The Perfect Comfort Books 🌸 offering some escapism

Hello fellow bookworms 🌸 In this difficult time, I find myself turning a lot to stories and especially books to at least get some escapism. It really helps me to set aside some time to reading at the end of the day to unwind and not constantly stress out about everything going on at the moment. In the last weeks – after turning in my thesis and moving back home again – books have been a great comfort and I noticed that I read more than ever before, almost attached to the idea of escaping my constant worrying mind for a moment and immerse myself in a fictional world. That’s why today I have put together a list of the perfect comfort books, at least according to my own reading preferences 😄 I tried including a variety of genres and I’ve also put together a list of other amazing posts recommending comfort books/books to read during quarantine! 🌷

another great source of comfort: Ghibli Movies 💗

🌸 Check out these other amazing posts! 🌺

• 10 Books to Bring You Joy While You Stay at Home (Charis @ charisrae)
• My Top Bookish Reads for Escapism (Jamie @ BubblyBooks)
• Heart-warming, sweet, and uplifting books to read in times of stress (Kate @ readingthroughinfinity)
• Hopepunk Book Recommendations (Margaret @ weirdzeal)
• Staying Home: Books to read during quarantine (Marta @ thebookmermaid)
• Long-ass Fantasy Books to get you through quarantine (Mel @ cottoncandy bookwitch)
• Social-distancing doesn’t have to completely suck! (my recommendations to keep you sane!) (Sophie @ themoonchildpages)
• My Favorite Comfort Reads (ft. Great Romances and Excellent Friendship (Veronika @ wordyandwhimsical)

🌸 Super Nerdy Contemporary Books 🌺

Queens of Geek (Jen Wilde) ➽ One of my favorite contemporaries and perfect if you love nerdy stories about fandom love and conventions 🥰 Out of all Jen Wilde’s books this is the most stress-free one, as it’s full of wholesome friendships, cute romances, and people being nerdy and passionate about their fandom together! Also features an empowering representation of social anxiety 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Radio Silence (Alice Oseman)  ➽ Featuring a super cool podcast that you’ll wish was real and a messy, but also a great platonic relationship between the two main characters. Radio Silence is mostly wholesome, though it also features an abusive parent. It deals with academically pressured teens trying to figure out how to unite their passions with everyone else’s expectations 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

I Was Born for This (Alice Oseman) ➽ More nerdy books by this author! This one is about a girl who’s a huge fan of this boyband and meets her internet best friend for the first time. The anxiety representation is amazing, the love for internet friends is coming right through and the book so addictive that I practically flew through it! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell) ➽ The ultimate fandom book for me and one of my oldest favorites, Fangirl is always a fantastic book to reread. It’s relatable because it deals with a socially anxious introvert navigating college and trying to extend her comfort zone. Cath is also very nerdy and a fellow writer, so I see myself in her a lot. (Plus: fanfiction snippets!!) 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Geekerella (Ashley Poston) ➽ Though it’s hard to see the main character tormented by her stepfamily (this is a Cinderella retelling after all), there is so much fandom goodness and fangirling in this book! It also features snippets of the TV Show the main character loves that turns out to be so hopeful and honestly stole my heart! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

🌸 All the Graphic Novels 🌺

Mooncakes (Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu) ➽ Some grief and past parental abuse are references, but apart from that Mooncakes has an adorable art style, supportive grandparents, and a swoony, slow-burn childhood friends to lovers romance that melted my heart. There are witches, werewolves and mysterious forests, I love that kind of vibe! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Pumpkinheads (Rainbow Rowell & Faith Erin Hicks) ➽ This would actually be better suited for autumn as it has all the fall vibes, but it is so wholesome and has almost no conflict. Set at a pumpkin patch/harvest festival it follows two seasonal best friends on their last day working there bringing up memories and revisiting all their favorite spots! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Wires & Nerve (Marissa Meyer & Holgate/Gilpin) ➽ For anyone craving more Lunar Chronicles content, this graphic novel is here with the fabulous Iko who made this so much fun to read! I love that she got the spotlight here and that the book showed what everyone else was doing after Winter (so you should read this after finishing the series) 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Heartstopper (Alice Oseman) ➽ Based on the webcomic that now got adapted, this has a lot of fluff and an adorable romance, though it also features an abusive relationship that gets broken up at the beginning though. I had so much fun reading this as it’s the perfect wholesome content after a stressful day! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

