8 Cozy Fantasy Books I’m Living For This Winter 2025–2026(one of them just happens to be the sequel I wrote)

The days are shorter, the air is crisp, and cozy fantasy is officially having its main-character moment.

Searches for “cozy fantasy books 2025” are up 150 % this month, Reddit’s r/CozyFantasy is on fire, and every major outlet from Book Riot to Tor is shouting about the same thing: we want magic that feels like a hug, not a fistfight.

So here are the eight cozy (or cozy-adjacent) fantasies I’m personally obsessed with for the rest of 2025 and early 2026 — in no particular order, except #5, because that one is the sequel I just hit “publish preorder” on this morning and I’m still a little shaky from it.

1. **Brigands & Breadknives** – Travis Baldree (Tor, November 11, 2025)

The third Legends & Lattes book. A rattkin bookseller, a goblin construction crew, and a bakery that keeps getting held up by the sweetest bandits you’ll ever meet. Peak comfort.

2. **Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales** – Heather Fawcett (Del Rey, February 11, 2026)

The final Emily Wilde book. Dryad scholarship, slow-burn romance, and the kind of academic fae world you want to move into. I’ve had this preordered since the day it was announced.

3. **The Grimoire Grammar School PTA** – Caitlin Rozakis (2025)

Picture a magical elementary school where the PTA president accidentally summons a minor demon during bake-sale prep. Currently the most-upvoted “I need this yesterday” title on r/CozyFantasy.

4. **A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping** – Sangu Mandanna (2025)

An exiled witch inherits a rundown inn, a talking cat with opinions, and — my favorite detail — an undead rooster who refuses to stay dead. Pure comfort food with a side of necromancy.

5. **The Monarch’s Inferno (Evelyn Speckleplum Book 2)** – D. Golden Conlin (Big Golden Publishing, January 20, 2026)

Full disclosure: this one’s mine.

Evelyn is back in the human world when the mirror ripples and shows her mentor Elm trapped by the Black-Veiled Mistress. Fog rolls in. Blood-red poppies bloom on the carpet. Owls circle. Monarch butterflies flee something unseen.

The Fey Realm she once loved has new, stricter rules and deadlier consequences — but the friendships, the wonder, and the quiet courage are all still there.

[Preorder here – $4.99 (drops to $2.99 launch week only)](https://amzn.to/49aABxT)

6. **Fallen City** – Adrienne Young (Saturday Books, November 4, 2025)

A walled-city rebellion told with Adrienne’s signature soft, lyrical prose and just enough romance to make your chest ache in the best way.

7. **The Nameless Land** – Kate Elliott (Tor, November 2025)

Political intrigue wrapped in the warmest world-building blanket. Kate Elliott doing cozy-leaning epic fantasy is something I didn’t know I needed until now.

8. **The Amberglow Candy Store** – Hiyoko Kurisu (2025)

Tokyo backstreets, enchanted sweets, and a fox spirit who just wants to run her shop in peace. Short-story collection format — perfect for dipping in and out on cold evenings.

These eight books are the ones I’m rotating on my nightstand, my phone, and my “read aloud to myself when the world feels too loud” list for the next few months.

One of them just happens to be the story I poured two years of late nights, closet recordings, and every butterfly metaphor I could find into — because I believe cozy fantasy belongs to all of us, not just the bestseller lists.

If any of these sound like the kind of magic you need this winter, add them to your TBR.

And if Evelyn’s name rings a bell… the Fey Realm door is open again.

Which one are you starting with? Drop it in the comments — I answer every single one, always.

[Preorder The Monarch’s Inferno →](https://amzn.to/49aABxT)

TikTok @dgoldenconlin

Here’s to a winter full of warm drinks, soft blankets, and exactly the right amount of magic. ✨