dodo in the Bellavista Manor chicken coop, and the residents become suspects, Mallory and Saffron must team up to catch the real killer before Cora’s co-op dream permanently flies south.
4) The Potion Gardener by Arden Powell
Desperate to escape a messy romance, Florian Mulberry flees London: tipsy, panicked, and without a plan. It’s while hiding in a rural garden shed that he meets Kells, a potion witch, who agrees to shelter him in exchange for manual labor until he gets his life together. Leaving his pampered London existence to work on a secluded cottage farm is a shock, but Florian throws himself into it with passionate determination.
And it’s not just gardening he’s passionate about. In no time, Florian falls head over heels for his skillful, hardworking mentor.
There’s just one problem. Florian is only disguised as a boy, and the enchantment hiding his real body is going to wear off. Florian’s main concern is how to explain himself when it happens. He’s definitely not a girl, but he’s not entirely a boy, either. With all the magic in Kells’ garden, there must be a way to achieve his ideal androgyny.
However he looks, Florian will have to face his past if he wants a future with Kells. Even if he avoids London forever, eventually his past is going to come looking for the girl he used to be.
The FOLD Admin