🌸 Swoony Rom-Com Books 🌺

From Twinkle with Love (Sandhya Menon) ➽ This goes for When Dimple Met Rishi too, as Sandhya Menon writes the best contemporary rom-com books that have you swooning and addicted to the story. My personal favorite is From Twinkle with Love as it’s got a flawed but passionate main character and a sweet romance that I really liked 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Tweet Cute (Emma Lord) ➽ This is very sweet not only romance-wise but also because there are a lot of delicious baked goods as the main character runs a baking blog! It’s got a controlling parent that puts a lot of pressure on their child, but apart from that, there are a lot of wholesome and cute moments as well! Plus all the food mentioned is set to make you hungry 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda (Becky Albertalli) ➽ The ultimate comfort read for me as it features a cute online romance and contains a lot of the adorable E-Mail exchanges. There are also amazing friendships and great characters! However, be aware that there is also blackmailing involved with a character threatening to out the main character. 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Coffee Boy (Austin Chant) ➽ This is shorter, as it’s a novella but it’s mostly wholesome and features a trans main character who is doing an internship and kind of falling for one of the employes. The romance is slow-burn and super sweet, as well as respectful. I honestly loved it so much as it’s very much opposites attract and the banter was amazing! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Tash Hearts Tolstoy (Kathryn Ormsbee) ➽ I love nerdy things, so I was all in with this book, given that it features a cool web series about Tolstoy that the main character is producing with her friend group. Not only did I love Tash and the ace rep, I was deeply in love with the subtle but super sweet friends to lovers romance that totally stole my heart! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

🌸 More Lighthearted Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books 🌺

The Sword of Summer (Rick Riordan) ➽ Rick Riordan is a classic comfort read author for me, as all his books have such an amazing humor that always put a smile on my face. My favorite book by him is The Sword of Summer (after The Trials of Apollo) as I adore Magnus Chase, his humor and all the found family vibes that happen all throughout the Trilogy! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Defy the Stars (Claudia Gray) ➽ If you’re looking for a quick sci-fi read Defy the Stars is perfect! It’s got some conflict and darker themes, but it has a huge focus on the swoon-worthy enemies to lovers romance and that makes it so entertaining and spicy. I love character-driven stories, so getting to spend so much time on character dynamics was amazing! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Renegades (Marissa Meyer) ➽ I LOVE THIS. Obviously, this is one of my favorite comfort reads as I adore this series as it’s so character-driven and I love all the characters so much, reading about them makes me so happy! there is the softest enemies to lovers slow burn romance and a lot of friendship/found family, it’s amazing!! Here is my plea to try out this book! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

An Enchantment of Ravens (Margaret Rogerson) ➽ A standalone fantasy book for those who don’t want to invest in a whole new series. It’s an amazing story full of forbidden romance, the best banter ever and a romance that I was fully on board with. This gives off autumn vibes, but it is also good to read any other season! (I also recommend Sorcery of Thorns by the same author!) 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Carry On (Rainbow Rowell) ➽ This actually gets quite dark at times (with death, creepy magic, and a kidnapping) but for me, it has always been the ultimate comfort tread as it makes me so happy. Reading Carry On is so addictive, it’s a chosen one fantasy story first featured in one of my other favorites Fangirl and has one of my fave romances (Baz + Simon 💕!) 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

🌸 Immersive Historical Fiction Books 🌺

Jackaby (William Ritter) ➽ Am I really biased about this? YES. Jackaby is my first favorite and #1 book of the year so far, as I love it so much! It’s part mystery, part paranormal and part historical fiction, complete with an eccentric detective, a clever assistant and the most amazing team/found family ever! I love all the characters so much and I had a lot of fun reading this book, as it’s very character-driven! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

The Gentleman’s Guide (Mackenzie Lee) ➽ The Montague Sibling Books are always a lot of fun and good to read, they’ve got humor but also deal with serious topics. I personally preferred Felcitity’s book as I like her better as a character, but Monty did grow on me eventually. I also LOVED the novella set after book 1 as it’s hilarious, awkward and made me truly root for Percy and Monty! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

The Guernsey Society (Schaffer & Barrows) ➽ This book is set only 1 year after the end of world war 2 and does bring up some of the trauma the characters experienced. However, it’s written in letter format, has an amazing, funny and charming writer main character and a lot of found family/friendships. It was super quick to read and had a lot of charm and great characters! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

My Lady Jane (Ashton, Hand & Meadows) ➽ This is kind of a parody on historical events so that’s what makes this such a fun read. The authors don’t take themselves too seriously and that gives them the chance to reinvent history, sprinkle in some fantasy and add a lot of great humor! This is a whole series, but the first book – which is my favorite – is about Lady Jane Grey, the 9-day Queen of England! 🌺 Read my Review Here 🌺

Have you read any books on my list? What are your ultimate comfort reads? Feel free to recommend me some down in the comments! 🌺